The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-07

the entire product OF the state OF Penn.
sylVania would be annually absorbed for
mat purpose alone. The fuel 10 be used in
the Holland submergible torpedo boat. au-
thorized last year TO be built for the
american navy. is petroleum. and her
charge Is TO be sufficient for A run OF
l'aV miles. Remote from any source OF
petroleum supply the torpedo boat would.
undoubtedly, like any other petroleum
user De helpless. But so Is a coal burner
out OF coal and this will be the great
trouble with yachts and war ships alike
uhtI the means Of drawing electricity from
water or developing IL from the air shall
nave been devised. An interesting gain in
this direction was made when the United
states naval department toward the close
OF 1854 ordered that electricity instead OF
steam be thenceforward used 10 turn
the turrets in our war vessels. The use
OF an electrical plant 20 light war ships
mas long been familiar. Electric motors
are now used In our naval service to
move ventllating fans. rapid. fire guns. am
munition hoists and the valves OF the
steering engines. The advance to the pro>
peller ought to be only question OF time
IL Is understood that the Russian gov
eminent and the Standard Oil Company
nave both been making series OF exper.
ments in the use OF petroleum as a fuel
Tor steam vessels. The great dlficulty
seems to be getting the oil into the furn-
aces and scciring complete and even COM
bustlcn. question TO be solved for an
IDEAL yet practicable yacht would be.
How much coal or petroleum could she
carry in her water bottom?
The yacht Of the future may r-o by cleo
tricity. and be heated and lighted and
otherwise served by the same force. She
may not be able to rise from the surface
or the ocean TO skim along among the
clouds, or TO sink from the surface TO
traverse the depths. but she must be able
TO move speedily at will, upon that surface
without carrying cumbrous engines and
boilers in her vitals, without transporting
enormous stores Of bulky fuel. be that fuel
coal, petroleum or compressed cubes Of
some new material Her propeller might
be driven by electricity, not generated from
the friction OF her own passage through
waves, but certainly obtainable independ-
ent Of any power station. That is guess
work.
To solve this problem to-day. we must
remember that the ideal yacht OF our
time is a living boat. not a racing ma
chine nor man-of-war. Any change In
one direction means a change in several
corresponding dimensions. Her dimen-
sions cannot be increased without adding
to her machinery. Her boilers, we will
say, should he tubular, Of the HodglSins
pattern, or Belknap boilers, fed automat-
ically and 70 per cent. lighter IN weight
than the ordinary commercial tubulous
boilers. Her engines might be quadriple
expansion OF peculiar type, and built
right In her hull. Her propellers OF man
ganese bronze, from tho Cramps foun-
dry. Her armament briggs Schroeder guns,
from the same source And her material
let us pause moment over this question
Of material.
Aluminium has been the great fake
metal Of the world for several years SO
has nickel. If a rich man wanted TO adj
vertise himself, he could build a yacht OF
aluminium, and, for the matter Of that.
he could build a yacht Of gold. But
neither of these would be an ideal yacht
from practical mans point of view The
practical man Will build OF open hearth
steel plates, every time. although iron,
were IT as easily handled as steel, would
serve almost as we'll He would use the
kind Of steel whose tensile strength would
equal 10000 pounds 10 the square inch. OF
made, say. al Homestead or at Harris
burg, or by the Carbon iron works OF
course, steel is heavy. and yacht builders
are trying to save weight In every drec-
ton, but we have as yet nothing to take
the place Of steel. Glass, even II we could
rediscover the secret OF making Il MALE.
able, would lack tensile strength; its plates
could not be fastened together water tight
Papiermache may do for car wheels, but
IL would melt in water. Wood has had IT'S
day; we are even trying to do without
joiner work much as possible In
yachts Durand g. Gle having invented o
papier-mache substitute and linoleum laid
over iron being suggested as a substitute
for wooden decks.
No plate riveted on the ideal yacht
should be less than three feet wide and
twelve feet long, and they are better
when bigger up to a limit say, OF thirty
feet in length and FIVE in breadth. II
she's 70 be $50 feet In length. and Of steel
the weight of her materials would not be
less than 100000 pounds. II aluminium
plates could be rolled of sufficient size, a
saving of two-thirds Of that weight might
be made. But what evidence is there, as
yet, that an aluminium plate of proper size
and tensile strength ever has been or can
be rolled? 1t seems to me this is one OF
the most pretentious metals In existence
where is the performance? Best stick tc
steel, say l, at least for a decade.
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