The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-07

obtained patent on the invention, and
should 1t on trial prove to possess the
merit claimed for it. there can be no doubt
that its introduction will mark the open
ing of a new era in yachting.
The invention is designed to impart sta
bility and sail-carrying power to yacht
without the employment of the center
board or fin keel. The principle involved
| in the apparatus is simply the use of water
in suitable receptacle, acting on d lever
to resist the tendency of the craft when the
wind rises to either careen or run its bow
under water.
In center-board yachts lateral resist
ance to drifting is obtained from the
board, while stability is looked for in the
width of the craft. The fin-keel variety of
boat derives both stability and lateral
resistance from the fin with its leaden
appendix. The merits and dement's of
both these types have been discussed I'M
til nothing new can easily be SAID about
either.
The Rochester invention introduces a
new plan for accomplishing what it has
been sought to attain by the old ones. If
boat can be made by it to sail on even
keel under all conditions of wind and wa
ter IL will have little tendency to fall off its
course, thus removing the only reason for
if the stability impaired by the fin and its
! leaden bulb is secured without the bottom
scraping projection a superior boat should
/ be the result.
! In the new invention a tubular arm is
| provided to extend from the middle of the
deck out over the rail, being adjustable on
either side. The deck-end of the tube is
attached by joint to pump. from which
water can be sent through the tube to a
tank or sack on the outer end of the tube.
The tube is under control of guys, by which
| it can BIO hauled fore or aft and fixed at
any point. The tank is provided with a
vvale, by which the water can be let out.
| 1t is claimed that the tube, acting as a
lever, will, with few hundred pounds of
water in the tank, exert leverage on
whichever side of the vessel it may be ex-
| tended, equal to many tons of weight sus-
pended from the keel, for the tube-lever
may be as long as boom. AS the tank
does not touch the water in which the boat
is sailing, it offers no resistance to the
progress of the craft, very palpable ad-
vantage over the fn-keel which has to be
driven through the water at a depth vary
| ing with the draught OF the craft and OF
course retards its progress.
Yachtsmen who have seen the apparatus
say that, apart from the question of its
| utility, which has still to be proved, it
would not be allowed on a yacht in race
conducted under the rules now generally
prevailing, which prohibit shifting ballast.
The objection may be good, but as the rule
was made with reference to solid ballast
and when no such idea as this was known
to adopts in nautical affairs, it is thought
that if the continuance proves in practice
to be of value, paper rules will have given
way to its introduction.
The transverse sliding seat in use in
sailing canoes and the outrigger, with a
man or men for weight, employed by
the South Sea islanders. are on the same
principle as the Rochester invention,
which differs from them in employing
water for the desired windward weight
As the water can be either taken in or dis
charged in any quantity, and rapidly, its
use as proposed has manifest advantages
over either live weight or the bags of
sand which were used when shifting
ballast was allowed. One or two lively
tars, or a storage battery, would, it is
claimed, pump enough water in thirty Sec
onds to fill 500-pound pocket at the end
| of the righting lever and, overcoming'th
tendency to heel. bring the boat up on
her best sailing lines. The vast deposits
OF pig lead that are now slowed in the
holds of yachts to make them stiff could
be in large measure dispensed with, only
enough solid ballast being required to pre-
serve the boats equilibrium in stays
As the apparatus itself would be light
there could be one for each side, the idle
one, that on the lee side, being hauled in
when the lee became the windward side.