THE MECHANICAL SHIP,
Pitching and Boiling on a Stormy Sea. Everyone has seen in toy-shop
windows, if not elsewhere, "a painted ship upon a painted ocean," which
has been agitated on a tempestuous sea in so natural a manner that old
and unpleasant recollections of "bad crossings" of the Channel have
heaved up before you. Though the idea has been long pursued, the first
good clear revelation of the working secret was not published until
some forty years ago, when an Italian paper, the Poliorama, supplied the deficiency. We copy its engraving, with the improvements which time has brought up.
There is required a glass shade or case to keep the dust off the
model, a toy vessel, with all sail set, and a piece of oiled silk,
painted green, with irregular shading of dark green and blue, and
likewise irregular splashes and lines of white; these lights resemble
the spray and combs of the waves. A square box for the works is lastly
needed, which serves also as pedestal to all. An ordinary coiled spring
movement turns the main wheel (not shown) and thence a transmission
wheel sets A in motion; A, by its cogs, turns B, and its cogs catch in
the cogged axle of C. C moves D up and down by the screw on its axle;
this up and down movement is, therefore, imparted to the arm E; this
again carries the up and down movement to the second arm, G. F is a
counterweight to make up for the weight of the hull of the ship, K; the
hull is mounted upon a keel and the support, H. In the centre of the
support is a pin on which it freely turns. The action of the wheels A
and B, moving reversely as they do, gives the support a see-saw motion,
the pitching and recovery of the ship, by means of the rods I I.
The arms E and G impart another motion, which being partly checked by
one or other of these rods acting for the moment as a detainer, forces
the ship to assume the rolling motion.
The driving power may be any other than clockwork, such as a model
steam or electric engine, running sand or water upon a wheel, and so
on. A slit is cut in the centre of the cloth and the edges glued to the
side, of the ship and all round. The air and the stiffness of the cloth
will make it crumple up and expand in concord with the movement.
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