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

234 dollars and cents. Enough experi- ence has already been obtained to show that, in certain classes of ves- sels on certain trade routes, the diesel engine does pay; hence the number of ships building at the outbreak of the war. The advantages, as applied to cer- tain merchant vessels, are, in general: economy in fuel, increased cargo ca- pacity, decreased engineer force, and absence of standby losses. There has always been a difference between the European and American point of view, due to conditions. Previous to the present war, capital was comparatively plentiful in Europe and fuel comparatively scarce. Con- sequently, the European ship owner _ considered ultimate saving, and was willing to pay a greater first cost for his propelling plant, if the operating economy would show an_ ultimate gain. In the United States, the ship- ping business has never been given much encouragement, and those who have gone into the business have had to consider first cost very seriously. Furthermore, both coal and oil are comparatively cheap in this country. Finally, information in regard to diesel engines has been obtained principally from the technical descriptions of for- eign vessels. It is only comparatively recently that diesel-engined ships have visited American ports, so that first- hand information from actual obser- vation has been scarce. A_ further drawback to American development has been the lack of trained operators. In the course of time, the basic ad- vantages will be realized in the Unit- ed States and the necessary trained operators will be developed. Under present circumstances, it is impossible to install a diesel engine plant at the same cost as a steam plant. There is a possibility. that a diesel engine may eventually be developed which will cost so little more than a _ steam plant that the difference will not be worth serious consideration. There are, of course, many cases where a _ diesel-engine plant would not prove as desirable as a steam plant. These cases depend upon lo- cality and the nature of the service. It is apparent, that in a_ locality where coal is very cheap and oil expensive, it will be foolish to use oil. A vessel engaged, locally, on short trips could not derive the same advantage as a vessel making long voyages. Anyone who contemplates building a new ship, or repowering an old one, should carefully investi- gate the matter for himself before deciding on the kind of motive power to be installed. 7 THE MARINE REVIEW Grinding Sea Valves By E. M. Davis —C J HEN a ship is in dry dock, W the repair forces are often required to go aboard and grind the sea valves on short no- tice. Very often it is impossi- ble to obtain advance information regarding the construction of the hub on the discs, and it is necessary, therefore, for the repair foreman to improvise means of turning the dics when grind- ing. This applies especially to the type of valve that has a tapered hole in the back of the seat, in which a threaded collar or nut is screwed to fasten the disc loosely to the stem. When handling this type of valve, the writer has found it advisable to make the disc fast to the stem, discarding the bonnet, etc. The connection is made by putting a %4-inch steel ball between the center holes of the disc and stem, screwing the nut down to make everything tight and in METHOD OF GRINDING VALVES line. An ordinary ball, similar to that used in bearings, is satisfactory. ‘This method seems to work out better than using a washer or piece of packing.. May Ore Shipments | : Ore shipments during May on the Great Lakes established a new rec- ord for monthly shipments, being 8,449,580 tons as against 8,204,416 tons moved during July, 1913, which was the * previous high mark. During May, 1915, 5,012,359 tons were shipped a decrease of 3,437,221 tons from Gn shipments’ of May, 1916. The move. ment to June 1 of the present year was 10,107,991 tons; an increase of 4,591,799 tons over the corresponding period during 1915, and an increase of 1,957,392 tons over the movement to June 1, 1913, which was the ban- ner year in the history of the trade. The total ore movement the year 1913 was 49,070,478 tons shipments during the balance of present season equal those of 19 the total movement for 1916 wi in excess of 51,000,000 tons. Following are the shipments ports, with comparative data for 19 May, Port. 1915 Hiscaiva baie sso aeeereans 479,259 Marquette. oir sisie e's 178,927 Acs hilt ise ce see a cas esate 513,715 KSibh okercil(o) a chr anroen Gena o Gc 763,889 Tuleh ees eto seis ane 1,974,321 Thawoe ElarDOrs 6 ceees 1,102,248 - 5,012,359 1916 increase eee ee te eee ee eee Port, 1915. ME SCADA DAL ieccn asec, ota 528,566 Mrarciwetteirrc:. cs ences 183,365 614,813 } Neliland 3263 sec w tian aoc 557,665 1,102,893 StpenlOr acct oe acters 851,064 1,933,681 TB ASN Db GU athe Saker A ete a Oia 2,149,310 3,209,325 EW sELAT DOES! 250s antes 1,246,222 1,803,879 | 5,516,192 10,107,991 TOLG6sincrease. 4) sia eee 4,591,799. Lake Erie Ore Receipts - Out of a total of 8,449,580 gross tons of iron ore shipped during May, 6,365,- 341. tons were received at Lake Erie ports, distributed as follows:. i Port. Gross tons. Port: Colborne 20%) ae ae 7090 Buftalos is es oe eee 921,553 ries ote 6 a eee 112,989 Conheat <..6 cen see 1,198,287 AWehta balay: soe sie 1,386,707 airport © a. soe oe 350,719 Cleveland? 42 cere oes 1,338,958 Moraine 3 s.003 oe ee 588,293 MOMS cst Ses bse ee 142,536 Toledo 23 Ske Rs 263,457 Detroit kes ee 51,984 Potales e eb eee 6,365,341 To Arouse Interest It has been announced that the students in 21. colleges and unt versities are now competing for the foreign trade council prizes for essays on the American merchant marine. When the council, which is composed of 50. manufacturers, merchants, farm- ers, railroad and steamship men and bankers, representing all parts of the country and engaged in the economic investigation of foreign trade prob- lems, last year turned its attention to a greater American merchant fleet im the foreign trade it found progress difficult because of “the general lack of knowledge of the fundamentals of ocean transportation”. This inspired a member of the coun- cil to offer $1,500 to be distributed im prizes, mostly to institutions in the interior, to promote careful study of the shipping question. In order that - faculty as well as student interest might be stimulated, the contest im each institution, or group of institu- tions, was arranged under the direc tion of a faculty committee. :