IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1100, 12 April 1911, Page 7

IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS.

SOME NEW IDEAS. By Telegraph—Press Association—CoDyright London, April 10. Tests in tho direction of covering ships' bottoms with glass to increase the speed and of utilising economical fuel will shortly be. made on a liner. "It is very probable that within the nest two years we shall see large vessels sailing the Atlantic without funnels nr boilers." So says W. R. Ferguson, managing director of a. Glasgow shipbuilding firm, who is convinced of the almost immediato success of the oil-engincd liner. His confidence is based upon an enterprise which his own firm has in hand— (ho construction of an oil-cngined ship of about 5000 tons gross, driven by twin screws, and having n speed of Iwelve knots. This new liner, which will have accommodation for a limited number of passengers, will be propelled by two sets of internal-combustion engines. Mr. Ferguson declares that these engines will embody improvements which have overcome initial difficulties connected with starting and reversing. Tho charge will be ignited by compression, and the engine? can bo started in five minutes. Another, and smaller, engine of the ?ame type will generate electricity for the operation of winches, windlasses, and steering gear, as well a> for lighlintr tho vessel. Steam on shipboard, with its accompaniment of Smoke, soot, and dirt, he says, will soon be a thing of the past.