Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1899 — SAFE THAT FLOATS ON WATER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SAFE THAT FLOATS ON WATER.

New Device for Savins Specie in Case of Shipwreck. The present methods of transporting bullion across-the ocean may be revolutionized by a device known as the Anderson safe float, now building in the Crescent shipyard, Elizabethport, N. J. The purpose of this invention is io Insure the perfect safety of mall matter, gold and valuables in case of fire at sea or shipwreck, and it consists of an elliptical chamber of metal twen-ty-two feet long and fourteen feet broad, .flreproof and water tight. Before the vessel leaves port It is fixed on the after deck. Thieves can no more get into it than into a bank vault, and in case the vessel sinks it floats free until towed into port. It is kept upright by its form and by putting the heavy metals which it contains at the bottom. By night its presence is shown by the phosphide of calcium light, which is ignited by water, and burns with a flame four feet high, calling attention not only to the*float but to the boats and passengers that may be near it, thus giving one more safeguard to human life. This light is already used on the Franklin life buoys Indorsed by the Government. Electric light can be used if preferred, and the inventor has arranged for a foghorn and a bell, to blow and ring

automatically, like the bell on a harbor ibuoy. The float is so arranged that late mail matter may be put in up to the moment the vessel carrying it leaves the dock. During the present summer the experimental float now being built is to receive a practical test. It will be taken to sea, loaded with thirty-four tons and set afloat in the presence of a committee of experts. Its action by day will be observed and the distance at which its light can be seen at night measured. I After a sufficient test it will be towed ashore, hoisted out upon a pier by a derrick and opened to see how the contents have been affected by the water, if at all. As every year several hundred million dollars in gold cross the water, not to mention private checks, drafts and money orders, the value of the invention is self-evident.

THE ANDERSON SAFE FLOAT.