Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-30
A WAY TO SUBDUE FOGS.
Danger May Be Avoided by the Use of New
Systems Of SignaIs-A Great Steam Whistle
New York Mail and Express

Danger May Be Avoided by the Use of New
Systems Of SignaIs-A Great Steam Whistle
New York Mail and Express
One by one the obstacles placed by ma
ture in the path of the progress of man
kind have been removed. Extreme cold
is conquered by fires and warm clothing.
The ocean is now highway fer all the
world. Even the lightning had been har-
messed and its vital principle made use
full for humanity. But there are condi-
tons of atmospheric disturbance which
are fraught with the greatest danger to
enterprises of modern civilization. From
| their baleful effects thousands of lives
! have been lost, and man is still pOwerless
! to cope with them. The hardy mariner
fears not tbs toughest gale that can blow,
but breads the fog. Before it he is pow
erless. It means for him in many cases,
! loss of life or anxious hours in the gloom.
| At any moment, out of the impenetrable
mist, huge mass may come crashing up
on him. Those who cross the broad
ocean ferry know how many hair breath
! escapes occur which are never recorded.
Marine underwriters can furnish incred-
! ibIe long lists of vessels which from year
to year are lost in fOgs. Surrounded as
| New York is by water, it is particularly
susceptible to annoyance from this source.
| The American metropolis has never de-
veIoped the ''pea soap" fOgs Of London,
and all good citizens devotely hope it never
may. A visitor to New York may see
hansoms and taiIor-made gowns and other
English innovations, but he will not see
London fog. Neither will he believe in
it's density until he does see it. Never
theIess, New York gets up some very fair
fOgs, if the expression may bs used
Those who patronize the many ferries
readily learn the discomforts of fog.
The fogs Of Now York are of several
kinds In the winter, when the floating
ice on the water is melting, there is apt
TO arise dense white fog, which usually
appears before dawn aud remains all
day. Then there is the intermittent fog,
which will suddenly come on and as sud
denly vanish. The most common sort Of
fog appear early in the morning and lifts
before noon. A fog will occasionally
come on without warming late in the af-
ternoon. The rivers and bay are crowded
with craft Of all kinds, which are quite
unexpectedly in disagreeable predict
ment. No more trustworthy class of
men exists than the hard-worked pilots
of New York, and accidents are remark
ably rare,
Attempts have been made in France and
England to penetrate fogs by means of
lights of intense character, such as those
of aluminium and electricity; but that
! these could not avail is evident when one
considers the everyday fact that mile
of cloud, or, in other words, of fog, shuts
out the image of the sun. RECOGNISES must,
! therefore, be had to sound. And for this
| purpose bells, gOngs, whistles, and trum-
| pets have been adopted by the lighthouse
board of the United States. Although q
powerful sound may be sproduced by a
cannon, the shOrtness of it's continuance
and the blending of the echo with the
original impulse render it obi ectionable.
Bells, even of large size, give too feeble q
sound to be distinguished across the break
ers at a sufficient distance or in opposition
to the wind. They are only used when a
signal is required to give warming of dan
ger at short distance. They are rung
by weight wound up at intervals, the
descent of which is regulated by the vibra-
ton of pendulum with clock escape
ment. Automatic instruments are in
| dlsfavOr on account of their liability to
| get out of order when most needed. I'm
interrupted action is absolutely necessary.
! GOngs, although they seem to produce
| powerful sound when near the ear, give
| too feeble an impulse to be heard at q
distance.
! The mechanisms which have been found
to produce sounds of the greatest pene-
| trating power are those which depend up
on the principle of resonance, sach as the
organ-pipe, the trumpet and the whistle,
| In which the air itself becomes the sOund-
| ing body as well as the medium OF cen
| duction of the sound. The locomotive
whistle is the simplest of the more power
full of the fog signals employed by the
United States lighthouse board. The
whistles employed ars from eight to twelve
inches in diameter, and the pressure of
steam fifty to seventy-fve pounds to the
square inch. The next powerful instru-
ment Is the reed or DabOll trumpet actual
ed by air condensed in a reservoir by
means of an Ericsson hot-air engine. In
/ this instrument the trum pet itself Is the
resoundlng cavity, and the reed by it's
vibration, produces the requisite motion
OF the air. 1t Is the most economical of
! power, giving the greatest amount of
sound with given expenditure of fuel.
| The most powerful Of all instruments vet
employed is the siren trumpet. The part
of this which gives the impulse 20 the air
producing the sound lis a fat drum or
hollow cylinder, with short axis one head
| of which is perforated with an orifce
admitting the steam from pipe connect
ed with a locomotive boiler. The other
head of the drum is perforated with eigh.
holes, bsfora which, and almost in contact
with this head. is revolving disk, also
perforated with eight holes. At each
| revolution of the disk eight holes are al
ternately opened and shut, allowing egress
to as many impulses of steam, which. in
turn, produce VIOLENT agitation OF the
air, giving rise to most powerful sound,
| reinforced by the resonance of a trumpet
of suitable length. The sound from this
instrument can be distinctly heard in still
air at a distance of from ten to fifteen
miles, even daring the existence OF a
dense fog.
local candidate In the last election,
who haa to set EN- up fer the boys very
frequently, says, "a public office is pub
| lie thirst