GENERAL STONE'S CART-SHIELD FOR INFANTRY.
[To THR FDITOR op THE "SPFCTiTOR.") SIR,—In a recent number of the Spectator you permitted me to draw attention to General Stone's infantry shields, built for the Cuban campaign. General Stone is now here in Washing- ton, and his invention is, I find, very much more complete to- day than was the case two years since, when, having been approved by General Miles, it was sent down to the army in Cuba. I may add that Colonel Lee, R.A., the British Military Attache here, believes that these shields may play a very im- portant part in modern warfare. By the kind courtesy of General Stone I am permitted to send you drawings by this mail. You will observe that for troops on the march the shields make handy spring carts, and that after an action they are excellent stretchers, the chain-mail sheets which are the fourth protection being as elastic as a spring mat- tress. The rear end of the ladder which propels the cart rests upon a single wheel, making of the cart a tricycle. The first defence is one-tenth of an inch steel plate, the second is chain- mail, the third compressed cotton, the fourth again chain-mail- The shield is supported above the axle by powerful steel springs which add to the comfort and utility of the stretcher or cart, and might even force the wheels to recoil if struck by heavier missiles than rifle balls. The wholesale cost of these shields is £.20, or £1 per man protected. The shield can be chained back to adjust itself to any inclination of the battle- ground, the men nearest the axle firing under the shield, those farthest back firing over it. You will notice in the drawing the shield being lifted over a barbed-wire fence, while the men cut the wire under its shelter. I hope our authorities will take up this invention where the United States War Department left it, giving American ingenuity credit for the probability that, constructed as they were for five thousand men in Cuba, they may prove most useful to us in South Washington, D.C.
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