The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-21 00:00:00

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When charged and laid down i ;pt`'~ 1t:
these Jacobi torpedoes were su iiiktitel -h-yeF-„f.....,:,./
cular plate of metal standing ofilatittailr 'kIW.Z.
-i n_ ~, / water and working on a strong spiry lserin -- til-n.-'
eccentric joint. This spring kept apart N Obi
points, but any pressure upon the metal plate above
—by the keel or bilge of a passing ship—pressed
down the spring, brought the two gold points to-
gether, completed the electric circuit, and of course
exploded the torpedo. The whole affair was very
simple and accompanied with a certainty of action
when brought into contact, by downward pressure,
with another body, and yet, although these formi-
dable missiles may have formed an insurmountable
barrier to the entry of our fleets into the harbour of
Cronstadt or Sweaborg, they did no damage to the
ships of the allied squadrons during the war. Any
ship must steam directly over and strike such tor-
pedoes before they can be brought to act upon her,
and it is the increase of the chances of a torpedo so
acting upon a passing ship suggested by the trials
of Mr. Abel's torpedo primers that invested those
trials with greater interest than would otherwise
have been attached to them. For the trial of these
"primers" two boat's breakers were filled with
gunpowder, with the primer fixed through the
bung of the breaker. This primer has treble
tubes, one within the other. The outer tube is
of vulcanised gutta percha of about one-eighth of
an inch in substance, with a thin leaden tube next
enclosing a glass tube, the latter containing a
well-known chemical agent. This treble tube
is surmounted by a brass cap, from which lead
ropes radiating in various directions from the
tube capped torpedo, the object of this arrangement
being that a passing vessel missing the torpedo
should catch one or other of the ropes with her keel,
and so, bending the tube or primer, break the glass
inner tube, liberate its contents, and explode the
torpedo. A passing ship might or might not be
damaged to any material extent by such explosion,
according to the distance of the torpedo from the
ship's bottom ; but might not such a plan of firing
torpedoes be combined with another of floating or
i
t ial el f;lsi iupns
keennd wreckagee..ivouri
ng ftoor
forcefouling
their
p
the screws
through
of
s ho s-
roadsteads or entrances to harbours and rivers?
The use of torpedoes in • marine warfare will possibly
never become certain until
a submarine torpedo-
boat having a power of descending
from and as-
cending to the surface of the water at the pleasure
of its crew, with an abundant supply of air for a
lengthened stay under water, and a simple motive
power to direct and control its course, is perfected.
'
In Le Plongeur, now lying in the basin of Cher-
bourg dockyard, the French navy possesses a vessel
of the kind, which appears to have failed only from
too much having been attempted in the endeavour to
make Le Plongeur a sub-marine gun vessel, in lieu
of a " torpedo-fixer." Our own mechanicia • • ns and
chemists, independently of any official sanction or
support, have given the subject much consideration,
and a design for such a boat has been so far com-
pleted that its rough drawings have been privately
submitted to persons fully competent to form a
sound opinion on so important a subject, and their
verdict has been favourable in the most complete
sense. It is believed that such a vessel could, with
perfect immunity from harm to herself, destroy with
torpedoes any number of hostile vessels entering
any of our numerous roadsteads or rivers, or even
if engaged in reconnoitring any part Of our coast
line.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.