Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-11-07
AeW Cuaard Liner 10 Make Maiden
Trip Soon.
MAY sUaPAss TIE LusITABIl
Most Marvellous Electrical Apparatus
Ever Installed on an ocean Liner
Over 5000 Electric Lamps on the
ship-Facts About New cunarder.

\ o"P-T"StS ABOUT NEW Cunardcr.
LONDON. Nov. G.-The Maureta.
MIA the latest Cunardcr. will shortly
start ON her maiden voyage to New
York. 1t is an open secret that. for
various reasons, more is expected
from her than from the Lusitanln.
| rhe successful preliminary trials. in
which she attained an average speed
OF 25.99 knots and a maximum of 26.i
without undue pressure. gives
strength to the suppositon that this
optimism liz not misplaced The Lusi.
tahla, under similar conditions. ala
hail knot less. These pyeliminary
trihis were carried out with the hull
OF the Maurotana IN Il very dirty con-
dition and with part OF the launching
ways still adherlng After the bene.
Ut of Il rul'down in the dry dock n
Liverpool a mean speed of 20 1-2
Knots ana Il maximum of ~ may he
confidently predicted. However &c.
custoincd ON may be IL speedy ocean
liners. ii is impossible To overcome
tho feeling of awe and amazomcnt nj
being rushed through the water al
the rate of thirty miles an hour on
such a lcviathan Even the most or
binary individual must have some
sort of interest in the machinery
Which can carry ont so stupendous n
thsR, Thc main propclling engines
are wonderfully fascinating. but they
are not The sole source of mower.
twentieth century ships. and ospo
clallN the new Cnnardcrs. are a mass
or independent machinery The fail
irc of any small portion of this may
cause disaster to The whole boat
II Is well known ifaI the NIaureta
MIA is equipped VIII turbine machM.
cry. Both turbine and the oldtypc re.
ciprocatlng engines have their cham
pions among experts, hut the advant-
ages OF the former engines may he
| hficny stated. They are economy OF
luel. high speed ana consequent dimi-
mutton IN size and weight. and the ob.
scnce OF vibration. The great and
only important disadvantage of this
tyne of power mover is it's non.rcvel,
Isilflily.
Four Propeller Shafts.
The use of turbines allows of con
siderable subdivision of power. and
advantage Is taken of this i'm the
Mauretnnia to have four pronener
SHAFTS. each transmitting about one
quarter OF the ull power. When II
Is remembered that between 60 900
ana 10000 horsepower is required TO
drive the boat ut twcnty-slx knots. II
VIII be seen how necessary is this al.
vision. The four turbines. arranged
syinmetricaly about the ceuter of the
snip are on about the same level and
very low down, tending to great sta
iflity. The two driving the outside
shaits are termed the .high.prcssurc
turbines. those on the inside being
inc low pressure. corresponding moro
or less to the high and low pressure
cylinders Of n reciprocating engine.
me steam enters the high-pressure
turbines direct from the boilers ana
AFTER performing its work in them
ana considerably Increasing in vol
ume, passes into the low-prcssuro tur.
bihes, befo,e reaching the condenser
Is then condensed ami again re.
turned to the boilers. Tho low-pres.
sure turbines are naturally much
larger than tho hish-pressure tur
oines, having to cope with a consid
Grady greater volume of steam. The
revolving portion OF one of these low.
pressure turbines, consisting of a
steel spindle fitted with brass hlades
weigh about twenty tons. and is
some II feet in diameter and 30 feet
in length. while the longest blades
are nearly . feet
Turbines Not Reversible.
turbines are not reversible as vet
Ii is therefore necessary To nrovido
a set of astern turbines: these two
in number) are placed i'm line re
| spectively with each of the low.ures
sure turbines. The spindle or MOVING
portion OF each astern turbine Is nor
manently coupled M to thar of the
corresponding lowpressure tnrbile
IL consequently rotates idly in its cas-
ing when the ship is going ahead
rms might appear to be Il very large
loss of power hut as a matter OF
tact. the astern spindle is moving la
Ia vacuum. The friction is. therefore
small. ana the work absorbed quito
inii,litesimal. compared with the total
power developed or course, ii Is
unnecessary TO have the astern .u'
Dines OF the same size as the main
engines. They cannot he called
small for they are each capable Of
producing some 10000 horsepower at
full speed,
the propclling machinery of the
Mauretania is Il source of wonder.
nett TO its beholdor. the boiler
equipment will cause him no less
ama2ement There arc in all, TWEEN.
ty'ilve boilers Each is double-endcd
and fixed from both ends. The in.
stallation is practically equivalent to
one of nfty boilers OF size almos'
unprecedented in shipbuildilg. When
dealing in such magnitudes 1t is i'm.
possible to predict with any degree