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8 THE MARINE RECORD. LA PUISSANTE, THE LARGEST DREDGER OF HER CLASS AFLOAT. During the past month dredging and steaming trials have been carried out on the Firth of Clyde with the hopper dredger- La-Puissante; the latest production of the dredger building firm, William Simons & Co., Limited, of Renfrew, Scotland, and notable as the largest and most powerful stern-well bucket-dredger in the world. This vessel has a hopper capacity for no less than 2,200 tons of dredgings and a lifting capacity of 1,800 tons per hour. She has been con- structed to the order of the Suez Canal Co. for the improve- ment of Port Said roads, and measures 275 feet on deck line, or 266 feet between perpendiculars, 47 feet breadth molded, and 19 feet depth molded. Her hull is constructed of mild steel and is subdivided into 13 water-tight compartments by means of eight bulkheads, carried up to main deck. The bucket ladder, with its chain of bnckets, each of 30 cubic feet capacity, weighs, without dredgings, 120 tons, and works through a well at the stern, and bas a maximum dredging depth of 4o feet in moderately rough weather. The minimum dredging depth is only limited by the draft of the vessel—that is to say, the vessel can cut her own flo- tation. Her draft, loaded, is 16 feet 5 inches. For altering the trim of the vessel a trimming tank is fitted forward, and two ballast tanks are fitted along each side of the hopper space, all being fitted with the requisite piping, valves, etc., for rapid filling and emptying. The hopper space is one large compartment situated amid- ships forward of the ladder-well and engine and boiler space, thus obviating the necessity of having long tunnel shafting through hopper. The hopper doors are built of steel chan- nels, plated top and bottom, and filled in solid with green- heart. The winches for raising the hopper doors are ar- ranged to be worked by either steam or hand power, and friction gear is provided to prevent accident should the doors by any chance become fouled. The hopper door chains are carried over large pulleys fixed in wrought iron brackets and having regulating screws, the whole being carried on cross and fore and aft girders. All the lifting gear for hopper doors is under the control of one man sta- tioned on deck. The bucket ladder is suspended from the sheers by a Io- sheave wire rope purchase, and it has buffer springs fitted at its upp2r end in order to lessen the shock when working in aseaway. Powerful hoisting gear, fitted with friction-brake apparatus for hoisting and lowering, is arranged to raise the ladder at two speeds—one of 7 feet and the other 13 feet per minute from large, independent steam engines. The dredg- ing gear is arranged for two speeds of 16 and 20 buckets per minute, aud consists of steel bevel and spur gearing of mas- sive design. The engines which propel the vessel are also capable of driving the dredging gear. For manceuvering the vessel a combined winch and windlass is fitted forward, and a specially powerful and very massive winch is provided aft. Each winch has two speeds—one for.dredging and one for taking in slack chain. Two wide shoots are provided, having hinged doors at intervals for the even distribution of the dredged material in the hopper, and barges can also be loaded when lying along either side of dredger by means of shoots having steam purchase for raising and lowering. La Puissante is provided with a powerful combined steer- ing gear, which can be worked either by steam or hand. There is bunker accommodation for about 80 tons of coal, besides independent tanks for petroleum fuel. Accommo- dation is provided at forward end for the superintendent and officers, handsomely fitted up, while accommodations for the crew, embracing native as well as European quar- ters, is made on each side of the well. The electric light is installed completely throughout, while efficient ventilation and lighting are provided by large cowl-head ventilators and sidelights in all cabins and engine and boiler spaces. All the compartments have lofty ceilings, and are otherwise specially arranged for comfort in hot climates. For propelling the vessel there are two sets of indepen- dent, compound, triple-expansion, surface-condensing en- gives of an I. H. P. of 1,800 combined. The cylinders are 17, 27 and 43 inches diameter, and the stroke 27 inches. Steam at 160 pounds working pressure is supplied from two mild steel, multitubular boilers, each 14 feet 6 inches diam- eter by 11 feet in length, and having three furnaces 44 inches inside diameter. With this machinery the builders con- tracted to supply a dredger of nine knots speed. A unique feature in the arrangement of the propulsive machinery as concerned with a vessel of this special type consists in the boilers having one common stokehold, arranged aft of the engine space, adjacent thereto and both aft of the hopper space. With this arrangement the engineer in charge has full control of engines and boilers without requiring to go on deck. ‘The auxiliary machinery in engine room includes separate Duplex, of Blake-Knowles type for boiler-feeding purposes, and one large, horizontal Duplex pump of same type for ballast tank and bilge purposes, and also for sup- plying water to assist the dredged material along the shoots. Combined feed-heater and filter and steam starting, turning and reversing engines are also fitted in engine room. ——— ee eee INSTRUCTION IN ENGINEERING. In his presidential address before the Society for the Pro- motion of Engineering education, Ira O. Baker submitted the following table, in which the returns for eighty-nine in- stitutions giving instruction in the different branches of en- gineering, are added together, regardless of the grade of the institutions, shows first the number of courses in such insti- tutions offered in 1898-99; secondly, the number of students in engineering in 1898-1899, and, thirdly, the number of en- gineering graduates in 1899: Bier sl ts Y es oF Ba eee | ae |) ee oes Bs g Boo AD Oe Civilenpineering.6 2s ey. 67 2,667 419 Mechanical engineering........... 61 3,293 480 Electrical engineering............ 49 2,397 370 Mining engineering .............. 2t 860 78 Architectute snd. Wat ccs ew actrees 15 389 56 Naval architecture: 24 rs 2 54 9 Sanitary Engineering............. 2 19 I WM Ohalews se Svewra sear wean ete lees 9,679 | 1,413 SE ER SS DOMINION IMPORT DUTIES. An import regulation governing shipping from Europe by the St. Lawrence route has been issued by the Dominion Cus- toms Department. The customs act provides that the value for duty shall be the fair market value of goods when s.ld for home consumption in the principal markets of the coun- try whence imported direct to Canada. This word ‘‘direct’’ has been somewhat loosely interpreted in the past in the case of British and Continental goods imported through United States ports. It is the intention of the Customs Department now to apply the law relating to direct importations more strictly, and torequire that the evidence of goods brought from Europe to Canada via the United States being a direct importation shaJl be clear and conclusive. It is expected that the new regulation will promote trade via the St. Law- rence, as there can be no question of importations by ocean steamers to a Canadian port being direct. Hereafter Euro- pean goods coming into Canada through the United States will be valued for duty as though imported from the United States, and duty will be levied on the open market value in that country, unless the bill of lading clearly shows the goods to have been consigned from Europe to an importer ‘at a particular port in Canada. OO OOO VISIBLE SUPPLY OF GRAIN. As compiled for THE MARINE RECORD, by George F. Stone, Secretary Chicago Board of Trade. x CITIES WHERE WHEAT.| CORN, Oats, RYE, BARLEY STORED. Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. Buttaloic se os st dice 2,087,000 315,000 BhA.OQO icine he ches 26,000 CHICASO} s iaessciea ete 10,943,000] 1,546,000] 1,755,000] 338,000 5,000 Detroiter teh. vances 170,000 171,000 Daluthyeeicawa os 7,773.000| 406,000 Fort William, Ont..| 1,223,000|......5..-.|e.eeu. ven Milwaukee.......... 915,000 130,000 Port Arthur, Ont.... WATOOO cane statice MOLEAO swore seis oat 884,000] 639,000 MOTO Otsiaiore ist creiararsieis AMWOOO| Pings OncCavalsoic.. cick <5 58,000] 1,238,000 On Rakesi 5s. 1,610,000] 2,266,000 One Miss Rivers oulicn timers weil newney ae Grand Total..... 48,218,000] 11,351,000 Corresponding Date, MUO seis a baie ealaronsies 36,306,000] 10,181,000 TH CTORRO ras neu ces 10245000 fatness ca 284,000 ENOOG |e a esis DeECreaSei eis Sosueicst a[cecsisees 969,020) ors seat ee 42,000 While the stock of grain at lake ports only is here given. the total shows the figures for the entire country except the Pacific Slope. ar 2 <OO THE Secretary of the Navy has issued to shipbuilders a circular calling for bids for the construction of six armored cruisers, three authorized by the act of March 31, 1899, and three by the act of June 7, 1900. AUGUST 16, I900, NOTES. ScaL# is generally removed from boiler flues by “‘rattling’” ~ them inatumbling barrel or by machines to cut through ~ the deposit and grind it off. An improved and very conven ient method used at the Sayre shops of the Lehigh Valley is recorded by the Railroad Gazette. The flues are heated to a cherry red ina long furnace and then dropped into cold ~ water. The difference in the contraction of the tube and the scale causes the scale to crack off and leave the tubes It is found to be cheaper than the other methods.at Sayre. THE Transatlantic Society of America has been organized at Philadelphia. Its object is to promote more amicable re- lations between the United States and the British Empire. There are three classes of members—active, associate, and honorary. Active membership will be confined to citizen of the United States; associate members wi!l consist of British subjects resident in the States; and honorary mem bers will be admitted at the discretion of the council, ~ Mr. C. Stuart Patterson is the president. Mr. Archibald J’ Houghton, one of the organizers of the new movement, “4 stated to an interviewer from the British American, of Phil- adelphia, that ‘‘the Transatlantic Society of America has been organized for the purpose of bringing into closer rela- tions the people of the United States and the British Empire, by encouraging a reciprocal exchange of courtesies, and by ’ the general strengthening of the political, social, and com- mercial bonds that unite the two countries.”’ GENERAL GREELY, Chief Signal Officer of the Army, left Washington July 31st for Alaska where he will personally supervise the arrangements being made by his corps for the ~ construction of cable and telegraphic communications ~ between that country andthe War Department. It is be- lieved as quite likely that General Greely will make arrange- ments with the Canadian Company for the transmission of messages until government lines can be constructed. The system of telegraph and cable lines which it is proposed to have between this country and Alaska will be of the greatest credit to the Signal Corps and will serve to bring the War Department and the Military Department of Alaska into close touch, Officers of the corps have been for some time at work mapping out this system and much has already been done by the detachment of corps stationed at Alaska. As will be remembered, the last session of Congress appro- priated $420,000 for telegraph lines in Alaska. THE new torpedo-boat destroyer, H.M.S. Viper, built by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co., Newcastle, England for the Par- sons Steam Turbine Company, has made a record speed at her trials, and has established herself as by far the fastest vessel afloat. The Viper is 210 ft. long, 21 ft. beam, and 12 ft. 6 in. deep, 380 tons displacement, and is propelled by steam turbines designed by Parsons. There are four inde- pendent screw shafts, each with two propellers, and each driven by turbines. As the steam turbine cannot be reversed, each shaft has a turbine for working astern. The boilers are, of the Yarrow type. The weight of machinery is 35 lbs. per indicated horse-power, as compared with 55 lbs. for the usual type of reciprocating marine engines. At her trial runs on the Tyne the Viper attained a mean speed on six runs,of 36.58 knots per hour, whichis about 42% statute miles per hour. The steam pressure carried was 200 lbs. per square inch, and the mean revolutions were 1,180 per minute The air pressure in the stokeholds was 4% inches. ‘The en- gines worked with perfect smcothness. Tue Glasgow Herald states that the shipbuilding industry in Scotland, and more especially on the Clyde, has rarely if ever been in a more peculiar position than at present. Were it not for the fact that Mickie & Thomson, Govan, received from the Shire Steam Fishing Co., Aberdeen, an order to build three trawlers, at an aggregate cost of £21,000 the month of June would have passed without the publication of one contract in the whole of Scotland. Other new work may have been placed, but if so, it cannot have been very important, or in the prevailing dearth of orders, it would have come to the public. The monthly table of contracts, which has been fluctuating greatly since the new year, is now within one order of vanishing point. In January nearly 30,000 tons were placed, in February only 1,500 tons, in March 1,500 tons, in April 25,000 tons, in May 22,000 tons and June dropped to some 609 tons. It is the old story, which has been expressed time and again within the past six months; dear coals, dear steel and dear labor, resulting in empty berths, with prospective idleness for the worker and a sudden fall in prices of those things which arecausing __ the present scarcity of contracts. :