SEAPLANES FIRED FROM A CATAPULT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 147, 11 March 1918, Page 6

SEAPLANES FIRED FROM A CATAPULT

THE NEW WAY AT SEA.

The seaplane now Hies without the necessity of a preliminary launching, says the Mew York "Literary Digest.'' Machinery devised by an American naval officer enables it to start diiectJy from the deck of its "mother ship." The 'plane gets its speed, not from ts own motor, as a iandplano does when 'it makes its start, but from a cable attached to a compressed-air cylinder. In fact, the 'plane is thrown into the i air as a man might throw a baseball or a bomb, with such speed that its motor can then continue to carry it forward. Hitherto a hydro-aoroplano carried on shipboard has been able to start only in smooth water. iSow the ! roughness of the sea will be no obI stncic to its use.

The following interesting particulars of recent experiments and developments in tho American Navy are given in the November number, of the "Popular Science Monthly" of New York:—

"Long betore the engagements of the German and British Meets in tho. North Sea, loeused the eyes of the world upon the possibilities of scouting iu the air, tho officers of our Navy had foreseen the part that the flying-ma-chine would play in battle. But they were prevented from carrying their vision into reality by the difficulty of launcuing a seaplane. When the. water is rough a flying-boat is so battered about by the waves that it is unable to make that preliminary run without whicli it cannot iiy. In the earliest experiments, a platform was built over the decks of one of our warships,- ami a Hying machine actually succeeded not only in launching itself from that platform, but even in alighting upon it. But a platform is an encumbrance. When a ship is to be cleared for action it is in the way. "For some years Captain Washington I. Chambers, of our Navy, has been working on this launching; problem, lie has at last devised an ingenious catapult with which some of.our ships are provided, and which seem to 'meet the technical requirements of those who roust fight on the seas. "Captain Chamber's, launching device is in reality a little elevated railway built on the after-deck. On the track runs a little car which carries the seaplane. The car shoots forward, carrying with it the seaplane. When the end of the track is reached, the seaplane is projected into the air, its motor having been started before th» run. The car returns automatically to tho starting position after having struck a buffer. "What propels the car? iNofctho screw of the flying-machine, as might he supposed at first blush, but a simple piece of machinery consisting of cable, tackle, and a compressed-air cylinder. The function of. the tackle is not unlike that performed by tho pulievs that hoist a safe from the sidewalk to a fourth or fifth story window. By the time the seaplane has reached tho end of the track it will have a speed of a't least forty miles an hour, which, in normal conditions, keeps it iiiof't if the propellers are in motion. Of course, tho seaplane must be auto-liiatK-aHv unlatched from the car "The elevated structure upon which the track is carried is so designed that it can be removed very quickly when tno ship is to be cleared for action. — "Daily Mail."