The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-08
PROUD OF BIG
DEATH FACTORY
BROOKLYN BOASTS or CONCERN
THAT MAKES ToRPEpoEs FOR
THE NAVY. MOST POTENT EN-.
eInEs FOR DESTRUCTION or
THE ENEMY MADE.

From The Brooklyn Eagle: Pitts.
burg may boast Of her steel plants;
Essen, Germany, Of her Krupp CUR
factories; Liverpool of her shipbuiIdins
YARDS yet the policy OF each of these
industries for the manufacture OF war
rare is directed In large measure by
the product OF the Il. w. Bliss COM
pahy factories in Brooklyn. Here In
the shops overlooking the upper bay
the most potent engines for the de-
struction of an enemy's fleet are con-
structed. Those engines are known aa
the Bliss Leayitt torpedoes. The COM
pany supply the entire stock OF torpe-
does to the United States navy.
| So accurate must they be IN fha mar.
Torrance OF their tasks that the most
exhaustive tests of each finished tor.
pedo must be made both in the fac
tories and In the ocean bv the pile.
company before 1t can be delivered Ia
the government. There are over 200
men employed in the factories Of the
Bliss company. Before taking the fin-
ished torpedoes out for sea testing they
are rigidly tested by specially designed
machinery to determine the accuracy
with which each working part Is ad-
justed.
The final tests are made under the
scrutiny Of government engineers at
the company's proving grounds, or
waters, at Sag Harbor. in Noyac bay
The requirements must be positively
complied with: At range Of 1000
yards q buoy Is set at which the tor
pedo is fired. and 1t must strike in
three successive shots A horizontal
deviation of fifty yards and a vertical
variation Of eighteen inches from the
center Of the buoy is all that is al
lowed. The torpedo is launched or
shot from its tube by means of COM
pressed air. at an initial velocity
slightly In excess of the required speed
OF the torpedo when under it's own
propulsion.
These tests at Noyac bay are con-
Quoted until the freezing over again
the Following winter. This is neces- !
sary because of the large number Of |
torpedoes manufactured about 200 |
each year. The company maintains a /
specially built and equipped barge or
"gunboat," called the Eliphaet w. /
Bliss, and fleet Of small launches
used in gathering up the torpedoes
after they have been shot out to the
target.
Occasionally torpedo runs wild in
the bay from some arrangement of its
mechanism, and long, careful search
Is instituted for the disobedient sub
marine floating a few feet under the
waters surface Then. too. a torpedo
once in a while takes in water and
sinks to the bottom Of the harbor. In
.hese rare cases the company has to
send down a diver to search and re-
'over the torpedo. A Bliss -Leavitt
orpedo is worth from $4,000 to $1,000.
How The Torpedo Works.
Few people have anything but a
yague idea Of what the submarine tor
'edo really is. To the great majority
torpedo is an invention like gigan-
lc steel cigar. filed with some high .
Explosive, which is shot out OF a long
Jun just below the water line of a war
hip and after a few minutes strikes
he hull of the enemy's vessel and ex-
'lodes. In a measure this is true. But
does not convey proper under
landing Of the marvellous ingenuity
displayed in the manufacture of the
orpedo, by which 1t is almost human
n its self-propulsion, self steering and
automatic adjustments to full
i'll every requirement. From the in
tant the torpedo leaves the ship on
IS errand OF destruction to the mo-
aent 1t strikes starget, every action
( the projectile is controlled by in
ernal mechanism.