A gun that can shoot one million bullets per hour at a cost of $20, that uses neither powder nor compressed air, and that fires bullets that do not require shells, was shot for the enlightenment of a delegation of New York reporters yesterday afternoon. The reporters saw the gun shoot, but they were not permitted to see that part of the gun out of which the little steel bullets came with such rapidity. The exhibition was in the factory building at No. 79 Broad street, Stapleton, S. I. In a little room adjoining that in which were placed the reporters was the gun. There were targets made of a series of big boards arranged about a foot behind one in front of it. There were four targets.
At 4 p. m. the shooting began. The first of the targets was dragged into position. A moment later the motor started up, then the bullets started to fly. They riddled the target into a pile of splinters a foot high, and they did it in less than a minute. All in all, it was estimated that 15,000 bullets pierced the targets. Not only the first of the targets was riddled into a shapeless mass, but each of the other three as well.
The reporters were permitted then to enter the gun-room. They saw a motor, from the wheel of which a belt was operated. The belt connected the motor with another wheel, which was a part of the mechanism of the gun, on top of which was a covering out of which the bullets came. They also saw the hoppers on either side of the gun into which the bullets are poured as they are needed. The reporters asked to see the gun in operation. The inventor ordered another target swung into position. There was another whirl and a second storm of bullets struck the target. The fusillade lasted about ten seconds. Again was the target demolished. The
inventor refused to say anything about what was under the covering in the little gun-room.
Wall Street brokers had offered Mr. Bangerter the necessary capital to build a standard size gun, but Mr. Bangerter soon found out that their plans were to get the secret of his invention and take it from him. He therefore separated from these brokers and has had nothing to do with them since. He has kept his secrets and has remained true to the words he declared which were published in the New York World of March 1st, 1908, that if he does not make money out of his invention nobody else shall.
Army officers and scientific men marvelled at the great results of Bangerter’s model gun. Before the tests no one believed in its success, declaring it impossible. Mr. Bangerter has never applied for a patent for this invention, as he intended to sell the secrets to a government, and therefore kept the plans carefully.