El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-23
rHE debt which humanity owes

/
" HE debt which humanity owes 20
4 the American inventor is as
marked in other fields of activity
as in agriculture. transportation. man
ufacturing and mining. In the realm
of naval and military science his labors
are among the most important When
Samuel Bushnell, of Connecticut. de-
vised his hand-driven submarine boat
for attacking the English man of war
in New York during the revolution. he
laid the foundation for a long era of
progress in military and naval affairs
This little submarine boat consisted
Of small kettleshaped hull. with an
alright trapdoor and a screw propeller
turned by hand. 1t carried lead
weight which could be dropped instant
~ In the event IL was necessary to rise
TO the surface quickly. BushnelTs or
binary method for submergence and
rising again TO the surface was through
two force pumps. When he wanted to
sink, he allowed water to enter a cham
Der which at other times was filled
with air; when he wanted to rise he
a bottle of phosphorus, and he steered
his craft by a magnetic needle The
boat carried $50 pounds Of gunpowder
done mp in a water-tight package with
a clockwork exploding device This
was screwed to the bottom of the ship,
and was intended to explode after the
submarine had reached a place of safe
ty- sailor named Lee manned the
boat and attempted to blow up the
RrifiCh rx-or al
screw the charge to the ships bottom.
however. and it only ended in a scare
to the British tars.
Torpedo An American Idea
The torpedo is another invention to
which America lays claim. Robert Full
ton perfected the spar torpedo during
the war of 1872 Gushing improved it
during the Civil war. 1t also was an
American who invented the compressed
band around the steel projectile, which
has made the modern rifled gun sue
cess. The metallic cartridge and the
machinery for its manufacture we're in
vented by Americans. This. in turn.
made possible the modern machine gun,
of which the Calling. of American ORR
gin, was the first in the field. The use
of nickel steel started on this side IF
the Atlantic, and has been another con-
tribution to the possibilities of modern
warfare and big gun building. The re-
vOlver and the steamship fOrced-draft
are the children of American brains.
The Holland submarine boat heads the
list of modern submarines, and is as
much American as was the Bushnell
boat of nearly century and half ago.
But the greatest revolution in the
history of military ami naval science,
if We except the application of gunpow-
der to warfare, was brought about by
Americans in an American conflict
the battle between the Monitor and the
Merrimac. 1t is true that the Monitor
was brought out by a man of foreign
birth, John Ericsson. but the idea be-
longs to an American Theodore s. Tim
by. He had long before secured pat
ent on revolving metal turret, and a
congressional committee had recon-
mended its adoption 10 the secretary of
war. The courts decided that Timby
was the inventor. and Ericsson and his
associates were obliged to pay him
500, 900 before they could take the
Monitor to Fort Monroe.
Cheap Telegraphing.
A striking picture of the different
conditions which prevailed when the
telegraph was first operated and the
present day, Is afforded by an anthem
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 with
out business. On the fourth day an
impecunious politician sent a message
to Washington and received an answer
for one cent. He sent the word -four"
which. in the code. meant what time
is it?' The peply was "one" which
meant that it was one o'clock. The bill
was half a cent for the two messages,
but he paid a cent in the inability to
make change The fifth day the re-
ceipts of the line were 121z cents. The
sixth day was Sunday and the office
was closed. The receipts of the sew
enth day We're so cents, and of the
eighth day s1-52.
In the invention of the photograph
we have a case where the inventor was
seeking one end and attained a very
different and most unexpected one Ed
iscn was trying to devise machine
which would repeat Morse characters
from indentations on paper. transfer
ring their message to another 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 par
afine paper a diaphram and a needle
for indenting q record of the sound
waves of his voice Here, then, was
the germ of the modern talking ma
chine
The Moving Picture Idea.
Just as the telegraph led Edison TO
the invention of the photograph. that
instrument in turn led him to the moy-
ing picture machine. While he was
trying to bring out the speaking quail
ties of the photograph. it occurred to
him that it would be good idea to see
the speaker as well as hear him. He
built a special camera. using a strip
of celluloid as carrier for his film.
The pictures were an inch wide. with
row of perforations above and below
them on the celluloid. These perfora-
lions occurred at regular intervals. so
that teeth could engage them and hold
the film steady before the tense for
nine-tenths of the forty-sixth part OF
second. Then it was released and
jerked forward an inch in the remain
ing tenth of the fortysixth of second
ready for the next exposure. This per-
mitted forty-six pictures a second, or
1850 a minute.
The M h la Cable.