AN ELECTRICAL BOAT.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3158, 11 August 1881, Page 4

AN ELECTRICAL BOAT.

There seems some prospect of electricity taking the place of steam as a motive power in launches, yachts, and even small boats. The other day M. Faure might have been seen disporting himself witli two companions in.a small boat on the Seine between th" Pont Royal and the Font dcs Arts for nearly two hours, without any visible sign of effort. Tho boat, which was 17 feet long and 4 feet wide, was urged through the water by means of the electric current. This was supplied by a battery of twelve Wollasfcon cells, which weighed about half a hundredweight, and the current was passed through a small electro-motor no heavier than 51bs. The power thus produced a:r.nvnfed to rather more than tho force of an able-bodieu rower, and ifc was utilised in turning a little screw attached to the stern of the boat in a niche cut. out of the ruddc. Tho snood attained was about four feet per second, or eighty yards per minute, and the smoothness of the motion was very pleasing There was neither jar nor noise, a condition which admirably fits the electrical boat, not only for pleasure, but for sporting purposes, whether angling or wild fowl shooting. Another advantage is that the electric apparatus can be readily applied to any existing craft with little alteration of the boat. The experiments are about to be repeated on the Bois de Boulogne lake, and if the first success is borne out, wo may ere long hope to see the novelty adopted on the Thames.