The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1915-07-17
NAVAL TORPEDOES
Mechanism Of These Fearful Sub
marine Missiles.
DEATH IN THEIR WAR HEADS.
Where the Great Charge Of Gunoot-
ton 10 Carried and How Il 10 EN-
pIodsd-speed With Which Those
Tubes Of Terror Are Propelled.

tNN - @&tft ~ &fta ~" ~ 70 -
pIodsd-spesd With Which These
Tubes Of Terror Are Propelled.
There Is missile about seventeen
feet long. cylindrical In shape and
eighteen inches In diameter. that con,
tains within the small space OF It's
head the power 10 destroy thousands
OF lives and sink the greatest OF ships
That missile Is the torpedo Such n
the weapon Of the submarine.
In times OF peace, It's exercise head
filled with water. the torpedo Is harm
less enough. But IN the tube OF sub
marine. ready for action. rs bronze
war head containing about 100 pounds
OF guncotton. II becomes the most fenr-
cd and most destructive weapon In On.
val warfare. ft
In Europe the whitehead torpedo IL
almost universally used Invented by
an Austrian. Britain quickly adopted
II for her own and the largest factory
is now ut weymouth, England
The United States has also been an
extensive user OF the whitehead tor.
pedo. obtaining the right TO manu-
faeture II ut the torpedo station IN
Newport. r. l., We are. however.
abandoning the manufacture OF the
Whitehead In favor OF the Bliss
Leavitt, an American torpedo which Is
rapidly developing into the best torpedo
In the world
So that you may appreciate the mer-
Its OF each md understand the various
functions OF these torpedoes. 4 VIII
briefly describe them.
Torpedoes are divided into three prin-
cipal parts. the head, the air flask and
the afterbody. The war head IL mnde
OF bronze and carries charge Of about
200 pounds Of guncotton. There ia ct
ted into the war head a small fnechan-
lam called the war nose. the function
OF which il 10 fire the guncotton charge
when the torpedo strikes the object.
The war nose has generally three or
four arms, which. aid the torpedo In
cutting through nets or fire the charge
in case the torpedo should strike a
glancing blow. In times OF peace steel
exercise heads are carried for the pur-
pose OF practice and, as they are filed
with water. are entirely harmless.
The head is fitted by screws 10 the
air flask, hollow cylindrical tube
about eleven feet long and used for
storing compressed air, the motive
power OF the torpedo. Every ship and
destroyer carries machines for com
pressing air, but submarines usually
have their dasks charged alongside a
TIE. ESe dasts ID stssssa to about 400
pounds pressure per square inch, and
this Is reduced by valve 70 an engine
working pressure Of about 900 pounds,
OF course. upon the speed.
In order 70 get the greatest possible
range with the limited supply OF COM
pressed air. the air after being reduced
to given pressure IL superheated 10
give greater expansion and consequent.
ly greater speed.
The afterbody OF torpedo contains
the working engines, Ky
roscopic steering apparatus aud the at.
tached engines which control the rud.
ders. All these are OF very delicate
and In order 10 have eff
cient torpedo men the navy department
school at the torpedo sta
ton In Narragansett bay.
Torpedoes can be adjusted before
firing to run any desired number OF
yards from 100 10 1000. and I'm our lat
est Bliss-Leavitt torpedoes q range OF
10000 yards has been attained The
speed of the torpedo depends on the
distance II is 10 run. The whitehead
torpedo runs ~ knots per hour for
1000 yards and 40 knots per hour for
the ] 900 yard setting. Our submarines
are being supplied with Bliss Leaviit
torpedo capable OF running 1000 yards
nj about 30 knots an hour.
The torpedo can also be adjusted pre-.
vious TO firing 70 run at any desired
depth beneath the surface OF the wa.
ter. The armor belt OF most battle,
ships extends about six or eight feet
below the water line. and the torpedoes
are generally adjusted 20 run az a
depth which would strike the enemy
ship just below the armor belt
Before torpedo Is placed completely
in its tube all adjustments are made so
that II Will run as desired. The torpedo
is expelled from the tube by com
pressed air. and as II passes out
starting lever Is thrown back. which
allows the compressed air within the
afr flask to pass through the valves. re-
ducing Il 20 the engine working pres
sure and then 10 the engines.
The torpedo now fakes full control
Of itself and runs ~ the desired depth
speed AMI distance 20 the target
Rush ~ llnng ga i-eslie's Weekly.