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1899. MARINE REVIEW. er ae presented by Lewis Nixon, who paid a most handsome tribute to his prether ship builder. As in the former case adoption was by a unanimous vote. Rear Admiral Bunce made a few remarks expressive of the regret of the members by reason of the inability of President Clement A. Griscom to be present and then the annual address of the absent officer was read. President Griscom's address has been mailed te all members of the so- ciety. He refers to the wonderful growth in membership since the so- ciety was organized, seven years ago, but notes that the dues are very low, much lower in fact than those of any other similar society, and the council has therefore had under consideration the question of increasing the dues. "Whatever may be the political, moral or constitutional aspects of a policy of expansion," says Mr. Griscom, it is not without advantages to ship builders. The large number of vessels purchased by the govern- ment last year for use of the army and navy, together with increasing use of steam vessels in the coasting trade have produced the greatest activity ever seen in our coast ship yards, both on the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, The orders for large steel steam vessels now taken, for coast- ing trade especially, exceed largely those of any year in our history." Mr. Griscom makes use of some of the latest statistics regarding ship building on the great lakes, showing twenty-six new vessels valued at $8,000,000, and says, referring to Atlantic coast yards, that at least nine large steamers, recently built, have been added to the coasting or West Indian trade in the past year. ""But this has no reference,' Mr. Griscom concludes, "'to our shipping in the foreign trade. The proportion of our export and import trade carried in American bottoms is still too small to be mentioned, and last year was smaller than ever before. To make this percentage a respectable one would require ten times the number of American ship yards working at full time for a number of years. While we have the materials, the tools and mechanics, the successful building of a modern vessel from a commercial point is in reality a triumph of organization of the multitude of diversified trades which it includes. This stage is yet to be reached and can only be attained by regular systematic production. Production depends upon a market and upon traders who see a profit to be made in ship owning under the laws of the United States." READING OF PAPERS. LIDGERWOOD DEVICE FOR COALING VESSELS AT SHA--DISOCUSSION OF ADMIRAL MELVILLE'S PAPER ON WATER-TUBE BOILERS. The first paper on the program, "Coaling Vessels at Sea," was read by the author and was supplemented by the display of a very handsome collection of stereopticon views and a working model of considerable size. That no discussion followed the reading of the paper was undoubt- edly attributable to the fact that the subject was completely covered in the paper itself. This paper was mainly valuable on account of the description which it contains of a coaling device with which the navy department is now mak- ing experiments on the collier Marcellus. The author, Mr. Spencer Miller, is with the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co. He refers at considerable length to previous attempts to perfect a device for coaling vessels at sea and to the disadvantages encountered on this score by our vessels during the late Spanish war. i "Becoming interested in this question in 1893," says Mr. Miller, "I proposed at that time, to stretch an elevated cable from the stern of the warship to the bow of the collier in tow, one to be securely fastened to the warship and the other end wound around the compensating engine, similar to the steam towing machines. The load running on this cable was to be conveyed over by an endless rope. It was expected that the compensating engine would keep an equal strain on this elevated line irrespective of the pitch of the vessels so connected. In March, 1898, Lieut. J. J. Woodward, naval constructor, located at Newport News, Va., invited plans and prices on a device containing much the same general ideas. A few weeks later a plan was sent to Mr. Woodward, and he in turn transmitted it, with favorable recommendations, through the chief 'constructor, to the secretary of the navy. It was not, however, until August of the same year that any understanding was had with the navy department whereby the work of construction could be begun. The plan, considerably modified, was submitted to a board of naval officers, consist- ing of Rear-Admiral Ramsey, Thomas Williamson; and Z, L. Tanner, and they considered the device 'feasible in moderate weather.' Thereupon the department contracted with the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co. of New York City, to have the apparatus installed on board the collier Marcellus. So much time was lost in negotiations, however, that before the work of construction was begun the war came to an end. On Oct. 15, 1898, the author performed an experiment in New York harbor with a tug, towing a sloop, using a quarter-sized model. Shear poles were mounted on the tug, and blocks on the mast of the sloop, the distance between points of support being 100 feet. An endless rope was employed, being used in accordance with the plan shown herewith. A movable sheave in the bight of the cable aft the mast was held taut by a line connecting it with a sea anchor or towing cone dragged in the sea behind the sloop. By this plan it will be observed that the tug towed t'e sea anchor as well as the sloop, the latter merely supporting the rope as it passed over. A carriage gripped to the upper part and provided with wheels to roll on the lower part served to carry the bags of coal over from sloop to tug. As the ex- periment was performed in a storm no photographs were taken. The storm was so severe that the sloop shipped water over the bow, and both boats rolled and pitched very badly. In spite of this, however, the bags of coal were conveyed across the space as though the sea was smooth, the sea anchor serying to perfectly act as a compensator, maintaining a con- stant tension on the endless conveying cable. If such a plan were adopted, the sea anchor would have to be selected in accordance with the speed of towing; the greater the speed the smaller the cone required. DESCRIPTION OF THE MILLER CONVEYER ON THE U.S. S. MARCELLUS. "It is proposed, with this device, for the warship to tale the collier in tow, or the collier to tow the warship, leaving the distance between ships about 300 feet; this method of securing boats at sea is recognized as being safe. The warship to receive the coal will erect a pair of shear poles on its deck, which, secured by guys, will support a sheave wheel and a chute to receive the load. The collier is provided with a specially contrived en- gine located aft the foremast, having two winding drums. A steel cable, 34-inch diameter, leads from one drum to the top of the foremast, over a sheave, thence to the sheave on the warship, back to another sheave on the top of the foremast, thence to the other drum. This engine gives a re- ciprocating motion to the conveying rope, paying out one part under ten- sion; a carriage secured to one of the parts passes to and from the warship, its load clearing the water intervening. "A carriage of special form is provided with wheels which roll on the lower part to the conveying cable, and grip slightly but sufficiently the upper part of the cable. This carriage will carry bags of coal 700 to 1,000 pounds. The load is held by a hook pivoted at the bottom of the carriage, which hook is held by a latch. When the carriage comes in contact with the rubber buffer on the sheave block at the warship, this latch is pressed in, thereby releasing the hook and its load. Should the carriage strike heavily at either terminus the upper part of the cable will slip through the grip and no damage will be done. As soon as the bags are dropped, the direction of the rope is reversed, and the carriage returned to the collier. During the transit of the load an elevator car descends to the deck, bags of coal placed thereon, suspended from a bale, and elevated again to the stops on the guides, so that when the carriage has returned to the collier, the pointed hook finds its way under the bale or hanger supporting the coal bags. The instant the load is hooked on, the direction of the ropes is again reversed, the carriage takes its load from the elevator and transfers it across the intervening space to the warship, and drops it again into the chute. "The engine for operating the conveyer is of peculiar construction. It runs practically all the time in one direction, its speed being varied by the use of the throttle. The drum near the foremast is provided with friction mechanism so that it is capable of giving to the rope a tension any- where from 1,000 to 4.000 pounds. This drum is operated by a lever. The other drum is of special form, employing two dry metallic surfaces in con- tact. This drum is adjusted so that it will slip under any strain exceeding, say, 3,000 pounds. It may be adjusted while the operation is going on, the tension being increased if the load sags too much, and diminished if tre deflection is unnecessarily small. The forward drum will be referred to hereafter as the 4,000-pound drum, and the other as the 3,000-pound drum. When the engine is running, the tendency of both drums is to draw both parts in, one to the extent of 4,000 pounds and the other 3,000 pounds. The effect, therefore, is for the 4,000-pound drum to prevail and overhaul the 3,000-pound resistance, and it is this resistance that sustains the load in its transit between the two boats. Through the co-operation of the two drums the conveying distance between the two boats is com- pensated for and a practically uniform tension sustained during the transit of tre load. If the points of support on the two ships approach each other (during the transit of the load) the effect will be that the drum pull- ing 4,000 pounds will take up the slack so produced, and the 3,000-pound drum will temporarily cease slipping, or at least the slip will be reduced. If, now, the boats pull apart, the 3,000-pound drum will simply slip the