The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1897, Page 16

16 THE T CO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1897. - AMID SCENIC RUINS BEHIND THE WALLS YORK, AND, Dec. 20.—Overhead a London sky like a wet. gray blanket and underfoot pavements that are encrustea with a slippery mixture of frost and mud— season, when the snow comes and the rivers shine with 1ce, and atmosphere has a ringing clearness, life will seem suddenly twice as well an atmosphere for the sorely tried lungs | worth the living. The Great Northern train that seems composed of minute feathers | that takes us away from London shoots or cotton wool—what wonder that the Englishman of means flies with his family to the more hospitable skies of Italy and Southern France! The day is crowded into a few hours, .et 3 in the efternoon the lights appear behind the closely shut houseironts the street lamps are and | sengers can be seen. reflected | of rural Encland into the heart of the ns through the country, rocking, snorting, puffing at a rate that carries us half way to Edinburgh almost at a mile a minute. The windows are white with mistand a clear space must bs rubbed away before anything but the faces of the feliow-pas- ‘We are passing out in the wet streets, but the hurry and flurry | Black Country, that' has the face of a RUINS OF ST. MARY’S NUNNERY. the its great warehouses in the valley and its old stern, rather interesting municipal buildings, with its somber, bleak rows of plain-faced houses, dull and without char- acter, is particularly uninviting. Only as we climb up the steep streets to the resi- dences, standing behind bare trees, in the center of wide, frosty lawns, with glacial ornamentations of arti- ficial rocks, do we lose the im- pression of a sordid manufacturing town, a business center, pure and simvle. To leave Bedford for York is to step from the nineteenth century. back—how many centuries? As many as the imagination a7 ’ 1/; 7 and rush of Christmas shopping goes on | chimney-sween, 8o covered is it with coal- unabated. the smoke and din to “green ficlds and pastures new.” The green fields are of a It is a relief to get away outof | dust, so dark and forbidding. The low, black houses near the train; the tall factories, with chimneys that pale gray green, the evergreens are black | alternately belch forth flama and smoke, and drenched with rain; the other trees | ook like phantom houses in some of the stark and inky like etchings done y paper. ist, dark richness of the California winter landscape; it is very cbill, and bas a frozen, silent look that is not without a | The country has none of | imagination. grewsome creations of Gustave Dore's The great manufacturing towns of Bradford and Leeds—ugly, grim, provincial—have taken the color of their | general surroundings, as insects adopt the curious melancholy cherm. Later in the | color of theirs., Bradford, especially, with cares to traverse. There is alegend that York existed in the days when great King David reigned in Israel. Perhaps to the unambitious it will be well enough to go back to the Romans, to Constantine who lived there in his favorite English posses- sion, Eboracum. Do they not tell also how King Arthur, sad and pale, came there with Queen Gui- nevere 4o keep his Christmas fes- tival? How easy it is to people again the ancient city asleep for ages ap. parently behind its great wall; with its Norman castle and a guild hail of the fif- teenth century; with its Roman gates and the long, low streets of quaint houses. Are we in England or in medieval 1taly? As we stand on the bridge at the river and see over the irregular roofs and the cas- tellated gates and strongholds the misty silhouette of York Cathedral against the delicate wintry sky we wonder with unavailing regret why in the rapid march of conquest this nineteenth century of ours cannot create many beautiful towns, with beauty that is natural and simple as well as pictar- esque. Graduslly in almost all the European capitals, the streets of dark, quaint houses, with tneir gables and orna- mented windows jutting out over the streets, with their richly decorated facades, give way to the big, square ‘block’ of flats, pompous, clean, and ugly enough to make ode weep. How much will the generation that will live at the close of thetwentieth century see of that old time worla? It is pleasant to feel that we are still capable of a thrill; of a touch of that deep enthusiasm that comes with a sudden unexpected pleasure. As we come through *‘Mickle Gate”—de- lightful name—and pass along the street by the river, that is like a sheet of silver- gray satin, we come to the ruins of the ex- quisite nunnery, St. Mary’s Abbey. That is a fine preparatory thriil that we experi- ence. The trees seem to hold it in, to support the beautiful walls, with their eyeless windows, that once poured down a soft radiance of stained glass, like those in the great Minster itself. At the corner ‘We come upon two men, gorgeous in scar- let coats, with silk fleshings and great cocked hats; they hoid staves 1n their hands, like a drum-major, and as their eyelids move and one blows his nose with an audible sound, we come to the conclusion that they are alive—that they are archiepiscopal grooms and not visions ot glory, ghosts of ancient kings. That knowledge is a relief to our over- strained nerves, which are further startled by arich and familiar odor, that is ex- plained by a large sign over a factory that tumbles irregular roofs down to the river and that tells us that we are in the very neighborhood, almost within the sacred precinets, i.. which Rountree’s chocolate is manufactured. We fortify our spirits with several penny packages, and then we wander on aimlessly and find ourselves in a long, narrow street called Stone Gate. At the top of the long, low vista there is the sight that makes the heart to beat! It is the south front of the cathedral, with the green, formeriy the Archbishop’s, gar- den, and the shattered palace behind it. The chapter-house, with its buttresses and lofty roof and the great square battle- mented tower behind it, are included as we step out of the narrow street into the old square. 0ld chronicles have it that when King Edwin of Northumbria experienced ‘‘re- hgion” and wished to go through with the solemn ceremony of baptism he in- sisted upon building a church for the oc- casion. It was a little wooden structure, which he afterward replaced with one of stone. The windows were at that time primitive openings, with\ sheets of oil- soaked linen to 1ill them. As we enter the cathedral we see first the oldest portions of that wonderful in- terior that has grown, as most of the cathedrals have, to such a picturesque ing can describe their peculiar glory. Itis like a sunset over a glacier, the warm light breaking through a glass that is smooth and shimmering and pale, bat thatreflects like ice. The verger murmurs a tale as to the origin of the name; he is thg verger of the story-books, garrulous, fnmlllll", instruct- ive. He pours out informationin a steady stream; we only have “to touch the button’’; he does ‘“the rest.” If we stop over some grotesque fignres in the farthingales and cap, on a black old tomb, he waits with an indulgent smile and calls us to listen to a dissertation on t!ze ‘development of architectural forms; a dis- and harmonious whole, gradually; kings Z flin(u i S < and bishops adding, as they could, to the original massive and simple design. Nowhere in England, and hardly any- where in Europe, can we see stained glass in such magnificent periection. Nowhere else is it so a’mirably pre- served, nowhere else are wea > so admir- ably preserved from that shock of new glass, crude and coarse, set into the sub- dued glitter of the old. Immediately as we enter we see that far-famed group of lancet windows called the Five Sisters. They rjse to a tremendous height and noth- 7 414 i « sertation from which there is no escape. of the embroideries fill the eolor-loving eyes accustomed to the southern beauty of Italian churches. The verger conld give you, I fear, a bat- ter description of the church than this humble scribe; he could also tell you, in harrowins accents, bow a maniac con- cealed himself in ‘he choir and set fire to the church; he can people the aisles with impressive pageants. Do they not say that Henry II1 married Philippa here at the altar? And that Philippa herself came here to pray before going out to the victory of Neville’s Cross? He can tell you, too, of the pompous celebrations that Richard inaugurated while his nephews were being safely put out of the world in S e e S T . = 4 % 7 —".wl." %‘_/ (i - w iy N i LY ! \ f | \ Standing beneath the tower we see be- tween the transept and each of its four aisles the enormous arch behind which are three more in vanish- ing perspective. At each point of view the impression . deepens; that won- derful dignity of arrangement, with the windows breaking it so richly, R 11 e e G g YORK, AS VIEWED FROM THE RIVER. the tower of London. There, too, Charles I welcomed his wife, and here Prince Ku- pert came before tne battle outside the walls—it is not a long walk to the blood- stained tields of Marston Moor. However, he could te!l you of all thess things, but I will not. And here is a bit of disinterested advice. Read the Ercy- filling the church with that soft, mellow | clopedia Britannica by your warm fireside radiance that we miss so sorelvin all save | at home, and when you bend the knee in Catholic churches, where the lights of in- numerable candles, the tawdry but effec- tive artificial flowers and the gorgeousness adoration before the glories of York Ca- thedral, avoid the verger! Vax Dyck Brows. WILL GROSS THE ATLANTIG IN THREE DAYS An American Electric Ship, With Fourteen Propellers, That Promises to Set a New Speed Limit on the Sea R. 1., an electric ship of | such matvelous speed that it will set | aes of all the world wagging. This | is the nnouncement publicly made of the fact. Here a new record isto be born, a new | speed limit; or, rather, a speed without iimit, to be practically demonstrated. The electrical wonder has no name as yet, but she has fourteen propellers. George | A. Jencks, manager of the Painton Elec- | trical Steamship Company of 155 Orange street, Providence, R. 1., tells the writer that from private trials there1s no doubt whatever of & forty-knot speed being attained. The ideas that have been put into prac- ticgl execution in this marine wonder have been kept so careft concealed that few persons have had the remotest notion that any such revolution in marine engineering was even contemplated. Ever since electricity has shown itself to be the capital power of propulsion for vessels of | Jigit proportions there have been endless | theories as to the possibilities of the power in the future. Now, Lowever, we are to have practice and not theory in the form of a ship that will speed across the ocean and away past Fastnet light and the Lizard in less than three days. Think of an ocean voyage thatis much shorter and far more com- fortable, though the journey be from New York to Southampton, than can be said of a trip across our own United States. The company which is to make the test near Providence this month is in- corporated under the laws of Penns; vania. Its presidentis Richard N. Pain- ton, and the other officers are: Vice- President, John W. Bailey; secretary, Henry A. Solomon; and treasurer, Hiram Weimer. By the use of the Painton system of electric motors it will be possidle to ob- tain double the speed reached by steam, and at about balt the cost, and with a plant that will occupy not more than one- balf the space now required for the pon- derous marine engines and accompany- ing machinery. Ocean ‘‘greyhounds” equipped with the Painton motors will easily cover forty knots an hour—railroad speed. Warships will reach the speed of thirty-five knots an hour, whereas the highest limit yet accompiished on a trial mile with steam is 22.80 knots with the fastest cruiser built. One great source of complaint with the Navy Department has been the inscffi- ciency of room in war vessels for the ac- commodation of men, armament, coal and provisions. The machinery necessary to propel these great ocean fortresses occu- pies such a large amount of space that there is practically no room for anything else. The terrific heat from the furnaces and steampipes, the maddening hissing of the steam and the incessant vibration and shocks resulting from the wrerching ©of the heavy shafts and the straining of the mechanism make life almost unen- durable and converts the vessels into veritable hells. They are torture prisons, from which there is no escape. The Painton system of motors will have greatly enlarged power over steam, and as before stated the electrical plant will occupy half the space of the steam plants. Instead of the enormous 80-ton shafts ex- tending from the middle of the ship to the stern the electrical plant will have from fourteen to sixteen screw propellers rang- ing along the sides of the vessels as well as two of ingenious construction at the stern. These provellers are operated from a switchboara. They can be operated sin- gly or together at the will of the man at the keys. Each propeller is a machine by itself, and thedisabling of one or more has 1o effect whatever upon the others. When the entire complement ot propellers is in action there is no more noise than would ba tested this month at come from the action of a fly-wheel. | power. There is no jar caused by tbe horizontal There is practically no limit to the speed of a screw operated by elec- motion; no excessive heat from steam- | tricity. Eighteen hundred revolutions piping; the long shafts are done away | per minute and higher have been reached with, and the terrific straining coming | by the Painton motors. upon the engines and shalts when sub- merged and then the next moment run- ning with full speed—racing speed—on In practice 650 to 800 revolutions per minute can be safely. depended upon. return to New York—three times the dis- tance. The vessel could carry a greatly increased number of passengers and a much larger quantity of freight. The space now required for the vast steam plant could b> earning the owners of th vessel a vast amount of money. An ocedn liner equipped with the Painton motors can easily carry 2500 passengers in greater comfortand with less danger than is now incurred on steamships. Another feature of the Painton system is the fact that the screws tend to main- tain the equilibrium of the vessel at all times. - Ench screw has a distinet lifting power. The blades turn so that the pro- pelling force comes from below instead of above, and as a vessel lurches from one In a large cruiser of, say, 20,000 horse- side to another or pitctes the screws on CIENCE has killed the fire-horsg. ) Before long the nobie hero of a ) thousand mad races for life or death will be no more. The automatic firetruck has come to take his place, and soon every fire department of importance in the United States will be in possession of one ot the latest inventions. SHIP WITH FOURTEEN PROPELLERS WHICH A\ R, WILL TRAVEL FORTY-FIVE MILES AN HOUR. 2 il e | W account of the pitching of the yessel is avoided. The total horsepower is dis- tributed throughout the entire system of propellers, so that it would be absolutely impossible to have more that one-quarter of the whole power or propellers ‘“‘racing” at one time. The engines that generate the power are not mechanically connected with the pro- pellers, as is now the case in steam ves- sels, but the power is transmitted by elec- tric wires direct to motors built on propeller shafts. The machinery is sim- plicity itself. No belting or coupling is required. The propeilers all work direct, and, as before noted, they can be operated singly or together. If one breaks down, or two or three or any number, those that are left can do the work. It would not be possible for all to be disabled, as is now so often the case with vessels equipped by steam, leaving them floundering for days at the mercy of the elements. From 186 to 150 revolutions of the screw per minute is about the limit of steam power capacity, the transmission of power by steam would be at the expense of about 83 per cent loss, or 6600 horsepower, whereas by electricity the loss would be only about 10 per cent, or 2000 horsepower, which is a saving over steam of 4600 horse- power. This will reduce the coal consump- tion about 23 per cent, an important economy. This with the great speed at- tained by the new idea of the distribution of the propellers which tend to lift the bow of the vessel so as to reduce the fric- tion of the water, will still further re- duce the coal consumption to about one- half that required for the generating of steam power. The saving by electricity extends through every partand feature. There is a saving of time, of space and cost of operation. To illustrate: Where a steamship can now only take coal enough to carry her from New York to Liverpool, an elec- trically equipped vessel by the Painton system could, with the same quantity of coal, sail from New York to Gibraltar and the side deepest in the water exert tre- mendous power to restore the craft to a level. It would be as though a man were to lurch to one sideand receive the sup- port of a prop. When the vessel pitches there is no loss of motion. When the stern screws are idle and in air for a mo- ment the screws in the: bow are working asusual and exerting their tremendous lifting power to put the stern of the boat back to its proper equilibrium. Ocean greyhounds which at preseat can attain a speed of twenty knots an hour under steam can, wiaen fitted with the Painton system of motors, easily attain a speed of forty and more knots an hour, which is in reality faster than the time made by an ordinary railroad train. With the success of the Painton boat begins a new era in maritime history. It means that the ocean will be robbed of much of its peril. It places the con- tinental journey in the same category with the tourist as the trip'to the moun- tain or lake summer resort. .hh three big horses to greater speed, The new automatic firetruck will be in every way a more practical and efficient aid to fire-fighters than 1ts more pictur- esque predecessor, which depended upon three well-trained horses for its motive power. F¥rom an artistic or sensational view point there will, doubtless, be many per- sons who will regret the passing of the fire-horse. But the spirit of progress has rno sympathy for the picturesque. This, as well as everything else, must give way before the march of improvement, and so the borse’s occupation is gone. Of course the same clanging of bells wiil be heard; the seme rush of the long red truck through the crowded thoroughfare will be seen and the same helmeted and rubber-clad fire-fighters recklessly riding to victory or death on the narrow fooi- board wili characterize the usual confla- grations, but there will be no horses. The inspiring sight of a bare-headed driver with loose reins and slender whip urging guiding his team between cars, wagons and around street corners with an expert- ness born of long practic: will give place to the coul-headed motorman sitting in the driver’s seat, increasing or reducing speed as the occasion may warrant by the simple turning of a lever, and guiding the apvaratus in a similar manner. But associations of the past have little to do, however, with the present work of the fire-fighters. Their one aim is to get to the scene of action and get their life and property saving apparatus into position and ready for nse in the quickest possible manner: The delay of a few minutes or even seconds in reaching a fire may mean life or death to those imprisoned in the apper stories of s burning building, and eveu with the utmost exertions of three powerful horses nine times out of ten the heavy ladder truck, without which the work of fire-fighting is severely handi- capped, is the last to reach the scene, be- cause it is so heavy and unwieldy that the lighter engines and hose carriages outstripped it in the race. All this will be changed by the new invention. In appearance the automobile firetruck does not differ greatly from ths hook-and- ladder truck of to-day. There is the same arrangement of Jadders along the body of the truck, the same footboard for the crew and the manipulation of the rear steering gear is the same. The radical difference is in the arrangement of the front wheels and the driver’s seat. The motive power of this automobile is what is known as a compressed-air gas engine of continuous running desien. It is the invention of Reuben H. Plass of 508 Lafayette avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., and one of its principal advantages is that it is always ready for use. All that is neces- sary is fof the motorman to take his seat and move the operating lever. The engine which furnishes the motive power is placed just above the front axle and directly beneath the driver's seat. A system of cogwheels and levers actdirectly between the engine and the front wheels; in fact, the entire machinery, which is very simple and consists principally of cogwheels, is located directly in front of the engine, almost beneath the footboard of-the apparatns, Extending upward from the machinery through the footboard and reaching to a height a little above the driver's seat are two levers which resemble those in com- mon useon cable-cars. One of these levers is used for the double purpose of steering the machine and as a brake, while the other lever controls the speed of the en- gine, Itcan be reversed when necessary, SCIENGE HAS PROBABLY KILLED THE FIRE-HORSE The Automatic Fire-JTruck, dJust Invented, Which Seems Destined to Take the Place of the Noble Animal and in addition can be used asa supple- mentary airbrake. The engine is so constructed that when the driver takes his seat and grasps the left-hand lever, the whole apparatus is ready to start. By simply drawing the lever toward himself, the driver sets the truck in motion. The cogs on the lever which work the wheels fall into another set of cogs, which work directly from the engine and the start is made. A most peculiar feature is found in the fact that in order to stop the truck it i3 not necessary to stop the engine. A for- ward pressure on the left-hand lever throws the cogs out of place, and & pull on the right-hand lever applies the com- pressed-air brakes. Should this not stop the progress of the track in a sufficiently short time, the cogs can be thrown back into place and the engine reversed and an entire set of other brakes be applied to the rear wheels of the truck. Being a Brooklyn men, and consequently familiar with the many trolley accidents, the inventor has paid especial attention to the fender. This is automatic and ad- justable, jnst clearing the street, and is designed so that any person unfortunate enough to be caught in it will escape, at all events, alive and with a reasonable certainty of little injury. The truck can be driven at a speed of forty miles an hour if necessary, and in order that itcan travel ata high rate of speed over smooth and slippery pave- ments the tires of the wheels are rough- ened and provided, like a horse’s hoof, with corks or short spikes, This improve- ment has been found to be most success- ful, especially in turning sharp carves. Another great advantage of the new in- vention is found in the fact that the mo- tive power being so completely under con- trol it can be used immediately for elevat- ing an extension ladder, which is of the greatest importance, both in the fighting of fires and in the saving of human life. To deposit sand on the rails in front ofa streetcar a recent invention has asand reservoir, at the bottom of which is a hor- izontal pipe, in which a screw is operated by a crank on the platform of the car, thus forcing the sand 1nto a hollow tube, from which it runs to the track. —_———— A combined wire-stretcher and domes- tic scale nas just been patented. It con- sists of a central bar having teeth to en- gage the short end of a lever for nse as a stretcher and a colled spring for use as a scale surrounding the bar, on which is placed a series of figures indicating differ- ent weights. A FIRE TRUCK THAT TRAVELS WITHOUT HORSES. Pl NadTh OF ANCIENT YORK