Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1893 — RAILWAY SPEED AT SEA. [ARTICLE]

RAILWAY SPEED AT SEA.

IV it at the Cm of the Propeller Hm Had* _JPosslble. * Far back In the year 1834, tain John Ericsson, whom we all remember ag the builder of the first ironclad “Monitor,” applied for a patent on a screw propeller to be used in driving ships through the water. Ten years later the Secretary of the British Admiralty persuaded that body to make a trial of the new machine in the frigate “Arrogant.” The device was a success. The frigate went faster than others of her size using sails alone; she could move about In the water when there was no wind, and when other ships were motionless or at. anchor, and although her speed, even with the wind, was but little increased, and the sailors grcwled at having the ship’s hold filled up with “tea-kettles and b’ilers,” they had to admit that she was safer In a gale, and could go better than before. Popular feeling was against the propeller, however, and it was not until 1862 that it was placed in the larger ships of war.

All great inventions have to fight their way, and this was no exception. It gradually came into use among merchant ships, and when the naval authorities saw its advantages most of the opposition ceased, and they decided to try it in the greatest ship they had. The “Windsor Castle” had just been completed at the Royal Dockyard, Pembroke. She was 255 feet long, 60 feet wide, and had three tiers of port-holes—room for 120 guns. She was the result of years of labor, and was then the greatest warship in the world. It seemed a pity to desecrate this noble craft by loads of coal, tons of oily machinery, hot boilers, and a company of “greasy engineers,” but it would never do to have England’s greatest war-sbip lacking In anything that could give her greater speed and strength. Therefore ift was decided to cut the vessel in two, and lengthen her so as to accommodate the machinery. She was sawed directly through amidships, the stern was pushed back twenty-three feet, and the gap built up solid with the rest of the ship. When she was launched the machinery was put in. Complete, she was 278 feet long, and carried twenty more guns. In making a report of this great ship to the French navy, Lieutenant Labrousse urged the French also to adopt the propeller, and wrote that “the use of the screw as a means of propulsion is far from diminishing a ship’s sailing qualities. It is, on the contrary, capable of adding to the certainties of navigation.” In 1859 we find the “Great Eastern” using the propeller, but only as an aid to her paddle-wheels. In fact, for many years thereafter, all the ocean steamers used paddles only. The warships alone continued to experiment with the propellers. Now, however, everything has changed in favor of the screw, and, except some light river boats drawing little water, all steamers are run by propellers. Boats were soon built with propellers under the keel, then others used two, one on either side of the keql, and now three are being successfully operated. Then came the days of “forced draft,” when the fire-rooms were closed up tight, and air was pumped in to go roaring up through the chimneys after fanning the tires into greater heat. The engines worked faster,'and the ship’s speed was increased; hut the increase scon reached a limit, for the boiler-room became so hot that the poor firemen could not stay at their posts for more than fifteen minutes at a time. One hundred and sixty-five degrees was the awful heat they had to work in recently on the fast United'States ship “Concord.” The men fainted in front of the furnaces, and others were hard to hire. What was to be done? The limit of speed for ships seemed to be reached, while more speed was wanted. Commodore George W. Melville, of the United States navy, has solved the puzzle by designing a ship with smokestacks 100 feet high. These have the same effect as the tall factory chimneys on land. The firemen do not find this natural draft so oppressive, and these smokestacks give a sieam power that sends the great ship, with spinning screws, at the rate of twenty-six miles an hour. And, even at this railway speed, she will use so little coal that she can run 24,000 miles, or almost around the world, without renewing her supply.—St. Nicholas.