The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-18

smokeIess powder or made any ex- periments- He conducted no exper1- ments until after gave him the sample of French powder in the au- tumn of 1898.
 Now then, wI1oI invented smokeless I powder7 Itscertain1y could not have been Hiram s. Maxim
 The question as to who invented srnoke1esss powder is like the question as to who invented the automobile. or the steam engine, or the battlesnip. These things have been created by the joint inventions of many persons. Many persons have contributed their inventions to the development and perfection of the smolxeless powders nows1n use by the governments of the world
 I have never claimed to be the in Iventor of srnoke1ess powder. do claim, however, to have contributed Fsrno okeless powder and methods of manufacture, which have been adopt led and used by the United States l Government; but Sir Hiram was not among those who contributed any thing useful to the development and perfection of snoke1ess powder. and as have said. I am ready to pay | $500 to anyone who shall be able to discover any original invention made I by him in ,smokeless powders which has been adopted and used by any government in the world.
 Sir Frederick Abel, in 1865, made a fairly good smokeless powder from hbrous guncotton and collodion. No bel was the first to combine ro-g1y- cerine with guncotton, and to suggest it's use for smoke1ess powder. l Nobel also was the first to make a lcompound of nitro-g -gIycerin and gun 1 cotton and fire it in guns. He called the material ba1listite. BalIistite was made and fired a long time before Hi- ram S. Maxim ever attempted to make smokeless powder.
 The following quotation from an article by Col E. e. Buckner, Vice President of the B. I. duPont de Ne
 nours Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware. in Harper.s Weekly of June I 27, 1914 speaks of the four most ment of snokeIess powder, and it will be seen that I am mentioned as the inventor of one of these:
 'sThe next problem was the adap- tation of this powder to guns of diff ferent caliber. This problem was l solved by Hudson Maxim an em- ployee of the duPont Company. who 1 invented the multi-perforated grain; and the dl1P ont Company was given credit. for it by MT. Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, in his annual report to I Congress
 
 cotton in France.
 I ssSecond, ,Mende1eef,S of Russia. had told us how to col1ofd it.
 Third, Francis G. duPont had told
 us how to eliminate the danger in 4 the manufacture.
 Fourth, Hudson Maxim, an em-
 ployee of the duPont Company, had invented the multi-perforated grain l that gave absolute control over the I burning.,'
 Fl Also the following quotation from
 a statement made by Admiral N. B.
 Mason, Chief of the Bureau of Ord
 nance Gl s. Navy, in signing the re-
 port of a joint Army and Navy Board appointed by President Taft to inves- l tfgate and refute false charges made
 by Sir Hiram Maxim in 1910 about
 our American sInoke1ess powder, vii ] be found interesting and Instructive Tn regard; to the statement of Sir Hiram Maxim that he has had great experience and knows what he il talking about, it has been shown thaa E ne Is ignorant of the type of smoke } less powder used by the U. s. govern
 ment, and it is quite probable tha. 5 he has had very little or no expert ence with it, however familiar he ma. : be with nitro-glycerin or cordite DOW 2 ders.
 ssIt is considered. therefore, unwar ranted to carry out further expert } ments desired by Sir Hiram Maxim
 and that his statements in relation : 10 our smokeless powder are unwor 2 thy of serious consideration, except a ], to their misrepresentation and to tn ! evil effects of their wide publicity ol I # those unacquainted with the subject. :. eSigned3 N. D. Mason. Sir Hiram claims that he invente | the muIti-pe sn noke1ess pow : der used by the U. s. Government, an < he says that my claims to invention Q in snokeless powders are ground1ess ,. He cites his British patent No. 17e9z r filed September 21st, 1894, to prov n his priority of invention. I refe . the reader to my United States paten n No. 540326, filed December IA, 189;
 and to my United States patents NJ l 53861s, filed January 31, 1894, NJ - 540327, filed Jan. 31, 1894, and N, : 540328, filed January S1. 1894, wher = 1t will be found that I was in tn
 American Patent Office with sever; e applications for multi-perforate 1t sInokeless powder grains and charge 1T and for process and apparatus fc | +T--