Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-04-21
DRESSING A SHIP.
A Man-of-War Wears More Than
One Suit OF Clothes.
INNER AND OUTER GARMENTS.

Special Set of Underelothes to Pro.
teet 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 super Dreadnougbt 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
protection from fire AS well as water
In the ordinary way If shot pierced
the side of II battleship water would
pour in at the hole and possibly the
ship might sink. but this is obviated
by providing backing TO the urmor
Great secrecy is kept in the various
navies regarding the material used and
its arrangement.
In many of the latest battleshps.
however. the Goa ting is made of cellu.
lose. which again is obtained from the
fibrous cocoanut rind Cellulose pos
sesses the peculiar property of swell.
ing immediately If 1t comes in contact
with salt water Therefore the moment
that water pours in at a hole ut the
ships side the cellulose almost in.
stantly expands and so closes the aper-
ture. OF course the celuloSe is es.
pecially treated in order TO render il
tireproof
man of war has its vitality enor
mouSly diminished If certain portions
Of il become too cold in much the
same way az its human tenants. Ac
cordingly its boiler and steam pipes
are clothed with Jackets" In some
cases the Jackets are made of ordinary
blanketing. ol hers of II tibruus clay like
composition or even OF close grained
wood. In general the material used
for 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 TOO hot
In the latest men-of-war the stores
are surrounded by thick coating of
mineral wool. Mineral wool. by he
way, has nothing whatever TO do with
wool. as ii consists of mass of snowy
threads of a kind of glass II 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 underclothlng the bulk
heads and the more delicate portions
of the ships body. This invaluable
substance acts equally well as "A pro
tector from heat and from cold. 1t is
such remarkable nonconductor of
heat that II 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 a 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 bair is to be met with on
board in the capacity of particular
sort of underclothing. This material
is very light-considerabl lighter than
cork. for instance-and II is not so sub
ject TO decay. For this reason among
its many uses IT is of great value as
filling for the life buoys. - Boston
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