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10 MARINE REVIEW. More Facts About Miles. Editor Marine Review :--In the note published in the Marine Re- view of Sept. 3, 1896, under the heading "Knots and Miles," occurs the sentence, "The prevailing idea at present appears to be that the knot is the same thing as the geographical, nautical, or sea mile; and the word knot is used to prevent any possible confusion with the statute land mile." This sentance conyeys the idea that the geographical mile and the nautical or sea mile are regarded by the author as equivalent measures: and it is not remarkable, with the diversity of usage that has prevailed in books of reference, that the distinction between them should not be clearly present tothe mind. The geographical mile is the one-sixtieth part of the length of a degree of the earth's equator, which, computed on the most perfect values for the size of the terrestrial spheroid, is 6087.15 feet. The nautical mile, as adopted by the navy department, is the one-sixtieth part of the length of a degree on the great circle of a sphere whose surface is equal in area to the surface of the earth. This value is 6080.27 feet, and corresponds to the Eng- lish nautical mile, or "admiralty knot," which is 6080 feet. The nautical mile has also been regarded as the mean length of a minute of latitude on the meridian, and again as the length of a minute of arc of the meridian corresponding to the radius of curva- ture of a particular latitude. The former, which according to the astronomer Bessel has a length of 6076.23 feet, is the nautical mile used in France, Germany and Austria. Computed on the Clark spheroid, whi¢h is adopted in the United States, the above value would be 6076.82 feet instead of 6076.23 feet. Besides the geographical mile and the nautical mile, the word mile is used to name a great number of linear measures. There are the Austrian post mile, equivalent to 24,000 English feet. Swedish mile, sb 36,000 us Norwegian mile, 3 36,000 us eS Netherlands mile, oy 3,281 ne ": Danish mile, it 24,712.5 x eS Prussian mile, Me 24,604.8 xy. Roman mile, - 4,854 oe ss German short mile, s 20,576.2 e i. German long mile, 2 30,375.8 'i ' "Scotch mile, a B.ObO.G) en - Irish mile, He 6,721.4 o % ""Statute" mile, es 5,280 a ss The last mentioned is generally the measure referred to when the word mile is used in legal enactments (see sections 3,569 and 3,570 of the revised statutes of the United States). It has been adopted in the United States from a statute of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in which the mile is defined as a length of 8 furlongs of 40 perches of 164 feet each, or 5,280 feet. G. W. Littlehales. Washington, D. C., Sept. 15, 1896. Torpedo Boats. our Bids were opened at the navy department, Washington, Friday, for the construction of thirteen torpedo boats, three of which are to be of a 30-knot kind and ten of 20 knots. For the three fast boats $800, - 000 has been provided, while the total appropriation for the 20-knot boats is $500,000. The bids are complicated and will probably not be passed upon by the department experts for several days. Bidders on the 80-knot boats are: Union Iron Works, San Francisco; Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me.; Herreshoff Mfg. Co., Bristol, R. I.; John H. Dia- logue & Son, Camden, N. J. On the 20-knot boats the bidders are: Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, Md.; Moran Bros., Seattle, Wash, ; Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me.; Herreshoff Mfg, Co., Bristol, R. I.; Wolf & Zwicker, Portland, Ore.; Providence Steam Engine Co. ; Lewis Nixon, Elizabeth, N. J.; Charles Hillman Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Dialogue & Son, Camden, N, J.; Geo. Lawley & Son, South Boston, Mass. For some time past we have found difficulty in obtaining good photographs of lake vessels when needed in the Review. We know that owners have also met with the same trouble. We havea photo- grapher now engaged exclusively on this work. Order photographs from the Marine Review, 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland. nn -- Cargo and Speed Records--Lake Freight Ships. Tron ore--Coralia, Mutual Transportation Co. of Cleveland, 5,088 gross or 5,699 net tons, Gladstone to Ashtabula, draft of 16 feet 19 inches; 8. 8S. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 4,569 - tons gross or 5,117 net tons, Escanaba to South Chicago, draft of ig feet. From Lake Superior--Steamer Sir Henry Bessemer, Bessemep Steamship Co. of Cleveland, 4,214 gross or 4,720 net tons, Duluth to Conneaut, draft of 14 feet 8 inches. Grain--Steamer Queen City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 207,000, bushels of corn, Chicago to Buffalo, 16 feet 8 inches draft; steamer Maricopa, Minnesota Steamship Co., Cleveland, 191,700 bushels of corn, Chicago to Buffalo. From Lake Superior--Steamer Queen City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 157,000 bushels of wheat, equal to 4,710 net tons, Duluth to Buffalo, draft of 14 feet 8 inches. Coal--S. 8. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 4,535 net tons bituminous, Conneaut to Gladstone; Selwyn Hddy Eddy Bros. of Bay City, Mich., 4,252 net tons anthracite, Buffalo to Milwaukee. Speed--Owego, Union Line of Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago, 889 miles, 54 hours and 16 minutes, 16.4 miles an hour; Centurion, Hop- kins Steamship Co. of St. Clair, Mich., Buffalo to Duluth, 997 miles, 65 hours and 10 minutes, 15.3 miles an hour. F, & P. M. RY. CO'S CAR FERRY PERE MARQUETTE. Operating Steam Pumps Without Oil, The torpedo boats, which are now being built in large numbers for the United States navy, are developing some features in machin- ery that are decidedly interesting to marine engineers. The design of engines is in most cases especially attractive. On the boats of this kind recently launched by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co., Bristol, R. I., the equipment of Blake steam pumps, as well as the main en- gines, will be run without the use of oil in the steam cylinders. While this is not a new idea, so far as vertical steam engines are concerned, it has never been the practice to run steam pumps without oil. The pumps furnished by the Blake company were arranged without any oil holes whatever, so that it is impossible to get oil into the steam cylinders. These pumps were given an exhaustive test for several days by the manufacturers and they operated with entire satisfaction, and without using a drop of oil. The doing away with the use of oil in the steam cylinders of a vessel isa matter of considerable impor- tance,as there isno necessity of carrying feed water filters and no anx- iety about oil injuring the boilers. Pleased with the Review. A leading marine engineer of New York, who represents a Col cern that carries an important line of advertising in marine journals, says ina letter to the Review: "I don't wish you to print what I am about to say, because I don't want the ill-will of the other marine papers, which would be a distinct injury to me, but I get more inter- esting and important news out of your paper, and in a more attract ive form, than out of any other paper that comes into my office, and I subscribe to a lot of them."' Another authority on ship building matters,Wm. A. Fairburn of Bath, Me., says:" Your paper still keeps up to the high standard it ae two years ago, and I enjoy reading its broad, unprejudiced columns.' --