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Page 14
The submarine planned by Mr. Swift and Tom jointly, and
constructed by them, with the aid of Mr. Sharp and Mr.
Jackson, was shaped like a Cigar, over one hundred feet long
and twenty feet in diameter at the thickest part. It was
divided into many compartments, all water-tight, so that if
one or even three were flooded the ship would still be
useable.
Buoyancy was provided for by having several tanks for the
introduction of compressed air, and there was an emergency
arrangement so that a collapsible aluminum container could
be distended and filled with a powerful gas. This was to be
used if, by any means, the ship was disabled on the bottom
of the ocean. The container could be expanded and filled,
and would send the Advance to the surface.
Another peculiar feature was that the engine-room, dynamos
and other apparatus were all contained amidships. This gave
stability to the craft, and also enabled the same engine to
operate both shafts and propellers, as well as both the
negative forward electrical plates, and the positive rear
ones.
These plates were a new idea in submarine construction,
and were the outcome of an idea of Mr. Swift, with some
suggestions from his son.
The aged inventor did not want to depend on the usual
screw propellers for his craft, nor did he want to use a jet
of compressed air, shooting out from a rear tube, nor yet a
jet of water, by means of which the creature called the
squid shoots himself along. Mr. Swift planned to send the
Advance along under water by means of electricity.
Certain peculiar plates were built at the forward and aft
blunt noses of the submarine. Into the forward plate a
negative charge of electricity was sent, and into the one at
the rear a positive charge, just as one end of a horseshoe
magnet is positive and will repel the north end of a compass
needle, while the other pole of a magnet is negative and
will attract it. In electricity like repels like, while
negative and positive have a mutual attraction for each
other.
Mr. Swift figured out that if he could send a powerful
current of negative electricity into the forward plate it
would pull the boat along, for water is a good conductor of
electricity, while if a positive charge was sent into the
rear plate it would serve to push the submarine along, and
he would thus get a pulling and pushing motion, just as a
forward and aft propeller works on some ferry boats.
But the inventor did not depend on these plates alone.
There were auxiliary forward and aft propellers of the
regular type, so that if the electrical plates did not work,
or got out of order, the screws would serve to send the
Advance along.
There was much machinery in the submarine There were
gasolene motors, since space was too cramped to allow the
carrying of coal for boilers. There were dynamos, motors and
powerful pumps. Some of these were for air, and some for
water. To sink the submarine below the surface large tanks
were filled with water. To insure a more sudden descent,
deflecting rudders were also used, similar to those on an
airship. There were also special air pumps, and one for the
powerful gas, which was manufactured on board.
Forward from the engine-room was a cabin, where meals
could be served, and where the travelers could remain in the
daytime. There was also a small cooking galley, or kitchen,
there. Back of the engine-room were the sleeping quarters
and the storerooms. The submarine was steered from the
forward compartment, and here were also levers, wheels and
valves that controlled all the machinery, while a number of
dials showed in which direction they were going, how deep
they were, and at what speed they were moving, as well as
what the ocean pressure was.
On top, forward, was a small conning, or observation
tower, with auxiliary and steering and controlling apparatus
there. This was to be used when the ship was moving along
on the surface of the ocean, or merely with the deck awash.
There was a small flat deck surrounding the conning tower
and this was available when the craft was on the surface.
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