The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-04-30

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is to be attached by a copper wire to a
powerful dynamo at the firing station.
Being fred, it will carry the wire with it.
rent will be sent when the bomb has
alighted on a hostile ship.
Examiner Seely. chief of the division of
electricity at the patent office, has4devised
an electrical gun for throwing a cantinu-
Gus stream OF projectiles containing high
explosives. The weapon is a tube com
posed of q series of wire coils, and it lis fed
with the explosive shells from a hopper.
Along the tuberuns a copper channel, and
wires AFRO so attached as to connect the two
ends of the u with q battery. The con-
triyance is very simple, being of the sort
known to electrical experts as . "sele-
mold" The spherical projeotile, as it
runs through the tube, closes the circuit
at q series of points and obtains o steadily
augmented velocity, being fnallNproject-
ed from the mouth Of tho gun with force
enough to throw it six miles.
A gun of this description, concealed be-
hind a hill or embankment, could project
a steady rain of bursting projectiles upon
ships at sea or into a fort occupied by the
enemy. It would be silent as well as in
visible. no report and no smoke accom-
panying it's discharge. OF course there
would DO no danger of the bursting of q
projectile in tho tube-that peril always so
dreaded when dynamite is used in guns
because the she'll would receive nc shock
in being thrown.
Two inventors of Russian birth, named
Bernaaos and Olszewski. have offered q
scheme by which steel ships may be bored
as full Of holes as SO many colanders. 1t
is perfectly practicable, too, apparently.
There arc various ways in which it .aighs
BIO carried out, but preferably a submarine
boat is employed. Having arrived at .
point Immediately beneath the vessel that
is to be attacked, the operator attaches a
copper wire to her bottom. The wire is
connected with a powerful battery. and to
the latter is also hitched a second wire,
which terminates in a carbon stick, such
as is used for arc lights. Taking this stick
in his hand, the operator holds 1t close TO
contact, and the current being turned on
the metal melts and runs like so much
wax. Only a short time is required to
bore q great many holes.
Captain e. i. Zalinski, the we'll known
inventor of the pneumatic dynamite gun,
has contrived a flying torpedo which is
calculated to work a lot of mischief, con-
tanning, as it does, a quantity of high ex-
plosives, together with an electric battery
to set them off when the proper moment
arrives. The battery is of a chemical ma
ture, and the chemicals are put into it
dry. So long as they remain dry no cleo
trieai action is excited and the apparatus
is harmless. Thus the projectile may be
fired by q u with perfect safety. 1t is
intended to be thrown into the water near
a hostile ship. A hole in the shell is plug
ged with gelatin, which is presently
melted, and the water, entering. energizes
the battery exploding the torpedo and dis
tributing the onemy's vessel over the
briny waves in fragments not too large
for kindling.
Another sort of use for which projectiles
of this kind are recommended is tho clear
ing away of set torpedoes in harbors. Be-
ing thrown ahead of a ship, they may be
SO timed as to burst soon after reaching
bottom, exploding mines in the channel.