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Inspect Gyro Stabilizer for New Italian Destroyer Naval attaches of the great powers recently witnessed the trials at South Philadelphia of a 40-ton stabilizing de- vice soon to be installed in the new 2000-ton Italian destroyer leader Piga- FETTA, NOW under construction in the Royal Italian navy yard at Spezia, Italy. On completion the Picarerra will be the most modern and efficient warship of its type in the world, and engineers predict that it will be watched closely for new records of accuracy in naval gunery as a result of the stabilization. The big gyroscopic machine with a 20-ton rotor was designed by engineers of the Spery Gyroscope Co., Brooklyn, and constructed at the South Philadel- phia plant of the Westinghouse Elec- tric & Mfg. Co. Although the experts evidenced deep interest in the increased efficiency of operation and the greater maneuver- ability which the gyro-stabilizer will achieve for the Italian destroyer lead- er, special attention was centered on the prospects for far greater accuracy of gunfire. Engineers pointed out that with the gyro-stabilizer eliminating the heavy rolling in rough weather, gunners on the PIGAFETTA should be able to approach new records in naval marksmanship. They also explained how in a calm sea the ship can be rolled at will by the gyro-stabilizer to increase gun elevation and range. Heading the inspection party at South Philadelphia was Capt. L. N. di Villarosa, naval attache of the Royal Italian embassy at Washington. During the trial and inspection of the &yro-stabilizer, R. EB. Gillmor, vice president and general Manager of the Sperry company, and R. B. Lea, man- ager of the marine department, de- Scribed the huge. device and its action. The rotor, a 38,000-pounds steel fly- wheel, is 91 inches in diameter and 22 inches in thickness at the rim. The maximum speed of the great wheel is 1350 revolutions per minute, giving a peripheral speed of 32,000 feet per minute. The rotor, they said, was so carefully machined that only 7% ounces of weight change was made on one side to assure accurate balance and smooth operation. With installation of a gyro-stabilizer aboard ship, a law of nature as uni- versal as gravitation is definitely har- nessed. The law is one which alike holds up the small boy’s spinnig top and all the whirling planets. Scien- tists call it the law of precession. It it the power of a spinning body to re- sist strongly any force tending to change the palne of its rotation. Since it is a peculiarity of precession that if the tilt is fore and aft the gyro can be applied. to ships to counteract the motion of the sea’s waves. The sensitive gyro does not wait until a wave has reached the full force of its motion to act. Before the human sense can detect the beginning of the roll, the gyro has caught the move- ment and gone into action. Thus, the gyro-stabilizer, operating on a princi- ple of prevention, exerts anly suffi- cient energy to counteract the wave and stabilize the ship. Virtual elimi- nation of sea-sickness is only one of the many everyday uses of the gyro- stabilizer at sea. It also saves power, a 20-degree roll figuring equal to a 10 per cent loss of power. New Freighter for Ford Has Successful Trials The Epeewater, one of the two 300- foot cargo ships built for the Ford Mo- tor Co. at River Rouge, Mich., was given her official trials Aug. 7 on Lake St. Clair and developed 13 miles an hour under ballast equivalent to full- load conditions. The tests, made under the super- vision of Capt. O. H. Johnson, superin- tendent of marine construction at the Ford plant, and of W. M. Rice, vice president of Henry J. Gielow Inc., de- signers of the twin vessels, showed that the boat would stop in one and a half times its own length, that it would virtually turn on its own stem with the aid of dual rudders and that the pair of 800-horsepower turbines could be reversed in nine seconds. The craft was loaded Aug. 10 and made her first trip to Edgewater, N. J. She was designed for operation on the barge canal, and it is reported that she and her sister ship are the forerunners of a big fleet of vessels which the Ford company will operate on the New York state waterway. The giant dirigible Akron, building for the United States navy by the Goodyear Zeppelin Corp., was christ- ened by Mrs. Herbert Hoover at Akron, O., on Aug. 8. The new ship is now being groomed for her preliminary trials, which will be held in the near future. Lieutenant Comdr. Charles E. Rosendahl is in command. The port of Baltimore chapter of the Propeller Club of the United States was formed June 11. Experts View Test of Mammoth Gyro-Stabilizer N 11-foot gyro-stabilizer, weighing 120 tons and designed to prevent rolling of a ship in a sea was tested early this year before prominent marine architects and engineers at the South Philadelphia works of the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. The huge ‘“‘top,’ weighing 110,000 pounds, spins at a speed of 930 revolutions per minute within the stabilizer casing, spun by a built-in 200 horsepower motor. The stabilizer was built by the Westinghouse company to the order of the Sperry Gyroscope Co., New York, for a foreign shipbuilder. Engineers at the test said the gyro, precessed by an external electric motor of 75 horsepower, would keep a 450-foot ship within two degrees maximum roll. Almost an hour is required to get the 55-ton rotor up to its speed, and when power is cut off the rotor, it will revolve of its own momentum for more than two hours. The stabilizer is one of the largest ever constructed. A smaller one, now completed as noted in the item at the top of this page, was ordered by the Italian government for a destroyer leader. A separate turbo-electric power plant of 360 kilo- watts is required to operate the large stabilizer. MARINE Review—September, 1931 37