The Colt Machine Gun.

Thames Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 8331, 23 April 1896, Page 2

The Colt Machine Gun.

New means are always being discovered of putting to still more effective use the dread engines of destruction designed for modern warfare. Of late years "Murder as a fine art"—if De Quincey's title to tne of Ms most fascinating works may be applied to the study of warfare and its appliances—has had more students across the Atlantic than in this older hemisphere of ours, and some notable discoveries and inventions have been the result, notably in the pneumatic gun, the chilling of steel shell, and in improvements of the torpedo. The latest invention is a Colt machine gun, mounted on a safety bicycle. Already this automatic gun has been adopted by the American Government for its army, and doubtless it will come into general use in Europe and among the semi-savage hordes in other parts of the world, who are now taking so kindly to the weapons which have decimated them in times gone by. This gun weighs between 39 and 40 pounds, shoots 250 or 500 times—being automatical y fed— and is remarkably accurate. It is fastened securely to the head of the machine, can be easily directed to any angle, and does not interfere with the rider or affect the steering of the machine. Thus the wonderful adaptability of the bicycle is once more evident, and when the two-wheeied pneumatic machine now in course .of cons!ruction, to carry six riders, does cover a mile of ground in little more than half a minu c, as the designer fully believes it will be able to do, we shall have reached the nearest; point to perfection ever dreamt of by creation on castors.