The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1916. DEATH-DEALING MECHANISM.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 64, 21 February 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1916. DEATH-DEALING MECHANISM.

Tho present war, more than any other, has given an impetus to the invention of death-dealing mechanism, says M> - W. R. Bennett, in the Despatch, ideas and suggestions which, iven a >ear ago, would have sounded too fantastic for serious consideration, are to-day grim realities of war. slaving their thousands week by week. Only two years ago, for instance, an American scientist wa s laughed to scorn for stating that it was possible to manufacture poisonous gas bombs which, on exploding, would wipe out whole regiments. The casualty lists for months past, as well a s the fact that respirators are regularly served out to troops in all the Western Armies, shows that poison gas, if it has not achieved all) the professor anticipated, lias at least) become a very deadly and effectivej weapon. Still, granting that in many! cases the seeming absurdities of yesterday have become the aecomplisnedj facts of to-day, there are some military inventions whose practicability it is hard to believe in. Such, tor example, is the submarine magnet invented bv a German and patented in 1909. It was to consist of a huge cylinder of magnetized steel connected by elect pc cables with a power station near by. Tbe inventor claimed that this magnet, olaeed under tin* surface at the mouths of rivers and harbours, would suck down small iron and steel cratt, while larger vessels would become unmanageable when tbev came within the radius of the magnetic attraction. This patent is said to have been seriously considered bv the French Government, hut as nothing has since been heard of the submarine magnet

it probably failed to fulfill its 'iiventor’s claims. Another enpine ol war which has boon lost si pot of is (lie surface torpedo invented by an American

named Clarence Burger. Tins wav :l miniature torpedo-boat, made up of two separate hulls and devoid ol funnels, guns, or deck-gear of any kind. 01 the twin hulls, one held the internal combustion engines and the torpedo, while the other wits filled with cellulose and other combustible materials, The man who commanded this weird craft had to he a person of more than usual c-.irage, lor, after steering his wheel within a few yards of the enemy ship and discharging the torpedo, be had to take his chance b\ jumping itito the water. Then there was the Davis projectile torpedo, invented by Commander Clelatul Davis, of Hie r.s.A. X avy. This consisted of a torpedo within a torpedo, so contrived that, after the first one had blown a hok in the side of a ship, the second toroedo projected an explosive shell which completed the work of the first one. In the tests made by the Xavy Department in Hampton Hoads, the weapon is s aid to have acted satisfactorily, though some of the experts were sceptical as to its utility in actual warfare. Another American naval officer, Commander Marsh, claimed in 1911 to have discovered a method whereby ships, after having been rammed, torpedoed, or holed, could be prevented from sinking. Briefly, the idea was to prevent the inrush of water by means of compressed air. the principle being the same as that governing the diving bell. But this, also, seems to have boon relegated to the limbo of the forgotten, otherwise we might expect to hear something of it now. when uusinkable ships would be invaluable. Perhaps the most remarkable discovery ever alleged to have been made was the “death ray,” attributed to an English scientist. This was not going to “revolutionize” warfare, but it was going to make war impossible for ever According, to the inventor, this elect, ic ray was “more malign in its potentialities than a whole fleet of Dreadnoughts; a rat which, evolved and directed by one who knew how, might paralyse armies as easily and swiftly as though lightning had blasted their ranks.” ft was asserted at the time that the secret of the terible ray had been lodged with the British War Office, but, if that is tlic case, what has become of it? asks Mr Bennett.