Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-12-15
MANY PROBLEMS
IN SHIP BUILDING
How They Are Worked Out in
University of Michigan
Ship Canal.
ENGINES USELESS WORK
A Thorough knowledge Attained oil
the Battle That Must Take Place
Between the Hull and the
Waves.
From the Pilgrim.

FIOIl III ilkllJAi
The t~wenty-odd thousand dollars In
vested in this canal is a shrewd specu-
lation In new educational methods.
Just at the time when the United
States government Is employing sub
sides in order to revive the s~hipbuild-
ing industry the University OF Mich
igan has constructed a model canal,
perhaps one of the best competitive
ape by which the English now
maintain maritime supremacy. This
basin has been thrown open TO every
American s%hipbuilder. Though having
the only available canal In this country,
the university offers its use practically
free, and, furthermore, permits q build
er to keep his own discoveries a secret.
Students will be taught this work as q
profession, IN spite of the fact that no
demand for such men now exists. Mich
igan's regents believe that the dom
inant 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 a competitors boat by lemon
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 navy. The first
marine work done in Michigan began In
1881, under an act of ongress which,
authorized the president TO detail OIL
GERS OF the navy to teach marine en-
cheering and iron ~shipbuilding In the
technical schools. Professor M. e.
Cooley. then of the navy, was n OF
the first men detailed under this law,
and is still In the university as head OF
his department.. From present indica~S
lions young officers Of the navy are
likely, before long, to travel 1900 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
power of an idea to crystalize into great
undertakings. When Michigan planned
a new engineering building four years.
ago such a thing as a ship canal had
not been conceived. 1t was unheard OF
to build a ship canal 1000 miles inland,
and unorthodox TO foist 1t upon college,
curriculums. Professor Sadler was al
young man, who had just come froml
working in the Clyde model canals or
Scotland, and who knew their value to-
the merchant marine. Even his brotherI
professors called the canal project 81
dream. But, nevertheless, assisted by
Professor Cooley, he appeared beforel
the regents, broke the astonishing
proposition TO them, and with q pencil
Inc paper SIX etched a unique ship
canal which c~aptivated the unbelievers
and inaugurated the frst shipbuildersi
course.
The successful projecting Of million
dollar ships months before the keel is
laid hinges on a short equation In
mathmetics, discovered about three de-
cades ago by the English Neptune Will
liam Froude Briefly 1t Is: That two
vessels moving at corresponding speeds
will have wave making resistances pro-
- Ax.I - AEAf ~
dimensions. This rule Is highly accur-
ate with models only one-thirtieth to
one-fortieth Of the ships real size.
The little boats In Michigan's cana
run from so to 500 feet q minute, speeds
which correspond on a steamship 500
feet long to from three and a half
knots an hour to to 1fty-s six knots.
This wax fleet will serve for more
than merely building ships. 1t will test
many an interesting yarn of odd salts'4
about the tricks of a ship at sea- Ill
will verify the theories of scientists
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 h the wavesl
and eddies the white boil of water att
a ships stern-in short, the path which
every great steamer prints on ~trackless
water. In every such path there is a.
story, WHICH Is just UcCuiliiiS iCSlUiS
that OF wasted energy.
One of the signs which can now be
translated, 1.-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 Cunard
steamers cut off 10 per cent. OF the
oceans resistance. 1t Is by modifying
this part of the ship that model basins
have achieved their principal speed
feats. Though scientific knowledge OF
the battle between the u and the
sea came Into existence only half al
century ago, the awkward square stern,
still such a 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 for
about twenty centuries has been at
lacking in the rear.
Some sort of al equation between a
steamers shape and her coal bin, a new
problem in DISCRIMINATING distance,
suggested by the United States battle-
ship Georgia will be sought in Michi-
gam canal. Models of this man-of-
war made in the Washington basin
proved that the height to which water
rises on a ships prov does not depend
entirely on speed.