The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

An Interesting Summary HE Review presents herewith a summary of the comparative work of each ship of the Erie Railroad Lake Line and of the fleet as a whole based upon operation for the season of 1910 and for which acknowl- edgments are due to C. S. Goldsborough, manager, New York. For readiness of comparison the results have been plotted in graphic form both as to speeds and fuel. In the diagram 1910 speeds are rep- -resented by the solid line and work of not only each ship but of the fleet the same extent as larger units. Comparison of Work of Erie Railroad Lake Line Steamers fleet average is well above and in fact higher than desirable either for best' economy or for conditions of opera- tion and 0.5 mile higher than 1910. No ship shows a falling off. Ships Nos. 2 and 3 cannot be brought up to the average economically but they are also the smallest of the fleet and do not, therefore, affect operation to The increase in fleet average is 4.7 per cent with individual averages ranging from 0.9 to 22 per cent. The fuel performance is also shown etaphically. 'The height of the un- COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE CHART, ERIE RAILROAD LAKE LINE as a whole is apparent at a glance. It will be seen that the fleet average is 10.6 miles with high at 11.4 miles and low at 9.0 miles. It should be un- derstood that the speed is derived from total mileage divided by total hours under way, and includes checks for fog, river work, etc. In the work of im- provement a fleet average of 11 miles was aimed at. The fleet. average as now consti- tuted is shown by the dotted line. It will be seen that while two ships still fall below the desired average the shaded areas: represents average trip fuel for 1910 and the shaded areas the trip fuel for 1913. Tonnage can be read directly from the diagram and also the reduction percentage. The diagrams are numbered to cor- respond with the speed diagram and the fleet average is also shown. If the increase in fleet speed is taken into account the reduction percent- age, which, as shown on diagram, is 38 per cent, would be about 45 per cent. The coal used in port would of course not be affected by speed changes. - In actual weights the reduction since the improvements were taken in hand amounts to over 28,000 tons. Further reductions are expected as the speeds are harmonized and also from changes in methods of operation which experience has suggested but additional figures will probably not be given out. Additional interesting information is found in the increase in trips per ship of 15.3 per cent for almost exactly the same period of operation. Cost of lubrication, although one of the smallest items of operating expense, was reduced from 9.05 cents per hour's run to 3.6 cents without in any way altering methods or. reduction in efh- ciency. The coal figures are exact; the total charged to the ships and the total car weights agreeing almost exactly so that if any error exists it is necessarily in weighing cars. Details of the work carried out are withheld but it is stated that much of the improvement is due to the sys- tem of notation employed in keeping records. The log form carries much information not found in the forms usually employed and each log as turned in is at once analyzed and transferred to a continuous record sheet which shows at once compara- tive work for individual trips and the. average of trips to date and any de- parture from previous best results is examined into without delay. Pro- peller constants for various trims have been established by numerous observations and serve as checks not only on mileage but on engine revo- lutions and speeds. About two hours covers the work entailed but since the entire season's work of each ship is complete with the analysis of the last log all that remains is to collect the footings and extensions to arrive at the collective performance. The effect is to keep the plant and per- sonnel at high efficiency and to indi- cate at once in what direction to look for any falling off. While the results attained are not looked upon as _ finality they form an interesting conclusion to a remarkable series of engineering data, the more so because of the un- usual liberality of the giving out information usually difficult to obtain. line jn nature Erie Of 74