One-piece, 90-degree, double-throw crank shaft for 5,400 H. P. gas
engine. Diameter of shaft, 37 inches, with 10-inch hole. Length over
all, 25 feet 5 inches. Crank webs, 16-3/8 inches thick, 6 feet 1-1/2
inches long, 4 feet 1 inch wide. Forged weight of shaft, 133,400 pounds.
Finished weight, 83,855 pounds.]
* * * * *
We have always said “a white elephant” when we have meant something we
didn’t know what to do with, since the King of Siam first sent a white
elephant to a courtier whose fortune he wished to destroy.
What do We Mean by “Deviation of the Compass”?
When people speak of “deviation of the compass” they mean the difference
of a ship’s compass from the magnetic meridian, caused by the near
presence of iron. In iron ships the amount of deviation depends upon the
direction, with regard to the magnetic meridian, in which the ship lay
when being built. It is least when the ship has been built with her head
south. Armor-plated ships should be plated with their head in a
different direction from that in which they lay when built.
The mode now generally employed to correct deviation is by introducing
on board ship masses of iron and magnets to neutralize the action of the
ship’s magnetism so far as possible.
Compasses are sometimes carried on masts in iron vessels as a means of
removing them from the disturbing influence of the iron of the hull. In
this position they serve as standards of comparison for the binnacle
compass.
Wooden ships are also affected, though in a far less degree, by the
direction in which they lie when building.