Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-23

eity aud she'll Il n ire harbos y properly
guarded. FiSst, there are the big guns on
shore that can DO u effective work q guns
on board ship True, . warship il . speck
In properties 10 city Tor , mark, but these
new range finders thas they are improving
70 rapidly nowadays are bringing hartman
ship to = very fine point. Once they locate
: ship it's = very easy matter to drops dyna-
mite shell from 4 pneumatic gun somewhere
Id her vicinity. Range inder. you see.
equalise thinRs . bit"
Mr.. Edison VA getting interested in his
subject. His eyes were al aglow and two
heavy vertical creases appeared in his fore
head.
''Why," he continued rapidly, emo fleet
Of war ships could possibly enter New York
harbor, even if the defending posts had all
been reduced. You can torpedo those
waters 10 thickiy that nothing afioat could
navigate them. l think the present system
Is to run lines of torpedoes across the harbor
and fire them by electricity as the objects to
be destroyed passes over them. This sys-
tenn can be greatly improved upon, / think
in many ways. For instance, what's the
matter with putting out a number Of struc-
lures on which a wheel could be placed7
This, sunk on the bottom Of the SEA with a
cable around It. would give you an endless
cable that could be kept in motion just like
the cable that run the street railroads. Tor
pedoes could be attached to these cables
and run out as far or near the shore as de-
sirable. Its location at any time 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 sur
face by some magnetic arrangement and
would discharge itself when the pressure Of
the water on its top was lightened. A few
OF those cables run out in various directions
would make the harbor a mine of death.
Nothing afoat could live in it. There is
nothing to prevent this being done tomorrow.
So you see how quickly d~efenses can be
found.
Electric power can be applied in so many
different ways that am convinced it will
furnish the machines to defend this country
against all foreign attack. We are in ad-
vance with electrical appliances7 Beyond a
question. Our officers from Annapolis and
West Point are well equipped with infcrma-
ton. am sometimes aseonished to find
how we'll posted they are in the practical
workings of the great power. Lieut.. Ia
linski, who struck off and gave US the com
bination Of the pneumatic gun and the
dynamite gun will certainly give us another
engine of even greater power. l have an
idea for a gun that will permit the firing of
dynamite direct. The dynamite is so quick
and the air SO slow that they cannot make a
gun for the purpose that will not burst.
What l would do would be to male four
cannons into one. That is, one in the cen
ter, another rim around that, a third around
the second, and q fourth around the third.
Load all Of them, and then when you FIRE
them together the load between the first and
second rims will furnish sufficient resistance
10 the load in the first tube to prevent that
bursting and the other loads would act in a
similar manner, thus keeping your gun in
tact. made some experiments and they
were encouraging, but other things have oc-
cupied my attention. You see, nothing is
supplied as a rule until there is a demand
and that demand has never before existed.
IL once had a wild idea that Icould make
q big cannon inside Of it. The little cannon
could then be fred I2 miles and, arriving at
that distance, could shoot itself, thereby Civ
ing you a 24-mile shot. 1t wouldn't work,
though.
/ am beginning to believe that the uses of
big boats ate growing less. You see, little
things like torpedo boats can be made 20
fast with these high power engines that they
can plant q mine and get away before harm
can be done therin. They are 20 easily
handled, too, and require only = handful Of
men. Such beats con be thrown together in
no time at q cost that is really trifing as com
pared to the big frst-class cruiser. A my
Rad Of such little fighting devils would be
more effective than q single battle ship.
Many might be destroyed in e~ndeavoring to
place their mines. but If one ever got through
the line Of FIRE close enough to ERE its pro-
jectile all would he over with the big fellow.
High explosives have done more than the
average man thinks to equalize the strength
Of nations. What it o an army to do
years ago . handful Of men can do low. l
believe there are Z hundred men today-ir-
venton-who are not paying attention to
destructive engines because they did not be-
lieve the government wanted them, who
could turn out some new, devilish thing that
would horrify. the. civilized world. Eiectri.
city b such Z flexible power that it can be
put to many uses that ore not thought Of to-
day. 1t IS easily handled, requires but little
space and gives marvellous results. For that
submarine boat, though, it would not be
necessary to use electric power the propell-
ing force could be secured from chemicals,
such as carbonic acid gas or hydrogen. Any
vapors could Be consumed over again.
It there is q wal with England, which I
trust there never win be, you may quote me
a. saying there will be ZONE remarkable
things done by Americans. For myself, l
will say that I will abandon all else and give
my whole energy to the service Of my coun-
try. The dynamite gun should be taken up
first. It should be expierimented with more.
It can be built 20 cheaply and made 80 much
more powerful With that in the shape II
can be put in the fleetest war vessels on the
seas would have to keep q very respectful
distance from 4 shore where one was planted.
A vessel armed with . dozen dynamite guns
would be . terror Of the seas.
..But there, I've talked more and find that
know more about these things than
thought / did. I've said quite enough"
And q moment later the famous inventor
was working among his chemicals with the
energy Of 4 youth.