The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-08-20
THE NIAGARA AS SHE NOW IS.

As the ship will undoubtedly be for some time an
object of the greatest curiosity to the people of New
York and vicinity, the cable circles and the paying
out machinery have not been removed. Those who
visit the vessel will, therefore, have pretty fair
opportunity of seeing all that is of interest far
the work OF laying the cable is considered. The
cones, the sheaves, the bobbins, the dynamometer,
the rings or fair leaders are all in tact and besides
all these, two of the circles contain some eighty or
ninety miles of cable coiled and ready for laying
The flooring of two three of the circles has been
removed, but the remainder perfect as at any
time while the work of submerging the cable in the
depths of the ocean was in progress. There are
three circles on the spar deck, two of which are
without any cable, forward Of the engine hatch
and the third, with twenty or thirty miles of it,
aft of the same part of the ship Above each of
these temporary staging erected for the pur-
pose of facilitating the paying out process.
While the work was going on no one was allowed
on any part of this staging who had no business
there-not even the officers of the ship. This rule
was carried out to the fullest extent and with the
most despotic rigor. 1t was along this staging that
the spcer Paine walked with the ''bight' in his
hand when the last fathom in the hold coil was paid
out, and when the wardroom coil was reached. The
| covering of the engine hatchway still bears the
mark of the curiosity of one of the men, who in his
e1ertons to get glimpse of Paine while performing
this feat smashed the glass and nearly lost his life
| bv his temeritv. The iron bobbins over which the
cable passed its way to the machine have not been
touched, and still bear the marks of the service in
which they employed. Although an effort
has been made to remove the tar, it has been found
almost impossible to do so wholly, and traces of it
may yet be clingng to them. For six whole
days and nights those same bObbins never stopped
revolving, and they always sauted the ear with the
self same rattling sounda sound, by the way, that
peculiarly pleasant, conveying it did the in
formation that the cable going out successfully
Passing further aft the visitor comes to the great
machine itself, and it is as perfect piece of me-
chansm OF its kind as was ever constructed. While
it in operation none but those on duty were al
! lowed If
against t-they could hardly get near enough tC
touch it with six foot pole, so strict the re
gulations.
No one dare transcend the written law which wa.
displayed close by, informing all who had no busi
ness there that there they must not CO. 1t was GER
tainly well guarded spot, and the sentry who kept
watch near it rigid icicle; which mean;
that he would sooner break than bend. Then, as i
all this not sufficient, the whole was inclosec
with rope that extended beyond the dynamome
ter, bringing that within the prescribed limits
All these regulations and rules, however, ende(
with the landing of the cable, and the machinery il
now as free to inspection as any part of the ship
The rope has been removed, and the sentry no long
er keeps watch over the prohibited ground
The paving out machine has done its duty, an,
done it we'll and is perhaps more deserving of NJ
tention than ANYTHING else on board the shin 1t i
perfect in every particular, that those who ar
of mechanical or scientific turn of mind can stud
it in all its details. There the two sheaves wit
the four grooves in which the cable ran and ther
the break wheels on the same shaft so that th
; speed of the former could always be regulated b
the latter: The end of the machine shows the le
vers which acted upon the brakes and which b.
means of oblong weights of a hundred pounds eacI
were made to increase the strain upon the cable
But all this has been so frequently explained a.
ready that the reader must be familiar with II
action.
, The dvnamomotar. which stands within few
, feet of the machine of which it is an importan
part, is so simple in its construction and operation
that the visitor will have no difficulty In - under
towards the stern is another wheel which the cabl
nassed over before it entered the sheave at tn