The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-10-30
BIG FLOATING DOCK
BUILT At BALTIMORE TO Br
T0WED SOUTH.
iHmense Steel Dry Deck fer Use a
AlFisrs, La.-Its Use Is to Iift Great
Vessels Out Of the Water

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 towed to Al
giers, La. as soon as the West India
hurricane season has passed That
viii be about Oct /, and several pow
erful ocean going tugs viii convey the
immense dock 20 its destination It
Is certain that this immense piece oi
marine mechanism for lifting great
vessels ont Of the water In order 70
clean or repair them is without a SUI
perior IN rs line. and it is doubtful
whether Il has an equal IL can raise
a 15000-ton hattleshib and have the
aoorof the deck two feet above the wa
ter. which Is demanded bg the govern
ment for its work. but with the floor
even with the water line il can lift an
1s000-tOn ship The dock Is 525 feet
in length over an. while IFS 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 arc submerged, to
the tops Is ffty-fve feet The depth
Of the pontoons. or what the inexperi-
enced might call the hulls OF the docks.
ia seventeen feet six inches. The
greatest draught Of the dock Is forty
nine feet six inches There are three
p0ntoons. which form itssfloor and also
With the sides, give Il buoyancy. The
middle poutoon is the largest. being
242 feet long. and the end pontoons are
each lii feet * inch in length The
walls are 1886 feet % inch long and are
nine feet in width at the top and thir-
teen feet at the bottom. The pontoons
and sides are divided into forty water
tight compartments, which enable the
dock 10 be completely under the con-
troll OF the dock master. who can make
4 assume any position required 70
dock a vessel II has 26l keel blocks.
upon which the vessel rests In the
dock. and they are movable. 80 that
they can be readily adjusted The
weight Of the steel IN the dock Is 5s65
tons. and the weight Of the dock equip
ment Is 1000 tons. making total
weight of 6.S65 tons. The cost OF the
dock complete Is $4,000. The stabil-
ity or the structure. according 20 the
engineers 1gures. Is something re-
markable. Carrying a i5.oo0-ton battle-
ship two feet above the water. 4 win
cause her stability 70 be fifteen or
twenty times as great as that OF a ship
"a the water. The numerous compart-
ments AID 70 the stcsdlness o. the
cock. for. II they were few IN number.
the water IN them when the dock was
submerged or partly so. would splash
about and canse considerable motion
20 the structure when It Is necessary
20 dock q vessel water Is admitted 20
the compartments through sixteen
valves. each sixteen inches IN diam
eter. aud Il requires about an hour 70
sink the doca so that craft eau 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 20 supply
them with steam. The pumping ap-
paratus Is SO arranged that either en-
gino can steam from either boiler. and
N cnse there s breakdown on one
side cf the dock the pair Of pumps on
The other side could do all the pump
ing Il takes about three hours and a
half 10 raise the dock The pumps
also operate a line Of hose. which IL
employed 70 wash the slime from the
huils Of vessels that are docked. This
ls quite a task. for the amount OF foul
ing which Is washed from the sides Of
4 large ship Is considerable. and after
II has been cleaned the stuff has also
10 be washed from the ioor OF the
dock. Otherwise the men could not
asnYN ahrnf the craff