. The boys' life of Edison . an outrigger sus-pended from the bowsprit. This device was so ar-ranged that it hung partly in the water and wouldalways be from lo to 20 feet ahead of the vessel,but could be swung inboard at any time. The devicewas about 20 feet long and about 16 inches in widthand was made of brass and rubber. It containedbrass tubes, with a phonograph diaphragm at theend which hung in the water. The listening appa-ratus was placed in a small room in the bow of thevessel. There were no batteries used. With thislistening apparatus, and while the vessel was goingfull speed, moving
. The boys' life of Edison . an outrigger sus-pended from the bowsprit. This device was so ar-ranged that it hung partly in the water and wouldalways be from lo to 20 feet ahead of the vessel,but could be swung inboard at any time. The devicewas about 20 feet long and about 16 inches in widthand was made of brass and rubber. It containedbrass tubes, with a phonograph diaphragm at theend which hung in the water. The listening appa-ratus was placed in a small room in the bow of thevessel. There were no batteries used. With thislistening apparatus, and while the vessel was goingfull speed, moving boats 1,000 yards away could beeasily heard in rough seas. This meant that tor-pedoes could be heard 3,000 yards away, as they areby far the noisiest craft that sail the ocean. The second step in Edisons plan—namely, thequick changing of a ships course, was accomplishedwith the *sea anchor. This device consists of astrong canvas bag which is attachefl to a ship by longropes. When thrown overboard the bag opens, fills 262. EDISON AT WORK ON RUBBER EXPERIMENTS. FROM A MOVING PICTURETAKEN DECEMBER, 1928 EDISONS WORK DURING THE WAR with water, and acts as a drag on a ship under plan was to use four or more sea anchorssimultaneously. In a trial made with a steamship325 feet long, draught 19 feet 6 inches, laden with4,200 tons of coal, by the use of four sea anchors,the vessel going at full speed, was turned at rightangles to her previous course with an advance ofonly 200 feet, or less than her own length. Thismeans that if an enemy submarine had launched atorpedo against the ship while she was on her orig-inal course it would have passed by without harmingher, thus making submarine torpedo attack of noavail. It may be noted parenthetically that this ap-paratus has its uses in the merchant-marine in peace-times. For instance, should the look-out on a steam-ship running at full speed sight an iceberg 300 or400 feet ahead this device could be instantly putinto use and th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1921
