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Diesel Power Boat Pointer The First Small Boat to be Fitted With a Diesel Engine in the United States--A Cheap Prime Mover HE Pointer, a service boat be- I longing to the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md.,is un- doubtedly the first small Diesel-pow- ered boat in America. It is interest- ing to note that this whole outfit, including the hull and engine, were designed and built in the United States. The Pointer was designed and built as a service work boat, to be operated by the owners in the harbor of Balti- more for towing and carrying freight. For this service it was necessary to have a heavy duty engine that would be efficient in towing, and also: an engine that would operate at a mini- mum cost. How well :the Fulton Diesel engine fulfills these require- such heavy construction equipped with only 50 horsepower. The engine has proven easy to start, and very simple in operation. It has been running on asphaltum base fuel oil, with a specific gravity of 0.844, the flash point 181 degrees, and burning 'point of 225 degrees, and 37 degrées Baume. The British ther- mal units per pound were 19730. While the makers of the engine guarantee a fuel: consumption not to exceed 0.55 pound of oil per horse- pour 'per hour, the test showed con- siderably better economy than this, as the engine when running under full load consumed 3% gallons of oil per hour, This oil cost 3. cents a. eallon, delivered, making a total cost for op- POINTER, EQUIPPED WITH FULTON DIESEL ENGINE ments is shown by the results of one of the tests made. The Pointer is a 54-foot x 12-foot 4-inch boat, drawing 4 feet 2 inches of water, and having a displacement of 20 tons. 'The engine is placed just forward of amidships under a hatch, the controls being carried up to the pilot house. : The engine installed is a_ three- cylinder 50-horsepower Fulton Diesel, having a bore and stroke of 8 x 9 inches, and the normal speed is 400 Tevolutions per minute. That this engine develops its full rated horse- Power is shown by the fact that it Swings a 38 x 38-inch three-blade pro- Peller at 400 revolutions per minute. The speed attained by this boat is really remarkable, it showing a speed of 10.4 miles, which is very 800d for a boat of this size and of erating the 50-horsepower engine per hour of a little less than 10 cents. This is very cheap when compared with steam or gasoline engines. The test showed that the engine consumed 0.4576 pound of oil per hoursepower hour, which is very much less than the guaranteed economy. A. small auxiliary air compressor for use in emergency for starting 1s placed in the engine room. This com- pressor outfit was designed and built by the Fulton Mfg. Co., and is driven by one of their 4-horsepower, self- sparking gasoline engines. This little compressor outfit is capable of pump- ing air into the bottles up to 800 pounds pressure, and will fill a bot- tle from atmospheric pressure up to 800 pounds in 25 minutes. Some details of the Fulton Diesel éngine will be interesting, and the accompanying cut will give a very good idea of the general outline of the engine. The Fulton Diesel en- gine is of the full Diesel type, operat- ing on the four-stroke principle. There are no hot bulbs or hot heads to heat before starting, as the engine will start instantly on air. The engine has three working cylinders, with bore and stroke of 8 x 9 inches. The fly- wheel. is placed on the after end of the engine, between the engine it- self and the reverse gear, the air compressor being driven by the main crank shaft on the front end of the engine. The Fulton Diesel engine is non- reversible, the maneuvering being done with a mechanical reverse gear, which greatly simplifies the engine, and makes it much easier to operate. It is interesting to note that the Pointer when running at full speed may be stopped dead in just 20 sec- onds, and may be brought from full speed ahead to full speed astern in 60 seconds. This allows the boat to be handled to very good advantage and is as quick as a reversible engine would be, if not quicker, and more reliable. The oiling worthy of note. system is. especially It is of the circulat- ing pressure, 'type, the oi being pumped .through a hollow' crank shaft to all bearings and wrist pins under 15 pounds pressure; it then drains to a pocket in the base, where it is filtered, cooled by the water in- take, and used over again. The engine is very clean and quiet in its operation; there is no smoke or smell to the exhaust; there is no ob- jectionable odor of any kind on the boat. This is a great advantage over the hot bulb type, which smokes and smells very badly. ' Anyone wishing information on the Fulton Diesel oil engine should write to the Fulton Mfg. Co., Erie, Pa. Plans have been' approved for the three new battleships California, Miss- issippi and Idaho, authorized by Con- gress, and. bids for their construction will be opened in October. The general dimensions of these vessels will be 624 feet by 97 feet by 30 feet, with dis- placement of 32,000 tons. Their main armament will consist of 12 14-inch guns, four submerged torpedo tubes and 22 5-inch rapid fire guns. r