NEW TORPEDO BOAT LAUNCHED. United States latest destroyer taking the water. LAUNCHING OF TORPEDO BOAT NOVELTY IN HOUSE-BUILDING. Curious house built of withes and unmortared rock for coolness sake. HOT WEATHER ARCHITECTURE THE second of a new series of torpedo A DECIDED novelty in house building boat destroyers, known as the "Sterett," was launched a short time ago from the works at Quincy, Mass., and is one of the new kind of craft upon which the U. S. Navy will depend to act in the capacity of scouts upon the high seas. This type of boat has shown remarkable seagoing ability even in the heaviest kind of weather. It will be noticed the superstructure shears off gradually to the protected line, giving a wider sweep to the battery of guns and also presenting less space for the marksmanship of gunners of the enemy. This boat promises greater speed than any torpedo destroyer that has been made. is shown in the structure at the extreme right of the accompanying photograph. It is built of withes tacked on uprights in such a way as to form a hollow wall. The space between the double wall is filled with loose rock without any mortar or anything else to chink it, thus allowing the air to penetrate it freely. Above the roof is a canvas fly which cools the air as it passes under its shade. This type of house with a porous wall is found in some parts of Arizona. The photograph was taken in the vicinity of the Laguna Dam. Others of the sort can be found in other parts of the hot country and the style is a favorite with some natives. OPERATING ROOM OF BIG WIRELESS PLANT. This gives an idea of what such a room looks like. though this plant, in New York City, is not the largest in the country. IN building the smelter shown in this ACOMBINATION automobile sprink illustration, it was found that money could be saved in smokestack construction by tunnelling under the adjacent hillock, running a shaft to meet the tunnel and setting an iron smokestack at the top of the shaft in a concrete foundation. Thus the chimney which is about one hundred feet high is half underground, and only about fifty feet of the iron stack had to be set up, rendering possible a lighter construction than would be otherwise feasible. The odd idea is entirely practical and caused a most decided saving over what would have been the necessary expense of a huge brick or steel chimney. ler and sweeper as used in Paris, France, is seen in the accompanying illustration. It is operated by a twentyfive horse-power motor which also supplies the necessary power for driving the sweeper under the center of the car as well as for operating a pump which forces the water from the tank through the nozzle at high pressure throwing a spray the full width of the street. This sprinkler-sweeper does the work of from three to four ordinary vehicles drawn by animal power and is swift and effective in its work. It cleanses without raising dust and is a vast improvement on older methods that have many faults. Parisian innovation that washes the pavements thoroughly as if they were scrubbed-as. literally, it does scrub them. |