The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-20
ASKED YAINLY FOR
GAS TRACER ON E-2
Lieut.. Cooke, Commander of
Submarine. Sought Other
Changes Too.
DISASTER VICTIM TALKS

Tho danger Of . hydrogen sas explo-
sion such as ds believed 10 ave wrecked
the interior Of the submarine E-2 last
Saturday. causing nve deaths n In
juries TO nine other persons. was fore
seen by the E-2's commander. Lieut..
Charles NJ. Cooke. as far back "A last
September when the Edison storage bat
teries were installed for official tests.
Lieut.. Cooke reported this peril IN the
Navy Department at that time with a
request for = hydrogen gas detector. but,
he testified yesterday at the Egg court
OF inquiry. he never got the request back
and never got the required detector.
"on September g." said Lieut.. Cooke.
II wrote a letter to the bureau Of steam
engineering Cat W~ashington) with q re-
quest TO De supplied with a hydrogen
detecting outfit. The request was never
returned to me. but some time ago I saw
q copy Of II with about fifteen indorse-
ments showing that IL had been turned
ever to various officials for approval"
On tho SAME theory III oun sub
marine commander testified he had asked
for changes In the ventilating system Of
the batteries. some Of which were being
made. He had also asked, he said. for
another Improvement. technically known
~ individual voltage leads for zach bat
tory cell. to enable him to detect a con-
dition Of the battery when there was the
heaviest generation Of hydrogen gas.
Edison Representatives. he added. did
not approve Of this change and the
bureau Of steam engineering declined to
authorize It.
Fereaw Unusual Condition.
The particular condition which Lieut..
Cooke had In mind was his electrical
phenomenon: Four Of the battery cells
discharged. l. e.. they were exhausted.
before the whole battery was discharged,
and then reversed themselves. 1. e., began
charging again. Lieut.. Cooke declared
that because OF this phenomenon he had
asked for individual cell voltage leads
The Edison men. he added. told him
there was no need for them. that revers-
ing Of the cells would not do them any
injury but would do them good. He
admitted, however. that at this discus
sion nothing was said about gassing OF
reversed cells.
Miller Reese Hutchinson, Thomas A.
Edison's chief engineer, presented half a
dozen foolscap age of questions to the
Judge Advocate, Lieut.. J. o. Fisher, but
not all Of them were asked. 1t seemed to
" so NSshh htS h4ehs Ot'N NAte
questions were aimed to ascertain
whether or not Lieut.. Cooke had prop
erly operated the ventilating system
while the batteries were being dis.
charged last Saturday.
According TO tho submarine COM
manders testimony the tests which the
Edison battery had undergone in the
E-2 were only preliminary, that none Of
the Official tests had been made. Tho dis
n NAA Aat. an
he declared. was undertaken at the re-
quest Of the Edison mon. -Four cells. It
seems. did not measure to capacity. Fur
thermore, changes had been recon-
mended in the ventilating system be-
cause IL wal found hat some OF the cells
In the centre of the battery heated more
than others.
Might Have Beea short Circuit.
Lieut.. Cooke admitted that there might
nc a short circuit of the ventilating sys-
TEN by the removal of a section Of the
battery shutter In watering the batteries,
which also was being done on Saturday.
He denied hat any OF his crew was
using open lights, There were four in
candescent heaters on board, he said. but
they never became hot enough TO glow,
One of them he had ordered placed on
III btblSls u"h- IA ~ "a b'el "
moved and placed between the batteries
by one of the electricians.
Lieut.. Cooke said he had no complaint
to make against any OF his crew or any
OF the civilian workmen in the E-2. lie
also admitted the possibility of a metal
tool causing a spark.
One question asked by Capt. william
n. q. Billiard and regarded as particu-
larry significant was this
WA the cell reversal of the Edison
battery cell ever brought to your atten-
ton by any contractor AZ regards hydro
gen generation" Lieut.. Cooke replied
vita An emphatic NO, sir, 1t was not"
The court began its session yesterday
by examining Ramon otto. one of the
injured member Of the crew in the
naval hospital. Otto corroborated Lieut..
Cookies testimony about the reversed
cells.
Mr.. Hutchinson made a statement yes
terday in which he sand he thought the
E-2 was filled with gas which exploded
owing to the fact that only one of the
" vent!lator fans was running, The
batteries, he insisted, were no more to
blame than is a boiler which eXplolcs
when the water sinks too low
Experts Pc%rf"ctinu Practical Gas
D%ctrctor.
NAsHINGToH, Jan. l9.-Ohicials u
The bureau Of steam engineering Of the
Navy department expect shortly to de-
yclop a hydrogen gas detector for use
in submarines equipped with the Edison
battery. Rear Admirsl Richard :. Grif-
i'm. chief of IN" bureau, said this tonight
when his attention was called 10 a report
that Lieut.. Cooke. commanding officer Of
the E-2, had urged the installation OF
such II detector months ago,
Explaining why the bureau had never