Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-31
sosRowsD FROM THE TuaTE.
A Plan 60 Increase the speed and Ease
OF swimmers-sleepin I'm the

BORROWED FROM TIE TusTE.
A Plan 60 Increase the Speed and Eas'
OF swimmers-Sleepins I'm an
From the Ne,r York Sun.
An elderly man with thin pieces o
wood shaped like an artists palattel
strapped on his hands and feet, has at.
tracted much attention in the water al
Manhattan Beach some days by swift
and graceful swimming. His equip
ment was called swimming plates, >
and he took apparent pleasure in teach
ing, free Of charge, those who took an
interest in his invention. The swim
mer was r. III. Wallaee-D Dunlop, G.. B.,
Epglishman, who has devoted himself
to the science of natation, and has
written work upon plate swimming.
After studying for years the swimming
habits Of seals, fishes, beavers aud tur-
ties, Mr.. Dunlop began TO experiment
to see whether he could not make man
an amphibious animal by Supplying
him with practical fins or fippers.
Owing to the impossibility of introdue-
ing nerves and muscles for economic ex-
pansion and contraction, he found that
all jointed, hinged, and umbrella fins
We're practically worthless, as the open
ing or closing Of the fin was made de-
pendent upon the action of the water
during the stroke Of the arm and leg,
and that as the greater part of the stroke
was employed ia the expansion of the
fin, it was rendered Ineffective, and
the aid obtained after expansion of the
fin did not compensate for the extra
friction and drag ofthe apparatus dur
ing its closing and recovery. But by
devising the plates, which are attached
to the hands and feet, the inventor as
Stimulates the equipment of man to the
ssalion and the turtle, and, without de-
scribing the effect of the device, it is
easily said that the plates increase the
pressure area of the hands and feet.
The result of this, it Is claimed, Is to
give greater propulsion and surplus float
power. The inventor says that the
plates increase an average swimmers
speed fifty per cent, and that they
enable weak swimmers to go long dis
tances by reducing the "slip" or the
of the body in ordinary swimming.
If the reader will imagine an artists
palette, ofthin wood, vanished, strap
ped to each hand, and large palette
serving as q sole to canvas shoe laced
over the end ofthe foot, strapped across
the instep, and again strapped across
tie ankle, the heel projecting at the
rear so as to rest on the ground, an idea
of the plates may be obtained. 1.-THE
heel gives nae trouble" says Mr.. Wal
lace-Dunlop, "because no swimming
animal has heel. By letting the heel
through the gap of the plate play of
both the ankle and instep joints can be
obtained to bring the plate in line with
the leg or square to it at will. The
pressure upon the plate comes chiefly
from the ball of the foot, and the free
dom of the joints gives about ninety de-
grees of play. The main point in plate
swimming is to carry the plates through
the water edgewise during recovery
and square during stroke?"
"What added buoyancy is OBJ
taineG?"
About seven ounces from the wooden
plates. They allow the swimmer to
rest motionless upon the surface with
out any constrained breathing, as in Or
binary floating"
at is easy to go to sleep, then, in the
water""
ayes, because natural breathing
without sinking is practicable. A
friend, late in the Indian navy, told me
that he slept for some time floating in
the harbor of Jeddo. Moreover, with
the swimming plates, a man can carry
a weights of fifty pounds of iron around
his neck. Much is said about fast
swimming, but the result Of my ex-
perienee is that, roughly speaking, one
and half yards second is the ne plus
ultra of swimmers. Great swimmers
have to use an immense amount OF
energy to secure the fewinches second
that they make over ordinary swim
mers."
"Did you take the plan Of the swim
ming plate from the turtle?"
ayes, the shape of the turtle is that OF
a swimming plate. 1t moves easily
edgewise in the water, and has much
vertical stability, which enables it to
made the up and down blow of its from,
flippers very effective. When the tur-
tie moves slowly, its action is like that o.
afrog on the diagonal-that is, 1t works
the left front and the right rear flippers
together, but when doing its best the
turtle works its flippers in pairs, which
is found advantageous by human swim
mers with plates"