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

1902.] oe | MARINE REVIEW. space per horse power should be provided than at present, even if pro- vision has to be made outside the main engine room for part of the machinery. Mr. List suggests that experiments should be made with retarders, but without the ferrules fitted to the junction of tubes, and tube plates of cylindrical boilers. He thinks that the damage to the casing of a water- tube boiler might be overcome by increasing the amount of brick work and of none-conducting material and by using thicker plating. He con- tends in favor of standardization of engines for each class of ships, favors nickel steel for machinery work, and on the question of the electric driv- ing of auxiliaries he submits that motors are suitable for driving fans of moderate size, small centrifugal pumps, and, in some situations, geared crank pumps, but that they are not suitable for use with capstans, hoists, winches, or other appliances essential to the safe handling and fighting of the ship, and in which the load may exceed the power of the motor, as, in that case, the fuse may be burned out or the armature damaged at a critical time. As to the Thornycroft-Marshall, Weir, and Stirling boilers, all of the large-tube type, which have passed the experimental stage, he thinks that they are worthy of trial in vessels attached to dock-, yards, where their performance could ibe carefully watched and where trials could be made at sea for extended periods under service conditions. HISTORY OF THE CRAMP SHIP YARD. The William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadel- phia, has just issued a little book giving the history of its company. The book is not only well done but it makes mighty interesting reading. The ship yard was begun by William Cramp in 1830, when he was only twenty-three; and for forty-nine years he remained at the head of it. When he set up for himself there were twelve other yards along the Philadelphia water front, all quite as large as his. Only one now remains of these twelve, the yard of Neafie & Levy, which of late years has be- come like its rival a place for the construction of vessels for the govern- ment. In the thirties, and for years later, the capital needed to erect a ship yard was little. Sheds, sawmills, slips and water frontage were all that was required. Most of the work was done by hand; hatchets and adzes were in constant use, where now steam and compressed air plants puff and wheeze as they work. A single tool in Cramps' ship yard today, the floating derrick Atlas, cost more than the entire equipment of William Cramp's yard even twelve years after it had begun operations. All the tools that had been used in, building the wooden ships of the days before the war had to be thrown away in the late sixties and early seventies, when the wooden vessels disappeared, and an entire new plant had to be erected. Willian: Cramp was able and willing to make the sacrifice nec- essary to save his business and to that fact is due the survival and growth of the Cramp yard, when all but one of the older concerns have gone out of business. The Cramp yard has changed its location once, and extended its 'borders many times. In 1830 it was at the foot of Otis street, now called East Susquehanna avenue. Then it moved to the foot of Palmer street, where its dry dock is still maintained. Now the main yard is further north, at the foot of Cumberland street. Today the main ship yard covers forty-six acres, while the docks at the foot of Palmer street cover nearly six and a half more, making a total of 52.4 acres. The principal building is 1,200 ft. long and 72 ft. wide, with a ground and floor area of 460,000 sq. ft. It contains the bending shed, blackboard shed, ship shed, joiner shops, moulding lofts, pattern shops, and machinery and store rooms, and is one of the largest structures under a single roof in the world used for mechanical purposes. ' There is a boiler shop with 62,000 sq. ft. of area, a machine shop with three floors covering 85,000 sq. ft., and among other less important build- ings, the blacksmith shop has an area of nearly 31,000 sq. ft. The main ship yard has a water front of 1,517 ft., more than a quarter of a mile; and the wet docks cover 200,000 sq. ft. The wharfage in the yards is just about. one mile in length. There are eight building slips, four with a building length of 480 ft. each, two of 500 ft. each, and two of 600 ft. each. Three overhead travel- ing cranes or gantries serve six of these slips. One of these enormous labor-saving devices travels 541 ft., another 629 ft., while the third travels 752 ft. Two of them have spreads of 190 ft., with 86 ft. hoist; the third spreads 176 ft., and has a hoist of 73 ft. The dry dock is 472 ft. long, and the marine railway hauls out vessels of 1,000 tons register. The brass foundry handles manganese bronze as well as brass, and can make a 25- ton casting "as easy as rolling off a log." The Atlas floating derrick cost $30,000, more than the entire value of the plant in 1841. It was built in 1892, and has these dimensions: Its pontoon is 73% ft. long by 62 ft. wide, with a depth of 138% ft. With a maximum load of 125 tons, and water ballast to. bring her to an even keel, she displaces 1,563 tons, and has 16 in. of freeboard. Her derrick mast is 116 ft. 714 in. in height, while the underside of her boom 1s 65 ft. above the deck. This great derrick lifted the 80-ton boiler of the Minne- apolis from the 'boiler wharf, carried it 100 ft. and placed it in position in the hold of the ship in twenty-seven minutes from the time of hooking on to the slings; and at another time lifted the four boilers of the Indiana, weighing 72 tons each, from the wharf to the hold of the ship in a single afternoon. : : The Cramp yard operates largely by compressed air, using, among smaller ones, two compound compressors larger than any others in the world. Seventy-two years ago, William Cramp employed fewer than 100 men; the maximum number employed now is about 8,000 and the payroll from a few hundred dollars a week has grown to $84,000, an amount reached not very long ago. : During William Cramp's forty-nine years of work in his own yard 207 ships were laid down there. Some of these were famous for their beauty and speed; some were the first of their kind in the United States. The Samson was the first steam tug in this country; the George W. Clyde was the first American vessel fitted with compound engines. The most important naval vessel built at the Cramp yard previous to the revolution in ship building that occurred in the late sixties was the New Ironsides, a cruising ironclad. She was commissioned within eleven months from the signing of the contract, and was of unique design, 250 ft. over all, 5814 ft. beam, with a draught of 16 ft. Her registered ton- nage was 3,250. She was ship-rigged, and had engines of 1,800 H.P. She carried sixteen 1l-in. Dahlgren guns in broadside, and two 200- 'showed that when forced it could burn over 60 Ibs. of coal per squa pounder Parrot rifles on pivots, all protected by sloping armor She proved impregnable in war, resisting the explosion of a bar pedo at Charleston, and passing safely through several action two of her monitor consorts were sunk; the only injury she s more than twenty battles was the carrying away of a port shutt was burned in 1866 while lying in ordinary at the Philadelphia ya: In the seventy-two years of its existence, the Cramp yard, cor vessels under construction, has built 321 vessels, and 220 engine: ing from indicated horse powers of 500 and 600 to 23,000, the latte those designed for the armored cruisers Pennsylvania and Colora the 321 vessels, twenty-five have been United States steam men-c built at various dates since 1861; one first-class protected cruise Kasagi, for the Japanese navy, four old-type cruisers, one fir cruiser, the Variag, and one first class battleship, the Retvizan, Russian navy; 103 ocean steamers of from 1,000 to 12,500 tons; ty six steamers not ocean-going; fiity-four tugs, nine sea-going ya twenty-eight clipper ships, and sixty odd other craft for various purp The Cramps have built these vessels now on the navy list o United States: Baltimore, Yorktown, Vesuvius, Philadelphia, 1 New York, Columbia, Minneapolis, [ndiana, Massachusetts, Bro Towa, Alabama, Maine, Colorado and Pennsylvania; the last th yet completed. During the civil war they built the New Ironside Wyalusing, the Yazoo, and the Chattanooga, besides four tran Jay Gould's famous yacht Atalanta came from the Cramp yar many of the best known merchant vessels sailing from this po: built there. William. Cramp died in 1879; but some years previou his death he had incorporated his firm, changing the name from Wi Cramp & Sons to the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Buildi Co., which is the present name of the concern. DESIGNS FOR NEW BRITISH CRUISERS. Glasgow, July 29.--The new designs and amended specificatio the six new cruisers of the Devonshire class, ordered some month are now completed, and they will be issued to the contractors f former designs. The vessels were originally to have 4-in. ; armor, as in the case of the vessels of the County class, but ex having proved that this is inadequate to keep out explosive she fitted with caps and fired with high initial velocity, attainable eve the 6-in. quick-firing gun, it was decided to make a change and armor on the broadsides. The decision was also arrived at to fit fifth of the boiler power in the form of cylindrical boilers, an mainder of water-tube boilers, which required more room thai complete installation of tubulous steam generators. These -- necessitated a longer and broader hull, so as to keep the draugh reasonable limits, even for the increased displacement of vessels ized in the spring of last year. It is nearly three months since the was placed upon the original design, but the improvements noy made justify the delay. It is in contemplation to fit the second-class cruisers with the tube boiler designed by Mr. James Weir of Cathcart, Glasgow. 'boiler includes in its advantages a combustion chamber and tube panded in the ordinary way, and several members of the navy committee visited the Cathcart works and inspected the boiler there It had been running practically continuously for two years, anc of grate per hour, and yet give an efficiency of between 67 and cent., while under natural draft it consumed 29 to 30 lbs. per si of grate with an efficiency of about 75 per cent. Under the conditions the evaporation was over 9 lbs. of water from and at 2 per pound of coal, and under natural draft 10% lbs. of water fro at 212° F. Following upon the inspection of the boiler Messrs. on the invitation of the authorities, submitted designs for the installation for a second-class cruiser of 10,000 I.H.P., with 2-in. tu! lap-welded wrought iron. The firm not only guaranteed the evapo but also absence from ccrrosion, provided their arrangements plying water to the boilers were carried out. The boiler committ ever, hesitate over the use of double-ended boilers of large size. _ A NEW CARGO RECORD. With increased draught of water throughout the lake syste1 usual about the middle of the season, the big ore carriers are all ir ing their cargoes. The tow barge John Smeaton of the Steel Co tion has established a new cargo record. She has just delivered at Chicago from Two Harbors a cargo of 7,536 gross tons or 8,441 ne This includes, of course, the 1 per cent. in excess of bill of lading which the ship carries on account of moisture in the ore. Cargo corrected to date are: ek Iron ore--Steel tow barge John Smeaton, owned by Pitts! Steamship Co., A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, manager, 7,536 gross or 8,4 1 tons, Two Harbors to South Chicago; steamer William Edenborn, burg Steamship Co,. A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, manager, 7,446 vt 8,339 net tons, Two Harbors to Conneaut. Grain--Steamer Simon J. Murphy, Eddy Bros. of Bay City, bushels of corn, equal to 17,532 net tons, South Chicago to steamer Douglas Houghton, Pittsburg Steamship Co., A. B. W: Duluth, manager, 308,000 bushels of clipped oats and 60,000 bus corn, equal to 7,520 net tons, Manitowoc to Buffalo. se Coal--Steamer I. L. Elwood, owned by Pittsburg Steamshif A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, manager, 7,688 net tons anthracite, ff. Duluth; steamer I. L. Elwood, Pittsburg Steamship Co., A. B of Duluth, manager, 7,388 net tons of bituminous, Cleveland to It is now certain that owners of sufficient stock of the Rep Co. to constitute a control have consented to a transfer of th the Cambria Steel Co. at $15 a share. It is understood that the pany will be satisfied with a controlling interest. Some of tl while disposing of part of their stock in order to give the stee control, have also decided to hold part in the belief that with market for the ore the stock will be of greater value later on. The submarine torpedo boat Grampus was successfully the works of the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, this we