The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-12-15
MANY PROBLEMS
IN SHIP BUILDING
How They Are Worked Out ia
University Of Michigan
Ship Canal.
ENGINES USELESS WORK
A Thorough knowledge Attained a
the Battle That Must Take Place
Between the Hull and the
Waves.
From the P,lrr4m.

From the Pilgrim.
Thu twenty-odd thousand dollars ms
vested in this canal is a shrewd specuS
lation In new educational methodsl
Just at the time when the United
States government is employing SUBJ
sides in order to revive the shipbuild.
ing industry the University Of Michv
fgan has constructed a model canal.
perhaps n of the best competitive
weapons by which the English now
basin has been thrown open to every
American ~shipbuilder. Though having
the only available canal in this country
the university offers it's use practically
free, and, furthermore, permits a build
er to keep his own discoveries a secret
Students will be taught this work as g
profession, in spite OF the fact that no
demand for such men now exists. Mich
igan's regents believe that the dom!
jnant commercial principle Of mar
gins" the increased security which
the canal offers of knowing beforehand
the exact performance Of the completed
steamer, the opportunity to surpass by
a little q competitors boat by demon
strating the feasibility OF a speed in
excess of anything yet attempted, will
create a demand for this profession.
Remotely, the new canal is connected
with the United States ANY. The first
marine work done in Michigan began I'M
1881, under an act Of congress which
authorized the president to detail off,
GERS of the navy to teach marine en-
cheering and iron s~hipbuilding in the
technical schools. Professor M. e,
Cooley, then of the navy, was one off
the first men detailed md this law
and is still in the university as head of
this department. From present indical1
tions young officers of the navy are
likely, before long, to travel $500 miles
inland to finish their sea training at
Michigan.
The gentleman In direct charge OF
marine work at Michigan is Professor
Herbert c.. Sadler. He exemplifies the
owe of an idea to crystalize into great
Undertakings. When Michigan planneds
a new engineering building four years,
ago such a thing as a ship canal hads
not been conceived. 1t was unheard OH
to build a ship canal 1000 miles inland.f
and unorthodox to foist 1T upon colleget
c~urriculums. Professor Sadler was q
young man, who had just come FROM
working in the Clyde model canals OF
Scotland. n who knew their value toe
professors called the canal project al
dream. But, nevertheless, assisted by1
Professor Cooley, he appeared before{
the regents, broke the astonishinE
proposition to them, and with a penciN
and paper sketched a unique ship
canal which captivated the unbelievers|
and inaugurated the first shipbuilderS7
course. .
The successful projecting Of million
dollar ships months before the keel Id
laid hinges on a short equation In
mathmetics. discovered about three de-
cades ago by the English Neptune wis
liam Froude. Briefly 1t is: That two
vessels moving at corresponding speedy
will nave wave making resistances pro-
.portional to h cube of their linear,
dimensions. This rule is highly accurl.
ate with models only one-thirtieth to-
one-fortieth of the ships real sizeg
The little boats in Michigan's CANAL
run from so to 500 feet a minute. speedst
feet long to from three n q half
knots an hour to to ffty-six knots.
This wax feet will serve for more!
than merely building ships. It will test
about the tricks of a ship at sea. II
will verify the theories OF scientistgl
concerning waters action about a ves-I
sells hull. For one thing, the students;
of the University Of Michigan Will;
make a special study OF wakes. The
wake is nothing more than the waves
and eddies, ne white boil@of water att
q ships stern-in short, the path which
every great steame prints on tracklessI
water. In every such path there is al
story, which is just becoming legible-
thai of wasted energy.
One of the signs which can now be]
translated, the engine is doing useless
work. is the presence of eddies at al
vessels stern. 1t was merely by alter
ing the stern's shape that the Cunar6,
steamers cut off 10 per cent. of thel
oceans resistance. It is by modifying
this part Of the ship that model basins|
nave achieved their principal speed,
feats. Though scientific knowledge Of
the battle between the hull and the
sea came into existence only half q
century ago, the awkward square stern.
still such O familiar sight, is known to-
be as burdensome as attempting to tow
a square sandscow. While builders have
given all their intelligence to fashion-)
ing speedy prows, Old Neptune forl
about twenty centuries has been at-l
lacking in the rear.
Some sort of an equation between q
steamers shape and her coal bin, a newt
problem in exterminating d~istancel
suggested by the United States battls-)
ship Georgia will be sought in Michi-s
gan's canal. Models of this man-of-I
war made in the Washington basin,
proved that the height to which water
rises on a ships prov does not depend,
entirely OF speed.
colorins Birds BY Hand.
From an Exchange