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Show T 7 f ! v-. S"l i r 1 'TP3 An-American -Inventor's Unique Plan to Raise the Billions off Dollars Worth of Ships and-Cargoes Sunk . by U-Boats and to Put Them to Use Again Pictorial Diagram Showing 'How the "Cannonball Submarines" Submari-nes" Are L'owered to the Sides of a Sunken , Vessel, Attaching Themselves by Means of Their Electro-Magnets. They Move' Along Under Their Own Propellers, Pro-pellers, Drilling Holes for the Bolts That Will Hold the Pontoons Which Will Be Used Later to Raise the Ship AT the bottom of the ocean lies untold wealth in lost ships and cargoes. The submarine war alone has probably added billions of value to the grand total. If anybody could invent a method of raising but a moderate proportion of these lost ships he would certainly tap a vast mine of riches and benefit the world greatly. The problem has been tackled by many methods without great success, but an American engineer, W. D. Sisson, has at last built a machine which he believes will settle the question and which appears quite practical. - This latest inventor has planned to recover the ships by means of a novel submarine workshop work-shop in which the workers can move freely about the wreck and see just what they are doing. Hitherto such work has been done by divers who were unable, as a rule, to work satisfactorily at a greater depth than eighty feet, and were at all depths very much handicapped by, difficulties of seeing and moving. The "cannon ball submarine," as it has been called, is spherical, eight feet in diameter, made of specially tough Vanadium steel l1 inches thick and weighs six tons. It holds two operators, who work under normal atmospheric conditions, .receiving oxygen from a tank on top of the machine by an arrangement ar-rangement similar to that used in naval submarines. submar-ines. The Sisson vessel could stay under water seventy-two hours in an emergency. All the power used in operating this submarine is electric. A huge insulating cable capable of supporting fifty-six tons connects it with the tender ship on the surface. "Within this cable are wires for. transmitting current to the motors in the submarine and for telephonic communication. The submarine is fitted with two propellers and a rudder for lateral movement, and two propellers pro-pellers for up and down movement. The propellers pro-pellers can move the vessel at a speed of about two miles an hour. -A very novel feature of the submarine lies in the electric lights and look-out glasses. Projecting Project-ing in front of the vessel are four huge 3.000-candle 3.000-candle power nitrogen lamps covered with 2-inch glass and a steel netting. Near each lamp, fitted in the shell of the submarine, is a look-out lens of clearest glass four inches thick. At the back of the machine are an equal number of lights and lenses. It is calculated that with these the operators opera-tors can see clearly a hundred feet through the water, even when the submarine is 500 feet down. When the general location of the ship to be raised has been reached the submarine is let down by the cable from the tender ship into the water. The submarine circles around until she discovers the exact position of the wreck on the bottom, which she signals to the tender. The men in the submarine can talk by telephone to the surface. The tender then lowers steel pontoons, huge tubes closed at both ends, which are laid along each side of the wreck. The pontoons are sunk by filling them with water at the surface, but '-,- ' - . .-' ra .. . . -- r- :; - ; ' r ; r ; VlC:.; jY A - Y WA7Y-Y . r;- 7- . An-American --Inve Y, A . : ? . - Billions off Dollai ' , " VA ' , A ! Sunk. by U-Boats i l , - ' ' ' " . . a T the bottor , " ; . , Pictorial Diagram A .5 , , Showing 'How the l war alom . . 'J "Cannonball Submari- Tro, , ,,a m, , ... ' r nes Are lowered to to the grand Mf.' . If anybody co s - 'i , , .4 " the Sides of a Sunken J ' I 4 .r " trh ... Vessel, Attaching t a moderate p I - ' ' r ' " ' "Themselves by Means LT L . I t ; . . T .V ' of Their Electro-Mag- benefit the world '".V, - ';" 1 nets. They Move" Along tackled by many f , . - ' " - 1' 5''" Under Their Own Pro- but an American V . " k- - N pellers, Drilling Holes last blult a mach: I - ' ' ' - V 7 for the Bolts That Will the question and 1 " "".-v.. 1 X- - Hold' the Pontoons fte ' 'A Which Will Be Used shop in which the KT v , - i ' , ,t !; ' i . Later to Raise the Ship the wreck and : J ' - "r "" r i ' Hitherto such wo . .,'"'' i - i. i '" were unable, as i s". ' ' " , -s ( 1 i ; . K ' ,;t a greater depth t J k , - -,- , ' ' ' 'r depths very mucl , , ' ' ' X 1 ' ' t ' 4 " 1 . seeing and moving ' " , 4 : i k "' ' A- ' The "cannon r. " - ' t , ' ' , t. called, is spherica I, " K " A v ' f ; i " specially tough Ve I' N- S.'" "l ' ' 1 weighs six tons. I,, 1 . , i s " , 4 - ' , . 8 under normal at ' " ' ' 4 ; i ' , j t k ,( , ,:'fe oxygen from a tar i' . , ' - ' - 3 i c - , j , rangement simila: 1 - , . . - " - 's - - " " , J" ' t V ines- Tlle Sisson i -( x r " seventy-two hours . ' . ' y . " . N 1 't . i ' - All the power j. , 1 ' " ' j " N s e'ectric. A hi , - . ' " , . f ) y supporting fifty- 1 i , ' ' , , s v ' tender ship on th jf ' ' ' 1 ' r " ' , , ; c ,''' ! wires for. transm jh ' . ' t . x . ' the submarine an s A " 1 " - '"t The submarine is A jj t ' l ' - v ' s i i! a rudder for lat , ' . , , . . ' - " ' V " , v pellers for up a i v " ( ',(.", J ' -' '' - y - '!- pellers can move SJ ' ! ,i ' , x 'f , ' ' r T - !. t - two miles an hou j? .- ' - ' , ' " s . '". ' .',-"'.-." j'' ' X j 'I 1 -A very novel , " .- 1 f i r v ' " . the electric light: t ' ",,.' s ' ' .r 4 "li" 1 ' ii1 ,frorit of , ' , I i - " . candle power niti J s , ' ' ', " 1 i 1 ' ' glass and a steel VT ' ' - "J I , ij, v ' - ' - in the shell of the , ' . V Vr'n 1 1 - clearest glass fov i ' , - TP ' . . , ' ' the machine are . " "v, "' , " ' .- lenses. It is calci . i ' ' ' f 11 1- j' r' ' ' " s1 tors can see clea , . , f ts 5 r , L water, even when i - l'?r. 'c- ' :f' " V'Vv When the gei ; A ly' Tt I W 'X'' ",'v,-''' 1 ' 5 raised has been re - . ' f yh, ' . " I - . by the cable fron ( ' 4 ' ' i H 1 v;1 i i ; The submarine ci: I , ' (f 4 4i 'i , ' " n 4 4 ' ". the exact positio! ) v " ' V w - ' k 81 ' which she signals P " '. - It- s 'l ' - i C. " . submarine can ta i f ,'.y : . ' '-r-'TrA - ---'1 ' The tender thci t A S , '-v T ' "''Vy ' V tubes closed at b 1 ', " '"i iV f X - each side of the . . by filling them , l 1 . -t. , ( ) ir 1 4 Hold the! 7-7 - : 1" 7 -v - ' (7,4 ry-: 7.r:7M ! ' " . " - v 1 - . J - ' " ' k i . r i if I , " . ' - fh 'r P V 7 , ' , ; , , - A p : y '7 f- - . Jjm r::K f - - - . t i ".:&, ry t , L, ,-r CvpjriiilH IjIi, hy llie Lar Cuiupany, Great Britain r.f-hls Re.er-.ed A within each one is a mechanism to pump out the water and thus cause them to rise to the top. Each pontoon has two powerful electro-magnets, fed by a cable from the surface. These larga flat magnets hold the pontoon firmly against tha side of the ship. From the pontoon rise twelve to twenty strong steel cables, which are kept upright under water by air-filled buoys on their upper ends. The cables lie close against the side of the ship. Inserted in each cable is a two-inch expansion expan-sion bolt With broad head. The submarine maneuvres into position until she is over one of these cables. She attaches her-r self to the side of the ship by four electro-magnets, running on carriers which are worked by shafts from the interior of the submarine. They operate in! pairs, two enabling her to move sideways along' the side of the ship and two to move up and down.. Projecting through the front of the submarina are a two-inch drill and alongside it, six inches away, a thrust-bar. The submarine having at-' tached itself by sucker-like magnets to the side of the ship in the position already described, tha drill is thrust out toward the broad-headed bolt on the first cable. It pushes the bolt a little to ona side and then under the direction of the skilled , operators in the submarine quickly drills a two-inch two-inch hole in the steel plate of the ship. Then the submarine crawls six inches sidewaj-g . on its magnet carriers until the push bar is just over the hole drilled. The push-bar then gets hold of the bolt head fixed in the cable. The push-bar is fitted with a concave magnet, while the bolt head is convex. The bolt head while the current is on is therefore held firmly against the push-bar, which thrusts the bolt into the two-inch hole already drilled. This bolt is fitted with expansion wings which open slightly after it is pushed through the hole and make withdrawal impossible. The ship's side is now attached firmly by the steel cable to the pontoon. The submarine continues to travel along tho side of the ship drilling holes and pushing in bolts. The bolts are about eighteen inches apart. It has been calculated by the inventor that it would require one hundred pontoons to lift the Lusitania from the bottom of the ocean. Tha largest pontoon used is about forty feet long and fifteen feet in diameter, and has a liftiug power of 300 tons when the water is driven out. The Lusitania weighed approximately 45,000 tons, but her weight in the water would be only equivalent equiva-lent to 30,000 tons. It would therefore require one hundred pontoons lifting 300 tons apiece to raise her. A working model of the submarine was first built and then tested in a tank. A full-sized machine ma-chine is now nearly completed in the workshop of the American Salvage Co., of New York, which is conducting this enterprise. It is planned that this machine shall be used without delay to raise a steamship which has been lying at the bottom of Lake Huron for two years with $1,000,000 of cop. per in her. Lower Half of the Shell of the "Cannon Ball Submarine" During Construction, and (on the. Left) Design er's Plan, Showing A, A, A, A, 3,ooo-Candle-Power Nitrogen Lamps. B,B,B, B, Electro-Magnets That Hold the Submarine to the Ship's Side. C, Oxygen Tank. D, D, Lookout Lenses. E, Push-Bar. F, Drill f vj zy y-- ' a ' y urt -f.Hr-ji , if - 1 -v ;4? ;! v'Y ,iv ' Ay J Jt: 'tisti - vV- - Y7 1 ' N i v'f?r lr " ' '' - i s ' A t- f Si i "'V i " t ' ' H7 . 1 " ; t4t;k, ;.' 7 .7 uf " y I- ' ' j , -,y r:i . ., h . '''', ' V ' 1.,.,! ( t : tv , ' ? - y j ' r , r t : v 'J' , A , J ' . " ' ., ... - 1 .- - : : : . ... ' ( . .: f ' - ' . .. : .. Ishts Reserved |
