Terrible to the Eye Alone 



A boy's bean-shooter can do more harm than one of 

 these stage guns, despite their formidable appearance 



THE big Bertha and all 

 the other members of 

 the Krupp gun family 

 stand a fair chance of being 

 out-Krupped if our enthusias- 

 tic motion-picture producers 

 continue to copy faithfully 

 the outward appearance of 

 Germany's modern ordnance. 

 In one of our latest celluloid 

 thrillers, depicting the capture 

 and ruin of this country- by an 

 invading force, Krupp guns — 

 or at least their wooden coun- 

 terfeits — are utilized so real- 

 istically as to lead the audi- 

 ence to surmise that the 

 Kaiser chartered a tug boat 

 and scow to ship his Krupps 

 over the sea for just one 

 motion-picture play. The fact 

 is that the office boy with his 

 bean-shooter can do more 

 damage than a dozen such 

 "stage" guns. 



But for motion-picture pur- 

 poses these wooden counterfeits are just as 

 effective as the real article. To see them 

 roll up some peaceful countryside followed 

 by a horde of warriors and to see the big 

 make-believe monsters boom away 

 at an invisible enemy is just the imitation 

 next best thing to seeing one of compression 

 the Crown Prince's armies 



The stage guns not only simulate the outward appearance of the 

 Krupps but even their recoil movement at the moment of discharge 



of a modern highpower gun in action. For 

 instance, a powder charge is exploded to 

 represent the discharge of the genuine gun. 

 The charge is ignited by an electric circuit. 



At the instant of 



.aUNDER 



batter away at the 

 The effect is start- 

 lingly realistic. 



The principle 

 feature about these 

 guns which makes 

 them simulate the 

 real Krupps, is 

 their ability to 

 imitate the natural 

 recoil at the mo- 

 ment of discharge, 

 and the gradual 

 raising to firing 

 position. Each gun 

 is provided with 

 mechanical means 

 which give a real- 

 istic representation 



French. 



SLIDING ROD 



LATCH 



ELECTRIC CIRCUIT 

 PTABL15HED WHEN 

 tATCH 15 PULLED 

 BACK 



iRREL 



BUMPER 



GUN BARREL 

 aUNDER 



TAUT WHEN 

 BARREL RECOILS 



COUNTER WEIGHT 



LATCH RELEASED BY 

 TRIPPER. FREES WEIGHT 



RECOIL OF BARREL 

 STRIKES TRIPPER 



Diagram of the interior of the wooden gun. The 

 charge of powder is ignited by an electric circuit 



powder discharge 

 the gun barrel 

 moves freely down 

 in its frame. In its 

 downward move- 

 ment a spring is 

 compressed, giving 

 the cushioning 

 effect of the com- 

 pression cylinders 

 of mcxlern guns. 

 The gun barrel 

 weighs four hun- 

 dred and fifty 

 pounds. In order 

 to move it back 

 again to its original 

 firing position a 

 counterweight of 

 five hundred 

 pounds is released 

 by a lever. 



379 



