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32 gent. handling. That both of these is obtainable is daily demonstrated out- side the navy, and there is absolutely no valid reason why the service should not be capable of achieving the same. 'It is, in my opinion, merely a ques- tion of time when the motor boat will be adopted for the navy, and the sooner this inevitable is accomplished it seems to me the better, but it would be, I think, a great mistake if we should commence with makeshifts of any kind, such as fitting motors to our present steamers, although admitting the enormous advantage of installing small "kickers" in our present sailing launches. THERMIT REPAIR ON STERN POST, An, interesting repair was recently effected at the yards of the New London Marine Iron Works, New London, Conn., on the stern post of 'the steamer General Nathaniel Greene, belonging to the quartermaster's de- partment of the army. The General Nathaniel Greene is poo tons register, and 165. ft. in length, and the stern post was ap- FRACTURE IN STERN POST OPENED UP AS A PRELIMINARY TO WELDING. proximately 4% by 8% in. in sec- tion at the point of fracture. It will be seen, therefore, that the section was a fairly large one to weld, and the fact that by the Thermit process the repair was effected in only nine hours, including the time consumed in constructing the mold, is proof of the great value of this process in marine work. On inspection it was found that the shoe, or skeg, had been broken off about 6 in. from the center line of the stern post, and the shoe itself TAe MaRINE REVIEW pushed fully 6 in. out of. line. In making the repair, the first operation -was.to open up the fracture by drill- ba provide for a gate and riser, and pat- terns for these were constructed of Care was taken in their de- wood. FINISHED WELD ON STERN POST WITH GATE AND RISER REMOVED. e ing a series of l-in. holes along the line of the break, in order to allow for the free flow of Thermit steel. When this had been accomplished, the shoe was forced back into place by means of jacks, and firmly se- cured. <A matrix' of wax' was then shaped about the fracture, being formed into a collar 7 in. wide and 1 in. thick, the idea being to con- truct a pattern in FINISHED WELD ON STERN POST SHOWING METAL ON G this manner which sign, however, to lead the molten Thermit steel to the lowest point of the mold and then permit it to rise up and around the parts to be welded into a large riser, the principle of Thermit welding being to secure a perfect amalgamation of Thermit steel with the steel.of the broken sections. Thermit steel, being twice as hot as ordinary steel, has the property of dissolving the metal with which it * ATE AND RISER IM MEDI- ATELY AFTER REMOVAL OF MOLD BOX. could afterwards be melted out when molding sand had been packed around it. It was, ofcourse, necessary to \ contact and it to produce a homeogeneous comes in with mass, amalgamating