Evening journal., 1915-07-21


American inventors are asked to
rally to the aid OF the nation in per
fecting means of warfare and how
well they may be able to do !. is
shown by the achievements of the past
which citizens oi the United States
have accomplished in that very field.
Josephus Daniels. Secretary of the
Navy. conferred last week with Thorn
as A. Edison concerning the appoint
ment of a board os civilian advisers
whose inventive genius is to aid the
national defense
And this brings TO mind that Amer
leans although often they we're not
able to work for their native coun-
/ try. have had m enormous part in
the upbuilding Of machines and wea-
pons used in military science.
We hear much these days of the
coming Of the submarine to brush
the navies from the sea- and yet in
the War of the Revolution in the very
harbor of New York. one of the most
practicable Of submarines was put in
to commission. Her designer and
builder was David Bushnell. and Ser
geant Lee. who actually got this
small craft under the stern Of the
British man OF war; Eagle failed to
properly attach the torpedo which
was carried a few weeks later a
torpedo from tie submarine which
was picked up by schooner killed
three men.
Fulton's Work In 1900.
Robert Fulton in 1900 was expert
menting with his plunging boat {;
submarine much like those Of thu
present day in principle There hat
been desultory experiments with sub
mersible boats since the days OF Alex
ander the Great. but II is general,
held that Robert Fulton was the first
or among the FIRST. to start the sub
marine on its course. His expert
ments in the Seine river under tn
auspices of the French government
and later his attempts to destroy Fri
gates under the auspices of the Brit
: ish navy. were important incident
of European wars.
Following the exploits of Fultoi
there were years in which little q
{ nothing was done with the submarine
= The Civil War gave the submarin
b industry an impetus and in recen
2 years have come such American in
yentors as Lake and Holland
. The success of the submarine 4
= these DAYS depends largely upon tn
= effectiveness of its electric propulsion
for owing to the periods of submeI
e sion storage batteries which are thoi
? oughly adapted for the purpose mui
p he employed Fulton. and a few veal
e later Robert l.. stevens. who exper
= mented with submarine boats. calc'
( lated how much air would be necei
g sary to supply the crew and also kee
= lighted the two or three small candle
! used within for illumination.
Mr. Edison VIII Help.
Nowadays what liqht is used mus
I he from storage batteries and eve
for cooking electric current tran'
formed is employed II Is believe
hat Mr.. Edison will do much in PEI
Getting the storage batteries for th
submarine. for thoir radius of actio
land efficiency depend much upon tha
It is difficult to trace the beginnir
of torpedoes. as they have been d'
: veloped largely through the activi
l. ies of American inventors. Fultol
used these floating mines, as man
4 once called them. and gave the nam
torpedo from the name of FISH whic
d has the power of imparting an eleC
trio shock.
II was not until the Civil War ths
q the torpedo was seriously considere
as a weapon Of warfare. Since the
it's development has been very rapii
a 1.-The Bliss torpedo is one of the mos
carefully guarded inventions control
ed by the United States.