I go AN ELECTRICALLY PROPELLED 



down and bring it neariy to rest, and then it will be reversed and brought up the other 

 way. By this means the control will be similar to the direct-current control used on 

 the Chicago fireboats, and to do this you will simply work a contact lever in the 

 pilot-house and by so doing reduce the speed of the motor and reverse it, and raise 

 it again, so that the only action in controlling the boat will be moving that lever. 

 That method does not give the best economy at low speed. There is certain loss 

 due to the resistance at low speed. At high speeds it would be as economical as 

 other methods. If a ship wanted to run continuously at low speed you could lower 

 the speed of the turbine and lower the voltage of the turbine simply to adapt it 

 to continuous operation at low speed with a better degree of economy than you have 

 to simply control it by resistance. 



Mr. Donnelly brought this design to me just exactly as it stands. I approve of 

 its practicability; it is entirely practical and perfectly simple. The turbines would 

 work reUably and do what he said they would do, and the electrical control would 

 be perfectly satisfactory, and any motor speeded up or slowed down or reversed 

 at will from the pilot-house without any complication that does not enter into the 

 operation of electric locomotives and a hundred other things. 



One other point, as to the question of auxiliaries — it is proposed to operate the 

 principal auxiliaries by steam turbines. I think in this vessel, since you maintain 

 a continued voltage and frequency on the prime mover, that these auxiliaries should 

 be run by motors. The use of steam turbines for such purpose is extremely waste- 

 ful of steam, whereas the motor gives you power from the prime mover at the very 

 least loss. There are various stations I know of in which these turbine-driven aux- 

 iliaries are being operated, in which I am sure that many hundreds of kilowatts 

 could be put upon the busbars if they were taken out, but still, since they involve 

 simple rotation, they are eminently practicable, and they have been introduced 

 there from considerations of convenience. You are simply blowing these auxiliaries 

 around with a jet of steam, just as you do the prime mover, and the thing is ideal 

 and simple, but the electric motor which would do the work is also ideal and simple. 



Mr. S. D. McComb, Member: — I would like to say a few words regarding the 

 fireproofing features. I beheve that the ships around New York Harbor could be 

 made much better from a fireproof standpoint than they are, and that our ship- 

 builders around New York are not doing as good work along these hnes as the 

 shipbuilders on the Great Lakes are doing. The steamer. City of Detroit, which was 

 built at Detroit last year, and the new Cee and Bee now building there, are much 

 safer from a fire standpoint than any of the boats that have been built here. 



It is true that we have boats which have steel hulls, and some have steel decks 

 and steel engine and boiler casings all the way up, but most of these have their 

 carline and partitions all of wood, and there are a lot of furnishings and decorations 

 of very inflammable material in various parts of the boats. On the Great Lakes 

 a great many of the passenger boats are sprinkled, and the new passenger boats are 

 practically all sprinkled. While it is true that the Commonwealth and Plymouth 



