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18 THe Marine REVIEW the denominator is to be taken, that is, 50 of the 100; 50 being one-half of 100 it must equal the fraction %. When the uuit is di- vided. into 1000 parts, 500 of those parts would be equal to one-half, since 500 is one-half of 1000. .25 is equal to the fraction %%4, since 25 is contained in the denominator 100, 4 times, .250 is also equal to Y%, since 250 is contained in 1000 4 times. ..75 is 3%, so is .750 equal to 3%. .125 is equal to the fraction 1%, since 125 is contained in 1000 8 times. If .125 is equal to %, 3 times .125, or .375 must equal 3%, and 5 times .125, or .625 must equal %. When 10 is the denominator, the numerator may be from>1 to 9; when the denominator is 100 the numerator may be from 1 to 99; Mee the denominator is 1000, the numerator may be from 1 to 999, and so on, - ELECTRIC PROPERTIES CO. The Electric Properties Co., incorporated May to, under the laws of the state of New York, with a capital of $6,- 000,000 preferred and $6,000,000 common stock, has been organized to acquire, finance and develop properties, either whole or in part, especially those in which electricity plays the principal part, such as power, electric traction and electric lighting enterprises, and to invest and deal in and to guarantee the securities of corporations operating such properties. It will also conduct through Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co. (all of whose capital stock is owned by the new company) a general engineering and con- struction business. It may also issue collateral trust bonds secured by the pledge of securities acquired in the course of business. : The purposes of the company, as mentioned above, will be mainly financial. It is not intended to make any changes in the organization or personnel of Westing- house, Church, Kerr & Co., whose operations have been highly successful and they will continue to be conducted under the efficient administration of Mr. Walter C. Kerr, president. While the Electric Properties Co. will avail itself of the engineering and construction organization of Westing- house, Church, Kerr & Co., it will also use other engineer- ing organizations or independent consulting engineers as circumstances may require. One of the objects of the new company will be to co-operate with vested interests, such as railways and other public service companies, in the development of properties for their account, and either temporarily or permanently assist in financing such pro- perties. The great rapidity with which the uses of electricity are being extended, not only in the creation of new enter- prises, but in changing the character of existing enter- prises, will, it is believed, afford constantly increasing opportunities for the profitable investment of capital. Mr. John F. Wallace has been selected as president of the new corporation, and two vice presidents will be elected at the first meeting of the board of directors. The following gentlemen constitute the directorate, all of whom will be actively interested in the conduct of the business of the Electric Properties Co. Charles H. Allen, vice president, Morton Trust Co., New York; Paul D. Cravath, Cravath, Henderson & De Gersdorff, New York; H. D. Giddings, New York; N. W. Halsey, N. W. Halsey & Co., New York; George C. Smith, vice president, Security Investment Co., Pittsburg; John A. Spoor, president, Union Stock Yard & Transit Co. and president, Chicago Junction Railway .Co., Chicago; Moses Taylor, Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., New York; E. G. Tillotson, vice president, Cleveland Trust Co., Cleveland; F. D. Underwood, president, Erie Railroad, New York; R. B. Van Cortlandt, Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., New York; John F. Wallace, president, Electric Properties Co.. New York; George Westinghouse, president, Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., Pittsburg. The headquarters of the company will be at 111 Broadway, New York. The Southern Ship Building Co., Jacksonville, Fla., a completed the barge building for the Havana Coal Co. IS STEAM DOOMED? In Engineering, London, there are many details of the application of gas for driving engines of ships, and the facts suggest the question as to whether steam for this purpose is doomed, Prof. Capper has stated that the the- oretical maximum thermal efficiency of the steam engine is only 30 per cent, and only from five to 20 per cent of the heat generated is ever turned into useful' work. In the case of the gas engine the theoretical efficiency is about 80 per cent, and in practice 25 to 30 per cent of heat developed in the cylinder is turned into useful work. For vessels fitted with small-powered compound-condens- ing engines of less than 100 H. P., the fuel consumption will be from two to three pounds per indicated horse- power. For gas plants of this power the fuel consump- tion will be less than one pound per indicated horsepower. For larger powers, of not less than 500 H. P., the economy will not be quite so marked, but will be about as follows: Steam plant, say, 1.6 lb. per indicated horsepower; gas plant, say, 0.8 lb. per indicated horsepower. At this fig- ure of one-half, the gas plant should be well worthy of adoption, from an economical point of view, as, in other words, the same coal will do double the work. The stok- ing and cleaning of the fire of the producer are much less than would be required for a steam boiler of the same power, the stoking being practically automatic, and practically the whole fuel, other than the clinkers, is con- sumed. From the plants made, and from designs that have been got out for moderate powers, it would appear that the space occupied by the gas generator and engine is about the same as the steam plant; but for large pow- ers, where a double-acting gas engine -is employed, the weight will be considerably less, as the engine will be about the same weight as the steam engine, and the pro- ducer will be very much lighter than the boiler. The off- cial report of the trials of a small vessel fitted by Messrs. Thornycroft, and illustrated in Engineering shows that this boat of 16 tons displacement ran at an average speed of 10 miles per hour for ten hours, on a consumption of 412 lbs. of anthracite coal. Several tugs, boats, and other vessels have been fitted with similar engines to the one illustrated, and are at. the present time running on the Continent on the inland waterways; but, as far as is known, the Emil Capitaine was the first vessel fitted with a gas engine and producer to run in the open sea. To demonstrate the possibility of using gas plants for large powers, Messrs. William Beardmore & Co., who are joint owners with Messrs. Thornycroft of the British Capitaine patents, are constructing sets of engines of 500 and 1,000 H. P., to run at a speed of about 130 revolu- tions per minute. According to Mr. W. W. May (Messrs. Beardmore & Co.'s engineer), in a 7,000-ton cargo steam--- er there would be a saving of 13,000 cu. ft. of cargo space, besides a considerable gain in weight. SPEED OF VESSELS IN SHALLOW WATER. The speed of vessels in shallow water is a subject that is now an important one on account of the controversy over the design of the Panama canal. As there is much misapprehension concerning it, it may be well to note that the first important investigations were made by Capt. A. Rasmussen, of the Danish navy, who described his experi- ments with a torpedo boat in an article in Engineering of Sept. 7, 1894. He found that at half power his boat made 5% knots less speed in 15 ft. of water than in 48 ft., but at full power the speed was 1% knots greater in 15 than in 48-ft. depth. These results were confirmed a year later by Col. Guiseppe Rota, whose paper describ- . ing his experiments was published in the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects. These and later