The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-18
Lake Proposes Submarines To Ply Between Ice Bound Ports
Inventor Explains Situation Of Lake Company And Says More Capitol Is Needed To Keep Enterprise
 In Bridgeport

l Bridgeport may lose one of the most I romantic and picturesque enterprises | in the world, namely, the Lake Tor | pedo Boat Company, which has req | 1fzed the visions of Jules Verne, and l solved the problem of under water navigation.
 The company needs more money | and has decided to issue it's notes to local investors and others, who may desire to come in.
 To those who look upon the sub
 marine merely as a vessel useful in war times, the views of Inventor Sim on J. Lake, will be somewhat of a revelation.
 He contemplates as a commercial possibility submarine navigation be- tween ice bound ports, the submarine
 cultivation and reaping of oyster grounds and an enlargement of the ship building business in other direc- tions.
 In a statement given today, relative
 to the situation of the business of the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, Mir Lake said:
 Several items have recently ap- peared in the local press re the future plans of. The Lake Torpedo Boat Com pany. Plans for the reorganization of
 the company and enlargement of it's
 businescs have been under considera- ton for several months. This has
 been made necessary by the receipt of large orders from the United States Government for submarine torpedo
 boats of the Lake type, the patents for which are owned by this company.
 The last order received from the Gov
 ernment amounts to $1, 900. Work
 has not yet been begun on this order.
 During the past ten years this
 company has received orders for about $z-0O0,ooO worth of it's sub marine torpedo boats. Most of these
 
 tracting the work to other shipyartis
 who have always received a good
 profit from this business. Not with Sz standing the necessity of paying to these shipyards q handsome first
 profit this com pany has in the past earned and paid to it's stockholders
 dividends high as 10 per cent. on its common stock, and the original stockholders of the company have re- ceived back 60 per cent. of their in vestment in dividends.
 ''The Protector now in V1ad1vos- tock, Russia, is the only one of the Lake submarines that has been en- tire1y built in Bridgeport but it has been the writer's desire to see a large shipbui1ding business built up here, not only capable of building sub marine torpedo boats, but also cap able of building submarine vessels for commercial york; such as S13bn arines for passenger, mail and express ser vice between ice bound ports. A num- | Der of important northern cities, 1 which have a good summer passenger, 1 express and mail service, are cut off from direct communication with each 1 other during several months of the | year, due to the closing of navigation | otherwise they are compelled to use enormously expensive icebreakers to 1 keep channels open through the ice. We have already received requests for
  engineer of one of our northern rtans- continental railroads for a submarine to carry passengers, mail and express from the Pacific coast terminal of the railroad to one of the islands off the coast where open water may be reach ed, and steamers taken for con- t1nuation of the voyage across the Pacific. There are large number of vessels engaged in summer trade be- tween Stockholm and other cities in Sweden and Piza, Revel, HelSingfors, Cronstadt and St. Petersburg in Rus sia, only a few miles across the Baltic in. summer, but several hundred miles by rail in winter. Take as an illus tration the great shipping ports of Stockholm in Sweden and ReveI in Russia, the distance in summer is about 200 miles by steamer; this was formerly increased 10 nearly 1,4Oo miles in winter, when the only com munication was by rail down the Peninsula to Germany, then up Germany and Russia to Reve1. In the last few years, very large and powerful ice breakers are used in the endeavor to keep chan nels through the ice open between certain cities; but the expense of keeping the ice channels open is very great.
 These submarine mail and pas senger vessels would not necessarily make the entire trip under water, but only where heavy ice existed, near the shores. The conditions in the Baltic are such, that probably not over 15 or 20 miles of the Journey between Stock holm and Revel would need to be made entirely submerged under the ice. Our own northern lakes also are closed to navigation during several of the year, and undoubtedly ( SUI bmarine vessels will be eventually { used to save the long rail journey made necessary in winter. Take as an illustration, Ludington, rail ( terminus on the shore of Lake Michi- gan and Two Rivers; a rail terminus ( on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin The distance by water between these two ( points in summer is about 50 miles, while by rail in winter it is over 400 } miles. Navigation in a submarine un- fer ice is comfortable and safe as has been proven by tests made with q Lake type~under ice submarine and I will eventually solve winter transpor- ,ation problems in many northern ( ports, which are now ice bound dur l ng many months. [
 There are many other uses for the t ;u bnarine boat The writer has just mpleted the design of a submarine I oyster reaping vessel with a capacity I on good ground of about 5, 1000 bushels 3 per hour. I call this an oyster reap ng vessel instead of a dredging ves-
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