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Show INVENTIONS TO END THECONFLICT What is tho wake of a torpedo? A ribbon of tiny bubbles across the sea. They break and leaves no mark upon the surface. There Is a second track which the torpedo has made. This is a groove cut deep in the minds of the American people, but not as Germany tried to engrave il. Our reaction to the submarine sub-marine is persistence, not terror. Germany shattered our peaco with torpedoes. Submarines have reached our coast in their efforts to hold back our troops and sink our supplies. They have only increased our determination to "get across with the goods." A submarine has been out best recruiting recruit-ing agent. The torpedo which sank the Tuscania won more recruits to tho Army than any patriotic demonstration demonstra-tion could have done. The submarine subma-rine has become as much a part of our mental background as flivvers and hatracks. With many men the defat of the "sa wolf has become an obsession. Inventions flood the Patent Office, and suggestions pour Into tho Navy De- partmenL Men of all sorts submit their plans professional inventors, captains of fishing boats, and exprt mechanics. Each on believs that his invention will clear the seas of enemy craft. Not all war inventions have to do with the submarie. They range from tireless cookers to chain armor. At the Patent Office there are filed never can be used. A superficial knowledge of the subject has led men) to elaborate impractical schemes. To discourage such men from continuing the expensiv process of procuring a patent, the office has prepared booklets book-lets for inventors which contain some valuable "do's" and "dont's" on the subject of war Inventions. One impractical plan often submit-td submit-td is to have a torpedo shield on each side of a vssel, which will cither deflect de-flect the torpedo or explode it at a safe distance from tho hull. The character char-acter of this fender varies with different dif-ferent plans. One man sketched a shield of steel bars, like a toaster This was to be at the end of arms which extended from the side of tho ship. At the approach of a torpedo it would be lowered, and would reach to a sufficent depth to protect th vessel. ves-sel. Cariations of the same scheme are steels nets, and even walls of steel plate running parallel with the length of the ship. There are two distance objections to devices of this sort. If they are permanently per-manently lowered, they would so impede im-pede the speed of the ship as to render ren-der maneuvering impossible. Then, to protect the hull if a shell should explode ex-plode against it, the shield would have to be some 335 or 40 feet away. The strain of a huge steel net or wall on the supporting arms would bo tremen-1 dous and the ship's hull also would, be in danger of tearing. Again, to lower such protection against a coming torpedo would bo impossible, both because be-cause of the speed at which it travels and the fact that it does not advertise its approach. System of Magnets for U-Boats. One ingenious patriot suggested aj lino of magnetized polos along the coast which would draw submarines inshore. Torpedoes fitted in some way with magnets are a popular idea. But tho field of a magnet is smaller than the distance a transport captain tries to Keep from the enemy. j All applications for patents pass , through the hands of a patent office advisory committee. They send direct- ly to tho war and navy departments any inventions which they think of military value. Then, if the publication of descriptions of any invention would ( aid tho enemy, tho patent is deferred until after tho war. But only a small percentage of the war inventions go to the patent office. They are sent to tho war department directly, and thero are referred to in-1 vention section of tho general staff. This section, of which Col. Hilton is the head, considers some 3,000 inventions inven-tions a week. But only a few of them are selected for study at the Friday afternoon sittings of the advisory board. This board, consisting of army officers, with two civilian members, passes on to tho departments inventions inven-tions which would be of use to them. Ofden a man. will spend timo nnd labor on a machine similar to one already al-ready in use. Duplication of effort and wasted energy aro tragedies of inventors. in-ventors. Because of this duplication and tho impractical or even absurd nature of a few inventions the satisfactory satis-factory ones aro in a distressing minority. mi-nority. According to a member of the advisory board the average of usable war devices handled by the general staff is only 1 to 2 in 1000. Research i sa separate field from invention. It is the development of ideas and the solving of problems. Ex: tensive research is now being conducted conduct-ed in all matters of -aeronautics and photography. It is done in the various government bureaus and in private laboratories. The science and research division of the council of national defense is the body to which problems aro referred re-ferred for solution. They aro given to the laboratory which can handle them or studied by some of tho scientists there. Tho ablest men of the country aro engaged in physical and chemical research necessitated by the war. Tho boards and commissions directing direct-ing research and sorting out inventions inven-tions are bewildering in number and name. But they are linked together by a system of joint members who supply tho needed continuity. Every available idea is needed to keep the wheels of the war moving smoothly; but so efficient are tho men 1 charged with recruiting scientific inspiration in-spiration that thero is a grave danger of wasted timo to the man who proceeds pro-ceeds independently, without sure knowledge that his work is the kind in demand. |
