The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-22 00:00:00

IRON SHIP-BUILDING.

At the usual evening meeting at the United
Service Institution, yesterday evening, Captain
Fishbourne, R.N., in the chair, Mr. Robert Tayler-
son, of Port Glasgow, read a paper on his diagonal
principle of iron ship-building. Mr. Taylerson
described with great clearness the inherent weak-
ness of iron ships built on the vertical principle,
arising from the perforations of the plates to form
the rivet holes in the present mode of attaching
them to the frames, which, being themselves placed
in a vertical position, caused the rivet holes to run
in a vertical line, as represented by the vertical
lines of a sheet of postage stamps. These lines he
described as lines of weakness, and attributed the
loss of many of our iron steamers to the inherent
weakness of structure arising from this mode of
attachment. He then described his own diagonal
mode of placing the frames and attaching the
plates, forming their joints diagonally at the butt
ends, instead of vertically, as in the common mode.
He also described his hollow girder keels and
keelsons, and his plan of constructing water-tight
bulkheads, which, as at present made, did not fully
carry out the idea conveyed, but which had done
more to establish the confidence of the public in iron
vessels than almost any other quality they
possessed. In order to show that the pre- ,
sent mode of constructing iron vessels was
defective, he quoted a number of the in-
stances of disasters to them from the public
journals of the day—the uniformity of language
used in describing them—the ships being generally
said to " break their backs," or separate into two
party, indicating, he observed, a similarity of cause,
that being the inherent weakness of structure
arising from :the defective principle according to
which they were constructed. Mr. Smith, of the
Artisan, inquired, in the course of the discussion
which followed the delivery of the lecture, whether
the frames, according to Mr. Taylerson's plan,
being longer than in the vertical plan,
did not require a greater quantity of metal,
so that, though ships built on his plan were
undoubtedly stronger than those built on the verti-
cal plan, the greater immersion, or displacement of
the vessel herself did not diminish the quantity of
cargo she would carry, and -whether the original
cost arising from the difficulty cf laying down the
lines, and adapting the metal to the form required,
was not considerably more than according to the
present plan. Mr. Tayl erson replied, that at first
there was found a difficulty in laying down the
lines, but like every other obstacle in the vial
of improvement, when properly set about, that had
been overcome, and in his own works at GlasgoWl
the lines were laid down with the greatest accu-
racy, and he found no difficulty in shaping the
metal to the form required. It was true that the
frames being longer on his plan than on the verti-
cal, more material was required, and that involved
an increased cost ; but he had that day given in
estimates, on his diagonal plan, for large contracts
not exceeding from five to seven per cent. over the
cost on the vertical plan. And he was of opinion
that the displacement did not materially interfere
with the capacity of vessels for cargo.
Captain FISHBOURNE, in proposing a vote of
thanks to the lecturer, expressed a strong opinion
in favour of his improvements, as applicable both.
to naval warfare and commercial enterprise; and
he remarked that, as the regulations of Lloyd 'S
required a certain space between the frames, ship'
builders were bound to adhere to these rules
if they wished their vessels to •be classed
A 1., a mark which shipowners well under-
, stood, for with that character they could insure
at their full value. On Mr. Taylerson's origin'
plan, he conceived, these frames might be set much
wider apart, and yet give greater stability to the
structure than it would have on the vertical mode
at present adopted. Such a modification, if allowed
by Lloyds, might produce a better class of vessels
than now existed, with superior stowage capacity
and a lighter draft of water. In these observations
Mr. Taylerson concurred, and after acknowledging
the vote of thanks, the company separated.