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See pea ee June, 1910 TAE Marine Review The Columbia River Stern Wheel Tow Boat C. Minsinger P to recently it has been the prac- tically invariable custom in towing on the Columbia river to tow either on a long hawser or alongside. This practice grew, probably, out of the fact. that .the -great, majority Of the towing in the early days consisted of booms of logs which it was more ex- pedient to tow astern. The stern wheel steamer C. Min- singer, illustrated herewith, is the first tow boat on the Columbia river. designed to push her tow ahead as is customary on the Ohio. and Missis- sippi rivers. This boat represents the highest development of the stern wheel towboat on our Pacific coast rivers. The hull and superstructure is built of native fir throughout. The boat is 150° ft: -long, 30. ft. beam and: 7 4. deep. The hull has the form of stern common to stern wheel steamers and three rudders are hung under the transom just forward of the wheel. The stern wheel is built of wood with hexagon. shaft, and is 17 ft. in dia- meter with 20 ft. face. The engines are the high pressure, non - condensing, horizontal paddle wheel type, common to this class of vessel, with cylinders 13.in. in dia- meter, 6 ft. stroke. Each cylinder is fitted with four independent poppet valves, two admission and two ex- haust, and with Rees' patent valve gear, which takes the valve motion from the connecting rod, thus doing away with eccentrics.. The engine in- dicates about 250 H. P. and is usually run at from 3% to % cut off with 230 Ib. boiler pressure, under which con- ditions it is said to turn the wheel from 22 to 26 revolutions per minute, giving the boat a speed, without tow, of from 15 to 16 miles per hour. A locomotive-type boiler, built by James Monks, Portland, Ore., is in- stalled. Crude oil is used for fuel, two steam blown burners being used. The oil is carried in six steel tanks with a total capacity of 210 barrels. The oil consumption is stated to be from 1.5 to 3.0 barrels per hour (42 gallons per barrel) depending on work- ing conditions. An independent steam capstan, steam Steering gear and electric lights are also fitted. The tow is lashed ahead of the boat. From two to three barges of sand are handled each trip. Each barge is 150 x 30 ft. in size and carries 390 cu. yd. or about 580 tons of material. The boat was designed by Messrs. Minsinger & Bunton of Portland and was built by the Portland Shipbuilding Co. The engines were designed and oo floating plant, does the work of plac- ing, bedding or arranging the stone or material on the breakwater come under the provisions of the law? c. Does the law apply to the work of unloading, assorting and piling sup- plies or materials, such as lumber or cement, delivered by a contractor on land or in a warehouse owned or leased by the United States? d. Where a vessel belonging to the CoLUMBIA River Tuc C. MINSINGER. built by Jas. Rees & Sons, Pittsburg, Pa. The steamer is owned and operat- ed by the Star Sand Go, Portland, Ore. EIGHT-HOUR LAW IN GOVERN- MENT WORK. George B. Davis, judge advocate general, has recently delivered an opin- ion on several phases of the eight- hour law as applied to government work which is of great interest to the marine trade. The opinion has been concurred in by the secretary of war and transmitted to all government en- gineers for their guidance. The opinion is as follows: The opinion of this office is desired as to the application of the eight-hour law under the following circumstances: a. Where lock gates are delivered by a contractor in sections, and erect- ed in place, does the law apply to the assembly of the sections at the lock site and to the erection of the gates in the lock by the contractor? b. Where stone or other material is delivered on a breakwater from United States is moored to a dock,. wharf or landing, owned by the goy- ernment, does the work or repairs on such vessel, by a contractor, come under the provisions of the law, the vessel remaining in the charge or cus- tody of the United States during the continuance of such repairs? The law restricts the hours of labor of any mechanic or laborer who may' be employed "upon any of the public works of the: United States," etc., to eight hours in any one calendar day; 'and in an opinion of this office, dated July 27, 1909, the view was expressed that the law could not be evaded by employing them for less than eight hours on the public work and then putting them to other work in such manner that the aggregate of the two periods would exceed eight hours in one day. The fact that the laborer is employed on the public work would, it was said, bring him within the terms of the law, so that he could not be required to work in excess of eight hours in any one day, whether the en- tire period was included in the public work or not.