The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-14

would be The best if it succeeded at
an Tor tie telegraph and possibly the
1elephpne' could be used.
me Capacity of Water TO Garry
Failing to secure a sufficiently good
result from the process of induction. 1
. rniiik good results could be obtained by
ulizlnS the immense capacity which
water has for carrying sound. 1t is a
Wen known fact that a submarine
dlVer when on the bottom of a river
can note any disturbance over a large
{ area OF its surface He can. for in
stance, hear the throbbing of a steam
er'S engines. or the noise of it's paddle
or propeller wheels. even though the
steamer be mile or more away. TAX
ing advantage of this phenomenon, an
apparatus could be arranged in the
/. Keel OF every vessel for transmitting
series of tootS. or throbbing sounds.
which could be received and trans
mitted by other vessels within a rea-
sonable distance. Down on the stern of
a vessel and deep under water. l would
nave constructed a diaphragm operated
by compressed air. I would expect TO
obtain from this a series of explosive
sounds which. could be sent reVerber-
ating- r all directions. The apparatus
would also be arranged to receive re-
VerberattYe sounds. The Morse code
would be used. of course. The vessel
needing help would begin footing out
an agreed upon signal Of distress, for
the length in time OF one minute. Then
the operator would wait minute for
a reply. Failing to get it he would sig
nal for another minute. Then wait
minute. and so on. until reply was re-
ceiVed. OF course. a vesesl might be
surrounded by area of water larger
than the sound carrying capacity of
her apparatus. She would then have
to go on signaling until she steamed
into the area of another vessel. orsuntil
another vessel steamed into her area.
should say that such an apparatus
could control an area of ten or fifteen
miles in every direction. though this
also would be learned by experiment.
Complete Protection Against Col
IisiOns at Sea.
IF the induction process can be put
into operation it would do away with
nearly all collisions which are due to
the negligence of lookouts, or to the
impenatrability Of a fog. Long before
the vessels were within hailing dis
lance their captains would know ali
about each other the speed of the
vessels, what direction they were go
ing, name, and everything, in fact,
that il would be necessary to know.
That other great danger to ships at
seattle iceberg, might be looked after
by employing some Vibratory appara-
tus capable of producing a musical
note, which would be disturbed by the
immense blocking up of the clear space
of atmosphere. This phenomenon,
changing the musical note in an instru-
ment, has been observed and tested in
the west, the buttes of the plains act
ing in place of the iceberg.
1T was my idea that steam vessels |
capable Of carrying an electric plant
should be compelled TO flash the Morse !
code upon the clouds by means of the
searchlight. If a large steamer would /
do this during a storm the chances of /
collisions with other steamers would /
be greatly lessened. The low-lying /
clouds would receive a series of dots /
and dashes in light that would be very /
effective. Even in clear weather the |
operation of such a system would not (
be bad practice"
The Inventions Made and Making.
Mr. Edison is confident that some
method will be placed in operation be-
fore long. Several patents on appara-
tus designed to insure the safety of the
sea-going public have been issued by
the Washington office. Edison has al
apparatus on the stocks, as it is. When
it is perfected it may prove to be one
of those reVolutiOniZing forces such as
have been the photograph, the electric
light and the kaleidoscope. 1t is no.
to be made public as yet, for if there
is anything the inventor delights in 1t
is to make the unbelieyer eat boiled
crow" Therefore he keeps most of his
schemes as private as possible. until