. The railroad and engineering journal . ired to locate both the mine itself and its , a thick fog, or the smoke of battle would rendersuch a system for the time inoperative, except that aproperly placed search light might obviate, in a measure,this difiiculty. Furthermore, the greatest care must beexercised in putting down an observation mine so thatits position cannot be mistaken ; and finally the wholeefficiency of the mine rests upon the man at the firing-key,who may err in judgment not only as to the relative posi- 16 THE RAILROAD AND [February, 189I. tions of mine and ship
. The railroad and engineering journal . ired to locate both the mine itself and its , a thick fog, or the smoke of battle would rendersuch a system for the time inoperative, except that aproperly placed search light might obviate, in a measure,this difiiculty. Furthermore, the greatest care must beexercised in putting down an observation mine so thatits position cannot be mistaken ; and finally the wholeefficiency of the mine rests upon the man at the firing-key,who may err in judgment not only as to the relative posi- 16 THE RAILROAD AND [February, 189I. tions of mine and ship, but also be at fault when calledupon to decide upon the instant whether an approachingvessel be that of friend or foe—a contingency likely tohappen in any harbor attack where fleets are engaged,and to face which would require a combination of cool-ness, nerve and quick judgment few men would care tobe called upon to exercise. An electro-contact mine, on the other hand, leavesnothing to the judgmeiu of the observer as to the position. of an enemys ship. He may mistake a friendly for ahostile craft, but he will never mistake its position, sincethe blow from a passing vessel will at once indicate tothe shore station that it is above the mine. Such minesmay be arranged so as to be fired at will or the one case the blow closes an electrical circuit andsignals the fact to the observer by dropping a shutter orringing a bell, leaving it to his will whether or not to ex-plode the mine ; or the signaling current may, instead,be made to switch in a powerful firing battery, and thusexplode the mine in a purely automatic manner. Theadvantages of such a system of mines in a channel or
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1887
