AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
Bulletin No. 2, 1881. A cruise along the northern coast of Africa, by Lt. Comdr. H. H. Gorringe, U. S. N.
ARMY AND NAVY GAZETTE.
Dec. 3,1881. The following extract is taken from a leading article upon the revision of naval uniform. “We believe it is the general opinion in the service that either the so-called ‘full dress ’or ‘undress’ [social?] coat should be abolished, keeping only one for all ‘dress’ purposes, and wearing epaulettes and ‘ gold-lace trousers ’ for full dress occasions. A heavy and useless tax is put upon naval officers by making them have the two coats, for on most stations the necessity for full dress seldom or never occurs; the coats lie unused in the cabin drawers or the chest for the whole commission, and are never seen, except when clothes-lines are rigged and the said uniform is displayed for airing purposes, this ceremony often showing, especially in small craft, that the coats, etc., are none the better for keeping. The first expense is considerable, and in many instances entirely useless, for officers are but flesh, and their measurements, as years go by, are apt to van-, while their coats remain as at first built, and the consequence is that at a full dress occasion on board a ship, suddenly and unexpectedly called upon, officers do not present that appearance which would lead the spectator to exclaim, ‘ A thing of beauty is a joy forever.’”
BROAD ARROW.
November 26,1881. The United States Navy.
“Although the United States naval authorities are still disposed to defer the building of iron-clads until the ship of the future has been decided upon in Europe, they are yet bent upon making vigorous efforts toward constructing a fleet of swift unarmored cruisers. As with ourselves, however, the money difficulty is a serious one, and they have first to persuade Congress of the necessity of the case before they can construct the modest number of forty-one unarmored vessels, which they have reported should be built. Should this programme be appproved, the United States navy will then consist of sixty- two ships of all classes. Of the forty-one vessels which it is proposed to lay down, two are of 5300 tons and able to steam fifteen knots, six of 4200 tons to steam fourteen knots, thirteen of 3500 tons to steam thirteen knots, and twenty gunboats of 770 tons each to steam ten knots an hour. It is recommended by the Naval Advisory Board that all but the gunboats should be built of steel, covered with wood, and sheathed with copper. The gunboats would be entirely of wood. All the cruisers are to be full rigged, and capable of sailing independently of their steam power; and they are designed to carry enough coals for six days’ full steaming. It is estimated that this programme will cost $31,000,000, and occupy eight years. The object of such a fleet as this is evidently to harass, and, if possible, destroy the commerce of an enemy. It can scarcely be planned with a view solely to the defence of her own commerce, as the United States has very little left. In 1874 she had only 1,410,000 tons of merchant shipping, and now the tonnage is probably even less. It was in that year that Admiral Porter, in his evidence before the Committee of Congress on the decline of commerce, said that 'in case of war with either France or Great Britain, the American power would be exerted in cutting up their commerce.’ The present relations between these countries and the United States are all that could be desired, and we trust that nothing will ever occur to disturb the cordiality that exists between our cousins across the Atlantic and ourselves. But it would be unwise for us to reckon upon our present friendship as a permanent factor in the consideration of the precautions with which we should insure the safety of our mercantile marine, and the maintenance of our large ocean carrying trade. Admiral Porter in the course of the evidence from which we have already quoted, said, ‘Great Britain could not stand a war six months with the fleet of ships we could send out after her vessels. They would break her up root and branch, and that kind of warfare would be more likely to bring about peace than fighting with iron-clads or heavy war vessels.’ If America could do this seven years ago, what would she not be able to do with the proposed unarmored fleet of high powered, swift steel cruisers? Speaking on the subject in 1875, Sir Thomas Brassey—no mean authority—said, ‘Our strength in unarmored cruisers is still in excess of that of any other naval power. For every 1000 tons of merchant shipping our fleet of cruisers contains 32 tons, while the proportion which the tonnage of the unarmored cruisers bears to every 1000 tons of merchant shipping is in the French navy 14 tons, and in the German navy 4 tons.’ At that time the corresponding proportion of United States cruisers was less than that of France. Since 1875 we have largely increased our unarmored fleet, especially in the item of swift steel cruisers, so that our position is better in that respect now than it was then. Besides which it must be remembered that since 1875 very few sailing ships have been built for the mercantile marine, while during the same time many of our sailing ships have been lost. These latter have been replaced by steamers, and mere than replaced, lor the steam tonnage built during the past three years is equal to that of the six years previous. Hence our mercantile navy is better able to take care of itself than it was, and our war cruisers are more numerous and better equipped. The programme of the United States Naval Advisory Board need not therefore terrify us even if it is accepted by Congress, which, considering the estimated cost, is doubtful. It is well, however, that the Admiralty should take a note of the speed which the Americans propose to give to their largest ships, as we fear our recently constructed cruisers have been somewhat deficient in that respect.”
Cruiser Warfare.
Commodore L. P. Semetchkin, who had control of the Russian cruiser operations in America, in 1878, delivered a lecture recently upon this subject, in St. Petersburg.
“In his opinion the cruiser question was a State question. Russia’s rival and enemy—England—-was impregnable, so far as her navy was concerned—no European power could surpass her in that; but she could be both crippled and ruined by a regular series of cruiser attacks against her mercantile marine, her Indian coast, and her colonial possessions. Russian cruisers need not be very numerous, but they must be swift, carry extremely heavy armaments, and be furnished with a lame capacity for the stowage of coal. They should be trained to act singly, like a Cossack picket, to look for no support, and to dispense with any base. The best cruising grounds he considered to be the Norwegian coast, the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of the United States, both sides of South America, and, above all, the seas. He would have a cruiser bureau attached to the Russian Admiralty, where a careful record should be kept of the actual condition of the English marine, and the best routes for privateers, and whence, on an outbreak of war, every information should be forthcoming for the use of the cruiser captains. Maps showing the best cruising grounds were exhibited; these had been intended for the use of the cruisers in 1878.”
December 10th.
“The American Advisory Board on the Reorganization of the Navy, in their report just published, is of the opinion that ironclads should be built for the American navy, but not until after the thirty-eight unarmored cruisers, five steel 2000 ton rams, five torpedo gunboats, ten cruising torpedo boats, and ten harbor torpedo boats, which, at an estimated cost of twenty-nine to thirty-one million dollars, they recommend should be put in hand. As they calculate this programme will occupy eight years in being carried out, it is evident that the United States are in no great hurry for ironclads. One would have thought that their recent inability to back their views and intentions with regard to South American complications with a naval force, would have brought home forcibly to their perceptions that an ironclad fleet, at least equal to the combined fleets of the South American Republics, was a necessity for a power taking such a view of its duties and responsibilities as the United States has recently done. Perhaps the American people are also of this opinion, but the Naval Advisory Board is unable to suggest a type of ironclad which is likely to remain in fashion up to the time the vessel is ready for sea. Hence, under these circumstances, they do not feel in a position to advise any ironclads at all. The Advisory Board looks upon an ironclad ten years old as obsolete; and so in fact she is. But although obsolete, she would not be useless. The Inflexible was designed nearly eight years ago, but we do not suppose that in two years hence she will be a useless vessel; nor do we think that the Devastation, which was designed more than ten years ago, would be refused by the Americans if offered to them. It is true, we are not building Devastations now, simply because we have discovered a better type of ironclad; but we, nevertheless, have an idea that for many years to come, whatever improvements may be made in naval construction and gunnery, the Devastation, Thunder, and Dreadnaught will be able to render a very good account of themselves if required to do so.”
CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.
October, 1881. The carrying trade of the world.
December. Fair trade and free trade.
EDINBURGH REVIEW.
October, 1881. The fallacies of fair trade.
ENGINEERING.
October 7, 1881. The Jablochkoff system at the Paris Electrical Exhibition. De Meritens accumulating battery and magneto-electric machine.
October 14th. The manufacture of projectiles.
In this paper, read before the Iron and Steel Institute, Mr. J. Davidson, of Woolwich arsenal, points out the main features of the manufacture of projectiles in the Royal laboratory. Welsh iron was found to be the best material, but on account of its cost the ordinary mixture is composed of 30 per cent. Welsh iron, 30 per cent, old shell, 20 per cent, old guns, and 20 per cent, scrap. The consumption of iron in ordinary years varies from 5000 to 8000 tons.
Hedges Electric Lamp
October 21st. Modern British Ordnance, a paper read by Colonel Maitland, R. G. F., Superintendent of the Woolwich arsenal, before the Iron and Steel Institute.
In order that guns may be light, powerful and safe, the material from which they are made should possess the following qualities: uniformity, high elastic limit, strength, and capability of elongation, not forgetting cheapness. The wrought iron coils used in the Royal gun factory are made chiefly from wrought scrap. Railway scrap is preferred, and the more bolts the better; a proportion of puddled iron is also used, derived from old cast iron guns of the service.
Blooms of these materials are rolled into flat bars, piled with the scrap inside and the puddled iron outside, and rolled into bars of such section as may be required.
The following is the process adopted of making steel. Suppose a new furnace (Price’s patent retort) is ready to our hands. The hearth where the metal has to lie is in the form of a shallow dish, with an incline in every direction towards the tapping hole. To make an impervious bottom to this hearth, fine pure silicious sand is used, so that the smallest crevice may be filled. The furnace having been brought to an intense heat, a thin layer of the prepared sand is spread evenly over the bottom, and subjected for more than an hour to the highest temperature attainable. The sand will now be set or caked. The furnace door is opened, and another layer of sand spread over. This is repeated several times until a depth of from two to three inches is attained. It takes a whole day to make the bottom of a new furnace.
The hearth being ready and a tapping hole made, the furnace is ready to be charged. For a 3-ton ingot the average charge would be 24 cwt. of selected pig with 24 cwt. of scrap steel and 2 cwt. of iron ore. At the end of four hours this will be melted. Then more scrap steel, or wrought iron, as the case may be, is charged hot in portions of about 4 cwt. at a time. This takes 15 to 20 minutes to melt, and gives the furnace time to regain its heat. These supplementary charges are repeated until about 20 cwt. of hot steel scrap or wrought iron has been added to the bath. Care is taken that the proportion of carbon in the melted metal does not get too low before the whole of the charge is put into the furnace. When the charge is all melted, a specimen is taken from the bath and tested for carbon; and more oxygen is supplied, if necessary, by means of iron ore. At this stage about 28 lbs. of ore may be added; and at intervals of fifteen minutes more ore is thrown in, should it be required, and the metal again tested. A specimen taken from the bath, beaten out with a hammer while hot and cooled in water, should hardly show any signs of temper. It should bend over double and behave like soft iron. Another piece cooled without hammering should when hammered show a toughness and softness almost equal to copper.
The metal is now ready for the ferro-manganese, of which 1 to 1½ per cent, is used for making soft steel. It is broken into small pieces and made red hot before being put into the furnace. After a lapse of eight or ten minutes the metal is then tapped.
Analyses of specimens of steel, from four different manufacturers, which have been employed for gun tubes with satisfactory results, give as a mean 0.288 per cent, carbon and .228 per cent, manganese.
October 28th. Lights for lighthouses.
The object of this paper as stated by the author, Mr. J. R. Wigham, is to show that, notwithstanding the superior intensity of the electric light, it will not be found so useful for lighthouse purposes as the quadriform and other gas lights. The result of experiments in England, in 1874, was that in fine weather the electric light was much brighter than the gaslight; in misty weather it was less brilliant than gas, and in foggy weather the gaslight was visible long after the electric light had been obscured. Four electric lights have been set up in England. At one of these lighthouses, Dungeness, the electric light has been discontinued, and oil again used, chiefly because its great glare deceived mariners as to their distance. There is a double objection to the electric light: 1. In fine weather it is misleading to the sailor; he cannot be certain of his distance from it; according to the state of the weather it looks equally bright, whether it be ten miles off or only one. 2. In foggy weather, when a light is specially needed, it is more easily totally obscured by the fog than the gaslights on the triform and quadriform plan now applicable for lighthouses. The original cost of applying the electric light at a lighthouse is more than double that of applying gas or oil, and the annual cost of maintenance is also more than double.
Buss’s Tachymeter.
November 18th. Report of the full power trials of the engines of H. M. S. Wrangler class. Griscom’s double induction motor.
November 25th. The most advantageous efficiency for steam boilers. Batteries at the Paris Exhibition. Field gun carriages and the strains of recoil, by Mr. H. J. Butter.
The highest velocity of recoil, obtained by dividing the product of the weight of the shot into its initial velocity by the weight of the gun, has been found to be incorrect. This might be true were the recoil of the gun to begin at the same instant with the ignition of the charge; but it has been found that the recoil begins when the projectile leaves, or after it has left, the muzzle. The highest velocity of recoil may then be calculated for pebble powder from the formula V = vw/ W Ö 4/3 and the energy developed from the formula E = V2W/2g 4/3. The results by this method give a remarkable degree of uniformity when compared with that obtained from the time waves of the curves and areas of the curves of recoil.
Alexander’s slip link. Gun cotton.
December 23d. JablochkofFs alternating current generator. Ex-focal light for lighthouses.
Objection having been made to the Wigham gas-burner because gas flames being largely ex-focal, were in consequence of no value to the mariner and therefore wasteful, Mr. Wigham shows by the concurrent testimony of many shipmasters that in thick or foggy weather the ex-focal light is of greatest value, indicating the position of the lighthouse by the loom or glow, when the light itself is invisible.
December 30. Jaspar system of electric lighting. De Musanne’s electric lamp. Thornycroft’s screw propeller and steering gear for torpedo boats.
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE JOURNAL.
October, 1881. Experiments on the strength of wrought iron and steel at high temperatures. The proper method of expansion of steam and regulation of the engine. The last experiment (Mar. 19,1881) with the Perkins machinery of the steam yacht Anthracite.
December. Report of the committee on the precautions to be taken to obviate the dangers that may arise from systems of electric lighting.
The committee was composed of Drs. R. E. Rogers, C. M. Cresson, and Isaac Morris, nnd Messrs. David Brooks, E. At Scott and E. J. Houston, and from the report the following extracts are made : “ That from a careful consideration of the evidence submitted they believe that the use of electricity as an illuminant, as now generally employed, is not attended with any dangers, either to person or property, that cannot be obviated by the adoption of precautions hereinafter set forth. . . . 1st. That the" conducting wires leading into and out of the building be suitably insulated throughout their entire extent, both to and from the machine producing the current. 2d. That an inspection be made at suitable intervals to determine whether or not the insulation has been preserved intact. 3d. That conductors formed of numerous short pieces of wire be avoided as far as possible, and that when their use is necessary the joined ends be made as secure as possible by wrapping, so as to prevent short arcs being formed at imperfect junctions, should the joined ends be partially separated from each other. 4th. That the wires be not grounded, that is, no attempt be made to cause the current to pass back to the machine through the earth, but that a continuous line of wire be provided, through which the current shall so return. 5th. That the ready occurrence of cross contacts and short circuits be avoided. 6th. That the conducting wires be of sufficient size to carry the most powerful current employed without dangerous heating. 7tli. To avoid the danger to life from the accidental discharge of the current through the body, the conducting wires should in ail cases convenient be placed out of reach, either by choice of locality or by the use of heavy and guarded insulation. 8th. That where lamps of the arc type are used, they be covered with a globe of glass, and that the lower end of such globes be furnished with a cup or pan for retaining any heated fragments.”
GIORNALE D’ARTIGLIERIA E GENIO.
January, 1881. New ordnance in the Spanish navy.
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
Proceedings, August 1881. The Tyne, as connected with the history of engineering. The progress and development of the marine engine, by Mr. F. C. Marshall.
This paper has had the honor of a reprint in a number of engineering journals, and is of particular interest, as it shows the improvements that have been made in the machinery of merchant and war ships. As to the tabulated results of the economical performance of the machinery given by Mr. Marshall, one is led to think that the horse-power taken is that indicated at the moment the diagrams are taken, and not the average for the day; if this is so, the power should be corrected for the day’s run when the coal is taken for the day. The description and plates of the various types of marine engines and boilers, as well as the details of their construction and management, are of particular interest to the engineer; the discussion of the advantages of a forced draft in boilers by which the maximum power may be obtained from the minimum weight of boiler shows that the system has many advocates. The author of the paper favors the use of locomotive boilers or their equivalent, and thinks that the weight of machinery, fuel and water carried has not received that attention which the importance of the subject demands.
In making the following table of the average weight of the machinery, including engines, boilers, water, and all fittings for sea (excluding coal), the power taken is that indicated by the diagrams on the measured mile trial, and is the maximum indicated horse-power, while as a rule the average maximum power developed at sea under ordinary conditions is about 70 per cent, of that developed at the measured mile trial for merchant steamers, and less for naval steamers, which must be considered in making comparisons.
Table op Weights in Pounds per I. H. P.
Merchant steamers, 480
Royal Navy (English), 360
Engines speciallv designed for light-draught vessels, 280
Royal Navy (“Polyphemus” class given by Mr. Wright), 180
Modem Locomotive, 140
Torpedo Vessels, 6
Ordinary marine boilers, including water, 196
Locomotive boilers, including water, 60
Iron and steel as constructive material for ships, by Mr. John Price.
The discussion of this subject by men who have built ships of both materials, is of special interest to all who are interested in the constructive material of the new unarmed cruisers proposed by the Advisory Board; it is a clear statement of how much has been saved by building ships of steel, instead of iron, as well as the increased cost of such a structure. The question whether the wear and tear, as well as the interest on the increased investment, will counterbalance the receipts from the freights due to the greater dead load carried, is ably discussed, and the conclusion reached is, that for some trades, iron ships will pay better than steel at the present price of the latter material, though the advantage is on the side of steel in nearly all cases where full freights are to be obtained. In naval-vessels, steel should be the material for framing, plating and beams; in every steel ship it will be advisable to use a certain amount of iron, as the thickness of the material and not its strength will decide the question as to What must be used. It is doubtful if a greater saving than 10 per cent, can be made on the weight of the hull of a ship by using steel instead of iron ; both having equal strength, the cost per ton of displacement will be much greater, in material and labor, for steel.
Sir Henry Bessemer made the statement before the Iron and Steel Institute that, up to that time, no steel by the Bessemer or other processes had been made that was uniform in its quality; he went so far as to say that the steel of an ordinary table knife might be hard on one side and soft on the other, but by the introduction of a rotary mixer they were now able to mix the metals so that they would be of uniform quality.—Engineer, October 14,1881.
The Elswick Engine and Ordnance Works, (Sir Wm. Armstrong & Co.).
The system of built-up gun construction is carried out in these works on true mechanical principles. By this system of construction sufficient longitudinal strength is obtained with the maximum circumferential strength; as now built the gun is almost wholly of steel, an inner steel tube about which is wound coils of a steel riband, with the tension adjusted on each successive layer. To give longitudinal strength, steels staves with the ends notched over are placed over the coils of riband steel, then over these staves are firmly fixed steel and two wrought iron bands, which is all the iron used in the construction of the gun. A 6-inch gun has been made on this system, and fired, giving results far surpassing anD that have yet been obtained with guns of the same weight; a 10-inch gun is nearly complete.
This number is an exceedingly interesting one to those dealing with the questions of the designing and construction of ships, their motive power and armament.
MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE D'ES SEEWESENS.
Vol. IX., Nos. 10, 11. The Niger table.
A discussion of the means by which this now famous table of lunar distances was constructed. This subject seems fruitful tor discussion, as several papers in former numbers of this journal and of the Revue Maritime have been devoted to its consideration.
Water-tight compartments and the pumping arrangements of modern men- of-war. The management and machinery of torpedo boats. Relations between the constant dynamo-electric machines. Record and results Of the third international Polar conference, held at St. Petersburg, August 1881.
This paper gives a complete account of the scientific work which it is proposed to undertake.
New Gramme regulator for several lamps in continuous circuit. Experimental data in regard to mitrailleuses of large calibre and rapid firing cannon of small calibre. The change in the magnetism of iron ships. Trial of the Russian yacht Livadia. The imperial German flush-deck corvette Marie. The Buonaccorsi propeller. The condition of the Austro-Hungarian merchant marine. Bachman’s telemeter. Review of U. S. Naval Institute prize essay for 1881.
No. XII. A summary of the data on compound armor. A simple derivation of the theory of Mercator’s chart. Anchor gear on the steamer Helois. Notes on English naval matters. The English monitor Conqueror. The Italian squadron in the year 1880-81. The Russian Naval Academy. Conventional colors for painting the smoke-stacks of the ships of the French navy. Jamin’s new modification of the electric lamp. Statistics of the Italian merchant marine. Area of the seas according to the latest calculations.
MITTHEILUNGEN UEBER GEGENSTANDE DES ARTILLERIE UND GENIE-WESENS.
No. X., 1881. The brachy-telescope. Analysis of nitroglycerine. Note on the preservation of wood.
No. XL Firing experiments at Krupp’s factory in 1881. Cannon tubes of steel bronze in Germany, with record of experiments. The purification of gun cotton from decomposition products. Note on the canal between the North and Baltic seas.
No. XII. Explosion of a 16 cm. cannon on the corvette Tornado. Firing tests with gun bronze. Phosphorescent powders. New torpedo depot in Brunshausen.
MONITEUR DE LA FLOTTE.
November 6,1881. A new torpedo.
A Roumanian engineer has just invented a submarine torpedo boat which is characterized bv the power of manoeuvring under water for twelve hours without interruption. It can work at a depth of one hundred feet in rivers and from seven to eight hundred feet in the sea; it rises or sinks noiselessly either instantly or progressively, by means of a set of propellers; it is capable of moving in any direction, and it carries a light by which the officers who direct it can see a distance of one hundred and thirty feet. When at the surface of the water it manoeuvres like an ordinary armored torpedo boat.
A new type of ship.
The discovery of M. Raoul Pictet consists in a new system of vessel against which the resistance of the water shall be considerably diminished by constructing it in such a manner that it shall pass over the water instead of through it. From mathematical calculations carefully, verified, vessels so constructed should attain a speed of from fifty to sixty kilometres an hour. A boat is to be built to test the plan and will be tried upon Lake Geneva.
Marine instruments at the Electrical Exposition.
M. Bisson’s electric compass is composed of an ordinary magnetic compass which is placed in such a position on board ship as to be free from local attraction ; at the masthead, for instance. The indications which it gives are then transmitted electrically, by a system ingenious, though perhaps complicated, to a needle on the deck or bridge of the vessel; this needle being always parallel to that at the masthead, indicates the magnetic meridian of the place.
M. Bonneau exhibits an apparatus for observing and recording the direction and force of submarine currents; it consists of a sheet brass boat capable of being hermetically closed and weighted so as to be sunk under water. To use it it is immersed to a convenient depth and kept in place by a float; a large keel acts as a rudder and keeps it in the direction of the current, while a screw of known pitch turns with a velocity proportionate to that of the water. The shaft of the screw, inside the boat, makes and breaks at each revolution an electric current which leads by a wire to the registering apparatus whereby the velocity of the current may easily be determined. To determine at the same time the direction of the current there is in the boat a compass composed of an electro-magnet. The wire for registering the current passes around this magnet in going to a circular groove cut in the bottom of the reservoir of the compass. In this groove is a liquid whose electric conductivity is known, and into it is plunged one of the ends of the wire from the electro-magnet. There is a partition in the groove, and the electric current is obliged to pass through that portion of the liquid between the partition and the wire from the electro-magnet. The length of this section of fluid varies with the direction of the electro-magnet, and, the variation in the current being measured by means of a galvanometer, the angle made by the electro-magnet with the axis of the boat, that is, the direction of the current, may be determined.
November 27th. An electro-motor boat.
A boat twenty feet long, three and a half feet beam, provided with an electromotor, is to be launched at Boulogne, and the owner purposes crossing the channel to Folkestone in it. This experiment will be very interesting, as, if successful, it will be the first instance of a voyage in a vessel driven by electricity.
Submarine Blasting.
Major Lauer, of the Austrian Engineers, has used a new method in removing rocks in the bed of the Danube, at Krems. He placed the charge of dynamite so that it touched the surface of the rock, in a hollow cylinder like a piece of gas-pipe and fired it by electricity. The rock was broken in fragments so small that they were swept away by the force of the current. The method is about forty per cent, cheaper than that formerly employed.
December 18th. Dynamose.
“This name is given to a new explosive recently experimented upon in Austria. The composition is not stated, but the experiments showed that in muskets a greater initial velocity was obtained than with powder, with less fouling of the piece.”
December 25th. The phosphor bronze boat.
“A small boat constructed entirely of phosphor bronze has recently been launched at the Thames; it is thirty-five feet long with six feet beam, and has attained a speed of nearly twelve and a half miles an hour. It was built by the Phosphor Bronze Co. to test the strength of the phosphor bronze sheet and angle pieces before undertaking to construct more important vessels, and in rigidity and absence of vibrations the boat fully realizes their expectations. It is thought that the advantages of an unoxidizable metal will more than counterbalance the increase in the first cost in the construction of vessels.”
NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
July, 1880. Commodore Hull and the Constitution.
A sketch of the life of Commo. Isaac Hull, by Gen. Jas. Grant Wilson, in which appears the following: “Hull and Dacres had met before the war and had some conversation in regard to the merits of their respective navies. Professional pride operating on both, led them from generalities to particulars, and at last to speak of what would happen if, in the event of war, their ships, the Constitution and Guerriere, should come into collision. Hull, who was lively and good-humored, laughingly said to the English captain, ‘Take care of that ship of yours, if I ever catch her in the Constitution.' Dacres laughed in return, and offered a handsome wager that, if ever they did meet as antagonists, his friend would find out his mistake. Hull refused to bet money, but said he would wager on the issue—a hat. As Dacres, who was wounded in the action I have described, came up the side of the Constitution, the kind-hearted Hull said, as if addressing a shipmate, ‘Dacres, give me your hand, I know you are hurt,’ and when the captain offered his sword, Hull added, ' No, no, I will not take a sword from one who knows so well how to use it—but—I’ll trouble you for that hat.' " A short history of the Constitution is added.
Obituary. Captain Homer Crane Blake, U. S. N.
NINETEENTH CENTURY.
October, 1881. Fair trade and free trade.
QUARTERLY REVIEW.
October, 1881. Fair trade and British labor.
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
November, December, 1881. Deterioration of American oyster beds, by Lieutenant Francis Winslow, U. S. N.
In a recent number of Lippincott's Magazine appeared an article which logically led to a belief that oyster culture in the United States could, if conducted as in France, be made financially successful. Mr. Winslow in these articles shows that while oyster culture is an expensive and laborious undertaking of doubtful financial success, oyster protection may be easily achieved with but a small expenditure of money. While attached to the U. S. Coast Survey in command of the schooner Palinurus, Mr. Winslow made thorough and exhaustive investigations of the oyster beds in Tangier and Pocomoke sounds and parts of Chesapeake bay during the summers of 1878-79. The results of the work accomplished may be found in the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Maryland. 1880; and the Societe d’Acclimation of Paris in awarding a medal of honor to Mr. Winslow, atttested to their value in a manner which must be as gratifying to him as it is to the service to which he belongs.
REVISTA GENERAL DE MARINA,
October, 1881. Reckoning of time and the choice of an universal prime meridian (continued). Notes on Japan (continued). Mangin’s designs of reflectors (translation). The automatic life-saving jacket of Soliani and Martorelli. Explosion on board the Tornado of a gun which had been altered from twenty to sixteen centimeters upon the Palliser system. Theory of cyclones. The corvette Aragon.
November. Review by the Emperor of the German squadron of instruction in the port of Kiel. The Spanish navy. The interior arrangement of ships. Transformation of the merchant marine. The corvette Aragon.
December. Height of mounting machine guns (translation). Daltonism (color-blindness) in navigators. Some considerations upon the explosion on board the corvette Tornado. The Spanish navy. A new sounding machine, by Sir William Thompson (translation).
REVUE D’ARTILLERIE.
October, 1881. A calculation of the elements of fire when the angle of elevation of the target is considerable, and the application to plunging fire. Theoretic study of shrapnel.
November. The influence upon the range of small arms of the constant diminution in the initial velocities given by metallic cartridges.
“Experience shows that the powder enclosed in metallic cases undergoes in time a certain transformation, and that the initial velocity that a given weight of powder will impress upon a ball of given weight and determined form diminishes a certain amount each year. From experiments made in France in 1880, on cartridges manufactured there in 1876, which had originally an initial velocity of 450 metres, it appears that this diminution varies between three and a half and four metres a year.”
Accordingly, Chef d' Escadron J. B.F. Lefevre discusses in this paper the correction in sighting which should be made to compensate for the deterioration of the powder, and in conclusion recommends that the initial velocities of the cartridges of various dates of manufacture should be determined twice a year, and the information sent to those concerned.
The B. L. Armstrong guns. Notices. A new explosive for shells.
“Experiments were made in March last, in Russia, with a new style of projectile charged with compressed gun cotton and fulminate of mercury. This composition appears to be able to produce great effect against defences, and at the same time to resist the shock of discharge; not a single projectile exploded prematurely during the experiments.
The parapet against which the shells were fired was covered with wood protected by a 15 cm. steel plate. With a reduced charge the projectile ricocheted on the plate; combining proper charge and angle of elevation, after passing through the sheathing and wood backing, it exploded in the parapet, producing remarkable destructive effects.
The results of these experiments show the possibility of firing shells of this description in the manner indicated and of giving great effectiveness to a curved fire against ships. When the quantity of pyroxyline which can be enclosed in a 28 cm. shell is considered, it is easy to imagine the destruction its explosion would produce on board an enemy’s vessel.
REVUE DES DEUX MONDES.
December 1,1881. The war in the Pacific.
RIVISTA MARITTIMA.
October, November, 1881. Voyage of the corvette Vettor Pisani. The triremes. The study of continental and maritime geography from a military point of. view. Marine boilers. Navigation of the gulf of Siam. Naval tactics. Diary of the exploration of the Rio Negro in Patagonia. Torpedo boats.
December. Voyage of the corvette Vettor Pisapi. The triremes. The cutting of the isthmus of Corinth. The Gregorini iron works at Lovere. The study of continental and maritime geography from a military point of view. Marine boilers. The navigation of the gulf of Siam. Armored defences. The Polyphemus.
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
Proceedings, December, 1881. Geographical Notes. Visit of the Corwin to Wrangell land. Visit of the Rodgers to Wrangell land. The Arctic cruise of the Alliance. American polar station at Lady Franklin bay. U. S. meteorological station at Point Barrow.
ROYAL UNITED SERVICE. INSTITUTE JOURNAL.
No. CXII. Naval intelligence and protection of commerce in war.
The great and increasing dependence of Great Britain upon foreign countries for her daily bread has extended the scope of the question of national defence beyond the “marine league from shore.”
The importance of systematic action on the part of the navy, in protecting and policing the great highways of British commerce, in the most efficient manner, is the argument of this very interesting paper, by Capt. J. C. R. Colomb. The English people, while deeply interested in the volunteer question, the militia, the permanent seacoast defences, and the massing and manoeuvring of troops— subjects which the late wars on the Continent have kept before the public— have lost sight of the vital importance of strategy on the sea, as well as on land. The collection of naval intelligence on the entire continent of Europe has been confided to one officer, while its scope is so great as might well employ the time and ability of a distinct bureau, possessing the means of obtaining useful information in all parts of the world.
The extent and variety of information which should be collected, tabulated and always available, is sketched by Capt. Colomb, and divided into two heads, as covering the main duties which a navy is called upon to perform in the event of war: (1) information in relation to blockade, and (2) information in relation to the direct protection of commerce. To the latter head Capt. Colomb devotes his chief attention.
Common to both are matters pertaining to hydrography, meteorology, the naval policies and resources of foreign nations, and everything relating to construction, armament, personnel, and, in fact, those strictly professional points upon which the naval authorities of all nations should be as well posted as may be; but such facts as will insure a readiness to protect the extensive commerce of Great Britain in the event of a call to arms, are of a more varied character, and not always so easily attainable. Such, for example, is a thorough knowledge of the condition, whereabouts and ownership of all steam vessels capable of conversion into war cruisers. The extent of information necessary to gather abroad, under this head, is not so great, however, as might be imagined, since Great Britain owns two-thirds of the steam tonnage of the world, while builders’ statistics in that country would add considerably to that proportion.
The necessity for a system—independent of telegraph cables—for rapidly disseminating information is illustrated by an incident related as having occurred during the Crimean war—in the age of steam: “A Russian frigate (on a certain station) rode at anchor in the middle of an English squadron months after the Guards had been cheered through the streets of London on the way to the East. Seven weeks after her parting company with the English squadron, she passed on the high seas under the stern of an English vessel of war,” the latter dipping her ensign to the frigate of a power we had been fighting for months.”
With the aid of tables and block diagrams, Captain Colomb discusses the relative values to Great Britain of the several ocean districts. Exemplifying his plan by a sketch map of the Atlantic ocean, he plots six strategic circles, varying in diameter from four hundred to eight hundred miles, and placed at the crossings of the great ocean lanes which are traversed by steam as well as by sailing vessels. These circles he proposes to occupy and protect, the intervals to be patrolled, thus keeping up a constant communication between the detached squadrons. By means of a thorough system of intelligence, the departure of grain vessels from Oregon or Australia is-known weeks in advance to the commanders of squadrons, and the time of their arrival at the equatorial crossing estimated. The idea is ingeniously worked out by the lecturer. As to the old convoy system, as it might be adopted in an emergency by the Admiralty with its present knowledge and preparation, he says : “Picture the scenes on ’change in London, Manchester, Liverpool and hundreds of business centres in England, to say nothing of Sydney, Montreal, Melbourne, Calcutta, Cape Town, etc., which would follow the posting up of an admiralty notification that the imperial sea-roads were so interrupted that arrangements were under immediate consideration to provide, so far as means would permit, convoy protection for eight hundred millions worth of exports and imports, and the entry, clearance and safe passage of several million tons of British shipping from and to ports on every sea and ocean in the world.”
Capt. Colomb’s plan for collecting intelligence is to create a commercial intelligence council, representing the shipping and the chief export and import interests, to be presided over by an Admiral with a seat at the Admiralty Board. He closes his paper with a practical suggestion for testing the present efficiency of the fleet in the event of one commerce-destroying cruiser being at large.
A new system of hydraulic propulsion, by Vice-Admiral Selwyn.
No. CXIII. Recent experiments in screw propulsion.
In No. CI. of the Journal appeared a paper by Mr. Robert Griffiths, C. E., in reference to the advantage of placing the screw a suitable distance abaft the sternpost, and clear of the run. The present paper, by the same author, describes several methods of adapting the ordinary stern and screw frame to such change.
SOCI ÉTÉ DES INGÉNIEURS CIVILS.
Mémoires, September, 1881. Hydrocellulose.
Hydrocellulose is in the intermediate state of hydration through which cellulose materials pass before saccharification when they are submitted to the action of acids under determined conditions. It possesses most of the properties of normal cellulose, but it is very friable, like the pyroxylins. These friable pyroxylins are of two kinds following the mode of preparations. Those obtained through the action of cold concentrated acids are explosive; those obtained with hot concentrated acids are soluble in ether and alcohol. The method for the production of hydrocellulose and the friable photographic pyroxylin is treated of at length.
October. Meetings at the electrical exhibition.
This contains a description of the various machines and motors exhibited, and a valuable and full statement of the units of electrical measure adopted, with discussion of their relations and values in absolute units.
November. Electric railway, Siemens’ system.
In an address made by M. Boistel an interesting account is given of the electric railway at the Paris exhibition. It was first exhibited at Berlin in 1879. The general system there employed was to have a dynamo-electric machine at one end of the line worked by a steam machine, the current from which passed through the rails to a car containing a Gramme machine, which was worked backward by the current, the return circuit being made by a third rail, between the two others. In this case it was found that the wooden ties afforded sufficient insulation, but the current would of course be short-circuited by any connection between the centre and either of the side rails, and persons and horses occasionally received powerful shocks in this way.
At Berlin the railway ran through a park comparatively unfrequented, but at Paris it was laid in front of the Palais de l’lndustrie in a street of constant travel. In order to avoid all chance of accidents, as well as to preserve the machines from the injury that resulted from short circuiting, the attempt was made to use an elevated wire for the return current. More difficulty was then experienced from the accumulation of dust and gravel on the rails, preventing g;ood contact with the wheels, thus endangering the primary machine and sometimes bringing the car to a stop. It was found necessary to make the whole circuit aerial, and brass tubes of about 22 mm. diameter were used for the conductors. These tubes had a slot in the lower part, and contained small sliding pieces of brass, from which rods were hung, passing through the slot in the tube and connecting with cables which conveyed the current to the machine in the carriage. This arrangement was awkward, but answered its purpose well, although involving a loss of considerable power. The armature of the car machine worked one pair of wheels by gearing. The primary machine, a Gramme, made 500 revolutions per minute, being worked by an engine of 20 horse-power, the car machine making 465 and the wheels 116, corresponding to a speed of 17 kilometres an hour. The power transferred to the car was estimated as 8 horse-power.
Under the car platform was placed a set of resistance coils, in the main circuit. When going at full speed these could be cut out, and introduced in part or in whole when necessary to slow down or stop, a hand brake being used in addition in the latter case. For stopping a commutator had been arranged so that the current could be cut off the machine and applied to work the brake electrically, but this was found to be too violent in its action. The experiments were made under unfavorable circumstances, and the power was received in such a way as to prevent any accurate calculations of the energy utilized or its cost, but M. Boistel thinks it cheaper than any other. Experiments are to be made in Paris on an elevated road, supported on insulated columns, from which better results will unquestionably be obtained, and there can be but little doubt that under favorable circumstances the system can be made a success, although to be of practical utility it must compete economically with other motors.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
American Academy Arts and Sciences. Proceedings. Vols. I-VII. New series.
American Geographical Society. Bulletin No. 2 of 1881.
American Metrological Society. Proceedings, Vol. II.
American Society Civil Engineers. Transactions, Sept., Oct., Nov. 1881. Association Parisienne d. Proprietaires d’Appareils à Vapeur. Bulletin No. 7 of 1880 and Compte Rendu du 5ième Congrès.
Franklin Institute Journal, Oct., Nov., Dec., 1881.
Giornale d’Artiglieria. Nos. 1-12, unofficial, and Nos. 1-17, official, 1881. Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. General Index, Vols. I-XXV. Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Proceedings, Aug., Oct., 1881. * Mittheilungen a. d. Gebiete d. Seewesens. Vol. IX., Nos. 10 and 11.
Moniteur de la Flotte. Nos. 44-53,1881.
New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. XI., No. 3.
Popular Science Monthly, Nov., Dec., 1881.
Réunion des Offlciers. Bulletin Nos. 45-53, 1881.
Rivista Marittima. Oct.-Nov., Dec., 1881.
Royal United Service Institution. Journal, Nos. CXII, CXIII.
School of Mines Quarterly, Vol. III., Nos. 1 and 2.
Société des Ingénieurs Civil. Mémoires, Sept., Oct., Nov., 1881.