The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

14 fected in other directions before a satisfactory recovery of the ship build- ing industry can be looked for. In our ship building review of this date last year we pointed out that 1907 would suffer in comparison with 1906, because fewer contracts for new ton- nage had at that date been placed; and if this has proved true of last year it will prove even more true of the current 12 months. Inquiries there are in the market, but few contracts and few orders. The past year has again given to the northeast coast the blue riband of British ship buildmg. In total quan tity of output the first half-dozen firms of the United Kingdom are as follows: THE Marine REVIEW SOME PHASES OF THE FUEL QUESTION.* By PROF, VIVIAN B, LEWIS, F. I. C., F.C. S., ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF COUNCIL. It is only a century since the naval architects had their ideas revolution- ized by the introduction of steam, and the marine engine has gradually swept the sea of the sailing ship, while now in turn the supremacy of the steam-driven engine is threatened by the internal-combustion motor, and we seem to be on the eve of a period marked by the rivalry of the marine engine and turbine on the one hand, and the oil and gas engine on the other. For high powers the victories of Name and Place of Firm. 1--Wm. Doxford & Sons, Ltd., Sunderland..... 2--Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Belfast.............. 3--Russell & Co., Port Glasgow............. 3 4 td., 4--Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Walker 5--Workman, Clark & Co., Ltd., Belfast....... e fi td., citeliclicl nirwl pissWieiko} eliclie™ajis)"elle(eilelivieliee¢.e10)/¢ 6 0\-2 0, e650 6--Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Walker -(The figures in parentheses indicate the position of the firms in 1906.) PC ee No. of B. of T. vessels. tons. eam eae" apie (2) 22 91,254 SO aa FaE eee acme ee (3) 9 75,015 Buea hatin name te eteneues CO) 14 71,705 Wallsend and mPa mineeataeie nite ales (1) 19 69,064 De Sete ee ae (5) 24 63,245 Elswick and Roe eres ate (--) 12 50,538 100 420,821 These six firms, then, have turned out 100 vesesls of 420,821. Board of trade tons, or with an average register tonnage of over 4,200 tons. This is not so large either in numbess or in tonnage as in 1906, when 112 vessels of 488,520 tons were produced by the first six ship building establishments in the kingdom, but the average size of the vessels is about the same. And, while it is true that we have no great Cunarder or White Star liner in last years totals, some noteworthy ves- sels were turned out. The following is a list of 10 of the largest merchant the latter have all been on land, and under conditions totally different to those which would have to be ful- filled afloat, but for small powers there is no gainsaying the unqualified success of the petrol motor boat, or that the labors of Capitaine and oth- ers have made the suction plant and gas engine a possibility, while Mr. Milton's able communication to the Institution of Civil Engineers in Jan- uary last warned us that the oil en- gine using heavier grades of oil than petrol would soon be employed for marine propulsion. ships of 1907: All these varieties of the internal- Vessel-- B. of T. Tons. Builders. RNS HIniasen heen Vite Se sO Qe) ak ick bee codes Sele wee es oie 12,900 Harland & Wolff, Ltd. 2 Pericles (Aberdeen-Australian Line) .............-.0+- 11,960 Harland & £Wolff, Ltd. Sia COSicamen @Alila memset ee. soe ciel s a eesere: ot toss olen ersta ce ages, 11,637 Barclay, Curle & Co., Ltd. Ae NV) men CLO Vlogs See erie © OS) o> ede wensteie oto) lekepaddl Sods) 9. v aie ecelepetns'e 11,073 Harland & Wolff, Ltd. 5 (Came (Cieavpioeim WE Sa (Con) eoencne uso saticc mous os an 10,897 Fairfield Co., Ltd. 6 lndh@oolis Ciparwene Wier Ss CO) scosoducogcsocond000 10.897 Fairfield Co., Ltd. MeN LES [Ciel corte CAM cra [sity @)) abn, 22.) overs: it's Ges w siete eles «sive ee 9.598 A. Stephen & Sons, Utd. Sen Griccraa pp Terie @ AW aries It) ee ects cance ois eye's + leleceieres oie see's 9,597 A. Stephen & Sons, Ltd. @ (Chay: Ost "eek (Cine Eib)) sa deo ges Onno come ob digo cee een 9,292 Barclay, Curle & Co., Ltd. Belfast and the Clyde share the hon- ors of producing the largest units of the year. The total output of the centers may be stated in tabular form as follows: combustion engine have their draw- backs. The petrol is an active dan- ger afloat, owing to its volatility, the difficulty of preventing any escape, the small quantity of vapor that is ----1907 ----1906 B. of T. B. of T. No. Tons. No. Tons. The Clivlomerrenieree se ware. ion he oc oo ery 538 581,579 372 575,433 heRmelio theme eerie yo ei kc aes ark see oe 57 21,174 39 17,077 pli CHM Naame ree Cueyreue tte accion ee 40 15,891 27 28,635 iiiiewen ecm pen eee ie 132 15,080 75 11,719 Elbktemeetvitlehenrteotnar cen. deh & kilo Meroe eis des oA Gas 149 308,046 159 387,343 BIMIY CRC Aenea these eet int spc saree Gr Ts Bie oiceees oes OC NN 91 294,552 99 326,060 The Hartlepools Re Re omy see eed 29 94,327 44 - 140,303 Ns eC CSM arte ie eC i ieiine ia ada's + sie cers mois css 54 135,129 44 149,922 pilvemeltumiberuar rire tasers te ciei las bicactes sac es 118 31,280 134 34,262 SU eee Ailes eee nr err eva eeei-ferls oii. ac. ¢ 81 8,594 127 11,141 English East, West and South Coast Outports.... 240 28,027 ae lol 43,041 tel ai dure ee ine iar os Pe aes 39 139,442 28 149,861 Royal Dockyards (displacement tonnage) ......... 3 37,800 3 47,100 Rov MM Me rte gh ee 1,571 1,724,921 1,468 1,921,897 ID. ones 5 Siouindog GO ne Res ees Bye i ge er Papp ae sie A eee 196,976 needed to render an atmosphere ex- plosive, and the way in which the vapor, owing to its weight, will flow along a surface for a considerable dis- tance, and, on igniting, will carry flame back to the tanks, which, once alight, defy extinction. The suction plant suffers from the limitation that, before it can achieve commercial success afloat, a form of generator and scrubber, occupying a small space, must be devised in which bituminous coal can be used as the fuel to be gasified, and the gas sup- plieds tneediainom jall. tat vapor, and: although Mr. Thornycroft, in his ad- mirable paper on the subject at the last spring meetings of the Institu- tion, spoke hopefully of this being on the eve of fulfilment, I am not aware that it has yet been _ successfully done. The mechanical troubles of caking and arching of the fuel in the generator can be overcome, but many years' experience of efforts to decom- pose or get rid of tar vapor has im- pressed me with a great respect for the difficulties of the problem, and a perfectly clean gas, absolutely free from tar vapor, is the first essential for success with the gas engine. The heavy oil engine also has its troubles of feed, compression, and _ ignition, but these are of a kind much more likely to be easily overcome, and in some forms of engine have almost disappeared. At the present moment I think we may fairly say that for high powers afloat the internal-combustion engine is purely in the experimental stage, and that, although by next spring the time may probably be ripe for a full discussion of the power and fuel ques- tion, it would be premature to do so now, and my desire is to bring for- ward a plea affecting only one small portion of this all-important 'subject. In the service the petrol motor has been employed in the submarines, for use when cruising above water, and, although in future boats it may be re- placed by other propellants, I cannot help the feeling that for several rea- sons it would be a very great advan- tage if, by simple alterations to the present engines, the ever-existing dan- gers inseparable from its use could be done away with, and a safer liquid used, and I think for this purpose al- cohol offers advantages that should command attention, and lead to a thorough investigation as to the pos- sibility of employing it. It must also be borne in mind that the perform- ances of the motor boat are such as to make it certain that in any future pe Xcadmatethe meetings of the forty-eighth session of the Institution of Naval Architects.