NEW MILITARY WEAPON?

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22496, 2 September 1938, Page 3

NEW MILITARY WEAPON?

DESTRUCTIVE RAY DISCOVERED

INVENTION OF MAKER OF EXPLOSIVE BULLETS

(FXESS ASSOCIATION TZLNOBAIf.) WELLINGTON, September 1. A ray, said to be capable of destroying aircraft, has been invented by Mr John Pomeroy, formerly of Invercargill. and now under contract to the Chinese Government. Mr Pomeroy landed at Hong Kong about six weeks ago, intending to fit up his ray and use it in the war against Japan. Interviewed in Wellington, Mr Byron Brown, who has returned from a trip to the East, said that he travelled to China on the same ship as Mr Pomeroy and his son. They received a great send-off from the Chinese Consul in Sydney and a large number of prominent Chinese merchants in the city. As soon as Mr Pomeroy arrived at Hong Kong he left for hankow, where he intended to fit up his ray. . Mr Brown added that he thought the invention was a genuine one as he had seen clippings from English papers which spoke highly of the power of the ray. The clippings also contained statements by several British Cabinet Ministers, who had referred to it in important speeches. He had not heard of the inventor since leaving China. Mr Pomeroy, who invented one of the most effective devices used against airships in the Great War, was born in New Zealand, and took up farming. Of an ingenious turn of mind, and interested in firearms, he invented among other things, a new type of explosive bullet, which passed tests successfully in 1908. Invention of Explosive Bullet

On the outbreak of the Great War he wrote to the War Office. London,

suggesting the use of his invention as a means of bringing down enemy airships if attempts were made to employ them for raids. The War Office rejected the idea. When, however, the Zeppelin attacks began, Mr Pomeroy sold his farm, and, going to England, pressed his proposals in person. Months passed without any progress being made, and at last Mr Pomeroy wrote direct to Mr Lloyd George, then Prime Minister, complaining of the attitude of the War Office. Mr Lloyd George at once gave instructions that the bullet should be given a thorough trial. When Mr Pomeroy next called at the War Office he received a patient hearing and was given an order to make a large number of bullets. To preserve secrecy, the first 5000 bull i ; were made by himself and his wife in a room at the top of an official building on the Thames Embankment. The first time they were used, Captain E. G. Robinson. V.C., brought down a Zeppelin on its way to bomb London. Their manufacture was , therefore pressed with the utmost vigour, and ultimately 10,000,000 were made. The Pomeroy bullet, because of the tetror it created among airship crews, did much to end the Zeppelin raids. ■ Mr Pomeroy was awarded the 0.8. E. and given £20,000 for his invention and £IOOO for a device for exploding submerged mines. Half the sum he received, however, had to go to a London financier who had advanced the money when his resources were exhausted. Tie remainder Mr Pomeroy lost in the next few years in experimenting for other inventions, in litigation. and in American investments. In May. 1931, he was found to be earning a living bv running a small night coffee stall in Melbourne. The daytime he devoted to experimenting with various other inventions he had in hand.