TWO RECORD-BREAKERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 161, 9 July 1910, Page 11

TWO RECORD-BREAKERS.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOCOMOTIVE.

The locomotive illustrated iwas made in America, and is the 'biggest and strongest ever constructed.

It weighs 231 tons and is carried yon ■14-Bets of wieels. The weight of the eng""%B and tender is 330 tons. Some idea

THE WORLD.S HEAVIEST NAVAL GUN.

Ima American naval authorities have designed and begun the construction of what, for some time to come, will be the largest naval gun in use. It has a range of 25 miles, but whether that will be of

of the capacity of the tender may be imagmed whsn. it'is stated :.that? ifc.mil ■hold 4000 gallons of oil for fuel and •12/100, galßnis.afjwatiEr for sfeann. Tie gjaitfc •' lacamtafive lias. Ireen -h ttiJfc-..at ft*** Baldwin LaeqnMfcire Works, UAA., for tire AtcMsan and Sartia. Fe TUiflroad. . .

•Thei most .important" novelty, and one that inarfrq a new.era in locomotive practice,lies in: the means which have been taken, to transform the locomotive from

■much use when we can only see seven miles at sea is a moot question. Ten of these monster guns are designed for the 32,000-ton battleship, so arranged that they can be fired as a broadside. Nine six-foot men can stand one on the head of another inside the gun and the top man's eyes would just peep over the muzzle.,

one of the most wasteful into.a-, reason- , ably economical jwwer plant. This has been done by utilising the great length of boiler space afforded-by tbs articulated' system of constriction. As will be .seen from the accompanying, illustration, the boiler proper terminates above the high pressure cylinders. The shell, however,is extended forward to .the low .pressure cylinders j' and, within it" .are placed two nests '<if fire tubes, 'tbjough both of which the hot gases pass on their way.

At a distance of one mile and a half a projectile from this 14-inch terror will penetrate IS inches of Krupp steel, passing through it as easy as a sewing needle goes .through a piece of .muslin. At three miles from the muzzle the. shell would pass through fifty feet of white, pine wood. The projectile itself is both' armour piercing and explosive. Though hollow,

to the smokestack. In the ordinary loco-' motive the . gases, still very hot, after . emerging - from the front end of the fire tttbe, pass put through the smokestack and waste an enormous amount of useful, heat into tie atmosphere. The Santa. Fe locomotive Teturns a large amount of this heat /to. the boiler and engine. These •ieat-Teoovery devices first serve to raise ,of the steam-as it passes from the steam dome to tne high pressure cylinder. Then the gases yield up.

it is so strong that it will penetrate tie thickest coat of Krupp steel, and when it has gone through it -will burst. The shell delays its bursting until it has gone through, no matter what the thickness of the armour, whether two inches or a dozen. In this way i.t is calculated to do the greatest possible damage. It will not only make a hole, but it will wreck the interior of the vessel afterward.

sMU snore «&;.their nieat- to ithe-exhanst steam- as it passes from boiling- point as. it 'travels from the-tank on the tender to the "boiler. As a consequence the coal consumption per ton mile has been reduced by approximately 50 per cent. TGhe locomotive is ibuilfc -for strength; and pan .'haul a heavily. loaded freight train- one mile long with ease on a s-tradght and fairly level-track. ■ The first engine msed-in, a.iegtila'r railway service is ehown ibeside-'-the tender.-.

The shell leaves the muzzle of the gun with a velocity of half a mile per second, carrying an. amouufe oi energy so great .that when it sttfctes a steel target it is partly melted by a "transformation of its energy into heat.. A flame . actually leaps tfrom ihe spot it hits. ,'-.-.-.;

The gun was built by the Midvale Steel Co., of ' EhUadelphra, and cost £17,000. ■-. , ' ..... :