Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-01-05
THE MODEL OF A SHIP
GUILT FROM 81. ocKs OF WOOD AFTER
DRAWINGS ON PAPER.

Some NJ the Details or n Very Isterestingi
Operation IN Told by . Famous Con-
structor = England behind the Other
Leading Nations Until Recently.
Who wouid ever have imagined that |
great ship--a modern wonder Of the |
sea like tho Paris or the Ca:nperdown |
lis built rs woman makes a dress or |
a tailor cuts out n suit of clothes: That |
is the fact. Ships nowadays arc built
from patterns, and those patterns do not
greatly differ in appearance or in fact
from those which enable American wo-
men tn copy the fashion in dress. To
le sure, tailor's and dressnaker's pat
terms are made Of paper and are laid
upon cloth or dress goods. while a ship
builders patterns are Of wood. and steel
and iron are made to follow them. That
ia perhaps the greatest difference be-
tween the METHODS of high grade tailor
ing and high grade shipbuilding, so far
rs their first steps 60.
The English have only lately begun
TO value the model as the basis Of ship
building. A famous American ship
builder says that the model of the yacht
America was the first model he ever
saw in England. That accounts tor the
absence of beauty in English ships,
which even to this day possess varying
degrees of ugliness, but no beauty. For,
though they make models today, the
mere making OF them does not suffice.
The art and appreciation of model max
ing must be instructive.
The French and Spanish from the
earliest tiIaes made beautiful ships and
models. ard when one of these ships
, fell into the hands of the English they
adopted and used her if possible. or IL
sho was too much damaged they took
her apart. piece by piece. and built a
new ship like her by copying the exact
shape of each part Of her in new mate
rial. Curiously enough, We Americans
have always made beautiful shiIs-weil
proportional, artistic in every line.
while satisfactory in an equal degree
for all practical purposes.
A model is made in IA way that seems
queer to the average layinan, who doubt.
less suspected that it was whitfield into
shape ont of block of wood, as We boys
used to white our blocks at the age
when all of rs were shipbuilders. l;
is not done SO. After an order has beer
received for certain kind Of ship thu
. plans of it are drawn upon paper. Mr.
Lewis Nixon. the famous constructor
for the Cramps. tells me that very earl,
in the process he ma, n picture of th'
ship rs he wants it to look, but thoagl
he does SO Others may not consider /
essential.
At all events. apart from any draw
ing, the needed dimensions and lines ar
developed npon paper, and then tn
model is made. and the president of tn
company begins TO take very active In
terest in the work. The model is mad
in the shape of n BLOCK, formed of
number of pieces of wood glued toget!
CT. These pieces represent the differen
curves of one side of the ship. from tn
= keel to the yunwale-the different Wa
ter lines is how the builders express il
= To understand this the reader must in
aglnc ship made Of solid wood. In
u ayine that cut in half lengthwise. an
then imagine one half laid ON its sid
and cut into slices.
The pen and ink calculations an
plans produce the shape Of tine ship, an
= from these i. is possible to obtain Il
outline ard dimensions of every slice {
- plane between the bottom and the tol
Each plane is measured and drawn
a outline on n board. and the outline
dented OF cut in the board with n shat
tool. All the boards or pieces of wo,
-, are then glued together, and simp
q. looking block is mnie-a block tn
shows nothing of its true nature exec
- that the top of it bears the craven on
line Of the top deck or gunwale line
~ a ship. Out of that simple square blo'
will come the egg which is to hat
the splendid ship that is to I've.
That block. made mp Of slices. en-,
= with its dclited outline Of differe
q plane Of the ship. is now cut ava
n much as we boys used to cut our bloc
but witt, this difference: Each hoard
cut exactly to the denied or grav
line upon its surface. The shape I
block will have when all the superb
Gus wood is cut away will he the moo
Of tire ship that was designed by the c
yinecr on paper to fill the reqaire,nel
Of the customers order, but will IL
model stand: Will the master build
he satisfied with its lines:
Will it do to be enlarged in steel a
sent around the world as an example
what the Cramps consider the m
beautiful and artistic and useful sha
such ship should have: No. Sucl
first model next TO never suits the m'
,, e!er. who in this case is Mr.. Charles
Cramp. He hacks into it with ferv
He tapers the bow. He digs away
stern. He shaves the whole model "
- the nice and dainty touches Of scu
tor ut work upon a statue on which
to rest his boast that he is a true art
The fate Of the wooden block alt
the figures Of the engineers plans. T
- hars the alteration is such that n
X drawings and u new model follS
Thus. by borrowing and lending.