Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-05-06
NEW ENGINE OF DEATH.
Torpedo Will RevoIutionize Warfare,
and Inventor Gets $375,000 Year.

Torpedo Will RevoIutionize Warfare,
and Inventor Gets $4,000 Year.
For generations naval experts have
been saying to one another comfortably
E'Ah, well. Whenever any man invents
gun that can pierce the armor plate
we now have, another man Will pro-
duce an armor his gun cannot injure.'
Thus illustrating the constant rivalry
between the forces of offense and de-
Tense. But it could hardly have been
expected by any naval expert that one
man should first invent a torpedo
against which the underwater defen-
ses of the modern battleship nave prov
ed Intellectual, and then, continuing in
the same interesting occupation invent
a new armor plate which is held to be
practically impenetrable by the rif1ed
cannon Of today.
Sooner or later we may expect to see
the old problem of the irresistible force
and the immovable body worked out.
says Hamptons Magazine for April.
Lieutenant Commonder Cleland Davis.
United States Navy, will start one of
the new Davis torpedoes at one Of the
new Davis armOr plates. And out of
the resultant fragments the scientists
will build brand new theory of strains
and bursting charges.
1t IS something less than just to
measure a mans value to this world
by the amount of his income. Never
theless, to say that Lieutenant Com
mander Davis mas in a few short years
expanded the s3.5Oh salary which his
y; !, ir
knowledge of naval matters as display
ed in the Bureau of Equipments at
Washington to approximately $4,000
annually as his share of the profits
on single invention gives pretty fair
idea Of the mans capacity. But Mr..
Davis would resent such a characteri-
cation of his successes. To him the
winning of the game has been sufficient
reward
Mr.. Davis is 80 years old. and from
the moment that he left his birthplace
Louisville, KY, to enter Annapolis he
has worked to develop the opportuni-
ties offered by his profession. AS a
matter of course, he began to exercise
his inventive faculties on means calcu-
lated to render war hazardous and
costly pastime. At first, he began with
just few little things. He devised
some improvements in gunnery, sug-
geSted one or two new ideas in torpe-
does. and planned an explosive. arInor-
piercing shell which is now in use by
the United States navy All the time
his grand idea was terminating. He
had conceived the plan of torpedo
which should enter any ship at which
it might be directed. and. after enter
ing, explode in the vessels vitals. His
spare time has been given over to this
ingenious device for ten years past
His greatest difficulty was to find
some means by which the torpedo
might be reduced in weight. and yet
retain the strength needful to the
proper control of it's powerful eAplo-
sives That was two years ago. 1t
was difficult to obtain steel of sufficient
strength that would be light enough
At last he tried an alloy with COM
paratively unknown element, vanadi-
UNI. He succeeded in reducing the
weight of the torpedo from 1000 pounds
to so pounds, and vet retained all it's
strength. That made the torpedo a
success and tests convinced the entire
navy.
Now that it has been done. the plan
seems gloricusly simple. The torpedo
contains a double charge of explosives
Driven TO it's target by compressed
air. after the fashion of the Whitehead
the first charge is exploded when the
battle nose strikes the ship at which it
is aimed. Really. it is an under water
cannon. The first charge exploded
drives the forward part Of the torpedo
through the underwater armOr of the
vessel and We'll into the interior. Then
the second charge is eXploded-and. if
all goes well. in the pleasant navy
way of putting it. the ship sinks The
torpedo which has been in use for the
past ten years is considered practical
ly negligible in battle. 1t may jar the
ship it strikes. or produce dimpe in
its bottom, or possibly start leak But
according to the judgment of naval ex-
perts who have watched the perfor-
nance. Of the new Davis gun, protec-
ton against this new torpedo may be
secured only by armoring the under
water portion Of the battleship as i1aa-
Willy as that portion exposed to the pro-
jectiles Of the 13-inch guns They be-
lieve that this fact will mean ultimate
~, a revolution in naval warfare