ON NA VAL ARCHITECTURE. 295 



English owners. I know too well how dependent the ship is, even 

 then, upon her water-tight doors ; but such cr.re bestowed upon them, 

 as is given by some owners and builders, would get over that difficulty. 

 I have been supplied at my request with sketches of some admirable 

 arrangements designed by Messrs. Hariand and Wolff, of Belfast, and 

 fitted in some ships recently built by them. 



Description of Watertight Doors, frc., as fitted in the s.s. "Britannic" 

 and " Germanic? 



No. i. This floating door works on pivots and is placed at the 

 entrance of the screw shaft tunnel on the after side of the bulkhead, 

 and in case of the water rising in the tunnel, closes itself by the 

 buoyancy of the air-chamber attached to it. Chains are also fixed on 

 the foreside and extending to the engine-room platform on the middle 

 deck for closing by hand if any obstruction occurs. 



No. 2. Any irruption of water into the after boiler and engine space 

 would float and close the lower door of this pair, and at the same time 

 lower the upper one ; these two also have chains led to the middle 

 deck grating in the stokehold for closing by hand. 



No. 3. This floating door is fixed on the same bulkhead at No. 2, 

 but on the opposite side, and closes in case of water getting into the 

 forward boiler space, by a similar self-acting arrangement to No. r. 



No. 4. This door is opened by a rack and worm from the middle 

 deck, and can also be closed instantaneously from the stokehold by 

 means of the handle A, which works on an eccentric, throws the worm 

 out of gear with the rack, and lets the door drop, any shock being 

 prevented by the pistons above cushioning en the air in the cylinders, 

 which does not commence until the two hangers T T come in contact 

 with ends of piston rods S S. 



I bring also an Admiralty contribution towards this good object, in 

 the shape of a model of a door which cannot be left open because it 

 never is open, but it nevertheless serves for passage. We are pro 

 posing to fit it in fore and aft bulkheads where ventilation is not 

 necessary, but where the integrity of the division is of the utmost 

 importance. 



I do not wish it to be supposed that I complain of the action 

 of the Lloyd's surveyors in this matter. They can only enforce 



