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14 , MARINE REVIEW. Steam Towing Machine. BUILT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE AMERICAN SHIP ee wre nailaay eggs Rt Owing to the information that a machine similar to the one illustrated above will very probably be placed on a steamer of one of the large Cleveland fleets, it is thought worth while to reproduce the same. The machine was invented by T. Jackson Shaw and John M. Spiegle and has been in use on the steam collier Orion, owned by the Boston Towboat Company, for three years and in that time, the president of the company says, the machine has paid for itself in saving hawsers. The principle of the machine is that the resistance of the towing barge is borne entirely by the steam pressure in the cylinders. The wire hawser is wound on a drum, which is driven directly by a pinion gear on a crankshaft of the engines. The machine is fitted with a reducing valve,which enlarges the opening of the valve or decreases the opening according as the strain increases or decreases. The action of the machine is as follows: In a sea-way,or when the vessel pays off, increasing the strain on the hawser, the drum begins to revolve so as to pay out the hawser, and this action opens the reducing valve and increases the pressure in the cyl- inders, and continues to do this until the pressure is adequate WINDLASS COMPANY, PROVIDENCE, R. I. to hold the strain on the hawser; then if the strain decreases on the hawser, the pressure in the cylinders revolves the drum and winds the hawser in. In this way the machine is prevented from paying out the whole of the hawser, and only enough to relieve the strain on the hawser to prevent its breaking. By this arrangement the hawser is at all times relieved from any sudden strain, and the elasticity of-the steam furnishes a cushion for the pistons, so that it completely protects the hawser, and gives an elasticity without which the hawser would he disabled in a short time. When the tow barge casts off the hawser, the reducing valve is disconnected, and the machine is a simple hoisting drum, and can be started to wind up the hawser. The new monitors, Andaste and Choctaw, are equipped with the Lucigen lights, furnished by the Industrial Light Com- pany, New York. The editor of the MARINE REVIEW has examined Patter- son's Nautical Dictionary thoroughly, and with pleasure recom- mends it to any one having any connection with marine affairs.