The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-23


A. Normal water line 2. Water line when
only tower is above water c. Torpedo tube.
D. Detachable counter weight keel Z air tube
IteleoscOpic).
THE PERAL TORPEDO BOAT.
These experiments were unsatisfactory.
The inventor did not care to go below tae
surface. but confined his efforts TO trying
the propeling machinery, ascertaining the
displacement and measuring the fsh-hnes,
consumption Of energy and spelling Of the
air contained within the vessel. In almost
all these respects the inventor met with dis
appointment. One Of ths propeller shafts
broke; but not until he had found the speed
70 be only four miles an hour; the boat
fiosted too high and too much TO one side;
when Ii motion it gut its nose downward
and sent water all over the coming
tower, and, worst Of all, the atmosphere
got foul so rapidly as to asphyxiate the
crew.
Peral, undisc9uragei, took very COM
plete notes Of all these faults and draw
backs. and the next day engaged two very
suIlful mechanics, one English a one
French, 10 remedy the defects. For Eve
months they worked night and day, and IN
that time invented over thirty different
mechanisms and processes to increase the
efficiency of the boat. Critics say that
many, If not most, of these were borrowed
from the patent reports Of the United
States; still, if they were, they were, so
changed in order to be of use under the new
conditions as TO be practically new ideas.
On July 20, 1889. the boat, 50 changed as
70 be an almost new vessel, again started
out upon a trial trip, and this time with
much better results. 1t obeyed the helm
and turned without great trouble inside of
five lengths. 1t showed q speed upon the
surface OF the water Of six miles an hour a
marked Improvement upon its former
record. 1t submerged itself without much
effort, but the submergence was very slow
and uncomfortable. Out Of ten divlngs
only one was noticeable, and that lasted
eighteen minutes. The others lasted from
three 70 ten minutes, and on every occasion
Doth inventor and crew displayed the great
est relief when they were once more out
upon the deck. The longest submergence
occurred when the boat was at the wharf
and 30 fastened with ropes that it could be
hauled up by the vast crowd present, in
case OF any danger or accident.
During the trial trip there were any num-
Der OF accidents, Of which all or nearly all
were due to defective mechanism. On one
occasion the submerging machinery could
not Be stopped, and the boat went TO the
bottom, where it lay stranded few min
utes IN bank Of mud. On another the
valves OF the air-pumps refused to work
ana the crew were almost suffocated. Fun
NEST Of all, once when it was under
water, Peral could not tell where he was,
and finally turned up ia a place directly
opposite TO where he had announced he was
going. There were other accidents which
have not come 70 the public ear, as all the
people on board are men of remarkable
discretion and power Of silence
Despite this, the following facts have been
ascertained. Under water it was impossi-
Die TO see more than ten feet In any direc-
ton; the mariners compass did not point
correctly at any time, on account Of the iron
and steel Of which the boat is constructed:
the carbonic acid produced by breathing,
gas burning and chemical decomposition
accumulated rapidly and made every one
SICK and weak after twelve minutes had
elapsed; when the screws did not work to-
gether, the boat displayed an alarming
tendency to roll over and over, regardless
OF Its inmates and contents; both on the
surface aud beneath there was no level at
any time, 50 that il was difficult, If not i'm
possible, 20 use torpedo with any GER
talnty, while there was a possibility that it
might explode right under the vessel itself.
these difficulties, dangers and defects
were many and grave enough to break
down most inventors, but Peral went to
work with redoubled energy. He increased
his force of assistants, and after four
months and half of excessive labor again
presented his boat for trial before the naval
autnorlties OF the nation. This time he had
SO much success that a revolution in naval
warfare is visibly imminent.
Inc coat as 1t now appears is q spindle
SNAPPED vessel, something like the famous
hoss w mans clgar-shaped steamship, which
measures ~ feet inches in length 8 feet &
inches beam amidships, ana 10 feet 2 incltes
IN depth. The curvature is not regular
being much less in the center and Quarter 5
than at the bow or stem. II is made of the
pest wrought iron, and is reinforced in
ternally with steel partitions and stanchions
The bow is sharp, and in it below the
surface is the aperture Of a torpedo
tube. AT the stern are two bronze
screw propellers and an ordinary
steel rudder. On the deck proper. if the
name can be applied to the top of the YES
sci, is coming tower, about feet in hight.
feet long and feet wide. The forward
part OF it, about one-third of the whole, is
used as a pilot-house, and consists of a
framework of steel whose apertures are
filled with pieces Of thick and very fine
plate-glass These are inserted not only on
every side, but also on the top Of the
tower. SO that the captain or pilot can
look upward when the boat is submerged
and see the great iron-clad he is about to
destroy with torpedo. Upon nearly all
the windows is an arrangement in
metal and glass, whereby beam of electric
ngnt can be sent out through the lower half
OF the pane, so as to illuminate the water a
hundred yards ahead when the boat is
below the water, and to act as a search
hight or signal when the latter is above the
surface.
Behind the tower are several holes COM
munieating with air-pumps in the vessel
These are fitted with telescope tubes,
which, when pushed out to their utmost
extent, will attain hight of thirty feet,
and 80 enable the crew to take in fresh air
when they are submerged to that depth.
An ingenious system of floats, valves. and
connterpoises, similar to what is used in
Neli-plumbed American houses, prevents
masr from entering the tubes, without
interfering with the inflow of air. All
pare u this mechanism which project
1--we ne water are shaped and painted
- a. " - undistinguishable from the sea
~ ie . Jtssn and Jetsam ut a hundred
SaIe1. behind the pilot house the tower is
.s.. nke - ioF ~ ingress aud egress of the
~ . ne ias- Il the construction is APP
pafently borrowed from Jules Verne's 70
Ai1oce OF y twenty thousand Leagues Under