FERRO-CONCRETE SHIPS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3070, 4 May 1917, Page 6

FERRO-CONCRETE SHIPS

■ AN INVENTOR'S SUGGESTION. If we want to build ships faster than the Germans by any imaginable development of their barbarous methods can ever sink them, there is, we are assured by a well-known inventor, a perfectly simple way (.says the London "'Observer"). Recently we referred to the launching in Norwegian waters of a ferro-concrete barge of a thousand tons and corrected the impression that it was the lirst "stone ship" ever floats cd. Many barges of similar dimensions made of ferro-concrete have been brought into ordinary use on the open sea as well as upon different waterways. Pontoons, caissons, and even forts have boou built of the same material. The forts have been finished, floated out into position, and sunk on to pormanment, or semi-permanent, foundations) whilst the construction of ferro-con-creto caissons is a commonplace of engineering. Develop this idea, use instead of ferro-concreto forro-cement for greater strength and buoyancy, and you could, in the opinion of Mr. John Canieroa Grant, an engineer and inventor whose patents are in use all over tho world, build with astonishing rapidity ships of all sizes, from barges of a thousand tons, which could be towed right up Ito Rouen, to ocean-going liners and even warships. "By using blended steel and cement," Mr. Grant said recently, in an interview with a represenj tative of the "Observer," "large oceangoing vessels could be constructed in which the present riveted steel plating would not bo needed, and the weight oi the steel framing itself might be substantially reduced. _ After a considerable amount of time spent with my partner over the application of cement and ferro-cement to quite another line of work, in which both great strength and extreme accuracy were required, wo. got such a respect for its possibilities that I was led to study them in tho construction, or at least .the plating or covering, of ■ self-propelled vessels.

"Their construction presents no intrinsic or inherent difficulty. It is merely a question of organisation and careful supervision. The strength,' buoyancy, rapidity of construction, as well as the saving of steel plate, and the general economy, including the possibility even of the entire use of female labour, lend to tho project sufficient merit, in my opinion, to call for immediate consideration. For all practical purposes ships built with ferro-cemont would be at least as strong as those built entirely of steel. In fact, their shells become harder and stronger with age and immersion, and there is no comparison between the life of properly constructed ferro-concrete cr forro-cement, and that of exposed steel. There are in use to-day,. I believe, fcrro-concreto boats that were constructed fifty or sixty years ago, and they are reported to be still °as good as new. Now is the moment," Mr. Grant added, "when, quickoned by i necessity, we require imagination in construction to trump tho German's ace. Tho use of ferro-ccment, at least as an addition to present methods, would, I am convinced, prove all, and more than all, that I have said."