The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-20

mine some distance away without the
use of wires to connect the mine 10 the
shore.
ELECTRICITY THROUGH WATER.
In a shore station. S, a powerful cleo
trio generator has been set up, the more
power being needed as the work TO be
done IS distant from the station a
large iron plate. V. is sunk in the water
some distance out from the station,
hanging free by means of floats, and
not in contact with the ground. In the
station itself similar plate, I, is sunk
into the earth. Both T and are con-
nected with the generator by wires,
and n The shore end of our apparatus
is now all ready.
"Out on the bottom of the bay or the
sea, there are floating mines, anchored,
and one OF these we will call A. 1t IS
filed with high explosives and an cleo
tric cable, c, absolutely insulated where
il enters the iron shell, a, holds il to
its anchor, which is set deep into the
ground. Inside the shell A, on its side
next TO tie station 5, short bat OF
electric wire B, is fastened, in contact
at one end with the side of the shell
and terminating at the other with
shorter bit Of curled platinum wire.
which in turn is fast to the upper end
of the electric cable c.
Now when il is desired by an oper-
ator in the shore station S to set OF the
mine A. as well as every other mine
similarly arranged in the vicinity, and
blow a whole feet TO smithereens, he
need only to connect his generator with
the wires communicating with. the
plates V and T. The current passing
into V, the water plate at once finds
its way out, some of it through the
water down into the ground below,
some through the water and back into
land. the rest of it out into the water,
and on through the water until il comes
electricity which would thus find its
way through salt water-which is
fairly good conductor-would depend
largely on the character of the bottom.
The resistance between the contact of
the water with a rock bottom would be
considerably greater than the resist
ance through the water to the shell.
Once the latter reached, the current
would be conveyed by the short wire B
to the platinum wire, which at once
becomes incandescent, and eXplodes the
whole mass in the center of which ii is
coiled, the current passing on through
the cable into the ground, and then
back 20 the shore station S.
This fact might be utilized to enable
an officer on shore to telegraph with
out wires to the commander of a ship,
,
receiver might be mounted and con
nected by a wire over the ships side
(the one away from the shore station)
with the earth by an anchor. The steei
side of the ship, toward shore, would
then act instead of the shell, and the
shore plates would be the same.
The magazines of battleships are too
well protected and surrounded by ven
tilating spaces to be in danger of eX-
plOsion from a current of electricity
conveyed to them, directly, through the
water in which the ship is floating. AL
though such an explosion is cOnceiv-
able, were a high explosive allowed to
rest in direct contact with the steel
side Of TIN chip. Nor could her cleo
trio lighting plant be destroyed from
without by electrical means But her
decks might be charged with cleo
tricity enough to kill all on board who
came into contact with it, by some such
device as this. From a station on
shore equipped with a powerful cleo
trio plant mortar might be made
TO fire q, two solid shot over the ship.
each shot having a copper wire at