Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1917 — INVENTORS UNITE IN DEFENSE WORK [ARTICLE]

INVENTORS UNITE IN DEFENSE WORK

Secretly Planning Devices to Help Army and Navy in Event of War. I— ' , THEIR SERVICES GIVEN FREE ■ • " -t, • ... ' ‘ ..." ■ • - ■ = Government Is-Asked to Suggest What Is Needed in the Different Branches of the Service—Give Time and Money. New York.—Since January 340 members of the Association of Practical Inventors of America have been working secretly on inventions to aid the army and navy in the event of war with Germany, according to Timothy D. Gleason, president of the new organization. When perfected the inventions will be offered free to the government. Mr. Gleason, who resides at No. 512 West Fifty-third street, where meetings are held every Thursday evening, said he had written to the secretary of the navy and secretary of war asking them what is most needed if war should come. "We are all said Mr. Gleason, “and feel able to assist our army and navy in a substantial way if the nation goes to war with the Prussians. Of course we could go ahead and perfect several inventions, but they might conflict with those already in contemplation by the government. For that reason we have deemed it advisable to consult Mr. Daniels and Mr. Baker before we proceed In a general way. We have a few under way that we are confident are not being worked on by government forces and we are ready to submit these when called upon to do so.

Could Have Saved the F-4. “Take the submarine, for instance. The F-4 went down in Honolulu and everyone on board lost his life. We are confident this was all A Prussian submarine met with an accident last year and sank to a depth of two hundred and forty feet, yet only a single life was lost in the thir-fy-slx hours ft was Submerged. Thirty* four men comprised that crew. Suppose, for instance, an inflated tank with telephone wires and pipes attached could be released by a submarine in case of accident and floated to the surface, a whistle sounding an alarm, do you think lives would be lost? A simple invention of that nature will give you an idea what we are contemplating. “When practical inventors heard about the accomplishments of the Deutschland they wondered and a battle of .inventive ideas followed. The American Inventor has no superior, and the people of this nation may rest well assured that their interests will be guarded in proper fashion in time of international conflict. We take our hats off to no foreign inventor and are ready to show the nation we are not boasting. Inventors have been called soldiers of peace, but their position will be well defined if war comes. We already have established a fund.

“But the time to act is now. Preparedness must be more than a mere figment of the mind. We ask the army and navy to lay out- our work for us and we will donate our time and money. We are all loyal Americans, and to join our association a man must be a loyal American and a practical Inventor. Training Station Urged. “Several days ago I sent a letter, to Mayor Mitchel and Whitman advising them of a resolution adopted by our association at a recent meeting. We asked them to set aside the filled in land from the railroad tracks to the Hudson river between Eightyfirst and One Hundred and Twentyseventh streets for use as a military and navaj training station for the young men of this city. I received replies from them, saying the resolution would be given consideration. “Statistics will show that 47 per cent of the Colonial troops, 63 per cent of the enlisted men of the Civil war, 51 per cent of the Spanish-American war troops and 52 per cent of the enlisted men during the border disturbance were under twenty-one years old. This shows the advisability, if not absolute necessity, of training our young men even boys that the grand reputation of our state militia might be sustained.” A -