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MARINE REVIEW. [August 22, WORK OF THE RAPID UNLOADER. The genius of labor saving through the inventive faculty has probably reached its highest perfection in the great lakes region than in any other part of the globe. Of course, conditions have permitted it, and they have been taken advantage of. The nature of the product to be conveyed .has also lent itself to rapid handling. Thus it is not a surprising statement to a lake man that 6,000 tons can be handled by a few men in a few. hours. To all else it is incredible. As a race, however, the Americans are labor savers. In the peculiar quality of the adaptation of machinery they lead SHIP BUILDING AT NEWPORT NEWS. Newport News, Va., Aug. 21--The new battleship Illinois, according to the present,,qpitlook, will go in commission between Sept. 10 and 15. The.date has not been definitely fixed, but it is estimated that the ship will be completed by that time. When Capt. G. A. Converse assumes com- mand, the Illinois will be finished to the smallest detail. The navy de- partment, it is understood, has decided to commission no more warships until they are actually completed, according to contract, so that they will remain at the yards of their builders little if any time after going in commission. Sometimes the recommendations made by officers necessi- UNLOADING 140 CUBIC YARDS PER MINUTE. the world. The Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co., New York, have placed upon the market a rapid unloader which is especially adapted to railroad construction and deserves a high place in the catalogue of labor saving appliances. It is easy to credit the statement of the company that the device with a train of ordinary flat cars handles the dirt from pit to track at a cost lower per cubic yard than any specially contrived dumping car. The cars used for handling the dirt are ordinary flat cars, 39 {t. 8 in. long, and 8 ft. 9 in. wide, with high side boards and outswinging doors. 'he weight of the cars is 30,000 lbs. and they carry a load of 135,000 Ibs. Thus 85 per cent. of the total weight of the car is live load. The cars are but 7 ft. above the rail and permit the steam shovel to work to the greatest advantage. Twelve such cars were loaded in thirty minutes on the Port Arthur route. The cost of filling such cars on the Kansas City Southern railway for four months was 2.89 cents per cubic yard. The only limit to the length of the rapid unloader train is the power of the locomotive to pull the train. Sixteen loaded cars may be considered an average train. Such a train will carry a load of 2,160,000 lbs. By pulling the plow along the train at the rate of 125 ft. per minute the whole train is unloaded in from three to six minutes. It is difficult to separate the items of cost for unloading from the cost of running the train. Whatever method is employed a locomotive with its engineer, fireman, fuel and water, is required, besides the brakeman. Two men are needed to operate the unloader engine, but the item of fuel must be disregarded because steam for the locomotive is only used for six minutes at a time. One of the contractors, using several unloaders, said that the cost of unloading was too small to be found. Definite figures. are to the effect that the total average cost of the work of the steam shovel, filling of cars, haulage of trains and dumping and leveling along the track over a haul of from 5 to 50 miles, was 4.25 cents per cubic yard, The rapid unloader has special advantages for ballasting railroads. The entire act of stringing the cable, fastening to plow, the train running a mile to point of dumping, the plowing-off of the load and the returning to the point of starting requires about twenty minutes. These figures are from an actual test and are of material consequence to a road opetating on a single track. The method of making ready to unload is as follows: The cable is wound on a drum when not in use. As soon as the cars are loaded the locomotive usually takes the train to a siding to await orders and while there the cable is unwound from the drum. A simple cheap boom and mast may be used for this purpose. A leveler is also carried which consists of two wings attached to an ordinary car, and which may be raised and lowered by means of com- pressed air and folded back against the sides of the car when not in use. The wings spread to a distance of 16 ft. from the center of the track, and are therefore of ample size to dress crowns which are 18 ft. on fills over 15 ft. in depth. The rate of work is about 2,000 ft. in twenty minutes. Heavy soil and gumbo are handled with the same certainty. The rapid unloader cars may speedily be converted into ordinary freight cars by the addition of sides. THE PLOW IN AN EMPTY CAR. tate changes and consequent delay in finishing up. Capt. Converse, Lieut. Com, Richard Henderson, navigating officer; Lieut. Com. Robert Usher, executive officer, as well as some of the other commissioned, warrant and petty officers are here prepared to take up their quarters on the vessel as soon as she is turned over to the government, The crew is being assem- bled on the Vermont at New York navy yard and on the Franklin at Nor- folk navy yard. All of the crew will be three-year men, so that there will