184 REFUELING WARSHIPS AT SEA. 



"As a matter of fact the date of my paper to the Admiralty on the subject was con- 

 siderably earlier than that of Lieutenant Bell's, but I was before my time and got but little 

 credit and was told it was considered impracticable, and although I later on suggested im- 

 provements I got no encouragement and so did not go on with it." 



Rear-Admiral Tupper says that the automatic tension engine would be of great value 

 in sweeping for mines, and in this he speaks from personal experience. Nothing could be 

 better than an automatic tension engine for this purpose. It would be superior to a towing 

 engine because it maintains a practically constant pull in the mine-sweeping cable yielding 

 to every over-pull. In fact two over-pulls could occur in succession without overstraining 

 the cable itself. With the towing engine the slack take-up and overstrain pay-out must suc- 

 ceed each other like the swing of a pendulum. The automatic tension engine will take up 

 slack several times in succession and pay out over-pulls several times in succession. 



The author is greatly indebted to the membership of the Society for their cordial recep- 

 tion of this paper and to all those in official life in Washington and at sea, who have done so 

 much to advance the development of the marine cableway. 



The Chairman : — The meeting has already evinced its appreciation, Mr. Miller, and I 

 desire to extend to you the hearty thanks of the Society for presenting your paper. 



Like a good housewife, the Council of the Society has apparently reserved some of the 

 best of our intellectual feast for the closing hours, and we will now have a paper which un- 

 doubtedly will give you much pleasure. It is No. 14, the last paper to be presented at this 

 meeting, and is entitled, "The Applicability of Electrical Propulsion to Battleships, together 

 with the Experience Gained with it on the Jupiter," by Lieutenant S. M. Robinson, U. S. 

 Navy. We regret that Lieutenant Robinson is not with us. He is apparently detained on 

 duty. Naval Constructor Linnard has consented to read the paper in the absence of Mr. 

 Robinson. 



Naval Constructor Linnard read the paper. 



