Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-04-07
Friday Morning, April Z. 1882.
CAPTAIN EADs' SHIP RAILWAY.

Some of the testimony given before the
Committee on Commerce in regard to the
practicability of Captain J. B. Eads' ship
railway scheme has been made public, and it
will probably surprise most people who have
not special acquaintance with the matter.
From this testimony it appears that it is not
impracticable to raise the largest loaded ships
from the water and transport them a hun
dred miles by railway. Indeed, tasks in
volving all the difficulties of this one, and
even greater, are performed every day.
Among those whose testimony is published
is Sir Edward J.. Reed, K. G. B., late chief
constructor of the British navy. After
stating that the heavy armor- clad ships of the
British navy have been raised without diff
Guilty or injury in the hydraulic docks at
Bombay, and that the strains to which a ship
would be subjected in the process of trans-
portation would be much less than those it
encounters at sea, Sir Edward says of the
process of transportation:
With a track like that, and with locomo-
tives adapted to it, there would be no diff
Guilty in transporting ships. 1t would be
best to avoid very high rate of speed. 1t
"OuIO uOb U0 necessary, SQOulO EQluky 10
move these ships at greater speed than
eight or ten miles an hour, although [ am
quite prepared to believe that, with proper
track and locono olive, vessels could be trans
ported very much faster. I think the ship
railway would be likely to develop as much
as the ordinary railway has done, and create
as many surprises, but in any case I cannot,
for the life of me, understand where is to
enter in the danger to a ship upon a car trav-
lNN IL
would be made for this purpose. have
searched for it in vain, and 1 cannot find the
element of danger.
He also says that in his opinion the rail-
way would be more economical in operation
than canal, and gives reasons for his belief.
Another British mechanical engineer and
builder of steamships, Mr.. William John,
says:
The practice of lifting ship of large size
clean out of the water has become an every
day occurrence. The further step of lifting
her to a considerable height is not great
one, esq ecially if you dan start with her
floating in a considerable depth of water
Beyond these the conveyance of her over a
railway, provided the latter is moderately
level and moderately straight, is a simple
matter, which is certainly not outside the
reach of civil engineers
The firm of Clark & Stansfeld the distin-
guished English civil engineers, write to
Captain Eads:
We understand it will be requisite to trans
port loaded vessels of the weight of 1000 to
5000 tons. more or less, on the railway, at
the rate of about six miles per hour, on
gradient of one or two per cent, and that it
will be required to raise the vessels on a rail
way car out of the water to variable height,
not exceeding fofty-six feet, and deposit
them on the rails in time not exceeding 80
minutes. These conditions may be fulfilled
in two different ways, and we need not say
that is plan in which Mr.. Edwin Clark has
entire confidence, and in which he will take
the fullest interest in arranging the details.
The hydraulic system would probably be the
most rapid, but probably the more costly. At
the Bombay hydraulic dock we have lifted
weights up to u, 900 tons with ~ presses, IA
inches diameter and Sc feet stroke. The Vic
toria and Malta hydraulic docks have been
many years in constant operation.
At the canal lift at Fontinettes we employ
presses with rams, feet inches in diane
ter, with a 30 feet stroke. Each of these
presses will raise dead weight of !, 900 tons
through height of about so feet in three
minutes. The weight is movable portion of
the canal, about 1872 feet long, containing the
water and barge floating in it. This work
is now in course of construction for the
French government, and it is to be erected
near st. Omer, in France, and we are now
designing set of four similar canal lifts for
the Belgian government, in which the weight
raised will be somewhat larger. 1t is evident
that few presses such as these would more
than accomplish the work required.
We apprehend no difficulty in perfecfing
the necessary details of the plans, so as to
insure the safe transportation of the largest
loaded ships on the railway cars with abso-
Lutte safety.
Among others who give testimony in favor
of the scheme are Nathaniel Barnaby, c. B.,
present chief constructor of the British navy;
Mr.. William John, who built the Inman.
steamship the City of Rome; Mr.. John Fow-
Ter, who has been President of the Institute
of Engineers in England and United States
Naval Constructors HART and Fernald, Cen
eral Q. A. Gilmore, and Major Suter, of the
United States Engineers. Professor Fuertes,
dean of the civil engineering department of
Cornell University, says ''When your ship
railway project appeared, and was ridiculed
by inconsiderate engineers, 1 made oonnputa-
tions which proved conclusively to my mind
that the Great Eastern could be carried safe
ly overland upon rails with less strain to her
timbers than in any of her sea voyages"
Such testimony as this shows at least that
Captain Eads is. not SO visionary as he has
been accused of being.