Evening star., 1924-06-02
INVENTOR CAN KILL
BY SUN RAYS ALONE
Produces Greatest Heat Yet Known
to Science by Device,
He Claims.
BURNS HOLES IN STEEL
Says He Can Send Fire Undimin-
ished for Twenty Miles.

BY Consolidated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2.-Uncle
Sam has little cause to worry about
which European nation gets the
secret Of the alleged "diabolical ray
said to have been, evolved by q
British inventor. Uncle Sam has the
makings OF q DEATH dealing ray all
his own in the invention Of a humble
California mechanic who, in seeking
to harness the suns ray for in
dustrial purpose. has developed a
means Of focusing those rays so as to
produce heat two and q half times
as intense as anything science has
yet been able to generate.
Moreover. this youthful scientist,
Marcel Moreau. jr., Of BurlinEame,
Calf, has succeeded In demonstra-
directing his ray SO as to set afire q
dead tree at a distance of several
hundred yards. and has burned holes
through half-inch steel plate at q
similar distance.
Could Go Twenty Miles
There is no doubt" he told his
audience, but that the same in
distance, so long as IT can travel In a
straight line. At twenty miles II
would retain the same power TO melt
or ignite any substances. Special
built, however. as their length de-
termines tho distance the rays may
be sent.
II presume II could be made into
a terrible weapon of war-something
that would wipe out whole armies by
simply playing the ray back and
forth upon them. But ! am more in
terested in developing it for other
purposes"
for it is true. thus has as much
power as has been claimed for the
European "diabolicsl ray" except
that Moreau's is dependent on the
shining of the sun, while the Eu-
ropean ray is an electrical affair, ca
pable Of being operated in all
weather.
Experiments OF Ancicnts.
The father of all diabolical rays.
Archimedes. the famous Greek
scholar. furnished young Moreau with
his inspiration. Several years ago
polished metal mirrors. with which he
set afire men-o-war which were
about TO attack the ancient city of
Syracuse. Archimedes was credited
with having accomplished the de-
struction OF the fleet at distance of
sixteen miles.
Pursuing his studies. Moreau read
how the French scientist Button in
the eighteenth century had demon.
strated that Archimedes' alleged
feat was not impossible by igniting
blocks of wood with a sun machine
at distance of a mile.
Thinking solely of its commercial
possibilities. Moreau set about Sc
ries of experiments designed to uti!-
ize the sunlight. Several weeks ago,
after thousands OF experiments. he
found what he was looking for
means of producing the most intense
heat ever generated. No Instrument
vet has been devised to measure with
exactitude its intensity. but 1t Is esti-
mated he produced $4,000 degrees
Fahrenheit. The greatest heat ever
before produced was approximately
5000 degrees, obtained In an electric
arc furnace.
Demonstrates sun Machine.
Moreau demonstrated the terrific
heat produced by his sun machine be-
fore newspaper men. First he turned
the ray on a diamond and melted II
almost in the twinkling of an eye.
Then he turned the ray on a chunk
of steel and rendered the metal
molten in one-fifth of second DEM
onstrating his control over his ray,
gently: cooked the yolk Of an egg
without soiidifying the white. and
melted a piece of intanian oxide in
a glass dish, without inturing the dish
News of the European .'diabolical
raw" caused Moreau to turn his atten-
tion toward his own ray as an engine
Of war, with the result that he be-
lieves he has perfected a clear
weather battle ray as powerful as
anything Europe can produce. All
that's needed now Is q modern
Joshua, who can cause the sun to
stop at the meridian and stay there
until Uncle Sans enemies have been
given q fatal sun bath.