The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-07-26
MILE A MINUTE
AT SEA NEXT
THIRTY HOURS TO LIVERPOOL
ON HEwlTT's NEW CRAFT.
1T eLIoEs OVER THE
WATER.
Remarkable Discovery Made While
Trying to invent Flying Machine
Trial Developed Speed Of Thirty
eight Miles an Hour.

New York to Liverpool in thlrt
hours is to be the next step.
These, according to the New Yorl
Herald, are the amazing claims mad
by engineering experts for what i
declared by them to be the most stu
pendous invention in the annals o
speed-a boat. or gliding craft, built
perfected and set afloat by Pete
Cooper Hewitt. the discoverer of the
famous Cooper Hewitt" light.
This ne craft, aptly designated
gliding" does not cut the water as
do other vessels, but actually flies OIL
skins over and clear of the surface
the body of the craft being forced high
enough to permit free play Of the
waves.
With only his rough model, Cooper
Hewitt has glided at the high speed OF
thirty-eight miles an hour on Long
Island Sound. He is certain Of much
higher speed power Experts tell
him he has invented the mile-a-min-
ute seagoing vessel.
Lying in the shadow OF the yacht
Reliance, off Jacobs shipyard, on
Long Island Sound, is the little craft
that appears to experts more of dis
covery than an invention, This Gid
ing craft, as Cooper Hewitt calls his
vessel, is scow built, 81 feet over all,
with a AZ foot beam and carrying an
eight-cylinder gasoline motor. The
craft, casually inspected, is no more
suggestive of almost incredible speed
than is freight ferry.
But only a few days ago one OF the
foremost of French engineers, man
whose word carries the greatest Of
weight in such matters all over the
world, after watching the surprising
performances of the gliding craft, said
to Cooper Hewitt:
Your invention means New York to
Liverpool in thirty hours. have shot
at this target. You have hit the bulls
eye"
Like many other inventors who have
been successful with their ideas, Mr..
Cooper Hewitt set out for one destina-
ton and arrived at another He
started to build flying machine and |
invented a marvellous gliding craft. |
He says he intends to build the air |
machine, but temporarily he is en-
crossed by the unexpected sensa-
tional performance of his new craft.
This device that looks like a scow
and flies over the water, has hull
of mahogany. 1t is very shallow,
merely shell to carry the machinery
when the craft is not moving A
strong steel frame similar to that of
an automobile, extends over the sides
of the shell and across either end, the
cross sections of the frame being equi-
distant from their respective ends Of
the craft.
From each corner of the frame there
are dropped into the water perpendic-
ular steel arms. These arms extend
Is inches below the bottom.
To the arms are fastened steel
planes, having slant upward in front
Of about l in s. The bottom sub
merged planes have two square feet
Of surface and those above 1t are {
arger The total supporting surface {
If the four principal planes, therefore, {
8 eight square feet.
The motor is set forward and the I
single screw turns just back Of the
ront sets of planes.
On either side of the shell is gaso- t
inc tank. G
That's all there is of the craft and
'quipment
In operation the screw driving or
'ulling the craft forward forces the
planes through the wa
er, aG,. on account Of their slant, the
raft Is forced upward. The greater
he speed the higher the craft rises.
When it has reached a speed which
Orces the topmost vanes out Of the
'ater, or partly out, part of the sup
orting surface Is lost, and the craft &
cities lower, this principle constantly n
perating to maintain perfect level Z
or the shell at given distance above s
he surface of the water. n
At from ~ to 16 miles an hour the Il
opmost planes leave the water; at 80 Il
lilies an hour all the planes are driven Y
pward and out of the water, except s.
he bottom ones.
When gliding more than sixteen h
lilies an hour the craft proper does W
OF touch the water, but is carried W
bove 1t. The effect is that of the In
hell being showed along on four fiat N