Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-12-05


 Considered by the Life Saving servic.
 Board-cutting the Throat of the Timit
 With Feather.
 In order that the surfmen who patro our beaches, roady to lend their assist ance to distressed mariners. may have | at their command the most efficient ap paratus inventive genius can suggest, a board on life saving appliances appoint ed by the secretary of the treasury i. connected with the life saving service and eonveHes upon the call of the prosi dent about once a year to consider the merits of all boats, apparatus or meth. eds which may be presented to them with 8 view to adoption in that service if found practicable This board makes public tests of the apparatus presented for adoption, and their report is em- bodiea ia Fia annual report of the life saViag rgiee for the year in which tho inves 4sttions were made.
 Many valuable suggestions ar8 brought 10 the attention of tho board which soc1so for the uso of the service strong li9es and effective gear But son3 of taa schemes and apparatus of. fefed i'll good faith arc so ridiculonsly absurd as to require but very short re port and tho decision is found inn practicable, the board being good enou gh to eat his throat with a feath- CT in ofdar t4at timid genii with meritari9as apparatus may not be un- 1 duly discouraged or frightened tt the 1 decision made upon these devices and thereby deterred from presenting some thing which. might be of incalculable value to humanity.
 One of tl4a peculiar facts aseertained by the investigations of the board is that those who are probably most apt to submit models and descriptions arc those who know least about the real dangers and consequent needs of stranded or stranding vessel Some of the eoneep- tions of the inland residents are truly marvellous.
 Tho subject easily divides itself into three heads: Boats for going out through the surf, apparatus for effeeting com munioation between the shore and 1 stranded vessels, and means for prevent ing strandings. The devices to be con sidered as coming first are most natural ly those to prevent strandings, and only 1 recently q scheme was presented in which the government was urged to stretch very large cable the entire length of the coast some distance from the shore anchored with mushroom an eheTs Thus if vessel were dragging haf anchor she would float over this ca h1e toward the rocks until the fulses of her anchor engaged with the cable, where she would be held safe and sound. No provision is made for preventing tho parting of her chains however. But the scheme of stretching a large cable from Maine to Mexico and stringing thereon mushroom anchors ike bangles on 3 necklace will hardly meet the approval Of congress.
 Another amateur submits sketches and drawings, minus the pretty painted model, however. of D great boat intend ed to run simply by opening gate valve in two large longitudinal tubes which open fore and aft below the Wa ter line The valves are open when the boat is launched, and the water rushes | into the forward intake and passes out at the stern The water, passing out, pushes the boat forward, and the intake 1 helps relieve tho resistance on the bows, so that the boat, of course, is pro- pelled by the water passing through these tubes The boat thus goes on for ever through the surf most speedily be- cause the Watar is driven out through the stern most forcibly ill boistorous sea. To stop the boat the valves are closed.
 Another bright man with less cum- beraoae eonfrivanee, although the ac- tion is as hard or harder to understand, suggests lifeboat or life raft built upon the exact model of a window shutter or blind, arguing that the water, operating upon tho slats, will set them vibrat- ing and that this vibration by it's ae- ton upon it's own motive force will cause the boat to work forward against wind and tide Fathers at Atlantic City couple eff summers ago will no doubt relnamber this inventor and his shutter
 4 heart swelling with pity-it ought to be q woman 's-for tho poor drenched captains s wife, rescued through the mountainous surf from q vessel fast breaking Up, has suggested canvas cover similar to q wagon cover tightly fastened down to tue gunwale as q pro teotion from the wei. The dear soul, however, never stopped to consider the tremendous force with which the break CTS, which at times turn a 34 foot life boat end over, would ride down that fragile protection, burying ill it's folds every one underneath And those mem bers of the board who had served at sea shiYered when they read tho description of this protection" and pictured to themselves their exciting endeayors to extricate themselves from the ruin of the death dealing contrivanee suggested ill love and kindness by an ignorant friend Washington Star.
 Roman House Heaters.