The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-09

lnARslAelE SPEED CLAIMS FOR A
NEW ELECTRIC VESSEL.
neaGnea - Have Fourteen Propellers.
m Forward 20 Pull the vessel and
1ght An 20 Push Her Through the
Wsssr-To He Built at Providence.


Wsesr-ro He Built at Providence.
~ model Of an electric vessel fc
which really marvellous speed
promised by the inventor has been cor
styucted at Providence II Is q distin1
novelty in very many respects, and,
- successful as its promoters confiden,
ly expect, will scarcely fail to pla
some havoc with modern shipbuildin
methods. It's promoters are planning {
build vessel 900 feet long. which j
TO have ID propellers. @ placed forward
to draw it through the water, and
astcrn, as pushers, the arrangement, o
course, being on each side.
A speed of 40 knots an hour is conf
IDENTIFY expected. The boat is designed
Tor passenger traffic in Narraganset
bay ostensibly. but its real purpose is &
practical demonstration Of system
which the projectors hope to see applied
20 naval vessels in the near future.
The president of the company that
will build this boat is Richard b. Pain
con, a naturalized Englishman. Though
his company is located at Providence,
he lives at Williamsport, Pa.
"I have perfected vessel with near
ly double the speed of vessels propelled
by steam.'' said Mr.. Painton. can
ocean liner of this pattern can cross the
Atlantic in three days; a cruiser sim
ilarly equipped will have a speed of 35
knots an hour. Steam propulsion can
only drive these great armored mon
sters 10 to 2l knots an hour under the
most favorable conditions, and the ex-
trcme limit Of marine achievement by
old methods seems to have been reached.
Added speed must be attained by the
use Of electricity.
''rhat object has been accomplished,
and I am Offering the government an
opportunity to profit by my invention.
am an Englishman by birth, but am
q naturalized American citizen and
feel it my duty to give my adopted
country the first benefit of my invention
II the American congress does not see
6t to take advantage Of the opportunity
that is presented, will then feel free
to look for market among the great
powers Of Europe, as did Hotchkiss,
Maxim, Gatling and other inventors
who were turned away from America
and forced to seek a market elsewhere
for inventions which were afterward
adopted in this country upon the pay
ment Of vastly larger sums than were
originally asked.
lone great source of complaint with
the navy department has been the in
sufficiency of room in war vessels for
the accommodation of men, armament,
coal and provisions. The machinery
necessary TO propel these great ocean
of space that there is practically no
room for anything else. The terrific
heat from the furnaces and steam pipes.
the maddening Kissing of the steam and
the incessant vibration and shocks re-
sulting from the wrenching. Of the
heavy shafts and the straining of the 1
mechanism make life almost unendura-
BILE and convert the vessels into verita-
BILE hella They are torture prisons from
which there is no escape.
"The new electric motors will have
greatly enlarged power over steam. In
stead Of the enormous 80 ton shafts, ex-
tending from the middle of the ship to
che stern, the electrical plant will have
from IA to l6 screw propellers, ranging
along the sides of the vessel, as well as
two Of ingenious construction at the
stern. These propellers are operated
from o switchboard. They can be oper.
ated singly or all together, mt the will of
the man at the keys. Each propeller is
q machine by itself, and the disabling
of one or more has no effect whatever
on the others.
when the entire complement Of pro-
pellers is in action, there il no more
noise than wouid come from the action
of q fywheel. There is no jar caused by
the horizontal motion. no excessive
heat from steam piping; the long shafts
are done away with, and the terrific
straining Of the engines and shafts
when alternately submerged and raised
aloft by the pitching Of the vessel in
heavy seas il avoided.
Tho engines that generate the power
are not mechanically connected with
the propellers. AZ 10 now the case in
steam vessels, but tho power is trans
mitted by electric wires direct to motors
built ON propeller shafts. The machinery
10 simplicity itself. No betting or oou-
pling is required. The propellers allwor
direct, and, as before noted. they can be
operated singly or together. II some
break down, those that are left can do
the work. 1t would not be possible for
all to be disabled as is now 40 often the
case with vessels equipped by steam,
leaving them fioundering for days at the
mercy Of the elements. t
From l86 TO 156 revolutions Of the
screw minute In about the limit Of
steam power. There is practically NO
limit to the speed Of . screw operated
BY electricity. Eighteen hundred revo-
buttons a minute and higher have been
reached by these motors in practice.
Six hundred and fifty 10 800 revolutions
. minute can be safely depended upon.
''Iu n largo oYujear oR asv 90 O00