Suppressor

A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm or air gun which reduces the amount of noise and visible muzzle flash generated by firing. Suppressors are typically constructed of a metal cylinder with internal mechanisms to reduce the sound of firing by slowing the escaping propellant gas.

In most countries, silencers are regulated by firearm legislation to varying degrees. While some have allowed for sporting use of silencers (especially to mitigate the costs of hearing loss and noise pollution), other governments have opted to ban them from civilian use.

American inventor Hiram Percy Maxim, the son of Maxim gun inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim, is usually credited with inventing and selling the first commercially successful models circa 1902 (patented March 30, 1909). Maxim gave his device the trademarked name Maxim Silencer, and they were regularly advertised in sporting goods magazines. The muffler for internal combustion engines was developed in parallel with the firearm suppressor by Maxim in the early 20th century, using many of the same techniques to provide quieter-running engines (in many English-speaking countries automobile mufflers are still called silencers). Former president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt was known to purchase and use Maxim Silencers.

Suppressors were regularly used by agents of the United States Office of Strategic Services, who favored the newly designed High Standard HDM .22 Long Rifle pistol during World War II. OSS Director William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan demonstrated the pistol for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. According to OSS research chief Stanley Lovell, Donovan (an old and trusted friend of the President) was waved into the Oval Office, where Roosevelt was dictating a letter. While Roosevelt finished his message, Donovan turned his back and fired ten shots into a sandbag he had brought with him, announced what he had done and handed the smoking gun to the astonished president. The British SOE (Special Operations Executive) Welrod pistol with an integral suppressor was also used by the American OSS on clandestine operations in Nazi occupied Europe during the Second World War.

...
Wikipedia