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| | 1899.] MARINE 'REVIEW. at generating engine, especially on shipboard. When the design of naval electrical machinery is sufficiently advanced to justify the use of large units the advantages of turbine engines will cause a great saving in weight and space. The operation of electrical machinery is purely me- chanical. That this may be ,done efficiently requires good mechanical ability at the generating engines. Electric difficulties and casualties are almost always questions of mechanical engineering. I know that it would conduce to the efficiency of the service, to the feasibility of a more ex- tended use of electricity, and to an increase in the life of electrical appar- atus if the electric generating plant were placed in charge of this bureau of steam engineering. It is almost the universal commercial practice to place electric generating plants in the charge of mechanical engineers. McCREERY VENTILATING SYSTEM. HOW AIR, COOLED AND CLEANSED OF IMPURITIES, WITH HUMIDITY REGULATED, IS DISTRIBUTED BY MEANS OF NOVEL DEVICES TO ALL PARTS OF A SHIP. Up to a few years ago the problem of ventilating steam vessels, and especially those engaged in passenger traffic, had been a source of a great deal of trouble to managers of steamboat lines. On such vessels, for in- stance, as those of the famous Fall River Line, the Old Dominion ships trading down the Atlantic coast from New York, the large side-wheelers of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co, and the Cleveland & Buffalo Line on the great lakes, and more particularly on government transports, all kinds of devices had been tried to overcome heat and foul air, but they were in most cases dependent upon a system of blowers, with no system- atic cleansing and cooling of the air, and with no appliances for distribu- tion of the air where difficulties were encountered but where ventilation number of outlets, and could see no' sign of dust on the cloths." The Jamestown and Yorktown, of the Old Dominion line, on which the Mc- Creery system is used, are extensively engaged in carrying green vege- tables, berries, etc., for northern markets, and since the installation of this system the cargoes carried by these vessels have invariably sold at prices at least 20 per cent above prices paid for similar cargoes carried on ves- sels not provided with such means of ventilation. In a recent circular Mr. McCreery says: "There are no imprac- ticable or visionary ideas connected with the McCreery ventilating sys- tem. It is not an aggregation of scientific monstrosities. It-appeals to the common sense of every practical man, and the longer it is used, the more thoroughly it is approved. The utility of its many appliances has been proved in actual use under conditions which can leave no doubt of their efficiency." He says further: "No ship or building can be prop- erly heated and ventilated without the use of individual heaters. No air is fit to breathe after the life of it has been burned out by being heated to from 100 to 200 degrees in a furnace or over steam coils and then forced to different parts of the ship or building." On the great lakes the McCreery system is in use on the steamers North Land and North West of the Northern Steamship Co.'s fleet, City of Erie and City of Buffalo of the Cleveland & Buffalo Line, Manitou of the Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Line, all the big side-wheel steamers of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. and those of the Richelien & Ontario Navigation Co., as well as the Pennsylvania, a trim side-wheel passenger steamer operating between Erie and Buffalo on Lake Erie. It is also in use on the Sound steamers Priscilla, Puritan and Plymouth of the Old Colony Steamboat Co.'s fleet and on the Jamestown and York- town, Princess Anne, Hamilton and Jefferson of the Old Dominion line. It would certainly seem from reports of the surgeon-general of the United States navy, that some attention should be given in the construc- PLAN Ga WATER Popo = AN AUR. alan INLET : a = eh was most desired. Even in dining rooms below the main deck on some steamers, otherwise of the finest appointments, there was all manner of complaint on this score. : é But with the progress that has been made in overcoming other a Satisfactory conditions aboard ship, this matter of ventilation is also being solved. The heads of steamship lines above referred to have ony after another adopted what is known as the McCreery system of san a- tion and have in every case applied it to new vessels after it had gre ee} tried on their ships in commission. After the air is first cleanse pang cooled by this system, it is made to enter by means of novel devices p ace which it would seem almost impossible to ventilate. The ships on which the system is used--all of them the finest in the country--are its best en- dorsement. Frank E. Kirby, who has probably designed more ane Pasy Senger steamers than any other engineer in this country, and who ea engaged by the war department during the encounter with Spain in ay very important duty of fitting out the government transports, says ef a system: "I consider it the only practical system of ventilation ei : for steamers, providing as it does fresh air, under control in Sygry Par oO the vessel, and requiring no special care to secure the best results. ae The McCreery system reduces the temperature of the air to yt 2 degrees of the water used and removes all dust, dirt AHL SSMS 8 s i ease of whatever nature, without the use of Ge Gx eliemicals. Bee ventilation cannot be accomplished by the simple use of fans, which, while they may keep the air in motion, do nothing whatever in the way of removing the impurities. The McCreery system is so aT TAn et tO the temperature of each room or compartment of ship may be regu Separately. t om Dole of the Old Dominion Steamship Sorkioaa sere 9 a use of this system of ventilation. on his vessel: I trie r g bucket of coal dust into the intake pipe with white cloths tied over a ELEVATION XgE== = evRR FLOW tion of vessels of war to such a system of ventilation as that here de- scribed. Take, for instance, the experience of the United States Monitor Amphitrite in 1895 on its first sea voyage, as recorded in the ship's log. While under way, with the temperature of the outside air varying from 50 to 72 degrees, the thermometer in the engine room registered from 120 to 140, and in the fire room from 140 to 160 degrees. On June 25 at Hampton Roads the thermometer in the engine room registered 138 to 158 degrees and in the fire room 157 to 170. Under such conditions noth- ing like the maximum steam pressure could be maintained, and the full- power effort resulted in a mean speed of 7.27 knots for less than two hours. On June 26 the log shows eight members of the engineer force on the sick list, overcome by the heat, and only four firemen and four coal passers able to remain in the fire room. Into one place above the boilers where the air was confined, a thermometer was lowered by means of a long pole, and when it was withdrawn it registered 202 degrees. The great internal heat which rendered the Amphitrite insufficient was, of course, to a large extent due to lack of provision for ventilation in the engine and boiler spaces, and this criticism may be applied to neatly all the vessels of the navy. At the works of the Cramps, Philadelphia, on Oct. 12 last tests of this system as applied to the United States transport Thomas were witnessed by Capt. W. S. Moore, senior inspector of ma- chinery for the United States navy; Lieut. Commander Hall and Mr. Dob- son, also stationed at the Cramp works; Messrs. Stchensnovitch and Tchernigovsky, representing the Imperial Russian navy in the construc- tion of war vessels at the Cramp works, and Geo. A. Anthony, United States supervising inspector. In the ventilation of this ship four No. 90 direct-attached fans are used, each driven by one 7x5 double engine, and nine direct attached electric fans are used for exhaust and closet systems. The test was made with one of the direct attached engines for incast sys- tem, with engine running at 500 revolutions per minute, delivering 25,000