The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1915. BULLET-PROOF CLOTHING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 21, 23 September 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1915. BULLET-PROOF CLOTHING.

It would be interesting to know whether any use is being made by the ■Germans of the allegedly bulletproof coat which was invented by • 'fiei'r Dowe some twenty years ago. The Lyttelton Times recalls the facts in connection with the. matter, and of the testing of this coat, or breastplate, which made some stir in military circles at the time. It was believed that the German army authorities intended adopting it for use in the event of war. Dowe was a tailor, of Mannheim, and his invention was in the nature oil a breastplate, covering all the upper portion of the body, or the\whole trunk >' necessary. It was described as resembling ordinary army, material, the secret resisting substance being placed beneath .the-outer doth. The garments with -which Dowe experimented weighed about six pounds, and it was to he used only in actual warfare, as- iti was over-heavy for use at all times, j After ..the tests were made, offers of. very large sums were made to the, inventor by army- contractors and others who were desirous of purchas-j ing his secret. An account published in the newspapers. of 1894 describes how the inventor, confident of the strength of his cloth-like cuirass, stood out to bo shot at, at short range, with a rifle, at the Russian Embassy in Berlin'. The experiments before the Ambassador. Count Sebonvaloff. began with a test of the new rifle i" use in the German army. From a box of cartridges one was selected at random and was tired at a block of solid oak, which it pierced. This showed that the rifle and cartridges were of the regulation pattern and well calculated to test the value of the most efficient cuirass ever made. Dowe then dressed himself in his bullet-proof coat and offered himself, as a target. Count Schonvaloff fired i two shots at him. aiming directly at' his heart. The tailor was unhurt andj

boll) bullets were found embedded in bis protective coat. A second series of experiments was 4hen commenced. A horse was covered with a bulletproof coat, for it was proposed in those days that the cavalry of the future, should be protected by this wonderful material, and a number of shots were fired at it in quick succession. The horse, a well-trained cavalry mount, started slightly at the first shot, apparently, however, scarcely disturbed by the report of the rifle. Other shots struck it. but it continued eating, as if nothing extraordinary was happening. The account of the experiments concludes that although over-much might have been claimed for the invention, against rifle bullets the garment seemed to be proof. It was obvious, however, that a soldier, to escaj>e all harm, would have to be completely covered in the Dowe cloth, armed from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet, after the fashion of the knights of old ; and it would not be of much value against shells and bombs. Nothing has been heard of the invention in recent years, hut it is suggested there is just a possibility that the contrivance has been used to some extent by Prussian officers.