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But we shouldn't let the glamour
of the more successful (?) death-ray engineers overshadow those
never-say-die souls who soldiered on in pursuit of a dream. Let
us rather salute the pluck and determination of those unsung would-be
mad scientists and megalomaniacs.
unnamed German had a novel design for a death-ray gun that was
apparently based on detonating a plug of magnesium and trying to stay
out of the way.
According to reports, the gun
was "capable of stunning men and animals at a one mile range,"
though this generally involved the inventor firing the gun from a
Antonio Longoria of Cleveland, Ohio was a rarity in the mad scientists
stakes. After presenting his claim for perfecting his death ray,
most notably for killing pigeons at a range of four miles, he
dutifully destroyed his infernal machine for the good of humanity.
Now if only George Lucas would
do the same with the Star Wars prequels.
in France, Henri Claudel unveiled his death ray that he called his
"ray of death," which makes all the difference, I suppose.
then there's Mr. Henry Fleur of the United States, who was sued by his
backers and demonstrated to a San Francisco court that his machine could kill termites, a lizard and a snake, but since it took up to
eight and a half minutes to work it was less than the awe-inspiring
The jury found for Mr. Fleur
after one of the earliest examples of the
Defence on record.
British entry going for the Grindell Matthews award is "Professor"
Harry May, who in 1936 unveiled his death ray that would outlaw war.
Apparently, it shot outlawing beams at anyone who mobilised
without a permit.
If "Professor" May looks
familiar, that's because he's the same "Professor May" who tried to
revolutionise the world in 1932 with his previous invention,
Alpha the robot.
Concord, California, we have Mr. Otto H Mohr with his solar-powered
death ray for the environmentally conscious megalomaniac.