St. Mary's beacon., 1860-01-05


ment. In the centre Of the vessel, as it
is now constructed, is a drum Of the
same diameter Of the cylinder, revolving
on shaft in the line Of its axis. and
whose periphery moves in a water joint.
The breadth Of the drum bears = rela-
tive proportion 10 its diameter snf TO the
length Of tn cylinder. What that pro-
portion ought TO b. in all eases. has
probably not been finally decided by the
inventors. Ii will no doubt b. r.a uced
by them TO an invariablc quantity, be-
fore they close their labors. The pad-
dies or driving fms are PLACED upon the
face Of the periphery of this drum. The
angle which they should make with the
axis OF the drum or cyl;ndeg = cider ta
gst the greatest pitch, as il i technical
ly called, that is TO propel tie Sessel.ihs
greatest distance in one revelation If the
drum. has been one Of the most difficult
problems to be solved about this whole
invention. They were first placed a;
such an acute angle with the axis as "a
drive the vessel SO feet through the wl-
ter at one turn Of the drum, but the
slip of the water upon the paddles was
81 great as to require an undesirable ve-
l"c;ty in the revolution Of the drum.
Tht inventors cnntinusd tO alter theil
angl, uitil they can now sani the vessel
ioI Tari at one turn Of the drum o. feet.
at 4 moderate working vclociiy, and that
too. with scarcely any lift of water
Some engineers thought tLat the rcvo-
luton Of the prop Hing Gus, thu ar
rang:d woaid have the eject Of causing
the cylinder To turn over, in the direction
Of III. revolving drum. Mt 50. The
centre Of gravity being below the centre
Of fo'ation, the impulse Of the paddles
upon tn water sens The vessel forward
and her direction il necessarily cantrpic,i
by hr rudders fore and aft, for zhc is
stearad l,y twJ rudders inst .ad of one.
One e~eot of her steering apparatus,
which is exceedingly ingenious, Is, that
she is propelled with great st,adincss in
{" gwen direction, and can be turned
round Ia : fell length in tn smallest pos
siblc place.
Her anchor is heavy conical mass Of
iron. and when hoisted up in the anchor
welt f,rwar!. its base IS iiu>h with the
shell Of the vessel. fl hold. by it's sheer
weight. VIII n let down. b ing worked
hy the engine. A trial Of its holding pro-
pcrtics, during her recent "trip up the
bay. wa perfectly satisfactory
Tho i,Iv of the vessel is amply lighted
by dead eyes or circ,:,,lr pqn.s Of thick
glas-. Thc arccys To the cabins is by two
hatghway. towards The >pinIl, parts of
thr vessel, anl in the milclc bv 4 hnl-
low tower Of considerable HEIGHT. through
which you nay mount up To Il platform.
IT, &C ,ntrau-~s are c!,>ab!c by water
tight doors in case Of nee ss:ty. An
4ml.l' supply "f air Ia the cabins i con-
rc!cd d"wn through the twcr. above
which IS suspended tcll-ialc compass.
uu; OF the iuf.a nee of the hull of the vc,-
SCI. The sInp&" pipes md III, tower may
hc regarded as parts nf the vessel in cAtrn-
Sica, AMI are - s,auncAiy built Us to make
II imro>>iila f"r a!3y wave. even if il were
tp break over the Who'll. vessel. To ,ii,,J,r,.
th"m. But this whole APPARATUS may be
modified very materially for in her late
experimental trip, the helvicst waves liI
not reach higher than two or three f.c;
above tn" water line, SO buoyant was ~h..
We learn it is the imtcntiun Of n h..
McSsrS. Winans to cut her tranSvrrs.,lv in
thr middle and insert a cylin lrical lrn,th
Of one hundred and twenty feet. AMI if
her speed is not retarded thereby. thnv
may insert another tube oftha same ngth.
Their object Is to ascertain the maximum
length that n tube of Ii feet diameter
will bear. with the minimum rcsi>tanc. e
the water To- the who'll bulk. when pro
PEELED by given power liz the change
now Contemplated the pcopcll r will be
thrown one hundred and twenty feet from
the centre, where it now i. and 1t Will
remain to be- seen what effect thi, will
have upon her speed 1t NAY be that
greater speed may be- attained thereby.
The object of the inventors. we learn. is
70 ascertain the best position of the pro-
pellcr for cfcctins the highe.t speed with
the least power being brought to bear
upon a cylinder of the greatest length in
proportion tp its diameter. 50 that these
problems being once dcfnitively settled
by actual experiment, vessels may hcrlaf-
ter be built Of any dimensions with the
cxactncss of pattern.
But We have not said how the two
sections Of the cylinder. between which
thr pr"pelling drum revolyes. are fasten-
ed together The walls Of the drum
well are of course water tight. with a
man hole for getting into it. i'm cas-. of
necessity. The drum shat; passes through
water joints in the centre of these walls.
The ribs which span the space occupied
by the periphery Of the drum, are cury-
ed just enough to allow the p.ldles to
pass under them, are Of such dimensions
as to make this portion of tn, hull even
more solid, if possible. than the shell
itself. This portion Of the work is one
Of the finest specimens Of the sdaP,eGncs,
of means to AN end, that We have ever
seen. 1t is hardly possible to convey
Prvclse knowledge of this Construction,