The Detroit times., 1910-11-24

lot ATTACKING the T<FI III
English man-of- w. x4Z{. ~ 81
war In New York II
harbor during the
revolution, he laid k3yN
the foundation for -. -
a long era of progress in military and
naval affairs.
This little submarine boat consist
ed of small, kettle-shaped hull, with
an air-tight trap-door and screw
propeller turned by hand. II carried
a lead weight which could be dropped
instantly in the event it was neces-
sary to rise to the surface quickly.
Bushnells ordinary method for sub
mergence and rising again to the sur
face was through two force pumps.
When he wanted to sink, he allowed
water TO enter a chamber which at
other times was filed with air; when
he wanted to rise, he pumped this
water out. His light was bottle OF
phosphorus, and he steered his craft
by a magnetic needle. The boat car
ried $50 pounds of gunpowder done
up in water-tight package, with a
clock-work exploding device. This
was screwed TO the bottom OF the
ship, and was intended to explode af-
ter the submarine had reached a
place OF safety. A sailor named Lee
manned the boat and attempted 10
blow up the British war vessel. He
was not able to screw the charge TO
the ships bottom, however, and 1t
ended only in a scare to the British
tars.
The torpedo Is another invention
TO which America lays claim. Robert
Fulton perfected the spar torpedo
during the Civil War. 1t also was an
American who invented the compress
ed band around the steel projectile,
| which has made the modern rihed
gun n success. The metallic cartridge
and the machinery for its manufac-
ture were invented by Americans.
This, in turn, made possible the mod
ern machine gun, of which the Cat
ling of American origin, was the first
in the field. The use of nickel steel
started on this side OF the Atlantic,
and has been another contribution to
the possibilities of modern warfare
and blg-gun building. The revolver
and the steamship forced-draft are
the children of American brains. The
Holland submarine boat heads the
| list Of modern submarines, and is rs
much American as was the Bushnell
boat OF nearly a century and half
ago.
But the greatest revolution in the
! history OF military and naval science,
If we except the application OF gun
powder TO warfare, was brought about
| by Americans in an American con-
| fict-the battle between the Monitor
and the Merrimac. II is true that
the Monitor was brought out by a
man of foreign birth, John Ericsson.
but the idea belongs to an American.
! Theodore S. Timby. He had long be-
! fore secured patent on revolving
metal turret, and a Congressiona!
committee had recommended its
adoption 10 the secretary of war The
courts decided that Timby was the
| inventor, and Ericsson and his associ
ates were obliged TO pay him 100000
before they could take the Monitor to
Fort Monroe.
A striking picture of the different
conditions which prevailed when the
telegraph was first operated and the
present day, is afforded by an authen-
tic story of the first nine days of the
earliest commercial telegraph line.
The fee was one cent for four words.
For the first three days the line was
without business. On the fourth day
an impecunious politician sent a mes
sage to Washington and received an
answer for one cent. He sent the
word -four" which. in the code.
meant what time is IT," The reply
was "one." which meant that il was
one o'clock. The bill was half cent
for the two messages, but he paid
cent In the inability to make change
The fifth day the receipts of the line
were twelve and a half cents. The
sixth day was Sunday and the office
was closed The receipts OF the sew
enth day were sixty cents, and OF
the eighth day. $l.52.
In the invention OF the phonograph
We have a case where the inventor
was seeking one end and attained
very different and most unexpected
one. Edison was trying to devise
machine which would repeat Morse
characters from indentations on paper,
transferring their message to another
circuit by passing under a tracing
point connected with n circuIt-closing
apparatus. He found when he passed
the paper under the tracing point very
rapidly, II produced a low hum like
subdued conversation. This led him
to construct. on a piece OF parafine
paper, a diaphram and a needle for
indenting a record OF the sound waves
of his voice. Here then. was the germ
OF the modern talking machine.
Just as the telegraph led Edison 10
the invention Of the phonograph, that
instrument in turn led him TO the NOV
ing picture machine. While he was
trying to bring out the speaking quail
tiles of the phonograph. 1t occurred
to him that II would be a good idea
TO see the speaker as we'll as TO hear
him. He built special camera, using
a strip OF celluloid as a carrier for his
hlm. The pictures were an inch wide.
with row OF perforations above and
below them on the celluloid. These
perforations occurred at regular in
tervals. so that teeth could engage
them and hold the film steady before
the lense for nine-tenths OF the forty
sixth part OF second. Then II was
released and jerked forward an inch
in the remaining tenth of the forty
sixth of second, ready for the next
exposure. This permitted forty-six
pictures a second, or 2.760 a minute.