Electric Propulsion Of Ships

Up to tue present electricity has scarcely been thought suitable as the principal motive or propelling power for the larger type of vessels. This is undoubtedly owing to the fact that for a given horsepower a triple or quadruple expansión steam engine would take up less space and probably weigh less than an electrical installation of equal power. Storage batteries. are out of the question for such uses, although persons not wel' up in electrical subjects frequently wonder why our ocean greyhounds are not propelled by some such rnethod. It may interest some of our readers to know that a vessel requiring an average oi 10,000 horsepower to propel it across the Atlantic, and displacing 5,000 tons, would be obliged to carry, were storage batteries alone made use of, 324,480,000 pounds of such batteries, or, in other words, the motive power alone would weigh 162,240 tons, or 80 times as muoh as the ship.-