People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1897 — For Safety on the Seas. [ARTICLE]

For Safety on the Seas.

Another invention for the transmission of sound, no less valuable in its way than the preceding, is called the eophone. It is an instrument designed to indicate fyom what direction a sound emanates with absolute accuracy. It is expected that it will be especially valuable on ships at night and during fogs. As the number and speed of vessels Increase, it is probable that this device will be the means of preventing many of the collisions and wrecks which have come to be looked upon almost as a necessary evil and yearly occasion a terrible sacrifice of lives. The instrument consists of two bell-like Bound receivers, resembling somewhat the small ventilator pipeß used on shipboard, both turned the same way and separated by a diaphragm. Connected with each receiver is a rubber tube, which is passed inside the pilot house and adjusted to the ears of the pilot The receivers can be turned in any direction by the pilot, as they are attached to a shaft running into the pilot house, which he can operate at will. On this shaft is a pointer which fdlows the direction of the receivers and shows on a dial the point at which the object 1b located.