diff options
Diffstat (limited to '11368-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 11368-0.txt | 4187 |
1 files changed, 4187 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/11368-0.txt b/11368-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9103037 --- /dev/null +++ b/11368-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4187 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11368 *** + +[Illustration: MARCONI READING A MESSAGE] + + + + + +STORIES OF INVENTORS + + +The Adventures Of Inventors And Engineers. +True Incidents And Personal Experiences + +By + + +RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY + + + +1904 + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + + +The author and publishers take pleasure in acknowledging the courtesy of + + _The Scientific American_ + _The Booklovers Magazine_ + _The Holiday Magazine_, and + Messrs. Wood & Nathan Company + +for the use of a number of illustrations in this book. + +From _The Scientific American_, illustrations facing pages 16, 48, +78, 80, 88, 94, 118, 126, 142, and 162. + +From _The Booklovers Magazine_, illustrations facing pages 184, 190, +194, and 196. + +From _The Holiday Magazine_, illustrations facing pages 100 and 110. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + How Guglielmo Marconi Telegraphs Without Wires + Santos-Dumont and His Air-Ship + How a Fast Train Is Run + How Automobiles Work + The Fastest Steamboats + The Life-Savers and Their Apparatus + Moving Pictures--Some Strange Subjects and How They Were Taken + Bridge Builders and Some of Their Achievements + Submarines in War and Peace + Long-Distance Telephony--What Happens When You Talk into a + Telephone Receiver + A Machine That Thinks--A Type-Setting Machine That Makes + Mathematical Calculations + How Heat Produces Cold--Artificial Ice-Making + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Marconi Reading a Message _Frontispiece_ + + Marconi Station at Wellfleet, Massachusetts + The Wireless Telegraph Station at Glacé Bay + Santos-Dumont Preparing for a Flight + Rounding the Eiffel Tower + The Motor and Basket of "Santos-Dumont No. 9" + Firing a Fast Locomotive + Track Tank + Railroad Semaphore Signals + Thirty Years' Advance in Locomotive Building + The "Lighthouse" of the Rail + A Giant Automobile Mower-Thrasher + An Automobile Buckboard + An Automobile Plow + The _Velox_, of the British Navy + The Engines of the _Arrow_ + A Life-Saving Crew Drilling + Life-Savers at Work + Biograph Pictures of a Military Hazing + Developing Moving-Picture Films + Building an American Bridge in Burmah + Viaduct Across Canyon Diablo + Beginning an American Bridge in Mid-Africa + Lake's Submarine Torpedo-Boat _Protector_ + Speeding at the Rate of 102 Miles an Hour + Singing Into the Telephone + "Central" Telephone Operators at Work + Central Making Connections + The Back of a Telephone Switchboard + A Few Telephone Trunk Wires + The Lanston Type-Setter Keyboard + Where the "Brains" are Located + The Type Moulds and the Work They Produce + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There are many thrilling incidents--all the more attractive because of +their truth--in the study, the trials, the disappointments, the +obstacles overcome, and the final triumph of the successful inventor. + +Every great invention, afterward marvelled at, was first derided. Each +great inventor, after solving problems in mechanics or chemistry, had to +face the jeers of the incredulous. + +The story of James Watt's sensations when the driving-wheels of his +first rude engine began to revolve will never be told; the visions of +Robert Fulton, when he puffed up the Hudson, of the fleets of vessels +that would follow the faint track of his little vessel, can never be put +in print. + +It is the purpose of this book to give, in a measure, the adventurous +side of invention. The trials and dangers of the builders of the +submarine; the triumphant thrill of the inventor who hears for the first +time the vibration of the long-distance message through the air; the +daring and tension of the engineer who drives a locomotive at one +hundred miles an hour. + +The wonder of the mechanic is lost in the marvel of the machine; the +doer is overshadowed by the greatness of his achievement. + +These are true stories of adventure in invention. + + + + +STORIES OF INVENTORS + +HOW GUGLIELMO MARCONI TELEGRAPHS WITHOUT WIRES + + +A nineteen-year-old boy, just a quiet, unobtrusive young fellow, who +talked little but thought much, saw in the discovery of an older +scientist the means of producing a revolutionising invention by which +nations could talk to nations without the use of wires or tangible +connection, no matter how far apart they might be or by what they might +be separated. The possibilities of Guglielmo (William) Marconi's +invention are just beginning to be realised, and what it has already +accomplished would seem too wonderful to be true if the people of these +marvellous times were not almost surfeited with wonders. + +It is of the boy and man Marconi that this chapter will tell, and +through him the story of his invention, for the personality, the +talents, and the character of the inventor made wireless telegraphy +possible. + +It was an article in an electrical journal describing the properties of +the "Hertzian waves" that suggested to young Marconi the possibility of +sending messages from one place to another without wires. Many men +doubtless read the same article, but all except the young Italian lacked +the training, the power of thought, and the imagination, first to +foresee the great things that could be accomplished through this +discovery, and then to study out the mechanical problem, and finally to +steadfastly push the work through to practical usefulness. + +It would seem that Marconi was not the kind of boy to produce a +revolutionising invention, for he was not in the least spectacular, but, +on the contrary, almost shy, and lacking in the aggressive enthusiasm +that is supposed to mark the successful inventor; quiet determination +was a strong characteristic of the young Italian, and a studious habit +which had much to do with the great results accomplished by him at so +early an age. + +He was well equipped to grapple with the mighty problem which he had +been the first to conceive, since from early boyhood he had made +electricity his chief study, and a comfortable income saved him from the +grinding struggle for bare existence that many inventors have had to +endure. Although born in Bologna (in 1874) and bearing an Italian name, +Marconi is half Irish, his mother being a native of Britain. Having been +educated in Bologna, Florence, and Leghorn, Italy's schools may rightly +claim to have had great influence in the shaping of his career. Certain +it is, in any case, that he was well educated, especially in his chosen +branch. + +Marconi, like many other inventors, did not discover the means by which +the end was accomplished; he used the discovery of other men, and turned +their impractical theories and inventions to practical uses, and, in +addition, invented many theories of his own. The man who does old things +in a new way, or makes new uses of old inventions, is the one who +achieves great things. And so it was the reading of the discovery of +Hertz that started the boy on the train of thought and the series of +experiments that ended with practical, everyday telegraphy without the +use of wires. To begin with, it is necessary to give some idea of the +medium that carries the wireless messages. + +It is known that all matter, even the most compact and solid of +substances, is permeated by what is called ether, and that the +vibrations that make light, heat, and colour are carried by this +mysterious substance as water carries the wave motions on its surface. +This strange substance, ether, which pervades everything, surrounds +everything, and penetrates all things, is mysterious, since it cannot be +seen nor felt, nor made known to the human senses in any way; +colourless, odourless, and intangible in every way, its properties are +only known through the things that it accomplishes that are beyond the +powers of the known elements. Ether has been compared by one writer to +jelly which, filling all space, serves as a setting for the planets, +moons, and stars, and, in fact, all solid substances; and as a bowl of +jelly carries a plum, so all solid things float in it. + +Heinrich Hertz discovered that in addition to the light, heat, and +colour waves carried by ether, this substance also served to carry +electric waves or vibrations, so that electric impulses could be sent +from one place to another without the aid of wires. These electric waves +have been named "Hertzian waves," in honour of their discoverer; but it +remained for Marconi, who first conceived their value, to put them to +practical use. But for a year he did not attempt to work out his plan, +thinking that all the world of scientists were studying the problem. The +expected did not happen, however. No news of wireless telegraphy +reached the young Italian, and so he set to work at his father's farm in +Bologna to develop his idea. + +[Illustration: THE MARCONI STATION AT GLACÉ BAY, CAPE BRETON +From the wires hung to these towers are sent the messages that carry +clear across to England.] + +And so the boy began to work out his great idea with a dogged +determination to succeed, and with the thought constantly in mind +spurring him on that it was more than likely that some other scientist +was striving with might and main to gain the same end. + +His father's farm was his first field of operations, the small +beginnings of experiments that were later to stretch across many +hundreds of miles of ocean. Set up on a pole planted at one side of the +garden, he rigged a tin box to which he connected, by an insulated wire, +his rude transmitting apparatus. At the other side of the garden a +corresponding pole with another tin box was set up and connected with +the receiving apparatus. The interest of the young inventor can easily +be imagined as he sat and watched for the tick of his recording +instrument that he knew should come from the flash sent across the +garden by his companion. Much time had been spent in the planning and +the making of both sets of instruments, and this was the first test; +silent he waited, his nerves tense, impatient, eager. Suddenly the Morse +sounder began to tick and burr-r-r; the boy's eyes flashed, and his +heart gave an exultant bound--the first wireless message had been sent +and received, and a new marvel had been added to the list of world's +wonders. The quiet farm was the scene of many succeeding experiments, +the place having been put at his disposal by his appreciative father, +and in addition ample funds were generously supplied from the same +source. Different heights of poles were tried, and it was found that the +distance could be increased in proportion to the altitude of the pole +bearing the receiving and transmitting tin boxes or "capacities"--the +higher the poles the greater distance the message could be sent. The +success of Marconi's system depended largely on his receiving apparatus, +and it is on account of his use of some of the devices invented by other +men that unthinking people have criticised him. He adapted to the use of +wireless telegraphy certain inventions that had heretofore been merely +interesting scientific toys--curious little instruments of no apparent +practical value until his eye saw in them a contributory means to a +great end. + +Though Hertz caught the etheric waves on a wire hoop and saw the +answering sparks jump across the unjoined ends, there was no way to +record the flashes and so read the message. The electric current of a +wireless message was too weak to work a recording device, so Marconi +made use of an ingenious little instrument invented by M. Branly, called +a coherer, to hitch on, as it were, the stronger current of a local +battery. So the weak current of the ether waves, aided by the stronger +current of the local circuit, worked the recorder and wrote the message +down. The coherer was a little tube of glass not as long as your finger, +and smaller than a lead pencil, into each end of which was tightly +fitted plugs of silver; the plugs met within a small fraction of an inch +in the centre of the tube, and the very small space between the ends of +the plugs was filled with silver and nickel dust so fine as to be almost +as light as air. Though a small instrument, and more delicate than a +clinical thermometer, it loomed large in the working-out of wireless +telegraphy. One of the silver plugs of the coherer was connected to the +receiving wire, while the other was connected to the earth (grounded). +To one plug of the coherer also was joined one pole of the local +battery, while the other pole was in circuit with the other plug of the +coherer through the recording instrument. The fine dust-like silver and +nickel particles in the coherer possessed the quality of high +resistance, except when charged by the electric current of the ether +waves; then the particles of metal clung together, cohered, and allowed +of the passage of the ether waves' current and the strong current of the +local battery, which in turn actuated the Morse sounder and recorder. +The difficulty with this instrument was in the fact that the metal +particles continued to cohere, unless shaken apart, after the ether +waves' current was discontinued. So Marconi invented a little device +which was in circuit with the recorder and tapped the coherer tube with +a tiny mallet at just the right moment, causing the particles to +separate, or decohere, and so break the circuit and stop the local +battery current. As no wireless message could have been received without +the coherer, so no record or reading could have been made without the +young Italian's improvement. + +In sending the message from one side of his father's estate at Bologna +to the other the young inventor used practically the same methods that +he uses to-day. Marconi's transmitting apparatus consisted of electric +batteries, an induction coil by which the force of the current is +increased, a telegrapher's key to make and break the circuit, and a +pair of brass knobs. The batteries were connected with the induction +coil, which in turn was connected with the brass knobs; the +telegrapher's key was placed between the battery and the coil. It was +the boy scarcely out of his teens who worked out the principles of his +system, but it took time and many, many experiments to overcome the +obstacles of long-distance wireless telegraphy. The sending of a message +across the garden in far-away Italy was a simple matter--the depressed +key completed the electric circuit created by a strong battery through +the induction coil and made a spark jump between the two brass knobs, +which in turn started the ether vibrating at the rate of three or four +hundred million times a minute from the tin box on top of a pole. The +vibrations in the ether circled wider and wider, as the circular waves +spread from the spot where a stone is dropped into a pool, but with the +speed of light, until they reached a corresponding tin box on top of a +like pole on the other side of the garden; this box, and the wire +connected with it, caught the waves, carried them down to the coherer, +and, joining the current from the local battery, a dot or dash was +recorded; immediately after, the tapper separated the metal particles +in the coherer and it was ready for the next series of waves. + +One spark made a single dot, a stream of sparks the dash of the Morse +telegraphic code. The apparatus was crude at first, and worked +spasmodically, but Marconi knew he was on the right track and +persevered. With the heightening of the pole he found he could send +farther without an increase of electric power, until wireless messages +were sent from one extreme limit of his father's farm to the other. + +It is hard to realize that the young inventor only began his experiments +in wireless telegraphy in 1895, and that it is scarcely eight years +since the great idea first occurred to him. + +After a year of experimenting on his father's property, Marconi was able +to report to W.H. Preece, chief electrician of the British postal +system, certain definite facts--not theories, but facts. He had actually +sent and received messages, without the aid of wires, about two miles, +but the facilities for further experimenting at Bologna were exhausted, +and he went to England. + +Here was a youth (scarcely twenty-one), with a great invention already +within his grasp--a revolutionising invention, the possibilities of +which can hardly yet be conceived. And so this young Italian, quiet, +retiring, unassuming, and yet possessing Jove's power of sending +thunderbolts, came to London (in 1896), to upbuild and link nation to +nation more closely. With his successful experiments behind him, Marconi +was well received in England, and began his further work with all the +encouragement possible. Then followed a series of tests that were fairly +bewildering. Messages were sent through brick walls--through houses, +indeed--over long stretches of plain, and even through hills, proving +beyond a doubt that the etheric electric waves penetrated everything. +For a long time Marconi used modifications of the tin boxes which were a +feature of his early trials, but later balloons covered with tin-foil, +and then a kite six feet high, covered with thin metallic sheets, was +used, the wire leading down to the sending and receiving instruments +running down the cord. With the kite, signals were sent eight miles by +the middle of 1897. Marconi was working on the theory that the higher +the transmitting and receiving "capacity," as it was then called, or +wire, or "antenna," the greater distance the message could be sent; so +that the distance covered was only limited by the height of the +transmitting and receiving conductors. This theory has since been +abandoned, great power having been substituted for great height. + +Marconi saw that balloons and kites, the playthings of the winds, were +unsuitable for his purpose, and sought some more stable support for his +sending and receiving apparatus. He set up, therefore (in November, +1897), at the Needles, Isle of Wight, a 120-foot mast, from the apex of +which was strung his transmitting wire (an insulated wire, instead of a +box, or large metal body, as heretofore used). This was the forerunner +of all the tall spars that have since pointed to the sky, and which have +been the centre of innumerable etheric waves bearing man's messages over +land and sea. + +With the planting of the mast at the Needles began a new series of +experiments which must have tried the endurance and determination of the +young man to the utmost. A tug was chartered, and to the sixty-foot mast +erected thereon was connected the wire and transmitting and receiving +apparatus. From this little vessel Marconi sent and received wireless +signals day after day, no matter what the state of the weather. With +each trip experience was accumulated and the apparatus was improved; the +moving station steamed farther and farther out to sea, and the ether +waves circled wider and wider, until, at the end of two months of +sea-going, wireless telegraphy signals were received clear across to the +mainland, fourteen miles, whereupon a mast was set up and a station +established (at Bournemouth), and later eighteen miles away at Poole. + +By the middle of 1898 Marconi's wireless system was doing actual +commercial service in reporting, for a Dublin newspaper, the events at a +regatta at Kingstown, when about seven hundred messages were sent from a +floating station to land, at a maximum distance of twenty-five miles. + +It was shortly afterward, while the royal yacht was in Cowes Bay, that +one hundred and fifty messages between the then Prince of Wales and his +royal mother at Osborne House were exchanged, most of them of a very +private nature. + +One of the great objections to wireless telegraphy has been the +inability to make it secret, since the ether waves circle from the +centre in all directions, and any receiving apparatus within certain +limits would be affected by the waves just as the station to which the +message was sent would be affected by them. To illustrate: the waves +radiating from a stone dropped into a still pool would make a dead leaf +bob up and down anywhere on the pool within the circle of the waves, and +so the ether waves excited the receiving apparatus of any station within +the effective reach of the circle. + +Of course, the use of a cipher code would secure the secrecy of a +message, but Marconi was looking for a mechanical device that would make +it impossible for any but the station to which the message was sent to +receive it. He finally hit upon the plan of focussing the ether waves as +the rays of a searchlight are concentrated in a given direction by the +use of a reflector, and though this adaptation of the searchlight +principle was to a certain extent successful, much penetrating power was +lost. This plan has been abandoned for one much more ingenious and +effective, based on the principle of attunement, of which more later. + +It was a proud day for the young Italian when his receiver at Dover +recorded the first wireless message sent across the British Channel from +Boulogne in 1899--just the letters V M and three or four words in the +Morse alphabet of dots and dashes. He had bridged that space of stormy, +restless water with an invisible, intangible something that could be +neither seen, felt, nor heard, and yet was stronger and surer than +steel--a connection that nothing could interrupt, that no barrier could +prevent. The first message from England to France was soon followed by +one to M. Branly, the inventor of the coherer, that made the receiving +of the message possible, and one to the queen of Marconi's country. The +inventor's march of progress was rapid after this--stations were +established at various points all around the coast of England; vessels +were equipped with the apparatus so that they might talk to the mainland +and to one another. England's great dogs of war, her battle-ships, +fought an imaginary war with one another and the orders were flashed +from the flagship to the fighters, and from the Admiral's cabin to the +shore, in spite of fog and great stretches of open water heaving +between. + +[Illustration: THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPH STATION AT GLACÉ BAY] + +A lightship anchored off the coast of England was fitted with the +Marconi apparatus and served to warn several vessels of impending +danger, and at last, after a collision in the dark and fog, saved the +men who were aboard of her by sending a wireless message to the mainland +for help. + +From the very beginning Marconi had set a high standard for himself. He +worked for an end that should be both commercially practical and +universal. When he had spanned the Channel with his wireless messages, +he immediately set to work to fling the ether waves farther and farther. +Even then the project of spanning the Atlantic was in his mind. + +On the coast of Cornwall, near Penzance, England, Marconi erected a +great station. A forest of tall poles were set up, and from the wires +strung from one to the other hung a whole group of wires which were in +turn connected to the transmitting apparatus. From a little distance the +station looked for all the world like ships' masts that had been taken +out and ranged in a circle round the low buildings. This was the station +of Poldhu, from which Marconi planned to send vibrations in the ether +that would reach clear across to St. Johns, Newfoundland, on the other +side of the Atlantic--more than two thousand miles away. A power-driven +dynamo took the place of the more feeble batteries at Poldhu, converters +to increase the power displaced the induction coil, and many +sending-wires, or antennae, were used instead of one. + +On Signal Hill, at St. Johns, Newfoundland--a bold bluff overlooking the +sea--a group of men worked for several days, first in the little stone +house at the brink of the bluff, setting up some electric apparatus; and +later, on the flat ground nearby, the same men were very busy flying a +great kite and raising a balloon. There was no doubt about the +earnestness of these men: they were not raising that kite for fun. They +worked with care and yet with an eagerness that no boy ever displays +when setting his home-made or store flyer to the breeze. They had hard +luck: time and time again the wind or the rain, or else the fog, baffled +them, but a quiet young fellow with a determined, thoughtful face urged +them on, tugged at the cord, or held the kite while the others ran with +the line. Whether Marconi stood to one side and directed or took hold +with his men, there was no doubt who was master. At last the kite was +flying gallantly, high overhead in the blue. From the sagging +kite-string hung a wire that ran into the low stone house. + +One cold December day in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi sat still in a room in +the Government building at Signal Hill, St. Johns, Newfoundland, with a +telephone receiver at his ear and his eye on the clock that ticked +loudly nearby. Overhead flew his kite bearing his receiving-wire. It was +12:30 o'clock on the American side of the ocean, and Marconi had ordered +his operator in far-off Poldhu, two thousand watery miles away, to begin +signalling the letter "S"--three dots of the Morse code, three flashes +of the bluish sparks--at that corresponding hour. For six years he had +been looking forward to and working for that moment--the final test of +all his effort and the beginning of a new triumph. He sat waiting to +hear three small sounds, the br-br-br of the Morse code "S," humming on +the diaphragm of his receiver--the signature of the ether waves that had +travelled two thousand miles to his listening ear. As the hands of the +clock, whose ticking alone broke the stillness of the room, reached +thirty minutes past twelve, the receiver at the inventor's ear began to +hum, br-br-br, as distinctly as the sharp rap of a pencil on a +table--the unmistakable note of the ether vibrations sounded in the +telephone receiver. The telephone receiver was used instead of the usual +recorder on account of its superior sensitiveness. + +Transatlantic wireless telegraphy was an accomplished fact. + +Though many doubted that an actual signal had been sent across the +Atlantic, the scientists of both continents, almost without exception, +accepted Marconi's statement. The sending of the transatlantic signal, +the spanning of the wide ocean with translatable vibrations, was a great +achievement, but the young Italian bore his honours modestly, and +immediately went to work to perfect his system. + +Two months after receiving the message from Poldhu at St. Johns, Marconi +set sail from England for America, in the _Philadelphia_, to carry out, +on a much larger scale, the experiments he had worked out with the tug +three years ago. The steamship was fitted with a complete receiving and +sending outfit, and soon after she steamed out from the harbor she began +to talk to the Cornwall station in the dot-and-dash sign language. The +long-distance talk between ship and shore continued at intervals, the +recording instrument writing the messages down so that any one who +understood the Morse code could read. Message after message came and +went until one hundred and fifty miles of sea lay between Marconi and +his station. Then the ship could talk no more, her sending apparatus not +being strong enough; but the faithful men at Poldhu kept sending +messages to their chief, and the recorder on the _Philadelphia_ kept +taking them down in the telegrapher's shorthand, though the steamship +was plowing westward at twenty miles an hour. Day after day, at the +appointed hour to the very second, the messages came from the station on +land, flung into the air with the speed of light, to the young man in +the deck cabin of a speeding steamship two hundred and fifty, five +hundred, a thousand, fifteen hundred, yes, two thousand and ninety-nine +miles away--messages that were written down automatically as they came, +being permanent records that none might gainsay and that all might +observe. + +To Marconi it was the simple carrying out of his orders, for he said +that he had fitted the Poldhu instruments to work to two thousand one +hundred miles, but to those who saw the thing done--saw the narrow +strips of paper come reeling off the recorder, stamped with the blue +impressions of the messages through the air, it was astounding almost +beyond belief; but there was the record, duly attested by those who +knew, and clearly marked with the position of the ship in longitude and +latitude at the time they were received. + +It was only a few months afterward that Marconi, from his first station +in the United States, at Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass., sent a message +direct to Poldhu, three thousand miles. At frequent intervals messages +go from one country to the other across the ocean, carried through fog, +unaffected by the winds, and following the curvature of the earth, +without the aid of wires. + +Again the unassuming nature of the young Italian was shown. There was +no brass band nor display of national colours in honour of the great +achievement; it was all accomplished quietly, and suddenly the world +woke up to find that the thing had been done. Then the great personages +on both sides of the water congratulated and complimented each other by +Marconi's wireless system. + +At Marconi's new station at Glacé Bay, Cape Breton, and at the powerful +station at Wellfleet, Cape Cod, the receiving and sending wires are +supported by four great towers more than two hundred feet high. Many +wires are used instead of one, and much greater power is of course +employed than at first, but the marvellously simple principle is the +same that was used in the garden at Bologna. The coherer has been +displaced by a new device invented by Marconi, called a magnetic +detector, by which the ether waves are aided by a stronger current to +record the message. The effect is the same, but the method is entirely +different. + +The sending of a long-distance message is a spectacular thing. Current +of great power is used, and the spark is a blinding flash accompanied by +deafening noises that suggest a volley from rifles. But Marconi is +experimenting to reduce the noise, and the use of the mercury vapour +invented by Peter Cooper Hewitt will do much to increase the rapidity in +sending. + +After much experimenting Marconi discovered that the longer the waves in +the ether the more penetrating and lasting the quality they possessed, +just as long swells on a body of water carry farther and endure longer +than short ones. Moreover, he discovered that if many sending-wires were +used instead of one, and strong electric power was employed instead of +weak, these long, penetrating, enduring waves could be produced. All the +new Marconi stations, therefore, built for long-distance work, are +fitted with many sending-wires, and powerful dynamos are run which are +capable of producing a spark between the silvered knobs as thick as a +man's wrist. + +Marconi and several other workers in the field of wireless telegraphy +are now busy experimenting on a system of attunement, or syntony, by +which it will be possible to so adjust the sending instruments that none +but the receiver for whom the message is meant can receive it. He is +working on the principle whereby one tuning-fork, when set vibrating, +will set another of the same pitch humming. This problem is practically +solved now, and in the near future every station, every ship, and each +installation will have its own key, and will respond to none other than +the particular vibrations, wave lengths, or oscillations, for which it +is adjusted. + +All through the wonders he has brought about, Marconi, the boy and the +man, has shown but little--he is the strong character that does things +and says little, and his works speak so amazingly, so loudly, that the +personality of the man is obscured. + +The Marconi station at Glacé Bay, Cape Breton, is now receiving messages +for cableless transmission to England at the rate of ten cents a +word--newspaper matter at five cents a word. Transatlantic wireless +telegraphy is an everyday occurrence, and the common practical uses are +almost beyond mention. It is quite within the bounds of possibility for +England to talk clear across to Australia over the Isthmus of Panama, +and soon France will be actually holding converse with her strange ally, +Russia, across Germany and Austria, without asking the permission of +either country. Ships talk to one another while in mid-ocean, separated +by miles of salt water. Newspapers have been published aboard +transatlantic steamers with the latest news telegraphed while en route; +indeed, a regular news service of this kind, at a very reasonable rate, +has been established. These are facts; what wonders the future has in +store we can only guess. But these are some of the possibilities--news +service supplied to subscribers at their homes, the important items to +be ticked off on each private instrument automatically, "Marconigraphed" +from the editorial rooms; the sending and receiving of messages from +moving trains or any other kind of a conveyance; the direction of a +submarine craft from a safe-distance point, or the control of a +submarine torpedo. + +One is apt to grow dizzy if the imagination is allowed to run on too +far--but why should not one friend talk to another though he be miles +away, and to him alone, since his portable instrument is attuned to but +one kind of vibration. It will be like having a separate language for +each person, so that "friend communeth with friend, and a stranger +intermeddleth not--" and which none but that one person can understand. + + + + +SANTOS-DUMONT AND HIS AIR-SHIP + + +There was a boy in far-away Brazil who played with his friends the game +of "Pigeon Flies." + +In this pastime the boy who is "it" calls out "pigeon flies," or "bat +flies," and the others raise their fingers; but if he should call "fox +flies," and one of his mates should raise his hand, that boy would have +to pay a forfeit. + +The Brazilian boy, however, insisted on raising his finger when the +catchwords "man flies" were called, and firmly protested against paying +a forfeit. + +Alberto Santos-Dumont, even in those early days, was sure that if man +did not fly then he would some day. + +Many an imaginative boy with a mechanical turn of mind has dreamed and +planned wonderful machines that would carry him triumphantly over the +tree-tops, and when the tug of the kite-string has been felt has wished +that it would pull him up in the air and carry him soaring among the +clouds. Santos-Dumont was just such a boy, and he spent much time in +setting miniature balloons afloat, and in launching tiny air-ships +actuated by twisted rubber bands. But he never outgrew this interest in +overhead sailing, and his dreams turned into practical working +inventions that enabled him to do what never a mortal man had done +before--that is, move about at will in the air. + +Perhaps it was the clear blue sky of his native land, and the dense, +almost impenetrable thickets below, as Santos-Dumont himself has +suggested, that made him think how fine it would be to float in the air +above the tangle, where neither rough ground nor wide streams could +hinder. At any rate, the thought came into the boy's mind when he was +very small, and it stuck there. + +His father owned great plantations and many miles of railroad in Brazil, +and the boy grew up in the atmosphere of ponderous machinery and puffing +locomotives. By the time Santos-Dumont was ten years old he had learned +enough about mechanics to control the engines of his father's railroads +and handle the machinery in the factories. The boy had a natural bent +for mechanics and mathematics, and possessed a cool courage that made +him appear almost phlegmatic. Besides his inherited aptitude for +mechanics, his father, who was an engineer of the Central School of Arts +and Manufactures of Paris, gave him much useful instruction. Like +Marconi, Santos-Dumont had many advantages, and also, like the inventor +of wireless telegraphy, he had the high intelligence and determination +to win success in spite of many discouragements. Like an explorer in a +strange land, Santos-Dumont was a pioneer in his work, each trial being +different from any other, though the means in themselves were familiar +enough. + +[Illustration: SANTOS-DUMONT PREPARING FOR A FLIGHT IN "SANTOS-DUMONT NO. 6" +The steering-wheel can be seen in front of basket, the motor is +suspended in frame to the rear, the propeller and rudder at extreme +end.] + +The boy Santos-Dumont dreamed air-ships, planned air-ships, and read +about aerial navigation, until he was possessed with the idea that he +must build an air-ship for himself. + +He set his face toward France, the land of aerial navigation and the +country where light motors had been most highly developed for +automobiles. The same year, 1897, when he was twenty-four years old, he, +with M. Machuron, made his first ascent in a spherical balloon, the only +kind in existence at that time. He has described that first ascension +with an enthusiasm that proclaims him a devotee of the science for all +time. + +His first ascension was full of incident: a storm was encountered; the +clouds spread themselves between them and the map-like earth, so that +nothing could be seen except the white, billowy masses of vapour shining +in the sun; some difficulty was experienced in getting down, for the air +currents were blowing upward and carried the balloon with them; the +tree-tops finally caught them, but they escaped by throwing out ballast, +and finally landed in an open place, and watched the dying balloon as it +convulsively gasped out its last breath of escaping gas. + +After a few trips with an experienced aeronaut, Santos-Dumont determined +to go alone into the regions above the clouds. This was the first of a +series of ascensions in his own balloon. It was made of very light silk, +which he could pack in a valise and carry easily back to Paris from his +landing point. In all kinds of weather this determined sky navigator +went aloft; in wind, rain, and sunshine he studied the atmospheric +conditions, air currents, and the action of his balloon. + +The young Brazilian ascended thirty times in spherical balloons before +he attempted any work on an elongated shape. He realised that many +things must be learned before he could handle successfully the much more +delicate and sensitive elongated gas-bag. + +In general, Santos-Dumont worked on the theory of the dirigible +balloon--that is, one that might be controlled and made to go in any +direction desired, by means of a motor and propeller carried by a +buoyant gas-bag. His plan was to build a balloon, cigar-shaped, of +sufficient capacity to a little more than lift his machinery and +himself, this extra lifting power to be balanced by ballast, so that the +balloon and the weight it carried would practically equal the weight of +air it displaced. The push of the revolving propeller would be depended +upon to move the whole air-ship up or down or forward, just as the +motion of a fish's fins and tail move it up, down, forward, or back, its +weight being nearly the same as the water it displaces. + +The theory seems so simple that it strikes one as strange that the +problem of aerial navigation was not solved long ago. The story of +Santos-Dumont's experiments, however, his adventures and his successes, +will show that the problem was not so simple as it seemed. + +Santos-Dumont was built to jockey a Pegasus or guide an air-ship, for he +weighed but a hundred pounds when he made his first ascensions, and +added very little live ballast as he grew older. + +Weight, of course, was the great bugbear of every air-ship inventor, +and the chief problem was to provide a motor light enough to furnish +sufficient power for driving a balloon that had sufficient lifting +capacity to support it and the aeronaut in the air. Steam-engines had +been tried, but found too heavy for the power generated; electric motors +had been tested, and proved entirely out of the question for the same +reason. + +Santos-Dumont has been very fortunate in this respect, his success, +indeed, being largely due to the compact and powerful gasoline motors +that have been developed for use on automobiles. + +Even before the balloon for the first air-ship was ordered the young +Brazilian experimented with his three-and-one-half horse-power gasoline +motor in every possible way, adding to its power, and reducing its +weight until he had cut it down to sixty-six pounds, or a little less +than twenty pounds to a horse-power. Putting the little motor on a +tricycle, he led the procession of powerful automobiles in the +Paris-Amsterdam race for some distance, proving its power and speed. The +motor tested to his satisfaction, Santos-Dumont ordered his balloon of +the famous maker, Lachambre, and while it was building he experimented +still further with his little engine. To the horizontal shaft of his +motor he attached a propeller made of silk stretched tightly over a +light wooden framework. The motor was secured to the aeronaut's basket +behind, and the reservoir of gasoline hung to the basket in front. All +this was done and tested before the balloon was finished--in fact, the +aeronaut hung himself up in his basket from the roof of his workshop and +started his motor to find out how much pushing power it exerted and if +everything worked satisfactorily. + +On September 18, 1898, Santos-Dumont made his first ascension in his +first air-ship--in fact, he had never tried to operate an elongated +balloon before, and so much of this first experience was absolutely new. +Imagine a great bag of yellow oiled silk, cigar-shaped, fully inflated +with hydrogen gas, but swaying in the morning breeze, and tugging at its +restraining ropes: a vast bubble eighty-two feet long, and twelve feel +in diameter at its greatest girth. Such was the balloon of +Santos-Dumont's first air-ship. Suspended by cords from the great +gas-bag was the basket, to which was attached the motor and six-foot +propeller, hung sixteen feet below the belly of the great air-fish. + +Many friends and curiosity seekers had assembled to see the aeronaut +make his first foolhardy attempt, as they called it. Never before had a +spark-spitting motor been hung under a great reservoir of highly +inflammable hydrogen gas, and most of the group thought the daring +inventor would never see another sunset. Santos-Dumont moved around his +suspended air-ship, testing a cord here and a connection there, for he +well knew that his life might depend on such a small thing as a length +of twine or a slender rod. At one side of a small open space on the +outskirts of Paris the long, yellow balloon tugged at its fastenings, +while the navigator made his final round to see that all was well. A +twist of a strap around the driving-wheel set the motor going, and a +moment later Santos-Dumont was standing in his basket, giving the signal +to release the air-ship. It rose heavily, and travelling with the fresh +wind, the propellers whirling swiftly, it crashed into the trees at the +other side of the enclosure. The aeronaut had, against his better +judgment, gone with the wind rather than against it, so the power of the +propeller was added to the force of the breeze, and the trees were +encountered before the ship could rise sufficiently to clear them. The +damage was repaired, and two days later, September 20, 1898, the +Brazilian started again from the same enclosure, but this time against +the wind. The propeller whirled merrily, the explosions of the little +motor snapped sharply as the great yellow bulk and the tiny basket with +its human freight, the captain of the craft, rose slowly in the air. +Santos-Dumont stood quietly in his basket, his hand on the controlling +cords of the great rudder on the end of the balloon; near at hand was a +bag of loose sand, while small bags of ballast were packed around his +feet. Steadily she rose and began to move against the wind with the slow +grace of a great bird, while the little man in the basket steered right +or left, up or down, as he willed. He turned his rudder for the lateral +movements, and changed his shifting bags of ballast hanging fore and +aft, pulling in the after bag when he wished to point her nose down, and +doing likewise with the forward ballast when he wished to ascend--the +propeller pushing up or down as she was pointed. For the first time a +man had actual control of an air-ship that carried him. He commanded it +as a captain governs his ship, and it obeyed as a vessel answers its +helm. + +A quarter of a mile above the heads of the pygmy crowd who watched him +the little South American maneuvered his air-ship, turning circles and +figure eights with and against the breeze, too busy with his rudder, +his vibrating little engine, his shifting bags of ballast, and the great +palpitating bag of yellow silk above him, to think of his triumph, +though he could still hear faintly the shouts of his friends on earth. +For a time all went well and he felt the exhilaration that no +earth-travelling can ever give, as he experienced somewhat of the +freedom that the birds must know when they soar through the air +unfettered. As he descended to a lower, denser atmosphere he felt rather +than saw that something was wrong--that there was a lack of buoyancy to +his craft. The engine kept on with its rapid "phut, phut, phut" +steadily, but the air-ship was sinking much more rapidly than it should. +Looking up, the aeronaut saw that his long gas-bag was beginning to +crease in the middle and was getting flabby, the cords from the ends of +the long balloon were beginning to sag, and threatened to catch in the +propeller. The earth seemed to be leaping up toward him and destruction +stared him in the face. A hand air-pump was provided to fill an air +balloon inside the larger one and so make up for the compression of the +hydrogen gas caused by the denser, lower atmosphere. He started this +pump, but it proved too small, and as the gas was compressed more and +more, and the flabbiness of the balloon increased, the whole thing +became unmanageable. The great ship dropped and dropped through the air, +while the aeronaut, no longer in control of his ship, but controlled by +it, worked at the pump and threw out ballast in a vain endeavour to +escape the inevitable. He was descending directly over the greensward in +the centre of the Longchamps race-course, when he caught sight of some +boys flying kites in the open space. He shouted to them to take hold of +his trailing guide-rope and run with it against the wind. They +understood at once and as instantly obeyed. The wind had the same effect +on the air-ship as it has on a kite when one runs with it, and the speed +of the fall was checked. Man and air-ship landed with a thud that +smashed almost everything but the man. The smart boys that had saved +Santos-Dumont's life helped him pack what was left of "Santos-Dumont No. 1" +into its basket, and a cab took inventor and invention back to Paris. + +In spite of the narrow escape and the discouraging ending of his first +flight, Santos-Dumont launched his second air-ship the following May. +Number 2 was slightly larger than the first, and the fault that was +dangerous in it was corrected, its inventor thought, by a ventilator +connecting the inner bag with the outer air, which was designed to +compensate for the contraction of the gas and keep the skin of the +balloon taut. But No. 2 doubled up as had No. 1, while she was still +held captive by a line; falling into a tree hurt the balloon, but the +aeronaut escaped unscratched. Santos-Dumont, in spite of his quiet ways +and almost effeminate speech, his diminutive body, and wealth that +permitted him to enjoy every luxury, persisted in his work with rare +courage and determination. The difficulties were great and the available +information meager to the last degree. The young inventor had to +experiment and find out for himself the obstacles to success and then +invent ways to surmount them. He had need of ample wealth, for the +building of air-ships was expensive business. The balloons were made of +the finest, lightest Japanese silk, carefully prepared and still more +vigorously tested. They were made by the most famous of the world's +balloon-makers, Lachambre, and required the spending of money +unstintedly. The motors cost according to their lightness rather than +their weight, and all the materials, cordage, metal-work, etc., were +expensive for the same reason. The cost of the hydrogen gas was very +great also, at twenty cents per cubic meter (thirty-five cubic feet); +and as at each ascension all the gas was usually lost, the expense of +each sail in the air for gas alone amounted to from $57 for the smallest +ship to $122 for the largest. + +[Illustration: SANTOS-DUMONT IN HIS AIR-SHIP "NO. 6" ROUNDING THE EIFFEL +TOWER ON HIS PRIZE-WINNING TRIP] + +Nevertheless, in November of 1899 Santos-Dumont launched another +air-ship--No. 3. This one was supported by a balloon of much greater +diameter, though the length remained about the same--sixty-six feet. The +capacity, however, was almost three times as great as No. 1, being +17,655 cubic feet. The balloon was so much larger that the less +expensive but heavier illuminating gas could be used instead of +hydrogen. When the air-ship "Santos-Dumont No. 3" collapsed and dumped +its navigator into the trees, Santos-Dumont's friends took it upon +themselves to stop his dangerous experimenting, but he said nothing, and +straightway set to work to plan a new machine. It was characteristic of +the man that to him the danger, the expense, and the discouragements +counted not at all. + +In the afternoon of November 13, 1899, Santos-Dumont started on his +first flight in No. 3. The wind was blowing hard, and for a time the +great bulk of the balloon made little headway against it; 600 feet in +air it hung poised almost motionless, the winglike propeller whirling +rapidly. Then slowly the great balloon began nosing its way into the +wind, and the plucky little man, all alone, beyond the reach of any +human voice, could not tell his joy, although the feeling of triumph was +strong within him. Far below him, looking like two-legged hats, so +foreshortened they were from the aeronaut's point of view, were the +people of Paris, while in front loomed the tall steel spire of the +Eiffel Tower. To sail round that tower even as the birds float about had +been the dream of the young aeronaut since his first ascension. The +motor was running smoothly, the balloon skin was taut, and everything +was working well; pulling the rudder slightly, Santos-Dumont headed +directly for the great steel shaft. + +The people who were on the Eiffel Tower that breezy afternoon saw a +sight that never a man saw before. Out of the haze a yellow shape loomed +larger each minute until its outlines could be distinctly seen. It was a +big cigar-shaped balloon, and under it, swung by what seemed gossamer +threads, was a basket in which was a man. The air-ship was going against +the wind, and the man in the basket evidently had full control, for the +amazed people on the tower saw the air-ship turn right and left as her +navigator pulled the rudder-cords, and she rose and fell as her master +regulated his shifting ballast. For twenty minutes Santos-Dumont +maneuvered around the tower as a sailboat tacks around a buoy. While the +people on that tall spire were still watching, the aeronaut turned his +ship around and sailed off for the Longchamps race-course, the green +oval of which could be just distinguished in the distance. + +On the exact spot where, a little more than a year before, the same man +almost lost his life and wrecked his first air-ship, No. 3 landed as +softly and neatly as a bird. + +Though he made many other successful flights, he discovered so many +improvements that with the first small mishap he abandoned No. 3 and +began on No. 4. + +The balloon "Santos-Dumont No. 4" was long and slim, and had an inner +air-bag to compensate for the contraction of the hydrogen gas. This +air-ship had one feature that was entirely new; the aeronaut had +arranged for himself, not a secure basket to stand in, but a frail, +unprotected bicycle seat attached to an ordinary bicycle frame. The +cranks were connected with the starting-gear of the motor. + +Seated on his unguarded bicycle seat, and holding on to the +handle-bars, to which were attached the rudder-cords, Santos-Dumont made +voyages in the air with all the assurance of the sailor on the sea. + +But No. 4 was soon too imperfect for the exacting Brazilian, and in +April, 1901, he had finished No. 5. This air-cruiser was the longest of +all (105 feet), and was fitted with a sixteen horse-power motor. Instead +of the bicycle frame, he built a triangular keel of pine strips and +strengthened it with tightly strung piano wires, the whole frame, though +sixty feet long, weighing but 110 pounds. Hung between the rods, being +suspended by piano wires as in a spider-web, was the motor, basket, and +propeller-shaft. + +The last-named air-ship was built, if not expressly at least with the +intention of trying for the Deutsch Prize of 100,000 francs. This was a +big undertaking, and many people thought it would never be accomplished; +the successful aeronaut had to travel more than three miles in one +direction, round the Eiffel Tower as a racing yacht rounds a stake-boat, +and return to the starting point, all within thirty minutes--_i.e._, +almost seven miles in two directions in half an hour. + +The new machine worked well, though at one time the aerial navigator's +friends thought that they would have to pick him up in pieces and carry +him home in a basket. This incident occurred during one of the first +flights in No. 5. Everything was going smoothly, and the air-ship +circled like a hawk, when the spectators, who were craning their necks +to see, noticed that something was wrong; the motor slowed down, the +propeller spun less swiftly, and the whole fabric began to sink toward +the ground. While the people gazed, their hearts in their mouths, they +saw Santos-Dumont scramble out of his basket and crawl out on the +framework, while the balloon swayed in the air. He calmly knotted the +cord that had parted and crept back to his place, as unconcernedly as if +he were on solid ground. + +It was in August of 1901 that he made his first official trial for the +Deutsch Prize. The start was perfect, and the machine swooped toward the +distant tower straight as a crow flies and almost as fast. The first +half of the distance was covered in nine minutes, so twenty-one minutes +remained for the balance of the journey: success seemed assured; the +prize was almost within the grasp of the aeronaut. Of a sudden assured +success was changed to dire peril; the automatic valves began to leak, +the balloon to sag, the cords supporting the wooden keel hung low, and +before Santos-Dumont could stop the motor the propeller had cut them and +the whole system was threatened. The wind was drifting the air-ship +toward the Eiffel Tower; the navigator had lost control; 500 feet below +were the roofs of the Trocadero Hotels; he had to decide which was the +least dangerous; there was but a moment to think. Santos-Dumont, death +staring him in the face, chose the roofs. A swift jerk of a cord, and a +big slit was made in the balloon. Instantly man, motor, gas-bag, and +keel went tumbling down straight into the court of the hotels. The great +balloon burst with a noise like an explosion, and the man was lost in a +confusion of yellow-silk covering, cords, and wires. When the firemen +reached the place and put down their long ladders they found him +standing calmly in his wicker basket, entirely unhurt. The long, staunch +keel, resting by its ends on the walls of the court, prevented him from +being dashed to pieces. And so ended No. 5. + +Most men would have given up aerial navigation after such an experience, +but Santos-Dumont could not be deterred from continuing his experiments. +The night of the very day which witnessed his fearful fall and the +destruction of No. 5 he ordered a new balloon for "Santos-Dumont No. 6." +It showed the pluck and determination of the man as nothing else could. + +Twenty-two days after the aeronaut's narrow escape his new air-ship was +finished and ready for a flight. No. 6 was practically the same as its +predecessor--the triangular keel was retained, but an eighteen +horse-power gasoline motor was substituted for the sixteen horse-power +used previously. The propeller, made of silk stretched over a bamboo +frame, was hung at the after end of the keel; the motor was a little aft +of the centre, while the basket to which led the steering-gear, the +emergency valve to the balloon, and the motor-controlling gear was +suspended farther forward. To control the upward or downward pointing of +the new air-ship, shifting ballast was used which ran along a wire under +the keel from one end to the other; the cords controlling this ran to +the basket also. + +The new air-ship worked well, and the experimental flights were +successful with one exception--when the balloon came in contact with a +tree. + +It was in October, 1901 (the 19th), when the Deutsch Prize Committee was +asked to meet again and see a man try to drive a balloon against the +wind, round the Eiffel Tower, and return. + +The start took place at 2:42 P.M. of October 19, 1901, with a beam wind +blowing. Straight as a bullet the air-ship sped for the steel shaft of +the tower, rising as she flew. On and on she sped, while the spectators, +remembering the finish of the last trial, watched almost breathlessly. +With the air of a cup-racer turning the stake-boat she rounded the steel +spire, a run of three and three-fifth miles, in nine minutes (at the +rate of more than twenty-two miles an hour), and started on the +home-stretch. + +For a few moments all went well, then those who watched were horrified +to see the propeller slow down and nearly stop, while the wind carried +the air-ship toward the Tower. Just in time the motor was speeded up and +the course was resumed. As the group of men watched the speck grow +larger and larger until things began to take definite shape, the white +blur of the whirling propeller could be seen and the small figure in the +basket could be at last distinguished. Again the motor failed, the speed +slackened, and the ship began to sink. Santos-Dumont threw out enough +ballast to recover his equilibrium and adjusted the motor. With but +three minutes left and some distance to go, the great dirigible balloon +got up speed and rushed for the goal. At eleven and a half minutes past +three, twenty-nine minutes and thirty-one seconds after starting, +Santos-Dumont crossed the line, the winner of the Deutsch Prize. And so +the young Brazilian accomplished that which had been declared +impossible. + +[Illustration: THE MOTOR AND BASKET OF "SANTOS-DUMONT NO. 9" +The gasoline holder, from which a tube leads to the motor, can be seen +on the side of the basket.] + +The following winter the aerial navigator, in the same No. 5, sailed +many times over the waters of the Mediterranean from Monte Carlo. These +flights over the water, against, athwart, and with the wind, some of +them faster than the attending steamboats could travel, continued until +through careless inflation of the balloon the air-ship and navigator +sank into the sea. Santos-Dumont was rescued without being harmed in the +least, and the air-ship was preserved intact, to be exhibited later to +American sightseers. + +"Santos-Dumont No. 6," the most successful of the series built by the +determined Brazilian, looks as if it were altogether too frail to +intrust with the carrying of a human being. The 105-foot-long balloon, a +light yellow in colour, sways and undulates with every passing breeze. +The steel piano wires by which the keel and apparatus are hung to the +balloon skin are like spider-webs in lightness and delicacy, and the +motor that has the strength of eighteen horses is hardly bigger than a +barrel. A little forward of the motor is suspended to the keel the +cigar-shaped gasoline reservoir, and strung along the top rod are the +batteries which furnish the current to make the sparks for the purpose +of exploding the gas in the motor. + +Santos-Dumont himself says that the world is still a long way from +practical, everyday aerial navigation, but he points out the apparent +fact that the dirigible balloon in the hands of determined men will +practically put a stop to war. Henri Rochefort has said: "The day when +it is established that a man can direct an air-ship in a given direction +and cause it to maneuver as he wills--there will remain little for the +nations to do but to lay down their arms." + +The man who has done so much toward the abolishing of war can rest well +content with his work. + + + + +HOW A FAST TRAIN IS RUN + + +The conductor stood at the end of the train, watch in hand, and at the +moment when the hands indicated the appointed hour he leisurely climbed +aboard and pulled the whistle cord. A sharp, penetrating hiss of +escaping air answered the pull, and the train moved out of the great +train-shed in its race against time. It was all so easy and comfortable +that the passengers never thought of the work and study that had been +spent to produce the result. The train gathered speed and rushed on at +an appalling rate, but the passengers did not realise how fast they were +going unless they looked out of the windows and saw the houses and +trees, telegraph poles, and signal towers flash by. + +It is the purpose of this chapter to tell how high speed is attained +without loss of comfort to the passengers--in other words, to tell how a +fast train is run. + +When the conductor pulled the cord at the rear end of the long train a +whistling signal was thus given in the engine-cab, and the engineer, +after glancing down the tracks to see that the signals indicated a clear +track, pulled out the long handle of the throttle, and the great machine +obeyed his will as a docile horse answers a touch on the rein. He opened +the throttle-valve just a little, so that but little steam was admitted +to the cylinders, and the pistons being pushed out slowly, the +driving-wheels revolved slowly and the train started gradually. When the +end of the piston stroke was reached the used steam was expelled into +the smokestack, creating a draught which in turn strengthened the heat +of the fire. With each revolution of the driving-wheels, each +cylinder--there is one on each side of every locomotive--blew its steamy +breath into the stack twice. This kept the fire glowing and made the +chou-chou sound that everybody knows and every baby imitates. + +As the train gathered speed the engineer pulled the throttle open wider +and wider, the puffs in the short, stubby stack grew more and more +frequent, and the rattle and roar of the iron horse increased. + +Down in the pit of the engine-cab the fireman, a great shovel in his +hands, stood ready to feed the ravenous fires. Every minute or two he +pulled the chain and yanked the furnace door open to throw in the +coal, shutting the door again after each shovelful, to keep the fire +hot. + +[Illustration: "FIRING" A FAST LOCOMOTIVE An operation that is +practically continuous during a fast trip.] + +The fireman on a fast locomotive is kept extremely busy, for he must +keep the steam-pressure up to the required standard--150 or 200 +pounds--no matter how fast the sucking cylinders may draw it out. He +kept his eyes on the steam-gage most of the time, and the minute the +quivering finger began to drop, showing reduced pressure, he opened the +door to the glowing furnace and fed the fire. The steam-cylinders act on +the boiler a good deal as a lung-tester acts on a human being; the +cylinders draw out the steam from the boiler, requiring a roaring fire +to make the vapour rapidly enough and keep up the pressure. + +Though the engineer seemed to be taking it easily enough with his hand +resting lightly on the reversing-lever, his body at rest, the fireman +was kept on the jump. If he was not shovelling coal he was looking ahead +for signals (for many roads require him to verify the engineer), or +adjusting the valves that admitted steam to the train-pipes and heated +the cars, or else, noticing that the water in the boiler was getting +low--and this is one of his greatest responsibilities, which, however, +the engineer sometimes shares--he turned on the steam in the injector, +which forced the water against the pressure into the boiler. All these +things he has to do repeatedly even on a short run. + +The engineer--or "runner," as he is called by his fellows--has much to +do also, and has infinitely greater responsibility. On him depends the +safety and the comfort of the passengers to a large degree; he must +nurse his engine to produce the greatest speed at the least cost of +coal, and he must round the curves, climb the grades, and make the +slow-downs and stops so gradually that the passengers will not be +disturbed. + +To the outsider who rides in a locomotive-cab for the first time it +seems as if the engineer settles down to his real work with a sigh of +relief when the limits of the city have been passed; for in the towns +there are many signals to be watched, many crossings to be looked out +for, and a multitude of moving trains, snorting engines, and tooting +whistles to distract one's attention. The "runner," however, seemed not +to mind it at all. He pulled on his cap a little more firmly, and, after +glancing at his watch, reached out for the throttle handle. A very +little pull satisfied him, and though the increase in speed was hardly +perceptible, the more rapid exhaust told the story of faster movement. +As the train sped on, the engineer moved the reversing-lever notch by +notch nearer the centre of the guide. This adjusted the "link-motion" +mechanism, which is operated by the driving-axle, and cut off the steam +entering the cylinders in such a way that it expanded more fully and +economically, thus saving fuel without loss of power. + +When a station was reached, when a "caution" signal was displayed, or +whenever any one of the hundred or more things occurred that might +require a stop or a slow-down, the engineer closed down the throttle and +very gradually opened the air-brake valve that admitted compressed air +to the brake-cylinders, not only on the locomotive but on all the cars. +The speed of the train slackened steadily but without jar, until the +power of the compressed air clamped the brake-shoes on the wheels so +tightly that they were practically locked and the train was stopped. By +means of the air-brake the engineer had almost entire control of the +train. The pump that compresses the air is on the engine, and keeps the +pressure in the car and locomotive reservoirs automatically up to the +required standard. + +Each stage of every trip of a train not a freight is carefully charted, +and the engineer is provided with a time-table that shows where his +train should be at a given time. It is a matter of pride with the +engineers of fast trains to keep close to their schedules, and their +good records depend largely on this running-time, but delays of various +kinds creep in, and in spite of their best efforts engineers are not +always able to make all their schedules. To arrive at their destinations +on time, therefore, certain sections must be covered in better than +schedule time, and then great skill is required to get the speed without +a sacrifice of comfort for the passenger. + +To most travellers time is more valuable than money, and so everything +about a train is planned to facilitate rapid travelling. Almost every +part of a locomotive is controlled from the cab, which prevents +unnecessary stopping to correct defects; from his seat the engineer can +let the condensed water out of the cylinders; he can start a jet of +steam in the stack and create a draft through the fire-box; by the +pressure of a lever he is able to pour sand on a slippery track, or by +the manipulation of another lever a snow-scraper is let down from the +cowcatcher. The practised ear of a locomotive engineer often enables him +to discover defects in the working of his powerful machine, and he is +generally able, with the aid of various devices always on hand, to +prevent an increase of trouble without leaving the cab. + +As explained above, a fast run means the use of a great deal of steam +and therefore water; indeed, the higher the speed the greater +consumption of water. Often the schedules do not allow time enough to +stop for water, and the consumption is so great that it is impossible to +carry enough to keep the engine going to the end of the run. There are +provided, therefore, at various places along the line, tanks eighteen +inches to two feet wide, six inches deep, and a quarter of a mile long. +These are filled with water and serve as long, narrow reservoirs, from +which the locomotive-tenders are filled while going at almost full +speed. Curved pipes are let down into the track-tank as the train speeds +on, and scoop up the water so fast that the great reservoirs are very +quickly filled. This operation, too, is controlled from the engine-cab, +and it is one of the fireman's duties to let down the pipe when the +water-signal alongside the track appears. The locomotive, when taking +water from a track-tank, looks as if it was going through a river: the +water is dashed into spray and flies out on either side like the waves +before a fast boat. Trainmen tell the story of a tramp who stole a ride +on the front or "dead" end platform of the baggage car of a fast train. +This car was coupled to the rear end of the engine-tender; it was quite +a long run, without stops, and the engine took water from a track-tank +on the way. When the train stopped, the tramp was discovered prone on +the platform of the baggage car, half-drowned from the water thrown back +when the engine took its drink on the run. + +"Here, get off!" growled the brakeman. "What are you doing there?" + +"All right, boss," sputtered the tramp. "Say," he asked after a moment, +"what was that river we went through a while ago?" + +Though the engineer's work is not hard, the strain is great, and fast +runs are divided up into sections so that no one engine or its runner +has to work more than three or four hours at a time. + +It is realised that in order to keep the trainmen--and especially the +engineers--alert and keenly alive to their work and responsibilities, it +is necessary to make the periods of labour short; the same thing is +found to apply to the machines also--they need rest to keep them +perfectly fit. + +Before the engineer can run his train, the way must be cleared for him, +and when the train starts out it becomes part of a vast system. Each +part of this intricate system is affected by every other part, so each +train must run according to schedule or disarrange the entire plan. + +[Illustration: TRACK TANK] + +Each train has its right-of-way over certain other trains, and the +fastest train has the right-of-way over all others. If, for any reason, +the fastest train is late, all others that might be in the way must wait +till the flyer has passed. When anything of this sort occurs the whole +plan has to be changed, and all trains have to be run on a new schedule +that must be made up on the moment. + +The ideal train schedules, or those by which the systems are regularly +governed, are charted out beforehand on a ruled sheet, as a ship's +course is charted on a voyage, in the main office of the railroad. Each +engineer and conductor is provided with a printed copy in the form of a +table giving the time of departure and arrival at the different points. +When the trains run on time it is all very simple, and the work of the +despatcher, the man who keeps track of the trains, is easy. When, +however, the system is disarranged by the failure of a train to keep to +its schedule, the despatcher's work becomes most difficult. From long +training the despatchers become perfectly familiar with every detail of +the sections of road under their control, the position of every switch, +each station, all curves, bridges, grades, and crossings. When a train +is delayed and the system spoiled, it is the despatcher's duty to make +up another one on the spot, and arrange by telegrams, which are repeated +for fear of mistakes, for the holding of this train and the movement of +others until the tangle is straightened out. This problem is +particularly difficult when a road has but one track and trains moving +in both directions have to run on the same pair of rails. It is on roads +of this sort that most of the accidents occur. Almost if not quite all +depends on the clear-headedness and quick-witted grasp of the +despatchers and strict obedience to orders by the trainmen. To remove as +much chance of error as possible, safety signalling methods have been +devised to warn the engineer of danger ahead. Many modern railroads are +divided into short sections or "blocks," each of which is presided over +by a signal-tower. At the beginning of each block stand poles with +projecting arms that are connected with the signal-tower by wires +running over pulleys. There are generally two to each track in each +block, and when both are slanting downward the engineer of the +approaching locomotive knows that the block he is about to enter is +clear and also that the rails of the section before that is clear as +well. The lower arm, or "semaphore," stands for the second block, and if +it is horizontal the engineer knows that he must proceed cautiously +because the second section already has a train in it; if the upper arm +is straight the "runner" knows that a train or obstruction of some sort +makes it unsafe to enter the first block, and if he obeys the strict +rules he must stay where he is until the arm is lowered At night, red, +white, and green lights serve instead of the arms: white, safety; green, +caution; and red, danger. Accidents have sometimes occurred because the +engineers were colour-blind and red and green looked alike to them. Most +roads nowadays test all their engineers for this defect in vision. + +In spite of all precautions, it sometimes happens that the block-signals +are not set properly, and to avoid danger of rear-end collisions, +conductors and brakemen are instructed (when, for any reason, their +train stops where it is not so scheduled) to go back with lanterns at +night, or flags by day, and be ready to warn any following train. If for +any reason a train is delayed and has to move ahead slowly, torpedoes +are placed on the track which are exploded by the engine that comes +after and warn its engineer to proceed cautiously. + +All these things the engineer must bear in mind, and beside his +jockey-like handling of his iron horse, he must watch for signals that +flash by in an instant when he is going at full speed, and at the same +time keep a sharp lookout ahead for obstructions on the track and for +damaged roadbed. + +The conductor has nothing to do with the mechanical running of the +train, though he receives the orders and is, in a general way, +responsible. The passengers are his special care, and it is his business +to see that their getting on and off is in accordance with their +tickets. He is responsible for their comfort also, and must be an +animated information bureau, loaded with facts about every conceivable +thing connected with travel. The brakemen are his assistants, and stay +with him to the end of the division; the engineer and fireman, with +their engine, are cut off at the end of their division also. + +The fastest train of a road is the pride of all its employees; all the +trainmen aspire to a place on the flyer. It never starts out on any run +without the good wishes of the entire force, and it seldom puffs out of +the train-shed and over the maze of rails in the yard without +receiving the homage of those who happen to be within sight. It is +impossible to tell of all the things that enter into the running of a +fast train, but as it flashes across States, intersects cities, thunders +past humble stations, and whistles imperiously at crossings, it attracts +the attention of all. It is the spectacular thing that makes fame for +the road, appears in large type in the newspapers, and makes havoc with +the time-tables, while the steady-going passenger trains and labouring +freights do the work and make the money. + +[Illustration: THIRTY YEARS' ADVANCE IN LOCOMOTIVE BUILDING] + + + + +HOW AUTOMOBILES WORK + + +Every boy and almost every man has longed to ride on a locomotive, and +has dreamed of holding the throttle-lever and of feeling the great +machine move under him in answer to his will. Many of us have protested +vigorously that we wanted to become grimy, hard-working firemen for the +sake of having to do with the "iron horse." + +It is this joy of control that comes to the driver of an automobile +which is one of the motor-car's chief attractions: it is the longing of +the boy to run a locomotive reproduced in the grown-up. + +The ponderous, snorting, thundering locomotive, towering high above its +steel road, seems far removed from the swift, crouching, almost +noiseless motor-car, and yet the relationship is very close. In fact, +the automobile, which is but a locomotive that runs at will anywhere, is +the father of the greater machine. + +About the beginning of 1800, self-propelled vehicles steamed along the +roads of Old England, carrying passengers safely, if not swiftly, and, +strange to say, continued to run more or less successfully until +prohibited by law from using the highways, because of their interference +with the horse traffic. Therefore the locomotive and the railroads +throve at the expense of the automobile, and the permanent iron-bound +right of way of the railroads left the highways to the horse. + +The old-time automobiles were cumbrous affairs, with clumsy boilers, and +steam-engines that required one man's entire attention to keep them +going. The concentrated fuels were not known in those days, and +heat-economising appliances were not invented. + +It was the invention by Gottlieb Daimler of the high-speed gasoline +engine, in 1885, that really gave an impetus to the building of +efficient automobiles of all powers. The success of his explosive +gasoline engine, forerunner of all succeeding gasoline motor-car +engines, was the incentive to inventors to perfect the steam-engine for +use on self-propelled vehicles. + +Unlike a locomotive, the automobile must be light, must be able to carry +power or fuel enough to drive it a long distance, and yet must be almost +automatic in its workings. All of these things the modern motor car +accomplishes, but the struggle to make the machinery more efficient +still continues. + +The three kinds of power used to run automobiles are steam, electricity, +and gasoline, taken in the order of application. The steam-engines in +motor-cars are not very different from the engines used to run +locomotives, factory machinery, or street-rollers, but they are much +lighter and, of course, smaller--very much smaller in proportion to the +power they produce. It will be seen how compact and efficient these +little steam plants are when a ten-horse-power engine, boiler, +water-tank, and gasoline reservoir holding enough to drive the machine +one hundred miles, are stored in a carriage with a wheel-base of less +than seven feet and a width of five feet, and still leave ample room for +four passengers. + +It is the use of gasoline for fuel that makes all this possible. +Gasoline, being a very volatile liquid, turns into a highly inflammable +gas when heated and mixed with the oxygen in the air. A tank holding +from twenty to forty gallons of gasoline is connected, through an +automatic regulator which controls the flow of oil, to a burner under +the boiler. The burner allows the oil, which turns into gas on coming in +contact with its hot surface, to escape through a multitude of small +openings and mix with the air, which is supplied from beneath. The +openings are so many and so close together that the whole surface is +practically one solid sheet of very hot blue flame. In getting up steam +a separate blaze or flame of alcohol or gasoline is made, which heats +the steel or iron with which the fuel-oil comes in contact until it is +sufficiently hot to turn the oil to gas, after which the burner works +automatically. A hand air-pump or one automatically operated by the +engine maintains sufficient air pressure in the fuel-tank to keep a +constant flow. + +Most steam automobile boilers are of the water-tube variety--that is, +water to be turned into steam is carried through the flames in pipes, +instead of the heat in pipes through the water, as in the ordinary flue +boilers. Compactness, quick-heating, and strength are the +characteristics of motor-car boilers. Some of the boilers are less than +twenty inches high and of the same diameter, and yet are capable of +generating seven and one-half horse-power at a high steam pressure (150 +to 200 pounds). In these boilers the heat is made to play directly on a +great many tubes, and a full head of steam is generated in a few +minutes. As the steam pressure increases, a regulator that shuts off +the supply of gasoline is operated automatically, and so the pressure +is maintained. + +[Illustration: THE "LIGHTHOUSE" OF THE RAIL +The switchman's house (on the left), commanding a view of the railroad +yard, from which the switches of the complicated system are worked and +the semaphore signals operated.] + +The water from which the steam is made is also fed automatically into +the boiler, when the engine is in motion, by a pump worked by the engine +piston. A hand-pump is also supplied by which the driver can keep the +proper amount when the machine is still or in case of a breakdown. A +water-gauge in plain sight keeps the driver informed at all times as to +the amount of water in the boiler. From the boiler the steam goes +through the throttle-valve--the handle of which is by the driver's +side--direct to the engine, and there expands, pushes the piston up and +down, and by means of a crank on the axle does its work. + +The engines of modern automobiles are marvels of compactness--so +compact, indeed, that a seven-horse-power engine occupies much less +space than an ordinary barrel. The steam, after being used, is admitted +to a coil of pipes cooled by the breeze caused by the motion of the +vehicle, and so condensed into water and returned to the tank. The +engine is started, stopped, slowed, and sped by the cutting off or +admission of the steam through the throttle-valve. It is reversed by +means of the same mechanism used on locomotives--the link-motion and +reversing-lever, by which the direction of the steam is reversed and the +engine made to run the other way. + +After doing its work the steam is made to circulate round the cylinder +(or cylinders, if there are more than one), keeping it extra +hot--"superheated"; and thereafter it is made to perform a like duty to +the boiler-feed water, before it is allowed to escape. + +All steam-propelled automobiles, from the light steam runabout to the +clumsy steam roller, are worked practically as described. Some machines +are worked by compound engines, which simply use the power of expansion +still left in the steam in a second larger cylinder after it has worked +the first, in which case every ounce of power is extracted from the +vapour. + +The automobile builders have a problem that troubles locomotive builders +very little--that is, compensating the difference between the speeds of +the two driving-wheels when turning corners. Just as the inside man of a +military company takes short steps when turning and the outside man +takes long ones, so the inside wheel of a vehicle turns slowly while the +outside wheel revolves quickly when rounding a corner. As most +automobiles are propelled by power applied to the rear axle, to which +the wheels are fixed, it is manifest that unless some device were made +to correct the fault one wheel would have to slide while the other +revolved. This difficulty has been overcome by cutting the axle in two +and placing between the ends a series of gears which permit the two +wheels to revolve at different speeds and also apply the power to both +alike. This device is called a compensating gear, and is worked out in +various ways by the different builders. + +The locomotive builder accomplishes the same thing by making his wheels +larger on the outside, so that in turning the wide curves of the +railroad the whole machine slides to the inside, bringing to bear the +large diameter of the outer wheel and the small diameter of the inner, +the wheels being fixed to a solid axle. + +The steam machine can always be distinguished by the thin stream of +white vapour that escapes from the rear or underneath while it is in +motion and also, as a rule, when it is at rest. + +The motor of a steam vehicle always stops when the machine is not +moving, which is another distinguishing feature, as the gasoline motors +run continually, or at least unless the car is left standing for a long +time. + +As the owners of different makes of bicycles formerly wrangled over the +merits of their respective machines, so now motor-car owners discuss the +value of the different powers--steam, gasoline, and electricity. + +Though steam was the propelling force of the earliest automobiles, and +the power best understood, it was the perfection of the gasoline motor +that revived the interest in self-propelled vehicles and set the +inventors to work. + +A gasoline motor is somewhat like a gun--the explosion of the gas in the +motor-cylinder pushes the piston (which may be likened to the +projectile), and the power thus generated turns a crank and drives the +wheels. + +The gasoline motor is the lightest power-generator that has yet been +discovered, and it is this characteristic that makes it particularly +valuable to propel automobiles. Santos-Dumont's success in aerial +navigation is due largely to the gasoline motor, which generated great +power in proportion to its weight. + +A gasoline motor works by a series of explosions, which make the noise +that is now heard on every hand. From the gasoline tank, which is always +of sufficient capacity for a good long run, a pipe is connected with a +device called the carbureter. This is really a gas machine, for it turns +the liquid oil into gas, this being done by turning it into fine spray +and mixing it with pure air. The gasoline vapour thus formed is highly +inflammable, and if lighted in a closed space will explode. It is the +explosive power that is made to do the work, and it is a series of small +gun-fires that make the gasoline motor-car go. + +All this sounds simple enough, but a great many things must be +considered that make the construction of a successful working motor a +difficult problem. + +In the first place, the carbureter, which turns the oil into gas, must +work automatically, the proper amount of oil being fed into the machine +and the exact proportion of air admitted for the successful mixture. +Then the gas must be admitted to the cylinders in just the right +quantity for the work to be done. This is usually regulated +automatically, and can also be controlled directly by the driver. Since +the explosion of gas in the cylinder drives the piston out only, and +not, as in the case of the steam-engine, back and forward, some +provision must be made to complete the cycle, to bring back the piston, +exhaust the burned gas, and refill the cylinder with a new charge. + +In the steam-engine the piston is forced backward and forward by the +expansive power of the steam, the vapour being admitted alternately to +the forward and rear ends of the cylinder. The piston of the gasoline +engine, however, working by the force of exploded gas, produces power +when moving in one direction only--the piston-head is pushed out by the +force of the explosion, just as the plunger of a bicycle pump is +sometimes forced out by the pressure of air behind it. The piston is +connected with the engine-crank and revolves the shaft, which is in turn +connected with the driving-wheels. The movement of the piston in the +cylinder performs four functions: first, the downward stroke, the result +of the explosion of gas, produces the power; second, the returning +up-stroke pushes out the burned gas; third, the next down-stroke sucks +in a fresh supply of gas, which (fourth) is compressed by the +following-up movement and is ready for the next explosion. This is +called a two-cycle motor, because two complete revolutions are necessary +to accomplish all the operations. Many machines are fitted with heavy +fly-wheels, the swift revolution of which carries the impetus of the +power stroke through the other three operations. + +[Illustration: A GIANT AUTOMOBILE MOWER-THRASHER +This machine cuts a swath 35 feet wide and thrashes and sacks the grain +as it moves along. Seventy to 100 acres of grain a day are harvested by +this machine, and 1,000 to 1,500 sacks are produced each working day.] + +To keep a practically continuous forward movement on the driving-shaft, +many motors are made with four cylinders, the piston of each being +connected with the crank-shaft at a different angle, and each cylinder +doing a different part of the work; for example, while No. 1 cylinder is +doing the work from the force of the explosion, No. 2 is compressing, +No. 3 is getting a fresh supply of gas, and No. 4 is cleaning out waste +gas. A four-cylinder motor is practically putting forth power +continuously, since one of the four pistons is always at work. + +While this takes long to describe, the motion is faster than the eye can +follow, and the "phut, phut" noise of the exhaust sounds like the tattoo +of a drum. Almost every gasoline motor vehicle carries its own electric +plant, either a set of batteries or more commonly a little magneto +dynamo, which is run by the shaft of the motor. Electricity is used to +make the spark that explodes the gas at just the right moment in the +cylinders. All this is automatic, though sometimes the driver has to +resort to the persuasive qualities of a monkey-wrench and an oil-can. + +The exploding gas creates great heat, and unless something is done to +cool the cylinders they get so hot that the gas is ignited by the heat +of the metal. Some motors are cooled by a stream of water which, flowing +round the cylinders and through coils of pipe, is blown upon by the +breeze made by the movement of the vehicle. Others are kept cool by a +revolving fan geared to the driving-shaft, which blows on the cylinders; +while still others--small motors used on motor bicycles, generally--have +wide ridges or projections on the outside of the cylinders to catch the +wind as the machine rushes along. + +The inventors of the gasoline motor vehicles had many difficulties to +overcome that did not trouble those who had to deal with steam. For +instance, the gasoline motor cannot be started as easily as a +steam-engine. It is necessary to make the driving-shaft revolve a few +times by hand in order to start the cylinders working in their proper +order. Therefore, the motor of a gasoline machine goes all the time, +even when the vehicle is at rest. Friction clutches are used by which +the driving-shaft and the axles can be connected or disconnected at the +will of the driver, so that the vehicle can stand while the motor is +running; friction clutches are used also to throw in gears of +different sizes to increase or decrease the speed of the vehicle, as +well as to drive backward. + +[Illustration: AN AUTOMOBILE BUCKBOARD] + +The early gasoline automobiles sounded, when moving, like an artillery +company coming full tilt down a badly paved street. The exhausted gas +coughed resoundingly, the gears groaned and shrieked loudly when +improperly lubricated, and the whole machine rattled like a runaway +tin-peddler. Ingenious mufflers have subdued the sputtering exhaust, the +gears are made to run in oil or are so carefully cut as to mesh +perfectly, rubber tires deaden the pounding of the wheels, and carefully +designed frames take up the jar. + +Steam and gasoline vehicles can be used to travel long distances from +the cities, for water can be had and gasoline bought almost anywhere; +but electric automobiles, driven by the third of the three powers used +for self-propelled vehicles, must keep within easy reach of the charging +stations. + +Just as the perfection of the gasoline motor spurred on the inventors to +adapt the steam-engine for use in automobiles, so the inventors of the +storage battery, which is the heart of an electric carriage, were +stirred up to make electric propulsion practical. + +The storage battery of an electric vehicle is practically a tank that +holds electricity; the electrical energy of the dynamo is transformed +into chemical energy in the batteries, which in turn is changed into +electrical energy again and used to run the motors. + +Electric automobiles are the most simple of all the self-propelled +vehicles. The current stored in the batteries is simply turned off and +on the motors, or the pressure reduced by means of resistance which +obstructs the flow, and therefore the power, of the current. To reverse, +it is only necessary to change the direction of the current's flow; and +in order to stop, the connection between motor and battery is broken by +a switch. + +Electricity is the ideal power for automobiles. Being clean and easily +controlled, it seems just the thing; but it is expensive, and sometimes +hard to get. No satisfactory substitute has been found for it, however, +in the larger cities, and it may be that creative or "primary" batteries +both cheap and effective will be invented and will do away with the one +objection to electricity for automobiles. + +The astonishing things of to-day are the commonplaces of to-morrow, and +so the achievements of automobile builders as here set down may be +greatly surpassed by the time this appears in print. + +The sensations of the locomotive engineer, who feels his great machine +strain forward over the smooth steel rails, are as nothing to the almost +numbing sensations of the automobile driver who covered space at the +rate of eighty-eight miles an hour on the road between Paris and Madrid: +he felt every inequality in the road, every grade along the way, and +each curve, each shadow, was a menace that required the greatest nerve +and skill. Locomotive driving at a hundred miles an hour is but mild +exhilaration as compared to the feelings of the motor-car driver who +travels at fifty miles an hour on the public highway. + +Gigantic motor trucks carrying tons of freight twist in and out through +crowded streets, controlled by one man more easily than a driver guides +a spirited horse on a country road. + +Frail motor bicycles dash round the platter-like curves of cycle tracks +at railroad speed, and climb hills while the riders sit at ease with +feet on coasters. + +An electric motor-car wends the streets of New York every day with +thirty-five or forty sightseers on its broad back, while a groom in +whipcord blows an incongruous coaching-horn in the rear. + +Motor plows, motor ambulances, motor stages, delivery wagons, +street-cars without tracks, pleasure vehicles, and even baby carriages, +are to be seen everywhere. + +In 1845, motor vehicles were forbidden the streets for the sake of the +horses; in 1903, the horses are being crowded off by the motor-cars. The +motor is the more economical--it is the survival of the fittest. + +[Illustration: AN AUTOMOBILE PLOW +A form of automobile that can be applied to all sorts of uses on the +farm.] + + + + +THE FASTEST STEAMBOATS + + +In 1807, the first practical steamboat puffed slowly up the Hudson, +while the people ranged along the banks gazed in wonder. Even the grim +walls of the Palisades must have been surprised at the strange intruder. +Robert Fulton's _Clermont_ was the forerunner of the fleets upon fleets +of power-driven craft that have stemmed the currents of a thousand +streams and parted the waves of many seas. + +The _Clermont_ took several days to go from New York to Albany, and the +trip was the wonder of that time. + +During the summer of 1902 a long, slim, white craft, with a single brass +smokestack and a low deck-house, went gliding up the Hudson with a kind +of crouching motion that suggested a cat ready to spring. On her deck +several men were standing behind the pilot-house with stop-watches in +their hands. The little craft seemed alive under their feet and quivered +with eagerness to be off. The passenger boats going in the same +direction were passed in a twinkling, and the tugs and sailing vessels +seemed to dwindle as houses and trees seem to shrink when viewed from +the rear platform of a fast train. + +Two posts, painted white and in line with each other--one almost at the +river's edge, the other 150 feet back--marked the starting-line of a +measured mile, and were eagerly watched by the men aboard the yacht. She +sped toward the starting-line as a sprinter dashes for the tape; almost +instantly the two posts were in line, the men with watches cried "Time!" +and the race was on. Then began such a struggle with Father Time as was +never before seen; the wind roared in the ears of the passengers and +snatched their words away almost before their lips had formed them; the +water, a foam-flecked streak, dashed away from the gleaming white sides +as if in terror. As the wonderful craft sped on she seemed to settle +down to her work as a good horse finds himself and gets into his stride. +Faster and faster she went, while the speed of her going swept off the +black flume of smoke from her stack and trailed it behind, a dense, +low-lying shadow. + +"Look!" shouted one of the men into another's ear, and raised his arm to +point. "We're beating the train!" + +[Illustration: THE STEAM TURBINE-DRIVEN _VELOX_, OF THE BRITISH NAVY +The fastest torpedo-boat destroyer.] + +Sure enough, a passenger train running along the river's edge, the +wheels spinning round, the locomotive throwing out clouds of smoke, was +dropping behind. The train was being beaten by the boat. Quivering, +throbbing with the tremendous effort, she dashed on, the water climbing +her sides and lashing to spume at her stern. + +"Time!" shouted several together, as the second pair of posts came in +line, marking the finish of the mile. The word was passed to the +frantically struggling firemen and engineers below, while those on deck +compared watches. + +"One minute and thirty-two seconds," said one. + +"Right," answered the others. + +Then, as the wonderful yacht _Arrow_ gradually slowed down, they tried +to realise the speed and to accustom themselves to the fact that they +had made the fastest mile on record on water. + +And so the _Arrow_, moving at the rate of forty-six miles an hour, +followed the course of her ancestress, the _Clermont_, when she made her +first long trip almost a hundred years before. + +The _Clermont_ was the first practical steamboat, and the _Arrow_ the +fastest, and so both were record-breakers. While there are not many +points of resemblance between the first and the fastest boat, one is +clearly the outgrowth of the other, but so vastly improved is the modern +craft that it is hard to even trace its ancestry. The little _Arrow_ is +a screw-driven vessel, and her reciprocating engines--that is, engines +operated by the pulling and pushing power of the steam-driven pistons in +cylinders--developed the power of 4,000 horses, equal to 32,000 men, +when making her record-breaking run. All this enormous power was used to +produce speed, there being practically no room left in the little +130-foot hull for anything but engines and boilers. + +There is little difference, except in detail, between the _Arrow's_ +machinery and an ordinary propeller tugboat. Her hull is very light for +its strength, and it was so built as to slip easily through the water. +She has twin engines, each operating its own shaft and propeller. These +are quadruple expansion. The steam, instead of being allowed to escape +after doing its work in the first cylinder, is turned into a larger one +and then successively into two more, so that all of its expansive power +is used. After passing through the four cylinders, the steam is +condensed into water again by turning it into pipes around which +circulates the cool water in which the vessel floats. The steam thus +condensed to water is heated and pumped into the boiler, to be turned +into steam, so the water has to do its work many times. All this saves +weight and, therefore, power, for the lighter a vessel is the more +easily she can be driven. The boilers save weight also by producing +steam at the enormous pressure of 400 pounds to the square inch. +Steadily maintained pressure means power; the greater the pressure the +more the power. It was the inventive skill of Charles D. Mosher, who has +built many fast yachts, that enabled him to build engines and boilers of +great power in proportion to their weight. It was the ability of the +inventor to build boilers and engines of 4,000 horse-power compact and +light enough to be carried in a vessel 130 feet long, of 12 feet 6 +inches breadth, and 3 feet 6 inches depth, that made it possible for the +_Arrow_ to go a mile in one minute and thirty-two seconds. The speed of +the wonderful little American boat, however, was not the result of any +new invention, but was due to the perfection of old methods. + +In England, about five years before the _Arrow's_ achievement, a little +torpedo-boat, scarcely bigger than a launch, set the whole world talking +by travelling at the rate of thirty-nine and three-fourths miles an +hour. The little craft seemed to disappear in the white smother of her +wake, and those who watched the speed trial marvelled at the railroad +speed she made. The _Turbina_--for that was the little record-breaker's +name--was propelled by a new kind of engine, and her speed was all the +more remarkable on that account. C.A. Parsons, the inventor of the +engine, worked out the idea that inventors have been studying for a long +time--since 1629, in fact--that is, the rotary principle, or the rolling +movement without the up-and-down driving mechanism of the piston. + +The _Turbina_ was driven by a number of steam-turbines that worked a +good deal like the water-turbines that use the power of Niagara. Just as +a water-wheel is driven by the weight or force of the water striking the +blades or paddles of the wheel, so the force of the many jets of steam +striking against the little wings makes the wheels of the steam-turbines +revolve. If you take a card that has been cut to a circular shape and +cut the edges so that little wings will be made, then blow on this +winged edge, the card will revolve with a buzz; the Parsons +steam-turbine works in the same way. A shaft bearing a number of steel +disks or wheels, each having many wings set at an angle like the blades +of a propeller, is enclosed by a drumlike casing. The disks at one end +of the shaft are smaller than those at the other; the steam enters at +the small end in a circle of jets that blow against the wings and set +them and the whole shaft whirling. After passing the first disk and its +little vanes, the steam goes through the holes of an intervening fixed +partition that deflects it so that it blows afresh on the second, and so +on to the third and fourth, blowing upon a succession of wheels, each +set larger than the preceding one. Each of Parsons's steam-turbine +engines is a series of turbines put in a steel casing, so that they use +every ounce of the expansive power of the steam. + +It will be noticed that the little wind-turbine that you blow with your +breath spins very rapidly; so, too, do the wheels spun by the steamy +breath of the boilers, and Mr. Parsons found that the propeller fastened +to the shaft of his engine revolved so fast that a vacuum was formed +around the blades, and its work was not half done. So he lengthened his +shaft and put three propellers on it, reducing the speed, and allowing +all of the blades to catch the water strongly. + +The _Turbina_, speeding like an express train, glided like a ghost over +the water; the smoke poured from her stack and the cleft wave foamed at +her prow, but there was little else to remind her inventor that 2,300 +horse-power was being expended to drive her. There was no jar, no shock, +no thumping of cylinders and pounding of rapidly revolving cranks; the +motion of the engine was rotary, and the propeller shafts, spinning at +2,000 revolutions per minute, made no more vibration than a windmill +whirling in the breeze. + +To stop the _Turbina_ was an easy matter; Mr. Parsons had only to turn +off the steam. But to make the vessel go backward another set of +turbines was necessary, built to run the other way, and working on the +same shaft. To reverse the direction, the steam was shut off the engines +which revolved from right to left and turned on those designed to run +backward, or from left to right. One set of the turbines revolved the +propellers so that they pushed, and the other set, turning them the +other way, pulled the vessel backward--one set revolving in a vacuum and +doing no work, while the other supplied the power. + +The Parsons turbine-engines have been used to propel torpedo-boats, fast +yachts, and vessels built to carry passengers across the English +Channel, and recently it has been reported that two new transatlantic +Cunarders are to be equipped with them. + +[Illustration: THE ENGINES OF THE _ARROW_] + +A few years after the Pilgrims sailed for the land of freedom in the +tiny _Mayflower_ a man named Branca built a steam-turbine that worked in +a crude way on the same principle as Parsons's modern giant. The +pictures of this first steam-turbine show the head and shoulders of a +bronze man set over the flaming brands of a wood fire; his metallic +lungs are evidently filled with water, for a jet of steam spurts from +his mouth and blows against the paddles of a horizontal turbine wheel, +which, revolving, sets in motion some crude machinery. + +There is nothing picturesque about the steel-tube lungs of the boilers +used by Parsons in the _Turbina_ and the later boats built by him, and +plain steel or copper pipes convey the steam to the whirling blades of +the enclosed turbine wheels, but enormous power has been generated and +marvellous speed gained. In the modern turbine a glowing coal fire, kept +intensely hot by an artificial draft, has taken the place of the blazing +sticks; the coils of steel tubes carrying the boiling water surrounded +by flame replace the bronze-figure boiler, and the whirling, tightly +jacketed turbine wheels, that use every ounce of pressure and save all +the steam, to be condensed to water and used over again, have grown out +of the crude machine invented by Branca. + +As the engines of the _Arrow_ are but perfected copies of the engine +that drove the _Clermont_, so the power of the _Turbina_ is derived from +steam-motors that work on the same principle as the engine built by +Branca in 1629, and his steam-turbine following the same old, old, ages +old idea of the moss-covered, splashing, tireless water-wheel. + + + + +THE LIFE-SAVERS AND THEIR APPARATUS + + +Forming the outside boundary of Great South Bay, Long Island, a long row +of sand-dunes faces the ocean. In summer groups of laughing bathers +splash in the gentle surf at the foot of the low sand-hills, while the +sun shines benignly over all. The irregular points of vessels' sails +notch the horizon as they are swept along by the gentle summer breezes. +Old Ocean is in a playful mood, and even children sport in his waters. + +After the last summer visitor has gone, and the little craft that sail +over the shallow bay have been hauled up high and dry, the pavilions +deserted and the bathing-houses boarded up, the beaches take on a new +aspect. The sun shines with a cold gleam, and the surf has an angry +snarl to it as it surges up the sandy slopes and then recedes, dragging +the pebbles after it with a rattling sound. The outer line of sand-bars, +which in summer breaks the blue sea into sunny ripples and flashing +whitecaps, then churns the water into fury and grips with a mighty hold +the keel of any vessel that is unlucky enough to be driven on them. When +the keen winter winds whip through the beach grasses on the dunes and +throw spiteful handfuls of cutting sand and spray; when the great waves +pound the beach and the crested tops are blown off into vapour, then the +life-saver patrolling the beach must be most vigilant. + +All along the coast, from Maine to Florida, along the Gulf of Mexico, +the Great Lakes, and the Pacific, these men patrol the beach as a +policeman walks his beat. When the winds blow hardest and sleet adds +cutting force to the gale, then the surfmen, whose business it is to +save life regardless of their own comfort or safety, are most alert. + +All day the wind whistled through the grasses and moaned round the +corners of the life-saving station; the gusts were cold, damp, and +penetrating. With the setting of the sun there was a lull, but when the +patrols started out at eight o'clock, on their four-hours' tour of duty, +the wind had risen again and was blowing with renewed force. Separating +at the station, one surf man went east and the other west, following the +line of the surf-beaten beach, each carrying on his back a recording +clock in a leather case, and also several candle-like Coston lights +and a wooden handle. + +[Illustration: A LIFE-SAVING CREW DRILLING WITH BEACH APPARATUS +Hauling in a breeches-buoy and a passenger.] + +"Wind's blowing some," said one of the men, raising his voice above the +howl of the blast. + +"Hope nothing hits the bar to-night," the other answered. Then both +trudged off in opposite directions. + +With pea-coats buttoned tightly and sou'westers tied down securely, the +surfmen fought the gale on their watch-tour of duty. At the end of his +beat each man stopped to take a key attached to a post, and, inserting +it in the clock, record the time of his visit at that spot, for by this +means is an actual record kept of the movements of the patrol at all +times. + +With head bent low in deference to the force of the blast, and eyes +narrowed to slits, the surfman searched the seething sea for the shadowy +outlines of a vessel in trouble. + +Perchance as he looked his eye caught the dark bulk of a ship in a sea +of foam, or the faint lines of spars and rigging through the spume and +frozen haze--the unmistakable signs of a vessel in distress. An +instant's concentrated gaze to make sure, then, taking a Coston signal +from his pocket and fitting it to the handle, he struck the end on the +sole of his boot. Like a parlour match it caught fire and flared out a +brilliant red light. This served to warn the crew of the vessel of their +danger, or notified them that their distress was observed and that help +was soon forthcoming; it also served, if the surfman was near enough to +the station, to notify the lookout there of the ship in distress. If the +distance was too great or the weather too thick, the patrol raced back +with all possible speed to the station and reported what he had seen. +The patrol, through his long vigils under all kinds of weather +conditions, learns every foot of his beat thoroughly, and is able to +tell exactly how and where a stranded vessel lies, and whether she is +likely to be forced over on to the beach or whether she will stick on +the outer bar far beyond the reach of a line shot from shore. + +In a few words spoken quickly and exactly to the point--for upon the +accuracy of his report much depends--he tells the situation. For +different conditions different apparatus is needed. The vessel reported +one stormy winter's night struck on the shoal that runs parallel to the +outer Long Island beach, far beyond the reach of a line from shore. Deep +water lies on both sides of the bar, and after the shoal is passed the +broken water settles down a little and gathers speed for its rush for +the beach. These conditions were favourable for surf-boat work, and as +the surfman told his tale the keeper or captain of the crew decided what +to do. + +The crew ran the ever-ready surf-boat through the double doors of its +house down the inclined plane to the beach. Resting in a carriage +provided with a pair of broad-tired wheels, the light craft was hauled +by its sturdy crew through the clinging sand and into the very teeth of +the storm to the point nearest the wreck. + +The surf rolled in with a roar that shook the ground; fringed with foam +that showed even through that dense midnight darkness, the waves were +hungry for their prey. Each breaker curved high above the heads of the +men, and, receding, the undertow sucked at their feet and tried to drag +them under. It did not seem possible that a boat could be launched in +such a sea. With scarcely a word of command, however, every man, knowing +from long practice his position and specific duties, took his station on +either side of the buoyant craft and, rushing into the surf, launched +her; climbing aboard, every man took his appointed place, while the +keeper, a long steering-oar in his hands, stood at the stern. All +pulled steadily, while the steersman, with a sweep of his oar, kept her +head to the seas and with consummate skill and judgment avoided the most +dangerous crests, until the first watery rampart was passed. Adapting +their stroke to the rough water, the six sturdy rowers propelled their +twenty-five-foot unsinkable boat at good speed, though it seemed +infinitely slow when they thought of the crew of the stranded vessel off +in the darkness, helpless and hopeless. Each man wore a cork jacket, but +in spite of their encumbrances they were marvellously active. + +As is sometimes the case, before the surf-boat reached the distressed +vessel she lurched over the bar and went driving for the beach. + +The crew in the boat could do nothing, and the men aboard the ship were +helpless. Climbing up into the rigging, the sailors waited for the +vessel to strike the beach, and the life-savers put for shore again to +get the apparatus needed for the new situation. To load the surf-boat +with the wrecked, half-frozen crew of the stranded vessel, when there +was none too much room for the oarsmen, and then encounter the fearful +surf, was a method to be pursued only in case of dire need. To reach the +wreck from shore was a much safer and surer method of saving life, not +only for those on the vessel, but also for the surfmen. + +The beach apparatus has received the greatest attention from inventors, +since that part of the life-savers' outfit is depended upon to rescue +the greatest number. + +With a rush the surf-boat rolled in on a giant wave amid a smother of +foam, and no sooner had her keel grated on the sand than her crew were +out knee-deep in the swirling water and were dragging her up high and +dry. + +A minute later the entire crew, some pulling, some steering, dragged out +the beach wagon. A light framework supported by two broad-tired wheels +carried all the apparatus for rescue work from the beach. Each member of +the crew had his appointed place and definite duties, according to +printed instructions which each had learned by heart, and when the +command was given every man jumped to his place as a well-trained +man-of-war's-man takes his position at his gun. + +Over hummocks of sand and wreckage, across little inlets made by the +waves, in the face of blinding sleet and staggering wind, the +life-savers dragged the beach wagon on the run. + +Through the mist and shrouding white of the storm the outlines of the +stranded vessel could just be distinguished. + +Bringing the wagon to the nearest point, the crew unloaded their +appliances. + +Two men then unloaded a sand-anchor--an immense cross--and immediately +set to work with shovels to dig a hole in the sand and bury it. While +this was being done two others were busy placing a bronze cannon (two +and one-half-inch bore) in position; another got out boxes containing +small rope wound criss-cross fashion on wooden pins set upright in the +bottom. The pins merely held the rope in its coils until ready for use, +when board and pegs were removed. The free end of the line was attached +to a ring in the end of the long projectile which the captain carried, +together with a box of ammunition slung over his shoulders. The +cylindrical projectile was fourteen and one-half inches long and weighed +seventeen pounds. All these operations were carried on at once and with +utmost speed in spite of the great difficulties and the darkness. + +While the surf boomed and the wind roared, the captain sighted the +gun--aided by Nos. 1 and 2 of the crew--aiming for the outstretched arms +of the yards of the wrecked vessel. With the wind blowing at an almost +hurricane rate, it was a difficult shot, but long practice under all +kinds of difficulties had taught the captain just how to aim. As he +pulled the lanyard, the little bronze cannon spit out fire viciously, +and the long projectile, to which had been attached the end of the +coiled line, sailed off on its errand of mercy. With a whir the line +spun out of the box coil after coil, while the crew peered out over the +breaking seas to see if the keeper's aim was true. At last the line +stopped uncoiling and the life-savers knew that the shot had landed +somewhere. For a time nothing happened, the slender rope reached out +into the boiling waves, but no answering tugs conveyed messages to the +waiting surfmen from the wrecked seamen. + +At length the line began to slip through the fingers of the keeper who +held it and moved seaward, so those on shore knew that the rope had been +found and its use understood. The line carried out by the projectile +served merely to drag out a heavy rope on which was run a sort of +trolley carrying a breeches-buoy or sling. + +The men on the wreck understood the use of the apparatus, or read the +instructions printed in several languages with which the heavy rope was +tagged. They made the end of the strong line fast to the mast well above +the reach of the hungry seas, and the surfmen secured their end to the +deeply buried sand-anchor, an inverted V-shaped crotch placed under the +rope holding it above the water on the shore end. When this had been +done, as much of the slack was taken up as possible, and the wreck was +connected with the beach with a kind of suspension bridge. + +All this occupied much time, for the hands of the sailors were numb with +cold, the ropes stiff with ice, while the wild and angry wind snatched +at the tackle and tore at the clinging figures. + +In a trice the willing arms on shore hauled out the buoy by means of an +endless line reaching out to the wreck and back to shore. Then with a +joy that comes only to those who are saving a fellow-creature from +death, the life-savers saw a man climb into the stout canvas breeches of +the hanging buoy, and felt the tug on the whip-line that told them that +the rescue had begun. With a will they pulled on the line, and the buoy, +carrying its precious burden, rolled along the hawser, swinging in the +wind, and now and then dipping the half-frozen man in the crests of the +waves. It seemed a perilous journey, but as long as the wreck held +together and the mast remained firmly upright the passengers on this +improvised aerial railway were safe. + +One after the other the crew were taken ashore in this way, the +life-savers hauling the breeches-buoy forward and back, working like +madmen to complete their work before the wreck should break up. None too +soon the last man was landed, for he had hardly been dragged ashore when +the sturdy mast, being able to stand the buffeting of the waves no +longer, toppled over and floated ashore. + +The life-savers' work is not over when the crew of a vessel is saved, +for the apparatus must be packed on the beach wagon and returned to the +station, while the shipwrecked crew is provided with dry clothing, fed, +and cared for. The patrol continues on his beat throughout the night +without regard to the hardships that have already been undergone. + +The success of the surfmen in saving lives depends not only on their +courage and strength, supplemented by continuous training which has been +proved time and again, but the wonderful record of the life-saving +service is due as well to the efficient appliances that make the work of +the men effective. + +Besides the apparatus already described, each station is provided with a +kind of boat-car which has a capacity for six or seven persons, and is +built so that its passengers are entirely enclosed, the hatch by which +they enter being clamped down from the inside. When there are a great +many people to be saved, this car is used in place of the breeches-buoy. +It is hung on the hawser by rings at either end and pulled back and +forth by the whip-line; or, if the masts of the vessel are carried away +and there is nothing to which the heavy rope can be attached so that it +will stretch clear above the wave-crests, in such an emergency the +life-car floats directly on the water, and the whip-line is used to pull +it to the shore with wrecked passengers and back to the wreck for more. + +Everything that would help to save life under any condition is provided, +and a number of appliances are duplicated in case one or more should be +lost or damaged at a critical time. Signal flags are supplied, and the +surfmen are taught their use as a means of communicating with people +aboard a vessel in distress. Telephones connect the stations, so that in +case of any special difficulty two or even three crews may be combined. +When wireless telegraphy comes into general use aboard ship the stations +will doubtless be equipped with this apparatus also, so that ships may +be warned of danger. + +[Illustration: LIFE-SAVERS AT WORK +The two men in the center are burying the sand-anchor; of the two at the +right, one is ready with the crotch support the hawser and the other +carries the breeches-buoy; the other three men are hauling the line +which has already been shot over the wrecked vessel.] + +The 10,000 miles of the United States ocean, gulf, and Great Lakes +coasts, exclusive of Alaska and the island possessions, are guarded by +265 stations and houses of refuge at this writing, and new ones are +added every year. Practically all of this immense coast-line is +patrolled or watched over during eight or nine stormy months, and those +that "go down to the sea in ships" may be sure of a helping hand in time +of trouble. + +The dangerous coasts are more thickly studded with stations, and the +sections that are comparatively free from life-endangering reefs are +provided with refuge houses where supplies are stored and where wrecked +survivors may find shelter. + +The Atlantic coast, being the most dangerous to shipping, is guarded by +more than 175 stations; the Great Lakes require fifty or more to care +for the survivors of the vessels that are yearly wrecked on their +harbourless shores. For the Gulf of Mexico eight are considered +sufficient, and the long Pacific coast also requires but eight. + +The Life-Saving Service, formerly under the Treasury Department, now an +important part of the Department of Commerce and Labour, was organised +by Sumner I. Kimball, who was put at its head in 1871, and the great +success and glory it has won is largely due to his energy and efficient +enthusiasm. + +The Life-Saving Service publishes a report of work accomplished through +the year. It is a dry recital of facts and figures, but if the reader +has a little imagination he can see the record of great deeds of heroism +and self-sacrifice written between the lines. + +As vessels labour through the wintry seas along our coasts, and the +on-shore winds roar through the rigging, while the fog, mist or snow +hangs like a curtain all around, it is surely a comfort to those at sea +to know that all along the dangerous coast men specially trained, and +equipped with the most efficient apparatus known, are always ready to +stretch out a helping hand. + + + + +MOVING PICTURES + +Some Strange Subjects and How They Were Taken + + +The grandstand of the Sheepshead Bay race-track, one spring afternoon, +was packed solidly with people, and the broad, terra-cotta-coloured +track was fenced in with a human wall near the judges' stand. The famous +Suburban was to be run, and people flocked from every direction to see +one of the greatest horse-races of the year. While the band played +gaily, and the shrill cries of programme venders punctuated the hum of +the voices of the multitude, and while the stable boys walked their +aristocratic charges, shrouded in blankets, exercising them sedately--in +the midst of all this movement, hubbub, and excitement a man a little to +one side, apparently unconscious of all the uproar, was busy with a big +box set up on a portable framework six or seven feet above the ground. +The man was a new kind of photographer, and his big box was a camera +with which he purposed to take a series of pictures of the race. Above +the box, which was about two and a half feet square, was an electric +motor from which ran a belt connecting with the inner mechanism; from +the front of the box protruded the lens, its glassy eye so turned as to +get a full sweep of the track; nearby on the ground were piled the +storage batteries which were used to supply the current for the motor. + +As the time for the race drew near the excitement increased, figures +darted here, there and everywhere, the bobbing, brightly coloured hats +of the women in the great slanting field of the grandstand suggesting +bunches of flowers agitated by the breeze. Then the horses paraded in a +thoroughbred fashion, as if they appreciated their lengthy pedigrees and +understood their importance. + +At last the splendid animals were lined up across the track, their small +jockeys in their brilliantly coloured jackets hunched up like monkeys on +their backs. Then the enormous crowd was quiet, the band was still, even +the noisy programme venders ceased calling their wares, and the +photographer stood quietly beside his camera, the motor humming, his +hand on the switch that starts the internal machinery. Suddenly the +starter dropped his arm, the barring gate flew up, and the horses sprang +forward. "They're off!" came from a thousand throats in unison. The band +struck up a lively air, and the vast assemblage watched with excited +eyes the flying horses. As the horses swept on round the turn and down +the back stretch the people seemed to be drawn from their seats, and by +the time the racers made the turn leading into the home-stretch almost +every one was standing and the roar of yelling voices was deafening. + +All this time the photographer kept his eyes on his machine, which was +rattling like a rapidly beaten drum, the cyclopean eye of the camera +making impressions on a sensitised film-ribbon at the rate of forty a +second, and every movement of the flying legs of the urging jockeys, +even the puffs of dust that rose at the falling of each iron-shod hoof, +was recorded for all time by the eye of the camera. + +The horses entered the home-stretch and in a terrific burst of speed +flashed by the throngs of yelling people and under the wire, a mere blur +of shining bodies, brilliant colours of the jockeys' blouses, and yellow +dust. The Suburban was over, and the great crowd that had come miles to +see a race that lasted but a little more than two minutes (a grand +struggle of giants, however), sank back into their seats or relaxed +their straining gaze in a way that said plainer than words could say it, +"It is over." + +It was 4:45 in the afternoon. The photographer was all activity. The +minute the race was over the motor above the great camera was stopped +and the box was opened. From its dark interior another box about six +inches square and two inches deep was taken: this box contained the +record of the race, on a narrow strip of film two hundred and fifty feet +long, the latent image of thousands of separate pictures. + +Then began another race against time, for it was necessary to take that +long ribbon across the city of Brooklyn, over the Bridge, across New +York, over the North River by ferry to Hoboken on the Jersey side, +develop, fix, and dry the two-hundred-and-fifty-foot-long film-negative, +make a positive or reversed print on another two-hundred-and-fifty-foot +film, carry it through the same photographic process, and show the +spirited scene on the stereopticon screen of a metropolitan theatre the +same evening. + +That evening a great audience in the dark interior of a New York theatre +sat watching a white sheet stretched across the stage; suddenly its +white expanse grew dark, and against the background appeared "The +Suburban, run this afternoon at 4:45 at Sheepshead Bay track; won by +Alcedo, in 2 minutes 5 3-5 seconds." + +[Illustration: BIOGRAPH PICTURE OF A MILITARY HAZING SCENE +These pictures are not consecutive. The difference between those that +follow each other is so slight as to be almost imperceptible because of +the rapidity with which they are taken. These pictures were probably +taken at the rate of thirty to forty per second.] + +Then appeared on the screen the picture of the scene that the thousands +had travelled far to see that same afternoon. There were the wide, +smooth track, the tower-like judges' stand, the oval turf of the inner +field, and as the audience looked the starter moved his arm, and the +rank of horses, life-size and quivering with excitement, shot forth. +From beginning to end the great struggle was shown to the people seated +comfortably in the city playhouse, several miles from the track where +the race was run, just two hours and fifteen minutes after the winning +horse dashed past the judges' stand. Every detail was reproduced; every +movement of horses and jockeys, even the clouds of dust that rose from +the hoof-beats, appeared clearly on the screen. And the audience rose +gradually to their feet, straining forward to catch every movement, +thrilled with excitement as were the mighty crowds at the actual race. + +To produce the effect that made the people in the theatre forget their +surroundings and feel as if they were actually overlooking the +race-track itself, about five thousand separate photographs were shown. + +It was discovered long ago that if a series of pictures, each of which +showed a difference in the position of the legs of a man running, for +instance, was passed quickly before the eye so that the space between +the pictures would be screened, the figure would apparently move. The +eyes retain the image they see for a fraction of a second, and if a new +image carrying the movement a little farther along is presented in the +same place, the eyes are deceived so that the object apparently actually +moves. An ingenious toy called the zoltrope, which was based on this +optical illusion, was made long before Edison invented the vitascope, +Herman Caster the biograph and mutoscope, or the Lumiere brothers in +France devised the cinematograph. All these different moving-picture +machines work on the same principle, differing only in their mechanism. + +A moving-picture machine is really a rapid-fire repeating camera +provided with a lens allowing of a very quick exposure. Internal +mechanism, operated by a hand-crank or electric motor, moves the +unexposed film into position behind the lens and also opens and closes +the shutter at just the proper moment. The same machinery feeds down a +fresh section of the ribbon-like film into position and coils the +exposed portion in a dark box, just as the film of a kodak is rolled off +one spool and, after exposure, is wound up on another. The film used in +the biograph when taking the Suburban was two and three-fourth inches +wide and several hundred feet long; about forty exposures were made per +second, and for each exposure the film had to come to a dead stop before +the lens and then the shutter was opened, the light admitted for about +one three-hundredth of a second, the shutter closed, and a new section +of film moved into place, while the exposed portion was wound upon a +spool in a light-tight box. The long, flexible film is perforated along +both edges, and these perforations fit over toothed wheels which guide +it down to the lens; the holes in the celluloid strip are also used by +the feeding mechanism. In order that the interval between the pictures +shall always be the same, the film must be held firmly in each position +in turn; the perforations and toothed mechanism accomplish this +perfectly. + +In taking the picture of the Suburban race almost five thousand +separate negatives (all on one strip of film, however) were made during +the two minutes five and three-fifths seconds the race was being run. +Each negative was perfectly clear, and each was different, though if one +negative was compared to its neighbour scarcely any variance would be +noted. + +After the film has been exposed, the light-tight box containing it is +taken out of the camera and taken to a gigantic dark-room, where it is +wound on a great reel and developed, just as the image on a kodak film +is brought out. The reel is hung by its axle over a great trough +containing gallons of developer, so that the film wound upon it is +submerged; and as the reel is revolved all of the sensitised surface is +exposed to the action of the chemicals and gradually the latent pictures +are developed. After the development has gone far enough, the reel, +still carrying the film, is dipped in clean water and washed, and then a +dip in a similar bath of clearing-and-fixing solution makes the +negatives permanent--followed by a final washing in clean water. It is +simply developing on a grand scale, thousands of separate pictures on +hundreds of feet of film being developed at once. + +A negative, however, is of no use unless a positive or print of some +kind is made from it. If shown through a stereopticon, for instance, a +negative would make all the shadows on the screen appear lights, and +vice versa. A positive, therefore, is made by running a fresh film, with +the negative, through a machine very much like the moving-picture +camera. The unexposed surface is behind that of the negative, and at the +proper intervals the shutter is opened and the admitted light prints the +image of the negative on the unexposed film, just as a lantern slide is +made, in fact, or a print on sensitised paper. The positives are made by +this machine at the rate of a score or so in a second. Of course, the +positive is developed in the same manner as the negative. + +Therefore, in order to show the people in the theatre the Suburban, five +hundred feet of film was exposed, developed, fixed, and dried, and +nearly ten thousand separate and complete pictures were produced, in the +space of two hours and fifteen minutes, including the time occupied in +taking the films to and from the track, factory, and theatre. + +Originally, successive pictures of moving objects were taken for +scientific purposes. A French scientist who was studying aerial +navigation set up a number of cameras and took successive pictures of a +bird's flight. Doctor Muybridge, of Philadelphia, photographed trotting +horses with a camera of his own invention that made exposures in rapid +succession, in order to learn the different positions of the legs of +animals while in rapid motion. + +A Frenchman also--M. Mach--photographed a plant of rapid growth twice a +day from exactly the same position for fifty consecutive days. When the +pictures were thrown on the screen in rapid order the plant seemed to +grow visibly. + +The moving pictures provide a most attractive entertainment, and it was +this feature of the idea, undoubtedly, that furnished the incentive to +inventors. The public is always willing to pay well for a good +amusement. + +The makers of the moving-picture films have photographic studios +suitably lighted and fitted with all the necessary stage accessories +(scenery, properties, etc.) where the little comedies shown on the +screens of the theatres are acted for the benefit of the rapid-fire +camera and its operators, who are often the only spectators. One of +these studios in the heart of the city of New York is so brilliantly +lighted by electricity that pictures may be taken at full speed, thirty +to forty-five per second, at any time of day or night. Another company +has an open-air gallery large enough for whole troops of cavalry to +maneuver before the camera, or where the various evolutions of a working +fire department may be photographed. + +Of course, when the pictures are taken in a studio or place prepared for +the work the photographic part is easy--the camera man sets up his +machine and turns the crank while the performers do the rest. But some +extra-ordinary pictures have been taken when the photographer had to +seek his scene and work his machine under trying and even dangerous +circumstances. + +During the Boer War in South Africa two operators for the Biograph +Company took their bulky machine (it weighed about eighteen hundred +pounds) to the very firing-line and took pictures of battles between the +British and the Burghers when they were exposed to the fire of both +armies. On one occasion, in fact, the operator who was turning the +mechanism--he sat on a bicycle frame, the sprocket of which was +connected by a chain with the interior machinery--during a battle, was +knocked from his place by the concussion of a shell that exploded +nearby; nevertheless, the film was saved, and the same man rode on +horseback nearly seventy-five miles across country to the nearest +railroad point so that the precious photographic record might be sent to +London and shown to waiting audiences there. + +Pictures were taken by the kinetoscope showing an ascent of Mount Blanc, +the operator of the camera necessarily making the perilous journey also; +different stages of the ascent were taken, some of them far above the +clouds. For this series of pictures a film eight hundred feet long was +required, and 12,800 odd exposures or negatives were made. + +Successive pictures have been taken at intervals during an ocean voyage +to show the life aboard ship, the swing of the great seas, and the +rolling and pitching of the steamer. The heave and swing of the steamer +and the mountainous waves have been so realistically shown on the screen +in the theatre that some squeamish spectators have been made almost +seasick. It might be comforting to those who were made unhappy by the +sight of the heaving seas to know that the operator who took one series +of sea pictures, when lashed with his machine in the lookout place on +the foremast of the steamer, suffered terribly from seasickness, and +would have been glad enough to set his foot on solid ground; +nevertheless, he stuck to his post and completed the series. + +[Illustration: DEVELOPING MOVING-PICTURE FILMS +The films are wound on the great drums and run through the developer in +the troughs as the drums are slowly revolved.] + +It was a biograph operator that was engaged in taking pictures of a +fire department rushing to a fire. Several pieces of apparatus had +passed--an engine, hook-and-ladder company, and the chief; the operator, +with his (then) bulky apparatus, large camera, storage batteries, etc., +stood right in the centre of the street, facing the stream of engines, +hose-wagons, and fire-patrol men. In order to show the contrast, an +old-time hand-pump engine, dragged by a dozen men and boys, came along +at full speed down the street, and behind and to one side of them +followed a two-horse hose-wagon, going like mad. The men running with +the old-time engine, not realising how narrow the space was and unaware +of the plunging horses behind, passed the biograph man on one side on +the dead run. The driver of the rapidly approaching team saw that there +was no room for him to pass on the other side of the camera man, and his +horses were going too fast to stop in the space that remained. He had +but an instant to decide between the dozen men and their antiquated +machine and the moving-picture outfit. He chose the latter, and, with a +warning shout to the photographer, bore straight down on the camera, +which continued to do its work faithfully, taking dozens of pictures a +second, recording even the strained, anxious expression on the face of +the driver. The pole of the hose-wagon struck the camera-box squarely +and knocked it into fragments, and the wheels passed quickly over the +pieces, the photographer meanwhile escaping somehow. By some lucky +chance the box holding the coiled exposed film came through the wreck +unscathed. + +When that series was shown on the screen in a theatre the audience saw +the engine and hook-and-ladder in turn come nearer and nearer and then +rush by, then the line of running men with the old engine, and then--and +their flesh crept when they saw it--a team of plunging horses coming +straight toward them at frightful speed. The driver's face could be seen +between the horses' heads, distorted with effort and fear. Straight on +the horses came, their nostrils distended, their great muscles +straining, their fore hoofs striking out almost, it seemed, in the faces +of the people in the front row of seats. People shrank back, some women +shrieked, and when the plunging horses seemed almost on them, at the +very climax of excitement, the screen was darkened and the picture +blotted out. The camera taking the pictures had continued to work to the +very instant it was struck and hurled to destruction. + +In addition to the stereopticon and its attendant mechanism, which is +only suitable when the pictures are to be shown to an audience, a +machine has been invented for the use of an individual or a small group +of people. In the mutoscope the positives or prints are made on long +strips of heavy bromide paper, instead of films, and are generally +enlarged; the strip is cut up after development and mounted on a +cylinder, so they radiate like the spokes of a wheel, and are set in the +same consecutive order in which they were taken. The thousands of cards +bearing the pictures at the outer ends are placed in a box, so that when +the wheel of pictures is turned, by means of a crank attached to the +axle, a projection holds each card in turn before the lens through which +the observer looks. The projection in the top of the box acts like the +thumb turning the pages of a book. Each of the pictures is presented in +such rapid succession that the object appears to move, just as the +scenes thrown on the screen by a lantern show action. + +The mutoscope widens the use of motion-photography infinitely. The +United States Government will use it to illustrate the workings of many +of its departments at the World's Fair at St. Louis: the life aboard +war-ships, the handling of big guns, army maneuvers, the life-saving +service, post-office workings, and, in fact, many branches of the +government service will be explained pictorially by this means. + +Agents for manufacturers of large machinery will be able to show to +prospective purchasers pictures of their machines in actual operation. +Living, moving portraits have been taken, and by means of a hand machine +can be as easily examined as pictures through a stereoscope. It is quite +within the bounds of possibility that circulating libraries of moving +pictures will be established, and that every public school will have a +projecting apparatus for the use of films, and a stereopticon or a +mutoscope. In fact, a sort of circulating library already exists, films +or mutoscope pictures being rented for a reasonable sum; and thus many +of the most important of the world's happenings may be seen as they +actually occurred. + +Future generations will have histories illustrated with vivid motion +pictures, as all the great events of the day, processions, celebrations, +battles, great contests on sea and land are now recorded by the +all-seeing eye of the motion-photographer's camera. + + + + +BRIDGE BUILDERS AND SOME OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS + + +In the old days when Rome was supreme a Caesar decreed that a bridge +should be built to carry a military road across a valley, or ordered +that great stone arches should be raised to conduct a stream of water to +a city; and after great toil, and at the cost of the lives of unnumbered +labourers, the work was done--so well done, in fact, that much of it is +still standing, and some is still doing service. + +In much the same regal way the managers of a railroad order a steel +bridge flung across a chasm in the midst of a wilderness far from +civilisation, or command that a new structure shall be substituted for +an old one without disturbing traffic; and, lo and behold, it is done in +a surprisingly short time. But the new bridges, in contrast to the old +ones, are as spider webs compared to the overarching branches of a great +tree. The old type, built of solid masonry, is massive, ponderous, while +the new, slender, graceful, is built of steel. + +One day a bridge-building company in Pennsylvania received the +specifications giving the dimensions and particulars of a bridge that an +English railway company wished to build in far-off Burma, above a great +gorge more than eight hundred feet deep and about a half-mile wide. From +the meagre description of the conditions and requirements, and from the +measurements furnished by the railroad, the engineers of the American +bridge company created a viaduct. Just as an author creates a story or a +painter a picture, so these engineers built a bridge on paper, except +that the work of the engineers' imagination had to be figured out +mathematically, proved, and reproved. Not only was the soaring structure +created out of bare facts and dry statistics, but the thickness of every +bolt and the strain to be borne by every rod were predetermined +accurately. + +And when the plans of the great viaduct were completed the engineers +knew the cost of every part, and felt so sure that the actual bridge in +far-off Burma could be built for the estimated amount, that they put in +a bid for the work that proved to be far below the price asked by +English builders. + +And so this company whose works are in Pennsylvania was awarded the +contract for the Gokteik viaduct in Burma, half-way round the world +from the factory. + +[Illustration: BUILDING AN AMERICAN BRIDGE IN BURMAH +This structure stretches 820 feet above the bottom of the Gokteik Gorge. +The viaduct was built entirely from above, as shown in this picture.] + +In the midst of a wilderness, among an ancient people whose language and +habits were utterly strange to most Americans, in a tropical country +where modern machinery and appliances were practically unknown, a small +band of men from the young republic contracted to build the greatest +viaduct the world had ever seen. All the material, all the tools and +machinery, were to be carried to the opposite side of the earth and +dumped on the edge of the chasm. From the heaps of metal the small band +of American workmen and engineers, aided by the native labourers, were +to build the actual structure, strong and enduring, that was conceived +by the engineers and reduced to working-plans in far-off Pennsylvania. + +From ore dug out of the Pennsylvania mountains the steel was made and, +piece by piece, the parts were rolled, riveted, or welded together so +that every section was exactly according to the measurements laid out on +the plan. As each part was finished it was marked to correspond with the +plan and also to show its relation to its neighbour. It was like a +gigantic puzzle. The parts were made to fit each other accurately, so +that when the workmen in Burma came to put them together the tangle of +beams and rods, of trusses and braces should be assembled into a +perfect, orderly structure--each part in its place and each doing its +share of the work. + +With men trained to work with ropes and tackle collected from an Indian +seaport, and native riveters gathered from another place, Mr. J.C. Turk, +the engineer in charge, set to work with the American bridgemen and the +constructing engineer to build a bridge out of the pieces of steel that +lay in heaps along the brink of the gorge. First, the traveller, or +derrick, shipped from America in sections, was put together, and its +long arm extended from the end of the tracks on which it ran over the +abyss. + +From above the great steel beams were lowered to the masonry foundations +of the first tower and securely bolted to them, and so, piece by piece, +the steel girders were suspended in space and swung this way and that +until each was exactly in its proper position and then riveted +permanently. The great valley resounded with the blows of hammers on +red-hot metal, and the clangour of steel on steel broke the silence of +the tropic wilderness. The towers rose up higher and higher, until the +tops were level with the rim of the valley, and as they were completed +the horizontal girders were built on them, the rails laid, and the +traveller pushed forward until its arm swung over the foundation of the +next tower. + +And so over the deep valley the slender structure gradually won its way, +supporting itself on its own web as it crawled along like a spider. +Indeed, so tall were its towers and so slender its steel cords and beams +that from below it appeared as fragile as a spider's web, and the men, +poised on the end of swinging beams or standing on narrow platforms +hundreds of feet in air, looked not unlike the flies caught in the web. + +The towers, however, were designed to sustain a heavy train and +locomotive and to withstand the terrific wind of the monsoon. The +pressure of such a wind on a 320-foot tower is tremendous. The bridge +was completed within the specified time and bore without flinching all +the severe tests to which it was put. Heavy trains--much heavier than +would ordinarily be run over the viaduct--steamed slowly across the +great steel trestle while the railroad engineers examined with utmost +care every section that would be likely to show weakness. But the +designers had planned well, the steel-workers had done their full duty, +and the American bridgemen had seen to it that every rivet was properly +headed and every bolt screwed tight--and no fault could be found. + +The bridge engineer's work is very diversified, since no two bridges are +alike. At one time he might be ordered to span a stream in the midst of +a populous country where every aid is at hand, and his next commission +might be the building of a difficult bridge in a foreign wilderness far +beyond the edge of civilisation. + +Bridge-building is really divided into four parts, and each part +requires a different kind of knowledge and experience. + +First, the designer has to have the imagination to see the bridge as it +will be when it is completed, and then he must be able to lay it out on +paper section by section, estimating the size of the parts necessary for +the stress they will have to bear, the weight of the load they will have +to carry, the effect of the wind, the contraction and expansion of cold +and heat, and vibration; all these things must be thought of and +considered in planning every part and determining the size of each. Also +he must know what kind of material to use that is best fitted to stand +each strain, whether to use steel that is rigid or that which is so +flexible that it can be tied in a knot. On the designer depends the +price asked for the work, and so it is his business to invent, for each +bridge is a separate problem in invention, a bridge that will carry the +required weight with the least expenditure of material and labour and at +the same time be strong enough to carry very much greater loads than it +is ever likely to be called upon to sustain. The designer is often the +constructor as well, and he is always a man of great practical +experience. He has in his time stepped out on a foot-wide girder over a +rushing stream, directing his men, and he has floundered in the mud of a +river bottom in a caisson far below the surface of the stream, while the +compressed air kept the ooze from flowing in and drowning him and his +workmen. + +The second operation of making the pieces that go into the structure is +simply the following out of the clearly drawn plans furnished by the +designing engineers. Different grades of steel and iron are moulded or +forged into shape and riveted together, each part being made the exact +size and shape required, even the position of the holes through which +the bolts or rivets are to go that are to secure it to the neighbouring +section being marked on the plan. + +The foundations for bridges are not always put down by the builders of +the bridge proper; that is a work by itself and requires special +experience. On the strength and permanency of the foundation depends the +life of the bridge. While the foundries and steel mills are making the +metal-work the foundations are being laid. If the bridge is to cross a +valley, or carry the roadway on the level across a depression, the +placing of the foundations is a simple matter of digging or blasting out +a big hole and laying courses of masonry; but if a pier is to be built +in water, or the land on which the towers are to stand is unstable, then +the problem is much more difficult. + +For bridges like those that connect New York and Brooklyn, the towers of +which rest on bed-rock below the river's bottom, caissons are sunk and +the massive masonry is built upon them. If you take a glass and sink it +in water, bottom up, carefully, so that the air will not escape, it will +be noticed that the water enters the glass but a little way: the air +prevents the water from filling the glass. The caisson works on the same +principle, except that the air in the great boxlike chamber is highly +compressed by powerful pumps and keeps the water and river ooze out +altogether. + +The caissons of the third bridge across the East River were as big as a +good-sized house--about one hundred feet long and eighty feet wide. It +took five large tugs more than two days to get one of them in its proper +place. Anchored in its exact position, it was slowly sunk by building +the masonry of the tower upon it, and when the lower edges of the great +box rested on the bottom of the river men were sent down through an +air-lock which worked a good deal like the lock of a canal. The men, two +or three at a time, entered a small round chamber built of steel which +was fitted with two air-tight doors at the top and bottom; when they +were inside the air-lock, the upper door was closed and clamped tight, +just as the gates leading from the lower level of a canal are closed +after the boat is in the lock; then very gradually the air in the +compartment is compressed by an air-compressor until the pressure in the +air-lock is the same as that in the caisson chamber, when the lower door +opened and allowed the men to enter the great dim room. Imagine a room +eighty by one hundred feet, low and criss-crossed by massive timber +braces, resting on the black, slimy mud of the river bottom; electric +lights shine dimly, showing the half-naked workmen toiling with +tremendous energy by reason of the extra quantity of oxygen in the +compressed air. The workmen dug the earth and mud from under the +iron-shod edges of the caisson, and the weight of the masonry being +continually added to above sunk the great box lower and lower. From time +to time the earth was mixed with water and sucked to the surface by a +great pump. With hundreds of tons of masonry above, and the watery mud +of the river on all sides far below the keels of the vessels that passed +to and fro all about, the men worked under a pressure that was two or +three times as great as the fifteen pounds to the square inch that every +one is accustomed to above ground. If the pressure relaxed for a moment +the lives of the men would be snuffed out instantly--drowned by the +inrushing waters; if the excavation was not even all around, the balance +of the top-heavy structure would be lost, the men killed, and the work +destroyed entirely. But so carefully is this sort of work done that such +an accident rarely occurs, and the caissons are sunk till they rest on +bed-rock or permanent, solid ground, far below the scouring effect of +currents and tides. Then the air-chamber is filled with concrete and +left to support the great towers that pierce the sky above the waters. + +[Illustration: THE SPIDER-WEB-LIKE VIADUCT ACROSS CANON DIABLO +The slender steel structure supporting a loaded train that stretches +along its entire length.] + +The pneumatic tube, which is practically a steel caisson on a small +scale operated in the same way, is often used for small towers, and many +of the steel sky-scrapers of the cities are built on foundations of this +sort when the ground is unstable. + +Foundations of wooden and iron piles, driven deep in the ground below +the river bottom, are perhaps the most common in use. The piles are +sawed off below the surface of the water and a platform built upon them, +which in turn serves as the foundation for the masonry. + +The great Eads Bridge, which was built across the Mississippi at St. +Louis, is supported by towers the foundations of which are sunk 107 feet +below the ordinary level of the water; at this depth the men working in +the caissons were subjected to a pressure of nearly fifty pounds to the +square inch, almost equal to that used to run some steam-engines. + +The bridge across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie was built on a crib or +caisson open at the top and sunk by means of a dredge operated from +above taking out the material from the inside. The wonder of this is +hard to realise unless it is remembered that the steel hands of the +dredge were worked entirely from above, and the steel rope sinews +reached down below the surface more than one hundred feet sometimes; +yet so cleverly was the work managed that the excavation was perfect all +around, and the crib sank absolutely straight and square. + +It is the fourth department of bridge-building that requires the +greatest amount not only of knowledge but of resourcefulness. In the +final process of erection conditions are likely to arise that were not +considered when the plans were drawn. + +The chief engineer in charge of the erection of a bridge far from +civilisation is a little king, for it is necessary for him to have the +power of an absolute monarch over his army of workmen, which is often +composed of many different races. + +With so many thousand tons of steel and stone dumped on the ground at +the bridge site, with a small force of expert workmen and a greater +number of unskilled labourers, in spite of bad weather, floods, or +fearful heat, the constructing engineer is expected to finish the work +within the specified time, and yet it must withstand the most exacting +tests. + +In the heart of Africa, five hundred miles from the coast and the source +of supplies, an American engineer, aided by twenty-one American +bridgemen, built twenty-seven viaducts from 128 to 888 feet long within +a year. + +The work was done in half the time and at half the cost demanded by the +English bidders. Mr. Lueder, the chief engineer, tells, in his account +of the work, of shooting lions from the car windows of the temporary +railroad, and of seeing ostriches try to keep pace with the locomotive, +but he said little of his difficulties with unskilled workmen, foreign +customs, and almost unspeakable languages. The bridge engineer the world +over is a man who accomplishes things, and who, furthermore, talks +little of his achievements. + +Though the work of the bridge builders within easy reach of the steel +mills and large cities is less unusual, it is none the less adventurous. + +In 1897, a steel arch bridge was completed that was built around the old +suspension bridge spanning the Niagara River over the Whirlpool Rapids. +The old suspension bridge had been in continuous service since 1855 and +had outlived its usefulness. It was decided to build a new one on the +same spot, and yet the traffic in the meantime must not be disturbed in +the least. It would seem that this was impossible, but the engineers +intrusted with the work undertook it with perfect confidence. To any one +who has seen the rushing, roaring, foaming waters of unknown depth that +race so fast from the spray-veiled falls that they are heaped up in the +middle, the mere thought of men handling huge girders of steel above the +torrent, and of standing on frail swinging platforms two hundred or more +feet above the rapids, causes chills to run down the spine; yet the work +was undertaken without the slightest doubt of its successful fulfilment. + +It was manifestly impossible to support the new structure from below, +and the old bridge was carrying about all it could stand, so it was +necessary to build the new arch, without support from underneath, over +the foaming water of the Niagara rapids two hundred feet below. Steel +towers were built on either side of the gorge, and on them was laid the +platform of the bridge from the towers nearest to the water around and +under the old structure. The upper works were carried to the solid +ground on a level with the rim of the gorge and there securely anchored +with steel rods and chains held in masonry. Then from either side the +arch was built plate by plate from above, the heavy sheets of steel +being handled from a traveller or derrick that was pushed out farther +and farther over the stream as fast as the upper platform was completed. +The great mass of metal on both sides of the Niagara hung over the +stream, and was only held from toppling over by the rods and chains +solidly anchored on shore. Gradually the two ends of the uncompleted +arch approached each other, the amount of work on each part being +exactly equal, until but a small space was left between. The work was so +carefully planned and exactly executed that the two completed halves of +the arch did not meet, but when all was in readiness the chains on each +side, bearing as they did the weight of more than 1,000,000 pounds, were +lengthened just enough, and the two ends came together, clasping hands +over the great gorge. Soon the tracks were laid, and the new bridge took +up the work of the old, and then, piece by piece, the old suspension +bridge, the first of its kind, was demolished and taken away. + +Over the Niagara gorge also was built one of the first cantilever +bridges ever constructed. To uphold it, two towers were built close to +the water's edge on either side, and then from the towers to the shores, +on a level with the upper plateau, the steel fabric, composed of slender +rods and beams braced to stand the great weight it would have to carry, +was built on false work and secured to solid anchorages on shore. Then +on this, over tracks laid for the purpose, a crane was run (the same +process being carried out on both sides of the river simultaneously), +and so the span was built over the water 239 feet above the seething +stream, the shore ends balancing the outer sections until the two arms +met and were joined exactly in the middle. This bridge required but +eight months to build, and was finished in 1883. From the car windows +hardly any part of the slender structure can be seen, and the train +seems to be held over the foaming torrent by some invisible support, yet +hundreds of trains have passed over it, the winds of many storms have +torn at its members, heat and cold have tried by expansion and +contraction to rend it apart, yet the bridge is as strong as ever. + +Sometimes bridges are built a span or section at a time and placed on +great barges, raised to just their proper height, and floated down to +the piers and there secured. + +A railroad bridge across the Schuylkill at Philadelphia was judged +inadequate for the work it had to do, and it was deemed necessary to +replace it with a new one. The towers it rested upon, therefore, were +widened, and another, stronger bridge was built alongside, the new one +put upon rollers as was the old, and then between trains the old +structure was pushed to one side, still resting on the widened piers, +and the new bridge was pushed into its place, the whole operation +occupying less than three minutes. The new replaced the old between the +passing of trains that run at four or five-minute intervals. The Eads +Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi at St. Louis, was built on a novel +plan. Its deep foundations have already been mentioned. The great +"Father of Waters" is notoriously fickle; its channel is continually +changing, the current is swift, and the frequent floods fill up and +scour out new channels constantly. It was necessary, therefore, in order +to span the great stream, to place as few towers as possible and build +entirely from above or from the towers themselves. It was a bold idea, +and many predicted its failure, but Captain Eads, the great engineer, +had the courage of his convictions and carried out his plans +successfully. From each tower a steel arch was started on each side, +built of steel tubes braced securely; the building on each side of every +tower was carried on simultaneously, one side of every arch balancing +the weight on the other side. Each section was like a gigantic seesaw, +the tower acting as the centre support; the ends, of course, not +swinging up and down. Gradually the two sections of every arch +approached each other until they met over the turbid water and were +permanently connected. With the completion of the three arches, built +entirely from the piers supporting them, the great stream was spanned. +The Eads Bridge was practically a double series of cantilevers balancing +on the towers. Three arches were built, the longest being 520 feet long +and the two shorter ones 502 feet each. + +Every situation that confronts the bridge builder requires different +handling; at one time he may be called upon to construct a bridge +alongside of a narrow, rocky cleft over a rushing stream like the Royal +Gorge, Colorado, where the track is hung from two great beams stretched +across the chasm, or he may be required to design and construct a +viaduct like that gossamer structure three hundred and five feet high +and nearly a half-mile long across the Kinzua Creek, in Pennsylvania. +Problems which have nothing to do with mechanics often try his courage +and tax his resources, and many difficulties though apparently trivial, +develop into serious troubles. The caste of the different native gangs +who worked on the twenty-seven viaducts built in Central Africa is a +case in point: each group belonging to the same caste had to be +provided with its own quarters, cooking utensils, and camp furniture, +and dire were the consequences of a mix-up during one of the frequent +moves made by the whole party. + +[Illustration: BEGINNING AN AMERICAN BRIDGE IN MID-AFRICA] + +And so the work of a bridge builder, whether it is creating out of a +mere jumble of facts and figures a giant structure, the shaping of +glowing metal to exact measurements, the delving in the slime under +water for firm foundations, or the throwing of webs of steel across +yawning chasms or over roaring streams, is never monotonous, is often +adventurous, and in many, many instances is a great civilising +influence. + + + + +SUBMARINES IN WAR AND PEACE + + +During the early part of the Spanish-American war a fleet of vessels +patrolled the Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine. The Spanish Admiral +Cervera had left the home waters with his fleet of cruisers and +torpedo-boats and no one knew where they were. The lookouts on all the +vessels were ordered to keep a sharp watch for strange ships, and +especially for those having a warlike appearance. All the newspapers and +letters received on board the different cruisers of the patrol fleet +told of the anxiety felt in the coast towns and of the fear that the +Spanish ships would appear suddenly and begin a bombardment. To add to +the excitement and expectation, especially of the green crews, the men +were frequently called out of their comfortable hammocks in the middle +of the night, and sent to their stations at guns and ammunition +magazines, just as if a battle was imminent; all this was for the +purpose of familiarising the crews with their duties under war +conditions, though no enlisted man knew whether he was called to +quarters to fight or for drill. + +These were the conditions, then, when one bright Sunday the crew of an +auxiliary cruiser were very busy cleaning ship--a very thorough and +absorbing business. While the men were in the thick of the scrubbing, +one of the crew stood up to straighten his back, and looked out through +an open port in the vessel's side. As he looked he caught a glimpse of a +low, black craft, hardly five hundred yards off, coming straight for the +cruiser. The water foamed at her bows and the black smoke poured out of +her funnels, streaking behind her a long, sinister cloud. It was one of +those venomous little torpedo-boats, and she was apparently rushing in +at top speed to get within easy range of the large warship. + +"A torpedo-boat is headed straight for us," cried the man at the port, +and at the same moment came the call for general quarters. + +As the men ran to their stations the word was passed from one to the +other, "A Spanish torpedo-boat is headed for us." + +With haste born of desperation the crew worked to get ready for action, +and when all was ready, each man in his place, guns loaded, firing +lanyards in hand, gun-trainers at the wheels, all was still--no command +to fire was given. + +From the signal-boys to the firemen in the stokehole--for news travels +fast aboard ship--all were expecting the muffled report and the rending, +tearing explosion of a torpedo under the ship's bottom. The terrible +power of the torpedo was known to all, and the dread that filled the +hearts of that waiting crew could not be put into words. + +Of course it was a false alarm. The torpedo-boat flew the Stars and +Stripes, but the heavy smoke concealed it, and the officers, perceiving +the opportunities for testing the men, let it be believed that a boat +belonging to the enemy was bearing down on them. + +The crews of vessels engaged in future wars will have, not only swifter, +surer torpedo-boats to menace them, but even more dreadful foes. + +The conning towers of the submarines show but a foot or two above the +surface--a sinister black spot on the water, like the dorsal fin of a +shark, that suggests but does not reveal the cruel power below; for an +instant the knob lingers above the surface while the steersman gets his +bearings, and then it sinks in a swirling eddy, leaving no mark showing +in what direction it has travelled. Then the crew of the exposed +warship wait and wonder with a sickening cold fear in their hearts how +soon the crash will come, and pray that the deadly submarine torpedo +will miss its mark. + +Submarine torpedo-boats are actual, practical working vessels to-day, +and already they have to be considered in the naval plans for attack and +defense. + +Though the importance of submarines in warfare, and especially as a +weapon of defense, is beginning to be thoroughly recognised, it took a +long time to arouse the interest of naval men and the public generally +sufficient to give the inventors the support they needed. + +Americans once had within their grasp the means to blow some of their +enemies' ships out of the water, but they did not realise it, as will be +shown in the following, and for a hundred years the progress in this +direction was hindered. + +It was during the American Revolution that a man went below the surface +of the waters of New York Harbour in a submarine boat just big enough to +hold him, and in the darkness and gloom of the under-water world +propelled his turtle-like craft toward the British ships anchored in +mid-stream. On the outside shell of the craft rested a magazine with a +heavy charge of gunpowder which the submarine navigator intended to +screw fast to the bottom of a fifty-gun British man-of-war, and which +was to be exploded by a time-fuse after he had got well out of harm's +way. + +Slowly and with infinite labour this first submarine navigator worked +his way through the water in the first successful under-water boat, the +crank-handle of the propelling screw in front of him, the helm at his +side, and the crank-handle of the screw that raised or lowered the craft +just above and in front. No other man had made a like voyage; he had +little experience to guide him, and he lacked the confidence that a +well-tried device assures; he was alone in a tiny vessel with but half +an hour's supply of air, a great box of gunpowder over him, and a +hostile fleet all around. It was a perilous position and he felt it. +With his head in the little conning tower he was able to get a glimpse +of the ship he was bent on destroying, as from time to time he raised +his little craft to get his bearings. At last he reached his +all-unsuspecting quarry and, sinking under the keel, tried to attach the +torpedo. There in the darkness of the depths of North River this unnamed +hero, in the first practical submarine boat, worked to make the first +torpedo fast to the bottom of the enemy's ship, but a little iron plate +or bolt holding the rudder in place made all the difference between a +failure that few people ever heard of and a great achievement that would +have made the inventor of the boat, David Bushnell, famous everywhere, +and the navigator a great hero. The little iron plate, however, +prevented the screw from taking hold, the tide carried the submarine +past, and the chance was lost. + +David Bushnell was too far ahead of his time, his invention was not +appreciated, and the failure of his first attempt prevented him from +getting the support he needed to demonstrate the usefulness of his +under-water craft. The piece of iron in the keel of the British warship +probably put back development of submarine boats many years, for +Bushnell's boat contained many of the principles upon which the +successful under-water craft of the present time are built. + +One hundred and twenty-five years after the subsurface voyage described +above, a steel boat, built like a whale but with a prow coming to a +point, manned by a crew of six, travelling at an average rate of eight +knots an hour, armed with five Whitehead torpedoes, and designed and +built by Americans, passed directly over the spot where the first +submarine boat attacked the British fleet. + +The Holland boat _Fulton_ had already travelled the length of Long +Island Sound, diving at intervals, before reaching New York, and was on +her way to the Delaware Capes. + +She was the invention of John P. Holland, and the result of twenty-five +years of experimenting, nine experimental boats having been built before +this persistent and courageous inventor produced a craft that came up to +his ideals. The cruise of the _Fulton_ was like a march of triumph, and +proved beyond a doubt that the Holland submarines were practical, +sea-going craft. + +At the eastern end of Long Island the captain and crew, six men in all, +one by one entered the _Fulton_ through the round hatch in the conning +tower that projected about two feet above the back of the fish-like +vessel. Each man had his own particular place aboard and definite duties +to perform, so there was no need to move about much, nor was there much +room left by the gasoline motor, the electric motor, storage batteries, +air-compressor, and air ballast and gasoline tanks, and the Whitehead +torpedoes. The captain stood up inside of the conning tower, with his +eyes on a level with the little thick glass windows, and in front of +him was the wheel connecting with the rudder that steered the craft +right and left; almost at his feet was stationed the man who controlled +the diving-rudders; farther aft was the engineer, all ready for the word +to start his motor; another man controlled the ballast tanks, and +another watched the electric motor and batteries. + +With a clang the lid-like hatch to the conning tower was closed and +clamped fast in its rubber setting, the gasoline engine began its rapid +phut-phut, and the submarine boat began its long journey down Long +Island Sound. The boat started in with her deck awash--that is, with two +or three feet freeboard or of deck above the water-line. In this +condition she could travel as long as her supply of gasoline held +out--her tanks holding enough to drive her 560 knots at the speed of six +knots an hour, when in the semi-awash condition; the lower she sank the +greater the surface exposed to the friction of the water and the greater +power expended to attain a given speed. + +As the vessel jogged along, with a good part of her deck showing above +the waves, her air ventilators were open and the burnt gas of the engine +was exhausted right out into the open; the air was as pure as in the +cabin of an ordinary ship. Besides the work of propelling the boat, +the engine being geared to the electric motor made it revolve, so +turning it into a dynamo that created electricity and filled up the +storage batteries. + +[Illustration: LAKE'S SUBMARINE TORPEDO-BOAT _PROTECTOR_ +This boat is designed to travel on the surface, or fully submerged, or +on the ocean's bottom. She is provided with wheels that support her when +on the bottom, and with a divers' compartment from which divers can work +on submarine cables or the enemies' explosive mines.] + +From time to time, as this whale-like ship plowed the waters of the +Sound, a big wave would flow entirely over her, and the captain would be +looking right into the foaming crest. The boat was built for under-water +going, so little daylight penetrated the interior through the few small +deadlights, or round, heavy glass windows, but electric incandescent +bulbs fed by current from the storage batteries lit the interior +brilliantly. + +The boat had not proceeded far when the captain ordered the crew to +prepare to dive, and immediately the engine was shut down and the clutch +connecting its shaft with the electric apparatus thrown off and another +connecting the electric motor with the propeller thrown in; a switch was +then turned and the current from the storage batteries set the motor and +propeller spinning. While this was being done another man was letting +water into her ballast tanks to reduce her buoyancy. When all but the +conning tower was submerged the captain looked at the compass to see how +she was heading, noted that no vessels were near enough to make a +submarine collision likely, and gave the word to the man at his feet to +dive twenty feet. Then a strange thing happened. The diving-helmsman +gave a twist to the wheel that connected with the horizontal rudders aft +of the propeller, and immediately the boat slanted downward at an angle +of ten degrees; the water rose about the conning tower until the little +windows were level with the surface, and then they were covered, and the +captain looked into solid water that was still turned yellowish-green by +the light of the sun; then swiftly descending, he saw but the faintest +gleam of green light coming through twenty feet of water. The _Fulton_, +with six men in her, was speeding along at five knots an hour twenty +feet below the shining waters of the Sound. + +The diving-helmsman kept his eye on a gauge in front of him that +measured the pressure of water at the varying depths, but the dial was +so marked that it told him just how many feet the _Fulton_ was below the +surface. Another device showed whether the boat was on an even keel or, +if not exactly, how many degrees she slanted up or down. + +With twenty feet of salt water above her and as much below, this +mechanical whale cruised along with her human freight as comfortable as +they would have been in the same space ashore. The vessel contained +sufficient air to last them several hours, and when it became vitiated +there were always the tanks of compressed air ready to be drawn upon. + +Except for the hum of the motor and the slight clank of the +steering-gear, all was silent; none of the noises of the outer world +penetrated the watery depths; neither the slap of the waves, the whir of +the breeze, the hiss of steam, nor rattle of rigging accompanied the +progress of this submarine craft. As silently as a fish, as far as the +outer world was concerned, the _Fulton_ crept through the submarine +darkness. If an enemy's ship was near it would be an easy thing to +discharge one of the five Whitehead torpedoes she carried and get out of +harm's way before it struck the bottom of the ship and exploded. + +In the tube which opened at the very tip end of the nose of the craft +lay a Whitehead (or automobile) torpedo, which when properly set and +ejected by compressed air propelled itself at a predetermined depth at a +speed of thirty knots an hour until it struck the object it was aimed at +or its compressed air power gave out. + +The seven Holland boats built for the United States Navy, of which the +_Fulton_ is a prototype, carry five of these torpedoes, one in the tube +and two on either side of the hold, and each boat is also provided with +one compensating tank for each torpedo, so that when one or all are +fired their weight may be compensated by filling the tanks with water so +that the trim of the vessel will be kept the same and her stability +retained. + +The _Fulton_, however, was bent on a peaceful errand, and carried dummy +torpedoes instead of the deadly engines of destruction that the +man-o'-war's man dreads. + +"Dive thirty," ordered the captain, at the same time giving his wheel a +twist to direct the vessel's course according to the pointing finger of +the compass. + +"Dive thirty, sir," repeated the steersman below, and with a slight +twist of his gear the horizontal rudders turned and the submarine +inclined downward; the level-indicator showed a slight slant and the +depth-gauge hand turned slowly round--twenty-two, twenty-five, +twenty-eight, then thirty feet, when the helmsman turned his wheel back +a little and the vessel forged ahead on a level keel. + +At thirty feet below the surface the little craft, built like a cigar +on purpose to stand a tremendous squeeze, was subjected to a pressure of +2,160 pounds to the square foot. To realise this pressure it will be +necessary to think of a slab of iron a foot square and weighing 2,160 +pounds pressing on every foot of the outer surface of the craft. Of +course, the squeeze is exerted on all sides of the submarine boats when +fully submerged, just as every one is subjected to an atmospheric +pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch on every inch of his body. + +The _Fulton_ and other submarine boats are so strongly built and +thoroughly braced that they could stand an even greater pressure without +damage. + +When the commander of the _Fulton_ ordered his vessel to the surface, +the diving-steersman simply reversed his rudders so that they turned +upward, and the propeller, aided by the natural buoyancy of the boat, +simply pushed her to the surface. The Holland boats have a reserve +buoyancy, so that if anything should happen to the machinery they would +rise unaided to the surface. + +Compressed air was turned into the ballast tanks, the water forced out +so that the boat's buoyancy was increased, and she floated in a +semi-awash, or light, condition. The engineer turned off the current +from the storage batteries, threw off the motor from the propeller +shaft, and connected the gasoline engine, started it up, and inside of +five minutes from the time the _Fulton_ was navigating the waters of the +Sound at a depth of thirty feet she was sailing along on the surface +like any other gasoline craft. + +And so the ninety-mile journey down Long Island Sound, partly under +water, partly on the surface, to New York, was completed. The greater +voyage to the Delaware Capes followed, and at all times the little +sixty-three-foot boat that was but eleven feet in diameter at her +greatest girth carried her crew and equipment with perfect safety and +without the least inconvenience. + +Such a vessel, small in size but great in destructive power, is a force +to be reckoned with by the most powerful battle-ship. No defense has yet +been devised that will ward off the deadly sting of the submarine's +torpedo, delivered as it is from beneath, out of the sight and hearing +of the doomed ships' crews, and exploded against a portion of the hull +that cannot be adequately protected by armour. + +Though the conning-dome of a submarine presents a very small target, +its appearance above water shows her position and gives warning of her +approach. To avoid this tell-tale an instrument called a periscope has +been invented, which looks like a bottle on the end of a tube; this has +lenses and mirrors that reflect into the interior of the submarine +whatever shows above water. The bottle part projects above, while the +tube penetrates the interior. + +[Illustration: SPEEDING AT THE RATE OF 102-3/4 MILES AN HOUR] + +The very unexpectedness of the submarine's attack, the mere knowledge +that they are in the vicinity of a fleet and may launch their deadly +missiles at any time, is enough to break down the nerves of the +strongest and eventually throw into a panic the bravest crew. + +That the crews of the war-ships will have to undergo the strain of +submarine attack in the next naval war is almost sure. All the great +nations of the world have built fleets of submarines or are preparing to +do so. + +In the development of under-water fighting-craft France leads, as she +has the largest fleet and was the first to encourage the designing and +building of them. But it was David Bushnell that invented and built the +first practical working submarine boat, and in point of efficiency and +practical working under service conditions in actual readiness for +hostile action the American boats excel to-day. + + + +A PEACEFUL SUBMARINE + + +Under the green sea, in the total darkness of the great depths and the +yellowish-green of the shallows of the oceans, with the seaweeds waving +their fronds about their barnacle-encrusted timbers and the creatures of +the deep playing in and about the decks and rotted rigging, lie hundreds +of wrecks. Many a splendid ship with a valuable cargo has gone down off +a dangerous coast; many a hoard of gold or silver, gathered with +infinite pains from the far corners of the earth, lies intact in +decaying strong boxes on the bottom of the sea. + +To recover the treasures of the deep, expeditions have been organised, +ships have sailed, divers have descended, and crews have braved great +dangers. Many great wrecking companies have been formed which accomplish +wonders in the saving of wrecked vessels and cargoes. But in certain +places all the time and at others part of the time, wreckers have had to +leave valuable wrecks a prey to the merciless sea because the ocean is +too angry and the waves too high to permit of the safe handling of the +air-hose and life-line of the divers who are depended upon to do all +the under-water work, rigging of hoisting-tackle, placing of buoys, etc. +Indeed, it is often impossible for a vessel to stay in one place long +enough to accomplish anything, or, in fact, to venture to the spot at +all. + +It was an American boy who, after reading Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand +Leagues Under the Sea," said to himself, "Why not?" and from that time +set out to put into practice what the French writer had imagined. + +Simon Lake set to work to invent a way by which a wrecked vessel or a +precious cargo could be got at from below the surface. Though the waves +may be tossing their whitecaps high in air and the strong wind may turn +the watery plain into rolling hills of angry seas, the water twenty or +thirty feet below hardly feels any surface motion. So he set to work to +build a vessel that should be able to sail on the surface or travel on +the bottom, and provide a shelter from which divers could go at will, +undisturbed by the most tempestuous sea. People laughed at his idea, and +so he found great difficulty in getting enough capital to carry out his +plan, and his first boat, built largely with his own hands, had little +in its appearance to inspire confidence in his scheme. Built of wood, +fourteen feet long and five feet deep, fitted with three wheels, +_Argonaut Junior_ looked not unlike a large go-cart such as boys make +out of a soap-box and a set of wooden wheels. The boat, however, made +actual trips, navigated by its inventor, proving that his plan was +feasible. _Argonaut Junior,_ having served its purpose, was abandoned, +and now lies neglected on one of the beaches of New York Bay. + +The _Argonaut,_ Mr. Lake's second vessel, had the regular submarine +look, except that she was equipped with two great, rough tread-wheels +forward, and to the underside of her rudder was pivoted another. She was +really an under-water tricycle, a diving-bell, a wrecking-craft, and a +surface gasoline-boat all rolled into one. When floating on the surface +she looked not unlike an ordinary sailing craft; two long spars, each +about thirty feet above the deck, forming the letter A--these were the +pipes that admitted fresh air and discharged the burnt gases of the +gasoline motor and the vitiated air that had been breathed. A low deck +gave a ship-shape appearance when floating, but below she was shaped +like a very fat cigar. Under the deck and outside of the hull proper +were placed her gasoline tanks, safe from any possible danger of +ignition from the interior. From her nose protruded a spar that looked +like a bowsprit but which was in reality a derrick; below the +derrick-boom were several glazed openings that resembled eyes and a +mouth: these were the lookout windows for the under-water observer and +the submarine searchlight. + +The _Argonaut_ was built to run on the surface or on the bottom; she was +not designed to navigate half-way between. When in search of a wreck or +made ready for a cruise along the bottom, the trap door or hatch in her +turret-like pilot house was tightly closed; the water was let into her +ballast tanks, and two heavy weights to which were attached strong +cables that could be wound or unwound from the inside were lowered from +their recesses in the fore and after part of the keel of the boat to the +bottom; then the motor was started connected to the winding mechanism, +and, the buoyancy of the boat being greatly reduced, she was drawn to +the bottom by the winding of the anchor cables. As she sank, more and +more water was taken into her tanks until she weighed slightly more than +the water she displaced. When her wheels rested on the bottom her +anchor-weights were pulled completely into their wells, so that they +would not interfere with her movements. + +Then the strange submarine vehicle began her voyage on the bottom of +the bay or ocean. Since the pipes projected above the surface plenty of +fresh air was admitted, and it was quite as easy to run the gasoline +engine under water as on the surface. In the turrets, as far removed as +possible from the magnetic influences of the steel hull, the compass was +placed, and an ingeniously arranged mirror reflected its readings down +below where the steersman could see it conveniently. Aft of the +steering-wheel was the gasoline motor, connected with the +propeller-shaft and also with the driving-wheels; it was so arranged +that either could be thrown out of gear or both operated at once. She +was equipped with depth-gauges showing the distance below the surface, +and another device showing the trim of the vessel; compressed-air tanks, +propelling and pumping machinery, an air-compressor and dynamo which +supplied the current to light the ship and also for the searchlight +which illuminated the under-water pathway--all this apparatus left but +little room in the hold, but it was all so carefully planned that not an +inch was wasted, and space was still left for her crew of three or four +to work, eat, and even sleep, below the waves. + +Forward of the main space of the boat were the diving and lookout +compartments, which really were the most important parts of the boat, as +far as her wrecking ability was concerned. By means of a trap door in +the diving compartment through the bottom of the boat a man fitted with +a diving-suit could go out and explore a wreck or examine the bottom +almost as easily as a man goes out of his front door to call for an +"extra." It will be thought at once, "But the water will rush in when +the trap door is opened." This is prevented by filling the diving +compartment, which is separated from the main part of the ship by steel +walls, with compressed air of sufficient pressure to keep the water from +coming in--that is, the pressure of water from without equals the +pressure of air from within and neither element can pass into the +other's domain. + +An air-lock separates the diver's section from the main hold so that it +is possible to pass from one to the other while the entrance to the sea +is still open. A person entering the lock from the large room first +closes the door between and then gradually admits the compressed air +until the pressure is the same as in the diving compartment, when the +door into it may be safely opened. When returning, this operation is +simply reversed. The lookout stands forward of the diver's space. When +the _Argonaut_ rolls along the bottom, round openings protected with +heavy glass permit the lookout to follow the beam of light thrown by the +searchlight and see dimly any sizable obstruction. When the diving +compartment is in use the man on lookout duty uses a portable telephone +to tell his shipmates in the main room what is happening out in the wet, +and by the same means the reports of the diver can be communicated +without opening the air-lock. + +This little ship (thirty-six feet long) has done wonderful things. She +has cruised over the bottom of Chesapeake Bay, New York Bay, Hampton +Roads, and the Atlantic Ocean, her driving-wheels propelling her when +the bottom was hard, and her screw when the oozy condition of the +submarine road made her spiked wheels useless except to steer with. Her +passengers have been able to examine the bottom under twenty feet of +water (without wetting their feet), through the trap door, with the aid +of an electric light let down into the clear depths. Telephone messages +have been sent from the bottom of Baltimore Harbour to the top of the +New York _World_ building, telling of the conditions there in contrast +to the New York editor's aerial perch. Cables have been picked up and +examined without dredging--a hook lowered through the trap door being +all that was necessary. Wrecks have been examined and valuables +recovered. + +[Illustration: SINGING INTO THE TELEPHONE +Part of the entertainment furnished by the telephone newspaper at +Buda-Pest.] + +Although the _Argonaut_ travelled over 2,000 miles under water and on +the surface, propelled by her own power, her inventor was not satisfied +with her. He cut her in two, therefore, and added a section to her, +making her sixty-six feet long; this allowed more comfortable quarters +for her crew, space for larger engines, compressors, etc. + +It was off Bridgeport, Connecticut, that the new _Argonaut_ did her +first practical wrecking. A barge loaded with coal had sunk in a gale +and could not be located with the ordinary means. The _Argonaut_, +however, with the aid of a device called the "wreck-detector," also +invented by Mr. Lake, speedily found it, sank near it, and also +submerged a new kind of freight-boat built for the purpose by the +inventor. A diver quickly explored the hulk, opened the hatches of the +freight-boat, which was cigar-shaped like the _Argonaut_ and supplied +with wheels so it could be drawn over the bottom, and placed the +suction-tube in position. Seven minutes later eight tons of coal had +been transferred from the wreck to the submarine freight-boat. The +hatches were then closed and compressed air admitted, forcing out the +water, and five minutes later the freight-boat was floating on the +surface with eight tons of coal from a wreck which could not even be +located by the ordinary means. + +It is possible that in the future these modern "argonauts" will be +seeking the golden fleeces of the sea in wrecks, in golden sands like +the beaches of Nome, and that these amphibious boats will be ready along +all the dangerous coasts to rush to the rescue of noble ships and wrest +them from the clutches of the cruel sea. + +Mr. Lake has also designed and built a submarine torpedo-boat that will +travel on the surface, under the waves, or on the bottom; provided with +both gasoline and electric power, and, fitted with torpedo discharge +tubes, she will be able to throw a submarine torpedo; her diver could +attach a charge of dynamite to the keel of an anchored warship, or she +could do great damage by hooking up cables through her diver's trap door +and cutting them, and by setting adrift anchored torpedoes and submarine +mines. + +Thus have Jules Verne's imaginings come true, and the dream _Nautilus,_ +whose adventures so many of us have breathlessly followed, has been +succeeded by actual "Hollands" and practical "Argonauts" designed by +American inventors and manned by American crews. + + + + +LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONY + +What Happens When You Talk into a Telephone Receiver + + +In Omaha, Nebraska, half-way across the continent and about forty hours +from Boston by fast train, a man sits comfortably in his office chair +and, with no more exertion than is required to lift a portable receiver +off his desk, talks every day to his representative in the chief New +England city. The man in Boston hears his chief's voice and can +recognise the peculiarities in it just as if he stood in the same room +with him. The man in Nebraska, speaking in an ordinary conversational +tone, can be heard perfectly well in Boston, 1,400 miles away. + +This is the longest talk on record--that is, it is the longest +continuous telephone line in steady and constant use, though the human +voice has been carried even greater distances with the aid of this +wonderful instrument. + +The telephone is so common that no one stops to consider the wonder of +it, and not one person in a hundred can tell how it works. + +At this time, when the telephone is as necessary as pen and ink, it is +hard to realise a time when men could not speak to one another from a +distance, yet a little more than a quarter of a century ago the genius +who invented it first conceived the great idea. + +Sometimes an inventor is a prophet: he sees in advance how his idea, +perfected and in universal use, will change things, establish new +manners and customs, new laws and new methods. Alexander Graham Bell was +one of these prophetic inventors--the telephone was his invention, not +his discovery. He first got the idea and then sought a way to make it +practical. If you put yourself in his place, forget what has been +accomplished, and put out of mind how the voice is transmitted from +place to place by the slender wire, it would be impossible even then to +realise how much in the dark Professor Bell was in 1874. + +The human speaking voice is full of changes; unlike the notes from a +musical instrument, there is no uniformity in it; the rise and fall of +inflection, the varying sound of the vowels and consonants, the +combinations of words and syllables--each produces a different +vibration and different tone. To devise an instrument that would +receive all these varying tones and inflections and change them into +some other form of energy so that they could be passed over a wire, and +then change them back to their original form, reproducing each sound and +every peculiarity of the voice of the speaker in the ear of the hearer, +was the task that Professor Bell set for himself. Just as you would sit +down to add up a big column of figures, knowing that sooner or later you +would get the correct answer, so he set himself to work out this problem +in invention. The result of his study and determination is the +telephones we use to-day. Many improvements have been invented by other +men--Berliner, Edison, Blake, and others--but the idea and the working +out of the principle is due to Professor Bell. + +[Illustration: "CENTRAL" TELEPHONE OPERATORS AT WORK +Since tiny lights have taken the place of bells to indicate the calls of +subscribers the central stations are quiet except for the low hum of +carefully modulated voices. The women standing behind the seated +operators are inspectors. They watch for mistakes and disturbances of +any kind.] + +Every telephone receiver and transmitter has a mouth-and ear-piece to +receive or throw out the sound, a thin round sheet of lacquered +metal--called a diaphragm, and an electromagnet; together they reproduce +human speech. An electric current from a battery or from the central +station flows continuously through the wires wound round the +electromagnet in receiving and transmitting instruments, so when you +speak into the black mouthpiece of the wall or desk receiver the +vibrations strike against the thin sheet-iron diaphragm at the small end +of the mouthpiece; the sound waves of the voice make it vibrate to a +greater or less degree; the diaphragm is placed so that the core of the +electromagnet is close to it, and as it vibrates the iron in it +produces undulations (by induction) in the current which is flowing +through the wires wound round the soft iron centre of the magnet. The +wires of the coil are connected with the lines that go to the receiving +telephone, so that this undulating current, coiling round the core of +the magnet in the receiver, attracts and repels the iron of the +diaphragm in it, and it vibrates just as the transmitter diaphragm did +when spoken into; the undulating current is translated by it into words +and sentences that have all the peculiarities of the original. And so +when speaking into a telephone your voice is converted into undulations +or waves in an electric current conveyed with incredible swiftness to +the receiving instrument, and these are translated back into the +vibrations that produce speech. This is really what takes place when you +talk over a toy telephone made by a string stretched between the two tin +mouth-pieces held at opposite sides of the room, with the difference +that in the telephone the vibrations are carried electrically, while the +toy carries them mechanically and not nearly so perfectly. + +For once the world realised immediately the importance of a +revolutionising invention, and telephone stations soon began to be +established in the large cities. Quicker than the telegraph, for there +was no need of an operator to translate the message, and more accurate, +for if spoken clearly the words could be as clearly understood, the +telephone service spread rapidly. Lines stretched farther and farther +out from the central stations in the cities as improvements were +invented, until the outlying wires of one town reached the outstretched +lines of another, and then communication between town and town was +established. Then two distant cities talked to each other through an +intermediate town, and long-distance telephony was established. To-day +special lines are built to carry long-distance messages from one great +city to another, and these direct lines are used entirely except when +storms break through or the rush of business makes the roundabout route +through intermediate cities necessary. + +As the nerves reaching from your finger-tips, from your ears, your eyes, +and every portion of your body come to a focus in your brain and carry +information to it about the things you taste, see, hear, feel, and +smell, so the wires of a telephone system come together at the central +station. And as it is necessary for your right hand to communicate with +your left through your brain, so it is necessary for one telephone +subscriber to connect through the central station with another +subscriber. + +The telephone has become a necessity of modern life, so that if through +some means all the systems were destroyed business would be, for a time +at least, paralysed. It is the perfection of the devices for connecting +one subscriber with another, and for despatching the vast number of +messages and calls at "central," that make modern telephony possible. + +To handle the great number of spoken messages that are sent over the +telephone wires of a great city it is necessary to divide the territory +into districts, which vary in size according to the number of +subscribers in them. Where the telephones are thickly installed the +districts are smaller than in sections that are more sparsely settled. + +Then all the telephone wires of a certain district converge at a central +station, and each pair of wires is connected with its own particular +switch at the switchboard of the station. That is simple enough; but +when you come to consider that every subscriber must be so connected +that he can be put into communication with every other subscriber, not +only in his own section but also with every subscriber throughout the +city, it will be seen that the switchboard at central is as marvellous +as it is complicated. Some of the busy stations in New York have to take +care of 6,000 or more subscribers and 10,000 telephone instruments, +while the city proper is criss-crossed with more than 60,000 lines +bearing messages from more than 100,000 "'phones." Just think of the +babel entering the branch centrals that has to be straightened out and +each separate series of voice undulations sent on its proper way, to be +translated into speech again and poured into the proper ear. It is no +wonder, then, that it has been found necessary to establish a school for +telephone girls where they can be taught how to untangle the snarl and +handle the vast, complicated system. In these schools the operators go +through a regular course lasting a month. They listen to lectures and +work out the instructions given them at a practice switchboard that is +exactly like the service switchboard, except that the wires do not go +outside of the building, but connect with the instructor's desk; the +instructor calls up the pupils and sends messages in just the same way +that the subscribers call "central" in the regular service. + +At the terminal station of a great railroad, in the midst of a network +of shining rails, stands the switchman's tower. By means of steel levers +the man in his tower can throw his different switches and open one track +to a train and close another; by means of various signals the switchman +can tell if any given line is clear or if his levers do their work +properly. + +A telephone system may be likened, in a measure, to a complicated +railroad line: the trunk wires to subscribers are like the tracks of the +railroad, and the central station may be compared to the switch tower, +while the central operators are like the switchmen. It is the central +girls' business to see that connections are made quickly and correctly, +that no lines are tied up unnecessarily, that messages are properly +charged to the right persons, that in case of a break in a line the +messages are switched round the trouble, and above all that there shall +be no delay. + +When you take your receiver off the hook a tiny electric bulb glows +opposite the brass-lined hole that is marked with your number on the +switchboard of your central, and the telephone girl knows that you are +ready to send in a call--the flash of the little light is a signal to +her that you want to be connected with some other subscriber. Whereupon, +she inserts in your connection a brass plug to which a flexible wire is +attached, and then opens a little lever which connects her with your +circuit. Then she speaks into a kind of inverted horn which projects +from a transmitter that hangs round her neck and asks: "Number, please?" +You answer with the number, which she hears through the receiver +strapped to her head and ear. After repeating the number the "hello" +girl proceeds to make the connection. If the number required is in the +same section of the city she simply reaches for the hole or connection +which corresponds with it, with another brass plug, the twin of the one +that is already inserted in your connection, and touches the brass +lining with the plug. All the connections to each central station are so +arranged and duplicated that they are within the reach of each operator. +If the line is already "busy" a slight buzz is heard, not only by +"central," but by the subscriber also if he listens; "central" notifies +and then disconnects you. If the line is clear the twin plug is thrust +into the opening, and at the same time "central" presses a button, which +either rings a bell or causes a drop to fall in the private exchange +station of the party you wish to talk to. The moment the new connection +is made and the party you wish to talk to takes off the receiver from +his hook, a second light glows beside yours, and continues to glow as +long as the receiver remains off. The two little lamps are a signal to +"central" that the connection is properly made and she can then attend +to some other call. When your conversation is finished and your +receivers are hung up the little lights go out. That signals "central" +again, and she withdraws the plug from both holes and pushes another +button, which connects with a meter made like a bicycle cyclometer. This +little instrument records your call (a meter is provided for each +subscriber) and at the same time lights the two tiny lamps again--a +signal to the inspector, if one happens to be watching, that the call is +properly recorded. All this takes long to read, but it is done in the +twinkling of an eye. "Central's" hands are both free, and by long +practice and close attention she is able to make and break connections +with marvellous rapidity, it being quite an ordinary thing for an +operator in a busy section to make ten connections a minute, while in +an emergency this rate is greatly increased. + +[Illustration: "CENTRAL" MAKING CONNECTIONS +The front of a small section of a central-station switchboard. Each dot +on the face of the blackboard is a subscriber's connection. The cords +connect one subscriber with another. The switches throwing in the +operator's "phone", and the pilot lamps showing when a subscriber wishes +a connection, are set in the table or shelf before her.] + +The call of one subscriber for another number in the same section, as +described above--for instance, the call of 4341 Eighteenth Street for +2165 Eighteenth Street--is the easiest connection that "central" has to +make. + +As it is impossible for each branch exchange to be connected with every +individual line in a great city, when a subscriber of one exchange +wishes to talk with a subscriber of another, two central operators are +required to make the connection. If No. 4341 Eighteenth Street wants to +talk to 1748 Cortlandt Street, for instance, the Eighteenth Street +central who gets the 4341 call makes a connection with the operator at +Cortlandt Street and asks for No. 1748. The Cortlandt Street operator +goes through the operation of testing to see if 1748 is busy, and if not +she assigns a wire connecting the two exchanges, whereupon in Eighteenth +Street one plug is put in 4341 switch hole; the twin plug is put into +the switch hole connecting with the wire to Cortlandt Street; at +Cortlandt Street the same thing is done with No. 1748 pair of plugs. The +lights glow in both exchanges, notifying the operators when the +conversation is begun and ended, and the operator of Eighteenth Street +"central" makes the record in the same way as she does when both numbers +are in her own district. + +Besides the calls for numbers within the cities there are the +out-of-town calls. In this case central simply makes connection with +"Long Distance," which is a separate company, though allied with the +city companies. "Long Distance" makes the connection in much the same +way as the branch city exchanges. As the charges for long-distance calls +depend on the length of the conversation, so the connection is made by +an operator whose business it is to make a record of the length in +minutes of the conversation and the place with which the city subscriber +is connected. An automatic time stamp accomplishes this without +possibility of error. + +Sometimes the calls come from a pay station, in which case a record must +be kept of the time occupied. This kind of call is indicated by the glow +of a red light instead of a white one, and so "central" is warned to +keep track, and the supervisors or monitors who constantly pass to and +fro can note the kind of calls that come in, and so keep tab on the +operators. + +Other coloured lights indicate that the chief operator wishes to send +out a general order and wishes all operators to listen. Another +indicates that there is trouble somewhere on the line which needs the +attention of the wire chief and repair department. + +[Illustration: THE BACK OF A TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD +A section of one of several central station switchboards necessary to +carry the telephone traffic of a great city.] + +The switchboards themselves are made of hard, black rubber, and are +honeycombed with innumerable holes, each of which is connected with a +subscriber. Below the switchboard is a broad shelf in which are set the +miniature lamps and from which project the brass plugs in rows. The +flexible cords containing the connecting wires are weighted and hang +below, so that when a plug is pulled out of a socket and dropped it +slides back automatically to its proper place, ready for use. + +Many subscribers nowadays have their own private exchanges and several +lines running to central. Perhaps No. 4341 Eighteenth Street, for +instance, has 4342 and 4344 as well. This is indicated on the +switchboard by a line of red or white drawn under the three +switch-holes, so that central, finding one line busy, may be able to +make connection with one of the other two, the line underneath showing +at a glance which numbers belong to that particular subscriber. + +If a subscriber is away temporarily, a plug of one colour is inserted +in his socket, or if he is behind in his payments to the company a plug +of another colour is put in, and if the service to his house is +discontinued still another plug notifies the operator of the fact, and +it remains there until that number is assigned to a new subscriber. + +The operators sit before the switchboard in high swivel chairs in a long +row, with their backs to the centre of the room. + +From the rear it looks as if they were weaving some intricate fabric +that unravels as fast as it is woven. Their hands move almost faster +than the eye can follow, and the patterns made by the criss-crossed +cords of the connecting plugs are constantly changing, varying from +minute to minute as the colours in a kaleido-scope form new designs with +every turn of the handle. + +Into the exchange pour all the throbbing messages of a great city. +Business propositions, political deals, scientific talks, and words of +comfort to the troubled, cross and recross each other over the black +switchboard. The wonder is that each message reaches the ear it was +meant for, and that all complications, no matter how knotty, are +immediately unravelled. + +In the cities the telephone is a necessity. Business engagements are +made and contracts consummated; brokers keep in touch with their +associates on the floors of the exchanges; the patrolmen of the police +force keep their chief informed of their movements and the state of the +districts under their care; alarms of fire are telephoned to the +fire-engine houses, and calls for ambulances bring the swift wagons on +their errands of mercy; even wreckers telephone to their divers on the +bottom of the bay, and undulating electrical messages travel to the tops +of towering sky-scrapers. + +[Illustration: A FEW TELEPHONE TRUNK WIRES +This shows a small section of a complicated telephone switchboard.] + +In Europe it is possible to hear the latest opera by paying a small fee +and putting a receiver to your ear, and so also may lazy people and +invalids hear the latest news without getting out of bed. + +The farmers of the West and in eastern States, too, have learned to use +the barbed wire that fences off their fields as a means of communicating +with one another and with distant parts of their own property. + +Mr. Pupin has invented an apparatus by which he hopes to greatly extend +the distance over which men may talk, and it has even been suggested +that Uncle Sam and John Bull may in the future swap stories over a +transatlantic telephone line. + +The marvels accomplished suggest the possible marvels to come. +Automatic exchanges, whereby the central telephone operator is done away +with, is one of the things that inventors are now at work on. + +The one thing that prevents an unlimited use of the telephone is the +expensive wires and the still more expensive work of putting them +underground or stringing them overhead. So the capping of the climax of +the wonders of the telephone would be wireless telephony, each +instrument being so attuned that the undulations would respond only to +the corresponding instrument. This is one of the problems that inventors +are even now working upon, and it may be that wireless telephones will +be in actual operation not many years after this appears in print. + + + + +A MACHINE THAT THINKS + +A Typesetting Machine That Makes Mathematical Calculations + + +For many years it was thought impossible to find a short cut from +author's manuscript to printing press--that is, to substitute a machine +for the skilled hands that set the type from which a book or magazine is +printed. Inventors have worked at this problem, and a number have solved +it in various ways. To one who has seen the slow work of hand +typesetting as the compositor builds up a long column of metal piece by +piece, letter by letter, picking up each character from its allotted +space in the case and placing it in its proper order and position, and +then realises that much of the printed matter he sees is so produced, +the wonder is how the enormous amount of it is ever accomplished. + +In a page of this size there are more than a thousand separate pieces of +type, which, if set by hand, would have to be taken one by one and +placed in the compositor's "stick"; then when the line is nearly set it +would have to be spaced out, or "justified," to fill out the line +exactly. Then when the compositor's "stick" is full, or two and a half +inches have been set, the type has to be taken out and placed in a long +channel, or "galley." Each of these three operations requires +considerable time and close application, and with each change there is +the possibility of error. It is a long, expensive process. + +A perfect typesetting machine should take the place of the hand +compositor, setting the type letter by letter automatically in proper +order at a maximum speed and with a minimum chance of error. + +These three steps of hand composition, slow, expensive, open to many +chances of mistake, have been covered at one stride at five times the +speed, at one-third the cost, and much more accurately by a machine +invented by Mr. Tolbert Lanston. + +The operator of the Lanston machine sits at a keyboard, much like a +typewriter in appearance, containing every character in common use (225 +in all), and at a speed limited only by his dexterity he plays on the +keys exactly as a typewriter works his machine. This is the sum total of +human effort expended. The machine does all the rest of the work; +makes the calculations and delivers the product in clean, shining new +type, each piece perfect, each in its place, each line of exactly the +right length, and each space between the words mathematically +equal--absolutely "justified." It is practically hand composition with +the human possibility of error, of weariness, of inattention, of +ignorance, eliminated, and all accomplished with a celerity that is +astonishing. + +[Illustration: THE LANSTON TYPE-SETTER KEYBOARD +As each key is pressed a corresponding perforation is made in the roll +of paper shown at the top of the machine. Each perforation stands for a +character or a space.] + +This machine is a type-casting machine as well as a typesetter. It casts +the type (individual characters) it sets, perfect in face and body, +capable of being used in hand composition or put to press directly from +the machine and printed from. + +As each piece of type is separate, alterations are easily made. The type +for correction, which the machine itself casts for the purpose--a lot of +a's, b's, etc.--is simply substituted for the words misspelled or +incorrectly used, as in hand composition. + +The Lanston machine is composed of two parts, the keyboard and the +casting-setting machine. The keyboard part may be placed wherever +convenient, away from noise or anything that is likely to distract or +interrupt the operator, and the perforated roll of paper produced by it +(which governs the setting machine) may be taken away as fast as it is +finished. In the setting-casting machine is located the brains. The +five-inch roll of paper, perforated by the keyboard machine (a hole for +every letter), gives the signal by means of compressed air to the +mechanism that puts the matrix (or type mould) in position and casts the +type letter by letter, each character following the proper sequence as +marked by the perforations of the paper ribbon. By means of an indicator +scale on the keyboard the operator can tell how many spaces there are +between the words of the line and the remaining space to be filled out +to make the line the proper width. This information is marked by +perforations on the paper ribbon by the pressure of two keys, and when +the ribbon is transferred to the casting machine these space +perforations so govern the casting that the line of type delivered at +the "galley" complete shall be of exactly the proper length, and the +spaces between the words be equal to the infinitesimal fraction of an +inch. + +The casting machine is an ingenious mechanism of many complicated parts. +In a word, the melted metal (a composition of zinc and lead) is forced +into a mold of the letter to be cast. Two hundred and twenty-five of +these moulds are collected in a steel frame about three inches square, +and cool water is kept circulating about them, so that almost +immediately after the molten metal is injected into the lines and dots +of the letter cut in the mould it hardens and drops into its slot, a +perfect piece of type. + +All this is accomplished at a rate of four or five thousand "ems" per +hour of the size of type used on this page. The letter M is the unit of +measurement when the amount of any piece of composition is to be +estimated, and is written "em." + +If this page were set by hand (taking a compositor of more than average +speed as a basis for figuring), at least one hour of steady work would +be required, but this page set by the Lanston machine (the operator +being of the same grade as the hand compositor) would require hardly +more than fifteen minutes from the time the manuscript was put into the +operator's hands to the delivery complete of the newly cast type in +galleys ready to be made up into pages, if the process were carried on +continuously. + +This marvellous machine is capable of setting almost any size of type, +from the minute "agate" to and including "pica," a letter more than +one-eighth of an inch high, and a line of almost any desired width, the +change from one size to any other requiring but a few minutes. The +Lanston machine sets up tables of figures, poetry, and all those +difficult pieces of composition that so try the patience of the hand +compositor. + +It is called the monotype because it casts and sets up the type piece by +piece. + +Another machine, invented by Mergenthaler, practically sets up the +moulds, by a sort of typewriter arrangement, for a line at a time, and +then a casting is taken of a whole line at once. This machine is used +much in newspaper offices, where the cleverness of the compositor has to +be depended upon and there is little or no time for corrections. Several +other machines set the regular type that is made in type foundries, the +type being placed in long channels, all of the same sort, in the same +grooves, and slipped or set in its proper place by the machine operated +by a man at the keyboard. These machines require a separate mechanism +that distributes each type in its proper place after use, or else a +separate compositor must be employed to do this by hand. The machines +that set foundry type, moreover, require a great stock of it, just as +many hundred pounds of expensive type are needed for hand composition. + +[Illustration: WHERE THE "BRAINS" ARE LOCATED +The perforations in the paper ribbon (shown in the upper left-hand part +of the picture) govern the action of the machine so that the proper +characters are cast in the proper order, and also the spaces between the +words.] + +Though a machine has been invented that will put an author's words into +type, no mechanism has yet been invented that will do away with type +altogether. It is one of the problems still to be solved. + + + + +HOW HEAT PRODUCES COLD + +ARTIFICIAL ICE-MAKING + + +One midsummers day a fleet of United States war-ships were lying at +anchor in Guantanamo Bay, on the southern coast of Cuba. The sky was +cloudless, and the tropic sun shone so fiercely on the decks that the +bare-footed Jackies had to cross the unshaded spots on the jump to save +their feet. + +An hour before the quavering mess-call sounded for the midday meal, when +the sun was shining almost perpendicularly, a boat's crew from one of +the cruisers were sent over to the supply-ship for a load of beef. Not a +breath was stirring, the smooth surface of the bay reflected the brazen +sun like a mirror, and it seemed to the oarsmen that the salt water +would scald them if they should touch it. Only a few hundred yards +separated the two vessels, yet the heat seemed almost beyond endurance, +and the shade cast by the tall steel sides of the supply-steamer, when +the boat reached it, was as comforting as a cool drink to a thirsty +man. The oars were shipped, and one man was left to fend off the boat +while the others clambered up the swaying rope-ladder, crossed the +scorching decks on the run, and went below. In two minutes they were in +the hold of the refrigerator-ship, gathering the frost from the frigid +cooling-pipes and snowballing each other, while the boat-keeper outside +of the three-eighth-inch steel plating was fanning himself with his hat, +almost dizzy from the quivering heat-waves that danced before his eyes. +The great sides of beef, hung in rows, were frozen as hard as rock. Even +after the strip of water had been crossed on the return journey and the +meat exposed to the full, unobstructed glare of the sun the cruiser's +messcooks had to saw off their portions, and the remainder continued +hard as long as it lasted. But the satisfaction of the men who ate that +fresh American beef cannot be told. + +Cream from a famous dairy is sent to particular patrons in Paris, +France, and it is known that in one instance, at least, a bottle of +cream, having failed to reach the person to whom it was consigned, made +the return transatlantic voyage and was received in New York three weeks +after its first departure, perfectly sweet and good. Throughout the +entire journey it was kept at freezing temperature by artificial +means. These are but two striking examples of wonders that are performed +every day. + +[Illustration: THE TYPE MOULDS +Moulds for 225 different characters are contained in this frame.] + +Cold, of course, is but the absence of heat, and so refrigerating +machinery is designed to extract the heat from whatever substance it is +desired to cool. The refrigerating agent used to extract the heat from +the cold chamber must in turn have the heat extracted from it, and so +the process must be continuous. + +Water, when it boils and turns into steam or vapour, is heated by or +extracts heat from the fire, but water vapourises at a high temperature +and so cannot be used to produce cold. Other fluids are much more +volatile and evaporate much more easily. Alcohol when spilt on the hand +dries almost instantly and leaves a feeling of cold--the warmth of the +hand boils the alcohol and turns it into vapour, and in doing so +extracts the heat from the skin, making it cold; now, if the evaporated +alcohol could be caught and compressed into its liquid form again you +would have a refrigerating machine. + +Alcohol is expensive and inflammable, and many other volatile substances +have been discarded for the one or the other reason. Of all the fluids +that have been tried, ammonia has been found to work most +satisfactorily; it evaporates at a low temperature, is non-inflammable, +and is comparatively cheap. + +The hold of the supply-ship mentioned at the head of this chapter was a +vast refrigerator, but no ice was used except that produced mechanically +by the power in the ship. To produce the cold in the hold of the ship it +was necessary to extract the heat in it; to accomplish this, coils ran +round the space filled with cold brine, which, as it grew warm, drew the +heat from the air. The brine in turn circulated through a tank +containing pipes filled with ammonia vapour which extracted the heat +from it; the brine then was ready to circulate through the coils in the +hold again and extract more heat. The heat-extracting or cooling power +of the ammonia is exerted continually by the process described below. +Ammonia requires heat to expand and turn into vapour, and this heat it +extracts from the substance surrounding it. In this marine refrigerating +machine the ammonia got the heat from the brine in the tank, then it was +drawn by a pump from the pipes in the tank, compressed by a power +compressor, and forced into a second coil. The second coil is called a +condenser because the vapour was there condensed into a fluid again. +Over the pipes of the condenser cool water dripped constantly and +carried off the heat in the ammonia vapour inside the coils and so +condensed it into a fluid again--just as cold condenses steam into +water. The compressor-pump then forced the fluid, ammonia through a +small pipe from the condenser coils to the cooling coils in the tank of +brine. The pipes of the cooling coils are much larger than those of the +condenser, and as the fluid ammonia is forced in a fine spray into these +large pipes and the pressure is relieved it expands or boils into the +larger volume of vapour and in so doing extracts heat from the brine. +The pump draws the heated vapour out, the compressor makes it dense, and +the coils over which the cool water flows condenses it into fluid again, +and so the circuit continues--through cooler, pump, compressor, and +condenser, back into the cooling-tank. + +In the meantime, the cold brine is being pumped through the pipes in the +hold of the ship, where it extracts the heat from the air and the rows +of sides of beef and then returns to the cooling-tank. In the +refrigerating plant, then, of the supply-ship, there were two +heat-extracting circuits, one of ammonia and the other of brine. Brine +is used because it freezes at a very low temperature and continues to +flow when unsalted water would be frozen solid. The ammonia is not used +direct in the pipes in a big space like the hold of a ship, because so +much of it would be required, and then there is always danger of the +exposed pipes being broken and the dangerous fumes released. + +Opposite as it may seem, heat is required to produce cold--for steam is +necessary to drive the compressor and pump of a refrigerating plant, and +fire of some sort is necessary to make steam. + +The first artificial refrigerating machines produced cold by compressing +and expanding air, the compressed air containing the heat being cooled +by jets of cool water spirted into the cylinder containing it, then the +compressed air was released or expanded into a larger chamber and +thereby extracted the heat from brine or whatever substance surrounded +it. + +It is in the making of ice, however, that refrigerating machinery +accomplishes its most surprising results. It was said in the writer's +hearing recently that natural ice costs about as much when it was +delivered at the docks or freight-yards of the large cities of the North +as the product of the ice-machine. Of course, the manufactured ice is +produced near the spot where it is consumed, and there is little loss +through melting while it is being stored or transported, as in the case +of the natural product. + +There are two ways of making ice--or, rather, two methods using the same +principle. + +In the can system, a series of galvanized-iron cans about three and a +half feet deep, eight inches wide, by two and a half feet long are +suspended or rested in great tanks of brine connecting with the +cooling-tank through which the pipes containing the ammonia vapour +circulates. The vapour draws the heat from the brine, and the brine, +which is kept moving constantly, in turn extracts the heat from the +distilled water in the cans. While this method produces ice quickly, it +is difficult to get ice of perfect clearness and purity, because the +water in the can freezes on the sides, gradually getting thicker, +retaining and concentrating in the centre any impurities that may be in +the water. The finished cake, therefore, almost always has a white or +cloudy appearance in the centre, and is frequently discolored. + +In an ice-plant operated on the can system a great many blocks are +freezing at once--in fact, the whole floor of a great room is +honeycombed with trap-doors, a door for each can. The freezing is done +in rotation, so that one group of cans is being emptied of their blocks +of ice while others are still in process of congealing, while still +others are being filled with fresh water. When the freezing is complete, +jets of steam or quick immersion of the can in hot water releases the +cake and the can is ready for another charge. + +The plate system of artificial ice-making does away with the +discoloration and the cloudiness, because the water containing the +impurities or the air-bubbles is not frozen, but is drawn off and +discarded. + +In the plate system, great permanent tanks six feet deep and eight to +twelve feet wide and of varying lengths are used. These tanks contain +the clean, fresh water that is to be frozen into great slabs of ice. +Into the tanks are sunk flat coils of pipe covered with smooth, metal +plates on either side, and it is through these pipes that the ammonia +vapour flows. The plates with the coils of pipe between them fit in the +tank transversely, partitioning it off into narrow cells six feet deep, +about twenty-two inches wide, and eight or ten feet long. In operation, +the ammonia vapour flows through the pipes, chilling the plates and +freezing the water so that a gradually thickening film of ice adheres to +each side of each set of plates. As the ice gets thicker the unfrozen +water between the slabs containing the impurities and air-bubbles gets +narrower. When the ice on the plates is eight or ten inches thick very +little of the unfrozen water remains between the great cakes, but it +contains practically all the impurities. When the ice on the plates is +thick enough, the ammonia vapour is turned off and steam forced through +the pipes so the cakes come off readily, or else plates, cakes, and all +are hoisted out of the tank and the ice melted off. The ice, clear and +perfect, is then sawed into convenient sizes and shipped to consumers or +stored for future use. Sometimes the plates or partitions are permanent, +and, with the coils of pipes between them, cold brine is circulated, but +in either case the two surfaces of ice do not come together, there being +always a film of water between. + +Still another method produces ice by forcing the clean water in +extremely fine spray into a reservoir from which the air has been +exhausted--into a vacuum, in other words; the spray condenses in the +form of tiny particles of ice, which are attached to the walls of the +reservoir. The ice grows thicker as a carpet of snow increases, one +particle falling on and freezing to the others until the coating has +reached the required thickness, when it is loosened and cut up in cakes +of convenient size. The vacuum ice is of marble-like whiteness and +appearance, but is perfectly pure, and it is said to be quite as hard. + +More and more artificial ice is being used, even in localities where ice +is formed naturally during parts of the year. + +Many of the modern hotels are equipped with refrigerating plants where +they make their own ice, cool their own storage-rooms, freeze the water +in glass carafes for the use of their guests, and even cool the air that +is circulated through the ventilating system in hot weather. In many +large apartment-houses the refrigerators built in the various separate +suites are kept at a freezing temperature by pipes leading to a +refrigerating plant in the cellar. The convenience and neatness of this +plan over the method of carrying dripping cakes from floor to floor in a +dumb-waiter is evident. + +Another use of refrigerating plants that is greatly appreciated is the +making of artificial ice for skating-rinks. An artificial ice +skating-rink is simply an ice machine on a grand scale--the ice being +made in a great, thin, flat cake. Through the shallow tanks containing +the fresh water coils of pipe through which flows the ammonia vapour or +the cold brine are run from end to end or from side to side so that the +whole bottom of the tank is gridironed with pipes, the water covering +the pipes is speedily frozen, and a smooth surface formed. When the +skaters cut up the surface it is flooded and frozen over again. + +So efficient and common have refrigerating plants become that +artificially cooled water is on tap in many public places in the great +cities. Theatres are cooled during hot weather by a portion of the same +machinery that supplies the heat in winter, and it is not improbable +that every large establishment, private, or public, will in the near +future have its own refrigerating plant. + +Inventors are now at work on cold-air stoves that draw in warm air, +extract the heat from it, and deliver it purified and cooled by many +degrees. + +Even the people of this generation, therefore, may expect to see their +furnaces turned into cooling machines in summer. Then the ice-man will +cease from troubling and the ice-cart be at rest. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stories of Inventors, by Russell Doubleday + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11368 *** |