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ESTABLISHED 1878. y Z E 2 2 VOL. XXII, No. 42. CLEVELAND---OCTOBER 109, 1899---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy. LAKE- CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. To consider and take action upon all general questions relating to the navigation and poneyiny business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of Lake Car- tiers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. FRANK J. FIRTH, Philadelphia. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT. Capt. THos. WILSON, Cleveland. SECRETARY CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. HARVEY D, GOULDER, Cleveland, EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, JAMES CORRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland, COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Grsson I,. DouGLas, Chairman, Buffalo, COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION, GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. — EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN WARSHIP. An exceedingly interesting and instructive paper on the evolution of the modern warship was read at the seventy- fifth anniversary of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, last week, by Rear-Admiral George W.:Melville, Engineer- in-Chief, U. S. N. After briefly describing the modern warship as the com- plete fruition and triumph of many branches of the great science of engineering, the author called attention to the fact that the first steam war vessels in the world was built for our navy. Not only that; it was designed by Robert Fulton, who first made steam navigation practicable; and its construction antedated the founding of the Franklin Institute by only about ten years. This first vessel was called the Demologos, or Fulton the First, and while of what would now be considered very small dimensions, was, nevertheless, a wonder of the period. She was 156 feet long, 56 feet beam and 20 feet deep, meas- uring 2,475 tons, having a single water wheel ina central well, and capable of steaming about six knots. The battery comprised 20 guns of the largest size at that date, a number of them having been taken from a captured British vessel. The hull, of course, was of wood, and the boilers were of copper. She was not completed until just after the termina- tion of the war of 1812, so that she never saw any active service, and was blown up by an explosion of her magazine in 1829. The next steam war vessel, also called the Fulton, and completed in 1837, was somewhat longer than the first Ful- ton, but with less beam, and proved a very successful ship for the period, being capable of steaming 12 knots an hour under favorable conditions. A most interesting thing in connection with this old vessel is the fact that the enginee who designed her machinery and superintended its erection became her chief engineer when she was commissioned, and thereby became the first engineer in the United States Navy. This distinguished gentlemon, Chas. H. Haswell, is still alive, and in the active practice of his profession. He is widely known among mechanics as the author of Haswell’s Pocketbook. After the building of the Fulton, steam vessels were added to the navy at regular intervals, each class marking the improvement on the preceding ones, until shortly before the beginning of our Civil War we hadaclass of frigates which in ordnance, machinery and hull were justly con- sidered the finest in the world. With the coming on of the Civil War, the evolution of the modern war vessels began. One of the problems for the engineer-in-chief at this time, Benjamin F. Isherwood, was the construction of machinery which should be thoroughly trustworthy in the hands of men of very limited experi- ence. This led him, contrary to what would ordinarily be considered good designing, but which, under the circum- stances, was consumate engineering skill, to build machinery very heavy, but which, as a matter of fact, never broke down and which carried our guns to victory. In those days, just asin our own, the ‘‘ man behind the gun '’ may be most in evidence, but without the man ‘‘ behind the shovel ’’ he would never have been able to get within range of the enemy. The destructive career of the Alabama suggested and enforced the building of a class of vessels which should be faster than any others afloat. As the material of the hulls was then still wood, giving a platform altogether too flexible to permit of the type of engines now used. Isherwood de- signed what were known as geared engines, which he, better than any one else, knew were extremely heavy, but the great point is that they enabled him to accomplish exactly what he set outtodo. The Wampanoag, the first of these vessels, in 1868, made the unprecedented record of nearly 17, knots for 36 hours in a rough sea, and for several periods of 6 hours 17% knots. At that time no other vessel in the world, either war or merchant steamer, approached this speed within three knots. About this time Mr. Isherwood conducted a number of experiments in connection with the expansion of steam, and boldly enunciated principles which the rest of the engineer- ing world in many cases denounced as erroneous, but which are now accepted as fundamental facts in thermo-dynamics. This is notably the case with respect to cylinder condensa- tion, where he was the first to enunciate the true principle. Another great engineer became famous at this time, al- though he had been doing splendid work and helping to develop the war vessels before, namely, Capt. John Erics- son. The story of the first monitor is too well known to require more than incidental reference. Coincidentally, much was done for our ordnance during this period by Admiral Dahlgren, so that at the end of the war our naval guns were recognized as the best in the world. Following the war, and up to 1883, there was a period de- void of important developments in naval construction, as we were not building anything new in ships, guns or ma- chinery. But with the beginning made in that year in the creation of the White Squadron, the march of improvement was again taken up. oo or or HUDSON’S BAY. A. P. Low, of the Geological Survey of Canada, has re- turned to Ottawa, after fifteen months’ exploration of Hud- son’s Bay. Mr. Low left Ottawain the spring of 1898, for the Atlantic coast, from whence he went by steamer to the eastern mouth of Hudson’s Straits, where he took a yacht and explored the coast down to Great Whale river, a part of the bay not previously explored. Several large rivers were discovered, and great quantites of fish were found, especially in the mouths of the rivers. The fish found were Arctic salmon, whitefish, trout and cod. Mr. Low thinks that they arein sufficient quantities to make fishing for commercial purposes very profitable. The winter of 1898-99 was spent in Great Whale river, Mr. Low and his party living in snow houses. There was not much work done during the winter, as there was barely six hours sunlight a day; but during the past summer a very large tract of country inland was ex- plored, and some valuable mineral discoveries made, of which details will be given in his report to the Government, which will be made at an early date. TRANS-ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS. The president of the Mechanical Science Section of the British Association, Sir William White, in his presidential address paid attention chiefly to developments in steam navigation, and, speaking of the trans-Atlantic service, said : “Sixty years of continuous effort and strenuous competi- tion on this great ‘ocean ferry’ may be summarized in the following statement : Speed has been increased from 8% to 22% knots; the time on the voyage has been reduced to about 38 per cent. of what it was in 1840. Ships have been more than trebled in length, about doubled in breadth, and increased tenfold in displacement. The engine power has been made forty times as great. The ratio of horse-power to the weight driven has been increased fourfold. The rate of coal consumption (measured by horse-power per hour) is now only about one-third what it was in 1840. ‘To drive 2,000 tons weight across the Atlantic at a speed of 8% knots about 560 tons of coal were then burned; now to drive 10,000 tons across at 22 knots about 3,000 tons of coal are burned. With the low pressure of steam and heavy, slow- moving paddle engines of 1840, each ton weight of machinery, boilers, etc., produced only about 2 horse-power. With modern twin-screw engines and high steam pressure each ton weight of propelling apparatus produced from 6 to 7 horse-power. Had the old rate of coal consumption con- tinued, instead of 3,000 tons of coal, 9,000 tons would have been required for a voyage of 22 knots. Had the engines been proportionately as heavy as those in use 60 years ago, they would have weighed about 14,000 tons. In other words, machinery, boilers and coals alone would have ex- ceeded in weight the total displacement of the Campania as she floats to-day. There could not bea more striking illustration than this of the close relation between improve- ments in marine engineering and the development of steam navigation at high speeds.”’ DO Ol Se NAVY ITEM. The Navy Department has substituted the Ranger for the Badger as one of the reinforcing fleet for the Phillppines. The Badger was found to require repairs so extensive as to make it impossible for her to get off for some time. The Ranger is just out of the navy yard and is in excellent con- dition. She has not yet been put into commission, so the department has given orders for the transfer to her of the entire personnel of the Badger, from Captain Miller down to the enlisted men. The Machias has sailed from Alexandria for Boston, there to fit out for Manila. The Marietta which is also under orders for the same place, is at Lambert’s Point taking on coal. The Nashville sailed on Sunday from San Juan, P. R., for Gibraltar, bound for Manila, and is the first of the rein- forcing fleet to get off. The hospital ship Missouri, en route from New York to Manila, has reported to the War Department from Gibral- tar, all well on board. rs AN electric fog horn has been invented by a Canadian engineer. A naphtha engine supplies the motor power for a dynamo, which furnishes the eleciric current by means of which three pairs of electro-magnets operate half a dozen . clappers, which strike against a large gong with the fre- quency of about 36,000 strokes to a minute, producing an almost continuous sound. Its effectiveness is enhanced by a mechanism on the principle of a megaphone, by means of which the sound is not only intensified, but thrown in the required direction. According to The Western Electrician the sound from a small model was heard a distance of two miles. A full-sized fog horn is to be sent to the British Columbia coast, where it will be installed and put in opera- tion at once.