The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1895-04-27
SCIENTIFIC MATTERS.
NEW DISCOVERIES AND INVEN-
TIONs.
Electricity on Steamships-Storage
Battery-Electric Bralxe-''SchoOls"
of Observation-Disclosures Big Flying
Machine.

Electricity is fast dominating the ac-
tive operations entailed in sailing
steamship. AS proof Of the r.pid
progress being made in this direction it
may be noted that of the utilizations
of electricity on shipboard recently pre-
dicted by naval writer as possible
within the next few years every one
is already available. He says:
The fog horns of the future will all
be blown by electricity; wate:-hght
doors located in DO case below the
water line) will be opened by the same
means; the whistles and syrens will be
sounded at set intervals and automatic
ally by the subtle current, and the
search-Gght aloft will be flashed in
every direction, or revolved, or both,
at the touch Of an invisible hand and
by an invisible power. And electricity
will do even more than this. 1t will
wind every clock on ship board and
strike every bell with exact precision.
1t. will discourse exquisite orchestral
music while dinner is being served,
and will play the organ for the church
service on the Sunday evening con-
cert. Even the captains. log can be
sent to the company's office on his
reaching port, and can there be made
to repeat the tones Of his voice, and
without a flaw the details of the voy-
age in his original Photographic dicta-
ton, and with the very howl Of the
tempest for the undertone Of it's story"
The Tesla oscillator, which may revo-
lutonize the construction and operation
of ocean steamships ny dispensing with
the enormous weight and expense of the
present engines and boilers, is not yet
quite ready to drive ships across the
Atlantic, but many novel electrical ap-
pEcs tiCns are announced as shortly to
be used in marine work. The electric
g1ornd trip has, after careful tests,
be found so reliable as an indication of
the proximity of shoals OF submarine
obstrucfons that it may be regarded
as already practically available.
A system Of telephones is about to be
introduced whereby communication can
be instantly had direct, without the
interv ention of a central station, not
only between the captains cabin and
other points, but between all parts of
the ship, the system Of intercon1muni-
cation being absolutely perfect. A late
suggestion is to use the automatic
SpTIutA1eI Ill SuupS uOIuS, OIL Tie Sdue
principle as that in use in mills and
factories, for extinguishing fires as soon
as they are started, and thus avoiding
a dependence upon the watchfullness
of attendants or the enforced Opening
of air vents in closed apartments. BY
this method, as soon as the incipient
fire raises the temperature Of the
apartment to certain point, the valve
of the sprikler is opened and a deluge
of water falls and puts out the fire.
Another suggestion, which, however,
has not yet taken practical shape, bears
on the better protection of vessels from
danger of collision in fogs. 1t is pro-
posed that steamships shall send, for
ward at very long range in their path
Of travel harmless but loudly detonating
dynamite explosives to convey a warn
ing to any vessel within the radius Of
half or even a full mile away, and it
IS thought that some form Of an electric
al torpedo may prove to be the most
effective means of carrying out the
illea