186 REPOET— 1864. 



frigates 'New Ironsides ' and 'Minnesota/ and so much damaged them by the ex- 

 plosion as to render them unfit for further effective service till docked for repairs. 

 It was also employed in like manner against the new sloop-of-war 'Housatonic,' 

 attached to the Federal blockading squadron off" Charleston, which ship filled and 

 went down in eight minutes after the explosion of the torpedo under her counter. 

 It is unhesitatingly asserted by competent judges that a vessel properly constructed 

 for the use and application of the torpedo battery, and possessing superiority of 

 speed, would prove a formidable antagonist against a number of frigates armed with 

 the heaviest metal ; for it would, by advancing end on, present the least surface to 

 their fire, and always under the most acute angles. An especial advantage which 

 it possesses is that it may be worked at all times — for instance, in a rough sea, 

 when ordinary guns could not be used — while it may be employed with certain 

 success, under cover of darkness, against an enemy's fleet, destroying, disabling, or 

 driving them away from the coast altogether. Great economy, simplicity, and 

 safety are, further, among the valuable and important qualities claimed for this 

 submarine battery. Neither the battery itself nor the men working it are in the 

 least exposed, the apparatus being situated much below the line of flotation. 

 Admiral Belcher proceeded to point out the superiority of such an engine of war- 

 fare over rams. A ram with a velocity of ten knots overhauls and touches the 

 stern of the vessel she chases which is going at the rate of nine and a half knots ; 

 a half-knot velocity would not injure her opponent, although it might impair her 

 steerage, and bring her broadside to operate on her, in all probability at such close 

 quarters, to her detriment. But a ram fitted with the )neans of projecting a simple 

 shell under the comiter, or into contact with the screw, would mevitably destroy, 

 or at least so derange, rudder and screw that her great work of executing the ram 

 manoeuvre at right angles to her antagonist would no longer be matter of doubt, 

 and surrender would, under such difficulty, doubtless result. The French and 

 other foreign governments have approved of the plans of Captain Doty. Our own 

 government ordered the examination of them by a scientific committee, and it has 

 expressed approbation in an official commimication. 



On Su{/fjested Imjproveinents in Doors. By Gr. Fawctjs. 

 Many serious accidents happen to children by their hands and feet getting into 

 the openings at the backs of doors. Other persons sometimes are hurt by the shut- 

 tino- of the doors of railway-carriages. It is now proposed to remove the possibility 

 of this kind of accident by a difl'erent plan of hanging the doors, the back of the 

 door being made semicircular and to revolve in a groove of the same curvature, 

 presenting no opening in whatever position the door may be. 



Improvements in Scaling- and other Ladders. By George Fawcus. 



On Improvements in Screw Propellers. By Geoege Bell Gallowat. 



On Lifeboats for Ships and Steaviers. By Geoege Bell Galloway. 



On Instruments for the Measurement of Gas. By George Gloter. 



Description of a Parallel Gauge. By G. Hartmann. 



On the Practical Progress of Naval Architecture in Ocean and River Steamers, 

 with Suggestions for Improvements in the Steerage of the Great Eastern and 

 large and small Ironclads, Bams, and Gunboats, similar to the Assam 

 Nautilus, by the use of Balanced Rudders in Bow and Stern. By Captain 

 A. Henderson. 



