Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-10-30
100 MILES AN HOUR
Huge Spee0 Is Promised for Great
Britain's Warships.
(London Chronicle.)


The British admiralty has now un-
der consideration a new form Of ma
rine engine and propeller which, the
inventor claims, will revolutionize
not only naval warfare, but the navi-
cation of the whole world.
The invention Is the fruit Of much
ingenuity, labor and expenditure on
the part of f. Mailman, of Redburn
street, Chelsea, who has devoted to 1t
years OF study and experiment. At
first sight the engine resembles tur-
bine, but closer inspection reveals
important differences. Steam from
any type of boiler Is brought to bear
upon a shaft fitted with IL chambers,
Shaft and chambers are all Of steel:
cast In one piece, and Of great
strength. Exactly what the arrange
ment Of these chambers Is the inven-
tor deems it imprudent at present to
disclose, but it Is such that the ad-
mission of steam through the orifices
at their ends causes the shaft to re-
volve at a tremendous speed.
So great is the power of the new
form Of engine, indeed, that the in
ventor considers it useless to apply it
to the ordinary screw propeller lest
the terrific pace should result in the
formation Of complete or partial
vacuum in which the screw would
race" without exerting its propul-
sive force. He has accordingly de-
vised modification Of the screw pro-
peller which will make return in
speed for all the power that can be
applied to 1t.
The screw has three blades, each
OF the shape already familiar, but in
stead Of being attached to one small
hub, they are fixed at intervals Of a
long shaft. The result, OF course, is
that each blade works on it's own
water, instead Of in that through
which it's fellow has cut but a mo-
ment before. The shaft Is fitted with
three OF these dissected screws, each
Of them with a larger orbit than the
one Immediately in front of it, so that
when set slowly in motion it presents
to the eye the effect of huge cork
screw worming its way forward.
The shaft bearing the three screws
Is fixed Immediately beneath the keel
OF the boat, and runs parallel with it
and with the driving shaft and its 2
chambers This occupies so little
space that practically the only ma
chinery in the body Of the boat will
be the furnace and boiler, and the in
ventor, therefore, believes that In the
case OF cargo vessels the device will
have the advantage of adding to the
carrying capacity as well as of in
creasing the speed 1t is, however,
in naval warfare that he expects for
the invention the greatest immediate
utility. Up to now, the new system
has been tried only on models upon
the Serpentine and the Thames, but
the speeds attained in the largest Of
t.ese lead Mr.. Mailman to believe
tnat on vessel with the size and
steam power of a. present day tor
pedo boat 1T would yield a velocity Of
100 miles an hour.
That, however, can only be deter
mined by experiments upon a larger
scale than has yet been possible, and
he has accordingly applied to the ad-
miralty for the loan OF hull and
boilers to which the new engine and
propeller could be fixed at compara-
lively slight cost, so that their utility
may he def erm nod once for all