The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-26

III =
The war abroad has not only
developed great new dghttng ma
1chfnes. Ike the aeroplane. the ar
jmored automo bile and the submarine.
but 1t has perfected a mum Der OF
smaller weapons which, In them
lse1ves, are quite as important As the
II big epochal arms which have reyolu-
II ttontzed warfare and made modern
war so entirely different from the
1 conflicts OF dfty or even fifteen years
ingo. Every one of these smaller
i thCnderbolts of Mars is important In
i its particular sphere and, as there
arc many of these lesser weapons
which are being used Tor the nrst
time in this war. the United States
has taken particular pains to study
them and estimate the effect they Will
have upon future conflicts. Full re-
ports upon these miscellaneous wea-
pons, made by Uncle Sans military
observers. are now on file at the army
war college at Washington.
For example: there is one addition
to- TIE science OF aviation which has
been round most important in the
direction. of air-scouts during the pre-
sent war. This is system OF war
beacons,'' lighthouses Tor airshtps'
which literally mark the way of the
aeroplane and the dirtgib1esat night.
Throw Bombs Vertically.
These beacons are of three kinds;
the fash. the hxed and the revolv-
ing: but instead OF operating horizon
tally as do lighthouse, the beacons
throw Of pre-arranked systems OF
signals, show the aeronaut exacty
where he Is Germany has more than
a score of these beacons which en-
able her air scouts to steer straight
course at night and proceed undetect-
ed to the point OF reconnaissance
without exposing themselves to OBJ
servation. One Of these nfght-lights,
the Weimar beacon, has no less than
27.2OO,000 candle power behind It's
huge revolving fashlight situated on
Top of the military aerodrome.
Another improvement with respect
to aviation is the system of landing
lights now in use aboard which. up to
the present time, have not been en-
p1oyed on this side of the Atlantic.
The type of landtng-lights agreed
upon as the most desirable are Inn
bedded in the ground and protected
by a large sheet or pIate OF very
| thick glass upon which the aircraft
may land directly and be brought to
a full stop. In the center of the land
ing base is a very strong white light
which burns all the time as guide
| to the aviator where to land. Then.
/ IN order to signal the direction of
\ the wind near the earth-tor many
| accidents in landing are caused by
\ air currents which differ In direction
from those Of the upper regions
| four other lights, red in color, are
placed one at each corner OF the land
| ing stage. These are connected with
| a weather yane about fifty feet high
In such manner that they are au-
tomatically extinguished and lighted
| according to the veering OF the wind
For example, if the wind Is rom the
| southwest, the south and west red
lights will be burning. while the
north and east lights will be e1t1n-
1 eufshed. A sudden shift of the wind
TO the west win cause all the lights
except the one at that corner to be
extfnguished, and so on In the event
that there is no appreciate wind
near the earth all the lights are turn
ed of and only the white center light
is left burning. BY this simple means
the air pilot is at all times enapleo /
to tell the exact direction OF the vino
near the earth and to know how ne
should steer to make a clean landlns
in case he wishes to descend.
New Kinds OF Bombs.
The present war has also effected
a number of important strides in the
art of bdmb-dropping from aero
planes and dirigfbles and many inn
proyements upon the bombs them
selves. The chief objection to the
type of bomb used prior to the com
Increment OF the war was that II
exploded upon contact and therefore,
produced but little effect upon con-
crete foundations or similar hard
substances. Hand grenades would
have been almost az effecrive as the
oId-sty1e air bombs.
But practically all the nations now
engaged in the war are using bomb
which is partly the invention of an
American army officer. and which first
buries itself in the ground and then
exnlodes The resultant effect is
1851