The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-07-25
A FLOATING BATTERY.
Arson Phelps Stokes Explains
His Latest Invention.
GOT IDEA FRoMAFIaHTIEa ISLAND

ROCK IN tnE NhAAnpNAA
Sea, which served as a Novel stone
sioop Of War FOR the British Navy
In 1904. Led Him to Invent His
Fighting Machine = some of It's
Economic Features.
Arson Phelps Stokes, who returned
to New York recently from a cruise in
the yacht Sea Fox in the West Indies,
told d representative Of the New York
Tribune something about his invention,
the floating globular battery. He said:
while cruising in the Caribbean sea
sailed close to Diamond rock, a very
remarkable little island about one mile
south Of Martinique. 1t is almost
square, 574 feet high and with precipi-
tous sides. This rock was formerly
rated as a sloop Of war on the books
Of the British admiralty.
an January, 1904, Sir Samuel Hood
laid his seventy -four gun ship Centaur
close alongside this rock, to the top Of
which he made fast hawser on which
was a traveller. He then hauled three
long "a Founders and two Is Founders
20 the top and left them in charge Of
Lieutenant Maurice with 120 men and
boys with ammunition. provisions and
water. The crew built a cistern, and
for fifteen months this novel sloop Of
war did great injury TO the French
shipping going to and from the neigh
lboring harbor now called Fort Of
France, until June j, 1895, when she
surrendered for want Of powder 70 a
French squadron Of two seyenty-four
gun ships, a corvet, a schooner and
eleven gunboats In this engagement
the novel stone sloop of war Diamond
Rock killed and wounded seventy men
land destroyed three gunboats, with q
loss to herself of two killed and one
wounded.
"Reading this story as quoted BY
Kingsley from Naval Chronicles vol
lume u, page 206, and passing Dia-
lmond rock in 1898 and last year, led
Ime to invent an armored globular bat
ltery. for which the United States and
foreign governments have granted me
Ipatents.
"Afy rough preliminary sketches show
j globular battery seventy feet in di-
Iameter and carrying two 70 inch guns
IGfty feet in length, having a range OF
labout twenty miles, besides smaller
guns.
aThe great guns are rigidly fixed
and the elevation is effected by fitting
the whole globular battery, This i
done by weighted cars moving on sec
tional tracks. The azimuths are regu
lated by four screw propellers, whicl
reyoIve the battery horizontally ant
have also the faculty Of moving it from
lplace to place"
MIR. Stokes patent application sup
plies these other particulars:
at will be seen that by reason OF IN,
spherical shape Of my battery or vesse
considerable weight is saved in con
struction, and from this. and especial,
by allowing the guns to extend acros
most of the vessel, much heavier gun
Fan be carried Considerable econom,
Ia the cost Of construction results iron
The spherical shape of the battery, 70
he reason that a large number Of tn
parts are mere duplicates of each othe
and for other reasons obvious to
naval constructor. Another item Q
economy results from the fact that Il
: pun carriage Ii used to hold the Iarg
guns. These carriages must neces
/ sarily be very expensive, and thei
Z omission not only saves considerable
: expense. but produces a safer and NOR
Q recure mount for the heaviest gum
: The heavy armor covering for door
windows and portfolios can be NOR
2 easily supported and more safely move
bn the upper part Of a spherical su
lace than on the vertical or nearly We
teal sides Of an ordinary ship, I'll
$ spherical form of most OF the vesse
> combined with the bullying or trust
2 conical bottom and its conical opening
and the placing of the center Of gravit
: of the guns at or near that Of the We
q sci give additional stability which
= not found In vessels OF the ordinal
! type. The launch and cutter are ca
!, ried within the protection Of the heaN
= armor and may be easily launched
4 depressing the port by means Of q
counterpoises.
"Thus all the features Of my inye
+, ton combine to produce a floating ba
terry that is economical in constructi'
3 and maintenance, of great power In {
Ifensive operations and practically il
pregnable."