Show scientific AFTERMATH OF TITANIC DISASTER questions in applied science especially in engineering engi meering suggested by phases of the titanic disaster continue to agitate the scientific press perhaps are questions connected with the vessels structure and with the arrangement ran gement and efficiency ot of the bulkheads that were supposed to render her unsinkable some of tile the chief engineering aspects of 0 tile the disaster are discuss in the leading article in engi i london questions that press for immediate discussion and settlement are first the effect ot of center line or wing bulkheads such stich have obvious advantages but have imperfect stability under disastrous conditions the effect of 0 impact on the superstructure of very large laree ships is another point that engineering gi thinks will have to be considered si in such ships there are now cow usually tuo or three decks above the molded structure would inertia have effects similar to those experienced in railway collisions in which the bol body of the carriage is driven from under the frame As the boats and launch ing gear are carried on these decks there is a possibility ot of damage to them under such conditions it is quite evident thinks the engineering record new york april 20 that the enormous inertia of such a great i essel contributed to her ter distraction A leading article in the engineer is also devoted to the loss of 0 the titanic and raises other questions particularly regarding arrangements for securing watertight water tight subdivision comprising not only the number and disposition of bulkheads but also the height to which they extend and the water avater tightness ot of the deck at their upper extremity safety pontoons for ocean vessels are suggested by henry R towne president of the yale and towne manufacturing company he wrote to the new york times on the subject April 25 and follows up this first suggestion with an article in engineering gi news new york slay may 2 mr townes pontoons pon would be independent structure so built on the deck as to float off if the vessel should sink A agle sl one might be large enough to hold 1000 persons he writes experience has shown that the v modern large steamship when fatally injured sinks slowly this would afford ample time in which to ai ah se senoble abl the tha pass passengers ligers and crew jn in ihen ahe poll e except possibly a portion of the crew which might be assigned to lifeboats as scouts and to close the doors and portholes port holes it also implies that each pontoon as it became immersed would automatically release itself and float away in the designing of a new ship the incorporation of safety pontoons pon would involve no difficulties and probably would intal little it any additional cost in the case of many it if not all existing vessels it would be possible to remodel their upper works so 60 as to incorporate these pontoons pon it if this change were gl amed advisable 7 tio 1 10 interior of each pontoon would be as available for normal daily uses as the present superstructure of the ship which it would replace and a reasonable ea amount of interior decoration t could be adopted without at all al lim impairing pairing the efficiency of 0 the poni pon for their ultimate purpose in case of disaster it would even be possible to include in the emergency power equipment provision for m moderate der lighting ot of the interior in a heavy sea the hatches in the deck or roof roo of 0 the pontoon would need to be closed but in a moderate or smooth sea if 1 protected by proper combings they I 1 rould id b be I 1 opened and at times the occupants of the pontoon could safely emerge upon the upper deck which of course would be surrounded by a proper railing the pontoon would thus be simply an isle ot of safety in or on which the passengers and crew could remain during the few hours which elapse before the arrival of succor whereupon they would be transferred by lifeboats life boats to the rescuing ship or ships in a latter issue may 9 the same paper calls attention to the tact fact that thai the watertight water tight bulkheads on the titanic were so constructed constructed that the margin ot of safety was very slight tho the top of the after bulkheads being only just above the waterline water line As the filling or oi some of the com part mens meus would raise the waterline water line on oil the hull bull it is evident that the margin in of safety obtained by division is soon exhausted I 1 it is of much interest to note that the american line steamer new york although built twenty four years ago has all her carried up tip to a deck which is 14 to 13 15 feet ceet above tile the vessels waterline water line the hiie new york was designed at a time and nd under conditions when provision df if safety against collision was very nuch much desired by ship owners each ot of the vessel was self ned special attention is devoted to the electric engineering side of 0 the disaster by the electric world new york april 27 this paper notes that two deductions stand out ott clearly namely the importance ot of constant wireless watch on board large steamers n and the importance ot of maintaining incandescent lighting on an large vessels under all conditions of emergency it goes on it was by great good fortune that the single operator carried on the carpathia happened to catch the titan ics acs signal of distress on board small ships the expense of wireless watch and watch becomes excessive but on large ships this expense is well warranted closer communication between the wireless room and nd the aej kation gallon r than naw now ordina rl litI ests would also seem warranted so as to avoid unnecessary loss of time in carrying emergency signals to the officer in ill charge in regard to lighting it appears that it was fortunately capable of being maintained on oil the ill fated titanic until only a few moments before her funnels were submerged and long after water had reached the ali engine room on tile the injured side of the he ship it t is to be supposed that this was due to the continuation of generating plant operation on the uninjured side it if the ship had been plunged in darkness early in the history of the accident the contusion confusion and terror would probably have been beyond the power of the officers and men to control so that what w will H ever stand out in history as an international might have become an international disgrace it is therefore orth north considering whether a storage battery plant for keeping the pal incandescent lamps lighted for several hours in emergency might not be well installed on all large passenger steamers the effect ot of adequate artificial lighting in tases ases of sudden night emergencies on oil botn bota intelligence telli gence and nerve is a factor in certain classes of illuminating engineer ng ing that cannot be ignored in addition the writer believes everything ery thing points to the absolute necessity sity of a controlling power to ate wireless telegraphy ile he says dreadful as was the loss of life it s not unlikely that without wire wireless ess calls tor for help which brough quick response there might not have been a single survivor left to tell the story of it the recklessness and trag c end cad A few hours more and rough aning sea and increasing cold mi might lave completed the grim list of the lead dead but the experience of the next wenty twenty fours showed only too plainly that hat without the most rigor ous regulation wireless telegraphy might prove powerless to bring help in III time the experience of the car batnia pat a and the shore stations showed go cotant ant ba frow frois it plants ts in every direction fiad had the titanic struck derelict or run down another steamer near enough inshore in shore to have fallen within the range ot of this interference it is very doubtful whether her plight and position could have been made out so that help might have rea reached ched her in ill time to save the boats the main thing is to keep so close a hand on oil stations of every kind that when the hour of need comes all interference ter can be scoped at a minutes notice and the severest penalties should be prescribed and inflicted for the sending of false messages the dreadful experience suffered by those who had friends on board the titanic and believed them saved as by a mira ele until the terrible news leaked on olt should never be repeated someone Ho meone perhaps in carelessness in tear lear or in greed sent talc tal fal sp c messages of rescue such a person it if proper regulation had bem been passed ought to serve a long term in fia a federal prison sir mr hudson maxim who Is an ex pert authority on the impact ot of a projectile on its target gives in hearses Ite He arsts 31 magazine agazine new york the following interesting estimate of the force ot of the blow when the ship met the berg assuming that the titanic weighed with load about tons and assuming that when she struck the iceberg she was traveling at a speed ot of about eighteen knots an hour she was moving forward at a velocity of say about thirty two feet a second or about the velocity which a falling body acquires at the end of the first second the titanic struck with a force as great as though she had been upon the iceberg at a height of 0 sixteen feet by consequence then she struck that iceberg with an energy ot of impact roughly fifteen times tons or toot foot tons this was equal to an ail energy sufficient fent to lift the battleship oregon bodily to a height of about seventy five feet too the crushing shock upon her bow was therefore as great as tho the she were stood on end bow upward and the battleship oregon dropped upon her bow from a height of se seventy enty five ve feet this Is taking into account only the momentum ot of the vessel and nothing for the great thrust of the propellers under her enormous horsepower horse power to follow up the initial impact it if the titanic as was very probably the case was going at full speed she very possibly rammed the iceberg with the force ot of foot tons this would be energy sufficient clent to 11 lift f t the battleship oregon bodily to nearly a height of a hundred and fifty feet more than enough to melt ten tons oi ol 01 cast iron and would equal in force a blow ot of thirty twelve inch projectiles striking her bow at once literary digest |