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TAE MARINE REVIEW | 25 a lock and dam at each 89 and 387 miles below Wheel- ing, thereby neglecting the upper 90 miles. The Ohio is considered because it is one of the mot im- portant rivers in the United States as a conmnerce- carrying stream, and it has been neglected to the bene- tfi of many of less importance. Other nations consider internal waterways of great importance, and have expended large sums of money for that purpose. Must this progressive nation con- tinue in the background in such improvements, especi- ally when they will prove of inestimable value? It is to be hoped that the chief executive will see his way clear to call the attention of congress to this matter ; - not in relation to any particular section, but as a piblic work worthy of the best consideration. Wher. cor- gress places these appropriations on a higher piane, then we may look for increased interest on the part of the public and the executive officers. SIGNAL BELLS FOR BUOYS. Submarine signaling has proved so successful that it is not surprising to find developments of the idea already brought forward for practical use. The invention of Mr. J. P. Northey, of 11 Prince Arthur avenue, Toronto, Canada, for which a patent has recently been secured in England, seeks to apply the submarine signaling principle to buoys chained to an anchor, and necessarily controlled from a signal house on the shore. The accompanying illustrations suffi- ciently explain Mr. Northey's invention. Briefly described, it takes the form of a buoy with an intermediate open sup- port provided with a suspended bell at a fixed distance below the floating signal. The cage or support D, Figs. 1 and 2, is attached to the chain C connecting the buoy A and the anchor B. The bell 6 is suspended by a_ball-and-socket joint from the stem 3 of the upper plate, and the hammer 7 may be connected by a chain to the plunger of a solenoid 8, the electric wires of which extend along the lower portion of the chain and bed of the ocean to the signal house on shore. When for some reason the buoy is not readily discernible, it is obvious that this bell attachment will be of real value to a ship approaching some harbor or passing through a narrow Sea. The steamer Indianapolis, which was sold by the Indiana Transportation Co. to the Alaska Steamship Co., of Seattle, has reached the latter port after a sucessful trip around the Horn. STANDARDIZING BATTLESHIPS. The interesting feature about the trials of the British cruiser Black Prince, just completed, apart from the splend- id speed achieved, is, says the Glasgow Herald, the fact that the machinery has been built under the new stand- _ardizing regulations, with the result that almost any nit may be taken out of the Black Prince and will fit at once into any of her sister ships. The Duke of Edinburgh, Coch- rane, Natal or Achilles) The cost of this advantage is considerable, as the large number of gauges to ensure ac- curate diameters, of jigs to ensure that all holes on flanges and for connection by means of bolts, nuts and screws are the same, and of templates to ensure a similarity in sizes, cost about $60,000 for each ship,--equal to about five per cent on the price of machinery, including boilers. The practice now regulated is for the firms who may secure the order for one of the several sets of engines for ships of a- class to agree upon the details of the design, and to ar- range that each shall make the gauges or jigs for certain parts--cylinders, pistons etc. for all the engines, Thus the work of preparing the standards is divided, and as they are severally made from one pattern etc., similarity is guaran- teed, and the cost minimized. But withal the expense is heavy. It is true that great advantage accrues, as in the event of break down spare parts may be more easily supplied. In the merchant service this practice has been applied for some time more or less extensively. The Scotts of Green- och, made the London county council steamers' engines on these lines, and other cases might be quoted, but the Admirality with characteristic thoroughness extended the system--some consider needlessly far; as for instance, in the diameters of connecting rods, where there could be no interference with interchangeability. The Black Prince on her eight hours' full power trial made 23.66 knots with 23,939 I. H. P. The designed power was 23,500 I. H. P., and it was expected that this would give 22.33 knots. This gain in speed is highly creditable to the Director of Naval Construction, Sir Phillip Watts, K. C. B--for the vessels are of 13,550 tons displacement, while in the case of the Devonshire class, the power for the same speed and a dis- placement of only 10,200 tons was not much less--about 22,000 I. H. P. The additional displacement represents great gain to» offensive and defensive qualities, the new ships for instance having six 9.2 in, and ten 6-in. guns as compared with four 7.5 in. and six 6-in. guns. BUILDING OF TURBINE STEAMERS. The feature of the ship building year has not been the launching of big liners, although several leviathans have taken the water since January last, but the triumph of the turbine engine. It is no longer an experimental engine as it was ten years ago in the Turbinia, and continued to be till the projection of the Cunarders, the largest and fastest steamers the world has ever dreamt of. During 1905 the Parsons company alone has produced turbines showing an increase in horsepower of 5,400 as compared with last year, but the output of this pioneer company no longer represents the full production of turbine ma- chinery in the country. Practically every marine en- gineering establishment of any importance in the United Kingdom is now able to make turbines, and this is, per- haps, the strongest testimony that could be found in 'favor of the new engine. Until the trials of the Carmania, it is true that engineers were somewhat sceptical as to its value, but now all doubts have been set at rest, and as the Carmania was the first example on a large scale, it may reasonably be expected that improvements in detail will still further increase the excellent results which have so far been realized.