TO TEST A TORPEDO CATCHER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 223, 3 November 1916, Page 7 (Supplement)

TO TEST A TORPEDO CATCHER.

INVENTOR SAYS HIS NET IS SURE PROTECTION FDR AYARSHIPS

Alter being towed by a power boat clown Long Island Sound from Bridgeport, a thirty foot raft with peculiarlooking apparatus aboard finally reached New London, Connecticut, on August 13, alter breaking loose twice and nearly being wrecked. The contrivance mounted on the raft (says the "New York Times") 'is a "'torpedo catcher," and will be tested at the torpedo station at Newport. The torpedo catcher was invented by Frederick Lapan, of Milford, Conn., who says that its use by the Government would save many torpe.loes yearly during the practice of the battleship fleets. The inventor also claims that it would protect warships from being attacked by submarines. The present drag cables catch only a small percentage of the torpedoes, while Mr. Lapan says his invention would be d'i per cent. efficient.

The catcher is an arangement of halfinch wire cables in net form on an Lshaped sliding steel frame, and is hung from the ship's side about twenty-tivq feet from the waterline down. While thirty pound pressure is required to explode a torpedo, less than a pound pressure trips this which wcrks trou any angle. As the torpedo hits th > net its head is held, <ind the striking releases hydraulic pressure, which raises the lower frame of the catcher and rear end of the torpedo above water, allowing the propeller to spn without harm.

Strict secrecy has been maintained at the Lake Torpedo Works, where the catcher was built.