Progress in Science.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 26, 26 June 1912, Page 44

Progress in Science.

How the Titanic Went Down

THE “Scientific American” contains an interesting article on the tragedy of the Titanic, and at the same time advances some interesting and extremely probable results of the collision between the great vessel and the iceberg. The Titanic stood for the “last word” in naval architecture. Not only did she carry to a far greater degree than any other ship the assurance of safety which we have come to associate with mere size; not only did she embody every safeguard against accident, known to the naval architect; not only was there brought into her structure a greater proportionate mass of steel than has been put into any, even of the reeent giant liners; but she was built at the foremost shipyard of Great Britain, and. by a company whose vessels are credited with being the most strongly and carefully constructed of any afloat. The One Fatal Peril.

But there was just one peril of the deep against which this mighty ship was

as helpless as the smallest of coasting steamers—the long, glancing blow beTow the waterline, due to the projecting shelf of an iceberg. It was this that sent the Titanic to the bottom in the brief space of 21 hours, and it was her very size and the fatal speed at which she was driven which made the blow so terrible.

The Fatal Blow. There were the usual lookout men at the bow and in the crow's nest, and officers on the bridge were straining tlieir eyes for indications of the dreaded ice, when the cry suddenly rang out from the crow’s nest: “Berg ahead!” and an iceberg loomed up in the ship's path, distant only a quarter of a mile. The first officer gave the order “Starboard your helm.” The great ship answered smartly, and swung swiftly to port. Bnt it was too late. The vessel took the blow of a deadly, underwater, projecting shelf of ice, on her starboard bow, near the bridge, and before she swung clear, the mighty ram of the iceberg had torn its way through plating and frames as far *ft as amidships, opening up compartment after compartment to the oca.

Thus, at one blow, were all the safety appliances of this magnificent ship set at naught! Of what avail was it to close water-tight doors, or set going the powerful pufnps, when nearly half the length of the ship was open to the inpouring water. It must have taken but a few minutes’ inspection to show the officers of the ship that she was doomed.

How The Great Ship Went Down.

Piecing together what the survivors witnessed from the boats, it is easy to understand the successive events of the ship’s final plunge. The filling of the forward compartments brought her down by the head, and, gradually, to an almost vertical position. Here she hung a while, stern high in air, like a huge, weighted spar buoy. As she swung to the perpendicular, her heavy engines and boilers; tearing loose from Eheir foundations, crashed forward (downward); and, the water pressure increasing as she sank, burst in the so far intact after compartments. It was the

muffled roar of this "death rattle’’ of the dying ship that caused some survivors to tell of bursting boilers and a hull broken apart. The shell of the ship, except for the injuries received in the collision, went to the bottom intact. When the after compartments finally gave way, the stricken vessel, weighted with the’mass of engine and boiler-room wreckage at her forward end, sank, to bury herself bows down in the soft ooze of the Atlantic bottom two miles below. There, for aught wo know, she. may at this moment be standing, with several hundred feet of her rising sheer above the ocean floor, a sublime memorial shaft to the sixteen hundred hapless souls who perished in this unspeakable tragedy. ♦ ♦ ♦ Crude Petroleum Motors. A hundred miles for a shilling is cheap travelling even in these days of low fares; that is tli« astonishingly low cost of driving a motor-car which uses crude paraffin instead of petrol. Experiments have been successful, and if the use of it becomes general the cost of spirit for

motor vehicles can be reduced about 50 per cent. Instead of paying 1/3 for his gallon of petrol, the taxi-cab driver may buy crude paraffin at 3d per gallon, and pocket the difference. Even if he finds difficulty in getting crude oil he may purchase the best for Bd, and still make a fair saving. Motor lorries can also be fed by the cheaper fuel. The saving to one motor-bus company alone is reckoned at something like £lOO,OOO every year. The saving to London’s motor traffic would, it is stated, amount to nearly a million. The discovery that paraffin may be used in place of petrol has been made by Mr. G. Constantinesco, a young Roumanian engineer, and for some time his theories have been put to severe tests. Experiments which have already 'been made are so far satisfactory. Should the idea find final accomplishment, the motor will be much nearer the ideal traction than at the present time. For it is in the upkeep of the car that much opposition is found. <f> Celluloid And Its Dangers. Celluloid is highly inflammable, and on many occasions has caused loss of life and property. The chemical process of its combustion has been studied recently by Dr. Panzer, of Vienna, and (says a writer in the “Scientific American”) the results of his experiments are of great value to science and industry, as they show a way of dealing with a celluloid blaze. Celluloid does not ignite spontaneously, but it was

found that after extinguishing the flames of a piece of burning celluloid decomposition would still go on, and would continue even in a vessel filled with carbonic acid and steam. This shows that atmospheric oxygen is not necessary for decomposition, that a fire caused by celluloid ean only with difficulty bo put out with water, and that ordinary fire extinguishers arc useless. The flameless combustion starts at a temperature of 212 degrees F., so that decomposition may be started by a flame situated quite at a distance away. The white vapours resulting from combustion form an explosive mixture with air. To extinguish a celluloid blaze in a building is a most difficult task, if not impossible. On account of the rapidlyspreading flames, and the excessive heat of the fumes, the seat of the blaze is almost inaccessible to firemen. Ignition and gasification of celluloid may be caused by an open fiame or simply by heat. A hot stove can cause decomposition. If a piece of celluloid is slowly heated, it may be observed to soften first, then blisters appear, then sudden decomposition, sometimes accompanied by flume. Products of dissociation are

gases, liquids, and carbonaceous mattMfe The colourless gases, water, carbomfl acid, and nitrogen oxides are extremely; poisonous. <S> <S> <s> * Perfecting the Electric Car. Whether the New York tramway companics have been influenced or not in the| design of cars by feminine fashions, certain it is that a new type, with no formidable step, has been evolved l . An illustration in the “Scientific American” for April shows a tight-skirted woman entering a car with an easd which has induced her to smile suavely". The explanation is set out in the American. “A novel form of car, having! passenger entrances at the centre only* has been worked' out for the electrij railways of New York city,” it is stated, “By placing the trucks at the extreme! ends of the car, a low floor at thd entrance doors is provided, ten re.cheg only between doorsill and street pavement, which is hardly greater than the rise between the treads of an ordinary house stairway. From this point the floor slopes upward very gradually towards each end. The motorman’s compartment is entirely shut off from thq space occupied 'by passengers. The _ eat wheels and truck frames project up into the space beneath the seats at each end of the car. The conductor’s post is directly opposite the pair of centre doors, at the most advantageous point to open and close the doors and receive the fares of incoming passengers. The doors are automatically operated by compressed air by a device similar to that used on the’ side-door subway cars of New York, which allows the doors to be closed while passengers are crowding through it, yet relieves the pressure when the door is blocked by the body of a passenger and automatically applies it again when the obstruction is removed. In this manner the door works its way to a safe closing through a crowd of passengers without causing injury to any, of them. If a man’s overcoat or a woman’s skirt gets caught in the dooi\ the car cannot be started until the object is removed'. It will be impossible for the car to Start unless the door is closed ti"ht, no matter what position the controller handle is in, and it will be impossible to open the door till the car stops. Ventilation is automatic, the air supply being controlled by a device connected to the car springs to admit air in proportion to the weight (that is, to the number) of passengers aboard the car.”