[47] WORK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 417 



journals, etc. Liners were placed under low-pressure eccentric rods to 

 restore lead of valves, which had become slightly worn, and repairs 

 were made to the starboard low-pressure brasses. 



The ship was docked at Baltimore August 19, after having been in 

 the water continuously thirteen months aud five days. One rivet in the 

 forward end of the starboard bilge-keel was found to be loose. This 

 was the first loose rivet, and the first leak discovered in the hull of the 

 ship. All outboard valves were in good condition. The stern bearings 

 were badly worn, but the shafts were clean aud bright under the Edison 

 insulator taps which had been put on to prevent corrosion. The Katzen- 

 steiu packing placed on the valve stems has been beneficial. An ex- 

 pansion joint has been put in main steam-pipe between the engines. 

 The Svedberg governors have had to bo shifted, as by the new arrange- 

 ment of bunkers they would have been in the coal storage. They are 

 now more convenient for use than before, but they are also more in the 

 way. I have converted the regurgitating valves of the feed-pumps into 

 safety feed-valves, aud have so piped the pumps that each will feed 

 either boiler. The pneumatic indicators have answered their purpose 

 well, and the Navy Department has again followed the lead of the Com- 

 mission (as it did in the case of electric lighting) in placing this instru- 

 ment in the new cruisers. 



The contract for new boilers was signed by the president of the Co- 

 lumbian Iron Works, January 10, 1887, and by the Fish Commissioner, 

 Professor Baird, on the 27th of the same month. The contract time was 

 one hundred and twenty working days, a forfeit of $10 to be paid by 

 the contractors for each day in excess of that limit required for complet- 

 ing the boilers. The writer was designated as superintending engineer 

 of the construction, representing the Fish Commission, and the designs, 

 specifications, and contract were drawn by him. 



The iron for the new boilers was ordered by the Columbian Iron 

 Works from the Christiana Boiling Mills, of Wilmington, Delaware. 

 That mill had never made charcoal iron before, buc they bought char- 

 coal blooms of the best character, from which to roll the iron for the 

 boilers. To prevent delay, I secured test pieces of the plates at the 

 mill and tested them on a Fairbanks machine in Philadelphia, tele- 

 graphing orders to the mill whether the plates were to be accepted or 

 not, thereby saving the expense of shipping condemned plates. For one 

 cause and another it was necessary to condemn a large amount of iron, 

 26,000 pounds of shell plates being rejected iu a single day. 



The manner of testing the materials is represented in the accom- 

 panying figures: Figure 1 shows the bending test of a brace; figure 2, 

 the hammer test of a plate ; figure 3, the punching test ; figures 4 and 5, 

 the flanging tests ; figure 6, the bending test for plates j figure 7, the 

 bending of a rivet and the flattening of its head. These tests were made 

 in the boiler-shop after the delivery of the iron. In the grooved speci- 

 mens, some of the shell plates stood 59,000 pounds per square inch wittj. 

 H, Mis. 133 27 



