A Paper Steam Launch.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1797, 12 January 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Paper Steam Launch.

The Westinghouse Machine Company, of Pittsburg, is having made at Lansingburg, New York, a steam launch, length of keel, 20 feet; breadth of beam, 5 feet ; depth of hold, 3 feet; length over all, 24 feet; draught of screw, 24 inches; length of shaft, 8 feet; weight without machinery, 1000 pounds; seating capacity, 25 persons ; carrying capacity, 3 tons. The craft is built in two Bections and jointed on the keel. The sheathing is a solid body of paper, threeeights of an inch thick, a quarter of an inoh thicker than on racing boats. A bullet from a revolver fired at the Bheathing, at a distance of four feet, neither penetrated nor made an abrasion. Experiments have shown it is impossible to soak or soften the hull, or increase the weight by the contact of water. A paper vessel of a thickness corresponding with the hull of the launch, prepared without paint or outside protection, was placed in the water last October and remained eight months. It shows no sign of moisture inside nor evidence of disintegration. The motive power of the craft will be a Weßtinghonse engine af six horse power, 2000 revolutions a minute. The engine and machinery will be placed in the boat at an early day, when a trial trip will be made.