ELECTRICITY FOR BARNACLES.

Mataura Ensign, 2 July 1914, Page 6

ELECTRICITY FOR BARNACLES.

, - Pro£e9§or L. Bishon, chief of the engineering department* of the University of Pittsburg, has patented an electrical device, to prevent barnacles fastening to the hulls of shirs.' He says it will also iprevent the corroding of the; steel hulls of,oceangoing craft, although that part of the invention has not yet been thoroughly tested. "There is a company of Pittsburg capitalists backing the project," 'he said.. "The capital stock is £20,000 and th© enterprise is to be pushed. I have been working on the invention for more than «, year., and experiments made on Oovernmewt ships and those of private corporations at Baltimore and other seaports'have proved l entirely successful. . '.

"The invention simply electrifies tho hulls of ships and thus prevents barnacles from attaching themselves to the bottom, and by the hulls Ibeing evenly, electrified electrolysis is prevented,-for it is known that it is not tho presence of the electrical current which causes electrolysis, tot its absence in spots. For instance where tho electrical current meats with an obstruction and has to jump to a point where it can again pursue its journey, there only does electrolysis occur. My device spreads tho electricity evenly over a ship's hull."