GLASS-BOTTOMED SHIPS.

Mataura Ensign, 26 May 1911, Page 2

GLASS-BOTTOMED SHIPS.

GREATER SPEED. An invention for covering .-.hips' bottoms witli glass with a view to .securing greater speed and a Saving in coal consumption. has been patented in Ei.gland. Arrangements have already oeen made for testing the practicability of the process on an d-can-going steamer. Mr P. F. Linton, of Messrs H. V. Low and Co., Leadenhall street, E.C., who has bought the rights of the invention, in explaining the new process said: "Hitherto it has always been found impracticable to attach glass to the steel plates of a ship, as the expansion of the steel broke the glass alter a very slight rise in temperature. After many experiments a composition of resin and linseed oil was adopted as the adhesive material, and the difficulty of the expansion of the steel w is overcome by the introduction of a thin layer of wood pulp under the glass. "The advantages of the patent, if the claims prove to be true are obvious. Suppose a ship of 6300 tons gross tonnage with a speed, when clean of 14 knots per hour burns "') tons o. 1 ' coal a day. After six months at sea the coal consumption will increase very largely, until about the tenth month it will cost 110 tons per day to give the sair.e speed owing to the growth of barnacles on the bottom. It is therefore cheaper to dock the ship at least once in six months. "The patentee claims that the cost .of placing the glass plates on the sea-cov-ered bottom will not exceed two coatings of paint. The system has already been tried on a small electric launch with very satisfactory results and in the near future an experiment will be tried with a big ocean-going steamer."