Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-10-15
The Principle on which the Great Eastern
is Built.

Scott Russell called his line the wave line.
lie chose the name Of the wave line because he
found ii precisely the same as the line which
the wave Of displaced water marked along tho
side Of the ship BY which it harmlessly glided
without impeding its motion. Upon this prin-
eiple be constructed boat 20 feet long and 7 !
tons burden, and called her the Wave. She
verified all bis predictions Experiment showed
that while the ships Of the finest French lines.
then the best constructed. as compared with a
ship whose ends were perfectly square, reduced
the resistance to one-fifth. the Wave reduced IL
to One-twelfth. The principle of the wave line
Of construction was brought before the British
Association. Nhewell and Lubbock were in
vesdgating the tides; Russell's wave line en-
a6ied them to overcome difficulty which had
hitherto ob:tructed the progress of their re-
searches They give the aid of their names and
well earned reputation to the unknown ship
builder whose speculatiOns had been despised
The association, by their instigation, found the
means of proving the value of the wave line of
construction. One hundred and fifty models of
every kind Of ship that could be procured were
made and tested Ten years of hard experi-
mental labor showed that the wave line was the
best Of all lRussell-built steamers others seeing
the speed they attained, copied his lines. Thus
the principle was partially introduced Still
prejudice opposed its introduction in the con-
structiOn of our sailing vessels, till the Ameri-
can clippers, constructed on the wave line prip-
oiPle by Mckay, of Boston, triumphantly de-
monstrated its value.
The Great Eastern, 80 far as her lines are
concerned. is but magniied COPY of the little
Wave boat. In this respect the Wave is
model OF the Great Eastern. There is little diff
ference between the construction of the Great
Eastern and Scoit Russell large iron steamers,
save In size. She IL constructed on the bulk
head system-s Chinese inventOn-being diyi-
ded into twelve water tight compartments. by
walls OF iron transverse to the length of the ship
The outer casing Of the ship is formed of iron
plates. riveted together, three quarters Of an
inch thick. These are strengthened Throughout.
except at the bottom of the ship, where they are
an inch thick. by transverse ribs of iron. Being
also covered below water-mark by an inner
casing OF iron plates of the same thickness as
the outer, and two feet ten inches from it. the
whole may be regarded as forming a series of
cells, similar to those used by Stephenson for
the construction of the britannia tu be over the
Menal Straits. The merit Of this cellular struc-
ture Is due. we believe, to Mr.. Brunei. to whom
also. must be attributed the conception Of COM
bining the paddle-Wheel with the Archimedean
sSrew-a: combination peculiar to the Great
Eastern.
Some fears have been entertained that If this
vast bulk should be suspended on the crest of
two waves while her middle was out of water
her great weight would break her back These
apprehensiOns are at once shown to be ground
less when We remember that the Britannia
Tubular Bridge is constructed of only haiCinch
plates OF iron, on the same cellular principle as
the Great Eastern. The distance between the
supports of the bridge at its greatest span is
4oO feet, and the DETECTION produced by a load
OF 24S tons of dead weight on its centre is only
three-eighths Of an inch.