Popular Science Monthly 



19 



niann would provide a ship with a cham- 

 berwi shc'il-resistinK section and with a 

 shock-absorlDiiig section, the first aliovo 

 the second, as the accompanying illus- 

 tration shows. The chambers of the 

 first or shell-resisting section are really 

 horizontal tubes, the front series of 

 which arc spirally ribbed. "Should a 

 projectile penetrate the hard face of the 

 armor," says Mr. Gathmann, "it would 

 force its way 

 through the line of 

 least resistance, 

 and thereby glance 

 upward, down- 

 ward or sideward 

 as the case may 

 be, turning or 

 tilting the projec- 

 tile, thereby 

 destroying its 

 penetrating power; 

 s u c h shell s m a \' 

 fracture or explode, 

 but without pene- 

 trating the armor." 



A fifteen-inch 

 shell carrying high 

 explosive generates 

 gases on exploding 

 which exert tre- 

 mendous pressure. That pressure must 

 be absorbed, or else it may breach 

 the ship below the armor belt. So, 

 Mr. Gathmann attaches to the lower 

 edge of his chambered belt a series of air 

 chambers or pontoons, each independent 

 of the other. 



Study the illustration which accom- 

 panies this article and you will see that 

 this shock-absorbing section consists of 

 five walls: a downwardly-extending 

 portion of the armor belt; a rear plate 

 to which that downwardly-extending 

 portion is bolted; a curved front plate, 

 and two end plates to enclose the 

 pontoon or chamber. 



The pontoons seem flimsy, and in 

 reality they are. But they are intended 

 to be destroyed. The pressure of the 

 gases from a huge shell will disrupt one, 

 two, perhaps three shock-absorbing or 

 pontoon sections, but the rest will re- 

 main intact. The air within the cham- 

 ber will have a cushioning effect. Water 

 will rush into the compartment, but the 

 pantoons will still remain in place. 



Rapid gathering 

 injuring the stems 

 with this 



An Instrument for 

 Plucking Flowers 



ANF'.W (ierman invention seeks to 

 simjilify the tedious and fatiguing 

 labor of picking flowers and seeds. The 

 instrument, already patented, which is 

 here illustrated, consists of a sheet- 

 metal tube combined with one-blade 

 shears. The lower front part of the 

 tube is formed as a seven-pronged fork 



and this fork is 



advanced towards 

 the flower to be 

 gathered from 

 below it. The 

 flower is caught by 

 the prongs and is 

 cut from the stem 

 by a knife above 

 the fork that works 

 upon a light pres- 

 sure on the handle 

 of the shears. When 

 separated from the 

 stem the flower 

 falls through the 

 tube into the bag 

 underneath. 



The rapidity and 

 ease of gathering 

 reduces the ex- 

 pen.se. It is also claimed for this 

 instrument that the plants are not 

 damaged as in hand-picking, in which 

 twigs and branches are easily injured 

 and the entire plant is frequently 

 torn out of the ground. Good service 

 has al.so been done 1)%' the device in 

 gathering seeds. The ditiiculty here in 

 hantl-picking is that the dry pods are 

 often crushed and the seed scattered, 

 while by the new method the seedpods 

 fall uninjured into the bag and no seeds 

 are lost. It is also hoped that the 

 instrument, which is the in\-ention of 

 an apothecary of Colditz named Meyer, 

 may prove serviceable in hop-picking. 

 The flower-cutting instrument has 

 been lound particularly effective in 

 cropping dandelions when the plants are 

 young and the flowers only a few inches 

 high. For this kind of work the device 

 is operated along the ground like 

 grass-cutting shears, and as fast as 

 the metal receptacle fills it is tipped 

 and the severed flowers fall into the 

 bag. 



of flowers without 

 can be accomplished 

 instrument 



