The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-12
A WARSHIP'S BOILERS.

William f. Curtis, in Chicago Record.
1 met Mr.. Edwin Camp in lunch
room today. Mr. Cramp gave me some
interesting information about the Mime
apolis, which is the highest type of naval
architecture and fastest man-of-war on
the ocean, having engines of IoOO hose
power and making a speed of twenty
three knots, which is about twenty-eight
miles an hour, or as fast as an ordinary
railway train will run. The estimated
weight of the Minneapolis complete is
1850 tons, or 6,464Oo0 pounds. II her
machinery could be applied to lifting her
bodily out of the water 1t would be found
that in the short space of thirteen min
utes she would be raised to height equal
to that of the Washington monument,
or a distance of 555 feet. II competitive
pull could be arranged between the Min
neapolis and number of large-size tug
boats-say, for example, boats llo feet
long-it would be found that the warship
could pull fifty such boats along and have
nealy 1000 horse power to spare. That
number of tugboats placed in single fle
with their ends touching would extend in
n straight line distance of over a mile.
A first class passenger locomotive capable
Of drawing a train of five cars along at
speed of sixty miles an hour Will develop
about 400 hourse power. The power of
the Minneapolis would therefore be equal
10 that of fifty such locomotives, or The
entire motive power of large railroad.
If it could be expended in drawing a sin
gle train we would have spectacle of
train consisting of $50 first class coaches,
extending a distance of over three miles.
Assuming that each car would comfort
ably seat sixty persons We would thus
have transportation for 1900 persons, or
the entire population of small city.
reader 2l.000 horse power means nothing
It is entirely in the abstract The unit
horse power was established years ago
as the result of series of experiments
made to determine The power of London
dray horses. TEis was found to be
power equal TO raising a weight of $4,000
pounds one foot hi6h in one minute, and
was adopted to express the power devel~
oped by steam engines. As IL matter of
fact there is scarcely one horse in 1000
equal to that task and $4,000 full pounds
"A minute would more nearly express the
power OF the average horse ot today
%
Generating the steam necessary 10 pro-
duce such high power requires eight
immense boilers. each Is feet Inches III
diameter and 90 feet long Were these
boilers piled on top OF one another they
would form a steel column 1GO feet in
height, or II laid fiat on the ground they
would form a tunnel Of that length
through which train of cars could pass.
Each boiler complete weighs about eighty
tons. making total weight of boilers
alono for this ship OF SO tons. There are
eight furnaces in each boiler, making q
total Of sixty-four furnaces for tho lot
When going at full power each one OF
these furnaces contains nearly half ton
CT whltc-hot Goals. The total CRATE sur
face Is stated 10 be 100 square feet,
which means that there is an area of fire
equal TO one grate 100 feet long and IS
feet wide. The total heating surface
that is. the surface OF the boilers which
comes In contact with the 1iames-ls
nearly $4,000 square feet. or about one and
one-eighth acres. To feed all these fur
naces when the ship is being driven at
full speed requires at least ten tons of coal
an hour, or 2i0 tons a day, an amount
sufficient to heat block of the average
size city houses for a whole year To
keep the fires going full blast requires
the services OF thirty men on each watch
or period OF four hours, when they ere re-
lieved by another set of men, so that for
continuous running AZ least sixty fire.
men are necessary.