ELECTRIC PROPULSION OF SHIPS.

Evening Star, Issue 14626, 24 July 1911, Page 10

ELECTRIC PROPULSION OF SHIPS.

An important stage in the development of the application of electricity to the propulsion, of ships marked by the trials, on the Gareloch (Glasgow), of a small vessel which has been specially designed to demonstrate the efficiency of alternating-current motors as a means of power transmission. This experiment has been initiated by Messrs Mavor and Coulson, Ltd., electrical engineers, Glasgow, and is the first in which attention has been directed to the possibilities of electric propulsion in this particular manner. The vessel, which was built by Messrs MacLaren Bros., Ltd., Dumbarton, and is named the Electric Axe, is of 17 tons displacement The electrical equipment is not of a complicated nature. The engine is coupled direct to an alternating-current dynamo, with its exciter, and the control gear is operated from'the deck beside the steering wheel. The electric motor- is of the type known as the "multiple wound machine," in which there are, in the present case, two independent windings. The current is alternating three-phase. The generator is designed to give two powercircuits to the motor to represent the condition which, would more usually obtain when large'powers are involved, and where two or more generators would be in use far the full power. The first combination of generator and motor windings gives full speed of eight miles per hour, and the second combination two-thirds of full speed—about sis,miles per hour. .