The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-19
ELECTRICITY in WAR
EDISON TALKS OF ITS DEATH DEAL
ING POSSIBILITIES.

Somewhere Edison read once that somo
nremen Mt work on building where there
were lot OF electric wires overhead wore
rather severely shocked. Tho stream from
ono of tho lines Of hose hit ono of tho
wires. Tho heavy current leaked from
tho wires and ran down tho stream, shock
ing the nozzle mon.
II hadn't thought Of that before" Edi-
son seid to tho Sun mon, $50 I tried it
with IN induction coil and oat, 1t
worked oil right. That was the last OF
tho cat.''
When Edison began to think about mp
piiances useful In war, no thought of that
stream OF water. The difficulty of throw
Ing stream OF water any considerable
distance precludes the possibility of its use
as means of attack, but for defensive
purposes, Edison says, 1t is absolute
against certain forms of attack.
He has devised n fluid which, because of
ATS greater viscosity, can be- propelled in
solid stream through nozzle much
creator distance than water
Suppose you were defending On en-
trcnchment, breastworks-any sort of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. u charge. You take
lot OF little MOBILES, throwing streams
less than half an inch in diameter can
throw such stream with fluid of nv
own preparation ut least 600 feot 1
wouldn't stand in front of 1t at 900 feet.
You can charge that fluid with 5000
volts, and it will kill on the instant of
contact. A one horsepower engine will
furnish all tho power needed. 1t takes
power to produce amperago, but it's volt
ago that kills. and that Is easily produced.
The boiler and dynamo could DO luggcd
around In ono horse wagon. All you
need besides is powerful pump. Take
half dozen nozzlos, arranged on swivels,
and tho attacking force couldn't got near
your Notifications. 1t would be perfectly
easy to place tho dynamo and machinery
underground, whore artillery couldn't
possibly injuro them. Why, that thing is
absolute"
You apparently have no doubt what
ever about tho killing properties of cleo
trioity," said Tho Sun man
'Kill2 Why, killed dog out here in
ono on-thousandth part of n second"
"How did you measure tho time?''
Edison laughed. Then, with Jerk of
his thumb toward tho ceiling no said:
Rugged weight up there. We know
how fast weight falls by tho simple ut
traction of gravity. We put brass scale
beside tho weight. The turning ON of tho
current that killed the dog released tho
weight and it began to fall. Shutting off
tho current arrested tho weight again.
The current was turned on. and off as
quickly rs possible. The dog was dead and
the weight had fallen two onc-hundrcdths
OF an inch. 1t took it ono ten-thousandth
Of second to do that. That's tho time
it took to kill tho dog
Then Mr.. Edison talked about tho pro-
lection of harbors by torpedocs 1t would
be very simple, he said, to construct tor
pedo defenses for New York, or any other
harbor, for that matter. 1t can be dono
quickly and ut little cost. Accurate md
careful surveys of all the important har-
bors on tho Atlantic and Pacific scaboards
arc in the possession of the government
engineers. They know tho depth of wator,
the location of bars and tho character of
tho bottom. Taking New York hurbor rs
an illustration, he said:
Suppose you stretch an endless cable
from Rockaway over toward Long Branch.
Put IL farther out if that doesn't keep the
enemy's ships far enough away. Mako it
from Fire Island to Spring Lake if neces-
sary. Sink this cable to the bottom md
work it around wheels Just ns the bridge
cablo Is worked, SO that it can be moved
forward and back. Insuato it so that it
can be charged with electricity. Then at
tach torpcdoes to it every 200 feet or so, as
near together as is necessary to mako tho
ohihb ouio ahp SIcCtlNO. IneS0 UOrDOQOe9
will stand on end in tho water and can be
built so that they will rise to tho surface
as soon rs they arc freed from the cable.
The pressure of the water on the diaphragm
keeps tho circuit broken. When tho tor
pedo Is released from the cable it rises to
tho surface. AS it rises the pressure OH the
diaphragm decreases. If tho torpeCo rises
under Ship tho force of tho impact sots
it off and blows the ship out of water.
But If it misses tho ship it goes off when
1t reaches the surface, BECAUSE tho pressure
on the diaphragm being removed, tho cir
cult would be completed just as if by i'm
pact.
"Now, by having long string of those
torpedoes on movable cable, it would be
possible to hit any ship that tried to got
in. The operator of the cable, at his in
land observatory, watches tho ships cal
oulate their position with his range finder.
he knows where his torpedoes are, and at
tho proper time he pushes the button and
frees two or three of them Tho result is
the destruction of tho ship. If it should
BIO thought possible for ship to get by
one such cable it would be easy enough
to have moro than ono. The coast would
be lined with them, and the protection of
the city would be absolute. Torpedo catch
ers would not be effective against such O
ucicnso' pechuse II they began graphing
Tor the cable the first touch of their Crap
ping irons would notify the operator.
All no would have to do would be to free
couple of torpedoes. That would be tho
end of the torpedo catcher. 1t wouldn't
be necessary to hit him with one of them.
They would be sure to explode somewhere
near him, and lie couldn't stand the con-
cussion. New York Sun.
A Cute Negro.
A good story is told of an old negro who
lives out on tho Vinovillo branch. The
line that marks the city limits is ONLY a