The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 7, 1897, Page 27

—— THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 1897. 27 A Battle Underneath the Ocean's Waves May Be a Feature of the Next Great War—dules Verne's Dreams \T SE 28 marked feature n_f the next gre war will be submarine conflicts. iments have g solid just been made with fi shot and projectiles under water with marked success. nly will wave-hidden mines and ne torpedoes act as destructive ele- at it has just been discovered t guns can be successfully fired under er, and an effective submarine battery bad enough to take eing blown into the airin fr chances of nents, ship | May Be Realized MS a fact beyond question that | experiment had been a succsss. At the | s made | of the sunken vessel, when it was found | that the hull’had been pierced completely | The target | The threc-inch boiler | ragments and portions of it | driven into the woodwork of the hull, while on both sides of the hull below the water line were two huge jagged bLoles big enough to sink a ship of the line in five next low tide an examination through by the solid shot. was in splinters. plate was in minutes. No one was more surprised at the un- | expected results than the experts who They had expeéted | witnessed the tests. one of two things—either that the gun would burst and raise a small-sized water- spout, or that the water would deflect the shell to such an extent that it would go wide of the mark. On the contrary, the shot went as direct and accurately as if fired in the usual manner through the air. | The water appeared to have no effect upon it, and in no apparent manner destroyed its effectiveness. This test has had the effect of opening up possibilities of submarine warfare hitherto undreamed of. Fitted with a porthole beneath the water line, with the muzzle protruding and made water- | tight in the same manner as the shaft- holes are kept from flooding the ship,- there is no reason why a ship cannot steam heaa on to an enemy and sink her without firing a shot above the water Iine. A single shot fired from the submarine gun can easily pierce the unarmored por- tion of the huil beneath the water and sink the ship before those aboard are aware that they have sustained any in- jury. Torpedo-boats, thus fitted, ;an be made much more effective, as a submarine shot, as has peen demonstrated by the target and the boiler plate, can pierce any ordinary torpedo guard, and at the same time have sufficient force to cause fatal damage to an enemy’s ship. As a means of coast defense also these submarine batteries will be far and away in advance of the presentsystem of mings and torpedoes. A battery sunk beneath the surface can be aimed at different ele- vations, and there is almost no limit to tihe damage a submarine battery could do among the unprotected hulls of an invad- ng fleet. ACTUAL e explosion of a dynamitey ier the water, or to have ‘ ade in the vitals of the ship e water line, but there is some- ively terrible in the thought ] the shore,no one can tel! | where, there is hidden a submarine bat- | tery which can send solid shot and ex- shells through the water and all | cbstructions until they reach the hull of | e doomed ship. | Tell the ordinary sailor or marine there | danger ahead and he will cheerfully | it. Thatis his business and what he is there for. He expects it. But like the child wio is afraid of the nameless and nknown terrors of the dark, both Jack i the Jolly have a holy and reasonably donable horror of the unknown. 1 a siate of war everybody is prepared ngs as a sudden journey into r 2 descent ia frag « explosion followed by a ripp TEST: bmerged battery. port, no smoke and no in- save a slizht ripple of the water, , unti L , trembles been struck and then d a plunge goes downward 10 the bottom. Uik the torpedo which can in a me: narded against and the m sich'can be located and exploded in a ety of ways there are no known means rding against a military attack when made below the surface. For the experiments which demonstrated the en- t feas! i lity of the firing of guns be- surface of the water a 110- 1 was used. The experiments le in Portsmouth harbor were 1 deta t low water the zun and its carriage as lowered beneath the surface and a diver sent down to place it in position on a solid plank plaiform laid on the bot- | tom. The platform was weighted with large blocks anite to keep it steady and the gun and carriage was then placed | in positior | For the first test a target composed of oak-beams and plarks twenty-one inches | thick was lowered and set in position be- neath the water at a distance of seventy- five feet from the muzzleof the gun. Be- hind this target the huil of an old vessel | 7as towed into position directly in the line of the fire from the gun. In order to make the test the more severe sheets of boiler plate, three inches in thickness, wer: riveted to the hull of the craft at the point where the shell from | the gun woyld strike, if it was not de- flected by the water. | Having made all these preparations the diver came to the surface, and taking the shell with which the experiment was to be made again went below the surface and carefully loaded the gun, which was then aimed at the target and the hull, A wire connecting with the firing mech- anism of the gun led to the shore some distance away, where it connected with &n electric battery in charge of the firing party. The test was made at high tide. When all the conditions’were right the | word was given and the current sent from | the battery through the wire to the sub- merged gun. There wasa slight disturb- | ance of the water over the place where the | gun was sunk, and the vessel anchored | beéyond the target was seen to rock and | sway and then gradually settle in the water and sink. i Splinters of wood covered the surface, and there was every indication that the | absol DEMONSTRAT THAT SOLID SHOT C: BE FIRED UND&R WATER. The Great Elephant Artillery of India 'Neither Mire Nor Barricade Prove Lasting Obstacles to the Progress of the Tremendous Beasts HE elephant has become one of the most important adjuncts of the #Q\ English army in India. He is at- tached to the artillery in every sente of | the word aad drags the biggest guns as if they were feathers, keeping a steady pace with the tramp, tramp, tramp of the in- fantry. He is no laggard at any time and deep indeed must be the mire and high the barricade which be cannot walk through or demolish. In one respect the elephant in artillery is like Napoleon—he never knows defeat. The officers and men of the Indian army have for years been working with the idea of making the elephant more and more useful. At first the big beast was used on the fortitications for hauling timber and all kinds of tasks for which great strength, quired. The etephantisnot a particularly | intelligent beast and thersfore his prog- ress has been slow along the lines laid down by the disciples of Mars, Now he knows as well what to do as the best postea artilleryman and will bring his gun 10 the regimental front with as much pre- cision as the veriest martinet who wields the sword could desire. To gain an accurate idea of the elephant in service with the artillery a glance at the accompanying iilustration is helpful. He 1s own at rest and on parade, and to all apoearances realizes as well as the mahour, who perches upon the giant bead, that he is on view and must look his best and stand as straight as the ranks in front of him. Everybody who knows anything about the elephantisaware of the fact that when excited he is in the nature of a terror. 0Oddly enough, however, the trained elephant rarely gets into that state of mind, With the knowledge he cains seem to come the power to control himseif and to do his duty as best he can. The particular use to which the ele- phant is put in the artillery line in India is as a beast of draught for the heavy bat- teries and the gunsof the siege trains. These instruments of war are tremendous in size and exceedingly heavy. Until the regime of the elephant it bhad been the custom to have them drawn by long lines e obedience and docility were re- | Iul bullocks. There was, however, no end | of trouble with these beasts. T.ey were | hard to control, and so many of them lwerc required that they proved a good | deal of a nuisance. So itis that the Brit- ish artilleryman rejoices at the sub:titu- tion of the elepbant for the bullock. One | elephant will draw without effort a piece | of artillery which a long line of bullocks would have difficulty in moving at all. Every one of these heavy batteries which the elephant moves from place to place consists of four forty-pounders and wwo six and three inch howitzers. While one elephant can draw, il necessary, a | single piece of artillery, in order not to strain him at all they are sometimes | paired or driven tandem. For instance, |in such a battery as the onme just de- iced twelve ‘elephants are utilized. Llese are not ail employed in drawing the artillery at the same time, for it is | well not to work an elephant too hard, | because if that is done he is apt to become | stubborn, despite his wusual tractability. | For this reason the elephants are ‘given | kind!y usage, and under those circum- stances do all that is asked of them. The elephant battery, or'rather the guns thereof, is always accompanied by ammu- nition wagons and baggage. Owing tothe fact that thesupply of properly trained ele- phants is limited, bullocks are still utilized as the beasts of draught jor the battery accompaniments. The fact that 262 bullocks are required to draw the ammu- nition and baggage forms a striking con- irast between their powers and those of the elephants, for the gross weight ‘of the | ammunition and the baggage 1s nfinitely | less than that of the artillery itself, | The British artillerymen donot attempt guns. employed a staft of twelve mahouts, with | twelve assistants, the latter being under the command of an official known as jem- adar, or captain. All are natives of India. Then, besides the elephant company, as it is called, there are with each battery a | jemadar, six sirdars and 131 drivers who care for the bullocks. Therefore, it can be seen that a battery of artiilery in India ELEPHANT ARTILLERY ON ¥ s Vil | tomanage the big beasts that draw the | To accomplis this task there is| amounts to something. In fact, itisa little army in itself, for every one of the natives emvloyed is supposed to be com- petent and ready to figiit if necessary. Whenever it happens that the battery is to be transported a great distance the rail- road is used as an aid, 1f it can possibly be made available. In such cases it is neces- sary, of course, to transport the elephants by rail, and special cars have been made for the purpose. These cars are in ap- pearance like the ordinary coal car on an American railroad, the sides being about half the Leight of asboxear. At one end of the car is a small house in appearance, with one end omitted. In this little house sits the mahout or attendant of the elephant, who sees that during the journey ho does not become frightened and has no opportunity of in- juring nimself. Over the rest of the car there is'a framework. There are three steel posts at each side. Running length- wise and attached to these are two sec- tions of steel of about the size of the ordi- nary pine boxrd. At the end, blocking up an opportunity of egress, are two small steel beams of the size of the scantling. From the hignest of the sections of steel on the side rises a thin piece of steel to a height which car- ries it just clear of theelephant. Running from the top of these small pieces of steel in the form of the letter V is another steel section, and the whole prevents the ele- pbhant from rising or sittng down. He must either lie down entirely or stand up straight. Straight across the car and attached to the lo wer section of steel on the sidesisa big beam that keeps the eclephant from being thrown against ihe end of the car by a sudden joit. Entrance and exit from he car are made by means of a heavy platform. In this way the elephant is able to move by means of the railroad trom place to place without fear of injury. The accompanying illustration shows an elephant battery drawn’ up at a review in full marching order, the elephants carry- ing the field equipment, and the bullocks and train, all ranged in close order, It:little also shows a battery drawn up for drill. DUTY—THE HEAVY BATTERIES OF THE gine that travels on pneumatic wheels, without horses, is astonish- ing the Englishmen nowadays. The only familiar feature. is the everlasting gong and the helmet of the firemen, although the line of hose that is seen reeled up in the rear is an old friend in a new place. The genius of the inventor has for some time past been guided in the direction of the mechanical .eatures of the Fire De- partment. The papers have been full of letters to the editor, which the average Britisheris so fond of writing, and in these has been a host of suggestions, good, bad and indifferent, regarding improvements which the writers were convinced should be made, and at once, in the fire appar- atus. There is nothing that the average Londoner is more afraid of than fire, and consequently his mind has a strong bent toward all that will help to reduce that danger to a minimum. While all these people have been writ- ing and talking a genius has acted, and a result of his thought and ingenuity is the fire engine referred to in the first para- graph of this article. A curious looking engine it is as the accompanying illustra- tion, which wasdrawn from a photograph, plainly indicates. Little enough like the fire engine one seesin America and en- tirely lacking the hiss, puff and blow and the clouds of smoke that have heretofore rendered audible and visible the presence of the foe of all flames. The motive power of this engine is gaso- lene, and, as the photograph plainly indi- cates, the engine itself is very different irom the machine that is ordinarily in use for the purpose. 1t is more compact and powerfnl—two improvements that will be very welcome. In the rear of the engine, and within the railing, is the fire hose on the reel of the usual pattern. Thus the engine and hose cart are in one. Ordi- narily the fireman seizes the hose and un- reels it himself. With this most up-to-date of fire en- gines, however, there is a contrivance which will reel or unreel the hose, action .being regulated by a lever close to that which operates the engine itself. Thisis one of the features which firemen find great cause for enthusiasm. Infact the London fire-fighters, who are considered fully equal to the bravest and best, even as good as the firemen of the United States, think that the reel feature is the peint par excellence of the invention. Generally the engine is supposed to carry five men, but this number can be increased if desired, as the additional weight of a larger crew would have no aporeciable effect upon the speed, which is anywhere from twelve to twenty miles an hour, according to the size of the en- zine and the desire of the crew, or as the exigencies of the occasion demand. Two of the firemen stand on the foot- board of the engine, which makes the en- tire circuit, the contrivance being of an elongated nature. The fiith man is the pilot. He stands within the rail, and by means of a wheel laid flatwise upon an iron bar steers the queer machine. There is the usual headlight for use at night located directly forward of the wneel bar. The oddest féature of the w ‘ole contriv- ance, however, 1s found in the wheels. These, as the illustration shows, are huge pneumatic affairs, the spokes being very like the steels which are so moticeable in the bicycle. There are just four of them to every engine, the same number that would be required of any other wheel, but the firemen, despite the lightning speed at which they travel, feel far less of the frightful jolt, constant jog- ling about, like dice in a box, that is rally their fate. lnstead, they feel very little more of the jolting sensation than one would experience on an ordinary there has been no lapse of any kind from lack of air. Just at the inner rim of every wheel is a small brass cap which screws down over an orifice intended for replacing a supply of air which might leak away. Of course, in time a certain amount of air ‘is bouna to escape from a pneumatic tire, and o a blower is attached to the little motor and whenever the engineer thinks that the air in the tires is getting low he connects tire and motor, and, presto! the tire1s as firm as the grasp of an office-holder upon a place under she Government. On each side of the engine and secured just beneath the footboard is a length of capped hose, which is to be used fora hy- drant connectton if desired or coupled to a regular line. Tue footboard itself is made of solid oak and Eaglish oak is proverbial for its lasting qaalities. Eong- lishmen have never forgotten Friar Tuck’s remark, that an oak stove was better than riches, and when properly wielded worth much silver and gold. 1 The fittings of the engine, such asshown n the illustration, are very complete and equally attractive, There is something which is in a measure inspiring about fire apparatus to most people, and this new contrivamce, althoug: fashionad queerly and seemingly, at first, clumsily, proves upon closer inspection to have been con- structed with a view to utility from every point. The decorations, while ‘handsome in great degree, are not in the least gaudy, but all combine to wive the engine abso- lute harmony of appearance and to im- press the beholder with the idea that the machine is made for service and nothing else. Several severe tests have been given the machine and it has stood them all. The Board of Fire Underwriters is carefully considering the invention, with a view of submitting an- opinion re- gai ing its nusefulness, which will probably decide whether or no.the pneu- matic-wheeled fire engine is to succeed in London what has untilnow been consid- ered a matchless triumph of inventive genius. This Man Was Telephoned Through There is only one man ia the world who has been telephoned through. He is Torger O. Enderson, a Swede of Rock Dell, Olmstead County, Minn. He held the ends of a telephone wire while people several miles away talked through him. The electrical current knocked him down, but he held bravely to the wires, and the remarkable experi- ment was a complete success. His per- formance has attracted wide attention among scientific men. Here is the first account that Mr. Enderson has ever writ- ten concernine i “*To the Editor: 1believe that I am the only man in the world who was ever talked through. Itisa strange experience and one that 1 do not care to auplicate. Al- though it occurred very recently, it seems to have attracted the attention of scient- ists, and I bave received a number of in- quiries from them. > “I was getting ready to go and fix up the ‘telephone wire, which seemed to be broken somewhere between Rock Dell and Hayfield. These two towns are seven miles apart, and we could not get a mes- sage through atall. Theelectricity would not work or the wire was broken, or some- thing was wrong, and as nobody knew what it was, we had to invastigate. We suspected it was a broken wire, and so J. W. Lundale, the operator at Rock Dell, A Fire Engine With Pneumatic Wheels It Runs Over the Roughest Pavements as Noiselessly as a Bike dourneys on Gobblestones v I«,om)ox, Exa., March 6.—A fire en-|far not a single one has given out and | safd & would, provided it was a broken wire that caused the trouble. Lundale and Iset our watches at the same time and I started out to hunt up the break. 1t was a sure enough break, and it happened about three miles from Rock Dell. “1 looked at my watch after 1 got to the broken wire and found that I had forty minutes to get ready to be the connection. I made a loop on each end of the broken ends of the wire so I could get a good hold and there would be no mistake about the connection being all right. I had not gone alone to this place, as there wero four men with me—Yorkel Jorgenseon, Martin Hanson, Cyrus Rierson and An- drew Olson. After a while it got to be the | time.when I had agreed with Lundalo to try the experiment. I took hold of the | loops and Martin Hanson held the watch. Then Lundale- called up Hayfield, the call for which is two rings. I could feel in my body what station was called. If somebody bad hit me on the head twice when Lundale called Hayfield it would not have been any plainer to me. | _ “‘Hayfield did not answer at first, and | Luncale calied it up three times. The last time was too much for me and I fell to the ground, losirig hold of one wire. I was not hurt any, only just knocked down, and I grabbed hold of the wire that had dropped. After a couple of minutes Lundale calied up Osio. Icould feel the five short rings for that place just like five thrills going through me. After a little while Lundale called up Dodge Center by three rings. It was pretty hard for me, but I stood it, for I had made up my mind that I would not give in just as long as I could hold myself together, but when Lundale gave Austin a cail he rang me down as flat as a pancake. I never aid know what the Austin call was, but I think it takes a pretty good long ring to get the town. “gven this did not hurt me, so I got up after a minute or two and took nold of the ends of tue wire and made the connection for the answer from Austin. I managed to bold ont until the time Lundale and I had agreed that I was to hold the wire was up. Then I fixed the wire, and we all went back to Rock Dell. When I got back to Dell Lundale told me that while I was holding the wires he gotan answer from Oslo, which was seven miles away. He had also had a tali with Doage Center, which is twenty miles from the Deil. He had quite a talk with Austin, forty miles away, but he did not hear from Hayfield, which, I pelieve, was because the operator at that place was not tuere when the call came. There is no reason wby he should not have answered if he had heard the ring. 1 cannot say that my experience asa means of connection of telephone wires hurt me any to amount to anything. Of course the electricity jerked my muscles terribly. Iseemed to suffer the most in my arms, particularly in that arm that was holding the broken wire that ran to- ward the Dell. All the while the talking wasgoing on I felt hard shocks in my chest, but I can hardly explain how it really felt. Just the same, 1f anybody is thinking of trying the same thing who has not yery strong nerves, they had better take my advice and give the idea up. “You see, ig dves not make any differ- ence how stroltg a man is; if he has not got good nerves electricity does not agree with him. I've had lots of little shocks in fixing telephone wires, but they never bave made me lame or anything of that kind before. It seems to me that there must have been a highly powerful current of electricity passing along that wire when Iacted as the connection. I remember at a fair once taking hold of the handles of one of those machines that they give you .eluclric shocks with, and that made me i o L BEHOLD THE NEW MOTOR FIRE-ENGINE! country road. These wheels are geared precisely like any pther wheel, their only peculiarity being in point of material and construction. . Contrary to supposition, the wheels, so far as it has been ablesto demonstrate with experiment, show no signs of great wear. Oune would naturally think that such a tremendous weight as this fire en- gine upon rabber would be apt to make the yielding substance tear and be lacer- ated. This is not the case at all. On the con- trary, the wheels show after several trips ign of having been in use atall. So asked me to go out and find the trouble. It it was 2 broken wire, he said, he wanted me when I got the place to take hold of the two ends, so that he could send a message through me. “You see, he wanted me to be the con- nection between the itwo broken ends of the wire. You know, when you talk through the telephone, it ain’t,the sound- wave from your voice that goes over the wire, but it is an electrical vibration, So it was this electrical vibration that was to go through me. I was afraid to .try it, but. Lundale told me that there would not be any danger at a!l, and so L INDIAN ARMY. i ar: || 3 feel just a very little bit like I felt when I was holding those broken wires. Besides the pains in my chest and in my arms I felt just as ii somebody was pricking me & little all over, and then asif in some way orother they had been able to grab hold of my nerves and give them little pulls. “Iam not av all nervous and it takes a good deal to startle me, so I was not scared at all while these things I have written about were going on. It never seemed to me that as long as you were careful thera was any danger in letting a little elecs tricity into you. It a!l depends how you doit. Ithought of all those things when I was holding these wires. When it came s0 fast that it knocked me to the ground T thought it was getting sort of strong, but I did not feel there was any reason for me t6 be frightened. T. 0. Exp:rsox.” Mr. Enderson’s experience was certainly most remarkable. That he was able to endure the confinued shocks and be none the worse for acting ag a_conductor for a tremendous current of electricity falls little short of the marvelous. It is no exaggeration (o say that ninety-nine per- sons out of 100 woull have nearly died, had they grasped the ends of the broken wires. These wires were not exactly what are known as live, when broken, but im- | mediately the connection was formed and the telephone put into use they practically { became 0. A . The facts stated—anc there is no ques- tion_about their accuracy—dispel some greaily cherished theories. In otrer words, no one knows exactly how much electricity a man can stand without pro- ducing death. The expenses of Queen Victoria’s house bold are-€stimated at £1' ayear. - ) 1 RR——