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8 THE MARINE RECORD. JUNE 13, 190. ee ee niin Es” CONSOLIDATED LAKE SUPERIOR CO. PLANS. The New York Financial and Commercial Chronicle gives the following regarding the properties and plans of the Algoma Steel Co., Ltd., and the Consolidated Lake Superior Co., the parent company for the new steel plant at Sault Ste. Marie: There are to be six 400-ton furnaces, a Bessemer plant and also blooming and. rolling mills equipped for turning out 1,000 tons a day of ‘steel rails and structural material. The new enterprise centers about the Helen ore mine, on Mich- ipicoten bay. This is the first great find of high-grade ore on the Canadian shore of Lake Superior. The Helen mine is 12 miles inland from Michipicoten Bay. The ore-ship- ping pier is at Gros Cap, about 15 hours’ steaming from Sault Ste. Marie. The ore has to be passed through a crusher, but it grades as high as 64 per cent. of metallic iron. The ore body rises to a point from the east end of Boyer Lake, and forms a hill 94 feet above its level. The superficial area of the ore body is 650 feet by 850 feet, and drilling has shown that the ore goes down to a distance of at least 188 feet below the lake level. The Sault Ste. Marie plant, as is now the case at the fur- naces in blast at Hamilton and Midland, will have to obtain its coke from Pennsylvania. Until 1907, however, the higher rate of bounty given by the Dominion government on pig-iron made from Canadian ores, will more than offset this disadvantage, and do much to equalize conditions as between Ontario and Nova Scotia. At the furnaces in Nova Szotia, Newfoundland ore is used. This is classed in the Dominion bounty acts of 1897 and 1899, as foreign; and in gor and 1902 pig-metal made from it will receive only $2a ton in bounties as compared with $3, which will be paid on the output of the Ontario plants at Sault Ste. Marie and at Midland. In addition to this bounty the Ontario Govern- ment, since 1897, has been paying a bounty of $1a tonon pig metal from ores mined in this province. Mr. Clergue has obtained, without competition, a contract with the minister of railways under which, for five years to come, the Sault Ste. Marie plant is to furnish 25,000 tons of steel rails a year for the re-tracking of the Inter-Colonial railway. The deliveries in 1991 are to be at $32.50 a ton. In the four following years the price is to be fixed by the then prevailing rate in England. —$_—_ ae eo ae LAKE SUPERIOR LEVELS. The Lake Superior levels are now being accurately ol - served and recorded. -We quote through the courtesy of Mr. J. H. Darling, U. S. Assistant Engineer, Duluth, the following particulars. The mean level of Lake Superior in May, rgo1, by the U. S. gauge at Houghton, Mich., was 0.77 ft. above low water datum. ‘This is 0.23 ft. higher than for the preceding month, showing that the lake was on the up grade, as is usual at this season, but the rate of rise is a little less than the normal which is'0.30 for April to May. The stage of water last month was 0.22 ft. higher than in May, 1900, a year ago, and is .55 higher than the average May stage for a period of 26 years. This is a very favorable condition for the opening of navigation, and this notwith- standing a deficiency of rainfullso far this year. This de- ficiency, according to U. S. Forecast Officer Richardson, was 2.53 inches for last month, and 4.12 inches for the period since January Ist. The present favorable stage is largely due to the high water during the latter portion of last season, the influence of which m=y be noticeable for months. The water gauge on which these levels depend is that at Houghton, Mich., instead of the one at Marquette. The Houghton gauge has its elevation well determined with respect to the datum plane, and is so situated as to represent the mean level of the lake fully as well as that used hereto- fore. The observetions at Houghton are taken by Mr.G. a. Marr, Assistant Engineer and Superintendent of U. S. im- provements at Portage Lake, under the direction of Capt. D. D. Guillard, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., officer in charge of the district. oO oro oan NOTICE TO MARINERS. LicHt-Hovusk ESTABLISHMENT, OFFICE OF THE LIGHT-HOUSE INSPECTOR, 11TH DISTRICT, DETROIT, MICH., June 4, Igor. ’ SUPERIOR AND ST. Louis BAys, WIS. AND MINN.—Notice is hereby given that all the post-light structures in Superior and St. Louis, Wis. and Minn., have been reconstructed and the lights exhibited in accordance with the List of Lights and Fog-Signals, Northern Lakes and Rivers, 1901: . By order of the Light-House Board: iy : J. C. Wizson, Commander, U.S. N., Inspector 11th District. THE HOLLEY HATCH FASTENER—BATTENER. (Illustrated, ) Up until a few years ago the tarpaulins covering hatch- ways were secured by nailing wooden battens on the outside of the coamings and even in the deep water or oversea trade battens fitted into iron cleats or brackets were wedged tight therein, with the thin end of the wedge entered from for- ward, and this practice continued ‘almost universally with iron or wood coamings and hatch bars or battens, in fact, is quite generally in use at the present time. It has been quite evident for some time that a more desirable fastener for tarpaulins covering hatchways was be- coming a necessity and various ideas have been introduced with more or less success. The accompaning illustration shows one of the best, if not the very best patent that has so far been brought to our notice, and the attached ‘report amply vouches for its strength and durability. REPORT UPON THE HOLLEY HATCH FASTENER. The Holley Hatch Fastener was submitted to me in order to test what downward pressure upon the hatch cover could be obtained, by means of the application of the fastening screw as fitted to the device. One of the above hatch fasteners, made of malleable cast iron and mounted upon a section of hatch coaming in the same manner as shown in the plans, was mounted in the testing machine in the mechanical laboratory at the University of Michigan. Suitable arrangements were made by means of which the downward thrust of the clamp could be measured when the screw fastening wasset up. By these means a reproduction of the workings of the device, as in actual practice, was obtained. The screw-fastening gear was gradually set up and the thrust measured, until the downward pressure exerted by the top of the clamp reached the amount of 2,000 lbs. At this point this part of the test was stopped as it was con- sidered that this pressure was far,in excess of any that is likely to occur in practice, and is in fact much more than is necessary. Another test was made to determine what part of the fastener was likely to give way first. The fastener and its attachment to the hatch coaming was mounted in the testing m.chine as before and the whole subjected to a tensile stress. At a stress of 2,750 lbs. the screw on the hook attached to the hatch coaming sheared, the remainder of the device showing no signs of weakness. On the ar- rangement as tested, this screw was only 5” malleable cast and is smaller than that as usually fitted. With a 3” screw the stress would have been considerably higher. In the above tests nothing was done to secure the best possible results, the object being to ascertain the actual working condition of the device. The above tests are in ex- cess of those that are likely to occur in practice, as in all ordinary cases, far fewer turns of the screw are necessary in order to clamp the fastener to the cover; in fact sufficient pressure upon the hatch cover can be obtained by setting up the screw by hand, without resource to lever. The Holley Hatch Fastener is certainly in my opinion one of the most simple and cffective devices of itskind. Among the points which should recommend it are: Its simplicity, it is self contained and has no loose or separate parts that are liable to be lost ; its action depends upon a few turns of the screw and hence it can be fitted in a very short time; it does not project beyond the hatch coaming more than the ordinary hatch cleat; it fastens both hatch coaming and tarpaulin at once; the pressure upon the hatch cover is always vertical and hence both this and the tarpaulin are held firmly in place; itis very light, the weight of the whole fastening, including the attachment to the hatch coaming, does not exceed six pounds ; it can be fitted toany type of hatch coaming and should be exceptionally appli- cable to watertight hatches, or hatches of oil-carrying steamers. HERBERT C. SADLER, Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich., June 7. NOTES. WE have but recently got over the effects of apologizing to Syren and Shipping, London, for the lubberly illustra- tion of an end on launch, bow first, contained on the cover page of a supposedly marine journal whose owners came near duplicating the RECORD title, and consequently shouldered one of their latest bluuders on the RECORD. We had just about got over this, we say, when now we find that estimable shipping paper Fairplay, London, trying to straighten up the wanderings of the Marine Journal, New York, in the following strain: / “Shipping literature is full of blunders. Without them nine-tenths of what is written in the papers on shipping matters would not be written at all. A striking illustration of this statement will be found in the following note from the Marine Journal, New York. It will be seen that the writer confuses a Steamship Owners’ Association with a shipping trust, and, as an illustration in point, he cites the case of the Liverpool Steamship Ow: ers’ Association. This association embraces 2,542,079 tons of shipping, owned in Liverpool. The object of the association is to represent the interests of the Liverpool steamship owners as a body on all public questions. There is nothing at all in the rules of the association that gives any power whatever over the manage- ment of the vessels. The steamers are not run by the asso- ciation or controlled by it in any way. Apparently the writer has mistaken this every-day phase of the English shipping trade for a gigantic combination of vessels acquired by a trust, and to be controlled by the trust. In the matter of boasting it is not always easy to go one better than an American. A total of 2:542,079 tons isno doubt a large order; but I can cap that without any trouble, and with an amount of veracity altogether unusual in newspapers. The Shipping Federation, which is an association of British ship- owners, represents a tonnage of over 9 000,0co tons. My New York contemporary must get up early in the morning to beat that much. The fact is the Liverpool and similar associations have nothing to do with the control of the steamers belonging to their members. Associations of the ki dtake no part in the fixing of freights, or in the fixing of wages, or in any similar question, all.such matters being dealt with by their individual members. And that is where my American friend has got into the densest of fogs. The following is the extract referred to: A FOREIGN TRUST ON THE HIGH SEAS. A Steamship Trust might be a terrible thing for suffering humanity, and then again it might not. It is well enough to remember that England is bearing up tolerably well under a well-defined trust of this nature. cial circles as the Liverpool Steamship Owners’ Association. Somewhat smaller than Mr. Morgan’s billion-dollar steel concern, it is stilla healthy institution. At the beginning of this year the gross tonnage owned by the members of the association aggregated 2,542,079 tons. They own 50 per cent. of the total number of steam vessels above 5,000 tons. It is no secret that the commerce of the seas is in the control of this combination, and for the reason that it owns more than one-half the steamships engaged in the foreign trade. It has had a whole lot to do with driving the American flag from the sea, and it is a thing to be carefully reckoned with if the Stars and Strips are soon to cut any particular figure in our foreign carrying trade. Probably it would not be the essence of all wisdom to built up aShipping Trust in the United States in order to fight this foreign octopus. The foreigner has had so long a start of us that it would doubtless eat up our trust in short order. At the same time the foreign trust must be met some day, and somehow. If there is any better way to do this than by Governmental encouragement of the entire American mer- chant marine, some of our statesmen and economists should come forward and point the way. We have the foreign Shipping Trust to fight, and. we may as well clear the decks for action. : The Marine Journal is very properly rebuked in the fore- going, and put back on its proper course. The Liverpool Steamship Owners’ Association is not a seeking syndicate of monopolists. It is exactly as Fairplay says, a local organiza- tion of owners based upon much the same grounds as the several associated bodies in this country, notably, the Lake Carriers’ Association, which had enrolled last year 842,248 tons, including all the important fleets of the lakes, with but two exceptions. We had the idea that the Marine Jour- nal editor was or had been a member of some somnolent, half defunct sort of an organization composed of owners in the Bastern coastal trade, based on similar lines to ‘‘The Foreign Trust on the High Seas,’’ but in this we were, perhaps, slightly mistaken, however, our duty to our readers is amply filled on this tack. DESCRIBING the Decoration Day parade in New York City the ‘Sun’ said: ‘The soldiers of Uncle Sam did very cred- itable marching, as did also the Marines, but the finest ap- pearance of all the Regulars was made by the men who, when, ashore, are not supposed to know a hitching post from a hansom cab—the sailor men of the United States Navy. Their alignment was excellent; they covered their files as they marched as if parading down Fifth Avenue was the one thing they knew how to do well. The crowd on the street and on the reviewing and public stands cheered the jackies so long and so loudly that the soldiers had to smile.” Itis known 1n commer-