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6 ENGINES OF BATTLESHIP MASSACHUSETTS. By an act approved June 30, 1890, Congress author- ized the building of three heavily armored and formid- ably armed battleships of the first class, primarily in- tended for coast defense, but of sufficient seaworthiness for extended cruises in case of offensive operations. They have been named the Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon. The Indiana has heretofore been de- scribed in these columns. The Massachusetts is now practically in service, and was built by the William Cramp Ship and Engine Building Co., of Philadelphia. The contract was signed Noy. 18, 1890, the price for hull and machinery, exclusive of armor and armament, being $3,063,000. In the Massachusetts there are two vertical inverted, direct-acting, triple-expansion main engines placed abreast of each other in separate water-tight compart- ments, the high-pressure cylinders being forward. Bach cylinder is supported by an inverted cast-steel Y frame on one side, and by two hollow forged steel cylindrical columns on the other. The intermediate and low-pressure cylinders are steam jacketed on the sides and bottom, but the high-pressure are not, but are fitted with working liners. There are no starting valves on the cylinders, provision being made for start- ing the engines by admitting live steam to the receivers. The relief valves for the cylinders are placed on the valve chest casings, on connections between the steam and exhaust sides of the main valves. There are two receivers for each en- gine, consisting of exhaust pipes and valve chests, the safety valves of which are set at 100 pounds for the I. P. and 60 pounds for the L. P. The main valves are of the single- ported piston type, there being one for the H. P., two for theI. P. and four for the L,. P. cylinder. They are pro- vided with balance pistons, the cylin- ders of which form part of the upper covers of the valve chests. The valve gear isof the Stephenson type with double bar links. There are no inde- pendent cut-off valves, but provision is made to cut off in each cylinder, varying from .5 to .7 of the stroke, by means of a block to which the suspen- sion links are attached, which block can be moved by hand screw gearina slot in the end of the arm on the re- versing shaft. The main pistons are steel castings, dished, and are each fitted with two packing rings 5 inch wide and % inch thick. The piston rods and connecting rods are of forged steel. The cross-heads are of forged steel, and each has a manganese bronze slip- per, the sliding faces of which are fitted with white metal. The I. P. andl. P. valve stems have manganese bronze crossheads which take hold of the link blocks directly. Hach engine bed plate consists of three sections of steel castings. The steam reversing gear consists of a cylinder 14 inchesin diameter by 20 inches stroke, secured to an engine Y frame, the piston rod being connected to an arm on the reversing shaft. The valve is moved by a hand lever and is controlled by a floating lever. The hand reversing gear consists of a wheel, worm shaft, pinion and rack, the latter being connected to an arm on the reversing shaft. There is a double. cylinder, simple, inverted, turning engine with cylinders 7 inches in diameter and 7 inches stroke secured to the high pressure Y frame. It drives a worm wheel on the forward end of the high pressure crank shaft by means of worm gearing and a second worm; the latter is made to slide on a feather key, and is held in place by a collar below and a removable key above it. A ratchet 1s fitted to the shaft of the engine for turning by hand. Each main engine is fitted with a disc stop valve 13% inches in diameter, having a screw stem and a balance piston, and a butterfly throttle 1514 inches in diameter. The main steam pipes are of copper and strengthened with steel bands 6 inches apart. In the port engine room there is a distributing oil tank THE MARINE RECORD. supplied from the main oil tanks by a Blake duplex pump, steam cylinders 2inches in diameter, oil cylin- ders 1% inches in diameter, stroke, 23 inches. Dis- tributing pipes lead to the various manifolds which are fitted with adjusting valves, and from the manifolds, tubes lead to the various parts to be lubricated. The crank, line, and propeller shafting is hollow and of forged steel. The crank shaft of each engine is in three interchangeable sections, the cranks placed at angles of 120°. [here are two sections of line shafting to each engine, supported on three bearings. The pro- peller shafts are fitted with a composition casing from inboard the stern tube stuffing box to the propellers; they extend far enough inboard to allow the inboard stern bearings to be withdrawn without moving the shafts. The dimensions of cylinders and valves are shown as follows: Cylinders, number foreach engine.....................-- nate SSG ah lose 3 Cylinders, diameter. of.H; Po inchesic ac. ach -eachicae?. atte ce eee 84% Gylinderssdiameterof L-Reinchesi. a... cclon ere soins se eit ot nls oie rides 48 Cylinders, diameter of L. P. inches.....,............. Re ee (1) DUrOke: Of PIStONS, INCH es. aan eave ete eiemanere oe 42 Valves, diameter of H. P, (one for each cylinder) inches. Srey oct Wf Valves, diameter of I. P. (two for each cylinder) inches................ 17 Valves, diameter of L. P. (four for each cylinder) inches............... 17 Balance pistons, diameter of H’ P, inches...................scbeveeees 54 Balance pistons, diameter of I, P, inches........................020005 Balance pistons, diameter of L, P, inches..................c0-eeeeeeees 7 Valve-stems, HieP? [1 j:diametér, inches..2 ..¢: 2 ae sta ee « earn ree 25% Valve stems, H. P. [1] diameter through valve, inches....... .......... 1% Wealvestenis, U; ib. |g Glameter,t0Ches. 227 rnc se reise scum aesfaiele 254 ENGINES OF THE BATTLESHIP MASSACHUSETTS. Valve stems, 1. P. [2] diameter through valve, inches.......... ........ Valvestemis, 1,42, (4) diameter, inchess. a: < t9+ ae feet ee to Valve stems, L. P. [4] diameter through valve, inches.................. For the above description and illustration we are in- debted to the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. ED Se FOR SALE AT THE RECORD OFFICE. Beeson’s Marine Directory is invaluable to marine men.—Buffalo Express. The latest volume of Beeson’s Marine Directory, just out, is larger than any of its predecessors,is handsomely illustrated and contains a larger mass of data than ever heretofore.—Cleveland Leader. Beeson’s Book is the standard work on lake shipping and this year’s number totally eclipses all former issues. The illustrations are fine.—Duluth Evening Herald. We note that the Directory is double its former size and that it is an improvement all around over former issues.—O. S. Richardson Fueling Co. THER MARINE RECORD has just issued a nice little book containing a full and correct list of the boats, masters and engineeers, where the latter are used. Its price is only 25 cents and everybody connected with the marine business should have one.—Ashtabula Beacon. Lene A NEW RUSSIAN WAR SHIP. The largest vessel ever launched on the Neva took the water May 12 in the presence of the Czar. It was the new warship Russia. She is 464 feet between perpen- diculars, with a displacement of 12,195 tons. Including the ram, the full length of the Russia is over 480 feet, and the greatest breadth over all is 68 feet. The Rus- sia’s coal-carrying capacity is 2,500toms, Her triple-ex- pansion engines, made at the Baltic Works, are of 17,000 indicated horse power, and her expected speed is 19 knots. The boilers, thirty-two in number, are of the Belleville type, made in France. The armor plates of the belt are made at the Carnegie mills in America. The cruiser has a double bottom and 149 watertight compartments, and carries fourteen different boats, in- cluding steam launches. Her armament will consist of 8-inch, 6-inch, 75-millimetre, 47-millimetre, and 37-millimetre guns, besides torpedo apparatus. The General Admiral Apraxin was launched at the same time. Her displacement is 4,126 tons; length, 278 feet; beam, 52 feet; two triple-expansion engines, 5,000 indi- cated horse-power. She will be armored for 177 feet of her length with plates 10 inches thick in the center of the vessel, gradually lessening in thichness towards the stem and stern, and will carry four 9-inch guns in revolving turrets, and twenty-two various rapid-firing guns, besides torpedoes, for which there are four dischargers. The Russia is to be followed by a still larger cruiser, one of 14,000 tons, and the largest and most powerful cruiser afloat. oo or STEEL SHAFTS. The fact that steel shafts break from the outside instead of from the inside goes against the microscopical exam- ination of minute bitsof the interior of shafts, says Engineering Mechan- ics. One steamship engineer who had put in 110 steel shafts in 14 years, one of which had run 1,000,000 miles and was still good, did not take any inter- est in the microscope. The naval en” gineers in England who have been going over the whole question think breakage is generally due to fatigue, a correct view, because steel has nerves just as much as human beings. Some engineers still favor the boring cout of shafts in order to take away that part containing defects in cast- ing; but this is nota general rule, be- cause often the best part of the steel is towards the center of the shaft and not on the outside. In cooling off a steel casting the sulphur and carbon collected in the center because that part remained fluid longest. Forgings need annealing just as castings do, but if asteel casting were put in an an- nealing furnace it would be ruined. One eminent engineer declares the proper way to make a steel shaft is with the hydraulic press. The custom of one well known maker of shafts is to anneal a straight forging, turn it in the lathe and then anneal it again. They produce the collars at the end by upsetting the metal so as to get the fibers running round into the flange from the shaft. Just what fatigue of metal means in a chemical or mechanical sense is hard to de- fine, as every worker in metal knows. Stillthat is the only word we have to describe a result and condition. —_—_—_—_CEEED aa Bids were opened at Detroit Thursday at the office of Col. Lydecker for widening portions of Hay Lake chan- nel and were awarded as follows: Section EK. channel, below Little Rapids, Dunbar & Sullivan, 9,8, cents per yard; section F, channel, at angle foot of Hay Lake, Hickler Bros., 21% cents per yard; section G. channel, from dyke to angle at Little Mud Lake, Hingston & Woods. EEE —e ee Narcissa (on a cruise)—‘‘ What is the matter Capt, Bobstay?”’ Captain—‘'The fact is my dear young lady, we’ve smashed our rudder.’’ Narcissa—‘‘Never mind. It’s mostly under water and nobody will notice it.’’— Household Words.