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12 MARTIN RE Vl bw. [November 30, air. As the solution rises in the cylinders it is absorbed by the cavities of the wood until the latter is nearly saturated. To assist the absorption, the pressure pump is started and the pressure is raised to 200 pounds, the pumping being maintained as long as there are any indications that the wood is absorbing the solution. The surplus is then pumped back from the cylinders to the storage tank, the doors are opened, and the wood is run out again to be stacked in the air for drying, or if so de- sired it is run directly into a drying kiln. In drying, the water evaporates and leaves all the inner walls of the cells covered with minute crystals of fire-proofing salts. This completes the process, and the treated wood is to all appear- ances the same as before it went through the operation. It contains all of its original properties except that by withdrawing all that remained of the juices the wood has been relieved of that portion of it that would tend to set up fermentation. Hence, incidentally, the treatment is a pre- servative one, for it substitutes an antiseptic in place of material which is the direct cause of dry rot. The treatment also has the advantage that the wood is so thoroughly filled that when it comes to be painted very much less oil is required than would be necessary in the case of un- treated wood. Moreover, the fire-proofed material is susceptible of a much higher polish even in the case of such soft woods as white pine and poplar. Extensive tests of the treated timber have shown that the strength of the wood is slightly increased in some varieties, and slightly decreased in others, the average decrease of strength in all the varieties of timber age of high explosives. The process has also been accepted by the civil engineering bureau for use in the new executive building at the same navy yard, and the General Electric Co. has now under treatment lumber to rebuild where fire recently damaged one of its buildings. The New York offices of the American Wood Fire-Proofing Co. are in Bowling Green building. Officers are: President, Guy Phelps Dodge; vice president, J. S. H. Clark, of Newark; treasurer, George H. Clark, Jr., Newark; secretary and manager, A. Eugene Kirby; assistant man- ager, Samuel A. Clark, Newark. TRIAL OF THE BATTLESHIP KENTUCKY. The battleship Kentucky, recently completed by the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., had her trial under almost ideal condi- tions over the Cape Ann course, off the Massachusetts. coast, last week, and attained a speed of 16.867 knots. The Kentucky's record somewhat exceeds that made by her sister vessel, the Kearsarge, and it is ex- pected that when the tidal allowance has been figured, a showing of fully 17 knots will be made. The Kentucky crossed the line at 10:27:37. She reached the battleship Texas, marking the end of the first leg at 10:51:23 with the elapsed time for the distance 23 minutes and 46 seconds, a 16.658- knot gait. The next leg, ending with the light-house tender Mayflower, was done in 23 minutes 55 seconds, at a slightly slower gait, or 16.551. The third leg was done in 23 minutes 26 seconds, a 16.91 clip. The fecrth leg was still faster, tre distance being done in 23 minutes 20 sec- g ZZ, AAT TTT rc py an 2. Oe yy PLANT OF AMERICAN WOOD FIRE-PROOFING CO. AT NEWARK, N.J. . that have been treated and tested being not over 5 per cent. Such a heavy impregnation with salts necessarily adds to the weight of timber, the increase being from 5 to 15 per cent, according to the variety that is under treatment. . The average citizen coming into possession of a piece of fire-proofed wood would be disappointed at first. He would put it in contact with flame and would expect that it would show no more effect of the heat than a stone. As a matter of fact, the fireproof wood will char, and if you take a thin shaving of it and subject it to flame you find it will glow so long as the flame is kept applied. Withdraw the flame and the glow at once disappears. This means that if you want to burn up a piece of the fire-proof wood you must keep the flame constantly applied, allowing the charred surface to fall away, when the flame will make a new charred surface. This is the only way you can burn the fire-proof wood made at a Newark plant. The heat does not penetrate the wood. The heat, in other words, is not cumulative. For instance, if you dropped a pan of red-hot coals on a fire-proof floor, and then went away and left them there, the coals would simply eat a hole through the floor and leave a charred rim around the hole. If the floor was of considerable thickness it is certain the coals would die out before the floor was eaten through. The process as carried out at the Newark works and above described has ibeen approved by a United States Naval Board as being equal to any submitted to the department for test.' The company has recently re- ceived a contract from the government to supply the interior wood con- struction for a building which is now being erected at the Brooklyn navy yard for use by the ordnance bureau of the navy department for the stor- onds, 16,979 knots. On the last leg the latter figure was exceeded, the _ 'listance being done in 23 minutes 18 seconds, or at a 17.01 rate. The total time for the outward trip was 1 hour 57 minutes and 41 seconds, with an average speed of 16.824 knots. After a wide turn the return trip was begun at 12:44:56. The elapsed times for the different legs with the speed in knots were: 23 minutes 14 seconds, 17.038 knots; 23 minutes 33 seconds, 16.89 knots; 23 minutes 22 seconds, 16,942 knots; 23 minutes. 49 seconds, 16.639 knots; 22 minutes 57 seconds, 17.254 knots. It will be seen that the highest and lowest rates were reached in the fourth and fifth legs on the inward trip. The entire inward trip was done in 1 hour 96 minutes and 56 seconds, with the average speed 16.932 knots. The time for the entire trip, 66 miles, was 3 hours 53 minutes and 30 seconds. President Orcutt for the Newport News company said that the company was very well satisfied with the record, made as it was under a head wind. The engines worked beautifully, averaging in revolutions about 115 with a steam pressure ranging from 160 to 180 pounds. There was no noticeable vibration. Among the guests on the trial were Rear Admiral W. T. Sampson and Gov. Voorhees of New Jersey. Thos. Drein & Son of Wilmington, Del., builders of life boats, life rafts, etc., append this note to a letter just received by the Review: "We are so busy that we must urge upon the ship builders of the lake resion who use our beaded, steel-bottom life boats the necessity of sending in orders at the earliest possible moment, so that we may hurry work during the winter and be teady for them in the spring, as our eastern orders ne much heavier than ever before." a o ee: va il "Wl a Ts