The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-08
LAKE MAY BUILD TUNNEL UNDER
 GREAT CHANNEL
Bridgeporter's System Ap- proved By British Engi-
 neers for Big Project
PLAN ONCE REJECTED IS NOW ENTERTAINED
American Experts Watch ing Negotiations With
 Extreme Interest

England and France may soon be
 connected by suDaqaeous tunnel for quicker transportation of troops and
 supplies to the front. The fact. may I American capital now being tsubscrib- i ed upon plans, specifications and bids l submitted by American engineers in I 1908.
 l Simon Lake, submarine inventor of
 this city may have a hand in the 1 work, if his subaqueous tunnel inven- 1 tions. which have been utilized suc-
 cessfulIy at New York city and St. Louis are adopted for quick construc- l ton by the British military authori- 1 ties The Bethlehem Steel Co. is re- | ported as likely to get contracts for
 the sectional tunnel parts such as it l supplied for the tunnels beneath the Hudson river.
 Though it has been admitted that
 English agents have been in this i country in connection with the project
 neither Mir. Lake or Fred Browne 1 Whitney of the Lake Go. will make
 any definite statement on the present
 plans. MT. Whitney seen by The
 Farmer in this city today said: 1T am I not in position to discuss this tun- nel1fngS project at this time, although I will not hesitate to say that several years ago Simon Lakes invention was seriously considered by the British
 government and the Lake Engineer ing Go, of England of which was
 secretary and managing director; went 1 so far as to bid on the work. In com petition with English and American tunnel constructors we bid nearly $15, 5,000,000 lower than others whose
 bids rose to maximum of $75,000s- 900.
 sGT1t,a 1,Tou at that +froa uyo 6 fo eop. meet Dover, England with Calais,
 France, which was perfectly feasible
 on athe hard chalk bottom that exists
 at no great depth. Just before the contracts were expected to be award
 ed the British war department sud- would .un-island' England. Since
 that time the project has been re-
 ceiVed for it was found that the air tship had the same effect of 'un-isl-.
 anding' England as the tunnel would
 have.''
 The patents on tunnel construction
 us worked out by MT. Lake prior to 1905 and which have since been in gen.
 era1 use throughout America and other
 countries are simply the construction of tunnel sections complete with adaptable joints at either end, which prepared with natural or artificial bot i tom and there sunk caison-like into a i relative position with the completed portion of the tunnel. The system is
 said to be quick, effective and perfect
 from an engineering standpoint It :, has the advantage over sfield-work,.
 in that it oyercomes many of the diff entities incident to boring tunnels un- F der water beds. The boring and shield work process. forces upon builders I much heavier grades and longer reach
 es to the shore than does the Lake sys- tenn. wE
 In the Lake idea, tunnel shells are built of steel either in segments or as
 a unit. These sections may be con- l structed on shore to a length of-400
 rails and then carried on floats to position and sunk
 1 During the construction a trench is dug in the river or other water bed and should the bottom be sand or mud instead of rock, a. sufficient num- 1 Der of piles may be driven to- serve
 as a foundation while others are plac- i ed along the side of the trench to l guide and hold the section in place. I during and after construction work, be fitted with air-locks for surface l and interior work
 The distance between Dover and I Calais is said to be less than 30 miles, I the war department of England sev- I eraI years ago when the project was f5rst considered. work was to be com l p1eted in little over a year. It is now l believed that should the English gov ernment determine to build the tunnel l under the direction oI Ihelr own army l corps it would be finished in less than I nine months from the time supplies | began to arrive It would be equipped | in double form, with space for the op- 1 eration of standard guage trains. The entire line would be protected with
 mines and other defensive means I a against atfaek