engineering vol 56 1893-09-01
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7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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SEPT
I I 893·]
E N G I N E E R I N G.
259
. -
:
a
STONE-DRESSING MACHINE.
CO N ST RU CT E D
BY
:MESSRS.
BR
UN TON AND TRIER ,
LONDON.
LITERATURE.
Scientific
and
Technical
a
pers of
W er•ncr
von S
ieml nS
.
Vol. I.
Translated
from
the
second German edition.
London : John Murray. 1892.
T H IS is the first of three volumes in which
it
is
in
tended to publish an
English
translation of the
second
German
edition of the collected
papers
of
the late Dr.
Werner
von Siemens, together
with
a
biography, as well as an
account
of the ri se of the
great elect
ri
cal firm
of
Siemens and
Halske.
The volume consists of his scientific papers alone,
which
are
now publis
hed
in a collected form in
English
for
the
first time, and in the preface
it
is
stated that it is believed that
it
will prove ' 'Dr.
v
ern
er
von Siemens
to
be
o
ne
of
the
fo
remost
amongst
the many workers who, during the present
century,
have revolutionised
the manner
of
li
ving
by dev eloping science,
and applying
its me
thods
to
the problems of everyday lif e.'
I t
has long
been
recognised that
the
Brothers
Siemens, from th e nature of
their
work, occupied
an important place in the band of practical scientific
men who have
been the mean
s of
making the
great
changes in social and national life which have
occurred
during th
e l
atter half
of
this
century.
P ossessing,
as
they did, a knowledge of
the la t
est
ad va.nces made in science, and the resources of
minds
trained in the
practical school
of
manufac
ture,
they
ably discharged the respons ibilities that
fell upon them as indu
st
rial leaders.
At
the time
when their
public work began,
the
ele
ctric
tele
graph, which has, as much as anything else, r evo
luti
o
ni
sed our commercial life, was in
it
s infancy,
and
was
only being
adopted
for
land
lines
;
ocean
telegraphy had not been attempted, for the difficul
ties connected
with
the effective
insulation and
protection of
the
wire rendered success improbable.
'fhe great interest of the present volume
will
be
reft.lif ed
when it
is conside
red
that it contains
•
•
• • •
For Description, see
Page
268.}
memoirs up on the
state
of telegraphic engineering
in 1850, and again, after ten
years'
further work,
papers on
duplex
working ; th e elec
trostatic
induc
tion observed upon land lin es ; the mercury unit
of resistance ;
the
laying
and testing
of s
ubmarine
cables ;
the
influence of
light
upon sel
enium
; pho
tometry ; bes
id
es a number of papers of
general
in teres t as specul
atio
ns
upon the
causes of natural
phenomena. A few of the papers have been
written
by
Dr. Warner
von
Siemen
s conjointly
with
the late Sir
William Siemens; most, however,
are by the former
worker,
and were originally pub
li
shed
in
the
Oorn
pt
es
R
en
dt S, P
oggendor
A?Wtetlen,
and
the
reports of
the
Berlin Academy of Science,
of which he was a member since 1874.
The
fir
st pap
er
in the
vo
lume
deals
with the
hot
air engine, which the
author
viewed, with many
others
of
the
time,
as
a powerful
rival to the steam
engine. Th e
awkward
bulk of the apparatus
had
not then
come fully in to view, and the author states
that if
untrammelled
by
patent la
ws, o
ne cannot
avoid looking up on
the
invention
as
one of the
most important of the age.
But it
may well be
questioned whether this opinion of
the
action of
patent laws was always held by him.
A po.per u
pon the
application of
the
el
ectric
spark
to
the
measurement of
high
velocities follows,
in which we
get
a lesson h ow easy i t is, owing
s
imply to
an incomplete
st a
te
of
knowledge, for
even
a man of undoubted scientific skill
to
imagine
that a higher degree of accuracy had been attained
1
than
was really
the
case.
The
100 000
of a second of
I
time
is
spoken
of as being a practically measur
able
in t
e
rval by
the
aid
of
the
meth
od,
but it
is
now recognised
that
the measurement of intervals
of
time
by
the
aid of
the spark is
subject
to
er
rors
amounting t o n early 100 times this.
I t is
stated
in
a
paper
on
the
electric tele
graph,
published in 1860, that , as early
as
1847,
•
•
Dr. Siemens
having
seen
some
samples of
g u t t a ~
percha,
then
a
fresh importation, recognised
its
suitability
for
the
purpose of
insulating
underground
wires,
and had
bro
ught
experiments with it to so
successful an issue that a
short trial line
was put
down.
Without
doubt
this should
be
considered
one of the important events in the history of the
e
le
ctric telegraph. Strange r es
ul t
s were soon
o b ~
tained from the long underground wires, the capa
city
of
the line
giv
in
g
rise to phenomena
but
little
understood
at
the time,
just as the introduction
during the past few years of high voltages and
freq
uencies
ha
s
attracted attention to
the self
induction of circuits
carrying
alternating currents.
In
another
memoir presented to the
Academie
des
Sciences
in
April,
1850, we
have
a
clearly-written
account
of the
state
of electric telegraphy at that
time.
The
overhead wires,
used from the
first in
this country,
are described,
as
well
as
the
best
forms of
insulators
for them;
but
much is made of
the
difficulties caused by
varying atmospheric
influ
ences. Lightning conductors to the poles are not
even mentioned ; evidently they had not then
come
under
the observation
of
the author,
who is
con
fessedly in favour of underground wires. The
discussion
of. t h ~ s e latter is taken up, and the
modes by wh1eh 1t
had been
proposed
to
insulate
t hem: and to us
it
is interesting to
read
that
in
England
and in the united States tubes of cast
iron. or lead
w e r ~
used for sho
rt
. lines
to protect
the
coat1ng of
va
rn1shed cotton w1th which the
wires
were covered against the
dampness of
the
soil.''
Had this not been
thrown into
the shade by
the appearance of gutta-percha, the use
of oil
as an
in
s
ulator mu
st
have
followed
earlier
than has
p r ~ v e ~ to be the. case. We. have
on
page 34 a
de
scriptwn
of a. b1t of pract1eal testing of
the day
A covered core
is to
be tested,
and
the w o r k m ~
h.olds one. terminal induction coil, the o p p o ~
Slte
t e r m n ~ l Wbtch
l S ~ O I } U e 9 t e d
W i ~ h the
Wire,
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260
wire itse
lf
is passed slowly throucrh a tank of
ac1dulated
water
in which the
w o r k ~ a n
keeps his
hand. As
soon a s any defective part (such as
may
ue
du
e
to an atr-bubble
encloseu in the autta
per cha covering) passes
in
to
the tank, ' ' the ~ o r k -
men e c e i ~ e s
such
sharp shocks as could n
ot
escape
the attentwn of
even
t he dullest."
Education
has
probably
since in
r
reased the
"fi
gure of meri t " of
th
e
human
galvanoscope
to
s
uch an
extent as
to
r 9
nder its
use
und
esirable,
bu
t
this remind
s me of
some of Cavendish's expe
rim
ents. There can,
o w e v e no do
ub
t
th at
few, i any, weak
pl
aces
1n the
coattng
wo
uld
escape t.
he sea
rch
in
g test of an
alternat
in
g electromotive force of several
hundr
eds
of
_v
olts.
The
. finished wire was
further teste
d
by
be1ng placed 1n a tank, and the
steady
current
i n g .thr?ugh. the core
to
th e water when placed
c ~ r c u t t wtth e1ght cells was considered too great if
1t
u r b e d
a sensitiYe galvanometer. The
mor
e
sat1sfactory
tests
by loss of
potentials inv
olving
the
use of
an
el
ect
r
ometer
are desc
rib
ed
in
a jo
int paper
of later da te
(1860),
and the well-kn own test for
faults
bearing the author's
name
is asrecentas 1874.
There
was
much
to say in 1850
in
favour of
r o u n d wire
s
on
account of their
exemption
from
1nterference
by
atmospheric influences.
But
a s soon as ~ e l e g r a . p h i s t s had
lon
g well-insulated
hn es
on
whtch to operate, they experienced the
effects
due
to the
ve
ry considerable electrostatic
capacity of
the
line. Th ese effects are
re f
err
ed to
in the memoir,
and their
cause poin
te
d out, but
the
l i m i t t ~ thereby
imposed upon
the
speed of
s1gnalhng does not
app
ear
to
havA
be
en felt until
rapid aut01natic inst
ruments had been
perfected
and brou
ght .
into general
u
se
. The
preferen
ce
by
the author
for dial
instruments, whether prin
ting
ones or not,
to
t hose of the Morae type, is shown
as
ea
rly as this
date,
so that the es
sential
dif
ferences
be
t ween the practice of the workers
in
this
country
and
on
the
Contin
ent
had already
ex
hibited themselves. The disadvantages of
the
system adopted had
in some meas
ur
e
been
felt,
but in
such
ha
nd
s as
those
of the
author and
his
eo-workers we
re
minimised, in order that the con
current
advantag
es mi ght
be
retained.
In
a pap er
publi
shed
in
1856, the
author
deals
with the
practicability of
sending
several signals
simul taneously
by
one wire,
and
mentions all the
mor
e
important prin
ciples
that
have since
be
en
followed
in
practice. Singularly enough
he
con
sid
er
ed Kruse
's m
et
hod
to
be out of the range of
pract
icability, whereas it is
at present in
use
on
the mor e
important
circuits of
this
country,
th
ough
many important
detai ls
had
to
be invented
before
this was possible.
Th
e methods advocated for
iuplex working, though similar to those now
ado
pt
ed,
were
not
at
t
hi
s date sufficientlydeveloped
to render
i t possible
to apply them to
lines having
much
e
lectrosta
tic capacity.
Some
experiments
on
electrostatic induction,
published in
1857,
furnish
interes
tin
g reading,
particularly when
it
is
cons
id
ered
that they
were
undertaken with
a distinctly practical
end in
view.
In
the course of
these
experiments, Siemens
fo
und
by accident
that by
heating a glass plate,
used
as the dielectric of his condenser, there was
an apparent
increa
se in the dielectric constant ; so
much
so, that
on
heating the glass
up
to the melting
point
of lead,
the
deflection of the needle of
hi
s
balli
st
ic galvanometer was increased some 30
times
by the extra
charge.
He
was ul tim
atel
y led
to the
belief that the increased capacity of the condenser
was really
due
to an e
lectrolytic
separation
fr
om
the
glass of metallic sodium
and
potass
ium at
the
coating answering
to
the negative electrode.
Thi
s
hypothesis
has be
en confirmed
in
a
striking
way by
the
recent experiments
of Wartburg
and Teg
et
meier, who have satisfactorily shown the actual
substitution
as well as the
transference
of ions
in
a
glass
plate submitted to
electrical
stress at
a simi
larly elevated temperature.
The state of
electrical science was such
that the
author considers the differences between the so
called
' ' free
" and
' ' jar
" electricities,
and
pro
ceeds to verify F a
raday
's view
that
the surface
charges
on in
s
ulated
conductors
are due to
the
presence
of a
similar
opposite charge _upon
the
walls of the
room
in wh1ch the conductor 1s placed,
and
hence
that
no
true dist inction exists. At th e
same time the
difference
between ' '
electric force "
or
potential and
the ' '
density
" of charge_ is well
appreciated. The author
proceeds
to
cons1der
the
nature
of the molecular work
done by the silent
discharge
through
a dielectric, and describes
his
apparatus in whi<:h ozone can be produced by such
E N G I N E E R I N G
m
ea
ns.
Th
e causes
by
which the discharge
takes
the form of
sparks
when a conducting
fi
lm is
opposed
to
an un
stab
le dielectric, such as a laye r of
air, are very clearly
pointed
out,
and then, after
stating that
he
st ill
did
not consider the
experimental
wo
rk
sufficie ntly advanced
to
dogmatise, he adds,
' 'Finally, I will only r
emark
thereon, t h
at
it is
very
l ikely t h
at
the
seat
of the electricity is re
moved from t
he
conductors
to
t he non-co
ndu
ctors
s
urrounding
them,
a
nd
may be defined as an
electrical polar
isat
ion of t he latter." He
did
not
l
et the
m
atter rest
·here, for
in
a l
ater paper
we find
h im describing experiments
upon
the
heat
ing effect
of successive charges
upon
the dielectric of a con
den
ser
.
It
is a little amusing to-day, when
it
is
proposed to rationalise the electrical units,
to
find
that practical el
ec t
r icians
and
scientific investigators,
in the
per
sons of Dr. Sieme
ns and
Lo
rd
Kelvin,
discovered a difference of ' ' 4 b
et
ween some of
their
indepe
nd
e
ntly
devised formul
re
.
In
a b
oo
k
offerin
g
so
much solid readin g, it is a
change
to
see a li tt le of the humorous side of the
author.
In a
de
scription of a
visit to
the
top
of
the Cheops
pyramid during
a sandsto
rm,
we
are
offered
an
account of the initiation of an
Arab
escort
in
to
t
he
mysteries of western science. Grave
doubts existed in the sober minds of the Arabs as
to
the legitimacy of certain proceedings upon the
top
of the pyramid with electric
sparks drawn
from
t he Mg
hl
y charged air.
The
remo
nstran
ces of
the
Arabs
proved to
be wit
h
out
avail,
so
t he
la
tt er
de
cided to
rem
ove the savants by force, and with eve
ry
prospect of success,
un
til the effect of a -in. spark
from a L eyd
en
jar (
exte
mporis ed out of a bot tle of
champagne covered w
ith
wet paper) was
tried up
on
the
nose of the m
ost
powe
rful and
aggressive of
the
Arabs.
The
w
ay in
which
the
astonished son
of the desert fell, picked himself up, and then,
with
a
great
howl,
disapp
eared as fa st as he could,
followed
by
his companions, is vividly described.
P e
rhap
s
the
moat impor
tant chapter in the
b
oo
k
is
that
r elating
to the pr
oposal for a reproducible
unit of e l
ec tri
cal resistance.
Th
e
Brot
hers Siemens
e
arly rec
ognised the importance of exact resistance
tes ts, and, like V arley and
othe
rs, had sets of coils
made.
Now
that t
he
mercury unit of Siemens has
at last been
expressed
in terms
of t he C G
S unit
to fo
ur
significant figures,
it
is a useful check upon
other
standards,
but
Siemens
at that
day could
hardly
have realised the
di
fficult ies
in
the reproduc
tion of a
standard to the
high degree of accuracy
soon deman
d4td
by
the
advance of science. On
the
other
hand, his unit is readi
ly
reproduced for com
paratively rough
purp
oses, and
it
is only lately that
one has been able to say
what an
' 'ohm" is. Now
that the Royal ComGl.ission on electrical
standards
has completed its labours the matter is diffe
rent,
but
if
Siemens's essentially practical
unit had
been
ado
pted, it
would have saved years of
doubt
a
nd
difficulty,
and
afte
r a
ll
would have
been
upon as
satisfactory a
ba
sis as
the metre
itse
lf
, or our much
abused sta
ndard yard.
His
searching criticism upon the first
determ
ina
tion of the o
hm by the British
Association in 1860,
proved
to
be
o
nly
too well found ed, as, for example,
hi
s r
emarks
upon the length of the wire of the
r otating coil,
and alth
ough
the
unit was not
s
ome
few per cent." in
error
, as he thoug
ht might
pos
sibly
be
t
he
case, still it
pr
oved
to
be over
per
cent. different
fr
om wh
at
was intend ed.
In
1860,
for practical purposes, d
oubt
less Siemens's
unit
had
more
to
commend it than now, for an exact
ne
ss
of per cent. was then sufficient; the
contrast
to-day is but a measure of t
he
rate
at
which elec
tric::l l
science
ha
s advanced
in the
m
eantime
.
Th
e remarkable
properties
of selenium form
the
subject
of several papers,
and
one
point
to
which
further attention
ought to be
directed is the obse
r
vation
that,
without any indication of polarisation,
the
resistances of
certain
forms of
se
lenium
' 'cells
"
vary
with the
size of the p
os
itive eleotrode, so
that: if
one of these cells
be
made with differently
sized electrodes, i
ts
resi
sta
nce will be found
to
have a different value if the direction of the test
ing
current
be
reversed. The exp
lanati
on giv
en
of
the
behaviour of selenium
und
er the action of
lig
ht and
heat, is
that
depolymeri
sat
ion occurs,
and
this
seems good
on
gene
ral
grounds.
One
of these papers, in answer to one by
Dr.
Bornstein,
goes
on to
discuss
the
use of sel
en
ium
in photometer
s, as well as the
subject
of the bril
liancy of illumination.
Th
e
author
ho
lds
that a
correct
photometer
should show differently-coloured
lights as ~ q u i v a l e n t when they make
di
stant
objects perceptive
n
the same degree.
[SEPT
I , I
893.
If
, however, it is
attempted to
measure light
in
this
way by t
he
eye, t
he
resu
lts
obtained will
be
wholly dependent upon the observer,
and
in some
experiments upon
the
visibility of objects under
differently- coloured illumination, this personal
effect
quite prevented any
concordant table of
the
coefficien
ts
of the brilliance of differently-coloured
lights from being obtained.
Th
e
author's
lamp for
the
pr o
du
ction of a
un it
of white light, simil
ar
to
that
ado
pt
ed by t he
Pari
s Convention, was more
successful.
geological paper occurs
in the
vo
lume, suggested
by
a visit
to
Vesuvius.
In
a review of the various
theories that have from t ime
to time been
sug
gested as
to the st
rucLure of
the
earth, the neces
sity of t ime for the propagation of tides in viscous
matter is advanced
in
opposition
to
the assumption
that the earth need necessarily
be
solid
in order to
be rigid.
A ma
sterly
examination of
the
variation of
the
conductivity of carbon with change of
temperature,
shows how easy it is for
an
investigator working
alone
in
a wide field of research
to
arrive
at
inaccu
r
ate
resul ts,
and
it als9 shows how necessa
ry
it is
that the
details
in
even a simple experiment sho uld
be varied in all possible ways.
A distinct
dis
agreement existed between the resul ts of the
work of Matt
hi
esen, Betz, and Auerbach upon the
co ndu ctivity of carbon,
and
this is proved by con
clusive experiments
to
be due
to
a different mode
of
attachment
of
the
metal wires
to the
carbon
rods
und
er
te
st
.
The imp
ortan
t , though still de
fect ive, generali
sa
tion that the conductivity
diminishes with t he heat ene rgy possessed
by
body, is
in
sisted
up
on by
the
author
to
an ex treme
degree.
Perhap
s he is ri
ght,
but that
the
high
tempe
rature
of
th
e electric arc is
due
to
a forcible
disengagement of the heat of po
lym
erisation of
carbon (or of wh
atever
material of which the poles
may be made)
und
er the effect of electric
st
ress is
a view
that
will have
to
be
supported
by
fur
ther
evidence before
i t
can be accepted.
Th
e phenomena
of polarisation of carbon,
and
of bad conductors
generally,
and
particularly the recent exper iments
of
Profe
ssor Dewar upon co
ndu
ctivity at low
tem
peratures, lend, howe\
'e
r, much suppo
rt
to such a
•
VleW.
A somewhat heavily-written
chapter up
on t ube
magnets contains a modificat
ion of
the
Ampere
Weber theory of ma
gnet
ism, and, incidentally, a n
acco
unt
of
an
experiment of a ve
ry
similar cha
racter to
that recen
tly
published
by
Dr. Robb,
proving the oscillato
ry na
t
ur
e of t he discharge of
a Leyden
jar. But
it is remarkable that Siemens
did not actually discover this phenomen
on
himself,
for in a
paper
upon the velocity of electric signals
in
wires,
aa ea rly
as 1875, he records how, when dis
charging a condenser th rough a sho
rt
circuit, he
obtained a single
spark
upon a rapidly-revolving
steel drum, whereas when
the
discharge took place
th rough a circuit of considerable resistance (and
possessing much
induct
ance) he obtained not a
single spark, but a series of sparks
fr
om the singl e
disc
har
ge.
He
gives
an
elabor
ate
exp lanation of
wh
at he
considered
to
be t he cause, a
nd kn
ew
that
the discharge had taken a longer time in the
latter case, but
had
evidently
quite
missed
the
im
port of
the
observat ion.
Th
e very impor tant subj
ect
of radiation from
flames,
in
connection with which
the
name of Sir
William Siemens will
be
remembered, is
ente
red
in to in an
accoun t of some
exper
iments performed
at the glass works at Dresden. I t is
th
ere shown
that
furnace gases
heated to
a
temp
er
at
ure of
1500 deg. Cent., ex
hibit
no luminosity
unl
ess
active combu
st
i
on
is
in
progress, or
unl
ess
dust
be
present. Nevertheless
so
me experim
ents
are de
scribed
in
which it would appear that heat is
radiant
so as to affect
th
e thermopile, but t
hi
s was
with
the hot gases from a s
hi
elded flame, ar d open
to objection
on that
ground.
Th
e
ether
di
st
urb
ance caused by
the
coalescing of the mol
ec
ules
undergoing combination is assigned as the cause of
luminosity, so that the
author
sums up
by
say ing
that "the
light of flame might then
be
called elec
tric
light
with
the
same
propriety as the
li
ght
of
ozo ne
tubes or Geissler tubes, which o
nly
differs
from
the
first principally
by
containing
a
dielectric
of very slig
ht
maximum polarisation." As this was
written in
1882,
it
will
be
seen how advanced
the
views were th
at
the
author
held
up
on abstract
physical science.
'Vhen,
however , we come
to the
treatment
of geological
and as t
ronomical questions,
we
find the author in the position of an actively
hostile critic, holding views that are distinctly
•
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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heterod
ox ;
but
as the
statement of
hi s opinion is
acc om.panied by the descript.ion of many novel
experiments, our knowledge 1s very
considerab
ly
enriched on
that
account
alone.
One of these
experimentg
is
with
a Loyden
ja r, one coating
of
which is a sheet of flame ; and al thouah
suc
h a co
n
denser shows
much
loss,
similar that
due
to
leakage, it is quite capable of receiving and sub
sequently parting
with A c
harg
e.
The
work of trans
lating this volume must have
been
very
heavy
indeed, but has been on the whole well performed.
A number of passages are written in
what
is a
somewhat involved style, but this can hardly be
av
oided. Surely, h owever,
in the
e
xe
cution of such
im portant and responsible work, the
translator
ought
to
have the cr
edit,
and the reader the satis
faction, of having the
tr a
nsla tor 's name
which
is
.
not gwen. Then,
too,
in
an
English
edition the
w?odcuts, of
which
there are n ot a large number,
mtght
su re
ly
be
made afresh
with
English lett
ering,
~ h e r e a s we have ~ o b e content with those employed
1n the
Germa.n ed1t1on.
There
are a f
ew misprints,
too, as,. for instan?e, in
the
formulre on page 127 ;
but
th1s can east
ly
be attended
to in a futur
e
edition. There is an excellen t portrait of
the
author,
and the
vol
ume
is o
ne
which
can
be
read
with
g
rea
t profit by any one possessing an interest
in
physical science,
and muoh
in its pages is so im
portant
as to
ca
ll for further investigation now
that
the author's
lab
our is past.
In
his inaugural
address, when admitted
into the
Berlin Academy
of Science, he
pointed
out
that
science did not
exist
o
nly
for
the enjoyme
nt
of
the
limited number
of its professors, lmt
that
the task of those who
studied
it
was
to
increase the store of knowl
edge
of the human r
ace
so as to lighten the hard fight
for material existence
by
pressing
into service the
slumbering fo
rces
of nature. " Towards this end
Siem
ens
did his full
s
ha r
e
of work,
as
the
present
volume amply shows; and when we receive the
se
co
nd
and third
volumes
we
shall probably see
that the
hard fight
for
material existence has been
ma t
erially less
ened by
his labours .
THE ENGINEERING
CONGRESS
AT
CHICAGO.
(BY
ouR
NEw
YoRK
CoRRESPONDENT.
Continued
rom
page
246.)
\V EVXESDAY's proceedings were opened by four
papers on steel,
as
follows :
The
Treatment
of
Metals for
St r
uctural Purposes, by J ames Christie;
Th
e Use
of Basic Mild Stee
l as
Material
for Co
n
struc tion
in
Germany, " by C.
Weyrich
, Germany ;
' '
A
P r
oposed
Method
of
Testing
Structural
Steel,
"
by A. E . Hunt; and The Use of Mild Steel for
Engineering
Structures,
by
George C. Mehrtens,
Germany.
Mr. C. C. Gleim, after announcing
that
Messrs.
'-tVeyrich and Mehrtens
were
leading
German
advo
cates for the use of mild steel, stated
that
in
Germany specifications permitted
the
rejection of
stee
l which exceeds the higher figures, as i t is
liable to be
defic
ient in
elongation and ductility.
The general tone of the discussion favoured
mild
steel
for st
ru ctural
purposes
in
stead of
wrought
iron. Two instance3 of its
value
were cited, as
f
ollows:
Mr. George
H.
Morison
referred
to the case of a
schooner
stri
kin
g
the
steel drawspa
n
over
the
St.
,John 's River,
Florida,
and t he
on ly
damage was
the
bending of a
vertical
post,
which
was struck by
the
bowsprit with
such force as to break
the
latter where 26
in.
thick. He thought the post
would have
been
more badly damaged
if
of wrought
•
OD.
Mr.
Robert H.
Moore
sai
d
that his
fear of
mild
steel
and of screw threads on steel
had
disap
peared. In
one
case he
used iron a n c ~ o r bolts
f ~ r
a
steel st ructure
owing
to
the
preJUdice against
steel,
but some
of
the rods broke at
or near
the
screw
thread.
The rods
had
been up set and
anneal
ed.
Th
e President who is at the head of
stee
l manu-
facturers
h
ere
~ n t e r e d
the
discussion.
He
said
there w a ~ much said about making steel mild by
CYivina it
a low tensile
st
rength
;
he thought
it
was
in fa;t
' ' rotten " when
too
low in ten
sio
n and
too
l
ong
in
elon
gation.
By
melting too
low
to
r
ed
uce
the
phosphor•Js, or by blowing
too low
to reduce
the carbon
the steel is
damaged
by
the
excess
of
hydr
oger and
nitrogen
w h i c ~ is blown i n t ~ it and
cannot be eliminated. g 1 n e e r s should rtd them
selves of the idea that the maximum strength means
N G I N R I N G
maximum safety. The
danger in
the u
se
of
steel
is largely
increased
by
making it
too
mild. The
damage in
melting is not
due
to
the
eiimination of
phosphorus,
but
to the consequent
introd
uction of
hydrogen and nitrogen.
River and harbour improvement here and
abroad
was discussed, and much preference expressed for a
system of providing sufficient appropriations
at the
outset to
finish
the
work. Captain Black described
a system of making
estimates
for the appropriations
and construction
of works.
These remarks were
in
c
on
nection with the
following
papers
:
~ A m e r i c a n
Grai
n
Elevators,
"
by E. L. H
eidenreich ;
" Manufacture
and
se of
Paving Brick, " by D . W. Mead ; " Carbon and I ts
ses
in Electrica
l Engineering,., C. M.
Barber;
Inland
Tr
ansportation," Captain
F.
A. Mahan ;
" The
Impr
ovement of Harbours on the
South
Atlantic Coast of the Uni t
ed
States,
Capta
in
W.
M. Black, U.S.A.
;
The Electric Light
Plant
of Guadalajara, R . M. de Drozarena,
~ i e x i c o ;
' 'Practical and t E ~ t h e t i c
Considerations
in the Laying Out of Cities, "
F. Stubben
;
The
Relative
Me
rits
of
Working Hoisting Machinery
by Steam,
Water,
and Electricity, by Mr. G.
A. Goodwin.
These papers were n ot
di
scussed
at
length, and
the ses sion closed with abstracts of
three
papers
from Mr. Fulscher, chief
engineer
of the
North
Sea
and
Baltic
Cana
l, describing the sand dams,
the lock
at the
Baltic end, and
the
canal
in
general.
Th e first paper of Thursday received some
pretty
hard raps. I t was " The Gauges of Railway
Track in General, with
Special
Consideration
of
Narrow
Gauge
Railways, by E. A. Ziffer, of
Germany. After
condemning the paper on
the
ground
that
its
assumptions were
not
ju
stified by
the facts as to economy of operation and equip
ment,
the objectors
proceeded to annihilation by
the
stateme
nt that the
s
ubject
was of
little
imp
ort
ance
in
the United States, as the advantages of a
standard gauge were recognised everywhere. This
is the o
ld argument
based on the answer of a man
to the charge that his dog had killed some chickens :
I t is impossible, he was
ti
ed
up at home at
the
time specified ; my dog died the day
before
this
s
lau
ghter ;
and
finally, I n
ever
h
ad
a
dog., Some
years ago an
eminent
writer on engineering matters
storme
d a
narrow-guage
convention
in
Cincinnati,
where they had been
havin
g a lovefeast hitherto,
and
had
about
decided on
a single
suspended
rail
as the acme of narrow-gaugism. His text was,
' ' Whatever you ca
n d o with a
narrow
gauge
you
can do better with a standard gauge. One of his
a
udit
ors
told the writer he did not mind this state
ment,
but the trouble
was that he
went in
and
proved it.
I t was further
shown that the
author had made
no dist inction between street
rail
ways
and
indus
trial railways,
although
the
latt
er are for special
use
in
warehouses, on plantations, &c., and are
built
for
convenience
rather than for
any
other
consideration. The writer
once laid
out an 8-ft.
gauge railway,
but it
was for conveying
granite
from a quarry to the cutting sheds, and was
only
a
mile
long.
It would be unfair to contrast this
with
any ordinary
road.
Next
came
the
following papers :
' ' Transmission
of
Power
in Operating Cable
Railways,
by Robert
Gillham
;
A
New Method
of
C a l c u l a t i n ~
Cross
Sections
of
Roads
and Railways, by F . S. Ribeiro,
Portugal
: Distinctive
Features and
Advantages
of American Loc
omot
ive Practice, :' D. L. Barnes ;
Railway Signalling,
by
G. Kecker, Germany. I t
was noted
in
respect to
the last
paper
that
there
should be a distinction made between signalling and
operating signals.
Th e paper of Mr.
Gelbeke,
of
Germany,
Surveys
for Railway L
ocat
ion, was next read, and it was
apparent
that
his methods in Germany,
wh
ere the
G o v e r n m ~ n t maps
and
cartoons were
so
accurate
that
he
could
almost locate in his office, were very
different from
those
possible
in
this
country, but
the use of the compass and camera was corn
mend
ed .
F ollowing this came Mr. Engel's paper on
The
Limits Attainable in Improving
the Navigability of
Rivers by Means of R egulation . The difference was
remark
ed
between exact problem
s
in land
construc
tion, and dynamic forces e n c o ~ n t e r e d .in h y ~ r a ~ l i c s
that r
eq
ui re extensive analysts
and
1nvesttgat10n,
many
of
the
forces
being
insidiou9, as in. the
sippi River, where in a
bend
of o n ~ m1l.e radms a
two.mile
~ u r r e n t
may cause a 2-In. dtfference of
261
head
that
will
erode
banks
and
form crossing bars
there. Also, a rise of surface level is often accom
panied
by a
rise
of bottom, and erosi0n occurs
in
falling stages.
Colonel King
noted
the exceptional nature o f the
Tenness
ee
River, a completed, not shifting st r
ea
m,
and
has a fixed regimen
to
sec
ur
e gr
eatest depths.
Upstr
eam
pools must not be lowered, nor the
current
made
too great.
In
deepening
the
channel
the cross-section must be kept approximately co
n
stant. Impr
oving
the
worst
obst
ructio
ns
first gave
some
relief, and left
more
secondary ones for
future improvement
as
demanded.
Three
f
eet
was
u r e d and locks
built
for
5
ft. Improvements
are comparatively permanent; dams built of very
small stones
laid
shinglewise withstand great
floods that would demolish wall masonry,
Th
ough
the
German
enginee
rs may not be
able
to im
prove their rivers beyond a
ce
rtain point, we can
ours.
Next came a
series
of
papers
on waterways and
their
improvement and
preservation. The
titles
were as
follows:
History of the Conversion of
the River
Clyde
in t
o a
N A.vigR-ble Waterway, and
the Progress of Glasgow Harbour from Its Com
mencement
to the Preseut
Day,
James
D e a ~ ,
Glasgow; The Developme
nt
of Quay
Cranes
in
the
P
ort of Hamburg,
" C. N ehls,
Germany ; The
Plant
of Maritime Commercial Ports of France,"
by H. Despres, France; Railways in New South
Wales, " T.
F.
Birrell ; "
Study
for
Rail
waye
from
G u a d a l a j a r ~ to the Pacific Ocean, S. V.
Pa
scal,
Mexico ; Railways of Mexico, E.
B.
Basave,
Mexico; ' 'The Rearrangement of the Railway
System of Cologne, " F. L ohse, Germany ;
' '
Com
parison of Modern Engine Lo
ading
with Standard
Specifications for Spans fr
om
10
to
200 Yards, " by
C.
D.
Purdon.
That
evening
Mr.
F.
V l Skinner
presented a
paper with stereopticon views
showing
the Americ$\n
method
of
bridge
erection.
The subject
of
water
ways was continued on Friday. An abstract of
a.
paper by L. Franzins, of Germany, was read ; the
subject
was ' 'Description of the
Lower
Weser
and
Its Improvements." Here it was proposed to deepen
the river
by stirring t.he sandy bottom
and
allowing
the current to carry off the sand. So
me details
of
this plan were given. One of the United
States
enginee
rs
showed
that scrapers, pil es, and even
dynamite
had been empl
oyed for this,
A.lso that
steamers had been sent, deeply laden , so
that
the
propeller might
effect
the
same purpose,
but the
re
sult was simply to
redeposit
the sediment
at
a point
lower down.
Th
e harbour papers were closed by submitting
the
following :
A Brief Account
of
the
Building
of
Leixoes
Harbour, by A. J.
N.
Soares,
Portugal,
and
Method Used to Secure the Stab
ility
of a
Quay
\Vall
at
the
Port
of Altona,
on
the Elbe,
which has Shifted its Position after Cornpletion,
by
B. Stahl,
Germany.
The meeting next
proceeded
to consider sewerage
and water
supply, when
the
following
papers
were
presented and read by abstract : Purification of
Sewage and of Water by Filtrati
on,
by H .
F.
Mills ; ' ' The
Sewerage
System of Mil waukee, and
th e tiilwaukee River
Flushing
Works," by G.
H.
Benzen
berg ;
' ' Experi
ence Had during
the
Last
Twenty-Five
Years with
\Vater Works h a v i n ~ an
Underground Source of Supply, B. Salbach, Ger
many
;
' 'Some
Questions
concerning
the Filtration
of Water, by W. Keummel, Germany.
In regard to the
paper
on underground sourceR
of supply it was pronounced to be very valuable,
and a
regret
was expressed that the character of
the
wells
and
methods of sinking
had
not been
stated. I t was shown also
that
a stream might be
polluted, while
a subterranean flow
directly under
neath which rose 3 ft. above the water lev el of the
stream
was
pure.
Other
in sta
nces were
cited
where fresh water had risen through
3
ft. of salt
water. The writer
can
add to this
a
small experi
ence. The soldiers frequently obtained fresh
water
in
Morris
Island during
o
ur war
by sinking
wells
RO
near the ocean's
edge
th
at
they
were
often
submerged
by a
high
tide.
Mr. Rudolph Hering. one of our be t authorities
on sewerage
and
sewage, thought too much stress
was
laid
on utilisation of sewage,
and
not
eno
ugh
on its
purifi
cat
ion . Sewage
is
not
purified
by
flow
ing
in
water, but
on1y diluted. F1ltration was the
best
method of purification. He also stated that
the chemical treatment
at
the Exposition r emoves
only the organic matter held in suspension, or
about half, leaving
that
held
in
solution.
Another
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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AUTOMATIC
HEATING
AND
VENTILATING FREIGHT
CAR AT
THE
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITIO
N.
Fig .3 .
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speaker approved of filtration provid
ed
nature was
given
tim
e for the
puri
fication and not
hurri
ed.
This interesting session was then closed
by
rea
din
g by
title
t he following : Possibility of
ncreasin
g the W
ate
r
Supply fr
om the Soil for
urposes of Irrigat ion and of Augmentir1g the
low of Rivers,
by
G. H. 0. Volger, Germa
ny
,
nd On the Distributi
on
of vVater in the City of
o,
by
L.
Salazar, Mexico. The meeting then
ed .
The ne
xt
meetings to be cons idered in this Con
re
ss we
re
t hose of t
he
American Soci
et
y of
al Engineers.
Ab
out 300 assembled
on Tu
esday. Aug
ust
1, at
Art
Palace. President Eckley B. Coxe was in
chair, and presid
ed with
his usual grace
and
of
manner.
The
fi
rst matter of in terest was t he report of the
ttee
on a St andard System of Tests of
terials. As the conference of engineers in
in was so rec en t Mr. H e
nnin
g, chairman,
ent ed an account of the confer ences held
Europe for
the
purpose of
establi
shing
unif
onn
ods of t
est ing materials
and it was suggested
the society memorialise
the
United States
to send duly
accredite d represent
at
ives
the conferences abroad to further the movement
establishing in te
rnational standard
s of tests.
this he
read
a
paper by
Pr ofessor Debray,
of P o
nts et
Chaussees,
in
France,
the desirability of a ge
neral adoption by
all
ountries
of a
uniform
method for the
tests
of
CONSTRUCTED BY THE EASTJ\fAN CAR COl\ilPANY, BOSTON AND CHICAGO.
(F
or De
sc
ription , s
ee
P ge 269.)
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materials of construction. R esolutions present ed
by
Cha
irman Henning
7
s co
mmittee
in fav o
ur
of
in
ternat ional
standards
of
tests
w
ere
then
adopted.
Professor Mar
tens
of Berlin spoke in German
in
support of the movement to secu
re
unifo
rm
ity in
the n1ethods of
te
sting. He said that t
he
orig
in of
th
e moveme
nt
in Germany was due to a
pr
oposition
emanating from Professor Egleston of this country
in 1884. Hi
s r emarks were translated by Presid
ent
Coxe, who adds a know edge of German t o his other
accomplishments. A motion was
then
adopting
r
eq
u
est
ing the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers to take
charge of t his s
ub
ject.
The
report of th e Committee on a
Standard
Me
thod
of Condu ctin g Locom
ot
ive Test s was
pre
se
nt
ed by the chairman, Mr. William F orsyth. The
prin
cipal f
eat ur
e of t
hi
s report was the shop t e
sts
for l ocom
ot
ives as practised
at Purdu
e University.
The
appa
r
at
us is arranged
with
the drivin g wheels
of t he locomotive resting upon wheels tha t are
part
of a dynamometer.
In
this way
certain
points could
be
better
determin ed than by a road test ;
but the
committee thought the road test should supplement
the other.
Pr ofessor Lan za inquir ed as
to
the pro
babl
e e rr or
lik
ely
to
occur
in
de termining
the
amount of
water
in a boiler
at
the conclusion of the test by observing
the heig
ht
by the water glass, as he thought
the
error
might be quite large, and also as to the ad
visability of using two indicators
in
engine tes ting
in
place of one
indicator
with long
pip
e connections.
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Mr.
Forsyth favoured
tho
use of water meters
in
boiler testing.
Mr.
George
Gibbs said he found
no difference n
the use of long or short indicltur piping
when
taking
cards under
the
severe conditions
of a road
test. He also
believed
in the accuracy of meters,
and that
thera was li t t
le
error
in determining
water
level in a boiler at
end
of test by a guage.
Mr. E. B. Meier called attention to differences
in
r epor
ts
of
committees on standard
loc
omot
ive
and
boiler tests. In
the latter
it
was not ad vised
to pump
cold
water
in
the boiler
at
the
end
of
the
test
to bring the water up
to
the
initial
level, as
the water at the
end of the
test
would
be at
a
much
lower
temperature than when st arting.
This report was
particularly interestin
g, becau8e
there had been some slight feeling that the society,
by
making
official
tests
of
various
locomotives,
might
seem to
be
advocating some particular form
of
construction, and
thus
favour an individual
manufacturer. This is evidently not
the
proper
ground to view the case.
Th
e society,
as
a body, is
eugaged
in the search fvr and dissemination of such
mechanical
facts
as
will be of value to its
member
ship
and t.he world of scie
ntists. If in the
course
of
f
ai rly conducted and
impartial tests
one
locomo
tive shows better
r
esults
than
another.
there is
no
reas
on
why
such tests in
detail,
with the con
clusions drawn
by the expe
rts, should
not be made
kn ow
n.
Several things are probable : one is that
hardly any
f
orm
of locomotive will show
superior
results in
all
rospects. It
may be more
excellent
in
one
way
and inferior
in
another; and,
moreover,
if the tests
are
published
in detail,
the
results
drawn
by
others may not be
in
strict accord
with
those drawn by the investigators; but
finally,
sup
pose
both these
results should appertain
to
one
locomotive, who is
more interested in knowing it
than
rival
manufacturers They
can ascertain
exactly
what
they
must
do
to improve their own
form of
machine.
The ground taken in regard to
an official investigation by the society would, if
carried further, put a stop to
all
acquiring of know
ledge
by its mem
hers from it,
for
it is hardly
pos
sible to
find
a machine
which
is
n
ot in
some
form
made by various
manufacturers,
and the usefulness
of
this
society
might
be
almost
said
to have
ended.
There is one case parallel to this view, and that is
the
meth
od of excluding from
a
jury any one
who
has read
abo
ut the
case
to be tried. The result
wa.,
to obtain as
jurors
men of such
a low ord er of
intelligence t h ~ t they were incapable of forming an
opinion, or else those who had not sufficient
general
information to lead them to
take
any
interest in
everyday li f
e
Naturally
following
this
matter came a
paper
enti led, ' 'Test of the Locomotive at Purdue
Uni\·ersity
by
ProfessorGoss. This
was commen ted
on
very
favourc1.bly by Professor Denton. He
showed the great ad vantage.s of
this method
of
test ing, and s t
ated it
was a
very
easy
matter
to
secure and
maintain
any
desired
condition as
to
pressure,
speed,
point
of cut-off,
ra t
e
of
combus
tion, load, &c., in ftict, to do those things which
all experience had shown
could n
ot be done
upon
the road with any
decree
of accuracy, l eaving for
the
road
test
those points
which could be
deter
mined only on the road. The
form
of dynamo
meter
u
sed had proved to be of
the
g
reatest
value
in this
work,
the mere turning
of a small valve
serving
to
change
the l
oad
at will, and when once
set
the load r
emained constant for any desired
time. In
this
way
it had been
found
entirely
practicable
by
the committee,
who
had
inspected
the apparatus, to
get
and ste.adily maintain
any
desired
load
upon
the locomot1ve up
to
250 horse
power for each wheel, or a total of 1000 horse
power,
and there was
no
burning of blocks nor
trouble of any kind. He
concluded
by
favouring
the appointment of a
committee
of
this
society.
to
test in
this way a
simple
and compound locomotive.
Th
e Purdue University, it
may
be said,
were
willing to
place their
apparatus
at
the
disposal of
such a
committee.
The
value
of this
method
re
ceived at
this point
a confirmation
from one
of
England's greatest engineers,
to
wit, Sir Benjamin
Baker who
being
an
honorary member
of the
society,
had
come in
to
li
sten
to
the
discussion.
He
stated he would
have
bean
greatly
pleased
to have
had this
report some two. months. ago,
when
he
was
on the witness-stand
In
a smt
between
the
L
ondon
and
North-Western Railway
and the
Manchester Ship Canal. The tracks had to be
elevated above
the
masts of
vessels
in the
canal,
and t he
canal
require i to bear
the
increased
E N G I
N
E E R I
N G.
cost of handling
the
railroad
traffic
over
the
heavy
gradients.
I t was st artling at the trial
to
hear the
diverse testimony of engineers on the
economy
of
types
of locomotives.
In his testimony
for the
canal company,
he h
ad maintained
that
one ton
of
the Welsh coal us
ed
in the locomotives of the
road
would lift
600,000 tons 1
ft.
high,
w htle those
on
the other
side
had maintained that it would not do
nea r
ly so much-in
fa
ct,
about
400,000 tons
only.
He was pleased to note that the r esul ts obtained
by Professor
Goss and
given in
the
paper, when
corrected for the
diff
erence
in
value of the
coals
used,
sustained his
opinion,
being about
641,000
tons 1 ft. high. Just hefore leaving England he
had talked with Mr.
Webb
regarding
the perform
ance
of one of
his
la test compound locomotives,
Mr.
Webb
informing him
that these locomotives
were now carrying traffic over
the
road at
an
ex
penditure of
2
oz. of coal per
ton
per mile, a
per
fo
rmanc
e which was r
egarded
as exceptionally
good. ,
Domini
on of South Africa) are
embra
c
ed
in this
map,
as
jn considering a
subject of
such general
interest
as
railway enterprise,
no
distinction can
rea
lly be drawn between them, and they must
be
considered as
the
concrete
whole which it is to
be
h
oped
they
may
become in the not remote future ;
and that rail way development has and will largely
and powerfully
contribute
to this result,
no
one can
doubt.
The
hi
story
of
railway
enterprise
in
South
Africa
may be gene
rally divid
ed into three
periods. The
first period, extending
roughly
from
1857 to 1877,
may
be
called the period of
private
enterprise. The
second
period, from
1877 to 1887, may be termed
one
of
intra-colonial
Government
enterprise.
The third,
from
1887 to the present time, has been
one of extra-colonial Go
vernment
enterprise.
During
the
first twenty-year period all the earlier
colonial
lines
were
planned,
constructed,
and
passed
out
of the hands of
the
private companies who made
them into the hands of the Colonial Governments.
The Government
of
the
Cape Colony
did
not, how
ever,
wait
to commence the
planning and
construc
tion
of rail way lines on
its
own account
till
it had
purchased
all the un d
ertakings
in private hands,
but
several
years
previously, say
in 1873, in
consequence of
the
impetus imparted to trade by
the successf
ul
w
orking
of the Diamond Fields,
an
exte
nsi
on
to
Worcester in
the
Wastern Province
was for the second time authorised.
The Natal
Gove
rnmen
t followed exactly
in
the footsteps of
the sister colony in the matter of purchasing private
lines
and undertaking Government
extensions.
It
appears, therefore, that the second period slightly
overl
apped the
first,
and during this ten·year
period,
within
the Cape Colony at least, the bulk of the
main
lin
es
and
branches, the objective of which was
the
Diamond
and Gold Fields tra ffic, have been
corn
pleted
and opened, either directly or indirectly,
by
the
Government
concerned.
During the latter
half
of
this period
an attempt was made to revert
to the original
principle
of subsidised lines con
structed by private
enterprise,
with
far
from en
couraging
results. The
third
period
of extra
colonial Governm ent enterprise was
inaugurated
by
the Convention f()r the
extensi
on of the Cape
Gove
rnm
ent rail ways
into
the
Orange
Free State,
the Transvaal, and British Bechuanaland,
by
which
the Cape Gover
nmen
t Railway
Department
became
construct
o
rs and
workers of foreign lines, ratified
by the Cape
Parliament
in
1889.
The
secretary
then
presented in abstract
Mr. A.
Mallet's
paper on Locomotives
Operating by
Total
Adhesion on Cu
rv
es of
Small Radius,
which
was followed
by
that on The
Development
of the
Compound Locomotive, by
A
von
Borries,
of
Hanover,
Germany.
Th i
s paper showed much
patient research,
bein
g for the
most
part historical.
8uch papers
are
always of in terest, because they
afford a target for the iconoclast
to shoot at. There
is
one
craft,
however, which
has thus far
resisted
them, and that
is
Noah's Ark ; the reason
for
this
will
appear to
the
Bible student, for
Moses' account
of the Author of the
design
precludes any anterior
claim ; but for
t h i ~ no doubt, a certain write
r
would
announce
that he
had often
thought of such
a
design in
a previous state of existence,
only his
ideas were of a more ..esthetical character than
those shown
in
the Ark.
Experiences in the Construction and
Opera
tion cf Rack
Railways, by
Albert Schneider, was
then
read
by
the
secretary.
This
was discussed
by
Mr. Hildenbrand, who repr
esents
the Abt system
in the Un
ited States,
and
to
whom we are
indebted
for
the
Pike's Peak Railroad. Mr. Hildenbrand
gave the
paper credit
for its comprehensiveness and
for the many illustra
tions
of the roads
and
rolling
stock. He thought almost any load c0uld be
handled with
a
suitably
designed locomotive. He
set down the cost of
this
sty e of
road
with a rack
over an ordinary
one at
15 ,000
dols. per mile,
and
stated further, owing to
the
fact that a much shorter
road
could
be constructed between two terminal
points in a hilly or mountainous country where
the
grades made
possible
by
the rack were used, the
total
cost of
the road
would bo,
in most
cases, less,
and
the
operating
expenses
as
well.
Chairman Nason
then r
ead
the report of the
Standing
Committee
on Standard F1anges, giving a
statement
of
what
had
been done
in
conjunction
with
the
Master Steam and Hot
Water
Fitters .
The
effort
made to
secure the
adoption
of standard
flanges
by manufacturers
is making
general
pro
gress, only one concern
having
thus
far
refused
to
do so.
To be continued. )
THE
DEVELOPMENT
OF
SOUTH
AFRICAN RAILWAYS.
IT is doubtful
whethe
r the
general public
would
agree
with
the assertion that rail
way
enterprise
in
any country is a subject second to none in impor
tance for that
country. But
few engineers would
dispute
the
fact that in
the
present century
the
development
of a
country,
that is, its progress in the
r
anks
of civilisation, is chiefly
dependent
on the
means and facilities it affords for external and in
ternal
communication, a
nd
rail ways rank first
among such means. The subject matter of this
article will be
dealt
with under the following
heads : 1 General History of Railways in South
Africa. 2. Details
of
Location, Construction,
Equipment, and Maintenance
of
South
African
Railways. 3. Past and Probable Future Cost.
4. Traffic
and Earnings
of
Constructed lin
es. 5.
Government v. Private Railways. 6. The
Ox
Wagon
v Locomotive
Train.
7.
Objects to be
aimed
at
in Future Railway Extensions.
1. The plan on
the next page,
prepared from
the
Cape Government rail way maps, shows
the
various
existing and proposed lines in a way which will
suitably
explain their origin
and
object.
t
will
be
seen
that the whole of the South African colonies
and
adjacent territories and states (the future
The terminal starting points of
the
South African
railway systems
have been determined by
the posi
tion
of the
somewhat limited number
of points
al
o
ng
the coast of
South
Africa a.t which
nature
has
afforded fairly good
roadateadand harbour
accommo
dation, and in the neighbourhood of which the more
important centres
of population
have
arisen.
t
is
somewhat remarkable that natural harbours and
safe roadsteads should
have been
so conspicuous by
their
absence
in
the long co
ast line
abutting on
either side at the second most so
utherly
and tem-
pest
uous cape
in
the world,
and
which is the most
important natural passing point for the world's
commerce. I t
might be
almost s
tated
that there
are no natural
harbours,
and only seven partially
protect ed road steads-
Port
N olloth, Table, Kalk,
Port Elizabeth,
East London, Durban, and
Delagoa
Bays,
and
two
river mouths,
Port
Alfred and
Pungue,
which
have
so
far been
utilised
as
ports
n
connection with rail way lines alo
ng
some three
thousand
miles of
South
African co
as t
.. Enormous
as
the
passing traffic has always
been
and is, this
absence of natural
harbours has
militated to a
great
extent against the
possible increase of merchant
shipping touching thereat,
beyond
the
bare
neces
sities of the
South
African
trade it s
elf, and , as a con
sequence, against the
rapid
settlement of thecountry,
which has
therefore
somewhat lagged behind other
and less favoured colonial sites in this respect.
Rail
way construction
in the
Cape Colony com
menced with a line
from
Cape Town to W l l i n g t
in the
Western Province.
An Act was passed m
the s e ~ s i o n
of
1857 by
the Colonial
Parliament,
gua
ranteeing a
minimum
rate of
interest
(6
per
cent.) on
a
sum
not exceeding
500,
l
. and
for a
period limited to fifty years from the p e n i ~ g of ~ h e
railway for traffic,
to any
company
or pnvate
m
dividual who would
undertake
the working
and
construction of the line. Like
many others
of
the
more
important steps
towards progress which have
been taken in this colony, this
Act
was
due
to
the
foresight of Governor
Sir
George Grey, who
him
self
turned
the
first sod on
March
31, 185 .>. Half
the
Government gua
r
antee
was secured in a very
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,
SEPTE? IB'ER
1,
1893.
/
,
/
,
. ..
-------,
,
r ,l
L L
COMPOUND ENGINES, WITH
WALKING
OF THE
PADDLE STEAMER
HONAM.
CONSTRUCTED
BY .MESSRS
.
A. AND J.
INGLh,
Ll
ENGINEERS AND SHIPBUILDERS, G
LA SGOW
.
Fo ·
lJucnpl
d
1
set P lgt
26 >.)
•
r r ,
L. _ _
I
- .
. - -
I
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SEPT. I, I893·]
peculiar way, viz., it was not
to
be
charged to the
general revenue
of
the
colony, but
to
~ h e
r e v e n ~ e
of
the
divisio
ns
mo
st
benefited
by
the
hne,
that 1s,
the Cape, Stellenbosch,
and
the
Paarl. Th_is
principle ha
s
been largely adopted
els
ewhere
In
fo
rei
gn countries, both in
Europe and
America,
and
seems to
be
a
very sound and expedient
one,
and
in so
me resp
ects it is rather unfortunate that it
was n
ot given
a more
extended trial
in
Sout
h Africa,
as
it might
hav
e materially assis ted
in the
dev elop
ment of subsidiary and
local lines,
though it
was
in
applicable
to the
t
runk lin
es lead
ing to the
in
teri
o
r. In projecting this line fr
om Cape
Town to
Wellin gto n, only local
wants
and
reaso
ns were
con
sulted
;
it ran
through a rich agricultural and
p opulous
di
s
trict
which could
readily supp
o
rt
a
railway service,
ir r
espective of
the
development of
interi
or
trade or ulterior
extensions,
althoug
h
when
the latter came to
be
pla
nned
this line became the
ground
wo
rk
of
the main
trunk rail way
from the
west
to the
in
ter io
r.
N
I N
R
I
N G
in
the meantime was q
uite
as
anxious
to ? o m ~ e n c e
extensions
on
a.
l
arger
scale
towards the
InteriOr
as
th
e
sist
er colony of
the
Cap
e,
but it labour
ed
under
the
di
sability of bein
g a
Crown
colony,
and had _not
a
free
hand
in guiding its
o
wn
railway
Many at
tempts were
made to
induce
the Colon1a.l
Office
to sanction the
raising
of
a l
oa
n for
these
purposes, but
all
efforts
were
fruitless
till the
colony
consented
t o
contribute
200,000l.
towards the
Z ulu
war bill
and
relieve the home Government to that
extent
~ o m
th
eir
liability.
Th
e only
thin
g effected
during
the
peri
od
ending
1877 was
t h ~ purchase of
t
he private lin
e
ab
ove me
nt i
o
ned.
ThiS
for
th
e las t
two
or three
ye
ars
of its
existence
had
become a
m
ost
valuable
pr
operty,
and the example
affor_d
ed
by its
success
made
the
Natal v e r n m a ~ x w
to acq
uire
it
as the starting point
of
their pr
oJe
cted
sys
tem.
An Act,
N o. 6
of
1875, was
passed
authoris
ing
its purchase
by
arbitration,
b?t
a most
unusu
al a
nd unfair
proviso was
inserted Into what
was
prac
tically a compulso
ry
sa
le,
to the
effect
that
n
T I $ J
~
T C
J
- - 1 '
.
•
The
company who
undert
ook
the making
of
~ h i s
lin
e successfully
completed the
task
of constructiOn,
and opened their
58 miles of railway
for p u ~ l
traffic
in
No
vemb
er
, 1863.
The
traffic
on the hne
was
excellent,
and still
continues to
stand
at
the
top
of
the li
st of So
uth
African
Government
rail
ways in
this
respect ; but the
terms
offered
by
t he
Cape Government
when
the
policy of owning rail
wa
ys
was
adopted, were
so advantageous,
that
a sale
of the
company's undertaking
was
negotiated,
agreed to, and
finally san.ctioned
by_ an
Act
of
the
Session of 1872, and th e hne
pas
sed
Into
the
hands
of
the Rail
way
Dep
a
rtment
for 773, 019l. ,
or
13
,328l. per mile, as part of the projected trunk
lin
e to
the interi
or .
As
a
co nsequence
of
this, the
separate
liabili ty of the divisions
through
which the
lin
e
ran
for
half the guarantee,
was rescinded
by
Act
19 of 1874,
and the principle of that
liability
has so
far
never been again
adopted
in
So
uth
Africa.
Although
the
Cape Colo
ny
was
the
first to pro
je
ct railways
in
South
Africa,
to
Natal
belongs
the
hon
o
ur
of first actually using steam
thereon
for
public
traffic ;
for
a s
hort line
(two miles
in
l
ength)
from Durban
to the
wharves
at the Point (Port
Natal
) was
opened by
a
private
co
mpany in
1860.
Shortly after that the Government, for the purp
o
se
of
bringing
do
wn
stone
to
the
harbour works,
made
a
sh
o
r t extensi
on of
three
miles
up to the
Umgheni
River,
and this
was
leas
ed
to the
private
company.
The hi
s
tory
of
this
private undertaking
for the
first
ten or twelve
years was
by
no means
enc
ouraging, as
it did not pay
.
Th
e col
ony
of
Nata
l
MAP O F SOUTH
A F R I
eh<lWln g
R ILWAYS .
C >
> G o . t
1/ ll ~ ~ ~ ~
• * • r
•
lll rt.r .Jf
t/llt
• • • .
1 aiQ • o,. .
- - ·•
I
~ h l r • CD ¥'lld• • ; ; :==
I . x l l f l > o ~
the price
to be paid sh
o
uld not
exceed
40,0
00l.
for
the
two miles.
The actual commencement
of
the
Government
exte
nsions
did
not
take place
till1879 ,
and
will be co
nsidered in its
proper
place.
A
branch
line
to Wynberg was
the
next
railway under
t a ~ e n in the Western Province
of
the
Cape,
and
was also the
work
of a private company. The first
sod was
cut on
August 14, 1861,
and the wh
o
le
l
engt
h of
six
miles
opened to public
traffic on
December
19, 1862.
This
br
anch
commences
with
a j unct ion
at Salt Rive
r
with
the
old
Cape
To
wn
and vVellington Railway,
and has been,
as was
originally
intended, exten
ded to Simonstown (the
Imperial naval s
tation
in
False
Bay). The
line
was
made
partly to serve the
r
equirem
e
nts
of
the
dis
tricts traversed,
and
partly for military and naval
purpo
ses. I t was
purchased by Governmen t,
und
er
Act
8
of 1876, for 75,000l.,
or
12,500l.
per
mile,
and
has
since
been extended to Kalk Bay
(nine miles
in
1882)
and to Simonstown
(five miles
in
1890.)
An extension
of
theWellington line toWorcester
(64 miles),
with
a
branch to Malmesbury from
D
'U rban-road
Junction (36t
miles
), was
sanctioned
by
an
Act in
1861,
but
nothing
was
done by the
Cape Town
and Wellington
Railway Comp
an
y
under
the Act beyond
the
executi
on
of some
heavy
cut
tinge
in the Tulbagh
Kl o
of
(or Ghat),
which
were
undertaken to provide
employment
for
a
number
of
navvies
thrown
out of
work
by the completion
of
th e older
li
nes.
The
se wo
rks
cost 42,000l., a
nd
were
found to
be
o
nly partly
available
for the
ex
tension when it was
undertaken on Government
account, a
nd the cost
was c
harged to
r
evenue by
Act
in
1870.
Act
13
of 1873
re-authorised
the
e
x
tension of the
railway to
Wo
rc
e
ster, and
the
sum
of 315,
OOO
l. was
app
ro
priated
for
this purpo
se
(4922l . per
mile
).
Turning
now to t he Eastern
P r
ovince of
the
Cape, we find
.that an ~ e t was
passed in 1862 for the constructiOn of a hne
fr?m
P
or
t
El i
zabeth
to Grahamstown,
but
nothing
was
done under the auth
o
rity
of
th i
s
Act.
A company was inc
o
rp
o
rated in
1871 Poz t
Elizabeth
and
obtained
the concessiOn for
a
rail
way from
Zwaartkops to Uitenhage, 13
miles in
le
ngth
;
this
co
mp
a
ny was
fo
rm
ed
by
a
few
local
merchants in
Port
El i
z
abeth
;
they had
plenty
of
cap ital at
th e
ir
command
,
and
the
under
taking,
as experience
has
shown, was sound
and
re
munerative, but
th ey
unfortunat ely
made
a
bungle of th e financing, and the Cape
Government
stepped in and took
over the
~ e f o r e
comple
tion
for 63,
760l., or
4904l.
per
mile,
In
1873.
The
timber for
the
bridges on this line, which was
colonial,
and impr
ope
rly
seasoned, had to
be
re
newed
at
once before
t
he
lir..e was
opened
for
tr
a
ffic, at
a
cost of
13,000l.
(or
1000l. per
mile).
I t is
necessary to
t urn
to Namaqualand for
the
next instance
of
private railway enterprise during
our first peri
od. The Port Nolloth Railway
was
constructed to connect
the
Cape Copper
1\fining
Company
s
mines at
O
Okiep
with
the
small har
bour at
Port Nolloth.
This railway was built for
and
by
the company, and
opened for
traffic
in
January,
1876. For
this
p
urp
ose the following
A
ct
s we
re obtain
ed
: (1)
in
18
69, a
ut h
o
rising
the
con s
truction
of 48
miles
: (2) in 1871, for
12
mi les
mo
re to
I{
ook
fo
ntein
; (3)
in
1873,
for 38 mil
es to
O Okiep. Port
Nolloth is
300 miles
fr
om Cape
Town,
co
mmunication bein
g
maintained by
coast
ing steame
r
every
ten days.
The lin
e
is of
a
2 ft. 6
in.
gauge (b
eing
the narrowest
gauge
adopt-ed
in South
Africa,
with the so
le
exceptio
n
of the
Beira Railway, which is
2
ft.).
Locomo
tives were
originally
used, but scarcity of water
and over-ab
undance
of sand
made
their em
plo
yment so expensive and unsatisfa
c
tory that
they
have
been
abandoned,
and
the
traffic
is
now
worked by
mules,
assisted by gravitation on
the
downward
journey.
There
is
a
mi
ss
io
nary station
a t Steinkopf,
near
t
he end of
the
line, but
a pas
se
nger
carriage,
running three
times
a
week,
amply
serves
the traffic.
We may, however,
rank this
line as one
of
the best,
if
not the very best, paying
railways in
South
Africa.
( l'o be continued.)
BEAM ENGINES FOR PADDLE
STEAMERS.
IN
the Transportati
on
Building
at
the Chicago
Exposition
one can trace
the changes
which have
taken
place
in
the different
means
of locomotion
for two or three
hundred
years
pa
st,
and
can form
a fore
cast as to future development
.
Nowhere
is
th i
s
clearer than in the
methods
of
marine
pro
pulsi
o
n. The twin-screw
is displacing the
single
screw, a
nd the paddle-wheel giving place
still
more
decidedly
to the sc rew
propeller; while in
t
he
method
of
propelling
the
paddles the
beam
engine
is destined soon to pa ss away. One finds
several services
which were
former.ly
carritd
on
by
paddle
s teamers having
beam
engines
now
conducted
by
screw
steamships. Th
e
Bergen,
Bremen, and
Hamburg
of
the
Hoboken
Ferry Company are
cases
in point,* while several
paddle
steamers have
now
been
fitted with oth
er
types
of engines than
that of
which
the
walking
beam was such an
attractive
feature. I t is true it requir
ed
marvel
lously
li ttle attentio
n ; but it
was
far
from
€cono
mical. I t
can serve ' lo
pur
_ ose
to ~ i n g
a
requi
em
- many of
our Amencan
friends might claim that
it
is yet too soon
for that. Certainly in th i
s country
the
be
am engine
belongs
to
the
past. It never
gai
ned
any
distinct
ho
ld on British
fav our al
th
o
';l
gh
admired
by Scott Russell, but s e ~ e r a l
engmes of
the
type have been made
in ~ h i s co
untxy
for service
in foreign wat
ers,
and a record of
m?dern engineering
-practice .would n
ot be
co
mplete
without
a
reproductwn,
typiCal of
the British de
sign. Messrs.
Inglis some years
ago
made
probably
the most
successful
engines of the
class ·
and one
is
illustrated on our
two-page
plate th i
s
w ~ e k
and on
pa
ge .271.
Th ese
we
should
ha
ve been glad
to
de
s
cribe
l
ong
ago ;
but
c
hara cteristic modesty on
the
part of Messrs. In glis
sugges
ted
excuses as
frequently
as
we
urged the
claims
of ou
r
readers.
See
ENGINEERING,
vol.
liii.,
pages 223 and
263.
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PLA T E
-
: . : ; ; : : > ~
•
- -
- -·
••
-
-
- = : : : : ~ - - =
The present
time,
however, is not inopportune,
since
we may be said to be in
the
tran
sitio
n
stage
.
Soon the trip le-expansion direct-acting engine wiJl
be
extensively
adopted for pa
ddle steamers,
as it
already is for screws.
It
is not difficult to trace the evolution of the
beam engine as
applied to
the
pr
opulsion
of
paddle steame
rs. The g
reat
difficulty
in paddle
engines was to get a sufficient length of stroke of
piston,
while keepin g the engine low in the
ship,
and
minimising
the
length of space required. t
was
soon
recognis
ed
by 'Vatt and some
American
engineers that the most natural and possibly most
pictur
esque arrangement was io adopt
the
simple
old-fashioned
beam
used
by
N ewcomen for
the
SHEA R S
FOR
CLYDEBR I DG E
S T EEL
0 R K s
CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS. CRAIG AND DONALD, JOHNSTONE, N.D.
For Description,
see
P ge269.)
'
colliery pumps and land engines. While
American
enginee rs adopted this system, R obe rt Napier,
'Vatt,
Maud sley, a
nd Faw
cett continued to
use
the
side
lever e
ngin
e, t
he
first
named
bringing
it
to
its
perfect stage in the
Pe r
sia and Scotia. This side
lev er may be termed the English form of the bea m
marine engine.
Here it
was
c o n s
i d ~ r undesir
able to obstruct the deck with the walking beam,
while the adoption
of the
side
lever
e
nabl
ed
the
engineer
to
choose any proportion
of
stro
ke and
an y size of
paddle
wheel
that
wo
uld
best
r v ~
th e
purposes of the sh ip.
American
engineers
hav e continued to use the
baam engine, although, as we have ind icated, there
ar e evidences which encourage the belief that
.
c ::
-
=....;
-
. . . . _ . - - - - ~
•
-
·
it will be superseded. Messrs. In glis
were the
only firm in this
country
which largely
adopt
ed
the
and
the
engines
of the
H onam , which
we
illustrate this
week, are a typical design.
One
of the large
st
beam engines
constructed,
however,
was for the Puritan in the Fall River
Company's
New
York and
Boston
service.* of which
we
have
already published
a full description wi th engravings.
The lnf lis beam engine indicates several departures
in the details when compared with the American
engine of that
day,
and was n o re strongly built.
The gallows frame, which supports the
main
centre
of beam, instead of being of woo
d,
as was the usual
* See EN GIN
EERIN
G, vol. li. , page 64.
'
practice in the United States,
was
of
steel plates and
angles, and of
box
section. It was
secur
ed to ma
ssive
box
keelson
s
on
the
flo
or of the ship. This style of
framing had
not then
been adopted
by
any
ot
her
firm, and it gave gr
eat
satisfaction. The woo
den
frame
adopted in
the
American
engine
wobbled,
"
and allowancehad o
be
made for
this
in
the
clearance
between the piston
and cy
lind
er
ends, 6
in.
being
not uncommon.
t
is easy, therefore,
to
und er
stand that there was considerable waste of
steam
and conseq uent
lo
ss of efficiency.
The
steel frame
- which, by
the
way, is now
adopted in
Ame
rica
-
is
perfectly rigid, and o
nly
the ordinary clearance
is
necessary.
The
H ona m's engines wero on the
compound principle,
and
in
this respect also were
t-.)
"'
z
C)
z
t:r1
t:r1
z
G)
•
r 1
fl
i
•
-
) )
\0
w
•
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SEPT I
I 893·]
E N G I N E E R I N G.
I
1
ROTARY STEAM SNOW SHOVEL AT
THE
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
CONSTR
UCTED BY T
HE
LES
LIE
BRO
THERS
:MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
PATER
SON,
N.J.
(For D
escrip
tion,
see
P
ag
e
268.)
-
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ig.
1.
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a departure . The cylinders, as sho
wn
on the fro
nt
of results, more especially as
the
former is worked
elevation, were inclined towards each
ot
her
at the
under forced draught with
Sturtevant
fans,
and
head, admitting of the piston-rods being co nnected I wo superheaters ut ilising the waste gases before
to the one point on the forward end of the beam.
they
pass into the smoke-stack.
I t
may be noted, how
This secured a perfec
tly
balanced motion.
In
the ever,
that the
indicated horse-power
in th
e
Puritan
engines of the Puritan a1ready referred to, the is at the ra te of about 9 per square foo t of grate
cylinders are nearly vertical, and are co
nnected
at area, while the power was 1 indicated horse-power
two points to the walking beam. to 3 square feet of heating su
rf
ace ;
in the
The great difference in the size of the two engines Honam the results were 9.7 indicated horse-power
he Puritan's indicate 7500 and the H onam's only I o 1 square foo t of grate area, and 1 indicated
2900- militate against any reliable comparison horse-power to 2.73 square feet of heating surface.
I
The reJative coal consumption results wou]d be inte
re
st
ing,
but they
are not given
in the
case of
the
Puri
tan. In the
Inglis boats
fuel economy has
always been a marked feature.
The
high-pressure
cylinder
of
the
Honam's
engines is 40 in. in diameter, with a stroke of
10 ft., while the low-pressure cylinder is 72
in.
in diameter, with a stroke of 9 ft. 10 in., the dif
ference in stroke being due to
the
inclination of the
cylinders. Double-beat steam and exhaust valves
are provided, while the high-pressure cylinder
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 11/33
268
P t
..
t irulars nf Some Pa
dd
le Stexme1·s tcith Ream Enqincs
Constructed b f M
u s
. l { l i ~ Glasgow.
-
•
JC3: :
-
($
·
.c
.5
01
. b d ~
Q) CS
a.,.c
•
n
.
-
-
3076
292
I
42
15
11
920
Oroas to nnage . . . . . .
l..engt.h on load-water line ft .
Breadth moulded . . . . ,,
Depth moulded . • . . ft. io
Load d r . L u ~ n t . . . . . f t.
I > ~ a d w e
g - b t
capa
··ity
. .
ton,
I
•
seos
Men.)urement
ca
pa.
dty
in
to1u o
40ft . . .
.. . . .. .
Passenger accommod1tion, Euro
pe n . . . . . . .
•
21
I
16
Passenge r
accommodat
:on
0 .1inese, first class . . •
'
•
164
13
P
l.•He
ne-er
ac
.:ommoda tion
Cbincse,
second
claE& . . .
S >eed on
tr i
al . • . . k not
Diam ete r of C)linder . • in
•
68
r o k e
. .
• •
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ft .
12
I d i c a
hor
~ w e r
•
•
• •
1450
Stea.m press
ur<:
. .
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.
27
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per hour .. . . . . C\\
t.
3J
.
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IS
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daY ·or
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ser
Vl CC
0
r..ly.
1
B
.·
{
P. 40
J1.· P. 72
J 10 0
l 9 10
2900
75
is fi
tted
with expansion valves. The surface co n
dens
er
is placed al
o ngdide the
cylinders, as show
n
in the
forward elevati
o
n,
while th e
pumps are
worked hy a. rod
fr
om the
walking
b eam,
as shown
on
the
fr ont ele vation. The cooling
surface
is 5395
square fee
t.
The
walking b eam,
which is
con
structed in
the same way as is usually adopted
in
Americln
vessels, with cast-ir
o n centre and fo rge d
steel strap,
is
23 ft . in length, 11 ft. d
eep,
and
weighs
14 t o n ~ . Th e sec
tion
of
beam
strap
is
7 in. by 9 in .,
and
the main centre is 14 in. in dia
meter
in th e main b earings.
The
piston-rod
is
6f
in .
in
diameter
in the
case of
the
high-press
ure,
and
7
in . in that
of
the l
ow-pressure engine,
and of
steel, while
the co
nnecting
-
rod
is 23 ft.
long from
ce ntre t o centre, and 13 in. in diameter. The crank
shaft
is
17t
in. in diameter.
The
paddle-wh eels have
feathering floa ts ,
and are
entirely of steel. They
are 21 ft. in diameter,
and the floats are
15 ft.
by
4ft .
These
lat ter
measurements are very unusual,
and it
would certainly
be
very
interes ting to
kn
ow if
the builders of so
me
of
the
recent fast paddle
steamers have gone s o far as to
reduce
the
diameter
of their wheels t o 2.1 times
the
s t r o k ~
or
to
increase
the tloat area t o 60
square
fe e t.
Steam is supplied from
th r
ee double-ended
boilers
placed athwartships and
fired
from th e
wings. These b o
il
ers ar e 14 ft. in dia met er and
14
ft. long, and ha ve in all l 8 furnaces.
The
gr
at
e
area.
is 297 sq ua r
o f
ee t
, and the
he a
t
in
g sur face
7939 square feet. They
work
at a
pressur
e of
75
lb. ,
and at 33
revolutions
the
engines
d e velo
ped
2900 indicated h orse-power.
The
steamer,
which,
with
the
engines working
at
th i
s p ower,
attained
a speed of 16 kn ots , is
270 ft. lo
ng,
the breadth m o
ulded being 38
ft ., and
the extreme breadth 72 ft .
6
in., the d epth
moulded 13 f t . 3 in., and
the
ex tr
eme
30
ft.
The tonnage is 2800 t o
ns.
The sponsons,
while supported in
the
us ua l way by beams
and
stay:J, the
beams b
ei
ng
8
ft . apart, are carried
round th e e n t
ire
shi p . There
are
th r
ee
d
ecks.
T he l
ower deck, whi
ch is for cargo,
is
of st
ee
l,
while th e
two
above are of wood,
the
distance
between
e
ach bein
g
9 ft.
The
t op
deck is
e
ntir
ely
re se rved for promenading,
and
on
th
e main deck
there
are large sal
oo ns. The
Chinese
sa l
oo
n is
abaft of the
engines,
and 72 ft. lo
ng by
45 ft.
mean
wid th. }.,orward of the
machinery
are
un
U3ua1Jy la rge s tate-rooms for European passenge rs.
Th e dining saloon is forward on this deck. I t
is 44 H. long by 36
ft.
mean
breadth,
and is
se ated f or t we
nty
pa ss en
ge
rs.
ROTARY SNO\V PLOUGH .
E N G I N E E R I N G.
-
I t is shown hy th e Leslie
Brothers
:Manufacturing
Company,
of P a.terson, ew ,Jersey, and is th e
out
come of va rious oth e r and
e:lrlier
patterns
that
bowed
th eir weak points by th e
st
r
ess of serv
ice. The per
specti
ve
view g ives a good idea
of
th e machine,
wh i
ch
in
use trave
ls ahead
of a
train, an
d
cu t
s
its
way
thro
ugh drifts of any height.
t will be seen
that ex t
ernally
it
res
embles a covered
car,
bu t with
the addi
ti
on of a formidabl e wheel su rr ounded
by
a.
casing a nd mounted
at
th e front end of the car .
\Y it hin the car, whi
ch
is ca rried on t wo fou r -wheeled
tr ucks, is
the
ma
c
hin
e
ry for driving the wheel.
As a
co
mp
arison
with
the pr
esent type, there
is
a lso
shown
the No . 1 rotary , made
by the
sa me firm.
This
was
pu
t into service in J a nu
ary,
1887, on
the
Union Pa cifi c
Railway, and during t h
at
winter i t ran 2930
miles,
and
cleared the t
ra c
ks over that dist ance
at
a cost
of
16.9 cents, or about
8 ~ d .
p er mile; or ,
in
c
luding
t he
pushing
engine attached to
it,
for 33.5 cent s per mile.
Up to April 1, 1893 ,
this
rotary No. 1
ha
d clea red
67,319 mile
s ; i ts last wo
rk
was in
Echo
Canon on
?vlarch 29 of th is yea r, where the snow had filled t he
cuttin gs to an al
most
unprecedented depth; the
m
ach ine
was
almost
im m
ediately
aft
er eent
to
Chicago
for ex
hibiti
on. Th e wh eel
in front
of
the car
,
and
on
whi
ch
the
efficiency of
the
snow
pl
o
ugh
depends, isabout
lOft. in diameterand 40in. deep. To th e cast-iron cent re
are bolted
ten
rad
ial
sco
ops,
open on
th
e front from
the
cen t re
to
t he pe r ipher y .
On
each side
of
the scoop is
hin
ged
a
cut ting blade so
arranged
as to re v
erse
auto·
matically;
th e c
apacity
of each
knif
e
is
such
th
at
it
c
uts
sufficient snow to fill
the
scoop t o which i t is
atta
ched during
one
revolution
of
t he wheel; by this
means all
cho
king of
the
mach
ine
is avoided. Th e wheel
is inclosed in a circular cas in g
ra t
her larger th an the dia
meter
of
the wheel, with
a
squa
re
hood above,
t he
top
of
whi
ch is c
urved
over as shown, to deflect
the snow
.
At th e
top
of th e ho od
is
an ope ning
which
c
an ue
cl
osed
on
th
e righ t or left
with
a slide, operated
from
th e inside
of
the
car, so as to
th
row
the
st ream of
snow on one side or other
of
the t
rack
as may
be
desired.
Th
e boiler
plac
ed
within the car
is of
th
e
r
eg
ular loco moti ve
ty p
e,
bolt
ed to
the
frame of the
machine, whi ch cons
is t
s of heavy I and channel iron
s;
there
is considerable weight and soli d
ity
in this fr ame,
rendered necessa
ry
by the hea\'y st ra ins th ro
wn
up on
it . Th e engines are al so
of
the l
ocomotiv
e ty pe, with
a p air
of horizontal
cylinders bolted
to
the fra
me,
17 in.
in di
ame t
er
and 22
in
.
st
roke.
Po
wer is tr ans
mitt
ed t o
two
crank
discs on t he co
un t
ershaf
t,on
wh ich
is
mou n
te
d
a.
bevel pinion th at gears in to the bevel wheel on
the
main shaft carrying th e wheel. Both shaf ts run in
long bearings, and a. thrust
jo
ur nal is fitted t o the
whee
l
sh a
ft. Th
e trucks on
which
th e
snow
plough is
moun te
d
are substantia
ll y of
the
ordinary
Ameri
can
four
-w
hee
led type; the fron t tr uc
k,
how
eve r,
ha
s an
extra
frame for carrying an ice
pl
ough
an
d Ba nger .
Th e former protects
th
e machine from being derailed
by snow
or
ice adhering
to
the
rails
or
tie s. I t is swung
from th e front of the ex t
ra.
frame in su
ch
a way
that
it
ca
n be lowered until
the
points of
th
e
two
ice cut
ters
and chisel edges it carries
ca
n be lowered to within l in.
of
the
top of
the
ra ils, whi ch are
thus
k ept c
lear
of
ice. Any accumulation is r emoved by t he flanger which
is hung fr om the
back of
th e ex tra frame. Bo
th of
these
devices are operated by an
air
c
ylinde
r
ar r
a
nged
with
s team
connect
ions
in
case th e
supply
of com
press
ed a ir shou
ld
fa il ; t hey are con
tro
lled
fr
om t he car ,
and an indicat or is provided t o show whe
ther
they are
up or down. The following
are
some of t he principal
dimen
sions of th e snow plough whi ch
we
ill
us
trate :
Di
sb
nce from cent re to cent re
of
tru
cks ...
...
. .
...
...
T otal wheel base . . .. ..
R igid wheel base .. .. .. .
N
um b
er of w heels ... ... . .
Diameter of w heels . . . ..
,.
journ
als ... ... .. .
Leng
th of jou
rnals .. . .. . .
i a m e of axles ... ... .. .
Outside
width of c
ar
. . . .. .. .
Total length of car .. . . . .
H eight from rail to top of smoke
s taok .. ... . . ... .
Diameter of snow wh eel ... ..
W
idth of w heel.. . ... ... .. .
Number of scoops .. . .. . ..
15
ft. in.
19 "
1 1 ~
"
4 " 6 ,.
8
33 in.
5t
"
,,
5t H
9
ft. 7i in.
30 ', 4 ,,
13 , in.
9 ,
3 , 4 ,,
10
Projection of wheel
sh a
ft from face
of car .. . . . . .. . . . 4 ft. 9± in.
A Mo:-w t he striking novelties to
th
e Eugliah visitor
at
the
Colum
bian
Exposition,
are the snow
ploughs
ex
hibited in the Tran
spor
tatio
n
Building
.
Probably in
no European country, exce
pt
Russia.
or Scandinavia,
need a snow
ploug
h form a pa r t o f a railroad equipment.
The occasions wh en rail way traffic is arr ested, or ev eu
in te rfered with, in this
r.
ountry
ar e compa ratively rare,
and under
no circu
mstances have vast masses of snow
t o
be dealt
with,
as in
th e United
States.
In t he
n orth
of
Scotland,
indeed,
th e mo
re
ri
goro
us climate
renders
the me
ch
an
ical clearing of
the
tracke more
frequently necessary. America. is th e h
ome
of
the
snow
p lough, and the latest l o p m e ~ which
are
ex hibited
at
Chicago, are, indeed, su rp nsmg and mas
s ive machines.
On e of
these
we
illustrate on
page 267.
Diamete r of shaft
to
face of thrust
bearing
... .. . ... ...
Diameter
of shaft
to face of cast-
iron boss ... .. . ... . .
Diameter
of shaft
at en
d . . .
Length of thrust bea rin g ... .. .
Diame
ter
of wh eel casing .. . ..
Extreme width of ,. ... ...
D epth of casing from front of car ...
H e1gbt of casinfr from rail ... .. .
Projection of hood of casi
ng
from
fr
ont of
ca
r . . ... . . . .
Ty
pe of boiler . .. .. .. ..
Diameter ... .. . ... . .
Thickness of plates . . . . .. .
Lengt h of firebox ... . . .. .
'V idth , . .. ...
Bt in.
8 in.
G
'•
3
ft .
4
in.
10 ftl.
10ft. 6 in .
4 ,, 1 "
10 " 1 "
5 ,. 7 ,,
Belpaire
5t
in.
,
92 "
4G
,
(SEPT. I , I 893.
~ L a t
r i a l
of firebo
\.
and boilf r
Number of
tub
es . ...
Out ide diameter of t ubes ...
Length
of tubes
..
..
~ f a t e r i a l .. .. . . .. .
Diamet
er of s
team
dome ..
Height
, ,. ..
Number of
cy
linders ... ..
Diameter , , .. ..
Stroke
.. . ... .. . ..
Diamet er of crank disc ..
, count er haft .. .
Pitch diam
eter of bevel pinion
Number of teeth . . ..
Pitch di amete
r of
berel
wheel
Number of teeth . . ...
Class of Lrake ..
..
..
•
...
.
Rte£-1
l l
2 in
...
9 ft. 10 in
... Iron
B.
\V.G
...
.
•
..
.
..
...
...
...
• •
.. .
30 in.
.,
2
1 i
in.
22 ,.
2 ft. l in.
in.
30- ,.
22
49
.
63
in .
39
... W
estioghou
e
automatic
As to
the cost
of working
the
snow plough a few
words may
be added,
ta k
en from an officia l repor t
by
the
Union Pacific R l.il way
Company
of th e service
done du
rin
g t he
month
of ll.,ebruary ,
l e 7.
Th e report
refers to a e ~ s modern ty pe
of
rota.ry machine tha.n
th e one we illustrate :
ota
ry
Sno
WExcavator :
D ots
Do
a.
Engineer and fireman 'd wages
270.20
l •uc l (5 tons)
...
... .. .
116.
)(i
Oil, tallow, and waste ...
...
36.42
~ 1 a t e r i a l .. ...
.
.
70.01
492 63
Pushing L ocomotive:
E&gineer and fireman's wages
1
84
.20
Fuel (1 11 tons) ... . . . .
222
.
00
Oil, tallow, and wast.e ... ... 10.85
Ma t
er
ial ...
.
...
.
7
5
L
abour ...
.
..
.
...
65 .
b3
490.43
T
ota
l
..
.
.
983.06
During
the
mon
th
that this expense was incurred
the
machine clear
ed
293
miles
of tr a
ck,
a.\·eraging a.
total
cost of
33.5 cents, or l
ess
than Is. 5tl. , per mile.
\V e
may
add
in
co
nclusion
th at when desired t
he
snow ca n be pr oject
ed
to a distance sufficient to
clear ten or twelve tr acks
;
i t
th e
refore finds con
siderable occ upation in th e station yards of Americ
an
railwaye.
TRIER
'S DOU BLE ACTION STONE
DRE SING MA C
HI
NE.
TnE stone ·dressing machine we illu
strate
on page
259 is des igne d to act on two edges of a block simul
taneou
sly, producing
at
their intersect ion perfect
arrisses. The c
utting
tools are the we
ll
-kn own discs
invent
ed by :Messrs.
Br u
n ton
and
Tr ier, which have
su
p
erseded
all others
f
or
th i
s class
of
work.
Tw
o of
them a re em ployed, one h
aving
a hor izonta l and
the
oth er a vertical motion ,
the
direction
of
cut bei ng in
all
cases
at
righ t angles t o t he length
of
the
stone.
Each t ool is
mounted
on a spindle in a.
holder,
so
ar range d
th
at it has
an auto
mat ic motion at each end of
it s st roke,
wh e
r
eby
th e tool is put n pos
it i
on for
cutt
ing
both
in going and re tu rning.
Th
e
cuts
are alternate ly
roughing and finishing, th e tool in tra veiling in one
direction tak ing off t he bulk of the
stone
that has
to
be removed, an d in returning
skimming
off the re
mainder. Th ese operations
take pl
ace at two
different
leve ls, and
in
lines of wh ich o
ne
is in
advan
ce of
the
other. The feed varies from 1 in . per minute for hard
granite to 4 in. on hard sandstone, and ta kes place at
the end
of
the cu t . Th e d
epth
of cut may be
anyth
ing
up t o 1 in .
The tool
rests
are carr
ied backwards a
nd
forwards
on th e slides by
connecting-
rods wo
rk
ed from crank
discs, whi ch are themselves
driven
by spur ge aring
from t he first motion shaft. The stroke
of
the crank
pin
s
can be
va r
i
ed to
suit
the
size of block
und
er
treat
ment,
and the two cr ank
discs
are so a.rrangec.l
re
la
tively
to each
other
that
the tool
-
boxes
never fou l
each other.
The
position of
the
tool -boxes
ca
n also
b e ad justed
by
screws,
both
hor izontally and verti
ca
ll
y.
The
power r equired t o drive the ma chine varies,
according to the s tone,
from 3
to 6 h
orse-power.
I t
wi
ll cut
th
e
hardest sto
ne s,
su
ch as
granite,
syeni
te
,
or bard
limestones
, as we
ll
as
th
e softer
kinds. The
ma
ch
ines are ma de in th ree si zes to dress blo cks of
the
fo
ll
owing dimensions : (1)
12
in . by 1 in.
by
9
ft. ;
(2) 24 in . by 36 in . by 9 ft . ; {3) 36 in. by 48 in. by
12
ft . By having two tables
the
time l
ost
in c
han
g ing
blocks can ue red uced
to
a very small amount. Three
d
ri
ving worms
are
prov ided to
gear
into
th
e wor m
rack shown, and by
their
a
id
t
he
table can be
run completely off the guides, and another table
ru n
on.
I t is claimeLl
that
th is is
the
on ly machine pro·
ducing
su
rfaces
superior
to and closely re
sembling the
best ha
nd
tooling, with
stra.igbt tool marks a t right
angl
es
to
the l
ength
of the
stone, as
requ
i
red
by archi
tects.
The
finished stones are unplucke<l and uns
tunned
and can be
ru
bbed
with
great r apidity.
The
makers
are ~ I e s s Brunton and T
rier,
19, ;reat Geo rge
st
r
eet,
\Yes t
minster.
•
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 12/33
SEPT. I, I893·1
AUTOMATIC
BEATING
AND VENTILATING
FREIGHT
CAR.
NoT only do
many
parts of the Unit
ed
States
suffer
from
au extreme range of climate, varying
from
Arctic
cold
to trop
ica l
heat,
but the
count
ry is so
vast that
a
railway journey may begin in
one extreme, and
end
a
few
days
la
ter in
the other. The
passenger
t
akes
this
a9 a. ma
tt e
r of cour se ; th e
hum
an frame w
ill
bear
very
violent changes of
temp
erature without
mu
ch ill
effect. But
it
is not the same
with
many varieties of
food. ~ l o s t peris
habl
e
articles rapidly
de
cay
under
exccssi \'e
heat, and
if
they
ar e
to
be
transported
for
long
distance
s
in
h
ot weather they must be
artificia
lly
cooled. H ence th ere
has arise
n
in
America
the refr ige
rator car, in which
beef
and
fish
ca
n be
carried
t'
or
tho
usands of miles
without
suffering a
ny injur
y. o
pe
rf
ect is the system
that
meat
can be
dehvercd
in
New York in
better condition
if
it be
dr e
ssed
in the
w
ester
n
plains
than if the
beast
be carried alive a
nd
Pla.ugbtered imm e
diately
at the
journey
's end. All
this
we in
England ca
n
readily understand,
although
the necessity for
refrigerator
cars
has
not yet gro\Tn
sufficiently
urgent here to
l
ea
d
to
t he
ir introduct
ion.
Bu
t
it will be
news
to
ma
ny of
our re
ad
ers
that
hea
ted ca
rs
are pro,
rided in
the States for
ce
rt
a
in
products. Euly fru its and veget
a bles gr
own in
th e
warm c
limat
e of
Florida
cannot b
ea
r exposure
without
in
jury to
the
freezing
atmo
sph
ere
of
the north.
I f
they are
pack
ed
in
the
ordinary
wa
y,
and despatch
ed
by train, the
chances are
that
th ey will be frozen
and spoilt in transit, to th e gr eat detriment of their
quality. To meet this
difficulty, the Eastmau Car
Company, of Boston
and
Chicago,
constru
c
tautomatic
heating
a
nd
ventilating
freight ca
rs,
and are now
~ b o w
them in the Columbiau Exposition. As will
be
seen from the illus
tration on pages
262 a
nd
263, the
he
at
is
furnished
by a
stove
(Fig. 2) fed
with petro
leum from a
tank. This stove is
below the
leve
l of
the ca
r floor (Fig. 4 ,
and
delive
rs
its
products
of
CJ
mbu s
tion
in to a stovepipe fitted
betwe
en the frames,
and finally rising above th e car roof
(l .,
ig. 3), where
it
ends in
a cowl. The stovepipe is inclo
sed within
a
second
pip
e, and the
channel
con
taining it
is
lined
with asbes
t os a.nd
galvanised
iron.
Th
e
temperatur
e
is reg
ulated by a.
t he
rmostat
comprising
a.
Bourclon
tube
filled
with
kerosene oil.
The
whole
car has double
\V a.
lls,
separat
ed
by
a
space for hot air, and each wall
is
hollow
to prevent
co
nd u
c
tion
of
heat through
it.
At the
e
nd
of
the
car
there
is a
wide spa
ce
for
t
he
distribution
of th e
warm air. The ca
r is
ca
rried on
two
four-wheel tr ucks, and has a
capacity
of 50,000
n'.
•
HEAVY PLATE SHEARS FOR CLYDE
BRIDGE
STEEL
WORKS.
N G I N R I N G
LOCOMOTIVES AT
THE
COLUMBIAN
EXPOSITION.
ON
page
274 we
publish
perspec
tiv
e views
of
th ree
of t he eleven l
ocomot
ives that
form
the magnifice
nt
exhibit
of
t
he Brooks
Locomotive
"\'Y
orks,
Dunkirk,
in th e •
tate
of
New York
.
They are
a
ll of normal
gauge, aud
form part of an
order
to be
deliver
ed
to an
American
railway
c
ompany
after the close of th e
Ex
hibition. As we propose to
publi
sh
detailed drawings
of one of the s imple, and one of the compound Brooks
engines
exhibited,
we
shall
content ourse
lv
es thil: week
by adding a.
Table
of some of
th
e
leading di
mensions of
the
t
hree engines of which we give illustration
s. Of
these Fig.
1 is a
ten-wh
eel
ed pa
sse
nger engi
ne ;
Fig.
2
a
six
-wheeled
sw
itc
hing or
yard lo
comot
ive;
and
Fig.
3 is
an
eng ine of
the
"Mogul "
type.
P rincipal
Dimensions
of
Three Locomotives
Exhibit
ed at
the Golumbian Exposition by the Brooks L ocomotive
Works,
D
unkirk
,
N ew Y ork.
See
page
274
.)
-
I
Fi
g. l
1
Fig. 2.
r
·-
Fig. 3.
E n.qine.
To ta l g h ~ in workins
orde r
..
. . . . l b.
Weight on dr h·ing wheels "
,, truck wheeh
.,
Tot al l eng
th
of wheel
base
..
Rigid wheel b a t ~ e . . . .
138,000
111,000
27,00J
25 ft.
114 ,000
114,000
118 000
102 ,000
16,000
10 ft. 8 in . :H ft.. 6 in.
14
ft
. 6 in. LO
11
8
.
14 ft.
19
Cylinden d:c
Diamettr
of cylinders
•
ID .
St r
oke of piston ..
••
26
19
26
Kiod of piston packi ng
{
M
et a
lli c, by }
C.
C.
J
er
ome,
Chicago
Same
Diameter of
p
isto
n·rod in.
Size
of
~ e a m po rts . . , ,
1
g
x
3
,,
exhaust po r
ta
,.
3
x
1
8
I t X 18
3
X
18t
Wheels, d:c
Diamcterofdrivingwbeelein .
11
tr uck wheels ,.
., driv ing axle jo';lr
nal
. . . . . . n
Diamete
r of
tr u
ck
axlE-
journ
a l . . . . in .
Diame te r of main
crankpi11
journals
. . . . in .
Diamete r of c
oupling-
rod
jou rnals . . . .
in
.
Length
o
driving sp rings ,.
Boiler.
Description of boiler
.
72
3J
8
6t
&
61t and
H
- e6 •
49
8
-
6
/s and 5
36
8elpaire type, , )
by Wellman
1
I ron and Steel
J
' Same
Company,
Thurlow,
Pa.
Inside diameter . . in . 60 58
Material
of barrel of boilt>r . . Steel
St
ee l
Thi
ok
nees of
plates
. •
in.
t o
t to
No. U B.W.G.,
1
at
e
rial cf tubes
• •
Number , . . . .
Diameter ., . . in .
Distance between cent
re
of
by
Duquesne
I
Tube
Work
s J ame
Company,
Pittsburg
202
2}
l SO
2}
19
24
Same
-
IgX l8l
3
X
1
8
1\5
30
8
6i
6
6
36
Same
58
Steel
J to :•
.
Same
212
2
tuues . . . . . . in . 3r'a-
Length of tubes . . . .
13ft
. 10 in.
3l
21
:1
tl
1
..
firebox . .
in
. 1H
Wi
dth
of
.,
. . ,. S2
,. water
spaces r
ou
nd
firebox . . . . in .
Material of
outer
fir
ebox
sh f et
. . . . . . .
Thi
ckn ess
of
plates in f i r e b o ~
sheet .. . . .. in .
Material
of
inside
of firebox
Tbioknesa of plate in fire·
box . . . . . . in
Thickness of tubcplates (fire·
brx) . . . . . . in.
Th ickness of tubep
la t
es
(smoke
box)
. . . . in .
Size a.nd n umber of crown
pl ate stays
. . • . .
Working
pr essure
•
lb
.
Grate surface ..
sq. ft.
Firebox
h
eating surface .,
Tube
Total
,
11
.
11 11
Tende>·
lb .
•
•
Weight of tender
emply
,. ,. full
Number of whe r:ls ..
•
JO
.
e.meter , ••
to
4
Steel
S
St e
r:
l
220
at
1 in.
25.3
..
1646
1798
36.400
~ 0 0
Ei.(ht
33
11 ft . 1 in . 1L ft. 1 in.
9 98
32 32
S
?t
Steel
Steel
to
S teel
Steel
" and
t
l l ..
r and ::
1 " "
:\-
-
-
G
I>
190atl in
. 190atlin.
180
180
21.7 21.7
141 134
1186 1232
12
SO
1366
34,000
35,400
69,730
84,600
Eight
Ehrht
31
33
TH
E
two engravings
on
page
266
illustrate
a
very
power
ful
se
t of
plat
e
shea
rs
mad
e
by
Messrs.
Craig and
Donald,
of J ohnstone,
N. B., suitable for la rge stee
l
works where
the
heav iest class of
plates are
rolled.
The
blades in
this machine are
9ft. 6 in. long,
and
the standards
have 37 in . depth of
gap,
so that a
plate
6 ft. wide and of any
length
may be cut
into two
piecs
of 3 ft. wide.
Ther
e
is
a clear distance
betw
een the
standards of
6ft .
6 in. The machine is driven by two
20·iu. cylind
er
engines, and as there ar e no flywheels
the apron carrying the top
blade
can be stopped at any
point by shutting
off
the
steam
where required,
so th at
a lo
ng
plate
may with safety be
pass
ed between the
standards and
cut across
at any part. This arrange·
ment is also advantageous in c
utting
a
rectangular
plate
of
any length into
two
tapered
p1ates
suitable
for scnrphing in th e case of shell plat ing.
Th
e
plate
is cut diagonally from the low
er corner
on the one end
to the
upper
corn er on the other. The great depth of
gap provides for
very wide plates
of th is description
being dealt with.
From
shipbui
l
ders,
&c.,
tapered or
scarphed
plates
are
o
ft
en called for,
and
in
most plate
mills,
where the
facilities
for shearing are not as
de
sc
ribed
above, a
great waste
is
in
c
urred through having
to shear each plate
from a r
ectangular plate
instead of
rolliog the plat
e
double the width
of the
broadest
end
of th e tapered
plate and
cutting two
tapered plates
from
it.
The
saving in
the
production
of such plates
becomes a matter of great importance
when
much
work
of the kind requires to
be
done. This machine
cuts with great ease a 1 i n . steel plate of the full
leng
th that
th e
blad
es.
'_Vill admit, but
is sufficiently
po,verful
to
cut
up to I t- m. stee
l
plate. The
gearing
is
all
of , iemen
s-
Ma.rtin
cast stee
l ,
and is very
massive.
The total weight of the machine
is
about
90
tons.
One
of these machin
es,
as described, was re
cently
put
down
for
the C
lydebrid
ge Steel Company, near Glas
gow, and has proved a t horough success.
Total wheel base ..
•
10
ft.
6 in .
-
ofiam ete r
aod
lengt h
journals
. . . . . .
Water capacity
. .
ga
ls
Fuel capacity
• • ..
tona
l
-
-
4000
8
3100
6
7-TON
TRAVELLING
JTB
CRANE.
-
41)
00
8
269
On th is rear shaft are tw o
bevel
wheels, eit her of
which can be driven through
a
friction clutch
.
These
whee
ls
gear with
a third beYel
wheel
on a
short
vertical shaft,
from
wh
i
ch motion is
conYeyed
through
spurwbee
ls to a eeco
nd vertical
shaft
ca
rr
ying
a
pinion
gea.t
ing with
th e
larg
e s
pu
r
ring cast
on the
base
platE'.
Th
e travelling
wheels
are
worked hy
a ve
rtical
shaft
passing
down
the crane -p
os t
,
and
gear iug ·
with
a
for
e
and-aft Ehaft on
the
leve l of
the
axles. The vert ical
shaft is dr iven through the in t
ermedia
ry of a second
short vert ical shaft from a
be,
·el
wheel
on the in terme·
diate
s
haft.
Th
e boiler is 4
ft.
in
diameter
by 6
ft.
5
in.
high.
I t
will be noti
ced
that all
th e
handl
es arc
convenient
ly grouped toge
th£r.
HARBOUR vVORKS.
To
~
EDITOR
OF
ENGINEERING.
Sm, - In your issue of the 25th ult. you illustrate
and
describe
th
e Bilbao breakwater works at present in
co
ur
se of construction. Those members of th e eng ineer
ing profession who devote themsel ves more especially to
marine works must. like myself, be exceedingly pleased
to
find such a detailed and well illu
strated
desc
ripti
on
of
these important
works, showi
ng
fully
th
e design,
the
method of exec
ut
ion,
the plant
employed,
and the cost of
the
und
ertaki
ng.
On
looking at
the
section of
the
brea.kwatE'r, Fig.
2. on
page
230
of your
la
st week's issue, I was astonished at
the
immense amount of material which is being swallowed
up in
this
work. Per met re
in
le
ngth
of
the
breakwater
there is no l ess
than
860 cub ic
metr
es of ma.terial (fxclud
ing the
parapet),
and yet
the total height from founda
tion to top (para pet excluded) is only 21 m
et
res, so that
were all
the
ma t
erial
put
into
th
e form of
a.
rectangular
oross-sec
tion
of
the height
given
(21
me
tr
es)
it
would
ha ,
·e
a.
width
of not l ess
than
41 metre ?.
The
design is
the
o
rdinary
composite
arrangement
of
assorted
rub
ble from
the
foundation
up to
6 mE'tres below
low-water level ; from
th
ence
up to
1
metre above
low
water
le\'el there
are
large concr
ete
blocks of 60
and
100
SCCTIOH oF BILBAO
BREAKWATER
•
tons weight.
with rubble
filled
in
between
their
in terstices,
and
from this level
to
the
top
it is concrete
in
mass faced
with 10-ton concrete blocks
As you are well aware, I have lifted
up my
voice
time
after
tim e against the continuance of
this
unsightly, un
reliable, unscionti£c,
and
E'xtravagant system of cons
tru
c
tion,
and
I
think
I shall be
rendering a.
service
to the
engineering profession
in
poi
nting out the
defects
of
this
c
la
ss of wo
rk
whenever
an opportunity pre
se
nts
it
se
lf.
Th e accompanying figure shows a sec
ti
on of
the
Bilbao
break
water
(taken
from your
la
st week 's issue),
and
on
t h i ~
sec
tion l
have shown, by means of
th
e central por
tion etched crosswise, the section of monolithic work
which would be am]Jle for the nnder-water portion of the
st ructure, instead of t
he
immense mass of loose rubble
and huge concrete blocks, as actually constructed. Th e
c ~ n t r a l
monolithic portion I
have
shown would
be built
of bloc
ks
of
moderate
weight,
say
9
to
12 tons,
and
ce
mented together by neat
P o
rtland cementgrouted into a.
so
lid
mass, founded on
the top
of
a. grout
ed
rubble and
s h i n ~ l e
base below
the
level of
the
Eea
bottom, and
ex
tendmg
well beyond the
width
of the breakwater.
The
triangular portions on each side of
the
breakwater above
the
foundation would be of loose
rubbl
e to guard
sgainst
undermining action, should
there
be
any
at
this d ~ p t h
which I think
hardly
likely.
I
might point
out that the St.
Helier's breakwater
J ersey, which I carried out. is somewhat higher f r o ~
fo
undation to
co
pe than the
Bilbao one,
and the width
of
the
under-water
porti
on, shown
on the
accompanying
figure(13 me
tres
), is
that
whi ch I
adopted at Je rse
y,
and
with th
e
most
success
ful1
esults. I m1gbt further
remark
that
the
St.
Helier's breakwater,
like
that
of Bilbao is
exposed
to the
Atlantic, so that in this respect
the
~ i r -
cumstances are
furth
er comparable.
.Now t o d
ea
l
with
the details of the const ruction of the
B1lbao work. For
handling
and depos
iting
the 60 a.nd
100 ton blocks, expe.nsive b l ~ ~ k i n g plant, powerful
trav
ellers, and speCial 1 t m ~ barges
are
neceseary
a n ~ l i ~ e ~
b ~ ~ g e s
for
dep?sitmg
the
rubble; all of
whiCh
l B
m add1t10n
to the
ordmary
plant
for
constructing
the
II?Onolithio
u p e r ~ t r u c t u r e
ot:l
top
of
the
100-ton blocks.
1s
wo
rthy
of not1ce that th1s su
perstru
ctut e, which is
subJect
to the
full force of
the
waves, is faced
with
blocks
of only 10 t ons weight, whilst
the
enginee,rs for
the WC\rk
ha
ve de.emed it necess
ary
t o
have
blocks of GO
to
100
tons wetght below low water, whe
re
there will
be
less
force of ~ h e sea to be
re
6is
ted.
I do not call in question
the
shgbtest
degree
the
adoption of the 10-ton blocks
m the one case
and the
60 to 100 ton blocks
in
the other
b ca.use
the
circumstances are different. '
THE CuNARn STEAMER L
ucANIA."- The
Cunard
steamer Lucania has been redocked at Birkenhead
in
con
sequence of
her
taking
a list when
fl
o
ating out
of
dry
dock,
and
beyond
the
abrasion of a. few feet of her
paint
at the turn
of
the
bilge amidships,
not the slightest
appearance of damage
ha.
s been found.
The Cunard
Company, being thu s satisfied of
the
perfect condition of
the
vessel, have
arrang
ed to
take
her over from
the
bui '
der
s
as
soon as
she
undocks.
There
is, therefore, nothing
what
ever to prevent her s \iling to·mo
rr
ow a9
already arranged
.
Tn E 7-ton travelling jib
crane which we illustrate
on page
270
was constructed by
the
Yale
and
Towne
Manufacturing
Company, t a m f o r d , Coo
n.,
U.S.A.,
and
is now on view
a t
Chi
ca
go
Expo
sition. I t has a
radius
of
21
ft., and is des
ign
ed
to
run
on
lines of 7-ft.
gauge. The
jib ca
n be ra ised and lowe
red
by means
of a separate drum
driven
by a
worm
and
wormwhee
l
the r o p ~ runniDg round a snatch block. The
drum
is
driven by spunvheel
a
nd pinion, and
is
fitted
with
a
powerful brake capable
of
sus
taining
the
full
load. Th e
cylinders
a
re ar r
a
nged at each side
of the
fr
a
ming,
the
valves being
dr iven by a
cross-shaft
from
eccentrics situated
near the
centre of
the crankshaft.
Th e turning motion is
operated from
a r
ea
r shaft
driven
from the crankshaft through an intermediate
shaft.
The
10-ton blocks
are all cemented
toge
ther and to
the
concrete
hearting,
thus
forming a solid mass,
whi
l
st
th e
60 to
100 ton
bl
oc
ks have
each
to
depe
nd
on
their
own
weight
for resistance
to displa
ceme
nt.
V ~ a . t
I do
£nd
fault
with
is
the monolithic work
com
me
ncmg
only above low-water level. Had
the monolithic
work be£n commenced at
the
foundatio
n,
th en the whole
structure,
not
merely the facing, but ikewise the hearting,
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
(SEPT. I 1893·
SEVEN-TON
TRAVELLING
CRANE
AT
THE
COLUMBIAN
EX
POSITION.
-
CONSTRUCTED BY THE YALE AND TO,VNE :MANUFA CTURING COMPANY, STAMFORD, CON·N.
For
Description
see Pag
e 269.)
ig . 2.
I
I
4-
-------- J l l : .• • .
•.
l.
L.
..
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,
91
J . . . . . . . . . .
•
•
•
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•
•
I
could have been
constructe
d of 9 to 12 ton blocks, and
the
cost
of the
very
expensive
plant
for c
onstructing
depositing tobe 100-ton blocks,
and
the
barge
s for deposit
ing t he
rubble,
would
ha
ve been
saved; and,
further,
an
immense
redu
ction
in
sectional area of
the
work would
h a v ~ been effected, as shown by the figure.
The engineers of the Bilbao work have evidently not
known bow
to construct
monolithic work under water,
or they
would ha
rdly
have
be
en responsible for the design
now being carried ou t.
I already
state
d _
hat
the
cub
ical c o n t e ~ t s per
metre in length of
the
B
1lu
ao r e a k w a t ~ x c l u d m g
the
parapet) is 860 metres,
bu_t
had monoh th10. work been
carried
out, as per the sectiOn etched crosswi
se
, the
t e
nt
s per metre in length would
only
have
bee
n 300. cub_10
metre
s. There would thus
have
been a. reductiOn m
quantity of
about two-thirds, whilst
the
cost
of
the
~ r k
would ha ve
been
r
educe
d to about one-half. As
to
mam
t enance,
the
cost for such of
the
monolithic
st
ructure
would be practically nil, which can hardly be hoped for
from the rubble base and loose block str uctu re.
Yours
truly,
WALTER
R
oBERT
KINIPPLE, M.I.C.E.
3,
Victoria-street,
\Vestminste r, August 28, 1893 .
EN
G
INE
VIBRATION.
To THE EDITOR OF
EN
GINEERING.
SIR,- Vith reference t? your
in t
eresti
ng
ar ticl,e
on
the
balancing of marme engmes, and Mr. Y arrow s
experiment,
I
in
close
.a
sketch of_ an arrangement of the
recip
roca
ting
parts
wh
10
h would give a perfect
ba
lan ce.
I t
is an old idea
to balance
by means of
cranks
oppo
s
ite to
one another,
but
the arrangement e
ket
ched may
ha ve s
ome
novel featu res. . . .
The reciprocating parts
of a c ~ cyhnder are m o v m ~
m
opposite directions, and the we1gh;ts
lih
e parts bemg
made equal,
the
stresses due to mert1a are equal and
oppositely dir ected. . . .
By us
ing two
valves to each
cylmder,
the mertia. of the
valves might be sim
ilarly
balanced.
'
.,
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1.
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Bes
ide
the balancing effect, the friction of the crank
sha ft bearings would
be
reduced, as the bearings would
be
relieved from a
ll pre
ssure
du
e
to the
ste
am
on
the
pi
ston.
Of courea the objection to such an arrangement is
the
multiplication of
par
ts and t h e e x f e n : : ~ e of the crankshaft.
r .
-
-
-
-
I S
I
•
I
•
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•
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-
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This might be reduced by placing
the
ce
nt r
e lines of ~ h e
two
cylinders
at
right angles to one another, and couphng
the connect ing-rods into the s
ame
cranks.
Balancing in a vertical direction by means of a revol
ing weight,
lea·1ing
the
la teral stresses unbalanced,
1s
only a. partial solution of
the
difficulty.
Fo r pleasure steamers, where the continual throbbi
ng
•
I
•
• •
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CS>
•
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-
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.
I
I
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•
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of the engine is so objectionable, the absence
of
vibration
could ha-rdly
be
too
dearly
bought.
Yours faithfully,
w. H.
TOZ
ER
.
August
22, 1893.
To
THE
EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR-I hav
e read with great interest your article on
engine v
ibrati
on in
ENGINEEUING
of August 11. I have
previously
mad
e
and ga
in
ed
experience which coincides
pre
cisely with
th
ose experime
nt
s
mad
e
la t
ely by
Mr.
Ya
rrow on a small engme indicating 1600 horse-power,
and as I imagine that my experiruents will be of inte
rest to many of
your read
ers, I will describe them as
fo
ll
ows:
One
of
the
mai
l s
team
ers belonging
to
the
Austrian
Llo
yd s
Steam
Navigation Company
bad her
old com
pound engines conve
rt
ed
into trip
le-expansion engines,
by putting on each cylinder of the old compound emrine
a small high-pressure cylinder, as usually done.
For
merly th ose engines ran 70 revolutions per minute, and
it was
intended
to keep the same
numb
er of revolutions
for the converted engine, and to keep also the
sa
me pro
pe
ll
er. After
the
conversion of th e e
ngine
was effected, it
was found that when
th
e engine reached the same
numb
er
of revolutions as formerly, such terrific vibrations were
set up that all the steam pipes and connections were in
danger,
and
the scantlings fo
rming
the engine foundation
w
ere lik
ely to
be
loosened. At the stern of the s
hip
the
vibration was so
bad
that no p a . s s e n ~ e r could have slept
in his berth . To obviate such a sen ous defeat, a series
of experiments was made.
1.
The
engines were
stayed
by
lo
ngitudinal
and
athwartship stays,
but
without any favourable results.
2. 60 tons of
cast
iron were put under the engine founda
tion
to
give more resistance
to
the ship, which improved
things a.
little,
but not very much.
Vibrations at
the
stern was
just a.s bad
as before.
3. The two high-pressure piston valves wo
re tak
en
out.
the boiler
pr
essure was reduced to six at mospheres, a.nd
the engines run as before, compound, with the only dif-
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COMPOUND
BEAM
ENGINES
OF
THE PADDLE STEAMER "HONAM."
I
1/ W BEJiNETr
•
f
erence
that
the weight of the moving parts
of
each
engine was increased
by the
weights of
the
high-pressure
pistons
and piston-rods which
were added
to 1t. Th e
~ i b r a t i o n of engine and ship was
just
as before, perhaps a
little
mor
e ; this could not be precisely
ascertained
, as
we are not the
lu
cky owners of the scientific
in
s trument
called"
the vibrometer/' Now th ese
experiments
were
a clear proof that
the
whole mischief has been don e by
increasing
the
weight of
the
movin g parts. As
the
engines were already built into
the
sh ip, and an experi·
ment
such as Mr. Yarrow has made in his shop would hav e
been
impo
ssible, I therefore
took
rE'fuge in a
model
ex
periment. A wooden model,
1
in. to the foot. of the I
engine was mad e,
and the
weight of
the mming
partfl
reduced to
the
same scale, was put in
the
s
hap
e of a disc
on the up-and-down moving piston-rod. Th e bedplate
of this model was supported by four little spiral sp rings,
so
that the
model was
fr
ee
to
mo ve
in any
direction ;
the crankshaft was driven from outside
by
a little
flexible rod.
In
turning round the model it was sean
that it
jumped off from its
suppo
rting
springs
after a few
turns
of
the
handle of
the turning
gE>ar which cor responded
to
the
aotual
state
of affairs on board ship.
Th
e next
thing was to put balance weights on th e m o d ~ l and
change th
e weights of
tho
se balance weights
by
adding
CONSTRUCTED
BY
~ l E S S R S A. AND J. INGLIS, ENGINEERS, GLASCO "'"·
(Fo .
Description
s
Page
265.)
•
and de
creasing
resp
ec
tively until th
e r
ight proportion
f }<:J
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1-
. -ft
- u
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18 .
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was attained between moving parts and balance weights.
•
After this experiment bad
been
ca
refully carried
out,
one could turn the model round at any number of
revolutions without setting up any considerable vibra
tions. It must be remark ed that
the
model was
secured against athwartship vibrations, and could
show only vertical vibration, for
th
e
athwart
ship vibra
tions are of
no
consequence to the ship. After the pro
portions
of
the
balance weights has been thus experi
mentally determined, they were carried out full size,
put in place, and a trial trip made ; the result was
that
~ h e
engines were perfect ly steady at any number of
revolutions, and
no
vibrations were
felt
at the stern of
the ship, and the difficult question of
preventing
vibra
tion in marine
engines was, in this way, solved
in
a most successful manner.
Th
e experience which I
gained only corroborates Mr. Y arrow's last experim ent,
and I
quit
e
agr
ee with what he says, that th e vertical
vibrations in marine engines can be completely annihi
lated by judiciously and carefully oalculating and placing
th
e balance weights.
Tr us
ting
you will excuse me for trespassing upon
your
valuable space,
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
F . KODOLITSC
H.
Trieste, August
21 1
893.
t4Di> ·C
FEED-\V
ATER
HEATING.
To THE
EDITOR ENGINEERING.
Sm, - M. .J. A. Ko rmand, in his
clear
and inte
resting l
ette
r, leaves very little more to
be sa
id
by
us, as
th
e points of difference between us
are
ve
ry
few. It is
gratifying to us to find a ge
ntl
ema n of such
authority and
expertence in almost perfect accord with us on so impor·
tant a subject
We
may, however, be allowed to say that our aims in
ad voca.ting feed
heaters
are :
1. To heat the f
eed water,
and thus by
equalising
tem
peratures relieve the boil
er
of the alarming and injurious
strains due to unequal expansion.
2.
To
extract the- air
fr
om
the
heated water in order to
render the feed water non -corrosive.
3.
To
remove all greasy
matters fr
om
the
feed water.
4. Placing
the
heater on
the
delivery side of the feed
pump, thu s at once obviating any trouble in
the
working
of the
pump,
and
at
the
same
t ime securing the maximum
of h eat being imparted to
the
water
\Ve think each of
the
above points
are
of equal import
ance,
and
that
the
machine which we manufacture deals
with tbe whole of them in a simple and satisfactory
manner.
We
quite agree with M. Normand as
to the
utility
and
(f)
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
[SEPt. t,
1893.
visability o£ fitting a t e r
filters and
think
with
that the proper pos1t10n for them
ts
on the Ruction
of the
feed
pump. The
results
we have obtained
filters
so far
confirm
this opinion, but we
also
con·
that it is impossible, even with
the most
efficient
to completely remove all the
~ r e a
matter, as we
find,
even where great
C'are
has
been
taken. that
quantity of
grease
is
found
in the heater
on
its
being
out after a. long run; of course this would not
be
case in a. heater where the water and
the
steam
used
heating it came
in
contacb
and mixed with each other.
35s.
3d. Cum berland and vliddlesbrough hematite iron,
respectively, 45s. and 43s.
3d.
per ton. The market
was
somewhat
uregular on Friday forenoon. At the opening
the
tone for Scotch
was
firm, and 42s. 7
d. cash
per ton
was paid. Subsequently
the
price dropped to 4 2 ~ . 5 ~ d . ,
but
finally rallied to
42s. 6 ~ d . About 10,000
tons were
sold. One or two lots
of Cleveland
were
sold
at
35s. 3d.
per ton
cash.
A
fair
amount of business was done in
Scotch
iron in the afternoon,
largely
of an option charac
ter,
however,
4000 tons having
been
done
at
4 2 : ~ .
6d. a
month, with ls. forfeit in sellers' option, and
2000
tons at
42s.
and
42s.
5d.
this
week
with "plants."
Th
e
casb
business was
done
at
42s. 6 ~ d . Monday and 42s. 6d.
ot her days this week. Business was also done at
423.
5 ~ d .
cash,
and
at the
close
se
llers
were quoting
42d.
6 ~ d . ,
or
the
pr ice current
at
the
forenoon's
close. Including
option bu
s
ine ss
,
fully
12,000
tons of iron
c
hanged bands.
In Cleveland 1{)00 ton
s we
re
dealt in
at
35s. 3 ~ d . and
35s. 4d.
cash,
and the pr i
ce at
the last
was
1 per
ton
better than in the forenoon.
One
lot of Cleveland
bema
tite iron changed hands
at
45s. ld.
cash.
The
closing
settlement prices
were
- Scotch
iron,
42s. 6d. per
ton;
Cleveland,
35s.
Cumber
and
and Middlesbrough
hemati
e
iron,
4os. and 43s. l ~ d .
per
ton
re
s
pectively.
Monday
's forenoon
market
wa
s fairly active. Scotch
iron was
firmer, and
was
dealt in
a.t
42s. Sd. and 42s. 7d.
per ton, busi
ne
ss leaving- at
the
higher figure.
Some8000
tons
changed
bands,
including
3000
tons
at
42s. 7d.
one
month, with
1s. fo
rfeit in
sellers'
option.
A few
thou
sand
tons
of Cleveland
iron
were
so
ld at 5 s . 5id.
to
353. 6d.
per
ton cash,
and
at
35s. 7id.
to
35s. Sd. one month; and one
or
two
lots
of bematite iron were disposed
of.
In
the
after·
noon th e market
was
steady but quiet. For Scotch
42s. 7d.
cash
next
day, and
4 2 : ~ . Sd. Friday
were
done,
also 42s . 6d.
Friday, with
a.
"plant.
"
Only
some 6000
tons were
done, and
at
the close the cash pr i
ce was
un
changed from
t.
he
morning. Nothing
was
doJ?-e in Cleve
land
or hematite
irons.
Th
e
se
ttlement
prJCes
at the
close
were
-Sco tch iron, 42s. 7
d.
per ton ; Cleveland,
35s.
6d. Cumberland and J\iiddlesb rough hematite iron,
re
spectively, 45s.
and
43s.
l d . per
ton.
Only
a
mod
erate
amount of
business was done on Tuesday
forenoon. On
the announcement that the Durham miners
were
not
going
to
strikE" and that consequently the blast furnaces in the
north of'England w)ll not Le shut down, some sales
were
made, and the cash price
of
Scotch iron dropped to
423. 5 ~ d . , reco
ve
ring to
42s.
6 ~ d .
p ~ r ton. About 8000
tons were so
ld,
a
large number
of the lots
being
of a
forfeit
chara
cte
r.
On
e
or
two lois of
Cleveland were
sold,
and the
cash
pr i
ce
fell l ~ d . per ton. Hematite irons re
mained un changed.
The
market
was
steady
at
the
opening
in
the afternoon at about
423. 6d.
cash for Scotch,
but
th
e tone became flatter later
on. Scotch was idle,
only
a few
thousand
tons being d
ea
lt
in;
but the
price
fell
to
423. 5d.
cash, with
sellers over
at
that quotatlOn
or ~ d . per ton
down
from the morning. Business was
al
so
done at
42s.
7 d. Friday with
a call,
and at
42s.
l O ~ d .
one
month with
6d. forfe
it
in buyers'
option. Cleveland
iron
was
very act
iva
demand, e t ~ e e n . S O O O and 10,000
tons being sold
ne operator alone
d1spos10gof 6000 o ~ s .
The
price
was very
fiat,
down
to
35s.
l ~ d .
cash
be10g
done with sellers at 35s. 2d., or ~ d . back from the fore
no
on:
In addition to
the
cas
h
t r a n
t i ~ n s , d
ealing
took
pla.ce at 36s.
l id.
a
month
fixed, w1th
forfeit
m
sellers' option.
At
thfl close the
settlement pnces were
Scotch
iron,
42d. 4 ~ d . per ton Clevel.and
1
35s.
l ~ d . ;
Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite
tron,
respec·
ti
vely, 45s.
and
43s. 1 ~ ~ · per ton. Business
was
very
quiet
in
the
market
this
foren
oon,
but
the
tone was
steady on th
e whole.
From
8000
to
10,000 tons of Scotch
ammonia
has been
considerably reduced,
with the
result
that the
prier,
of the
commodity
has now
run up to
15l.
5s.
per ton, whereas the p ri
ce
a year ago
was
only lOl. 5s. per
ton. The advan
ce
in price
had
already been in
progres
s
for some month s, hub a very marked impetus has just
been given to th
e
advance by the action
of the
iron
masters; indeed,
within
th e past few weeks, the
price
ha s
been run up 2l per
ton.
The importance of this
question
of
feed heating, advo
by us for so
many years, and
only now
generally
will, we
trust,
be
considered a
sufficient excuse
again
trespassing on
your
space.
Yours faithfully,
JOHN KIRKAL
DY
, LIMITED.
John
Kirkaldy, 1\'Ianaging
Director.
40, West India. Dock-road, L o
ndon,
August 28, 1893.
CONGRESS OF
HYGIENE.
To TB
EDITOR
oF ENGIN RING.
SrR, -I
beg to
ask
you
the favour kindly
to insert
the
publication the
ne
xt issue of your.esteemed
aper:
I t is
well
known that the next
(the
eighth) Interna.·
tional
Congress
of
Hygiene
and Demography will
be
held
at
Budape
st
in September of
next year,
under the
high
patronage
of
His Imperial and
Royal Majesty.
The
prelimi
nary workisalreadyprogressing very
br i
skly. T h e p a ~ r s o f
subjects
for
the
nineteenth
(hygienic) and seventh (demo
graphic) s e c ~ i o n s being already
selected,
the
referees for
these papers have also
b sen
asked
to
receive them,
and
many
of
these gentlemen have already
se
nt
in
their
acceptance
of
these
duties. The
series
of further questions
will
be
arranged according to
sections
about the beginning
of
next
month,
and
will
then be sent
out
to
the
foreign
scientists in order that
the preliminary
works for. th e
scientific part of the Congress may, as nearly as pos
s
tbl
A,
be co
mpleted before
the
e g i n n i n ~
of autumn.
The executive
committee
espe01ally desire
to realise as
far
as
po
ss
ible th e
decisions
of the
London
Congr.ess.
Special international committees have been orga.msed
with
regard
to several deci
s
ions
a.ccepted
at
the L o
ndon
Congres
s ;
they are at
pr ese
nt c ~ u p i e d
with
the s0lution
of the
various que
s
tions thus mooted
.
To
England it
will be o
.some
special
interest
to
kn?w
that
one important dectston
was
a c c ~ p t e d the m ·
atigation of
the
L0ndon
Congress.
Th ts. decJston r e ~ e r s
to
the
organisation of a. p a r ~ t e s e ~ t 1 0 n f ~ r trO_PlCal
countries.
The presidEmt of th ts spe01al sect10n
wtll be
Dr.
Theodor
Dicka. and the
two
secretaries
will be
Dr.
Isamb:ud Owen and Mr. S. Digby. Th
ese
gentlemen
kindly consented
to accept
these p o s ~ an:d are now
e n ~ a g e d arranging the programme of thts
s e c t ~
on. .
The
honorary presidents of the
several
sect10ns w1ll
be
elected by
the executive committAe
as
soon
as
t h ~
names
of those
foreign
celebrities
shall bs known
who wtll take
pa.rt in the
Congress.
After the
t e
rmination
of
the
Congress several
excur·
~ i o n s
will
be arranged, amongst which one
will
be to the
Irongate on
the
lower Danub
e,
to
l g r a d e ,
and to
Con
stantinople,
which,
doubtles
s,
wlll be
of
some attrac
tion.
I remain, Sir, yours obediently.
C. M uLLER, M .D.
(Chief Secretary).
THE UriLlSATION
OF
SMALL
COAL.
To
TH
Eor'l'
OR
oF
ENGIN RING.
SIR - In your article on
the
utili
ga.tion of small
coa
l
(pa.ge'248
of last i s s u ~ we
. find
you refer to
the
Perret
furnace, but
make no
ment10n of
ours,
although we
constructed
and
erected
a
larger
number of
dust
-
burn10g
furnaces than any other firm. In South Wale
,
.
for
b u ~ n -
ing
anthra
cite, we ha ve fitted hundreds b 0 1 l e ~ s w1th
most satisfactory
resu
lts ; these are dea:lmg wtth .
the
exact form of fuel to wh i
ch
you r e f e r r ~ d
m
your a r ~ t c l e ,
and
do
i t in a.
way that leaves.
t b 1 0 g
to be
desired.
They
meet the difficulty of util1s10g
small
coal,
both
anthracite and
soft coal,
with a.n efficiency that has
never been equalled.
.
We are, S1r, yours truly,
MELDR
UM BROTHERS.
Atlantic Works, City-road, Manchester,
August 29, 1893.
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.
GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Glasgow P
ig
Iron Market
In
consequence of a p r e ~ i
sure of sales of Scotch
iron,
the warrant market
was
du
last Thursday
forenoon.
About 6000 tons we
re
soldi and
the cash price dropped to 42s. 5 d. per. ton. One ?t ?f
Scotch sold
ab 42a.
9 ~ d . one month, w1t.b ls. forfett
m
buyer's option.
The
market
opened
flat
t.n the
afternoon
on
the
announcement
of the bank rate
bemg advanced to
5 per cent. and business
was done at
42s. 4d. per ton cash
on M o n d ~ y of this
week.
The
re was
a. r e c o ~ e r y after-
were
sold, the cash price varying between 42s. 4 ~ d . and
42s.
ijd.
per ton. Some lo
.
s were
sold
at 42s
4d. a.nd
42s. 4 ~ d . on Friday with a "plant," 42s. 6 ~ d . Frt?,ay 1 t ~
a call and 42s. 3d. one m o
nth
open wtth a. plant.
The ~ a r k e t was very
quiet in
the afternoon
u ~ t i l just
about the
close
when
one dealer came m
and
bought
5000
t o ~ s ,
which
stiffened
the ~ a r k e t ,
and
sellers
were
asking 42s. 6 ~ d . at
the
~ n L B h , an
vance
of l ~ d . per ton
from
the mormng. Ontstde
of this
there
was
very
little
doing, but
1000 .
tons
changed
hands
at
42s. 6 ~ d .
and
42s. 7d.
cext week wttb
a
call. A few
lots
of Cleveland
iron were
d ~ a l t
in,
and the
pr i
ce
also mad& l i d.
?f advance.
The clos10g
settlement
prices were
Scotch
uon,
42s. 6d. per
ton
;
C l ~ v e l . a n d ,
35s. 3d. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough b e m a t 1 t ~ 1ron,
respectively,
45s. and 43s.
Hd. P.
er
ton. The
folloWip.g
are
some
of
the pric
es of No. 1 spe01al brands of
makers
1ron :
Gartsherrie
and
Summer
ee, 49s.
per ton Calder, 6d.;
Langloan, 54s.
6d
.
Coltness,
66s.
--the
for egomg
all
shipped
at
Glasgow; G l e n g a r n ~ c k
(shipped
at
48a. 6d. ; Shotts
(shipped at
Le1th), 5ls. C a r ~ ~ h 1 p p e d
at Grangemouth).
53s. 6d. per t
on.
Last weeks s
htpments
of
pig iron from all
Scotch P'?rts
amounted
6230
to n
s,
as
co
mpared with
5124
ton
s m the correspondmg
week
of
la
st year Th ey included 650 tons
for
Canada., 405 to ns
for I n d i ~ , 150 tons for Australia, 170 t?ns for Italy, 450
tons for Germany, 220 tons for Ru ssia, 140 tons f ~ r
H o
lland,
300
tons
for
China
and
Japan,
m a l l ~ r quanti·
ties for other countries,
and 3451
tons coastwtse.
T ~ e
stock of pig iron in M essrs. Connal a:nd
Co.'s public
warrant s
tore
s s
tood
at 336,780
tons, aga10st
337,790
ton
s
ye
ste rday w ~ e k , thus showing for the past
week
a reduc
tion amountmg to
1010
tons.
Shipbuilding Oontracts. It is pr
ob
able
tbab
con tracts
for s o m ~ t h i n g like 40,000
ton
s of new
shipping
have been
placed with Clyde
s
hipbuild
ers
during
the
past month;
one
new
spaper
pu t
s th e amount at even 60,000
tons,
and
speaks of a "
boom
"
having again overtaken
this
bran
ch
of
local trade.
The more
rece
nt contracts include an
order
for
a
cargo
and
passenger steamer of
45
00
ton
s,
which
is
to
be
built by the
L o
ndon
and
Glasgow Ship
building and
En_gineering
Company.
Me
ss
rs. D.
and W.
Henderson
and Co.
have also secured
an
order for
a screw
steamer
of
about
3000
tons
gross.
•
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.
SH FFl LD, Wednesday.
The Hea
vy
Trad
es
Business in connection with the
iron and steel
trades
has
been
redu
ce
d
to
a. minimum by
the dispute with th e c olliers. I t is
now
cP.rtain that next
week th
e majority
of
the
blast furnaces in this dist ri
ct
will
have to be damped down, as supplies
of
coke
are
o
nly
available at ex
tortionate prices
. li'orge
pig
is nomi ·
nally quoted
at
2 ~ . 6d., and foundry
a t
448. 6d. but no
new business
is
doing,
and, in fact. the iron trade is
rapidly approaching a
deadlock.
The majority of the
mills
are
only running two or three days
a week, and
many
of them have
totally
suspended ope
rations. Some
good
orders
for
bar have recently
come
up
from
Sou
th
Africa. and Australia, but as th
ey
are
at
rates prevailing
a
month
or six
w
eeks
ago,
th
ey hav
e
to be placed
aside
awaiting more fav ourable circumstances of production.
Sheet
roller
s
would
be
bu
si
er on better-class work, i they
could
accept the
rates
of a
month ago,
but they
cannot.
Best qualities of boiler plates are
go ing
well, and
home
buyers are paying the advances
for
immediate deliveries.
There is a further lull in the demand for marine and rail
way material, as customers
will not
pay th
e revised rates,
preferring to wait. Some
of
the tyre-makers have
accepted a reduction of 5 per
ce
nt. in their wages.
Agents
of
Bessemer
billets ha
ve cleared out stocks,
but are taking
few new
orders,
and no contracts
at
current quotation of
5l. 17s. 6d. to 6l per ton. Crucible steel makers are
very busy on
best tool qua.litiQs
for
delivery
to the
United
States,
South
Africa,
and
the mining
co
untries
of So
uth
America.. Many of
the manufactorie
s in the
old staple
trades are
closed unti
l engine
coal
returns
to
a.
reasonable
•
prtce.
Rolling i l l Proprietors and tke Situation. The mem
bers of the
Rolling Mill Proprietors
' Association
have
i
ssued a. circular
in
which
they
say
:
In
consequen
ce
of
the high pri
ces
which
are now being charged
for coal,
and
in view of the fact that
the
r@lling
mills
are e i n ~ worked
at
a.
loss,
we
re
gret
to have to inform you
that
either
the
mills
must
be
set down or
a
high
er
charge made for rolling
during
the
continuance
of the
strike. Th
e
rolling mill
proprietors are
reluctant to adopt
the
former alternativ
e,
but
recommend
their customers
to give
out
as
little work
as
possible until the
coal
dispute is settled; m
ea
n while,
in some measure to mitigate the loss consequent on th e
excessive
pr ice we have to pay for
fuel,
tbe association
have
resolved that
until f urther notice the
discounts will
be as
follow
s: Rods,
15
per cen
t. cast-steel
sheets, net;
Bessemer steel
sheets, 5 per cent.; circulars, 15 per
cent.''
The Coal Orisis.-Until th is we
ek
th e men in th is
di
strict hav
e
been very
peaceable, and
have expressed
their
intention of
abiding by the de
cisio
ns
of
the
federation. In th
e
meantime
prices of coal
are at ex·
treme rates
; engine slack
that was
6s. 6d. a
month
ago
is now 13s. 6d., and 6s.
to
Ss. per ton is
the
average
increase
in the
rates for house coal. North
co
untry coke agents
are
pressing
business
in this
locali
ty,
but the
commodity is
only taken where ibis absolutely
ne
ces3ary
to
c.mtinue
operations. Ib
is
believed
tha.t
when the dispute is settled it
will be found
a.
consider·
able portion
of
the
coal
trade
will
have permanently
lefb
the district.
d however on
the
announcement that etght blast
f t : r ~ : ~ e s
had
b e ~ n
d a m p e ~ down and two blown out, and
t 42
6d
cash
was pa.1d
for
Scotch but
at t b ~ close
~ t i e r ~ s ~ l l e r s
at
42s. 5 ~ d ..
w ~ i c b made price
un-
h d f
m
th a
t ab the
opemng
10 the morn10g. A bout
c a.nge
ro
· ·
1
d '
two10
000
or
12 000
tons
were
dealt
m,
m e u
108,'
one or
.
lots
at
42
3
9d
and 42s.
9 ~ d . one month, wttb
l s.
forfeit
in
buyer./
option. Several
t h o ~ s a n d
to n
s of
Cleveland
abo changed hands,
and the priCe
dropped
ld . per ton.
Cumberland hamatite
iron was
done at 45s. 3 ~ . a
m o n ~ h
for
a sm1.ll quantity. The settlement prtces
at
t e
eLse
~ o t c h iro
n,
423. 4jd. per ton ; Cleveland,
Scotck B last Furnaces S o
me
eighteen
blast f u r n a
have
been
damped down during
the past
week or
so, m
consequence
of the action of the ~ i n e r s .
At
end of
la
st
week
th
e
re
were only forty
-stx .
urna
ce.s
.m
actual
operation. The
i r o n m a s t ~ r s are
now
10 a postt10u to J;>Ut
their
coal
on the market
and
get the benefit
of the
high
prices
that
ha
ve lately been
reached.
Sulphate
of Am m
onia. Owing to.
the stoppage of
so
many blast furnaces, the product10n of
sulphate of
N ational A ssociation of Ooll iery M
a;nag
e1·
The
annual
general
me
e
ting
of
this
body will be held
in
Sheffield
on
Friday, S e p t e m b ~ r 1 The repo
rt
of the
council states
that "
the wide influence
of the
association
may be
gathered
from
the fact that it has
now
amongst it s mem
bers colliery manag
e
rs from Scotland,
N
ortbumberland,
Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland, No
rth
Wales,
La n ·
cash
re,
Cheshire,
Derbyshire, N ottingba.ms
bire,
\Var·
wi
cks
hire, Leicester
s
hire,
Staffordshire, Worcester
shire,
Gloucester
s
hire,
Monmoutbsbire, and South
Wales.
The
~ f f e c t of certain steps adopted in
accordance
with th e
committee's
sugges tions
is
that the
balance-sheet is th
e
most
fa ,•ourable
one
that
th
e
cou
ncil
has eve
r issued.
The council sugge
sts to
branches
the
desir ability of co
operating
with
the tf'cbnical education committee of the
county
council
of
their district
in arranging for
high
class lectures on mining subjects. One of the chief
objects
of
the
association is
to improve the
scientific and
intellectual p o
sitio
n of co
lli
ery
managers,
and the
cou
ncil
is of opinion
that lectu
res
on
mining
problems
by expert s
are most useful means
to
that e
nd.
Th e
executive
learn
with plea
s
ure
the
success
which
ha
s
attended the
se
l
ectu
res
in some distri
cts, and
strongly
reco
mmend the
branches to approach their county
councils
at once with a.
view to a r r a n ~ e for such le
c
tures during
the winter.
Happily
famiharity with fatal accidents, which
is the
experien
ce
of
various colliery
managers,
does
not engender
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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SEPT I ' I 893·]
th \t indifference to
them
which familiarity with less
. 1 d ,
senous occurrences
a
ways oes.
Facts from a Coalowner.-At the
annual meeting
this
week of Messrs. H e
nry
Briggs. Son, and Co.,
Limited,
colliery J>roprietors,
Mr.
A. C. Briggs,
managing
di rector
and cbatrma.n of
the
Yorkshire Coalowners' Association,
presided. In th e courcSe of an address he said th ey had a
fleet of steamships which had
run
to Continental ports
and found regular e
mployment
for miners
until lat
ely,
wh
en contracts te
rminat
ed,
and
much of the
trade
was
allowed to
lap
se because they could
not
compete in price.
They had taken prices even as low as
in
1888.
It
was a
qu
es tion of closing th ose pits which got coal for expo
rt,
or
having wages reduced.
There
was a
g e ~ e r a . l
sion
in
the country,
and
they must
take
th e
tr
share of tt.
f
in
stead of seeking to assist the masters to keep
up
wages under existing circumstances, the colliers would
prevent
the
sinking of a
lot
of new collieries that under
sold to
get
a connection, they would be taking a more
practic Joble course.
NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE
NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MIDDLESBROUGH, Wednesday.
Tlte Cleveland
Iron
Trade.
Yesterday the attendance
on 'Change here was only small, and little business ~ a s
done.
Early
in the day the tone of the
market
was f a t ~ J y
cheerful, and quotations were but,
later
on, affa.trs
eased somewhat. At the opemng, sellers asked 35 s. 6 ~ .
for prompt f.o.b. delivery of No. 3 g.m. b. C l e v e l ~ n d
pt.g
iron, and reported that they were able to
obtam thi
s
price.
Tran
sactions, however, were recorded
at 35
s.
4 ~ d . ,
and
buyers were
not
inclined to
pay
more
than the
lat ter
figure. No. 4 foundry
wa
s quoted 33s. 9d. ; grey forge
was in
better
request,
and
was generally
quoted 3 2 ~ . >d.
In
quiries for
the la
st-mentioned
quality
were reported
more num erous, and a good deal of it
might
have
been sold at
32
s. 6d.,
but
sellers,
as
a
ru l
e, would
not li
ste
n
to
such a price. :Middlesbrough wa
rrant
s
ope
ned 35s. 4d. cash buyers.
By the
close of
the market
buyers we
re
very shy,
and
were
not di
sposed
to pay quite
so much for
pig
iron
as
was realised in
the
morning.
Oa
the
other hand, sellers were firm, and we
re
most unwilling
to
reduce
their
quotations.
t
was diffic
ult
to
pur
c
ha
se
prompt
No.
3
under 35s. 4 ~ d . Middlesbrough w
arrant
s
closed 35s.
ld.
cash buyers.
Notwi
th
st anding the
falling
off
in the
demand from Sheffield
and
distri
ct
, hematite
pig
iron keeps steady. Mixed numbers of makers' east
coast brands are st ill quoted 4-
33.
6d., a] though some
buyers s
tate that they
~ a v e
d o ~ e b u . s i ~ e s s
at
.rather l.ess
than
this figure. Spa.msh ore
1s
qUletish, ~ h t s
b e u ~ g
low. Rubio may be quoted 123 3d. to 12s. 6d. ex·sh1p
'l.'
ees.
To
-day
the
market was
stea
dy,
but
No. 3 Cleve
land
pig
was
sa
id to be obtainable at 35s. 3d.
pr
ompt
f.o
.b
. delivery. Middlesbrough
warrant
s closed 35.i. 2d.
cash buyers.
Manufactured
Ir
on and Ste
el .-
A
somewhat unsatisfac
tory account
must
again be given of these
t.wo
imp
o
rtant
indu
st
ries. Manufactured iron
mak
ers are badly off for
work, and orders for steel material are
by
no means easily
secured. Quotations have altered ve
ry little
since we
last
rep orted ; but probably most firms would accept contracts
a.t rather less
than the pr{)
sent
market
ra tes. Common
iron
bar
s are quoted 4l. 17s. 6d.; best bars, 5l. 7s. 6d.;
iron ship-plates, 4l. 153 ; steel ship-plates,
5l
2s.
6d ;
iron sb tp
·a
ngles, 4l. 12s. 6d.; and steel ship angles,
4l. 15s.; all less 2
per
cent. ab works.
Heavy
sections of
steel rails are quoted 3l 15s. to
3l.
17s. 6d. net at mak er
s'
work3
The Fuel
Trade.-Fue
l
generally is firm. The announce
ment that
the
Durham miners' ballot has not resulted
in the requis
ite
maj ority
in
favour of a
strike ha
s given
considerable
sa
tisfaction
in
trade circles here. I t is still
difficult to fix quotations for fuel, for they continue to
vary a good deal. High rates, however, are asked, and
whilst the
output
is very large a good demand is reported.
Coke is dear. 'Few consumers here are as yet necessi
tated
to buy,
as they
have
contracts running
on
much
cheaper terms
than ca
n
at
present b
P.
obtained.
As
much
as
14
s. 6d. has been asked for good blast-furnace coke
delivered
at
works here.
NOTES
FROM
THE SOUTH-WEST.
C
rd({f.-Tbe state
of business affairs is
just
now so
unsettled that
it
is difficult to give quotations for
any
de
sc
ripti
ons of
steam or
house coa
l ; but,
upon
the
whole,
prices of
stea
m coal appear
to be
falling, while
the
value
of
the
b
est
households will be regulated
by the
daily sup
plies. There is
not
much doing at
present in patent
fue
l.
Coke, which has been in good demand, is extremely scarce,
and those
mak
ers who bad stooks
in hand
are realis
ing
good prices. The iron ore
trade ha
s ruled quiet. Opera
tions have been resumed at seve
ral
collieries,
and on
Friday
and
Saturday
several heavy
trains
of OC\al reached
the Bute
Docks.
Wat£r Supply
of
Pembroke.-An
apRlication
to the
Lo
cal Government Board from
th
e
Pembroke
Town
Council for permission to borrow 1280l. for wo
rks
in con:
nection with the water supply of Pembroke Dock has
been refused,
the
inspector
sent down
having reported
unfavourably.
A
Sm11ll De
von3hire
Rai/
w.Jy.
--The di r
ectors of
the
Buokfastleigh, T
ot
nes,
and
South Devon
Rail
way report
that the revenue for
the
half-year amounted to 3H6l.
After
payment of all fixed and
other
charges,
there
was
a
ba
lance of 274l. available for dividend,
admitting
of a
distribution of 2 per cent.
per
annum upon
the
pre
ference shares.
The Great Western
Railway Company
ha
s declined to
take
over
the
line. The
Great
W estern
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
di rectors are complaining that
the
si
ding c c o m ~ o d a t i o n
at
the
s
tations
is insufficient to m
eet
goods trafi:i
c,
a ~ d they
are
pre
ss
ing
the company to
make
large
x t e n s i o ~ s ,
m
vo
l
v
ing an outlay
of several thousand pounds.
:I;
he
e c t o
f
the B u o k f a s t l e i ~ h
Company do not constd
er
that 1t 1s
responsible for
this
outlay.
The
Ferret "
ancl
th
e Lynx.
" The Ferret and
the
Lynx, two of
twenty
torpedo-boat destroyers, which are
to have a guaranteed speed of
27 knots
per hour, are to be
r
eady
for trials at Devonport during
th
e early part of the
next year. Both these vessels are being built .bY Messrs.
Laird
Brothers, of Birkenhead.
The
F e
rret
IS to be
out
of the contracto r
s' hands by
F e
bruary
20, and
the Lynx
by
April
5.
No.
97
torpedo-boat, which is one of
ten
now
in
course of construction, will be r
ea
dy for transfer from
the contractors to Devonport
by the end
of December.
Miljord D
ocks.-The directors repor t :
Th
e business
of th e company exhibits s tea
dy
progress. T.he steam
s
hip
Spree left
the dry
dock at
the
end of Aprtl,
and
the
directors hope
the
dock will be used
by
other ~ e a s e l s ~ f
the sa
me line. With reference to
the
Canad1a.n mall
service mentioned
in
the last report, it is understood
that
the ma.tter has been
in
abeyance in consequence of
the
absence of
the
Canadian Premi{)r
in
Europe. The
directors
rE\gr
et that they have
not yet
been able to give
effect to an arrangement with
the National Provident
In st itution for th6 purchase of the railway and
pi
er,
but
negotiations are still pending
with
that
object. : ~ ; h e
general manager reports the tonnage of vessels e n t e ~ m g
the docks during the half-year as 133,043, as
agamst
126
291 in
1892." The earnings of the company for the
half·year
amount
to 4995l., and the expenditure to 4583/.,
leaving a profit of
412
l.
Gas at Bristol.-At the half
-yea
rly
meeting of
the
Bristol
Gas
Company
on the
24th ult.
the
maximum
di
vi
d ~ n d
wa
s
de
clared.
The
chairman
said
the sa
le
of gas
was
three tim
es as much as it was
twenty
years
~ i n c e ,
and the in
crease
in the hi r
e of gas sto,·es in
the
same
period was nearly 25 per ce
nt.
Severn
and
Vye Railway. The
directors that
th
e serious depression
in the Forest
of
Dean
coal trade,
which commenced early
in
1
892,
became ac
ute during
the past
half-year,
and
that
the
company's revenue for
that period is insufficient
to di
sch
arge the interest
on the
debenture
stocks.
The
prolonged
lab
o
ur
difficulties in
the
Forest
mi
ning
indu
stry,
which chiefly occasioned
the
depression referred to, have res
ul t
ed in
the
stoppage of
the
principal house coal collieries.
Mr. E.
V.
Elhs,
of
Gloucester,
having obtained a judgment
against
the
company m respect of
unpaid
debe
nture
interest, pr
e
se
nted
a
petition
to
the High
Court of
Justice,
in
accordance
with
which
an
order
ha
s been made
appointing the
directors, manager&, and
the
general
manager
and the secretary, receivers of the
und
er
taking. The management of the lin e will, therPfore,
continue as hitherto,
but
all receipts
and
expendi
ture will be accounted for to
the
court,
and the
surplus will be distributed from time to time under
its
di r
ectio
n.
The net
revenue for
the
past h a l f - y e ~ r amounts
to 5287l. ; and
after
deducting
689l.
for rent cha rges and
bank
interest,
there
remains a balance of 459'i
l.
, equal to
a b o u t ~ per cent. per annum on
the
debenture stock of
the
company, which bears interest at
the
rate of 4 per
cent.
per annum
. I t is intended,
with the
necessary
authority of
the
cou
rt,
to
make
a dist
ributi
on as early as
pr act icable.
The Halcyon
and
the
H
arrier.
The
stea
ms
hip
Cragside, of Newcastle, arrived at Devonport on Mon
day, having on board
the
machinery
and
boilers for
the
Halcyon and the machine
ry
for the Harrier gunboats,
now building at Dev onport. The boilers for th e Harrier,
together
with
the machine
ry
and boilers for the Hu ssar,
are expected to arrive from the contractors, l\1essrs.
Hawthorne
and Leslie,
in
the courM of a few weeks.
Ectst Usk Ra ilway.-The
tender
of
Me
ssrs. Linton and
Co., of Newport, which the di rectors of the Great
\Yes
ern
Railway have accepted for the const ruction of
th
e
East
U
sk line, is for
the
road
between Somerton
Bridge and
Cold
Harb
o
ur Farm,
a dis
tan
ce of
about
2-i
miles.
For the present
a si
ngle line
of railB will
be
laid.
but th
e
bridg
e will
be
ere
cted
so
as to provide
for a
double
lin
e if necessary.
273
Water Supply
of Newpo?·t.-No.twithstanding a.
f e ~
day
s' rain during the la
st
s1x or 1 g ~ t w e e k s ~ the
tion
of
the wa t
er
supply
of
Newport
1s becommg
n o u ~ .
The present storage a c c o m m o ~ h ~ t i o n
for
the
borough S
262,000,000
~ a l l o n s
of water, d1v1ded
as
follows:
Panty
reos reserv01r, 144,000,600
gallons;
~ y n y s y b r o , 8 2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0
gallons·
and th e subsi
diary
reservotr,
~ 6 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0
gallons.
But
the' am
ount of
wa t
er
in
store is
~ n l y
1 ~ 6 . 0 0 ~ , 0 0 0 g ~ l
lons. Possibly the
autumn
will
brmg
w1th 1t heaVIer
•
rams.
THE FASl'EST
PADDLE
BoAT IN
THE
WoRLD.-In re·
ference to
our
n
ote
u n d t : ~ r
thi
s
heading in our
issue of
August
11
the
Societe Cockerill
point out that the
speed
of 22.16 k ~ o t s obtained
by the
L eopold I
I
.was
t b ~ mean
of a number of runs on th e measured mtle,
wh1L'lt
the
speed of 22.2 knots
attained by their boat
the
Marie
H enr iette was
the
mean of four ru ns from Cloch to
Cumbrae, over which th e mean speed of the L eopo
ld II.
was 21.955, the
run
s being as follows:
Tim
e.
hr . min.
37 6
37 40
37
1i
37
3 7 ~
Knots.
2210
21.77
2215
2180
}
}
Number
of
Revolutions.
51.40
51.75
S A ~ l U D A SHIPBUILDING YARD. So
me
time ago We
called
attention
to the fact that Messrs. SamudaBrothers
had decided to discontinue work
in their
famous estab
lishment on the
Thame
s, at Poplar (vol. 1v., page 599),
and
now
the
whole of
the plant is to
be
brought
to the
hammer.
The
event,
as
we
then
indicated,
marks an
important
epoch
in the history
of
Thame
s industries,
which we
th
en reviewed,
as
the
firm was
estab
lished
some thirty-five years ago,
and
since
then many
vessels
of all ty pes, wardhips
and
mer
chantmen, have
been
cons
tructed in the yard. The
list
in
c
lude
s
eighteen
warships for
the British and
foreign
navi
es. Th e
yard,
which covers
over
six acres,
wa
s well equipped,
and the
sale, which is
to
be co
ndu cte
d
by Mr. Brad
s
haw Brown,
Billiter-square Buildings, will
la
st
fr
om l\Ionda.y
ne
xt
until Friday, the ca talogue including over
1300
lo t
s.
THE
PosniAS'l'ER- GxNER
.
u,
ON M
uNICIP.\L TELE
PHONEs.
A n
important
quest ion connec
ted with
tele
phonic extension
wa
s raised on W ednesday
by
a deputa
tion
which waited upon
the
Pos
tmast e
r -Ge
neral in
his
pri
va.te room at
the Ho use
of Commons. Sir
Charles
Cameron, M.P.,
introduced the deputation, the leading
members of the Glasgow Town Council, who asked that
the
corporation of that
city
shou ld be allowed a licence
to
start
a
municipal telephone exchange.
Mr. Provand,
M.P.,
supported the
views of the
deputation.
The
Postmaster-General, in
reply,
said
he
wou
ld
come
to
no
decision adverse to
muni
cipa.l enterprise. The Govern
ment
would
not
at all
interfere with
the freedom of
municipll
enterprise
with
regard to
any matters
it
cou
ld
legitimately control for the public in terest. The
tele
phone, however, was
not
a part of municipal business,
butbelonged to the telegraph system, which was conducted
by
the State.
It was
not
confined to
the
municipal area
like water, gas, or
tramway
works. In continuance of
the policy of the late Government,
he
was now engaged
in
purchasing
the
trunk lines of the telephone system,
and until
that was completed
it
was impossible to con
sider the question
rai
sed by th e pr e
se
nt application.
The movement
might
possibly develop
into
the Govern
ment's taking
over
their entire
management, but any
s
tep taken in
advance in local districts would complicate
m ~ t t e r s : He was s t r o ~ ~ l y ~ n . favour of
further
powers
bemg r ~ e n to the ~ ~ m c 1 p a h t 1 e s to
manage
affairs which
were strictly mummpal, but be could not enter into
f u r ~ h e r details on the question raised
by
the
deputation
until the agreement as to the trunk telephone lines bad
been finally settled.
VENTILATING AND
H EATING
. Ventilating and heating
systems .
are
a
byword
for
i n ~ f f i and
pl'Oba.bly
always
will
be
wh1le people of d1fferent
constitutions and
temperaments
congregate in
the
same
building. A room
which
one man
calls
draughty
is
declared by another to
be
.stuffy. But
the principal
reason is
that most
venti
A N eu: Ferryboat.
Me
ssrs Ma
chlacblan, of
Paisley, latmg
arrangements
. r ~
under
very
little
control.
They
laun
ohed on
Wednesday a
double-ended steel paddle d
epend on the
suct10n
of heated columns of
air
vessel,
built
to
the order
of th e Cardiff
and Penarth Steam and this cannot be
easily
altered.
When
it
Ferry
Company.
She
is
named the Rate. de
s
ired
to.
~ a v e the ventilation
really
under
control,
The Electric L ight
at
Newport.-Mr. R. Hammond, ~ m o r e P
081
ttve
system must be adopted
. For
in
stance,
author
of
Municipal Electricity Work,
"
has
been ap- t h ~
Houses of Parliament air
is
pumped both by
recip
pointed co
nsulting
engineer t o
the
Town Councils of New- r?oa.t
1
.ng
pumps and rotary
fans
into the chamber, being
t d W k
fi
ld t
1
t . l '
ht'
k
hkewtse
o o l ~ d or w a r ~ e d ,
as
the. case
may
be.
At
the
por
an
a e e
0
carry
out> e ec n o tg
mg
wor C.en.tr.al Instttute of .C1ty
and Gullds
of
London 1'n
Exh1'-
under
provis
io
nal orders.
Mr. Hammond, as
a con- h
tractor, ha&
erected electricity works at
Dublin, Hasting
s,
l ~ l t t . o n - r o a d ,
a fan IS used
to distribute air through the
Eastbourne.
Brighton, West Brompton,
Madrid, Black-
bulldmg. At the Law
Courts, also,
there
is an
elaborate
1
L d
y ~ t e m of
m.
echanic.
al ventilation,
wh icb, however,
often
poo ' ee s, c.
f 1
t t f d I
a1
s. o
sa
ts
o ~ r JU
.ges. . n Amertca, where
systematic
The
Re
nown. The contract
for the engining of
the heatmg
of
buildmgs 18
carr1ed
furth
er
than with
us th e
Renown
lin
e-of-battle
ship
has been secured
by
Messrs.
u ~ e
of fans is exte0;ding:, an? one
method adopted there
Maudsley, Sons, and Fi{)ld. The Renown, which is to be With
great su
ccess ts bemg
mtroduced into this country
built at
Pembroke,
is aline·of-ba.ttle s
hip
of 12,350 tons. by.
~ e s s r s .
Charles Erith and Co., of 13, Little
Her bottom is to be sheathed
with
wo
od
and coppered- Trm1ty-lane, London, E. C.
In
the buildings of the
Her length will be 380 ft., the same
as
vessels of the Knowles. Loo.m
'Vorks,.
at
Worceste
r, ]\- assachusett$,
Ramillies class,
but her
breadth will be 72ft., or 3ft . less
t?e
entt.re atr, .
amountmg
to
one and
a half roil
than the
Ramillies.
During this
year
2l2,96ll. will
be
h ~ n
cub1c feet.
1s
ch9:nged
by this system
eYery
six
spent on
the
vessel, of which 35,320l. will be for dockyard m
mutes
by .a fan spectally co
nstructed
to deliver
large
96,750l. for ~ i a l
53,000Z. ~ o r .
contra
ct
work, volumes
agamst
pressure,
wtthout
allowing any to blow
and
13,36ll. for e3ta.bhshment .
and
~ 1 d e
n t a l
c h a r g ~ s . back
through
th e centre. 'Vhere considerations of
cost
The
armaiJ?-ent of
the
e n o w ~ w1ll s 1 s ~ of four 10·
m.
do not :r.revent its adoption, there is n o
doubt
as to the
breechloadmg guns,
ten
6·m . quick-firmg guns, and desirability of mechanical ventilation The d f
t w e n ~ y
6-pounder and 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, besides I he public
distribution
of electric energy will ' s ~ r ~ l a ?d
ma
cbme gunCJ
and
torpedoes.
its
introduction. or a Yat
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T
•
-
.
-
274
I •
•
•
•
,·
.
-
.. _
-
E N G I N E E R I N G
-
[SEP
T I, I
893.
L 0 C 0 M 0 T I V E S A T T H E C 0 L U M B I A N E X P 0 S I T I 0 N
CO
NSTRUCTED BY THE BROOKS LO COMOTIVE \VORKS, DUNKIRK, N.Y.
or escription see Page 269 .
- -
I
G.
1
T EN-
vV
EEL
PA
SSENGER
L OCOl\IOTI VE.
•
IG. 2. Six WHE.F:L
SwiTCHING
L o c oMOTI VE•
Fta. 3. MoGUL L o c o .HOTIVE •
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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GENTS
FOR
ENGINEERING.
AUSTRIA,
Vienna: Lebmann and
Wentzel, K ~ r n t n e l 8 t r a e a e .
0APB
TOWN : Gordon
and
Gotob.
ED
INBU
RGH: _ ohn Menzies and Co
.,
12,
Hanov
er-atree
t.
FB.ANOll, Par1s : Boyveau
and
Cbevill
et
, Libr
airle
n g ~ r e 22
E N G I N E E R I N G.
NOTICE.
The New
Cunarders CAMPANIA
and
LU-
CANIA ;, and the
WORLD
S COLUMBIAN
EXPOSITION OF 1893.
Ru
e d e
la
Banque; M.
Em
.
Ter que
m
3lbl.e
Bouleva rd B B ~ a
Also
tor
Adver
tisements,
A
ge
nue
Ha
ve.s 8
Pl a
ce
de la
BoU1'9e:
The Publlsher begs to announce tha t a Reprint is
(See below.) ' '
fully suppor t wh at was said by the honourable
member as to
th
e meagre
na
t ure of the
in f
ormation
given this year on many points upon which the
public should be informe
d. I t
is imp
os
sible to
arrive at any definite co nclusion from the official
figures in regard to matters of cost, and in this way
the great aim of Admiralty officials is r eached to
an
extent almost cynical in its completeness.
' 'There
ought
to
be proper means for making a fair com
parison between the cost of a ship built
in
a dock
yard and
the
pr ice of a similar ship built in a
private yard, said Mr. Hanbury, and the propo·
sition is so
ev
ident that none can gainsay
it
; a
nd
yet every obstacle is thrown in the way of such a
comparison being mad e. Admiralty and dockyard
officials seem never
yet
t o have realised the fact
that it is public money they have to spend,
and that their salaries are paid by the nation
at large. E xcepting in cases wh ere it would
be giving an advantage to foreign P owers
at
the
possible expense, in case of war, of
this country- there is no just
ifi
cation for secrecy.
In spite of this the Admiralty and dockyards resent
any
effo r t to get particulars of cost, as if they were
the di rectors of a private trading establishment;
indeed, they are far more r
et
ice
nt
bhan most people
engaged in commercial pursuits.
Th
ere are, of
co
urse, difficulties in the way of making compari
son between the cost of
pr
oduction
in
a dockyard
and in a private yard, the chief being ''establish
ment
charges. No one expects a public depart
ment t o work with the same economy as a private
bu
siness where
th
e heads have the direct incentive
of personal emolum ent. We know that the dock
yards are a na tional insurance j ust as o
ur
wh ole
Navy is- not necessary excepting as a provision in
time of war. The public would make allowance for
th is, and
at
any rate we have a. right to kn
ow
what
GBilllANY,
r l i ~ :
Mess ra. A. Asber
and oo.,
6
,
Unterden
Llnden. now
ready of the Descriptive
Matter
and Illustra·
L
e1
pz1g: F . A.
Br
oc
kbaus. tions contalned
in
the
Issue
of
ENGINEERING
of
Mulho
use: H . Stuckelberger. AprU 21st, comprising over 130 pages,
with nine
GLABOOW
: William
Love.
lNDu, Calcut
ta :
Tb
aoker Splnk,
and eo. two
-page and
four single
•
page Plates, printed
Bombay: Tb
acker
and
Co.,
Limited
.
througho ut on special Plate paper, bound ln cloth,
ITALY: U. Hoepli, Milan, and any pos t oftioe. gUt let tered. Price 6s. Post free, 6s. 6d. The ordl·
L IVERPOOL: Mrs. Taylor, Landing Stage.
nAwov edition
of
the
issue
of
AprU 21st ls out
of
print .
M
ANCDESTRR:
John Heywood,
143, D
eansgate
. -
Nsw SOUTH
W
ALBB,
Sy
dn ey :
Turner
and Hende
rson,
16 and 18, = = = = = = = =
= =
Hu nte r
-st
ree t. Gordon and Gotoh, Geor
ge-st
reeb.
QUBL'iBLAND (SOUTH), Brisbane :
Go
rdon
an
d Qotch.
(NORTH), T
ow
n
s\ i
lle: T. Willmet t and Oo.
ROITBRDAM: H. A. Kram er and Son .
S
OUTH
AUSTRALJA, Ade laide : W. C. i ~ b y .
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ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY,
SE
PT E1lBER 1, 1893.
THE NAVY
ESTil\
1ATE
S.
T HE discussion on the
Navy
Estimates has been
resumed in the H ouse of Co mmons this week, and
has followed the usual desultory
co
urs e. The
re
is
nothing to which P arliament co uld more profitably
turn
attention
- nothing more vital to the in terests
of the nat ion than the state of the
Navy
- but no
subj ect is handled in a more lame and inconclusive
fashion
by
o
ur
legislative a
nd
tax-imposing Chamber.
We
need not seek far for the reason of this ; the
explanation lies
in the
want of comb ined attack.
Th
e
Admiralty
is like a compact force in a strong
citadel-
that
citadel being gene
ral
indifference to
na
va
l mat ters-whilst the criticising members are
like a disorganised levy, aimlessly hurling them
selves against
the
secure walls of
the
fortress.
•
•
Advertisements
iD
ended
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editton,
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Advertisements should be
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1n each
week.
I t is much to
be
regret ted th
at
there is no orga
nised naval party in the House ; a par ty
that
would
think
n
ot
hing of political
in te
rests-so far as the
Navy is concern ed- bu t would simply st rive for
such things as would be for the prosperity of
the
fleet, as an engine of national defence ; a
nd
not , be i t remarked, either as a means of providing
a profession for younger sons, of keeping private
shtpyards and engine shops emp loyed, nor for the
suppo
rt
of the working men
and
tradespeople of
the d
oc
ky
ard towns.
I f
these personal in terests
could be sunk, the
re
would be the makings of a
strong party
in
the H ouse ; for there are
numbers
having a kno
wl
edge of all the elements which build
up
the
service.
The party
would, of co
urs
e, always
be in opposition, and its members should be pledged
never to acce
pt
oftice ; so, do
ub
t less,
afte
r all,
the
id
ea is Utopian . In deed, when we
co
me to
think deeper, the scheme bristles with di ffic ulties.
F or instance, th e doc
ky
a
rd
members, whose poli
tical mission is simply to get all the work and the
hig
hest pay
for dockyard hands, could ne\·er be ex
pected to support any measure which would im
pr
ove the regulations as to
co
ntract-
built
vessels,
an
d we should hardly find the admirals helping to
improve the status of the engineering branch, if the
proposals clashed with the interests of
the
executive
officers.
Yet
these two things stand
in
the for e
most place of n ecessity
in
naval reform. Whatever
may
be
the difficulties
in
.
he_
way of
<?
f
an independent and consc1enbous naval party, 1t
1s
certain t
hat
very
little
good will be done until some
cohesion is effected between the units which now
criticise t oo often from
the
faddist point of view
- the naval policy of whatever side happens to be
in
power. N o wonder
the
H ouse empties when
the Naval Es timates come on. The fig
ht
is al to
gether too one-sided to be _of interest ; the res
ult
is always a forego
ne
concluston.
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CONTENTS.
PA
OB \
PAOB
Lit erature .. .
. .. .
.. .
. • •.•• 259
from Sou
t h York·
Th
e E n
gi
neeri
ng
Cong ress 1 sh1re
. . . . .
. .. .
. . . . . . . . . • .
272
at
Chicago . . _
. . . . ..
..
..
261 No tes from Cleveland: and
T
he
De\ el
opment of South
t
he No
r
thern
Count
1es
.. 273
Afri
can
Railway
s
Il
lus -
Notes from
t h ~
South-Wesb
273
t
1
·ated) . . . . . . . .. . ..
264
Th
e
N ~ v y
a t e ~ . . .. ..
275
B
eam Engines
for
Th
e
Ra1l
ways
of I ~ d 1
.. .. ..
276
S
tea
mPrs
Illustrated) .. 266
M
ancheste
r Sh1p
Ca
nal
Ro ta ry
Snow
Pl
oug
h Illus-
e c t s
: .
..
. . . . .
. . . .
277
trated
)
.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Bnt1sh
qolome.s at 9 h1
cago
277
Tr
ie r 's Doub l
e-Action
Stone· Non·Arc
lDg-
Ltgh t mng Ar·
Dre ssing
Mach
ine
l
llus- I rester
U llu8trated)
. .
.. .. 278
trated) .•
..
.
•. . . . .
2681
1
No tes (I llustrated)
. . . . . . .
279
Au t
omatic IIeating and Ven- Notes from
the
•
tilatiog Freight Car (R - States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
lustrated
)
.. .. . . . . . . .. .. 269 A Wat er-Cooled Bra ke Ergo-
H eavy Plate Shears for
th
e t e r
l_llmtrated)
. . . . .
28
0
Clydebridge Steel Works Manne Boller l O n 280
l
llu.strat
e
d)
••.• . .. . . . . . 269 L ~ u n c h e s
and
T
nal
Tn ps .. 282
Locomotives at
the
Colum-
Mi
sce llanea . . . . ..
. . .
. . .
. . . •
282
bian Exposition l
llus·
6-
ln
ch
Foot
L
athe lllus·
trat
ed)..
. . . . .. .. . • .. .. . . 269 t_rated) .. ..
: . .
. .
..
.. • . .. 283
7-Ton
Tr
avelling
Jib
C
ra n
e
Bn
er 's Reduc10g Valve ( l l·
Ill
us trated) .. .
.
. . . . . . . .
269 lu sltCX Ud) . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 283
H arbour Works lllustrated)
26Q Iodu
stnal
N o t e ~
..
. . . .
:
. . .
283
Engine
Vibr
ation
ll
lus-
I mp rovemen
ts 1n
t he
R1
ver
traud) . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . .. 270 T
ees
(l llust,·ated).: .. . . . . 284
'Feed- Wat er
Heating . . . . . .
271 Fast
Ocea
n Steamsht ps (n -
Congress
of
H
yg
ien e . . . . . . 272
I lustrated)
. - . .
· •
. . . . . . . . 286
The Ut
ilisn
ti o
n
of
Small
Th
e
Port of
Ve01ce l
llus-
Coal..
..
..
. .
..
. . .. .. . . . . 272
t r a t ~ d
.. ..
,-- . . . . . . . . . . 287
Notes from the North .•
.• .
. 272
cc
Eog1oeer1Dg
Pa
te
nt R
e·
cord (
nt u
strated) .
. • • . .
289
With a Two Pa
ge
Engrav ng
of
the COJ POUBD ENG
IN
ES,
WITH
u WALKING" BEAJf . _
OF
' HE P ~ D D L E
--
~ M J R H HONAJf.
'fhe discussion of this week was on
th
e usual
party
lin es. L o
rd e ~ r g e Rami]
on made a
speech, the aim of wh1Ch was to s h o ~ how a d ~ I r
ably the late
First
Lo
rd
of the Admualty gu
1d
ed
naval policy, whilst Sir
U.
Kay-Shuttleworth a
nd
th e Chancellor of
th
e Exchequer attempted
to
throw discredit on that which
had
been done
during the previous Administration, magnify
their
own
wisdom
in the
conduct of affaus.
Fr
om
a lawyer's point of view nothin g could have
more
admirable
than much of the verbal fencmg
and quibbling, but to the - m ~ n d e d Briton it
is very sad
to
see the most
v1
tal m terests of the
co
untry
made the shuttlecock of party politics.
The debate was opened on Monday last, August
28, by Mr . Hanbury,
up
on th e shipbuilding vote of
1
797
l.
bein
Y
bro
ught forward. 1\Ir. Ha
nbury
~ a d e an
excall:nt speech, which was a
capit
al
illustr
at
ion of what we have advanced above; the
futility
of attempting too much s
in
gle-handed.
We
We would go further th
an
Mr. Hanbury, a
nd
not
only pit
the
Government establishments again
st
private yards, but dockyard against dockyard. If
half a dozen s
im
ilar ships are to be built, they
should be
distributed
amongst as many different
establishments, Government or private, a
nd
the
results compared. The proposal is, of course,
far from novel, and there are, equally of course,
several far from novel objections to it. The chief,
in rega
rd
to t
he
inter-dockyard competition, is
that some of the dockyards are more favourably
situated in
regard to carrying out work
than ot
hers.
Thus
at
Portsmouth there is more concentration of
offices
than
at
Ch
at
ham ;
but
this
is
an
argume
nt
th
at
the offices should be remodelled. The plant
and machinery in some yards are more efficie
nt
than
in
others, and t
he
same reasoning applies h ere ;
in fact, the chief argument in favour of the competi
t ion syste m is th
at it
would necessitate a
cl
ean
sweep of much that is obsolete and
inefficient-not
to say deplorably rotten .
I t
is the latter fact,
however, which is th e true obstacle to refo
rm in
this direction. Too many sleepy, obsolete, com
fortable ways and customs would have the disquiet
ing glare of public
ity
turned upon th em, and the
unne
ce
ssary
wo
uld become painfully obvious.
Happily for
the
unnecessary, the British public
cares for none of these things
at
present ; nor will
it
until
we have to put our naval resources to the
ir
ultimate use, when we shall find, at the cost of men
and treasure, how lamentably deficient we are in
our organisation.
The Naval Defence Act occupied a good deal of
at tent ion during the debate.
The
subject was quite
we
ll
thrashed o
ut
at the time the Act was passed, and
all that can be added to what was then said is that
the prognostications of evil
then
made regarding
it, have not been ful fi lled, bu t, on
the
contrary,
it
has resulted in goo d for the Navy.
Lord
George
Hamilton in his speech showed h
ow
fallacious are
many
of the comparisons made between the navies
of different nations. I t is said that one country
p
os
sesses so many first-class battleships and so
many of the second class,
but in
many cases the
first-class ships are first-class only in size, being
unfit for r.hat catego
ry in
nearly a11 respects as to
offe
nsive a
nd
defensive powerR. Brassey's Annual
gives England thirty-five first-class bat
tl
eships, but
many of these are ve
ry
slow and have but
an
elemen
tary secondary armament- that important factor. in
the offensive power of a modern war vessel- w ulst
some have really obsolete muzzle-loaders. Lord
Geor
O'e
Hamilt
on would de
duct
thirt
een vessels
from bthis list of so-called first-class battleships,
namely, the five echelon
turret
ships Agarnemnon,
Ajax, Inflexible, Edinburgh, and Colossus. These
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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vessels
are
all very slow, and have no subsidiary
armament. To these
should be ad
ded the
Devas
tation, Thunderer, Dreadnought, Neptune, Superb,
Alexandra,
and
Temeraire.
The sunken
Victoria
makes
the
thirteenth ship
to be
deducted from
the
original list. No one can question that the older
ships above named could never hope to compete on
anything
like equal
terms with the
more modern
vessels
recently turned
out,
both in
this
country
and abroad, but in making comparison
it
is
necessary to see
in what
case the
ot
her side
stands.
The la t
e
First Lord
has made
the
neces
sal'y inquiry,
and he
finds
that
only
one
ship
- t h e Redoubtable- should be deducted from
the French li
st of
first-
class battleships, leav
ing that country with
a t
ota
l of fifteen vessels
worthy of
the
class.
From the
Russian list one
ship also is taken-the
Peter the
Great-so
that
ten
vessels remain.
We thus
see
that,
according to
the amended list, Great Britain has after all but 22
first-class line-of-battle ships against 25 of
the
two
other
Powers combined-
and that
tht'y might be
com
bined in
line of
battle
we suppose no one doubts
the
possibility
in
light of recent developments.
L o
rd
George advised a supplementary estin1ate to
provide funds for building a ship
to
replace
the
Victoria, and instanced the fact that he asked for
money in a supplementary estimate when the
Sultan
was sunk.
The
Government, however,
thinks there
is
no
necessity for haste.
It may
be
point
ed out
that had we gone to war with any
nav
al
Power, or
combination of naval Powers,
within the
l
ast
few months, we should have
started with what would have been equiva
lent to a serious defeat to
the
b a d -
the
Victoria at
the
bottom of
the
Mediterranean, t he
Howe with
h
er
bottom ripped open
fr
om stem to
stern, and
the
Camperdown unseaworthy from
the
damage to her bow. The placing of
th r
ee first
class battleships
out
of action, without
any
damage
received in return, would be
the
equivalent to our
foes of a very sat isfactory engagement.
Th
e work
on
the
Howe should also form
the
subject of
a
supp
leme
ntary
estimate, as it is
qu it
e
extra
work,
out
of the category of fair wear and tear," but
this proposal was also negatived by
the
authorities.
As was said during
the
discussion, The Treasury
had completely overmastered the Admiralty.
A point that was touched lightly upon during
the
deba.te,
but
one upon which more is likely
to
be
hea
rd
bAf
o
re
long, was
th
e
treatment
of con
tract
ors by the Admiralty. Sir Edward Reed
quoted some particulars of cost of cruisers- the
figures also serve
to
illu
strate what
we
ha
ve a
lr
eady
said as to the difficulty of arriving at conclusions as
to cost-by which it was shown that th ree vessels
of
the Edgar
class,
built
by private contract, cost
respectively 334,000l.
and
337,000l.
per
ship, which
was 30,000l. less
than the
Admiralty estimate. Two
similar ships were
built
n t he dockyards, and cost
37,
OOOl
more
th a
n
the
estimate. The Secretary to
the Admiralty exp lained that the increase was due,
first, to additions and improvements made to the
ships during their construction, and, secondly, to
increase of wages.
The
increase
in
wages was only
4000l ; consequently 33,000l. had been spent in
additions and improvements. These additions
and
improvemen
ts,"
said
Sir
Ed ward, ' 'had been
forced on the contractors, who had naturally ap
plied for some corresponding allowance. But the
Admiralty had
refused
to
give
them
more
than
a
third
of
the sum they had
themselves expended
on a d d i t i o n ~ and improvements, with
the
result
tha
t the contractors were, if not practically ruined,
subjected
t.o
a loss of
the
most shameful kind.
In
replying to
this
point, Sir U. l{ay-Shuttleworth
said that
the
extras ' 'were adjusted item
by
item
on the
basis of
the
prices asked for by the con
tractors."
\Ve are
not
aware what value is to be attached
to the l
atter
statement, but it is evident that either
it is grossly misleading
or
else Sir Edward Reed
has been quite misinformed. .No contractor w o ~ l d
ask for prices for extras whtch would leave
h1m
with a heavy pecuniary loss, and we are forced to
the
conclusion
that the "basis
of
adjustment>
r eferred to by the Financial Secretary,
_bore
but a
d istant relation to the actual
payment;
1n fact,
the
phra
se was a piece of that political
jugglerr w ~ i c h
Government
officials
are
so clever
at
putt1ng tnto
the mouths of Ministers for parliamentary use.
\Vhatever may be t
he
merits of
the
present case,
however we know
that
t
he
Admiralty have of late
taken
a
very ill-advised attitude with regard to
contractors, and we have no hesitation in saying
•
E N G I N E E R I N G.
the Board
has used
the
enormous powers
it
re
serves
to
itself in a
mann
er
that
is oppressive
and unfair . \Ve hear complaints on this score
from some who were formerly
the
closest
frie
nds
of
the
Admiralty,
and
amongst
the
most
trusted of naval contractors. We are pre
cluded from giving instances, because con
tr a
ctors
are
naturally timid, and conversations
on
these
points
ha
ve
to
be
regarded
as confidential,
but
in the
mat
te
r of extras" great
inju
stice has
been shown. These extras are forced on
the
con
tractor,
and the
Admiralty officials determine
the
prices paid. Unless contractors have
entered into
a sudden conspiracy to misrepresent facts,
the
sums
allowed are now often quite inadeq
uat
e to pay f
or
the
work
and mat
erial.
I t will be a bad thing for the country
i f
the
Admiralty succeed
in
destroying the confidence of
contractors,
and the
new departure seems likely to
lead to this end. Agreements to supply articles
are drawn
in
such a way
that the
department has
quite desp
ot
ic powers, and so long as
the
con
tractors
felt
that they
could depend on t he good
faith of
the
department they were content
it
should
be so, a tacit understanding being sufficient guaran
tee to protect
them
from injustice.
That
has been
the
tradition between
the
service and contractors for
ages, bu t a new policy has aris
en
lately, and con
tractors have found
that not
only will
the
powers,
hithert
o
justly
exercised,
be
used for
the
purposes
of extortion, but even finesse will be had recourse to
to
gain an
advantage
in
settling a contract. Certain
persons at Whitehall appear to act as if a
ll
con
tractors were dishonest, and to take ad vantage of
them were a clever and creditable thing to do.
THE RAILWAYS OF INDIA.
THE depression in trade, which has been experi
enced la
te
ly over such a widespread region, conse
quent on a great variety of causes, has affected
India most adversely, owing in large measure t o
the
difficulties of
the
silver problem, and it is sur
pr i
sing t
hat the report
of
the
Director-General of
Rail ways for
the
year ended with March last does
not indicate a greater falling-off
in the
financial
return.
The trade
influence is sufficiently felt
in
the checking of the progress which has marked
preced ing years. A year ago Lieutenant-Colone l
Sargeaunt,
R.E.,
was able
to
indicate a
net
profit
equal to
5.
76
per
cent. on
the
capital expenditure,
which far exceeded the returns of most countries.
For the year und er review the r
eturn
is 5.43
per cent.,
so
that
t he falling-off is
but
.33 per
cent., due, as we shall presently show, to a
decrease
in
the goods traffic-almost entirely in
the
export grain trade. Even greater economy
hss been manifested
in
working ;
the
ratio of ex
penses to gross receipts has been 46.92 per
cent., rather less than
in the
preceding year.
The percentage
return
we have given, of course,
represents the statistical result, being
the
one
by
which comparison may most properly be made with
ot
her countries, as, for instance, Britain, where
the
average
return
has decreased now to 3.85
per
cent., while in the case of the Australian colonies
from 3 t
>
4
per
cent. is about
the
return. Unfor·
t unately, however,
the inter
est on a large propor
tion of
the Indian
railway stock has to be
paiJ,
n
ot
in
the
currency of the country, but iu the currency
of
Britain-go
ld, and
the
depreciation of silver
involves very heavy losses. During
the
year there
was a very heavy fall in exchange, which makes
the results still more unfavourable. The recent
decision of t he Government for
the
maintenance of
the
exchange
va
lue of
the
r upee
at
1s. 4d. will
assist matters ; but the railways will sti ll be en
cumbered with
the
heavy rates of dividend on
auaranteed stock.
Under
its co
ntracts
with guaran
teed railway companies the State has to pay interest
at high guaranteed rates until
the
c o n t r
c t ~
te r
minate and is consequen tly unable
to
obta1n any
ad
a n t ~ g e
from
the
increasingly easy condition of
the
money market. The State could now ra ise
money at 3 per cent. to pay off loans raised at high
rates of
in
terest, but
the
contracts compel them to
continue to pay a mean rate of 4.8 per cent. In
deed, owing to the f l ~
in
e ~ c h a n g e the amo_
unt
remitted to Eno-land raised this to a sum equiva
lent
to
7.
6
per
0
cent. on
the
t otal capital raised.
These circumstances explain why
the net
revenue,
equal to 5. 43 per cent. on
the
capital, is insufficient,
and
that a
further
sum, equal to about f
per
cent.
on capital, is involved as loss, meeting the guaran
teed dividend, &c.,
in
gold currency. After allow-
[SEPT. I, I ggj.
ing for contributions for sinking funds which will
redeem
the
capital
at
the expiry of
the
periods for
which the annuities run,
the
apparent loss is 135
lakhs of rup ees. I t is
not
our purpose, however,
to ente
r into any question associated with currency;
it will be sufficient to consider some of the pr in
cipal features of
the
year's operations.
Next to
paying off
the debt
which now absorbs
large sums annually for
interest
charges, a most satis
factory method of reducing the apparent loss will
be
the
construction of railways, promising financial
success, with capital raised
on the
easy terms now
possible.
The
surplus ea
rned
will ass
ist
lines less
favoured in raising capital.
The
practice of the
Gove
rnment
is to expend annually
in
extensions
about two
and
a half millions, and while this may
n
ot
by some be considered sufficient, the regularity
and consistency of
the
development is commend
able. Much depends upon
the
direction of
the
extensions, a subject to which we may refer at some
future time; but it may be said generally that
special
attention
has been given to
the
linking up
of many small systems.
The
new mileage opened
during the year, although considerably less than
the
previous ye ar, is about the average of
the
past
fifteen years, abo
ut
490 miles. 1\iore
than
one-half
is on metre gauge. This brings the total mileage
up to 18,042 miles, of which 10,345 miles is standa
rd
gauge. The average cost of single track for
standard gauge is 125,256
rupe
es, while
the
metre
gauge single track cost 63,256 rupees. The dif
ference is
thus
almost 100
per cent
.
The
traffic
is much grea
te
r on
the
standard gauge lines,
due to the more populous, fertile, and industrial
districts having
the
broader gauge. The net
revenue is four times that on
the
metre lines, on
which, too, a greater propo
rtion
of revenue is
absorbed for expenses, but, as wa s shown in our
analysis of the returns of the previous year,*
it
does
not
follow
that the metre
gauge lines are less
efficient for their purpose, although this year the
standard lines ret
urn
a higher ra tio of net earnings,
6.47
to
5.26
in the
case of the metre lines. The
metre
lin
es
are
most serviceable as feeders, which,
doubtless, explains how, in the past t hirteen years,
while 2176 miles of rails have been laid on the
standard gauge, 3720 miles have been laid on
metre gauge.
As has been indicated, the gross earnings show a
decrease equal
to
3. 61 per cent.,
th
e receipts per
mean mile open equalling 13,141
rup
ees, aga
inst
14,110 rupees in the previous year. As can readily
be imagined, there are great differences in the earn
ings of
the
various railways, but
it
is
.sa
tisfactory to
note t he development over a period of years ex
perienced by all classes of rail way, from the East
Indi
an, on which
the
traffic per mile of line worked
has doubled
n thirty
years.
The
same can
be
said for many of the other railways, while on some
of the metre gauge lines, which do
not
date so far
back, as in
the
caee of the Rajputana,
J
odhpore,
Burmah, &c , the traffic has doubled in
ten or
fifteen years. Evidences, indeed, are afforded in
all directions that the railways create the traffic.
The
fluctuations of a year
br
two are
not
of g
reat
importance when progress is steady over a period
of years. In the earnings from passenger trains
for
the
year there is practically li ttle difference on
the
preceding year ;
there
is a fra
ct
ional increase
on
the
number and t otal payments of passengers,
but
receipts incid
enta
l to
the
traffic make
th
e n
et
result a slight decrease, notwithstanding
that there
has been an increase in passenger train mileage. In
each case, however, the differences are within 1
per
cent. The pa.sstmger train earn ings per mean mile
open were 7210
rupees-in
our cu
rr
ency abo
ut
4 80l
- or 3. 19 rupees per passenger
tr a
in mile.
Turning now to goods traffic, th e decrease in
earnings is more decided, having been 5. 34
per
cent., although the goods actually dealt with made
a slightly greater aggregate- 1490 tons
per
mile
open, or 4. 79 rupees
per
goods train mileage. The
ton mileage, however, was 4.63
per
cent. less,
the
average haul having been 160} miles. t should
be recalled that in
the
previous year there was
an
unusually large export traffic
in
wheat
and
seeds
- -the decrease on the year is 885,903 tons- and the
totals this year are, under the circumstances,
favourable, and well above the average. Indeed,
but
for
thi
s decrease in grain,
the
tonnage of goods
traffic would have been very great, for grain makes
up 5 million tons out of the total of 18,874, 000
tons dealt with, and it contributes a
third
of
the
See
ENGINEERING,
vol. liv., page
420.
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 20/33
•
SEPT
I
I
893·]
goods earnings. Bombay,
by the
way, is very
steadily absorbing the
majority
of the wheat export
traffic, to the disadvantage principally of Calcu tta.
Coal, which comes
next
to grain, stands about the
average, 2.88 million tons.
Metal
s
and
oils show
increases ; but the most remarkable difference is in
the
carriage of sugar , of which over 1 million
tons
have
been
carried,
against
29,159 tons in the
previous year.
Other pr
oducts show little changf'.
The
results per
train
mileage may
be tabulated
:
Re
sults p r
Trai
n
il
in
Ru
pee
s
- -
Standard Gauge. Metre Gauge.
--
1892 a
1891·2 . 1892·3.
1891·2.
-
-
Earnings
•
•
.. ,
4. 23 4.39 3.03 3.01
Expenet>s
1.93
1.98 1. 52 1. 58
• •
•
Net earnings . .
I
2.30
2.41
1.
51
1.4 3
Th
ese results should
be
considered in conjunc
tion wi
th
the fact
that
the cost of
the
metre gauge
lines is
but
half
that
of
the standard
lines.
The
sta
ndard lin e trains on
the
average
carry
209
passengers, each
tra
veiling 43.64 miles, while
the metre train takes 230
pa
ssengers, each going
40.43 miles.
The
case is reversed
in the
g
oo
ds
trains, where each standard train
takes
140 tons,
each ton going 178 miles, against 77.69
tons
going
131 miles.
The
rates do
not
differ much as between
the two systems, although
there
is
great
variety.
The
lowest fare
in
some cases is
~ d .
per
mile,
but
usually 1d. to l
d.
; third-cla
ss
fares range
fr
om
1 d. to 2 d.
per
mile ; second-class, 3d. to 4 d. ;
and
the first-class from 6d.
to
9d. Of
the
total
number of passengers carried the two lowest classes
constituted
97.37
per cent
.,
the
second-class 2.24
per cent., and the
first-class .39 per cent. of the
whole. Goods rates vary so much
that
unl ess de
tails of the classification were given the figures
would
not be
interes ting,
but it may be
noted
that
food grains are carried
for
l id. to 3d. and 4d.
per
ton per
mile,
and
coal at sligh
tly
cheaper rates.
As to
the
expenses, the increasing use of Indian
coal f
or
fuel
tends
to economy. 875,000 tons
out
of the
tota
l of 1,080,000
tons
of coal used last year
was
fr
om
Indian
mines.
In
addition, of co
ur
se,
there was the native wood, patent fuel,
c
.
The
following as
to the
working expenses
per train
mile may be
interesting
:
Standard.,
Metre.
British.
r
upee
rupee
d.
Maintenan
ce
• • ••
• •
.50 .87 5.19
Loc
omoti
ve . .
••
• •
•
•
.64 .6
3 8.31
Ca
rr iag
es
and wag
o
ns
• •
.17
.11 2. 98
Traffic . . . .
• • • •
.32 .25
9.71
General
• • • •
• •
• •
.18
.21
1.39
We have given the British results for a normal
year. Taking the rupee
at ls.
4d. value,
it
is seen
that only in traffic charges can the Indian railways,
even of metre gauge, claim a lower
rate
of expenses.
The employm
ent
of native labour
lar
gely accounts
for this
item
being less. Of the 17,000 employed
only 4500 are now Europeans, the great
majority
of whorn are on the main lines, while of
East
Indians there are 5807.
l\IANCHESTER
SHIP
CANAL
PROSPECTS.
THE
shareholders of
the Manchester Ship
Canal
have never met under more satisfactory auspices
than
they did
at the half-yearly meeting
on
Mon
day. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the arbiter on the
claim of the London and
North-Western and
Gr
eat
\Vestern Railway Companies for compensation for
the deviation of
their
lin es,
had
a warded a
sum
equal to a fourth of the original claim. The total
sum claimed was
about
450,
OOOl. and
the canal
company had even to deposit 383,713l. by agree
ment
before possession of the old lines was
granted.
But now the total sum awarded is 100,66ll., so that
althou
gh
probably
2o ,OOOZ
of expenses have
been
incurred, the Canal Compa
ny
have secured an ad·
vantage by resorting
to
arbitration.
The
progress of
the
works
during
the half-year was decided the
droughthavingproved of
great
advantage.
The Run
corn section, which involved the
greatest
difficulties
from
an
engineering
point
of view,
and
was t
her
e
fore
~ e t a i n e d
in
the
hands of
the
engineer
instead
of bemg let to contractors, has practically been com
p l e ~ e d
so t
hat
now t
here
is every prospect of navi
gahon to
Manchester being open
in
six months,
and
Lord
Ro
sebery has been officially asked, as
Foreign
N G I N R I N G
277
Secretary,
to make the fact known
throu
ghout
of warehouses
by private
enterprise.
t is
also
the world, so that goods may be shipped direct to propos
ed
to encourage the construction of 1200 to
Manchester
against
the
opening of the canal.
Th
e 1500
ton barges
for transfer
or st?rage o_f
go?ds, a
canal as
far
as Saltport, a length of
J
1 miles, indeed, system which should commend Itself,_ In. VIew. of
has
been
opened for some time.
During
the half- the large
number
of canals in communtcatLOD: With
year 708,169 tons of merchandise traffic have been the
ship
canal. Lord Egerton, the chau ma l
c:u ri
ed
o,·
er
the opened po
rtion
of the canal, as ' of the company, is certainly
c o ~ f i d e n t
of
u l ~ I -
against 423,579 tons during the corresponding period mate success. There is no questiOn of the s u ~ t -
in 1892.
Saltport,
indeed, has become a
port
of ability of
the proportions
of the canal,
and It
s
gr
eat
importance, and already Lloyd's have an great convenience, on which he en l
arged
at th_e
agent there,
'vhile
regular
services
are
conducted meeting, and
further
of
it
s being a
e a t
engi
to
L o
ndon and
GlasO'OW
for
the transport
of Man-
neering undertaking
which does c r ~ d
to the
chaster products. One of
the
vessels carried 4000 ability
and
courage of
Mr. Leader ' \ V I l l u ~ ~ s ;
but
tons, the draught of
water
having
been
21 ft., merit is not always rewarded. .His
o ~ d s h i p
urged
indicating a satisfactory
depth
of
water
at
the that the population
of
the district
contiguous
to the
entrance at Eastham. Of the traffic only 48,132 canal, which, including only the area to a ~ d from
tons was chargeable with tolls,
the remainder
which traffic is
carted around Manchester, IS
put
at
being for the construction of
the
canal works, two millions,
must
be fed, and he looked for a large
but
this was sufficient
to
pay working expenses
import
of foodstuffs,
notably
from
Ireland,
as. we
ll
and leave a balance. Along
the
li ne of the canal as raw material. But
as Sir
John Harwood p01nted
establishm
ents are
being
er
ected ; a pontoon dock out,
in
a speech studiously
moderate,
a
great
part
300 ft. long
and
70 ft. wide is already in
the
of the traffic would
be
taken from other places,
and
dock (see page 250
ante ;
graving docks
are under there
would
be
a
desperate
fight
for
it,
although
construction, while ten d r e d g ~ r s are at work
cutting
he believed that the canal would win in
the
end,
the
waterway
and
removing
the
dams.
Th
e finan- because
the
cost of
transport by water
is
much
cial
situati
on is settled, the needed funds having cheaper
than
carriage
by
rail.
It
is well that this
been
provided
by the Manchester
Corporation, who co
ntest
should be
borne in
mind,
particularly in
ha
ve
now borrowed 4i millions
for the
scheme,
the arrangement
of
agreements
f
or
warehouses,
while
the
cost of
the important
work
carried out
&c. ; for,
after
all,
victory
usua
lly rests
up
on
during
the year
has been within
the
estimates. details. Financial differences whic h
determine
the
The sa
les of
plant not
now
required are
realising choice of ro
ut
es or of
ports
of discharge
are not due
good p
ri
ces. There is, moreove
r,
compl
ete
harmo
ny
so
mu
ch
to
transport itself as to the
lit t
le con
between
the
corporation
and the
shareholders ' veniences
and despatch
which
insure quick and
directors, so
that
there was cause for satisfaction economical discharge
and
loading.
at
th e meeting, which, however, was very properly
blended with a
due app
reciat ion of
the
necessity
for
very careful action.
The
present
stats
of the works justifies the ex
pectation that the canal will be open within the next
half-year.
I t
was
at
one time anticipated that
the
works at Runcorn would occupy two
yea
rs, owing
to the arrangements made
with
the
WeaverTrustees
to pass traffic through the canal docks ; but the
work has been carried forward so expeditiously
that it was practically completed in
fourteen
months, and now
water
is
let
i
nto the
canal for
miles in front of Runcorn. This work in volved the
construction of heavy
embankment, extending to
2 miles, on
ground
reclaimed from the Mersey, and
which passes
fr
om ' Veston
Point past the
old
Runcorn
Docks
and under the great Runcorn
Bridge. The canal thus divided
fr
om the
estuary
of t he Mersey is being dredged to 26 ft. depth,
but
there
is st ill a series of openings below
Runcorn
where sluices, &c., will subsequently be placed, in
order to in terrupt, as
little
as possible,
the natural
flow of water
into
the Mersey. The works at th is
point also included the construction of the Wedton
Mersey Lock (600 ft. long), of a lay-by with a depth
of 12ft.,
and
of a swing bridge described,
with
others, in a series of articles on bridges in our
previous volume.
Foundations had to be
made f
or
ad?itional line in c o ~ n e c t i o n with a possible
w1dening for accommodatmg
the
Scotch mail traffic
?f the London and Nor th-Western Railway, accord
mg
to a g r e e m ~ n t ; but
if
the
company do not
apply for parliamentary powers to widen their line
within
three
years,
they mu
st recoup
the
canal com
pany ~ h e cost of the f o ~ n d a t i o n s now being put in.
Th
e h1gh-level road bndge near
Latchford is
almost
completed,
and
the
water
l
et
into the
canal from
Latchford
to Warburton. The new aqueduct
carrying
the
Bridgewater Canal at Barton and
which is 1100 ft. long, weighing, wh
en
full of
a t e r
1400 tons,
is
about completed.
From
B a r t o ~
to
Manchester
the
work is
nearly
finished,
and
in
othe
r l
engths
the process of removing
the
old rail
ways
an
d of excavating is proceeding.
The
directors
~ o o , _are m a k i ~ g everY: effort to have the sewage a s s ~
mg
Into
the nvers trib
u
tary to the
canal deodorised
or purified.
.
While thus
pushing forward operations,
the
duectors are s tr enuously endeavouring to insure
a
large measure of financial success from
the
open
ing.
In
the sale of
surplu
s land
the
principle
on
_ w h i c ~
they a
re
proceeding is to encourage works
whiCh will foster traffic.
Th u
s a large sawmi
ll
is
to be erected
at Ellesmere
Port, a co-operative soap
work at Ir lam, large frozen
meat stores
at Mode
Wheel,
pon
toon
and
ship-r
epai
rin
g works
at
Elles
mere, and a
pontoon and
gravi
ng
dock at Mode
Wheel, where, also, large abattoirs
are
to be con
s ~ r u c t e d
by the M a n c h e s t e ~
and
S a ~ f o r d
Corpora
tiOns. Other works are bemg negotiated for while
agreements
are under
consideration for
the
e ~ e c t i o n
BRITISH
OOLONIES AT CHICAGO.
I I - CEYLON.
GREAT BRITAIN s
hin
es at
the
Columbian
Expo·
sition
by the
reflected light of her colonies,
which
have
never
before appeared
to
s
uch advantage at
any
International Ex position. Some, it
is true,
have ab
s
tained altogether
- a wise proceed
ing
for
any co
untry
not prepared to
make
a fully
credit
ab
le display ;
but
those which have
taken part
have
cover
ed
themselves with
credit,
and have to
some
exte
nt
made
good
the
deficiencies of
the
mother
country.
Prominent
among a
ll our
pos
sessions
are New South
\Vales
and
Canada,
but
that is
because they
are the
most
imp
ortant
and
the
richest.
Relatively it
is
hard to judge
who
has
done
the
best
where all have done
so well. In a
recent issu\3 we endeavoured to give an idea of the
ex
hibit made
by
Cape Colony ; to-day we propose to
have something to say about the
display
of Ceylon.
In
July,
1891, Lord Knutsford, Secr
etary of
State for the Colonies, informed the Govern or of
CeyIon that a R oyal Commission
had
been
appointed to look after the interests of Great
Britain
and
her
colonies at
the
Co
lumbian
Exposition, and suggested that if it was in
tended
that
the
island should be
represented,
arrangements should be made direct with the
Co
_mmissioD:.
A local
committee
of
eight distin
gmshed residents was fo
rm
ed,
and
this committee
decided that
it
would
be preferable to maintain an
independen_t position, while ~ o u r s e working
in
harm
ony with the Royal
CommlSSLOn.
The
Colonial
Secretary approved this course, and the work of
preparation_ was
c o ~ m e n c e d The persons
chiefly
Interested In makm
g a successful
exh
ibi t
fr
om
Ceylon were
the member
s of
the Planters
' Associa
tion, their desire
being
to open up new market
l l
for Ceylon
tea in the
U
nited States. So far as
can
be judged,
they will fully achieve this
object,
and reap an
ample
return on
t
he money and trouble
expended by them . In 1891
the Hon. J.
J .
Grin
linton, a
member
of
the
Legislative Council wa
8
appoint
ed
as
spec
ial Commissioner,
and
h e w ~ s in
st r
ucted to
go
to
Chicago
in
1892
to make
arranO'e
ments
for space, &c. ,
with the
Executive of the
Exposition.
One result
of
Mr. Grinlinton 's visit
w
as t ~ e
allotment of
about
28,000 square f
eet
in
four dtfferent
parts
of
the Exposition building
s
and
gro unds, as follows :
The Ceylon Pa vilion
Agricultural ,
1\IIanufactures ,,
Women's
Building
•
...
••
• • •
. .
.. .
.
.
.
.
.
• • •
Sq. Ft.
24,000
1,684
1,350
540
27,574
The
Ceylon Pavilion is beautifully si tuated on
t
he north ~ i d ~
of
the grounds, not far from the
~ e ~ m a n
Bmld1ng,
a n ~
facing
the lake.
Its
design
IS Simple,
rectangular
m
plan, with
a
bold
octagonal
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rotunda
in the centre,
and
entrances at the
c e ~ t r e
of
each
end
and at front and back. The
obJect ?f the architect in designing
this
pavilion
lvas
to ~ n t r o d u c e
as much native work
as possible.
-:A-ccordmgly,
find
t h a ~
the_four stairways lead
Ing
to the main
floor, whiCh
1s
rais
ed
4 ft.
above
the
ground, are in .r
ichly carved
stone, copied or
a d a p ~ e d from the r ~ 1 n s of temples
that
still
mark
the s1te of the ancient capital of Ceylon,
and
date
from 545 B. c. to 1235
A. D.
Pa
ss ing
through the
handsomely carved
portals,
the
visitor
finds
him
self
in the main hall, the ceiling of which
is
B ;Jpp
o
rted
by
t ~ e n t y
-
f?ur
e
laborately
carved
pillars ~ r r a n g e d 1n.
two
he rs, the upper portion
supportmg
the higher r oof of the pavilion ;
all of these columns, with their curious cross
bracket capitals, are copied from
the
finest ex
amples f decorative work possessed hy c ~ y l o n .
T h ~ cetlmg the pavilion is
di
vided into panels of
sat1nwood riChly carved, and the inner faces of
the
w a ~ l s are filled with paintings executed
by
native
art1sts: Perhaps
the most important
feature of the
court
1s
the
tea-room that
is
placed at the
top of
th_e
~ e n t r a l .
u n ~ a
access being obtained
by
a
wInding starrway,
Inclosed
within
a
screen
of very
elaborately carved wood. This
room which
com
mands beautiful views of the lake and grounds,
has
proved. a great attraction to
privileged visit
ors, and
from It a general
knowledge
of the virtues of
C e ~ l o n tea has been distributed to
all
parts of the
United ~ t a t e s : The exterior of the
building is
f r a ~
In
satmw.ood,
and
t
he
steep tiled
roofs
are
copied from classic Ceylon architecture. Th e cases
within this characteristic building are of satinwood
and ebony, and a
re
crowded with the natural and
m a ~ u f a c t u r e d products of
the
island, specimens of
nahve art, &c.
The
architect of
the
pavilion is
Mr.
H.
F. Tomalin,
Public
Works D epa
rtment
,
Ceylon. The
smaller
courts-those
in
the
Agricul
tural, Manufa
ct
ures, and "\Vomen's Buildings
though,
of
course,
much less o
rnate, are
conceived
and executed
in
the same
spirit.
We
have
said
that
the primary inducement to
exhibit at
Chicago was the
wish
t o make known
Ceylon tea in t he
United
States;
it
followed
naturally
that
everything
should be made
to reflect
the importance of this growing industry. Even
in
this country few pe ople realise how great has been
the development of tea plantation in an island
whose staple product we are accustomed to believe
is
coffee.
As
a matter of fact, however, this la
tte
r
indu
st
ry
is
in
decadence, hav
in
g
been
a
few
year
s
since irreparably damaged by disease ; the conse
quence of this disaster was
that
coffee planters
started
on
the cultivation of tea.. Th e first imports
were made to this country in 1873 , when 23 lb.
were sent over ; in 1880 this had grown
to
162,575 lb. ; in 1885 to 4,372, 000 lb.; in 1890 to
45,799,000
lb
.; and in 1892
to
71,809,000 lb. At
the
present
time no
less than 265,000 acres are
under tea
cultivation, and it is worth
noting
that
while the profitable limits
of coffee
cultivation
are
fixed
between
2000 ft.
and
5000
ft. above sea
l
eve
l,
te
a
plants
flourish
fr om near
sea
level
to 6000 ft.
above
it, the
more
deli
cate and lesser
yields coming
from the higher elevations.
The
crops
vary fr om
350 lb. to 700 lb. per acre, though this rises
as
high
in
some
cases
as
1000 lb.
The climate appears
especially favo urab le
for
tea cultivation,
as
the
le aves are
picked
aJmost
continuously
at
intervals
of
ten
days.
When
b
rought to
the
fac
tory
it
is
spread thinlyon shelves and left to wither for
twenty
four hours (or longer in wet weather), after which
it is
put
on to
rolling machines
for
a
short
time,
and allowed to ferment in shallow trays for a few
ho
urs.
Th e final process consists in exposing the
fermented mass to a temperature of from 180 deg.
to
240 deg. for about a quarter of
an
hour. After
cooling, separation
by
means of screens assorts
the
tea
into different
q
ualities,
and it
is ready
for pack
ing,
an operation preceded
by
a
second heating
to
150 deg.
India
and
Ceyl
on
h
ave
well-nigh
driven
China
teas
from the
British
market,
and
Ceylon
may
be proud of this
comparatively
new
in.dustry,
wh.ich
places her in the van of
tea-producmg countries,
and as3ures
for
her a s
ource
of weal th not
likely
to
be troubled by disastrous co
mpetition.
The
area
of land
placed
under cultivation
for
this purpose is
annually increasing, and it appears a moderate
estimate to expect that within the next five years
300 000 acres will be devoted to the production of
at ~ a s t 100 million pounds of tea. With
the
ex
ception of some 5 million pounds c?nsumed in
the
island, all
the
rest
must
find a foretgn market, and
N G I N R I N G
hitherto th.is has been
attended with
no difficulty.
The
following Table
shows
the
proportions
in
which
foreign
countries purchase tea
from
Ceylon,
and
indicates
great possibilities of
increase
in the
near
future:
Countri
es.
United Kingdom
Austria. ... .. .
Belgium . . .
France
..
.
Germany ...
Holland ..
• ••
•
••
Italy .. .
Russia.
..
.
• • •
•••
Spain
..
.
Sweden ..
•••
• • •
Turkey .. .
India ...
.
•• •
Australia. .. .
• • •
America .. .
• • •
Africa. .. .
• •
•
China ..
•••
Singapore . .
~ I a . u r i t i u s ..
• • •
• • •
~ I a l t a
..
Total
• • •
1891.
.
63,7
44,987
... 74,426
.
85
. 21,210
. . 92,291
. 2,280
.
4,
649
.
11, 2il0
... 16,995
...
300
. 4,211
. . 620,161
. 3,210,5
98
... 1
63
,187
.. 70,828
.. 163,041
. 3, 618
. . 68,783
. .
2 000
. 68,27
4,
420
1892.
64,815,075
93,793
605
1u,374
123,077
970
4,279
400
13,380
3,130
528,037
5,166,154
100,8D3
64,728
103,988
11,381
89,617
18,326
71,153,657
This
very
extensive
industry
gives
employment
to a
la r
ge
number
of persons, pr
obab
ly
not
less
than
200,000.
Out
of the three million of inhabi
auts of Ceylon,
more
than two millions are engaged
In agriculture. Of
other industries the principal
are
as
follows :
Small
traders, 62,000 ; coir workers,
64,000; carpenters, 46,000; fishe
rmen,
25,000;
j e ~ e l l e r s
19,000
; ca.rters,
58,000;
plumbago
miners, 8000 ; blacksmiths, 13,000 ;
gem
diggers,
800.
By
the last census
the na
tionalities
were
thus
defined:
Europeans . . . .
4,
678
Singhalese . . . . 2 041,158
Burghers . ... . . ... . . 21,231
Tamils . . . . . 723,853
Moormen... ... ... ... ... 197,166
:Malaya . . . . .. .
10,
Veddahs . . . . . . .
1,229
The
Europeans
are
chiefly
English.
The
Sin
ghal
ese aud
the V
eddahs form
th
at
part of
the
population peculiar
to Ceylon.
The former
are
of Aryan race,
fr
om the north of India, the con
nection between
these
remote
places
being proved
by monuments
datin
g from 250
B. c., and
by Indian
literature
still
more
remote.
The Tamils occupy
chiefly the northern part of the island, and are a
dist inct race, coming
fr
om Southern India,
which
st i
ll
furnishes
a
la r
ge
number
of immi
g
rants.
The Moorm en are of Arab stock, and
in Ceylon, as in Southern India, control a
large part of
the
local t ra de,
but
live quite
distinct fr om
the
other races, following their
ow
n
customs, religion, a
nd
laws. Th e Ivlalays are
chiefly descended from transient dwellers on the
island coming from the Malay Peninsula. The
Burghers are also a race apart.
They
come
from
the
Portuguese, who owned
the
island from
about 1500
to 1650, and f
rom
the
Dutch,
who succeeded them
and
remained
in
possession till near the end of the
la
st century, when
it
became
the property of
this
country.
Of
co
urse
t h ~ Burghers, with
but
few
exceptions, cla1m
Sing
halese as well as European
ancestors.
These
three millions of very
mixed in
habitants live in a country
richly
endowed by
nature. Th e island has an area of 25,333
square
miles,
of which about one-sixth is mountainous
country,
attaining
a
maximum
height
of 8296 ft.
Th
e famous
Adam's Peak is the fifth in altitude of the moun
tains
of Ceylon. Most of these
mountains
are
wooded to the summit. Rivers are not numerous,
and carry but little water in the
dry
season the
most important is the Mahaweli·ganga,
the
Ganges
of
Ptolemy,
which has a main stream of 150 miles
and
drains
one-sixth of
the
island. The heat is
not
excessive, and almost any variety of climate
can be found between
the
sea
level
and
the moun
tain
tops.
The
rainfall has
a great range, from
about 35
in.
in some pa rts of the
island
to 228 in .
in ot
hers.
The rate
of m
orta
li ty in th e
towns
ranges from
1.6 to 4
per cent.
n the CeyIon
Pavilion at Chicago the physical and
ethnographical
features of the country
are admirably illustrated
by
maps and
diagram s prepared by
native exhibit
ors,
and
by life-sized m o d e l ~ of the different
native
races . The
mineral
resources ar e also shown by a
la rge collection of spec
im
ens. \1inerals in Cey Ion
are very
numerous,
but
on
ly
e
few
are
found
in
paying quantities. Iron is abundant, but coal does
not
exist.
Gol d, platinum, cobalt, t in, copper,
&c., are also found, but n
ot
in paying quantities.
Plumbago in splendid quality is obtained in qua.n-
[SEPT.
I , 1893.
tities
large
enough to add sensibly
to
the revenue
of
th
e
country. Gems are abundant,
though few
are fo
und
of great size
and perfection.
They are
chiefly
sapphires, rubies,
zircon , amethyst, cat's
eye, moonstones, garnets, &c. The pearl fisheries
of Ceylon have long been famous.
As
we
hav
e
already
said,
more
than
two
millions
of the three million inhabitants are occupi
ed
in
agriculture.
Rice fo
rms
the staple food of the
population,
and the
cultivation
of
paddy,
from
which the rice is produced, gives occupation to a
p r o p ~ r t i o n . There
are.
no less than sixty
different
kinds
of
paddy
cu
lt i
vated,
one
of
which
is grown on non-irrigated
land,
and a few varieties
are grown with tank irrigation. The remainder all
~ e q . u i r ~ swampy land, which can be submerged by
Irr1gatwn canals for some weeks, until the surface
has become quite free fr om weeds. The seed mean
time is spread on
the
ground and allowed to ge
rmi
nate,
and after a succession of soakings it is in a con
dition to
be
sown.
The
field
is then
drained
and
smoot
hed,
and
the
germinated
seed is
spread
broad
cast
;
after
a
delay
of
seven
days the water is
ad
mitted,
and the field is kept
submerged
until the
grain ripens, attention
being paid
during the
two
or three months occupi ed, to
careful
weeding.
When
nearly
ripe, the water is again
withdrawn
and
the
harvest
takes place.
The
various pro
cesses are well illustrated in the Ceylon Pavilion.
So also are the industries connected with the
palm
tree, of which several varieties are of great import
ance.
The kitul
palm yields sugar
and
toddy,
a
favourite intoxicating drink,
obtained
from the sap
flowing from the excised flower stalk. As
much as
two gallor•s of sap is thus obtained from a single
stalk in twenty-four hours. After filtration and
boiling the sap crystallises into
the
native sugar;
about
six
million cakes, or 893 tons,
of
this
product
are
made
and
sold in the island. The wood of
the
kitul
palm
is used for construction, and especially
for ir rigation
flumes.
B r t ~ s h
fibres
are
also
manu
factured from
this palm. The
areca
palm is
very
largely cultivat
ed
for
the nuts
it
produces, and of
which about 6000 tons are
exported
annually ; the
wood of this
palm
is also
used
in building.
Rattans, aloes, and h
emp
are the
other agricultura
l
staples of the island . These
are
illustrated at
the Exposition by raw
products
and
manufactured
articles in great variety.
As
with other Crown colonies, the
Governor
of
the island,
aided
by the
Executive
and Legislative
Councils,
makes
and
administers
the
laws,
which
are
subject to the approval of the Crown. The
Execu
tive Council consists of five of
the
principal Govern
ment officers. The Legislative Council is composed
of
the
Executive, four other Government officers,
and
eight
un oilicial members chosen by
the
Gove
rn
or. A very complete system of
native
village
councils has established
the
principle of self
government. Public education has been largely
developed in the colony,
under
the aid of a
Govern
ment grant and
with the co-
operation
of various
missionary
societies,
no
le
ss
th
an
154,000
childre
n
being r egularly
instructed.
No one can
examine
the various exhibits of this
interesting
colony without receiving the
impression
that its prosperity is great
and
steadily increasing
under British rule.
We
believe, as we
have
already
said,
that the planters of Ceylon will be well r epaid
for their
enterprise,
and will
estab
lish
large
and
profitable business relations with the United
States.
And we are quite sure that they could not have
intrusted
their
interests to a commissioner better
adapted in all respects to protect and promote
them, than
the
Hon. J. J. Grinlinton .
A NON-ARCING
LIGHTNING
ARRESTER.
MR.
ALE
X
ANDER tT
W ultTS
has done
good
service for the
protection
of electric
lighting and
electric
power stations
by
his lightning
arreste
r.
In
a heavy thunderstorm there
is
always the possi
bility
of the discharge finding its way through the
line to the
dynamo
and injuring
some
vital part.
Many devices have been designed to protect
vari
ous
installations
aga inst this danger the
extensive
experience of the
We
stinghouse Co
mpany,
of Pitts
burgh,
favours that
introduced
by 1\Ir.
\Vurts.
I t is
plain
that an efficient
lightning
arrester
must
1)
affo
rd
a
ready
pas
sage
to earth
for
the
dis
charge, and (2) it must
pr
event th e dynamo fr om
short
-circuiting itself on the passage of the flash.
Mr. \Vurts' arrangement is shown in Fig. 1,
where
seven cylinders of his all oy are arranged
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SEPT. I, I893·]
•
vertically and at a very short distance
a p ~ r t
th' s
forming six air-gaps. Tho number of cylinders In
an arrester depen
ds
upon the chara
cter
the
circuit for which it is constructed.
The
cy
lmd
ers
are usually 1 in . in diamete r, 3 in. long, the in
terval being t' in
The
diagram, F1g. 2, shows
the
.
dynam
o t.er
mina.ls conne cted to the extreme cylmders, whil st
the middle one is
put
t o
ea
rth. One arrester,
th erefore, serves to protect both sides of the cir
cuit. When the lin e becomes charged, spurks leap
across
the
air-gaps on both sides
the
grounded
cylinder,
through
which
the
disch
ar
ge is harmlessly
conducted to earth. As
the
cylinders are massive,
there is no danger of their being burnt
out;
and,
moreover as
the
alloy used will not maintain an
a.rc it foliows that the heavy current which may be
will not follow in the
path
of the dis
charo-e and the dynamo cannot short-circuit itself
for : ny appreciable length of time.
Th
e s
urf
aces
of the cylinders being roughened, there are
hundr
eds
of confronting po
ints
to facilitate the discharge.
Piu. 1.
1
86/ A
•
The
action of
the
arr ester is easily illustrated by
passing the discharge from a L eyden battery
through
it,
when bluish sparks
are
seen correspond
ing to the air-gaps.
The following test has also
been
made.
An
arrester
similar to that shown in
Fi
g. 1 was placed
in
c
ircuit
with
a.
dynamo. Six of
the
ai r-gaps
were bridged over with a thin piece of
tinf
oil. On
closing t.he switch, often only one
bright
spa
rk
was
seen, the
strip
s of tinfoil remaining in tact, thus
showing how very rapidly
th
e short circuit was
interrupted. Had any other than a. non-arcing
m
eta
l been used, it is evident that the machine
would run
ser
ious risk of being completely de
stroyed.
Thi
s arrester is substantially made ;
and
as
it
contains no moving parts, no coils to offer any
impedan ce
to the
pas3age of th e discharge, it re
quires no adjustment and no special attention.
During
the
past year more than 2000
ha
ve been
in
use in various
parts
of the Uni
te
d StateS', their
performance giving everywhere great satisfaction.
Several instances are recorded in which the lig
ht
ning sparked incessantly across the cylind ers with
out damaging the ar resters or even
interrupting
the service.
Experience shows, however, that in cases of
excessive discharges a division may occur
at
the
station arrester, a part going
th r
ough the air-gap
S\nd the re
st
through the dynam
o.
'£his leads to
the conclusion that long lines mu st be
further
pro
vided with their own arrester. When this is done,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
no severe
strain
will ever be put upon the station
arrester
and
th e dynamos
and
transformers will be
perfectly
sa
fe. Of course,
it
is ass
umed
t h a ~ good
earth connection is made by as short
and
duect a
lin
e as possible. .
Electric railway circuits
are
also very hable to
inj ury fron1 lightning discharges. This arises from
the
fact t
ha
t
the
t rolley
lin
e is
dir
ectly exposed
to
th
e influence of the electrically disturbed atmo
sphere. I t is true that one pole of
t ~ e
dynamo
also of the motor is grounded (see Fig. 3).
At
first
it might seem that this arrange
ment w ~ m l d
be ~ u ~ -
cient
to
carry
off a
ny
charge
that
mig
ht
preJ udt
cially affect
the
working conditions of
~ h e
lin e ; but
it
is found in practice that th e field coils an.d
ar
ma
ture
coils of
the
dynamo offer some considerable
impedance to discharges of an oscillatory
and
high
fre que
ncy
character, as lightnin g flashes
ar
e known
to be, the result being a remarkable to
"side-flash" to the frame of the machine, thus
breakin Y down the insulation
and
disabling t he
b
dynamo.
,.
"
. .
LIN
/16(8
- ··
•
I '
I 1
I
o
4
i
•
o
I o
'
Fig . 2 .
•
CROCI
NO
•
'
.
To provide against these dangers, the Weating
house Company have devised the
"keyst
one
arrest
er "
sh
own in Fig.
4. By
comparing Figs. 3
and 4, it will be seen that the path of th e discha rge
will
be fr
om the
lin
e across the air-gap of the
arrester, and thence t o earth. In leaping across
this air-space, sufficient h
eat
is produced
to
expand
th e air inclosed within the chamber; and thus
violently to blow out the two carbon rods or arms
(shown as black heavy Jines) passing
throu
gh
the
marble sides of the apparatus. As the carbon tips
se
parat
e
fr
om
the
carbon blocks, against which they
slightly press, two new arcs are formed, which
further
increase the suddenness
and
violence of the
expansion of the air within the chamber. The arms
are thus
driven
out
into t
he
position shown by
the
dotted lines (Fig. 4), thereby breaking the circuit
and
protecting the machines.
The
arms
strike
a
horizontal bumper and fall back at once into their
normal position,
the arrester being
then ready for
further
discharges.
The
action of the
appara
tus
is
infltantaneous as
a pistol shot ; the duration of the discharge is prac
tica
lly inappreciable, and the t ime during which
the dynamo is
short
-circuited is infinitesimal, and
hence no damage can ensue. In a recent trial the
entire
power-house of one of the large electric
railway compa
nies
of
New York
was short-circuiied
th r
ough this arrester,
and
the circuit was inter
rupted so promptly
that
no spark whatever could
be noticed at t
he
brushes of
the
generators.
The arresters used by the Westinghouse Com-
279
:
pany
depend for their ele
.ctric
e ~ c i e n c y o.n the
complete absence of all coils of wire.
I t
IS ld
mitted
th a
t rapidly s c i l l c h a r g e s are im·
peded
not only by t
he
ohmic resistance of the ?
On
ductor through which they pass,
but
also and f i y
by
its
self-induction. These
arrester
s o f f e S i m ~ l e
and direct path to earth for t he dtsruptive diS·
charge, a
nd
the mechanical
~ r r a n g e m e n t s are
so
determined as to ope rate with
promptness
and
certainty, thereby offering protection
to
the gene·
rat ing machinery.
N 0 T E
S.
THE NoRTH
SEA
-BALTIC CANAL.
THE approaching t i o n of the North Sea·
Baltic Canal (the canal w11l no do
ubt,
be opened,
accordino- to the original plan, in 1895) has caused
quite a. ~ u m b e r of
important
enginee
ring und
er
takino-s t o be t
ake
n in hand , or , at any rate,
se
rio; s
ly proj
ected.
The
Cope
nh
agen
free
harbour,
which will entail an expenditure of about 1,000,000l.,
must be
classed among these, a
nd at
Dantzic
the
buildino of a. free harbour is now under discussion.
In
Sweden
the
Malmo will be materially
ex
tended,
and
othe
r schemes have also been
to
the for e.
Liibeck has extended her quay acccommodation;
and
the
Trave-
Elbe
Canal will, no do
ubt,
soon
be
commenced. Pillau and Konigsberg will be con
nected by a ca.nal20 ft. deep, which will cost about
375,000l. The town of Stettin is expending 550,000l.
upon
an
extension of bulwarks
and harb
ours,
and
Br
emen will
apply
1, 500,000l.
to t.
he
deepen
in
o
of th e vVeser.
Hamburg,
finally, is
building
a deep harbour at Cuxhaven; a n ~ at Kiel material
extensions of the
harb
our are be1ng
urgently ad
vo
cated; in any case some additional quay accommo
dation will
be
prov
id
ed for.
ELECTRIC RAILW
AY
S.
The recent
repor t of the
Committee
appointed
to
frame clauses for inser t ion in the Bills promoted by
electric railways (see page 85 ante emphasises the
well-known fact that there is a la rge
amount
of
leakage when the rails are used as conductors for
the
current. When
only one rail is used for
this
pur
pose the leakage is into the earth, and
thence
along
any
pipes
or
wires that offer
an
easy path.
When
iho rails are used as the positive and n egative con
ductors respectively, the leakage becomes very much
more serious, and, indeed, is practically prohibitive
of
this
method of working.
Our
co
lumns
cont.ain
accounts of several
at t
e
mp t
s to avoid
this
difficulty
'
Fig .
l
ig.2 .
--·-
- -
- - - ··--
by carrying the
current in
buried conductors and
connecting short lengths of rail to these at intervals,
so that
the
leakage is localised. A more rece
nt
method, proposed by Lord Alfred
Spencer
Chur
chill, is to make connections
to the
buried
insulated conductor every 20ft.
or
so, and at each
to
erect
a special
contact
piece ab ove
the
road
way. On the vehicle is a brush so long that it wiH
always touch one of those contacts, and thus
always be in communication
with
the
main
con
ductor.
In
the annexed
view C is t
he buried
con
ductor, A the contact piece, and E
the brush.
HI
GH
SPEED ON RAI
LWAYS
.
In a paper read bef
ore
the Engineers' Club of
Phi adelphia, Mr. C. S. C
hu r
chill, permanent way
i n e e r
to
th e orfolk ~ n d
'Y
es ern
Rail
way,
discuss
ed
the questwn of
h 1 ~ h
speed on railways.
The
speeds
Mr.
Churchill
had
in view were such as
100 miles per hour, and for th is he considers that
the maximum grad es should not exceed 20ft.
or
possibly 30 ft . per mile. The quickest curves
should
not exceed 2 de g. (2864 ft. radius). Tho
road-bed should have four tracks, the inner ones
being
reserved for the high-speed passenger traffic.
The tracks should be spaced at least 13 ft. centre
to· centre,
~ n d every
precaution
ta
ken
to
prote
ct
them by usm g
moderat
e slopes of the cuttino-s and
embankme
nts. In
aarth
the
slopes should lt
to
1, in solid rock
t
to 1, and
in
o s e rock from
t
to
1 t o 1 t o 1, as
may
be required.
Berm ditches
should be provided at the
top
of all cuttings. N
0
level crossings
should
be permitted. The bridges
where the
span
is not too great should be
of
masonry, and elsewhere plate
girders should
be
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280
used
up to 100 ft. span ,
and
up to 120 ft. span all
truss bridges should
be of
the riveted
type.
The
sleepers
sh
ould be 7 n.
by
7 in. by 8t ft., and
there
should be 3000
per
mile.
The
rails should we igh
100 lb . per
yard,
and n1ight
be 5f in.
high,
with
a base
l in. wide, and a head 2i
in.
wid e. The number
of
rail j oin t s
should be reduced
by
layin
g the rails
in
60-ft.
l
engt
hs, the s
paces
for
expansion between the
rails
being
as
a maximum t in. Some
better
method of securing
the
rail to
the
sleepers th an
s pikes should
be
u
sed.
The
Bush
in terlocking bo
lt
is s imple, and has
given
good results. Guard rails
should be used on
all
bridges,
the
distance between
the
guard
rail
and
the
main
rail being
7 in
. All
sw
it ches sh o
uld
be protected by distant sign a
ls,
set
sufficiently
far from
t he switches for the trains t o
be able
to
stop after
sighting the signal and befor e
reaching the switch.
THE EL ECTRI C LIGHT IN B uD A-P E
sT
.
The
la t
est example
of
a gas co
mpany
s adapting
itself to m odern requirements and subst ituting
incandescence
lamp
s for
ga
s burners is re ported
from the Hungarian capital. The General
Austri
an
Gas Company,
of
Buda-Pest, have
commissioned
Messrs.
Schu
ckert
and
Co., of
Nurnberg,
to supply
everything
necessary
for
the illumination
of th e
capital, the company retaining the
mana
gement
of
EM
DC
OM
L
s
the
installation.
Th
e
actual
plant
is for 16
,000
incandescence
lamp
s of 16 candles
;
provision is,
however,
to
be
made
for a considerable extension,
probably
tripling, of
the plant. The lighting of
certain
districts
is t o commence with December.
The installation will be intere
st i
ng not
only for
ils
dimensions, but chiefly for t he combination
of
the
continuous and the alt
ernat
ing or rather diphase
current s
ystems.
Th e feeding
of the lamp
circuits
will
be
effected
by means of co
ntinuous
-current
dynamos and accumulators .
Th
e p owe r house
b eing, h owever, at a distance of
two
miles from
the t o
wn,
high-pre
ssure
al tern
at o
rs
have
be en
selected as primary generators
not
to require
t)O heavy conductors. Two triple-expansion
steam
engines of 50
0 h o
rs
e - power eac h are
being ere cted in t h e powe r house. They are
coupled
directly
with two
dipha
se dynamos for
1800
vo
lt
s and 100
amperes,
connected in parallel,
who
se
fi
e
lds
are
excited
by
two smaller dynam
os.
These exciters will supply
the
current for Jighting
the
p ower ho
use.
The
main
currents
pass through
three
lead-covered
cables
to th e two diphase
mo tor s. Each of
the
iro
n-sheathed
cable
s con
ta
in
s two concentric leads, the third cable remain
ing for reserve. The m oto rs are again
directly
coupled with the continuous-current dynam?s,
whose
current
flows t o tw o accumula
tor
batten es
of 148
cells eac
h of a capacity of fr om 1500
to
2200
ampe;e-
hours, disc
ha r
ging
at
ab
o
ut
500
amp
eres. The three-wire system will
be
adopted
for
the
lamp circuits. The annexed
di a
g
ram e
x-
plains the connections. S represents lamps at the
station,
E D t he exciting dynamo,
EM
the exciting
magnets
D G alternate
double-current ge
nera
to
r,
D
M
a l t ~ r n a doub le-
current
motor, D continuous
current
dynamo, L line, A battery. R ot
ary
trans
formers
of the
polyphas
e ~ y p e are al
so
spok_en
of
in
t he
in f
o
rmation
supplied
t o
us.
A l
.a
rg
e In
stallation of this kind will b e watched w1th con
siderabl
e
interest.
CoNCRETE PIERS IN
NovA
ScoTI A.
In a
pap
er presented to the International Engi
n eering Congress,
Chicago, Mr
.
Martin
Murphy,
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
C.E., de
sc
r ibes the u
se
of conc
rete in
brid<>'e
sub
structur
es
in N ova
Scotia
. For s
uch
o ~ e s
con
cre te has, he claims, many advantages. Suitable
stone
for ashlar work is often
unobta
inable at a
reasonable price, and
th
en conc r
et
e is much
cheap
er .
Concrete piers can also be built by unskilled labo
ur
,
and
with
great rapidity. During the past
ten
years
the piers and abutme
nt
s
of
147
bridg
es have b
ee
n
built
of
con crete in Nova Scotia, and of th ese o
nly
one has fa iled,
and in this
case the want of success
was due
to
ca
reless
workmanship. Th e
climate of
Nova Scotia is very
tr
y
in
g
to
or
dinary
masonry,
as
i t ra nge s from 15 deg. below zero Fahr. t o 90 deg.
above .
In
one
case
t he masonry
piers of
a la r
<>e
bridge proved
a constant so
ur c
e of ex pen
se to
the railway company. The water pe
netrat
ed the
masonry
at high tido, and on
the tide
re ceding
fr
oze
there ,
dislodging
th e s tones . I t
was
finally
determined to case the whole pier
in
concrete, a
nd
since t hen th er e has
been
n o
furth
er trouble. In
forming
piers
of
concrete
the heart of the pier w
as
made out of
ru
bble concrete, and t he face out of
fine concr et e . This fine concrete consisted of one
part clean gravel, t wo parts
sand
, and
one pa r
t
P ortland cement.
Th
e hearting
was forme
d by
laying
the
rubble stones
in
position by hand .
None
of
th ese
stones
weighed less than 20 lb . , and
th ey
were placed
2
in.
to
3
in.
apart. The who
le
was finally
D
grouted up with
fine
concrete, so
that
the
co
mp
osi
ti on of th e hearting was five
parts
rubble stones, one
part g
rave
l, two
sa
nd, and o
ne
P ortland cement.
Many arches were
al
so built of concrete . At fi rst
care was taken to avoid hori zon ta l planes of
wea
kn
ess by build
ing
up
the concrete
in la
ye r
s
with
radial j oints,
so
that each layer resembled a
voussoir. t
present,
however, the a rches are
built en masse sufficient material being
pr
ovid ed
to complete the
job at
once. In depos
itin
g con
cre te under water,
Mr
. Murphy
ha
s made
us
e
of
paper
bags stiffened
with
g
lu
cose, a
nd holding
1
cubic
fo ot of
con
crete eac
h.
Th
ese
a.re mad e up
qu
ick
ly and deposited rapidly one after the oth er.
The
paper is immediate
ly
d
es t
roye d by t he sub
mers io
n,
and the
con
cr
ete
remains. Th e cost
of
the b
ag
s is about 35 cents pe r cubic yard of con
crete. Th is method has been successfully employed
in 15ft.
to
18 ft. of
wat
er.
NOTES
FROM
THE
UNITED
STATES.
PHILADELPHIA ,
August 22, 1893.
IT is safe
to say
that at no time in the history of
th
e
co
untry was there so much business held in check,
awaiting t he ac
ti
on of the Government on quest ions of
finance. R ail
road
companies three
months
ago bad
plans completed for consid erable work in track-laying,
the putting in of machinery, and the extension of
facilities ; much of this
pr
ojected
work
is
at
a stand
still
.
Hundreds
of
enterpri
ses have been set aside f
or
the
tim
e being, which, if prosecuted, would
sust
ain
q
ui t
e a demand for iron and steel
pr
oducts. A
ll
branches of the
iron
trade suffer a
lik
e. The li ttle
bus
iness that is coming in is coYering only immedi
ate
requirements. Prices have not \ ar i£d for two or three
a
nd
it seems impossible
to make
any impres
sion on them. The wee
kly
production is now
about
100,000 tons of crude iron. Pig tin has dropped, and
t inplate moves sluggishly. Th e ar rival of large ship
ments of gold,
and th
e prospect of
an
ea rly vote upon
th
e silver question
at
vVa
sh
ington,
are
creati
ng
anticipations of relief. Coal pr oduction continues
heavy in
all
regions. The coke output has very
largely declined , owing
to
suspension of furnaces,
mill s, and foundries. Manufacturing in terests hope
for a reaction as soon as
the
public mind is set at rest.
[SEPT.
I 1893.
A WATER-COOLED BRAKE
ERGOMETER.
By FREDERICK J. SMITH, Millard L ecturer in
Mechanics, Trinity College, Oxford.
TH E difficulty of keeping the coefficient of friction
co
n
s
tant
in
th
e brake ergometer must have been experienced
by many who have tried
to
determine
th
e work done by
motors of different descriptions, wh en subjected to
various elect rical conditions. In some of my earliest
wo rk on thi s subject,
an
account of which
wa
s published
in 1882, I fi
nd th
at an unlubricated web band
or
rope,
acting as a brake on a well-polished pulley, ave
E co
n
s
tant
frictional resistance, as long as
the
temperature
was
kept
lo
w,
n
ot
above
25
deg. Ce
nt
.;
I al
so
found thab
the rope did not wear much at such a temperature. By
using a hollow
cy
linder, ha
vi
ng a rather thm face, as the
brake pulley, filled with ice,
th
e tempe
rature
was pre
vented from rising during a short test, last ing about sixteen
minut
es
.
These tests were far more sa
ti
sfactory than any made
with lubricated brake-blocks or lubricated ropes.
Th
e
web or rope is preferable to the brake block, in that its
mass is small when c1mpared to that of a row of bl
oc
ks
attached to a metal band.
Since
th
ese experime
nt
s were made, I find that in
the
motor trials made for the Society of Arts, in which gas
engines were t es ted, a dry rope quite free from lubrica
tion was used,
th
e rise of temperature being prevented by
a
drip
of water on
the
inside of
the
pulley. The results
were excellent. The
l i n ~
of the brake pulley by
means of water has been put mto a practical form by ::1\Ir.
F.
Ga
rr
ett and by Mr. Halpin,
th
e brake pulley i n each
case being furnished with flanges for keeping the water
against the internal surface of the wh eel (Proc. In st .
C.E., vol. xcv., page 17).
In
the brake wheel of Mr.
Halpin the water is supplied to the trough and con
st a
ntly removed by a scoop pipe.
Th
e amount of resist
ance due to this method of removing
th
e ·Water is nob
mentioned.
8
A
D
c
7S?
Believing this method of braking a pulley to be simple
and easily managed, I have constructed an absorption
machine, in which a constant
ci
rculation of cold water is
kept up, the water being introduced and removed along
the
axis of rotation,
so
that resistance to rotation due to
the removal of the water may be as small as possible.
By means of the machine in
th
is paper, a t
es
t
may be easily extended over a long period. A r
eco
rding
cylinder has also been added, so that changes in tension
can be readily obse rved.
The
co
nstruction of the water -cooled wheel is shown in
the figure appended. The water enters
a.
tubular steel
shaft D C
at
C ;
the
shaft carri es the brake pnlley A
and
the dri ving pulley B the water fills A and ows ou t
through the shaft a t D. When the
ma
chine is in a
ct
ion
the
effect of the movement of th e colder and there[Qre
denser
wat
Q from
th
e ce
ntre
is to keep
it
where
it
is
requ
ir
ed, namely, against the inner face of
th
e pulley.
I
he rope is usually tak en once round A ; one end 1s fixed
to a spring balance above
the
machine, and
the ot
h
er
end
ca
rr
ies n
know
n weight.
Th
e rotation of
the
pulley con
stant l
y tends to lift the weight. The spring balance is
furni shed with a poin ter which writes a line upon a
revolving cylinder, so
that
changes in
the
pull on the
sp
ring can be easily observed.
Th
ese are usually found
to be
ve
ry small.
MARINE B OILER
CONSTRUCTION.*
By C. E. STROMEYER, Assoo. M. In st . C.E ., Engineer
Surveyor, Lloyd s Register, Glasgo
w.
IN responding to
th
e request to contribute a paper on
some subject connected with marine engineering, it was
fe lb by th e author that, as his work on boilers is on the
point of being published, and as his time has only re
centl y been much occupied in considering
the
numerous
problems connected with
th ei
r construction,
it
might be
possible to place before this Congress both a
co
ncise and
yet a fairly exhaustive summary of
the pr
esent process of
manufacture. That
th
ese few remarks cannot claim to
be more tha n a. very brief outline will, it is hoped, soon be
apparent ; but that the field is also a very much larger
one than would
at
first si
ght
appear, will
be<'ome
evide
nt
on recalling the various subjects co
nn
ected with it, and
which affe
ct
either the sizes or the process
es
of manufac
ture.
Th
ere are all the
va
rious conditions of working a boiler
at
sea, the ques
ti
on of coal
co
nsumption, leakage, and
corrosion, the
f:ffio
ienoy, heat transmission, funnel
draughts, and priming. All these are impo
rtant
and may not be neglected in determining
the sizes
of
Pa_per read before the
In t
ernat ional Mar itime
Co
n
gress, London Meeting.
-
•
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SEPT
I
I
893·]
boilers. As regards scantlings,
it
is also neressary
to
know how
stee
l behaves after being under the various
treatments to which
it
is subjected in the boiler
yard
as
well
a.s
at sea, to what extent heat affects
it,
what injuries
punching and drilling will produce, and what are the
various causes of spontaneous or mysterious cra
cks and
failures.
But
when all these matters have been sat isfactorily
ascertained, there r
emai
ns
the
as
yet practically
unex·
plored field of stresses in boilers.
The
problems seem
simple
enough-give
n a cylindrical shell, a cylindrical
furnace, a screwed stay or a fiat plate, find what pressure
any one part will sta nd without giving way. But if these
questions
are
examined carefully,
the
simplest of them
grows complicated. Tbuq, screwed st ays of 1 square inch
section might be expected to withstand a pull of from 25
to 30 tons, yet in
a
boiler they sometimes break before
apparently 10 tons is reached. Th is is most probably
due
to a combination of tension and bending stresses, caused
by the re
lative
change of form of the boiler shell
and
of
the combustion chambers, but which is not easily deter
mined. f this uncertainty did not exist, if one could
a c o u r a . t ~ l y calculate
the
st re
ngth
of
the
various
parts
of
a boiler,
then there
would be no need for
the present
high
factor of safety.
On account of the extensiveness of the general subject,
the
following remarks will be re
stricted
to
a
description
of the various workshoP. p r a c t i c e ~ , though to
do
this
without very numerous tllustra.tions
must naturally
be a
difficult
and not
altogether
sa t
isfactory task.
On rer.eipt of the steel plates at the boiler yard they
are
measured, and th en
marked
off, ready for planing the
edges and
fo
r drilling
the
holes. Sometimes the holes
in
the shell plates are drilled before the edges are planed,
sometimes afterwards, and in shops fitted with the newes t
appliances, the boles
are
not drilled until the shell plates
hav
e been bent and bolted together. Thi s plan is recom
mended as being the best, but it is slower
than
drilling the
plates before bending-, because otherwise
the
drilling of
the holes cannot be commenced uutil the planing and
bending is completed, whereas in the
other
case the two
OP.erations end together. Besides, on account of the possi.
bllity of
u s i n ~
multiple drills,
this part
of the work is
ElO
much accelerated,
that
in some shops all holes a re drilled
before bending the plates, and are subsequently enlarged
when the plates have been bolted together. Finally, these
should be separated and the burrs removed, in o
rder
that
none of them may o d ~ e between
the
plates, thus pre
venting
them
from commg into close contact.
The
?rilling of the
s . h ~
plate holes naturally takes up
more t1me than the drtlhng through the thmner plates in
the int
erior of the boiler, not only because these holes
are
fewer and smaller, bub also because
more
drills
ca
n be
employed at one and the same time. On account of the
proximity of flanges, and because of irregularities in the
shape of ruost of these seams, the slower process of hand
dril ing is s t i l ~ indulged in in .many works, only a few
hav10g supphed themselves w1th the necessa
ry
special
drilling machines.
After being planed on their edges, and either before
or
after drilling, the shell plates are bent by passing them
through a system of three rolls which are placed ei ther
horizontally or vertically.
The
operation is very simple
but, for obvious reasons, the ends of every plate that
passes through these rolls cannot have been bent to same
curvature
as the r st of the plate, and requi re to be set
by
othe
r means. Numerous attempts have been made to
arrange
three, four,
and
even five rolls in such a
manner
that th is additional work is not necessary, and presses
have also been used for this purpose; but the results are
not satisfactory, and th e plan now usually adopted is
eithe
r t o leave the plates longer than requ ired, and finally
out off the two
end
s
and
use thEtm as
butt straps,
to heat
the ends of the plates before rolling and to hammer
them
to the proper shape, to press them
into
s
hape
after rolling
between the jaws of a riveting machine, or even to leave
them flat and to
sp
ring them
with
the help of
the
two
butt
st rap
s with which they are covered. Where lap
joints are used, the c u l t y is still greater, because the
Oluvature of one plate 1s reversed, and this change is a
very
sudde
n . In some works Ion$' iron beate
rs
are
placed along th1s lme,
and the
pr
ojectmg
lap hammered
down.
To those engineers who have studied the failures of the
la
st
ten yaars, such a treatment
at
once suggests that it
may ser iously endanger the st rength of the st ructure and
a
few
remark
s on
the injury
done
to
steel
by
w o r k i ~ g
it
at
a. ce
rt
ain temperature, called either blue heat or black
heat, may be of mterest, or rather the following simple
e x p e r ~ e n t s ~ i l l show w ~ a t t h ~ danger is.
Stnps of mtld steel1 i m.
thtck
and 1 in. or 2 in. wide
n.re sbeared about 6 in. or 9 in. long. Of the se No. 1 is
placed half. way under a steam hammer or press and its
projecting end bent down with a sledge hamme; through
an angle of 45 deg. The steam hammer is then lifted
and the
bent part
of
the
angle placed uppermost
and
again hammered down. According to the toughness of
the steel this operation can be repeated from t en to thirty
times before the sample breaks.
No. 2 is placed between two bars of iron which have
b e ~ n heated to a dull redness, and is kept there until the
brtght sheared edges have changed their colour to a straw
or purple one. Tb is sample is now treated in
exactly
the
same way as No. 1, but it will break
after
one or two
bends. f it been heated till
it
had grown dark blue
or even grey. tt would ~ a v e stood as many if not more
bends than No. 1. Thts shows
that
there is a critical
temperature at which steel or iron is rotten.
.. 3 is treated
in
exactly
the
same way as No. 2,
with
thts dtfference, that bending is stopped as soon as a
su r
face crack shows
1t
self.
I t
should be
put
aside for
a
d a y ~ and t h e ~ b ~ broken by simply
throwing
it on an
a.nvtl or
strtkmg
1t wtth a hand hammer. This shows that
N G I N R I N G
•
by
this special treatment steel and iron can be
made
per·
manently brittle. This brittleness is removed
by
anneal
ing,
but
not by long·continued rest.
I t
can be produced
by any mechanical treatment if carried out at a blue heat,
and
it
is not c e ~ s a r y that surface cracks should show
themselves ;
this
is only recommended as a guide to insure
a
s u ~ e s s f u l
experiment.
Applying th is losson to the above-mentioned case of
bending a shell plate near the end of
it
s lap
at
a blue.h
eat,
it is but too probable that
it
will account for many fatlures
at
this
point-that
is, o n inch or two inside of
the
inner
row of rivets.
Heaters are also vory freque
ntly
applied to furnace
mouths and saddles, and it is these ~ a r t s more than any
other which fail
by
c
racking after bemg in
use for some
time. Fortunately,
this
never occurs under steam,
but
afterwards when the boilers have cooled down.
I t would, however, be rash to assume that all such
failures
are
due to injurious treatment
in
boiler
shops;
for
tbare
is only too muoh
ground
for believing that the
temperature of boiler
p l a t ~ s
when
stea
ming
ofte
n reaches
a blue heat,
particularly
under forced draught;
and
where this is combined with a concertina action of
the
various co
rn
ers, brittleness of material and subsequent
cracks may be expected.
Some of these
remarks apply
to the treatment of
internal parts of boilers, but before discussing them a f
ew
remarks on riveting the shell seams are necessa
ry
.
A riveted joint should be both st rong and w a t e r t i ~ h t ;
wheth er thi s is so or not depends not only
on
the destgn,
but also on the workmanship, whether the boles are fair,
wheth er the plates
are
in close contact, and whether the
riv
ets
fill th e holes.
To attain
these various objects
the
plates should not only be well fitted,
but during
the
riv
eting
operation
they
should
bt
firmly screwed together
by num erous bolts, and the press'llre of the hydraulic
ri veter should not be removed until th e riv et 1s fairly
cool, otherwise the
e m a i n i n ~
spring of the plate tEtnds to
stretch
it,
thereby
reducing 1ts
diameter and
also allow
ing_ he seam to open.
The
usual plan of ri'\ 'et ing boiler shells is to
do
all the
long
itudinal
seams first and then
the
circumf
erential
ones,
starti
ng at
the
back end seam. But then, unless
the front
plate
is flanged outwards, its seam
ha
s to be
riveted by band . In a few works special
hydrauli
c
riveters or special steam hammer riveters
do th i
s work.
The following
are
some of the troubles and dangers to
be expected with riveted seams. Lea
kag
es frequently show
themselves
at
the ends of the longitudinal butt-
st
rapped
joi
nt
s, and up to the
present
the only real1y effective means
of preventing this is to
plane
or draw out the
ends
of the
outer butt straps of
the
inner strak es, and to tuck them
in under
the adjoining
strakes. It is customa
ry
either
to drive steel wedges into the
butts
of the outsi
de
strakes
or to substitute ecrewed plugs for the rivets w hieh pass
through their centre lin es. These studs or plugs
are
also
often
used in
stead
of rivets
in
varioud difficult cor·
ners in the combu
stio
n chambers
and
elsewhere.
In
some works such corners and
the
e
nds
of tr oublesome
seams
are
welded. One danger which attends hydraulic
r i v e ~ i n g is, that if too much pressure is applied, or if it is
a.pphed too suddenly,
it may
lead to
the
immediate or
subseque
nt
bursting
of a riv
ete
d seam, so
that
manu
facturers who can boast of the heaviest riveting
unless they use them judiciously, may be
doing
m o r ~
harm than good. Indications of excessive pressure
having been applied to the rivPts can be detected
by
the
u n ~ u l a t o r y sha.pe of the originally s t r a i g h ~ edges of the
var1ous r1veted seams.
During the period that
th
e sh'ell plates of a boiJ er have
been planed,
bent,
drilled, riveted, and caulked, the
plates
of
th
e
i n t e ~ n a l
p a ~ t will have been fianged and fitted to ·
getber, dr1lled, riveted, and caulked ready to go into
place.
To describe the flanging operations in
c
tail would
r
equi
re
far
too much time, and therefore only a very short
summary
ca
n be attempted.
The
edge of
th
e
plate
to be
flanged is heated to redness, about 2 ft. to 4 ft.
at
a time
for hand flanging, and 6ft. to S ft. for machine fianging
the
length n d i n g somewhn.t on the
thickness
of t b ~
plate,
the
thmner ones
g r o w i n ~
cold sooner than the
thick ones.
Th
e plate is placed
on ir
on blocks with
th
e
heated e
dge
projecting, which is then
bent
down eit her
by
an hydraulic press, a steam
hammer,
or
by
heavy
wooden mallets. Hand ftanging is
impra
cticable for
plates above 1 in . in thickness.
but as regards
accura<:y
of
' ~ o r k
all
three
processes
are about
e
qual.
zones may have become brittle. At
any ra t
e, it is well
known that the elongation
d i m i l } i s h e ~
and the tena01ty
increases the slower a steel
test
ptece 1s b r ~ k e n . f tom
asunder by
a dynamite
explosion,. a t e s ~ ptece elongates
about twice
a.s much
as under ordtnary
cucurr•s
tan
ces.
Th
ere is nothing particularly st range in the fact
t h ~ b
such
fra
ctures sometimes extend right across a plate, for 1t
must
be
remembered
that the metal on either side of a
fractu
re is
at
first
moving at
a v e l o ~ i t y
equa
l that
with which sound tra,·els on steel , vtz. , three mtles per
second or about five times fast er than a rifle bullet.
Another
tr
oub
le conn
ecte
d with fla.nging, is that
due
to
the
ve
ry
serious change of f
orm
of all flanged plates
after annealing: v a r ~ o u s m
ea
ns had to be
a ? o p t ~ d
to
preve
nt
it, for otherwise furn
.acE;
holes would r t a ~ l y
be at
least l in. ova
l. Th1s
IS
also
one
of
the
chtef
reasons why
it
is practically impossible to anneal plates
after they
have
been fitted, unless they
are
kept bolted
together
while in the furnace.
That
suflir.ient allowance
(usually in .) is ra rely made for end plates where they
have been hea ted for fittiog together,
ca
n be demonst ra ted
on nearly every boiler,
the
shell plates
at
these
points
generally showing a slight depression
where
they have
been mad e to follow the retreating ruaterial of the
co
rn
ers. Si
milar
remarks apply to the flanged plates of
the combustion chambers.
The
flanging of furna
ce
s
addle
s is
one
of
th
e m
ost
diffic
ult
operations in the boiler yard.
Recently, on
account of numerous failures, much attention has been
directed to th is point, and
the
corn ers, which at one ti me
were
made
almost square, are now only bent to the
gentlest
possible eurves. This is effected
ei t
her by
arranging for the sad dle seam to be on the water side of
the tubeplate, or by making th e flanges deeper. I t is
thought
that the cause of the cracking of
the
se flanges is
due
to
working them
at
a blue heat, which
has already
been exp
lained,
to
th
e injudicious use of heaters during
construction, or to over
-heati
ng
comb
ined with local
s
training
while in use
at
sea
.
All
such riveted-boiler
seams
as are exposed to the
direct
action of the flame, are
liable
to
crack
on Mcount
of over· heating, for
not
only
are
there
tw<>
thicknesses of
ruetal, but the se are se\)ara.ted by two layers of iron sca
lE',
and perhaps by an a.tr or by spongy charred oil
which was used for drilling, and
then
not removed. As
every
one
of
these
substances are ,·ery effective non-con
du.cto:s, no pains should. be spared
removing
them and
brmgmg the two
plates
mto metall1c
contact.
With this
end
in
view,
some
works bore out th e combustion cham
ber
fro
nt
plate,
and machine the back
end of the furnace ·
others
pickle the plates so as to remo
ve
the scale and
others, again, wash the seams with sal-ammoniac but none
of these means wm be efficien t unless
the very
greatest
care is ta
ke
n during the riveting
operation
to
draw the
two ~ l a t e s
quite close toge ther by numerous bolts.
As
the d1fference of the diameters beh•een the furnace and
h o l ~ into which it has to fit is
often more
than in.,
1t
1s
evtdent that the
plates
cannot be brought
into
con.
tact
. unless
th
ey ~ r e s
tr
etched,
eit
her .bY
be
ing
very
hea.
v1 ly
hammered
1f cold, or screwed
up
1f warmed with
heaters .
That
there is danger in both methods has
already
been mentioned, but in practice it seems that
failures need
not be
apprehendE'd
if the plate
s
are heated
beyond a blue
heat.
The riveting of the internal
parts
prese
nt
s no special
difficulties,
and
is chiefly done by hand.
Caulking is the final operation to which
the
plates are
subjected, and
ca
lls for few r
em a
rks.
I t
is customary to
c a - 1 all boiler seams both inside and
out,
and apparently
th t
s ts necessary, for experience seems to show that if
only the outside edges of the seams are
cau
lked they
very
?ften
give. trouble while under s
team,
and
the
general
1 d e ~
pr
eva1ls
that th
ose seams are
the most perfect into
wh1ch no
w a t ~ r
can enter. B u ~ it only re
quires
the most
O';Irsory attentton to the oaulkmg
operations
to be con
v.mced that a
sea
D? cannot be
dep
ended
upon
for water
tightness
UI?-less 1t h.
as.
been
caulked with
the
water
pressure
on
tt, and th ts
1s,
of course, impossible
with the
mner edges. To caulk
th
em for the sake of making
them
watertight would t h e r ~ f o r e appear unnecessary. But if
th e two p l a ~ s are ~ o t JD l?erfect cont act, and if
there
is
a n ~ chance of tbetr rookmg on each other
d u r i n ~ the
various changes of pressure
and
temperature
it
is evtdent
that
und
er certain unfavourable
c o n d i t i o n ~
the outside
~ d g ~ D?ay
open
and leak, and to guard against th is roc
k
mg
1t
IS
necessa
ry
to
cau
lk, or
at
l
east
fuller all the inside
edges, so
that
even
tho
se
jo
in t
s in whi ch
the
pl
ates are
not in COt;ltact wip be firmly
i n g
at least on their two
while the rt vets are holdmg them together
Th e n a l c a u l ~ i n g .
operation
proceeds while the
b y d r ~ u h p r e s s u r ~ IS
bemg
slowly ra ised until double
the
workmg pre ssure
IS
reached.. The necessity for this high
test has been ~ e p e a t e d l y d ~ s p u t e d . but many instances
could be. ment10ned of bo1lers which failed only just
before thts press
ur
e was reached, or whi ch have
exploded
under s t ~ a m pressure a.fter
having
been
only
recently
tested With water; a;nd until such cases can
be
reasonably explamed as bemg due to
other
causes th a
t r e a c h of.
the material,
or
ignorance
of the actual
s t r e s s e ~ at
the
pomts of fra
ctu
re,
the
general public at
leas.t wtll prefer to be assured that their boilers have been
subjected to a severe proof test, and
have
shown them
selves to
safe
under
conditions
which are not likely to
r
ec
ur whtle they are under
their
care.
. Lt ke the other OJ?eration, Banging is also not without
tts
d a n g e ~ s . Burmng
and wasting away and undesirable
deforruatton
may be guarded
against,
but,
in spite of the
v ~ r y
~ e a . t e
ca
re, J?lates which have been fianged and
latd s i ~ e are somettJ?eSfou.nd to
have
crac
ked
overnight.
Anneahng a .Plate m m e ~ a t
after flangin&
is not
always
praott
oable, and m order to reli
eve
1t of
it
s
s e v e
~ e s t
strains
some s
mith
s have
adopted th
a plan of
~ e a t m g t ~ e
centre of every plate immediately after fiang·
tng. t 1s. also affirmed that only such
plates have
cracked wb10h were ke
pt
carefully fiat during flanging
whereas the puckered ones esc
aped
uninju red. '
. Why
plat
es should crack spo
ntan
eously in this manner
1s
as yet a mystery for although there can be no doubt
that one of the oo.uses is th e slowly increasing strain on
th
e
~ l D f l a n ~ e ~ end durin
g
the
period that the flanges
are
co_ohng,
st1
ll1t
seems unreasonable
that
a material which
w 1 ~ l elongate 20 per cent. in a testing machine and show
a s11ky fracture, should
tear
asunder \Vben worked into p c\.CU'IC N A
a Aa:oged
plate,
and then reveal a coarse
stru
ctu re.
To
by the
a n a d i a . ~
P T I < ? f i
yangC
ents have been made
attr1b.ute
these
failures to in
ci pient
flaws
whi
ch
wa
s at
stea
m service
bet
act c V ai way o{z;npa.pny f.or a monthly
o:ne t1me a favourite explanation, is
n o w ~ d a y not
con- and Brisban d Seen a.ncouver tts a016c terminus)
st
der
ed one.
The
only other one
which
at
Victoria
B ~ ~ i
h
bdley.b.
Th
e
dtHmer
s
are
also
to
call
sugge.sts 1s, that
the
slowness with which
the
stresses a conn c . ' .
8 0
um ta, onolu.lu.
At Sydney
grow: m m f e r e n of
th
e plate
destroys
its
du
ctility all
oth r ~ ~ t s w ~ ~ l l ' e : f f r ~ t e d W i t ~ l o c a l
hnes running
to
and mcr eases 1ts hardne
ss to
such
an extent,
that certain .
and
Tasmania. ua
ra
la, as we
as
to New Zeal
and
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 25/33
I
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL
TRIPS.
ON the 24th ulb. the s.s. Olive was taken out on trial
at
the
measured mile at
Tynemoutb,
when a speed of
9 ~ . knots.
was ob
tained , ~ b e vessel
being
loaded.
The
trtal was 1n every way sat1s
fa
ctory. The Olive has been
built by M essrs. W. Harkess and Son, of
Middlesbrough,
for Messrs. J. Burnett
and
Sons, of L ond on, for th e
ir
London and Paris line, a
nd
is fitted with lowering masts
an? funnel, to n a b l ~ h
er
t o pass und
er
bridges across the
Seme. The
dtmens10ns are 173 ft.
by
26 ft. 6
in. by
12ft.
9
in.,
and th e vessel oarries
about 60
0 tons
on
a
d r a u ~ h t of 11 ft. The ~ g i n are by Messrs. Westgarth,
Enghsh, and Co., of M1ddlesbrough, and ha ve cylinders
1 5 ~ in.,
25
in., and
41 in. in diam
ete
r
by
27 in. stroke,
the
steam pressure being
160 lb.
The
second-class cruiser Bonaventure carried out her
four hours' trial of her machinery under forced
draught
in
a h
ig
hly satisfactory
manner
on :Friday, the 25th ult.,
off Plymouth.
On Wednesday
particularly good results
were realised in the
natural
draught trial, when a speed
of 19.2 knots was obtained with an indicated horse-power
of 7340.
On Friday
an indicated horse-power of 9279
was developed, giving a mean speed of
20 knot
s. Th e
contractors' estimated speed was 19.3 knots and 9000
horse-power.
Th
e engines worked smooth
ly
throughout,
and
there
were no signs of a leak anywhere when an
examination of the machinery was made at the comple
tion of the trial. Details follow: Mea.n steam
in
boilers,
145
lb.
; mean steam in engine-room, 136 lb. ;
air
pres
s
ure
in stokeholds, .87 in. ;
vacuum-
starboard, 26.4;
port, 26.1; revolutions
-starboard,
144.9; port, 141.4;
mean pressure
in cy
lind
ers,
high pressure-starboard,
53.1; port, 54 .1 ; intermediate-starboard, 29.5; ~ o r t
29.0; low pressure-starboard, 14
.5;
port, 14
.5;
mdi
cate
d horse-power
- s t arb
oard, 4685; port, 4594-tota.l,
9279 ;
speed by
log,
20
kn ots. The mean speed of three
run
s
along
the land
was
20.3
knots;
in
one
a speed of 22
knots was reached. Before returning to th e Sound gun
trial
s
and
trials of
th
e capstan and steering engines were
successfu lly carried out.
The
helm was put
hard
a-port
from
hard a-starboard in 22 seo .
Th
e s.s. Olimpia, built for
Spa
nish owners by Messrs.
W. H arkessand Son, of Middlesbrough-on-Tees, has just
completed her loaded
trial
on the measured mile. The
dimensions of
the
vessel are 1
60
f
t. by
24 ft. 6 in.
by
12 ft.
3 in. moulded. Th e engines lire by W estgarth,
English, and Co . of Middlesbrough.
Th
e cylinders are
13
in., 21
in .,
and
34
in.
in diameter by
24
in. stroke,
working with steam at 160 lb. presRure. Although a
heavy sea was coming over the bows, the speed was fully
I;Dain
tai
ned .
Messrs. J . M'Arthur and Co., Pa isley,
ha
ve launched
a
"double-ended,
paddle steamer named Kate, built to
the order of
th
e
Penarth Stea
m Ferry Company, of
Cardiff. Engines to propel the steamer at a high rate of
speed are now being fitted on board by Measrs. Bow
M'Lachlan,
a
nd Co.,
of Paisley.
MISCELLANEA.
THEYosb Ty pewriter Company,
Limited ~ v e
removed
their Ir ish branch
from
Central Hotel BUildmgs, Berry
street, to
9,
Rosemary-street, Dublin.
The annual summer excursion of the
Junior
Engi
neering Society, particulars of which were given in our
issue of August 4 la
st,
pas
sP
d off
very
successfully, and
the
members return
ed to town
on
August 19.
Our readers will regret to l
ea
rn that, owing to ill-health,
Mr.
Thomas Urquha
rt
has found
it
necessa
ry
to resig n
his position as manager of the Nevsky
Iron
Works, St.
P eter sburg, and ret ire to this c o ~ n t r y Mr. U a ~ t
has
spent
twent y-five
years in
Russia, and the v a ~ u e of h1;5
contributions
t o
the
advancement of locomotive
eng
i
neering is universally recognised.
We recently mentioned the proposed employme
nt
of a
diving-bell at the barrage across
the
Nile. Mr
.
Lieurnur's
ingenuity seems to have been rewarded. I t IS e p o r t ~ d
that the
di
ving
-bell operations h a ~ e been success
ful
m
locating the
leak in
the bed
of
the
r1ver
on
t ~ e up
stream
side of
the
dam, and endeavours were bemg made to
close
the
passage before
the barrage
gates were opened.
The
flow of water was
utilised to
send a
puddle
of clay
through
the
passage, and it was
hoped
.that some of
th e clay would remain and eventually close 1t up.
From
experiments made
by
Messrs. S ~ e m e and
Halske Berlin it appears that
the
average hfe of m can
descent'Ja.mps different expenditure of watts per candle
p ower is as follows :
Expenditure
of Energy.
1.5 watts per ca
nd l
e... ... .. .
2 ... ... .
2.
5
''
. . .
.
3 " " ... ... .. .
3.5 ' ' . . . .
Life of
L a.mp.
45 hours
200 ,,
450 , ,
1000 ,
1000 "
Th e traffic receipts for the week ending. A u g u 20 on
33 of the principal lines . of the. Umted Kmgdom
amounted
to
1,4
89
,048l., wh10h, havmg been
on
18 388 miles gave an average of 80l. 19s. per mtle. For
t h ~ c o r r e s p ~ n d i n g week in 1892 t ~ e receipts of .the same
lin es amounted
to 1,707,347l., with 18,19 ) mtles open,
giving an
average of 93l. lO
a.
There was thus a d ~ c r e a s e
of 218,299l.
in th
e receipts,
an
i ~ c r e a s e of 189 m .the
mileage and a decrease of 12l. 11s. m
th
e weekly receipts
per
i l ~ . The
aggregate
r e c ~ i p t s for seven weeks. to
date
amounted on
the
same 33 hn es to 1 6 1 1 m c ~ m -
parison
with
11,808,4921.. for the correspo
ndmg
pertod
la
st.year ;
de
crease, 492,379l.
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
In a r
ecent
issue of
the Electrical World
1\ Ir.
E.
F.
N orthup st ates that
quartz
fibres can be obtained in a
similar
manner
to glass fibres. Any
wh
eel more than
3 ft. in diameter
and
4
in. wide
at
th
e rim may
be
used.
The
circum ference is first covered with smooth
black paper, across which a
strip
of fly-paper 1 in. wide
with the
sticky
side
up is
pasted.
A
quartz rod -P
i
n.
to i
in.
in diameter is next prepared
and
fastened on to
a brass rod. The quartz is then melted in the oxy-hydro
gen flame, and
another
rod is
then
brought
in
co
nta
ct
with t he fu sed end. By
means
of this seco
nd
rod a
th read is drawn over
the
wheel, which is rapidly re-
volved, and any le
ngth
of fibre can
then
be drawn out.
The fine fibre
thu
s produced is equal in quality to that
obtained
by
Mr. Boys' arrow
method,
but th
e coarse fibre
is rather
brittle
and weak.
In formation
was
received at Portsmouth on Tues
day
from the
Admiralty
to
the
effect
that
the Ramillies,
tirst·class battleship, will
re l
ieve the Inflexible in
th
e
Mediterranean
Squadron,
and that
the
latter s
hip
will
be
substituted for the Nelson as
port
guardship at Ports
mouth. The Resolution, sister ship to the R amillies,
will take
the place
of
the
Rodney in
th
e Chann el Sq uad
ron, the
latt
er proceeding to
the
Medi terranean to relieve
the Ed inburgh. The Devastation, which
ha
s been reno
vated
at Portsmouth,
is to be port guardship
at
Devon
port
in place of the Swi ftsure, while the Empress of
India, another battleship of the Royal Sovereign class,
will supersede th e Colossus in th e Medi t
er
ran ea.n. the
latter
relieving
the
Audacious as coastguard
ship
at
Hull.
Th ese alterations are made in fulfilment of
the
detel'
mination of the Admiralty
that
the Mediterranean
Squadron
shall
be
exclusively oomposed of high freeboard
ships.
Some experiments on the st rength of concrete beams
recently
made by Mr.
S. R. Lowcock, A.M.I.C .
E.,
show
some interesting results. The beams used were of th ree
sizes, n
amely
, 21
in.
by 18 in.
by
4
i ~ .
30
in. by
18 in.
by
6
in., 39
in. by 18 in. by 19 in.
The
cement used
had
a
tensile stre
ngth
of 665 lb. at seven day s,
and
th e aggregate
was clinker obta.ined from furnaces burning ashpit refuse.
The beams were supported
with
clear spans of 12 in.,
18 in., and
27
in. respectively, and were broken by
weight ing them in
the
ce
ntre.
The
result s show that
the
breaking weight might appro
ximate
ly be represented by
the following formula :
W
=
.06CB D2
L
where W =breakin g weight in cwts., B br
eadt
h, D
depth,
and
L
length, all in inches;
and
C = 1. 9 for 1 and 4t con
crete, 15 days old, and 2.8 for the same 21 days old. Fo r
1 to 6 concrete C = 1.2 for 14·days, and 1.1 for 21·days
concrete. Fo r 1 to 8 concrete C = 0.3 for 14·days, and
0.4 for 21-da.ys concrete.
Th
e Scarborough Electric Supply Company,
Limit
ed,
commenced
the
supply of elect ricit y in Scarborough on
Saturda y last.
A s
yet the current is only available
in
a portion of
the
town, but
the
remaining connections are
being completed as fast as possible,
and
it is expected
that
in
the
colll'se of a week
or
tw
o
the
whole of
the
mai
ns
will
be
in
operation. The company was formed
at
the
e
nd
of last
year
by Mr. A. A. C. Sw in ton under an agree
ment with the Corporation of Scarborough,
and
is work
ing under a transfer of the provisional order obt ained by
the corporation.
The
alternate cur rent high-tension
system, with low-tension distributi on from sub-stations,
is emp loyed. Th e
charg
e for elec
tr
ic
ity
is
at
th e ra te of
7d. per Board of Trade
unit, with
a cash discount and a
slidmg scale rebate amounting to
20
per ce
nt.
as a maxi
mum for large consumers. Colonel R. F. Steble is chair
man, and Mr. A. A. C. Swinton managing di rector and
engineer-in-chief to the company. Th e whole of
the
electric generating plant
and
transformers have been
supplied by Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co., of Heaton
Works, N
ewca.
stle·on-Tyne.
Mr. Y erk es , of Ch icago, has an observatory being
built for him which
will
ec
li p
se the Lick Observatory in
having the
la rgest telescope in existence. Cost is to be
no consideration as long as
the
observatory becomes
the
largest
in
existence. th ~ i e w the new observat<?ry
is to ha
ve
a refr
acto
r
40
m. m dtameter, that of
the
L10k
Obse
rvatory
being only 36 in. The lens is now being
made
by
Mr. A. Clar
k,
W
ashin.gton, while
the
support
ing column and telescope are bamg con
stru
cted
by
Messrs
Warner
and Swasey, Cleveland, Ohio.
The
column will
have a height of 30ft. , and will weigh 45 tons. Upon it
the steel polar axis, 13 ft . long and
w e i g h i n ~ 3i
tons, is
mounted and
upon this,
agai
n,
the de
clinatiOn axis, 1 ft.
in diameter
and
weighing 1 tons. The latter supports
the telescope, which has a ~ n g t h 59 ft . a nd a maximum
diameter
of 4
ft.,
and we1
ghs
s ~ x tons. l t ~ 1 0 u g h
the
total weight of
the
telescope and tts countet:weights IS
7.5
tons, the great instrument may brought mto any post
tion
by
a slig
ht
pressure. Some Idea may be formed of
the height of
tp
e obser vatory
ibis
stated that, if
refractor is pomted to
the
zemth, th e centre of the obJec
tive is 69 ft. above the earth's surface.
In
discoursing in his la test official report to the Colonial
Office on the future of British Honduras, the Governor,
Sir
Alfred
Maloney, refers
to the
question of
rail
way
communi
ca t
ions in Cen tral America as a subject in which
the colony has a. deep i ~ t e r . e . . q t As to the American
inter-continental hne, whlCh IS sa1d to be contempl
ate
d,
it is probable, be s ~ y s that its course would be o n g
the
western
or
Pacific sl
ope
or base of
the
ce
ntral highlands
that
represent the backbone of the .isthmus that e c ~ s
Nort
h with
South
America. Whilst
any
such
hne,
1f
ever constructed, would nob, in Sir Alfred's opinion, fail
to be of moment to British Honduras, the interests and
position of
the co
l
ony
lie so
much
to
the eastward,
and
-
(SEPT. I, I
893
along the
opposite slope of
th
e great
watershed
re
fe
rr
ed to, as to preclude, he fears,
the
hope of any
connection with such inter
-c o
ntinental scheme; so
what comes
more directly
home to Le considered is,
What can
the
co lony do for it self,
and
how soon ?
The survey for a line of railway to the frontier of the
co lony has been entered
up
on. The result will
ma
terially help th e Government to come to a decision
whether or not British Honduras
ca
n in the near future
undertake
such an
ent erprise, which it is generally
acknowledged is essential to open
the
locked-up Crown
lands to
the
south and west, that ha ve been for genera
tions and still are
practi
cally a
terr
incognita and likely
to remain so without a railway.
f any railway approac
h
ing British Honduras
cou
ld be
met
by
th
e extension of a
local line beyond the colony
in
whatever direction
may
prove practicable,
the
ad va
ntag
e for
the
colony would be
great, and Belize might be re·established as
an
entrepot
for Southern Mexieo and no small portion of the nor the
rn
part
of
the Republic
of Gua.temala.
Further, the va
lue
to the colony of a branch ser vice along th e valley of
the
Upper Sibun River th rough and in to Crown lands is
evident.
Tu esday 's Ga
zette
c o n t a i the provisional regulations
for th e navigation of the Corinth Canal. They include
the following :
The
net tonnage, resulting from
the
sys tem of
mea
surement laid down by
the
International
Commission of Constantinople, and inscribed on the
vessel's official papers, is the basis for levying the navi
gation dues, which at
present
are as follows: For steam
vessels proceeding to or from
the
Adriatic-75 centimes
per ton for mail
steamer
s, and o s ~
that
habitually carry
passengers;
50 centimes per
ton
for all oth
er
vessels. For
stea
m vessels not proceeding to or from
the
Adriatic-50
centimes p
er
t on for mail
steame
rs, and those that habitu
ally
carry passengers ;
and 40
ce
nt i
mes per
ton
for all
other
vessels. A charge of 1 fr. per passenger will also be levied.
Th
e following will
pay no
tr
an
si
t
dues: Hellenic
vessels
of war, except vessels assimi
la t
ed to them
by
special con
ventions. Fi s
hin
g
and
other boats
und
er
the
H ellenic
fia.g whose
tonnage
does not exceed 3 tons. The charge for
towage
in
the canal by the tugs of the society is fixed
at
10
cent imes per ton ;
the
minimum charge to be
50
fr.
The
charge for pilotage is fixed at 1 centimes per ton; the
minimum charge to be 10 fr. Vessels may be towed by
tugs not belongin g to.
the C a . ~ a . l
Society. S u e ~
tugs
must
pay
the
dues to wh ich ordmary vessels passmg through
the
canal are subject; except when going through
the
canal to meet vessels of
th
eir owner, which they
intend
towing;
or
when return
jng
to their usual berth after
having towed a vessel through, when they shall not be
subject to payment of the dues. Th e Canal Socie
ty
accepts, in
payment, draughts
at sight drawn by masters
on th eir owners, and accepted by
the
society. Payment
in cash at
th
e entry of the oanal must be in gold coins, of
the
type of coins of
the Latin Unio
n, or in sterling pounds
at the fixed
rate
of exchange of 25.15 fr.; or in coins of
20 marks at
the
fixed ra te of exchange of 24.85 fr. ; or in
T u
rk
ish pounds
at
the fixed r
ate
of exchange of 22.75 fr.;
or in Egyptian pounds at
the
fixed
rate
of exchange of
25.75 fr.
Silve
r coins, such as
are
legal
tender in
Greece, are accepted in payment as odd money up
to
10
francs.
The
dimensions of
the cana
l, when corn·
pleted will be as follows: Depth,
26
i ft.; width at
the
bottom, 70 ft . ; tota.l length in statute miles 3 miles
1610
yard
s.
From
the last BritishConsular report it appears that
the
manufacture of
Portland
ceme
nt
has been commenced
in
China.
Th
e works are &ituated at Tonshang, 80 miles from
Tientsin, and were opened three years ago.
The plant
is
of
th
e most modern description. A branch line connects
the
works with a railway
running to
Tientsin.
The
raw
materials used are
mountain
limes
ton
e, fireclay, marl, and
a rough kind of china clay, all of which are found in
the
immediate neighbourhood of the works. The fuel used
is hard
furna
ce coke made on the premises from
the
lo
ca
l
bituminous coal.
The
process of manufacture is some
what more el
aborate than
that adopted in the
Th
ames
works, much
greater
care a
nd
attention being necessary
to insure the production of good Portland clinker.
The
present o utput is 300 tons per week, and is the limit of
thecapacity of works.
I t
is all used
at
the variou s works
of
the
Imperial Governme
nt
harbours, forts, Yellow
River embankment,
railways, arsenals, &c.,
very
little
fi
nding
its
way into the bands of private consumers.
There is every
probability
that
the
demand will soon be
largely in excess of
the
existing works.
The
cement is
guaranteed to stand a tensile s t r a i of 400
~ b .
per squ.are
inch at seven days. Fo r some
ttme
considerable diffi
culty was experienced in obtaining cement of uniform
quality. I t was no easy matter to get the ignorant,
slovenly Chi nese coolie to understand the absolute neces
sity of accuracy
and ca
refulness in every
stage
of
the
process. No reliance whatever could be placed on
the
native for emen nor any assistance expected from them,
their ideas being as loose and crude
as
those of
the
coolie.
Bnt something like system has at l
ast
been established,
and
th
e work techn ically proceeds with the utmost satis
faction,
the
output being as uniform in
qual
ity as it is
possible to obtain anywhere. The furnace coke employed
in the kilns was also a great source of trouble at first.
The teohnical work, including a large chemical laboratory
and
assay office, in which the minerals from the various
mines
and
establishmentsof the Chinese Engineering and
Minin g Company, as well as of the
Government,
are ana
lysed
and
assayed, is under the control of
an Englis
h
manager, whose sole foreign as
sistant
is
an En g
li
sh
i l l ~
wright. Owing to the severity of the winter,
it
is impos
sible to do any
mixing
for f
our month
s in
the
year, so
that the output is limited to about 9500 tons per annum.
The work goes on for sixteen hours a day, including
Sundays.
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 26/33
E N G I N E E R I N G.
6-INCH FOOT LATHE.
CONS
TR UCTED BY MR.
W. H. ASTBURY,
N T H
TR IS lathe has
been designed
for
too l -room pur
p oses and the higher grades of mechanical
work
re
quired
by e
lectricians and amateur
s. vVhil
st
it is not
marked by any new featu res in construction, the
proport
ions adop ted, combin
ed
with the various fix
t ures , adapt t he machine to performing effectua lly
a
wide
range
of work,
as
sliding, surfacing, screw
cu
tting
, milling, elot-drilling, groov
ing
taps and
reamers, wheel-cutting, dividing,
c.
The lathe s
hown has
a gap
bed of
ra th
er
unusual
length, viz ., 7-ft. , admitting p i e c ~ s
4
ft..
6
in. between
t.he cen tres,
and
by
removing
the bridge
pi
ece oYer
the gap
th
e
swing
is
24
in.
Th e headstocks are in. height of
cent
r es.
The
fast h
ea
d
is
double geared, the wh eels and pinions
being of gu n-metal, with mach
ine
-cut
tee
th. Th e
spindle is
of crucib
le st eel.
t
h
as
conical necks
hardened and
ground
t rue, and running in harden
ed
steel bushes
wi
th
pro,
·ision
for adjustm
e
nt.
Th e rear end of
the
headstock carries a reversing
motion with steel cut
pinion
s. A d idsion
plate
and
stop, and also a tangent
whee
l and worm, are fitted to
the s
pi n
dle for divi
ding
for wheel-cutting, grooving,
c. ; th
ey
having an ind ex reading
to thousandth
s
of
an inch. Various chucks are
pr
o,·ided for boring,
d
rilling,
c .
The
saddle has T -slots on the top, and
tr ,werses the full length of t he bed, having positive
se
lf-a
cting,
sliding, and
surfacing
motions,
contro
lled
by friction and driven by
a
back feed-rod from t he
cha
ng
e gears. The cross-slide carries a compound tool
rest graduated
to swivel
to
a
ny
angl
e;
a
separate
vertical attachment to the cross -slide, also g raduated,
is provided, upon
which
th e upper,
or
tool slide,
can
be
mounted,
affording
a
conven
ient arrangement
for
making angu
la
r milling
cutters,
bevel
gears,
and such
li ke. To the tool slide can also
be
fixed
vert
ical and hori
zontal cutting and drilling sp indles,
driv
en by
the
over
head works
from
th
e treadle-
wheel
by
end
less bands,
a.s shown, for
tap
grooving, cutting key seats, c. For
sc
rew-c
utting
a
quick
-with
draw
motion is fitted
to
the cross-slide screw, which has a d ivided index and
point
er reading
to
thousandths of an inch. The
guide screw is of steel, cu t four th re
ad
s per inch, and
has twenty-two change gears; these,
and
all g
ears
thro
ughout
the lathe, including
th
e rack, are machine
cut from th e solid. The t ail stock has a steel spi
nd
le, the
feed
screw of whi
ch
ha
s a collar
at th
e handwheel
end
divided to read to thousandths. An a
dju
st a
ble centre
is also pro vided
to
set
over
for
slid
ing tapers.
The additional compound slide-r es t, sho
ft w . n
out of
the
way at t he further end
of
the bed, is provided
to
avo
id unne
cess
ary wear
of
th
e s
liding
parts
of
sadd
le
and
bed at the headstock
end
when doing short pieces
of
work
by hand.
The
equipment
includes
a
collar plate, combined
with
a
drill
rest , to
support
t he
oute
r e
nd
of lon g
pieces for boring with flat drills in conjunction with
the
tailst
ock. An
adjustabl
e T -reat
and
set of tools
for hand turning, face a nd angle
plat
es to secure wo
rk
for chu
ck
ing
work
on the live s
pindl
e, are pa rt of the
equipment. The treadle
has an
easy motion, th e
cra
nkshaft running in antifriction bearings, and being
driven by
chain
connection at
the ou
te
r
end as shown,
with
two
well-designed balance-wheels. The la th e is
const ru
cted by
Mr. \V. H.
Astbury,
Ora.ntha.m.
BRIER'S RED UC IN G VALVE.
THE ingeniou s reducing va l
ve
which we
illustrate
on
t his page has been designed by H enry
Brier,
1 . I.
1I.
E., who has for some years past been connect
ed
with
the cot ch and Irish
Oxygen
Co mp
any, Limited
,
of
Hamilton
-st
r
eet,
Po
lmadi
e, Glasgow.
The va
l
ve
is
in
tended for at
tachin g
to
the
cy
linders
of
com
pre
ssed
gas
supplied by t he above company,
an
d by
its
means
the press ure of the gas,
as
it issues from the cylinder,
is reduced to such a low point that
ordinary
rubber
tubing
can be used
to
co
nvey
it. The construct ion
of
the regulator is clea
rly
sho_wn in ~ u r engr_aving.
consists of a gun-metal casmg
havmg
an m
le
t vah e
f
or
the gas
at
one
end
and
an
ou tlet to the
r ~ b b ~ r
tubing at th e other. The interior
the
casmg ts
d
ivi
ded
into
two parts by a bellows p h r ~ m made
entirely of met al,
but
nevertheless very flextble.
sp
rin
g be
hind
th is bellows
tends
always
to
f
orce
1t
back against the
pr
essure of the gas . Connected
to
•
SI
'
a
nd
moving with the bellows is a spindle, to
wh
ich are
attach
ed
a
series of link
s
of the
type
used in
the
pneu
matic ri veter . s the bellows is forced out by the
gas
pr essure,
t hese links ac t with a
continuo
us
ly in
creasing leverage on the
gas
valve, which c
an
thus be
eas
ily
closed
against
a.
very
considerable pressure .
The
regulation thus obtained is
st a
ted to be very per
fect, t he gas pressure in the out let chamber being k ept
pr a
ct ically co
nstant.
[NDUSTRIAL NOTES.
THE coal
dispute
still overeh
adows
every
other inc
i
dent in the labour world, and gives colo
ur
to
all
lab our
ques
tions.
t
is peculiar in many res
pects,
inasmuch
as the dispute is not
a
squa.re one as between coal
owne
rs a
nd
min ers merely, but is also a dispute
be t
ween different sec
ti
ons of miners. I t was thought
th at th e
re
cent conference held in London wo
uld
lead
to
some
kind of
modus l ivemli
by
whi
ch
at
l
east
the
area
of the di spute would be circumscribed, by
allowing sections of the men
to
return
to work
wh
ere the reduct ions in wa.ges were not ins isted
upon
. The r esolu t ions
arrived at, however,
sca rce
ly
pointed to such a.n arrangement. The possibility
of an arrangement upon the basis of no further
advance in wages u
ntil
the
pr
ices of 1890 were
reached w
as
indicated,
but
th e cea.l decision was th a t
no partial
settl
ement should
be agreed to.
The ex
pul
sion of the Durham delegates rather
pointed
to a pr o
longation of the d
isput
e
and to
the
possibility of
its
extension, especially
as
it was followed by a delega
tion
to visit
the northern
counties, so
as
t o c
ount
eract
what is alleged to have been lukewarmness on t he
part of the local officials. Altoget
her
the situation
has
been
rather
co
mplicated
th
an
simplified by
the
London conference. Some of the
prominent
leaders
are inc lin
ed
t o t
hink
that the ref u
sa
l of
arbitration
was a mistake, and such
a
course of action was equiva
lent to
t he burning
of
the
bridges,
so that
there
should
be
no
retr
eat.
T he
situ
a tion in th e
,y
elsh coalfields has changed
somewhat, but the federationists and
the
sliding
sca
le
men face each other
as
combatan ts. In deed, the fight
in Wal
es
s
mainly be
tw
een
these two
sec
ti
ons, the
coalowuers having
littl
e to do in the quarrel , except that
they employ the law
to
enforce the
ex
istin g co
ntracts.
t
appears
that a. large ba tch of men
have
been al read y
fined
for
breach of contr act,
though
the fines were of
small amount.
But
the cases decided govern other s, so
t hat a large
number
may be pr osecuted and fined un less
they r
esume
work .
Upon
th is
matter there
is a
very
stron
g divergence of opinion,
though
the fee lin g
in favour
of
a r
esumptio
n of
work
has
bee
n growing
st ronger an d stronger of late.
One of the misfortunes in connection with the So
uth
\Vales dispute is the dead set made
aga
inst :Mr.
'Villiam
Abraham,
.M.
P.
'
Vhatever
compl
aints may be
made
aga
inst the sliding scale, he and his colleagues only
voi
ced th
e decisions of the
men's own
conferences, by
la r
ge
majorities,
a
fter th
e
matter
had been
thrashed
out with
much
vehemence, a.nd
some
bitterness .
That
the le
ad
ers believe the scale t o have worked
w ith
advantage
on the whole is most
true.
Their
conte
nt ion is
that,
over a series of
years, the
sliding
scale has
te
nded to equalise wages; that
i
it has not
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
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tended to
advance wages
to
the highest point, it ha
s
prev
ented the falling
of
wages
to
the low
est
point.
.£he
recent redu
ctions
in South Wal
es
caused
a
divergence
of
opinion
upon the value
of
the
scale
as
a
r
egu
la.tor of wages.
But
the
circumstances
ha.ve
been
somewhat
peculiar.
The situation is new. In no
oth.er
instance have .the
wages
been
kept up
by
a fede·
:atton. The
experience
thus
gained may
be
valuable
In
the future. But events have
not
quite justified the
split among the men at this juncture.
The F o ~ ~
of
Dean
men
are to be pitied. The
dis
pute
ongmally c o m m e n c ~ d in
that
district, in so
far as
the
federation
is co
ncerned.
First
came
shortness
of
work
; the pits
were
partially closed,
and
large numbers
we
re
idle.
Then came
a deter
mination to strike,
but
the
relief rather
took the
s
hap
e of
out·
of-work pay than
strike
p
ay
. For a
time
the
men
got
more
by not working than by parti
al em
ployment.
But
when
the real st r
ike
commenced the
pay
was stopped, so as
to
plac
e all
upon
an equal foot·
ing of
no
pay for
the first week
or
two,
or longer.
Now it appears that
strike pay is
not forth
coming,
and the men
are
wavering
to
the verge
of giv
ing
way.
The
reasons for
the peculiar
circumstances
are that
the
local associations
have the
command
of
their
own
funds, the federation having
no
large
central
fund
s at
command. Hence the position
in the Forest of D
ean,
and
he n
ce their
present attitude.
The
condition
of affairs
in Durham
remains much
the
same as
before.
The ballot
indicates
a resolve
not to strike.
This
resolve seems
to have been
strengthened by
the conduct
of
the recent
co
nfer
ence
in
expelling
the
Durham
delegates.
But in
some of
th
e
districts the men
are
stron
g for a
strike. There
is
a
feeling of
sympathy
with
the
efforts of
the
federa
tion to
keep
up
wages,
which
is
natural and in
evi
table.
The
times
are trying to the men and to their
accredited
officials.
In the Midland
coalfields
there ha
s
been and is
some
wavering. Most
of
the
local
miners'
associations are
w
ea
k
in
funds,
a
nd
inducements have been
held out
to return to
work
in
many in
stances. The restiveness
of the
men incre
ases
as the pinch
of pove
rty
comes
home to
them.
The strength
of
the
federation
appears to
li
e
in the
Yorkshire and
La
nca
s
hire
distri
cts,
both
of
which are
well organised, and
pretty
well off for funds.
They
have
also sturdy
leaders who
are
prepared
to
risk
n1uch for the cause they
have
espoused.
f their
policy
fails,
they, at least, can point to
a great
struggle
for the
co
ndition
s
which they ha v
e
formulated, and
in
which
nearly
300,000
men
h
ave
tak
en
part. They
know
the cost of fa.ilure. The
very
existence of the
federation depends upon
some
arrangement
which
shall
not
spell
defeat.
f
they
ca
n
secure
conditions
whi
ch
do
not
amount to defeat,
the
organisa t
ion
will surv
ive,
and
will
perhaps
become
all the stronger
for
the
con
test. f they
fail,
the
federation
will
become a me
re
matter of
history.
The
condition
of the
engineering indust
ries
in Lanc
a
shir
e, as elsewhere, is affected
by
the coal
dispute, the
scarcity
of fuel
and
its
dea
rn ess.
Otherwi
se
the
pros
pect
s of
trade
are, if
anything,
b
ette
r
than they
were,
though the
general
run
of engineering
industries re
mains
in a quiet
sta
te. :JY ost
branches continue to be
only
mod erately
supplied
with
work,
e.nd new
orders
come
forward very
slowly, but some
hav
e been
and
are
being
placed.
Stationary
engine
builders have
a con
siderable
amount
of
work, while
boilermakers
are
fairly
well off
for orders.
Locomotive
builders
h
ave recently
secured moderate orders,
but not sufficient
to keep the
works
going
at
full speed.
~ a c h i n e toolmakers are
fairly well employed here and there, but, as
a
general
rule, they are
short of work. Labo
ur
questions are
quiet in
all
the
engineering branches,
there
being an
almost total
absence of disputes,
and
no
indication has
been
given
of any in ten tion
to reduce
wages, or
to
alter
the working
hours, either
as regard
s
the
fifty-three
hou
r::J
per week,
or
the
eight hour
s in the few firms
where
the
experiment
is
being tried. I t
is
expected
th at
t he
report
to
the latter experiment
will
be
of a
favour
ab
le
cha
racter
when
t
he
time
comes
to
review
it
s
working over
th e year
during
which
it
is
being
tried. The
iron
trade is
very quiet; very
little busi
nes s is be
ing
done. The finished
iron
trade
is
even
worse,
the works
being
either
partially or
wholly
stopped
for
want of fuel,
or
be
ca
use of its
high
price.
1foderate inquiri
es
are reported
for
stee
l,
but bu
siness
gen
e
rally
is
very
slow .
•
In the
Cleve land district
things
a
re
less bright
than
they were.
The dispute as
to the use of the
r a t ~ h e t
machin
e
in the
iron
sto
ne
mines
has
developed
mto
what might
be
termed
an acute
st
age; the
men
think
that
they
will be able
to
command
their
t erms. They sa.y
generally
that they will refuse t
work the ratchets on
th e t erms
now in
vogue on
and
after
Se
pte
mber
5. The
tippers and daymen
also
•
~
N
G
N E
E R
l
NG
agree
not to
go into the
mines and fill
the stone.
The
agitation
is
against
the
system,
not
against
the
ratchet,
th ey say
.
The Scotch iron and steel trades have entered into
a
rather
serious
crisis.
The
min eow
ners,
under
g
reat
pressure, ha
ve
agreed to
advance
th e wages of th e
miner
s 2s. per
day.
The
first adva
nce of b . not be
ing
deemed
sufficient,
the men went
for
another
Is., so
that
there have
been
two
advances
of ls.
each within
a
fortnight or three
weeks.
The
pric
es of
ir
on and
steel
will not permit
of
working
at such
high
r a
te
s ,
and
many furnaces
have been damped
down,
and the
iron
works have
been
partially or wh
o
lly
closed.
Large
purchases were
m
ade
of Cleveland iron,
it would
seem,
but nothing
has
been abl
e to put life
into
the
ir
on
and
stee
l
trades.
In
South
Wales
all
the
large
works
have
been
upset
by the coal dispute,
and the excitement consequent
thereupon.
At Ebbw
Vale
Iron and St eel
Works
the
men had
to
turn
out
to defend
the non-strik ers, one of
the most
curious of
all
modern
labour development
s.
As matters hav
e
now
quieted
down,
those
men
have
res
umed work.
But at the
large
iron an
d
steel work
s
at
Dowlais,
Cyfarthfa,
Blaenavon,
Briton
FeiTy,
and
Swansea,
many
furnaces
have been damped
down, and the
works
have
been
wholly
or partially
stopped. A
large
number
of
the t i n p l a t ~ works have
had
to
suspend
operations.
Thousands of
iron
and steel
workers,
copper
and tin
workers,
have been
thrown id
le
by the
excitement
and
stoppages
at the
pits,
and by the
threatening
conduct
of
the strikers. Singularly
enough,
the
prices
have
not
materially advanced in
any
of
these trades, though
the
price
of fuel
has
gone
up
conside
rably.
The
condition of
things in
the
South
\Vales
districts
is
deplorable
just
now, and
no o
ne can
forecast
the result
of
the
coal crisis.
In
the
Wolverhampton
district
generally the
condi
tion
of
things
in the iron,
stee
l,
and
cognate
industries
h
as not
been so
bad
as elsewhere.
The
1ocal
iron trade
co
ntinues fairly
busy, and the
mills a
nd
forges
have
been
better
employed since
th
e
great heat ha
s subsided
and the
weather
become more favourable for working.
Here
the
fuel question
is
not so
acute, the
firms
being
able to get
supplies from collieries
not
on
strike.
Bar
and plate orders app
ear
to be tolerably plentiful at
th
e
old rates,
and maker
s refuse
to
acce
pt
forward
contracts except
at the rate
of from 10
to 12i per
cent.
advance
in prices.
Makers
of common
sheets
are
pre- · y well employed,
and steel plates are
in
demand
owing to the stoppages
in Wales.
In the
Birmingham
district the
supply
of
pig
iron
has
been
restricted in
consequence of
the
damping
down of
furna
ces
in Yorkshire
a11d
Derbyshire,
and
prices are
somewhat higher.
There
is a
steady demand
for finished iron,
and pri
ces
ha
ve
hardened.
The
local
trades
have
not
been
so
acutely
touched
by the
coal
dispute as in
some
other
districts,
but they
have felt
the pre
ss
ure
in
many
instance
s.
No
serious
disputes
exist in
those
distri
cts .
The Trades Union
Congress will open
it
s
sittings at
Belfast
on
Monday
next,
but
it
s doings
an
d proceed
ing
s
will be
left
for
general
treatment until the sittings
have
ended. The
Zurich
Congress has not
left
its
mark
behind
it, as was
anticipated
, for the different factions
continue to
attack each
other just
as
much
as
they
usually
do the
capitalists.
The
fact
is the leaders of
the "new
mov
ement"
do
not quite
know where
they
stand
,
or what their
policy is.
Th
e men see
many things
that
are
wrong, and need to
be remedied;
but th ey
are
not at one as to the remedy,
and
even
if
they were,
they are
not at one as
to th
e m
ea
ns
and
methods
to
be
adopted.
Th
e
state
of
things on
the
Continent
of
Europe
has
been rather strained in
several
instances
in
Italy
between
French
and
Italian workmen;
in Spain
partly
over indu
st
rial
and social,
and
par t
ly
over
p
olit
i
ca
l
matters
;
in
Belgium,
parts
of
France, and
in Austro-Hungary,
over
the
cond
it i
on of miners,
st irr
ed
up,
no
doubt,
to
some
extent by the
coal
strike
here.
The British
Governmen t has
made
a
further
advance
in
the
improvement
of
the
con
dition
of
its
employes.
The
War Office a
nd the Admiralty
h
ave
a
greed
generally
to
a minimum wage for
the
labourers.
This
fixing of a minimum wi
ll
ha,·e the effect of
lifting
up
the
entire
labouring class
to that standard. The
wages
hav
e been low enough
in all
conscience.
IlHPROVEMENTS
IN THE
RIVER TEES.*
By
Mr.
GE
O
RGE J. CLARKE,
of Stockton, Engineer
to the
Tees Conservancy CommiAsion.
T
ees
onse
rvancy
. Forty
.one
years ago
the
Tees Con
servancy Commission was con
stitute
d by Parliamentary
authority,
and
took over
th
e co
nt r
ol of
the
River Tees,
Paper
read before
the In st
itution of 1-Iechanical
Engineers
together with the liabilities of the
then
existing Tees
Navigation Company.
The
jurisdiction of
the
Tees
Conservancy extends from well·defined limits
in
Tees
Bay to
a
point
in the
riv
er
at High
\Vorsall, a distance of
25 miles from Tees Bay.
The
area. comprised within
their jurisdiction is about 8000 acres ; 7500 acres
in the
estuary
and 500
acres beyond
th
e estua
ry.
hannel of R
iver. At one time the
re
were no less than
four different channels of
the
river between Middles
brough
and
the sea ; these channels were so tortuous,
varying,
and un
ce
rtain that
several of
the
leading lig
hts
were placed upon rollers so
that
they cou
ld
be the more
easily moved as
the
main channel shifted. The
depth
of
water
on the
bar in
1863 was 3 ft. at low
wat
er of ord
i-
nary
spring
tid
es.
At
th
e present
tim
e
the
dep
th
on the
bar
is
20ft.
at low water and
37ft. at
high water. Thi s
material improvement has been effected
by
the
judicious
construction of training walls,
by dr
edging, and by
the
construction of breakwaters.
Training Walls. A t
present there are about
24
miles
of training walls
in
the
river
and
estuary ; th ese training
walls
are
carried
up
to about 5
ft
.
a.bove
low-water level,
and
are cons
truct
ed entirely of slag
fr
om
the
local iron
works.
The
greater
part
of
the
slag was broken at
the
iron works
into e c t ~ s that
cou ld easily be handled,
loaded there
into
keels and
punt
s,
and
cast
out by
hand
on
the site of
the work;
but, wherever the depth per
mitted, th Abroken slag was dropped
fr
om hopper
barg
es
to form
the
foundations of the walls. Occasionally during
the
progress of
the
work
the
sand overlying th e clay on
the site
of
the
walls was scoured away to a depth of 18 ft.
or 20 ft., while
in
some cases
th
e deposit of slag
ha
s been
continued by keels and hop per barges for a period of six
weeks before
the
wall began to show above low water.
The
formation of
the
se walls was
in
progress for twenty
seven years.
By the
construction of
th
ese training walls
and the
other works referred to,
the
river at low water is
now confined
in
one channel, as shown on
the
accom
panying plan.
Breakwaters. T he
Sout
h Gare breakwater for
the
pro
tection of
the
entrance to the river was begun
in
1
863
, and
took twenty-four years to
build;
it is a
Portland
cement
concrete structure, upon a foundation of slag, with slag
hearting between
the
exterior walls near
the
head, where
it has
an
extreme width of 220ft. at
the
level of the road
way. Nearly 5,000,000 tons of slag
and
over 18,000 tons
of cem
ent
were used
in its
co
nstruction.
Th
e whole
structure is upwards of
2
miles
in
length. Owing to
increased sco
ur in the ri
ver and other causes, it has been
fouad necessary to prote
ct the
head of the breakwater
by
a wave·breaker of concrete blocks, varying
in
weight
from 300 tons to
40
tons each.
For
the
manufac
ture
of
the
larger concrete blocks a
timber platform was prepared on a suitable
part
of the
foreshore, a
little
above
the
level of low water.
Upon
this platform blocks were built
in
frames, and when the
concrete was carried about half the height of
the
block
two timber baulks we
re
built into
th
e block; these baulks
were laid across
the
block, with their ends projecting so me
little
distance beyond
its
sides,
so that
chains for lifting the
block couldbe readilyattached to
the
timbers. For deposit
ing
th
eseblocks two barges were rigidlysf1cured some
20ft.
apart
by means of two heavi
ly
tru
ssed timber beams laid
across and secured to
the
decks of
the
craft, one beam for-
ward,
the
other aft; these beams were also used as lifting
beams. When a
co
ncrete block had to be deposited,
the
barges were brought to
the
platform on
the ea
rly flood
tide,
and
placed so
that
the
block to be removed lay
directly unde
rn
eath
the
lifting beams
and
fairly between
the
barges.
Th
e
cha
ins attached to
the
tim hers of
the
concrete block were made fast to
the
lifting beams ; and
as
the
tide rose,
the
block thus secured was
lift
ed from
the
platform and carried where required between
the
two
barges ;
the
barges we
re
then moored, the chains released,
and
the
block dropped into position . Blocks were also
built upon launching ways laid across
th
edeck of a
barge;
the
barge so loaded was towed into position, and
the
blocks launched where required. Large masses of
co
n
crete were also deposited
by
sinking old and otherwise
useless craft filled with
co
ncrete .
Blocks of
60
to
70
tons are now built on launching ways
laid at
the
level of the roadway of
th
e breakwater, and are
launched
by
screw or hydraulic ja.cks some two or three
months after their manufacture. During stormyweather
it has freque
ntly
happened that a 60·ton block has been
washed off
its
ways and driven
by
the
sea a couple of
hundr
ed feet along
the
roadway before being finally
washed over
the
side of the breakwater.
The
glass in
the
lant
ern of
the
lighthouse, 55ft. above
the
level of high
water, has also suffered
in
stormy weather.
The Nort
h Gare breakwater
ha
s been completed for
a
length of
3330
ft., and
a
return wall formed across
the
end of
the
work to protect the slag backing on
the
har
bour side of
the
breakwater.
The structu
re of the break
water consist s of a solid Portland cement concrete wall
on
the
sea face, averaging 12 ft.
in
thickness
by 26
ft.
in
height. On
the
harbour face
the
wall is backed
by
slag balls for a.n average width of 50 ft.
The
slag
balls used for
k i n ~
weigh about 3i tons each, and
are brought from
the
Iron works in barges
~ p e c i a l l y
con
structed for
th i
s purpose ; each barge carri es forty slag
bogies on cradles, and each bogie carri es a slag ball. The
loaded bogjes are
lift
ed from the barge by means of
an
overhead
Titan
cra
ne, and placed on
rails;
ten or fifteen
bogies are formed into a
train
and
run
to
the
tip
bead
behind the breakwater. About 1,000,000 tons of slag
have so far been used
in the
construction of the break
water. This work has been temporarily discontinued,
in
order
that
observations may be made of
the
changes, if
any, which
may
take place
in
the entrance channel or
North Gare sands.
Rcclarnation of Foresho1•c. Tbe
reclamation of
the
fore
shore of
th
e
Ri
ver Tees has engaged
the
attention of
the
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Commission from
time
to
tim
e. The total area of the
land present reclaimed from the foreshore of
the
river
is about
2400
acres.
In
1892 the Commission obtained
parliamentary powers for a further reclamation of the
foreshore near Port Clarence and Cargo Fleet ; th is addi
ti onal rec la mation is shown on the plan.
Dredg
ing.
By the combined action of dredging and
tidal scour , the increased depth now obtained by the
former is maint ained by the latter. Since 185 4, about
29
million tons of material have been removed by e d ~ -
ing from the bed of th e ri ver; nearly the whole of this
material has been deposited
at
sea by hopper
barg-
es.
The more recent enginee
ring
improvements in the r1 ver
have been
the
res
ult
of increased dredging operations, by
means of which
not
only
have
deep-water be
rth
s been
formed in
the
ri ver at Port Clarence, where vessels draw
ing from 15
ft
,
to 21
ft. may safely lie afloat at low water,
but
also the navigable channel has been considerably
widened, deepened, and improved. t is intended
to
construct a channel having a low-water depth varying
from 12 ft.
ab
Stoc
kt
on to 15 ft. at Middlesbrough, and
maintaining at least the latter depth from Middlesbrough
to the sea. The total length of channel to be thus deepened,
I
PLAi -J
OF THE
RIVER TEE
S
E N G I N E E R I N G.
Th
e hopper barges
are
built of iron. Their principal
dimensions
ar
e : Length, about
90ft.
; breadth, 27
t.
;
depth,
11ft.
They hav e six doors,
th r
ee on each side,
hinged to the keelson; each doo r is ab
ou
t ft . long by
6 fb. wide.
Th
e doors are rai sed by hand-winches arranged
on th e after deck of the hopper. Two men are req i ~ e d
for each hopper targe. The tugboats used for towmg
the hopper barges are mostly double engine paddle boats
of from 40 to 60 horse- power, and carry a crew of five
men : one master, t"'o enginemen, one fireman, and one
deck hand.
So many and so varied are the fact0rs affecting the cost
of dr
edging- the
natur
e of
the ma
terial
to
be removed,
the de
pth
of
cut
which
may
be made by the bucke
ts
at
6ach revolution,
the depth
of
the
c
uttins
required,
th
e ex
posure of
th
e situation,
the
length of.
tune
~ u r i n g
work may be carried on each day Without mterrupt10n,
the distance
to
which
th
e ma terial has
to
be towed, &c.
that only the mos t general comparison can be made of
th
e
cost of dredging at one place with
the
cos t of dredging at
another. On
the
T ees alone,
the
cost of some of the
dredging done during the year 1891-2 varied from 4d. to
20.4d. per ton, while
th
e average cost of the whole year 's
rROM VICTORIA BRIDGE . STOCKTON , TO
TH
SEA .
•
B t . ~ c o n s
IN T£N £
. t ~
l • 1 e
{
£
widened, and improved, is about 12 miles ; and the whole
of the work in connection therewith is in a forward state
of p r o ~ r e s s towards completion.
Durmg the two years ending
Oc&eb
er, 1891, the total
amount of material dredged from the bed of the river was
nearly
3,
700,000 tons.
At that
time
the
Commission
kept
fully employed a fleet of six powerful dredgers, namely,
five double· adder dredgers and one single· adder dre
dg
e
r;
also between forty
and
fifty hopper barges carrying from
200 to 300
tons each,
and
nine steam
tug
boats for towing
the
barges
to
sea.
The
shortest distance towed
~ about
10 miles ;
the
longest
31
miles. The greater
part
of the
ma t
erial removed by dredging consisted of stiff boulder
clay; but
no less than 302,000 tons of rock-gypsum with
red sandstone-were remo
ve
d by one dredger alone,
without the aid of any explosives whatever. During
th
e
summer months dredging operations were carri ed on by
night as well as by day. An immense number of old oak
tree
trunk
s 60ft. and
70ft.
long, boulder stones up to
7f tons weight, horns and bones of various animals, also
some ancient hnman remains, have been dredged from
tim e to time out of the bed of the riv er.
The larger dredgers have double ladderR working in
wells, and are capable of excavating to a maximum depth
of from
33ft
. to
34ft
. Their principal dimensions are:
L ength, from 125 ft. to 140 ft. ; breadth, 34ft. to 34 ft. ;
moulded d
ept h, 9 ft. to 10 ft. ; length of bucket ladder,
72
ft
.
to
80
ft. As
a rule
36
to 40 buckets are placed on
each ladder ; the capacity of
eac()h bu
cket is 9 cubic feet ;
the
buckets, wi th
their
links, pins, bushes, &c.,
are
all
interchangeable amongst the various dredgers. The
engines on the dredgers
ar
e single-cylinder jet-condensi
ng
of from
50
to
55
horse·po" er ; the cylinders are
35
in . in
diameter by 40 in. stroke. All thE- dredgers are fitted
with steam winches fore and aft, ha ving the usual diffe.
rential e a r i n ~ so that
th
e movement of the dredger IlJay
be regula ted either longitudinally or transversely. When
dredging rock, five or six bucket s are removed fr om each
ladder, and r
ep
laced by heavy forged-iron or cast-steel
claws, there being generally about six buckets between
ea
)
h pair of claws. Fo r many years cast steel has been
largely employed in the construction of &he working parts
of the dredgers. The upper and lower tumblers
are
of
steel,
cast in one piece ; these castings weigh
23
cwt. and
35
cwt. respectively;
the
backs
and
mouthpieces of the
-.,u
ckets, also the links, pins, bushes, and
spur
pinions
are
of cast steel ; the tumbler shafts
and
ladder roller·
spindles
are
of forged s teel ;
the
bodies
and
bottom-plates
of the buckets
are
of g-in. steel plate.
The
various parts of
the
buckets and attachments aredrilled,
turn
ed, punched,
stampe
d, riveted, and
put
together at
th
e commissioners'
workshops. The crew of a double-ladder dredger usually
consists of nine men : namely, one master, one engine
man, one fireman, two laddermen, th ree winchmen, and
a coo
k;
but
while dredging clay, two additional men are
employed to the clay in the as they pass
the level of the deck of the dredger.
.
t I
l
N 0 R T H
;
. "-
-;.{.a trwllf 8UOJ
dredging was 8.62d. per ton. During the same period the
cost of towage varied from1.65d . to 4.98d. per ton. The
cost of dredging here given includes the cost of the dis·
posal of the dredgings, the cost of all wages, coals, stores,
repairs, chains, tow-ropes, &c
.,
for dredgers, tug s, and
hopper
barges;
but
is exclusive of
the
first cost of
the
dredgers, tug s, and hopper barges.
gh t
i1U) of Oham.nel.-Th ere
are
altogether fifteen
lights upon
the
Tees : one white revolving flashli
ght in th
e
lighthouse
ab
the
end
of
the South
Gare breakwater,
visible for a di
sta
nce of ten miles ; two red lea
ding
lights
at the fifth
bu
oy,
tw
o similar lights
at the
ninth buoy,
two green lights, four fixed
white light
s, one occulting
white light, two gas buoys, and a pilots' shelter. Of
these, the two gas buoys,
the
pilots' shelter, and three of
the beacon lights are supplied with compressed oil gas,
e a ~ h having a storage capacity available for six weeks,
burning day and night continuouRly. The application of
th i
s illuminant, instead of oil, is now being extended to
the whole of the lights on the river, with the exception
of the south breakwater light, and the fifth buoy leading
lights. The gas is manufactu red by the Commission at
their Graving Dock Works at Cargo Fleet, near Middles
brough. A barge carrying two large welded storehold ers,
ha,ring a total storage capacity of 900 cubic feet, is s
pe
·
cially reserved for
th
e purpose of refilling
th
e cylinders
of
th
e various lights ; these
sto
reholders
ar
e charged
at
the gas works
with
a
u r e
of 10 atmospheres,
and
towed from
light to
lignt as occasion requir
es; the
pres
sure
in the
storebolders
is
sufficie
nt
to
recharge
th
e
cylinders of the lights by simply connecting
them th r
ough
a fl
ex
ible pipe. The
barg
e containing
the sto
reholders is
kept always afloat
with th
e storeholders fully charged.
Moorings. There are altogether about a hundred
mooring buoys in the river and estuary, the property of
the Commisson, besides some forty moo ring dolphins.
The more recent mooring buoys are made of mild steel
plates, with cast-steel crossheads and nu ts, a
nd
forged
steel spindles and shackles; they are 8 ft. in diameter by
9ft. long. Both the ebb and flood buoys in a berth
are
secured by a 3·in. stud chain, shackled to
thre
e bridle·
chains which lead from th ree ,Piles placed in the form of
a
triangle;
these pil es are
dnven
well below
th
e
surfa
ce
of
the
river bed.
Results
of
I mprovements As some
indi
cation of
the
de·
velopment of
th
e river, it may be of in terest
to note
that the
largest cargo s
hipped
from Middlesbrough Dock in 1864
was
70
8 tons. The largest in 1
89
1 was 5000 tons, while in
1892 v e s ~ e with 6500 tons deadweight cargo left the riv er.
Br1 efiy
It
may be sta ted that by
the
energy, enterprise,
and forethought of the Tees Conservancy Commission, an
exposed and dangerous estuary has been converted into a
safe a
nd
co mmodious harbour of refuge ;
a
shallow wan
dering, and uncertain river has been converted in to'a safe
navigable waterway; and a Jarye tract of waste and use
less foreshore hae been reclaimed, and made available for
profitable
and
useful purposes.
.
FAST OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.*
By Mr
.
FR .\.N CI .
ELGAR
1
LL.D ., F.R.S.E.,
Vi
ce-
Presid
ent .
WH N
the
present meeting was arranged f0r I was
ask ed to read a paper upon
th
e above subject, with
special reference to vessels of
th
e largest type . such as
new Cunard steamships Campania and Lucan a, for wh1.ch
I am the consulting naval archi tect: Th e t a ~ y m
formed me
that
th e subject was considered very sUitable
to th e occasion, especially no .paper upon it has .
b.e
en
contributed to our'fransact10ns smce
th
e late Mr. Wilham
John
-one of the abl
est
and m
os
t valued members
this
In
sti
tution has
had
during
the third of a century it
ha
s
existed-read
one upon
At
l
antic
Stea
mers
/ '
in 1886.
Our present knowle
dg
e and experience of
many of the
conditions that limit
or
influence speed
at
sea, and of
their separate or m b i n ef e cts, are by no means.exact
or exhaustive. In constdermg the
ge
neral question of
the proportions, power,
and
detailed
arra
ngement s requi
site for a ship in order to absolutely insure. that the
highest poss ible average speed shall be obtamed, and
kept up over an indefinite number of o n ~ ocean v o y a ~ e s
und er th e restrictions imposed by the existing condittons
of ship, engine, and boiler constru ction, harbour and dock
accommodation, &c.-a question which would be a mere
matter
of calculation if all the eircumstan ces affect ing it
were fully
and
accurately known- we find
that th
e
answer depends ultimately, to a gr
eat
extent, upon
pe
r
sonal judgme
nt,
and is open to be materially affected
by
hopefulness or imagination. I t would be unprofitable to
attempt to
enter upon such a specu
la t
ion here, and I
resist the temptation to do so. t
might,
pe
rhaps
, be
more useful and
approp
riate to call attention
to
a few of
the
principal points that affect speed at sea, and some of
th
e directions in which th eory and experie
nc
e show the
way to continued imp rovement.
The G r
eat
Eastern is
the
most wonderful instance
the
world has seen of attempts to obtain high speed over l ong
nistan ces at sea. She was designed forty years ago, and
her name is b a b l y assoc
iat
ed in the minds of most
people only With errors and disaster. Our
Tran
sactions
contain but little about her, although her constructor,
Mr. J. Scott Russell, was one of the founders of this
In
etitution, and was for over twenty years one of its most
prominent members.
I t
is universally known
that
she
was remarkable for her enormous size ; but it is often
forgotten
that
there was anything el
se
about
her
worthy
of notice
or
admiration. Every new s
hip
that is
built of
greater dimensions
than her
predecessors is naturally
compared in size with
the Gr
e
at
Eastern. The Great
Eastern was remarkable, however, nob only for the vast·
ness of h er proportions, but also for the
thought,
care,
and skill employed in her design
and
construction,
and
for the ex tent to which problems relating
to high speed
upon the long
est
ocean voyages, some of which are, ab
times, thought
to
be peculiarly modern , were understood
and worked out by her designer. I have thought ib
might be interesting to compare th e l
atest
large steam
ships with the Great Eastern more in detail than is
usually done, and to bring into the comparison not
merely b
ut
so
me
of
the leading
details of design a
nd
constructiOn.
In the latter part of 1851,
Mr.
Brunei began to work
out his
id
ea of a
great
s
hip
for the
Indian
and Au
stralian
tr
ade. He spe
nt
two years in
inquiri
es, investigations,
and
calculatwns i n g
to the
numerous problems
many of them
q U ~ e
novel
then, though
more familiar
now-that were
r&l
sed by such a tremendous
stride
in
advance
of
all.former experience
and
ideas. Th e magni
tude
of
th
e s tnde was as great as would now be involved
by the construction of a ship 1200 ft. long and 30
to
35
knots speed.
Th e following is a comparative statement of particulars
of the Great
Eastern
and Campania :
" Great Eastern. "
Len
gth
over all .
..
L ength between
perpendiculars ..
Breadth moulded
D epth moulded
to
upp er deck ...
Register { gross . ..
tonnage under deck
L oad
draught
...
Pa
ssenger 1st class
accomm
o- 2nd
,
dation
.. .
3rd
,
In dicated horse-
ft. in.
692 0
680 0
82 2
58 0
ton s
18,915
18,837
ft . in.
30 0
800
2,000
1,
200
powt\r of engines about 8,000
Speed at
sea in
"Campania."
ft. in .
622 0
600 0
65 0
41 6
ton s
12,950
10,267
ft. in.
27 0
600
300
700
about 30,000
kn ots at full power 14 to 14 22 to 23
Great t ~ r l
had two
separate
sets
of propelling
ma
ch.mery; one
dr1
vmg a screw propeller, and the other
a pa1r of paddle-wheels.
Th
e screw engines we
re the
mos t powerful, and c o u l ~ i n d ~ c a ~ e up
to
45
00 hor
se-power
at Th.e P,addle engines
md
10ated R500 ; so that the
ma
x1mum mdi cated horse-power was about 8000. Th is
power gaye a speed of 14
to
14 knots at sea, with a co
al
u m ~ t 1 0 n
of about 400 tons per day. Th ere were
f o u ~ y h n ~ e r
to
s e ~ of engines ; those of the screw
engmes bemg 7ft. m d t a m with a st roke of 4 fb .•
a ~ d tho se of the paddle engmes 6ft . 2 in . in diameter'
wtth a r o k e of 14 fb. Th
.e
screw was four-bladed, and
had
a
dtamet
er of
~ 4 f t
.. With
44ft
.
pi t
ch.
Th
e
paddle
wheels were 56 ft. m
dia
meter.
Th
e working steam
pressure appears
to hav
e
been about 20
lb.,
and stea
m
*
Paper read before
the Institution
of Na.va.l Architects.
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 29/33
•
was cut off in the oylinders at one-third of the stroke.
The boilers
were
tubular a.nd of the
square
box
type,
and
they
were double-ended. There were ten boilers
in
all,
18 ft. long, 17ft. 6 in. wide, and 14 ft . high,
with
112
furnaces.
The
Campa.nia.
has
also two
separate
sets of propelling
machinery,
but in her
case
they drive twin
screws. The
propelling power
is fully
three-and-a-half times
that
of the
Great Eastern,
and
the speed
more
than 50 per
cent. greater.
This increase in power and speed is ob
tained with a daily coal consumption that is but little in
excess of the Great Eastern's. There a.re five cylinders
to each set of the Campa.nia's
e n ~ i n e e ,
and they work
three
cranks
.
There are
two htgh-pressure
and
two
low-pressure cylinders,
and
the high-pressure cylinders
are
placed upon the low-pressure. The cylinders
are
37 in., 79 in., and 98
in. in diameter
respectively,
with 69 in.
stroke. The
screw
p r o p e l l e r ~
are smaller than
that
of
the Great Eastern. The boilers are thirteen in
number, twelve being double-ended, and one single-ended,
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
done
to
increase the s
tren
gth, and prevent the
undue
straining, of such a structure as a ship's hull
by
extra
riveting. In the Campania, three of the edges of the
bilge strakeR and the top edges of the upper strakes of
plating on e eh side are treble riveted, and
the
remainder
are double riveted ; and all the
butts,
which are lapped,
as
in the
T eutonic and Majestic, are quadruple riveted
except at the extreme ends, where
they are
treble
riveted.
Mr. Brunei communicated his views
respecting
a
great
steamer
for
the
Indian trade
to the
directors of th e
Eastern Steam Navigation Company, after discussing
them with Mr. Scott Russell and others. This compauy
was formed in 1851, to convey mails, passengers, &c., by
the
overland
route
between
England and
India
and
China.,
with
a.
bran
ch to
Australi
a. The Government,
howeveri
gave
the
cont
r&et for the whole service to
the
Peninsu
ar and Oriental Company
in
March, 1852;
and
the Eastern Steam
Navigation
Company
found
itself in
the position
of
being unable
to
c
arry
out the objects for
which it had been incorporated.
TW
I N S C A( W
SH .
A
IH
A C.AMPA N
IA
'
-
PI :UINL
I -
(SEPT. I,
1893.
room for about 800 separate cabins,
larger
th an those now
fitted up in
packet
ships, with large saloons capable of
accommodating 1000 or 1500 first and second class ~ a s
sengers, and would carry 3000 ton ; weight of cargo, With
out making any allowance for that
in
crease of speed pro
portiona.te to the mere increase of size, of which we see
every
day
fre sh
proof;
the average
speed
of
the
ship,
with
the
proposed power of
engine and
calculated con
s u m ~ t i o n
of coal, would be 14 knots at the average,
makmg the passage out in 34 days, say 36; but With
that increased speed which has been shown to take place
with increased dimensions, we may speculate upon the
voyage being performed
in
30 days.
"This
same
vessel,
fitted
up
for
the
Australian
voyage,
and
loaded deeper, would carry coals to Australia and
back;
would
take
out 3000
pa
ssengers easily, and
a.
small
amount of cargo only,
but
co
uld
bring back
any
amount
that could be conveniently collected ;
or if
proVIsion were
mad e for taking in 3000 or 4000 ton s of coal in Australia,
that
add
it ional amount of cargo might be taken on the
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with
100 furnaces -o r tw elve furnaces less than in the
Great Ea stern.
Figs. 1 to 4 show
the
main
structural features
of
the
Gr
e
at
Eastern and
the
Campania. One of the chief
differences
is that
the main
structure
of the
hull is mu
ch
deeper
in the f
ormer
vessel than in the latter. The Gre
at
Eastern was a flush-decked ship, with
no
erections on
deck, except a few small houses at the middle lin e, shown
by dotted lin es ; and the moulded depth from
this
deck
was 58ft. , making the vesse
l l l .7 depth
s
in
length. The
Campania carries
upon
her
upper deck-in conformity
with
the type of vessels
that
has been developed for
the
accommodation of
the
largest nu mber of passengers- two
tiers of decks. The first,
or
promenade, deck consists of
forecastle, poop, and midsbip deck for passengers, nearly
400ft.
lon't.
This
deck is practically continuous;
the
midship part being separated from the forecastle and poop
only by a small
break at
each end. Upon
the
promenade
deck a large
amount
of first -class
pa
ssenger accommoda·
tion
is provided, which
includes
library,
drawing and
music rooms
1
smoking·room, twenty state-rooms, c.
The second,
or
Rhade deck, is carried right across the
promenade deck as a
shelter
to the passengers, and it
extends fore and aft over the whole length of
that
deck.
Upon it are carried
the
boats, cabin accommodation for
the captain
and officers,
cha rt-room,
wheel-house, &c.
The
moulded
depth
from the
upper
d ~ k of
the
Cam
pania is 41ft.
6 in.,
making
1 4 ~ depths m length.
The
moulded depth from the
shade
deck is 59 ft., which is
only
ft. more than the moulded depth of the Great
Eastern from the upper deck.. .
Apart
from
this
d1fference m moulded depth, the mam
features of the
structural
design of the bull are ~ e r y
similar
in the
two cases.
There
are several
complete
non
or steel decks-the
upper
one
being
of gr
eat ~ x t r a
strength
·*
a
bottom made
very
strong
by means m ~ e r
bottom plating and longitudinals, and a very s1m1lar
amount and arrangement of internal subdivision of the
hull
by
watertight bulkheads. . . . .
The
framing
of
the hull
was
entuely long1tudmalm
the
Great
Eastern,
and the inJ?er ~ o t t o m was carried
as shown
in Fig.
3. The longttudmals
were
2 ~ t . 10 m.
deep,
and
in. th i
ck.
They were about
2 ft. 6
m.
apart
on
the
flat
of the bottom,
and 5
ft.
apart from
the
bottom
to a height of 36 ft. The scantlings of the hull seem
to
have been
arranged
upon a simRJe principle
.
for Mr.
Scott Ru ssell says,
in
his work on 'Naval A r c h 1 t ~ c t u r e , "
page 394, "there
is
one th icJ:cness of pla:tes, m., for
skin
outer
and
inner;
one thickness for
mternal
work,
in.'; one size of
vet_, i
iJ?.·; one P,itcb, 3
in.; and
one
size of angle iron, 4 m. oy 4 m , by
j
m.
The shell plates, which we
re f
in. th ick, were only
10ft. long
and
2ft. 9 in. wide ; being,.
it
may be pre ·
aumed, the large3t obtainable
at
that
tu n
e. The weight
of one of these plates would be und er 7i cwt. The bulk
head plates, which were in. t ~ i c k , were .about
9ft.
long
and
3 ft. wide. The progress smce made m
th
e
manufac
ture of
ship-plates is
shown by the fact
that
the h ~ l l
plates of the
a i n ~ o r t i o n
of the hull of
th
e <;Jampama,
which are i 1n.
thick,
average o ~ e r 2? ft. m le
ngth,
5 ft. 3 in. in breadth, and 45 cwt. In weight. .Mr. ~
Russell says, '' The
Gr
e
at
Easter? ~ a s en t.1rely built
with
single
riveting,
the
double
nvetmg
bemg
at
the
butts mostly."
We
have since learned that much can be
*
In
the
Great
Eastern
this de
ck
is cellular in
con
struction
and consists of
longitudinal girders plated at
the top bottom with i-in. plates.
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They
th en
turned their attenti
on to the main oversea
route followed by British commerce round
the
Cape
towards
India,
China,
and Australia,
wh ich was nearly
the
same as far
as
Ceylon. "On
the
fact of
th i
s great
pathway
of commerce they grounded, and not witho
ut
plausible reasons, their sche?le f ~ r t ~ e profitable employ
ment of various vessels of gtgantw stze between England
and Ceylon, from which place sl laller vessels to
diverge to
the
other parts of India, as well as to Chma,
Japan
and Australia;
the
intention, however, be
ing
to
p a t ~ b their firsb
gr
eat vessel, when
ready, di r
ect to
Calcutta, Sydney, and Melbo
urne
."*
Mr. Brunei
reported as follows, in March, 1
85
3,
to
a
committee appointed
by
the direct_ors confer.with ~ i m
upon the design of ~ b e great.shtJ?: Th e
arrived at by calculatiOn for this sbtp would be, m round
numbers, 670ft. long and 80ft. beam. T h ~ sized vessel
would combine
mo
st of the
advantages
which we
seek
to
obtain.
I t
wo
uld carry
coa
l
to Diamond
Harbour
(in
the
Hooghly),
and
b ek to Trincomalee ;
it
would afford
* "History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Com
merce," vol. 1v., page 488. (W. S. Lindsay.)
pa
ssage
out. The pa
ssage o
ut
to
Port Philip ~ l d
be
made
easily in
36
days, and home by
Cape
Horn m the
same time. "
Mr
. Brunei was authorised to continue his communica
tions with shivbuilders and n ~ i n e r s , and to invite ten
ders. The co
ntract
s for bu ildmg the vessel, as slightly
enlarged
to 680 ft . by 82 ft., were signed at th e end of
18
53. Th
e
hull and paddl
e engines were
gi
ven t o
Me
ssrs.
Scott
Rus
se11 and Co., of London,
and th
e screw eng ines
to Messrs. Ja mes Watt and Co., Soho Works, near Bir
mingham. Mr. Scott Russell wrote as follows to th e
Times
on
April
20, 1857 : " My sha re of th e me
rit
and
responsibility is
that
of builder of the ship for the
Easte
rn
Steam i g a t i Company. I
her
line
s a.nd constr uc
ted
the Iron hull of
the ship,
a.nd
am
respons
ible
for
her
me
rits
or defects. as a piece of naval
architecture. I am
eq
ually responsible for the
paddl
e
wheel engines. . . . I t is to tb ecoUlpany's engineer, Mr.
I. K.
Brunei,
that
the
original c
oncepti
on
is
d u ~ of
building a steamship large enou gh to carry coals suffiCient
for full steaming on th e longest
vo
yage. He, at the out
set, and long before. it
bad
assumed a merca.ntil.e. form,
communi
cated
his views
to
me, a.nd I have
parti
cipated
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•
•
:
288
E N G I N E E RI N G.
THE
L I D
0
ENTRANCE
OF
THE
POR
T
OF
VEN I CE.
Fig. 2.
PORT OF
LIDO
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N.W
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From 0
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1892 .
Fig . 6
N.
E Sectio,? From 23
11lf
. 0
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having a.
depth at
places of more than 8 metres and an
average
width of 100 metres.
After
crossing
the
bank
thi s new channel of the Lido
joins
that of the Treporti,
and
one channel is formed,
having an
ave
rage width
of
250
metres and a depth of not less than 6 metres.
Further on
the chann
el
de
creases
in depth, and ultimately
is blocked by a slight
bar
having 5.
70
m ~ t r e s depth,
but
more recent observations have
indicated
a ten
dency
to increase
in
depth.
The new canal porb " or entrance channel
is
stated,
for
navigation
purposes, to
have
a.
depth
of 6 metres, and
when
it
is
considered
that the
north-ea
s
tern dyke
reaches
to a point at which on
ly
th is depth originally existed,
th ese results are considered very satisfactory.
Th
e effect
of the s c o u r i n ~
action of
th
e
new
c
urrent
s
ha
s been, amongst other thmgs, to remove
the
sand from
th
e remains of some old wrecked ~ a l l e y s supposed to have
gone
down
in
the wars of Chiogg1a (1377-80).
The increase of depth in
these
new channels
is con
tinu
ous,
but
from the experience at the
Malamo
cco port
and elsewhere it is concluded that some years must pass
efore
the new channe
ls
may be
considered
permanent,
and in
this interval many additions will re
quire
to be
made
to t h ~ works.
It is believed that
when
the two
d y k e : ~
are completed,
accordance with the
origina
l scheme, the entrance
th e parallel
portions
of th e embank
will have a depth of 8 metres, and will branch out
two distinct channels,
one towards the mouth
of thA
and the other towards that of
the Lid
o.
The mouth of the
St.
Erasmus
will not
probably
r e
main
but will join that of the Lido if
any
ten
ency in this direction be encouraged by judiciouR works.
Fig .
8.
"
•
a
...
,
tU t .
•
•
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, ..
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E
18 9'2
;
l
t88'l
. a ~
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Fig ?.
-
1719 r.
Secl:.ion
26 to
14
..
: l
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i :
3
: 5'
..
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Section 32 to 8
--.....
,
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:::::
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lA
........ ........
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/ ti
...
•
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V
Secti
on
88
to
2
'
""
\
•
1 1
5
j
..
IS
_E.
-
-
-
411
.. .
. .
···-·-
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.
•
;,
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.... ..
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decided to order
the
construction of two steamers
in
E ng - S ou th American fire departments. The engine is fitted
land,
one of which,
with
a
tonnage
of 1200, will
ply
be-
with the
firm's new
patent
valve box with 9-in. ~ u m p s ,
tween the Bulgarian ports and Constantinople, while the and, worked by fort y-eight men, is capable of dehvering
other, with a tonnage of
800, will und
ertake the local
250
gallons of water
per
minute and of
throwing
a jet
co
ast
service. I t seems probable that
the
local service
150
ft. high.
The
machinery :md
pumping
levers
are
will prove remu nerative, but the Austrian Ll oyd steamers b r i ~ h t
throughout,
steel
being
used to a great extent. Th e
will be dangerous competitors for
the
traffic with Con- w orks are fitted
in
an open mahogany cist
er
n, the f
ore
.
st a
ntinople.
The
new
venture
gives evidence of
the
enter- carriage being
arrang
ed m order
that the
engine
may
be
BuLGARIAN
SHIPPING ENTERPRI
S
E.-T
he first
Bulgarian
prising spirit of
the
Bulgarians, which is also
indicat
ed
drawn
by men. I t is, perhaps, th e most powerful
hand
Navigation Company was ina
?gurated
at a by
the
numerous co-opera.tive societies now being formed fire engine e.ve cons
tru
cted,
~ n d
is furnished ~ i t h a l a ~ g e
e
ting
of subscribera on
August
29,
at
wh10h a. board of in
all
parts of the country. amount of mimed
and
ou t
lm
ed hose, an a r t 1 c
_a
lso m-
s was nominated. Th e new ~ m p a n y w1ll hav e a trod_uced
by
M r s . Mer_ry_weather, the
outh
nmg pro-
of 2
000 000
fr . and will recmve a Governm e
nt
A P owR RF
t.:L HAN
D·WORKRD F a
E
EN GJNB'. - A new tectmg th e fabnc from m)ury or wear when used on
q u ~ l to 9 per cent. of the paid-
up
capital; design of a u d fire engine has juE.t bet n constructed by rough roz.dwal
and alEo
r v i n g th e canvas from
fr. have been a l r ~ a d y subscribed. I t has been I essrs. Merryweather and
Sons
for
one
of the leading
1
rot.
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SEPT.
i , 1893·]
ENGINEERING
ILLUSTRATED
PATENT
RECORD.
OoMPILED BY W.
LLO' Y..,..,D
WISE.
BELBCTBD ABSTRACTS
OF RECENT
PUBLISHED
SPEOIFIOATI
ONB
UNDER
THE ACTS 1888-1888.
I M number
of views
given in the
Specification Drawf,ngs 8
stated
in
each
case;
where none are
mentioned, the
Specification
u
w
illmtrated.
Where I nventions are communicated from abroad, the Natmt8
c., of
th
e
Communica
tors
are
given
in
italiC8.
Copiu of Specifications
mmy be
obtained at
the
Patent
O{ftce
Sale Branch, SS , Cursitor·street, Clutncery-latM, E.C. , at the
uniform price o Sd.
Th e date of
the
advertisem-ent
of
the
acuptame oJ
a complete
specification is, in each
case
given
after
the
abstract, u1lless
the
Pa t
ent has been sealed, when the date of sealing is given.
..t
ny
pe1·son may at any time wit hin two
months from
the date If
the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification,
give wtice at the
Pa t
ent
Office of onosition to the gramt of a
Pa t
ent on
any
of
the grouniis
mentioned in
the .Act.
;
GAS, &c.,
ENGINES.
16,339.
S. Grlftin, Bath, Somerset. Liquid Hydro
carbon,
&c., Engines.
[3
Figs.) September
13, 1892.
Th is
invention
relates to
liquid
hydrocarbon, o. ,
engines
.
When
the
p r ~ s s U T e
in the motor
oylinde
r re aches a. certain point,
it
act s
on
the
available area. of the enlarged
ste
m of
the
valve C
and
op
ens i t,
allowing com munication between
the
passages
A, E,
the
compressed
and
inflammable
charge being t h u ~ admitted to
the igniting tube and fired. The val ve C is held open by the pres
su
re in the
cylinder until
the
exhaust
v
al
ve is
open
e
d, when it
is
g r
adually
returned to
its
seat by the spring
D, thus again
cutting
off communication between the ignition
tube
and the motor
cylinder. The valve C is
thus
opened at the same point of each
r r i o ~
compression
stroke,
the
reby timing
the
firing
of the
ohar
ge.
To temporarily r elieve the pressure on the sp ring D in
starting,
the adjusting screw is tu
rn
ed back. When the engine
is runn ing
the adjusting
screw is
turned in
the re verse direction
until
the
stop nuts
reaoh the opposite
limit
of
their
mo
ve
ment.
.Accepted
J uly 19, 1893).
GUNS.
&c.
15,070.
G.
F.
R e
dfern,
London. (E.
Te
ms
trom ,
A snu res, Seine, Jl,·ance. )
Armoured
Turrets. [4 F igs.)
A u ~ u s t 20, 1892.-Th is invention rel ates to an armoured turret
having an uppe
r
cu pola a ar
r
anged so as
to admit o
nl
y the
gu
n
and the imm ediately adjacent parts of t
he
moun ting
above
the
l
eve
l of the ground. Th e cupola tits on to the outer armour c
and
springs
are
introduced between the two in orde
r
to
r
educe
-
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
••
Pig. I
...
•
ISO 70.B
the frict ion
between
t
hose parts.
The gun is supported
in
a
cylinder having trunnions carried in bea rings in the cupola,
ringel, m being ~ n g e d for loc
king the gun
in firing- position
and
mea
ns
for preventing t he
mechanism from being handled or
the
jlun wo• ked until after
it
is locked to the
cylinde
r
r
In aiming
through an orifi
ce
io the oylinder supporting the
gun,
a
tele
scope s is provided with
a
mirror to
reflect the
image of the
object
to a.
point below
the
guo. .dccepted
Ju l
y 19, 1893).
E N G I N E E R I N G.
come backwards out of the space, and thus releasing the
sear
and allowing it to
be
pulled
off
and the
hammer
to
fall,
the
bolt
Pig
.
1.
8
Fig .Z .
16Jgg
A
r
euuining outside, behind
the
projection C,
until
the
l
ook is
again cooke
d,
when the
space is
again
filled as before. (A ccepted
J u ly 19, 1893).
RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
15,700.
W. R. Sykes, London. Railway Signalling
Apparatus. [6 Figs.) September 1, 1892.-
Th_is
in\'enti<?n
ha.s r
efe
r
ence to balance
lev er
plates
fixed
upon th
e
etgnal P?St
10
conjunction with operating the signal arm.
Wh
en the dtstant
&ijtna·l lever is ope rated in the far cabin, and the balance lever c
which operates the
cam
piece i t h r o u ~ h
a roller Q
is
D?oved,
the sway
beam m. is r
aised
by the
connecting-
rod
l m\o a
•
Fi g
.J.
~ ~ i
Fig
.3.
slanting
position,
and a movement givEn to
the
middle up·
right rod o to the diAtant arm, eo
that
the bottom
of
a slot
'bears against a pin . Upon the
stop
signal being
operat
ed
in
the
rear
cabi
n,
the bal
ance lever d
is wor
ked
, and
th
rough a
roller
actuates the cam
pi ec
e j, to
which
is
conneote
d the rod k to the
stop signaL The
stop
aod distant signals a re thus lowered.
Acce,pted
Ju l
y 19, 1893).
STEAM
ENGINES
AND
BOILERS.
16,494.
N. Macbetb,
Bolton,
Lancs. Furnishing
Suppor t for Piston-Rods. [6 Fi
gs. )
September 16, 1892.
- Thi s invention relates to horizontal steam
engines,
and the
object is to dec reaae the tendency the pistons haYe to bear
hea\'ily upon the lower
parts
of
the inter iors
of
the
cylinde
rs and
r
ods,
&c.
Below the piston-rod
a
bearing
is
applied, this bear·
ing being made
in
two parts, aod being not quite r
igid,
to enable
it to
ac
commoda te itself to
the
slight irregularities of the piston·
rod. One part
of the
bea ring is
of
gu n-m
etal,
aod
the
other steel.
The bearing rests
upon
four carriages d,
each
formed with two
Ff{J
. 7.
Fig.2.
a
projecting ri
bs. Two
of
t he
ca rriages are sustained by
a
larger
one e, and
the
other
two
by a corr
esponding
carriage el, these
two larger ones being sustained by a bottom
ooe
f, the connec·
tions allowing any
uppe
r i a ~ e to rock
upon
its s u p p o r t i n ~
ful
crum oo
the lower
carr iage.
Endwise movement is preven ted
by the
bed
being provided with
two side studs which
enter slots
in
the
faces
k2. The bed i sustained at eight separate points, and
each one of these is capable of
independent
ver tical motion owing
to the
carriages
being
mounted on
fulcra. t e d
J uly 19,
1893)
MISCELLANEOUS.
15,918. W. Button,
London. ( M. Brown,
W
oo
dstock,
Cape of Good IIopa.) Shields of Axle
-
Boxes. [5
F
igs
.)
September B 1892.- Th is invention relates to paoking the shields
em
ploye
d
in axle-boxes
to prevent
entry
of
dust
and
es
c
ape of
Fig .
Z
•
16
,298.
T.
Southgate, London. Small Arms. (10
Fi rJs J
Sep tember
12, 1892. -
The
object of this
invention is to
pr e
ve
nt
the
accidental dis
c
harge
of
small arms.
Th e l
ocking
bolt
A is pi\•oted oo tbe ta i l B
of
the sear B
1
, and is free to be rocked
on its
cent
re so as to release
the
latter. A stop block is form
ed
on the
inner
su rface of the
looking plate D
above
t he sear tail
When
the
lock
is
o o ~ k e d
the bolt
A
is
press
ed by its sp
r
ing into
the e.pace between t h ~ sto p
block
and thE>
tail
B, thus locking and
~ o l d t n g
the.eear nose m the e n ~ of the
tumble
F;
The trigger
G
1s
formed
wtth a spu r
Gl
extendtng upward s behtnd
th
e se ar ta i l
and
in
contact with the
in
ner eod
of
the locking bolt, this spur
being sloped eo that wheo the t rigger is pulled it presses the inner
end
of the
lockin
g
bolt forwa
rd ,
thus causing the
bolting end
to
oil,
and
to pro
vide
m ~ a n s for pre,·enting rattling. T
he
faces
of
the shield next the
axle
hole are gr
ooved,
and a gasket
of
mate
r ia l
suc h
as
sheepskin with the wool on is fixed
the
rein, with a pro
je
ct i
ng f
rin ge
to bear against the
circumfe
rence
of the
axle
to
lead escaping
oil
or liquid grease into the oil well and. to ~ r e v e n t
it passing to the outer side.
The edge the
s ~ 1 e l d •s. also
similarly
treated and
packed, the
end bemg. proVIded W l ~ h
a
leather,
as
a packing to
e x c l u d ~
dust. The J ~ e s
of
the shtelds
a re reces.sed and: e c t a . n g u l a ~
~ m s
are fitted 10
them,
the
cas·
ings
ha vmg
sprmge held w1th1n the r
et u
rn ed:ges of
them
to
retain
the
sp rmgs in their
positions
and Y':t gtve play
for com
pression.
The
open parts
of
the ca.smgs
fit
1n the recesses
of
the
shields, aod the
outer
parts
bear against the
walls of
the axle
·box.
.Accepted
July
12, 1893).
17,904.
J B. Atherton, Manhattan, Ralnh
.
llJ,
Lancs.
Chain.
Making
Machinery,
&c.
4 F ~ g s . J
Ootober
7
1892.-
Th
is
in
vention relates
to
t
he
machines
deecnbfd
in
Patent'No. 1063
of
1892, and its object is to enable ~ e m
to
fo.rm
a we ld less ohain in whi oh the ends of each length of wu e formmg
the link
are
twined
upon
themse
lves to a greater ~ x t e n t .
sprocket-whee
l
C
is 6xed upon the spindle
B
to re
ce1ve
the
cham
after the principal operations
of
Its f?rmation are o m p l e t e d . Th e
ratchet-wheel D is fixed upon the epmdle B, on wht r h ts also fixed
a notched
wheel.
Th e lever F is pr
ovided
with a pawl
at
-
F
•
•
•
c
its lower eod, and rece
ives
an
oscillatory
movement
about
a pivot
Fl.
The
pa
wl
engages with
th e
ratrhet
-
wheel
D.
The
leYer G
is
provided
with arms
G3,
the
forme
r
of which
extends upwards
in the path of
an a.ntifriction
roll
er H carried at the end
of a
recipr ocating
elide
Hl.
One end
of
a spring is connected to
the lever G
and
the other to the f
raming
of the machine.
The
a rm Q3 has projections
Jl,
J 2. Th e
lever K is
connected
to
the
le ver G, from which
it
r
eceives
oscillatory movement by
the
link
L. The lower end of the lever K is provided with a centra l rid ge ,
on each side of which is
a su
rface
curved
to
fit the
wire of which
the chains are
formed. (d
cce,pted
July
12, 1893).
16,132.
G. Watson, Kilmarnock, Ayrs, N.B.
Sluice
Valves.
[3
Figs.)
September 9,
1892.-This
in ve
nt ion relat
fs
to sluice valves. The main
valve
A is made with do uble doors B
having parallel
faces
and fitting r ings C, and slidin&r betwe<n
opposite faces, encircling ports in the valve casi
ng
E.
The main
vah·e
is work
ed
by a.
tubula
r screw spindle
F,
whirh,
without
•
Fig .1 .
Ft9.Z
£
mo ving on eod, acts on an internally screwed nut Fl fixed to a
projecting part of t he main valve. T
hrough
the tubular
spindle
extends a
sm all screw
one
G,
which similarly acts on an
inter·
nally screwed nu t secured to a sm a
ll
va l
ve
between the plates of
t he main
on e
, and is
adapted
to close a small port
th
rough the
latter.
In d icato
rs are
provided for
Rhowing sepa
ra t
ely the
posi
tions of
t he main
and
small valves. (A ccepted Jt tly 12, 1893).
15,510.
C. de Bail l lencourt , Brussels,
Belgium.
Combing,
&c., Long
Fibres
for Spinning.
[2 Fig
s. ]
August 29,
1892.-This
invention relates
to
dressing
and
prepar
ing
lo
ng fibres for p i n n i n ~ r in which the latter,
ca
rried in clamps,
are caused
to
move
intermittently
along beams having vertica
l
movement,
wh
e
reby
the
fibres
are
brought under the
action of
teeth of aprons
and
thus comb ed. Each press m
m1
as
it
occupies
successh·eJy positions
m
to m3 presents a longer portion of
the
fibres
suspended from it to th
e action
of the combs during
··------
-··--·---
-
ISS/
the prf'limina.ry combing, whether the la
tt e
r are extEnded
or
sho r tened and repeated. When the fibres, however pass under
tbe.action of the finishing combs they are dres.sed th roughout
thea whole
length,
the co
mbs be10g
of
gradually s i n ~ fine
n ~ s s .
The first and second machines of the set operate wlth in
~ m e d ar.bors to the aprons, while the. finishing
machine
is pro
v
tded
wtth aprons wt
th
combs of mcreasing
fineness
upon
horizont
al
arbors parallel
with the
beam.
(A(c
e. .
ted
July 12
1893). r ,
17,552. D.
B.
Farqubarson, Newcastle-on-Tyne
P < t a : t o · D ~ g g l n g Machines. Fi
gs.)
O ~ t o b e 3,
1892._:
Th1s m vent10n relat<s to
potato
dtggers, m which an en dless
travelling screen driven in a t ransverse direction is used this ba r d
being
composed of loniitudinal tubes
P
attached to
IiX:ka of end-
•
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-09-01
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/engineering-vol-56-1893-09-01 33/33
290
Ieee chaloe driven
by
sp
rocket wheels from ge aring on the axle
c a ~ r i e d
by
the two d riving .wheels. The potatoes,
afte
r being
rat eed by
a share, are
de h
vered on
to the inner aide of
t he
Fig
.2.
•
ITSSZ.
t ravelling- screen, where
they
are separated from the
so
il, lea ving
the
potatoes to roll off
the
screen on to
the
surface of
the
grou nd
at
th
e rear end of the
machine. (.Accepted
J uly
6,
1893).
15,428. B., B. c., and F. Wren, Manchester.
Balling
Thread.
[4 Fig
s.] Auctust 27, 1
892.-
This invention relates to
a m
achine
for
balling
thread,
c.
,
and consists
of a
main frame
to
the
fron
t
part of
which is attached a
swingi
ng fra me c ca rrying
a series of spindles d d r
iven
by
bevel
whee
ls e on a shaft car ried
in the
swing frame, and actuated by pulleys
and
endless band
s
from the main
d r
iving
shaft. The
swinging
motion
is
imparted
to tbe frame
c by
bellcrank l
evers and links
, the
bowl g2 of
the
bellcrank lever g working on t he outer edge
of
the cam
h
a
bole
in the pe r iphery of
the plate h
being
ma d
e at the p
oint
where t he
d
ep
ress ion for
c o v e r i n
~ : t
in"
is
to be
situated , this r ecess
being
fi
tted with
an ad justable
and mo
vable
section
,
so
th
at it ean
be
al
te red to the r
equi
r
eme
n ts
of an
y
special
sh
aJ?e of
ba
ll
. The
flyers 17 are mounted in fixed rai ls, and a re
dnven
by
gea rin g
from the main
shalt.
On
the end
of each spindle d is fixed a
small box
which is
supplied
with an
adhesive cement. When
tbe
balls are ready for netting" the m
achi
ne st
ops,
and the attend ·
ant places a
ticket
up on th e ad h
esive
end
of
each spindle, and
then sets t he me.chine on again for
"netting."
Means are pro·
,
;ded
for a c t u a t i n ~ the stop
motion
for netting," for altering
the speed
of
the spmd le automatically, and for va r
yi
ng the te n
sion u pon the th read as requir
ed. A
ccepted Ju ly 12, 1893).
16,193.
G.
Mltchell,
Dalswlnton, Dumfries
.
By·
drauuc Machinery.
[2
Figs
. ]
September
9,
1
892,-
This
in vention consists in the arrangement
of
the balance cy linder a
at the back of the main
hydraulic
cylinder b, in which is a
su
p
plementary
piston
c
having
cup leathers fo r
workJng
under pres
sure from either side. Th e piston c is connected by a r
od
t of
smaller dia meter to the main ram e, the p
isto
n-rod
passing
th r
oullh
a gland
situated
between the two cylinders, and which works
hydraulically
tight from
either si
de. A hole
dl
is provided in
the
p
iston-
r
od
down its centre from end
to
end, the orifice g
being
always within t he main hydraulic cylinder b a
nd
affordi
ng
com·
munication between
the
mai
n
cy linder
ba n
d t he baek of t he
sup
pleme
ntary
aylind
er
and pist o
n
c. Th
e annular ar
ea
around the
r
od
of the supplementary p
iston
on the front side forms the effec
t ive ar
ea
for balancing the main ram e back into its cylinder .
c
Fcg .1
16193.
When
this
is heincr effected th e
front
side of t h e supplementary
piston
c is
exp
osed to
the
pressu
re fr
om
the hydraulic
main
th
roug h
the
inlet branch
h while th
e
main cylinde
r and
bac
k
of
th
e supplementary one through the hole d
1
are in communication
with the exhaust. When these conditions
are
reversed
and the
ma
in
ram
is being
for
ce
d
out,
a g reater
pressu
re is exer ted than
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
lea ther is maintained
in
place hy a r ing n having a concave face
to fit the top of the forme
r,
which fits into th e
annu
lar space and
h
as
a flange
forming
a me ans
of attachment to the cylinde
r
bead
.
.A ccepted J
uly
12, 1893).
15,859. W. Button. London.
M. Br01
vn , Wood1tock,
Cape Town, Cape of Good H o
pe.) Bydraullo
Ltftlllg
Jaoka.
[3
Figs.]
September 3, 1892 Th is
in ve
ntion relates
to hy d raulic liftin g jacks, and its object is to prevent the ram
reced ing
after
pressure is put on for lifting purpose•.
Th
e ram
A is fixed
up
on
the
v e r s i n ~
sc
rew base B
t.nd
ca
rr ies
the slid·
ing cy
lind
er C, not ch
es
D bemg arranged in parallel order on
8
-
c
0 0
0
the ram A for engaging the
sp
rin g c atches E when
the CD.m
levers
Far
e
folded backwa
rds oJose against
the sides of
the
cylin
d er 0
to
pr event it from
d i n ~
alter pre
ssu
re is pu t on . Th e handl
es
F
are
p
i\
foted to
sp
rings H attached t o t he cylinder, and by pull·
ln
g them
down the
sh
oulders formed by
th
ei
r fo rked
pivot
ed
ends
turn against
th
e f
ace of
the
cylind
er and withdr
aw
the spring
catch
es
E from the notches D for
allowing
free downward
move
ment of th e cylind er C on the r
am
A. .Aectpted Ju ly 19, 1893).
16,590.
J .
Noltsch, Chemnitz,
Saxony.
Sitting
Machtnes for Flour
,
&c. [4
Figs. ]
September 16, 1
892.
This in venti on relates to the revolving vanes
of
sifting machines
for
g
rt.nular material,
suc
h aa
fi
ou
r. T
he
ma
ch
ine
i8
mounted
in a
frame consiating
of fou r posts
M and
a pair of beariDgs
b
h
which
suppo
rt
a.nd guide the s
haft d, th
e lat ter
being
pro vided
with a journal / and belt pulley n. The hushes g, i
of
the bear
ings h
an
d ba re divided
and
adjustable .
Th
e sta
nd
is divided
into
th
r
ee
compar tments A,
B
0 by means of partition plates
.Z.
o,
ol,
oll, oa fixe d to the frame
by
screws, a sheet metal trou
gh,
r iveted to
the
bottom plate, forming a fourbh
compartment
. On
the dri vi
ng shaft
da
re
conica
l drums c, cl,
c2
, having incUned fan
blades, while tile corr
es
pondingly c
oni
ca l
sieves
su rrounding tbe
la tt e r a re mounted on wooden ba rs pla
ce
d in the compar
tm e
nts
A, B, 0, and a
rr
an ged in circular rows, t hA
uppe
r ends being
s
ec
ured to
th
e par titions o, ot,
o
2
by a n ~ l e i r o n
rings, while
the
lo
wer ends are
sc
r
ewed
upon other partitions secured to the
framework . .Accepted July 19, 1893).
16,282. A.C.
Kirk,
Glasgow. FlangiDg. Shaplllg, &c.,
Metal Plates. [4
fl
ips.] September 12, 1892.-
Tbis invention
relates to machinery for f\anging, shapi ng,&o., metal plates so
as
to
be available for various ope ra t ions
in
making metal
structures su
ch
as
boilers, especially
where the
di rect
action
of
an
hy
draulic ra
m
is not suitable. The table A
has
an hyd raulic cylinder B under
nea th, having a piston-rod C extending up above the
table,
and
a
rr anged to pull down and
rai
se
a lever D,
to
tbe
end of
whi ch a
ftaogiog bl
ock
F is
attached,
the
cou
nterpart bl
ock G being
fi x
ed
to the table. The
die
F is attached to the l
eve
r D
by two
links
H, the upper ends of
whi
oh are conn ected by a pin
which slides
Fig . .
Fig .2. .
•
A
(
SEPT. I ,
I 893.
the counterpar t
die
. A cu tter T is fixed across the piston-rod
under the
lever D, to raise the lt. tt er when the fCirmer la moved
upwa
r
ds, the
d
ie F being raised
with
it
by the
links H. .A
cupttd
Ju l
y 19, 1898).
14,507. J . IL Collllls, Glasgow. Dyelllg aa4
Soourlllg YarD. [11 Figa.]
August
11,
1
892.-This
inventi
on
retates
to
machinery for dyeing
and
scouring yarn . The
re
volu
t i o ~ s of the b ~ t 8 operate " h e e l
? 1
and cam,
t.nd
the lt.tter
aa tt revolves gtves an oscalla taog motaon to leven pt, pl, t.nd
cra.nk p ,
the
r
eby
partially r
evo
lving
backwa
rds
and
forwt.rd.e the
•
•
••
•
.1
I
,
.
I I
•
tf.
•
•
ch ain
wheels
dl
, d2, from which are suspended the two eeta of
pol
es
j
with their hanks of yarn. The
poles are
suspended by
the chains pa88ing over
th
e
whee
ls dl, d2
so that
they balan
ce
eac h
ot her an d t herefOt e, at each partial tu
rn
of the
wheels
ln one
di
r
ec
ti
on,
the
ya rn at one side of the maobine is
dipped
whilst
that
on t he other sid e is r
aised
up,
and
vic1 veraa. .Acupttd
July 19,
l ~ S )
.
16.259. G. Mltehelt. Dalawinton, Dumtrles. Ex·
pressing 011,
&c., from Substances contatntng t t.
[4
Figs. ]
Septembet 10, 1
892.-
T
bis
in vention r elates to means
tor
exp reaaing liquids, such aa oil from
seeds,
c. f the main
r am
g
is
drawn
back and t he yress boxes ha r
e
open,"
the
hopper,
which
is full
ef t he
ma t
eria to
be pressed,
is drawn
along
the
top,
and
as
it paeses
o
ve
r the open epaoes n , be
tween
the pre es
plates, th e
la
tt er are filled with the
mate
rial, the hopper being
d ra wn back to its original position, and
the
hyd raulic pressure
•
-
•
Yt.g.3 .
Fig .2 .
• • •
• •
•
I
f
f I
I • o I
•
•
•
Jii:g .l .
applied froo1 th e pumps. .As tbe liquid is ex pre ss ' d it falls on to
the rem ovable plate,
and
from th ere
into
t he channels in the sole
plate a, and further into
the
i v i n ~ tanks . The pressure
being
co
mpl
eted, the ram is withdrawn , and with 1t the boxes,
lea
v
ing the cake s
standing
loose in th e open spa-ces between the
press
plates,
and
on the removable plate being withd
r
awn
fa ll
through
the boles in the
sole-plate
on
to
an
adjus t
able
r
ece
tv
iog
ta ble,
when
the plate is r
eplaced
and the
process
r epf'ated.
(Accepted July 19, 1893).
UJIITED
STATES PAlB.lirB BD
PATENT
PJUO'l'IOB.
Desoriptions wi th Ul';JBtr tions of inventions patented in the
United
States
of Amenca from 18t7 to t he
present
time,
and
r
epo
rts of trials of
patent law
oases
in the
United States
may be
consulted
, gra
tis, t.t
the o ffioea of EN&ni••ntNG,
a6
t.nd 36,
Bedford·
at1eet, Stnnd.
in a s
lot
K in a small piece L fix ed on t he leve r . The lever D, at
the
end op p
osite t o that at which the
die
F is
attached
, is co
n-
top related