The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-05-22

breakwaters in the creating Of good
harbor or the construction Of large
railroad and shipping terminal, and
in a number of cases these breakwa-
tiers, after much time, money and eff
fort had been expended, have been de-
clared insufficient and unsatisfactory.
These breakwaters have been built up
from the bottom of harbors by the
dumping in of enormous quantities of
rock at huge cost The Murray sys-
tenn, it is declared, will do away with
this expensive construction entirely.
The Murray breakwater is built in Sec
tions, each section resembling an in
verted vessel, the upturned keel doing
the work of breaking the force of the
inrolling waves and the great project
ing bulk underneath held steadily by
the pressure of the water.
Of Value for Lightshps.
One of Mr.. Murray's chief claims of
the value of his invention, however,
lies in it's application to another, and
more picturesque, marine structure
the lightship. AS lightships now are
constructed, it is impossible for them
to carry a light at greater height
than 20 feet above their decks In ad-
dition, they must always be anchored
close to the reef or shoal over which
they stand guard, since it is not pos.
sible for their crews to handle anchors
or cables that would enable them to
lie in positions further off shore. Be
sides this, lightship not infrequently
goes adrift in the buffetings of win
ter's gales, and so long as the ship is
missing or until relief vessel can
take its place the dangerous spot must
remain unguarded.
The modern lightship built by the
government costs about $4,000,
while they are expensive vessels to
maintain. 1t is the contention of the
inventor of this new type of floating
structure that all of the points of
weakness in the present type of light
ship would be done away with through
the introduction of his model A cir
cular structure with flange around
it's base could be anchored anywhere
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the reef or shoal to be guarded, but
out beyond it, since once anchored
there would be no fear of it's going
adrift in storm. Heavier anchors
and chains than an old-type lightship
could carry or handle would make this
certain, for one thing, and the prin-
ciple on which it is constructed would
do the rest. Then these floating lights
could be built with 80-foot lanterns, in
stead of the present standard, and
crews would be unnecessary, since
some of the water ballast compart-
ments, which are used to help in
sinking the structures, could be filled
with Illuminating oil and the lamp fed
automatically. Filled in the summer
time these tanks and lights would
need no attention until the next year
came around. With such structure
in use the problem of guarding with
warning light spot like the Diamond
shoals, off Hatteras, would be speedily
solved. There would be none of the
difficulty commonly experienced in
building lighthouse on an almost in
accessible point, as the lightships
could be built in harbor and then
towed to the point where needed. 1t
is computed that one of these STEADY
floating lightships could be built COM
plete for about $4,000.
Its Advantage Commercially.
While it is declared the Murray idea
can be used to enormous advantage
commercially, it is its protective fea-