The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-28
SUBSCRIPTIONS f.:
TWO NEW. NAVAL DEVICES.
An English Apparatus for Steering Tor
pedoes and a French Protective Shield.

pedOes and "A French Protective Shield
New York SUM- -
The demonstrated fact that a huge
ironSlad, costing millions of dollars, can
h., sunk by one blow from properly
placed torpedo has caused all the lead
ing nations to busy themselves with the
double problem how to make their own
torpedoes effective and how to parry
the attacks of an enemy's. France and
England have ust made two note
worthy contributions to this problem,
one on the side of attack and the other
on that of defense.
The new English device, the inven-
ton of a young Australian named
Brennan, who has already the guarantee
OF fortune from 1t, has been
tested for several months at CARR
son oint fort, Sheerness. Without
going into minute details, it may be
briefly described as employing steam
engine for driving and steering the tor
petio- toward its object. To the drums
OF the engine are fastened the ends of
coils of wire wound on reels in the tor
pedo. machine, and the unwinding of
these coils, with f. cir rewiEding upon
the drums of the engine, sets two
s rev propeller5 ar work, which drive
the torpedo through the sea with the
ting The greatcr pressure on +one screw
or the other he torpedo is steered.
lights screened from the enemy shows
its position at night to those who direct
It, while the very small portion above
the surface of the water greatly de-
creases the chance of its seasonable de-
xactly what its capabilities of
progress are can as yet hardly be said;
but on each of the many occasions of
its trial, the torpedo machine, which
looked something like the section OF
boat, on emerging from the Sheerness
fort. ran down short railway to the
beach at a speed of forty or fifty miles
an hour, and plunged into the sea. 1t
is obvious that the principle of the new
device is wholly unlike that of the
Whitehead or the Harvey torpedo. In
deed, one of its striking peculiarities is
that since the unWinding of its tight
coils proceeds most rapidly toward the
end, the speed of the torpedo will ap-
parently be greatest toward the end OF
it's course, or at the time most neces-
sary.
The satisfaction of the British au-
thOrities with this new apparatus is I'M
disguised The experience of its in
ventor in being welcomed instead Oh
snubteI is exceptional, and as conse-
quenee the British government will
have the device as its property, instead
of seeing It taken in disgust to some
other country, like the Whitehead tor
pedo. and then served out from a
foreign factory to all who will pay
for it.
The French device is directed to the
contrary purpose, that of diminishing
the destructfveness of torpedoes, by
finding new protection against them
The substance thus chosen is most eX-
traordinary one, consisting OF a compo-
alton made from the fibre of the husk
of the cocoanut. 1t was first used as
shield for the masonry Of quays, and its
extraordinary action under those cir
cumstances caused it to be applied to
the protection of vessels. In pulver-
{ al cocoanut tissue there lies an eX-
fraordinary counterpose to the damage
caused by hostile shot entering at
or below the water line.
In sundry experiments at Toulon
targ was composed of felt-like mass
of this cellulose, as it is called, fourteen
parts Icing the ground musk, ana one
part the fiber, which helps to mold the
mass together, like hair IN mortar. Inc
target, which was about two teet
thick, as representing the lining that
WOuIu Dc gwen W q fOoOOAy was RSAAA
ated at short range by nine-inch gun.
la each case no sooner had the shot
passed through than the eellulose closed
up so firmly that strong man was uns
able TO insert his arm into the hole. A
tank of water was poured upon the
place where the shot had entered, and
only after several minutes a small
amount of water began to trickle
through: and soon the soaking of the
cellulose, by augmenting it's volume and
density stopped the slight trucking al
tocether. The cellulose having thus
been proved practically water tight, the
experiment was concluded by showing
II to be also incombustible, burning
charcoal placed in and around 1t being
unable to set it on fire.
Here. then, would seem to be par
tial antidote for the terrible destructive
ness wrought by torpedoes; for 1t may
be added that powerful torpedo was
@, ploded against a case OF cellulose III
the oulon experiments, with the result
OF greatly diminishing its useful effect,
although, of course, the damage IL
created was far greater than that OF Or
binary shot and shell. The hopeless
ness of making vessels invulnerable 10
modern guns, or to still more dreaded
torpedoes, is likely hereafter TO cause
additional Investigations to be made IN
the directions suggested by the expert
nents at Toulon.