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An has been neglected on this ship. There are huge stores, hair-dressers' shops, a dispensary, and ample room for pas- sengers' spare luggage, so arranged that the passengers' access to their luggage is easy Even the special ma- chinery which has been laid down in order to deal expeditiously with pas- sengers' luggage is perfect of its kind. Very special care and thought has been bestowed on the subject of vent- ilation. With the "Thermo-tank" sys- tem the vessel can never be uncom- fortably hot or uncomfortably cold, and is never stuffy. '"Thermo-tanks" are distributed over the various decks to collect fresh air from the open, and, when charged, can reduce or raise the temperature of the air to any degree desired. This done, the air is dis- tributed by fans through trunks lead- ing to every section of the vessel. The tanks are not only capable of re- newing the air 12 times in an hour, but could also maintain the air at 60 deg. Fahr., with a surrounding atmos- phere at zero. In addition to this, Tac Mnrine REVIEW the ship has been furnished with scores of little electric exhaust fans. The refrigerating plant for the pres- ervation of provisions is the best that can be got, while the electric light plant is so complete that every state room is fitted with ladies' electric curling tongs. : The ship is practically as safe from fire as a ship can be, for she is fitted with the Clayton fire extinguisher, an apparatus which is capable of discharg- ing in any part of the ship 25,000 cu. ft. of fire-extinguishing gas per hour by means of pipes laid on to each and every room. The machine extracts the air of a compartment, simultaneously injecting sulphur dioxide. The fire extinguished, the sulphur dioxide is withdrawn and fresh air pumped in. Thus this machine can be used not only for extinguishing fire, but for airing the ship. For the further comfort of all on board a constant supply of water, salt and fresh, hot and cold, has been laid on all over the vessel. Reinforced Concrete Barges for | Panama Canal EINFORCED concrete as material for vessel construction has been used abroad, notably on the Tiber, for some years, but little or no attempt has been - made to employ it in this country. A few weeks ago The Canal Record, published by che Isthmian canal commission, con- tained a brief account of two voncrete barges building for work on the canal. This description has now been amplified in The Engineering Record, from which this article is excerpted. It appears that it was necessary to provide, on very short notice, a floating support for three dredging pumps. There was not enough lumber, nor plates and angles in stock, to build wooden or steel barges on the isthmus. To order material from the United States meant a loss of time of at least one month, and two or three times as much were a contract for the complete barges to be let. On the other hand, there was a large supply of high- grade cement in stock, sand and crushed rock were being delivered daily to the locks in such quantities that a car load could be easily, diverted to some other purpose without inconvenience, and suf- ficient steel bars for reinforcement were on hand to begin work, and the rest could be ordered and _ shipped while Barge No. 1 was under construction. Using the actual costs of materials de- livered on the job, a preliminary esti- mate showed that there would be need- ed 120 bbl. of cement, at $2.50 $300; 26 cu. yd. of rock, at $1.60-=$41.60; 36 cu. yd. of sand, at 95 cts. = $34.20; 23,000 Ib. of steel, at 3 cts. =$690; so that the cost of material for one barge would be about $1,065.80, which com- pares not unfavorably with the cost of any other Lurge of the same size. Wooden or steel barges could be be': or erected (if sent knocked-down from the United States) only by skilled me- chanics, who are paie high wages on 'the isthmus, and whose number is only sufficiently large to attend to the repair and maintenance of the floating equip-. ment. Therefore, none of these men could be spared for the new work. On the other hand, there are so many form carpenters and experienced concrete foremen employed in the construction of the locks that one of them, with his gang of inexpensive colored laborers, can easily be spared for some time. There is another important item in favor of concrete as material for these pontoons, viz.: The greater mass com- pared with that of a steel barge, which will help to resist vibration caused by the operation of the pumps and the rough handling to which the shell of a dredge is naturally exposed. It should be finally noticed that the first cost of a reinforced concrete barge is practically the only cost; whereas, 'the expense for paint, calking, etc., would heavy washer plate. June, 1910 keep on adding to the original cost of steel or wooden barges. Description of the Barge. The barge is rectangular in plan, 64 ft. long, 24 ft. wide, and has a /7-it. rake at the bow and stern to facilitate towing. The bottom is flat, while the deck has a sheer lengthwise of 4 in, and 1l-in. crown crosswise, so that the depth of 'the hull varies from 5 fn 4 in to. 5. ft. 8 10. Two bulkheads, 3 in. thick and spaced 8 ft. on centers, extend from bow to stern, forming, with the 2%-in. side walls, three equal compartments. The bulkheads and side walls, stiffened at in- tervals of 10 ft. by posts 10-in. square, are each to be considered as the web of a girder, whose chords are formed by a line of longitudinal 10 and 11%-in, beams in the deck and floor of the barge respectively. At the posts, the top and bottom chords of the girders are cross-connected by 10 and 11%-in. beams with heavy. knee braces. The system of beams subdivides the deck and bottom into 8 x 10-ft. panels, which are covered by. 3-in. and 214-in. slabs, respectively. Character of Reinforcement. The following reinforcement is be- ing used: In the bottom slab, %%-in. mesh No. 12 wire cloth and 14-in. square bars, spaced 12 in. on centers crosswise and 9 in. lengthwise. The same rein- forcement is used in the 2%-in. side walls. In the deck %-in. square bars are spaced. 8 in. crosswise and 6 in. lengthwise. Deck and bottom beams have the same reinforcement, viz.: Three 34-in. square bars on the tension side, one of which is bent up at the quarter points and carried over the sup- ports. The posts are reinforced by four 34-in. square bars, 2 in. from the cor- ners, the knee braces by two %4-in. bars, while %4-in. square bars are placed ver- tically and spaced 8 in. on centers in the longitudinal bulkheads. Six round 21-in. hatches are provided, one at each end of the three compart- ments, to give access to, and allow in- spection and ventilation of, the interior. Wherever a hatch is located the slab is strengthened by an additional small beam. Near each corner of the deck a mooring bit is anchored by six 3-in. countersunk bolts through the slab to a A 12 x 6-in. tim- ber fendner is fastened flush with the deck to the sides and ends of the boat. The dredge pump with its motor is set up about midship and at right an- gle to the longitudinal axis of the barge. Thus, the suction pipe reaches