Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1897-01-13
A GOOD BACKING FOR ARMoH.
ceIlulose Raises Our Cruisers Above
Their Class as Batt1eships.

NlaSS a.
The Society Of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers held its fourth gen
eral meeting at New York. There was
a good representation of the member
ship of more than 500 present, and APP
plications from forty persons who de-
sire to become members were received.
Henry w. Cramps paper on Ameri-
can corn-pith cellulose, aside from the
technical Information, with which the
architects and engineers were chiefly
concerned, had the popular interest
that attaches to any additional method
for the protection of human life at sea.
He explained the origin and the man.
ufacture of the new product, as well
as the invention of its application to
warships, and rected the rapid adj
vancement made by Americans in the
last year over the French discoveries
of the material and its uses. and show
ed how the American product is bound
to supersede the foreign.
American corn-pith cellulose Is an
entirely new product" he said, manu-
featured from the pith of the cornstalk,
or Indian maize, into a granular form,
and packed under pressure into the cof-
ferdams of a vessel, where 1t acts as
perfect water excluder and is non-com-
bustible." When a shot pierces the YES
sells side at or near the water line
where the cellulose belt is laid the eel
lulose expands as 1t is wet by the in
flowing water and completely chokes
the hole. Our Navy Department was
quick to take up the device.
''Thus in the Columbia, the New York
and the Olympia" Mr.. Cramp said,
there are protective decks of ample
strength to keep out the shells of any
vessel they are likely to engage, while
their stability is protected by belts of
cellulose several feet thick along the
edges of these decks. The English ar
mored cruiser Blake, for example, has
no such protection to her stability, and
would not have the same chances as
the above-named vessels of our navy
in a sustained engagement. For pro-
lection in the comprehensive sense, the
cellulose belt of three feet may be said
to be about as efficient as a six-inch
belt of steel, so that we can protect our
stability, when we have good protec-
tive deck back Of it to defend the vitals
of the ship, with 100 tons of cellulose to
an extent equivalent to that derived
from, say, 1000 tons Of armor."
Philadelphia manufactured the first
cellulose used In the American navy,
making it out of the husks of cocoanut,
and furnished an article superior to the
French, but during the last year the de-
partment directed its attention to the
corn-pith product, which has been
found to possess superior qualities. The
department tested the two products by
building and firing into two steel cof-
ferdams filled respectively, one with
S321@ pounds Of cocoa cellulose, CORE
spending to density of II pounds to
the cubic foot, and one with 702 pounds
of corn-pith cellulose, corresponding to
a density of 6.5 pounds to the cubic
foot. The first drop of water appeared
at the far end of the shot hole through
the cocoa dam in ten minutes, and pref
ty soon the water flowed through at the
rate of half gallon a minute. Through
the hole in the other dam no water had
come at the end of half an hour, nor
was the cellulose at the mouth of the
hole in the rear damp. The tests led to
l,o in hn op1e 70 M
Kentucky and the Kearsarge, and Nos.
7, 8 and 8, that their cofferdams be
packed with corn-pith cellulose. 1t Is
about 500 ton cheaper than the cocoa
cellulose, and that fact, with the differ
ence in density, makes it cost about
two-thirds the amount per cubic foot
packed.
Mr.. Cramp said: "Our cruisers of the
Baltimore type, If they are provided
with cellulose belt, would be war
ranted in engaging many of the second
class ironclads of other powers; with
out it they are liable to be sunk by n
well-directed machine gun fire. This
product of American farms affords n
NhtuP lSaNiy VI vastly III
creased efficiency of our cruisers, and
the unarmored sides of all our vessels
should have these belts without delay
This discovery and application of cellu-
lose is of as vital Importance to our
navy as the development of the Harvey
lied armor and smokeless powder. This
follows from the fact that, without add
ing very much to the cost of our YES
sells, we can greatly increase the eff
cheney of them all by making their sides
automatically resist the inflow of wat
er; and as our cruisers carry heavier
batteries than similar vessels of other
nations, they would, when SO protected,
be able to give battle to ships far heav-
Ter than themselves"
Druggists Up to Date.
DrupOiats keen nhOut nc cloca yyatoI,