Hand-book of the Howell Automobile Torpedo. Published by the American Ordnance Company. The hand-book, of 42 pages, gives a detailed description of the Howell torpedo, launching gear, motor, and accessories. Twenty descriptive plates from original drawings of the various parts of the torpedo accompany the text, in which they are referred to under the various headings.
Under “Routine for Practice Shooting,” full instructions are given for making the different adjustments preliminary to firing, the preparation of the launching tube, the entering, spinning up and firing of the torpedo, how to pick it up and prepare it for a second shot.
Details of additional preparation in war service, routine for monthly inspection, tables of dimensions and weights are also given.
Three plates of target diagrams are very interesting. Plate 21 shows all the shots made at the Tiverton Testing Station during the season of 1894. The second shows 403 hits, out of 428 shots fired, in a rectangular target 90 feet long by 20 feet deep, the upper edge at water-line. There were only 11 actual misses, and 14 failures were due to accidental causes, such as breaking gear or diving to bottom.
Plate 22 shows sixty proof shots at 400 yards with the 14.2-inch torpedo. The set depth was 7 feet, and all shots were aimed at center with no allowance for tidal currents, yet all 60 shots struck at 5 to 10 feet below the surface in a rectangle 63 feet long.
Plate 23 shows the diagram of a target of eleven consecutive shots with the 18-inch torpedo, at 600 yards, made in December, 1895. This shows remarkable accuracy in the torpedo, which was set to run at 6 feet depth, with a speed of 32 knots at 400 yards and 28 knots at 600 yards.
H. G. D.
Le Passager: Guide Horaire de Tous les Paquebots Français et Étrangers. Published by Berger-Lévrault et Cie, Paris. A guide-book of five hundred pages, which contains time-tables, itineraries, routes, passenger rates, and generally useful information of every principal passenger steamship line in the world.