The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1919-09-03

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derful results, that the navy has
adopted it and is .equipping all its I'M
dersea craft with this style Of loop.
In the fall Of 1917 a series Of expert
ments was undertaken by the bureau
to develop an apparatus for the detec-
ton Of enemy submersibles. ia. Will
loughby and p. D. Lowell were n
gagged in the work. They.had q. notion
that q closed or rubber encased coil
Of wire offered the best chances for
success. They made one and threw
it one night into a tank of fresh water
on the grounds Of the bureau near
Chevy Chase. Nd, a suburb of Wash
ington. To their delight they received
a signal from the big radio station at
Arlington. The next night they sub
merged the coil In the tidal basin of
the Potomac near the new navy build
ing. Again the signal came with no
difference in strength whether the loop
or coil was suspended in air or sunk in
the river. 4
Discovery Significant.
The. significance Of this discovery
struck both young men. Here was a
way possibly to detect the presence Of
enemy submarines, but surely to talk
with our own. which was equally i'm
portant, had been thought impossible.
This was Ia November. $
In December improvements in the
submerged coil brought the reception
Of signals from Lyons, France; Paris
and San Diego, Cal. BY March last
year excellent signals were received
on a single turn coil $50 feet long by
sixty feet high having a wave length
Of 100 meters by 5000 meters
In April Mr.. Willoughby discussed
with Lieutenant Commander q. p. st.
Clair Of the radio division Of the navy,
the use OF loops on submarines for
both transmission and reception under
water, Both he and Mr.. Lowell were
sent o:New London to work under
Commander Mcdowell in charge Of the
base, to install the apparatus for a try
out on submarine d.. It Is a simple
contrivance, the metal frame of the.
submarine itself being a part Of 1t,
this being used as a ground" just as
the earth Is used in hand t~elegraphy..
The circuit Is thus made complete. As
finally perfected the loop consists Of
two insulated wires grounded at the
extreme ends Of the hull carried ovef
suitable supports to the coming tower
and thence through "radio-lead-ins"
down into the boat to the receiving
and sending apparatus. A single turn
loop was used on the d.. With it's
top submerged three feet signals were
received from a submarine chaser
three-quarters Of . mile away.
Boat Used ~ "oround."
A new type Of loop was tried on the
q. s. s. G-8, In which the 1ead-in wires
I were brought in from the upper side
of the loop instead Of the lower and
the entire loop was insulated from the
hull. Better, but not satisfactory, re.
suits were obtained. Up to this time
the frame of the boat had not been
used al a ground"
The lower side Of the loop was re-
moved and the ends Of the wire fas-
tened to the bow and stern. The top
Of the loop was submerged eight feet ;
signals from Nauen, Germany, were
clearly heard. Very sharp indications
Of direction were obtained when under
water OF On top Of 1t. And soon other
stations were heard, including Carnar-
Won, England; Rome. italy, and varl.
GUS merchant vessels. Later expert.
ments showed that. communications
can be carried on at e under all con.
ditions mors5eficiently with the closed
loop aerial than with the ordinary
antennasnow in general use.
When a submarine equipped with
the perfected apparatus is submerged
any North American or European sta
tion can basreceived as distinctly al
when 1t is on the surface. The maxi
mum depth Of ~submergence at which
signals can be heard is determined BY
the wave length.
Signals q be transmitted from th.
loop to q distance Of ten OF twelve
miles, when the submarine 40 I com
pleteH submerged, the maximum dis
lance being obtained when the top o.
the loop is practically at tho 1lsurface
The distance decreases to twS or three
miles when the loop is eight or min.
feet below the surface. ~.