In 1908 Goldschmidt invented the thermit process of welding; thermit being a mixture of aluminum with some metallic oxide such as oxide of iron. When this mixture is ignited, the oxygen leaves the iron and unites with the aluminum, causing an enormous rise of temperature, and the consequent formation of molten iron. This molten mass being poured around the ends of two pieces of iron, welds them together at once. In the following year, Hiram Maxim invented his silencer for fire arms, by means of which the noise resulting from firing a gun is greatly lessened. How valuable a contribution this will be to the Machine, it is impossible at the moment to predict with confidence. In 1910, Henry A. Wise Wood invented his printing press that more than doubled the speed of printing, produced a thousand newspapers of the largest size per minute, and directly enhanced the solidarity of the Machine. In 1911 Glenn Curtiss produced his epochal flying-boat, Just and Hanaman invented the tungsten electric light, and Drager his pulmotor, for reviving persons who have been asphyxiated or partially drowned, by forcing oxygen into their lungs. The pulmotor has come into use to a surprising degree, and has already been established as a part of the Machine with a recognized value. It belongs in the class of remedial agents, about which nobody questions the beneficence, and for which everyone recognizes the debt of gratitude owed by mankind to the inventors. In 1912, the author of this book invented the torpedoplane, a simple combination of the automobile-torpedo with the aeroplane, so designed that an aeroplane can carry a torpedo to a predetermined point near an enemy's ship and then drop it, while simultaneously operating the torpedo's starting mechanism: so that the torpedo will fall into the water, and then continue under its own power toward its victim. As the torpedoplane combines the most powerful weapon with the swiftest means of transportation, many Navy officers think it an invention of the first rank of importance, that threatens to wipe all surface fighting vessels off the seas. During the World War, it played only a subordinate part, though it was used effectively by the British and the Germans. Our Navy did not use it at all, as Secretary Daniels rejected it. The British Navy has already adopted it as a major instrument of war, and constructed two especially designed fast vessels, each of which carries twenty torpedoplanes. It seems obvious that such a ship, if sufficiently fast to keep out of the range of a battleship's guns, could sink her without much trouble.