The Red Cloud chief., 1901-10-25

Baltimore correspondence, Chicago
journal: Down at Sparrows Point,
completed all but a few finishing
touches. lies the great steel floating
dry dock built by the Maryland Steel
company for the United States govern
ment. and which Is to be lowed to Al
giers, La, as voc a. the West India
hurricane season has passed. That
viii be about Oct. 1, and several pow
erful ocean-going tugs will convey the
immense dock to its destination. Il
ID certain that this immense piece OF
marine mechanism for lifting great
vessels out OF the water In order to
clean or repair them IL without a SUI
perior in its line, and It is doubtful
whether II has an equal. IL can raise
a Ii, 000-ton battleshlp and have the
6oor OF the deck two feet above the "a
ter, which IL, demanded by the govern
ment for its work. but with the floor
even with tho water line IL can lift an
8.000-ton ship. The dock Is 525 feet
in length over all, while It's breadth is
exactly 1876 feet . 7-1S inches. The
width between the sides Is 100 feet.
The entire height Of the sides. from
their bottoms. which are submerged, to
the tops. IL ffty-fve feet. The depth
Of the pontoons. or what the inexperi-
enced might cali the hulls OF the docks,
Is seventeen feet six inches. The
greatest draught OF the dock il forty
nine. feet six inches. There are three
pontoons. which form its floor and also
with the sides. give II buoyancy. The
middle p0ntoon Is the largest. being
242 feet long. and the end pont0ons are
each al feet "a inch In length. The
walls are 3s5 feet ~ inch long and are
nine feet in width at the top and thir-
teen feet At the bottom. The pOnt0ons
and sides are divided into forty water
tight compartments. which enable the
dock to be completely under the con
troll Of the dock master. who can make
It any position required to
dock a vessel. 1t has 2S1 Keel blocks.
upon which the vessel rests In the
dock. and they are movable, so that
they can be readily adjusted. The
weight of the steel in the dock Is $685.
tons. ana the weight of the dock equip
ment Is f.008 tons. making q total
weight Of $685. tons. The cost of the
dock complete is $50, zoo. The stabil-
ity of the structure, according to the
| engineers figures. Is something re-
markable. Carrying a IL. 00O-ton battle
ship two feet above the water. II will
cause her stability to he fifteen or
twenty times as great as that of a ship
! in the water. The numerous compart-
ments add to the steadiness OF the
dock, for, IL they were few In number,
| the water in them when the dock was
submerged or partly SO. would splash
about and cause considerable motion
to the structure. When 1t IL necessary
to dock q vessel water Is admitted to
the compartments through sixteen
valves, each sixteen inches In diam
eter, ana it requires about an hour to
sink the dock SO that craft can enter
il. After the dock is sufficiently deep
In the water the vessel enters, and,
having been accurately adjusted the
water Is pumped out OF the compart-
ments by means Of eight pumps. which
are driven by -four engines that have
four boilers OF the water-tube type and
Of 135 horsepower each to supply
them with steam. The pumping APP
paratns Is so arranged that either en-
ginc can steam from either boiler. and
in case there Is q breakdown on one
side of, the dock the pair OF pumps On
The other side could do all the pump
ing. 1t takes about three hours a =
half to raise the dock. The pumps
also operate 4 line Of hose, which IL
employed to wash the slime from the
hulis Of vessels that are docked. This
Is quite a task. for the amount Of foul
ing which Is washed from the sides oi
a large ship Is considerable, and after
It has been cleaned the stun has also
to he washed from the floor of the
dock, otherwise the men could not
wnrE about the craft.