Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-08-08
SHIPS RUN BY GAS.
MAY REvoL MARINE
TRANSPORTATION.
Changes in the Motive Power Of
Boats Of All Kinds Point to
Eventual Adoption
Of Gas,

in the experience of the present gen.
GRAFTON, says the London Telegraph,
the great Atlantic transportation COM
panles may advertise voyages by
gas ships, and we may travel ashore
In trains drawn by "gas locomotives. -
In small boats the gas motor is al
ready displacing the steam engine, and
In our greatest men-of-war oil fuel
is now being utilized. Within a short
time all the battleships Of Vice Adj
mlral Sir w. H. Mays Atlantic feet
Will carry liquid fuel in their double
bottoms, and the navy will soon have
vessels driven by internal combustion
engines, practically sea automobiles, to
act as messengers and scouts. There
has been a disposition to regard the
motor-boat as toy, or at most as
vessel suitable for use only on the
smooth waters of our great rivers. 1t
may be recalled that when the Tur-
binia whisked about Spithead during
the diamond jubilee review, to the
amazement of spectators, it was urged
by some that the turbine might serve
for small pleasure craft, but could not
In our time at least, be of practical
utility.
To-day it is displacing the recipro-
eating engine. Great turbine lines
have begun to ply across the Atlantic
with complete success, and the new
engine has amply demonstrated it's
economy of power in his majesty's
ship Amethyst, cruiser of 5000 tons.
The same vindication may await the
motive power which, after initiating
a revolution on our roads, has lately
performed amazing feats af1oat. Those
who have scoffed at the motor-boat
as a plaything have an object lesson
in the unwisdom of facing the future
with lack of faith, which means stag
nation, in the long trial Of the motor
boat Napier Major, making a nonstop
voyage from the Thames to Lerwick,
in the Shetlands, a distance of $50
miles. This craft is merely a COM
Portable 12-ton cruising yacht, fitted
with a 20-hOrsepower marine motor
and with sufficient fuel to last for
nearly 5000 miles at fair speed. The
trial is the severest test Of reliability
and seaworthiness which has yet
been made by any ship of this new
type, and the promoter shows his con-
fdence by sending his little craft
blowing her way up the North sea.
Science is moving so quickly that it
is difficult to keep pace with its ad-
ho
oil motor-boat, are now threatened by
the gas ship, vessel propelled by
coal gas. The age of marvels did not
end with the Victorian era; we have
yet more remarkable applications of
invention to the service of man al
ready outlined with some distinctness
The mOtCr-bOat has undoubtedly ar
rived for use in peace and war for
commerce and pleasure, but On the
eve Of it's career it is met with a sug-
gestion of rivalry which is of immense
Importance to the British people
Within the wide expanse of the Brit
ish empire practically everything that
man needs may be found in abundance
except oil fuel. For this we are large
ly dependent on foreign countries, anG
as the demand increases the price viii!
rise. Consequently we have not been
able to view with equanimity t1e
apOtheOSis of the internal combustion
oil engine ashore and afoat, since ii
seemed inevitable that it would rot
of some of it's value one of the most
important natural resources of this
country. The Napier Major is, OF
course, a gas-ship, but it is an oil
gas-ship. Now we are able to an
ticipate with pleasure and profit the
coming Of the coal gas-ship, a de-
velOpment which will rank among the
greatest scientific achievements of Oul
time.
A German engineer, Herr E. Cap
taine, has devoted many years to the
study of the best means for produc
ing gas from coal and utilizing the
product is marine motors. In a lee
ture at Frankfort recently he was in
the proud position of demonstrating
that he had already made considerable
progress. He has built 25-hOrsepow-
err launch, in which gas is produced
and used with complete success. It has
attained the same speed as q steam
boat of four times the size. rhe
economy in space and fuel is I'M
mense The Inventor calculates that,
by adopting this new generator and
motor in a steamer of 10000 horse
power. a saving of 10000 in the coal
bill would be effected in a single year
if tn vessel were under steam $500
hours. The ship of the future may,
therefore, be kind of marine gasome-
ter, economical, clearly, and, we are
assured, absolutely safe. Admitted
ly, This latest adaptation of coal to
propulsion is in it's infancy, but the
prospect which is held out is most
cheerful for a nation whose chief