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1901.) perative necessity. The design has therefore to be prepared with the utmost care to realize the coinciding of the center of buoyancy at level keel and the common center of gravity of hull, machinery, coal and cargo. Cer- tainly the ship builders on the lakes show in a most efficient manner to coast builders how such a desired trim can be attained to a nicety. It is to their advantage, however, that they are building a great many ships of the same type. All the trim conditions are very much aggravated by having the machinery and coal, in most cases, in the stern of the ship. This position of the machinery is highly characteristic of the lakes and of vital importance for the ship in several directions. The ship secures by it an unbroken cargo hold with uniformity in the spacing of hatches, cS is much to the advantage of rapidity of loading as practiced on the akes. The center of gravity for the light condition of the ship is drawn a great distance aft of the midship section, sometimes as much as 6 to 8 per cent. of the length, securing by it a trim of 8 to 14 ft. on an average for the light condition. A trim of such magnitude enables the wheel and rud- der to be sufficiently immersed for moving and handling the ship. In such an arrangement it is often found advisable to shift the center of buoy- ancy for level keel quite a little distance forward of the midship section, as the tendency of the unbroken cargo hold is trim by the head for the full toad condition. The second sketch illustrates the relative position of the center of buoyancy at level keel and: of the common center of gravity of all weights in the respective displacements at different draughts. As seen, the paths of the two centers converge toward each other until they meet at the maximum load line, to realize the desired capability of passing the channel with the largest useful load. For the sake of comparison, I add-a typical case of an ocean-going steamer, which shows plainly the wide variation in the original idea of the designs. If owners of lake vessels figure on taking advantage of deeper chan- nels in the future, care must be exercised to get the center of buoyancy far enough forward to prevent trim by the head. The tendency of trim forward is still more pronounced as the coal is consumed and the stern lightened. Due to the easier weather conditions, no undue strain seems to be felt by the hull with this after position of the machinery. Among ocean-going steamers this arrangement seems to find favor only in oil tankers, where it is possible to ballast the ship up to full load. It is with the greatest interest that the outcome of the present experi- ment to employ the lake style of steamers in Atlantic coasting trade is awaited. After a few seasons of hard winter weather with numerous trips in ballast, a large amount of very valuable experience shall have been obtained by the owners and their technical advisers. Another point that will be tested is the very high co-efficient of displacement and its desir- ability for coast conditions. Details of the practical construction of lake steamers show some remarkable and highly valuable characteristics, many of which could be imitated with great advantage by coast builders. The arrangement of quick bilges, straight margin plates, channel floors, channel and T beams and stanchions, as well as the execution of templating, setting up, rivet- ing, etc., are, no doubt, facilitated by the long, straight midship part, but could be adopted with reasonable modifications for any kind of merchant ship construction. The impression is abroad that lake ship builders can build steel into ships at 10 to 15 per cent. less cost per ton of material than the Atlantic coast builders. : The most pronounced type of lake craft is the slow-speed, full-bodied freight carrier, mainly for ore, coal and grain, but also, with modifications, the package freighter. There is, additionally, a class of speedy vessels for transportation of passengers only. Among these is a large number of paddle-wheel steamers, some not much different from the coast steamers with beam engines, while some of the latest have the most improved diagonal engines, like the Tashmoo of Detroit, a highly efficient type oi steamer. For the through-going, fast passenger traffic, the twin screw type seems to be the one that promises to be the most efficient. The designers of these latter ships seem to have had to contend with a great many diffi- culties that make success more difficult than with ocean-going vessels. With a little more experience, however, the fast, through passenger steamer will add another important feature to the constantly growing in- dustrial and commercial importance of the great lakes. PROPOSED NEW TRANSPORTATION ROUTE. - Capt. J. G. Keith, vessel owner of Chicago, is associated with Cana- dian interests that are promoting a scheme for the construction of a rail- road from Collingwood on Georgian bay to Toronto and for the operation of ships on the great lakes in connection with the railroad. It is proposed to have ships from Duluth and Chicago feed the railroad at Collingwood and also to have a line of vessels operating down Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river from Toronto to ‘Montreal. The scheme also con- templates the construction and operation of vessels, irrespective of the proposed railroad, from Chicago and Duluth down the Canadian canals to ‘Montreal. Of course, the whole matter is only on paper as yet... The organization is to be known as the Canada National Railway & Trans- ~ portation Co. Capt. Keith says of it? -—-- ~ ees “It is now a certainty that the Canadian parliament will grant the charter for the new company. The capital has all-beenarranged for by the Toronto men who are active in promoting the company, although I am not at liberty=to announce how much it ‘will be Or where ‘it will come from, and though little can be done this year, by the end of next ear our vessels will be on the lakes and on the St. Lawrence river, and a railroad of our own will be in operation. The line will almost revolutionize lake transportation. At the outset the company will probably build five or six vessels of 150,000 bushels capacity for the Lake Superior and Lake Michi- gan end of the line. In addition to them it will build or purchase three times as many vessels of half the size for the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario part of the course. As sailing is slower on this part of the route, double the number of lake vessels would not do on the eastern end. The railroad will be amply sufficient for both freight and passenger service. “The company will plan to erect elevators at both Collingwood and Toronto, to be used if it is desirable, but most of the grain, as well as most of the ore, will be sent straight through without the use of elevators. e system of grain handling is so well developed that it is cheap and - - MARINE REVIEW. 25 rapid. At Toronto, for instance, the cars of grain will run on a trestle, from which the grain can be turned direct into chutes that run to the holds of the vessels. In the same way ore will be hauled in copper-bot- tomed cars, and dumped direct to the boats. As less than 200 miles uf Lake Ontario are,to be traversed, there will be little danger of delays from storm, and less trimming of the vessels will be needed, in this a saving being effected. The route may gain a coal trade, but will not expect much of this, its main cargoes being lumber, ore and grain. For the present Montreal will be the eastern terminus, but the men behind the new com- pany are thinking also of building ocean-going vessels, which can carry ore, for instance, direct from Toronto to Europe, or which can trade with Atlantic ports.” TRADE NOTES. ? Mr. Sidney A. Stephens of No. 22 St. John street, Montreal, was recently appointed agent for the Ashton Valve Co.’s pop safety valves and steam gauges throughout the Dominion of Canada. The Atlantic Works, Incorporated, Philadelphia, is furnishing the Holmes Ship Building Co., West Mystic, Conn., one of their B 11 adjust- able bevel band saw machines, which bevels both ways to 45°. As announced some time ago, the J. A. Fay & Egan Co. of Cincin- nati, manufacturers of wood working machinery, were awarded the “grand prix” at the Paris exposition, and now it is learned that Mr. Thomas P. Egan, president of the company, has been decorated with the Legion ‘of Honor by the French government. The New York ‘Central & Hudson River Railroad ‘Co. has contracted with the American Bridge Co. for two draw bridges, which are to be operated by gasoline engines, one of them to be located near New Ham- burg, N. Y., and the other one near Little Ferry, N. J. Both are through plate girder bridges with double track. An advertisement from the Ohio Fuel Co. on page 39 of this issue announces that they will be prepared upon the opening of navigation on the great lakes to furnish fuel to steam vessels in Cleveland, day or night, from dock or by steam lighter, as may be required. This company, which operated a dock during a part of last season at the mouth of the old river bed, Cleveland, recently purchased a steam lighter of 300 tons capacity. They announce that they furnish only the best grades of Pittsburg and Goshen steam coal. Be Capt. M. Mulholland, who is supplying thousands of his patent hatch fasteners to vessels in all parts of the country, is now located at No. 46 Wade Building, Cleveland. A special corner bracket, which may be readily applied to hatches that have the ordinary form of fasteners. is meeting with very large sale. One hundred of these corner brackets are to be fitted on the Wilson Transit .Co.’s steamers Rees and Thomas Wil- son, and eighty of them are to be supplied to two steel freighters building at the works of the Detroit Ship Building Co. The firm name Cole & Kuhls is now permanently connected with the use of seam composition for decks and other seams, weather checks, floors, skylights, etc. The material sold by Cole & Kuhls is known as elastic seam composition. Their headquarters are in the Borough of Brooklyn, N. Y., foot of Twenty-fourth street. Among large steamship concerns using this composition are the American line, Old Dominion Steamship ‘Co., Panama Railroad Steamship 'Co., Ocean Steamship Co., Atlas line and L. Boyer’s Sons. The composition is also used on the United States army transports and on the yachts Aphrodite, Anita, Cor- onet, Eleanor, Intrepid, Kismet, Nourmahal, Valient, Aileen, Buccaneer, Halcyon, Elsa, Chetolah, Fenella and many others. Some forge shop plants have of late been provided with only a single fan blower designed to produce the blast for the fires and at the same time by means of a special piping arrangement to exhaust the resulting smoke from the hoods. In a recent paper read before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Mr. William Sangster says that “such an arrange- ment is not economical, since a much larger volume of air must be raised to a higher pressure than if a separate fan had been used for the exhaust system. In the case referred to we should have to handle five times 140 cub. ft. of air at 4 ounces pressure, requiring 1.25 H.P., instead of .44 H.P. for each forge. Even in a small system the power saved by the extra fan will pay for its cost in less than a year’s time.” The Wm. S. Haines Co. of Philadelphia recently-moved offices and factory to new and enlarged quarters at Eighteenth and Hamilton streets. The Haines company makes the well-known Heintz marine steam trap. Claims made for this trap are: It discharges water only and that at a temperature below 212°; the valve being at the inlet of the trap, the latter does not condense any steam; the trap may be set in any position and will do its work in all; it is the smallest and lightest trap on the market; it has the largest capacity for its valve size; it does not need constant attention and operates under any change of pressure from nothing to 200 Ibs. or more; it has recently been officially adopted by the Russian navy after most exhaustive tests and has been used for years in the American, English, German, French and Belgium navies; based on capacity, it is the cheapest trap on the market. VALUF OF STOCKS-LEADING IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIALS, Quotations furnished by HERBERT WRIGHT & Co., Cleveland, Date of January 30, 1901, Ae NAME OF STOOK. OPEN HIGH LOW OLOSE American Steel & Wire........... .... 40 42% 39% 42% American Steel & Wire, Pfd.......... 84 86% 84 86% Federal: Steel cso: << s.cccnssfeevsices cove 42 4434 42 43% Federal Steel, Pfd.................0c0ee0 70 703% 70 703, National Steel ....... PEER Seco an 39 40% 39 40% National:Steel, Pidisccs. cs ciecsens ones) Soi, Ga eee Anferican Tin Plate ...:..0::.5.>026 PORE 56% 56% 56 56% American Tin Plate, Pfd......... Petr a emeM Co id errr ere Messe Recaro ye American Steel Hoop..........00:ss0060 2656 26% 26 2634 American Steel. Hoop; Pidwiccncan bo: eee ae, ERAGE PE pepe Republic Iron & Steel........... Proper pe ae Pa irae st 13% Republic Iron & Steel, Pfd........... BB Ips a eat 58%