The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1890-09-27
NAPHTHA LAUNCHES.
THE REMARKABLE RAPID GROWTH
OF THIS NOVEL CRAFT.

Boats Arc Used Chiefly AS Auxiliaries
of the Large Yachts-Thc Cost of an
Ordinary Twcnty-five-Footer Per Hour.
Naphtha launches appear to be estab-
ished facts. so far as the purposes for
which up to the present they have been
designed are concerned. Few inven-
tions have been met with deeper preju-
dice against them and witt! quicker ac-
ceptance at the same time. At first
everybody was afraid that they would
explode. for naphtha in its vario;,s uses
has been on record as u terrible destroyer
in cases of misapplication or improper
treatment. The method, however, by
which naphtha is made to serve as a
fuel precludes any possibility of explo-
sion. That, at least, is what the in
ventor and the manufacturers say, and
experience thus fur has confirmed their
statement. That the yachting public
generally has accepted this is evidenced
by the fact that nearly 600 naphtha
launches are now in use, and that man
ufacturers are crowded with orders
months in advance.
The inventor of the naphtha motor is
Mr.. August w. Ofeldt. Tha launches
made under his invention, wherein
naphthl is the exclusive motive ma
terial, are not now in his control, for he
sold his inventors interest in the patent.
Mr.. Ofeldt was born in Sweden about
fifty years ago, and he gained his scien-
tific and mechanical education there
He came to this country twenty years
ago. 1t was while he was working with
gasoline that the idea of utilizing naphtha
as motive agent occurred to him. That
was ten years ago, and for five years he
studied and experimental before he con-
structed an engine that satisfied him.
That engine is still in use in New York
waters, and generally appears at events
where naphtha launches are likely to be.
1t is set up in a small black boat that
looks as if it might once have been a
rowboat, and its name, painted in con-
spicuous white letters, is sThe Original
No. L."
When j. A. Bostwick, Clement Gould,
John j. A1nory, Edward V. Cary, and
others with capital took up tho invention,
they began making boats specially de-
signed for the naphtha engine, and even
tually they acquired Mr.. Ofeldt's interest.
The inventor says that there is still room
for improvement in the engine, and that
he proposes some day to bring out one
that will open new era in pleasure navi-
cation, and possibly lead the way to the
use of naphtha in larger marine enter
prises.
At present naphtha launches are used
almost exclusively as yachts, though
there are ferries here and thore over
which passengers are carried on them,
and some Of the larger steam yachts
have abandoned steam launches for
naphtha boats as tenders. People who
are not familiar with them are often as
tonished to see trim little boat, with a
bright brass funnel in tho extreme stern,
scooting speedily about, emitting rapid,
sputtering cough, but showing no sign
whatever of smoke or cinders. The fun
mel is apparently all there is to the en-
gine, boiler or coal bin, if the term may
be used.
If one could look down at the bottom
of the boat, beside the base of the fun
mel, one would see several small wheels
in a complex arrangement, u gauge, a
pump handle, and on u bar running
across the boat four cocks. That is all
ono could make out of it unless one We're
an expert mechanic, and all one would
need to know about it in order to run
the boat, except that the supply tank of
naphtha is under the forward deck, con-
nccted by pipes with the gauge, pump
| and cocks The celebrated inducement
set forth by another concern might be
modified by tho naphtha launch manu-
facturers into "You turn the knob and
we do the rest" The amateur needs
only to know what will be the effect Of
turning each cock and when to pump in
order to be captain, crew, stoker, en-
gineer and pilot of his launch, for steer
ing also may be done at the engine, so
simple is the task of looking after it.
1t takes five minutes to get up steam, -
to use another misnomer, on naphtha
launch. Then all that is necessary is to
work the pump stroke or two, apply q
match to an opening in the surface o.
the funnel turn a cock, and let her go.
From that time the launch will go con-
tinuously for fifty hours Then the sup
ply will be exhausted, and the forward
tank will have to be replenished. The
engine may be stopped at any instant by
shutting off the supply of naphtha,
which is equivalent to turning out ~ gas
jet, and the engineer may go home at
once, with no cleaning up to do and no
| fires to rake down.
These launches are from eighteen to
fifty three feet long. The draught varies
from eighteen to thirty-eight inches. Six
to ten PERSONS may be carried safely in
the smallest boats. The most popular
style Of launch is the twenty -footer,
in which there is room for twenty passen-
gers It costs fifteen cents an hour for
the power necessary to run boat of this
| size.
A curious use to which naphtha en-
| gines have been put recently is as auxil-
yachts on the sound, yawl rugged, that
have naphtha engines and screw wheels.
| They are so constructed that the wheel
does not impede the progress Of the boat,
and the power may be turned on, when
| once started, at an instant's notice. The
utility of this device is apparent in case
of cal,ns, when the engine will send the
boat along at six miles an hour. The
engine is also used in putting about, this
maneuver being accomplished with re-
markable CELEBRITY when the power is ap-
piled. The speed Of ordinary naphtha
launches is about seven miles an hour
with a four=horse power engine. Some
launches with six-horse power engines
have made a recorded speed Of ten stat
ute miles an hour. The speed might be
increased by putting in engines of greater
horse power, but this would add so con-
siderably to the expense that the manu-
facturers have not as yet deemed it ad-
visable to construct such boats.-New
York Sun.
| Superintendent Porter Ill.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1s.-Superintend-
ent of the Census Porter is quite i'll Of
nervous exhaustion at his residence here,
caused, his physicians say, by overWork: