Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-02-14
MAxIM'S new POWDER
MoToRITE TO SHOOT TORPEDOVs AND
BOATS THROUGH SEA MILE A
MINUTE.

MOTORITE TO SHOOT TORPEDORS AND
BOATS THROUGH SEA MILE A
MINUTE.
A new torpedo that will hurl itself
at battleship's hull faster than mile
a minute.
A new submarine torpedo boat that
will bore path beneath the surface OF
the water at the rate Of go miles an
hour.
A new motive power-motorite-t
propel the torpedo and the torpedo
boat SO powerfully that If necessary 1t
will shoot them rocket.like out OF the
water.
This trinity of inventions, evolved
together, patented side by side by
Hudson Maxim will put at the dis
posal of the United States Govern.
mpnt the most destructive engines OF
naval warfare possessed by any nation
of the world.
After more than two years OF con-
slant experiment, the famous inventor
of smokeless powder and Maximite
has SO far perfected these three en-
gines of war that he has just applied
fJr letters. paten and notified the 6ov
ernment of his success.
The narrative of his triply crowned
a ;hievement reads like classic rO-
nance of adventure. for Mr.. Maxim,
starting out with the sole intention of
designing a torpedo that would sur.
pass in speed the slow-mOving White
head, found that he had invented not
only what he sought, but also Q mo,
tive power SO tremendous that 1t
should revolutionize submarine war.
fare, transpose the despised torpedo
boat into the most dreaded fighting
monster of the sea, and-later-may
even be expected to send transatlan
tic liner between New York and
Southampton faster than the fastest
trains move on the land.
a delicate blend of nitroglYcerin,
gun cotton and one other drug, and
the application of new system of 'tjet
propulsion same principal on
which automobiles are run-is the
secret of it all.
At the outset Mr.. Maxim simply
perceived that the fastest gasoline
driven Whitehead torpedo-shOt from
the tube of torpedo boat-traveled
toward its target never faster than
speed of half a mile a minute. and
never farther Il an a half a mile. He
saw that the reas, n m ,st of the White
b sads never reach tueir mark in war
fare is because spry warship car
steam out of the way of them after
tley have started, or, better still, car
blow up both the torpedo and the tor
pedo boat with we'll aimed rapid fire
guns half dozen times in transit.
Therefore. it was Mr.. Maxims pur-
pose to get some new scheme of pro-
pulsion into the stern of a torpedo &C
that it could reach the warship before
it could be rendered useless.
The tanning of nitroglycerin and
gun cotton from high explosives init
tractable means of boat propulsion wal
not simple matter But Mr.. Maxim
finally got it,
Also he found way to set this mo
tive power going in the water. 30 tina
/ the action Of the water turned tn
combustion of the blendid explosive
into powerful jets. projecting th
J vessel forward In leaps as the jet
thrust out backward
! The big problem with Mr.. Maxim be
] came how to tone them down 80 the
wouldn't shiver the torpedo to atom
! each time he let one loose. But final
! ly be succeeded in regulating them
thrust them beneath levers under pei
feet control, and when he got to send
: ing them out backward from the ster
Z of half-ton torpedo he found tina
! they would send the torpedo hurtlin
: through the water at any rate {
. speed be cared to name and as far 9
2 10 miles with perfect aim.
Q Now the inventor bad achieved whs
3 be had set out for. And in bis mOmer
of success it dawned on him that
had achieved Thousand times NOR
For If a half handful of motorite wou
. send a half ton torpedo a mile and
IN quarter in a minute couple of han
n. fuls ought to send a whole submari
be boat through the water just as fai
'e 1t took Mr.. Maxim but little viii
to show that it would-apd mol
And thus came into being the mod
= of the wonderful new motOrite torpe
boat that Is to fire the wonderful nj
} torpedo.-From the New York Anne