New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-01
WARFARE WITH TORPEDOES.
HOW THEY ARE MADE AND USED AT THE
PRESENT DAY.

TYPES OF TORPEDO Boats


TYPES OF TORPEDO BOATS
Tho idea Of blowing up a warship by Of
. big charge OF powder placed against her sides
under her bottom. dates from the Revolutionary
War. Captain David Bushnell. OF Pcekskill. ". Y.
tried to destroy Lord Howe's flagship. the Eagle
in New-York Bay in this manner. He also released
floating kegs Of powder, on the Delaware River
With a similar object In view. This first under
taking involved the use OF submarine boat An
other American. Robert Fulton. devised plan for
destroying naval vessels FOR France; and. for ex
hibition purposes. he sank a launch In the harbor
Of Brest in 1901. He too used submarine boat
Besides placing the explosive charge with such
assistance letting 1t drift with river or tidal
current Fulton proposed to have 4 torpedo
anchored in a harbor or channel. making II buoy
ant enough so that It would try 10 float. but tying
II below tho surface Of the water. fourth plan
which he matured TO suspend the torpedo on
tho end Of a long boom. pole projecting from a
small vessel. and TO fire II by running the torpedo
against the enemys ship.
OF these various schemes the aEchoring OF a
buoyant receptacle In a harbor has been the great
est favorite in actual warfare during the present
century At FIRST such torpedo was made TO eI-
plode when any heavy object came against IL
Later the fuse was so alter ed that two things
necessary to ignite it-actual contact with a
ship and a current Of electricity supplied through
insulated wires running to a convenient station on
shore Sometimes such torpedoes were arranged
to be exploded only by electricity
Mines differ from anchored torpedocs but nttla
They lie the bottom OF a haI Dor or river. and
weighted to stay there Originally they
contained gunpowder Of the old fashioned sort
Nowadays ike anchored torpedoes. they filled
with dynamite or gun-cotton. which has a higher
explosive power. The exact position Of each mine
torpedo a harbor is carefully charted. and
some official knows exactly where 1t Is situa,-
ed although the information is kept from the
public Dozens OF them have been placed
in each OF chief Atlantic harbors
Within the last few years two other types Of
torpedo, very much alike, have come into fashion.
They intended TO navigate the waters OF
bay river or the open sea several feet below the
surface What Is called tho controlIable torpedo
Is connected by some insulated wires. bound to-
gether In light cable with land station. from
which, by electricity. It's movements be di-
rected. The FISH" automobile" torpedo has
no such connection with the shore Cor any other
launching station). and swims freely when once
released.
The comfortable torpedo Is a hollow steel shell.
shaped like gigantic cigar. In OF It's forward
compartments 1t carries big charge Of gun-cotton
dynamite Qrom 30 TO go pounds and firing
mechanism which, after its trigger has been set.
will go off the instant the nose OF the torpedo hits
any solid object, such ship. At the rear end
there is a small screw propeller and various rud-
ders. Inside there is tank In which is coiled
up the electric cable. The latter IL about mile
long. and is paid out automatically as the torpedo
travels through the water.
One variety OF the comfortable torpedo Invented
by Edison had upright rods erected near each end.
by means Of which a long horizontal wooden float
was fixed parallel with and six feet above the tor
pedo. Thus the depth to which the latter was sub
merged was easily regulated. Knobs. on still more
slender rods. protruded from tho water and served
a guide TO the operator. The rudder that turns
this fearful missile toward the right or the left is
moved by electricity from shore; but sometimes an
rudder is provided. tending to throw the head
OF the projectile upward or downward. This Is au-
tomaticay controlled by pendulum and other ap-
paratus In the torpedo itself. which corrects any
tendency travel either above below tho proper
lsvol The power to run the electric mstor which
drives the screw Is sometimes anSrAsA ~ sesra0D
AL insfd hA nd