AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. TRANSACTIONS.
December, 1884. Experiments on journal friction at low velocities, by A. M. Wellington.
These experiments were made on the rolling stock of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, to obtain a clearer insight into the general laws of friction. For this purpose the results are compared with the investigations of Professor Thurston, and also with the elaborate series of tests recently made in England by Mr. Beauchamp Towers. The experiments were made to observer. Initial journal friction; 2. The normal coefficient of journal friction at ordinary operating velocities; 3. The extent of the conversion into heat of the energy lost by friction; 4. The effect of load per square inch of bearing on the coefficient of friction.
The real value of lubricants and the correct method of comparing prices, by Robert H. Thurston.
BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE.
June, 1885. The torpedo scare.
In this article, Hobart Pacha maintains that the offensive and defensive power of the torpedo is enormously exaggerated, and in proof cites his experiences in the Turko-Kussian War.
BOLETIN DEL CENTRO NAVAL.
March, 1885. Plan of attack by torpedoes. Notes on chronometers. Deep sea sounding apparatus.
ENGINEER.
April 3, 1885. The Naniwa-Kau.
This cruiser, and a sister ship nearly completed, were built for Japan by Messrs. Armstrong & Co. They are of 300 feet length, 46 feet beam, 18½ feet draught, and about 3600 tons displacement. They have twin-screw engines, which are to develop at least 7500 horse power, and to give a speed of 18 to 18½ knots. The armament, protected by shields, consists of 2 28-ton gtms, as bow and stern chasers; 6 6-in. guns, in broadside; 10 1-in. machine and 2 rapid-firing guns. At both mastheads two Gatlings will be mounted, and in addition there are four above-water torpedo tubes.
May 8. Recent experiments with Gruson’s chilled iron armor. June 5. The U. S. despatch boat Dolphin.
ENGINEERING.
April 24, 1885. Torpedo boats in war.
May 1. Electric lighting at the international inventions exhibition (illustrated). Artillery at the same (illustrated). The defence of our coasts.
For this purpose-the writer would block all ports by torpedoes, and supplement them by harbor defence vessels and torpedo boats.
May 8. The Howe.
This armored vessel, begun in 1882, was launched in April last at the Pembroke dockyard. She is built entirely of steel, is of the barbette class, 325 feet long, 68 feet beam, 9700 tons displacement, with a mean draught of 26 feet 9 inches. Her armor varies in thickness from 18 inches to 9 inches; the armament will comprise 4 13½ inch 64-ton B. L. R., 6 6-inch B. L. R. on Vavasseur mountings, 6 12-pdrs., 10 Nordenfelts, and 5 Whitehead torpedoes in firing position. The coal capacity is 1200 tons; H. P. is 9500, and the speed expected 16 knots. She will carry 445 men; the total estimated cost is £453,000.
May 29. The fleet in action.
An editorial upon the character of future naval actions. The writer thinks that the most valuable use of the torpedo boats will be after the first charge; when, following the charging line, screened by smoke, they can attack the enemy under the most favorable circumstances. Should the enemy use his torpedo boats as skirmishers they could be destroyed before the general melee. Ramming should not be resorted to in a first charge unless it could be done without any danger to the ramming vessel. While in the first of the action the use of guns must be limited to known bearings and the ship so manoeuvred that they may be fired electrically with the best results, later on independent firing may be resorted to. In regard to torpedoes, the writer says that it would really appear that if two squadrons armed with Whiteheads are to pass through one another, at a cable’s distance between the ships, that every one of these vessels ought to be struck by a Whitehead in passing.
The Brunnan torpedo.
Apparently this torpedo is ejected with a velocity of 50 miles per hour. Within it are two coils of wire wound on spindles, each connected with the shafting of a screw propeller. The ends of these wires are made fast to drums on a steam engine ashore, and as the wires are unwound from the reels in the torpedo on to those on the engine, the screws are set revolving and the weapon propelled. Steering is effected by hauling harder on one side or the other to make the corresponding screw revolve faster. The position is indicated by a couple of lights similar to those used with the Lay torpedo. (No official trials have been made.)
The Giovanni Bausan.
Built for Italy by Messrs. Armstrong & Co., generally after the design of the Esmerelda, but larger, being 280 feet long; 42 feet beam; draught, 18½ feet; displacement, 3100 tons. The armored deck is 1½ inches thick. The armament consists of 2 10-inch 25-ton B. L. R. as bow and stern chasers; 6 6-inch 4-ton guns in broadside; 2 6-pounder rapid-firing, with several Nordenfelt and Hotchkiss guns. There is a revolving machine gun turret at each masthead; the gun carriages are provided with steel shields; there are one underwater and two above-water torpedo tubes, and a hydraulic crane for lifting boats. On the official trial of six hours with forced draught, the I. H. P. was 6000 and the speed 17½ knots per hour.
June 5. The Maxim gun.
A paper read by Mr. Hiram S. Maxim before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, in which he describes in full the mechanism of his automatic firing gun.
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE JOURNAL.
June, 1885. The Tehuantepec ship-railway (with plates).
INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, PROCEEDINGS.
Vol. LXXIX. Electric lighting for steamships, by A. Jamieson.
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
March, 1885. The history of paddle-wheel steam navigation.
NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR SOVAESEN.
Vol. 3, Part 5. Permanent crews in earlier days. Instruction of seamen in the care of sick and wounded.
REVUE MARITIME ET COLONIALE.
April, 1885. Warships (Italian). Analytical résumé of Laplace's Theory of Tides (continued through several numbers).
May. The employment of torpedo boats for coast defence. (Report of Lieutenant E. W. Very, U. S. N.). Rapid determination of a ship’s position when in sight of a coast.
The Formidable.
This first-class ironclad, begun in 1879, was launched in April last at Lorient, and will be ready for trial in about two years more (1887). She is 342 feet long, 70 feet beam, 25½ feet draught and 11,336 tons displacement. There is a three cylinder compound engine for each twin screw, and with forced draught they are calculated to develop 8320 horse power, and to drive the ship 15.2 knots per hour. A double bottom extends under the part of the ship occupied by towers, machinery, and boilers. Eleven water-tight bulkheads, about 1/3 inch thick, reach to the armored deck, or about 3½ feet above the water line; and a number of fore and aft bulkheads complete the system. The steel armor varies in thickness from 21½ nches amidships to 14 inches at the bow 4 the towers for the three 37 mm. guns are protected by 15¾ inches of steel,, and the armored deck, 3 inches thick, is increased to 4 inches over the engine and boilers. The battery will be composed of three 75-ton guns in barbette,, protected by steel shields, 12 5½ inch guns in battery, 8 Hotchkiss guns and several torpedo tubes. Two hollow steel masts will serve for signals, and also to hold platforms for two of the machine guns. The Formidable will carry 800 tons of coal, which should take her 3000 miles at 10 knots; completed, her cost will be at least sixteen millions francs.
The Bombe.
This torpedo despatch vessel, one of six ordered by the French government, was launched at Havre in April last. Built entirely of steel, so arranged as to gain the greatest strength with least weight, it is 200 feet long, 21 1/3 feet beam and draws six feet water. There are two engines, one for each screw, and they are expected to drive the vessel 18 knots, developing a total horse power of 1800. It has a three-masted schooner rig, with steel wire rigging, and all the recent marine improvements have been placed on board. Trials will be made shortly.
RIVISTA DI ARTIGLIEKA.
February, 1885. The fabrication of great guns abroad.
ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION, PROCEEDINGS.
February, 1885. Steel gun factories in the United States.
A review of No. 4, Vol. X, Proceedings Naval Institute, by Major G. Mackinlay, K. A.
April. On the use of general tables to calculate times of flight and remaining velocities, by Rev. F. Bashforth.
May. Revolving system of sighting guns, by Major L. K. Scott, R. E.
ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION, JOURNAL.
No. cxxviii. Side armor vs. armored decks. Mild steel applied to naval and military purposes. Musketry instruction afloat. Naval education.
No. cxxix. The use of torpedoes in war. The capabilities of private firms to manufacture heavy ordnance for H. M. service.
UNITED SERVICE GAZETTE.
April 4, 1885.
Upon recommendation of Lord Wolseley, the English ordnance authorities have at last adopted the solid wire-drawn cartridge instead of the “Boxer abomination.” It is, perhaps, only natural that Gen. Boxer should write: “I regard this hurried adoption of the American solid drawn cartridge, under the circumstances, as a very grave matter indeed.”
April 25.
Contracts have just been awarded for the following vessels for the English Navy: two first-class ironclads, displacement 10,470 tons; I. H. P., 8500; speed, 15½ knots; armor, 18 inches thick; price £602,500(average); time for construction, three years and a half. Two belted cruisers, displacement, 5000 tons; I. H. P., 7500; speed, 17½ knots; belt armor, 10 inches thick; price £224,000 each; time for construction two years and three months.
May 2. The Maxim gun.
The belt supplying the cartridges to this gun (see Proc. Nav. Inst., Vol. XL, 167), is made of two lengths of canvas, rivetted together at regular intervals with eyelets and strips, so as to form a succession of loops, into each of which a cartridge is inserted by hand. When any belt is running out, a fresh one is hooked on to its tail end, without causing any delay to the continuous firing of the gun. The simple water jacket encasing the barrel of the gun is found to answer very well for preventing excessive heating.
Upon introducing a belt of cartridges into the gun, and turning the crank handle, the cartridges are drawn in one by one, until the magazine is full; the empty part of the belt hangs out from the opposite side of the gun. On pulling the trigger by hand, the first one of these cartridges is fired, and the gun will then supply itself from the belt and continue firing automatically as long as the supply of cartridges can be kept up. The firing can be stopped after a single or any number of fires, and it may be set to fire any number a minute up to 600. Mr. Maxim is now making a gun for naval purposes to throw 1 7/8 inch shells at the rate of 150 per minute.
June 6. Inland navigation of torpedo craft in France.
A French torpedo boat has successfully passed from the English Channel up the Seine and out into the Mediterranean, the voyage occupying fourteen days. The advantages to France are very great, as it enables her to maintain the depot for torpedo boats in the interior, and to mass them upon either coast at will.
June 20. The Benbow.
This twin screw armor-plated barbette ship has just been launched from the Thames Ironwork and Shipbuilding Company’s yard. The dimensions are as follows: length, 330 feet; breadth, 68½ feet; depth, 37 feet 1½ inches; displacement, 10,016 tons. The armament will consist of two no-ton guns, 10 6-inch B. L. K., 12 6-pdr. rapid-firing guns, 10 4-barrel i-inch machine guns, and 4 5-barrel 0.45-inch machine guns. The no-ton guns will be placed, one in each barbette, forward and aft the citadel, and the carriages are arranged so that the guns can be trained through an arc of 115° on each side. The contract horse-power is 7500 with natural draught, and 9500 with forced draught, and the engines are expected to make about 100 revolutions per minute.