A GUN WITHOUT SMOKE. FLAME OR NOISE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11455, 21 June 1899, Page 2

A GUN WITHOUT SMOKE. FLAME OR NOISE.

.. An astonishing gun has just been invehtea' by a. Frehchmati^-a neid piece which is said to be capable of mowing down the enemy four miles off, and without making any' noise, giving any flash or creating any' Emoke. ■'.:'::.

It is a rapid-firing artMery gun, and: its advent marks the climax of field weapons in moderri Warfare. In action it~ can be. placed, if needs be, so that it is neither seen nor heard, while if eattshbdt; 20.times a inihuto, and eabli time hurl a.projectile containing 250 separate bullets. This is an unheard of rate .in a .field gun. ..-.'. ~ , .'. . .<•.',.:.: -."=■ ■ .The explosive charge which sbatiere.these bullets is'melinite. In 6iie minute the gun throws 5000 bullets, and each bullet can kill a,< man at a distance.of foutmileSi.".:.■ -. -This,gun, says & Londofii conteiVipofary, is the outcome of the recent Spanish-American ■.war. The ITrericli who aeeb-mpMied. the American army and navy went back home arid reported to their Gdveniirieiit tlie success,of the, most destructive weapons, that were used in the war; a noiseless gun of tlie American, cruiser Vesuvius, and a Smokeless powder land gun used by the Spaniards- • , ;. The effebt of a battery of noiseless, flame- : less,,and smokeless field gups, and a company of sliarpshnoters with rifles of the samS sort, ; would be demoralising, to an e.uemy, for the paliio they would be lilcely to create as for their- destructiveness. Soldiers, of course, are trained to fisht an enemy who' is:seen, r and their SiJiril qt martial warfare is enlivened by the constant roaring 'of the guns; and thi tuiniilt, noise, and confusion of battle. • But the silent m.owing down with nothing in sight to fight against would prove such an uncanny conflict that no army in the world could possibly.stand against.it successfully. A.nd this is what Humbert's new silent Ff enbhgun Will do. .. , ■..;...

The noise, smoke, and flame destroying attachment- is a tube which ii screwed'on to the muzzle of a gun. There is but one piece of movable mechanism in it—a hinge -valve; When the gun is fired, and the" projectile leaves the muzzle, the outer rush of. gases makes this valve close. This stops the escape of the gases iii that directidhj but they find an outlet in the hvo little passages in the upper part of tlie tube. The gases' .rush out through these in a return direction with such force as to make & recoil, which offsets the recoil of the sliot. The flash takes place in ths.interior passages of the attached tube and is thus completely hooded.