FANTASTIC WAR WEAPONS OF TO-MORROW

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 208, 18 September 1937, Page 17

FANTASTIC WAR WEAPONS OF TO-MORROW

Recent Discoveries Will Revolutionise Warfare of the Future, Invisible Light, Silent Planes and Flying Floors Being But Some of the New and Deadly Devices ...

^HEEE IS perhaps no more grateful subject for the utopian to exercise his imaginatiou upon than warfare of the future, writes Claude Vivieres in Vendemiaire^ Paris. The new trends in all walks of science, the constant stream of inventions in every department of technique, the spectacular discoveries in the fields of electricity and molecular physics, all etimulate conjectures as to the utilisation of their destructive properties for purposes of war. Seydemitz and Doberer, who wrote a book on the fantastic weapons of the future, seem to have taken as their point of departure the re(search that is actually being carried on in the laboratories of the war departments and admiralties of all countries. For, jealously though these secrets are guarded by their holders, they do leak out on certain occasions, for example, at the great army and navy manoeuvres. The weapons and methods deseribed by the above authors cannot therefore be dismissed as utterly fantastic and utopian. "Ultra-sound" or "deadly vibration" is one of the most recent discoveries, likely to beconie a future weapon, and not the least terribie one. Every organism'created by nature and every inanimate object mado by man may be likened to a pendulum winging with its own specilic frequency of vibrations. An irregular impulse communicated to a pendulum acts as a brake and may eventually stop its motion. But when a pendulum is struck by vibrations of the samo frequenCy as its own, a condition lcnown as ' ' &) mpatketie vibrations ' ' results and the swingmgs of the pendulum are more and more amplified, to the point of becoming dangerous if the process goes on for some time. This is why troops are never allowed to cross a bridge walking rhythmically for^ although the bridge is made to support far heavier weights, it might collapse from the eft'ect of the rhythmic shock communicated to it by the cadenced steps, should their frequency happen to eoincide with that of the bridge. Every machine has its "critical" frequency which cannot be exceeded with impunity. In a composito organism, every single part vibrates with a' frequency of its own higher than that of the cnsemble. In other words, the minutest particle of living and inanimate bodies, the cells and atoms, swing in a rhythm that cannot be accelerated under pain of destruction. During an experiment, a steel girder mado to support a weight o£- almost 15,0001bs. was made to collapse under a pressuroj of only 12001bs. However, since this particular experiment was carried out with cleetro-magnetie vibrations, tlie question whether tho girder collapsed from the eft'ects of a physical agent (uneven overheating) or of electricity (changes in the molecular structure) remained unanswered. The experimenta which interest us from tho military anglo were carried out with waves similar to sound-waves, audible to the ear only within certain limits, i.e., with frequencies ranging from 30 vibrations to 19,000 vibrations per secondr Sound-waves slower than 30 vibrations per second produce the "infra-sound," while those exceeding 19,000 vibrations per second form the "ultra-sound." The destructive properties of such waves were discovered quite accidentally in recent yeaTs. First it was found, while measuring marine depths with nltra-sound devices, that • these waves Idlled the fish. In South Africa it was discovered just as accidentally that a swarm of locusts can be driven awajr, if not destroyed, by the piercing ultra-sounds of sirens of a ship . to the samo note, i.e., to the same frequency of vibrations, it was possible to break up icebergs on the Pacifie coast. All this naturally led to the belief that something more might be achieved with more highly concentrated sound-waves, and they began to experiment with the fantastic frequency of 300,000 vibrations per second, produced in an electrie circuit, in an oil-bath containing a tiny plate of quartz between two electrodes. The vibrations were transmitted outward through the medium of a glass rod, one end of which was immersed in the bath. It was found that the Blightest contact with the rod sufficed to cause severe burns, even though neither the ' rod nor the oil showed any increase in temperaturo during the entire experiment. Glass-pancs were literally pulverised by touching them with the Tod. As regards. the biological effects of the ultra-sound, it was establishe'd in the course of experiments on live frogs and fish that it destroyed the red corpuseles by separating the hemoglobin. Although the frequencies hitherto obtained do not exceed 300,000 per second, no limits seem to be set to the possibilities in this direction.

The researeh. goes on unceasingly and it has repeatedly been stressed that "deadly sound" was an accomplished fact with which we must reckon. We may well envisage the advent of the day when a squadron of airplanes will be destroyed by the cold, invisible fire of ultrasound batteries operated from some novel broadcasting station. Fortunately i'or mankind this researeh is still in its 'teens. The only thing we are instiP"d in maintaining is that a weapon capable "i* •bsiiitegraling molecules of steel as well' as tlie «eMs uf the huinan body lias bceri inventcd in ibeury. The problem of dofence against eneiuy airraids is uppermost in tho minds of tochnicians

and ever new weapons and. methods for it. are being devised in all countries.,. An ideal device-for the -puirpose hs - the " cannon-elevator, " or, rather, a flying floor for inounting cannon. . This rise's vertically like an elevator, at such speed as to attain an altitude of 20,000 feet. in' nine. minutes. Its greatest assets are epeed and easy manoeuvrability -on the vertieal plane, which would assure its undisputed superiority over the attacking bombers and purSuit planes. ' Another advantage ■ is its low cost. Consisting only 'of a pl'atform, ' one motor and a pair of propellers'it would cost about one-third that of a bomber. Its incon- ' venience is • the ■ impossibility of propelling it horizontally, which would make it useless for purposes of aggression. As a defence weapon, however, such a flying floor would be unexcelled and tochnicians of all countries, of Germany especially, are said to have been working on such a device for a number of years.

The noise of the motor3 is one of the greatcst impediments to the success of surpnso aiv* raids. In October, 1934, the London Daily Hcrald reported some information about a silent plane beiug tested in Germany. It may bo doubted whether this information was very exact, because the problem involved is one of the most difficult of all technical probloms sitll awaiting a solution. The motor may be the ehief source of noise in an airplane, but it is the easiest to cope with, while the elimination of the noise mado by exhaust pipes, propellers, the friction of the wings against the fuselage, etc., are much more difficult to eliminate. The Germans have in fact constructed steam motons and cngines that are silent as they need no exhaust. Even combustion motors can be considerably "mufflled." In the United States a motor equipped with a muffler sileneing as much as 70 per cent. of the noise, was tested in 1932, and in 1935 there were rumours in Great Britain to the effect that the motors of all warplanes wonld henceforth be equipped with a device that would render them inaudible at 2500 feet altitude. However, these devices are merely improvements of - an old technique, while the Germans are credited with the invention of an absolutely new metliod, consisting, roughly, in the co-ordi-nation and harmonising of the exhaust noise in sueh a manner that the noise of one cylinder neutralises that of the other. A similar method might be evolved for sileneing the propellers. Since researeh in this direction is very actively purSued in ' all countries, we may take it for granted that the "silent bomber" will be one of the most formidable weapons of the future. On the other hand, in speaking of silent cngines we refer, of course, only to their audibility to the human ear. It is quite possible thati parallel with silent engines, technique will evolve instruments which will record sounds and vibrations not audible to the human ear and which will detect the approaching enemy. Until now smoke-barrages were practically the only means of defence against enemy air raids in day-time. They were not always effective because the photographic maps carried by the enemy pilots and their distance and other deteeting instrumente enabled them to drop their shells in the right spot, even through the smoke-screen. "Geo-mimetlsm,, is an absolutely novel method of defence against this danger. Strategically important localities are photographed •from the air and from the negativos maps are

prepared, on which important buildings like arsenals, railroad depots, etc., are coloured in white, water expanses in blue, forests in green, etc. When the enemy is isignalled, special planes carrying these maps and tanks with artificial smokes in various colours take off in the indicated direction and camouflage a locality, isituated at some distance threatened spot, with smoke-baTrages in the colours corresponding to those of the enemy 's objective. In other words. they create a fake strateglc point. "Upon reachiug tho latter^ tlie enemy pilot is deceived by its resemblanee to the locelity rei)iesented oa uim inap and drops the shells on the coloured 'smokebarrages. This very original method was tested

at tne rsmisn armj-uiauoenvres in 1935. An - "enemy" squadron was given tbw task of bombing the Croydon airport. They set reached their objective, sheHed and photographed it. x Upon returning to their base they-were informed that they had wasted their material on a fake Croydon, while the real Croydon was intact. The "flare-shooting cannon" is an absolutely new weapon that may yet revolutionise warfare. It is really a compact tube mpunted like a cannon, through which a flash-light powder, much more powerful than magnesium," ignited by a special device, is projected at terrifie speed. Its secret is in the composition of the' powder. Two German chemists are credited with having invented so powerful an illuminant that the flare-shooting cannon i(s now possible. The, German Government jealously guards the secret of the formula, but' It has recently become known that the beam is produced by the combustion of a certain metal, available in Germany and, the

United States, probably electrum, which is manufactured by the German chemical concern I.G. Farbenindustrie. As regards its practical application, the inventors stated in an interview with the Fress that the device would alford absolute proteetion from noctiirnal air-raids, without the need. of using either (searchlights or anti-aircraft batteries. The beam is so blinding that no pilot could continue his flight in the face of it. Xolimits are set to the "calibTe'.'' of such a gun, so that five million candlepower might be obtained. It could be mounted on a motor-truck and speedily transferred from place to place. In the meantime, however, we still depend on searchlights for scouring the nocturnal horizon. But tho searchlight is a double-edged weapon because, while it picks out every movement of the enemy force, it reveals its own Jocation to the latter. This ia why efforts are now Being made to evolve a eearchlight emitting an inviible beam. "Invisible light" sounds paradoxical but it is a xeality. For, even as it is not given to the human ear to xegister sounds below a certain - frequency, so only a certain scale of light wavea is visible to the human eye. The infra-red and ultra-violet rays of the spectrum are not visible to the eye, but. they are visible to an ultra-sensi-tive "artificial eye." The difficulty eonsists in inventing an artificial eye that would not ouly capture the invisible rays, but convert them iuto visible light, either chemically or electrically. Ultra-violet light and its properties were discovered mauy years ago and until recently all researeh was concentrated upon it. It was- extensively use3 in the World War, especially by tho British Navy, for maintaining the contact between the units of the convoys on the ocean routes at night. No direct light signals could be given because of tho German submarines, but the ships communicated with each other by meana of arc-lamps^ the beams of which were intercepted by a special filtcr that- let only the ultra-violet rays pass. The pilot-bridge of the following ship carried a screen coated with a chemical; that is, a fluoroscope such as is used for X-ray examinations and which served as an artificial eye, sinco it spread a greenlsh light when touched by the ultra-violet rays. Unfortunately this method is inapplicable in aviation. The ultra-violet Tays do not reflect very well. They would be easily visible to the bomber which they happened to hit directly, but y they would not be Teflected at the observation post below. Therefore attempts are being made to utilise the infra-red rays for the same purpoise, and so far experiments ln this cfirectiou have been remarkably successful. The device in question is an arc-Iamp with a special carbon which emits many infra-red rays, in addition to ordinary light waves. A filter of black glass intercepts all the visible light of tho beam. Close examination reveals a powerful light source for it makes the eye of the obsorver. burn and priekle. An artificial eye is therefore used — in this case a batte.ry of photo-eleetric cells. . The penetrating power of the infra-red searchlight is said to bo feixteeu times geater than that of the ordinary searchlight, which makes it i.nvaluable especially in foggy weather. The American na\ y has for some time past been testing such devices, especially at the last naval manoeuvres. As usual something of the secret has leaked out. The Germans are eupposed to have been worldng on a similar device , since 1929. The famous Zeiss Worka in Jena/ are already manufaoturing sueh signal lamps. r Finally, we may mentlon a new type of gun, invented by American engineers, in which the Germans seem to be taldng great interest. Its barrel eonsists of a series of electro-magnetic rings, joined end to end and placed in front of the shell, which is dragged forward by the electrie current traversing the rings. The current is automatically shut offi in each ring as it is reached by the projectile. In this Way it is possible not only gradually to accelerate the speed of the projectil?, but to eliminate the reporfc, the flash and the smoke, so that the identillcation by the enemy of the direction from which it has. como is no longor possible...