Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/371

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Attaching cable

��^ Xoop of "cable

��^-

��Top ridge of Kite

��HooK

��Eye on rod received Latch which by a tube

��Rod and eye attached to kite

��receives end of rocker- arm

��€

����■Top ridge of kite Latch which receives end of rocker-arm

��Releasing Mechanism of the Under-Water Kite

The hook of a rocker arm enters an eye in the end of a rod suspended from the attaching cable of the kite. When the arrow-shaped control strikes a mine, the latch by which the end of the rocker arm is held in place is released. Hence the hootc is withdrawn from its eye and the attaching cable freed from the kite so that the kite is suspended only by the loop of cable. The sudden slackening of tension on the cable causes the bell on the ship to ring.

��companying illustrations show, this under-water kite consists of two pieces of sheet metal joined together in the form of a common barn roof. Suspended be- low the under-water kite by three ropes, is an arrow-shaped control which is guided by a roof-shaped piece. If the arrow-shaped control should touch a mine, a latch by which the under-water kite is attached to its cable is released, a bell is rung on board the mine-sweeping vessel, and the officer in charge is at once warned that

��the tell-tale below is in contact with a mine to be re- moved. Very slowly and very carefully the vessel ap- proaches the mine, raises it to the sur- face and then steams away again to a safe distance. Thereupon the mine becomes a mark for the gunners until it explodes, tossing to a height of three hundred feet,

a great geyser of water. So terrible is the explosion that the effect is felt in the water within a quarter of a mile.

���In Case of Fire, Take the Cornice Elevator

WHEN afire occurs, why not use a cornice elevator instead of the usual fire-escape? Extending the entire width of the build- ing, it could be lowered floor by floor, permitting persons to enter it through every win- dow. Furthermore, a burning building could be emptied in one-half the time, and after the cornice elevator had dis- charged its human freight, it could be used by the firemen as a movable platform from which to fight the flames. Such are the uses to which the fire- escape elevator may be put, according to the inventor, Bernhard Sussis, of New York City. In its usual position, it serves as the cornice of the building. The hoisting and lowering machinery which consists of steel cables and drums and an electric motor is all situated on the roof. The elevator is operated from a control- ling lever on the platform, moving up and

down against

an upright pair of rack- bars attached to the side of the building. It is equipped with guard- rails, side- chains and steps. As shown in the illustration, it looks almost too ideal to be practical.

��The fire-escape elevator is nothing more than the cornice of the building, raised and lowered in the same manner as an elevator

���Sprocket wheel

��Cornice

�� �