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November, 1915
THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER by Hugo Gernsback.
Front cover -"THE RADIUM DESTROYER" from a painting by Thomas H. Wrenn. (typo- actually Thomas N. Wrenn)
Warfare of the Future
The Radium Destroyer
THE European War has clearly demonstrated what a tremendous part modern science plays in the offense as well as in the defense of the contending armies. It has often been said during the past twelve months that this is not a war so much of men as of machines. Nothing could be truer. In fact, it might be said that this is a war of infernal machines against more diabolical machines.
It has been stated editorially in this journal that there will be war always, or at least till we arrive at a period when some scientific genius (or shall be call him devil?) invents a machine which at one stroke is capable of annihilating one or several army corps. When that time arrives, soldiers, no matter how courageous, will think a long time before they will offer themselves to be slaughtered by the hundred thousand.
In the meantime, probably for many generations to come, the war death-dance will go on without any doubt whatsoever. Humanity simply has not advanced to such a state where disarmament is possible. Our real civilization only dates back less than 100 years, and as human progress is extremely slow, it may take a thousand years and more before humans will learn how to trust each other implicitly. As long as we require policemen and jails to keep us out of mischief, we are not able to take care of ourselves and we cannot call ourselves emancipated—we are still held in bondage by the brute in ourselves, which threatens to break out at any opportune moment, as is witnessed in the present war.
Therefore, the pacificists, particularly those in our country who think that this is the "last war" and who go around shouting peace at any price, are not only a sorry lot, but they are cheerfully oblivious of the teachings of history as well as of human evolution.
These good people would shout murder if you dared suggest to them to dismiss at once all policemen and patrolmen of their home town, but they would trust a strange nation implicitly from making war on this country, simply because that nation pledged itself on a piece of paper not to make war
If the present war is ghastly with its poison shells, its deadly chlorine gas, its bomb-throwing aeroplanes, its fire-spraying guns, its murderous machine guns, etc., what can we expect of the wars of the future?
What will happen when the scientists of a hundred years hence begin making war on each other?
Suppose that by that time our scientists have solved the puzzle of the atom and have succeeded in liberating its prodigous forces. Imagine that at that time one atom can be disintegrated at will, instantly into another, what will happen? The results will simply be overwhelmingly astounding and almost incomprehensible to our present minds.
It has been calculated that if we could liberate the latent energy at present locked up in a copper one cent piece we would be enabled to propel a train with 50 freight cars over a distance of 600 miles!
Now, then, bearing this in mind, let us imagine that 100 years hence some scientist invents a means to unlock atomic forces, and how to control them. We can see him stepping to the throne of his future War Lord (if such still exist then), addressing him in this fashion: "My Lord, with the means of my invention the world is yours; will you make yourself the first Master of this Planet?"
The War Lord promptly asks for a secret demonstration of the new "Atomic Gun," and what he sees intoxicates his imagination to such a degree that he decides to make war on the entire world as soon as his generals have assured him that enough atomic guns have been manufactured to make success certain. And one beautiful spring morning our War Lord finds a perfectly logical pretext to make war on a few nations, and the latest war dance is on.
Within a few hours the first atomic gun. popularly known as the "Radium Destroyer, has crossed the enemy's frontier.
The Radium Destroyer is mounted on fast moving auto trucks and is controlled entirely by Radio energy. No man is within a mile of the Destroyer—it is too dangerous to be near it when in action. A young lieutenant with phones clapped over his head and who follows the Destroyer in the "Control Auto," and who gets his own orders from the General Staff by Wireless, guides each and every motion of the distant Radium Destroyer simply by moving certain keys and switches in front of him.
Soon his Destroyer has arrived in front of the enemy's first line of concreted steel trenches, protecting the land behind them. In front of the trenches the ground has been purposely cut up to impede the progress of ordinary vehicles. The General Staff, of course, knew this, and built the Destroyer accordingly. Our friend the lieutenant stops the Destroyer's truck and moves a lever. Immediately the Destroyer hops from the truck and begins to jump with amazing speed over the cutup ground, in grasshopper fashion. A few hundred feet from the well-concealed concrete trenches the Destroyer is made to halt. Our lieutenant moves a few switches, turns a knob and presses a key—then lot the inferno begins.
A solid green "Radium-K" emanation ray bursts from the top of the Destroyer and hits the concreted steel trench. Our front cover gives but a faint idea of what happens. The Radium-K emanation has the property of setting off spontaneously the dormant energy of the Atom of any element it encounters except lead. So when the ray hits the trench it went up in dust, concrete, steel, men and guns behind it, everything. After spraying the trench lengthwise for a few minutes it is gone completely. Only a dense cloud of vapor hanging in the air remains.
The fleet of Radium Destroyers now enters through the gap, destroying everything in their path. No gun can hit the Radium Destroyer for ere the gun can get the proper range, the Radium-K Ray has hit the gun or the ground below it and has sent it up in vapor, including the men behind it. As a demonstration, the Commanding General asks that the first town encountered, a city of 300,000 souls, be vacated within three hours. The terrorized inhabitants are forced to comply with the request, whereupon a dozen Destroyers line up on the hills and spray the unlucky city with their fearful rays. Within five minutes the entire city, houses, churches, bridges, parks and everything else have gone up in a titanic Vapor cloud; only a vast crater in the ground where the thriving city one stood remains.
After this demonstration the enemy sues for peace; resistance would be folly. The country is conquered. Within a fort night the War Lord has conquered the entire world and has proclaimed himself as the First Planet Emperor.
What happens afterwards when the secret of the Radium Destroyer is discovered by the War Lord's enemies is another chapter, so we will desist !
The above may read very fantastical and extremely fanciful. It is, however, not only very possible but highly probable. Modern Science knows not the word Impossible.

The 1931 version of Harry L. Bowdoin's Submarine Armor.

When inside his suit Mr. Bowdoin through the manipulation of gears and levers, can move his arms, legs and body freely to almost any angle and with clawed hands, so constructed as to record sensitivity, he can pick up even very small objects.

1928 – Submarine Armor by Harry L. Bowdoin. Source: Popular Science August 1928.

Image source: Popular Mechanics, January 1931.

Harry L. Bowdoin filed his Submarine Armor patent in 1914 and it was granted in 1915. In April, 1918, Mr. Bowdoin completed his invention and in the Spring and Summer of that year subjected tests before groups of marine engineers and naval experts. In deep sea tests. Mr. Bowdoin's metal diving suit was lowered, without any occupant, to depths of 400 feet off the Jersey coast and withstood the pressure perfectly.
Mr. Bowdoin himself was then lowered 200 feet and walked about on a sea ledge at that depth for forty-five minutes.

Availing himself of the latest lighting devices for deep sea work, he has a special lamp, produced by the Westinghouse Company of Pittsburgh, installed in his diving helmet over his head.
This enables him to see clearly for twenty-five feet about him.

Source: Modern Mechanics and Inventions, September 1931.

Bowdoin passed away in 1935. This image from his obituary in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Aug 23, 1935.

The last version of Bowdoin's Suit – note the elbow mods and grippers.  The lamp is now singular and overhead.

Source: The Capital Times, Aug 20, 1928.

Bowdoin's Submarine Armor (above) appearing more like that in the 1914/15 patent (below). Image source: DAILY STAR, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS BOROUGH, N. Y., MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 30. 1931.

Patent Information:

Publication number    US1146781 A
Publication type    Grant
Publication date    Jul 20, 1915
Filing date    Mar 19, 1914
Priority date    Mar 19, 1914
Inventors    Harry L Bowdoin
Original Assignee    Harry L Bowdoin

DAILY STAR, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS BOROUGH, N. Y., MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 30. 1931.

Inventor in Diving 'Armor' to Defy Neptune; Whitestone Man Prepares for Expedition To Wrest Golden Hoard From Davy Jones

Warren(sic.) L. Bowdoin Will Seek Sunken Treasure on Sea Floor.

Sunken treasure—Spanish gold and chests of Jewels hidden away in some scuttled galleon down in the cool, green depths of the sea—the age old quest for sunken treasure is luring Harry L. Bowdoin of Whitestone.
Mr. Bowdoin, whose invention of metal diving suits and tanks for the exploration of the deep sea caves and the hulks of sunken ships led to his organisation of an expedition to salvage some of the more notable treasure troves in Davy Jones' locker, hopes to sail off some bright May morning soon on the most ambitious treasure hunt ever undertaken.
Mr. Bowdoln will go down into Davy Jones' grisly locker in a huge, grotesque, gleaming metal diving suit that will probably frighten old Davy into yielding up his golden hoard.
His diving suit and apparatus is designed to enable him to descend to depths never before reached by divers and, further, to enable him remain below on the sea floor and prowl about at ease for longer periods than has ever, heretofore, been regarded as safe, or even possible.
Dream of 14 Years.
For fourteen years Mr. Bowdoin has labored to create and perfect just such an all-metal diving suit, or tank, which will permit man to explore at ease the vast depths of the oceans more than 200 feet beneath the waves.
In April, 1918, Mr. Bowdoin completed his invention and in the Spring and Summer of that year subjected it to the severest and most spectacular of tests before groups of marine engineers and naval experts.
In deep sea tests. Mr. Bowdoin's metal diving suit was lowered, without any occupant, to depths of 400 feet off the Jersey coast and withstood the pressure perfectly.
Mr. Bowdoin himself was then lowered 200 feet and walked about on a sea ledge at that depth for forty-five minutes, examining the flora and fauna of the deep and keeping in constant telephonic communication with men aboard the Merritt Chapman and Scott Wrecking Company's tug from which he was lowered.
Light Under Sea.
Darkness, until now the diver's chief handicap has been overcome by Mr. Bowdoin. Availing himself of the latest lighting devices for deep sea work, he has a special lamp, produced by the Westinghouse Company of Pittsburgh, installed in his diving helmet over his head.
This enables him to see clearly for twenty-five feet about him. For the treasure hunt Mr. Bowdoin will use floodlights.
When inside his suit Mr. Bowdoin through the manipulation of gears and levers, can move his arms, legs and body freely to almost any angle and with clawed hands, so constructed as to record sensitivity, he can pick up even very small objects.
Mr. Bowdoin labored over his invention in a little workshop opening off a dance hall down on the Whitestone shorefront.
Recently the Sub-ocean Salvage Corporation, which he has formed to carry out his plans, acquired the cable ship "Telegraph," and he removed his laboratory and shop on board the vessel, renamed it the "Salvor" and anchored off Whitestone Landing.
In addition to his diving suit. Mr. Bowdoin has built a four-ton, eight-foot-high pressure-proof observation tank. Completed and tested in June, 1929, this will be used for preliminary sub-ocean inspection and for heavy work at the scene of wrecks.
Two men in the tank, amply provided with fresh air, light and power can operate an exterior boom crane and grappling bucket to extricate large and heavy objects from wrecks, and remove boulders.
Mr. Bowdoin has further perfected his invention and reports that he has remained below on extensive exploration for two and a half hours.
Astor Interested.
The inventor's plan to retrieve from their ocean caches the millions in buried treasure lost in marine disasters, as well as to study sea life at depths never before penetrated by man, has won the support of several men of wealth and position. Among them are W. Vincent Astor, Captain I. J. Merritt, T. Morrison Carnegie and Sydney B. Wertheimer. These and many others have  subscribed to the stock issued  
by Mr. Bowdoin's corporation to finance his preparations and the expedition.
More money is neded, Mr. Bowdoin said, and with an additional $50,000 to $100,000 to be realized between now and May, he hopes to collect the "Salvor's" crew and cry, "Anchors a-weight" this Spring.
Confident of the success of his venture, Mr. Bowdoin insisted on undertaking his own expedition and with luck and fair weather ahead, the prospector of '31 Will seek his Eldorado first off the Virginia Capes, where the Ward liner "Merida," sunk in May, 1911, lies many fathoms deep with a cargo of $5,000,000 in gold and jewels in her holds.
Repeated efforts have been made to salvage Merida's treasure, but owing to the inadequate apparatus employed, these ventures have all proven futile.
To Seek Sunken Gold.
Following this salvage assignment, Mr. Bowdoin hopes to delve for the millions of dollars in gold bars sunk with the S. S. Egypt in the Biscay during the World War.
After he has tried his fortunes on these two ventures Mr. Bowdoin says he will attempt to locate some of the more than $20,000,000 in bullion loot with ships in the English Channel, according to insurance reports.
Other hoards of famous wealth await the doughty salvager. The storied Spanish main holds, it is said, millions of dollars in treasure locked in the holds of the old Spanish galleons.
Legend has it also that more than $80,000,000 in treasure lost in antiquity lies buried in the fabled  
Aegean Sea off the Greek coasts.
Deep sea treasure hunting as a relief from the prosaic problems of everyday existence has caught the imagination of Harry Bowdoin, and Father Neptune may look to his treasures.

See also Bowdoin's Underwater Tank from 1929 here (not yet published).

See other early Underwater Robots here.

I found a single reference to a French Electric Dog that "will jump out of its kennel when a whistle sounds". The rest of the brief article talks about Miessner's "Electric Dog".

Ingenious Mechanism – Le Grand Reporter, 30 Dec 1921 p2 

The electric dog which will follow a lantern in the dark—a mechanical curio constructed by John Hays Hammond, Jr.— has a rival in a French electric dog that will jump out of its kennel when a whistle sounds. The Hammond dog is controlled by selenium cells. The amount of electricity that will pass through selenium varies with the amount of light shining on the metal. With a selenium cell for each eye of the dog, and a small electric current operating a steering gear inside the toy. the dog will steer its course so as to have an equal amount of light on each eye, which means that it will keep its head toward any light. Storage batteries, and a motor, or clockwork, may be used for moving the dog.—Christian Science Monitor.

My next post in this category will be Piraux's 1928 Radio Dog "Philidog". This dog went through a few modifications before the one listed.

However, article suggests the 1921 dog is activated by a whistle, not a light, so it probably is different to Piraux's.

There is a patent that describes a similar contrivance, and may be the same item, so I will present that here.

Christian Berger's patent 1,405,708
Patent number: 1405708
Filing date: Nov 14, 1918
Issue date: Feb 7, 1922

Berger was originally from Budapest, Austria-Hungary. In 1909 he applied for a patent for "CONTROLLING FROM A DISTANT POINT THE OPERATION OF A MECHANISM OR INSTRUMENT. Patented in the US in Mar 11, 1913 Ser # 1,055,985.

Having an affiliation with Europe, it is quite possible that the "electric dog" mentioned is actually Berger's invention.

Pat US1279831. See here.

Berger's toy as described in The Electrical Experimenter, June 1917.