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: Wrecking Co., who is working on: the wrecked steamer Spokane won Gull Rock, Lake Superior, expects to"take the steamer to dry dock betore the close of navigation. The weather is extremely rough and bad for wreck- ing operations, and the steamer is cracked in the center and a portion of the deck is telescoped, but never- theless Captain Reid is confident that he can release her very shortly. The Pittsburg Steamship Co. on Tuesday of this week brought suit against. the Wilson Transit Co.'s steamer Henry Oliver for damages in- ficted by the steamer upon. the barge Manila of the Pittsburg Co.'s fleet It is alleged that onthe night of Aug. 90 last, when the John Ericsson was towing the barge Manila through Grosse Point cut, Lake Michigan, the Oliver in attempting to pass her got too close and the suction drew the Hacsson over. The Oliver, if i stated, was then reversed, drifting across the channel in such a way that Me Manila ran into her.. A lien is sought for the cost of damage, $8,000, and the loss of time, valued at $11,000. The wooden steamer City of Glas- gow, owned by Hutchinson & Co. of Cleveland, caught fire when three miles off Green Bay harbor last Tues- day night, and is thought to be a total loss. The crew of eighteen men were rescued from the burning boat by the tug Taylor. The fire started in the vicinity of the engine room and spread so rapidly that the men were driven from the engine room so that the fire pumps could not be used. The steamer was without cargo on her way to Escanaba to load ore and was in command of Capt. John A. Logan. The vessel was built by James David- son in 1891 and was rebuilt in 1901. She measured 297 ft. keel and 41 ft. beam and carried 3,000 gross tons. The steel barges Amazon and Polynesia belonging to the fleet of Capt. James Cor- tigan, of Cleveland, will be converted into steamers during the present winter at the Cleveland yard of the American Ship Building Co. Work will begin at once, and the engines of the wooden steamers Caledonia and Italia of the same fleet will be taken out and placed in the Ama- zon and Polynesia. It is not known at Present what will be done with the Italia and Caledonia. The Polynesia and Ama- Zon are duplicates and measure 376 ft. keel and 46 ft. beam, having a carrying 'Capacity of about 6,100 gross tons. They Were built in 1897. The change will les- Sen the capacity of the boats about 200 tons each. The Australia, of the Corri- San fleet, which was also converted into 4 steamer several years ago, will undergo some changes during the winter. Her TAE Marine Review -- deck beams. will be set back in order to make more jroo 7 m. f - aoe or the clam When the steamer Charles M. War- ner of is United States Transporta- ee Co.'s,, fleet reached Buffalo on onday last, her captain related a very interesting circumstance concern- ing the steamer's trip. About two weeks previous, whén the Warner left Buffalo with a cargo of coal for Es- canaba, she crashed into the red buoy which had been set up to mark the breakwater -- shoal. The following morning the buoy was picked up about two miles down@the river, but the chain and anchor were missing, and everyone thought they had gone to the bottom of the Jake -7Atter un, loading her cargo at Escanaba the Warner went to Duluth for grain, and while going past the Sault the cap- tain suspected something wrong with the steering gear. A diver was sent to examine the shoe, and after some delay the chain and anchor were re-. leased and taken on board the steam- er. The Warner had traveled 1,000 miles in and out of harbors in this condition without meeting with in- 'jury, while the chain was worn thin by contact, with the boat's rudder. To have made this journey without a sin- gle mishap is considered a wonderful performance. COMMUTATOR GRINDER. 'The development of flats on com- mutators is a constant source of trou- ble, to the empineer and electrician, necessitating, as it does, the occasion- al turning or grinding down of the commutator until the flat is removed. The inevitable mechanical weakness of a commutator, being built up, as it NDER WITH AUTOMATIC COMMUTATOR GRI FEED. were, in parts, calls for delicate hand- ling in the truing up, and the use of reliable machinery in the process. The ; accompanying photen ¢ ¥ 3 ae. : . 'a type of commutator grin ue : ket by the being placed on the mar Phillips Commutator Grinder Co., of ut eat | London, England, with offices at 320 Broadway, New York. In the Phil- lips machine the grinding spindle is driven direct by means of a specially prepared rubber friction wheel run- ning on the commutator, so that no motor is required to drive it. This GRINDER SPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR USE ON SHIPBOARD, spindle is carried by a strong slide, and, when working, moves to and fro across the face of the commutator. It. is automatically reversed at. each end, and is' so constructed that stops can be set as in a planing machine, grinding the surface right up to the connecting wires and back to the edge. Fig. 1 is a general view of the atittomatic machine, showing the clamp arrangement suitable for fixing around the rocker bearing. Where no rock- ers are used, the machine can be se- secured to the outer bearing, or se- cured by suitable means to the bear- ing cover bolts. Hand-feed machines are designed for commutators up to about 9 in. with a 6-in. face, but for commutators of larger size the automatic machines are recommended. The hand-feed machine shown is very compact, and is designed specially for dynamos on board ships, which, as a file, are erected close to the bulkheads, or other limited accommodation, allow-- ing but little room for working. This machine can be adapted for use, also, on dynamos in other locations. The tug Cora L. Staples arrived at New London on Sunday morning and reported that Chief Engineer Matthew McCreery had been drowned between Point Judith and Watch Hill. - 'The captain believes the engineer was thrown into the sea by a lurch of the tug, as the weather was rough.