Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1903-08-29
TRAVELS BOTTOM OF OCEAN.
New Torpedo Craft Deadliest Inven-
ton Of the Age.

New Torpedo Craft Deadliest Inven-
ton of the Age.
Bridgeport, Aug 29.-The submarine
boat Protector, which has been built
by Simon Lake of this place, to com.
pete with the Holland boat in the gov
eminent tests to be held iii October,
has been opened for inspection by
newspaper men, but owing to the un-
pleasant weather and a breakage in the
engines, only a part of the series Of
eVofutions were gone through with. AS
the press boat, with the newspaper rep
resentatives on board, approached the
little terror she looked more like
miniature monitor than anything else,
as she lay at anchor in the tharbor.
In spite of the pouring rain, the Wis
itors remained upon deck for some
time examining the hydroplanes which
form one of the greatest features or the
boat, and which are in fact the only in
teresting objects on the exterior, FOR,
like boats OF her type, nearly every
thing is inside and very little OUTSIDE
In order to get inside the boat is re-
quired Nttle seamanship, and one has
to crawl down a ladder through
hobe-a very good name for 1T, by the
way, for only a man would be able to
get through it. Once inside, it Is diff
ficult to know where to start, there are
SO many interesting points to distract
ones attention. The after-man-hole
opened into a space between the CABIN
and a diving department The former
is a space eighteen feet four inches
long and fitted with eight hunks SO ar
ranged that four may be let down out
of the way and the others act as seats.
Aft of the cabin is the entrance TO
the coming tower and the engine
room, where the dynamos gasolene en-
gines and air compresSors are sMUaIea,
and where the motive power OF the YES
sci both under water and above IS ma
nfpulated To person not faInImal
with machinery, the contents OF TINS
apartment are entirely uninfeHlgiDle'
but at the same time it strikes the vds
itor as wonderful that so much motlVe
power producing mechanism can De
stored in such a small space Inc
next point of interest Is the coming
tower. from which the entire Vessei ~
controlled from the firing OF forpedoes
TO the controlling Of the motive power.
Another feature of the coming tower
lie what is called the sighting MOOD, a,
very small observing tower on top Oh
the coming tower in which is a pecu-
liar kind of telescope called an onnl-
scope which enables the man IN the
hood TO aim and fire the torpedoes
when the boat Is submerged up TO this
hood.
The next operation Of interest was
the firing Of torpedo under water py
means of compressed air. This was
watched from on deck At the required
signal q torpedo was shot from the
tube and sailed through the water fof
about so feet by the force Of its ex-
pulsion only as it's mechanism was not
started owing to the difficulty Of re-
covering it again in the bad weather.
If it's engine had been set in motion
the torpedo would have travelled about
300 feet!
Another interesting exhibition was
that Of the diver leaving the com
pressed air chamber in the bottom OF
the boat. AS this operation takes
place in a very small space, only five
men besides the diver could get COM
fortably in the apartment. The press |
representative was one of the party. |
The room if it could be called room, |
was tightly closed, and the compressed |
air turned on. The sensation was only |
a tight feeling about the ears which |
was reduced by continually swallow
ing as the air pressure increased. Az |
ter the first sensation was over no I'M |
comfortable sensat ton was experienc |
ed. AS soon as the pressure was great |
to prevent the water from COM
ing in. trap was opened and the diver |
with his two or three hundred pounds |
Of clothes on,stepped out into the water |
which CAME up as far as the trap
door but no further.
After he had made two trips, one to |
the surface of the water, and one to
the bottom, the door was closed and
the water remaining in the trap was
forced out with the air. The outer
door was then gradually opened and
the same swallowing process was gone
through with as before.
Dinner was served to the newsnapar
men on board and was eaten as com
rortaDiy as on shore, from a table s,1s-
pended by four chains from the deck
above
The armament of the boat consists
OF three torpedo tubes firing 18-foot
whitehead torpedoes, one of which. if |
brought in contact with the most now
erIui vessel would blow her to atoms
While her assailant would be 1yinOI
peacefully at the bottom of the water
or running away under water The
Protector, which can travel on the bot
tom of the sea, can be put to tho
following uses: Cutting buoyant for.
peaoes loose, picking up cables, doing
ships with torpedoes.
Later on, press correspondents Will
De lnV1ted TO submerge with her and |
travel on the bottom.