The sun., 1917-09-09

In 1893 nautical camounage had made
no advance. and the best ~ oouiA %
at the time was to adopt . coat Of
gray for our naval vessels-A gray
with q slight yellow tingA Before
that. hero and abroad. experiments had
been made with variety Of grAyA
green's. blues and even blacks. and
whore the experts differed It was
found In the end that local atmospheric
conditions were mainly responsible for
the divergent results. None Of these
earlier Investigations was made along
the path to q solution Of the problem.
The ships entire were painted q single
color and without exception became
well defined targets when standing up
against a reasonably bright back
ground
A seaEull Torpedo Boat.
Probably tho first suggestive depar-
ture in the right direction was made
in the case Of a British torpedo boat.
which was given a mottled coating
under the direction of the late F. T.
Jane. tho we'll known naval expert.
Within certain limits that coloring
initiated natures camounage Of sea-
birds. with their markings Of black.
white and gray. but the disguise was
not effective unless the boat was seen
from aloft and thus merged with the
coloring Of a rough or broken sea: she
was easily picked up by the lookouts
the moment she rose silhouetted
against the sky. What Mr. Jane was
seeking to achieve escaped him be-
=,
cial purposes In working her conceal
ments.
In 1902 a patent was issued to two
Americans. Gerome Brush and Abbott
H. Thayer. the painter who had given
careful study to the problem Of making
ships less visible. They started out with
the idea Of reversing the coloring Of
the lighted and the shaded portions
Of a vessel, Initiating in this the shad-
ing Of some fish and the back and
breast coloyings Of numerous birds.
In their patent specification they
said: "The reason any object u easily
seen, no matter what color 1t Is
painted. is because when near enough
to be distinguished It's various surfaces
reflect. respectively. different amounts
Of light, the upward facing surfaces.
such as the deck. tops Of turrets, &C.
Of a ship. being the lightest, the verti-
cal surfaces less light. tho surfaces
facing downward less and the deep ro-
cesses still less.
when far away. 20 that its various
surfaces blend into one. q ship may be
visible owing to the contrast Of the
whole object with the surrounding sky
and water. A white ship may be seen
against 80 bright q sky a. to look al
most like q black ono. Therefore 1t
makes little difference what color
ship Is painted II It be with only one
color, as either the whole ship will
silhouette against the sky beyond or
its different parts will present strong
contrast of light and shade among
| themselves.
"Our invention consists in 80 paint
ing the ship or other object as to
prevent tho existence Of contrasts Of
light and shade. The upward facing
portion Of a ships structure Is painted
q dark color. according to our inven-
ton. such as blue or green. The ver-
tical, or nearly vertical. surfaces We
give q lighter color than the surfaces
facing upward. To those surfaces Of
the structure which face downward We
give a still brighter or light color.
A ship or other object treated by our
method tends, when out on the open
sea, to appear transparent and to cause
the observer to seem to look through
II, as II 1t were not there"
Flatness IL Not sumcient.
In short the process meant painting
normally light surfaces dark. darkened
surfaces light, and coloring the shaded
portions with paint that would neutral
ize shadows and blur their definition.
The inventors were getting closer to
natures secret. but while their treat
ment of ship would serve to give her
the appearance Of "fatness," 1t did not
modify materially the vividness Of the
| silhouette against the horizon.
It is quite likely, however. that this
method Of painting a>craft would helr
to merge her with the sea when viewed
from aloft by an airman. The problem
to-day is primarily that Of confusing
the submarine commander who Ii max
ling his observation through a perisccpe
and seeking to get close enough to
strike with his torpedo.
The men IN the navy who Of late
have figured in original work in the
field Of camouhage are Lieutenant.
Commander Joseph o. Fisher ant
Lieut.. Kenneth Whiting Both oi
them started their studies with subma'
rines two or three years ago, and Lieut.
whiting then continued his expert
msnts In connection with aviation
Lieutenant Commander Fisher 10 to-
day actively engaged On the genera
problem OF canoufiage for our battle
craft OF all sorts, and his painstakinl
llabors are bearing splendid fruit.