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22 MARINE [July 24 REVIEW. CABLEWAY FOR COALING AT SEA. Reference has several times been made in these columns to the Lidger- wood-Miller marine cableway for coaling vessels at sea and to success attained with the apparatus in experiments conducted for the British and United States navies. New views of the apparatus, obtained since it was installed upon the U. S. S. Illinois by the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co. of New York prompt further reference to it. The first cableways of this kind were placed upon the collier rather than upon the ship to be coaled. With this method an average of 39 tons of coal transferred per hour for five hours was attained while the ships were roll- ing heavily in such bad weather that at one time the hawser parted. The best record in tests made under more favorable conditions was 64 tons per hour with loads of one ton. One of the illustrations on this page shows a battleship of the United States navy, the Illinois, equipped with the cableway. The chief advantage of this system is that it will permit the battle- ship to take coal at sea from any masted vessel which it may meet in any quarter of the globe. The equipment requires two special winches, which have been so designed as to serve a double pur- pose. The winches originally located on the superstructure deck of the IIli- nois have been, displaced by these two special winches, which serve all general purposes of the original machines, and in addition are adapted for operating the marine cableway when coaling at sea. In this manner there has been no essential increase to the machinery of the warship and no additional deck space has been required. The only ad- ditional equipment on deck consists of a few bolts, a coil spring at the mast- head, and two levers conveniently lo- cated on the after bridge. Just below the steering compartment and beneath the platform deck the remainder of the 2 equipment is located. A reel suspended A from the deck carries 2,000 ft. of 7-in. sea anchor line. There are also two 3%-in. conveyor lines and two sea anchors. There are also the haul-down block, carriage blocks, etc., all of which occupy a space, just below the deck, 16 ft. long, 7 ft. wide and 4% ft. deep. The coil spring attached to the mainmast will be completely compressed under a load of 20,000 Ibs., -but a strain of 12,000 lbs. only is developed in carrying a load of one ton. As the warship pitches and ascends, this spring will compress and elongate, thus serving to equalize the somewhat varying strain on the sea anchor. After the sea anchor has been located and the sea anchor line made taut, the tail block is hauled over and at- tached to the mast of the collier. This carries with it the conveyor line from one of the ee ne iodine BAGS ON DECK READY FOR HOISTING. winches. At a point above the sea anchor line another lashing is made as shown in one of the illustrations, and two 34-in. wire guy ropes are there attached and led forward on an incline to the starboard and port sides of the ship, where they may be attached to the deck at almost any place found convenient. On these two inclined stays will run two little elevat- ing trucks, weighing only 37 lbs, each. Loads of one ton can be hoisted from the port deck and then the starboard deck, in alternation. to the masthead, where two men are located. One of these men takes in his hand the loose ring which is a pat of the elevating hook. When the ca- bleway carriage reaches the collier's masthead the ring is placed by hand a over the hook of the carriage, a lever 1s pulled on the elevating truck, ang the load is dropped and thus transferred to the cableway carriage. This operation, by actual time, has been accomplished in two seconds. The other man at the masthead will take off the empty bags as they return from the warship and send them to the deck for refilling. With the present arrangement the load starts from the collier on a down-hill route and continues so for more than half the distance. When the load is just clear of the center of the span and in its lowest position U. S. S. ILLINOIS TAKING COAL AT SEA--USING LIDGERWOOD-MILLER MARINE .CCABLEWAY. the man on the warship begins to pull down the haul-down block, and by the time the bags reach this block they will be trailing on the deck. The operator then stops for an instant, lowering continues for a foot or more, the load is unhooked from the carriage, the empty bags put on and the whole lifted to its normal position. At the same time the operator sends. the empty carriage back to the collier for another load. The capacity of this equipment should be sixty round trips per hour, and the quantity delivered should not be less than 40 tons in the same time. The chief limiting factor in the capacity will be the abil- ity of the men on the collier to feed the cable- way. By having our warships thus equipped the question of coal supply is largely solved, and solved with less cost than in any other way, since they can coal direct from any collier and are not dependent upon coaling stations. Our navy needs a few colliers in peace times, and a great many in case. of war. Any masted ship, either sailing vessel or steamship, can do duty as a collier and deliver its coal at sea to any warship equipped with a marine cable- way. CHANGES IN THE NAVAL REGISTER. The mid-summer revision of the naval reg- ister, which will be issued from the naval in- telligence office at Washington in a few days, contains many facts of value to the service and to those interested in its personnel. Admiral Dewey remains at the head of the active estab- lishment, his duty being given as '"'senior mem- ber, general board."' Rear Admiral George C. Remey, chairman of the lighthouse board, is the senior officer of his grade, and Capt. F. A. Cook, who commanded the armored cruiser Brooklyn in the war with Spain, is the senior captain. Com'dr L. C. Logan stands No. 1 on the list of commanders, and Lieut Com'dr S. W. B. Diehl. Lieut. William Truxton, Lieut. (junior grade) D. M. Garrison and En- sign John H. Alligan, Jr., are the senior offi- cers of their respective grades. 'Medical Di- rector George F. Winslow is the ranking offi- MASTHEAD OPERATIONS WITH EMPTY AND LOADED BAGs.cer of the medical corps; Rear Admiral A. S. ; _ Kenny, paymaster general, holds this position in the pay corps; Chaplain D. H. Tribou is ne leading cheapie W. Hendrickson, the senior professor of mathematics; Naval Constructor J. e. Hanscom, the senior officer of the construction corps, and Rear Ad- miral M. T. Endicott, chief of the bureau of yards and' docks, is the head of the civil engineer corps. Considerable doubt existed in the bureau of navigation as to where Pay Inspector Stephen Rand should be placed in the navy list. Mr. Rand is the officer whose promotion was recently refused by the president on the ground of insufficient sea service. Mr, Rand was the senior pay in- spector, and a vacancy existed for him in the grade of pay director. The