BLACKENING THE MOON

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 175, 19 April 1919, Page 10

BLACKENING THE MOON

SO3IK UIiALXY IDEAS FOIt THE ADMIIUL'IT. The Admiralty Board of Inventions is to be continued as the Scientific .Research and Lxperiment Department. The old board was set up in July, 1915, to receive inventions from tlie puulie. During the iirst six months the number tent in was 10,957, while tip to date i.o iewer than S'J,UOO singestions for inventions have been received and considered. While the U-boat menace was at its height suggestions simply poured in--there wero 1300 in one week. Although it was published originally that the board was purely for inventions dealing with naval matters, tho general idea; appeared to be that any invention would ho considered, and they ranged in their subjects from patent hairpins to "unsinkable" battleships. Many intensely humorous suggestions wero received— sent in all good faith—and these frequently dealt with magnetism. Because one sees a magnet lift a large block of iron, it does not follow that it will lift a submarine from out of Hie water, especially at a distance. Several persons suggested that a giant magnet of great power should be placed somewhere m the North Sea. This was for the purpose of drawing the U-boats all into one selected spot, All our Navy would have to do then ivould be to go out, say, once a week and pick them oif! . Another serious suggestion was that a largo magnet should be suspended over a ship's side so that when'ii submarine broke surface it would bo drawn to the magnet and caught. One of the most remarkable suggestions was for "putting out the moon on • a moonlight night." The idea was that, two dozen searchlights arranged in a circle should be trained on to the moon, all throwing black or dark tinted rays! One application from America relating to the use of wireless by enemy agents was so attractive that inquiires wero made, when it was found that the sender was an inmate of an asylum.

But if thousands cf inventions which were sent in wore of 110 use whatever; ninny were of Hie nlmosl value and were used with great success during (he var, wlu'isi many arc applicable for use in ppneo time. AmoiiK' some which have more than justilied tile cure which the officials spent over till) study of the applications, particular nieiilion must be made of hydroplane* and listening Rear scnr.rnlly. The investi|;nlions were curried out by the board, and the inventions perfected by Admiralty departmonis. Tt mis the lisp of these inventionn which enabled the U-boat menace to bo turned aside.

The folloivim; members form the new committee of the Upper ltutt School:— Messrs. CI. IT. Guthrie (chairman), L. (.Tough (?o".vctarvl. Elliott,. Grcig, Taylor. Greenwood, Dick, Anderson, and Wards. The siren used at Dover diirinp the wai to ,?ivp notice of air raids is to be placed in the local museum as a war souvenir. What is claimed to be {Tie world's bistres t. hotel, (Tie Pennsylvania, which lias 22ft(i rooms, with baths, lyas opened reronlly in New York. A Russian superstition is, when a woman is first U> enter a train, bi-.d iuek is sure to come unless the next two persons to enter are men.