Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

TORPEDOES. 439 masts whereby the track of the torpedo could be followed from the shore. Propulsion was obtained by electric power from the shore, con- veyed to engines within the hull by means of 3,500 yards of thin cable stored on a drum advertised of these is the “ Actinaut ” of Messrs. Orling and J. Tarbotton Armstrong. Here we have a torpedo, considerably larger than those at present made, containing within its hull an electrical engine, power chamber, PICKET BOAT AND TORPEDO DROPPING GEAR. (Photo, 8. Cribb.) carried by the torpedo. Steering was done by means of electric magnets. The projectile, 21 inches in diameter, carried a 396-lb. charge of explosive. The entire weight of the appa- ratus was 4,004 lbs. Since the speed ob- tained was only in the region of 12 knots, the value to-day of this ingenious weapon cannot be considered great. The discovery of wireless telegraphy, and the application of its principles to wireless elec- trical control, produced a number of inven- tions of a character far more likely to be adopted in modern fleets. Perhaps the best steering mechanism, and war-head filled with explosives. It receives the power actuating the rudders through Hertzian waves, inter- cepted by a jet of water—thrown up at the head of the torpedo—in place of the wire- receiver usually fitted in such inventions, and which might conceivably be shot away. A crewless submarine was recently con- structed at the Creusot Works in France, and tested in the Crewless _ Submarines. Gulf of Antibes, it is made up of two cylindrical vessels having cone- shaped ends, and displacing about 7 tons. The