Weekly journal-miner., 1917-04-25
NET ID CAPTURE
 TORPEDOES
OF INVENTION BY c. G. LEMONS NEARING COMPLETION HERE WILL BE OFFERED TO UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
(From Saturdays Daily)

The Memmons Torpedo Catcher,
 second of the war revising inventions
 of c. c. Lemmons, international f.
 nancier who is here in the interests
 of the proposed Prescott smelter, is to be offered to the government of
 the United States. A working model Of the swift motorboat, containing the torpedo catcher, is about finished at Sam Hills tinshop and when com pletcd, will be exhibited to high navy officials at Washington.
 Taking one of the fast gasoline patrol boats as his model, Lemmons has constructed five-foot replica of the craft. all of sheet tin, wood and brass. On the after deck, he has in stalled miniature but perfectly work able generator, from which the cur rent will be drawn to operate the tor pedo catcher. The latter device was being installed on the port side of the model yesterday, when viewed by a representative of this paper.
 It will be recalled that Mir. Lem mons gave this paper a statement concerning the famous Lemmons Land Torpedo, which has been sold to the British government, and which the inventor says is partially responsible for the stupcndous gains being made by the British overseas force on the Arras-LcnS sector. The British gov crnment refused the torpedo catcher or the grounds it would be difficult to call in their vessels in order to in- stall the device.
 Methods Are Secret.
 The exact principle on which the torpedo catcher operates IS the basic secret of the device, covered by mas ter patents in this country and En- gland. The apparatus so far as it was installed yesterday. consisted of two vertical rails, reaching from the rail movable in four grooved supports, so as to slide freely up and down. The bottom of the rail carries a small plate of steel, the precise use of which is not explained.
 That the device works on an electro magnetic principle. the inventor con cedcS. It Is a matter of spirited con lecture among the few who have been permitted to inspect the invention, just how the catcher works. It may be that Lemmons has succeeded in corrolling tine electromagnetic forces in such way as to construct a mag nctic field about the ship, of such strength that the torpedo can be de- tlccted, halted and caught. When tor pedocs were first adapted to marine warfare, inventors all over the world tried to harness the forces in such way as to cast an invisible magnetic screen about ship. thus masking it from torpcdocS - the only form oi weapon against which. chrome nickel steel armor had proved of no avail It has never proven possible to pro tect the hull of battleship against the torpedo, which strikes at a speed of 3l knots and explodcs with a charge of guncotton.
 Motor patrol boats of the type adopted by Lcmmors. arc being built by large number of private owners. to be offered to the government as soon as completed. They run from 45 to 66 feet over all length. develop speeds of from 5 to 75 knots an hour and. while not armored, will carry deck guns (onc to a boat of from Az to inches. Hundreds of these fast scouts will be used to fer ret out submarines and destroy them, or else give timely warning to ship~ ping of the presence of an enemy sub It is believed that within q month or two, the Atlantic seaboard will be literally infested with these speedy members of the mosquito fleet. and that some 5000 of them will be built for service in the English channel and other regions where the . U-boats arc operating. This will re- licvc the heavier and slower cruisers, i battlcshipS and drcadnaughts of this . patrol duty and permit their use else ! where in case there should come a general engagement between the AL i lied battle fleets and the large num- i Der of very modern drcadnaughtS I. known to have been built by the . kaiser at the Kicl and Wilhclmshaven 1