In a recent impression we gave some particulars of the trial trip of a boat built for the Italian government by Messrs. Yarrow & Co., which attained the highest speed known, namely, as nearly as possible, 28 miles an hour. On the 14th April the sister boat made her trial trip in the Lower Hope, beating all previous performances, and attaining a mean speed of 25.101 knots, or over 28 miles an hour. The quickest run made with the tide was at the rate of 27.272 knots, or 31.44 miles per hour, past the shore. This is a wonderful performance.
In the following table we give the precise results:
+-------+---------+-------+-----+-------+-------+------
-+ | | | | | | | Second| |Boiler.|Receiver.|Vacuum.|Revs.| Speed.| Means.| Means.| +-------+---------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-------+ | | | | per | Knots | Knots | Knots | | lb. | lb. | in. | min.|per hr.|per hr.|per hr.| +-------+---------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-------+ 1 | 130 | 32 | 28 |373 | 22.641| 24.956| | 2 | 130 | 32 | 28 |372.7| 27.272| 25.028| 24.992| 3 | 130 | 32 | 28 |372 | 22.784| 25.028| 25.028| 4 | 130 | 32 | 28 |377 | 27.272| 25.248| 25.138| 5 | 130 | 32 | 28 |375 | 23.225| 25.248| 25.248| 6 | 130 | 32 | 28 |377 | 27.272| | | ------+-------+---------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----
--+ Means | 130 | 32 | 28 |374.5| | | 25.101| ------+-------+---------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----
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The boat is 140 ft. long, and fitted with twin screws driven by compound engines, one pair to each propeller. These engines are of the usual type, constructed by Messrs. Yarrow. Each has two cylinders with cranks at 90 deg.. The framing, and, indeed, every portion not of phosphor-bronze or gun metal, is of steel, extraordinary precautions being taken to secure lightness. Thus the connecting rods have holes drilled through them from end to end. The low pressure cylinders are fitted with slide valves. The high pressure valves are of the piston type, all being worked by the ordinary link motion and eccentrics. The engine room is not far from the mid length of the boat, and one boiler is placed ahead and the other astern of it. Each boiler is so arranged that it will supply either engine or both at pleasure. The boat has therefore two funnels, one forward and the other aft, and air is supplied to the furnaces by two fans, one fixed on the forward and the other on the aft bulkhead of the engine room.