El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-21
Construction and Sowing of Deadly
Mines Requires Much Care and Skill D''n
Land; Ais
By
Rene Bach

whole regiments are said to have been
almost annihilated. The expedient is
By no means new, but the methods
adopted are up to date and Superior
ingenuity.
Suppose, for example, that a niece
os road is to be mined. The Internal
machine is concealed from view bv
spreading over it a few inches Of
earth. 1t consists in part of a small
electric battery provided with two
wires, one of which communicates
with receptacle containing a large
quantity of high explosive, while the
other runs to an arrangement called
a "sprinboard." When a man or horse
STEPS on the springbOard, a piece of
metal beneath the latter is brought in
to contact with projecting pin there
by completing circuit which ignites
a fuse.
The same idea is easily applied to
a bridge. In the case of a fort, a sys-
ten of more scientifically constructed
mines may render every approach a
waiting volcano, a switchboard inside
the defences enabling the besieged to
explode them at the moment when they
arc likely to kill the greatest number
OF men.
killing Now Wholesale.
In modern warfare wholesale killing
takes the place of the old fashioned
military murder by retail. Doubtless
as time goes on improvements in this
direction will steadily progress The
British ana Germans have both been
"a pGLlulGuL4H5 WIN means whereby Ut
is hoped) submarine mines NAV be set
of by wireless apparatus They are
also trying to contriVe a submarine
fish torpedo resembling the White
head) which can be steered from shore
to attack a hostile ship perhaps miles
| from land.
The Whitehead is an Englishman's
| invention, and is the only kind Of fish
| torpedo used in the British navy.
! Oddly enough, the similar devils con-
/ trivance used by the Germans is called
! (after its originator) the SchwartzkOpf
| meaning Blackhead. They differ
l only in minor details, being shaped in
| imitation of the porpoise and fired
from tubes by charges Of compressed
air.
The typical up to date torpedo of this
| description is really a submarine boat
/ in miniature. It is a steel cylinder
| fifteen feet long, with a cOnical at
! taChable nose called a war head,
| which contains 200 pounds of high ex-
| plOsive. The main BODY is a chamber
| holding air at a pressure of 1000
! pounds to the square inch. This air
/ pressure runs the machinerv in the
rear part of the cylinder, which actu-
l ates pair of prOpellors.
| Travels at High Speed.
! The steel fish travels through the
! water at a speed of 40 miles an hour.
/ Il can be discharged at target with
/ as much accuracy as bullet fired from
| a gun. Pursuing its course at depth
! of Is feet below the surface so as to
! strike beneath the armor of war
| slip, it is kept automatically at that
| depth by an ingenious little rudder
| which turns up if the nose of the tor
pedo attempts to point downward or
| vice versa. Inside the cylinder is a
| gyrOscope, which is started spinning
! and pointed at the target before the
! submarine projectiie is discharged.
I Thus, if it tends to turn either to right
/ or left, it is promptly brought back
into line.
Until the last few weeks very little
| was known through practical exper-
/ fence of the effect, Cness Of the sub
| marine torpedo as a weapon of war.
/ 1. has even surpassed expectations.
| The cost of one of these terrible pro-
jet tiles is about $500; but inasmuch
as one of them is easily capable Of
/ destroying a 'battleship valued at
| slN,OO0,O0O, they may be said to be well
4 worth the money.