Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1893-03-09
RAILWAY SPEED AT S A.
oeean Steamships Now Travel as Fast as
Express Trains.
From st. Nicholas.

OCEAN Steamships Now Travel as Fast as
Express Trains.
From st. Nicholas.
Far back in the year 1884, Captain John
Ericsson, whom we all remember as the
builder of the first ironclad monitor"
applied for u patent on a screw propell-
er to be used in driving ships through
the water. Ten years later the secretary
of the British Admiralty persuaded that
body to make "a trial OF the new machine
in the frigate Arrogant" The device
was success. The trigate went faster
than Others of her size using sails alone;
she could move about in the water when
there was no wind, and when other ships
were motionless or at anchor; and al
though her speed, even with the wind,
was but liJtle increased, and the sailors
growled at having the ships hold filled
up with "tea-k1ttles and b'ilers," they
had to admit that she was safer in gale,
and could go better than before. Popu-
lar feeling was against the propeller,
however, and it was not until 1852 that
it was placed in the larger ships OF war.
All great inventions have to fight
their way, and this was no exception. 1t
gradually came into use among merchant
ships, and when the naval authorities
saw It's advantages most of the opposi-
ton ceased, ana they decided to thy 1t in
the creates ship they had. The "Wind
sOr CASTLE" had just been completed at
the Royal Dockyard, Pembroke. She
was 255 feet long, 60 feet wide, and had
three tiers of port holes,-roon for l2O
guns. she was the result of years of Ia
Dor, and was then the greatest warship
in the world.
1t seemed a pity to desecrate this noble
craft by loads of coal, tons of oily ma
chinery. hot boilers, and company of
greasy engineers but it would never
do to have England's greatest war-ship
lacking in anything that could give her
greater speed and strength. Therefore
it was decided to cut the vessel in two,
and lengthen her so as to accommodate
the machinery. She was sawed directly
through amidships, the stern was pushed
back twenty-three feet. and the gap
built up solid with the rest of the ship.
When she was launched the machinery
was put in. Complete, she was 279 feet
long, and carried 20 more guns.
La making report of this great ship
to the French Navy, Lieutenant La
brousse urged the French also to adopt
the propeller, and wrote that "the use
of the screw as a means of propulsion is
far from diminishing a ships sailing
qualities. 1t is, on the contrary, capable
of adding to the certainties of navigation.
Ia 1859 we find the 'Great Eastern"
using the propeller, but only as an aid to
her paddle wheels. In fact, for many
years thereafter, all the ocean steamers
used paddles only. The war-ships alone
continued to experiment with the pro-
pellers. Now. however, everything has
changed in favor of the screw, and, ex-
cept some light river-hoats drawing lit
tie water, all steamers are run by pro-
pellers. Boats were soon built with pro-
pellers under the keel, then others used
two, one on either side of the keel, and
now three are being successfully oper-
ated.
| Then came the days of "forced draft, y
when the fire-rooms were closed up
tight, and air was pumped in to go roar-
| ing up through the chimneys after fan
mag the fires into greater heat. The
engines worked faster, and the ships
| speed was increased; but the increase
soon reached a limit, for the boiler-room
became so hot that the poor firemen
could not stay at their posts for more
| than fifteen minutes at a time. One
hundred and sixty-five degrees was the
awful heat they had to work in recently
on the fast United States ship Concord
/ The men famed in front of the furnace,
and others were hard to hire. What was
| to be done? The limit of speed for ships
seemed to be reached, while more speed
was wanted. Commodore Geroge w.
Melville, of the Uuited States Navy, as
solved the puzzle by designing a ship
with smoke-stacks one hundred feet high
These have the same effect as the tall
factory chimneys on land. The firemen
do not find this natural draft so oppres-
sive, and these smoke-stacks give steam
power that sends the great ship, with
spinning screws, at the rate Of twenty
six miles an hour. And, even at thi,
railway speed, she will use so little Goa
that she can run "a 600 miles, or almos
around the world, without renewing her
supply.