UNSINKABLE SHIP.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1359, 22 June 1878, Page 3

UNSINKABLE SHIP.

Mr Tsbister, a long-established shipwright at Port Chalmers, has invented what he considers to be an unsinkablo ship. In a pamphlet published describing it ho remarks that it is a source of regret that so little has been effected to improve the strength, speed, and general construction of our merchant marine, particularly that class engaged in our large, important, and ever-increasing immigration career.

The design furnished by him consists primarily in a°w ill of steel dividing the ship int o two equal piris, forming at once the entire longitudinal section, including keel, kelson, stern, and scerh-post. These two compartments or halves of the ship are again subdivided at right angles by thwart-ship bulkheads of similar solidity, at convenient distances, separating the lower hold into ten water-tight and fire-prcof compartments, and the ’tween decks into the same number. These sectional walla are not merely bulkheads, but are built to form a material and important part in the strength

of the entire frame. Bach frame passes the central wall, whore, at the keel pi ate, its gravity increasing to represent the floors, is there gradually diminished to lower-deck stringers, uniting with knees and beams; thence upwards to the frame-beads, again uniting with upper deck-frame. The interior of the ship would thus represent four cigarshaped coves, subdivided as previously explained, the conjunction of the lower holdframes and knees, with those of the upper deck at the great central wall, producing a jointed structure of great strength and lightness, representing the vertebrae of a fish, and placed in the ship at the centre of gravity, the space between decks increased to bring this below deep load line. By this method ho considers the efß.iency of longitudinals increased, receiving additional support at each thwart-ship bulkhead, and binding all parts in unity to resist vertical strains. A further strength is obtained by a system of suspension by sections, diagonal binders, connecting thwart-ships walls with keelson-plate. The frame of the ship may be thus said to be built in sections, which, when united, form a combination of resisting power not hitherto obtained. He states that the first and most important consideration lies in the fact that in this design we possess a really unsinkable ship. There can be no foundering at sea under circumstances identical with the numbers that have gone down, unable longer to battle with the fury of the elements. In misfortune —through collision or fire—this ship would bo alike fortified. By a system complete and perfectably manageable, the unhed powers of the pumps, of which there are ten, driven by steam, may bo thrown into any compartment, either to discharge a leak or extinguish a fire, valves are also provided, and with perfect safety can be used to flood any part where fire may exist. Extreme length, a great essential of speed, can be accomplished without weakness. Miscellaneous goods may be separated, and goods of a dangerous character, antagonistic or detrimental to other cargo, effectually stored apart. Cargo designed for various ports can be stowed without intermixing, and!the delay consequently occurring avoided. Neither can it be possible for a ship to shift her cargo or ballast. In emigrant ships Ihe comfort of the passengers would be enhanced, from the fact that their sleeping berths could be built amidships. It is claimed that a ship of this design, five hundred feet in length, sixty-four feet beam, with sixteen feet depth load line, driven by powerful twin screws, would perform her twenty miles per hour with greater ease than they now accomplish their fourteen, and at a minimum of wear and tear. A belief is also expressed that ships of this class will shortly represent the great carrying trade of the world, and we shall have cause to rejoice that New Zealand has produced a faster, a safer, aud a more convenient ship.—“N.Z. Times.”