The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-08-15
A. LARGE THREE Day VESSEL
Mr.. Painter lnVents One to 60 to
Europe in That Time,
A Working Model Exhibited in New
York. To be 636 Feet in Length.
The PropeIlers are at the Bow,
Stern and Bet, Sides of
the Huge Vessel.

The model Of steamship designed to
make SS nautical miles an hour and to
cross the ocean in three days was exhib-
tied in the Maritime Exchange in New
York recently by MIR. Richard Painton,
the inventor of the system of propulsion
1t is thus described III his own words:
This is y working model made hv
Stedham q Marccron, model makers for
the United States navy. My object i'll
exhibiting here Is to furm q stock com
pai,y with paid in capital of So, 0Oo.-
600. Tho model represents vessel G3G
feet long, capable of carrying 2, 500 pas
sengers, 400 officers and nilors, 5000
tons of coal, 1000 tons Of freight, 400
tons of food for the passengers and 500
tons of food for the crew.
81 gave the model successful trial
before the board of naval constructors
and engineers NJ Philadelphia. and |
have the assurance of Chief Engineer
Melville of the navy that my system OF
distributing power and my patent pro-
pellers Will revolutioniZe the cunstruc-
tion of oceau going vessels I will ex-
hibit the model before the house OF rep
resentatives and the senate when con
gress ccnyenes i'll December, and will
endoavor 10 have an appropriation bill
passed to build cruiser that will he
superior to anything that the naval pow
ers of the world can show. The distri-
button of power is the whole secret We
have n series of from Is to 20 propcl-
lers, four ut the stern, four at the bow
and from four to eight on each side of
the vessel. They arc all worked by in
dependent motors. and vessel could be
propelled tE any one of them Again
the distribution OF power permits vos-
sci to turn on its own axis The engines
are worked like ordinary stationary on
gines ashore.
The shafts that work the propellers
arc from - to 30 feet in length and
weigh from 5 to 10 tons each. AT
present the shafts OF an ocean steamship
are 60 feet long and weigh about GO
tons. the four propelers on the bows
have twofeld duty IN the first place,
they help to propel the ship either for
ward, backward or sideways and in
the second place they keep the bow
steady i'll rough weather and save the
strain on the stern propcllers. Tie mo-
tors are not connected with each other.
They have Il capacity of IS horse
power, and can work the propcllers ut
an average speed of 800 revolutions
minute. Under the system the ship
would average 3S knots an hour.
T" A vessel propelled by such system
would save fully 60 per cent in coal.
Should some of the propellcrS become
disabled the passengers would not be
subjected 70 any worry or discomfort,
As was the case on La Gascognc last
winter. ! estimate the cost of passcn-
ger steamer mt about 81 10000 This
would cover the cost of every modern
convenience
Engineer Melville is interested in
my pronellers. II the Cushing had not
sailed l would have improved on her
propellers and increased her speed 3
Knots an hour. The secret of the alter
mating propeller is this: The blades are
constructed like fish tail. When the
blades strike the water they present IA
great surface of resistance, and while
recovering they present surface akin
to the edge of 4 knife, and by having
two propcllers i'll succession the other
takes mp the work that the first one can
not accomplish. No power is lost, ana
no wash results from the whole series
of propellcrs
The whole system Of propellors is
worked by a switchboardw which is opcr
ated i'll the charthouse. Any propeller
can be run or stopped at will, and in
this way the captain is independent of
his officers or crew. New York jour
nal
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