TO STOP COLLISIONS AT SEA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8413, 12 January 1899, Page 4

TO STOP COLLISIONS AT SEA.

WONDERFUL, IF TRUE. Vienna, Nov. 30. An exhaustive series of trials have been carried out at Fiume on a wonderful invention of an Austrian engineer, M. Demeter Czvetkovics, by means of which a steamship travelling at high speed "an be almost instantaneously brought to a standstill without stopping the engines. A committee of naval experts appointed by the Austrian Minister of Marine, the Imperial Naval College, the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company, and other representative naval bodies reports favorably' on this new marine brake. Tests •were made with the steamship Clotiltc, a vessel of 2000 tons, and this vessel, when running twelve knots an hour, was brought to a standstill within thirty seconds and before she had traversed 40ft, in spite of the fact that the engines were still working ahead with undiminished power. Similar results were obtained in every test made. The experts state that the marine brake can be\ applied to any ship of any size running at any speed. It is worked by simply turning a handle, and the cost is not excessive. Owing to the fact that patents are not yet taken out in every country, Jl. Czvetkovics is keeping further details of his invention a secret. He claims that io will reduce the danger of collision to a minimum, since the ship, steaming a ' ; an y speed, can be stopped in time to avoid collision, even if already within a few feet of the approaching vessel. The marine brake would also be invaluable in those cases of a man overboard, when life is so frequently lost owing to the impossibility of cheeking the ship's way. The report of the committee of experts fully justifies the inventor's claim.