26 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



WINANS' STEAMER.* 



The inventor of this curious vessel has, since her first construction, in- 

 creased her length and sharpness, until she is now 244 feet long, and abso- 

 lutely pointed at both ends. Her breadth of beam, or diameter (for she is 

 perfectly round), is the same as at first 16 feet. The greater length and 

 sharpness have augmented the speed, and have increased the cleanness of her 

 movement, until improvement on the latter point seems hardly possible. 

 The objects which Mr. Winans seeks to accomplish in this form, are precisely 

 those which the projectors of the Great Eastern hope to attain in that form, 

 to wit, avoidance of motion, and capacity for uninterrupted application of 

 the motive power, by which great average speed will be obtained. The 

 V\'inans steamer is designed to go through the waves, thus avoiding the toss- 

 ing which the vast proportions of the Great Eastern are intended to remedy; 

 and her propelling wheel, being midship, and of the full size of the vessel, 

 must always be one-half submerged, and therefore in a condition to receive 

 the full working power of the engines. If she rolls upon either side, or 

 plunges through a wave, her propeller can never be less (though often much 

 more) than half submerged, its ordinary condition in smooth water. 



A correspondent of the Portland Argus, thus describes an experimental 

 trip in this vessel, down the Potomac, a distance of seventeen miles and back. 

 " The time occupied in this trip of 34 miles, was just 2| hours from the time 

 the fastenings were cast off from the wharf until she was again at her moor- 

 ings, and we upon terra firma. The performance of this marine locomotive 

 (for such it may appropriately be styled) was admirable. When she started, 

 her steam was not up, and, for a mile or two, she moved rather slowly 

 through the smooth water, scarcely appearing to disturb its surface, or to 

 give any indication, by jar or sound, that there was a steam-engine on board. 

 But the revolutions of the propelling wheel gradually became quicker, and 

 her speed greater, until it reached the rate of about 10 miles an hour. Still 

 there was scarcely any perceptible jar from the machinery, so perfectly was 

 it adjusted, and the disturbance of the water by the passage of the vessel 

 was marvellously slight. So clean, indeed, was her movement, that a skiff 

 would scarcely have felt any agitation in crossing her wake." 



BISHOP'S FLOATING "BOOM DERRICK." 



This derrick, the invention of Albert D. Bishop, of New York, has been 

 for some time before the American public, but has only recently been intro- 

 duced into England. During the past year, however, a single machine has 

 been exhibited on the Thames, at London, which is reported capable of lift- 

 ing a thousand tons at a pull. Its construction is thus described by a corre- 

 spondent of the N. Y. Times : 



The machine consists, first, of a flat-bottomed boat of 257 feet in length, 

 and 90 feet beam, or about the length of an ordinary steamship, and 12 feet 

 broader than the Great Eastern. The depth is 14 feet, the draft of water is 

 only 4 feet, the bow and stern are sharp, the ground-plan is rhomboidal, and 

 resembles a compositor's type-case, being divided into 87 water-tight depart- 

 ments, 14 feet square, extending from the bottom to the deck. The whole of 

 this structure is of heavy boiler-iron. Bulwarks, some 7 feet high, surround 



* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1859, p. 47- 



