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1902. ] - tion to the ordinary state rooms theré are suites consisting of bed, sitting, and bath rooms for families, 'There are also single-berth state rooms, practically a new feature in ocean liners. 'The first- class accommodation is all arranged amidships on the upper decks, and the number of such passengers provided for is 36s. The grand dining saloon is on the upper deck, and extends the full width of the ship--75 ft. It contains seating accommoda- tion for over 300 persons. Aft, on the upper and bridge decks, there is accommodation for 160 second-class passengers, excel- lent not only in regard to bedrooms, baths and lavatories, but in saloon, smoking room and library. An unusually large number of third-class passengers are provided for on the upper-middle and lower decks, some in separate cabins and others in open berths forward. There are separate galleys or kitchens for all three classes of passengers; also separate pantries equipped in the most approved and modern style. NEW SHALLOW-DRAUGHT STEAMER. Yarrow & Co.; the well known Thames ship builders of Poplar, this week ran a preliminary trial of a new type of shal- draught is, of course, essential to navigation. She is 75 ft. long low-draught screw steamer. This vessel has been built for trading purposes on South American rivers, where shallow- by 9% ft, wide, and will carry, when fully loaded, 20 tons. So far as the engines and boilers are concerned, the machinery pre- sents no novel features. The propeller, however, is so placed that with a diameter of 2% ft. it can be fully immersed when the boat is drawing no more than 11 in., and that without its pro- jecting below the bottom. In vessels previcusly constructed, the after part of the bottom, or "run" was made very flat. The central part of the bottom plating has been arched up so as to form a tunnel in the after part. This tunnel is not only arched in cross section, but also in longitudinal section, its highest point rising consderably above the normal water plane. In this tun- nel, the screw revolves, the propeller shaft going through a stuff- in box in the plating much as usual. 'Thus the screw in the old type was not completely immersed, and its efficiency accordingly very much discounted. In the tunnel boats, the propeller drives out the air from the crown of the tunnel as soon as it begins to revolve, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the surface of the surrounding sea drives water up to fill the vacuum. In this way, so long as the vessel is going, the screw is completely sub- merged, working with a maximum efficiency in solid water. In most screw vessels, excepting those of deep draught, the ten- dencv of the propeller is to draw down air, and this often leads to a serious loss of power. In the case of vessels of this type the steel plating of the tunnel, which almost surrounds the screw, prevents this undesirable action. The full description of how Yarrow & Co. have overcome the difficulties thus presented is thus given: In order to reach the end described, it should be remem- bered, the bottom edges of the tunnel must be beneath the normal] water plane; otherwise the vacuum would not be formed, and the water would not rise to cover the propeller. 'This, however, 'leads to a serious drawback in the system. The propeller race, or water sent aft by the screw, is largely thrown against the downward sloping after part of the tunnel; and, though the latter is eased off to as flat an angle as possible, this deflection of the race naturally absorbs a great deal of power. This is more especially the case when a vessel is loaded; for, naturally, the boat must be designed for the edges of her tunnel to be im- mersed even when she is at her lightest draught. It is in order to overcome this defect that Yarrow & Co. have invented the new arrangement of tunnel which is the distinctive feature of the boat tried this week. In place of the tunnel dipping down again as it goes aft, after reaching the greatest height, it is carried along with the top of the arch parallel with the water level. The exit astern is therefore above the water level, so that air would be admitted, thus vitiating the principle, were not special means taken to prevent it. Aft of the propeller is a hinged flap or shut- ter made of plate steel. This is so arranged that it hinges on the roof of the tunnel; its forward end--where it hinges--being just aft of the propeller. When this flap is lowered its after end dips under water, and it thus forms an after downward inclined roof to the tunnel and enables the vacuum to be formed and the water lifted when the screw revolves in the manner already de- scribed. It should be stated that the tunnel is made of rectan- gular section where the flap is. By this ingenious device Yarrow & Co. have overcome the one great objection to the tunnel-en- closed method of screw propulsion; which, in spite of the draw- back to which reference has been made, has been found to pos- sess great advantages for shallow water service. Up to recent times it has been considered that paddle-wheel steamers were nec- essary for such purposes, because immersion could not be ob- tained for the screw. With side-wheel steamers the extra width needed was often a serious objection in new countries and narrow channels. 'The stern-wheel arrangement overcomes this difficulty, but in all paddle-wheel vessels the machinery is both expensive and heavy, and its weight presents another serious difficulty when light draught is a necessary feature. A screw engine will make two or three revolutions to one of a paddle steamer, and with equal power developed would be very much lighter. At vary- ing draughts the paddle-wheel with radial floats is a very ineff- cient instrument; that is to say, it is efficient only at the draught for which it is designed; and when feathering floats are used MARINE" REVIEW' ANi * the cost of up-keep is greatly augmented, owing to the wearing of bushes and joints. In some waters the up-keep of the feathering paddle:wheelstis*€qual in cost to that of the engines themselves: -- In regard to practical results, it may be stated that the steamer to which reference has been made has steamed at the rate of 9% miles per hour on a draught of 11 in. With a load of 10 tons the draught was 20 in., and the speed 8%4 miles per hour; and with 20 tons on board the draught was 28 in. and the speed 7% miles. With a medium load, 10 tons, the fitting of the new arrangement enabled the speed to be increased over half a mile an hour, the same power being developed by the engines.' This represents an increased efficiency of 25 per cent. since the power required increases approximately as the cube of the speed at these rates of steaming. At light draught, i.e., with no load on board, the result was naturally not so marked, but still the gain was considerable, over a quarter of a mile per hour. In view of these facts it may be safely said that Yarrow & Co. have introduced a system which gives results for light-draught navigation 'superior to those yet obtained from any: class of paddle-wheel vessel. . SHIP BUILDING DURING AUGUST. The bureau of navigation reports that 119 vessels of 31,460 gross tons were built in the United States during August as fol- lows: et As eee Woop. "STEEL, © 1) 9OTAr Sai. -| Stgam. |- Sam. | STEAM. No.| Gross. |No. Gross. |No. Gross. No. Gross. No Gross. Atlantic & Gulf} 48 | 7,785) 18 S26 oie ee 6-| 18,816 | 72 | 21,627 Porto Rico.:..| 2 DB eee ee aus 2 Jos ulin ol eee et) eee ee Oe "PAaciicy 2.) s6sjell 45783: |;10-| 2980: fi. ee 1 268 | 22 | 6,985 Hawaii 1 (Pedra alee eed ea |e eae SAS 6 Great Lakes...| 1 20 6) TAS oy le ee es Pe 108 12 766: WesternRivers|. ee 13 "dB ee ea ok Pe AT ddl Oe otal. 63 | 12,655 | 48 SelOOo da ete ase + | 8.1 15,058 {119 | 31,469 The largest steamer in this list was the Siberia, built by the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co:.for the Pacific Mail Steamship-Co, . Doe) er en ee THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. What was probably the first steamboat was: built by John Fitch, and is shown below. It was only 4 ft. long, and at first only had paddle-wheels.. This was run in a pond near Davis- ville, Bucks County, Pa. in 1785: Five years later, 1790, he fitted a boat with steam-driven oars and ran it on the Delaware river, near Philadelphia.. 'The photograph is from a 26-in model of a yawl which ran witha screw on Collect Pond, New York city, in 1797. 'The construction can be seen from the photograph, Fitch's Steamboat. -and is, of course, very crude and open to criticism, but the boat ran, and John Fitch deserves much more credit than he receives from the world at large. In the popular mind everything in steam engines is due to Watt, in steamboats to Fulton, in loco- motives to Stephenson, and in electricity to Edison. Needless to say--and without detracting a particle from the true fame of each--they are all wrong---Railway and Locomotive Engiméering. It is announced in New York that Charles R. Flint's yacht, the Arrow, designed by Charles D. Mosher, has beaten the record for speed which was held by the British torpedo boat Viper. In a speed test on the Hudson she made a knot in one minute and - thirty-two seconds which is at the rate of 39 13-100 knots or 45 6-100 statute miles an hour. The Arrow's dimension are: Length over all, 130 ft. 4 in.; length on water line, 130 ft.; ex- treme beam, 12 ft. 6 in.; draught under screws, 4 ft. 11 in. She - has two quadruple-expansion engines, capable of developing 4,000 H. P. During her test she carried 400 lb. of steam in-her boilers -and 375 lbs in the engines. oc The Hardv Ship Building Co., Tacoma, Wash., will shortly have completed two excellent vessels. The first is the passenger steamer Georgia, 110 ft. long and 22 ft. beam. She will cost approximately $40,000. The John C. Myers, a four-masted bark- entine, is being built for Ludden & Christensen of San Francisco. She will be 200 ft. over all, 186 ft. keel, 41 ft. beamvand 15 ft. 6 in. deep.