Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle

Infobox Book
name = Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle
orig title = Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land
translator =


image_caption =
author = Victor Appleton
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Tom Swift
genre = Young adult novel Adventure novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1911
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 200+ pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Tom Swift and His Sky Racer
followed_by = Tom Swift in the City of Gold

"Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle", or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land, by Victor Appleton, is Volume 10 in the original Tom Swift novel series published by Grosset & Dunlap.

Plot summary

While Tom is working on his latest new invention, the electric rifle, he meets an African safari master whose stories of elephant hunting sends the group off to deepest, darkest Africa. Hunting for ivory is the least of their worries, as they find out some old friends are being held hostage by the fearsome tribes of the red pygmies.

Inventions & Innovation

Tom builds two major inventions in this volume. The first is a replacement airship, known as The Black Hawk. This new airship is to replace The Red Cloud, which was destroyed during his adventures in Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice. This airship is of the same general construction as The Red Cloud, but is smaller and more maneuverable.

Of foremost notice is Tom's invention of the "electric rifle", a gun which fires bolts of electricity. The electric rifle can be calibrated to different levels of range, intensity and lethality; it is capable of shooting through solid walls without leaving a hole, as well as powerful enough to kill a rampaging whale, as in their steamer trek to Africa. With the electric rifle, Tom and friends not only bring down elephants, rhinoceroses, and buffalo, but also manage to save their lives multiple times in pitched battle with the red pygmies. In addition to its more "military" like features, the electric rifle has the capability of discharging a globe of light that was described as being able to maintain itself, like ball lightning, making hunting at night much safer in the dark of Africa. In appearance, the rifle looked very much like its contemporary conventional cousins.

Realization

Sixty years later, the Taser was invented by Jack Cover and marketed by Taser International. The trademark is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle". The middle initial is gratuitous, as Tom's full name is unknown. [cite web|url=http://www.taser.com/company/Pages/trivia.aspx|title=Company Trivia|publisher=TASER International, Inc.|accessdate=2008-09-04]

References

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3777 "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle"] e-text at Project Gutenberg