The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1898-03-29

| hHOJuel IVHdThdDle ledluGe OI lne
new ship will be a fuel oil tank four
feet deep next the bottom, extending
from one end of the ship to the other.
1t is intended to operate the ship with
fuel oil if possible, but if this proves
impracticabe there are the coal bunk
ers which will hold an ample supply Of
fuel. The experiment with fuel oil
will be watched with great interest by
men interested in transportation. 1t
was used some time ago on a tank
steamer, but unsuccessfully. The navy
department has been testing it also and
with some success.
A bulkhead running through the ship
longitudinally will divide the tank
space in half. In each side of this bulk
head there will be water tight parti-
tions, three forward and three aft,
which will make the number of tank
depth with the shape of the vessel, the
smallest being twenty-three feet inch
es deep. The largest tank will hold
14!,G00 gallons of oil-almost as much
as the largest Oil tank barge now in
service.
In the handling of oil there is great
danger from volatilization. An expe-
rience which a workman at the Roach
shipyard had with the steamer Stand
ard. when it was being transformed in
to a barge illustrated this. A tank
had been allowed to stand empty for
n Har pf dave onI ho1
pumped full of water to drive out all
the, gases. a very little naphtha had
stuck in the main when the tanks were
emptied. 1t was pumped with the wa
ter into the tank, where it clung to the
skin. When the first workman de-
scended into the tank with lamp the
gas from the naphtha exploded, tearing
of, part Of the deck and fnjuring the
man seriously.
To provide against pitching and
shifting of the oil expansion tanks will
be built on deck. These tanks will be
"a feet inches deep. They will con-
meet with the tanks below through
small openings, and as the oil in the
big tanks expand the surplus will be
forced upwards into the decks tanks.
Thus the lower tanks will be full at all
times, and the pitching and tossing of
1.-The oil will he confined to the shallow
tanks above.
Each. of the deck tanks will be pro-
vided with large vent hatch, through
which the gases from the oil can es-
cape. In calm weather these matches
will be raised.
The tanks on the>oil ship will be fill
ed through large mains laid on the
deck and below it. There will be four
openings in the chief main-one for
ward, one aft and two amidshlps. The
ship being moored at the oil compa-
ny's dock, the dock tank will be con-
'nected with the main by the flexible
pipe, and engines on the dock will
pump the oil into the main. Valves
opening from the main into the tanks
> will be controlled from the deck, and
h. the oil will be turned into one tank
after another until the ship is loaded
Ii There will be pumping engines on the
ship to empty the tanks.
II All Oll IaAh StSdiIcI must uc Dulll
with the greatest care, On other ships
! of iron the riyets which pierce the hull
=, can be left to rust tight. In an oil shlI
, every outer 'livet must be calked, OF
the oil, which Is very penetrating, will
leak. The walls Of the compartments
too, must be made tight, or a little
crude oil, leaking into a tank of naph.
tina, might spoil it. All this care ir
the construction of the ship is what
makes it so costly for its size.