Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-04-03
OH TANK STEAMER.

Another remarkable feature OF the
new ship will be n 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 II possible, but II this proves5.
impracticable' there are the coal baIsFs;-Tii
ers which will hold an ample s,th.ly5{Sf
fuel The experiment with .,4 .3.S
will be watched with great intel
men interested in transportation. II
was used some time ago on n tank;
steamer, hut unsuccessfully. TIE n.vys
department has been testing 1t ais III
with some success.
bulkhead running through the :.3e
longitudinally will divide the ,as
space In half. In each side Of this
head there will be water tipa
tons, three forward and til
which will make the numbei {
divisions twelve. These will B
depth with the shape Of the vessel, Ia
smallest being twenty three feet 6 incu-a
es deep. The largest tank will hold
$4,000 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 workman at the Roach
shipyard had with the steamer Stand
ard when 1t was being transformed In
to barge illustrated this. A tank
had been allowed to stand empty for
number of days and then had bean
pumped full OF water to drive out all
the gases. A very little naphtha had
stuck in the main when the tanks were
emptied. It was pumped with the wa
ter into the tank. where it chung to the
skin. When the first workman de-
scended into the tank with a lamp the
gas from the naphtha exploded, tearing
off part OF the deck and lnjuring 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 cor
| 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 tankR.
Thus the lower tanks will be full at all
times, and the pitching .nd tossing of
he oil will be confined to the shallow
| anks above.
Each OF the deck tanks will he 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 amidships. The
ship being moored at the oil compa-
ny's dock, the dock tank will bo 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
the oil will be turned into one tank
after another until the ship Is loaded.
There will be pumping engines on the
ship to empty the tanks.
An oil tank steamer must be built
with the greatest care. On other ships
OF iron the rivets which pierce the hull
can be left to rust tight In an oil ship
every outer riyet must be calked. or
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 tank of naph-
tina. might spoil it. All this care in
the construction Of the ship is what
makes 1t SO costly for It's size.
| A Severed Iearf
| 4 stab wound OF the heart 9has just
| baen sawed an by DR. 6Raot. ii ~ Essa }, ~