Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1911 — SHIPS MADE STEADY [ARTICLE]

SHIPS MADE STEADY

Gyroscope Has Wonderful. Effect on Vessel. Engineer Telle Naval Architects and Engineers How it Stops Rolling Motion of Boats hnd How Applied to Compass. New York.—The wonders of the gyroscope were hinted at by Elmer A. Sperry at the meeting of the naval architects and marine engineers at the Engineering Societies building. He told how ships could he made to keep an even keel In a heavy sea, and how the gyroscopic force was applied to the compass. The meeting was the second day session of the annual gathering of the naval men for the presentation of their scientific papers on a wide range of subjects. Besides the gyroscope, such subjects were discussed as the reduction of loss by fire aboard ship, the use of producer gas as motive power, and coaling warships. “When the motive power of vessels changed from an upsetting force sail) to one almost exclusively of forward thrust," said Mr. Sperry, “the design of ships underwent quite radical changes In connection with lines affecting the stability, decreasing this factor and favoring decreased resistance, aiding the attainment of higher speeds. Now that stability may be Imparted to a structure of naturally small righting movement, we are on the eVe of even more radical changes in design. "The problem is to hold the ship from lolling by neutralizing with the gyroscopo each disturbing influence as it reaches the ship while availing ourselves of all the aid possible through the design of the hull and the disposition of the masses. ... A great many ships as they now stand could with profit utilize the gyroscope steadying gear, which is at present available, and some important installations are now being contemplated.” Mr. Sperry told us seeing Russian warships constructed in Hamburg which were furnished with 350 to 400 tons of water slushing back and forth periodically In huge tanks to counteract the roll of the ship so as to make it possible to operate the guns on a level. The movement of the water has to be timed to the roll of the sea, and when it gets out of time it turns into a menace. “The,gyroscope, on the other hand, is not limited to any particular period of the boat;-it simply responds to whatever motion the ship has, synchronous or non-synchronous,” said Mr. Sperry, “the question is often asked: ‘Why is a gyroscope better than a moviug weight lu a ship for roll quenching?’ Every pound in the rotating mass of the gyro can be made to do the work of from 150 to 200 pounds, and directed in any desired line or plane, whereas when we use water or any other form of moving weight each pound represents a pound only and can do the work of only a pound and only in a vertical direction.” Mr. Sperry gave a very interesting, though strictly scientific demonstration of the peculiar faculty possessed by the gyroscope which made it possible to transfer energy “around a center." He compared a shio without a gyroscope to a ship with one.

The model ship in a smooth surface is tilted to an angle of 25 degrees and then allowed to rock itself to an even keel. The diagram showed that the ship with the active gyroscope made about three rocks in each direction and then suddenly became so steady that a man could shave or play billiards, while the ship without it rocked too and fro, taking a long time to “let the old cat die.”. . Mr Sperry praised the work of Capt. D. W. Taylor in the Washington navy yard in respect to the gyro and said that his treatise on the subject was of immense value toward the understanding and practical application of gyroscopic energy. The gyroscopic principles applied to the compass has proved invaluable, Mr. Sperry said. “This type qf compass is not affected in the slightest degree by the steel of the ship or cargo, or any magnetic disturbance. It is also free from the influences of those disturbances technically known as deviation or variation.’’ Samuel D. McComb gave a paper embodying suggestions as to the prevention of loss by fire. He spoke of

the harbor tugs, which are necessarily small for maneuvering., and yet must have high power. . The result is that the engines must be made as large as the space will permit, and the walls of the boilers are put as close to the woodwork as the law will allow. Such a condition requires more careful watching than most tug masters give, and that explains the large number of fires aboard tugs.