Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-09-09
$1 30 FER
Modern \ ! ) / 4 ) !
Death D ealing DUAL
tiles A Described

tiles Are Des cribsd
Washington, Sept. The sipsto4
date torpedo Is a loaded alt ltnnaobiie.
shaped like a cigar, made to run Ia, 4 sa
certain direction Id d fixed time and q
explode when 1t strikes sometime
that offers sharp resist re- IL
liable one, properly equipped with az
plosives and running geai, costs from
81, 900 to IS, ,000, according to size, A
large torpedo is 20 feet long. 81 inches
in diameter and weights $500 pounds
and it tears Il hole 80 by 10 feet In Il
the bottom OF a ship of two skins.
The torpedo, said an expert of
the navy, has four principal parts
the warhead, which carries the ex-
plosive; the air flask or fuel cham
ber. the engine and the steering gear
and the balance chamber 4 lie exs
plosiye head is filled with some high
explosive gun cotton etc ID u is
provided with d percussion detonator
This strikes q hard or solid substance
and the explosive goes Off Instantly.
Gun Cotton or Nitro-GI GIycerIs,e 8
The explosive head Is the for res
most compartment of the torpedo ana
contains the deadly charge and pistol A
with which 1T is fired Gun otton and II
nitro-g glycerine are the high expios-
lives generally used for submarine
purposes. here are many others,
but these II. IN the foundation fer
most Of them. III Gun powder OF the
sort used by the country boy to shoot
a rabbit or a squirrel Is no longer
used. The high explosive II more
powerful than gun poWdeT Gun;
| powder burns quicker than the high
l.explosive. and it splutters around Ii
scattered on the ground but iii ex
| plodes il confined Id q close place
| The high explosive will burn if you
stick match to ii, but not so easily
4 as gun powder. IA sudden blow will
1apply heat to an explosive and set it,
lon.
4 sThe explosive head strikes the bot
4 tom OF ship and q sdetonation, not
ian explosion. takes place. The mass
of high explosive seems To- explode
1 at once, and that Is what is desired,
las the most sudden blow will knock
a hole In the ship. Gun cotton IS de-
4 tonated by illuminate OF mercury.
Il which, when ignited by q blow, ok
4 pands 2,500 times Its origin sizs.i
4 The sudden expansion giFes a blow
Il to- the gun cotton that detp pIlafes it.''
This Is What Happens.
What happens when the explosive
head strikes ~
fA detonation follows inst tantant
eously and blows the outside OF the
ship In. making d hole about 80 by
aj1 y feet in size. There lis no rule
&, about the extent of the damage to-
4 the side of the boat; 1t may be- twice
q 80 by 10 feet. The blow drives LII
both the outer and inner skins of d.
vessel like the Lusitania. The doti.
b Bile bottom Is not sufficient to break
I the force of the torpedo IL it strikes
slwell. A glancing blow may not cause;
{ an explosion.
s he torpedo would have about the
j same effect on a collier that it would
-I on a big merchant vessel. We have
y never tested thoroughly the effect of
j, a torpedo blow on an oil tanker such
!. as the Gnlflight We are doing that
]. now.
After the torpedo struck H would
be blown to bits, and most of the
4 pieces would go to the bottom of the
sea. Some fragments might 60 In
side and become e7ltangled In the
Fl spllnters made by the detonation
q he torpedo must do many things
J, IN a very thorough wal. It
+. cannot succeed in IFS mission Ii a.
cog slips on the way, for it is primed
& for automatic action. Everything
must be just right and in its proper
j place when it starts on Its journey
Of destruction 1t has to run at a.
certain speed SO as to get to its des-
tination on schedule time, to 60 d
Il certain calculated distance in that
liked time, and travel in a certain
Il direction to make sure OF its MARI,
d II cannot loaf, vary from the course.
outlined for II or dip down or shoot
up on the way. If anything GOES
4 wrong all is off with that torpedo and
the thousands of dollars invested ID
/ at disappear beneath the waves.
Iorpedoes run from / 900 to 10000
i yards to reach the object they are
sent to destroy. It requires about
4 eleven minutes to make the longer
distance
What If the torpedo struck
whale on the way ~
would be bad for the whale, al
though the torpedo might not explode
unless big solid bone was hit
That no candidate for pre- dent
| can expect TO gain the 91 votes corr
lroiied by the suffrage states unless
ne i stands unqualiiedly for woman
suffrage. Sl1.A