Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-01-20
THE NAvY'S LABORATORY
AT EXPERIMENT STATION
Lack Of Increase Of Appropriations
Has Retarded Its Develop
ment.
ANNAPOLIS LOCATION IDEAL.
As Base Of Edison Naval laboratory
Why Locate New Laboratory Else
where With Buildings and Equip
ment Here, and Sufficient Land
Availsble to Add Thereto.

Available to Add Thereto.
The unfortunate accident that oc-
cured the other day in the Brooklyn
Navy Yard to the E-2 equipped with
Edison's storage batteries. has been
quoted as an example of the need of a
naval laboratory People do not. seem
to realize the navy has a laboratory
| IN the Naval Engineering Experiment
| Station at Annapolis This state Of af-
| fairs is, no doubt, due TO the fact that
the development of this laboratory has
been regarded during the past several
| years by lack of increase in appropri-
ations and new equipment
| Mr.. Edison. with the approval of the
| Naval Consulting Board, has laid down
| certain requirements for the proposed
| new laboratory (and shipbuilding
| yard, all of which can be met by the
location of the present Naval Engineer
ing Experiment Station, There are,
| however, number of additional re-
! quirements of no less Importance
| whcih should be met by a naval lab
| oratoryThat all these requirements are
| fulfilled by the present naval labora-
tory at Annapolis will become evident
| by considering them in detail.
| Mr. Edison says the new naval lab
| oratory should be located on tidewater
The present laboratory on the Severn
| river is so located.
Mr.. Edison states that the laboratory
| should be near but not in large city.
| In addition to being just across the
| river from Annapolis. the present lab
| oratory is within one hours ride by
| trolley to Baltimore. Thus ii is as
near Baltimore as it would be practi-
| cable to locate another laboratory near
any other large city. In fact, a num-
| ber of the workmen ride back and
| forth TO Baltimore every day.
| The third requirement Of Mr.. Edison
| is that there should be docking faeil-
! tiles for the largest battleships While
| such is not the case at the present
Naval Engineering Experiment Sta
| ton, this requirement could be readily
met by deepening the existing channel
| from the Chesapeake Bay to the Naval
| Academy, a distance of only two miles.
| The present channel is sufficiently
| deep for battleships of the Alabama
/ class to anchor i'll front of the Naval
| Academy. and the nature of the river
bottom is such that channel once
dredged, will remain open indefinitely
The fourth advantage of the Annap-
oils location in the above connection,
| is that there is no congestion OF ship
ping in the river or bay. and there is
! anchorage space in the Immediate vi
| cinity for the whole Atlantic feet
| The large. clear stretch of water in
the Chesapeake Bay is an ideal place
| for the maneuvering of submarines, in
Guiding practical work with torpedoes
The laboratory should not only be
on tidewater. but on salt water not
contaminated with seweage Although
the water of the Naval Engineering Ex-
| pertinent Station is not as salty as
some sea water. experiments requiring
| salt water can be very satisfactorily
conducted The American Society of
| Testing Materials has selected this
station as the site for exposing metals
| TO salt water air. (This requirement
| precludes the location of the proposed
new laboratory at the League Island
| Navy Yard Philadelphia. where the wa
| ter is not salt, but fresh)
| A naval laboratory should be located
near the headquarters of the Navy De-
| partment in Washington. With the
| further development or research work
intimate contact between the Bureaus
| in Washington and the officials of the
station will become more and more
| necessary. This contact will be lost
or rendered very inconvenient if the
| trip TO and from Washington or the
Station cannot be made within day
with sufficient time for conference.
The trip between Washington and An
! nopolis can be made in one and a-half
hours by electric car and in less time
by motor car.
Any naval laboratory should be loca-
ted in position not exposed to attack.
The Chesapeake Bay viii always be
one of the strongly protected places in
| this because primarily of the proxim-
ity of the nations capital.
The climate and weather conditions
at the laboratory should be moderate
in order not to unduly interfere with
the conduct OF experimental work. An.
napolis is rarely visited by very Sc
we're storms; the Severn river is fro
zen over only during the severest win
ters. and the mildness of the summers
is indicated by the location of many
summer residences for the residents of
Washington and Baltimore on the
banks of the Severn.
The living conditions surrounding a
research laboratory should be pleasant
to insure the members of the stan be-
ing in the best frame of mind for pro-
ductive work. This is true. for the
! present location of the Naval Engi-
neering Experiment Station, for the
workers may live within a few minutes
distance of the Station in the most
L aoraoa HE ct,rrn,,., dirnr-e