The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-31
CITY INTELLIGENCE.
For Additional LOoal Items see zAtrd Page
THE CITY ICE-BoAr.


cheney Of the Bouers-The Heavy Ice In
the River,
The closing of navigation in the Delaware has
necessarily made our City Ice Boat very popu.
lar institution, or, at least, one that is much
talked about The daily papers have discussed
her pretty extensively, and shown up her sup
posed merits and defects. But still, everything
was merely presupposed and none of them
thought it necessary to take special pains to
find out the real merits of the case. Feeling
that the public ought to know what the Ice
Boat is really capable Of, and where she is de-
ficient, we sent special reporter on board to
take trip in her, and find out what was the
cause of her being such failure if she were so.
This gentleman went aboard last Monday night,
the 28th instant, and started down the river on
her. We append the following as the result
About half-past o'clock Monday evening,
we went aboard the Ice Boat, which then lay at
the foot of Pine street wharf, Captain Schel-
lenger gave us a hearty welcome, and gave US
every facility to accomplish what we desired.
We took q walk over the boat, and made few
notes of her build and machinery. OF the boat
we can say that she is strong and well-built
vessel Her hull is OF iron. The plates are of
& boiler iron, and are well riveted, and she
has also cardboard streak of 3-lnch iron addi-
tonal. On her bow the iron is of double
thickness, being II inch, tor a space OF
forty feet from the cutwater. On the
latter is a gripping piece of 8 by 8 inch
iron that extends TO the keel, and binds the edges
OF the plates solid. over this is placed bar of
iron, 4l inches by inches thick covers the
grip piercer, and running under the bottom
from the keel of the boat The interior of the
hull is strongly braced. The frames are of
strong angle iron, and are placed at an average
distance of Is inches apart. Her mainguard
beams and cord-beams are of iron cellular tubes,
by IL inches on external faces, and of an inch
thick. She is Isl feet in length over all, and
175 feet between perpendculars. Her breadth
of beam is about so feet. She is well and strongly
built, and well braced. The wheels are 26 feet
in diameter and 13 feet in width. The dash
boards are of oak, aud faced with S-inch iron
plates.
Her engines, as is well known, are the old
ones that were formerly in the old City Ice
Boat They are two in number. The cylinders
are forty inches in diameter with seven-teet
stroke. The engines are of the old Mississippi
style, OF high pressure, and are calculated for
about 800 horse power. They are amply suf-
cient to do all the work that would be required
of them, if it were not that the boilers were
totally insufficient to supply them with steam.
The boilers are cylindrical of the locomotive
pattern, four in number and Is feet long by
about six feet three inches in external diameter.
Each boiler has two furnaces with a CRATE sur
face Of about 10 square feet in each, or a total
of 1873 square feet. There are two tube boxes to
each boiler. and 80 tubes, three inches in dame
ter and feet in length, in each, making a total
of 4l6. The heighth of the steam run is about
two and half feet in the centre of the water.
Each boiler has a steam drum four feet in diam
eter and eight feet in heghth. There is about
1000 cubic feet of steam room, and the en-
gines follow full stroke and consume 200 feet of
steam at each revolution there is but enough
for five revolutions. The consequences are
plainly to be seen in the working of the vessel
We started at 10 o'clock, with about seventy
pounds OF steam, and in about fifteen minutes
the boat came TO stop, and the steam had run
down to about iorty-hve pounds. The fires
were in splendid order, and in about two
minutes we started ahead again. Instead of
carrying from eighty to one hundred pounds of
steam, and making fifteen revolutions, which
she was calculated to do, she carried at the
highest seventy pounds of steam, and the
greatest number OF revolutions she made at
any one time was about thirteen, and that only
for few minutes. As long as she could be
driven ahead she worked splendidly.
Rushing at the hard, thick field of ice that
covered the river, she would cut through 1t
with her iron cutwater, and churn it into small
pieces with her powerful wheels. We would
lay still few minutes, and then get up about
sixty pounds of steam. The bell would ring,
and we would rush at the heavy mass OF ice,
and crush through 1t gradually, going slower
and slower until we would bring up AZ dead
stop, then we would back of for little piece,
and then rush at it again. In this way We
forced passage as far down as the Horseshoe,
about half an hour after midnight We then
lay to until Tuesday morning, when we started
off again, forcing our way, by fits and starts, as
far as the feet of oyster boats that were lying
about IL O'Clock, and then cut out the tug
Colonel s. l.. Brown, and two OF the oyster boats.
Shortly after IL NJ. we started down again,
and by O'Clock in the evening had forced our
way as far as Bilingsport, where two OF the
Southern Mail Steamship Company's vesses-the
Tonawauda and Junata-were lying ice bound.
We lay to along side of them tor the night, and
in the morning succeeded in cutting them both
out, the ice being about a foot thick in the
channel where they were lying. We then took
the Tonawanda in tow, to take her up the river
to the city.
To sum up our experience, and the results Of
observations made during our two days ano
nights stay upon her, We would say that she il
q failure only in regard to her power OF making
steam. Her engines are strong and well built
and capable OF dong all that is required o
them. They work easily, and are well proper
toned. The hull is strong, well made of the
best material, and thoroughly braced. Tit
boilers are too small by one-half. They are wei
made, and are very strong, but are entirely in
adequate to supply the engine with steam.
What the boat requires is about twice t
two and half times the capacity of boiler, o
sufficient to keep the engines going at hiteel
revolutions per minute, when she would dt
all that the most sanguine could ever eXpec
of an ice.boat. But until the boilers are taker
out and larger ones put in she is and will b
d failure, and it is utter folly to expect any
thing else. One of her engines could easil
use up all the steam that all the boilers CO oulO
generate and with perfect ease.
There is another thing too that should b.
attended to. We refer TO the insufficient he'll
that is allowed to her. She should have me-
enough to keep going both day and night. Blu
There are only two engineers on board, VIII
are thus continually on duty whilst the boat
under steam. The consequence is, that she
unable to keep under way both night and day
and in these times, when teW hours suthces
close the channel much more tune aud none
are expended that could be avoided II she wei
so manned as to keep constantly in motto
when once started.