The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-05-07

! bINAI lON OOASl DEF ENOEHs
single and powerful automatic gun.
mounted forward and arranged in such a
manner that upon firing the gun should
completely disappear and the port through
which it fired be automatically closed.
AS the vessels are not intended for dis
tant work, but always to be within easy
touch of a base of supply, the weight other
wise given to coal could in the case Of
these ships be given largely to the engines.
In the semisublnerged condition, OF fight
ing trim, Mr.. Maxim counts upon a speed
of is knots, and, as the vessels are also in
tended to ram, the blow from a moving
body of qnita 5 1000 tons travelling at that
rate would prove destructive to the stout
est craft afioat today. With the water ball
last out and in light cruising trim, be- ex-
poets a speed of something in the neigh
borhood of % knots an hour.
Nikola Tesla claims to have discovered
that it is just as. easy to blow up an enc
my's vessel by means of his oscillator as
it is to send a message by telephone from
one end of the city to the other. The
question of distance between the enemy's
ship and the oscillator does not enter into
consideration at all.
81 can send g message that will reach
to Mars, y says Mr.. Tesla.
The same force that can convey a mes
sage that distance will be able, Mr.. Tesla
thinks, to blow VI the biggest battleshfp
that has ever been af1oat at an equal dis.
lance. ;
The manner Of accomplishing this is Of
course not divulged by the inventor in de-
tail. In a general way, however, he does
not hesitate to say that he simply conveys
an electric spark into the powder maya
zine of the vessel to be blown up and thol
spark and powder do the rest.
"By the aid of powerful machinery the
/ oscillator can be made to start a Migratory
wave,'' said Mr.. Tesla yesterday, (which
would accumulate force as it progressed.
In striking the object against which this
wave is directed 1t does SO with suck q
percussion as would Inevitably explode ii,
the same as if it was struck with a per-.
cussion cap"
This news will be more pleasing tol
those sailing In Uncle Sans ships than
to the sailors of Spain, for Mr.. Tesla will
undoubtedly offer the use of his invention
to the United States government. If his
offer Is aceepted-and there does not ap-i
pear to be any reason why it should mott
be-the best thing Spain could do would
be to begin to hustle to get all her ships
relieved of ammunition. Every pound OF
explosive in their magazines, no matter
bow securely stored away, is but SO much
menace to their safety.
The only condition to the success oil
Mr.. Tesla's operations is that he be cor.
reetly posted as to the location Of the vcs-f
sci ho desires giving the quietus TO. In
order to be able to ascertain this to a GER
tainty another phase of the oscillator can
10 nolIofJ 3,,fo rna.1fcf&fCy, vVhop fhfc n1rti
of the mechanism has been perfected, it
is safe to predict that no nation ON the
face of the earth will ever care to GO to
war, as it's own weapons will be more
formidable against itself than the armies
and navies of its enemies could ever be.
Professor Garrett p. Seryiss declares
that such things are actually within reach.
The experiments lave been tried. There
is no missing link in the chain. It is only
necessary that the proper Instruments
shall ho supplied.
Another way in which the electric oscil-
latur could be made an effective instru-
ment on board of warships would be the
control of the engines and the electric light
system OF every ship in a squadron by the
commander of the flagship. With proper
instruments attached to the electric
switches connected with the machinery Of
the ships it would be in the eower Of the
commander of the squadron, by simply
pressing a button, to put out or illuminate
every light in all Of the vessels simultane-
ously, or TO stop or start their machinery
as il they were all controlled By a single
lever.
The Indiana could lie outside Sandy
Hook and throw 1,2o0-pound shots into
New York at the rate of four a minute.
Some of the guns in the navy can fire a
shot II miles. farther than q man can see.
for the guns are aimed and sighted by
machinery.