Safety-First in Mine-Sweeping 



How it is secured with a recently- 

 invented Swedish under-water kite 



The dangerous occupation of sweeping the sea for mines charged with from four hundred to 

 nine hundred pounds of T. N. T. has been rendered less hazardous by the invention of an 

 under-water kite which first gently touches a mine and signals to the officers on board the ship 



DRAGGING the sea 

 for mines, charged 

 with from four 

 hundred to nine hundred 

 pounds of T. N. T. and 

 liable to explode when a 

 little glass tube of acid is 

 broken, is probably the 

 most dangerous occupa- 

 tion in which a brave man 

 can engage. It has not 

 oven the redeeming fea- 

 ture of being romantically 

 interesting. There is no 

 chance to fight — only the 

 chance to die an instan- 

 taneous death. 



As might be supposed, 

 the mine-sweeper drags 

 the waters of the sea 

 with a cable. But the\ 



Attachmq 

 cable 



Arrow-shaped control 



The Under-Water Kite 

 and How It Works 



Beneath tlie rool-sliaped kite, 

 an arrow-shaped control is sus- 

 pended by tliree small wires. 

 When the two forward wires of 

 the arrow-shaped control re- 

 lease a latch by which the at- 

 lacliinK cable is secured to th<' 

 kite, a bell is ruiiK on board tlu; 

 ship. indicatiuK tliat the entire 

 apiiaratus has come in contact 

 wi'h a mine to be removed. 



cable alone is not enough. 

 An auxiliary signaling de- 

 vice is also found neces- 

 sary, something which 

 will indicate the presence 

 of a mine before the 

 actual dragging begins. 

 To this end, a Swedish 

 tell-tale, recently in- 

 vented, is employed in 

 nearly every navy and 

 particularly in the Ger- 

 man navy. 



The tell-tale may be 

 described in a general 

 way as an under-water 

 kite which is dragged by 

 means of a steel cable 

 which is paid out from 

 a drum on the stern of 

 a vessel. As the ac- 



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