The trials of the roller steamboat Ernest Bazin, which was expected by the inventor to revolutionize the Channel traffic, have proved unsatisfactory. Roughly speaking, the vessel consists of a hull having on each side three largo hollow discs, or rollers, each pair revolving on its own axle. It was calculated that, as long as only one-third of the rollers' was submerged com-Grive them, With 50 horse-power applica atively little power would be required to
to each shaft the inventor expected to obtain 40 revolutions a minute, which would have given a speed of about 27 knots. Unfortunately ithas been found impossible, up to the present, to obtain more than 10 12revolutionsperminute. It is intended to use engines of three times the original power, but the increased weight must necessarily submerge a greater proportion of the rollers. The trials are continuing, though at present there seems little prospect of a satisfactory result, being arrived '9th April.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.