Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-20

deadly little submerged torpedo boats
of Edison storage battery. Already
the principal naval powers have or
dcred tfis electrical equipment, and
with the greatly reduced danger limit
the submarine boat also bids fair to
become pleasure craft in the hands
of the wealthy American sporting men
and To scientists
One of the first dangers of the sub
marine boat was the formation in the
craft OF a deadly gas, known in the
scientific world as chlorine The as
sertion is made the Edison battery
eliminates chlorine gas, and in the
submarine the formation of the vapor
is impossible. The secrets of the Ed
son laboratory in Orange, N. J., never
were guarded more carefully than In
the case of the submarine tests of the
wizard electricity. The public has
been permitted to believe the Edison
stora ge~battery primarily was planned
tc reduce the expense of vehicuiar
traffic, as In automobile and auto
trucks.
The battery. compact thing In
which the electrolyte employed is pot !
assinm hydrate instead of sulphuric
acid. has worked wonders In the auto
mobile. but outside the Edison labora-
tory and the guarded buildings where
the worlds greatest naval powers
work out their secret plans, nothing
was known of Edisons work on sub
marine boat plans.
The history OF submarine boats in
the last dozen years has many cases of
death and destruction, in certain in
stances occurrences of great dramatic
interest taking place in the bottom of
the Mediterranean and the Japan Sea
The French submarine Farfadet, that
went to the bottom of the harbor of
Tunis in July. 1905. furnished one of
the most distressing accidents to a
war vessel in times of peace The loss
of japanese submarine, when the
Lieutenant in command utilized the
last moments of his life to write a
message to his Emperor describing the
closing incidents in the doomed torpe-
do boat, is another case in point
In these and in Il dozen like acct
dents, the causes were found by the
naval experts to have been due to the
formation of the deadly gas in the
submarines. and the effect of the gas
on the crew that made 1t impossible
for the boats to be handled properly
The French Government in 1907 esti-
mated its losses through submarine
boat experiments at more than 206
lives. and other naval Powers expert
enced the same depressing drawbacks
to this form of torpedo boat
The storage battery for equipping
submarines is said by naval experts to
be the greatest advancement thus far
made in the submarine vessels. Sub
marines, commanded by intelligent of :
ficers. thoroughly familiar with the
waters they were navigating. have
been known To rise to the surface
directly in the path of express steam
ers. In one instance the submarine
almost was cut in two off the French
coast and many lives were lost. The
explanation of such an incident is to-
be found in the fact that those In the
submarine discovered chlorine gas
within the boat. and had to seek n
supply of fresh air.
The common type of battery hitherai
to used In the submarine is known. as
a lead battery. and suphuric acid was
employed as the eleetrolyte. Salt wa !
ter is found in the bilge of the sub
marine always in more or less volume
This is due to a variety of causes. but
principally because salt water pene-
trates the steel plates of the craft
Thus it will be seen the bllge water in
the submarine boats has been the basis
of the deadly accidents to the tiny
war vessels.
The rubber jars used with the lead
batteries We're found by the naval ex-
perts To he fragile. in some instances
almost brittle, and not strong enough
to prevent the leaking of the sulphuric
acid into the battery tank. Experts
assert If the lead lining of the tank
be not intact the acid finds its way
into the bilge. where. combined with
the salt water, it rapidly makes chlo-
rine gas. This is one of the most dead
" gases to inhale. In the Edison bat
terry the danger thus described is elm
mated by the fact that the electrotyte
used, potassium hydrate, can be mixed
with salt water to any extent without
the production of any gas and with
out Injury to the iron sand steel con-.
struotion work Of the Vessel. II is as
serted the potassium hydrate even
preserves the iron and steel.
With the Edison electrolyte the ven
tilsting system of submarine Is Inn
proved. Whole crews or submarines
have been killed by suffoeation after