Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1918 — Page 2

Technigue of Bomb Dropping

Chance of Hitting Intended Target from Airplane Is Small

aERMAN air raids have caused Londoners to build concrete bombproof shelters. When warning of an air raid is received, Mrs. Londoner calls the children together, whistles for the dog, and, taking the phonograph under her arm, marshals the family into the bombproof shelter, writes A. M. Jungmann, associate editor of Popular Science Monthly, writing of raids in the magazine section of the New York Sun. Air raids have brought about a condition which mankind has not known since those prehistric days when animals rushed matlly into caves to protect themselves from terrible flying monsters. The pterodactyl, for instance, must have looked to its victims very much as a bombing Boche looks to an Englishman of today. Notwithstanding its repulsive appearance, however, the pterodactyl was a mild creature in comparison to a modern airplane carrying upward of a dozen death-dealing bombs. Among the many

horrible Implements of destruction which this war has developed the bomb is conspicuous. Whether used on land or in the water, its capacity for destruction is enormous in comparison with its size. The chief handicap in its use by aviators is the difficulty of making it hit the target. The increased accuracy which has been developed by bomb droppers has been offset by the fact that antiaircraft guns constantly force the raiders to ascend to greater heights. The higher an aviator flies the greater are the possibilities of error in his calculations for hitting his target. The principal reason why it is far more difficult to score a hit With a bomb thrown from an airplane than with a gun on the earth is that a bomb thrown from a moving airplane will not fall straight dbwn, but will continue to move for a time in the direction of the flying machine. This means that the bomb thrower must calculate just the second he must drop the bomb before he reaches his target. Although practice helps greatly in determining the exact moment at which to let go, aviators do not have to depend solely upon themselves in the matter. Special sighting arrangements have been devised which are of great assistance .in making a hit. The moment a bomb is dropped from a moving airplane it comes under the Influence of' both the forward movement of the airplane and gravitation. The result is that it follows a curved path from the machine to the earth. The higher the machine Is flying and the faster it is going the greater is the distance in front of the target at which the bomb must be released. If a bomb is dropped only one-half a second before it should have been released it will not strike within, many yards of the target. It Is far more difficult to select a target and drop bombs on it from an airplane than it is from a dirigible. In dropping bombs an aviator must take into account not only gravitation and his own velocity, but also the winds. The wind conditions between the airplane and the earth may vafy greatly. This would greatly Influence the trajectory or curve of the path of the falling bomb. A decided difference is

made in this curve if the bomb is thrown with or against the wind and if the bomb encounters a side wind, ‘which would throw it out of its course. In order to determine just when to release a bomb an aviator must know at what height he is flying. For this purpose he consults a barometer. But in order that the knowledge which the barometer gives him may be of material benefit In bomb throwing, the aviator must also know at exactly what elevation above sea level his target is. Therefore aviators have to study maps of the a country which they intend bombing before starting out on a raid. Next the aviator must know at what speed he is traveling. This he Can determine by ascertaining the time required to cover a certain definite distance. He can calculate this distance by consulting his map. Naturally he must make this calculation while in the immediate vicinity of his target. For example, if he notes that the distance between two given points is 1,000 meters and he covers that distance in 25 seconds, he will know that he is traveling at the rate of 40 meters per second. The observation instruments with which bombing airplanes are equipped enable the aviators to fix their targets by studying a series of angles. The instrument is set for a definite arigle and the time is noted at which the target comes into view under that angle. The aviator then sets the instrument for another angle, which is less than the first, and again notes the time at which the target appears. He observes the number of seconds required for the machine to travel through these two angles and thereby arrives at the velocity of the machine over that distance. The observation instrument is a simple frame, the sides of which form a quadrant. A pivot is attached to the underside of the frame which enables it to be set up on a vertical tube or other opening on the airplane. A clock •is attached to the rear wall of the frame, while the front has another pivot which turns the telescope. The center of the pivot is the center of the.angular arch from which the line of sight of the telescope is read. The bombs dropped from airplanes resemble torpedoes in their shape and construi*&on. Probably this is the reason why they are frequently miscalled aerial torpedoes. Most of them are equipped with a sort of windmill which is rotated by the rush of the bomb through the air and which sensitizes the percussion fuse while the bomb is falling. They are built after the manner of a torpedo, with a streamline form to offer a very small head resistance to the wind. This streamline form with the reduced head resistance, causes the bomb to sail through the air in the same direction as the airplane. This continues for a few seconds.after it s released and when it begins its descent. In order to be certain to hit their targets! the aviators of today do not content themselves with releasing one bomb but instead, release a whole flock. If a number of bombs are dropped at once, the chances of hitting the target are far greater. The Gotha airplane’s bomb-carrying capacity is said to be 12 00-pound bombs and two 100-pound bombs. But formidable as that machine is. it Is eclipsed by the English Handley-Page, which carries eight 250-pound bombs, totaling in weight 2,000 pounds, which is really 2% times the capacity of the >O The powerful explosive used in these, bombs is generally TNT. Any man of ordinary strength can easily carry enough of this powder to blow up one „f our largest ships. It is said that 80 pounds of TNT could easily destroy any ship afloat. At the moment of explosion four cubic feet of TNT will generate 40,000 cubic feet of gas. This is the reason why depth bombs employing TNT are so dangerous to submarines. ’ , For example. If a depth bomb is detonated near a ship or a submarine, It will destroy the vessel because water is incompressible. The gases must escape somewhere. If the bomb is exploded at sufficient depth the shock is transmitted in all directions. Naturally. If a ship is-near the gases will blow In the sides of the ship. If. however, the bomb if exploded near the surface of the water, the gasee will escape along the iine of least resistance, which will be toward the surface. They will fling up great masses of water In the air. Bombs which are designed to explode at a given depth may be relied upon to destroy any |

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. ’ RENSSELAER. TN~L

ship which is in their vicinity. It is not necessary for a depth bomb to touch a submarine or a ship in order to destroy it. Joseph A. Steinmetz, president of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania, has invented a depth bomb which is particularly designed to be used against the U-boats. He has planned to use a number of high-speed flying boats which can serve either as aircraft or as boats on the surface of the water. One of these boats would be used as a sort of scout to discover lurking submarines. At the moment of discovery the seaplane would notify its sister craft. Some of these would endeavor to pass over the submarine while floating on the water in their capacity as boats. The seaplane on the Water line would trail a depth bomb. Its sister ship in the air would signal, to it the movements of the submarine, thereby enabling it to follow the undersea craft. In order to keep the bomb from coming to the surface of the water while it was being towed, an inclined plate would be secured to the cable to which the bomb was attached. The bomb itself is provided with contacts which would cause it to explode the moment it touched any object. It is said that the average depth bomb contains 250 to 350 pounds of TNT. When a destroyer sights a submarine Mt makes a dash for it at full speed. When it has come within a certain distance of the submarine it drops a depth bomb overboard. The bomb is so constructed that it will be detonated at any desire depth. As it is not necessary for the bomb to hit the submarine in order to destroy it, the time

does not have to be as accurate us in the case of a bomb dropped by an HirCI Some depth bombs are so constructed that they may be detonated by the pressure of the water. As everybody knows, the pressure of the water increases with every foot one goes beneath the surface. In order to set a bond) of this type it is only necessary to determine at what depth it shall oe exploded.* Then a spring is adjusted and the bomb sinks until the water pressure releases the spring mechanism and causes the detonation. It is something like setting an alarm clock, only, instead of setting the mechanism to go off at a certain time it is set to go off at a given number of feet beneath the surface of the water. . Another depth bomb is exploded by complicated clockwork, which is put In operation the moment the bomb strikes the water. As the clockwork is designed to "'run for several seconds before the bomb is exploded, the bomb s supposed to reach the desired depth before the detonation takes place. Because water is incompressible, a depth bomb will do far more damage if it is exploded 100 feet beneath the surface than it would if it were exploded only ten or fifteen feet below the surface. Another type of underwater depth bomb is intended to be used from airplanes It is dropped from the airplane on a cable. A parachute aids it to fall straight and keeps the cable from becoming entangled, The length of the cable determines the depth at which the bomb shall explode. The explosive in this bomb is carried in a long cylinder which has a detonator and an electric battery at one end. ' ± Bombs which explode in the water are capable of doing far greater harm than those which explode on the land. It has been noted that the bombs dropped by the Germans in England frequently dig A' hole in the ground flve or six feet in depth, but fail to do any great amount of damage when they explode. While their radius of destruction is so limited, the force of the explosion will shatter window panes for a half mile around. Yet if a bomb of this

same type should fall In the middle of a road which ran between stone walls, it would not tear down the wall on either side of the road. Perhaps If the bombs could be so made that they would explode above the surface of the ground the effect of the explosion would not be lost on the walls of the crater as it is' now. With all their frightfulness, the Germans have not been very successful in making bombs which do a great deal of harm. Casualties resulting from a feomb raid are frequently caused by shrapnel used against the enemy aircraft. That is one of the reasons why civilians are always ordered indoors and off the streets during a bomb raid. The antiaircraft guns puffing away at the enemy are very dangerous to any persons who are in the open during the bombardment.

With Queue Custom Passe. Shanghai Doctor Predicts Chinese May Raise Beards

Most of us have wondered why the Chinaman, in distinction from other men. does not grow a beard. Of course, some members of the race who belongs to the male persuasion are exceptions to the rule. But the great majority of Chinamen have no hair upon the face. Dr. A. M. Dunlap of Shanghai, who has given considerable time to the, subject, holds that' the old Chinese custom of wearing queues consumed all of the. energy provided by nature* for the raising of hair. And now’ that the queue is out of fashion. Doctor Dunlap thinks that beards may begin to grow. Writing in an American medical journal of recent date, he tells some very interesting things about the Chinese barber, the styles in hair, etc. “The nationwide cutting off of that Manchu invention —the queue has created a new class of modern barbers. I do not mean to say that the barber of old China has passed, with his practices, w’hich remind us of these Occidental barbers in ancient time. Even in as enlightened a city as Shanghai they Ifr/constantly to be seen on the street corners. “Today these old men can be seen with their washstands, basins and a single towel, which does for everybody, on the shady side of the street in summer and on the sunny side in winter.”

Might Try It.

“I liked your speech, mister,” declared the rural attorney who was visiting the city. “What kind of a lawyer are you?” "I'm a patent lawyer.” “Weil, you advanced some good ideas, itave you got a patent on that line of talk?”-

Flan Appropriate Marking of Soot Where Washington Crossed Delaware River

The project for marking the spot .where Washington crossed the Delaware as reached by stage in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It first gained rehl ape seven or eight years ago, when the Washington’s Crossing Park commission of New Jersey prepared a plan for a grandiose memorial. Land w’as to be acquired on each side of the river, laid off into .fine parks, and a splendid memorial bridge built. The commission actually spent some .$20,000 in buying 100 acres on the New Jersey shore. To its powers the state department of conservation have now succeeded, and they propose a more modest memorial. The 100 acres should be sold, the house of the Ferryman McConkey, who supplied the patriot army with boats, should be bought and restored, and the entrance from the river to the old Pennington road should be marked w'lth an atch. This will cost nothing like the $250,000 original outlay, and SIO,OOO annual maintenance required for the original plan. Meanwhile a commission has been appointed to canvass the possibility of acquiring land at Taylorville, Pa,, to be developed a*a park to mark the starting point of Washington’s raid. —New York Evening Post

Self-Appreciation.

“I tell you, young man, we need brains in this business.” “I know you do, sir; that is why I am offering you my services.”

Quite Naturally.

“Do you think the financiers in the case will float this loan all right?” “Sure. It’s coming along swimmingly.”

HIS LITTLE FLING

By JACK LAWTON.

(Copyright, 1918, Western Newspaper Union.) Richard had lived an uneventful life. Raised by two exacting aunts, method had,, been the keynote of. his existence Marion, his sister, had shared the same monotonous but comfortable fate. Any custom but that of the little town’s conformity was frowned upon; therefore, Richard passed duly and dully through high school, entered the Grovestown bank, became chief clerk and continued passively his dally routine. Marion taught eventually in the school and read at evening from books approved by the two dominating old ladies. Marion’s life promised to blend exactly into what theirs was today. The Grovestown schoolgirls of his day had grown up and greeted him smilingly now upon the streets; there his interest -ended. . Perhaps it was the first breath of spring that turned him to rebellion, or perhaps the sentence of a story read the previous night. “One must have his little fling,” the story had insisted, and Richard realized suddenly and indignantly that he had never had any “fling” at all. Everything had been arranged and ordered for him. “Going to spend my holiday week in the city,” he told the banker abruptly and departed. By long-distance ’phone he later notified his astounded family. “Do you suppose he has gone to see the dentist?” Marlon asked. “Urgent and private banking business, undoubtedly,” declared the elder aunt. But Richard had gone to “have his little fling.” His vision of an untrammeled good time was rather hazy. There would be vaudeville shqws of course, famous inOvles and meals at the biggest hotels. He regretted having no acquaintance n the city; enjoying things alone was not satisfactory. “If one knew a companionable man or” —Richard actually blushed“an exceedingly attractive' girl like those of the stories”—and at this part of his meditation, an exceedingly attractive girl, seated herself at the opposite side of the hotel table. “May I have the salt, please?” she asked, and the ice was broken. It seemed a natural thing after that to fall easily into conversation. “The war! How terrible it was! The play at the Strand —had he seen it? —so very good," etc. Richard’s eyes spoke open admiration of the girl’s modish spring suit. “Good-by,” said the girl as she clasped her white gloves, but Richard arose with surprising temerity. “Oh, please,” he begged, “couldn’t you take pit? on a lonely fellow and go over to the show with him ?” “Why,” she ‘objected, “I might be married.” “But you are not?” Richard questioned. “No, I am not,” the girl admitted. She considered. “I have an engagement for this evening; would tomorrow afternoon do?” o He agreed with alacrity. Dazedly Richard passed out of the glittering dining room. “How remarkable it had all been.” Never before had he freely laughed and talked with any 1 young woman. There had always been an uneasy desire for flight. Now his one desire was to see again this daringly lovely creature. If he might only persuade her to accompany him through various pleasure trips of the week to come. And the girl proved easy to persuade. One might almost imagine her as eager for companionship and free-hearted amusement as himself. Twice she had* permitted him to call for her at the home where she was a guest. A home in a favored residential district it was, but all that Richard could learn of the girl was her name, Faith Stanton. Of her own home life she Avas reticent. Richard had introduced himself by card. Miss Stanton did hot further present him to her hostess. But of the girl’s life or people Richard carecLnothing. With the headlong impulsiveness of this his first adventure he had fallen irrevocably in love. Then, before he himself knew what he was doing, Richard proposed. The girl’s prompt and flat refusal brought him quickly to earth. “You do not khow me at all,” she sighed. "I am very different from what you think.” Nothing could move her from her tearful determination. The Grovetown home when he returned seemed duller than ever, the bank routine more distasteful. Then, one day, a familiar tone at his window started his aching heart to hammer. When he looked over his mahogany railing into the face beneath he could only murmur, “You!” The girl of his adventure stood thrusting a bank book before him. “I told you that I was different from the dashing creature I played at being,” Faith Stanton protested. “I knew you all along. You have cashed father’s checks for me with scarce a glance, the Rev, Jabez Stanton, minister. We came here last month. I was In the city attending a school friend’s wedding when I met you. I wanted to know how It would seem to live as Other girls do, and she let me wear her clothes.” Faith touched her prim hat with a grimace. “Mother makes me wear this style,” she said. Through the barred window Richard caught and held the girl’s hands. “Oh 1 Glory!” he whispered. “Oh! Glory f I axn coming to see yon tonight"

Teachers That Shine

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

■ . Moody Bible Inititute. Chicago ‘

TEXT—And they that be teachers Imvrin) shall qhjne as the brightness of the According to ancient fable, Jupiter once offered the prize of immortality to him who was

competitors but presenting no claim, Jupiter exclaimed, “Who art thou?” “Only a spectator,” said the niage; “all these were once my pupils.’ 1 “Crown him, crown him,” said Jupitei ; “crown the faithful teacher with immortality.” Making due allowance for the extravagance of this fable, there yet remains enough of truth in it to prove an inspiration to every faithful teacher. . God has indeed laid upon you a great responsibility. As a teacher and companion of youth you have an Influence second to no other in the community. You are in daily contact with minds that are bright, hearts that are sensitive, and wills that are pliable. They are sent to you for the express purpose of being influenced by you, and at the most plastic period of their lives. Granted that the special work for which you are employed is to educate the mind; still, is it not your duty also to lead them into the realms of spiritual knowledge, and above all to introduce them to the Great Teacher, who said, “Take my yoke upou you and learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls?” We all, know that young people do not wish to have religion thrust upon them continually, but they do, without exception, admire a strong Christian character, and they appreciate a loving Christian interest in their welfare and an>eccasional earnest word upon, the subject. Reipember also that many of your pupils receive no Christian training at home, and they will doubtless go out Into the world without any definite religious principles unless they receive them from you. Of all the instructors whom the writer had in school and college, no one did so much in shaping his life as the district schoolteacher who introduced him to Jesus Christ. And there was seldom a term in that school when someone was not laid upder the same debt of gratitude. There was no distinctive religious teaching in the school, but in and out of classroom she so exhibited the beauty of holiness in her own life that her pupils became easy converts to her Lord and Master 1 when the opportunity arrived to present his claims. Every true teacher hopes to leave the stamp of his own personality upon those entrusted to his care. Blessed ' is he whose personal impress leaves on every heart the beautiful image of Jesus. If you are a Sunday school teacher your opportunities are all the greater for leading your scholars to Christ. No one can estimate the influence of a real heart-to-heart talk with a pupil, or the touch of a loving hand, or the power of persistent prayer, but those who use these means know that they are almost irresistible. A man in New York said to his pastor, “You ought to have known my mother: She was always hunting for the lost. In the town where she lived was a family of low ■ reputation, containing seven boys, each of whom was worse than the rest. “She went to the home and asked the parents if they would send their boys to her class in Sunday school, and they cursed her. Then she tackled one of the boys on the street, and persuaded him to come into her class. He sat there a while, and then started for the door with the teacher after him. He told her to go to hell, and she came back deeply grieved, but not discouraged. Two Sundays later she had him back in the school. After a while she lured the second boy into her class, and then another and another, until finally she had them all. “Everyone of those boys was con* verted, and all seven of them became preachers of the Gospel. The boy who told his teacher to go to hell preached her funeral sermon only a short time “Until he find it," is a good motto for every teacher to write in her Bible. But when we live a/dtvfifed life, when we call Christ, •‘Master," with our lips and crucify him again and again upon the cross of oiir Own convenience, we may as well take a vacation until we decide, once and forever, whose we are, and whom we are to serve. Perchance in heaven some day to me Some blessed saint will come, and say, “All hale, beloved! but for thee My eoul to death had fallen a prey.* And oh, what rapture in the thought One soul to glory to have brought!

most beautiful to mankind, and the court of Olympus was crowded with competitors. The warrior boasted of his patriotism, the rich man of his munificence, the orator boasted of his voice, the poet spoke of his power to move even the gods by praise. Seeing a venerable man looking upon the group of