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June, 1919 dicts that the use of staples will soon be abandoned in favor of directly arc welding the parts to be joined. Other applications described are to the con- struction of water, oil, and air tanks, stacks, condensers, ballast tanks, etc. It is obvious that the staples now used to make water-tight or oil-tight joints around frames or beams may be elimi- nated by welding the joints involved. t is found that rivets may safely be put through welds where necessary. Also, welded metal may safely be tapped. T-branches can be welded into pipe lines at a fraction of the cost of construc- tion by other means. More than _ half the rivets in a ship may be eliminated if only the shell, bottom, deck, and bulk- head plates be welded on their edges. Redesign Wood Boats Experienced and old-time navigators do not believe that the United States shipping board will successfully carry out the announced program to change at least a portion of the wooden steamers into sailing craft. Following the announcement that many of the wooden ships would be taken from the Honolulu run and brought to 'the Atlantic through the Panama canal and then converted into windjammers, by the experts proceed to prove FIG. 1--CONDITION OF DEVICE AT THE BEGIN- NING OF THE TEST various arguments that the vessels will not do for this purpose at all. It is contended that the ships are not constructed along the right lines to carry sail, and that if this feat is at- tempted the best speed under normal conditions will be about two miles an hour. To convert the wooden steam- €rs into sailing vessels would be no small architectural task and their sale in their present shape appears to be THE MARINE REVIEW utterly impossible, according to reports. Experienced navigators are also averse to the: proposal to convert the vessels into barges. They say that they would be unwilling to' take one of them in tow upon deep water be- cause of the danger incurred should a heavy gale be encountered. Chair- man Hurley of the shipping board also realizes that the wooden ships offer a separate problem from: that present in connection with the disposi- tion of the steel ships belonging to the government. Test Boat Release During the severe winter months, when ships' gear of all.kinds is gen- erally covered with a thick coat- ing of frozen spray, the problem of getting away life boats quickly when the command is given to abandon ship is often serious, due to the fact that an accumulation of ice on the ~ FIG. 2--ICE BROKEN BY. PULLING THE HAND RELEASING LEVER boat releasing devices may prevent their functioning properly. The Steward Davit & Equipment Corp., New York, manufacturer of mechanical davits and lifeboat gear, recently conducted an interesting test to ascertain the reliability of its boat releasing gear when thickly coated with ice. The device in question was de- scribed in THe Marine Review of January, 1919. In the accompanying illustrations, Fig. 1 is the gear ready for testing. The gear was packed with snow and then sprayed with water .to duplicate as nearly as possible the conditions that might be encountered at sea during a cold spell of weather. Fig. 2 shows the condition of the ice after the re- leasing hook had been actuated by 303 hand. The pull required to break the ice was 52 pounds. Fig. 3 shows.the device after releasing. The ice was broken by a weight of 1300 pounds. In this test, the releasing device was mounted on a structure resembling the stem of a lifeboat while the re- FIG. 3--THE DEVICE RELEASED BY 1300 POUNDS WEIGHT leasing hook was suspended from a reliable scale. Weights were piled on-the structure until the ice broke-- the weight being checked by means of the scale. It is pointed out that the test shows the reliability of the device to re- lease when completely covered with ice, due to the fact that the weight required to break the ice, thus letting the device function properly, was éex- tremely light when compared to the weight of a loaded lifeboat. Rules for Boiler Repairs Approval of the use of the electric or oxyacetylene processes for repairing boilers of steamships has been given by the British authorities. The British board of trade has published instructions to surveyors of vessels. for official use on this subject. These state: The. repairing : of» the botiers . of passenger steamers by the above 'processes has been tentatively in operation for a considerable period and, in view of the experience gained, the surveyors are informed that, pro- vided the work is carried out to their satisfaction by experienced workmen, these processes may be employed, within limits, for repairing cracks in 'furnaces, combustion chambers, and -end plates of boilers, and in the same parts for reinforcing the landing edges of leaky riveted seams which have