FIRING TWO MILLION BULLETS AN HOUR.

Hastings Standard, Volume XIII, Issue 4310, 13 November 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

FIRING TWO MILLION BULLETS AN HOUR.

TERRIBLE MAN-KILLERS IOR FI JTRE TRAFALGAR*.

The demands upon our Navy 011 all th© Seven Seas art' so great that It is imperative wi< ghould po--e-s mw'e war vessels than any other Power. But wh.it is the use or buikiing battleships i' guns ar-d torpedoes exist which, it there were a European war to morrow, might after the first tew w> ek~, 01 days, put ever}* ironclad at the bottom of the sea or in dock, and for the time being leave the ocean free to all? Instruments of destruction will decide the Trafalgar of tho future: battleship will not be pitted against battleship, but torpedo against torpedo and electrical gun .against electrical gun. The invention of the torpedo, or "Whit" Devil," as Kipling m nptly terms it. completely revolutionized tho method of attack in"naval warfare when it was invented some years ago. Tl ie Brennan torpedo—once t!.e mo-t : • I*midaljle engine fo r harbour attack and defence that existed in the work!---may almost be considered old-fashioned, trhil© the Whitehead torpedo is. but a squib compare:! to the new air-torpedo recently invented by t:e Swedish Colonel Unco. FOR SEA OR LAND. _ Colonel Unge's torpedo em be t red without producing any recoil whatever, hence the torp do tube is light and easy to move qtiicklv from placo to place It is said that it "will sliort'y be introduced into the German army and navy, and it is proposal to convey the torpedo tube on a for land defence. In field operations the air-tor-pedo ra:i be hurled _ngainst bodies 01 troops as well as against troops m covered pofeitior-s, and. owing to the fact that it can be disc harped without the slight* t noire, it will be next to impossible for an enemy to locate the position of tho torpedo V.tt -ry which is attacking it. In coast de.enee the airfcerpedo can lr? fired in snch a «~ay ns to drop right on the decks of hostile ships. A DIRIGIBLE TORPEDO. Had lh_> H :ip">K> dirigible torpedo the invention of Lieut"nant Halpine, of tho United States navy, been in tho hand? of Russia during the Rus-o-Jap-anes© War, the progress 01 events rr nr.d Port Arthur might have been different. Terrible, indeed is the Halpine torpedo, and it is rent on its errand in a way finite distinct from that of the Whitehead and other similar t rpedoes. It is towed out) to sea by a railor in a •email rowing boat- On bard the boat is a controlling board, worked by electericity. and when a crank is turned the Halpine torpedo, which is attached to the boat by "a cable, ca-eers along at high speed, pulling the craft after it. When the torpedo and the boat are within a couple of miles or so of the vessel which is to be attacked, the Bailor in charge brings them to a dead stop. Anchoring his boat, he climbs aboard tho torpedo, sits astride, and releases th« cable or tow-line. His next proceeding is to restart the mechanism "of tlie torpedo under him. As the torpedo cut* along he guides it towards the vessel, andj when well within the mile limit, he drops into the sea—ho wears a cork jacket—and takes hold of a controlling wire which issues from the back of the and which may run out to a mile or more if necessary. So that the operator can see where to gnide th ? torpedo by means of the wire it has two short masts with round discs at the end. A rod and green lamp is made to flare at the back of the discs at the will of the operator. It he keens tho two lights in line, one above the other h > cru be sure that his weapon is heading straight for the big battleship. FOR NIGHT ATTACK.

The torpedo, if its' "nose" runs into the wire torpedo netting of the ironclad, automatically reverses its propeller ami runs backward a little distance, leaving it« 'nose' in the net. As th»» torpedo retreats a leaden cap is pulled from it by a chain attached to ths "nose" and a cavity containing metallic potassium is opened. The air and water which enter this chamber result in forcing a projectile through a tube below the t >rpedo. This projectile, which i 3 also atta hed to a clinging "nose" by a cable, sinks below the eea r.t an angle of a Hunt forty-five degrees. When. about a hundred feet below tbo surface it comes to the end of its tether, and. being buoyant, strikes upwards. In doing so it is practically certain that it will strike the hull of the battleship under the armour-pro-tecting plate,c ar.d away front the torpedo m-t- Directly the projectile lias been fired the torpedo _ becomes quite detached from the '"nose'' and backs towards the waiting operator. A small ratchet within it rewinds the wire, and in this way the torpedo is bound to return to the man in charge. He then clambers on?e more on its back, and either steers it back to his anchored boat or makes straight for the shore. As a weapon for night attack the Halpine dirigible torpedo has yet to be beaten.

FIRING FROM LONDON* TO PARIS. A little while ago we werehearing much of the wonderiul gun invented by Mr. Sitnp-on, a Scitrh engineer, whose name is well known in connection with iiK-taihr rese irchcs and di.scoverie.?. Hi- weapon is capable of imparting, by the application of electricity, an initial velocity of 30.000 ft. a second to projectiles of all dimensions, ami there is nothing t"> prevent it and others of its type from electrically propelling shells from London to Pari*, cr vieo versa, r.t the rate of thousands a day.

Mr. Simpson declarer that his sun will throw a projectile four hundred miles or more without either flash, sn-oke. or r- < • i!. He has not, naturally, divulged the secrets of his invention, but he tells >!3 that his elefJric gun is entirely different in shape from any of the firearnis no".' in pessession of the Great Powers, and that the projectiles it propels at mi Hi an a laming rate do not resemble the ordinary cnnii-nl shots mkl hn'lets This gun, which makes Jules Verne's "Trip from the Earth to the Moon" in a eannonball almer-t- a portability, will probably be acquired by Britain, arid, if so, it might help to turn the s- a'e of war in her favour. WORKED BY MOTOR. A Mr. Bangerter has invented a qnirk-fi -ing gnu which is capable of propelling antoma tienllv. without, noise, smoke, or flash, bullet? at tie extraordinary rate of 30,000 a minute at ordinary speed, and 2.000.000 an hour if pushed Ir. its maximum capacity. The cost of cue hour's firing would r.ot exceed £4. According to Mr Bangerfcer, ten of life gum. firing half-Inch bullets at the rate of 2,000,000 every sixty minutes, wouk? sweep away an entire army witfe-

in an hour, even if only one per ot the unfiles found, a billet. ul ,«k&r.r is wr-rked by mot.r-power and requires two men only to operate !t "Who:i one considers the ">* <r,r,es of destruction that ex lot V"/ one is foi-ce:! to admit that Jules \ erne 1 . t cino- a vivid authoi, \w.s a prophet of the highest attainments. File devising ol these tearful man-kil iers mu-t sooner ->r later result m the abolition ot war. In a year or I'ower will possess a margin of siipenontv over another, and then the na- • r i +K. world Will all agree to cry. tmns ot tin' 111 . u \\ =» -*» I,^ "Halt!" Th" God ot Peace mil »» Science 1