Sunday Washington globe., 1902-05-11

There is one armeds stoutly built Eng
lishman named Richard B. Painton temp
orary resident Of the Capital, who may be
encountered nightly on the Newspar Rialto,
bounded by Sam Gassenheimer's Hotel and
the: New Willard, including, of course
Shoomaker's Sunday School "meetin' 4"
house. This Englishman is an inventor
and has the unusual faculty of explaining
his invention 10 a layman without starting
wheels and paralyzing the limited brain
supply of the aforesaid layman.
Mr.. Painton's invention is the application
of electricity instead OF steam to ocean
going craft naval or mercantile. In the re-
volution proposed IN the motive power he
demonstrates the possibility of crossing the
Atlantic in three davs OF even less time. A
model Of the new ships is on exhibition at
the Oliver Typewritiug Machine Empo-
rum, near the esteemed Post
In the application of electricity Mr. Pain
toms revolutionary inventions comes in, in
the form of dynamos, turbine wheels and
multiple propellers One of Mr. Painton's
ships by the application of his multiple
screws and electric motors will plow
through the ocean at the rate of forty knots
an hour. In other words il will have the
speed of the fastest express train.
Mr.. Painton in explaining his invention
TO the GLOBE scribe stated that the pro
pellers Of his proposed crafts are operated
from a switchboard, each one being a ma
chine of itself, and when in action, cause
no more noise than would come from ay-
wheel. The terrific heat from the furnaces
and steam pipes would be obviated. A dis
tinct feature Of the system is that the screws
extend from stem to stern and thereby tend
TO maintain equilibrium, which will ma
terially diminish the pitching and rolling
motion of the vessel. The long shaft being
disposed of, no humping will be noticed
No jar will be felt from the horizontal mo-
tioni all accomplished by the rotary cleo
trical system of the combination of the
multiple screw propulsion.
A very great saving is effected by the
new system in every direction. Twenty
three per cent is saved in the consumption
OF coal, in the first place, as the loss of
power in transmission by steam and the
heavy machinery is thirty-three per cent,
while the losr by electric motors is only
ten per cent. The reduced friction of the
water by the lifting of the bow of the YES
sci will still further economic the con-
sumption Of fuel. There is also saving
OF time and space. To illustrate: Where
steamship now takes coal enough to carry
her from New York to Liverpool the
Painton vessel will, with the same quantity
Of coal, sail from New York to LIVERPOOL
and return to New York--twice the distance.
Having so much more space, she would
carry greatly increased number of pas,
sengers, and a much larger quantity Of
freight. 1t may also be interesting to
know that the Painton electric reversible
motors can be instantly reversed while at
full speed, without any fear of breakage,
thus bringing the vessel to a standstill in
one-quarter the time now required by
steam vessels.
The most efficient turbine engine in the
world will be coupled direct to the dynamo,
which will be a phenomenal saving in
weight Of machinery, space, coal, etc, and
reduce the cost about half of a steamship
trip to Southampton aud return. The
present rate Of coal consumption for this
trip is 5000 tons Tor about SIS.oool. A
Painton electric ship will not consume one
half this amount, for it will make the trip
in one-half the time. The saving in food
to passengers is another item. which to do
Mr.. PaintOn justice he ignores or fails to
enumerate. Mr.. Painton says:
The greatest value of torpedo boats and
torpedo boat destroyers are in guarding
battleships aud heavily armed cruisers.
The only boats Of any navy which have
ever attained the speed of forty knots per
hour are the Viper and the Cobra, which
have been successfully tested in the British
navy, and their swiftness does not impair
their power of destruction A submarine
boat would easily fall prey to their high
speed and rapid fire guns; Whitehead tor
pedo fired under a submarine boat, when
discovered aud run down by the Empire
Express Ahoat, would place the former
craft hers de combat, and make harbors
and the bottom of the sea a very unsafe
place for them to navigate
These boats each have eight screw pro-
pellers, which have 5000 horse power and
have to make 1000 to 2, 500 revolutions per
minute to acco mplish the high rate OF speed
now needed more than ever before in the
United States Navy to enable il to compete
with European navies. The one and ouly
way to keep up with the progress made by
them is TO adopt the Painton multiple sys-
TEN and dynamo plant. This syste-- does
away with all the steam auxiliary and elec-
tric lighting plants. The Painton system Of
turbine electrical propulsion distributes
power of propulsion furnishes the neces-
sary lights, heat etc.
The steam system now in use, the twin
screw and triple expansion quadruple en-
gines have reached their limit in speed and
safety. The vibrations from the steam me-
thod of propulsion, in trying to develop
higher revolutions Of the propellers causes
the machines, in course of time, to become
a complete wreck, and the highest speed that
can be attained is only from 2a to % knots
per hour. In the end, the four oladed twin
propellers become valueless in higher revo-
lutions, and consequently it is only waste
of money and time in trying TO develop
speed with this antiquated method.
Inasmuch as Mr.. Painton, who for over
an hour filed US with these chunks Of in
formation, omitted to present us with a
block Of the Painton Electrical Steamship
Construction Company's stock nOtwith-
standing that there are several Of our craft
on the stock books Of the company as share
holders and even on the directory, we do
not feel justified in booming the aforesaid
stock, while cheerfully conceding the sur-