The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-05-22
NEWEST NAVAL WEAPON

should choose sound waves instead OF
electrical waves for his controlling inn
pulses, because sound will travel four
times as we'll and four times as far
through the water as it will through
the atmosphere.
Gardner showed that he could ar
range the sensitive receiver on his
submarine so that 1t would respond
either to one chosen note or to a
chord of them, and unless all Of these
were sounded simultaneously the sub
marine would be Indifferent to the
tonal waves..Of course it was not long
before the military critics picked this
system to pieces. They declared that
these sounds could be detected by a
suitably arranged submarine signal
receiver, and they asked: What would
prevent an enemy from producing the
same tone or tones under water and
thus neutralizing or completely upset
ting the sounds intended to operate
the little boat or a torpedo similarly
equipped?"
have been nonplussed by such situ'
alton, because to the average mind the
whole scheme depended upon the en-
ployment of audible signals, for how
otherwise could the desired pitch be
chosen? You don't know John Gard
ner, so you can't realize what it means
when his lips set firmly and his square
chin takes on an added touch of
angularity. Just the same, picture to
yourself this outward show of de-
termination on the part of a resource
ful man.
In all of its essentials the Gardner
receiver is a mechanical substitute for
the human ear. 1t is far simpler than
the ear, because in that there is re-
ceiving apparatus which boasts some
thing like 5000 extremely minute
fbers constituting the terminals of the
acoustic nerve, Each of these fibers
is responsive only to a particular note
and is deaf to all others.
But the human ear has it's limita-
tions There are sounds that it cannot
hear, sounds whose vibrations are eth
er too few or too many.
He set about making his receiver
still more sensitive so that it would be
affected by inaudible sounds. This was
not so puzzling as it may appear at
first blush He had only to find some
sound producer which he could control
to a nicely and which then would be
capable of creating vibrations higher
than those that would be detected by
the sharpest of human ears.
Of course he had to have for this
purpose a resonator that he could con-
troll perfectly, and once more electrici-
ty came to his aid. No, he did not
use a submarine bell or a submarine
horn Of a complicated nature, but in
stead he devised way to turn ship
iself into a source Of sound.
He has made it possible to cause the
hull or skin of a vessel to quiver so
that it will send these impulses speed
ing through the water like rays radiat-
ing from a source of light. He uses
an el6CITO-mdBueJ WHICH lie pldCe5 pre-
ferably down below water and in the |
very bow of the craft, and the poles or
terminals of the core of this magnet
are close to but not in contact with the
inner surface of the ships steel skin |
An electro-magnet is active only
when current flows through the en-
veloping coil, and then streams of mag
letism flow out of one end of the core |
and circle around the coil and return
by the other end of the core The
speed with which the magnet is ener.
gized or de-energized will set up cor
vibrations in the adjacent
plating. If these vibrations are not
100 fast sound will be produced which