BULLET-PROOF GARMENTS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 45, 23 June 1915, Page 7

BULLET-PROOF GARMENTS.

AN INVERCARGILL INVENTION.

Per Press Association.

Tnvercargill, June 22

Since the war began various methods of protecting soldiers against the deadly rain of bullets have been adopted with indifferent success. Mr W. Williams, of East Road, Invercargill, has been experimenting with a material prepared by himself, and the results have, up to the present, been very gratifying. The tests are made with a service revolver at a range of about •H feet. A dozen shots fired in the same spot just penetrated the outer skin, while the same bullet easily bored a hole through a tough two-inch board and tin* weather boarding of the shed in which the trial was made. The material of which the protective armor could be made without difficulty is light, cheap, and adaptable. The bullets are not immediately stopped, but are caught in the texture and the gradual reduction of impact entirely prevents concussion. The tests Mr

Williams made are more exacting than those necessary to prove the worth of ; the material for war purposes, for the resistance lent by a hard wall at the (yard range is much more considerable | than ’ that offered by a man at the [average distance of opposing parties in battle or trench fighting. Mr Wilj Hams’ facilities for experimentation j are limited, and if the material con Id he more adequately tested by the Defence Department, which better understands the requirements of bullet proof armor, very satLaaetory results might be obtained. Up to the present, tests have been made only with lend bullets, but no difficulty in resisting other varieties is anticipated. j