A Motive Power for Vessels.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 6793, 19 January 1897, Page 1

A Motive Power for Vessels.

THE SECOR BOAT. (New York Tribune, November 1.) The Secor direct propulsion system boat, designed to revolutionise motive power in \essels, is rapidly approaching completion at the Secor Works, in Forty-third-street, South Brooklyn. The hull has been entirely plated over. A second and smaller boat is also being fitted up as a " tender," the motive power being similar. The larger boat is to be tried by a board of line and staff officers of the United States navy as soon as she is completed. Provision was made for this board in the last Navy Bill, and it will take into consideration the relative merits of the system as compared with steam—the relative merits as regards displacement, waste of fuel, liability to accidents, and spaed endurance. The board will also examine into the practicability of the system, especially with regard to torpedo boats and coast defence vessels. It is worthy of notice that Engineer A. A. Wilson, formerly of the Quintard Iron Works, where the Maine and other war vessels were built, has undertaken the supervision of the construction of the Secor boat. Each part of the mechanism is made with the utmost care, and the slightest flaw in the casting leads to its rejection. John A. Secor, the inventor, is taking no risks that he can avoid in building this boat. This is not to be wondered at, when it is considered that 300,000d01. has been spent in developing and perfecting the direct propulsion scheme. In the marine steam engine there are a thousand and one leaks of power, in one shape or another, which Mr Secor aims to aid by directly converting heat into power. Originally he used the intervention of steam, but he has now abandoned the steam boiler. Mr Edison has been working for years on a system by which heat is converted into electricity and then into power as applied to vessels, This comes behind the Secor system so far as directness is concerned. The great object of the plan is the economising of space. An enormous proportion of every vessel is tasen up by the boilers, furnaces, and coal bunkers. In naval vessels their fighting capacity is limited by the endurance of the magazine. With the modern rapid-fire guns this is a serious question, as the supply of ammunition is limited, and would soon be exhausted. After the recent manoeuvres of the North Atlantic Squadron an investigation was made 011 this subject, and it was found that on the New York the Sin. rifle ammunition would last only 7 hours and 2 minutes ; the 4in. guns, 2 hours and 16 minutes : the six-pounder rapid-fire guns, 3 hours aud 20 minutes ; and the one-pounders, 9 hours and IS minutes. The 6in. rifles of the Newark would be idle in 9 hours and 52 minutes, while the Raleigh could only use her 6in. rifles for 4 hours and 24 minutes.

Among the battleships, the Indiana's 13in. rifles could only fire 5 hours and 53 minntes, while her Bin. battery could continue in action 11 hours and 40 minutes, but the 6iu. battery would have given out in 3 hours and 53 minutes. The 20-gun battery of six-pounders would go out of action in 1 hour and 5S minutes, while the six one-pounders could fire for 4 hours and 37 minutes. The Cincinnati's one 6in. rifle could only be fed for 3 hours and 41 minutes, her 10 oin. rapid-fire guns for 1 hour and 50 minutes, the sixpounder battery of eight guns for 2 hours and IS minutes, and the two one-pounders for 6 hours and 40 minntes. The Columbia's record is better, her Bin. battery's supply lasting for 7 hours and 23 minutes, the 6 in. for 9 hours and 33 minutes, the 4in. for 7 hours and 43 minutes, the six-pounders for 3 hours and 54 minutes.

After the fires were drawn on one of the monitors some time ago it took a week to cool down the enormous mass of heated metal that formed the boilers and furnaces so that they could be entered for repairs. Not only this, but the conditions of the fire and engine rsoms lead to a dreadful waste of life. The average fireroom temperature of an ocean steamer is anywhere from 110 to 120 degrees. These are some of the evils that the Secor system is intended to eliminate. The boiler, furnaces, and coal-bunker space will be available for other purposes. The innovation is a startling one, and there is nothing to wonder at in the fact that steamship engineers look upon it coldly. If adopted it makes all their knowledge useless, and it would entirely revolutionise existing conditions. The basis of it is the use of petroleum for fuel and a creator of power. Mr Wilson said yesterday that some years ago he conducted tests on locomotives for the Alexandria and Richmond Railroad Company, to find out the relative values of petroleum and coal. The result showed that one gallon of oil was equal to 16|lb of coal. Similar experiments on the Pennsylvania Railroad showed a similar result.

It is contended that the increased space allowed by the Secor system would quadruple the fighting endurance powers of a naval vessel, and correspondingly increase the carrying capacity of a merch a" vessel. The system is based on > "great explosive power to be ]om oil and air or steam exploded by an electric spark. This is applied directly to an engine and produces power, but this power is not applied to the propulsion except indirectly. In the stern of the vessel are two. cylinders, placed close together, one on each side of the rudder frame. The diameter is gauged by the size, draught, power, and speed of the ship. The outer end is closed by a valve ; inboard there is a piston. A quantity of atomised oil is injected into these cylinders, the pistons compress it, and an electric spark explodes it just as the outboard valve opens, projecting the whole force of the explosion against the water at the stern. It is another form of the well known principle of action and reaction differently applied. Two steel canal-boats for the Erie Canal, propelled by this system, have been ordered already. The space to be occupied by the Secor system must be less, under the contracts, than that formerly occupied by the mule stable on board.

Mr Secor does not claim to secure cent, per cent, results, but does claim to obtain a result of 80 per cent, of the power generated under his system. The explosions, or impulses, as they are called, have been obtained as high as 600 a minute, but these do not give the best results, about 160 to the minute being all that will be used in the new boat. After the trial here before the Naval Board of Inquiry the boat will be taken to Washington for inspection by the members of Congress and the Senate. Should the system not be adopted by this Government, an offer will be made to the English Government, naval officers of which have already examined the system here.

The vessel now nearly completed has the following dimensions .'—Length over all, 75ffc 5 water-line, 65ft; beam, lift; draught, loaded, 3|ft. She is built en-

tirely of steel, frames included. The straight stem is planed out on each side so as to allow the bow plates to fit in flush. The hull is fitted with four steel bulk' heads, dividing it into five compartments. With 160 impulses a minute from each cylinder the speed expected is 16 miles an hour, while the launch is being built for a speed of eight miles, the Navy launches making six miles.