NOISELESS WAR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 222, 16 September 1909, Page 6

NOISELESS WAR.

Watch the play of expression "of a man accustomed to handling a gun; he knows it to be the "noisiest thing of its size on the face of the earth." When the pulling of the trigger of a rifle equipped with a silencer is followed by nothing louder than the snap of the firing mechanism he is apt both to look and feel foolish, for the thing is so totally unexpected. An explanation of the simple mechanism that accomplishes this marvellous result appears in the Technical World Magazine of Chicago. The writer has still other wonders to unfold. : . .

"Now unscrew the silencer from the muzzle of the gun, hold a lighted match at one, end and tell him to blow it out by blowing through the straight, open bore of tthat six-inch cylinder of steel, and he will look more foolish, for he can't even make the match flicker. And the most irritating thing about it is to find results so wonderful accomplished by means so simple. "All there is of the silencer is a steel cylinder 6| inches long by 1 5-16 inches in diameter and weighing 12 ounces for the Springfield rifle. In the muzzle end of the cylinder is an expansion chamber. Beyond this there are eleven spiral convex vanes or discs with the outer edges turned back to form a sort of cup and having a hole a trifle larger than the bore of the gun a little to one side of the centre, for the silencer is mounted off centre so that the greater part of its diameter hangs below the top of the barrel out of the line of sight. The silencer' is screwed on to the muzzle of the gun by means of interrupted threads so that it can be attached and detached by a quarter turn. If the man who is using the gun wants to prepare to receive a charge he can take off the silencer and fix his bayonet in about four seconds.

"The principle on which the silencer is based is that of centrifugal force, or the property possessed by rapidly rotating bodies of flying out from the centre. When a rifle equipped with it is fired the bullet passes through the slightly larger bore of the silencer without any loss of velocity, accuracy, or penetration.

"The report of the rifle is due to the sudden liberation of gases upon the base of the bullet leaving the .run. The gases rushing out expand into mushroom form, their impact upon the air causing the sound ot a blow, exactly as the column of steam leaving the smoke-stack at much lower velocity causes the characteristic snort of the locomotive. "The instant the powder gases have pushed the bullet out of the muzzle of the gun they have done all they can do, and.are of no further use, but on the contrary a nuisance to be gotten rid of if possible. Ihe outer, edge of this enlarged column of gases is caught by the <nrst of the spiral vanes, and this starts the periphery of the column to whirling very rapidly on to the next. disc. The eccentric motion due to the spiral vane being off centre causes the leading portion of gas to cut a slice at right angles off that part of the pencil of gas which is trying to ; follow, the bore, so that the mass reaches the space between the next two vanes with diminished velocity. More and more of the column of gas is. cut off and set to swirling and expanding until its energy is so far spent that it is no longer capable of causing a racket a.s it pours tamely out of the silencer. There is nothing to wear 6r;get out of order., Neither is any change required in any gun to adapt it Jt6 the silencer other than cutting a short screw thread on the muzzle.. There is no interference with the shooting qualities of the gun. Neither is it possible to choke it with gases by continuous rapid firing, for the experiment of; emptying a magazine as fast as the gun could be fired has been repeatedly tried with no other effect than the heating of the silencer."

The explanation of this invention is 'accompanied in the Technical World Magazine by a sketch of the achievements of the now famous family of the inventorj Hiram Percy Maxim. This family might well have been selected by Sir Francis Galton as an instance to prove his, theory of hereditary greatness. Isaac Maxim, his grandfather, invented several improvements in fire-arms; his father, Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, ex-Ameri-can citizen, turned British, subject, famed throughout the world for the invention of the machine gun, smokeless- powders, and cordite; Hudson Maxim, the uncle, inventor of Maximite, another high explosive, a torpedo, fuses, smokeless powders, and other inventions. Last in the list comes the present Hiram Percy Maxim, who has recently turned his attention from perfecting the automobile to the invention of the gun*report silencer. "The effect of the silencer on the noise of discharge was testad by an elaborate sound-recording apparatus. The noise produced by the discharge of a service rifle was equal to that caused by clapping the hands. In other words, the silencer eliminated 97 per cent, of the sound of discharge. For smaller guns it is still more effective, there being absolutely nothing to be heard but the click of the firing mechanism of a .22 calibre target rifle. ■ "The largest size made at present is for the .405 rifle. Ex-President Roosevelt took one ©f these and one for a .30-.40 rifle on his African expedition. • But the inventor hopes soon to have a silencer for field guns ready for;use, after which he will devote his attention to silencing ten and . twelve-inch guns; for he aims at nothing less than rendering future wars noiseless."

The most, obvious and immediate effects of this invention seem to point to the greater efficiency of "the man behind the gun" as a unit in coming warfare. Not only is the average civilian "gun shy," but seasoned soldiers often wear ear protectors or stuff cotton in their ears, while many a man draws a pension because of injury to his hearing. The silencer also, owing to the pressure of the escaping gases on its spiral vanes, largely neutralises the recoil. With noise and kick eliminated the average boy would be able to handle a gun as effectively as a man. The reverse might almost be said to be the rule at present. The increased value of cavalry would of course be obvious. The silencer also eliminates the flash, which by night so clearly betrays the whereabouts of. the marksman.

Noiseless war would seem to present the need of an entirely new science of the art of "killing without getting killed." An ambush without smoke or noise to betray its location to its victims might otherwise prove simply assassination on a large scale. Masked batteries would indeed be masked in fact as well as name, "to mow down regiments at their leisure, diverted meanwhile by the sight of the enemy training their guns on every spot but the right one in fruitless efforts to find their unseen foes." A nigh]; attack spared the terrors of the awakening crash of thundering volley 3 would but have added the terrible uncertainty of a silent invisible foe. A pitched battle with noiseless guns—imagination fails to supply the details of the picture. Many as are the problems which will be presented for the military experts to solve, there is but yet presented, however, the one fact that the silencer does silence the rifle to which it is applied, and that the advantages from a military stand-

point are so numerous that they will simply compel recognition. The work of fitting them upon the world's armament of eighteen million rifles may be expected to begin as soon as the world can raise the money to pay for them;