Arizona republican., 1912-04-15
ELECTRICITY AFLOAT.

Ihe modern steamship is d huge floating electrical plant
 Steam is used only to drive the powerful screws and it is more prob able that within d few years electric motors will be employed for this pur- pose also.
 Lighting, ventilation ana heating have always been serious problems at sea. both ill passenger boats where there are so many people in a small space, and in battleships and treighters. Electricity has been found best for this Worl, because it can he transmitted from the lower rooms to any part of the ship on small con- Ccaled wires without serious loss of energy. Today the large steamboats and batueships are lighted with elec- tricity. and electric motors do most of the work aboard from forcing the fires under the boilers to venti- lating the ship and driving the winches and elevators.
 Electricity for use on shpboard is produced by powerful steam turbines direct connected to a compact gen orator. These turbines are connected to the main boilers of the ship for the steam supply. A switchboard is located nearby from which the cur rent is subdivided and sent to all parts of the ship
 In all battleships and fast liners forced draught fans are installed for producing the necessary draught for the rapid raising of steam from the boilers. Those fans are of consider able size and require a large amount of power In the Mauretania there are eight electric motors of fifty horsepower. each coupled to two fans or total of 400 horse power in all the average power required when the vessel is at full speed being well over 200 horse power. Up to four or five years ago steam driven fans were all most universally adopted. but the electric motor has many advantages for this work. such as ease of oper- ation from the stokehold. small at l tendance, economy of working and the absence of steam piping, SO that now it is not surprising to find it l being more frequently adopted The l design of motors used for this pur- | pose needs some care. as d wide vari- ation of speed is required. and trust 1 worthiness must be beyond question, since the speed of the vessel is ab- solutely dependent on the fans. l Electric capstans and Winchcs are gradually finding favor at sea and 1 there can be no doubt that eventually
 they will be universally employed,
 since the nconvenent steam piping i condensation losses. and trouble with
 freezing associated with steam
 Winches can not be tolerated for long Here again it is essential that
 the motors employed should be spe- cially adapted for the work and should embody the strongest con
 struction of machine so that it may operate satisfactorily under the worst
 climatic conditions and with the greatest carelessness in handling. Ii has been proven by long experience l however. that there is no difficulty in
 producing such motor, with the re suit that electric capstans and Winchcs
 are every day becoming more com mon Cranes. boat hoists. and pas
 senger and goods lifts are essential
 on all large vessels, many of which
 have four to each. Here electricity
 has full scope. with the experience l gained on land with similar appll-
 anccs. In warships motors are alsc
 employed for ammunition hoists. Fast passenger trains of the can
 non ball" and flyer variety, now 1 operated at high speed to accommo- date travellers who ares in a hurry may be eliminated as, a result of plan under consideration by the pres
 idents of number of railroads Wh'
 are aroused over reports relative lC
 the high percentage of broken rails | Numerous Wrecks have occurred or
 account of the breakage of rails ant
 the rail manufacturers are being talk
 en to task for making inferior pro
 ducts If record breaking trains were eliminated New York and Chicago
 would be the largest cities affected