Inventions; Science; Technology -- Social aspects; Technology and civilization
There is a perfect fire alarm system on board with fire mains on each
side of the ship from which connections are taken to every separate
department. There are boxes with hydrant and valve in each room and
a system of break glass fire alarms with a drop indicator box in the
chartroom and also one in the engine-room to notify in case of any
outbreak.
The sanitation is all that could be desired. There are flush lavatories
on all decks in marble and onyx and with all the sanitary contrivances
in apparatus of the best design.
The vessel is propelled by four screws, rotated by turbine engines and
the power developed is equal to that of 68,000 horses. Now 68,000
horses placed head to tail in a single line would reach a distance of
90 miles or as far as from New York to Philadelphia; and if the steeds
were harnessed twenty abreast there would be no fewer than 3,400 rows
of powerful horses.
Such is the steamship of to-day but there is no doubt that the thousand
foot boat is coming, which probably will cross the Atlantic ocean in
less than four days if not in three. But the question is, where shall
we put her, that is, where shall we dock her?
To build a thousand foot pier to accommodate her, appears like a good
answer to this question, but the great difficulty is that there are
United States Government regulations restricting the length of piers
to 800 feet. Docking space along the shore of New York harbor is too
valuable to permit the ship being berthed parallel to the shore,
therefore vessels must dock at right angles to the shore. Some
provisions must soon be made and the regulations as to dock lengths
revised.
The thousand footer may be here in a couple of years or so. In the
meantime the two 840 footers are already on the stocks at Belfast and
are expected to arrive early in 1911. Before they come changes and
improvements must be made in the docking and harbor facilities of the
port of New York.
If higher speed is demanded, increased size is essential, since with
even the best result every 100 horse-power added involves an addition
to machinery weight of approximately 14 tons and to the area occupied
of about 40 square feet. To accomplish this the ship must be as much
larger in proportion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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