ENGINEERING TRIUMPH

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14667, 16 May 1913, Page 8

ENGINEERING TRIUMPH

RECONSTRUCTION OP OLYMPIC. ™% (moM oub ow7"c* RRSsroS]) _ } ', r LONDOX Amy,^' After lying up iirdrjdock* 3l V winter at Belfast, the Olvnrpfc 5 Southampton, on Wednesday fj!\— lork ou her maiden voyage attJr reconstruction, and tho departwl'tX place under the happiest of aIS" Iho Olympic us now practically within a ship. To be precise tL *»T of tho hull below the wrterC S* portion for about 4ft above tho **♦ *- lino, has now two skins, these W r% from just over 3ft to sft apart " fi* inner skin is not a thin shell hrtJS to provide a mere sense of eecuritv 2* a hull constructed of stout etwfife ing, and so built on to framee of C 2; channel steel as to ho capable of «n? standing <*tremo water pressurel* emergency. * un> ■» Tho water-tight compartments which tho Olympic was proviaed mffi nrst lastnnco art) now creatlv J: forced. The space behwn 2, & and outer shells has been bo dffi and subdivided as to present a Sz honeycomb of buoyant., air space B? yond tins, even tho crown of tho 'ibmi turo and longitudinals liavo been ft»2 up as watertight flats. Tho OKtbS is practically onwlopcd boknc ft! waterhne. and for somo distance aW* thowaterline, with a gigautio air. It is estimated that sho is ww against every typo of disaster yet katn* to shipping experience, and more netrh represents tho ideal borno in tie »cw "unsinkable" than any other boat j»i committed to the high seas. Awe of something like £300,000 haa spent on tho task of icconstniciiaL which stands high among feats of eej£ ncering. It has been, in a sense tS equivalent of rebuilding the foandj. tions of a small town without disturti. ing the main structures above. Tluti considerable amount of raachbery tai fittings had to bo temporarily removed was only to be expected, but tho loatnl is that the Belfast engineers havo betr ablo to place the inner hull in poUtia and restore tho machinery in so shati a space of time. That everything if a gowl order has been proven by sjKeji trials, and by the excellent behavioe of tho shii> during her trip from' Belfast to Southampton. ■ - y^. Tho work, however, was faci}it*W by tho employment of a mast valutfe and comparatively new aid to in^j —tho oxy-acotyleno cutting With theso plants "cutting edges 1 flame are produced, and tho heat ifo. intense that the metal is just as if it ivexo under tho influcecerf a giant shear or &aw. Without Hn oxy-acetyleno process tho tas-V of.m. paring the. Olympic for her would havo boon, a tedious on©.. Tfii» is yet another feature which has bwf added during tho task of tion. that will minimise, all riskUfrf danger. An extra network of largo capacity has been built out the ship, and this is so nected that any piimp, or all of pumps, can be concentrated npoif'iq compartment in time of' emergency^