The age-herald., 1902-05-04

1 chance, but just enough to condemn Bush | nell's boat. little later our own Robert Fulton offered a submarine boat 10 Napo- leon Bonaparte. but could not convince him of its value.
 since 1892 your Uncle Samuel has been seriously trying to find out just what submarine boat may be relied upon to do. If if can safely and quickly approach hostile ship, land a torpedo and get away, then this government wants to know it. If submarine boats can destroy nayies we want more of them. In 1890 we accepted one of the boats designed by Mr. Holland, and liked it so well that we ordered six , others All but one are completed
 This type of boat is as round as a stove pipe, taperinS toward the ends. It Is nearly 12 feet in diameter and about 6 feet long. It carries q gasoline engine of 160 horsepower, an electric motor and sev- eiHi tanks of air with a pressure of 2,000 pGInds to the square inch. The quantity of gasoline carried is S50 gallons. consid-
 cred sufficient for voyage of 500 miles.
 Fine gasoline engine is used for surface
 sailing and the engine while thus running
 charges the storage batteries. When the
 hoat goes under the gasoline engine is stopped and the machinery is geared 10 the electric motor. Now, perhaps you
 bright little fellows can tell me what that
 is for"
 Sure, Uncle Sam! Anything that burns
 uses up oxygen, just like breathing does.
 The electric engine can run without oxy-
 gen, and that leaves the compressed air
 for the crew. But, say, Uncle Sam what
 becomes of the air that has been breathed?i
 Well, fortunately, breathed air is a kind
 of gas rather heavier than pure air.
 and"
 "oh, yes, we remember; 1t is carbon
 doxide, and it sinks to the foor.'
 Right, boys, and our engineers find that they can easily pump it out into the sea
 By doing that and drawing gradually on the supply of fresh air the boat could | stay under water several days and have
 as good air as you have in your school
 rooms. Last November, while a severe storm was raging, the submarine Fulton swan to the bottom of Peconic Bay, and was under water 15 hours i'll perfect quiet. The speed of these boats on the surface is seven knots. But perhaps I ought to ex- plain how much a knot is.
 Oh, we know that knot is 6O0O feet: a mile Is 5,2S0 feet. So there you are Uncle Sam.
 Good enough. boys. Now let me tell you that the operation of these boats is very simple To submerge them, large tanks on the under side are pumped full of sea water and the horizontal rudders at the stern are set to steer down. The helms man has a gauge right in front of him to show just how deep he Is, and compass | to show in what direction he Is going. To returu LO tue lHe IdnkS are S1Dp1y emptied by the use of compressed air, and the rudders are set the other way That sounds very well, but it isn't all plain
 sailing, even for submarine. The instant she gets entirely under water she becomes unsteady. She is like sailor on land or
 landsman at sea. She either wants to sit on her stern or stand on her nose. We can
 keep her from rolling, but Yankee wit has
 been sorely tried to keep her steady the long way
 Perhaps the greatest difficulty of all is how to give the big steel fish eyes that can see. To be useful in war she must see
 without being seen. The electric ray does
 not make the water transparent Besides, the little scout has to keep dark" any
 way. Submarines have not been tried yet
 in real fight, but they are built with
 low coming tower, and in an attack the boat would lift this just above the surface
 for a peep. It would then dive again,
 and perhaps come up for another peep