THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN AND JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES. Vol. CXIII. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1917. No. 2933. COAL AND SHIPPING. XIV.—Navai Coaling Equipment of the U.S.A. Since the recent diplomatic breach between the United States of America and Germany attracts attention to, and. arouses interest in, the naval resources of the former, it is therefore opportune to refer to the facilities possessed by the United States Navy to meet the require- ments of its fleet in the direction of coaling. It is gener- ally recognised that the United States of America now stands foremost of the Great Powers as regards the equipment of its naval coaling stations, the possession of modern colliers, and mechanical methods of supply- ing coal to its fleet. In previous articles* of this series, the coaling stations at the Panama Canal were described. Those stations are the latest provided by the United States Govern- ment, but although designed and constructed' for naval purposes, they are also intended largely for the require- ments of general shipping passing through the Canal, and therefore are equipped accordingly. The development of the United States naval coaling stations may be said to date back less than 20 years, when only two stations with modern equipment existed—at Key West and New London respectively. At that time only three other coaling stations ■were possessed by the United States Government for naval requirements, viz., Pensacola, San Juan, and Hawaii. That the growth in this department of administration has been rapid, and upheld America’s reputation for progress, will be evident when it is stated that to-day the United States Government possess some 35 naval coaling stations. It is proposed, in the present article, to illustrate and refer to a few of those stations, but to avoid statements which might possibly be considered detrimental to the United States Government at the present time. Naval Coaling Stations. The following brief description of one station will serve to give a general idea of the equipment provided and the facilities arranged :— The arrangement of the station comprises a wharf 400 ft. long and 55 ft. wide, constructed about 500 ft. from and parallel to the shore. One end of this wharf is connected with the shore by a jetty 48 ft. wide. A steel trestle structure or viaduct, 28 ft. in height, is erected along the wharf, and supports two movable tower-type transporter cranes. These have horizontal booms, and afford a transporting distance of 60 ft. from the outer side and 45 ft. from the inner side of the wharf. The tracks of a cable-car system are also sup- ,L&_— Fig. 2.—Coaling Equipment at a U.S. Naval Dockyard. ported on the viaduct, and are looped at the end of the wharf furthest from the jetty. These tracks curve from the wharf viaduct, and extend along the jetty, where they are supported by a steel trestle constructed with a gradient to reach the top of storage buildings, which are erected on the shore, parallel with the wharf. The storage buildings consist of two parallel rows of elevated bins, the sloping floors of which allow of additional storage at ground level beneath, in case of emergency. They are steel framed structures, the floors and walls of the bins being of reinforced concrete, and the roofs of galvanised iron. For withdrawing from the storage * Colliery Quardian, October 20 and November 10, 1916. By F. J. WARDEN-STEVENS, A.M.I.E.E., &c. bins, another cable-ear .system is provided at ground level, the tracks of which extend alongside the outer supporting columns, and the cars are loaded by means of gate valves. The ground level emergency storage, space is filled from the elevated bins by chutes, and the coal is withdrawn by hand trolleys on rail tracks, which can be connected with the ground level cable-car system at the shore end of the jetty. Coal withdrawn from storage is transferred to the wharf, for loading, by means of the ground level cable cars, the tracks of which extend along the jetty, where they are supported on a trestle with a rising gradient. Consequently, one trestle along the jetty supports the tracks of the cable-car system for transfer to storage, and the other one adjoining for transfer from storage for load- ing ; the two tracks of the latter being extended to the outer edges of the wharf viaduct, whilst the tracks of the former lie within the gantry base of the transporters. A standard gauge railroad track, for deli- veries direct to or from railroad wagons, is’ provided along the jetty and the centre of the wharf at ground level, and there is also a narrow gauge trolley track on each side of the jetty and wharf. (Fig. 1.) For loading from the cable cars, adjustable chutes are provided, which are movable along the outer edges of the wharf viaduct on both sides. Having outlined the main features of this station and its equipment, it will be of interest to refer to some of the principal details. The tower transporters work with grabs of 1-ton capa- city, and operated by two. men : one controlling the hoisting and lowering, and the other the traversing of the grab. They are each capable of ■handling upwards of 100 tons per hour, are worked by steam power, and are movable along the wharf viaduct on a track of 40 ft. gauge. The booms on which the grab trolley is traversed are hinged, and can be raised when not in use. . Within the tower structure of each transporter is a hopper, which serves to deliver the coal to the cable cars, and is movable on a track from one side of the transporter to the other, according to which side of the wharf coal is being discharged. The cable cars are of the side-tipping type, and have a capacity of two tons each; but when handling with skips, platform-type cable cars are used instead. The storage bins are divided by partitions 75 ft. apart, and have a total capacity of 40,000 tons, whilst the ground level emergency space provides for an additional 20,000 tons, these capacities enabling the coal to be stacked not more than 12 ft. in height, whether in the bins or on the ground. A cable car of two tons capacity can be loaded from one of the storage bin valves in Half a minute, the valves being of the double-gate pattern, with two. levers. To give warning of any overheating of the coal, vertical pipes containing thermostats are provided in the storage bins, and these thermostats are electrically connected to an indicator in the supervisor’s office. The storage area is also equipped with water service pipes and hoses for use in the event of the coal taking fire. This coaling station is specially provided with an extensive water supply system, including a reservoir with a capacity of 3,000,000 gals., which affords a head of 40ft.; and, by means of an hydraulic ram, a higher pressure storage of 275,000 gals, is available for fire ser- vice, the low-pressure supply being intended for vessels and the general requirements of the station. To enable coal to be supplied to vessels at anchorage, a break- Fig. 1.—Section of Wharf and Equipment at a U.S. Naval Coaling Station. water was constructed almost in a line with the wharf, and connected with the shore by an approach, thus pro- viding , a protected basin in which vessels can receive supplies from water boats and emergency coal supplies from barges without going alongside the wharf. The duties provided for this station include :—Dis- changing either colliers, barges, or railroad wagons and ■transferring to storage; withdrawing from storage and delivering to railroad wagons, colliers, barges, or warships, and either in bulk, skip, or bag; transferring the coal from one part of the storage to another; discharg- ing railroad wagons and delivering, direct to barges or vessels; transferring coal .from one ship to another. The above, it should be mentioned, is an example, of what may be termed an isolated coaling station; and it is now proposed to describe an example of a coaling equipment at one of the naval dockyards. Here a pier, 500 ft. long and 68 ft. wide, affords 30 ft. depth of water alongside at the shore end, and 45 ft. depth at the outer end. On this pier is con- structed a storage building, which comprises 17 elevated bins, having a capacity of about 500 tons each, with a storage depth of 18 ft. On the top and along the centre of the storage bins is a transporter track. This transporter has booms 75 ft. long (measured from the centre of the track) on each side, the boom ends overhanging the side of the pier being hinged so that they can be hoisted up when out of use. The transporter is worked with a one-ton grab on each boom, these two grabs dis- charging into a hopper, of 11 tons capa- city, which is situated at the centre of the transporter structure. Underneath the transporter track is a track- for an electrically-operated distributing ear, of the hopper type, and with a capacity of five tons. The hopper is supported on a recording weight scale, and can distribute along the storage bins at the rate of 60 tons per hour, dumping through hatchways between the rails. For handling railborne coal, railroad tracks extend to the shore end of the pier on either side, where the coal is dumped into an underground hopper of 30 tons capacity, from which the transporter can grab for delivery to storage, the transporter track being supported beyond the end of the bins. The coal is withdrawn from the storage bins through valve-controlled gates, 2 ft. square, situated on both sides