St. Paul daily globe., 1891-07-12

! rlggerS made their appearance. They
were very crude and heavy. they have
steadily improved OH them. Now they
use three rods made of light piping, and
| make a good substitute for old solid
iron ones. The old-stvle shawl PIN i'll
1872 gave way to the swinging oarlock,
which works almost automatically. To
M. f. Davis, of Portland, Me-, we are
indebted for this grand improvement.
The sliding seat was not in use until
1870. To America belongs the credit.
An American took out the patents, and
American oarsmen developed and made
it what it is to-day.
Walter Brown, of Portland. Me-, took
out the first patents on sliding seats.
He also helped to improve the oars.
with Mr.. Ruddick, of Boston. They
built one of the first single scull boats
i'll America that was light and retained
fine lines. Brown died before his slides
were brought into practical use. Had
he lived, he would secure a royalty OH
every moving seat. His patent had
run out before his heirs or friends ap-
preciated its value. 1t consisted of two
brass rods attached to a board. The
rods moved in wooden grooves. The
progress of the sliding seat was very
slow at first. The oarSmen wore-sheep
skin on their rowing trunks. and would
slide on polished board which was
we'll covered with CASTLE soap and
water. After the race the boat
looked like a washtub on Monday.
Soon some used 0iIinstead of soap. Soon
after came wood running on wood;
then brass running on brass. Next
came steel on brass; next came wood
and steel; then ivory on glass, soon
followed by Babbitt OIL steel. Bah
~, eli 10
Should water get on it the slide
would stick fast. As a great deal of OH
had to be used on the Old-time slides
it was very difficult for the oarsmen to
keep their rowing cloths clean. Boating
menot to-day may wear a dress suit i'll
the boat and not get them soiled.
Should they attempt this fifteen years
ago they would come out OF the shell
looking like an oiler in a machine shop.
All kinds of metal was used trying
to get a slide with the least friction pos
sible. Babbitt and steel was the best
they could do until the roller seat was
introduced. These improvements fol-
lowed and now we have moving seat
that has but very little friction. The
oar has also been much improved, and
the tWenty-fOur-fOOt oar has been cut
down to less than twelve feet. Light
oPl uCC 10 llON UOCN III Illti1
instead of ash.
The boat itself has undergone many
changes. When they commenced TO
use OutriggerS builders then tried to see
how narrow they could get their boats.
They carried this to extremes. One
builder made singles thirty-four feet
long. with seyen-inch beam. These
shells would cut under the rough water,
and were hard to turn. The builders
now commence to make them shorter
and fuller. When the got to twenty
four feet they found they were too short
for long-diStance rowing; something
else must be done. so they put foot
upon foot until thirty-ODe feet was at
tanned. They all agree on this length,
but no two of them agree on model.
The English builders make their boats
with very little Gambler, straight sides,
and fairly fiat bottoms amidship. The
American style is lots of Gambler with
concentric lines. Opinion is divided as
to which is the best. | think that the
Americans have carried the concentric
lines to extremes. One builder got his
lines from figures something like these:
He would start in the center
and measure, say for a twelve-inch
boat. When the boat was twelve
inches wide he would build it
six inches depth. In narrowing up the
shell he would always have the depth
half of the width. This style gave lots
of sheer forward. and at once was very
sensitive under the stroke and very
hard to steer; and in speeding under the
strOk Z, the bow would be away out of
water, but would be submerged again
on the recovery. | don't think this
style of boat will retain their headway.
Some of our American builders are now
giving their shells easier lines and less
Gambler than heretofore, and are getting
faster boats. Shell boats are no lighter
to-day than they were ten years ago.
would not be surprised to see in the
next five years shell boats and
oars made from aluminium. Sev-
eral patents have been taken out
and tried on the moving rigger.
By this arrangement the oarsmen
would sit on a stationary seat. The
rgger which was attached to the
stretcher and ran III grooves on the
gunwale and keelson would move in uni
son with the stretcher, so that instead
of the oarSman sliding off for his stroke
he would draw the stretcher and riggers
toward him on the pull. The oars
would always be at right angles with
the boat. and for this reason the oars
men had great expectation for the, future.
Those expectations were never realized,
for it never proved success. Nearly
all the Improvements in race boats were
made by Americans. This speaks we'll
for them, for they were nearly the last
TO take to boat racing. In 1851 there
was not all organized boat club in this
country.