The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-14

one to bear. the pressure necessary to lift
one hundred tons weight. The weight OF
the wreck is estimated at seven thousand
tons, so that it will be necessary for no
less than seventy of these monster magnets
to be used in connecting the lifting ma
chimes on the pontoons connected with the
If it is shown that the force of the mag
netc nIiuence is not sufficiently great to
stand The strain that will be put upon it
when the work of raising the ship begins,
then the magnet will be broken away from
the insufficient embrace, and new spot ON
the ships sides played for until firm hold
When all the magnets have been thus
IlXed the work of raising the wreck will be
begun On the pontoons are to be powerful
hydraulic rams and dynamo machines, and
theSe VIII get to work on the lifting pro-
cess. Each lifting cable will be attached to
the lifting pontoon by means of sheave
on the head of a hydraulic lifting ram hav-
ing a stroke of twelve feet, which would
give an effective lift of twenty-four feet.
Each hydraulic cylinder on the pontoon
would be connected with all the others, and
balancing accumulation would prevent any
rope gettlng more than normal strain OF
When the rams have all made their full
stroke the lifting cables will be simultane-
hydraulic lifting blocks. The rams will Their
be lowered and another lift of twenty-four
rect given to the wreck, and this operation
VIII be repeated until by patient work the
great battle ship is raised so near the sur
face as to allow of her being towed to shall
lower water and then beached-
THINK TT CAN BE DONE.
All this will be the work of a great deal
OF time but the consensus Of scientific opin-
ion is that 1t can be performed When 1t is
considered that the Victoria cost to build
no less sum than $S,0OOOOO, it is worth the
attempt at an immense cost, as but part Of
her armament is injured, and the compare
lively small-sized hole that sunk her can
ff,l -
the cost Of raising the battle ship by means
of the electromagnetic shows that it can
be done for less than $4,000, SO that the
government will be an immense gamer tf
the work is successfully completed. In a
small way the test of this novel method OF
raising a sunken battle ship has already
been made by the government Bankruptcies
ana were 1T not for the slowness with which
Ine admiralty officials take up any new
suggestion, however feasible it may seem.
the Victoria might have been raised long
ago.
When the idea was first suggested by an
electrical expert, the government officials
We're sufficiently impressed with 1t to allow
a demonstration to be made with a model
snip, the depth OF water, the lifting capacity
OF the magnets and all things being, rela-
lively, the same as those Of the forthcoming
undertaking Into depth of water that
the immersed model, the depth of the Med
terranean where the Victoria is sunk, there
were lowered number of magnets that
lively as those that will be used in the
work described. The magnets readily att
tached themselves to the sides of the sunk
en- model. and the little boat was easily
raised to the surface of the tank in which
1T had been sunk. The demonstration OF
the Success of the experiment was met by
the objection that the sides of the
model were clean steel. and the water
was pure, - that the magnets are
easily attached 1t was argued that a YES
sci that had been in salt water as long as
the Victoria would be covered with har-
nacles, and encrusted with salt to such an
extent that 1T would not be possible to
md clean spot where the magnets could
attach themselves with sufficient power to
make the lifting possible. The wreck being
too deep for divers, it would not be possible
to send them down TO clean spots where
the magnets could find a lodging space and
the raising of the Victoria by means of the
usual process would prevent her being
raised by the proposed magnetic method
the depth of water would not permit divers
to assist in work that the magnets could
not do for themselves.
The electrical experts contended that the
cleanliness Of the sides of the vessel was prob
ably much exaggerated. The water IN which she
had sunk was not so foul was suggested, and
in all probability it would be found that the
the presence OF foreign matter and the rest, OF
course, would be plain sailing
1t Is so simple when It is thought out that the
wonder is that has raised sunlen steel
vessels by thi means before On a mammoth
Gale II Is precisely the same the boyist method
Of finding lost needle with a tiny magnet. In
this instance The needle is sunk four hundred
and fifty feet beneath the waves and weighs
1000 tons. The magnets that 90 looking for IL
proportionatey bigger than the schoolboy's
magnet, and they have TO grope their own way
towards the needle, instead OF being guided there
by hand.
1t is marvellous when viewed from the stand
point OF the stupendous magnitude OF the UNDER
taking, but when viewed in the comparative way
suggested. II Is as simple many other moasrn
scientific wonders.