Torpedo Boat Without A Crew - From The New York Journal February 1, 1899, by Nikola Tesla My submarine boat, loaded with its torpedoes, can start out from a protected bay or be dropped over a ship side, make its devious way below the surface. through dangerous channels of mine beds, into protected harbors and attack a fleet at anchor, or go out to sea and circle about, watching for its prey, then dart upon it at a favorable moment, rush up to within a hundred feet if need be, discharge its deadly weapon and return to the hand that sent it. Yet all through these wonderful evolutions it will be under the absolute and instant control of a distant human hand on a far-oil’ headland, or on a warship whose hull is below the horizon and invisi- ble to the enemy. “I am aware that this sounds almost incredible, and I have refrained from making this invention public till I had worked out every practical detail of it. In my laboratory I now have such a model, and my plans and description at the Patent Office at Washington show the full specifications of it. “As to the mechanism which is to be stored in this submarine shell: The first and most essential thing is a motor, with storage battery to drive the propeller. Then there are smaller motors and bat- teries to operate the steering gear, on the same principle that an ordinary vessel is now steered by steam or electricity. Besides these there are still other storage batteries and motors to feed electric signal lights. But in order that the weight of machinery shall not be too great to destroy the buoyancy or make the boat go too deep in the water, compressed air motors will also be used to perform certain functions, such as to fill and empty the water tanks which raise the boat to the surface or sink it to any required depth. Pneumatic air or motors will also fire the torpedoes and pump out the water that may leak in at any time. This submarine destroyer will be equipped with six fourteen-foot Whitehead torpedoes. For the original images and full description text see: theteslasociety/archive/current-literature/1899-02-01-000000/torpedo-boat-without-crew-new-york-journal
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 17:58:55 +0000
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