A 500 MILES AN HOUR SHIP

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1747, 30 August 1905, Page 10

A 500 MILES AN HOUR SHIP

flEbe present methodof applying power ho ocean \ steamships,, is ..wholly wrong, writes Professor Andre Gambin, who believes he has made'a discovery which will entirely revolutionise navigation. The experiments with models show us Siftings”) according to the Professor, that a ship can be built which will travel ab the rate of 500 miles an hour. - It is 3000 miles, roughly speaking,, from to America, and allowing .»n hour for getting out of the harbour' and docking the vessel, we iihould he able to cross the Atlantic in ■even hours—passengers may breakfast ■frn London and.dine in New York. ~The inventor -calls. the vessel a typhoonoid, or water-suction craft, because the revolution of the spirals in front ' of* it causes n vacuum between air and water like that .caused by the:-water spout of a typhoon. ' The resistless pressure of atmosphere and water which, has pulled many a. ftlup mto the. fatal waterspout hi the very thing that will drive vessels Of this type as fast as stated. _ THE GREAT SPEED /

of the boat would render it impossible for any petsoh;to remain in the open OTj the. upper deck. The boat Would, therefore? be built like a submarine, with pply -a very low superstructure. Passengers would have little chance of viewing the ocean, and would be for the most part below the water line. A model erf the boat about seven feet long flashed across the 40ft length of the testing tank in microscopical time, -.V; impossible to estimate by a stop watch. All nautical engineers are aware of the partial vacuum created by a ship’s propellers under her stem. This partial vacuum 1 they well know exert®'a powerful’ influence in drawing the vessel backward. In overcoming this cavitation, as it is technically called, the engines use f up a large proportion of their horsepower, leaving little to be represented m .forward motion. The higher the ship?®-speed - the greater the waste in this. way. Taking into account all opporsition to a ship’s progress, at the present time, the force producing the dewred motion is reduced to about one 25th part- of the generating force. The “typhoonoid” is connected .with tiie new ship by means, of a driving, shaft, which is.set in motion by a turbine engine. The apparatus consists of ah> outside projecting part of the shaft, y constituting a cone; the inside of which covers tile bow of the ship. Its length -• is equal to the circumference of the base. This cone is encircled by a helicoid or spiral contrivance which extends from the base to the vertex and is attached to the projecting shaft. The spiral' or screw, -is moved in such a wav as to remove its outer surface away from the water, with which it is in contact while at rest, and this surface acts, consequently, as an air pump piston and causes a void or difference in pressure. SECOND SPIRAL •fitted over the cone, and which is bent inwardly and has two revolutions acts as a centrifugal (flying from the centre'' pirmo blade, and drives away the sur-" rounding liquids to open the track for the ship. The pressure of the prow angles of the -ship is done away with, and it dashes forward, or is sucked forward, ..in the wake of the cone. If the shin moves her whole length in less time than is required -there will be. a suction * counter to'the centriuetal (flying to- the oentre) reaction for filing up the void created. The length must, therefore, he calculated so as to correspond to the vacuum created by the "‘typhoonoid.” The shin will have +o be shaped something like .a swollen sugar-loaf, and it. will be partially or totally under water.. • TT-e r v tlie engin-es of a typhoon cv* shin when going at full snee>c? ■ -wopld step-her within a few lengths, as -suddenly as xvonhi be cafe for the vessel and for the passengers within. Built a« these shins will be, with few apertures, and almost entirely under water, they will have with 'their great speed and momentum a r evel way of eseanincr collisions. A couple of horizontal rudders near the bow could send the vessel- 2*l .fathoms beneath the waves in the twinkling of an eye. Then she could bob up a mile on the other side without, having lost anv speed or gone out of her \ way. It -will also solve v ’'TFTE,SITBII.f ARINE QUESTION. ' A steamer; could shut, a valve in her smokestack, and with the steam already in 'hbr'tbioilct’s and the air- under her de<d?:s { 50 mile trip under the surwould be enough to attack or escape from any enemy and answer any -other purpose of the submarine boat. The modern torpedo won 1 cl be against stich a vessel- Before

the torpedo reached the water the typhoonoid would be .under water and out of range. The only torpedo that could catch her would be one of the typhoonoid type, and this would have to be discharged before the victim knew it in order to strike.