Show y IAIIf INVENTION AMY A-MY REVOLUTIONIZE NAVAL WARFARE IbM MARINE ENGINEERING 4IEAAY FLOATING STEEL STRUCTURE MADE POSSIBLE BIT VIE or C ENOR MOUE VATER PRESSURE AT A bEPT ° M THE OCEAN 10 PROVIDE STATIC RESISTANCE TO WAVE ACTION ir rJ I f 1 ffhVfll f t U I fffi I I t tL x rr oJ c I l JI h I u EW YORKTo dot the coast with floating lighthouses that will be lamposts of the sea to 1 have floating fortresses and tor do stations permanently anchored all of the coastal cities to supply rbors with breakwaters of a mobile ti fpej to provide the navy with coaling latlons out at sea to furnish Isolated red arantine stations to such ports of a try as have not convenient Islands 3 i their harbors even to establish re ii y wireless stations far out In the pl ean these are among the posslbll es of William Edward Murrays in lentlon of the principle of building N hat he calls steady floating steel ctures It Is said by marine authorities that i Ir Murray has solved some of the fcost difficult problems with which fcarlners and naval engineers have restled without success for years By pplylng the Murray principle of eadY flotation It Is held harbor ac RI jommodatlons can be enlarged almost s definitely at a comparatively low S st danger signal lights easily cane can-e placed at points on the coast where h eretofore lighthouses have been 1m lGa sslble on account of the absence of r k foundations and last but not RO ast cities shipping harbors arsenals d dockyards can be guarded abso r itely from bombardment by a large a reIgn fleet at the same time allow g battleships free rein In the con p uct of offensive operations Instead of eplng them on the defensive close I home Idea Is Simplicity Itself adk In common with every great revolu stlw onary Invention this Idea of Murrays dm extremely simple As a rear ad l ilral of the American navy said toe to-e Inventor after the scheme had inn en explained to him the thing hast I has-t > een staring us In the face for a hun red years and yet no one has ever a ought of It before Its as clear as 101 jarllght and as certain as doom But edi ihe Inventor had worked at the prob m for eight years before he succeed iltl I In demonstrating to himself he is prin Iple was a sound ono and capable of oxd bsolute demonstration And although in Is final patents were granted only by ur government In July last his Inn 8b In-n already has attracted the fa 0 Arable attention of engineering auf au-f Jwltles both In this country and in Canada In Great Britain France and ermany President Roosevelt Is said be greatly Interested in it In a few words Mr Murray has da overed how to keep a floating struc r re steady and unmoved in the r 0 w I f y u rtllll Cv7 0 j Steel Torpedo Station Idst of more or less agitated wators bls Mi Is a problem which has faced autleal B weal engineers for years and which Hherto Jac lu has remained unsolved lIe as HI s1 Low discovered how to utilize a well i flown > stbt Ihvi law of nature All students of lat know hint the pressure of K ateI the Increases directly In proportion waters depth Simply stated r hen Ir > lire Murray has designed a struc bra deal which for reaches to a depth suf ie tho enormous of viii e ih pressure oft W thousands of tons of water above t vs i rbanco COunteract tho force of wave dls 1 s ft 1 e Water at and near the surface of pI The simplest application of Mr Mur ya Principle provides n buoyant J ti ttxft steel caisson which Is sunk down Into the tranquil areas of ocean depths far below the comparatively limited portion of wavedisturbed water near the surface These steel caissons have at their base a wide flange extending ex-tending all around and heavily weighted weight-ed Upon these flanges the water above rests pressing down with enormous enor-mous weight exerting at 32 feet below be-low the surface a pressure of 2160 pounds per square foot or at a CO foot depth a pressure of more than two tons per square foot The Inert weight of the structure Itself and the weight of the water upon It more than counterbalances the action of the waVes above Imagine an ordinary tin basin > turned upside down and submerged sub-merged and you get an Idea of the Murray foundation Upon this steady I floating foundation then any desired 1 superstructure may be built lighthouse light-house fortress or living or storage room of any kind The whole structure then In Its steadiness and Immobility might be likened to a floating Iceberg To anyone any-one who has ever gone to sea In the winter time one of the wonders of the deep must ever be a sight of a great Iceberg floating steadily with the current cur-rent no matter how violently thereat the-reat waves beat against Its sides Every schoolboy knows that this steadiness of the floating mass of Ices Ice-s owing to the fact that twothirds of its bulk Is below the level of the sea And it is partly this principle and partly the additional one of adding to the depth below water the widely projecting pro-jecting flange of steel that makes Mur rays invention so valuable and important im-portant In the eyes of all marine engineers en-gineers The downward thrust on this flange of the Immense weight of stable water is the great secret of the practicability prac-ticability of this Invention Only Surface of Sea Agitated Countless experiments by marine engineers all over the world have demonstrated the fact that the depth to which the wave disturbance of the surface of the sea extends averages 15 feet A homely proof of this Is to be found In the way In which a diver can work on the bed of the ocean without feeling the slightest effect from any motion of the waves over his head And In many of the longtime submersion sub-mersion tests of submarine craft the crews have sunk below the level In a calm and risen to the surface In a storm without feeling any Indications of the abovesurface disturbance Not only Is the Murray principle applicable ap-plicable to lighthouses and lightships and floating fortresses but to every class of stationary marine structures such for instance as breakwaters and piers bridges across arms of the sea or detached areas of water submerged sub-merged torpedo stations whose steadiness steadi-ness will give hidden gunners deadly aim floating coaling stations provision pro-vision and oil storage depots and even hospitals and temporary hotels Applied commercially the Murray Invention may revolutionize breakwater breakwa-ter construction Millions of dollars have been spent In the building of breakwaters in the creating of a good harbor or tho construction of a large railroad and shipping terminal and these breakwaters ill a number of cases and effort ters after much time money fort had been expended have been declared de-clared Insufficient and unsatisfactory These breakwaters have been built up from the bottom of harbors by the dumping In of enormous quantities of rock at huge cost The Murray system sys-tem It is declared will do away with this expensive construction entirely Tho Murray breakwater Is built In sections sec-tions each section resembling an Inverted In-verted vessel the upturned keel doing the work of breaking the force of tho Inrolllng waves and the great projectIng project-Ing bulk underneath held steadily by the pressure of the water Of Value for Lightships chief claims of Ono of Mr Murrays tho value of his invention however to another and lies in Its application marine structure more picturesque marine the lightship As lightships now are constructed It IB impossible for them a light atta greater height to carry ad than 20 feet above their decks In they must always be anchored I dltlon dose to the reef or shoal over which I they stand guard since it Ie I nol 1105 Bible for their crews to handle anchors or cables that would enable them to lie In posltlonr further off shore Be sides this a lightship not Infrequently gOes adrift In the buffetlngs of win ters gales and so long ns tho ship is missing or until a relief vessel can J take Its 1 place the dangerous spot must remain unguarded The modern lightship built by the government costs about 115000 while they are expensive vessels to maintain It Is the contention of the Inventor of this new typo of floating structuio that all of the points of Weakness In the present typo of lightship light-ship would be done away with through ho Introduction of his model A ell Cubit structure with a flange around Its base could be anchored anywhere along tho coast and not directly over the reef or shoal to bo guarded but out beyond It since once anchored there would be no fear of Its going adrift in a storm Heavier anchors and chains than an old typo lightship could carry or handle would make this certain for one thing and the principle prin-ciple on which It is constructed would do the rest Then these floating lights could be built with 80foot lanterns instead In-stead of the present standard and crows would bo unnecessary since some of the water ballast compartments compart-ments which are used to help In sinking the structures could be filled with Illuminating oil and the lamp fed automatically Filled In the summertime summer-time these tanks and lights would need no attention until the next year carne around With such a structure In use the problem of guarding with a warning light a spot like the Diamond shoals off Hattcias would be speedily solved There would be none of the difficulty commonly experienced in building a lighthouse on an almost Inaccessible In-accessible point as the lightships could be built In harbor and then towed to the point where needed It Is computed that one of these steady floating lightships could be built complete com-plete for about 10000 Its Advantage Commercially While it is declared the Murray Idea can be used to enormous advantage commercially < It Is its protective features fea-tures as applied to coast defense that have aroused most interest in other quarters War and navy department officials have been Interested especially especial-ly In the steady floating fortresses and torpedo stations designed by Mr Murray Mur-ray On the great steel caisson submerged sub-merged In the quiet depths of the ocean is built a special annular revoltIng revolt-ing deck fully equipped with guns Now the turret of a battleship Is necessarily limited by the size of the ships deck and I Its arc of fire Is restricted re-stricted but on the Murray fortress there need be no restriction as to size or the number of guns Again battleship battle-ship gunners are more or less hampered ham-pered by the rolling and tossing of the vessel which makes good aim an uncertain un-certain proposition but on a steady floating structure guns could be pointed point-ed with mathematical accuracy No enemys attacking fleet would have chance against an array of these Immobile Im-mobile fortresses While their gunners gun-ners were waiting for their vessels to roll so as to bring their guns to bear they would be withered by a fire of deadly aim from a deck assolld as If mounted upon a rock A fleet running up against these floating fortresses placed several miles outside a city would be destroyed before It got even within striking distance of the city Itself It-self In addition a fleet of battleships before a line of these steady floating fortresses would be like so many eggs pitted against a solid cannon ball The armor plating on the fortresses can be made of Indefinite thickness and its domed surface would deflect a striking strik-ing shell off Into the harmless air I Impregnable Defense Then too upon the solid steel floating float-Ing foundations torpedo stations could be placed submerged and totally In r L I i i 7 TJl ANP IlNNflLAR f i iW vVII1UTTJf11 visible and the steady platform from which the torpedoes were fired would make the aim of the men behind certain cer-tain and true These fortresses and torpedo btatlons could be protected from torpedo boats and even subma rlne boats by heavy barriers of steel netting surrounding each Then with fields of mines laid between tho utter destruction of any attacking fleet would be certain Any coast too lined with these steady floating fortresses could consider con-sider Itself amply protected and would need no fleet of battleships tied close to home All oceangoing vessels of war could be permitted to roam about and enter upon offensive operations wherever desired The floating fortresses fort-resses would have little machinery or other mechanism to bother with and only enough men to servo the guns would be required If Mr Murrays Inventions are adopted by the government the prob hem of providing a largo number of battleships for the defense of tho coast and tile protection of outlying Islands belonging to Undo Sam will become less pressing Tho Island possessions of the United States will be considered consid-ered safe guarded by a cordon of floating fortresses and the general adoption of them along tho American coast is apt to change the European viewpoint to a considerable extent No foreign nation will bo eager to rush I t c i k l z iiiiIT 1flflAYolffAPr71M77Hfi lKHTIOlZ Into a fight with so well protected a country as the United States The Inventor of this new system of marine construction Is an American engineer a Californian by birth and of Scotch descent It Is asserted by marine authorities that his discovery means a definite step forward In tho worlds progress and that his inventions inven-tions are the most momentous since the substitution of stool for wood lu naval construction |