Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-12-13
THINK-TANK FOR SHIPS.
ne Solarometer Figures Out Prob
lens Just Like a Sea
Captain.

England's crack transatlantic flyer,
Sai1pahla, ON her next trip out from New
I ork, will carry an American invention
when, according to the World, will. to
a large extent, simplify the intricate nrob-
lein OF determining vessels position
at sea. The instrument, patented lately
IN all maritime countries, is the inyen-
!lon or Lieut. Beehler, of the hydrogranh-
&c once at Washington. He has given
~ ~ 1t tne distinctive name of solarometer.
Inc advantages he claims for if, if horne
our oy actual experience, will give the
i iieW INVENTION precedence over the time
iioiloreu seXtant. In explaining his in
slruinent, the lieutenant calls attention
" lhe unrellablllty of compasses aboard
IRON or steel ships. A metal shin with
aIec1ed compasses is liable at a time
when all hands think there is sea room
1nonsh to go piling hard and fast ashore.
=: w TN tnls invention of Lieut. Beehler's it
Is possible at all times to determine the
error in the compass A great noint ;s
It's freedom from the necessity of having
apsolute observations of the sun. When
the sun is obscured for days at a time
Iie sup master has to depend upon a
uead reckoning, in many cases productive
OF dlsaster 1t is seldom that twenty
TOUR hours pass by without either some
star or the sun showing itself and al
though it is difficult matter to take an
observation from a star with a sextant,
IL is perfectly easy to do so with the
solarometer.
-, In appearance the solarometer is more
IKE skeleton baseball than anything
eise. II rests upon a stand of cast-iron
ABOUT 81 inches in diameter and feet
high. On top of this stand there is a largo
cast-lron bowl, balanced on knife edges
resting on stel ring. Dramatically oppo-
site to the knife edges on the bowl there
are knife edges on steel ring, which rest
on a stand, forming what is known as a
gmbal, device used in keeping nautical
Instruments motionless and horizontal
while the ship is pitching and rolling. The
cast-lron bowl is weighted at the bottom
70 make 1T swing like pendulum, and in
SIDE the hemisphere, resting upon float
ing stand is the instrument proper. The
hoat is made in two parts and consists OF
Two bowls, concentric hemispheres. The
inner bowl is filled with lead, from which
rises steel column holding the solarome-
ter. The base of the bowl is flat, parallel
to the horizontal plane passing through the
top OF the BOWL and at the center of the
bottom there is ball and socket joint
which holds the two bowls together. Annu-
lar grooves are cut into both bowls to keep
them from booking, after the same theory
curry. The weight of the inner bowl
filled with lead, determines the amount of
mercury required between the inner and
outer floating bowls. The float is entirely
independent of the outer bowl, the mercury
alone holding it suspended The instru-
ment consists of series of concentric
rings representing circles of the nautical
astronomical triangle.
The principle upon which the instrument
works is that it is at certain moment
fixed at the intersection of two circles, one
passing through the poles the other
through the observers zenith. No elabo-
ratd calculations are necessary-the instru-
ment does all the thinking.