Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-07-15
CABLE LAYING IN WAR TIM
Now Device Submitted to the British
Government.

CAbLE LA sN0 tN WAN
Now Device Submitted to the British
Government.
An inveution has lately been sub
mitted to the British naval authorities
which, If accepted, will undoubtedly
prove an important factor in future
naval warfare The designers are
Lieut.. Crutchley, Of the royal navy re-
serve, and Mr.. Smell, all engineer, VINO
have devised an improved ipethod OF
laying submarine cables at much
increased rate of speed. BY means OF
this invention a warship or trans
atlantic liner can be used to lay ca
bile of special design at rate OF TWEEN
ty knots an hour. 1t requires little al
teration to adapt these vessels to the
purpose. Many experiments have been
made with view to telegra0hy With
out wires, but so far unsuccessfully at
any but the shortest distances, ana
England's only present comfort IN such
difficulties has been that she Is In pos
session of nearly all the special cable
laying and repairing vessels. NOW
Messrs. Smell and Crutchley step IN
with a scheme which would seem to
lay at rest the veXed question OF the
transmission of orders, even If the enc
my has succeeded in cutting existing ca
bles. The differences between the pres
ent and the new system of laying SUD-
marine cables are many and varied. To
start with, the new cable is much
lighter and less expensive than the
ponderous affair used for spanning the
Atlantic. Three hundred knots weigh
only 1870 tons, while the price averages
only $500 knot. Coiled on large
drum, these 300 knots, ready for use,
can be slowed away in tank or hold
about the size of large double boiler,
so that a good-sized ship, such as
cruiser or liner, could easily find
room for two such drums, one in the
aft and the other in the forehold. Here
would be 700 miles Of cable, weighing
only $50 tons, slowed away ready for
immediate use. Another plan Is to car
ry the cable on small drums holding
but forty knots each and jointed to-
gether; these drums possess the merit
of being light and portable and also
easily put away. The paying out OF
the cable Is accomplished simply, en-
gines of $50 horsepower being util-
lied to revolve the large carrying drum
and giving a delivery speed Of over
twenty knots an hour Now it is neces-
sary in laying a cable that certain
amount of slack should be available, so
that the cable can accommodate itself
to the frequent inequalities OF the
ocean bed and not become tign.ly
stretched from one prominence to an
other, thus throwing an excessive
strain on the paying-out machinery
Accordingly, for length of 300 knots
blight or slack of 1000 feet is allowed,
and is carried on pair Of drums which
are stationed midway between the
stern and the main drum. The cable
passes from these bobbins to revolv-
| ing pulley at the ships stern, which
literally elects the wire at speed
which can, If necessary, be made great
er than the rate of delivery at the tank.
A controlling apparatus is attached to
the slack-carrying drums to prevent the
using up of the blight too suddenly un-
til the strain becomes sufficient to over
come this resistance. Before the 1000
feet have been absorbed in this way it
is evident that the ships speed can be
diminished little, so that the excess
rate of delivery will soon again accu-
mulate slack. The results attained by
this system in actual work are said to
be marvellous; of course, there Is moth
sign, but usually these simple ideas,
though brilliant in theory, seem to col.
lapse when put to thorough test in
practice. The Snell-Crutchley inven.
ton, however, does not appear to be-
long to this class, and the inventors
have demonstrated satisfactorily that
ship able to make twenty knots can
easily pay out twenty-one knots of ca
BILE, the extra knot being compensation
for the uneven floor of the sea. A SIM
pie calculation shows that commune
cation can be established by these
means between points 700 miles dis
tant within a space of thirty hours,
and the cable, once laid, would be per-
manent, at least as cables go. Nothing
unusual Is visible to passing ship
save perhaps what would look like a
taut rope trailing astern, and even that
could be concealed without difficulty.
The work can be as we'll done at night
as In the daytime, requiring little su-