The seat life buoy, shown in Fig. 2, serves as an ordinary deck seat, being about 8 ft. long, and it consists of two portions, hinged at the back. When required for use as a life buoy, it is simply thrown forward, the seat being at the same time lifted upward, so that the top rail of the back engages with the two clips, shown at either end of the seat, and the whole structure then forms a rigid raft, as will be seen from Fig. 3. Several other appliances were shown at the Westminster Aquarium on April 13, but the two rafts we have selected for illustration will give a sufficiently correct idea of the general principles upon which the apparatus is based.—Industries.

ANOTHER REMARKABLE TORPEDO BOAT—OVER TWENTY-EIGHT MILES AN HOUR.

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:

Boiler.Receiver.Vacuum.Revs.Speed.Means.Second Means.
lb.lb.in.per min.Knots per hr.Knots per hr.Knots per hr.
1130322837322.64124.956
21303228372.727.27225.02824.992
3130322837222.78425.02825.028
4130322837727.27225.24825.138
5130322837523.22525.24825.248
6130322837727.272
Means1303228374.525.101

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°. 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.

The fan engines have cylinders 5½ in. diameter and 3½ in. stroke, and make about 1,100 revolutions per minute when at full speed, causing a plenum in the stokeholes of about 6 in. water pressure. Double steam steering gear is fitted, for the forward and aft rudder respectively, and safety from foundering is provided to an unusual degree by the subdivision of the hull into numerous compartments, each of which is fitted with a huge ejector, capable of throwing overboard a great body of water. A body of water equal to the whole displacement of the boat can be discharged in less than seven minutes. There is also a centrifugal pump provided, which can draw from any compartment. The circulating pump is not available, because it has virtually no existence, a very small pump on the same shaft as the centrifugal being used merely to drain the condensers. These last are of copper, cylindrical, and fitted with pipes through which a tremendous current of water is set up by the passage of the boat through the sea. Thus the space and weight due to a circulating pump is saved and complication avoided. The air and feed pumps are combined in one casting let into the engine room floor, quite out of the way, and worked by a crank pin in a small disk on the forward end of the propeller shaft. This is an admirable arrangement, and works to perfection.

The armament of the boat consists of two torpedo tubes in her bows, and a second pair set at a small angle to each—Yarrow's patent—carried aft on a turntable for broadside firing. There are also two quick firing 3 lb. guns on her deck. The conning tower forward is rifle proof, and beneath it and further forward is fixed the steering engine, and a compressing engine, by which air is compressed for starting the torpedoes overboard and for charging their reservoirs. A small dynamo and engine are also provided for working a search light, if necessary. The accommodation provided for the officers and crew is far in advance of anything hitherto found on board a torpedo boat.