Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-26

type of warShip in the service. Thus min
iature copies have been made Of the armored
battle ship Texas, the monitor Miantonomoh
the ram Katahdin and others. Seven men
at the Washington navy yard are constantly
employed in building these models, which
cost from 5000 to 5000 apiece. These
artisans are mechanics of the highest skill,
and the work they do is such as to require
special training. Workmanship Of the
utmost difficulty Is needed, many of the
parts being so little that an ordinary per-
son could not handle them or put them to-
gether. Everything must be reproduced
down to the smallest block for the running
rigging.
The COlumbia's Guns.
Take the guns of the miniature Columbia
for example. They are the prettiest toys
inals Of eight-inch caliber. are about four
inches long. No part of either gun or car
riage Is lacking. and the breech can be open
ed by a touch of the finger to admit a small
sized armor-piercing projectile or an ex-
plosive shell.
The secondary batteries Of the Columbia
consist of number of small machine guns
and rapid-f1re guns some of which are aloft
in the military tops Every one of these
is reproduced on its proper scale IN the
model.
Building the Columbia Model.
The building of the model of the Columbia
was begun by taking a number of pine
boards, cut roughly to the outlines of The
ship. and putting them together under pres
sure with glue between them. Thus solid
block Of approximate dimensions was form
ed. The block was then planed and chisaled
until the lines of the great war vessel were
reproduced with absolute exactness. The
hull being made smooth with sandpaper. the
n r6ofk nh \
were added. At the same time were put en-
the Sponsors" out of which the guns look
as from windows of steel. Holes having
been bored for the window ports, the little
craft was ready to receive its armament
and other equipment.
The model is not yet finished, but the
guns are made and nearly all Of the other
equipments are ready to be put aboard.
These latter are very elaborate, and to pro-
duce them has required an immense amount
of labor. For example. there are a number
of boats, including one steam launch in
miniature. Each Of these represents three
and every rib inside of them are shown.
All of them are of wood, save for the
snokestack and rudder Of the steam launch.
The boats are swung from davits, the tiny
metal blocks through which the tackle runs
icing perfectly practical and just like real
ones.
The smokestack Of the miniature Column
bia is of brass, painted just like that of the
pipes OF copper and whistle and fog horn
otherwise known as a steam SIREN" of
nickel silver The ventilators are of cop
per They turn their gaping mouths to the
wind. which blows down into them and
keeps the sir fresh below. One of the last
things done is to put the masts into the
little ship. They are of wood, but, being
painted, they look just like the hollow steel
spars on a warship are steel tubes. The
rigging of the model is Of white wire
twisted to initiate the wire rigging on a
man-o'-war. In the model Of battle ship
the armor Is represented by wood painted.
What the Object Is.
The models Of warships are built in what
is called the ship house at the navy yard.
The establishment is huge machine shop,
under the control Of the construction bu-
reau of the Navy Department. The minia-
ture vessels are made from the original
plans and drawings for cruisers and battle
ships. which are reduced to scale for the
purpose. The object of building the models
Is to show the people what Uncle Sans
new navy Is like.
Several of the models have been sent to
Atlanta, where they will be viewed by mil
by the Navy Department to the Capitol, in
order that Congressman might see them
and know what sort of ships they were
appropriatins money to construct.
To Be Tested.
In the ship house at the Washington navy
yard is now being made model of the
battle ship Indiana, twenty feet long. 1t
is intended, not for exhibition, but for a
more practical purpose. 1t is of wood, COW
cred with an even coat of paraffine one
inch thick. When 1t is finished 1t will be
run on the Potomac river. with an engine
inside of 1t and paddle wheels. Paddle
wheels are preferred to propeller, because
the power exerted by them can be meas
ured more accurately. This Is exactly what
Is desired to be aScertained-namely how
much power Is required to propel the model
through the water at given rate of speed.
What Is true of the model ought to be
true also of the Indiana. the form of the
hull of the latter being the same Paraf-
fine Is employed because it is perfectly
smooth and will afford no such resistance
as might impair the accuracy of the data
obtained by the experiments.
Tanks for Models.
In Great Britain the keel Of no new ship
of war is laid until trial has been made of
a miniature model. For this purpose is
used an immense tank 300 feet long, %
feet wide and 10 feet deep, filled with
water. Above the tank, and running its
entire length. is suspended platform. On
the platform is a track and along the track
a carriage runs. Beneath the carriage
floats the model which Is made wholly of
paraffine. OF course, paraffine is lighter
than water. The carriage tows the model
along, and the power used is registered
with absolute accuracy by a dynamome-
ter. Thus is learned with exactness the
speed at which the warship represented by
the model will steam with a given horse
power.
Great Britain in fact has several such
tanks. and similar ones are used for the
purpose by France. Germany and Italy.
Secretary Herbert will try to persuade the
next Congress to appropriate money for
building tank of the kind at Washington.
The cost Of it would be about $1lOOOO. 1t
would be cheap at the price, however, for
1t would afford means of testing all mod
els of proposed vessels in future before the
for their construction were given
out. Thus the Navy Department would
know exactly what might be expected of
every warship before its keeel was laid. In
a word. the tank experiments make it easy
to determine the best form of ship to at
tain certain speed.