New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-15
A WILD CLAIM.
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN 2s HOURS.

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN 90 HOURS.
From The Pail Mall Gazette.
Leonide ApOstoIof, young Cossack engineer, whose
Is hardly known outside his own country clalms
to have made discovery and patented an invention
destined to change the face of the maritime world.
invention will enable us to cross the Atlantic in
tweny-six hours, there is enough substance in MS
absence by the Russian Government in order that he
may prosecute his scientific researches NJ. apostle
tive OF 4" The Pail Mall Gazette" called upon him
NJ. AposoloH is tall and dark his face bespeaks energy
Is it true,' asked our representative, that you
expect to Perform the voyage from here to Aser; n
My boat will travel 100 knots hour. that is TO
say, five times quicker than the fastest steamer l
have applied to navigation the spiral principle, that Is
But what is the spiral pri9cpIel' 1T is some,
what difficult TO put into words. You know that II
takes longer to hammer nail into the wall than 10
screw it IN Again, in old days the ball from a gun
M at hundred yards Now the bali S twisted out ami
goes immensely quicker and much further Still anothe
Illustration. Why does man SWIM Because he
But Why nj does 1' serpent swim9' and NJ APosoIS
smiled triumphantiy. You do not know! Perhaps
you did not even know that he who tempted our first
mother swan at ALL Yet serpent once IN the wate"
goes quicker along team the fastest fish,
What suggested this idea TO your when was
samara wber bridge was being built over the river
The district Is singuarly beref Of stones and they
were absolutely necessary In making the foundations
Of the bridge. tho mouilkS extracted them from the
an ingenious invention Of their own A rope was
oed several mS So bnen large . tree t o5e
dangled an iron claw named koschka, which signifies
little cats claw ~ touch from the hand me beam beam
with the rapidty of lightning descended and tho claw
rGhed hod OF ANYTHING fN our IN the pei Of tine
to the surface. sometimes very large stones were
brought up in this manner This struck me- greatly.
How intelligent OF these poor peasants to have dis
covered the spiral principle for themselves Simply
u
with pencil ard bit of thread
g Then suppose you began trying experiments ?"
Just | tried many experiments wishing also to
discover some new motor 10 drive my boat along
But the great principal of the thing lay In the spiral
hoy can you apply the pencil Ian and thread plan
unlike long. rather pointed. egg in shape. an egg
round which has been twisted piece OF string II
WIN revove rapidly in fact, the difference between
to quote myself agan-the difference between blunt
nail driven into the wall and nail screwed IN You
wondering where the passengers viii 90. Well
Inside for this egg shaped form is only an outs dc
she'll inside, fastened securely to the beam running
absolutely steady as if on land You will note that
the rudder IS both perpendicular and horizontal This
enables the steerer TO direct the boat under
The water thing the usual torpedo boat cannot do;
half ont Of the water NV Batea Ponrer viii s re
main hahitually under watcr7
"of what material will your Plongeur be made ~
OF the strongest STEEL TO enable the great
pressure of the water above IT, On the other hand the
boat viii be very light so light indeed that in of
danger for will of itself rise TO the surface Of the
How will tho inhabitants Of your little craft
breathe! ~ Every thrty-eight hours II must come
up for long deep breath" answered NJ Apostolof
smiling. Practically. the only danger we have Ia
fear Is the outer she'll or corps tournant getting
smashed. either by running on to rock or encounter
ing whale Stil. powerful electric light viii
the boat and will illuminate the water depths above
below. and for hundred yards ali'round u.s.
And Will the Pongeur always remain under
water!D No not necessarily but If II is half
of the water the speed OF the corps oumant Wi b.
reduced by nearly half the boat will proceed at rat
Of eighty knots hour instead of scuttlinS along
100 knots an hour"
Your invention will be chiefly useful for the pnr
poses of maritime warfare II wish more to utilzc
my discovery for the purposes Of commerce, but, o.
course as torpedoboat II VII be tTcsSiahleD >,
eyes. Some time ago I'm Russia. on the Volga
was not rich, so built my boat of lin. rather fool
my friends started to me. In few minutes
had rushed far beyond it, and in fac, dlsapr .n
ApostooT has gone to the bottom But after some
time they came up to me- was sting eomdort ,Sd
joy and relief But the extreme rapdlty with which
my boat had gone caused the tin, of which It wa
And when viii you have your craft in working
order ~ by January. II will be twentye eight me
long and about three and one half metres through II
the thckes part. There viii be room for twenty
five persons My first voyage will be to Toulon an(
to 90 to Xlgiers and back in elgh' hours. nov
have over ATTY applications from people anxious t.
Now NJ. ApostoOG; we come to wha, Is Of cours,
an important item. Where does your motive force
come froml' {" All. that is my secret. have dis
covered new electric motor which cannot. unuckly
be patented; that Is why / am keeping 1t 10 my sci
as long as | can. soon II will become common prop
erty but no one can steal from me my corps tonr
nantp he added cheerully, and without that the!
can never hone to attain onethrd of my speed
And what will be the relative cost of YOU
1ateau Piongeur in comparison 10 tho ordinary
torpedo boatls Forty per cent cheaper As far a
the cost of construction is concerned. and o. pei
cent cheaper I'm actual working expense. Thus tht
1907 worth OF coal which goes TO supply the torpedo
boat will be replaced by g. worth OF my new motlv
forrc In fact there will be practically working
expenses after the first installation
| You can nj least tell me one thing about YOU
new motive power. win 1t also supply the Light
- Yes, II WILL" ,,. NJ, =, - Az, ~
Bateau Plongeur to passenger traffic ~ certainly
Think what il will be for man OF business To get 4
NewYorl, I'm twenty;sx hours. Those who do not liz
mo idea ~ helng inside the she'll will have 10 hav,
kind Of platform attached to the cxtrcmes of tw'
| NJ nv Pateaux Pl0ngcurs."
| And do YOU propose 10 soil the patent IN an,
country ,, Certainly not; or, rather, did shout
| Of conrse keep It for Russia, my own country"
cTEEPW TEEP'S nEITu