The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-16
THE ALUMINIUMYACHT
Details of the Pioneer Graft Made of
the Metal of the Future.
From lie Genie Civil.

From lie Genie Civil.
We give to-day the plan of the alumni
lum yacht, the Vendenesse, belonging to
| the Count de Chabannes La Palice,
| launched at Saint Denis last week. The
| dimensions of the boat thus modified, and
as they are represented in our designs
are as follows
| Length on the water line, 10 meters (40feeO;
| length over all, IL. 40 meters: extreme beam
| 2S5 meters; draught, 255 meters displace-
| ment 10 tons; weight, oil ballast, IL TONS sail
| area, $50 No.
| The lines of the Vendenesse offer a con
tinu1ty of surface, and remarkably easy
curves: They differ materially from those
| OF English yachts of the same tonnage.
The hull is made of steel and aluminium.
| The frame is made of rigid steel intended
! to support all the strain of the ballast and
the sails, and to divide it as uniformly as
| possible. Upon this frame there is an
| exterior envelope of plates of aluminium
fastened in such way as to bind together
| the different portions of the skeletons
forming the side of the vessel.
This principle, very simple in itself,
seemed to the most rational to be EN-
| ployed in the construction of a hull in
tended to support great strain, and
especially in boat built of aluminium, a
metal that has very little elasticity.
| Moreover, in the hull of the Vendenesse
1
| OF aluminium without any opening of
| communication. These compartments
are destined to bind together the two
! sides of the boat, and, in addition, to as
| sure buoyancy.
The fastening of the plates of the Ven
| denesse was an extremely delicate oper-
! alton, owing TO the difficulty of working a
new and completely unknown metal
| Several trials were necessary to determ-
| inc the best way of working the alumni
| mum. In the first place it was necessary
| to accustom the wOrkmen hitherto en-
| ployed in fastening iron, steel or copper
| to the working of the aluminium, a metal
| having physical properties absolutely diff
ferent.
| Another difficulty for the builder was
to render the hull water tight. This
| quality is comparatively easy to obtain
with plates of but little thickness in iron
construction; but with plates of bronze or
4 aluminium the problem becomes far more
| difficult to solve. In this case the water
tight condition is only obtained for the
| most part by bringing the rivets so close
| together that the resistance of the Joint
| is considerably diminished. Although
this method is good enough for water
tanks or. for river boats it is not fit for
the fastening of hull like that of the
Vendenesse, which is destined to undergo
considerable strains In spite of all these
difficulties, the shipyards of the Loire
made the experiment a success.
| The aluminium entering into the hull of
| the Vendenesse was furnished by the
Electric Metallurgic Society of FORCES
| The plates and the greater portion of the
| knees were made by M. Charpentier Page,
| of the foundry of WALDORF, the first man
not only in France but in all the world to
! laminate plates of aluminium alloy of
| large dimensions capable of being bored
| and employed in naval construction. In
the hull of the Vendenesse there was
employed about 1,100 kilograms of alum
| inium and 700 Kilograms of steel, which
| brings the weight of the hull to 2, 800 kilo-
grams, with a displacement of fifteen
tons.
This is remarkably small, especially
when we take into consideration the fact
that this hull has to support ten tons of
lead ballast and considerable sail area.
The hull of the yacht realizes in light
ness gain of more than 40 per cent. over
| a similar hull made of wood and the gain
is still greater over hull made of iron or
steel, for whatever may be the resistance
| of metal it is impossible to diminish be-
| yond measure the thickness of plate.
1t was also necessary to preserve the
aluminium from the contact with salt
water; because this metal, Interchangeable
in fresh water and in the open air, is con-
| siderably corroded, although less than
| iron, under the influence of the salt in the
| water of the sea. M. Guilloux. aided in
| his researches by chemists of the house
| of Leffranc, discovered a paint and a
mode of special application which seems
to unite the desired conditions for the
| preservation of the aluminium. The ex-
terror painting is made of three different
coats. superposed, the first to obtain ad
herence TO the metal, the second to assure
| its impermeabllity, and the third to
| hinder marine negotiations and incrusta-
tions from forming on the bottom. BY
curious coincidence, which shows that the
| rational study of question always leads
| to rational results. M. GuillouX has re-
Gently learned that the paint on the null
of the Vendenesse, is made on the same
| principle as that which few years ago
was adopted by the Japanese govern
| ment.
At first it was intended to have the in
terror of the Vendenesse simply vanished
so as to preserve the color of the metal;
! but since she was launched it was found
that the difference of temperature be-
| tween the air and the water occasioned
on the interior surface a condensation of
vapor still more abundant than on iron
! bolts. To remedy at least portion of
this inconvenience the interior surface
received several coats of paint.
The fittings of the Vendenesse are ex-
tremely light their total weight being
| about $50 Kilograms They are made OF
! yellow pine and are composed of separate
! pieces fastened by screws. This arrange
menU. which is rather costly, permits the
| almost instantaneous taking apart of all
furniture of the coat without damage and
renders possible an inspection of the hull
| and repairs in case of need without great
expense. The interior arrangements of
! the Vendenesse contribute, in certain
| measure, to increased rightly of the hull
All the principal pieces are connected by
| fastenings in aluminium and in this way
serve to strengthen the boat
The deck of the Vendenesse is formed
| of aluminium plates three millimetres in
thickness, and is covered by one single
niece of linoleum. The frames are formed
nf steel and are stronger than those en-
MEDICAL
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