| Show 0 ica EARS J rl fi fITI OULTON f SA RESULT of the titanic disaster sir U hiram maxim the inventor of the jy H maxim gun has evolved a plan tor for div V ing ships a sixth sense that will enable them to avoid icebergs in a tog fog by the same means by which a bat finds its way about in the dark for a year or more he has been working on a device which he claims will enable a vessel I 1 to detect a floating object several miles away to estimate its size shape and distance and to recognize the character of a neighboring shore so that a bor for instance may be safely entered in a fog all this Is to bo be done simply by receiving and recording the echoes sent back by the objects to be detected but the sound that produces the echoes Is not high enough la in pitch to be audible its vibrations are powerful and slow and are given out by a huge siren at the ships bows the echoes are received and recorded by apparatus that serve as ears and which are able to give us much more information than a real ear could do this latest collision is another adaptation of a phenomenon in the natural world sir hiram maxim has taken his cue from the bat which he was reminded is enabled to tell the distance of objects by the beat of its wings in bats the se sense ise organs are highly developed when a bat flies about in total darkness the beat of 0 its wings sends out a series of pulsations or waves these waves strike against all surrounding objects and are reflected back and received by the sensitive organs which form part of the face of V V 4 ie I e U W aaa W extremely delicate nature of the bats wings together toe ether with the sensitiveness of its sixth sense contained in its delicate face nerves enables the 6 bat to judge dee the distance distance of 0 any nj object i by 1 the l e lapse of 0 time between tween the send ing out u and the he receiving S of the waves it la Is this exceptional excel lonal mechanism and not any faculty of seeing aae in the dark which enables the bat to fly BY v unerringly without the least light to guide it this was proved a hundred years ago by the abbe who made experiments by blotting out the eyes of bats with red hot irons and found that they got e aone along just as well without eyes as with u them other experiments without cruelty may be made to show the same thing we all know that it if we capture a wild bird and liberate it in a large room with closed windows it makes a wild and furious rush for what its senses tell it is an opening through which it can escape its eyes do not reveal the presence of the glass and the result is a broken neck A bat liberated under similar circumstances makes the same dash for freedom the flapping of its wings however brings its sixth sense into action and it soon perceives that it is face to face with a solid wall and stops short before it touches the glass sir hiram proposes to apply this sixth sense to seagoing sea going vessels his apparatus will produce atmospheric mo vibrations of about the same frequency as i those produced by the bat but of energy at least leas t three hundred thousand times as great these will not be audible but they will travel at least twenty miles so that they could be received and recorded by a suitable apparatus at that distance and would be able to travel at least fire miles and return back to the ship a reflected echo that would be strong enough to be detected in describing his invention sir hiram states that it might be considered an artificial ear the apparatus Is provided with a large diaphragm tightly drawn over a drum shaped cylinder and so arranged that the atmospheric pressure is always the same on both sides quite irrespective of any air blast it Is therefore always able to vibrate freely in response to the waves of the echo and its vibrations are made to open and close certain electrical circuits which ring a series of bells of various sizes if tor for example the object is very small or at a very great distance from the ship a very small bell rings while a I 1 large arge object at a distance of two miles would ring a larger boll bell and a very large object a still larger bell the apparatus gives an audible notice if anything Is ahead of the ship another apparatus similar to the first Is provided but instead of ringing a bell it produces a diagram of the disturbances in the air that Is when there Is no noise except that due to the action of the ship or the sea waves a wavy line Is produced on paper but whenever the vibrations sent out by the vibrator strike an object and return the wavy line on the paper becomes very much increased in amplitude so as to be easily observed and the distance that the object Is fro from in the ship can be measured by the length of the paper strip between the giving off of the vibrations and the receiving of the echo in this way t the he distance of oe the object can be determined with a considerable degree of accuracy and the size of the object may be determined by the amplitude of the waves that return the apparatus tor for producing the atmospheric vibrations should be placed well forward on the j cacir dieli or in any other position where it can be turned from port to starboard ot of course there would be no use tor for the apparatus except in dark stormy or foggy weather anle unless as it was to be used in communicating with other ships it if the sea were perfectly clear the blasts sent out would be recorded at the very instant of 0 their production but no echo would be produced but it if there should happen to be an object of any considerable size at a distance no greater than two or three miles the zigzag line on the paper would be changed the amplitude of the waves would be greater and would be very noticeable to make sure the blasts could be repe repeated abed several times and then it if the result was always the same it would indic indicate ate the presence ot of some object and the length ot of paper between the primary blast and the echo would indicate the distance that the object was from the ship it might be so arranged that one inch of cf paper represented a mile to many it will appear difficult to reveal not only the presence of objects at sea but also their size distance and character by simply sending out vibrations and receiving echoes sir hiram assures us however that such an echo properly received and recorded record edwill will not only indicate size and shape with a fair degree of 0 accuracy but direction and distance with great accuracy it will distinguish a ship from an iceberg will show whether the object Is stationary or moving and it if moving the direction and velocity of such movement let lef us embark in imagination on a ship equipped with sir hirama invention we are well out at sea our ship making 20 miles an hour and we find upon sending out several blasts that the echo reaches us in 20 seconds we infer that as it took ten seconds tor for our vibrations brat ions to reach the object and S nother another ten sees seconds tor for the reflected reflected vibrations to return the distance is slightly over two miles one minute later we send out another blast but the result Is no stronger than before so we change the direction of the blast and find that the greatest effect is produced when the blast is sent out dead ahead also that the distance between the object and our ship Is being reduced at the rate of 35 miles an hour inasmuch as our ship is making only 20 miles an hour it Is evident that the un known object is a ship making 15 miles at an i hour and traveling toward us slightly to our starboard our next blast shows us that the ship Is only a mile distant and very much to the starboard we follow her direction and when she is in a position to present her broadside to us we find on sending out a blast that the echo is very strong the bells at the tha receiver ring violently and the recorder makes a large and distinct marking on the paper strip the weather has been so thick that we have not seen the ship shili but we have a fair idea of her we know her speed and the direction in which she is sailing later on we receive a series of records from each blast showing that there are several small objects in our vicinity probably fishing boats we are able to locate them and measure their distance and it if any of them are dead ahead of us we change our direction so as to give them a wide berth subsequently wo we have a new experience we send out a blast and receive back an echo showing that there is an exceptionally large object very nearly dead ahead of us we know it la is large because the distance indicated Is ten miles and the record quite distinct by sending out sa repeated blasts we find that tho the distance between us and the object diminishes ab about out one third ot of a mile in a rut minute nute this ot of coursens cour course seis is due to our own speed and indicates that the object is stationary when we are two miles apart the reflection of our blasts rings liar the bells and the indicator shows a different record from what we have seen before the markings on oil the paper strip are of considerable size and commence sharp and abrupt but the ending Is not sharp or distinct there is s a trailing out of spots made by the zigzag lines the total length ot of the echo is thus made larger than that produced by the primary b blast last this shows that there is some kind of a cloud about the object of a dif different differed feren t density from the surrounding air and that it is of 0 considerable size the logical conclusions drawn are the object Is ot of great size it is stationary and it has something about it that modifies the echo consequently antly the record ecord on the paper strip lesem resembles bles that obtained front from both a large solid object and a cloud therefore it must be a large iceberg surrounded by cold air we change our direction so as to pass it on our port side ride at a distance of halt half a mile fortunately we have barely passed when the fog lifts and discloses an enormous 1 iceberg surrounded by smaller pieces that have broken ott off returning to realities sir f N hiram states that while the apparatus will work exactly a as described with the devices already designed he is not going to rest at this point he says that he will shortly produce a recording instrument with a selective power that will not receive any vibrations ecea except those due to the echo ech 0 of the blast sent out this will eliminate all noises due to the ship and IS the sealand sea and a very clean record |
