U. S. Armor Plate Plant to Be Built in Interior

1916

Navy Department Proposes to Locate It at Spot Invulnerable to Naval Attack.

WASHINGTON, D. C. — The Navy Department has announced that the $11,000,000 armor plate plant provided for in the naval appropriation bill will be located somewhere in the interior of the country.

This eliminates from consideration all the Atlantic coast cities which have been seeking the new plant. No location in any way vulnerable to naval attack will be considered.

Representatives of practically every important city east of the Mississippi River will be present at a hearing before Secretary Daniels this week, when the question of a site for his new plant will be considered. Members of the general board of the Navy will be present at the hearing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Protection For The Motorcycle Racer

1916

Novel Armored Suit That It Is Thought Would Save Life In Event of Accident

A pneumatic armor has been patented for the purpose of saving the lives of motor-cycle riders, and particularly racers, who, with this protective garb, may smash into each other or dive into a fence without the least regard for the consequences. The armor consists of a one-piece suit of stout material into which the wearer is laced.

Attached to the exterior of the suit is a long tube curled back and forth until the entire person of the wearer is protected by a cushion of air. Air is pumped into the tube in the same manner as a tire is inflated and when it is desired to pack the suit the air may be allowed to escape so that the outfit will take up as little space as possible. The inflation and deflation is done through the means of the check valves at the sleeves and at the trousers' top.

Armored Car In Warfare

1915

European Armies Have Found It of the Greatest Value in Their Operations

Although an engine new to warfare, the armored motor car has proved extremely useful, especially for outpost and scouting duty. Fast, silent, and mobile, it covers a vast amount of ground on the splendid roads that crisscross the field of war in western Europe.

Most of the cars are encased in a light frame of tough steel plate that ranges in thickness from three-sixteenths of an inch to a quarter of an inch, and that is impervious to rifle and machine-gun fire. All the vulnerable parts of the motor, such as the radiator and steering gear, and in some of the newest cars the wheels, are protected by the steel covering.

The wheels, both wood and wire, are said to withstand the roughest sort of usage. Accidents to the tires are much less common than anyone would expect.

The cars carry a light armament — one or two machine guns so mounted that they can be swung through a complete circle — and a large supply of ammunition. The crew, which may number from four to eight or more men, are armed with rifles and revolvers. Some of the cars have a steel superstructure that rises from the chassis frame high enough to enable the crew to stand upright, and that is capped with a domed roof, from which bullets and shrapnel usually fly off at a sharp angle without even denting the steel. — Youth's Companion.