The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-06-11
ELECTRICITY AT SEA.
OUR GREAT STEAMSHIPS GUIDED BY
A FINGERS TOUCH.


All Signals Verify ThcmseIvcs-The Plant
on the St. Paul
The real mysteries and the most in
terestlng parts of great ocean steam
ship of the present day arc to be found
in two parts Of the ship which visitors
are seldom able to get at
Here is the nerve center of the
ship. said tho officer Us he stepped up
on the bridge, land hero day and night
stands an officer on watch, during every
minute that she is under way, posted
on the weather side and able with q
touch and glance to guide her, to
move her backward or forward, and to
know without asking whether each of
his orders is being obeyed promptly by
the men and mechanism toiling down
in the hold
Here" he continued, moving to
near the center Of the bridge, "is the
electric arrangement by which we
transmit our orders to the engine room. !"
Tho device upon which he laid his hand
was OF brass and was shaped like q
drum, supported on it's side on a brass
standard. In place of tho drumheads
were plates Of glass, and behind these
were lettered dials, on which were
marked the orders of tho engineer. Han
dies came up through slots in tho top Of
the drum, and these moved, indicating
points around the face of the dials.
"Ono Of these dials carries orders for
the movements of tho port engine, said
the officer. land one for the starboard
engine. Move the handles forward of
the center and the orders are for going
ahead; move them the other way and
they relate to the movements of tho en-
gines when reversed"
But suppose the wires are broken or
the electric current does not work-what
then?" the reporter asked.
"Iou see the second set of indicators
on tho dials?' he replied. when the
engineer gets an order. he sets similar
dial in tho engine room to the mark in
dictated, and that second indicator in
our dial goes around and stops at the
signal. Thus we know ut a glance that
he has not only got tho order, but that
he has got it correctly.
I'VE have, however another indicator
here, and he touched button which
lighted up Il translucent dial Just under
the coping of the bridge bulwark,
(which tells us at every moment lust
what the engines are doing"
This dial was perhaps foot long and
narrow, with Indicator point resting at
the time at zero mark mt it's center.
On either side wero graduated scales
with numbers. 1.-THE numbers, the Of
ficer said, represent the revolutions
per minute which tho screw is making.
and when the point goes over one way
the screw is working ahead, and when
1T goes over the other way it is going
aback. There is the other indicator for
the other screw. All tho signal appa-
ratus is in duplicate also"
Turning then, he pointed to ON cleo
trio button in the front of the pilot
house. THAT blows the whistle" he
said
Then he pointed aft to where the
whistle stands i'll front of the forward
funnel and indicated two electro mag
nets, which. when the current goes
through their wires, draw open the
whistle valve and let tho steam into its
hoarse throat.
Within the pilot house he then
showed another electric contriyance
which, i'll connection with clock move
ment, sounds the whistle automatically
fOr ten seconds i'll every minute during
fogs
Beside that was set of nine electric
switches. "These," he said, "are for
the ships lights These are for the mast
head lights, and the others for the port
nn6 ctorhOur1 hO1x- 1ir,kto
three separate sets Of wires to each light
and two lamps i'll each If lamp goes
out, this little bell rings and another
lamp Is switched into circuit at once"
Except for the carefully shaded cleo
trio lights in the pilothouse, this was
all of that sort Of apparatus there, but
the steering wheel and its manner Of
operation wero as interesting in another
way
Here, with hardly an effort, one man
can control the great rudder Of the ship
with the certainty and case with which
he might that Of the smallest sailboat.
1t Is q simple thing. The wheel merely
operates pump, which in turn injects O
column Of glyceriu through small brass
pipes to o cylinder aft, where the rnd-
der head comes up and the plunger in
this cylinder opens and closes a steam
valve
Just back of the officers quarters
stands ayentilator, which connects with
those quarters Others, like it, but big
ger, along the ships upper deck connect
with and supply air to all parts Of tho
ship except the boiler rooms. These
have their own plain shafts In each Of
the ventilating shafts is an electric mo-
tor driving fan. Instead of trusting