The Romance of Modern Invention: Containing Interesting Descriptions in Non-technical Language of Wireless Telegraphy, Liquid Air, Modern Artillery, Submarines, Dirigible Torpedoes, Solar Motors, Airships, &c. &c.Williams, Archibald
Science
The Romance of Modern Invention: Containing Interesting Descriptions in Non-technical Language of Wireless Telegraphy, Liquid Air, Modern Artillery, Submarines, Dirigible Torpedoes, Solar Motors, Airships, &c. &c.
Williams, Archibald
Inventions
These vessels, though cigar-shaped liked most others, in some respects
resemble the _Narval_, being intended for long runs on the surface,
when they burn oil in a four-cylinder gasolene engine of 160
horse-power. Under water they are propelled by an electric waterproof
motor of seventy horse-power, and proceed at a pace of seven knots per
hour. There is a superstructure for deck, with a funnel for the engine
and a small conning-tower protected by 4-inch armour. The armament
carried comprises five 18-inch Whitehead torpedoes, 11 feet 8 inches
long. One hundred and twenty tons is the displacement, including tank
capacity for 850 gallons of gasolene; the full length is 63 feet 4
inches, with a beam of 11 feet 9 inches.
[Illustration: _An interior view of the “Holland.” The large pendulum
on the right actuates mechanism to keep the Submarine at the required
depth below the surface._]
The original Holland boat is thus described by an adventurous
correspondent who took a trip in her[3]: “The _Holland_ is fifty-three
feet long, and in its widest part it is 10-1/4 feet in diameter. It
has a displacement of seventy-four tons, and what is called a reserve
buoyancy of 2-1/2 tons which tends to make it come to the surface.
[3] _Pearson’s Magazine._
“The frames of the boat are exact circles of steel. They are set a
little more than a foot apart. They diminish gradually in diameter
from the centre of the boat to the bow and stern. On the top of the
boat a flat superstructure is built to afford a walking platform, and
under this are spaces for exhaust pipes and for the external outfit of
the boat, such as ropes and a small anchor. The steel plates which
cover the frame are from one-half to three-eighths of an inch in
thickness.
“From what may be called the centre of the boat a turret extends
upwards through the superstructure for about eighteen inches. It is
two feet in diameter, and is the only means of entrance to the boat.
It is the place from which the boat is operated. At the stern is an
ordinary three-bladed propeller and an ordinary rudder, and in
addition there are two horizontal rudders--“diving-rudders” they are
called--which look like the feet of a duck spread out behind as it
swims along the water.
“From the bow two-thirds of the way to the stern there is a flooring,
beneath which are the storage batteries, the tank for the gasolene,
and the tanks which are filled with water for submerging; in the last
one-third of the boat the flooring drops away, and the space is
occupied by the propelling machinery.
“There are about a dozen openings in the boat, the chief being three
Kingston valves, by means of which the submerging tanks are filled or
emptied. Others admit water to pressure gauges, which regulate or show
the depth of the vessel under water. There are twelve deadlights in
the top and sides of the craft. To remain under water the boat must be
kept in motion, unless an anchor is used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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