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A TARGET
THAT SCORES
ITSELF
By E. C. CROSSMAN
N O W comes a west coast exnavy
commander with a rifle
target that scores itself, a
device tried out by the United
States Army and Navy, and
used extensively by both branches of the
service.
It consists of nothing more complicated
than a vertically arranged set of
steel plates, actuating electric contacts
behind them which in turn drop ordinary
As the Target Appears
The bull's-eye is an eight-inch plate, the "four rins" a
twenty-six inch circle, the "three ring" has a diameter of
forty-six inches, while the "two ring" comprises the rest
of the twenty-four square feet of target.
490
The Mechanism
Electrical contacts are made as bullets impinge. For instance,
if a shot hits the bull's-eye it forces back the eightinch
plate against a contact knob. This circuit causes an
annunciator hand to drop on the dial at the shooting box,
whereupon the scorer speaks the welcome news, "A bull'seye
for Private Higgins!"
hotel style annunciators on a corresponding
board at the firing point. When the
service rifle bullet smashes into one of
these plates, it moves back, establishes
for an instant an electrical contact, closing
the circuit of that annunciator, and
drops the right annunciator at the firing
point. Then a spring returns the plate,
and the circuit is broken.
The "A" target for instance, much
used in the army, has a bull's-eye of 8
inches, a "four" ring of 26 inches in diameter,
a "three" ring of 46 inches, and
a "two" ring consisting of the rest of
the target, which is 4 by 6 feet. To make
the self-scoring target register the hits
on this mark, the makers arrange their
plates thus:
The bull's-eye is one round plate of
eight inches; the four ring consists of
twelve plates, arranged like the hour divisions
of a clock face, the three ring of