The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-03-22
A Novel Steamship.

In new steamboat now building up
on the Hudson, an attempt is being
made to produce boat that shall be
self-righting, that shall be very fast,
and that can not sink unless entirely
torn to pieces. The boat is compare
lively small, as it is intended only for
an experimental or model boat. If sue
cessful, it is intended to build ocean
steamships upon the same principle. 1t
appears that the inventors aim is to
make self-righting boat by carrying
the sides over the deck in the form of a
dome. The side frames are made con-
tinuous and meet over the center of the
hull, or, in other words, the frames be-
gin at one side of the keel, rise directly
at an angle of about forty-five degrees
to the water-line, and then curve in
ward over the deck and back on the
same lines to the keel. A section of the
hull taken in the center is thus OF
wedge shape, with sharp edge below
and rounded top above. This wedge
form is preserved through the entire
length of the hull. There are no hollow
lines in the boat, and the sharp, over
hanging bow is intended to part the
water near the surface and to form a
long, tapering wedge. The widest part
of the hull is exactly at the middle, both
ends being precisely alike. This is quite
different from the dat bottom and
straight sides, with comparatively bluff
or rounded bows, of the ordinary ocean
steamship. The boat is intended to be
much deeper aft than forward, and the
deck will be much higher above water
at the bows than at the stern. There
will be no houses or raised construc-
tons of any kind on the deck, except
the dome-shaped pilot-house,- the ven-
tilators and the smoke-stacks. There
will be an open railing around the center
of the deck, so that it can be used as q
promenade in pleasant weather or
whenever the seas do not break over
the boat.
The object of this unbroken dome
shaped deck Is to enable the boat to
throw off all waves that break over the
bows or sides in rough weather. 1t is
thought that, instead of shipping tons of
water and retaining it on deck till it can
be drained off, the boat will shed or
throw off the water from the long, sharp
bows and open deck, and will at once
relieve herself of the weight of the wa
ter. Waves striking the rounded deck
will have no hold on the boat, and their
force will thus be spent harmlessly. The
sharp wedge-shape and rounded top of
the hull, and the fact that even when
fully loaded the center of gravity will be
below the water-line, makes the mo del
self-righting. From experiments with
small model, this claim of the inventor
seems to be clearly proved. In laying
out the boat, only the spar deck will be
used for passengers, the main deck and
all below being Intended for cargo, coal
and engines The state-rooms will be
arranged along the outside, each room
having port in the side of the boat,
while the ceiling will be formed of the
curved deck above. The saloons will be
the whole width of the ship, and on the
spar deck. For lighting the saloons
there will be sky-lights in the center, and
as these in rough weather may be COW
cred by the seas that sweep over the
deck, they will be very strong, and will
be air-tight. To secure ventilation there
will be steam-fans, kept in motion at all
times, and maintaining good circula-
ton through every part of the boat. For
this purpose the fresh air will be taken
through wind-sails on the deck, and the
exhaust air from the rooms will be turn
ed into the blast used in forcing the boil
er fires. No boats are to be carried on
deck; the life RATS and boats will be-
kept in an apartment under the domed
deck at the stern, and when they are 10
be launched, doors will be opened in the
deck and the boats launched in the usual
way from the davits through t&ese doors.
The pilot-house will be at the bows, aud
will be entirely inclosed. 1t will not
rise much above the deck, and will be
entered from below.
There will be no masts or sails, as it
is intended to depend entirely on the en-
gines for propulsion. In constructing
the hull, to secure great strength, three
heavy trusses or '.hog frames," are to
be placed on the keel, each one risingto
the spar deck and securely fastened to
the side frames of the boat. The CELL
ing will be double, and placed diagonal
" on the frames. In the larger steam
ships, the absence of sailing power will
be compensated for by two extra en-
gines and two supplementary screws,
that can be employed in case the
larger screw is lost or the main engines
break down.-"The Worlds York." is
The Csstury AagaEisse.