AN ELECTRIC GUN.

Evening Star, Issue 11266, 13 June 1900, Page 6

AN ELECTRIC GUN.

An American paper thus describes * new gun:—

\j. S. Gardner, an ex-Detroit man, has invented a cannon that may revolutionise, certain forms of artillery.' and add another Iriumpk to the credit of American mechanical genius. So often in the past have inventors come to the front with freak contrivances, which i:i their piospectuses were scheduled to liring about a new era in warfare, and so regularly have their claims been found to be false anil based on incomnlete experimentation, that the public generally have come to look upon all such announcements with scepticism. This expected incredulity is nouruhed when it is further announced that the Gardner gun is an absolutely new departure, and that its possibilities seem aimost unlimited. Accepted theories a.re set topsy-tuivv. and the scientific world is sure to he startled. The piojectile, instead of being forced out of the rifle by an explosive force behind, is pulled through by an attractive force before its nose. Both ends arc open. There is nothing explosive about it. and friction is reduced to so low a point, that the barrel may be made'of any light material, even wood or glass. The gun cannot get hot in the nature of things, and it. can be fired as rapidly as lightning-like machinery can feed it The muzzle velocity is limited onlv by the will of the operator, for its 'power is electricitv.

The inventor, Mr Gardner, is now a. resident of New Orleans, being the inventor of the Gardner motor (a motor for small-space purposes, and used at Belle Isle, among other places, by pleasure yachts that plv in the summer months), and is superintendent of the company that manufactures them, the Gardner Motor Works, on Bayou St. John. La. He was an Illinois man originally, and came to Detroit in 1890 to live with his cousin, Charles F. Hunt, assistant custodian of the Federal Buildings in this citv. He was employed in an artificial limb manufactory- while here. Although but twentvseven years of age, he has achieved material success in several different developments-of his inventive genius. He holds the patents on some of the most valuable of modem delicate devices in artificial limb-making, and has put on the market an improved cattleguard that has been adopted bv manv of the principal railroads in the West and" Northwest. Mr Gardner was in Detroit recently nn business connected with his company. He is modest in his claims of what may be accomplished by his electrical gun, but refers one to the opinions expressed concerning it that have been expressed by practical men of science and of mechanics. '■ He ha-s already secured the co-operation of some prominent capitalists of New York Citv, and his invention will be tested in all its'infinite capacities, and then marketed to the warring nations of the world.

The principle of the gun is a, simple one, and is based on well-known scientific laws. If a. cylinder is wrapped with a wire, and through this wire is sent a current of electricity-, every student of'the wonderful force knows that the cylinder will become magnetised, and will draw to its centre any bit of iron or steel that may be placed near the opening The experiments in the past have ended here, for when the centre of the mac'uct is reached the attractive force is neutralised, and the bolt stops. Mr Gardner figured that if just before the centre was reached an automatic mechanical device were to cut off the current the projectile would pass on 'hrough the cylinder with the initial force given it by the magnet in the first half of its : wirney. The experiment was tried, and found to be practicable. Out of an ordinary wooden spool, wound with copper wire, he repeatedly sent a bolt of iron the size of a man's little finger 40ft across his laboratory. The next step was to make a. series •f magnets in a single tube. The bolt passing through the iirst section of magnetism enters the second with the speed with which it left the first. As it enters the third the veloeity is still further accelerated, and thus, with a sufficient number of powerful magnets in succession, there is no limit to the size of the projectile or the velocity with which it may be thrown from the muzzle of this unique weapon. Mr Gardner's working model is not. of a large size, for his invention is of too recent a date to have had a more pretentious one completed. It is but a glass tube with a bore about the size of a lead pencil. The barrel is wound with three coils of wire, each making a separate magnet. He uses common wire nails with the heads cut off for projectiles, and with this low-force contrivance can penetrate a half-inch plank at the distance of 20ft. The inventor is assured «rf the correctness

j»f the principle upon which he lias proceeded. The greatest difficulty that nor,- besets him is the perfection of the system of automatic switches that are to cut 'off the electric current at the proper moment without deterring in the slightest degree the speed of the projectile. This he maintains is nothing more than a mechanical problem which needs onlv a sufficient amount, of experimentation to develop. The switch system he' now uses is .considered rather delicate for practical field work. To a reporter Mr Gardner gave the following statement of the advantages of his gun : —"' The fact that it is so radically different from the artillery now in use by the armies and navies of the world makes it difficult to say just what may be cxepected from my gun. To begin with., however, the fact that it needs no ammunition, except pro jectiles. is mi enormous advantage; and here let me say that I do not regard the invention as adapted to field pieces. " It is necessary to cany enormous batteries, which would be in the way while in open field service. But it is pre-eminently suited to ships and fortifications where "easy connection cau be made with dynamos. * Its freedom from noise or smoke is another important point. Its lightness is another, and its cheapness is still another. It can be built for a mere song compared to the cost of the smallest pieces made at present. Then, again, in its rapidity of tire. The barrel will not become heated under any circumstances, and it will be perfectly practicable, to discharge the gun as fast as it can be fed. There, is no reason why several different projectiles cannot be, passing through the barrel at the same moment. The muzzle velocity of a modern rifled cannon is in the neighborhood of 2.000 ft a second. Ido not see any difficulty in securing this, and even higher, velocity'with the electric gun. Another point to which the inventor attaches great importance is the ease and safety with which high explosives can be discharged from liis gun in shells or aerial torpedoes. The reason why a gun-cotton or dynamite shell cannot be'lired from the ordinary cannon is because the shock of the discharge would explode it in the barrel, and the great problem of inventors in the past has been to find some means of storting the. shell gently. In the electric gun the shell starts at no speed, ;ind the impetus is acquired by gradual and increased force. There is no shock at any point of the journey. The only piece of ordnance that ha* ever successfully thrown dynamite shells is the Zalinski pneumatic gun that was mounted on the U.S.S. Vesuvius. But, the range of this gun was limited to something less than a mile, while it was not considered altogether safe, even then.

The electric gun will have a range greater perhaps than any cannon now in existence, and will hnrl its projectile, no matter how explosive it may be, with a gentleness thai will ensure safety to everybody except the target of the marksman