The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-08-11
pEGCLY TURBINE TORPEDO.
WIl cyr2cs5 Ary arn0 Of It's Ni;td il
Efficiency.

=
Efficiency.
The ttrpedo and the hattIcship are
the I2yid ami Goliath Of naval wax-
fare, and i4f at the tima when Eng
! land is making turbine ras jac5 fHr the
biggest batileship it eyer launched. tina
turbine has won another tr.u.Iph on
this ide Of the Atlantic in connection
Wan thc most recent Of torpeGoes, tho
Bliss lt1Iitt. viii is to sup"rseda
the Howell and the Whitehead in the
lnited States Navy. In is general
form the arrsm 2ement the BIjss-Iaap-
lit torpedo is very like the Whitehead.
Its distinguishing features are the use
81 the turbine principle, not only In
tile rrorelling engine. but also in tho
gear for steering by the vertical rud-
terS. The main engine is a compress
ed air turbine, running at much
hlgher rate of speed and developing
hl1Aer power than the cid reciprocal
ing torpedo engine The 1S-inch
Altehead has a speed Of twenty sew
en- TO tWenty-eight knots at 1909 yards
range, falling to about twenty-five at
-o"e, which is near the limit Of its ef-
fective range. The Bliss-L eayitt has
speed of thirty-siX knots at 1900 Yards.
and still has q speed of twenty-ci@ht at
$500. Up to this range ii can make
good practice, which means that q ship
armed with this torpedo could sink an
enemy about two miles aW%y. Part OF
This $rcat increase III speed and range
is due 10 device for in rea-in@ the
working tension of the compressed air
by heating it, This is effected by
means Of spirit lamp or stow, which
l. liGhtcd automatically III the air
chamber the moment the torpedo is
fiscilar2ed.
There are two main types of tur-
blnes. In one the most usual KIND.
the steam, air. or water acts by I'M
rin@ing upon blades attached To the
shaft that is to be rotated The other
depends upon reaction. There is a re-
Warkabio application Of the second
Kind of turbine in the E,iss-Leavltt-
in the Whitehead the rudier is con-
irolied hy the Ohry oyrostat gear.
The eErostat, q heavy wheel revolving
at high speed, and a ways keeping the
same plane of direction. is set running
by the release Of a powerful cooled
spring at the moment when the torpedo
is discharged
In the Bliss-Leavitt the gyrostat
principle is also used to control the
steering. but there is no spring 20 start
the revolving disc or wheel The disc
Is hollow. and has 4 number Of small
2ozz'es opening from its circumference
each nozzle hcing at the end Of 1t tube
which projects like the spo!,es of
wheel, bat in the line Ct q triangle ia
he circumference, or forming right
angle with the radius. Compressed ait
passes into Inc Interior Of the disc and
ESCAPES in lets from the nozzies. and
Tie result is that the disk IS driven
round in the reverse direction to thu
escape Of the air II is claimed that ita
velocity rises TO 1900 revolutions pet
minute. The devise may be called q
turbine @yrostat, and win doubtless
nave other useful applications found
or l.. Driven at this hi"h speed the
evolving disk would require an enor-
nous force to divert il from its origi-
lal direction. After prolonged tests
It Newport News the navy has adon -
he Bllss-I .eavitt as its service torpedo
Two hundred are now being manu-:
actured half Of them CT the eighteen
nch diameter type, and the rest OF
wenty-one irch diameter The twen-
y-One-inch Bliss-Leayi;t, carrying an
increased charge of gun-cotton, will be
he most powerful torpedo in any
layy. Its guaranteed range is $500
ards, but it has run over four thou
and in the test trials-W Washington
correspondent Of the Boston Tran.
cript.