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ae 2 MARINE A Veteran Engineer. -- _.. The younger officers of the United States navy who attended the re- cent International Congress of Naval Architects and Marine peeuiecrs im London, made.a-great deal of Mr. Charles: H. Haswell of New York, _ "who was in the. party from the United States. Past Assistant Engineer OE deo ; é Gods bi _. *. McFarland was especially at- , tentive to Mr.. Haswell; and lost no: opportuntiy to accord to him the honor that was due him. as the. first engineer-in- chief,.of the navy. Although 'in his eighty-ninth year, Mr. Haswell is still. actively en- gaged at his profession. He crossed the Atlantic alone to attend the congress in Lon- don, and traveled all over England and Scotland with the naval architects and marine engineers, sometimes visiting two or three ship yards o dock yards in a day. He missed no part of the pro- gramme of, sight-seeing and entertainment j.furnished by the. English. and Scotch ship -- builders, for. their. guests, al- though: there was a constant "HON. CHARLES 1. HASWELL e whirl of excitement about it that was sufficient to try the nerves of some | of the younger members of the party. ; a Of late Mr. Haswell has been engaged in bringing out, through the 'Harpers, a new edition of his '""Mechanic's and Engineer's Pocket-Book," which, since its first publication, in 1844, has passed througn more than sixty editions, and has maintained its authority as a standard work. Mr. Haswell's activity is, indeed, typical of his whole career, which has been one of remarkable usefulness. Born in New York, he displayed at an early age a natural fondness far mechanics. _ His first training was in the, _ steam-engine factory of James P. Allaire, in New York'city, where he was _. employed for several years. In 1836 he received the appointment of _ chief engineer in the United States navy, and during the year following he constructed the first steam Jaunch to be put to practical use. in this country.- In 1844 he was made engineer-in-chief of the engineer corps organized in 1839, and served in this capacity for six years, when ill health caused him to retire. After travelling in Europe, he returned to New York and de- _. voted himself with conspicuous success to large engineering enterprises. - Mr. Haswell has held several important public offices, in which he has done notable work, and he has been conspicuous as one of the trustees: of 'the Brooklyn bridge, and as a member of the leading societies of engineers _ in this country. In addition to his '""Mechanic's and Engineer's Pocket- ~ Book," he has published several other important works connected with ~ his professiion, and last year he brought out, through the Harpers, an _ interesting work entitled, "Reminiscences of an Octogenarian of the City _. of New York." 3 5 Soe % é . Ser oe First to Adopt Improvements Ain: Ships. Z cy ihe action of the. Rockefeller management in ordering from the Bethlehem Iron Co. steel forgings for parts of the machinery of the big . freight steamer to be built by F..W. Wheeler & Co., of West Bay City, .. will undoubtedly result in steel forgings being adopted generally in the best , lake vessels of the future. There is no doubt of advantage to be gained _.by the use of steel forgings in high-powered ships containing triple and - quadruple expansion engines, and.no place in the world are improvements -. in ships adopted more readily than on the lakes. Two years ago, there "were no quadruple expansion. engines or water tube boilers in freight steamers on the lakes. There are few freight steamers in the world equipped in this way, although it is admitted that the tendency in marine practice is undoubtedly in the direction of this kind of high power. Next -season there will be eight or ten 6,000-ton freight carriers on the lakes ~ that will have quadruple engines and water tube boilers, the latter of the _ Babcock & Wilcox type. i - Inthe matter of steel forgings it may be interesting to note the fol- Towing conclusions of Mr. Gravell, an expert connected with the French » Classification society known as the Bureau Veritas, regarding the causes to which various engineers attribute the breaking of tail~end shafts: De- 'fective material--When 'shafts-are forged from scrap, this is sometimes _ partly iron and partly steel, and the steel perhaps of different qualities, so 'that the shaft can in no way be homogeneous. He therefore recommends -2ingot steel; forged under a hydraulic press, but, he says, shafts made of --east steel without forging have also given satisfaction.' In any case the ~ shaft should be well annealed. Defective design---The shaft too light, '- or formed with sudden changes in diameter, which locaiizes the intensity of-stress, and thus tend to weaken the shaft. Bending stresses, through 'the shaft getting out of line, either through alteration in the form of the ship ~ under different conditions of loading, or through the bearings wearing » unequally. Vibration--When the after-part of the vessel is not strong »-enough vibration will occur which will tend to make the shaft brittle. » Hammering--When the after bearing is allowed to wear very loose the «shaft will knock about in the bearing, especially in a rough sea, which is - liable to upset the molecular condition of the metal and lead to rupture, > + Worden G! Smith of) Milwaukee, inventor of the diving bell that was _~ successfully used in raising copper from the wreck of the steamer Pewabic, 'sunk in 163 feet of water on Lake Huron, has' managed thus far to guard \ against a full description or illustrations of the device appearing in print, ' The Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin attempted, a few days ago, to illustrate "and describe 'the Smith bell, but it was quite evident that they had failed to ~~ get anything from first hands. Race fitters Hunters' Rates--Via the Nickel Plate road to designated points in the » ~ florthwest,'and southwest; also to local points in western Ohio and north- -- ern. Indiana. No. 358, Nov. 15. REVIEW. More Criticism of Nicaragua Canal Affairs. Ate RO seers It is charged openly in Washington that all the. delayinxthe gee partment in the appointment of a successor to Capt, O. {vL.- Carter on the Nicaragua canal commission, was due to objection raised, by the promoters of the canal to several officers of the army engineer corps proposed for. the place. The action of the aoe in Tee Page is, severely criticized 1 ral respects. The Army and Navy Journal sayssy . sed 0 The neon of the course pursded by the authorities in tendering the position .to engineer officers and upon their acceptance directing them to return to their stations on some trivial excuse, will be to cause congress to question the report of the commission should it be favorable to the canal route adopted by the Maritime Canal Co., notwithstanding the integrity _ and engineering ability possessed by Rear Adml. J. G. Walker, the presi- dent of the commission, and Col. Hains. Already whisperings are heard of interference by the canal advocates in the administration s choice of members of the commission, and in some quarters it 1s -harged that the frequent change in the army member was due to representations made by those interested in the construction of the canal. _ This charge would seem to be borne out when the number of officers considered in connection with the appointment on the commission is recalled. Capt. Carter re- signed because he found it necessary to devote himself to the inquiry being conducted in the charges recently filed against him. 111s resigna- tion was accepted as soon as received and after consultation with the president and the chief of engineers, Secretary Alger telegraphed to Maj. S. S. Leach, and asked him if he would serve on the commission. The correspondence with Maj. Leach, however, did not result int his acceptance of the appointment, and Maj. C. F. Powell was tendered the appointment, and upon his acceptance, he was directed to come to Washington to con- fer with the secretary of war. Evidently Maj. Powell was objectionable to the canal advocates, for we understand they represented to the adminis- tration that the country traversed by the canal route was extremely hilly, and that Maj. Powell would be physically unable to per'orm the work re- quired of him, notwithstanding the fact that that officer has done a great deal of engineering work which necessitated considerable tramping. -- In any event, Maj. Powell was directed to return to his station, and then Maj. William T. Rossell was considered in connection with the place. Maj. Rossell was finally passed over and the department then ordered Maj. W. R. Livermore to duty as the representative of the army on the coin- mission. The president signed his commission and Mai Livermore was directed to report to Rear Adml. Walker in New York citv.. In the mean- time, the administration awoke to the fact that a retired army officer was eligible to the appointment. Accordingly, Brig. Gen. W. P. Craighill, retired, was asked by telegraph to accept the appointment on the com- mission. Gen Craighill coupled his acceptance with such conditions that the department was forced to inform him that his services would not be needed. The administration then proceeded to dispose of-Maj. Liver- more. On the ground that an officer of higher rank should be appointed to add dignity to the commission, Maj. Livermore's appointment was re- voked, and Col. Hains was ordered to fill the vacancy. It is to be hoped that Col. Hains will be satisfactory to the administration--that is, the canal advocates, although we know full well that that officer will not allow any- thing or anybody to swerve him from his duty as he sees: it. The Turbinia.--Forty Miles an Hour. : Hon. C. A. Parsons, inventor_of the novel engines of the Turbinia, seems to make no secret of anything pertaining to the. gessel. At a re- cent meeting of the Institute of Marine Engineers in. London he again discussed very freely every point that was brought up regarding the vessel. "Interest in the vessel is still very great,' says Fairplay, "and every seat available at this meeting was occupied by an attentive audience eager to learn from the distinguished inventor himself as much as, possible about the wonderful little steamer which has, they say, now performed forty miles an hour. The engineers asked many questions and were so satisfied with the answers and impressed with the belief that we are on the eve of a great revolution in engine construction, that one of the speakers raised a note of alarm as to the future of marine engineers. According to this construction there would be nothing for marine engineers to do in a steamer with such engines, which the captain could start and stop by handles on the bridge. Mr. Parsons said that it was contemplated to apply the turbine engine to fast passenger steamers. He did not recom- mend it for speed less than fifteen knots, but for higher speeds he thought it would be preferable for economy, and in addition there would be the -advantages of freedom from vibration and a saving. of room. Several of those present had had charge of the Parsons engine for electric lighting on shipboard, and they all spoke well of it for efficiency. One of them said he was glad to have had this opportunity of hearing its.construction ex- plained, for the one he had had charge of had never afforded him an ex- cuse for opening it up; nothing ever went wrong with, it, so he had never seen the inside of it. Another speaker said that he had experience with the turbo-engine of Mr. Parsons at sa, and something had gone wrong with it. A wire strainer for the steam had been allowed to get adrift, and part of it had been carried by the steam into the chamber where the blades were, and several complete circles of the blades had been broken out of their seats. The engine still ran, and the light was merely reduced in bright- ness. They did not know what was wrong until they afterwards opened up the turbo. They cleared out the broken blades 'and put the engine together again, and it worked apparently as well as ever fo- the rest of the voyage. When dealing with collectors of customs in matters pertaining to the tonnage of new vessels, it will be well for vessel owners; to give special attention to the measurements from which tonnage:.is. calculated. Al- though government fees now amount to very little with lake vessels, it is well known, of course, that dry dock charges, fees in the Lake Carriers' Association, Canadian canal fees and other important items are based.on tonnage. This work of measuring vessels for tonnage is sometimes new to the deputy collectors of customs to whom it is entrusted. The Flint. & Pere Marquette Railroad Co. is now having trouble over the tonnage _ measurements of its big steel ferry steamer.