The Portland daily press., 1895-12-28

VINO was in balloon within, [ would
say, three miles.even of the explosion of
ooo pounds of dynamite.
have thought that it is possible to
construct an aerial torpedo on lines some
"hat similar to those OF yacht. That is
che body should be narrow, and possibly
pointed at each end, to give as little re-
sistance as possible. For elevating and
pfopelling power think that sails just
Ike pillow slips, two Of them made out
OF some strong stuff, filled with air, would
suffice. With such sails the vessel could
De guided. Once that difficulty is got
ten over the rest is easy. We could wall
aHord to send up a weight Of a hundred
OF such torpedoes to destroy million or
TWO dollar warship that was Smelling one
OF our cities. 1t would be business
proposition, and We would have a great
deal the best Of it, Now that war seems
possible even, l think year or so will
produce some engines such as I have in
mind. have not worked up the data
yet, the idea is simply running through
my head, but the thing can be built.
SHIP DESTRUCTION.
Now, it's not SO easy to get close up
to city and she'll it if the harbor is
properly guarded. First, there are the
bigaguns on shore that can do as effective
work as guns on board ship. True, a
warship is speok in proportion to a oity
for mark, but these new range finders
that they are improving so rapidly now
adays are bringing craftsmanship down
to very fine point. Once they locate a
ship, it's very easy thing to drop a
dynamite shell from a pneumatic gun
somewhere in her vicinity. Range find
myers, you see, equalize things bit
why" he continued rapidly, "no feet
of warships could possibly enter New
York harbor, even if the defending posts
had all been reduced. You can torpedo
those waters SO thickly that nothing
afioat could navigate them. 1 think the
present system is to run lines of torpedoes
across the harbor and fire them by cleo
tricity, as the objects to be destroyed pass
over them. This system can be greatly
improved upon, I think, in many ways.
For instance, what's the matter with put
ting out a number of structures on which
wheel could be placed? This, sunk to
the bottom of the sea with cable around
it, would give you an endless cable that
could be kept in motion just like the
cables that run the street railroads. Tor
pedoes could be attached to these cah les
and run out as far or near the shore as
desirable. Its.location at any tims of its
travel could be traced just as readily as
if it were stationary. The torpedo could
be cut loose and allowed to shoot toward
the surface by some magnetic arrange
mont and would discharge itself when the
pressure of the water on it's top was light
ened. A few of these cables run out in
various directions would make the harbor
a mine Of death. Nothing afloat could
| live in it. There is nothing to prevent
this being done tomorrow. So you see
how quickly defenses can be found
| ELECTRIC POWER APPLIED.
| Electric power can lie applied in SC
many different ways that I am convinced
it will furnish the machines to derent
this country against all foreign attack
Are we in advance with electrical ap
planes? Beyond question. Our
officers from Annapolis and West Poin1
are we'll equipped with information.
am sometimes astonished to find how wei
posted they are in the practical workings
of the great power. Lieutenant Zalinski
who struck Off and gave us the combina
tion of the pneumatic guns and the dyna
mite gun, will certainly give us another
engine of even greater power. I have ar
idea for gun that will permit the firing
of dynamite direct. The dynamite is Sc
| quick and the air SO slow that they can
not make a gun for the purpose that will
not burst. What would do would be tc
make four cannons in one. That is, one
in the center, another rim around that
a third around the second and fourth
around the third. Load all of them ano
then when you fire them together the
load between the first and second rims
will furnish sufficient resistance to tn,
load in the first tube to prevent tina
|
in similar manner, thus keeping you
gun intact. 1 made some experiment tt
and they were encouraging, but other
things have occupied my attention. You
see. nothing is supplied as rule unit
there is demand and that demand ha
never before existed.
Ionoe had wild idea that could max
a big cannon and put another loaded littl
cannon inside of it. The little cannon
could then be fred twelve miles and ar
irving at that distance, could shoot itsel
off, thereby giving you twenty -four
mile shot 1t wouldn't work though
| LESS USE FOR BIG SHIPS.
II am beginning to believe that tn
uses of big boats are growing less. Yol
see little things like torpedo boats can b.
made so fast with these small higl
power engines that they can plant a min
and get away before harm can be don
therein. They are SO easily handled, too
and require only handful of men. Suol