Abstract
DURING the last three years, the shipowning and shipbuilding industries have been seriously depressed. It is satisfactory therefore to learn from a paper by Colonel A. P. Pyne (J. Inst. Elec. Eng., February) that steady progress has been made in the applications of electricity in British ships. The popularity of short cruises in large luxury liners has favoured development. The problem of ventilation has attracted attention. It is now recognised that the stirring up of air by means of fans, or even the delivery of warmed or cooled air to given points by means of ducts, does not suffice. Air conditioning now takes into consideration the problems of the draughtless delivery of purified air and the extraction of vitiated air in the proper proportions. The incoming air must have the right temperature and the correct humidity to suit the climatic conditions of the moment. The air conditioning plant now changes the supply to warmed or cooled air automatically as required. The electric heating of public rooms and cabins is becoming universal. The heaters adopted are generally of the convector type, made more cheerful by luminous effects. The depression of the industry has prevented electric marine propulsion from making much progress. Two large motor-ships, the Stirling Castle and the Athlone Castle, each having a tonnage of 25,500 and auxiliary generators of 3,500 kilowatts for lighting and power, are at present being built. The Queen Mary, having a tonnage of 73,000, has auxiliary generators of 9,100 kilowatts capacity. The steam turbo-electric Normandie built in France last year has a tonnage of 75,000 and auxiliary generators for lighting and power of 13,200 kilowatts.
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Electric Developments in British Ships. Nature 137, 609 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137609b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137609b0