The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-21
Weaver Talks of Device.


 MT. Weaver is an expert telegraph operator and electrician, a writer of note on technical subjects and has in- vented numerous electrical appliances. He has made a lifelong study of pho- tography and photographic processes and perfected his photography pro- cess to such a high state that he made numerous panoramic pictures both In Mobile and at his old home in Missouri ri, some six or seven years ago.
 Shorn of as many technical terms as possible, and emitting certain optical and electrical details, which he did not care to disclose, the construction and operation of the device is thus de- scribed by MT. Weaver:
 Tn a light homework of aluminium bronze there is suspended a photo graphic camera having electrically ac- tuated plate or film changing and shut ter operating mechanisms. The cam era as mounted in the frame has move ment in altitude, the angle of inclina- tion being read off a graduated quad rant. Attached to the framework, In plane parallel to the axis of the opti- cal system of the camera are arms ex- tending from either side. These arms are ten feet in length and carry upon their outer ends hollow aluminium spheres 24 inches in diameter. Above the arms carrying the balls Is mounted wind vane eighteen inches in width and six feet long. This vane has a movement in azimuth and can be set at various angles with the axis of the camera. It Is thus seen that there are two movements of rotation, the camera itself having a movement in altitude and may be inclined to any angle with the horizon, while the wind vane, hav- ing a movement in azimuth. may be given any angle to the camera axis and to the sighting balls. The whole apparatus Is designed to be carried into the air by means of a small balloon or box kite, and is held captive by small electrical cable, the size of an incan- descent light cord, through which. by means of few dry cells and the nec- essary keys, the plate changing and shutter operating mechanisms are ac- tuated by an observer on the ground.
 "Forming part of the equipment Is small telescope, similar to a surveyors transit, having movements in altitude and azimuth To this telescope is at tached a right-angled eye piece or ocu- lar having vertical cross hairs in its field.
 Its Use in War.
 AS a simple case, suppose 1t be de- sired to disclose the strength of a bat tery mounted behind a breastwork or fortification, and to show the strength hl We proceed as follows:
 The distance of the object from the observer is first ascertalned by a range finder, or may be estimated. Assume this to be 1000 feet Now the incli- nation which the camera and its opti- cal system shall take with the horizon is dependent upon the distance of the object from the observer and upon the height to which the apparatus Is all lowed to ascend. The former we have assumed to be one thousand feet, and the latter Is obviously under control. We will assume that it is necessary to send the camera one thousand feet high in order to clear the intervening hill or other obstruction to vision. We now have under consideration two lines of equal length, namely, one thousand feet-the one a vertical line represent ing the height of the camera above the earth and the other horizontal one, representing the distance of the object from the observer. The optical system therefore must be set at an angle Of forty-five degrees with the horizontal, since, by trigonometry, line Joining vertical and horizontal lines of equal length sustains to them an angle of forty-five degrees, and, similarly, by The application of the same simple law he