Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/405

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��Seventy thousand tons of ice, valued at $100,000, which, owing to the difficulty of handling, had to be left to melt in the sun after fire had destroyed the buildings in which it was stored

��in an Encounter Between Fire and Ice, the Fire Won

A BOLT of lightning during a heavy rainstorm near Warnertown, Pa., re- cently, struck one of two huge icehouses. The resulting fire soon spread to the other icehouse, and in a short time even the inside partitions in the buildings were half burned out, surrounded with ice though they were. All that remained after the fire were two huge mountains of ice which, owing to insurance laws and other difficul- ties, were left to melt in the sun.

��Who Would Fear Bullets in an Armor Like This?

THE United States is equipping every soldier with an exact du- plicate of the British type helmet made of shrapnel-proof but not rifle-proof steel. This helmet weighs only two pounds, two ounces, and is considered by the Government to be superior to the French and German hel- mets. In the opinion of the United States Government, the various types of helmets rank in the order of British, German, and French. The German hel- met covers more of the head and is a better protection in that re- spect, but the German shape helmet cannot be made of the high grade material of the British helmet. The French type helmet is inferior to the other two both in shape and in resistance to shrapnel bul- lets. The German helmet weighs considerably more than the British, which is a

���The steel helmets, body armor and necklets with which soldiers will be equipped for special work

��disadvantage considering all the other weight the soldier is required to carry. The minimum thickness of high grade steel which would resist rifle bullets is .15 of an inch. This is four times as thick as the present helmet steel, which is considered too thick for practical purposes.

In addition to helmet protection, when especially difficult and hazardous operations over No Man's Land are contemplated, the soldiers will be equipped with body armor. This body armor consists of slightly curved steel plates sewed in a canvas sack, ex- tending down to the knees and protecting the soldier fro'm bursting shrapnel, but not from rifle or machine-gun bullets. This body armor, which weighs only sixteen pounds, three ounces, is strapped over the shoulders and around the body.

Gas masks will of course be furnished for special operations, and eventually a limited quan- tity of necklets will be provided which are made up of twenty- four layers of Japanese silk which surround an inner lining of Japanese silk waste, the whole being encased in a canvas cover. This necklet protects the upper chest, the back of the head, and the sides of the face. Neither the necklet nor the body armor will be furnished every soldier, but will be kept in store and supplied for espe- cially difficult work only.

Heavier body armor, which would be proof against rifle bullets as well as shrapnel, has been tried by all the belligerent nations but so far has not been generally adopted because it weighs fifty-five pounds.

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