The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-03-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu REAU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washingtcu. d. @
SEEING THRU CAMoUFLAGE
WashinEtcz. d. @


American submarines have recently
been getting new coat of paint which
is scarcely less wonderful in it's effect
and its value than the disappearing
cloak of the fairy tale.
When looked at with the naked eye
these submarines appear a uniform
dull gray. just the color of the ocean.
so that it is very difficult to see one
of them at distance of a few miles.
But if the same glass is scrutinized
thru glass tinted q certain color which
| is kept secret, a bold and striking de-
sign appears on the submarine max
! ing it visible, and recognizable as an
American craft, at a great distance.
This remarkable result is obtained
by painting the design upon the sub
marine in a special kind of paint,
which has light-attracting qualities
/ differeDt from those of the paint used
on the rest of the submarine. To the
| naked eye the two kinds of paint APP
| pear almost alike, and the design is
| indistinguishable. But the colored
glass Filters" out some of the light
rays. making the design plain by con-
| trast.
The man who perfected this paint
and glass combination. gave a very
convincing demonstration of its prop
critics to the officer who was sent to
i inspect his work. He showed the Off
Ger a board, painted the dull gray of
1 submarine, with an iron cross de-
signed on it in black. He then handed
the officer a field glass provided with
a freak" filter. and babe him look
again. The officer was amazed to see
| the iron cross disappear, and the en-
blem of the United States navy appear
as tho by mage in it's place.
This use of paints with contrasting
powers of light absorption is just one
\ branch of new and little-known
science. called "camouflage detec-
| ton" which was developed during the
war, and was just reaching a high de-
gree of ingenious perfection when the
war ended.
This, unfortunately, appears to be
the one war invention which has little
prospect of further development dn
| time of peace. If the league of ma
tons makes good. camouflage detec-
| ton, which would have a considerable
place only in wars between great pow
ers. is as dead as the ancient art of
making glass gems. But some of its
methods and discoveries may well be
used in the future. For example, a
| hunter who sweeps a mountain scene
with his glass trying to spy out a herd
| of fbig-horn or mountain goats, by
| turning up glass of certain color,
| will make the animals stand out from
their environment in sharp contrast.
He will be able to set protective
coloration'' at naught.
And again, the explorer, flying over
| a wild country in an airplane, will be
able to take a picture which will be
a map, showing not only rivers, plains.
| forests and other features independent
of relief, but also the hills and VAL
| leys-the< topography For a part OF
the science of came uflage detection
consists of taking stereoscopic pictures
which exaggerate every irregularity in
the land.
No doubt other uses will be found
70: this method for juggling with light
and color which has been worked out
by the camouflage detectors.
the problem of seeing thru the dis
guises which, hid enemy batteries,
roads and asAgouts. They began by
working on the simple and we'll
known principle that glass of ger
tain color will pass only light rays of
that color. Thus if you look at a
landscape of green grass and trees
thru green goggles, the green will look
greener by contrast, for everything
that is not green will appear black or
gray. The British first worked with
only green and red glasses. the green
being used to spy out camouflaged
grass and the like. and the red for
detecting submarines. Thus, in the
case of camouflaged batteries, grass
I and shrubbery which was merely
painted on boards or canvas could be
easily distinguished from the real
thing.
But the -experimenters soon found
that what they needed was a great va
riety of shades of glass. Thus, by
scrutinizing a landscape thru glass
first of one tint and then of another.
eliminating first one set of colors and
then another, producing all possible
contrasts, nearly every object in that
landscape could be identified. For
this purpose, the British made a Cog
, gle with glasses of twenty-five differ
changed at will. The only trouble
with this instrument was that the
glasses didn't fit tight so that the
wind from the propeller of the OBJ
crevices, making his eyes water SO
; that he couldn't see. Such are the diff
ficulties that stand between theory
and practice.
) This difficulty was finally elimi-
mated by the use of an attachment to
the eye-piece of binoculars, known as
a 'turret plate" which could be
turned round and round bringing any
desired shade to bear on the object.
These binoculars fitted with turret
plates which enabled an observer to
scrutinize a landscape thru different
lights. bringing out by contrast many
things otherwise invisible, probably
represent the highest attainment in
artificial aid to the eye.
This binocular was perfected by the
navy in its submarine work, not by
, the army, altho the idea of using col
ored glass for the purpose seems to
have originated with the land forces.
The navy had not been submarine
hunting long before it realized that
there was dire need for some means
of identifying positively its own sub
marines, without the enemy being able
to do so. All submarines look so
!. much alike. For example, an allied
aviator flying over waters controlled
by the allies saw a submarine cruising
lasily along, matches open and decks
awash. The aviator had two sixty
pound depth bombs which he was
spelling to use on some enemy air
plane so he zoomed down at this one.
} But its deliberate and careleae man.