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vices consist of fire extinguishers, firewagons which carry tanks of fire- extinguishing chemicals and of which there are several on each deck, water pumping systems, sprinkler systems, and smoke-detecting appa- ratus. All of these devices, however, may be more or less ineffectual if the hazard of fire is not properly guarded against in construction. It is in the field of construction that the more important future advances will be made, The heavy steel hulls of ships are well able to withstand extreme heat for long periods of time. Heavy steel is also used in the construction of the principal bulkheads, and parti- tions, so that a fire may be confined to a definite space. Perhaps the prin- cipal reason why metal has not been used in the construction of cabin partitions is the difficulty, because of the increased weight involved, in securing a safe margin of stability. Since the position of the center of gravity is one of the principal fac- tors in stability, weight properly placed determines the vessels sea- worthiness. Partitions on Normandie Designers of the French superliner NoRMANDIE, now being built at St. Nazaire, to solve their problem, de- cided to use a new material for par- tition bulkhead construction. They took aluminum sheet and faced it with asbestos covered by a thin layer of veneer. This was treated with chemicals to render it fire-retardant. The lightness of the upper decks was thus not disturbed, yet the parti- tions were made much more fireproof than would have been possible with any other construction than metal. Aluminum’s relation to lightness, strength, and firesafeness was em- phasized last year at Milan’s Sample Fair, where a full-size model of a stateroom was exhibited. Walls and ceilings were made of a strong alu- minum alloy called Peraluman. To this was glued an insulating sheet of fireproof Cel-Bes. Instead of paint, the exposed side was coated with Private dining room on BS. SBS. Haiti, protected from fire’ by aluminum par- tition bulk- heads, alumi- num furniture, metal airport frames and rugs and draperies sprayed with a fire retarding chemical solu- tion © ® Cabin on board of one of the newer coastwise liners. The beds are of metal, so are the dresser and airport frames. The chair is of alu- minum ® linoleum, which, properly cemented to a base, behaves like an incom- bustible material. A study of materials suitable to replace plywood was made in the United States last year, the most re- cent of which was under the direc- tion of George G. Sharp, New York naval architect. Fire Tests Conducted Mr. Sharp is chairman of the con- ference committee on construction of the marine committee of the Na- tional Fire Protection association. Tests were conducted at Jamestown, N. Y., at Edgewater and Camden, N. J., to determine the best all- around material for cabin partition construction. In the most exhaustive of all tests beams of steel were erected in an open lot, and around these a 9x12 feet stateroom was constructed. The walls of this stateroom consisted of various types of panels, such as steel, aluminum (both insulated and hollow) phenolic composition, un- treated veneer, asbestos mill board, untreated veneer with insulated bonding, hard asbestos veneer, and steel and aluminum doors. The model stateroom was com- pletely furnished to approximate the eonditions of an actual stateroom in a fire. Furniture, sheets, draperies, rugs, luggage, clothes and a locker were distributed about the room, The roof and the floor were of quarter- inch steel plate, The contents of the MaRINE REVIEw—December, 1934 room were sprinkled with kerosene at the beginning of the test, and kerosene-soaked fabric was spread from one piece of furniture to the other to insure rapid combustion. The combustible material was touched off with a lighted match and results were noted, Resistance of Metal Panels It was more than an hour before the fire burned itself out. Long be- fore the expiration of the blaze many of the weaker panels had crumbled. The only ones which withstood the elevated temperatures, which reached, in some instances, as high as 1800 degrees Fahr., were the pan- els and doors constructed of steel and aluminum, although the melting point of aluminum is only 1260 de- grees Fahr. This paradox is explained by the fact that the aluminum panel was built in three sections. Two sections were flat sheet, the third corrugated sheet. The corrugated sheet section was secured between the other two sections. The temperature between the inside and the outside of the panels varied more than 500 degrees. Thus while the sheet nearest the flame melted away, the corrugated sheet, and the outer sheet, were cool enough to withstand the heat. The other tests were similar to the one just mentioned with the excep- tion that the size of the enclosures varied. They indicated in all cases that the use of metal for proper fire protection is obligatory, and, sec- ondly, that a combination of steel and aluminum may be made advan- tageously to maintain the present seaworthiness of existing ships as far as satbility is concerned, The ply- wood partitions in use today weigh about 2.5 pounds to the square foot. Steel panels of the proper thickness weigh about twice as much, while hollow aluminum panels of the type described weigh only 1.6 pounds per square foot. Solid Steel Panels Heavy If steel panels of the proper thick- ness were used only, they would (Continued on Page 38) sy