The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-24 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BUN.

Sir ,—The
oferecente pu loss of the h
lietotheneterscstiitc havingyofad drawn
optingsotmhe
attention e
improved modes of giving warning to vessels during a
fug, allow me to submit to your notice a plan I designed
a few years ago on the occasion of the collision between
the steamer Europa and an emigrant vessel.
The two methods in common use are by means of a
gun or a bell. The gun signal, without doubt, is the
most powerful one we can have, but as the firing must
be repeated at short intervals, it becomes a source of
great annoyance to passengers, as well as considerable
labour to the crew, to say nothing of the injurious effect
of the flash on the eyesight of the lookouts. The bell
signal has little power, and in a moderate breeze can
scarcely be heard to windward. Steam whistles have
been used in some few cases, but have not been advan-
tageously placed. I propose that a large steam whistle,
as musical as possible, be placed near the top of the
smoke funnel, the steam pipe being carried inside the
funnel to prevent condensation, the stopcock to be fixed
in connection with either the main shaft or some other
moving portion of the engine, so that the whistle may
blow for a certain number of revolutions of the engine,
and then be silent for a certain number more, thus giving
a periodical warning, which experience has proved to be
the best description of signal. By this arrangement the
whistle will he sufficiently removed from the deck sot
to effect the hearing of the watch. The elevation will
extend the range of sound, and the intervals will enable
the watch to detect the whistle of any other steamer near
at hand.
This is the plan in its simplest form. However, to
carry it out further, I propose that the duration of the
whistle and the length of the interval shall indicate the
course the vessel is steering, or, at least, an approzirae-
tion—in this way :

Whistle blowing. Silent. Course steered.
10
15
20
25 35 . S.E.
30 30 S.
35
40
45
Now, although steamers do not make the same num
ber of revolutions per minute fcr any greet length of tine
nor the same number as one another, it would be easy
by means of the second hand of a watch, to note the time
occupied by any two of these intervals, and thus tell the
course steered by an approaching steamer. But, lastly,
to make the signals suite perfect, I propose that the
steam be admitted to the whistle by means of a small regu-
lating donkey-engine, making exactly 60 revolutions per
minute. By this the whistle would still sound during
such periods that the engines might be slacked or re-
versed to avoid collision. The details for working such
a whistle will be obvious to any engineer, and as they
would vary according to the plan adopted, and also to
the description of engines in the vessel, it is needless to
describe them here. Suffice it to say, that in all cases the
steam-cock, and also the arrangementsfer it,,licating the
course steered, should be under the control of the watch
on deck. In conclusion, although lam aware that there
is always great difficulty in getting plans of this sort into
general use, still, as some of your readers may consider it
to their interest to attempt some means of preventing the
sacrifice of life and property, I shall be sufficiently re-
warded if it is the means of saving one vessel, and causing
collisions at sea to be as rare as unfortunately they are
at present frequent.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
F. CHURTON, Engineer, Southampton.

Revolutions of
engines.