The Electrical experimenter
The Electrical experimenter
The Electrical experimenter
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May, 19 1 THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER 21<br />
"Yes, if we can't stop them," he repeated<br />
after me.<br />
"Why, we won't be any better than the<br />
rest 1)1 tlieni. That torpedo defense is<br />
too good," I argued.<br />
"Who said anything about torpedoes at<br />
all?" he demanded, wheehng and staring<br />
at me aggressively.<br />
"Well, we're only a submarine,"<br />
I retorted.<br />
"Does that mean that<br />
we necessarily have to use<br />
^^^^^^^^<br />
torpedoes?" he countered.<br />
"Why, don't we?" I<br />
asked.<br />
"We haven't a thing<br />
that resembles a torpedo<br />
on this boat except the<br />
shells for that three-inch<br />
gun under the deck, and<br />
they will be about as effective<br />
against a battleship<br />
as birdshot against an<br />
elephant."<br />
I stared<br />
time then.<br />
at him a long<br />
He was seri-<br />
^_____^_^_^<br />
ous as I could see, even<br />
in the starlight, but he was not lucid.<br />
"Well, how are we going to get them<br />
then ?" I asked, thinking that this natural<br />
question was e.xpected of me.<br />
"I'll show you," he answered, and<br />
stept down the ladder leading below.<br />
I made to follow.<br />
"No, stay there," he commanded.<br />
I did, leaning against the steel conning<br />
tower. A moment later I heard the sound<br />
of mechanism close to my head and glancing<br />
up I saw something appear above the<br />
conning tower. I climbed upon the low<br />
rail and looked up to see what it was.<br />
<strong>The</strong> steel plates had opened in the center<br />
and from the opening had emerged<br />
a hemispherical object, made of what appeared<br />
to be very heavy glass and measuring<br />
about three feet in diameter. Inside<br />
it was what looked to be a small mechanical<br />
device which seemed to run on a small<br />
circular track.<br />
I was busy examining the device when<br />
I heard Parker beside me.<br />
to<br />
"That," he said, "Is the Feeler."<br />
"<strong>The</strong> feeler?" I repeated, this was new<br />
me.<br />
"Ves, the feeler, a device that will lo,-ate<br />
any ship within ten thousand yards, without<br />
any part of our boat being seen."<br />
I looked at the device again with increased<br />
interest. I could not see anything<br />
distinctive about it.<br />
"Don't you see how<br />
asked.<br />
it works?" Parker<br />
"X'o, I can't say that I do." I admitted.<br />
"Come on down in the control room and<br />
I'll show you."<br />
He led the way down the ladder and<br />
we went into the little bo.x of a room under<br />
the conning tower where one is afraid to<br />
lean against the wall for fear of starting<br />
or stopping something necessary to the<br />
life of the boat.<br />
He picked out a glass case from araonjr the<br />
litter of instruments on the walls and<br />
pointed it out to me. It was not a very<br />
big case. In it were three dials, an electric<br />
lamp and<br />
control wheels.<br />
below it were three small<br />
It looked very much like<br />
the other dials and wheels so thick about<br />
me, and was distinguished only by the<br />
word "Feeler" on the case.<br />
"This device," he said, "works on the<br />
principle of electro-magnetic induction.<br />
You know what that is, the setting up of<br />
a current in something that cuts the field<br />
,<br />
of force caused by a magnet. Well, up<br />
there in that glass case which will stand<br />
any pressure the boat hull will, is a mag-<br />
netic coil mounted on a revolving and inclined<br />
carrier. This coil is shaped and<br />
wound so that its lines of force are kept<br />
within a very small area, in this case about<br />
one and three tenths square feet Consequently<br />
when a metal object passes thru<br />
this relatively intense field, the induced<br />
current in the metal object will be sufficient<br />
XXZ E have publisht a great many stories in the past, but we do not<br />
hesitate to state that "Eddy Currents" is one of the very cleverest<br />
we have ever printed. Not only is it a rattling good story, but the scheme<br />
is so plausible that we venture to prophesy that it will be actually tried<br />
in the not too distant future. And then, the submarine will earn its<br />
adjective "deadly" in the fullest sense of the term.<br />
to make a difference in the load on the<br />
coil. You see that don't you?"<br />
I did. That was perfectly plain sailing,<br />
electrically.<br />
"Well then, when this load comes on,<br />
the lamp lights up as a signal, and this<br />
dial here which is really a calibrated galvanometer,<br />
shows how far away the object<br />
is."<br />
He pointed to one of the three dials<br />
which I had noticed was calibrated in<br />
yards.<br />
M iiiiiiiMi Ill iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiDiiiiiiin I"<br />
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"What are the other dials for?" I asked.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>y are to give the angle of the coil,<br />
both in the horizontal and vertical planes.<br />
You see both are calibrated that way.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se wheels here turn the coils about<br />
and raise and lower them, and this third<br />
wheel operates the mechanism which raises<br />
the coils clear of the conning tower."<br />
I saw then the whole perfect simplicity<br />
and accuracy of the device. I marveled at<br />
it.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>n you can run under water without<br />
even a periscope exposed and locate<br />
the exact position of the enemy," I said.<br />
"Exactly, you understand it perfectly,'<br />
he replied.<br />
-—^-—^^^^- "^^^^^^^ "<strong>The</strong>n you can aim your<br />
torpedo with accuracy," I<br />
went on.<br />
"Torpedo I"<br />
with an<br />
he snorted<br />
exasperated<br />
frown. "Didn't I tell you<br />
that we didn't have one of<br />
those antiquated devices<br />
aboard this craft?"<br />
"But," I went on, "you<br />
must have something to<br />
sink the enemy after locating<br />
him."<br />
"VVe have," he said, his<br />
_^__^__<br />
face brightening<br />
fully.<br />
"Well, what is<br />
asked, puzzled.<br />
hopeit?"<br />
I<br />
"Look here, Dick Hartman," he said in<br />
mock seriousness, "do you mean to tell<br />
me that after seeing this feeler work, you<br />
can't understand how we could sink a ship?<br />
You, a graduate of the best technical school<br />
in the country and a practical electrical<br />
engineer, can't understand that?"<br />
I confest that I did not.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>n you're either asleep or haven't the<br />
least trace of imagination," he said, turn-<br />
ing away in disgust.<br />
"Well,<br />
asked.<br />
how do you do it anyhow ?" I<br />
"I'm not going to tell you. I'll let you<br />
find out for yourself first," he retorted<br />
with<br />
and<br />
a show<br />
walked<br />
of his old boyish perversity,<br />
into his room and left me<br />
wondering in front of the feeler dial.<br />
But I could not follow his line of reasoning<br />
to its end. I thought of it as I tried<br />
to sleep that night, while the motors<br />
thrust us forward and our long hull svva>ed<br />
gently as we topt the crests and fell into<br />
the hollows. I puzzled over it as I sat<br />
at my instruments and waited for my call,<br />
or anj'thing else my receivers could pick<br />
from the ethereal vibrations about us. But<br />
I could make nothing of it. I could see<br />
no way, no means by which wc could sink<br />
an enemy ship with this curious little feeler<br />
device which with all, was e.xactingly accurate.<br />
.All that night we ran and all the next<br />
day. I did not ask Billy any more about<br />
our boat. Pride perhaps kept me from<br />
doing this, and impatience at my own lack<br />
of perspicuity and imagination. .\nd then<br />
too I was busy with my own work and<br />
other things that came up, which had to<br />
be done in the crowded under-sea craft.<br />
I prowled about it in what spare time I<br />
had, tni'ing to see what I could between<br />
tricks at my table. I found that it was<br />
quite the usual large-sized submarine, of<br />
which the navy had an even hundred not<br />
counting ours. It was driven by electric<br />
motors supplied by turbine driven generators<br />
forward. It was provided with the<br />
usual gas absorption system which made<br />
it possible to run under water with our<br />
steam power, without discharging any exhaust<br />
gases; this, the first important invention<br />
of the Xaval Consulting Board. But<br />
I found the forward torpedo room_ locked<br />
and none on board had gone into it since<br />
they had been on board, none save the<br />
chief engineer, Dickenson, a man from<br />
Parker's own electrical company, which<br />
had built this curious boat and sent it out<br />
(Continued on page 66)