A LEAK-STOPPER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6191, 12 December 1881, Page 3

A LEAK-STOPPER.

Mv JfUBBS M( Shaw, of tho Royal Navy, has invented ft lenk<-stopp_r. It appears to bo a most ingenious contrivance, and is thus described by the Cape Times of September Oth :— We all know that a vessel has ere this been kept afloat by moans of an ordinary sail passed under tho leak. The present contrivance is founded on tho same principle, but rendered more easy of adoption by the means employed in its construction. The recent disaster to the Teuton renders everything which tends to minimiso tho danger of leakage both interesting and important, but in order to givp t.hat which relates to ships in seainaijfs ■ language, we will allow the inventor $o speillc fqr himself as follows :— ''This conh'ivh.nce will r'einmH'th'6'e)ipii_i;ieiiped mariner of the ease with which ft sail ma.y bo unrolled down tho after-shrouds for the purpose of keeping the vessel's bow to the sea during a storm whon no canvas set in the ordinary way will stand: and tl)e unvpljing stopper is tho application of this principle tp a part of the vessel beneath instead of abovp the water-line, to prevont tho, contiimanco of a sudden inrush of the sea, such as mnjr bo caused by a collision or other serious accident. Briefly, it consists of stout canvas, six cloths wide and about six yards deep for largo vqssols, with oyolet liolos at frequent intervals down the sides and along the ends; there is a thimblo in each corner, and tho whole is roped round. Gnys, long enough to reach from the waterlinowell inboard, are spliced in the upper thimbles, and similar ropes, termed bilge-ropes, about as much longer as the dopth of tHe stopper, secured in tho same manner to tho lower ones. In addition to those there are two light slipropes for tho purpose of lowering tho stopper horizontally, in its rolled-up stato, to tho water-line or below it, near the damaged part, and a light iron roller, similar to a cabin stove fmmfil, slightly longer than the breadth of" We ■■stopper, find about gve inches in diameter. i-Vom '*h.ia doscripfipn it1 will be seen that the stoppor is not a very costly contrivance, and It is painful to reflect on the frequent destruction of life and property afloat which might have been prevented had some suitable contrivance been at hand and promptly applied to stop the sudden inrush of tho sea. The stopper being spread on the deck, and the bilge-ropes and roller-line faked over, the roller, with its line spliced into it, is laid across the lower part, and the whole wiled up Hkfl » Olwb, and placed on crutches against the bulwark. Jfl ttw event of a collision or other serious occurrence inyolvlnu t m sudden inrush of water, tho stpppsr would ba lifted from its crutches and CRrriod to tho neighbourhood of the leak, wliora it would bo passed over the bulwark and lowered horizontally to the water-line. The guys would tpen

txThauled taut,.the ends 0f...t bilge-ropes attended, a, .turn taken with i roller-line, and the slip-ropes castirom the to, when, the -stopper, being thus released, woujiinroll itself over the aperture." Several filer :partjculars_ are given, but tho foregoingjro sufficient to indicate the comparative eajwith which the stopper can "be applied, ancts utility in most cases of loaltago, from collia, ■[ : .■■;.