The daily union., 1846-06-25
THE BALANCE, Or IRON WALLED
AND SECTIONAL DOCKS.
VNo the Editor OF the Union.-The desper.

IIO the Editor OF the Union:-The desper-
Il ate straits 10 which the sectional dock advocates
are dnveni may be Judged of by the advertisement
headed Caution IN last evenings Union and this
morning lnieligeneer, showing that they are not
| Sllng TO have truly proportioned model exhibit
ed side by side with that Of the balance dock. II is
also shown by the annexed letter, addressed to me
| by ,, ID. Dakin, and received yesterday morning,
70 which 10 added my reply of last evening Ii is
iurther seen In the aborse attempt to get up gen.
eral meeting Of the citizens Of the city and county
Iof Philadelphia, described in one Of the public
prints, lthe Pennsy ylyanan,) Of yesterday.
WIN add that, IN accordance with the invitation
OF Dakin, yesterday visited the pretended "cor.
reel' model OF the sectional dock, and in presence
OF member Of Congress and of several other gen.
uemen, measured the said model, counted its numer
Gus tooth wheels, and other working gears, and
made inquiries relative TO the proportion of paris
and the weight Of dock and ship; but these lat
Ter points the owner in attendance could give in
formation, except that they were nearly conformable
10 the proposals made to the government.
found the length of the tanks 70 be 10 their uni
ted oreadths as 100 10 1873, which is nearly in the
| proportion Of the length (l00) and united width
| (lI4( OF the sIx.tank dock which they have pro-
posed TO build for the government But mark the
deception. With this conformity Of length and
BREADTH the depth Of tanks is more than three times as
srtai as Ough 10 BE- to correspond TO the proposals
submitted To Congress. These tank models have 33i
eet OF depth to 100 feet Of length instead Of lOU
as they have pretended to mako them n their offers
TO the government. Hence these model tanks haus
oo hundred per cent lifting po0sr than those Of
the Ttdt dock II constructed according their propo-
said. also ascertained that tho end-hoats Of their
model have also depth in proportion TO the length
Of tanks OF n TO 100; whereas the Sectional Dock
Company propose 70 make them In the ratio Of 8 to
100 The end-aoats are, therefore, three times a,
deep as hey ought 70 be 10 gue eorTsa representation
OF the corresponding parts in the proposed dock |
ne breadth OF each tank is TO its length 81 TO 100
whereas the company propose TO make them % 10
100. Consequently, one Of their three model sec
uons represents la breadth too Of those in the pro-
posed dock
Had they made their dock in sr sections, instead
Of three, however, they would have doubled the
present amount Of their gearing and would have
had l32. instead Of sc TOOTH wheels, the present
number ~ tooth racks instead Of l2 20 universal
joints instead ofs 10 sliding rods and sockets in
stead Of 4; and all the other complex mechanism
multiplied IN the same proportion. The casual OBJ
server who witnesses the play Of these nicely
constructed cog-wheels and other ad eaptasdum ma
chinery, may not know that the model before him |
is SHEER FRAUD in its proportions. A large dock, |
constructed IN the same proportions, would require |
more than sriy feet Of water TO dock ship Of TWEEN
ty-hye feet draughL These false proportions tend
largely TO increase the ing'Power and stability of
the model
Ii is important to observe that duly proportion
ed model can alone exhibit the true action Of any |
machine. Such my models are, both the balance |
and the sectional.