A SILENT MAXIM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 10

A SILENT MAXIM.

.'''REMARKABLE APPARATUS. CIVIL. SERVANTS' INVENTION, i London, Jahuary 21. A romarkablo apparatus has been invented, by an Indian official, which seems likely to 'revolutionist) machine gun fire. The object of the invention is to silonco tho tcll-tnlo. noise of the machine guii, thus rendering its valuo in tho field far greater than that of, companies of infantry. Tho inventor is Mr. Alfred Thompson, who is serving on the Indian Establishment as' Chief Examiner of Machine (Juns. The discovery has been known to tho military authorities for' somo timo, and although Mr. Thompson.has been working for years-at the process ho. has only recently brought it to a stato of perfection warranting extensive trials.

Tho "silencer" is an apparatus'which;'is' attachable ta a gun, tho inventor having given all his timo to making it adaptable to tho Maxim. The insistent crack of 'tho ; Maxim is reduced by tho invention to a slight detonation, which is indistinguishable beyond a range of 500 yds. At present.machme gun lire can bo heard thousands of yards off, and, no matter how good or vapid it may be, the field batteries discover the guns ana rout them beforo they can beeomo a danger. Tho role of tho machine guiris, therefore, one-,of secret opportunity to strike a body of troops b.y surprise with 600 shots per mfnute, as in the case of the Maxim, and then lie low. .But if the gun' can operato in silence its possibilities aro sensibly widened, not only by reason of its.demoralising'effect,, but,[because a steady; non-overheating discharge. of,loo a minuto can be "maintained from.■time, to time- throughout an 'action. ' ; Mr. Thompson's apparatus can be attached : to .a,Maxim;in a couple of minutos. It; Weighs 161b., and is Jess than a foot iu lengtlr. 1 The" Indian authorities have submitted it to tho Homo Government: 1 -i. , ■ ' 1