Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1900-09-06
0esign for serpentine ship.


Charles II. Sawyer and Andrew An
derson, both of this city, says the Min
neapolis Times, have secured letters
patent for a serpentine boat, which it
is claimed will rush through the water
at speed Of eighty miles an hour.
Mr.. Sawyer is machinist by occupa-
tion and has resided in Minneapolis
for seventeen years. James Gresham
of Brooklyn, is preparing to build the
first OF these boats for the syndicate
headed by w. ]. Arkell.
1t is expected that this type of boat
will cross the ocean in less than three
days, driving itself like a screw
through the water, at a rate of sixty
miles an hour. and it is the intention
of the syndicate to try to procure the
contract for carrying the transatlantic
mails. Mr.. Gresham believes his boat
which is to be built at Newport News,
will be ready for her trial spin in
about six months.
The boat will probably be the
strangest looking craft that ever sail
ed the seas. 1t will look more like a
sea serpent than anything else, with a
body like an elongated Rugby football
and prov like the ends of an ancient
galley. Around the body will be the
big spiral flange, which Is to give 1t
It's forward motion, as the outer shell
of the ship revolves rapidly.
The boat will consist Of two sec
tions, enc within the other. The in
will "a chs al,
round in the middle, and tapering to
a point at each end. A round tube
will extend from 1t fore and aft, turn
ing upward and outward like a swans
neck. 1t will terminate in an open
mouth, which will be the ventilator of
the ship. Around the deck will be a
gallery. This will be the deck of the
ship, the only open place in the whole
vessel. The after gallery will be used
for the wheelhouse and the forward
balcony-for the bridge.
This inner hull will be swung like
a hammock in the outer shell, which
completely envelopes it, letting only
the bow and stern protrude. 1t rests
on ball bearings, which reduces the
friction to almost nothing.
All the machinery is slowed in the
bottom of the inner hull. so as to
balance it and keep it stationary.
Penetrating the lower section of the
hull is a revolving shaft, which is
geared to the outer hull BY revolving
this shaft the outer shell is spun
around the inner hull.
'fTharp lie tha Ia y,
screg," said Mr.. Sawyer to a reporter
for the Times. "Archimedes said that
if he had room for a fulcrum he could
lift the earth. Well. in this case we
make the water our fulcrum. The
hull of the boat, operated from with
In revolves, and the flange drives the
vessel forward. | should say that the
speed of such a boat is limited only
by the strength of the material used
In its construction.
"The first boat to be built will be
fifty feet long, eleven feet In diameter
In the middle, will weigh about eleven
and a half tons, and have displace-
ment OF less than four tons. 1t will be
built OF fine steel, and the flange will
be eleven inches wide at its widest
part.
Three revolutions would drive the
boat its own length. We would prob
ably run her at 100 revolutions a
minute, although / believe we could
make AGO turns. But at 100 she would
be making a speed of sixty miles an
hour, and would cross the Atlantic in
less than three days"