JOHN P. HOLLAND, WHO TAUGHT MEN HOW TO SAIL UNDER THE SEA
211. The Submarine. During the War of the Revolution an American named Bushnell worked on the problem of making a boat that would sail under the surface of the sea. He was the first to work on this problem and is called the Father of the Submarine. Some years later Robert Fulton (page 257) became interested in the submarine. In 1801 he built one for the French government. But Fulton turned his efforts to making steamboats and did not continue his plans for a successful diving boat.
212. John P. Holland. John P. Holland was born in Ireland in 1842. He was a studious boy and became a teacher. The stories of Bushnell and of Fulton interested him and he studied carefully what they had done.
He came to America and settled in New Jersey. There he got a position as teacher in a parochial school. He continued his study of the undersea boat making many experiments and tests.
JOHN P. HOLLAND
From a photograph
Holland's first submarine became stuck in the mud. But he did not give up. His next boat he called the "Fenian Ram." It frightened people when it suddenly raised its head out of the water and as quickly disappeared.
In 1895, after a number of severe tests, Holland succeeded in interesting the United States Government in his plans. He built for it a submarine which he named the "Plunger."
A SUBMARINE
Holland now formed a company to build his boats. In 1898 he produced the famous Holland submarine. This boat settled any doubt about what submarines could do. It was only fifty feet long, but it could dive under water and rise again at the will of the inventor. From that time the Holland company built many submarines for all the great nations of the world.
From the top of the submarine there extends upward a long slender tube called a periscope. When the boat is under water the end of this tube extends above the surface. By means of a certain arrangement of lenses and mirrors in this tube, the observer in the submarine can see everything on the surface of the water. In this way the boat can be guided in any direction.
Holland died in 1914.
213. The Submarine in War and Peace. The submarine is much used in war time. The war diver is provided with one and sometimes two tubes through which torpedoes or bombs may be fired at enemy ships while the submarine is hidden under water. It is very hard to detect a submarine when it is under the water. The only sign of its approach is a slight ripple on the surface. But if we look straight down at the water from high up in the air, then the outlines of the boat can easily be seen. In war time airplanes are used in spying out the submarine.
In times of peace, too, the submarine is of great value. It is not exposed to great storms on the sea, since it can escape the waves by submerging. These boats can cross the ocean and are large enough to carry cargoes of valuable goods. In July, 1916, the world was startled by the arrival of the merchant submarine, "Deutschland," at Baltimore. Loaded with articles of trade, mainly chemicals, she left Bremen, dodged the British and French blockade, and in fifteen days reached America.
One cause of America's entering the World War was Germany's attempt to starve England by a submarine blockade.
214. Other Inventions in the War. The "depth bomb" was an out and out new invention. 11 could be "dropped" over the spot where a submarine was seen. Very often it blew the submarine to pieces.
The "tank" was a "moving iron fort" drawn by a tractor. It could tear wire entanglements to pieces and cross enemy trenches. The "depth bomb" and "tank" were used mainly by the Allies.
The wide use of "poison gas" was first introduced by the Germans. Guns able to shoot many miles were invented. One of them carried seventy miles or more.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
The Leading Facts. 1. Edison learned telegraphy, and made his own instruments. 2. Edison saved the day in Wall Street, and made his reputation, as well as plenty of money. 3. He made many telegraph and telephone inventions. 4. He built great laboratories in New Jersey, where many men worked helping him. 5. Edison invented the phonograph, and worked to improve the electric light. 6. An argument about horseracing led to the invention of moving pictures. 7. Edison improved the moving picture camera. 8. C. Francis Jenkins invented the first complete moving picture machine. 9. During the World War remarkable moving pictures were taken on all fronts. 10. Moving pictures are often used in schools and elsewhere for educational purposes. 11. The typewriter was really the work of many different inventors. 12. Typing machines for the blind first invented. 13. Christopher Sholes' typewriter was the first practical one invented. 14. The dictaphone is really a development of Edison's phonograph. 15. It consists of two machines, and is used in business offices to save time. 16. Steam automobiles were the first kind invented. 17. For one hundred years many inventors worked trying to build automobiles. 18. The first gasoline automobile in this country was built by Charles Duryea. 19. The United States is far in the lead in the number of automobiles manufactured and used. 20. Men have for ages tried to discover a way to fly. 21. They filled balloons with gas or heated air which carried them far up. 22. Dirigible balloons were invented by Zeppelin. 23. Wilbur and Orville Wright built a successful heavier-than-air machine. 24. The gasoline engine made their success possible. 25. Airplanes can now go three miles a minute. 26. All the great progress in flying has come since Wright's first successful flight in 1903. 27. In the war airplanes were used for observing the enemy, for fighting, and for bombing. 28. In this country airplanes are now used chiefly for carrying mail. 29. A hydroplane has a boat-like body. 30. In 1919 three successful flights were made across the Atlantic. 31. John P. Holland was the first to succeed in building a submarine. 32. The submarine is guided by means of the periscope, and is valuable in peace and war. 33. Depth bombs and tanks were new inventions. 34. The Germans introduced poison gas.
Study Questions. 1. What books could Edison read at twelve? 2. Tell of his thousand newspapers. 3. What were the cause and the effect of his first lessons in telegraphy? 4. What was his first great invention? 5. What did he find in Wall Street, New York? 6. How much did Edison think of asking for his invention? 7. How much was offered him? 8. Tell the story of the work in Edison's shop at Newark, New Jersey, 9. Why did he want a great library at Menlo Park? 10. How does sound travel? 11. What was the trouble with Edison's first phonograph? 12. Name some of the uses of the phonograph. 13. Make a list of Edison's great inventions. 14. Tell how the first moving pictures came to be made? 15. How did the machine Edison invented differ from a real moving picture machine? 16. Who invented the first complete moving picture machine? 17. How important is the moving picture business? 18. Tell some incidents of the war which you saw in moving pictures. 19. Does your school use a moving picture machine in its classroom work? 20. How are lessons studied when moving pictures are used? 21. Where can schools get their films? 22. Name two other uses for moving pictures. 23. What earlier invention resembled the typewriter? 24. Name one simple thing the lack of which kept men from inventing a typewriter sooner. 25. Describe Sholes' first typewriter. 26. From what invention did the dictaphone come? 27. How is dictating done by means of the dictaphone? 28. What difficulty held back the progress of the automobile? 29. Name two ways in which this has been overcome. 30. How old is the automobile business? 31. How does the United States compare with other countries in number of automobiles used? 32. How did auto trucks keep the Germans from capturing Paris? 33. What is a Zeppelin or dirigible? 34. Tell about the studies of the Wright brothers. 35. What progress had others made before the Wright brothers succeeded? 36. What was unusual about Wilbur Wright's flight in 1903? 37. What is a monoplane? a biplane? a hydroplane? an airship? 38. Name some peace-time and war-time uses of airplanes. 39. Tell the story of Holland's inventions. 40. What are the uses of the submarine? 41. Name the first submarine to cross the Atlantic.
Suggested Readings. Thomas A. Edison: Mowry, American Inventions and Inventors, 85-89; Dickson, Life and Inventions of Edison, 4-153, 280-388.
Christopher L. Sholes: Hubert, Inventors, 161-163.
The Automobile: Doubleday, Stories of Inventors, 69-84; Forman, Stories of Useful Inventions, 161-163.
Wilbur and Orville Wright: Wade, The Light Bringers, 112-141; Delacombe, The Boys' Book of Airships; Simonds, All about Airships; Holland, Historic Inventions, 273-295.
John P. Holland: Corbin, The Romance of Submarine Engineering; Bishop, The Story of the Submarine; Williams, Romance of Modern Inventions, 143-165.