The Massey log is an instrument for telling the speed of a ship by
the revolutions of a "fly" as it is towed through the water, and
by making the fly complete a circuit as it revolves the number of
turns a second can be struck by a bell on board. In one form of
the "electric log," the current is generated by the chemical
action of zinc and copper plates attached to the log, and immersed
in the sea water, and in others provided by a battery on the ship.
Captain M'Evoy has invented an alarm for torpedoes and torpedo
boats, which is a veritable watchdog of the sea. It consists of an
iron bell-jar inverted in the water, and moored at a depth below
the agitation of the waves. In the upper part of the jar, where
the pressure of the air keeps back the water, there is a delicate
needle contact in circuit with a battery and an electric bell or
lamp, as the case may be, on the shore. Waves of sound passing
through the water from the screw propeller of the torpedo, or,
indeed, any ship, make and break the sensitive contact, and ring
the bell or light the lamp. The apparatus is intended to alarm a
fleet lying at anchor or a port in time of war.
Electricity has also been employed to register the movements of
weathercocks and anemometers. A few years ago it was applied
successfully to telegraph the course marked by a steering compass
to the navigating officer on the bridge. This was done without
impeding the motion of the compass card by causing an electric
spark to jump from a light pointer on the card to a series of
metal plates round the bowl of the compass, and actuate an
electric alarm.
The "Domestic Telegraph," an American device, is a little dial
apparatus by which a citizen can signal for a policeman, doctor,
messenger, or carriage, as well as a fire engine, by the simple
act of setting a hand on the dial.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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