TORPEDO 



5842 



TORPEDO 



on its course. There are twin screws, and these turn in opposite direc- 

 tions. Two hollow shafts connect them with the engine, and through 

 the shafts the spent air from the engine escapes into the water. Thus 

 is the cause of the bubbles and consequent white track so clearly 

 discernible in the wake of the speeding torpedo. 



A torpedo may be fired from below the water line or from a height 

 of several feet above it. When fired from above, a cannon tube is 

 used, charged with sufficient powder to project the torpedo into the 

 water. After reaching the water it sinks to the depth of six to eight 

 feet and proceeds towards its destination under its own power. Sub- 

 marine vessels can launch a torpedo only under the water, either from 

 a shuttle tube which closes at once after the torpedo passes from it, or 

 from a cradle fixed to the side of the vessel. In firing by the latter 

 means the motor is put in motion by a device from the interior of the 

 vessel and this starts the torpedo on its mission. The first method has 

 almost entirely superseded the latter. 



The most powerful torpedo can travel about six miles, with a 

 speed of nearly thirty miles an hour, before its power is exhausted. 

 If it be adjusted for shorter distances it can race through the water at 

 the rate of about forty miles an hour for a distance of two or three 

 miles; this gives it a forward movement of about sixty feet every 

 second. Submarines rarely fire at an enemy at a greater distance than 

 a mile, and they attempt to get closer than half a mile to their vic- 

 tims. Within 700 or 1,000 yards there is a fair chance of scoring a hit; 

 at a mile or a mile and a half the chances are slight, while beyond two 

 miles scarcely ever will a torpedo find its mark. 



A Controlled Torpedo. The above description relates entirely to the 

 class of torpedoes uesd by all nations up to the end of the year 1917. 

 It has been the hope of many inventors to produce a device by which 

 a torpedo could be sent in any desired direction, thus vastly lessen- 

 ing the chances of a failure in an attack. During the year 1917 it was 

 announced, without attempt at proof and without a public trial, that 

 a means of control by electricity had been discovered. A wireless sys- 

 tem, it was claimed, will positively send the torpedo in any desired 

 direction, and its course can be changed at will. The inventor is John 

 Hayes Hammond, Jr., an American who has achieved a reputation as 

 an electrical expert. Whether the invention has been withdrawn for 

 further improvements or whether it has been taken in charge by the 

 government is not known. 



Historical. In 1585 an Italian engineer blew up an enemy's bridge 

 at Antwerp by floating down the Scheldt a small vessel loaded with 

 powder, which was exploded by clockwork mechanism. The next 

 recorded experiment was nearly 150 years later, when a Frenchman 

 exploded under water several rockets bearing heavy charges of powder 

 and destroyed two small vessels. An American, David Bushnell, was 

 the first man to devise a torpedo which could be called the fore- 

 runner of the present type. It was necessary to attach it to the vessel 

 to be blown up, and this necessitated a so-called submarine torpedo 



LENGTHWISE SECTION 



(a) Plunger or striking rod 



(b) Safety pin 



(c) Ouncotton charge 



(d) Detonating charge 



(e) Air chamber 

 (/) Charging valve 

 (g) Pendulum 



(h) Turbine 



(i) Submergence control 



mechanism 



( j) Submergence valve 

 (k) Superheater 



(0 Valve case 

 On) Air lever 

 (n) Gyroscope 

 (o) Gyroscope impulse 

 (p) Rudders for horizontal con- 

 trol 



(r) Rudders for vertical control 

 (s) Rudder controls 

 (tt) Propeller shaft 

 (uv) Propellers 

 (to) Ballast 



