Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-09-27
4 MAINE MANS BROTHER
AND HIS WONDERFUL GUN


AND HIS WONDERFUL GUN
The following from the Boston Globe
will be of interest to Waterville people
as the Mr.. Lombard mentioned is a
brother to A. o. Lombard Of this city.
inventor of the Lombard tractor, and
has been here as a guest at the home
of his brother several tRAes:
In smudgy little compartment at
the top Of building In High street oc-
cupied by machinists and their kind.
there stands on a workbench the
model of novel instrument of death.
1t is new kind of machine gun, the
firing of which. it is claimed, Is as sim
pie as turning on the hose. the result
ant stream, in this case. being a steady
torrent of steel balls, fired at the rate
of $4,000 minute. The ordinary ma
chine gun fires not more than 700 shots
a minute.
The new gun uses no powder. In
action it is noiseless. It is essentially
mechanical implement, and 1t Is al
most unbelievably simple in construc-
ton.
At first glance the gun-if 1t can be
called that, for it bears no relation in
appearance to the traditional weapon
of modern warfare-looks somewhat
like miniature ventilating blower.
1t shows merely disc-like casing
with a snout on it. Inside the casing
is the heart of the gun, consisting of
three or four parts only. Beside it is
small hopper, into Which the shot are
poured loose, as coffee is poured into
the hopper of a grinder.
Driven by Electric Motor.
The shot are fed into the mill--to
follow the simile-and come out of the
snout at a great rate of speed.
When a Globe man asked to see the
gun operated, a switch was turned, and
shot began to strike a board placed
before an iron shield at the other end
of the workbench in whirr. Splinters
few and there was a steady hum as
behind the board.
The switch was turned off, the sing
ing of motor beside the gun gradual
ly diminished, and the inventor picked
up the fragments of, the board. In a
space about the size of mans hand
there was nothing left to pick up.
THAT was only at the rate of 1000
minute" said the inventor. ,
The guns inventor is Levi w. Lom-
bard of Mattapan, a practical machin-
ist, who has been experimenting with
models for the gun for the paste 80
years.
Foreign Powers Interested.
The world war having given great
impetus to the invention of all kinds of
lethal weapons, Mr.. Lombard has
worked necessarily in the last year to
perfect his gun. He now feels that he
has achieved results which will put the
present type of machine gun out of
business.
Although he has not yet completed. a
full-size gun-having made his expert
ments with models-Mr. Lombard has
been approached by agents of foreign
Governmentsfwho wish to buy the
rights to his invention. AS yet he is
| not prepared to SELL
Associated with him in bringing out
the gun are Edwin Fisher of Airing
ton and Frank L. Jones of Melrose.
They are in no hurry to let a foreign
Power get control of what they be-
lieve is the most effective small
weapon ever invented.
Mr.. Lombard now has full-size gun
nearing completion, and when that is
finished his associates will give repre-
sentatives of their own Government
a first chance to try it out.
From tho Rim Of Wheel.
Many experiments have been made
in recent years with weapons de-
signed along the lines of the Lombard
gun. The basic principle may be lik-
ened to the ancient sling, which hurled
missiles at the enemy.
| Instead of sling, In this case, q
wheel is employed to hurl the missiles.
| Various devices employing the wheel
have been brought out recently. one In
France having met with some success.
| But there has been one drawback in
them, namely. difficulty in getting
speed and power for the shot.
1t was found that the missile would
travel no faster than the rim of the
| terms, the muzzle velocity of the shot
would not exceed the periphery speed
| of the machine.
Mr.. Lombard claims to have discov-
cred new principle by which the
speed of the shot is vastly increased
over the speed Of the wheel-the peri
phery speed of the machine.
In this lies the difference between
failure and success, for whereas the
periphery speed of his machine is but
500 feet second, he can eject missiles
from it at the rate of $500 feet Sec
ond. A shot from an ordinary rapid
fire gun travels 2100 feet a second.
On New Principle.
The method by which Mr.. Lombard
gets the great speed of his gun Is his
secret. which he guards with care.
Any one who knew how he attainsthe
extra velocity could make a gun like
his.
ut is a new principle" he says
briefly. II discovered it after long ex-
periments." :.
Mr.. Lombard went on to state q few
facts about his invention.
This gun can be fired indefinitely
| without heating" he said. THE ordi-
nary machine gun is water jacketed,
and has to be cooled after a certain
number of discharges.
1.-THE velocity of the shot on leaving
the tube or muzzle is as great or