Evening Star Newspaper, January 11, 1931, Page 75

Lo Simon Lake, the worlds foremost de- signer of submersibles. BY FRANK CARYLN. IGANTIC submarines, floating under- sea palaces as luxurious and as well appointed as the finest passenger ’ liners of today, will soon be hurtling through the dark depths of the seven seas unhampered by winds or storms, unaffected by the tossing and pitching of mountainous waves in a heavy sea. Huge cargo-carrying submersibles will revise the trade routes of the world, plying unham- pered under or Arctic ice, the chief barrier to man’s utilization of the valuable Janes between the Eastern and Western ;pheres, saving millions of dollars in fuel costs, canal tolls and freight rates. " E are not the imaginings of a modern Jules Verne seeking to emulate his pro- phetic forecasts by ‘s modern rendition of =pwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” m:uemeculmmdedcuh&edpredlcflons of Simor Lake, a man who has“tscu ll.:'m figures to back up his claims as well as a life- inventing and designing sub- marines. Few men can lay claim to such a neordotenzlneerhgmdoomtmcfionmtbe field of submersibles as he . Gere many’s sudden successful switch from the dreadnought to the submarine as » major wea- type of submersible at & plant in Russia after the Russo-Japanese War. Immediately after, , the industrial revolution which fol- stopped until it had buried its nose in the bottom. This diving fault was overcome by Lake, whe Built a ship-shaped superstructure on the top THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 11, 1931, [ INDER THE WATER 1o the 1Top ‘ of the Worl Simon Lake, Submarine Inventor, Foresees Time Shortly When Huge Submersibles Will Ply Ice-Packed Arctic Routes, Shortening Distance Between Ports on Opposite Sides of the Globe. Famous commercial German submarine Deutschland, which served as a block- ade runner for the central powers during the World War. of the usual hull of the submarine. This in- creased the stability of the submarine and tended to keep it on an even keel. Horizontal rudders or leveling vanes, which automatically maintained constant depth and level keel, also were used. Modern submarines employ both these features. ESIDE these all-important devices, Lake also invented and designed numerous other sub- gine in a submersible. that any prediction as to the industrial future of the submarine made by him has a lifetime of accurate knowledge and invention in the fleld of undersea travel behind it. “After a long delay, the submarine as a valuable instrument of commerce is about to come into its own,” said Lake, He was asked if he meant that eventually undersea travel will supplant all surface travel. “Not entirely,” he answered. “Because no . / ships. ' I have found that it can be a’ “In the field of cargo-carrying alone im- mense savings through the submarine can be readily computed. In undersea craft lies the eventual means of putting to use the hitherto undeveloped but vastly important trade routes of the Arctic. For instance, in the time factor alone consider the saving a ship would effect if it could travel from Hamburg or Liverpool to San Francisco via the northeast passage instead of across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific. “Look at your globe, Trace your course through the Arctic passages from Europe down to San Prancisco. ‘Then trace the course now in use across the Atlantic and through the Canal. A glance at the two lines will show that one is almost twice as long as the other. “This is considering the time factor only. When the expense items are advanced—twice as much fuel required for the longer trip, crew salaries over a longer period, canal tolls (over a dollar a ton)—the value of these Arctic pas- sages can readily be seen. The only thing pre- venting their being put to use immediately is ‘ the ice fields which a ship attempting to make the passage would encounter. This is the only hindrance to development of Arctic trade routes today. But it is & hindranece only to surface ble ‘hg Map diagram showing the relative lengths of the present route from Livers pool to San Francisco and one over the top of the world, which may be opened up by the development of submarines, ally in speeding up undersea travel. All that is necessary is some stimulus to bring the pas- sages into actual use for submarine travel. “Consider the vast areas in Northern Russia, Siberia and North America rich in mineral products, oil and the like that may be opened to development by cargo-carrying under-ice submarines. “Capt. Sir George Hubert Wilkins’ dash to the North Pole in a submarine next Summer will supply the necessary spark, I think. Very soon after that we will see the underseas craft make its appearance in'the industrial fleld. I am confident that Capt. Wilkins’ expedition will be a success and that it will prove conclusively that navigation through the Arctic area is both practical and profitable. “Many persons have the idea that Capt. Wilkins’ voyage will be made entirely under water. This is a mistake. Roughly, I would figure that at least half of it will be made on the surface. The Arctic, of cougse, is not ene vast sheet of frozen water. There are many areas as free of ice as the Caribbean. But where ice is present Capt. Wilkins’ craft and the pas- senger and cargo-carrying submarines of the future can either go under it or through #.” A discription of the submarine which will be used in the polar dash will give some idea of how the submarines of the future will be equipped for their negotiation of the Arctis passages. It was designed and built by Laké for the United States during the World War. It was known as the O-12, but will be renamed the Nautilus in honor of the craft in Jullil Vernes’ prophetic undersea tale. Th> Nautthull is somewhat small in comparison to the latesf naval submarines, but it is amply largs for faculty of Johns Hopkins University. In trial runs of the Protector, in the Winter of 1903, and of the Kaiman, in the Gulf of Fin« land, most of the devices he has invented for navigation through or under Arctic ice packs haye been proved practical, he believes, Couthwed on Seventeenth Page