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1899.] MARINE REVIEW. i also the portable diving lanterns. The two turrets containing the 8-inch and 13-inch guns are rotated, the 18-inch guns elevated, ammunition hoisted for both 8-inch and 13-inch guns, rammers of 13-inch guns oper- ated, and special ventilation provided to blow out gases out of bore of 8-inch and 13-inch guns. Ten endless chain ammunition hoists are oper- ated, eight of them supplying the 5-inch broadside guns, and two supply- ing 6-pounder and 1-pounder guns on upper deck. Two winch type of hoists are operated, supplying ammunition to the 6-pounder guns in the after cabins. Six deck winches are operated--four winches of a simple geared type with friction drum suitable for quick hoists of moderate loads as in coaling ship, and two winches of a compound geared type permitting either the quick hoisting of light leads or heavy pulls at low speeds. The simple geared winches are especially designed for use as ammunition hoists to the military tops. Four boat cranes are operated, the boats be- ing hoisted and lowered, and cranes rotated by power. The ship is ven- tilated throughout, including the engine rooms, by thirteen ventilating fans of which ten supply and three exhaust air for the various water-tight compartments. The centering device on the hydraulic telemotor used to control the steam distribution valve of the steering engine as automatically operated is also electric. As the installation of these plants on board ship is only partially completed at the present time, it is impossible now, Mr. Woodward ex- plains, to give the results of tests, and the efficiencies obtained on the tests of the various auxiliaries will have to be given later, either as an appendix to his paper, if the data can be collected before the volume of the transac- tions goes to the printer, or made a matter of subsequent communication to the society. The description of electric deck winches, boat cranes, ven- tilating fans, turret-turning machinery, etc., which the paper contains is most exhaustive, and is accompanied by page after page of clear illustra- tions. Space may be found in some future issue for the reproduction of a large part of this valuable information. DISCUSSION ON ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN AUXILIARIKS. Charles J. Dougherty, mechanical expert at the yard of the Wm. Cramp & Sons Co., Philadelphia, referred to the fact that a foreign nation is having built in this country, at the present time, vessels which are in some respects in advance of any of our own in the matter of electrical equipment. He thought, however, that it would be well to see how the battleships Kearsarge and Kentucky work in actual service before adopt- ing the system installed thereon as a standard for other vessels. Capt. W. G. Randle told of the experiences of the International Navi- gation Co. with electrical apparatus, and declared that in his opinion it was a grave mistake to locate dynamos in the vicinity of the boilers, as has been done in the case of the Kearsarge and Kentucky. He cited instances illustrating the trend of currents from stern to bow and emphasized _there- by the importance of having dynamos located in the after end of what- ever compartment they might be placed in. Mr. Dana Greene, manager of the General Electric Co., agreed that much depends upon the result of the performances of the electrical ma- chinery on the Kearsarge and Kentucky, but he was confident that they will stand all tests. He realized that more electrical experts were needed in the navy but thought that this would be remedied in due course. After making a comparison between wires and steam pipes as a network of communication throughout a vessel, Mr. Greene said: "We all know how demoralizing the bursting of a steam pipe proves in time of war_or peace. If an electric wire is severed, the auxiliary is disabled but the damage ends there. In addition the wire is mutch less likely to be hit than the pipe. I believe that for auxiliaries the advantage gained from a standpoint of economy is as two to one in favor of electricity. I am convinced, also, that the time is not far distant when we shall have a practical steam tur-~ bine and the vibration due to reciprocating parts will thus be eliminated. There are forms of turbines in this country which I feel justified in pre~ dicting will be developed as a commercial success in the near future." Mr. 'G. W. Dickie clearly indicated by his remarks his favorable re- gerd for the electric drive. He thought that one form of motive power should be given universal adoption. He firmly believed that the time would come when no steam pipe would go outside the engine and boiler rooms, save to the dynamo room. There was no doubt, Mr. Dickie said, of the successful use of electricity for the operation of steering gear and windlasses. He had recently sent to the navy department the design for a1-electric windlass. Continuing, Mr. Dickie said: "I think the time will come when it will be possible to operate generators by steam turbines. but that time has not come yet. I have always urged economic engines for auxiliaries, because they run oftener and consume, in the aggregate, possibly more coal than the main engines." INCREASING COMPLICATIONS IN WAR SHIPS AND HOW SIMPLER ARRANGE- MENTS MIGHT BE ADOPTED. The contributions of Geo. W. Dickie, ship builder of the Pacific coast, to the proceedings of the society are always of a kind tending to create discussion. Asa trip across the American continent is not a matter of a day's planning, and as Mr. Dickie is located at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, he is not seen in the east as much as other builders of the ships of our navy, but a personal acquaintance with him is not necessary in order to understand that he is not a follower of the beaten path. Several papers submitted to the society since its organization settle any doubt that might exist on that score. This year Mr. Dickie writes of the "Increasing Complications in War Ships and How Simpler Arrangements Might be Adopted." Alike to most of the builders of ships, both for the navy and 1uérchant service, he would, if he had his way. often make radical changes in the requirements that are laid down in specifications. : _ "Besides the every-day experience I have with this subject referred to in this paper," says Mr. Dickie, "I find, from conversation with naval officers in every position of responsibility on vessels, that the increasing complication and multiplying diversity of function sought to be reached by mechanical contrivances has become a positive dread to the officer who is "eld responsible for it all operating in the proper way. and at the proper time, just as its designer said it would do if kept in proper order. I be- lieve that the present complicated condition on war vessels, generally, is the result of two causes: First, uncontrolled growth of new devices for doing the many things for which mechanism is required on these vessels, without the new devices being considered reliable enough to supercede the old. Hence, duplication, and, in many cases, triplication of apparatus for doing one thing, for which one good device alone should be used. Second, the system of divided control over the work, rendering it impossible to havea homogeneous design to begin with, that would enable the ship and all that is required of her to be treated as one machine, and provision made at the Start for every function being considered with relation to every other function. It is not my purpose to propose any system of manage- ment in the construction of ships for the navy, but simply to record in the transactions of this society certain ideas that have occurred to me in my struggles with the tangled-up condition of things that prevails towards the completion of a modern warship. In hunting for a right of way for a steam pipe here or a water pipe there, against the claims of an electric conductor, a speaking tube, or, worse still, a bracket or bulkhead stiffener, that, according to the naval constructor, cannot be in any way interfered with, I have often thought that there might be some place in such a vessel, selected near the central! axis of the structure, that would be so removed from the possibility of partaking in any structural damage by stranding or collision, and so protected by the armor from the possibility of damage in action, as to be perfectly safe without division by water-tight doors; and with such a spot in the cross-section of the ship for its center, I would construct a tunnel or passage extending without obstruction from the chain lockers forward to the steering room aft, that would be the spinal cord of my fighting machine, and from that I would deliver to every com- partment of the ship that needed it, by lateral branches only, light, heat, power for auxiliaries, air, and orders of every description. "I will treat the idea broadly, in its main features only, and in relation to the modern battleship, the complication being greatest on the largest ships. In working out the idea of a distributing passage, I find that the proper place for such a passage is in the center line, immediately under the protected deck; the passage to be 4 feet wide and 11 feet high. The floor of the passage would make the horizontal stiffening necessary for the center line bulkhead, which would be of the usual construction, from the inner bottom to the floor of the passage. The room required is not so great as it appears to be. Center line bulkheads, when unsupported be- tween the inner bottom and protected deck, as they must be in engine and boiler compartments, need considerable depth of stiffening girders to stand the head due to the water on one side. In the Wisconsin, 15 inches of girder depth was required on each side, making the bulkhead 2 feet 6% inches thick; so that a 4-foot passage, whose floor forms the stiffening re- quired, does not require so much room, after all." Following this general statement of the plan of a proposed central working passage, Mr. Dickie presents several drawings and goes into considerable detail as to the arrangement of a drainage system, complete water works for water service of all kinds, light and power transmission (the latter outside of engine and boiler compartments), as well as ven- tilation (cooling and warming), means of interior communication, etc. Mr. Dickie said that in advocating the adoption of such an arrangement he was aware that such a feature had already been used in battleships. The Royal Sovereign class in the British navy has a central passage ex- tending through the middle part of the ship, and in height, from the inner bottom to the protective deck, and in this class of vessels there is no doubt that several features mentioned are carried out. Yet, on the vessels, re- ferred to, the central passage is more of an ammunition passage than a sub-way for the distribution of the necessaries of life to the ship. "I be- lieve," he said in conclusion, "that complicated as the arrangements on a modern battleship must be, a very great improvement in effectiveness and simplicity can be effected by blotting out many things that have survived their usefulness, and straightening out others that cannot as yet be dis- pensed with." The discussion 'of Mr. Dickie's paper was opened by Mr. F. B. King, who favored uniformity of construction. Taking the Ericcson monitor as a text, he referred to the "complex time-consumers which all branches of the department now combine to include ina modern battleship." He favored rapidity of construction as a fundamental feature. g Naval Constructor Bowles was not'in sympathy with some of the opinions expressed regarding the monitor, and he denounced as an ey] emergency ship building. The subject of the simplification of the battle- ship and the lessening of the cost he had much at heart. He declared that we are running riot in the expense of vessels and the expense of main- taining them. PAPERS READ BY TITLE ONLY. With the close of discussion on the subject of Mr. Dickie's paper, the hour was growing late and the paper on "Beam Formulae Applied to a Vertically Stiffened Bulkhead, with Some Results" was read by title-only. This contribution to the proceedings of the society--by Mr. H. F. Norton, member--was of a mathematical kind. Last year Mr. Woodward presented to the society a paper describing the test of a large and impor- tant bulkhead, stiffened with vertical stiffeners. In order that a more in- telligent idea of the reasons for the action of the bulkhead under test might be obtained, a mathematical analysis of vertically stiffened bulk- heads under water pressure was worked out. The process followed and the results obtained, as applied to this bulkhead, were deemed of sufficient interest to be presented to the society at this time. The paper dealing with the sheathing of the naval cadet ship _Chesa- peake was also read by title only. At the last meeting of the society plans for the sheathing of the U. S. S. Chesapeake were presented. The Chesapeake is a practice ship for the United States naval academy, built by the Bath Iron Works of Bath, Me. Inthis paper Naval Constructor Lloyd Bankson told how the work was done. The paper was interesting, as the sheathing of steel vessels with wood is rather a new subject in this country, from a practical standpoint. The specifications given in the paper, noted the principal re- quirements in regard to planking and fastening. Constructor Bankson noted also practical points of interest that were encountered in the work and gave weights of materials, surface sheathed, time consumed, tests of materials, etc.