Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-30
and sent on errands of destruction and

and sent on errands of destruction and
determination.
To the skeptics who say 'lmpossi-
ble.,' they ask, why mott. and point
TO the successful operations of the Iowa
the radio-controlled automobile of Gal
win and the tank of Captain Vaughan,
| which not only was meaeuvered at will
but made to fire a pistol and do all man
ner of tricks within a fraction of a
second.
The bureau of engineering of the
navy is not standing still; some of the
more advance problems have been
solved already. others are under way
and even the conservative experts adj
nit that within five years we may have
an auxiliary fleet Of unnamed war YES
sells controlled by radio.
How the Iowa Is Controlled
Naval engineers will Tot reveal the
! technical details OF her "innards" but
explain the operation of the Iowa gen
orally as follows:
A crew of men. after starting the oil
burners and the engines. abandon ship.
The control ship takes charge. A sig
nal from her aerials is picked up by the
antenna on the radio ship and trans
mitted below. There it Is amplifled and
made to operate a very sensitive relay
which manipulates q larger relay. The
main relay controls an electric clrcui'
which governs a pneumatic valve. This
opens and closes the throttle Of the
main engines mechanically by com
/ pressed air. at the will of the radio
operator. The main relay also manlp-
ulates a sort. of commutator which is
the key to q standard steam steering
system controlled by electrical motors.
Mnaeuvering . also affected autonatl-
cally in this rs>Ho ship by means of a
gyro compass, likewise connected TO the
master commutator enabling the opera
tor to set the wheel, so to speak, on
a given course.
All sorts of devices are installed for
carrying out the details of operation
such as controlling water and fuel Oh
feeds: but the mechanical brain o.
this monste is the commutator whlct
literally ipteSprets the radio signals
and executes orders, all within a see
ond. A time clock device ls prov1edec
to keep the craft from running away II
case the control ships radio apparatu:
ceases to function properly. 1t radlC
signals are not received after a certain
. III tSt Oh I!tilt, the tIpth N'A' .
of the crewless ship and shuts dow
everything. All the apparatus excep'
Mr.. Hammond's special relays tor tn
conversion Of the radio signals int
currents sufficiently strong TO operate
devices, was developed by radio engl
neers of the bureau of engineering o.
the General Electric company tn
scheme is "Al-American' and ls {
carefully guarded secret.
A Radio Controlled Target
The first radio-controlled battleshiI
is not through by any means: she II
still in special commission at the lamp
ton Roads operating base. where she Il
in charge of n trained crew OF mechan'
les and electricians, awaiting the TAI
~maneuvers Of the Atlantic fleet, whel
she will again become n target snip
this time for g%unfire practice. but Sh'
will not be destroyed. Her future IS as
sured, for she is far too valuable to b'
sunk with oil her SPECIAL equipment
while there remains so many experi
ments yet to be tried before her success
sors are developed.
However. she will serve as the frs
radio controlled moving target for the
fall practice of the fleet-an event
~posthponed from the summer maneuv-
ers at Guantanamo bay, Cuba, due ia
lack of funds and fuel. Special shells
are being cast for the several types OF
naval guns which will fire at her this
fall, shells which will not be armoI
piercing nor explosive. but which will
nevertheless indicate hits. They. may
carry away a smokestack or pilot house
damage Of little consequence to thus
craft. whose progress would be undis-
turbed unless her vital aerials were
shot away.
The Iowa bears watching. and the
next few years will tell whether naval
prophets are right about the practical
biltiy of radio controlled fleets.