Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-28

installations. both here and abroad,
While in former installations the
loads We're hoisted by an elevator to
the masthead of the collier and there
transferred 10 the travelling carriage.
| i'm the case of the Nestal equipment
| the elevator was omitted the bags be-
| ING hoisted from the deck of the col
! lier and lowered To the deck of the
varship This was accomplished by
| hauling down all the cables on the col
| Her. thereby bringing the load car
r{sse within reach of the "hoocker-
son" and then. by stacking the haul
down lines. the load is lifted from the
deck. This is known as the haul
down system" On the warship end a
| "Iet-dovn system" was employed. The
| varshiP end of the main cable was
attached to a bride. the ends of which
bride were attached to the deck of the
hattleshp, Well aft, being attached to
the side rail of the ship. A block and fall
raised The end of the main cable. as
we'll as the joining point of the bride.
Ry this means it is possible to raise
and lower the carriage and cable at
will AT the warship end The whole
operation is so simple that after an
hours drtIl at the deck preliminary
to the test the men transported more
Than 721q tons the first hour it was
put in service. and had it not been for
the bending Of the tripping leather.
which caused il to foul one of the con-
vey3ng lines at times thereby prema-
turely dumping the load. the capacity
would have been increased after the
first hour rather than diminished.
The distance between the two ships
was 400 feet. and part of the test oe
Cured during a heavy fog, which did
not appear to affect the speed of coal
ing. although it was impossible to see
the coal bags 400 feet away.
The contract required that under the
system the transfer of the coal should
he at the rate of so tons an hour. 1t
was shown that had the men been
accustomed to the work and with a
correction Of certain minor defects in
design of the mechanism, the delivery
would have been nearly so tons an
hour The amount OF coal transferred
in the first hour was 72.6 tons. in the
second hour 603 tons, in the third
| hour 81 tons, in the fourth hour sos
tons. in the fifth hour as tons and
/
| two hours work was done during the
heavy fog This made an average of
f1.52 tons per hour The advantage of
| the system is that it is possible to
| transfer in the same way ammuni-
ton, provisions. and even men with
safety and CELEBRITY.
The board in it's report on the test
stated that the delivery Of coal was
discontinued at the end of the sixth
hour. because the hunkers of the Nir-
ginia were full. The board was sat
isfed that the apparatus was capable
Of transferring the quantity of coal re-
quired by the contract within the
| specified period A part of the delay
lin delivery was due to minor mishaps
in the operation of the apparatus
easily remedied- Other delays We're
caused by minor defects in the design
easily corrected at slight cost The
personal element entering into the OPP
GRAFTON of the gear accounted for some
trouble. such as dropping about eight
tons of coal overheard. OF course, the
bags which We're dropped in this way
were not included in the record of the
| six hours work which went to make
up the average delivery Of 6152 tons
| About 125 men were required to handle
| the coal delivered to the galloway.
| The test occurred during a swell. but
| the water was not rough. The FACT
that there was heavy fog served
as ar additional test of the efficacy
of the system under unpretentious
conditions of weather.-Army and
Navy Register.