Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-11
.U-B0AT STEERING GEAR
AMERICAN INVENTION
Frank Gardner, Inventor. Flied
Model With German Patent
Office Before War.
Hun ApPRopHIATES THE IDEA
Simpliflcd Gear, I,ejectcdby Amcri-
can and British Builders, Enables
Germans to Perfect Supcrsubma-
rinc-Anerica Now Adopts II.

| PARIS, November lc.-stcerinE gear
invented by an American and filed in
The German patent Office in Berlin one
month before war broke out is in use
on the Kaiser's U-boats. enabling them
to turn and dodge and vancouver
rapidly and by an extension OF prin-
ciplc TO dive and emerge quickly.
/ Frank Gardner. inventor o: the new
steering gear. announced this follow
+ ing the receipt Of "a letter from the
Navy Department at Washing ;on. an
nouncing that model of his rudder
! and tillcr had been favorably passed
upon BY tho executive board and for
I wardcd to the construction board
The new steering gear is so con-
centratcd that it occupies little more
/ than half the space Of the old-fash-
+ toned type. weighs onc-twcntieth as
! much. and is 50 efficient and keeps the
: ruddcr so still that the lack of vibra-
( ton adds apprcciably to the vessels
speed
7 Il had often watched the cumbcr-
! some steering gear of ocean steamers
when have travelled" said Gardner.
, and II always seemed 10 me there
/ was lot Of lost motion and wasted
space in steering vessel. thought
over the problem Il long time, and
finally | solved IL by a series Of in
| tcriockng levers. gcarcd directly to
the ruddcr and rudder post. | offered
my plans to several French and Brit
ish steamship officials in Paris and
London. but they did not realize the
value Of 1t. SO decided TO send a
model and the necessary papers TO Ber-
lin at once to protect myself That
was in July. 1914.
within the month the war had
broken out and forgot about the
matter. as / have been occupied in
airplan. construction for tho French
government. \ fcw months ago. how
ever. CHANGED TO meet an old friend
II mine. AN Englishman. and one Of
III" men. by the way. 10 whom | had
shown my steering gear apparatus, as
he was big shipowncr and builder
before the war.
This man told me that through the
virtue Of his former position he had
Inspected certain German submarines
captured hy tn" British navy, and that
covered that all wc,R equipped with
the s:"erin: gear had shown him.
Gi:UMtNs APPROPRIATED IDEA.
tNB UAVE MADE GOOD USE
When explained TO him that 1 had
s"nt papers. b!ucprints and model to
l!.:lin far Ming in. tho patent Office
just before the war broke out every
thing was plain to him. There can be
no doubt that tho Germans appropriated
my idea and have made good use of H.
immediately ! set to work and con-
structcd another model of my steering
gear, which l submitted to Commander
Sayles the naval attachc of the United
states embassy in Paris. Commander
Saylcs reported favorably on it, and
sent tho model and the necessary papers
and blucprnts 10 the Navy Department
III Washington. Now | have received
this letter from Secretary of the Navy
hantcls announcing that the PROPOSE
ton has been referred to the construc-
ton board. which indicates they think
we'll OF it, otherwise they would have
thrown it out Immediately.
My scheme is 10 connect UP the
ruddor and the ruddcr post directly
With a set of half-doZcn levers. lying
horizontally and acting as interlockinE
tillers. Saving % per cent of the
weight Of steering gear means a whole
the ordinary steering. gear weighs over
LOCO tons. And II takes up enough
space TO mount couple Of good sized
guns and stow a good many big shells
sly steering gear can be tucked a".y
in Il mighty small space and, beside
tat, it IS simplicity i,sc.f
Il have made Investigations and
find that the Germans have adopted
my steering gear in its entirety. They
have adopted it for lateral use as we'll
and can make the submarine dive or
come TO the surface much quicker than
with the old type. And in q C-boat
where every square inch Of space is
valuable. the saving has been a great
thing for them"
Frank L. Gardner was the partner OF
Leon Sarpollet, who invented one of
the first steam driven aut omobiles man.
ufactured in France. He was also in
tereSted in the construction Of the
Langley acroplane, and has handled
many contracts for the various allied
governments since the war began AL
though now engaged in manufacturing
sinElc-seated fighting aeropianes for
the French army. Gardner is strong
advocate of two and three scatter ma
chimes for the United States aviation
service. He contends that whereas
French. British and German pilots
broke in on old-typc. slow -fly:ne
machines the American armcn will
have to learn to fly at the start the
produc; of three and half years of
war-a machine flying in some cases
almost twice as fast as the original
machines used by the various armies
at the beginning Of the war
JOHN WAL SH Appointed