The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1857-12-17

One Of the eaSles, aud consequently, most
common indulgences of,hc many hesded" i
the prediction OF evcn,slai,er their arrival and
in the category of prophecy and Iio'ai.go,t
50, is placed the mammoth ship, the Levi.
a,han," For once, however, the prophets
seem 10 have had the best o, it. and up TO
the present time one OF the holdest eN.
pcrmen,s IN naval architecture lies immov-
ably fixed, according 10 the following 10.
marks, addressed TO the London 1mo,
through mn Oversight, of the engineer:
SIR - have read with great interest
your report Of the failure Of the launch Of
the Grca, Eastern, or, leyiathan |, seems
clear TO the that me TINT il was caused by IA
needless and most nncaIlcd for deviation
from the ordinary method Of launching ships,
| Why the old-iashioned mode Of allowing the
cradle Ia slide down well CREASED inclined
plane. where the wooden surfaces are
prevented from coming 10 contact by
grease should havr been departed irom is II
question Mr. Brunei is called upon TO ans,
1 WtI, IDIll Wv fIlitlNNi hlttl' W ltlt iNIGtNt
man.oi war that has ever been launched. mn
inclined plane, Of slope OF one foot Ia
twelve. when fabricated with grease, has al
ways been found 10 answer aud insure per.
feet success. The proportional difference be.
tween the bulk uni weight oi the Lovia,ban
aud the Duke oi Wellington /, not greater
| than that which exists between the largest
man-ofwar and IA snail sloop or cutter. The
engineer Of the Great Eastern seems TO have
sought to immor,ali.c himself By new
method Neglcc,ing altogether principle
! he has made Use OF most successfully in one
part OF his works hc has introduced it into
another in slch "a manner as Ia Illustrate his
purpose.
, Fearful only that his ship should slide
down the wars with too great velocity. he
sought TO check that velocity hy bringing
one surface of iron IN contact with another
/ under great pressure. This was the method
] Mr.. Brunei adopted TO check tho revolution
OF the great drums and 30 hold back the
gfea, Ioveihan. aud II was successful. II
i no, astonishing tha, BE- should have failed
to perceive that. upon the agmc principle.
/ his cradles would not slide down hi. ways :
I thni III" enormous pressure even Of the ~.
solved portion of the weight Of the Levi.
a,han on her ways would prolue such pres
sure ~ moi only 10 prevent the melton oi
her cradles. bat even 10 cause the rails tO
/ iln,cd themselves into the fiat plates Of iron
/ nj the bottom oi the cradles
II NAV be said however. in answer To
thi. obsc'lon, that the monster ship diI
move. she did; bn, only when by the pre-
mature start, before her wAys were covered
with water: the surface of the rails wss
lhickly covered with blacklesd When this
lubrca'ing material had been wa.hsi away
ly the rising tide. every effort 20 start the
ship down the inclius failed 10 make her
bulge ap inch
Mr. Brunel IL a railway engineer; surely
be must know how absurd IL the attempt 10
diminish friction.when one surface Of iron il
brought in contact with another. lIis rails
were not even polished. Tho surfaces Of the
plates oi iron which formed the base Of the
cradles, and which werc inlenled to slide
down the rails, were, ~ ! haze been told
roughly ground On n grind',onc. Mr. Bru-
nei has the satisfaction Of determining iba,
q Ea, iron surface gliding on Longitudinal
railway rails cannot launch IA ship, on an 10.
cline II one in twelve.
Ia oil machinery where il il INTENDED 10
Obyla,e friction. IA. ii has been truly s,a,ed,
iron is always made ~ work in some other
metal. Metals oi the same kind are never
brought IN contact the neglect Of this "a.
,sb,islicj practice has cancel the failure OF
the launch.
Whether Mr. Brunei wait. for the spring
i,j-- oi next month. " whether b. waits
for the Greek X alend, 10 not believe b.
will b. able 10 force the Great Eastern down
her pfesen, ways into tie water. ! cannot
help regfctting that the .k,iilpl bnilder, who
la ~ admirable done bis work in the con.
strIction Of the beautiful ship, was not
trusted with the launch believe he would
have been wis. enouyh % have worked on
nell.tr.e1 principle The failure, which
cgery wei.si.ber 20 grea, And noble 40
icriak,ng mus, regret wpnd not have been
cau-p. by an engineering blundeT, arising
from a Deglect of the laws of practical me-
cbaBics.
The readers Of tbs PlosEgg MAJ probably
De more than ordinarily interested in the
sacce,s ~ the L,riaihaa, when they learn
that upon such contingency hangs the tate
o. another vessel. NJ yet in embryo in the
profile brain Of the arts, IN posse. The
iolIowing are ber propoAod dimension.
Aresdy bigger ship than the Letiafhon
LaS b1n projected inFngisnd, a chip TO which
The monster ~i!l, herself. he ~ minnow--
A. III. new munster Is o' sreciaI importance
10 the citiz.s of New York, for, although
il !. propc~ed 10 make ber 5000 tons larger
than ,ke Lv,o'tGn, she IL 10 sail faAier and
dr0v i,s votsv. An Engineer of Liverpool,
nansd Clare La. come forward with propo