AFTERNOON TRIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 18 February 1905, Page 13

AFTERNOON TRIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.

i FEEXGHIiCAS-S SENSATIONAL France Is undoubtedly 't£e taßd'of many -emarkable "geniuses, '"but: 'the , story of a French, correspondent,, which appeared Iα i contemporary, is one, .of -the moit reaafkable which we nave: ever* "heard. Senders win therefore'require to'Jbetfeve 'S cinch of the narrative as they choose. WHISKED ACROSS. "With m> boat It will be possible to teave- Havre after dejeuner and., arrive it New York in time for. the appetiser jefdte dinner!" The man who used these swords, made this astounding assertion, was act a madman, neither one of those old inventors who all their lives have been engaged In considering Utopias the most unreasonable, or in trying to make discoveries the most astounding; and whosa bald heads are supposed to conceal the secret of perpetnai motion, or the bases upon which universal peace may Far from it. Nothing distihgulMsd the man from ordinary mortals, yet he affirms tliat he has found the means by which mankiad may be carried across the ocean-on si ship which will make, on an average, 1001) kilometres^—<sSs miles—ah hour!" STAGGERED EVEN .HIS* PROFESSORS. The man's , name is Andre Gambin. Hβ was born scarcely thirty years ago at Mortagne-sur-Gironde, in. the west of Prance, and from an early age is reported to have staggered, his professors at Bordeaux by his aptitude f#r .science. Belonging to an old maritime family. his constant dream was Of navigation. Unfortunately, weakness of sight prevented his entrance- into the nival school. - JJotwithtfandins? this,- he continued his -scientific studies,- acd more especially those el tft&m relating to the sea. It was "In alwaye thinking of ft"—as Newton—that led" him to make' the discovery "which" Tie declares ■will revolutionise the present corsdltibna of maritime transport But on tiiis let Monsieur Andre Gambia- speak for himself. ERRORS OF CELEBRATED PHILOSOPHERS. "It was," declared he to the representative of a P*ris newspaper, "during tne night ef the Ist and 2nd of "October, while at Liverpool; where I had gone to embark .for America, that I conceived the real bases of my' discovery- During that night I determined the scientific formula of the screw, which "no one before mc seems to have given. The laws --of - resistance of fluids, as wrote Admiral Paris, are still surrounded by -much obscurity. It is easier to copy than to think, and the error's made by celebrated philosophers have been accepted with reverence by writers who have succeeded them, and these error* have led to ■ insrceura'Cfea which have been Introduced into , various branches of physical science;- s-o much' so that it has become difficult to eradicate them. I hay& followed'the , metfibd , . recommended; by Admiral Paris. • I , lia.Ve start- _ led phenomena without taking into" account the researches of otfters; The screw- of a ship, for instance, Is an apparatus base* solely oh experience. SCREW AN IMMENSE LOSS OF POWER. "No scientific calculation- indicates the inclination: which shoald -be given-to its various, parts. Engineers, and shipbuilders may be said to have groped their way-In-stead of scientifically determining it. • The consequence is the loss-.or the waste: or considerable, f areg. TC-ake ~att,_ esapple> y - : Jl ship of 38,006 liotae-power- eucli as .the Deutschjand, the German mail-boat, whie& at the present, moment hold's ...the record for spewed across the .Atlantic,, uses, more than 36,000: horse-power, of which,. however, only ibout 1300 do any real, work— useful wock'. With tiie screw, the useful work is reduced to about one twenty-fifth part of the generating force, and the niore this force is augmented the greater is the loss, for, beyond a certain rotatory speed, it&e screw no longer effectively acts; the surrounding water moves aside, and the screw turns in an absolute" Vacuum." theft, according to the theory of Mons. GamMn, the use of the" scievros at pre« sent ■ applied means. In" very* niany' 'instances, , an immense Tdssf of power, "and consequently a useless expenilltuie "of money." "^ THE NEW ' V"lf was from the discovery of this fact/ states M. Gambin, "that the first ray»-ot tight downed upon m*.- The' • absolute yacuum produced by tie screw-at certain rates of revolution- seriously iaterfere* witb, and sometimes completely the onward movement of : the; vessek Instead, then, of producing this vacuum, at th« stern of* the vessel, I resolved to.produce it at tie bow, and as, accprding te tae popular adage, nature is said to abhor a. vaicuem, the ship will rush in,to. .fill the space created. The principle was found. The problem then to resolve was-, this. -The screw at tie stern being;, suppressed, > t« invent an apparatus which, placed under the bow of the ship, would cause locomotion by means, of suction. Such an apparatus I have invented. I hive called -it the 'typhonofde, , ' from two. Greek wotds— 'typhori £ ' a -blowing machine,, and 'cido3,* form. I Called r£,eo because it will create a veritable vacuum into which the ship ■fciil be drawn. By augmenting the rotatory movement" of the apparatus, ttu speed of the vessel may be increased." EXPERIMBNtS, AND RESULTS. Mons. Gambia has already made" experiments with his typhonofde, and the result* obtained.iave been certified to"-by reliable witnesses. The trials took place" near Bordeaux. Mons. Gam bin took two- sma'l? boats, ofie of which was propelled by is screw, furnished witfi the- latesi improvements; the other fitted with his Tha boats were set 1 going, and at the end of a given time they were stopped. The distancee travelled, bora scarcely any comparison-" with, each otite'r. The boat fitted with-;the\ typittonoidE-'tra-velled fifty times the- distance of ttee , - boat propelled by the screw.- From Ws"-exj>cri-menfs, tlien, Mode.- Gambin concludes-- : tlrat a ship provided with his • typhonoide, arid worked by a very powerful niotoc, will more fifty times as fast as : & simllaL - t4iip propelled tij- an ordinary screw. There are many steamers w&lch m,iie twenty fiv« miles and upwards an Sour.- The ship of Moos; Gambia could then, if his cateuButions are correct,, attain a: spsed:far:.ifl excees of anything yet even thought of. The investor modestly puts it down at 1000 kilometres an hour! BEYOND THE-RBACia OF-HUMAN ' IMAGINATION-. • -.-1 Many people may paffiaps- sniH6 at- suca j a shrng teelF-sttooWerSv-aad-e*. claim: ".Utopia/ , Suck should, however, remember that the so-called Utopias of to. day frequently become the realities of to^ ; i morrow. It should b-v reuiefflUored that {when George- Stepfienson dectitre* .that W» ! locotnotlvo- would htial a train a; tl.e ?;tte of five miles an. hour, liis statiusu'iit w;is j received with incredulity; The ftvo isiflcs i were realised, and they have now become j sixty, seventy, and even eightr. Why [should not maritime na'vigaciuix' nnder-'d I similar changes?- Crossing the'Atlafttic-'lα • > art afternoon may seeftt boyond -.the. f£*cii. of human Imagination; but.there are Utors j thiagai in fleavea and. earth, rlta.ii at* ,:thonsht ef in ocr philoeepky. -6f course. •[the speed of the vessel is not tne only , toiag jttaU wiU have t<* \**_ taongut of;. lint . should Matts.. Cfaihßin's typttofioiaa accompltth bat on*.h4lf, or-e-reaiene-fourtU, oi will be revoletvwi***.