TORPEDOES STEERED BY ELECTRIC WAVES
by R.A. Gregory
The Leisure Hour (1898 -9)
An ingenious method of controlling the direction of movement of torpedoes has been recently perfected by Messrs. Jamieson and Trotter. It consists of an application of the use of electric waves as in wireless telegraphy, and obviates any necessity for metallic connection between the torpedo and the torpedo boat. To understand the plan of procedure it must be remembered that an iron rod is sucked into a coil of wire, when an electric current traverses the spiral in a suitable direction. The torpedo is provided with two staffs which project above the surface of the water and can receive electric waves reaching them through the air, and generated by a suitable apparatus on the torpedo boat. To the rudder head of the torpedo are attached two coils of wire with two cores of iron near them. When an electric current passes round the coils in one direction one of the cores is sucked in, while if the current circulates in the other direction the other core enters its spiral. Suppose the torpedo leaves its proper course: it is at once righted in the following way. Electric waves are developed on the torpedo boat, pass through the air, and are received by the staffs attached to the torpedo. These by a simple apparatus are made to develop an electric current in the coils of wire, and one or other of the iron cores, as occasion requires, is sucked into its coil, and this movement turns the helm of the torpedo. When the torpedo has reached its proper course the waves from the controller are stopped. The invention will render it possible to cause a torpedo to move in any direction almost as if it were possessed of a separate intelligence.