Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1913-03-28

quite impossible to refoat the cruiser. Then two
young engineers w. w. Wotherspoon and r. O.
King attacked the task along new lines obtaining
the financial assistance Of the late John Arbuckle
These enthusiasts--for such the spirit in
which they approached what others had pro-
nounced hopeless-broke away from traditional
practice and resorted to the of compressed air
as medium for salving the Yankee
The ship had landed high the reef and the
Jagged rocks had torn her bottom plating in many
places, making 1t impossible to pump her out In
the usual way. These innoyators sealed up the
hatchways leading to the various holds. Then
they pumped compressed air into the compart
ments and the was driven out again through
the rents by which it had entered. The ship
thus made buoyant enough to be dragged from
the rocks. Unfortunately she run into and
sunk while being towed to harbor.
An entirely problem then presented itself.
Instead Of making of cumbersome pontoons
and other external buoyant auxiliaries, Messrs
Wotherspoon and King settled upon the plan of
turning the Yankee into her own salvage appara
tus. In other words 1t was decided to utilize the
ships own compartments as buoyancy chambers
by draining them of the very water which had
carried the craft to the bottom
You will probably declare offhand that there is
nothing original in this; anybody knows that
foundered vessel would rise if you could get the
water out of her. But don't be too hasty in your
conclusions The difficulty lies in the danger
cHdl NueH lut las lOTCeu lne WdIeT out. the
pressure of the everything water will crush the
hull. How. them did these young engineers guard
against this danger?
They did not try to pump out the cruiser in the
literal sense of the word they drove the water
out under the impulse of compressed air and they
balanced the ccntending forces so nicely that the
ships structure was substantially neutral divi-
sion between them the air pressure being just
a trihe in excess of the pressure of the water
which 1t forced outward from the buoyancy com
partments. Do you realize the engineering cum
ming involved here? The compressed air actually
constituted stronger support for the burdened
deck than the water which had previously fned
the underlying space! As the cruiser rose to
the surface the pressure was progressively re-
duced so that 1t Just maintained an excess OF
force against the exterior water
This method of floating the Yankee suggested
to Mr.. Wotherspoon medium by which the
structure of vessel not vet sunk could be utiliz-
ed to keep her afoat when otherwise inrushng
water would certainly carry her to the bottom
Mr.. Wotherspoon's first adaptation of this sys
tenn was for naval purposes, to provide means by
which injured ship of war could survive the
under water attack of either torpedoes or sub
marine mines. and probably be kept on an even
keel so that she could still fire her guns effec
lively against enemy
From the keel of a lighting ship up to height
of several feet above the water line it is the prac
tice to subdivide her as far as possible into q
large number of separate water-tight compart-
ments the idea, of course, being to conhne the
area Of injury, BY making use of these compart-
ments Mr.. Wotherspoon's invention has robbed
the under water weapons of much of their terror;
1t has reduced the dangers incident to hitting an
uncharted rock; and it furnishes the commanding
officer of battle craft with a means by which
he can assure himself at any time that his ship
| is structurally sound
The naval constructor is a miser when il comes
! to apportioning pounds of ships displacement
for auxiliary features This attitude is really ex-
| cusable. because stray pounds here and stray
! pounds there very soon reach the aggregate dig
nifty of tons When Mr. Wotherspoon submitted
! his proposition to the navy department the Off
Gals there grudgingly allowed him very small
! total weight within which he was to make his
system applicable to two-thirds of the 200 water
tight compartments OF one of our armored cruis
! ers
On the face OF it the prospect did not took en-.
couraging. but II was right here that Mr.. Wother
spoons ingenuity met the difficulty. He chose to
make use Of existing facilities already provided
| !or other purposes. This resourcefulness on his
| part snabled him, when his work OF installation