Protection against torpedoes, &c.

Application filed April 10,

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that we. Henry B. Newhall, Jr., and Ethan N. Hescock, citizens of the United States of America, and residing at 5 Plainfield. Union county. New Jersey, and Brooklyn, Kings county, New 1 ork, respectively, have invented new and useful Improvements in Protection Against Hoipedoes, &c., of which the following is a speci10 fication. ,

This invention relates particularly to the protection of ships, harbors, fortifications, etc., against submarine torpedo attack.

The objects of the invention are to pro's 5 vide a simple and effective protection which can be readily handled and suited to various requirements, which is inexpensive ann which can be readily made up as required.

A special object is to provide protective 20 means which will stop attacking submarines as well as torpedoes.

Tn the carrying out of the invention we provide a barrier which may be in one oi two parts which may be used alone or m 25 combination. One part is in the form ot a network constructed to first yield to the impact of a torpedo or submarine and to then hold the same or else entangle it to such an extent as to destroy its efficiency. This bai30 rier may be made up of flexible strands ot material freely suspended so as to act as tentacle-like streamers and intertwining to such an extent or close enough together to constitute a practical network. These streamers 35 may be made of strands of hemp or Manila rope or marline, wire or the like and they serve by entanglement with the propeller, rudders, etc., of a torpedo or submarine to disable the same to the' extent of stopping it 40 or at least throwing it so far- off its course as to render it ineffective.

In conjunction with the entanglement network ive may employ, as disclosed herein, a network made up of flexible connected frame 45 sections of a size and sufficient strength to stop a submarine and carrying grillework of a size and strength to stop a torpedo. The entanglement may be suspended from the heavier frame network or be used sep50 arately. In some cases double protection mav be provided by placing one barrier in front of another. For instance a network of the entanglement elements may be provided *as an inner defense and a frame net1915. Serial No. 20,494.

work or combination frame and entangle- 55 ment network as an outer defense.

Various other features and details of construction will appear as the specification proceeds.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a 60 preferred construction and application of our invention but if will be understood that changes and modifications may be _ made without departure from the true spirit and scope of the invention. . . . ⁶⁵

Figure 1, is a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating the application of the invention to the defense of a harbor. Fig. 2, is a detail enlarged* view of one of the entangling devices? Fig. 3. is an enlarged broken front 70 view of two of the frame sections of the net. Fig. 4, is a side view of the inner grillework section of one of the frames. Fig. o, is a broken front elevation of a somewhat simpler form of inner grille. Fig. G, is a broken 75 detail view of a joint between a frame bar and a hexagonal form of grille. Fig. 7, is a similar view of a joint for the meeting corners of three hexagonal units in this form of gritlework. Fig. 8, is a detail view of .a 80 form of hull-piercing lug which may be used with the net. .

In the general view, Fig. 1, 20 designates a harbor protected by our invention. 21 designates an inner entanglement constituting 85 an inner line of defense and 22 an outer network constituting an outer line of defense. The inner entanglement here comprises a series of devices suspended in spaced apart relation from a horizontal cable 23 which 90 mav be suitably supported at the proper height, as by means of buoys 24. The entanglement devices each consist of a multitude of outstanding flexible strands 30 of rope, wire, or the like carried by a core or 95 hanger 31 connected at its upper end to the cable 23 or other support. These hangers may be weighted as indicated at 32 to cause them to stand substantially vertical with the strands standing out tnereon like streamers 100 or tentacles. The hangers may be connected together by connections such as indicated at 33. These connections hold the entanglement elements properly spaced and form in conjunction with the hangers, a meshwork 105 or network providing further means of entanglement. The outer network shown, is mad® up of connected frame sections 40, sup1,161,607

Τί ported at the proper height as by means of buoys 41 and entanglements 42 similar to those described, suspended from the lower edges of such frame sections. The frame 5 construction of network is preferably more or less flexible and yielding in character. This is accomplished in the illustration by making up .each frame section of a series of four bars 43 forming the sides of a rectan16 gular frame, said bars being flexibly connected at the corners by means of shackles 44 to corner rings 45. The frame so provided is preferably made large enough and strong enough to receive and stop a suma15 rine and within such frame there is preferably suspended a grillework capable of stopping torpedoes, mines and the like. In Figs. 3 and 4 this grillework consists of an inner rectangular frame 46 connected to the 20 corner rings by shackles 47 and carrying rearwardly extending converging bars 48 which form between them tapering pockets or cells 49. The number of cells thus provided will depend upon the size of the struc25 ture and the size of the cells determined upon. In some cases there, may be onjy a single cell to each frame. In the illustration there are two cells to each frame, the frame being divided into upper and Iqwer 30 halves by transverse bars 50 co which the lower bars 48 of the upper pocket and the upper bars of the lower pocket are attached. The converging bars forming the pockets may bo braced by connecting together the 35 rearward ends of a pair of the oppositely disposed bars as at 51 and by connecting thfe upper and the lower rows of bars together by cross braces 52. The framework may be built up section by section to meet various 40 requirements as to length and depth, one section .being added to another for instance by shackling the corner rings together or as indicated in Fig. 3, by. using one ring as a common connection for adjoining sections. 45 Thus the corner ring 45' in this^case .serves as a common center to which is connected the frame bar 43', and’ the grillework of an adjoining section and shackles 44' and 47' are shown by which tlie frame bars and grille50 work of the upper frame sections may be joined.

The construction and shape of the grillework may vary, that shown in Fig. 5 taking the form simply of an inner frame 60 55 carrying intersecting bars 61 forming a meshwork of a size and strength to intercept and hold torpedoes and the like.

The grillework may .be made, up in circular-or in various angular forms. Thus in 60 Figs. 6 and 7 there is indicated a hexagonal type of construction. Here the side bars 70 and radius bars 71 of a hexagonal shaped unit are connected together by a plate 72 which is connected by a bolt 73.to one of the 65 main frame bars 43. Several of such hexagonal units may be joined together at a common center by the joint shown in Fig. 7. This joint is provided by a plate 74 to which the sides 70 and radius bars 71 of three hexagonal shaped units are bolted or 70 otherwise suitably secured.

Means fomfurther disabling an attacking vessel may be provided in the form of hullpuncturing devices such as indicated at 80. These are shown constructed from short 75 pieces of T-beam stock having flat base portions 81 suitably secured to the frame bars and flanges 82 outstanding and sharpened at opposite ends as indicated at 83. These puncturing lugs are preferably secured on 80 the frame bars with the pointed flanges thereof extending transversely of the bars and projecting within the outline of the frame so as to scrape against and puncture the hull of a vessel entering the frame. 85

In the illustration a submarine is indicated discharging a torpedo at a vessel located behind the inner network defense. This torpedo will ordinarily become caught either in the frame network or in the entan- 90 glement network of the outer defense, depending upon the course and the level at which the projectile is fired. If the torpedo is fired at a relatively shallow depth it will drive into the frame network, the grillage 95 yielding under the impact, slowing down the torpedo and holding it in its meshes. The grillage is made of a large enough mesh, consistent with the holding of the torpedo, to reduce the possibility of the torpedo strik- 100 ing head-on and exploding and the frame will ordinarily be so yieldable as to prevent an impact sufficient for exploding. Tf the torpedo is fired low, it encounters tlie entanglement. The outstanding strands or 105 streamers of this entanglement, being freely suspended automatically wrap themselves about the propeller, rudders and other parts of tlie torpedo and either bring it to a full stop or else disable it to such an extent as to 114 throw it off its course. If, in the case illustrated, the torpedo should get through the outer defense it will practically always be stopped by the inner network for considerable energy will have been dissipated before 115 it freed itself from the first network and but fcomparatively slight resistance will then be necessary to stop it entirely. The disabling effect of the entanglement devices is increased by making the strands in looped 120 form as indicated at 90 in Fig. 2, these looped or doubled strands having a much greater catching and holding effect than the single strands. If the submarine should attempt to penetrate the network the effect 125 will be practically the same as with the torpedo. In this case though the grillework might be carried away by the force of the submarine, allowing it to bring up into the main or outer frame. The yielding charac1,151,607 ter of the network causes it to slow down and then hold the submarine and by the time the submarine has fully brought up into the frame, one or more of the puncturing lugs 5 will probably have penetrated the hull.. By pointing these lugs toward the rear as indicated, they may be caused to trap and hold the hull which they have punctured. If the submarine should attempt to penetrate the. 10 entanglement network the strands thereof ' will become entangled with the propeller, rudders, periscope and other parts of the vessel and either stop it entirely or disable it.

The invention is simply constructed, and is of such a nature that it can be quickly made up as the demand arises from materials at hand and to any desired shapes and sizes.