The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-10-12
go churning up and down like bewitched

They have precisely the same parts, work
in precisely the same way, and perform
the same functions that the engines of
tramp steamer do. 1t is in their size and
their power that their superiority exists
The secrets they contain are in thei
weight, the way they are put together,
their ability to use more steam than any
others that have been in use hitherto.
The boilers of this ship have capacity Of
sustaining pressure of 90 POUNDS to the
square inch. Up to the advent Of this
ship the highest boiler pressure on large
passenger vessels had been 10 pounds to
the square inch, and it is along the line
of increased boiler pressure that. the great
advance in economy in ocean going YES
sells has been making higher speeds posi-
BILE. To see one of the engines Of the
ship at it's best the spectator must stand
at one end Of the engine room and look
down between the massive uprights that
bend together and three or four stories
above form an acute angle. The four
piston rods go pounding up and down,
one after the other, in rhythm OF motion
that seems marvellous. the crank shafts
and eccentrios spin about as If some giant
out of sight were whirling them, and an
idea Of symmetry and harmony takes the
place of that of great confusion as the
steady throb Of the entire mahirery is
felt, and the continuous push of the
screws against tho thrust shaft, propell-
ing the ship along. is almost seen. One
almost forgets the heat as he watches this
| union of work. A blast of cool air tells
him that the heat is tempered by fans
that draw fresh air in gusts to the engine
room, and that, although the thermome-
ter runs up along the nineties, it is not
q disagreeable place in which to work.
| There is reassuring elaboration about
| the men at work in the engine room. The
| ship may be Kissing through the waves,
| and every part Of the machinery may be
under the closest inspection, but there
| is no evidence that anything unusual is
going on. The oilers pass through the
whirling machinery, and the engineer in
charge moves here and there, possibly
| keeping his eye on some special part of
| the machinery. There is no confusion,
no haste
There are numerous little devices that
| interest the novice as he looks about.
Here is dial that records every turn Of
| the screws since the ship left her pier. In
midocean it has counted up somewhere
in the four hundred thousands, and, al
most as fast as the eye can observe sthem,
| ,1,orc fac ir,tn nix Tho
hundreds, and thousands figures change
almost simultaneously if one will watch
for them at the right time, and every day
there is change along the entire face of
the indicator. A long row of steam
gauges may be seen on the partition that
divides the two engine rooms, as we'll as
numerous tubes, each of which tells a
story of Importance to the engineer at a
glance. The men in the rooms busy them
selves about this Or that little thing,
chiefly in keeping the place and the
machinery clean, and in watching the
critical parts Of the complex machinery.
The chief engineer taps the visitor on
the shoulder and leads the way to the
long shaft alley. Instantly the heat dis
appears. Here is long room. through
tho center of which beautifully polished
shaft of steel, held in place by monster
braces, is turning and cleaning as the
electric lights glow along its turning sur
face Little pieces of yarn from oil cups
trickle just the right amount OF oil along
its entire surface, and at enc end of the
room is a little strap which revolves with
the shaft and works recording machine
that registers on an indicator on the
bridge, and tells the Captain exactly
what the engines are doing. A subordi-
nate is on duty in this room watching the
workings, and he is as deliberate as if
the ship were coming up the bay at slow
speed 1t is cool place in which to re-
main, and inasmuch as the entire effects
of the machinery is felt here the visitor
is inclined to linger after the guide has
indicated his purpose to go to another
place.
The next room visited is the refrigerat.
ing room, directly above the shaft alley
on the starboard side. It is an apartment
probably twenty feet long by ten wide.
There is an electric motor at work in the
center of the room, and lifting their
heads out of a dozen or more steel cases
on the rear walls are tall Thermometers.
They tell story of the workings of the
cold storage machinery, and the man in
charge knows at glance exactly what
each part of the mechanism is doing. Al
the pipes in the place are covered with
packing, and at the joints one can pick
away the ice that forms there. It is only
a step from the hot main engine rooms,
and it is like step from winter into
summer. No ice is made directly by this
machinery, but the temperature of the
refrigrating or cold storage rooms is kept
at uniform figure, and it affords fine
illustration of the development of ocean
going travel.
At the other end o. the engine space
is the dynamo room. Here are four large
dynamos, with their gauges and wires
and occasional flashes of blue light. On
the wall is an elaborate switchboard
and telllate devices to show when any
ono of tha dynamt,s ia ont Of order The