Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-10-24
SAFE RAVENS IN MIDOCEAE
An inventor Has a Safe Ocean
Pathway Planned.
He Would Establish u Line Of ata.
tions Across the Atlantic With
life Saving Buoys ut
short Intervals.

New YORK. oct. l5.--An ocean high
way. as perfect as any road on land. Is
now claimed by the man who devised
Il to be possible, and it may be estab-
lished, :; the plan, which has been sub
United TO the United States govern
ment, Is carried out 1t is "A gigantic
project, which will close up the rift OF
six days which comes into The life Of
everyone who now crosses the ocean.
This is the plan of which some men
ton has been made: Reuben IL. Plass
II Brooklyn is the inventor. Ii provides
for the establishment OF a chain of sta
lions across the ocean, located at dis
tances and under conditions. the inven-
tor claims. that will easily permit in
tercourse with every part of the and
should a merchant wish to communi-
cate with the captain OF one of his
steamers it would be possible to do so
by intercepting he steamer I'm mid
ocean or elsewhere along the chain OF
stations.
Should a passenger change his mind
n the trip over, or for any reason desire
20 return without completing the voy-
age a landing could be effected at one
IF the stations a ship on the return
voyage communicated with and the
passenger taken off. by constant COM
munication between land and those
ocean stations a daily paper could be
printed on each. so giving TO ocean pas
sengers each day n record Of the worlds
loings.
Its Life Saving Advantages.
But these are only minor matters in
the inventors category OF invaluable
results that would follow the estab-
lishment of his chain of sea stations.
The great idea that prompted him TO
work with enthusiasm on his scheme
was the humane one of life saving. 1t
will be seen that if the inventor can
AIRY out what he claims the days when
shipwrecked sailors were forced to
spend weeks of suffering in an open
BOAT while toiling to reach land would
be but memories for novelists to make
capital of.
The life saving pfan provides for the
establishment Of small floating light
houses placed at intervals Of a mile,
unsuitable lighted by heacons that
would burn by automatic means and re-
quire attention bur nee in four or six
months, and provided with fog horns
that would sound their warning notes
In fierce blasts by means of compressed
air, stored automatically by the rock
ing motion of the buoy. These auto
matte fog horns would be heard a dis
lance of five miles, and the lost mariner
would simply have To steer in the direc-
ton Of the sound to ind safety from the
waves in an unsuitable. floating island
of the ocean. From the surface OF the
water ladders would be placed to enable
shipwrecked travellers to reach the deck
IF the buoy, and from the deck by open
ing a keyless door, admittancc would
he gained TO the interior of the buoy.
rhe opening OF the door would send
an alarm ringing down the cham OF
buoys until the call for help would
each "a station where willing hands
would be ready to dispatch instant aid
to the castaways.
warmth and Food on Buoys.
MEANWHILE, they would have OK
changed the terrors OF life in an open
boat miles from land for the warm IN
terror Of the unsuitable life buoy, where
food would await them and where they
could rest in perfect contentment,
knowing that succor would come as
fast AS human hands could bring it.
So much for the humane side of the
inventors gigantic SCENE. The useful
side is scarcely less interesting. Upon
the turreted deck Of each buoy would
be placed "A series Of Independent
gauges, connected with an automatic
instrument, which would record contin-
ually. day and night, the temperature
Of the ocean, the velocity of the current,
the direction of the current, the rain
fan in inches. the barometric pressure
and the velocity and direction of the
wind. The inventor claims that by
means of his Instruments he could
transmit all these records automatic
ally to instruments on land, togther
with the exact location of the buoy on
which the record would be made, so
that 1t would be possible at any time to
ing in midocean or whether ii would be
Necessary to wear oveTcoats or carry
fans in any particular section OF the
Atlantic ocean.
The great advantage claimed for this
by the inventor would be that a skip
per who feared that he was about 10
run into a hurricane could ascertain by
making for the nearest life buoy the
exact condition of the Weather at any
point before or behind the ship and
shape his course accordingly.
The floating stations, the inventor
claims, would be securely anchored 10
the bottom Of the ocean.