The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-24
TORY WRITER'S NEW LIGHT.
rORGiN ROBERTSON REALIZES
ms SUBMARINE DREAM.

,uorcsccnt rays Collected by New Peri.
scope WIN Enable. II Is said, Man In
submerged Craft 10 Scan Entire
sca and Remain Undetected by Foe.
Morgan Robertson. who has out-Verned
IA late Jules In the fabrication Of tales
\ the sea. has forsaken literature forever
nd has become an inventor OF real things.
his l. an honest dead sure enough fact.
II ANYBODY be incredulous let him ask
.y. Spear, vice-president Of the Holland
horpcdo Boat Company, whose office Ia at
he works Of tho company at Quincy, Mass.
10 will tell, somewhat guardedly, that his
onpanv has bought Of Mr.. Robertson all
be a,ter's right, title and interest In a
,otcn, which the author secured some
me ago on an improved periscope.
For the benefit of any who may not be
,mljar with the mechanism Of a SUBJ
marine destroyer it may be said that,
eriscope is the instrument which enables
nersor in the beat under the sea to observe
kbiects IN the surface in direct line with the
Ems Of the periscope. The ones now IN use
nlo s i in more than one direction, he must
nm the periscope from side to side.
Wr Robertson has invented and patented
anoreecent light to be used In connection
nth the periscope by which, he asserts,
(be observer in the boat under the surface
nav command view OF the sea In all direc-
lions and for many miles.
The reriscope with which q submarine
!. now equipped Is a straight tube, ex:
Vending from the interior Of submerged
br snbmersible vessel several feet above
fbe deck. The tube Is equipped at its upper
End with prismatio lens to catch and re-
faot downward a picture Of everything
{ha, comes within lite field. The officer OF
tnbmarine submerged twelve feet under the
tirface can see ahead OF him with the peri
kcope almost as we'll as II he were above the
Eurface.
Rrt The observer in the submarine has
kplv teen able to take observations dead
khead The new light invented or dis
lowered by Mr.. Robertson, It n said, is 90
powerful and his device for collecting 1t so
{can the sea in all directions. Whether
khe device is confined to the receiving
Rnparatus, the lens Of the periscope, or
Ehcther it also includes radiating ap-
tliance by which fuorescent rays are dis
rhuted. nobody has been able TO learn,
pving to the, secrecy with which the In
fnly certain that according to the inventor,
Fhile the present periscope ia kes In only an
rc of the horizon, ranging from 90 to 10
+egrees, the improved apparatus is ex-
ectei 10 cover the entire circle.
The remarkable thing about the new in
3ention according to the claim OF the in
bght rays used ia so great that no one aboard
bn enemys ship can detect the location
n the submarine using it.
l The most wonderful thing about this WON
Der is that it became a fabrication OF fiction
T efore it was ever reduced to material form
D the shape of an invention. In one OF MIR:
Robertson latest short stories he described
terrible submarine fitted with periscope
nth fuorescent light attachment, which
as able TO steal upon the destroyers OF the
neny and utterly annihilate them, and
khoh was totally unseen itself.
! After Mr. Robertson had woven this
ale he began to wonder why It wasn't
possible to build a submarine with just
hat very kind Of an attachment.
The literary workshop which he has
psed for years at II West Twenty-fourth
reet was turned into drafting room, and
1 length he had the model Of periscope
khose lenses were sensitive to the wonder
lul light. He applied for a patent and
lot it.
Then he took his invention to the Holland
boat people, and after their engineers had
carefully examined the invention and re-
ported favorably on It, the company ptlr.
biased all rights from the inventor and |
kade an arrangement with him TO 60 on
Ind perfect the invention. This he Is doing
bow
| Speaking Of the invention last evening
Rver the telephone from his country place
y Hyde Park, Mass. Mr.. Spear said:
Our company has bought Mr.. Robert
|on's invention and has made an arrange
bent with him by which he will continue
Is work on 1t and perfect 1t in certain de-
|as. It is true that it renders objects
fsble all over the surface Of the sea In all
rections, but it is not true that it will
enetrate with It's rays beneath the sur
bee. II it proves to be what we think,
! will, we believe, rather revolutionize
hodern warfare"