Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I
Forfatter: Archibald Williams
År: 1945
Serie: Engineering Wonders of the World
Forlag: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Sted: London, Edinburgh, Dublin and New York
Sider: 456
UDK: 600 eng - gl.
Volume I with 520 Illustrations, Maps and Diagrams
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434
ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD
trace the projectile for recovery by night or
by day.
We now come to the forward end of the
head—the small screw already mentioned.
This is part of the safety device to prevent
the accidental explosion of the torpedo before
a pin which, until withdrawn, prevents the
operation of the other safety arrangements. In
the excitement of a torpedo at-
tack or a battle, it is conceiv- Safety
Devices.
able that the withdrawal of this
pin might be overlooked, and the result would
DIAGRAMMATIC SECTIONAL VIEW OF A TORPEDO,
INDICATING ITS VARIOUS DIVISIONS.
it has been discharged and is on its way to-
wards the enemy. A torpedo is exploded by
the force of its own momentum, which on
impact drives a thin steel rod, projecting
from the nose, into a detonator tube of
fulminate of mercury. This fulminate, in its
turn, ignites the dry charge just behind it,
and causes an explosion of the whole mass of
explosive in the main body of the head.
Since a mere tap would fire off this enor-
mous charge, three means of safeguarding
against disaster are provided. First, there is
A WHITEHEAD TORPEDO PARTLY INSERTED IN
DISCHARGE TUBE.
Note the hinged after portions of the horizontal fins for
vertical steering, and the tiny vertical rudders in the same
fins for horizontal steering. (Photo, 8. Cribb. Southsea.)
be that the torpedo would rub its nose
harmlessly along the hull of the enemy, or
would be recovered in an innocuous condition
from the meshes of the torpedo net. After
one of the Japanese destroyers’ raids outside
Port Arthur, no fewer than eleven unexploded
torpedoes were disentangled from the net of a
single Russian battleship.
Secondly, there is a small thumb-screw
threaded along the striker-rod, which, if left
screwed tightly home on the nose of the
torpedo, prevents the rod from being driven
into the detonator within. This also must be
removed before firing.
Thirdly, and lastly, comes the little pro-
peller of phosphor-bronze referred to above,
screwed through the body of the pistol into
the striker, thus locking the two together.
When the torpedo has been fired, and has
run, perhaps, a hundred yards, this propeller
(the safety-pin having, of course, been already
removed) is unwound by the action of the
water as the torpedo is driven forward, thus
leaving the striker free to be pushed back into
the detonator. True, a small shearing-pin
remains, but this is cut through by the force
of the blow. A net-cutting device is worked
into the propeller, and with this it is hoped
wire nets may be pierced, leaving a hole