The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-30


The only dangers to which Castera's boat
was liable were the entry Of water into the
air funnel and the severing of the SIS
pensory cords. The leather gloves at
tached to the bottom of the vessel for the
purpose Of picking objects off the bed Of
a river are pronounced distinctly novel
A little brochure printed by Castera con-
tains the plan Of a submarine trolley, the
body of the vessel being balanced on n
framework swung between two large pairs
of wheels. These wheels were 10 be ro-
tated by a system OF levers inside the
! vessel Our author considers the design
especially interesting az being a true proto-
type of Mr.. l. axes remarkable marine
explorer, the Argonaut.
We come now to the@fourth decade of the
nineteenth century. In 1891 Spaniard
named Cervo made descent in spherical
submarine boat constructed of wood, and
never came up again. Our author thinks
that the pressure Of water proved too great.
In the following year NJ. Villeroy designed
and constructed submarine boat of the
following dimensions Length, 10 feet
beam, feet, and height, "a feet With
this tiny craft he made several more or less
successful experiments. There exists a
witnessed paper stating that the inventor
and one man desce deda beneath the surface
and remained submerged for twenty min
utes on Aug. u, 1879? He then again came
to the surface and, again descending, per-
formed various evoutions beneath the
surface for the space of ten minutes, Vile
roy repeated his experiments in 1875 before
a number OF naval officers, including the
British Admiral, Sydney Smith At this
trial not only the inventor, but NJ. de Liam
court and newspaper correspondent re-
manned beneath the surface for two hours.
We should mention that in 1894 a French
doctor. Jean Baptiste Petit, had a small
vessel about IL feet in length constructed.
This little submarine was propelled by two
oars, and was fitted with q small coming
tower In which was placed seat for navi
cation on the surface. The inventor made
some trials in n dock at st. Nalery-sur-
Sonme, before a large cOncOurse of people,
but after submergence ne never came up,
In lS4O French nobleman, the Marquis
dc la Feuilade d'Aubusson. projected
submarine ship 70 feet long. 1t was 10
resemble an ordinary vessel in form being
flat on the deck. The most novel point in
the design was the propulsion, which was
to be attained 10y Alternating cylinders.
There is no doubt that D'Aubusson greatly
advanced the knowledge of submarine
nav igat ion and Conccn, rated he attcnt ion
of invento tors on the subject. Since 1910
no two years have elapsed wit hout one or
more attempts TO solve the problem of
submarine navigation, and our author holds
that the evolution of the Morse and
Holland can be traced back 10 the vessel
projected by the Marquis d'Aubusson.
DR.. PayPrne commenced experimenting
with diving bells in 1912, and it was he who
Ultimately perfecte ed them. Three years
later he produced his first submarine boat f,
a vessel provided with everyty pe of mining
inst rumcnt and also a diving chamber
When the occupant of the boat desired TO
leave il M The bottu ON of a river or harbor
the pressure of he air in he diving chamber
would he raised until it slightly exceeded
the pressure OK the column Of water wi hout.
The door would then be opened and the
diver had only TO step straight out upon
the bottom of the river or hafbor. This
ion Of Paycrne proved of immense
utility 20 the French naval authorities in
freeing he harbUrs of Brc>t and Cherhourg
from the submerged roCii, which at low
;iin were likely 80 be danger oui' tonaviga.
tion. In 1916 DR.. Payerue, assisted by
NJ Bouet, oun',ruCted L vessel IS fee, in
length h, which NaS shaped somewhat like a
barrel ono end Uhe stern) being Hemisphere
4 1 l.
added point ed cone fec inches long.
The hull was strongly bui,t upon number
of hoops. which added greatly TO the vessel =
power of resistance 4 propeller, fixed
in The stern between wc rldders, pro-
vided the means Of propulsion, the shaft
Icing revolv ed by hand This boat, known
u, tho Hydrostat Of Payerne. did not
come up to The expect a,i0ns of is invent or.
who tWrned it shortly afterWard mo
simple diving bell, III which capacity il
proved serviccable.
In 1851 al American shoemalSc,. l.adnn,
ID. Phillips, constructed two sgbmalic
boats. They were each So feet in length,
bu, the first had y d,uinetrr &C 5 feet and
carried :, spar torpedo, While the seco nd
was only 4 feet II diameter. They
DO'n were H'iNE't IKE u very pointed Cigar.
SubmCrsion was obtained 10y the filing of
tanks running fore and aft Phil'ps iii, d
on board one OF his little vessels on Lake
Erie, crushed to death 10y sinking TO Il deIth
too great for lis boat TO support the pres
sure of water. During the same yea;
n Frenchman named Alexandra riadc some
futile attempts in New Yorh harbor to
solve tho problem Of submarine apigation.
Bigard another inventor who Interested
himself in the subject, was equally urs,Ic-
ccssful. Useless. also. was the machine pro-
cu'rd by Le BattcaUX il 1852 it resemble
u h,ge barrel bound with thick iron rings,
and was intended { o descend to great depths
for the purpose oE examining the hulks of
sunkrn vessels.
Germans have IN right TO boas, that their
country bred The man who did more toward
cffecting a solution Of submarine raviWa-
ton than any other. We refer t. Wilhelm
Bauer, who. ir 1850, built his first Submarine
AZ KicI He was unfortunately persuaded
TO alr,r certain details in the construction
Of his vessel BY one Or. q. Karstel, Il pro-
lessor of science at Kel The boat proved
n failure, and sank in Kiel harhor in 1851.
After an unsuccessful attempt to induce