Smyrna times., 1882-09-27
What DR., Siemens Expects from
the Gas Engine.

1T |. W. ClClllCilS SuSSC5lCu IlIdI llIC
time might not be far distant when the
gas engine would displace on board
our ships the somewhat complicated
and dangerous steam boiler now in
use. The advent of such an engine
and of the dynamo-machine, he de- I
clared' must mark 4 new era of mater |
ial progress, at least equal to that pro-
duccd by the introduction of steam .
power the early part of the century.
The great advantage of the gas en-
g.rc is believed to be its saving of fuel.
According to DIR. Sicmens. the best
steam engine vet constructed does not
Weld in mechanical effect more than
one-sevcnth part Of the heat energy
residing in the fuel consumed, whereas
the factor Of efficiency OF the gas engine
is one-quartcr. If, therefore, it shall
be adapted to vessels, the gas engine,
being of half the weight of the present
steam engine and boilers, and working
with only about half the present cX-
penditure of fuel, will admit Of an ad-
dtion Of thirty per cent. to the cargo
OF AN Atlantic propeller vesscl-no
longer tc be called q steamer" That
improvement accomplished, the balance
of advantages in favor of such vessels
would be sufficient, as he says to re-
strict the use of sailing craft chiefly to
the rcgattas of sportsmeE.
As it is now, steam is rapidly driving
sails from the ocean, just as iron and
steel are supcrseding wood for ship
construction. Out of the $50 vessels
building or preparing to be built, in
, the United Kingdom on the 30th o
: June last. only $50 were sailing craft
0 while GJ0 were steam ships; and o
: this whole number only 10 sailing
7 vessels and steam vessels were Q
Il wood. while steel or homogeneous iron
!. which is destined 10 become the grea
|, material for ship building. was use'
for 50 steam and II sailing vessels.
l. The great advances hitherto made i
d steam vessels have been in the direC
n ton of saving fuel. in lighter machir
y erv. in the substitution Of the scre'
P, for the side wheels, and in the use {
st iron and steel instead of wood for the
construction. \ wooden ship coul
5 not be built to perform like the Aidsb
te or the .1ri-ond. Whereas in the day
iu Of the old Collins line the steam W;
81 expanded only twice, and the rressuI
carried was only IS pounds, the cXpal
): sion now is ten or twelve times, Al
3! the pressure is SO to 100 pounds. II
II old Cundrdcrs, the asia, Atrjcd, al
Cdaada, carried a pressure of Il
ch pounds merely.
:. The consequence has been the enc
ed nous increase in the size of the Oce
he steamers and the great advance i'll th'
his speed. In April, 1888 the Sirius fl
icy crossed the Atlantic in seventeen da
ial from Liverpool and fifteen days frC
= Queenstown. She was of 700 tons a
$50 horse power. The Serrid, built
1881, has an extreme length of $50 fe
are and a displacement of13,00 tons. I
est C'ty Of Rome, built in the same year
ub- GOO feet long, and has a displacem'
can of l3. 500 tons. The Alaska, which
500 feet long and of l., 900 tons displa
t is ment, has done the distanc betwC
,tra Queenstown and New York in da
hts, / hours, and 80 minutes, and the ret
der voyage in days and % hours, mt
lcti- ocean speed of about Il knots an he
cks. or more than double that of the f
eral steam vessels which crossed the Atl
5 at tic.
leal- Undoubtedly if the gas engine s.
ton. be able to do what DR.. Siemens ant
encc pates, it will give ocean navigat
tax another and a strong impulse. Its
N. greater lightness as compared with
S47.- steam engine and boilers, and its lc
linal consumption of coal to produce
and same effect, will admit of a N
und. larger cargo, and greater speed ma,
pay obtained without too much sacrifiC
that the cargo capacity of the vessel
year J.. Sun.
and