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

April, 1914 Machine Spun Oakum The George Stratford Oakum CO. Jersey City; No J. recently sent out to a number of ship yards along the Atlantic seaboard and_ great lakes, where replies could be had quickly, the following questions: First--As_to the cost of spinning Carded Best. Oakum by hand. Second.--The 'usual amount of waste these yards found in such spinning, Third--As to the comparative econ- omy of using Machine Spun Oakum as compared with the carded oakum. The replies have been very interest- ing and the company feels that it should make this public without giv- ing the names of the yards who gave the information. In answer to the first question, as to the cost of spinning oakum by hand, six replied that it cost 2c per lb., five 2%4c, five 3c, three 3%4c, one 4i4c, one 5c, one 5%4c and one 7c. As to the amount of waste usual in spin- ning by hand six replied from 1 to 2 per cent; six, 3 to 4 per cent; nine, 5 to 6 per cent, and one, over 10 per cent. It would appear, therefore, that the average or generally accepted cost of spinning by hand would run, under normal conditions, from 2 to 3c per lb., and the average waste in the neighbor- hood of 5 per cent. Those who use the machine spun oakum have neither of these diffi- culties to contend with as is instanced by a few of the replies given herewith. These are only. a few examples of many others too numerous and lengthy to quote here: "Spun giving entire satisfaction. Con- template doing all our calking with the spun." "Under no circumstances would we stop using the spun." "No reason to use other than your spun." "I consider your new best spun the. best I have ever used." "Your machine spun first class in every respect, and way ahead of the unspun oakum." "We consider it pays to use the ma- chine spun." "Your machine spun oakum is very €conomical and the quality A-1." It would seem from these statistics that it would be much more econom- ical for the ship yards and dry docks to purchase the machine spun oakum at a higher original cost than the un- spun, taking into consideration the cost and waste in spinning by hand. Nicholson Ship Log The Nicholson Ship Log Co., of. Cleveland, has installed its ship log on a number of vessels in merchant service both on the coast and Great THE MARINE REVIEW Lakes as well as in the vessels: of various navies, including the United States navy, Russian navy, Italian navy, German navy and Japanese navy.- It has been adopted pretty generally, by the passenger lines of the Great Lakes and has proved ¢mi- nently serviceable. It will in all likeli- hood be installed on some of the bulk freighters this season. A reliable speed recorder would have been of great helpfulness to many of the freighters that were out in the November storm in determining their probable location. It is quite possible to install it now in bulk freighters, as provision can be made to draw in the intake tube in shallow waters or the sea locks can be placed high enough in the bilge to prevent fouling. The recorder shows the speed per hour on a dial and records this speed on a chart for every minute of the trip, thus furnishing invaluable data for future reference. The device is entirely automatic and requires very little attention beyond the daily winding of the clock in the pilot house and changing the papee record. A New Sea-Going Tug The Erie railroad has just placed in commission the new all-steel sea- going tug Albert J. Stone, named for the general manager of the road. The Stone was built by the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co., Port Richmond, -Staten Island, to plans and_ specifica- tions by Babcock & Penton, New York and Cleveland, and is 120 ft. in length, 28-ft. beam, 14 ft. 9 im,.- deep: The machinery consists of a triple- expansion engine with cylinders 15 "24° in; 40° in. diameter, 28-in: stroke, with independent condenser } 161 'and circulating pump and attached air pump. Feed, donkey, sanitary and fire pumps are of Blake pattern. The boiler is 14 ft. 9 in. diam., 10 ft. 6 in. long between heads, with three 44-in. Morison furnaces. The working pressure is 180 pounds. Auxiliaries include electric lighting plant with search light, Hyde steam windlass forward, steam steerer and Hyde system gypsy aft for handling tow lines. Bunker capacity for 150 tons and fresh water tankage for 60 tons are provided. Welin quadrant davits are fitted for handling two boats. Captain and mates are quartered in the texas, and the engineers, oilers and deckhands in the forward end of deck house. The galley, dining room and refrigerator are also located in this house. The firemen are quar- tered in the forecastle. The Stone is designed for towing coal barges in the Boston trade outside Cape Cod, and has proven herself a very satis- factory and able craft. In the judg- ment of New York marine men, she is one of the finest all-round tugs on the coast. The Keystone Hindley Gear Co., 704 Pennsylvania building, Philadel- phia, Pa., have compiled a manual of standard Keystone- Hindley gears, showing various combinations of diam-. eters and ratios suitable for the trans-_ mission of from three to 50 H. P.' under various conditions and for a va- riety of purposes. . The information should be of assistance in the intelli- gent application of worm gear trans- nussion. SEA-GOING TUG ALBERT J. STONE