The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-19
TO COMBAT CYCLONES.
The Inventor of Melenite Has Turned
His Attention to metsorology.
E,r,rr, tl,o cticncn Hnrnl.a

His Attention to meteorology.
From the Chicago Herald.
Paris, Nov 1.-THE Para tornadOes or
tornado destroyer is the name Of ma
chine contrivance which may well take
rank as one one of the most ambitious in
ventions of the age. The power of this
new weapon against a terrific enemy has
not been tested yet. First, because it is
scarce a month since the brain OF Turpin,
its inventor, designed it; second, because
there have been no tOrnadOes herea bouts
to destroy Eugene Turpin has recovered
from the effects of the long Imprisonment
from which he was released a few months
ago, an Imprisonment, by the way, which
is a most serious blot upon the records of
French Justice. Turpln was finally re-
leased on the ground that he was innocent
of the treason of which he had been con-
demned 1t is not generally known out
side of France that the inventor of nellie
mite is as great a student of meteOrology
as of chemistry. He also a book upon the
subject now in press and in that volume
he will explain his plan for robbing the
tornado gifts terrors. The unusualnumber
and great destructiveness of these phe-
nomena of America the last season sug-
gested to him the pressing Importance Of
coping with the evil.
1T is no small thing, of course, to strug-
gle with the atmosphere. Except the
earthquake, the tornado is the umost for
midable phenomenon of nature. Neverthe-
less, l have an idea which believe will,
if put in practice on large scale in the
United States, yield almost complete pro-
lection against it's dangers 1t would be
folly, of course, to attempt to attack the
tornado inself, but it is not impossible to
attack it if you only wish to interrupt it
in case it should attempt to follow a GER
tain path. For a long time the general
habits rlaws Of tornadoes were unknown.
The records of the United States weather
bureau show us that tOrnadoes in
America always travel from the south
west to the northeast. This being estab-
lished it is comparatively easy to face the
enemy, because you know from just what
direction he will come. The dangerous
extent is only an eighth of point Of the
compass; that is, if you protect town on
its southwest boundary for one-eighth Of
its circumference it will be tornado
proof.
"The Oldest theory of the tornado, you
know" he said, lis that the funnel
shaped cone is formed by the sucking up
of current of air. Faye, who is one of
our best European authorities, holds just
the opposite theory. Lieut.. Findlay, of
the United States bureau, confirms Faye,
or at least he declares that nearly all tor
nadoes are formed in the upper layers of
the atmosphere. l have been studying
the subject closely since 1864 except
when compelled to abandon my investiga-
tiOns owing to my financial troubles.
| shall discuss all current theories regard
ing these terrific phenomena in my forth
coming book, review as carefully as pos
sible the record of destruction of life and
| property by tornadoes, and shall try to
offer something practicable in the way of
safeguard against the evil.
HIS TASK Is GREAT.
at is a well-known fact that a water
spout at sea collapses instantly if heavy
gun is fired This is so well understood
that ships in tropical ATTITUDES carry a
cannon for this purpose A tornado on
| land, which is a phenomenon of the same
nature, can be dissipated in the same way.
| My plan in nutshell, then, is to establish
aerial torpedoes, fixed on high light towers
! like the electric towers used in some
| American cities, and so placed that the
! explosion can quickly take place by the
! automatic action of the tornado itself
! The apparatus which have designed and
patented few days ago is so constructed
that wind of tornado intensity will by
simple mechanical means discharge the
powerful explosive with which the maya
zine is loaded.
WILL WORK FOR CENTURY.
'You know that am acquainted with
explosives, and do not exaggerate wher
| say that the apparatus which l have in
mind will keep in perfect working order
without attention for about a century
should use about 200 pounds of the most
powerful explosive in each tower or py
lone. The explosion would develop al
| immense amount of gas under enormous
/ &c a
tornado in it's vicinity At the SAME
time, the explosion, taking place 100 feet
or higher in the air, would dono damage
to buildings or other property lower
down. The number of these towers on
| para tOrnadOes necessary would depend
upon the area and Importance of the town
or buildings to be protected. To furnish
absolute protection it would be necessary
to place them from fifty to one hundred
yards apart, the minimum width Of the
path of a tornado within the dangerous
octant.
Take, for instance, a town three miles
in diameter. The dangerous octant would
be about a mile along it's southwest Dor
der | would place sixty para tornadoes
in four rows along that section of the cir
conference. That would represent ar
expense of about $4,000, less probably
! than the cost of lightning rods for the
4 same town. The principal portion of the
expense would be in the erection of the
towers, which might be of either wood OF
iron. Five hundred dollars for each para
tornado would surely cover all expense.
There would, of course, be no expense Of
maintenance except for an occasional
coat of paint. A tornado once dissipateC
by explosion or otherwise will not reform
within several miles, so that there is NJ
necessity for the erection of safer guards
within city. Such is my system. WheI
we consider that hundreds of lives and
millions in property are swept away il
America, it really seems worth while tC
spend a few thousands in fighting lorna
does"