El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-01
RENE BACHE'S BUDGET
NEM IDEA FOR THE NAVY
PERIsCoPEs FOR SURVEYING SEA THROUG
TURRET TOPS
Our BatGleships to Have Eyes Like Those Of Crab "A
Notion Adopted From the Submarine Boat Curi
Gus Device for Seeing Under Water Adapta-
ton of the Camera Obscura.

ing officer is able to see all around on
the ocean even when his craft is sub
merged. He thrusts upward from the
roof of the boat, a tube, long enough
to emerge above the waves, which is
provided with a lens and an arrange
ment of rejecting mirrors. AS he looks
into it from the lower end, he can sur
vey all his surroundings, even to the
horizon on every side, just as if he
were on the deck of an ordinary ship.
It is obvious. then, that marksmen
shut up inside of steel turret on the
deck of a battleship should be able.
by the employment of a similar optical
continuance. stuck UP through the roof
of their temporary prison. to obtain a
perfect view of the surrounding sea.
Such, in fact, is the case; and hence
the advisability of the submarine
'periscope" somewhat modified, for
utilization in the manner described.
Submarine UsaEes.
Within the last few years this in
teresting and ingenious device has
been very strikingly developed for the
highly specialized purposes of the sub
marine torpedo boat. It has become a
much more satisfactory and perfect in
strument. Our navy has IS "subma
rines'' in commission (not counting 10
HOW unQ0T ana 0l0S dQO1-
tional ones already authorized by con-
gress). and none of them has ever had
an accident due to trouble with its see
ing appartus-even such a mishap, due
to mischance, as overlook the British
AL" which on the 18th day of March
1905, while lying submerged off Ports
mouth. and engaged in a war game,
failed to descry an approaching passen-
ger steamship, and was struck, all on
board being drowned
Boats Resemble Fish.
The typical submarine boat might be
described as a Whitehead torpedo mod
flied and enlarged to carry human pas
sangers. It is built like a huge fish
a fish with single great eye for sur
veying the ocean all around while the
creature itself is under water, and with
lungs capable of holding enormous
quantities of fresh air. To all intents
and purposes it is realization of Capt.
Nemo's Nautilus, which sprang from
the brain of that wonderful romance
writer Jules Verne, in his Twenty
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"
A Frenchman, likewise. was the
builder of the first successful "subma-
rine." which was called the Gustave
Zede. It was steered under water by
means of a '1periscope," which in its
time, 10 years ago, was esteemed
marvel of optical ingenuity. The lower
end of its telescope tube, provided
with lenses and the requisite rejecting
arrangement. descended into the steer
ing room, where there was pivoted
circular table covered with white cloth
One perceives the idea, of course
The device was a camera obscura. By
shifting the angle offthe circular table,
the skipper of the submerged craft
could see for miles around Every sail
on the ocean, every ripple of the waves.
was as clear to his eye as If he stood
on the deck of an ordinary vessel with
a good class in his hand, in the open
air above. In one respect this was an
Improvement on the more uptodate con-
trivances of the same kind, inasmuch as
it gave a more or less general view of
of all the surroundings, whereas the
newer "periscopes"-their tubes, that
is to say-have to be turned this way
and that, in order to look ahead, or
backward, or in some other direction.