The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-19
LIVING UNDER WATER.
IIdison's New Invention Permits Man.
ulaCtucc of Air in Suhnaarincs

IA VI
New York Press.)
Ihomas A. Edison has invented a
storage nattery for use, in submarine
boats which will enable crews to live
beneath the water 100 days, if need
ne, provided they have with them in
the craft sufficient rations and water
to last them and tubes filled with com.
pressed oxygen or the raw chemicals
needed for the manufacture of oxygen.
nat was announced by Edison's en-
glnecr and right-hand man, NJ. r.
Hutchinson. He added that II such "a
I%attery, had been in use under such
conditions on the i~ll-starred japanese
submarine that sank intact, with her
crew inside. those Japanese fighters
would not have suffered injury from
their snm"rsion. as they could have
manufactured Il nc~ver-faiiing supply
OF fresh air and have lived in safety, il
o in comfort. until their disabled
craft had been discovered. raised to
the surface. and their period of i'm
prisonmelt ended. Nor would III.
dairy of the heroic. but hopeless com
nnd of that submarine ever have
been written how that brace crew died
from wound or lack Of food or
Water. but from lack CT ,ilat srt:i; rs-
scntial of life. pure air. Those men
hreathed and rebreathed the small
amount 10 air in that tight little hull
until 1t WAS so full OF carhonic acid
gas that it spelled death to breathe it
again. With n of Edison's sub
marine batteries on hoard it would
have purified the air of that carhonic
acid gas. the compressed oxygen tubes
would have supplied the other atmos-
phcric element needed. and the sub
mersion of he little Jap warship
would have been a mere incident in
stead OF a tragedy that stirred the
Sympathics of the world.
Edison has not yet put his new in
rention on the market. He just has
perfected it. and the machinery for
its manufacture Is being built.
W can charge this new submarine
battery in an hour if we want to and
discharge it in 30 minutes" Hutchin-
son said. 1T has I'VE and one-half
times the capacity of the storage bat
tcrics now in use i'll submarines and
occupies only the same place. Under
conditions as they exist now it takes
from six to seven hours to rechargc
one ofc the submarine batteries. Tn
der normal conditions we can re-
charge our battery in three hours. and
In n II if emergency should seem
to require it. and the power for such
rccharging is available. Put one of
our batteries in a submarine the size
of the Cuttlcfisl,. put fourteen men O.
board and suhmergc the craft. and
those fourteen men will he able to live
100 days without coming To the sur
face before the expiration of thai time.
That means they could live down there
three months and n week and come
out in good condition.
How would YOU battery accom-
plish that result the engineer was
asked.
When men breathe. they cxhale
carbonic acid gas. which poisons the
air and. in Il close place. means death.
The potash solution that VIC use in the
new Edison submarine battery will alb
sorh that carbonic acid gas as fast as il
is manufactured by the e%xhalations of
the men. and thereby purify the at
mosphere n make the air tit to he
hreathed again. OF course. it will I've
necessary for the men I" have With
them a means of supplying themsclves
with fresh oxygen. That nay he ac
complishcd by carrying in the sui.
marine tubes filled with compressc.
oxygen such as Is used by physicians
now in cases of extreme Illness"