Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-08
A Banker-N Navigator
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

| Washington, u. G., Jan. "a method
| by which the captain Of . ship IN md
ocean can find his exact position, IN
latitude and longitude, by tho use OF
wireless and without the aid Of the stars
and the sextant which have guided
mariners for centuries, has been per
| fectcd hy member of the United States
| Naval Reserve, and Ii published 10 the
world this month by the United States
| Navy.
This new method is interesting, and
| tho man who invented it is still more so.
| Lieutenant Commander Abner B. Gle n-
ents, u. s. ". r. f., Is a banker, lawyer
and fnancier, who has been known
chiefly as specrI1ator in copper mines aud
figure in so-celled copper war.
Probably comparatively few OF these who
know Clements as a man OF bufiness arc
aware that he graduated from the Naval
Academy at Annapolis back In 1875 and
that he Was an officer IN the Navy for
eleven wears. He spent several years at
the Naval Observatory in Washington
studying astronomy and navigation IN
business hours and Law out Of business
hours. When he had finished his legal
education, he said goodbye to the navy
and uttered business life.
There was nothing unusual about that.
A great many young mon Of ability were
leaving the navy about that time, be
caiIse promotion was extremely slow
The Civil War had crested n gIut Of
officers The situation IN respect n pro-
motion was much the same az that which
Naval Academy graduates Of this and
The next few years will facc.
The unusrialfcature Of Clements case
is that, although he left the navy. he did
not neglect the sciences of mathematics
and astronomy which had fascinated
him as student. During the most
strenuous phases OF fasonewhat spectacular
career in finance, he found his recreation
in working out problems IN ballistics,
navigation ond astronomy. The formula
of calculus and trigonometry, which the
average college man forgets within three
years Of his graduation, { lements was
still using as playthip9p thirty years after
he had severed his connection with the
navy. That relief from business wnrry
which other men found IN dissipation
and sport, he got With fsr less waste of
energy and money by studying the starr
aud advising rife manufacturers how n
make barrels that would gye the pro-
jectiIe fiat trajectory
GOVERNMENT BENEFITED.
When the war broke out, the govern
ment cashed in on Clement hobby lie
found his place in an officers school a.
Mare Island where he taught the techni-
que OF naval warfare ~ men some q
whom ought to have known moro about
1t than he dId.
Now as 10 his invention. which is not
machine but q method. and 4 method
80 simple las mathematical methods 60
4l & sb9ssnhR
OF IT before.
During the war, device was perfected
by the navy for determining the direction
OF radio waves from another ship. This
device, very briefly, consisted of an
electrical coil turning on a perpendicular
axis If the radio waves strike the edge
Of this coil current Is started and the
operator can recognize the fart by the
loud buzz which it gives of. IL the waves
hit the fat side Of the coil, there j. no
current and no buzz. Byt turning the
coll until the point il found where the
buzz is loudest, or least, the direction
from which the radio waves are coming
can easily be determined. In this way,
our ships often located enemy ships.
Another use Of this direction finder
Immediately suggested itself A ship
going into harbor IN 3 fog would send
out radio message to a shore station
The shore station would get the direction
OF the ship b. this direction finder, and
having this direction by a process of
triangalation, it could determine the
ships position and communicate u TO
the ship 5 captain by wireless.
This method has been in use for several
years now, on all coasts adequately
equipped with wireless stations, and by
both naval and merchant ships. 1t not
only helps ship TO enter harbor, but it
enables . ship within sixty miles OF
coast TO determine It's position even
when the stars are not visible. When
YOU understand that nearly III grechs
are caused by ships running ashore 10
the fog, through ignorance OF position,
YOU appreciate the value Of this method
10 vessels travelling near the coast. II
means that the toll OF hfe and property
taken BY dangerous capos Ike Hattsras
Is greatly redufed.
But this method did nothing for the
mariner far at sea. He could pick up the
wireless messages from the shore stations,
but he could not send messages N return,
because the puny wireless on board 3
ship Is only reliable for distances less than
a hundred miles. Il is hard 10 explain
this matter to a Iayman especially for
another laynnan1, but suffice Il 10 say
that ID order to compute his position BY
yrgonometry, the computcr must ha
at least one known distance. That is
where the shore station comes n. The
shore station knows rs own position, and
the distance 20 some other point, say
another shore station. Ii can get the
direction OF the ship The computer on
shore can then draw two lines Of a tri-
angle BY trigonometr1, he can compute
the third line, and compute the triangle.
The position OF the ship Is the apex OF the
triangle.
Whether this Is clear to you or not. you
will understand that the mariner N mid
ocean lacks the two positions. he could
find out, with his little direction finder, in
what direction some shore 9atlon lay
for his wireless could always pick up
messages from shore stations. lie could
locate that shore station on the map He
then had ono point and ore direction lie
could draw one ttne Of his triangle and
that is all lie could say with certainty
for exarplc. that the station at OId
Point Comfort was due west Of ann,
but he could not tell how lar west
CLEMENT $ METHOD.
The contribution Of Clements cor
sisted in pointirg out the SIN ple fact that