The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-05-03
DRESSING A ship.
A Man-of-War Wears More Than
One Suit of Clothes.
INNER AND OUTER GARMENTS.
Besides Its Coat of Armor Plate 1t Has
Special Set of Underclothes to Pro.
tect the Vital Parts of Its Anatomy
Mineral Wool MuffIers.-

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tect the Vital Parts Of Its Anatomy.
Mineral Wool Mufflers.-
Battleships wear coats of stout ar
NOR plate. as everybody knows. but
everybody does not know that they
wear undergarments which are pro-
duced chiefly from cocoanuts. Your
most powerful man-of-war Is really a
very delicate object and requires
special underclothing so that some
vital parts of its anatomy may not be-
come too cold and so that other equal
ly vital portions may not become too
hot.
From stem to stern. which Is another
way OF saying from head to toe. your
enormous per-Dreadnought Is envel.
oped In an undergarment placed i'm
mediately behind its topcoat or armor
plate. This is its special macintosh,
or. rather. waterproof, which acts as a
protection from fire as well as water
In the ordinary way If shot pierced
the side Of a battleship water would
pour In at the hole and possibly the
ship might sink. but this Is obviated
by providing backing to the armor.
Great secrecy Is kept in the various
navies regarding the material used and
its arrangement
In many Of the latest battleships.
however. the coating Is made Of cellu.
lose. which again Is obtained from the
bbrous cocoanut rind. Cellulose DOS
sesses the peculiar property Of swell
ing Immediately II 1t comes in contact
with salt water. Therefore the moment
that water pours In at a hole at the
ships side the cellulose almost in
stantly expands and SO closes the aper-
ture. OF course the cellulose Is es.
pecially treated in order to render It
fireproof.
A man-of-war has it's vitality enor.
mously diminished If certain portions
or II become too cold, In much the
same way as its human tenants. Ac.
cordingly its boiler and steam pipes
are clothed with Jackets" In some
cases the Jackets are made Of ordinary
blanketing. others Of flbrous clay like
composition or even Of close grained
wood. In general the material used
for a ships underclothing Of this de-
scription consists Of mineral wool.
However. the great ship Is more like
ly to suffer from the effects Of heat
than from those Of cold. There Is al
ways the danger owing to the newer
type OF machinery employed that the
powder magazines may get 700 hot
In the latest men-of-war the stores
ard surrounded by thick co, ting Of
mineral wool. Mineral woOi by the
way, has nothing whatever 20 90 with
wool. as 1t consists Of mass Of snowy
threads Of kind Of glass. 1t is made
by blowing jets Of high pressure steam
through the furnaces in the manufac-
ture Of iron and steel.
Enormous quantities of this strange
variety Of wool are used on board for
the purposes of underclothing the bulk.
heads and the more delicate portions
Of the ships body. This invaluable
substance acts equally we'll as pro-
tector from heat and from cold. 1t Is
such a remarkable nonconductor of
heat that IL Is used for covering the
refrigerators and the cold storage
chambers and therefore the explosive
stores.
In the dockyards all men who are
employed in packing the mineral wool
In the spaces on the ships are obliged
to wear masks. This Is to prevent the
sharp needlelike particles from being
inhaled and so causing chest troubles
Of fatal character.
The ammunition rooms themselves
are kept cool by refrigerating plant
In addition TO being clothed In mineral
wool. the same applying to the ammu.
milton passages. The wool Is also
packed between the double bulkheads
which separate the boiler spaces from
the other portions of the vessel. Alto
gether the uses Of the mineral wool on
board are extremely numerous. Even
reindeer hair Is to be met with on
board In the capacity Of a particular
sort of underclothing. This material
Is very light-considerab lighter than
cork. for instance-and II Is not so sub
ject TO decay. For this reason among
It's many uses II Is Of great value as g
filling for the life buoys. - Boston
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