146 NOTES ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES. 



apparatus which I have been giving considerable attention to in the last few years . 

 This apparatus has been perfected and two revenue cutters are equipped with it. 



The chief point of difference between the new marine breeches buoy apparatus 

 and the common shore breeches buoy apparatus resides in the addition of an auto- 

 matic tension engine which is a take-up and payout device for the supporting hawser. 

 This engine was originally developed to meet the demands of the U. S. Navy 

 Department in connection with the marine cableway for coaling warships at sea. 

 The automatic tension engine for life-saving is much smaller in size, and is capable 

 of much higher speed of take-up. This apparatus is to bridge the gap between 

 the rescuing ship and the wreck ; it maintains a uniform tension on the connecting 

 hawser. The distance between the ships may vary from loo feet to 1,500 feet. 

 It will compensate not only for the pitch and toss of the vessels but also for the dis- 

 tance between the two ships which will vary while maneuvering. It will be impos- 

 sible to snap it. A man desiring to break a string with his two hands first slackens 

 (bringing his hands together) then quickly separates his hands and the line parts. 

 A line that never slackens cannot be broken half as readily as one that is allowed 

 to slacken. The very fact of a slight increase in the strain on the connecting hawser 

 automatically produces a reduction in the steam pressure which causes the auto- 

 matic tension engine to pay out the rope as demanded. If the increase in tension 

 is violent the decrease in steam pressure is correspondingly great. If the increase 

 in tension is gradual the steam pressure is reduced gradually. Thus the pulling on 

 the hawser pulls down the steam pressure and hence the uniform resistance. Slack- 

 ening on the connecting hawser increases the steam pressure and the line is wound in. 



There is nothing new about the breeches buoy. 



More than half the wrecks of the world are of schooners with small crews. 

 More than half the wrecks of the world are ships of less than 700 tons tonnage, 

 consequently the ordinary circumstances in which this marine breeches buoy appar- 

 atus would be employed would be for the saving of only a few lives. The advan- 

 tage to the steamship fitted with this appliance in answering a call for help is that 

 the rescue can be effected in the shortest time and with certainty and safety. 



Mr. James R. Raymond, Associate: — I beg to differ with Mr. Forbes on the 

 question of detaching boats, particularly when he says : " If perfection is looked for, 

 such a gear must be so made that by the action of one person in the boat a release 

 can be instantaneously effected at any time. " To my mind a device so constructed, 

 as to permit of a boat being detached at any time, possesses a most dangerous 

 feature. There are many instances of disastrous failures attended by most serious 

 results, due to not pulling the lever or lanyard controlling the device at the proper 

 time. In the time of excitement it is impossible to so place the people in the boat 

 as to trim it properly: the man at the lever, especially at night, cannot judge of 

 the distance his boat is from the water, pulls or throws his lever and, instead of 

 releasing his boat when in the water, which is the proper time to release it, releases 

 it when it is a distance from the water, making a launch that is disastrous to the 



