THIS BOAT WILL ROLL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue VIII, 14 August 1897, Page 236

THIS BOAT WILL ROLL.

A Canadian inventor has devised a craft which he is confident will solve the problem of quicker ocean travel. A force of fifty men are now working on the vessel in Polson’s shipyards, in Toronto. It is expected it will be launched in about two weeks. This new boat is the invention of a lawyer named F. A. Knapp. In it, he says, he will be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in forty-eight hours, and thus completely revolutionize all present methods of navigation. It is a delightful picture Mr Knapp draws. Fancy leaving New York on Monday morning and on Wednesday morning finding yourself in Liverpool. It seems a dream and sounds like a story by Jules Verne. Yet, if Mr Knapp is right, this dream is no great distance from realization. Like many other inventors, Mr Knapp had great difficulty in getting any one to believe in the utility of his invention. In fact, for several months after the completion of a model of the craft, men who are interested in solving the problem of a quicker ocean passage scouted the idea. Some of them, even after seeing the model at work, plainly told the inventor that the principle when applied to a structure large enough to carry passengers and freight, would be found to be faulty. Nothing daunted, he continued his experiments, and some of these led to improvements. Finally, believing that the invention had reached perfection, Mr Knapp had the good fortune to interest Mr George Goodwin, of Ottawa, a wealthy Government contractor, in the matter. The latter soon became as enthusiastic as the inventor, and the result was that it was decided to construct an experimental craft at a cost of $lO,OOO. A force of men has has been engaged for a month past in the construction of the boat, and the skeleton is now completed. The material used is quarter inch steel, stoutly ribbed. The craft will be no feet long and 20 feet in diameter. There are three cylinders, the outside one and the second one being braced together. The second and third are very close together, and between them is a set of ball bearings intended to act on the same principle as those in a bicycle. In the outside cylinder, running around the centre, are a number of diamond-shaped ventilators, enclosed in a water tight compartment. These are intended to act as a vent for smoke from the engines. They are constructed in such a manner that very little water will enter the bulkhead, and it is claimed that the speed will not be materially reduced by this arrangement. However, this portion of the craft, like every other part of it, is wholly experimental, and may not prove a success. On the outer cylinder there are a series of small stationary paddles. At either end of the craft the extreme outer surface slopes up to the inner surface of the outside cylinder, thus giving the vessel a cigar-shaped appearance. Perhaps the best illustration of the principle involved in this vessel is furnished by the paddle wheel of an ordinary side wheel steamer. Imagine the paddle wheel to be one hundred and ten feet in width and twenty feet in diameter. The stationary paddles on the outside cylinder of this vessel will correspond to the paddles on a paddle wheel. In the centre of this huge paddle wheel imagine a cylinder twelve feet in diameter, braced strongly to the outside cylinder, with a shaft in the centre of this twelve foot cylinder, and connected with a vessel one would have an ordinary paddle wheel in shape and principle. But in the vessel now under construction in place of the shaft there is a third cylinder, which, as before stated, is joined to the outside or revolving portion of the vessel by ball bearings Inside this third cylinder a platform will be constructed, on either side of which engines of 150 horse power will be placed. By means of friction these engines will cause the outside cylinders to revolve rapidly, while the inside cylinder retains its equilibrium. It is intended to provide passenger accommodations within the inside, or third cylinder. The present idea of the inventor is to utilise the space between the inner and outer surface of the revolving cylinder for the storage of cargo. The ends of the inner cylinder will be open, and as they will be eight feet above the water no trouble is expected from waves. The actual draught of this cylinder boat will be very small in proportion to its size. This can readily be understood when it is remembered that

the craft is not intended to sail through the water, but to roll over it. The particular vessel now under construction will not have a great deal of accommodation for passengers or freight, and the entire space of the inside cyclinder will be principally used for the development of power. The steering gear will consist of chains and steel plates, on the lee board principle, which will be placed at each end of the vessel. In case the present craft proves a success, it is Mr Knapp’s intention to immediately construct a giant boat, 750 feet in length, with an outside cylinder 150 feet in diameter. This greater vessel will be built with four decks and a tramway into which a train of cars can be run to load or unload cargo into or from the hull or interior of the revolving cylinder. Mr Knapp is quite confident of the ultimate successful issue of his idea. He is working largely on the principle that if one once succeeds in starting a heavy wheel going it requires but little power in comparison to its size to keep it revolving. He therefore claims that his boat, when once started, will acquire tremendons speed by the force of his own momentum. If it is required to stop the boat quickly he considers that a reversing of the engines will accomplish the purpose.