INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 135, 24 May 1911, Page 11

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

ON OCEAN GOING VESSELS. To the great expectations already - formed with respect to the future of the marine oil-engine the proceedings of the Institute of Naval Architects certainly lent countenance. But the discussion made it only too clear that the bulk of the enterprise in connection with the application of the Diesel engine to ocean-going vessels is centred on the Continent. It transpired that the oil-engined ship which Messrs. Richardson. Westgarth and Company are to build is on Continental account, like that which I Messrs. Barclay, Curie and Co. have in hand. The interesting fact was evoked that the ship which Messrs. Richardsons, Westgarth, and Co. are to produce will in substance be a duplicate, save and except in regard to her engines, of at least one existing steamer. There should therefore be some useful material for comparison. It is admitted that the first cost of oilengines will be greater, but the advantage will coine in the saving of weight and space both of machinery and fuel, the margin in fuel economy - , and the reduction of en-gine-room staff. Meantime, ap-

parently, British shipowners are a little shy of similar experiments. The Admiralty hesitates—doubtless, quite properly—to project an oil-driven battleship. That we shall some day see such a battleship can, however, hardly be questioned. Dr. Diesel, the inventor of the engine which bears his name, is sanguine on the point. He remarks that the radius of action will be enormously increased, since fuel supplies will need to be replenished but infrequently. Then there is the fuither advantage that the engines can be placed entirely below the waterline, that there will be no smokestacks to interfere with the freedom of the guns, and that the size of guns can be increased by reason of the saving in weight. The discussion at the Naval Architects’ meeting was mainly confined to the mercantile side of shipbuilding., but the success of the motor-liner will obviously be followed with the closest attention by the naval authorities.