NEW SHIP DESIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 30, 6 February 1933, Page 7

NEW SHIP DESIGN.

BRITISH INVENTION.

May Revolutionise Building Industry. GREAT REVIVAL PROBABLE. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, February 5. Is Britain, the pioneer in shipping and railway developments, about to achieve another revolution in shipbuilding, leading to a £reat shipping revival? The "Sunilay Express" reports a conference in London between representatives of Sir Joseph Isherwood, the inventor of a' new design, and leading shipbuilding firms. The paper adds: "Three ships are to bo built immediately according to Sir Joseph Isherwood's secret design, and all have been sold before the keels are laid. Twenty others will be sold before the first three are completed." The inventor is determined to protect the secret against foreign competitors. It is claimed that the ships will cost 30 per cent less to operate than the present cargo vessels, and will have 25, per cent greater capacity. They will use less coal than ships of the same tonnage. It is expected that the hull design .will ultimately be applied to all classes of shipping, enabling millions of tons to be scrapped. It is only known at present that the new design is called the "archform." The middle of the hull is shaped like a barrel. From the age of 15, when he secured his first job in a shipbuilding firm, Joseph William Isherwood has made an intense study of all matters connected with ship construction. When only 24 he was made shipwright surveyor to Lloyd's Registry, and soon afterwards conceived an entirely new way of building vessels—starting construction with continuous longitudinal frames supporting the boat-deck instead of using closely-spaced transverse frames. He resigned his post, and set up in the industry to prove his beliefs. It took him ten years of thought and work before he could apply, the methods, which caused a virtual revolution in shipbuilding, as they, saved enormous time and labour. In later years a modification known as the "Isherwood bracketless system" was introduced which further simplified the work of erection. He was knighted in 1921. . He became famous on both sides of the Atlantic for his specialised knowledge in naval architecture, doing much work in America as well as in Britain. He is now aged 62. NAVAL PROGRAMME. ORDERS FROM ADMIRALTY. .■ LONDON, February 5. The Admiralty is building ships to the maximum of Britain's allowance under the Washington Treaty. Lord Stanley, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, told a deputation of shipbuilders that orders for three cruisers in the 1932 programme—two of the Leander class and one of the Arethusa class—would be given immediately. Twenty-three vessels of other types were being ordered now instead of between March and May. BRIGHT PROSPECTS. ERITISH ENGINEERING. LONDON, February 2. Leading industrialists contributing to the trade supplement of "The Times" agree that the prospects in the engineering and allied industries are brighter than for many months past. It is expected that the new tonnage to be begun in British shipyards during the March quarter will exceed the entire aggregate for 1932. Sir George Hunter, the prominent Tyne shipbuilder, considers that shipping will be able to hold its own if unfair foreign prohibitions and restrictions are removed. Otherwise, the industry will be faced with virtual extinction. The Government, he says, must negotiate with foreigners, and if that step fails, must subsidise British shipping. Sir Alfred Herbert, president of the Machine Tool Association, reveals that Russia has for some years been the only foreign buyer of British tools, and states that unless a new Anglo-Russian agree-, ment is negotiated the industry will be faced with stagnation. Lieutenant-Colonel lonides, vice-chair-man of Armstrong-Whitworth, Ltd., calls attention to the progress made in British wireless turnover, which suddenly has swollen to £30,000,000 a year, and equals two-thirds that of shipbuilding in normal times.