The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-07 00:00:00

THE BESSEMER SHIP SALOON.
(From Monday's Times.)

•
The interest originally awakened by the announce- ,
u dthat Mr. Bessemer bad succeeded in overcoming ,
by mechanical means the malady of sea-sickness com
bones unabated. This sustained interest has bronght, ,
and atilt cffhtinnes to bring, a constant influx of practi-
cal Men of various nationalities, as well as gentlemen
iat-reeted in mitigating the sufferings of Channel pas-
penaers, to inspect the full-sized model of the ship's
eailidi in Mr. liessemor'sa Lsrounds at Denmark-MIL
the view of gratilyiug their curiosity, a trial of
s wratorbag of the satoon a-as made on ti eturday
last, at which there were unseat, among others. Lord
ffsurr Lennox, M. J. Zeman, of the It •yal Poly-
t.ebirc Institution, Brag ale, and representing the
estria•l Government; M. Novella, of Genoa ; Mr.
J. W. flinch, tic. The attendance was less nnmerems
than hl been anticipated, owing to the unpropitiolis
elate of the weather. hut notwithstanding thio there
was a fair muster, and the shelter ot the motionless
cabin was mare highly appreciated by thooo who sought
it than ha toat of the lively saloon on board a Chaonel
packet in a aisniliar wets, of wind :and rain tai that to
which the visitors were subjected.
ve, would Se"7ll that the further investigation is
• veal with regard to this invention, and the more
.. ere,v it is criticized, the firmer becomes the dm
. adiesi. that the solution of the problem in hand is
nearer than was at fist believed. In the Beesvmtr
staambeat ea ery detail has- barn well a nsidered, en-1
es cry couting4arcy provided as,..inat, even that extreme
contingency, the total failure of the contro ling appa-
rattle, AN will presently be aeon. But the way in
which these various contingencies are met does
tkOt appear to be wholly realized. Although
nip* amanita of the vessel have appeared,
one most important feature of the invention seems
either to have escaped attention or to bve been

misunderstood. This feature is the power of the
hydraulic apparatus to govern and c mtrol, with equal
facility, the pitching and the rolling motion of ships,
rued hence to ensure the perfectly horizontal position
ot the ealooo ft sir, an,i all almost absolute immunity
from geminating motions. The fact that the pitching
as well as the rolling motion of the vessel could be
neutralized by the same agency was implied in •
previous notice in The Times. But, as the tact itself
may not unreasonably be questioned by some, it will
be an well to explain how Mr. Bessemer provides for
its accomplishment.
Egigineers are r &miner with &mechanical arrangement
called an Universal Joint, from its powers of transmit-
ting motion in any directifin, and which consists simply
of two distinct axes placed at right angles with each
other. In this manner a ship's chronometer is sus-
pended in las came on tw s separate axes, and is thereby
I capable of sustaining itself in a horizontal plane under
I every possible variety of motion it has to encounter on
on board ship. From the earliest stage of the invention
a double suspension of this kind was employed by Mr.
Besseemer as • means of compensating for the pitch
as well as for the roll of the ship. A beautiful brass
and mahogany model of this modification of the in-
vention was exhibited and explained by Mr.
Bessemer on Saturday. It consists of a section of the
central portion if a vessel, which, by turning a handie
in connection with a crank and suitable gearing, gives
I both a rolling and pitching motion to the hull. The
saloon on its double points of suspension remainemotion-
less, although it depends for its support on the doubly-
moving hull beneath it. This model was made more
than two years since, and Mr. Bessemer, when fitting
up, at a later period, the large working model in his
grounds, took it for granted that all who saw with
what facility he could govern its motion on one
! axis would understand perfectly that the same
means applied to another axis, placed at right
angles to it, would control with equal facility an
opp cite motion. Hence, when considering the power
of the hydraulic app iratus pure and simple, as &means
of rendering the saloon cf a ship almost motionless, all
questions as to the for m, construction, and proportions
of the vessel are irrelevant. With the doubly-con-
trolled suspension it matters not whether the ship has
' a low freeboard or high bows, whether she has two
I pairs of paddles or only one pair, or is propelled by a
screw. Such points of d fferenee respectlng the vessel
self have nothing whatever to do with the working of
, the hydraulic mechanism, when that alone is relied on
as the means of rendering the saloon motionless.
From the first moment that Mr. Bessemer practie
cally worked out his invention lie proposed to fit his
salon on a universal joint on hoard ordinary screw
steamers which had not been built express y for the
purpese—such re framers, for instance, as are to be
found in daily use, and in which, where necessary, he
proposed to move the boilers forward, leaving the
engines aft as fixed and connected with the screw. The
central portion of the Alp would thus be occupied by
the suspended saloon. In dealing with the various
questions connected with the construction of Channel
steamers, and in designing vessels for this very ex-
ceptional service, and having in view the advantage of
great speed, it was determined to control only the
principal disturbieg motion of the vessel--namely, the
roll. It was considered that the large size of the ship
in the short Channel sea, and her great length and
speed, would give sufficient immunity from the pitch-
ing motion to a saloon situated precisely in the centre
of the vessel, and the floor of which would be some
12ft, below the deck level. It is the peculiar and ex-
ceptional conditions of this particular sea teenage
, which have led Mr. Reed and Mr. Bessemer to decide
on the form and size of the Channel boats they are
now proposing to build, and not any difficulty in con-
trolling by the hydraulic apparatus the pitching as well
as the rolling motions of ships in a seaway.
It is an advantage of Mr. Bessemer's invention
that the structure in which the saloon is mounted may
have precisely the same exteroal form and proportions
as any ordinary ship, and it is an important fact that
the invention in no way interferes with or alters the
conditions of a ve-sel at sea. The. e arises no question
of increas.l danger from untried form and proportions;
there is no new problem in navigation involved, no
risk of the vessel becoming unmanageable and founder-
ing at sea, or coming to grief in any way, other than
by those casualties to which all other ships are
equally liable. Notwithstanding the indisputable
power of controlling the motion of the saloon which
the hydraulic apparatus has been proved to possess,
let it be assumed for the moment that it proves a com-
plete failure, and that all attempa to retain the saloon
in a state of rest are abortive. Even then. in this
extremity, the vessel could still be made available for
her wok ; three or four days' labour and the expendi-
ture of £lOO would enable this splendi I movable saloon
to be fixed to the ship, and thus be made absolutely
rlgid, just as though it had nevi r been intended to be
otherwise. Trope would still remain the quickest and
most commodious steamship plying within the king-
dom, viiih a ling, raised promenade deck and a lofty,
well- ventilated saloon—a saloon, in fact, which would
still be subject to far less eisturbing motion than any
saloon placed in the usual position at either end of an
, ordinary vemeL

TO A PICTURE DEALER.
" Diet and left the world no copy."—Shakspeare.
To die, and leave the world no copy ,—That
It what you'll never do—you're no such flat—Judy.