Invention which THE LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH calls the Bangerter Gun, a marvel and masterpiece for war.
NEW YORK HERALD:—
Automatic Invention Operated by Secret Mechanical Power Is Tested at Stapleton, S. I.
A working model of an automatic machine gun which, it is said, will discharge bullets over a range of a mile or more at the rate of one million an hour, with a muzzle velocity of more than 3,000 feet per second, and operated by a secret mechanical power, was demonstrated yesterday by the inventor, Friedrich Bangerter.
The model, which was built to shoot a three-eighth-inch bullet, was mounted behind a partition in the factory at 79 Broad St., Stapleton, S. I. All the motive parts were covered by a tarpaulin, and the machine was run by an electric motor, connected with the gun by a belt.
The muzzle was pointed through a hole in a partition, and the observers having gathered behind a screen, the motor was started.
The target, a pine board, was placed sixty feet away. As the motor began to hum the operator turned a little wheel and a steady stream of bullets poured from the muzzle of the gun like a stream of water from the nozzle of a hose. The target seemed to melt before the eyes as all the missiles struck it, and in about 10 seconds the entire centre of the board had disappeared. This model was built for round bullets, but the inventor says that on a standard make gun, which will have a half-inch bore, conical bullets will be fired and the barrels, of which there will be two, will be rifled.
The principal use of the new gun, according to the inventor’s claim, will be for operating against airships, and, as there is no recoil, he says, the gun can be pointed toward any point of the compass.
NEW YORK TIMES:—
A Wonderful Gun.—A million bullets an hour can be fired without powder.... It really does shoot.... Reporters see wooden targets torn to bits, but the inventor won’t let them see the works.