The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-10-28
BIG FLOATING DOCK
BUILT At BALTIMORE TO BE
TowED SOUTH.
Immense steel Dry Dock for Use At
AiFiers. La.-Its Use L. to Lift Great
Vessels out Of the water

Baltimore correspondence. Chicago
Journal: Down at Sparrows Point
completed an but 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 towed to Al
giers. La. as soon as the West India
hurricane season has passed. That
will be about Oct 4. and several pow
erful going tugs will convey the
immense dock 70 Its destination. It
Is certain that this immense piece Of
marine mechanism for lifting great
vessels out Of the water IN order to
clean or repair them is without a SUI
perior In its line. and Il Is doubtful
whether It has an equal 1t can raise
a l5l000-ton hattleshlp and have the
fioorof the deck two feet above the wa
ter, which Is demanded by the govern
ment for It's work. but with the floor
even with tho water line It can lift an
le.000-ton ship The dock is 525 feet
IN length over all. while lbs breadth Is
exactly i26 feet 7-16 inches The
width between the sides IS 100 feet
The entire height Of the sides. from
their bottoms, which are submerged. 10
the tops, Is dfty-hYe feet The depth
Of the pontoons. or what the inexperi-
enced might call the hulls Of the docks.
is seventeen feet six inches. The
greatest draught Of the dock Is forty
nine feet six inches There are three
pontoons. which form IT'S floor and also
with the sides. give Il suoyancy. The
middle p0nto0n Is the largest. being
zl2 feet long. and the end pontoons are
each lfl feet * inch in length The
walls are Ss5 feet s inch long and are
nine feet IN width at the toy and thlr-
teen feet at the bottom. The pontoons
and sides are divided into forty water
tight compartments, which enable the
dock 70 be completely under tho con-
troll OF the dock master. who can make
u assume any position required 70
dock a vessel Il has 26l 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 .865
tons. and the weight OF the dock equip
ment IS ] 1000 tcns. making a total
weight Of 6Se5 tons. The cost OF the
dock complete is $4,000 The stabil-
ity of the structure. according 20 the
engineers figures, Is something re-
markabic Carrying a l5o00-ton battle
ship two feet above the water. It will
cause her stability TO be fifteen oT
twenty times as great as that Of a ship
Ia the water The numerous compart-
ments add 70 the sieadiness Of the
dock. for II they were few In nember,
the water IN them when tie dcck was
submerged or partly 80. N--ld splash
about ana cause considerable motion
60 the structure When It Is necessary
20 dock a vessel water Is admitted 10
the compartments through sixteen
valves. each sixteen inches Ia diam
cter. and It requires about an hour 20
sink the dock so that craft can enter
it. 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 hy means OF eight pumps. which
are driven By four engines that have
four boilers o. the water-tube type and
Of 135 horsepower each to supply
them with steam The pumping ap-
paratus Is SO arranged that either en-
CINE can steam from either boiler. and
IN ease there Is a breakdown on one
side Of the dock the pair Of pumps on
the other side could do an the pump
ing II takes about three hours and a
half 10 raise the dock. The pumps
also operate g line Of hose. which Is
employed TO wash the slime from the
hulls of vessels that are docked. This
is quite a task. for the amount OF foul
ing which Is washed from the sides Of
a large ship IS considerable. and after
Il has been cleaned the stuff has also
10 be washed from the floor OF the
dock. otherwise the men could not
WORK about the craft.