New-York tribune., 1919-04-06
Craft De signed by In
venaor of Telephone to
Chase U-Boats Drives
Entirely Out of Water
Has Airplane Propellers
Small Wings Lift 1t Out
of Sea, but Still Hold
1t Down to the Surface

WASHINGTON April 5.-When the
armistice was signed, the United States,
through DR.. Alexander Bell, inventor
Of the telephone, and under the di-
rection of the Navy Department, had
developed boat for submarine chas-
ing scouting that promised to revolu-
tionze that branch of warfare, it was
disclosed to-day by DR.. Bell.
This boat is a mechanical flying fish
1t rides entirely clear of the water
rising above the surface when moder-
ate speed is attained, and is capable
of far greater speed than any other
type of boat designed, according to the
claims of it's inventor.
DR.. Bell has just submitted de-
tailed report of his experiments to the
Bureau Of Steam Engineering of the
Navy Department, which had charge of
all war experiments and inventions.
Not Affected by Weather
In his report DR.. Bell declares that
the boat has proved success in every
way He claims that with proper en-
glne equipment it would be by far the
fastest type of boat in the world, and
that Its performance is not affected bv
adverse weather conditions.
DR.. Bell has begun working on the
development of flying boat" that
would skim the surface of the water
since 1913, at the laboratories on his
estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
+. w. Baldwin, manager of the labora-
tories. 1fnI l,
veloping the boat.
When the United States entered the
war DR.. Bell worked continuously on
his invention, in the expectation of de-
velopng the fastest vessel in the
world for chasing submarines. He was
a member of the Navy Department ad-
visory war board, and the department
gave hlm every assistance. The boat
which he finally turned out and whose
success he has reported to the Navy
Department resembles an enormous
spider moving swiftly.
The principle behind it is that of
the alrplane. 1t has airpane engines
and propellers, but its wings are small
and are submerged instead of being
spread in the air like those of hydro
airplane.
Body Sixty Feet Long
The flying fish" with which the
ilnal experiments were made had q
cigar shaped body sixty feet long and
capable OF seating two or three persons
comfortably. Two airplano engines
were mounted above and one either side
of the skiff body, with small pontoons
below the bow
Underneath the structure are placed
the planes that cause the boat 20 rise
above the surface Of the water when
travelling. They are placed like the
rungs of a ladder, one ladder being be-
meath the bow and one under each
engine. They are tilted at an angle
like the wings Of an airplanc, but are
made Of hard metal to resist wear
The water pressing on both sides Of
the small planes causes the boat to rise
square above the surface when a speed
Of fifteen miles an hour has been at
tanned, according to DR.. Bells report
The downward pressure Of the water
prevents it from rising clear Off the
surface when great speed is attained
and prevents the boat from ovcrturn-
ing.
DR.. Bell called his boat the H-d-44.
The Navy Department kept close
watch upon all experiments with it,
and so did the Canadian government.
which sent representatives to the
launching at Cape Breton, Ireland last
summer