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18 MARINE REVIEW. [June 26 COLLIER AUGUST BELMONT. A strange looking craft indeed is the August Belmont, which has just been built by C. S. Swan-& Hunter, Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. She is intended to run with coal between Pensacola and Tampico. She is a collier of the largest and most improved type. She is equipped with a patent discharging gear which will permit of the discharge of a full cargo in about eleven hours. It is this discharging gear which constitutes the chief specialty of the ship and ' which is responsible for her peculiar appearance above deck. Her spacious holds are fitted with eight large hatchways, and these are served by five powerful derricks, in the nature of stump masts, to which the patent discharging gear, known as the Dodge discharging gear, con- structed by the McMyler Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, is attached. The Object Of this gear is to discharge. -coal at the utmost rap- idity by means of grabs. The gear discharges from one side of the vessel only. It consists of a transporter for each hatchway, the keel of which has a swivel deck plate, which is held in position by a track riveted to the deck, composed of angle irons and extending almost the whole length of the vessel abreast of the hatchways. The heel of the transporter can be moved in a fore-and-aft direction by suitable ropes worked off the steam winch ends. The head of the transporter is sup- ported by spans between the masts, so that it can be slewed or elevated as required. On the transporter runs a trolley wagon which is hauled out by a wire rope, which also suspends the grab and is connected to a large- sized winch drum. The trolley wagon runs down the transporter by gravi- ~ the rope is hauled taut, which opens the grab, allowing the coal to fall into the truck, but if the coal is required to be lowered into say a lighter and without unnecessary breakage, then the trolley wagon is hauled out still further, until it is caught and detained by the lever, when the grab can be lowered from the trolley wagon after the trolley is held in position, and when lowered the grab can be opened at any distance and the coal dis- charged into the lighter. The whole operation therefore requires at least two runners and if the grab and coal have to be lowered into a lighter then three ropes are required. Each of the gears are to discharge 100 tons of run-of-mine coal per hour, so long as there is 2 ft. of coal under the grab. There are six of these transporters working eight hatchways. The weight of this gear, beyond that of an ordinary ship's gear, is estimated at 90 tons, including the necessary ship work, such as winch beds, track, etc. The weight of coal the vessel will carry is estimated at 6,080 tons which it is intended to discharge in about eleven hours. Mr. T. J. Mc- Myler, under whose supervision the discharging gear was fitted, witnessed the trial test of the steamer. BRIDGING THE STRAIT OF CANSO. A dispatch from Sydney announces that the bridging of the Strait of Canso between Cape Breton and the mainland of Nova Scotio will be un- dertaken at once. The task is an immense one, involving great engineer- ing difficulties and an outlay of about $5,000,000. J. A. L. Waddell of Kansas City has been engaged to oversee the work. He is a Canadian, COLLIER AUGUST BEILMONT. Built by C. 8S. Swan & Hunter, Ltd., Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. tation. There is also a similar rope from another winch barrel, which also passes over the end of the transporter, and then is connected to the opening and closing gear of the grab. There is a third rope which is con- nected to a lever which temporarily fixes the trolley wagon at any re- quired height. The latter line is worked by a lever operated upon by the foot of the winchman. The other two lines are, as before stated, led to two independent drums on the main shaft of the steam winch, and each of these barrels are worked by independent clutch gear. The winch always goes in one direction. The hauling on the transporter of the trolley wagon with its grab and load is performed by the winch; the lowering of same down the transporter is by gravitation alone. The winch is direct- acting, having cylinders 12x16 in., and is worked by levers placed by the _ Side of the hatch. It has about 40 I.H.P. In addition to the before men- tioned drums there are two winch ends mounted on an intermediate shaft. These are required for general purposes, such as the slewing and elevating of the transporters, etc. _ The method of cperation is this: Let us presume that the carriage and grab are at their lowest point, say at about the center of the hatch, the carriage being stopped in this position by an adjustable stop secured to the transporter at the required position. The winchman then disen- gages the drum, which allows the grab to fall by gravitation into the hold with its mouth open. The second line is then hauled taut and closes the grab. The other line, together with the grab line, is now hauled taut by the winch, which hoists the grab and its load, until it comes up to the trolley wagon, when the trolley wagon and its load is hauled up the trans- porter to the required distance or height. If it is required to discharge the coal into a truck at a comparatively short distance below the grab, and has been knighted by the emperor of Japan. He was one time pro- fessor of civil engineering in the University of Japan. Mr. Waddell says that the bridge will be a cantilever, with a span of 1,800 ft., the longest in the world, and will have a height of 58-ft. clear above high water. The bridge will span the strait between Port Hastings on the Cape Breton side and 'Cape Porcupine on the Nova Scotian shore, a distance of 2,800 ft. Two immense piers will be sunk near either shore in about 90 ft. of water. The bridge is designed for double tracking. Mr. Waddell says that it will be the finest bridge in the world. A tunnel, he said, would be practically impossible. An agreement has been reached between Mr. Wad- dell and the incorporators, authorizing Mr, Waddell to proceed with the work. The construction of this bridge will remove all delays and incon- veniences now experienced in crossing this strait. In a recent report on the foreign trade of Japan it is stated that for a number of gunboats for service in the Philippines, on account of which the United States government recently asked for tenders, four Japanese ship building companies competed. The Uraga dock yard, being the second lowest tenderer, succeeded in obtaining an order for five small composite gunboats. They are to cost about $30,000 each. Another and larger order was placed with a Shanghai firm of ship builders. The new Hamburg-American liner Blucher, sister ship of the Moltke, has reached New York on her maiden trip. She was built by Blohm & Voss of Hamburg and is 525 ft. long, 62 ft. beam and 45 ft. deep. She is designed for a moderate speed. *