The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

A NEW STEAMSHIP.

One of those extraordinary inventions or designs
which come to us in such numbers from America,
and which occasionally create a perfect revolution
among scientific trades, and even among sciences
themselves, is just now in process of being tried on
the banks of the Thames, at Mr. Hepworth's ship-
building-yard, near Poplar. This is what is
termed a " cigar ship"—that is, a yacht-steamer,
the hull of which is immensely long, perfectly
round, and which, in fact, precisely resembles, as
its name implies, the shape of a cigar, with the ex-
ception that both ends are very finely pointed,
instead of, as in a cigar, only one. The theories
that have been advanced about the seagoing qua-
lities and immense speed of vessels built in this
shape are plausible enough ; and, indeed, are so
alluring and based on apparently such solid data
that we are exceedingly glad to see that one way
or the other they are likely to be theories no
longer. The" cigar ship's" hull is nearly finished'
and the " cigar ship" itself will be launched com-
pleted, and with her steam up, by the middle of
August, so that we have not very long to wait be-
fore the problem is solved, and we are proved either
to have been all in the dark as to shipbuilding from
the days of Noah to this year of grace, or, on the
other hand, ',Mr. Wienan's yaeht is consigned to
that place for good intentions, the paving of which
must just now be in a state of pre-eminent repair.
The vessel which is to set at rest these great doubts
is being built as the private yacht of an American
gentleman, who has designed everything connected
with the ship, and who is having his designs exe-
Hepworth in the moat perfect work-
cuted by Mr.
manship of which .wrought iron is capable. The
hull is almost complete, and, as the hull of a ship,
it looks one of the most extraordinary objects it is
possible to imagine. It is so at variance with all
our generally received notions of nautical beauty of
form that one can only stare at it in mute surprise,
though there is something about its long tapering
lines so suggestive of immense speed that one feels
rather ashamed such .a simple idea should never
have occurred to any one before. In justice to our
own age, however, it must be said that such a vessel
could only be imagined when iron ships were in
use, and iron shipbuilding had reached its highest
stages of development. Looking at her now, she
appears to be nothing more than a gigantic iron
mainyard for some vessel of the Great Eastern
class, having a rather wide diameter in the middle,
and tapered to a mere point of some ten inches at
either end. Her length over all is '256ft., and
her greatest width and depth is in the middle,
where the circle is 16ft. diameter. Thus, then,
her length is 16 times greater than her greatest
width. She is built throughout of the finest boat
plates, in some parts of steel, in some of Low
Moor iron. To the water-line these plates are s.fiths
of an inch thick; above the water-line they are only
5 16ths. Her displacement will be about 500 tons,
which gives her a little over 300 tons burden, ac-
cording to builders' measurement. She is built
without any longitudinal stringers, but throughout
her entire length she is divided by no less than 13
water-tight compartments, and in the engine and
boiler rooms is further strengthened by inner rings
of angle-iron seven inches deep, which are rivetted
to the side, and placed as close as at intervals of 3ft
apart. Underneath, instead of a'keel, is a broad
band of the best Low Moor iron, which runs almost
from end to end, and which is about lin, thick by
3ft. wide, and meant to protect her in case of her
taking the ground. Inside is an iron floor, which
also runs from end to end, to be hereafter covered
with wood, and form, in fact, the lower pas-
senger deck of the yacht. This floor amidships is
only about six feet from the bottom of the cylinder,
so that overhead there is a roomy cabin enough,
much resembling in shape a small railway tunnel.
The upper deck is 130 ft. long by 101 ft. broad, and
is formed by holding for that length what we may
call a square flat topped cover on the top of the
cylinder. This cover or deck is 4ft. 10in. high
altogether, of which the Idwer 2ft. is of iron, rivetted
to the top of the cylinder, and the other 2t.t. 10in.
of common light wooden bulwarks. She is to have
two short funnels, and these and her little deck and
a small part of the upper curve of the cylinder are
all that will be seen out of water.
So much for her external appearance, to which
we nerd only add that the rivets that fasten her are
countersunk, so that she presents outwardly a per-
fectly smooth surface, while the workmanship of
her joints is so perfect that even the touch fails to
detect the slightest irregularity in her smoothness.
So far, then, her form, length, and small midship
section will have a great deal to do with her
speed, but when to these favourable conditions
is added the immense power with -which
she is hoped to be driven, it is no wonder that
such a rate of going as 26 knots, or nearly 30 miles,
an hour, is confidently talked of by her designer
and builder. Her engines are to be three-cylinder,
driven at high pressure, turning one steel shaft
(made by Mr. Krupp) which runs through the
whole length of the vessel, projecting from the fine
points at each end, where it carried a screw. These
screws are to be four feet greater in diameter than
the greatest diameter of the vessel—namely, 22 feet,
and each is td have eight blades, because the two
points being only say a foct or so below the water,
four of the blades of each screw will always be out
as it revolves, while there will always be four of
each immersed to do the work of propulsion. In
fact, we cannot better describe the general shape of
the ship and its mode of progression when at sea
than by likening it to a porpoise with a tail at
each end. Under each screw is a rudder, and by
steering with both the vessel can be turned as on a
pivot. As the extreme points wcuid ,be too fine to
admit the passage of the screw shaft and its bear-
ings also, this difficulty is obviated by making 16ft
of each end revolve with the shaft, and therefore
form part of it, so that, with the increased diameter
of the point at the end of the 16fa towards the mid-
ships, there is ample room gained for both shaft and
bearings. Her boilers, like all the rest about this
vessel, are on a new plan. There are four of them
on the locomotive principle, with vertical tubes. A
blast fan is to give them draught, and they are to
work at 1501 b. pressure. This is a great pressure,
but, as the boilers are built far stronger than
even locomotive boilers, it is asserted that they
could be worked up to 4,0001 b„ or even 1,001 b.,
with safety. There are 136 ft. of fire-bar surface,
and it is expected that with the aid of the
blest fan each of these 136 ft. can be made to burn
501 b of coal per hour. If the furnaces can accom-
plish this, then, according to tho rules which
give one nominal horse power for every 2-11 b of
per hour, Mr. Wienan's yacht will
coals consumed'
be working at more than 2,500 horse power. For
very fast ocean going steamships the rate of horse
power to tonnage is about 21 tons to one nominal
horse power ; that is to say, roughly, engines of 500
horse power for a fast steamship of 1,250 tons. But
our best mail steamships on their fastest trips find
it difficult to burn their 30 b. of coal per foot of
firebar surface per hour. If Mr. Wienan's then can
burn his 501 b., he will, as we have stated, be Work-
ing up to nearly 2,500 horse power, or at the rate of
eight indicated horse power to every ton burden of
his vessel; and this, with her slender form, smooth
surface, and very small midship section (only 100 ft),
should give her extraordinary speed. We do not at
say that all these results as to consumption of coal,
are certain to be effected, as the principle is
quite a new one. The vessel, however, is built to
accomplish it, and on the
part of the public, who
will be the ultimate gainers, we hope she may. It
is said also that, as regards motion at sea, rolling
and pitching will be reduced to a minimum, and
es certainly her form seems to eau-
that such a re-
sult will be accomplished. With no top hamper in
the way of masts and with ail her weights well
below the waterline she is certainly not likely to
roll. But if she does not pitch, but cuts through
the water, she will take it over all, and in that case,
with her upper deck so near the cca, it would be
swept fore and aft. By the end of August all these
doubts will be settled, for in the middle of that
month she is to be launched, as we have said, from
Mr. Hepworth's yard, and launched ready for sea
with her steam up. As a bold trial of a new principle
at the inventor's own expanse and risk, she will at
least the. rye stwca,,, and Mr. Wienan has p3id

cocaplizo,:nt to our nitti,ntal spirit of progress or

des ire for improvement in preferring to build his
first yacht here instead of in America; so that we
.3118.11 be, in either event, the first gainers by the
experiment.

Important Applications of Gun Cottons

At the Royal Institution, on Friday evening, the
recent improvements in gun cotton again formed
the subject brought to notice, the lecturer on the

occasion being Mr. Scott Russell. In the previous
lecture on the subject, by Mr. Abel, the chemical

history of gun cotton, and the nature of the improve-
ments in its manufacture recently made in Austria,
were more especially dwelt on ; while Mr. Russell
principally directed attention to its uses. He stated
that at a late meeting of the British Association a

committee was appointed, of which he was a mem-
ber, to investigate the nature of the great improve•
ments which it was known had been made in Aus-
tria on gun cotton by General Lou; but which
were kept a profound secret by the Austrian Go-
vernment. One of the first things the committee

did was to write to Gen. Lenz, to request him to

come over and acquaint the committee in what his

improvements consisted. This impudent request—
as Mr. Russell admitted it to have been—excited a

commotion in Vienna, bat the young Emperor,

against the advice of his councillors, consented to
allow the secret to be known, and Gederal
Lenz came to this country and informed the com-

mitte whet it was. The object to be accomplished
in the manufacture of gun cotton to render it appli-

cable, was to diminish the rapidity of its combas-

tion, and its liability to accidental explosion. Thee

objects have been fully accomplished, as was pre-
viously stated by Mr. Abel, principally by spinning

the cotton into yarn before it undergoes the process

of conversion into gun cotton ; and it was shown
by that gentlemEln that by mechanical alteration of

the structure of the cotton fibre alone the explosive
material may be placed under complete control,
and that, as he said, you may do what you like
with it. What can be done with gun cotton, and

what cannot be done with it and its merits, corn

pared with gunpowder as an explosive agent, were
explained and illustrated by Mr. Scott Russell,
who, though he commenced by mentioning some
points of objection to gun cotton, finally removed
them, and represented it to be in every respect
superior to gunpowder, and to be capable of pro.
duciog far more destructive effects. As an illus-
tration of the different degrees of rapidity of com-
bustion attainable with gun cotton, he first ignited
a thick yarn of the substance which was suspended
round the gallery of the lecture-room, which burned
along at the rate of about one foot in a second. He
next took a piece about a yard long which flashed
in half a second ; and another similar length of the
most explosive kind, exploded instantaneously. A
remarkable property of gun cotton, whica consti-
tutes an immense advantage in its use compared
with gunpowder is, that it leaves no products of
combustion, behind, and produces very little smoke.
Another important advantage is, that it is not in.
jured by moisture, and may be wetted and dried
without impairing its power. This was shown by
immersing a piece of gun cotton yarn in water,
which was then squeezed out, and, though still damp,
the outer surface rapidly ignited, and when the
remainder was squeezed the cotton again ig-
nited. This property is a great safeguard in
the manufacture of gun cotton, for all the pro-
cesses may be conducted under water, and it is
afterwards dried. For ordinary practical purposes
the rapidity of its explosion is reduced to an
equality with that of gunpowder, in which state
one pound propels a projectile from a cannon
with the same velocity as three pounds of gun-
powder. The recoil of the cannon when gun
cotton is used is only' two-thirds the amount of
recoil with gunpowder ; there is no fouling of the
gun, which remains also comparatively cool;
and the absence of smoke enables the gunners
to continue firing in casemated batteries and
between the decks of ships without annoyance. As
an explosive agent, gun cotton possesses some re-
markable peculiarities, the causes of which have not
yet been ascertained. A piece of loose gun cotton
fired on a balanced scale produces depression, the
whole force going off into the atmosphere without
any recoil. 'But if the gnu cotton be enclosed in a
box or barrel, its explosive force in all directions is
much greater than that of gunpowder. Some inn.
portant experiments on a large scale have been tried
with gun cotton made by a menufe.cturer of the sub-
stance in Suffolk. A palisade was formed with the
trunks of a number of large trees fixed in the ground
close together, and a small box filled with gun cotton
was exploded near them. A large gap was instantly
made, the trees having been cut asunder quite
straight, though at the top of the fractures the wood
was splintered into matches. Its destructive effect
was tried on two wooden bridges, which were com-
pletely splintered ; but the most important experi-
ment was the blowing up of a ship of 400 tens
burden by means of 401 b of gun cotton enclosed in
a barrel and placed under water at a distance of 20
feet. The ship, it was stated, was completely blown
to pieces. The force of gun cotton -?hen applied to
mining operations is equally effective. At the Clay
Cross Collieries it has been found that a blast with
one ounce of gun cotton will remove from 60 to 80
cubic feet of coal, and it has been applied at the
slate quarries in North Wales with equal success.
It is a great advantage in using gun cotton in min-
ing or tunnelling that the work is not impeded by
smoke, which is a serious inconvenience when blast-
ing with gunpowder. Mr Scott Russell attributed
the remarkable diminution of recoil in explosions of
gun cotton to the absence of solid matter in the
products of combustion. In gunpowder the solid
refuse amounts to about 60 per cent. of the weight
of the powder, and the-effort required to blow away
this " rubbish," he considers, produces the additional
amount of recoil. In gun cotton, on the contrary,
there is scarcely any solid refute, 25 per cent.
of the products of combustion consisting of
water ; and he conceives that the expansion of this
water into redhot steam by the ignited gases during
their explosion is a main cause of the great explosive
force of gun cotton. Mr. Russell ventured also to
speculate that the lower degree of heat caused by the
explosion of gun cotton may be owing to the subse-
quent condensation of the steam into water, He
admitted, however, that the causes of these and of
other peculiar properties of gun cotton are involved
in doubt, which he hoped the further investigations
of the committee of the British Association would
remove. He also mentioned that a commission had
been appointed by the Government to consider the
application of gun cotton to artillery.

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