Nov. 8, 1901.

E N G I N E E R I N G.

Much greater economy in the number of drills

THE NEW SUBWAY IN NEW YORK and q uantity of dynamite used could have b een
CITY.
obtained if a better and more scientific method had
been employed. The cut was made by Ingersoll
By CHARLES P.aELINI, C.E., New York.
percussion drills, operated by compressed air.
(Continued from page 577.)
Tho portion of the subway lying between 18thTHE third section of t he subway begins at Great street and 32nd-street is being built by excavating
J ones-street and Lafayette-place, and continues in two side trenches. At every 40ft. a shaft or ''porta straight line to Astor-place, 8th-street. From hole,, as it is commonly called by the con tractors,
there it curves ~oun~ to the righb, passing under is sunk down to the floor of the subway. Across two
4th-avenue, whteh It follows up to 33rd-street. corresponding shafts, one on each trench, a narrow
This section has five stations, located respectively heading is driven of the same depth as t he shaft . A
at 14th, 18th, 23rd, 28th, and 33rd streets. They hor~e-trestle composed of vertical props, 14 in.
are ~11 for local trains, except the station at by 14 in., and a cap, 18 in. by 12 in., is placed
14th-street, which is for expresses only. The sub in the heading. At t he same time the earth
contractors for this section are Messrs. Holbrook, between the tracks is ramoved, and two 30-in.
Cabot, and Da.ly.
iron I -beams, 50 ft. long, bolted together so a43 to
The soil excavated in t his part of the subway form a box girder, are laid over t he caps of the
varies in character. From Great Jones-street it t restle ; the road way is temporarily covered
consists of a surface layer of rubbish with a thick with t imber and planking flush to the surface.
stratum of loam and sand beneath. From 11th- Just above the struts which support the ends of the
street to 16th-street the line runs through a rocky caps are placed t wo short vertical timbers, 14 in. by
formation, which sometimes comes close up to the 14 in., and only 3 ft. high, support ing in turn
surface, and sometimes dips below the floor of the another cap-piece on which rest two 30-in. I- beams,
subway, so that nothing but loose soil is encoun- 50 ft. long, and bolted together. The earth is extered, as at 11th-street, where a wide trench has cavated on both ~ides of t.he horse-trestle, under the
been cut through the soft material forming the car-tracks and across both trenches ; a ''needle"
sub-soil. At 15th-street the rock rises again to is then passed through, being suspended by iron
the surface, and so continues up to 18th-street. rods placed between the flanges of the box-girders,
The rock is of the compact mica-schistose stone, the flanges of t he two beams being for t hat purpose
which forms the greater part of Manhattan I sland, left nearly 2 in. apart. The "needles" are distriwith strata inclined at an angle of nearly 30 deg., buted at distances from 5 ft. to 6 ft. They supand sloping from west to east. L')ose soil is again port planks laid longitudinally to the axis of the
found between 18th and 22ad streets, composed road, thus holding in place the surface roadway,
chiefly of hardpan and gravel. The space between whose weight is carried entirely by t he horse22nd and 25th streets was formerly a swamp, which trestles. As soon as the roadway has been made
was filled in with eart h and broken stone to admit secure, the excavation of the bench included
of the construction of streets. Water was here between the two-side trenches is proceeded wit h ;
found in large quantities, a local condition that gave and when the lowest plane of the su bwa.y is reached,
no small trouble to t he contractors. From 25th- the foundation b ed is laid, the steel bents set in
street to a point between 32nd and 33rd streets position, and the subway constructed in the manner
hardpan and gravel were again met, followed by already d escribed.
mica-schistose rock, which, as it rises to the surface,
In order to carry on the work continuousJy
forms Murray Hill, extending from 33rd-street to without removing the box-girders and the' 'needles,''
41st-street.
the former are placed with one end close to the
Various methods of construction have been em- edge of the cap-piece of one horse-trestle, whilst
ployed by the contractors on this section of the the other end is nearly 9 ft. from the cap-piece of
subway. From the beginning of the section, at the following trestle. This arrangement allows the
Great J ones-street and Lafayette-p1ace, to a point horse-trest le to be r emoved, the girders continuing
north of 4th-street, a single wide t rench was to be supported by small timbers placed 8ft. behind
dug, and from 4th-s treet to Astor-place the road the former trestles and resting on the roof of the
was built by "halves." From Astor-place to subway aheady constructed. In this manner the
14th-street it was continued by underpinning t he road can be continued into places formerly occupied
car-tracks, which were left undisturbed ; from 14th- by the trestles, so that the progress of the work n eed
street to 17th-street by a wide trench, and from never be interrupted. The iron box-girders are left
17th-street to 33rd-street by again underpinning undisturbed and the surface of the street continues
the actual road- bed.
to be well supported. When the subway is suffiThe wide-trench method of construction was ciently advanced, small pillars of masonry are built
explained in connection wit h the second section. resting on the tops of the steel bents and underThe met hod "by halves" consists in opening a pinning the roadway, the "needles" are re moved,
trench wide enough to include the centre line of and the unoccupied space filled in with rammed
the subway, after which the foundation is laid, the earth. The side trenches are refilled a nd the
side walls built, part of the steel bents placed in surface paved again. The gas and water pipes and
position, and covered over by concrete arches. electric conduits are held in position while the con' Vhen half of the structure is finished, the earth struction is going on by means of chains hanging
is replaced and the street repaved. For the pur- over beams laid for the purpose. One e nd of these
pose of expedition, a trench was opened at 4th- beams abuts on the sidewalk, and the other on the
street extending over a block on the left side of top of the box-girder.
the street, the work progressing continuously north'Vhenever treacherous soil was encountered, only
ward, while from As tor-place the trench was dug one-half the road was built at a time. In such
on t he right side of the street and carried south- cases only one trench was dug and shorter
ward. The sides of t he trenches were supported '' needles " used. The latter were suspended from
by sheet ing planks. When half of the subway was the box girders, placed one in the middle of the
finished, the planks close to the buildings were street between tracks, and the other at the edge of
removed, while those near the middle were left in the t rench. The earth was then excavated and
place, to be taken away while t he excavation for half t he subway constructed. The roof was afterwards covered over with earth and the paving rethe other side of t he r oad was bE-ing carried on.
But little progress has been made with the line placed, after which work was begun on the-second
between Astor-place and 14th-street; whereas from half by opening the trench on the opposite side of
there on to 33rd-street the work is advancing the street.
The work is carried on until late at night by two
rapidly, being entirely built in several intervening
shifts of workmen; one working from 6.30 in the
places.
At Union-square a large space is reserved for morning to 2.00 in the afternoon, and the second
pedestrians; and as the traffic is rather light, the from 3 to 11 p.m. People Jiving along the subway
contractors shifted the tracks of the surface cars line having complained of the noise made during
near t he eastern side of the square, and proceeded the night operations, orders were given for the disto excavate by means of a wide single trench. In continuance of all work at 11 p.m. When ligh t is
shifting the t racks, new yokes were placed for the needed, it is supplied by Kitson incandescence
underground trolley, and a temporary surface road lamps. In this system, ordinary kerosene oil
built of timber and planks 3 ft. above the old one, is placed in a seamless steel tank, in whioh it is
and at the same time a little higher than the adjacent subjected to air pressure by means of a condensing
sidewalk. At 14th-street the trench is excavated pump. It is driven to the lamp through small
in loose soil and the sides timbered ; but from 15th- brass tubes no bigger than ordinary electric wires.
street to 17th-street the road runs through hard The lamp consists of an oil-vaporiser and an
rock, which was drilled through and blasted. air-tube leading to and supporting the burner.

The vapour burns within a mantl~ ~imilar ~o that

used in the Welsbach system, em1ttmg a hght of
intense purity and brilliancy. Its spectrum closely
resembles that of the sun, more so than that of
any other artificial light. '!'he IGtson Lighting
Company claim that t heir 2000_ candl~-power lamp
is more efficient than any electn c arc-hght of equal
nominal candle-power, and further, t hat it is
40 per cent. more economical. The lamps are
rented at 5 dols. per month. As one gallon of oil
will feed a 2000 candle-power hmp for 12 _h?urs,
the cost is t hus brought d own t o the surprtsmgly
low figure of about 1 cent. per h~ur.
.
The plant of the contracting company_ 1s
installed on the south-east corner of UniOnsq uare, frontiog 17th-street. It consists of five
100 horse-power steam boilers and two 24 in: by
30 in. straight-line Ingersoll compressors. Pipes
for the conveyance of compressed air are laid all
along t he section ; it is used for riveting, drilling,
hoisting, crc. The drilling machines are of the
Ingersoll percussion t ype ; t he hoisting is done
either by stiff-legged derricks or by CarsonLidgerwood cableways.
This cable way is a hoisting and conveying device,
in which a suspended cable is used as a trackway.
The steel cable is stretched over two vertical
A-shaped t testles securely anchored at each end.
On the cable a traveller is placed, having a carrying
capacity of 2 tons of stone or earth. The t ravellers
are held in position and carried back and forward
by an endless steel r ope attached to a special drum
of the engine. The hoisting is effected by a.
similar rope attached to the ordinary drum. The
engine and boiler are mounted on a strong covered
car, placed at the head of the excavation. The
trestles are 25 ft. high and 225 ft . apart. This
system of cableway is commonly employed for
trench work and also for laying pipes and building
sewers.
All the material excavated that may not be req uired for covering the subway is carried away to
t he dumping grounds. Ordinary dumping cars
are used for this purpose ; but lately the contractors
have found great convenience in employing the
Shadbolt dumping wagon, recently introduced by
t he Shad bolt Manufacturing Company, of Brooklyn.
The body of the wagon is bal~nced on the rear
springs so that it is easily tilted without the
use of any special mechanism, the springs r esting on a bar across the frame. The sockets in
which this bar turns are set in the frllme sides
at a point in front of the rear axle just sufficient to throw part of the load on the front
axle, thereby bringing the centre of gravity
about 1 ft . back of a certain point between the
axles, which practice has shown to be the best
distribution of load to secure the easiest draught
with wheels of the relative height of those in
common use. A chain is attached to the front end
of the car, and passes under t he front axle, relieving
the strain caused by the act of dumping, the front
springs serving as cushions. The chain can be
shortened or lengthened at will, thereby determining t he angle at which the wagon must be
tilted, according to the different conditions that
govern the operation, such as t he nature of t h e
load, the site where it is to be dumped, &c.
(To be continued.)

THE INSTITUTION OF 1\IIECHANICAL

ENGINEERS.
ON Friday evening last, t he 1st inst., a special
general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers was held in t he Institution House, at
Storey 's-gate. The President, M r. ,V. H. Maw,
occupied t he chair, and stated that he had great
pleasure in announcing that the Council at their
last meet ing had elected Lord Kelvin as an
honorary m ember of the Institution, and the
members would be very glad to hear that Lord
l{el vin had accepted this recognition of his invaluable scien tific work.
GAs -ENGINE REsEARCH.
The chief object of the meeting was to finish the
discussion on the second report of the Gas- Engine
Research Committee, which had been prepared by
Professor F. W. Burstall, and was read at the
last general meeting, held a fortnight previously.
We have printed this report in full in our pages,
and in our issue of October 26 we gave an account
of the first part of t he discuss:on .* Before calling

* See pages 567, 592, and 628 ante.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
upon members to renew the discussion, the President stated t hat the Gas-Engine Research Committee had invited Mr. H. A. Humphrey and Mr.
Dugald Clerk to join the Committee, and that
.those gentlemen had ac~epted the invitation.
The President next called on Professor Callendar
t o renew the discussion.
Professor H. L. Callendar in response said h ow
highly he appreciated the work carried out under
the auspices of the Committee. The r eport was
one of the highest importance, but it bristled with
He had not had time
controversial points.
to study it closely enough to get to the bottom
of all the evidence. The effect of the walls
of the cylinder was the chief point brought out
by the r esearch, the manner in which the temperature of the charge WllS modified being a matter
of great importance. I t was indicated by the experiments how far the temperature of the explosive
charged varied at different parts of the cylinder
and at different points of the stroke. The r esults
of the author,s tests had been calculated allowing
for the variable specific heat of the burning mixture. The author had &tated he had consulted ruost
of the original memoirs deiling with this subject,
and had given certain formu]re, which, howe ver, Professor Oallendar thought might be open
to question. The method of L e Chatelier was,
n o doubt, simple and ingenious, but the allowance
made for cooling was probably not sufficient, and
the specific h eats were p o3sibly too large. In the
rate of coolin~ of steam, for in&tance, the r esults
were very difficult to arrive at, as the condensation
occupied less than a quarter of a se~ond , and the
temperature had to be measured in an exceedingly
shor t sp1ce of time. That would give an idea of
the difficulty of carrying out t he experiments on
the variation of the specific heat . The formuhe
given in the paper did not quite agree with
t he original . experiments. Perhaps th e latter
might be r elied upon, but that was very doubtful.
Measurement of temperature was, Professor Callendar said, tho point in which he was chiefly
interested, and he would confine himself to t hat.
He had made a large number of analogous experiments on the steam engine with delicate thermometers in 1895, and had communicated the results
to the Institution of Civil Engineers in a paper
read and discussed in November, 1897. These
experiments had been carried out about the
time that Professor Burstall had been working
in t he same direction, but the investigations
had been carried on quite independently by
b oth, the speaker working with steam and Professor Bur.stall with gas. The main difficulty in
carrying out the work was met with in the construction of the thermometers. One of the thermometers which he exhibited had been attached
to the piston, and so long as it was not got at it
stood well, working for a month without trouble.
Those which were placed outside were frequently
damaged by the workmen, the ends being broken
off, but t he other part survived. The thermo-

IJW::Jc, rW/1-unr.
(7/0I. A)

meter h e used consisted of four leads of thick

platinum wire fused into a glass tube at both ends.
In t he middle of the t ube (see sketch) th ere was a.
constriction with packing and a gland ; the packing
being pressed into the constriction prevented the
thermometer from being blown out. Attached to
the leads of thicker wire were loops of fine wire to
take the temperature. One would think the glass
would break on sudden exposure to steam, but t his
n ever occurred. It was not possible to use mica or
asbestos, because the insulation would be ruined by
the condensation of steam in the packing. A contact-maker was used similar to the second form of
contact-maker described by t he auth or. In steamengine experiments of this nature several difficulties
were absent with which the experimenter with gas
engines had to contend. The gas. engine temperature
was much higher, and a stronger wire had therefore
to be used. In his investigation with steam, Professor Callendar had used a wire no more than onethousandth of an inch in diameter, whilst in expe1 iments detailed in the report the wire waC3 1! to
2! thousandths of an inch. Again, the wire
wight be contam inated by the carbon, and th us be

made more fusible. The condition of very great

sensitiveness was a most impor tant point, and this
was especially t he case in r egard to the gas engine.
There was so shor t a time to measure t he temperature t hat a very fine wire was necessary ; and
though a strip of platinum had been suggested in
place of a wire of ordinary round section, he
considered i t would not be practicable, as it
would soon get broken up. As a matter of fact,
the fine wire was quite quick enough for the
purpose, the lag not being considerable. The quickness varied inversely as the sectional area of the wire.
Another important point was whether the wire,
however quick, could ever actually reach a temperature equal to that of the explosive gas, owing
to loss of heat by radiation. It was impor tant to
see to what this loss of heat by radiation amounted.
The condition of equilibrium was t hat conduction
equals radiation. Professor CallE'ndar gave the
formula as follows:

[Nov. 8,

I 901.

of the practical man.

What mental concept
is begotten from the expression, " the 1. 324
power of a volume,, 1 If, however, the diagram
be drawn as in a sketch made by the speaker
on the blackboard (and which we here reproduce) with the 1.324 as shown, it can then
be read as expressing that, calling the area of the
complete diagram out to infinity 1.324, then the
area of the peevee rectangle for any point A is the
.324, and the rest of the di&gram is the 1. This is

A,-----,

c (01 - 0) = h (61i - 8l'),

where c is the conduction coefficient dependent on

~=:=:::::::::::::::::==
1 3:l/J.
the temperature in a manner not accurately known,
'
-------------------------- ------. t 11e a bsolute temperat ure of the thermometer, 8 -1..r..r
~ 324
0 IS
. . . . - - - - - - - - -- - --___.._ _ ___,
0
that of t he surrounding walls, 01 that of t he
gas, and h the radiation constant. In the steam true for any point on the curve, say, for B ; tht.
engine the radiation was 50 to 100 t imes less rectangle there is also .324 of the rest of the diathan the conduction loss. In the gas engine gram formed by t he curve carried out to infinity.
there was the difficulty that such fine wire It was not, however, to be supposed that t his r el!l.could not be used, as it would be fused by high tion expresses a property of the gas ; it is a p rolocal temperature, a fact which was brought out perty of the mathematical curve only, and this
clearly in the p1per. A fine platinum wire, one to particular curve with index 1.324 approximately
two onethousandths of an inch in diameter, could agrees with the actual diagram.
be melted in an ordinary gas flame.
Professor D. S. Capper said he wished to endorse
Professor Calleudar next proceeded to illustrate, the remarks of previous speakerd, and to express
by means of the instruments and apparatus he had his gratitude to Professor Burstall for the additions
placed in the the'ltre for the purpose, that a fine he had undoubtedly made to our knowledge of
wire placed in a Bunsen flame reached a higher what goes on in a gasengine cylinder. He had
temperature than a thicker wire, the conclusion had the privilege of seemg Professor Burstall carry
being that with the finer wire t here would be a out some of the earlier experiments referred to,
greater value for c, and therefore less error in when the experimental engine was at King,s College;
proportion. It was therefore possible by using and he had been filled with admiration by the way
wires of diff~rent sizes-as was indicated by the in which he, Professor Burstall, had met and s urexperiment- to measure the temperature of the mounted each difficulty as it arose, and the wonderflame, although the temperature might be above ful accuracy which he had obtained both in calithe melting point of the wire ; the results being brating his instruments and in the records he hart
reached by calculation by means of the formula. obtained from them. Professor Kennedy had
It had been suggested that wit'es of a higher melting criticised, a fortnight ago, the fact that Professor
point than platinum should be used ; but Professor Burstall had ex pressed all his r esults in metric notaCallendar did not consider this would be advisable. tion, and had, t he speaker thought, somewhat unPlatinum could be easily drawn down into a wire, fort unately instanced the difficulty of thinking in
whilst metals with a higher fusing point were too kilogrammes per square centimetre. That, Prohard to be readily treated. If an alloy were used, fessor Capper thought, was, perhaps, one of the
there would be small change in electrical resistance. simplest units to translate, as it was practically
It had been said it was possible to use a thermo- equal to one atmosphere of pressure. Indeed, he
couple. No doubt it would be possible if suffi- meant, if he had had an opportunity of speaking at
ciently fine wires could be adopted, but the power the last meeting, to have applauded Professor Buravailable with a thermo-couple was fifty times less stall's boldness in discarding our ponderous and torthan that available with the electrical 1esistance tuous methods of calculation for the much simple_
method ; and it was desirable to have all the power metric sydtem. But since the Jast meeting he
possible in order that the measurements might be had taken the opportunity of referrin g back to a
accurate. Another disadvantage of the t hermo- gas-engine t rial which he (Professor O!l.pper) had
couple would be the variation in section at the made, and published in 1893, with a 7 n ominal
junction, and ili was necessary to know the diameter horse-power Crossley, tube- ignition engine, and
in order to make the calculation. It was said that comparing the results he obtained from C.\lcula.tion
the thermo-couple was easy to repair; but that with the observations Professor Burstall had been
was also true of the pla.tinum wire, and it was not able to make ; and in the endeavour to translate
necessary to calibrate by the ice point, the steam results in the one system into the other system of
point, and the sulphur point every t ime a repair measur ement, he had found so much nerve-trying
had been made. It was sufficient to measure the difficulty that he did r eally wish P rofessor Burstall
resistance cold at any known temperature. Pro- had found it possible to give his results in both
fessor Callendar had himself employed the thermo- systems of units. He feared that t he value of
couple for measuring the temperature in the walls Professor BurstaWs work would be somewhat lost
of ' the cylinder of a steam engine, to show how sight of in this country from the difficulty of comm~ch heat was absorbed and how far the influence paring his resul ts with previous work. But leaving
of condensation extended. I t might be similarly that aside, Professor Oapper found a very remarkemployed in gas-engine research in connection with able agreement between the results of the trial
the heat balances ; but the experiments would be he had made and Professor Bursta.lPs results. He
very difficult, and a very sensitive galvanometer believed he (the speaker) had been the fir st in that
trial to calculate the temperatures, &c., after exwould be needed.
Mr. Macfarlane Gray, not having carefully read plosion from the specific heats of the analysed
the report, had intended not to speak on it ; he exhaust gases, and the results he would hand in
would, however, take the opportunity to put the for publication, as follows :
In this trial, as was generally the case, the
fractional indices of adiabatic expansion which
were given on all the diagrams in another light speaker had found what, in deftlult of better inthan that in which they are generally re gardecl, formation, had been ascribed to " after-burning ;"
so that they might be intelligible to even the namely, evidence of addition of heat during expannon-mathematical mind. He took one of them- sion. N ow, he supposed very few authorities, if really
p y t.!l2.& = constan t . The usual reading is '' the pressed, would actu~lly maintain that. '' afterpressure multiplied by the 1.324 power of the burning ,, took place In a modern gas engme. He
volume is constant;,, or what amounts to t.he had always felt an uncomfortable feeling of weaksame thing, '' the specific heat at constant pressure ness in referring to '' after-burning ,, as a f!l.ct ;
is 1.324 t imes t he specific heat at constant volume." and yet that the expansion curve did generally ri~e
Neither of these definitions catches on to the mind above the adiabltic was such a p er::,i:3tent matter as

_p

Nov. 8, 1901.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

to force on e to explain it somehow. And now, he

thought, Professor Burstall had pointed out one
explanation, which he for one at once accepted as
the true one, namely, that th e specific heat of' t he
gases was n ot con stant, but varying. R e did not
suppose Professor Burstall would 1u aintain that
t he values of the varying specific he<1t had at all
satisfactorily b een proved to be those q uoted
oy him, and he hoped Professor Burstall would
be able to determine at some fut ure time what
t heir value really was. But at all events, the
values given in the paper wer e such that the
addition of beat during expansion of something
like 5 per cent . of the whole heat supplied- which

-> .....

Q.l

..

c >

~ .....

()

1896
..
..
..
P rofessor Burstall't! trial.
(B 4) (see page 34 o f
..
..
paper) . .

Q.

80

Q.l

~0

Proft>ssor Capper'tJ l t i:ll,

.42
.4 6

..,
.a :a
- c

...

6
..,. ..... I

o ='

C l)
Cl)
Ql

0 ~

O)Q.l
c ~

c0

.
~
2)+'>

o :3

"'

~~

~re I

Q.) Q.

:.< ~
~
~

lb. pe1
sq. in.
ts9. 7 172

...

.:. e=
e o

-Q.._o

7L

Q.

o ...

I> Q.l

... ....0

Q.l

84 . 7 98 .4

196.2 87.1 89

-
Q.

8Q.l

E:-4
Cl

-'"='"'
0

()

Cll

oo.
32 (calculated
Professor Bu retall's t rial
136
(mea( B 4)
SUrE d)

P rofessor OappertJ trial

..,

)..Q.

;:

o..e
S Q.)

""
:>......
...

O E:-4

eo.
480

II

1.37

347

"' a:
Q,_

H
Ql

::Sa.

"0 :3

Trial
N umber .

.:> ...

3"

=' ~

,aH

~ Q.

;<E c~~
...
as a. x <D

oo. eo.
l500 1047 60 .3 .87

he had found in the trial h e had quoted when

calculating with a constant specific heat-entirely
disappeared, and left a margin on the other side
for radiation losses, as one would exp ect when
the formulre Profess-or Burstall had given were
used. This was sufficient t o show a probability
that those values were, at all event s, n earer than
the constant specifi c heats usually employed. The
labour of using those formulre was, however, so
great that he feared under most circumstances one
would still be content with the approximate accuracy found by using a constant speeific heat.
f)fr. A. Rigg, referring to the diagrams exhibited
on the wall of the theatre, which had been obtained by Mathot's continuous-pressure indicator,
said that in 1859 he had taken intermittent diagrams similar to those shown. A diagram was
taken every 1000 revolutions of the engine. The
object was to discover if the engine indicated was
kept continuously at work at t he proper power
throughout the night. The machinery driven was
some millstones, and it was thought t hat the men
in charge did not keep them properly fed. The
speaker exhibited the apparatus used, a drawing of
which, at the President's suggestion, Mr. Rigg said
he would supply, to be includ ed in the Transactions.
Mr. E. R. Dolby asked how the pyrometers referred to in the paper were placed in the cylinder,
and how they were moved from the centre. The
President said the information asked for would be
found near the end of the paper.
Mr. W. C. Goodchild, of Derby, was the n ext
speaker. lie pointed out that a diagram showing
the valve setting in r egard to the r elation of the
valve motions with the crank angle would be useful
to those studying the tables attached to the report.
H e would be glad to know if the settings were
constant for all t ests. He had found t hat the
point of opening of the exhaust valve made a considerable difference in large engines, in some of
which the opening was so early as . 75 of the
s~roke. If it were made later the maximum power
of the stroke was r educed. He thought that,
considering the care taken to insure accuracy in all
the measurem ents, the differ ence in mechanical
efficiency was striking, being as much as 25 p er
cent. between tests with the same compression. If
the research wer e to be continued, the speaker
would suggest the use of a larger and more modern
engine, and a direct-coupled dynamo of known
efficiency instead of a rope brake. He could not
see the value of Appendix VII. (that showing
the effect of chan ge of compression with lighting
gas); for it r eally showed nothing as a comparison
of the tests, and was misleading. In the tests A.,,
B !H 0 7, and D 8 , chosen by the author, the engine
Wllti not loaded an(! to t&ke the thermal efficiency

Brake
H orse Pown-.

Mechanical
Effioi(: noy.

----------1----------~-----------A o~

1.359 L66S 942 63 .1 .76

I

VII.
.

ll

Cl)
Ql

A BSTRACT OF A Pl'EN DJ X

Q.

c:s
.....
as

' wore valuable, but there wer e numerous points

in gas-engine economy that needed skilled attention, and for this reason it was desirable in trials
t hat the engine should be worked by those by
whom it had been made. The repor t, in r eferring
to the heat discharged to exhaust, had said that some
of the heat en ergy does pass out., being converted
into kinetic energy of the exhaust. To estimate this
a mount the charge in the clearance space was
supposed to expand adiabatically from exhaust
pressure t o the pressure of the atmosphere; the
change of internal energy due t o this expansion had
been tak en as the heat lost by the residue to exhaust. The author said that the amount of heat
thus determined was n ot large, but Mr. Beaumont
considered that the res ults were only valuable with
this particular engine, as the amount of heat lost depended upon the sufficiency of the exhaust spaces.
The report also stated that the modern gas engine
owes its improved efficiency mainly to a reduced
wall loss ; but t he author did not give any details
as to how this came about, and i t was difficult to
glean information on this point from the figures.
'l'he same might be said in r egard to the statement that t he gain due to compression was not

Q.l

Cl

on the indicated horse-power, in such a case, as a

standard of performance was, the speak er considered, wrong. Professor Durstall here said that
the engine was loaded and there were no missed
explosions. Mr. Goodchild said he could n ot
accept the argument. An engine was designed for
a certain normal horse-power with a given cylinder
volume, and he submitted that the engine was n ot
fully lon.ded in those tests which gave the highest
thermal efficiency calculated on t he indicated horsepower. Mr. Goodchild had r earranged some of the
figures in Appendix VII. on the basis of best
thermal efficiency p er brake horse-p ower. The
tests were those marked A ,1, B 3, C6, and D6 The
figures given in this Table we append. If a cornparison were made, he said, with those chosen by
Professo1 Burstall, it could be seen that from
4 to 5 cubic feet more gas per brake horse-power
were used to gain from 1 to 2 per cent . on the thermal
efficiency p er indicated horse-power. It would
also be seen that the temperature range in the
selected tests was only bet we en 50 and 60 per cent.
of those given for most economical gas conaumption. Another point brought out was that tho
indicated horse-power increased with the compres-

--

....,.-... 8'

639

..
A; ..

B:l . .
Bg ..

Ou .
0 7 ..

DIS

Ds .

8.55

.0
2. 72

4.07

.70
.86

2.51
3.66
2.45

per cen t.
16.0
13. 2

19.4

16.7
21.2

.61

. 72

2.81

per cen t.
18.7
18.9

20.0

- ----- -----1
3.61

Temperat ure
Air
------:-----Range,
R at io:

Ga&
Deg. Cen t .
I.H.P.
B. H. -P.

.66
.79

.69

Best Thermal E tfloienry on

15.8

23 1

sion. For ins tance, A, 18.7 per cent. ; B, 19.4 p er

cent. ; C, 20 per cent. ; and D, 22.7 per cent.
Calculated on the brake h orse-power, this did n ot
hold good, as in B 3 , the thermal efficiency was greater
than in C and D t ests. Commercially, with coal
gas, it was preferable to use moderately rich charges
and a compression between 85 lb. and 100 lb. absolute, as this gave a smaller and cheaper engine per
brake horse-power than would be the case with
weak mixturE: s and high compression. The Otto
cycle engine was already handicapped by its size for
a given horse-power and speed when compared
wit h a steam engine. He would ask how in the
experimental engine the compression was vari(}d 1
vVas it by a junk ring or by packing the connectingrod 1 In the former case the radiation from the
piston would be altered, and this might account
for the difference between nteasured and calculated
temperatures. Possibly a water-cooled piston would
be used in future tests.
He considered the air inlet was too near the
exhaust outlet for anything but a very small
engine. It was the usual practice to separate those
ports by placing them on the opposite sides of the
cylinder. The weight of mixture per charge was
increased by a low-suction temperature, and consequently the horse-power was increased. He
would point out that it was not clear in the tables
whether all compressions were in absolute measure
or only t he "K per Cm2 " columns. He presumed
Birmingham gas had been used, as the calorific
value was con siderably less than usual, and this
was no doubt due to the carburetted wat er gas,
which, he believed, was mixed with the coal gas.
He would be glad to know whether the temperature
range, when using producer gas, was greater than
one-third of the possible. He thought that with
the lower maximum temperature this would be so,
and there would also be less loss to the water
jacket.
Mr. Goodchild concluded by askin g
whether the r es;earch would be continued with
producer gas, and whether other cycles than the
Otto cycle would be tried.
Mr. W. W. Beaumont said that a large part of
what Mr. Goodchild had said was deserving of
approbation. It was to be r egretted that the committee could not have had at their disposal a gas
engine of more modern design, and operated by
those more competent to work a gas engine. The
results obtained with a gas engine depended very
largely in the way the engine, as a tool, was
used. The author of the repol't gave results, but
he did not draw conclusions. No doubt the materials

Compression,
K. per Cm 2,

30. 9
10.6

351

474

11.4
I

8.7

337

5.36
28.0

11.0
9.2

845

4.32

28.2

7. 2

630
15.9

8.6

288

13.4
16.3

22.7

447

Gas
per B.H. -P .
H our.

645
14 0

21.9

Oubio Feet of

6.62
27 9

11.0

8.36

so great as was often supposed. Mr. Beaumont

also questioned the author's view that, for many
reasons, high compressions are not desirable;
and his statement, as a fact, that at present gas
engines are on]y ut.ilising one-third of their total
temperature range, while in steam engines more than
three-quarters of the temperature range is utilised,
he looked on as misleading. He would suggest that
if the experiments of the Committee were continued, much higher speeds should be used ; and he
thought the Institution might manage to have some
of the Tables combined so that membe1s might not
have so much sear ching back and piecing together
when they needed information.
He would also
s uggest that the object of the Research Commit tee
was not to see what an engine would do when it was
run as badly as it could he.
Mr. Goodchild wished to add that his opinion
was confirmed that the speeds were too low. The
speeds given were about 400 ft. per minute. The
m?dern practice was, how.ever, to run at 800ft. per
mmute.
Professso~ Burstall, in replying to the di.~cussion,
took except10n to Mr. Beaumont's inference that
he, Professor Burstall, did n ot know how to run a
gas engine. It was an entirely gratuitous assumption, and, as a matter of fact, t he gas-engine makers
often asked him t o show them how to run their
engines. In regard to the size of the engine tested,
it was not the fault of the Committee that it was
so small. The leading gas-engine makers had been
approached on the subject, but they refused to
supply a modern engine of larger size for the
purposes of the test. Either the experiments had
to be made with this engine or not at all. In the
future, however, he was glad to say, a 150 horsepower engine of modern type would be used for
the purpose of investigation ; and it was worth
noting that it is only now that the generosity of an
American citizen en a bled the Birmingham University
to sp end the s um necessary to get this engine. He
had adopted metric units partly because the instruments used had been marked on the metric
system; and, in fact, those who carried out th e
experiments r efused to use anything but the metric
system. The amount of work in calculation was
so e~tensiv e, and the complication of using the
~nghsh system w ~s so g.reat, .that it was impossible to work sat tsfactorlly w1th it. He hoped
engineers would try to use what was really a
simple system, and avoid the vast amount
of useless labour n ow undertaken. Professor
Callendar's remarks were most valuable. He,

E N G I N E E RI N G.

[Nov. 8,

I 901.

Pr?fessor Ca.llendar, had made the subject upon

whtch he had. spoken his life-study. The speaker
COMPOUND DUPLEX FEED PUMPS.
was n ot prevwusly aware of the relative losses
from radiation and condensation, as explained.
In r.egard to what h.ad been said during the dis- CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS. J. H. CARRUTHERS AND CO., ENGINEERB, GLASGOW.
cusswn, he would potnt out that now here did he
(Fot Description, see Page 643.)
say the temperatures recorded were exact temperatures. He knew that the thermometers were
lagging, and for this reason he could not measure
FUj.1.
the initial tomperat~res, although he had attempted
~o. ~o so, ~ut had fa.tled. He had used a platinoIl'ldium wtre of ~CJ in. in diameter. He knew
l
J
J
that the. melting point was higher than with the
other wues used, but he did not know exactly

what the readings would mean on the temperature

scale. He hoped, however, to get this information.
In regard to the valve setting, that was constant,
I
...
and the exhaust valve was opened at 95 per cent.
of the stroke. He did not trouble much about
I~
mechanical efficiency, as it was not an important
VA V

J~att~r from a res.ea.rch point of view. The alteraI lt

twn m compresswn, about which a question had
been asked, was obtained partly by a junk ring
and .partly by p~cking . pieces applied to the connectlng-rod bearmgs. The fact that the air inlet was
I
I I
close to the exhaust he considered of so little importr
0
0
1 r'r
0
0
ance that the new engine would be constructed with
- --t----4 o --::=;<:oit)(UJ):-t<:r
o>;:::::;ot--+--
the openings beside each other. The low value of
I='
coal-gas was beyond his control ; but he condidered

0
0
0
0
'
that it was desirable coal-gas should not be used in
I
r
I 0
'-...
gas engines, hub rather producer-gas. The Obto
V
0
0
0
'
cycle would be the only one tried in the
I""""
...
further experiments now contemplated because
-0
'
0
0
0
he considered it was the only one 'of com' 0
0
0
0
r
h
mercial importance. It was to be understood
0
0
0
0
I;
that Table IX. of the paper (in which were
I
I
given the weights of air and of gas for each exploI
I
I
I
sion, the air and the exhaust temperatures, and the
~
calories rejected to exhaust at each explosion) was
,,
only a Table to assist, and no exact conclusions were
}I
~
(
~
t<:> be drawn from it. They were waiting for a
~
btgger p~ant, and the variation in the specific heat
~
.
:was an Important feature. Some figures had to
@f'e
,.....
~
be used, and the best that could be obtained were
1
taken. He hoped to experiment with a Callendar
( l Jlt
thermometer and eliminate the heat of the cy-- -@
linder.
The expression in the report that the
~ Q.
gas engine did not utilise a fuller range of temperature was objected to, but the fact that the
.,
exhaust throws out the products of combustion
I
at a fairly red heat was, he thought, a. sufficiently obvious fact, and showed that the gas
engine had not reached the Eame pitch of perfection as the steam engine. The President, the
0
speaker said, had made a remark respect ing his
L
work which he considered valuable. He had
0
said that the report had to deal with the anatomy
of the subject, and he had to dissect out the details.
These were the only extensive experiments on the
gas engine, which had been continuously carried
on upon the same engine. The n ext task would be
to investigate in which direction the efficiency of
the gas engine could be improved. That would

include governing, the mixing of air and gas, and

the effects of scavenging and non-scavenging respectively. He considered that the gas-engine cylinder
should be made without holes or pockets, and the
valves should be at the back.
was introduced, in spite of the fact that our report of formulre, and whose only knowledge of affairs
The President, in concluding the proceedings, of this Section has already been extended beyond has been obtained from the class-room, attempt to
said that the discussion had been long and the limits we had proposed to assign to it. Before teach experienced men, who have the conduct of
instructive in its character, and it would afford giving a precis of this paper, we would like to say important establishments, what they should do or
great assistance to the Committee in their future a few words on the opening statement. The what they should not do in managing their busiwork. The thanks of the Institution were also author said that though in the middle of the nine- ness, and that with a cocksureness that is unassaildue to t he Royal College of Science and to teenth century the economist exerted a dominant in- able, the position becomes a little absurd, and,
Dr. Carpenter for the various calorimeters and fluence over British public opinion, yet by the close naturally, influence wanes. We have not in mind
diagrams which had been lent for exhibition, and of the century that influence had become less con- anything that occurred in connection with the late
to the makers of the J unker calorimeter for the siderable. This may be accepted as a fact, and its Glasgow Meeting; but, perhaps more especially,
example of that instrument which was shown in significance will doubtless he appreciated by thb certain meetings held two or three years ago at one
the room.
majority of our readera. The cause of the falling of our universities, when an attempt was made to
The President announced that the next general off can hardly be attributed to anything but the influence public opinion in regard to the policy of
meet ing would be held on Friday, the 15th inst., course pursued by the economists themselves; and a big labour dispute. It would have been well if the
when a paper by Professor W. E. Dalby, on the to us it seems that the reason need not be sought moving spirits in this symposium had regarded the
'' Balancing of Locomotives," would be read.
very far afield . As professors of economics have true definition of scientific treatment, which ProThe meet ing then terminated.
incre~sed, so has the teaching become more fessor Armstrong has since given, "a thorough and
academicaL It is impossible to direct policy or, exact treatment of the subject-a. treatment inas Mr. Price well puts it, "to exert a dominant volving full knowledge. " It is certain that on the
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
influence over British public opinion," by cut-and- occasion in question many of the theoretical gentle( Conoluded from page 606.)
dried rules simply culled from text-books, or by men who took part in the proceedings not only
mathematical formulre alone. N atura.lly, the lacked "full knowledge" of the subject of which
CoMMERCIAL EDUCATION.
In conjunction with Section! another_joint dis- teaching of economics cannot be wholly empirical ; they treated, but were absolutely ignorant of the
cussion was held on commerCial educatwn. The but, at the same time, the influence of human practical conditions. Although Mr. Price is quite
discussion was most instructive, and, though com- nature - the hopes anu aspirations, the likes justified in what he says in his paper as to the
mercial affairs are not generally dealt with in these and dislikes, even the unreasonable prejudices, of value of abstract reas01~ing, we think this other
columns we give a somewhat extended abstract of the average man- must not be forgotten. When side of the question has its importance also.
After referring to the less considerable influence
the pap~r by Mr. L. L. PriGe, by which the subJect young gentlemen of the universities, crammed fu1l
0

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N ov. 8, 1901.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

S LOTTI N G

AT

MAC HIN E

THE

G LAS G OW

E X H I B I T I 0 N.

CON TRUCTED BY ~lE. 'RS. SHARP, ,,TE, VART , A ND CO , LI MITED, ENGINEER , GLA, GOW.

(Fm Desc1'iption, see Page 643.)

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of the econ omist in latter days, Mr. Price proceeded to point out that t.he interest that has arisen on
commercial education offered a fresh opportunity for
asserting the claim of econ omics to a dist inct place in
the educa tion of the cit izen ; and t wo cicumsta nces
favoured t he adva n ce of t he claim : The inner history of econ omic st udy afforded r eason for believing that the old controversies, which created such
noise, were dying or d ead ; that the criticism,
which had been b usy, had b een accompanied by a
considerable amount of constructive work ; and
t hat t he p opular ant ith esis between the ' ' old " and
the "new " schools had lost its tu eaning , if it was
supposed t o r epresen t irreconcilable feuds. E conomic guidance was more urgently r eq uired in
practical affaire, for ma ny q uest ions coming t o
the front of popular discussion were economic in
character. The pressure of commercial rivalry,
for example, was likely to re-awaken the controversy between Free- t raders and Protectionists.
E conomics had something of impor tance to say on
t hat quest ion. Wit h regard to questions classed
as "socialistic," which were attract ing increasing
notice, ald ough econ omics was n ot entirely in-

}'Io . 5 .

d ividualistic, and its con clusions migh t be mod ified

by political considerat ions, its aid was n evertheless
important. B oth classes of q uestions were of
special interest for the mer chant and the manfacturer. The individualistic spirit prevalent a mong
Americans, who promised t o be t he most form idable of our commercial competitors, len t emphas is to
the danger attaching to a trad e union policy which,
of unconscious or deliberate intent, migh t possibly

offer real hind rance to th e rapid use of n ew machinery or t he speedy introduct ion of novel business
methods. R es trictive legislation, for th e same
r eason, must be scrutinised, alt hough in the
early days of th e factory syst em economists
erred f rom sh ortness of sight, and "factory reformers " displayed more regard for t he perman ent welfare of the n ation. Economic study
was specially calcula ted to induce the habit

E N G I N E E R I N G.

[Nov. 8, rgor.

of mind needed to discover and expose lurking pool Geographical Society, said t.hat that body was Through its examinations the uni versit.y largely
fallacy. On that ground a place might be claimed doing, with the aid of the Chamber of Com- ~etermin ed the curriculum of the schools ; t hrough
for the abstract rea-soning of the text-books in com- merce, admirable work by teaching modern lan- 1ts endowments and prizes it fixed t he bent of
mercial education. Business men dealt with the guages and other subjects. He consider ed that study. Ry their local school examinations Oxford
concrete in their ordinary lives, and without some our commercial travellers were much behind and Cambridge had done goocl work ; but when
preliminary mental discipline they might fall a prey those of other nations. Manchester was, howeYer, one turned to entrance examinations to the univerto unsuspected fallacy. Some training in logic was in a more advanced state than Liverpool in this sities themselves, some strange survivals were met
held by most men to b e beneficial, and an acquaint- respect.
with that called for attention and reform. Every
ance with economic argument, as expounded in the
:Professor Chapman, of Manchester, was of candidate had to reach the requisite standard in
theoretical reasonings of the text-books, might im- opinion that only the elementary part of political Latin, Greek, and elementary mathematics. The
part that training in close. connection with the economy should be taught in schools. That to be study encouraged was almost exclusively gramphenomen'l. of business life. Although the business taught to a. man of business could be taught either matical. The mathematical part was also open to
man might act by instinct rather than reason, in continuation schools, in technical schools, or in criticism. The really surprising thing was that
instinct was often the slow product of large experi- local colleges. 'J.lhcre was work to be done which natural science still met with no 1ecognition, modern
ence; and an ability to see and trace the connec- 0 x.ford and Cam bridge could not do in commercial languages were ignored, and no questions were
tion between cause. and effect could not fail to be training. During the l~st few years there had asked even as t o the candidate's knowledge of his
useful. Without son1e such mental training the been a. tendency to confine commercial education own language or literature. It would be difficul t to
possibility of a plurality of causes and an admix- to bookkeeping and shorthand, and a few t echnical point to any single educational r eform which was
ture of effects might escape recognition. As an requirements, just as there was a. danger of think- more urgently needed, or would be likely to produce
intellectual discipline, the abstract reasoning of the ing that technical education was the teaching of a a more wholesome effect on t he teaching in the
economists afforded a rigorous and bracing exercise. particular trade. It was far more important to secondary schools, than a reform in this examinaRegarded from that standpoint, even "mathematical teach people the principles underlying trade and tion. If certain equivalents were offered in place
methods" of study, which induced precision, might commerce. The great n eed was comtnercial educa- of Greek, this single modification would bring the
find a place in commercial education; but the place tion on the right lines. A great n ew university universities into touch with the large and increasing
could not be large, as they fostered the harmful had intimated that it intended to specialise on the group of modern schools, or modern departments of
idea that economic reasoning was too hard for Rcience of commerce. Business men could do with schools, which are suffering from lack of this conaverage men. Economic history must fill a very very little economics, but if they acquired it in nection. The requirement of Greek, together with
large place in commercial education. From the business, they never understood it sufficiently to t he exclusion of modern languages and science,
point of view of commercial education, too much make it valuable. To make it of practical use they dissociated modern schools, or model n departments
time might hitherto have been spent on questions must grasp the underlying principles. On the of schools, from direct university influence. Whatof origin, which attracted by the opportunity they Continent, at Louvain and elsewhere, special ever might be a boy's ultimate aim in life, if his
offered for ingenious hypothesis, but were from facilities for scientific business training had been intention were to pass through the university, the
conditions of entrance examination warned him to
their nature difficult to solve, and, by comparison, ea ta blish ed.
Professor Withers would have liked to hear what avoid a modern school or a modern department.
too little attention might have been bestowed on
later but less misty periods. But it was impossible business men had to say on the subject, but un- Consequently such Echools or departments were
to gain a real knowledge of the causes and condi- fortunately they were not in agreement as to what very liable to becom e the refuge of the dull or idle,
tions of the commercial and industrial success of was needed. I t was a source of grave danger to or those who were preparing for nothing in parEngland without a special study of economic his- liberal training t hat education was being worked to ticular, so tha-t ihe standards of effort and attain-
tory, as general histories had dealt but scantily with serve the interests of a class who wanted to obtain ment were inevitably lowered. The first r eform
economic matters. 'l'he maintenance of that suc- skilful employes at as cheap a rate as possible. The Dr. Perci val would advocate would be that ''Recess was to some extent dependent on the know- German view was to in terfere as little as pos!;ible sponsions" (" Little-go ") without Greek should
ledge and. on the investigation of the rise and fall with gen eral education in order to specialise, and be made an avenue to a university degree.
School curriculum, as influenced by examination
of other nations which had been conspicuous in ib was to be considered whether commercial traintrade. Lastly, statistics, which had also progressed ing could be given without spoiling a liberal educa- -- with its rigid exclusion of everything but elementary mathematics and t he grammatical study
of late, supplied economics with the means of tion.
Mr. A. E. Scougall, Chief Inspector of Schools for of two dead languages- would obviously be imsystematic observation, in default of the more
effective mode of experiment open to a physical the WesternDivi8ionof Scotland, also pointed out the proved by the infusion of subjects which would
science like chemistry. An elementary knowledge danger of premature specialis~tion. Good education help to develop such qualities as observation, taste,
of statistical methods was a requirement of the must depend on all-round development, and specia- thought, and interest in the world around.
Dr. Percival then proceeded to detail a scheme
times, and, like commercial geography, a special lisation should come later, say, at the age of 16 or 17.
Sir John Gorst, in bringing the discussion to which he had worked out with a view to embody
need of commercial education.
The discussion on this subject was opened by a close, said that the general vie w of those who had the foregoing suggestions in practice.
The contribution of Mr. Eve, as head-master of
Mr. H. W. Eve, the headmaster of University spoken appeared to be that certain ~u bjects of
College School, who considered the matter from commercial importance ought to be taught in the an important school, was a no less influential prothe point of view of a practical schoolmaster who higher schools. The general opinion also was that nouncement than that of the Bishop of Hereford.
had taught political economy to boys both near the it was a. mistake to attempt, under the name of He said that it is generally admitted that a comtop and in the middle school, he thought, with commercial education, to specialise in the earlier plete classical education under the best conditions,
very fair success. There were three or four con- stages of a boy's or girl's education, but that they properly supplemented by ot.her Eubjects, is
siderations that made political economy a very ought in the primary stages to be confined chiefly to thoroughly good of its kind . For t hose who have
n ot adequate time the problem of devising a good
good subject for school education. The first was what was called "general education. "
curriculum is difficult. It is necessary to guard
The Section then adjoured.
that commercial education should be a liberal one ;
on the one hand against a curriculum too
that it should be technical ; but political economy
was essentially a part of liberal education: Next., THE I NFLUENCE OF UNIVER SITIES AND EXAli:IININQ exclusively pract~ical, and on the other against
BoDIES.
t he waste of time on a half-finished classical
it was very difficult to fi nd subjects on wh1eh boys
The last sitting in Section L, that held on Tues- education, generally including no Greek. Tco
could be said to express themselves in English.
Anybody who had had to set essays was much day, September 17, devolved to a set discussion often the result is that time and energy are
puzzled to find subjects that stimulated thought. on "The Influence of Universities and Examining spent on gaining a very imperfect knowledge of
Political economy questions supplied that need. Bodies upon the Curricula of Secondary Schools." Latin, which might have been more profitably
Political economy also supplied a. great number of This discussion was opened by the Bishop of devoted to other subjects. The Latin learnt at
problems, and came into close connection with Hereford (Dr. Percival), and Mr. H. W. Eve, and school is never kept up ; it contributes but little
the commonest studies-namely, history and geo- was followed up by a number of speakers, among to the formation of intellectual tastes, so necessary
graphy. The mere fact of the boys being taug~t them the President of the Section. We r egret again as an antidote to t rivial and vulgar pursuits. What
some political economy in the school led theu that we can only touch upon one or two of the is really wanted is a secondary education at once
teachers to dwell on these points. On such a more salient fea t ures of this long debate on a sub- practical and liberal, and that in a world much
basis an excellent system of commercial educa- ject of the first importance to the industry, no less changed within t he lifetime of men nob yet old.
Science
must
fill
an
important
place
in
such
an
than
the
culture,
of
the
nation.
The
opinions
extion could be developed. What was the outlet
for those who received t hat education 7 Would pressed were n1arked generallr by en~ightment .a~d education : not only must some familiarity with
t hey find the occupation fitted to their capacity ? practical good sense. If the m:fl.uentlal author1t1es scientific method be acquired, but also a good deal
of
that
scientific
knowledge
which
is
essential
for
who
took
part
in
the
discussion
were
earnest
in
There was a great tendency among business men
to take comparatively youn g lads of very mode- what they said, and will follow up their public ex- intelligent general r eading. Add to. the time
r
equired
for
mathematics
and
science
what
is
pression
of
theory
by
some
energetic
practice,
t
he
rate education, and to work them up through
needed for English, history, and geography, and
the office, and to give little, if any, advant~ge to result will be for t he improvement of one of the
two
modern
languages,
and
but
little
time
is
left
most
importantif
not
the
most
importantand
those who r eceived a longer and more hberal
for Latin. German, too much neglected in English
one
of
the
most
n
eglected
aspects
of
t
he
economic
education. He often wondered whether it would
schools, is essential both on practical and on
policy
which
shapes
the
distinies
of
any
people.
not be possible, at any rate in th~ great jointgeneral grounds, a~d should take the place of
The
Bishop
of
Hereford
stated
that
he
did
not
stock companies, to have somethm~ analogous
Latin. Nor would there be any appreciable loss
speak
of
t
he
ne.wer
.
~nglish
foundations..
The
to the Civil Service-a means by wh1eh lads of
in point of discipline and training. Modern
great
English
un1vers1~1~s
were
formerly
v1rt?ally
eighteen or nineteen, or even university men, who
language!?, though easier than t he classical
monopolised
by
the
pr1
v1leged
and
the
profess10nal
had taken some trouble to prepare themselves not
languages, present quite enough difficulties for
classes,
but
for
half
a
century
a
process
of
nationalionly in commercial subjects, but by a. g~neral
the average boy, and he has at t he end of his
sation
had
been
going
steadily
forward.
Were
liberal education, could have the opportun1ty of
course something to show for his efforts. Much
there
still
r
eforms
which
would
be
beneficial
?
starting comparatively high up in an office, and so
depends on offecti~e scholarly teach~1~g and on. the
The
answer
would
be
mainly
sought
through
obserenable them to act a.s officers rather than as the
selection of readmg books r eqUirmg sustained
vation
of
the
examinations,
the
use
made
of
endowprivates of business.
t hought.
ments,
and
the
type
of
teachers
th~y
sent
forth.
Commander Phillips, the Secretary of th e Liver-

E N G I N E E R I N G.

Nov. 8, 1901.]

In the long discussion on this subject the views examinations, and really could not be actually
put forward by Dr. Percival and Mr. Eve were educated at all. The difficulty of remedying this
generally s upported. We can only report some of was that as fast as the examinations wrre d one
away with some other body took them up. T~e
the most salient features.
Mr. E. B. Griffiths said that if masters of public National Union of Teachers or some other pubhc
schools insisted on a change in entrance examina- body would continue the task which Government
tions, it would oe impossible to resist their d e- abandoned, and would insist upon examining these
mands . Boys from public schools had general1y unhappy children year after year. He thought
been taught t0o much and educated too little.
that as regards many, both in elementary and
Mr. H.ouse, of the Assistant Masters' Associa- secondary schools, and many of those preparing
tion, said that the headmasters of the great public for the universities, it would not be a bad thing to
schools would not have reform. It was with Win- have a close time ; to give a. certain number of
chester and Eton that the key of the position lay. months in the year during which it should be penal
The effect of scholarships had been to turn the for anybody to examine them, and then they would
education of the country into a comtcercial enter- have, p erh aps, some time in which they could
prise. U ntil the system was cha nged, the teaching really be educatd and be relieved from the task
in our sch ools could not be called true education.
of preparing for examinations.
Mr. Mackinder thought Oxford would admit any
In a subsequent speech, when replying to a vote
subject which, in its methods and ideals, reached of t hanks proposed to him for presiding over the
a sufficient standard. It wished to produce men Section, Sir John Gorst said that during the proof scientific methods, of some literary accomplish- ceedings he hn.d learned as much about education
ment, and with an imagination not crushed. In- as he had previously known. He recognised that
tellectual interest was the one thing wanting in the the Board of Education n eeded a great deal of
mass of our people.
educa tion itself. The advantage it would gain from
Professor Marsh all Ward said the old ideathe leading of a n on political body like a section
that education was information- was carried dan- of the British Association was likely to be congerously far. The same thing was b eing done in siderable.
another form by the movement for technical eduThe business of the Section was then brought to
cation. It was technical information rather than a close.
technical education that was b eing organised.
THE CoMING MEETINGS oF THE A ssociATION.
Professor Miall said that far too much importance was attached to these examinations, and reAs previously stated, the m eeting of the British
wards were extravagantly high.
Examinations Association n ext year will be h eld at Belfast, comwere not the proper method of testing 111erit ; the mencing on September 10, when Professor James
real teAt was how men bore themselves in the busi- Dewar will be President. The 1903 meeting will
ness of life.
During preparatory time at the be in Southport..
school or university a man ought to learn to work
in a productive manner.
COMPOUND DUPLEX FEED-PUl\IPS AT
Professor Armstrong pointed out that the GerTHE GLASGOW EXHIBITION.
man universities had n either scholarships nor
A NU MBER of pumps of different types are shown at
numbered class lists; and yet the efficiency of the the Glasgow Exhibition by Messrs. J. H. Canuthers
German university education was admitted. He and Co., of the Polmadie Ironworks, Glasgow. At
hoped that some agreement would be arrived at as their stand three direct-acting pumps were shown in
to what was a liberal education. What was needed motion, two being for boiler feeding and the third for
was a proper school-leaving examination, such as low-pressure work. In the boiler-room of the Exhibiwas established in Germany We should turn b oys tion the firm had two vertical compound duplex pumps
out earlier into the world to get into practical feeding the main boilers which supplied steam to the
touch with it, and the universities must cease to be Exhibition. We illustrate these pumps in Figs. 1 and
superior boarding schools. Boys were retained at 2 on page 64:0. They are, it will be seen, of the ordischool for the purpose of the school rather than for nary duplex type, but are compounded, the lowpresthe purposes of the scholar. We must look for- sure cylinders being near the pump end. The highpressure cylinders are 5 in. and the low-pressure cylinward with fear to the part which the insprctor would ders 9 in. in diameter. The pump burels are 5 in. in
play in English education. He had already wrecked diameter and the stroke is 10 in. Each pump is
elementary education, by being a mlln of purely capable of discharging 6000 gallons per hour running
literary education-a man with a good university at a ~oderate speed. The highpressure cylinders
degree, and no knowledge of the true work of educa- have piston valves, whilst flat valves are used for the
tion.
low-prees ure cylinders. Double glands are, it will be
Professor Tilden said that reform rested with seen, used between the cylinders in place of an ordinary
the universities, but the creation of a public senti- sleeve. The latter plan enables the engine to be somement in favour of learning was beyond their power. what shortened, but, being inaccessible, may leak withThe neglect of learning in this country was one out the fact being discovered. The makers had hoped
that the executive of the Exhibition would have made
of the evil results of the country's prosperity.
Sir John Gorst, in closing the discussion, said a series of tests on the efficiency of these and of other
feedpumps lent to them by different makers. This
that only the fringe of an important subject had has, however, not been done; but ~Iessrs. C~~trruthers
been to uched, but the matter would be further intend, we understand, to go into the matter for themdealt with by a committee of the Section. In his salve~, and determin~, by tests independently conopinion examinations might be divided into three ducted, the precise gain effected by the compounding.
classes. The first might be described as useful ;
the second, unavoidable; and the third, purely
mischievous. The first comprised examinations SLOTTING MACHINE AT rrHE GLASGOW
which a teacher set to see whether his pupils
EXHIBITION.
OF late years we have had but little opportunity of
appreciated what had been told the m ; the second,
those to which a student was subjected in order chronicling advancement in the detailed design of
to see whether he was fit to proceed to higher slotting machines. On the whole, designers have been
branches ; and there were the examinations of fairly well satisfied with the machine as it has usually
the Civil Service Commissioners. This country appeared- the kind of thing we are so familiar withresembled China in regard to admission to the ba lanced ram, quick-return mechanism, compound and
circular motion to work table, &c.
public service being dependent on success in comMessrs. Sharp, Stewart, and Co., Limited, are
petitive examination, and, competitive examination showing one of their latest kind of these machines at
being thus unavoidable, he did not kriow anything the Glasgow Exhibition, and as it contains a little
the Section could do more useful than overhauling novelty in its arrangement, we are pleased to give an
the methods of the Civil Service examinations, and illustration of the machine on page 641, with views of
seeing that those examinations were not exclu- several details.
sively for the purpose of ascertaining the number
The machine is built for a stroke of 16 in. , and
of facts which the student had been able to cram others of its class are made up to 24-in. stroke. The
into his memory ; but that some f'ffort had been diameter of the table is 3 ft. 6 in., and its various
made to test the power of the student to think travene motions are proportional thereto. They, of
for himself, and to be useful in the actual business course, are made to be operative either automatically
of life. There were, however, some examinations or by hand. The main frame is stiffly made of box
which were wholly mischievous, such as those ~ection, with a long continuous bearing for the ram.
Perhaps the most interesting point about the machine
to which teachers in elementary schools were sub- is an arrangement in connection with the table,
jected. They spent almost their whole time in whereby it may be tilted to an angle so that taper
school in difficult tasks, and afterwards crammed work may be slotted. This canting does not in any
into their memories facts about history and geo way interfere with either of the automatic feed
graphy and science for the purpose of passing motions, as the top slide, upon which the rotating

table sits, is made in two parf s, the upper beirg

fulcrumed about the wormsba.ft, that serves with its
worm to rotate the table. Figs. 1 and 2 on page ~4l
show details of this arrangement. An eleYat~nhg
screw is situaterl at the front of the table, wlt
its squared end beoea.th the !?lide; and a cyJindrical nut, into which it fits, is carried in a lug
formati on in the elevating part of the top slide. To
assist the operator in determining the amount of .cant,
a. graduated index is placd at the front of the shde.
It is a very common tbiog in the workshop to come
acroEs work on the slotting machine which i~, perhaps,
12 in. or 14 in. deep, with surfaces, say, about 2 in.
long at its uppsr and lower extremities, being
machined with one tool, the Jam travelling a matter
of 15 in. ; whereas, if two tools were placed tandem
fashion, the rmrfaces could be tooled with a ram
traverse of about 8 in. in lt ss than half the time.
For this to be possible there must be sufficient accommodation for the tools upon the ram, and in the
machine under consideration this is done. In fact,
two tools may be used either tandem or side by side;
one, perhaps, a I oughing tool and the other a. finisher,
as plenty of room is provided.
~'he ram obtains its motion from an adjustable
crank through a connecting rod, and the drive is
through a combination of a pinion and wheel, together
with an elliptic gear for giving a quick ret urn. This
device is rather old, but none the less effective, and
in this case the proportions are well arranged. Fig. 3
is one view of the gear, and pitch lines are shown
in Fig. 4. In the latter view details may also be
seen of an adjustable bra~s Tad, which fits against
the crank disc upon its upper surface, to nlieve the
oth( r bearings of pressure during the cutting period.
There is but little else that needs to be said about
the machine, except that the belt cone is made with
three broad steps for a wide belt, and tha t, together
with double gearing, gives six cutting r:peeds to the
ram. The feed motion is derived from a cam at the
back of the frame, and the amount of feed is regulated
by a ~Jotted link that swings upon the side of the
frame, where it may be seen in Fig. 5.
MoNTE VIDEo. -During tlbe first eight months of thie
year 8-!6 steamers and 4~ sailing vessels cleared from the
port of Monte Video.
GoLD.-The imports of gold to the Unitd Kingdom in
September were valued at 1,252,550l., as c'lmpared with
1,938,118l. in September, 1900, and 2,505,694l. in Sept~
ember, 1899. The deliveries from South Africa. increased
in Sept~mber, but th.e~e was a. considerable fall.ing off in
the rece1pts from BrttlBh Indta and Australasia, as will
be seen from the following Tab1e:
Country.

Sept.. , 1S99. Sept., 1900. Sept., 1901.

,

British South Africa

British India
..
Australa-sia . .
..

28Q,461
157,036
b39,985

750,034
726,567

1,212,607
145,083
777,678

In the nin~ months ending- September 30 this sear, the

aggregate !~ports were 17.306,608t., as compared with
20, 948,483l. m Septemb.er, 1900, and 26,260,409l. in Sept
ember, 1899. The rece1pts of gold from the three chief
producing districts have increased this year but there has
been a largely diminished movement of' gold for the
adjustment of trade balances. The United States for
insbance, only sent gold to the United Kingdom to s'ept
tember 30 ~his yeax: to the extent of 234,5tl6l., while the
c9rrespond10g recetpbs from the same quarter in the first
nme months of 1900 were 5,861.352l . and in the first nine
months of 1899, 1,863,986t. The following Table shows
how ~he principal gold iJ;nports for the last threequarters
of tb1s year compared w1tb the corr~ponding receipts in
the corresponding periods of 1900 and 1899 :
Country.
}'ranee
..
..
Egypt..
..
..
British South Africa.
British India
..
Australasia . .
..

1901.

1,0~8,303

1,148,S90
996,860
6,388,439
4,278,649

1900.

1899.

2,059,678
272,211
239,809
1,529,843
4,621,289

943,605
131,058
13,664,423
1,236,160
3, 746,341

Nob only is gold minin~ reviving to some extent in the

Transva~J, but. the deliveries ~f .Rhodesian gold are also
gr~a:tly mcreast~g, .eo that Br1t1Bh South African gold.
mtmn.g enterpnse lB, upon the whole, decidedly re.
covenng. lb appears probable that the aggregate
re~eipts of gold from that quarter for the whole of 1901
will range between 1, 500, OOOt. and 2, 000, OOOl. Totals
such as these fall, of courae, very considerably below
those attained in 1898 and 1899 ; but they are none the
!ess of some value as regards the _present, while they
mduce strong hopes for the future. The value of the gold
exported from the United Kingdom in SeptEmber wae
1,583,549l., n-s compared with 1,519,374l. in September
1900, and 2,203,655l. in September, 1899; and in the nin~
months endi~g September ~0 this year, 7,350,280l., as
compared w1th 10,685,853l. m the .corresponding three.
quarters of 1900, and 15,251,960l. m the corresponding
three-quarters of 1899

E N G l N E 11 R 1 N G.

[Nov. 8,

1901.

CALLENDAR'S PORTABLE INDICATOR FOR PLATINUM THERMONIETER.

I

I.

FIG.

1.

.F w . 2.

'VE have on a. previous occasion (see ENGI NEERI NG,

vol. lxvii., page 675) described the platinum thermometers whioh, introduced by Professor Ca.llendar in
the first place for laboratory uses, have also been
found extremely serviceable in more th9n one industry.
The3e thermometers consis t essentially of a coil of fioe
p!atinum wire wound on a mic~ core, and protected
from contact with furaace gases and the like by an envelope of glass or porcelai n, the former materic~.l beiog
ueed in the case of low temperatures, and the latter
when high ones are to be measured. The electric~]
resistance of sach a coil varies with its temperature;
and by measuring t his resistance by means of a Wheat
stone bridge, it is po~s ibl e to determine the temperature of the coil with great accuracy. Several form s
of bridge h9.ve been utilised to this end, and we illustrate in Figs. 1 and 2 a portable form recently introduced for this special purpose by the Cambridge
c;e1ti6c Instrument Company, Limited, of Cambridge.
In this bridge is combined a set of resistances and a
galvanometer of the D'Arsonval ty pe. The graduation of the instrument is such that temperatures
ia degrees Fahrenheit or Centigrc1de ard r ead direct
from the scales of the apparatus, the ra.nge covered
being in some of the instruments as much as from
0 deg. Cent. to 1400 deg. Cent. The apparatus has
its working puts encloeed in a s tout metal cover,
which, however, ii not seen in our eng ravings,
having been removed so as to show more clearly tbe
construction of the i nstrument. This will ba best
under3t ood by r eferring to the d iagrams of connections
(Figs. 3 a 1d 4). In Fig. 3 the cla-ssical representa~ion
of theW heats tone bridge is shown, and on comparison
with Fig. 4 there will be no difficulty in picking out the
corresponding parts. The bridge wire, which is shown
straight in Fig. 3, is in the actual ins trument arranged
round the edge of a disc, as indicated by the dotted
line in Fig. 4. The travelling contact , which is coupled
at its opposite end to the galvanometer, is moved over
this bridge wire by the milled head shown at the top
of the instrument in Figs. 1 and 2. The amount of
motion is indicatej by a circular scale which ca.n be
rearl through the gap shown in Fig. 2, on the eboni te
t op of the instrument. The index from the gal vanometer at the base of the ins trument can also be seen
through thi~ gap, and the travelling contact is moved
round until this index shows that no current is
pas3ing through the gahranometer.
The reading
of th~ scale showing t he amount of rotation then
indicates directly the temperature of the ther-

aL the top of the in ltrument, as shown in Fig. 4, and are

successively put into circuit by means of a special
travelling contact. This contact is moved from one
resistance plug to another by the lower of the milled
heads shown at t he top of the instrument. As arranged
in Fig. 4, the instrument indicates a temperature of
695 deg. The balancing coil shown in Fig. 4 serves
merely to adj ust th e instrument before it leaves the
mak ers' hands. \Vith the thermometer placed in melting
ice the scales should read 0 deg. Uent., and the resistance of the coil is adjusted till this is t he case.

Fig . 3

'IHE REDHEUGH BRIDGE.

Fig. 4 .

r--0
I
.-~

_,

!_._________
0
(5!116.C..J

..

mometer coil. This coil is connected up by the

contact screws marked P in Fig. 4, whilst balancing
leads pass at the same time from idle terminals
on th e thermometer t o the contaot screws marked
C. Hence the reading of the instrument is not
viti~ted by the temperature of the medium through
which the leads pass.
Any variation of resistance due to rise of temperature in the thermometer leads is compensated for by a n equal rise in
the t emperature of the compensating leads. In the
instrument shown, a complete rotation of the tra,relling
contact indicates a temperature of 100 deg. C. To
measure higher temperatures, extra resista.nces are
thrown int.n on~ of the bridge armA, a,q indicated to
the le rt of Fg. 3. These extra resistanceJ a!e a raoged

I N provious issut s (see EN mNEERINC , October 4 and

18) we gave iUustrat.ions showing details of the river
spans of the new Redheugb bridge across the River
TJ ne, between liateshead t\nd Newcast!e ; and we this
week illustrate on our t wo-page engraviog, and pages
645, 646, 618, and 6!9, details of the piers. approach
pans, and road ways of the structure. The piers (Figd.
54 to 80) had to be built round the piers of tb e existing
bridge. As shown in Fig. 81, page 646, the new
piers were sunk to a consider ably greater depth than
the old ones, and r est in every case on firm shale
underlying a thin seam of coal. The sinking was
effected on the pneumatic-plenum system, and is noteworthy in some respects. In the first place the diameter of the cylinders is very small, being but 8 ft. in
a1l. Consequently the working chamber was only
about 7ft. in diameter at the bottom, and barely 4 ft.
at the top, whilst the material a.nd air shaft was but
3 ft in diameter. Again, special precautions wet e
needed in v:iew of the close proximity of the new cy Iin
ders to the old ones, as it was highly desirable to avoid
any sudden inrush of material into the working chamber ,
which might compromise the stability of the old pier~.
For this reason the contractors were not permitted to
drop the cylinder by reducing the air pressu1e in the
chamber below that corresponding to the head of water
outside, but had to proceed ent irely by weighting the
cylinders with cement and kentledge ; and the amount
of undercutting allowed was also carefully limited.
The cylinders were built up of steel plates buttjointed, riveted, and caulked air and water-tight.
The air shaft was made in t wo lengths only , and
the air lock was shifted in position but once in
the operation of sinking. The concrete filling of
the air chamber was accomplished under air pressure, the final portion beigg run in in a stat e approach

ENGINEERING.

Nov. 8, 19ot.]
ing grout. The cylinders a.re braced toget her above
lo'_V-wat~r level as ehown: The compression members of
t h1s bra.cmg are struts bmlt up of 12-in. channels whilst
the ties are outside the cylinders, and are th~s 8ft.
apart. Consequently a cross-section at the centre
through this system of bracing appears diamondsha.p ed, as ind~cated in F_ig. 65 (two-page plate). The
cyhnders termma.te6ft. 61n. abovehigh-wa.ter mark and
above t his level the piers consiEt of steel towers w'hich
a.ra shown in detail in Figs. 61 to 80. Thee'towers

tion. Certain other peculiar details, to which we

shall refer later on, had also their origin in the decision
of t he engineers not to make the width between the
trusPes any greater than in the old bridge. An increase
of this width would have greatly increased the loads
on the croes girders, and though fome weight might
no doubt have been eaved by a. rrarra.ng()ment of the
floor design, this would have involved t he use of a
much de()per floor, and necessitated a readjustment of
the levels on the approaches. Further, t he cross girders

tion over the piers, which provided facilities f~r

adjusting the levels of the outer ends of the cantilevers as the work proceeded. The girders during
erection rested on their permanent knuckle plates,
though they were to one side of their final position; but the expansion rollers were not put in
place till the Ppans were shifted to their ultimate location. Bearing blocks were placed between the opposing ends of t he lower chords, as ehown
in FigP. 82 and 85. The plate for the tail of the ten-

Fig. 83.
/0

.'t

IS

16

ELEVATION OF PART 1&8 F!' GIRDER

SHEJVING TENPORA r.Y TIS

ELEVATION AT SIDE 'RIVER PIERS.

~---1 !

'S
W-- -+f

..!:~
..

2
-o,

-T

. ,..,.

Tics G]'.",..r ~

~3

)'

FiAJ .85.

8~

a)

-s
~
...
...

I
5'"---?j

Pin

~N

---------4 '. o--------

h)

...

t\1

<'11

'
~->i
~4
:t

, .. _.. _____ _

----4~

Fig.86.

'

--

--------- s. o -- ---------~

(70 44. )

CROSS SECTI0/1.

ELEVATION AT CENTRE

Fig.c97.

RIVER

CENTR

PIER .

10

...

ADJUSTING GEAR.

PtEn.

.Y1o tllick ~
Ocub!e Cov! ~o tlli~

~~~~

],413: 0'$pa17/.

SIDE PIERS.

-t-"1 Gus.set PI!

31

nch thickened

b,y 2- 'fio Plf

k--------s: o- --------~

h os4.F)
RIVER PIERS

ADJUSTING

:::

GD::i

GAR.

,:

SIDE PICRS.

2411! o Spall/.

consist of four built steel struts raking towards the

centre line of the bridge and parallel in the transverse
direction. The transverse bracing of the towers is
lattice work, constructed out of 3-in. by 3!-in. angles,
whilst the character of the bracing perpendicular to t he
line of the bridge is sufficiently well shown in Fig. 81,
page 646. At the top the towers terminate in heavy
riveted girders, which take the weight of the trusses.
The object of this somewhat expensive construction will
be apparent on reference to Fig. 81, which shows how
the new t russes were erecbed in reference to the old.
This plan was followed in order to avoid having a
wider road way than provided by the old bridge, and
after the latter was taken down the new spans were
shifted horizontally some 4 ft. 6 in., so as to lie symmetrically with the centre line of the piers. The
cross-girders at the top of the towers had therefore to
be strong enough to c1rry the new spans duri.,g erec-

then m:eded would have been indivjdually much

heavier than those actually adopted, and there might
have been difficulty in handling them with the old
superstructure hampering their placement in position.
As already stated in our issue of O~tober 18,
the truses were erected cantilever fashion, the old
structure serving as a steadiment to the work as it
proceded, though care was taken to balance by kentledge, the arms protruding from each pier as the work
progressed, so that no portion of t he weight had to be
carried by the old bridge. As during the process
of building out stresses .were reversed in many
members, tem-porary ties were added where needed,
and temporary bars were, of course, required to
join the upper chords of adjacent spans over their
common piers. Details of the arrangements adopted
are shown in Figs. 82 to 88, above. As will be seen,
a toggle-joint arrangement was used for the oonnec-

..

CEHTR PIR

sion rod of the toggle arrangement paEsed under the

bearing pins of t he trusses as shown, so that none of
the strain on the toggle was transferred to the piers.
The girders were erected at a somew ha.t higher level
than they were intended to permanently occupy. The
portal bracing, the sway bra.ciog, and the upper hori
zontal wind bracing were fixed concurrently with the
erection of the main trusses. When this was finished,
the temporary ties were removed, and the trusses
were carefully lowered by means of hydraulic jacks
sufficiently to enable the cross girders to be erected
without fouling the floor of the old bridge. The new
gas and water pipes were then put in position and
connected to the new mains, already laid on the
approach span, by means of the tempora.ry connection.
This was necessary, since the bridge was still 4 ft. 6 in.
to one aide of its proper centre Hne, and the pipes had
to be kept tight whilst being shifted. The permanent

E N G 1N E R 1 N G.
expansion _joints at each end of the main structure
were -pu~ .m after the trusEes had been moved to their
final pos1t10ns. Details of these joints are given in Figs.
96 to 103, page 649. The expansion bearings for the
tr~sses themselves ar e shown in Figs. 89 to 92. As
Will be seen, the rollers are of the segmental type an
ar~angeme!lt which permits of the length of the bea~ing
~emg considerably shortened. These rollers are of cast
uon, a:nd .bed on a. rolled steel slab. Provision for
expa.ns10n Is .made at one end of each truss only the
othe~ end bemg provided with a simple knuckle~oint
bea.r.mg. The approach spans call for little cJmmen t .
The1! g~neral character is shown in Figs. 93 to 95,
and It will be seen that they are simple plate-girder
structures B.oored ~ith steel joists a nd buckled plates.
The gas and.wA.ter ptpes are carried under the footpaths.
The old bndge was only closed to vehicular traffic
whan a start was made with its demolition, and a footway for pedestrians was ltept open the whole time.

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The bue;kled plates of the fioor were filled in with

Portland cement concrete as a. found ation for a wood
block pavement. TheEe blocks are 5 in. deep by 3 in.
thick by 7 in. long, and are laid diagonally with the
centre line of the bridges. The footpaths are laid
with concr et e, consisting of 1 part Portland cement
and 3 parts whinstone broken to pass a ! -in. mesh.
The contract provided that the steelwork was not
to be painted or oiled at the maker's works, save
wher e surfaces were to be put together for riveting,
and then only the surfaces to be placed in actual contact. When t he bridge was completed, i t was thoroughly
cleaned and painted with three coats of oxide paint .
The. trough forming the lower chord of each t russ,
being particularly liable to collect moisture, was
further protected by a 2-in. layer of tar asphalte.
The engineers who designed t he bridge and super intended the construction were Messrs. Sandeman and
Moncrieff, MM. Inst. C.E., Newcastle, while Sir
William Atrol and Co., Glasgow, were the contractors.
PIG IN GER:MANY.-The output of pig in Germany in
September amounted to 625,220 tons, as compared with
717,100 tons in September, 1900. The aggregate output
for the first nine months of this year was 5,871,859 tons,
as compared with 6,249,314 tons in the corresponding
period of 1000.

A SUGAR- CANE TRIPLE- CRUSHING

PLANT.

[Nov. 8,

1901.

is .pump ed up to the other small tank over the second

mtll, and from which ili also gravitates.
The crushed cane is now conveyed by carrier No. 3
to t he roll~rs of t he thir d mill, where i t undergoes its
5na.l crushmg, the megass, or crushed cane, being now
i~ a state of pulp, and conveyed by the megaEs carrier
direct to the boilers, for use as fuel or t aken to the
drying field.
The . r ollers of the first mill are 36 in. in diameter
by ?8 I~. l~ng, and t hose of the second and t hird mills
34 tn. m dtamet~r by 78 in. long, with a aurhce speed
o~ 1 8~ ft. p er mmute and 17~ ft. per minute respec
t1v~ly. Tne rol.ler bearings are 18 in. in diameter by
22 m . long, and m the case of the megass rollers of the
first an~ see;ond mills, are fitted with Stewa.rt's patent
hydraulic attachment, the hydraulic r ams in the side
roller covers being 10! in. in diameter, and by mea ns
of the accumulators, capable of maintaining a load of
1500 lb. per square inch on journal, equivalent t o a
total. load of 265 tons on each bearing, allowiog a
certam amount of play to the megass r oller in the case
of an unusually heavy or uneven feed of cane thus
minimising the danger of breakage.
'
Between and underneath the two side rollera of
each mill is fitted a strong trash turner of the ' 'Rocker "
type, for directing t he cane to the megass roller. A bove
the top roller of each mill is fitted a brush, by which
means t~e roller groove~ are kept clean, enabling a
better gnp of the cane bemg obtained.
The powerful engines driving the mills have steam
cylinders 26 in. in diameter by 5 ft. stroke and at a
speed of 40 revolutions per minute, are each 'capable of

By A. E. J oRDAN.
A GOOD deal has been said and wr itten wi th regard
to t?e. l~ck of sugar machinery exhibits at the Glasgow
~xhtb1t10n, an~ there is no doubt that many interested
m _the sugar mdustr~, colo.nial visitors especially,
ha' e been som~~hat die~ppomt~d at being unable t o
see at an expos1t10n of th1s magmtude, a.nd in Glasgow
of all P.laces, the centre of sugar machinery engineers,
eomethmg mo~e th.a.n cent~ifugal machines for crushing
the sugar, w h10h IS praot 10ally the last stage in sugar
manu.facture; for although the exhibits of these
machines by Messrs. Watson, Laidlaw, a nd Co., and
Messrs. D. Stewart and Co., Limited, are excellent
t hey can convey but little information as regards th~
mat?y proceases through which sugar passes, and the
var10us and heavy machinery used in i ts manufacture.
~n the G~a~gow Exhibit ion of 1888 the sugar machmery exhibits took a very prominent place in t he
machinery .section, .most, if ~o~ .all, of t he Glasgow
sugar mac~mery engmeers exhib1tmg hea.vy machinery
~or the vanous processes; but at that time the s ugar
mdustry, from the engineer's point of view, was in a
much be~ter state than it has been for some time past-,
and engmeers were not afraid of constructing machi
nery even for exhibiting pur poses, knowing, from t he
condition of the sugar industry, and the demand for
such machinery, that it would not be left long in their
hands.
. But now, ho~eve~, it is very diff~rent, the sugar
mdustry, espeCially m the West Ind ies, upon which
so .many engine.ers entirely depended, being practically
rumed , for which t he Continental bounty system is
blamed. :Many of the large firms who for years ha.ve
done n~thing else but ma.ke sugar machinery, and then
~ad their ~ands full, have found it necessary to embark
m other lines to prevent closing their gates altogether.
Such being the case, it could hardly be expected t hat
firms ~vould go to the trouble and expense of constructiDg. heavy machinery simply for exhibit ion p ur poses, Without having the slightest expectation of
having it taken off their hands. The next best
thing to be done under the circumstances, in lieu of
the machinery itself, is obviously to exhibit photo- developing 450 indicated horse-power. The p :nter is
graphs; and it would have been greatly appreciated , tran~mitted to the mills t hrough powerful compound
by colonial visitors at any rate, if the sugar-machinery gearmg ~ounted on B: strong bedplate of box section,
engineer s exhibiting could have bad more photographs the gearmg wheels bemg shrouded to pitch circle, an d
of sugar plant, factories, and refineries, which they arranged as follows :
have constructed, such as are to be seen in connection
Rs.tio of roller surface speed to piston
with the gold- mining industry in the Western
speed of first mill
.. .
.. .
.. . = 21.6
Australia, Queensland, and other sections.
R atio of roller surface speed to piston
Messrs. D. Stewart and Co., Limited, the large and
speed of second end third mills . ..
22.8
well-known firm of engineers in Glasgow, who make
sugar machinery one of their specialities, have recog- . ~t the other end of the roller gudgeons from th e mill
nised this to some extent; and among the photo- pm10ns are fitted the chain wheels from which the
g raphs to be seen at their stall is one which has no c~rriera are driv en, t he driving wheels having
doubt att racted a good deal of attention from those etghteen t eeth a nd the driven ten t eeth t he cane
interested in the sugar industry, and which shows a carrier axles being provided at each mill with a.
large installation of a sugar-cane-crushing plant for clutch whereby t he carrier to each mill may be thrown
triple crushing, the photograph being taken on the out of gear from a small platform over the mill to
erection of the plant in their capacious erecting shop (a which it conveys t he canes, without having to ~top
copy from which is reproduced on page 652).
the running of the eDgines or mills.
As this particular cane-crushing plant is one of
The. gearing i~ co!lnecte~ up ~o the mill by means
the finest installations to be seen in any country, and of a ta1l-bar, whtch IS proVIded wit h strong loose coupth~ largest in the East, a descript ion of it by the lings of cast steel, which may be moved along the
wnter, who had a good deal to do with it in super - tail-ba~, t hus ~llowing of th~ tail bar being removed .
vising its overhauling and starting it on the trial run The tatl-bar with loose couphngs gets over the diffifor the crushing season of 1899, while acting sa chief cult~ which might occur s~ou!d t he mill g ud geon and
engineer at t he factory where it is at work, will no ~eanng shaft not be trul.Y In hne. A cold-water pipe
IS led to each roller bearmg, to be used in case of the
d ou bt be interesting.
This cane-crushing plant is in connection with a bearings becoming hot through excessive strain.
The j uice pump delivering the expressed juice t o the
large factory, erected complete in 18967 by Messrs.
Duncan Stewart and Co., Limited, at Baliana, Upper liming tanks is of the ordinary single-acting plunger
E gypt, for t he Egyptian Sugar and Land Company, type, is driven off the end of first motion or crankshaft
the crushing plant being guaranteed t o crush 750 t ons on first mill engine, and is 8 in. in diameter by 20 in.
of cane per day of 22 hours. The q uantity of juice, stroke; while the thin-juice pump for the maceration
with the maceration water added, amounts t o 6400 is driven off the crankshaft of the third mill engine
'
gallons p er hour, the factory being d esig ned to treat and is 3~ in. in diameter by 12 in. stroke.
Travelling cranes for working by hand power a re
t his q uantity. The mills are of the ordinary horizontal
three-roller type, and each mill is driven by ita own fitted over the mills and engines, one commanding the
engine, which is of t he horizontal, non-condensing, three sets of mills and one commanding the three sets
r eversing, expansion type. The working of t he plant of engines, and enable t he hea viest parts of the
machinery to be removed or replaced wit h ease.
is as follows :
The complete crushing plant is erect ed in a build ing
The canes, on being placed on the cane carriers, are
conveyed to the rollers of the first mill, where they 50ft. wide by 145 fli. long by 22 fli. hi gh to eaves,
undergo the first crushing, the juice expressed falling which is lit up at night with the electric light , t he
to the bottom of the mill bed , from which it runs electric installation being also supplied by :Messrs.
t hrough open channels, and through a strainer to the Dunca.n Stewart and Co.
I
t
will
well
repay
a
visit
to
any
who
may
be
in
j uice tank under B.oor level.
The crushed cane on leaving the rollers of the first Upper Egypt to see those mills at work when lit up
mill is sprayed with hot water , which g ravitates at night; and some Nile t ourists would as soon forE>go
from one of the small tanks shown over the third mill, a visit to the famous temple of Abydos, a few miles
a nd is fed on to the crushed cane by means of a per- distant, as miss seeing this- it s more modern rival.
Since t he above was written, Messrs. W atson,
forated pipe, thus enabling a better crushing to be
Laidlaw, and Co. have had a handsome album comobtained by the second mill.
The partly - crushed cane is conveyed by carrier piled, showing sugar factories and machinery in most,
tf
not
all,
of
t
he
sugar-growing
countries.
In
all
No. 2 to the second mill, from which the juice falls
and r uns to t he juice tank as before. The crushed probability the book may be seen, after the closing
cane on leaving the rollers of the second mill is of t he Exhibition, at t heir works, D undas-street ,
sprayed with t he thin juice from the third mill, which G'a.qgow.

 N G I N E E R I N G.
. _,...

GYROSCOPIC ACTION AND THE LOSS OF

THE " COB R.A."
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEBRING.
Sm,-I t appear~ to me that Sir Hira.m S. Maxim's
knowledge of the. gy.ro~cope, or gyros'ta.t, whichever is
the proper name, IS hmited to the (to mosb people) a.xio~a.ttc statement th.at t\vo equal and oppo~itely turning
m struments are acbmg to cause contrary motions and so
annul .en.oh other. In the controversy in your ~olumns
t? wh1~h he. refer~, on the subj~cb of .the drift of projectiles, Str Htram, m the letter ID whtch he Imagines he
" .set f_orth pla.inlr what t~e facts were," gave the wrong
~trectton of mott.on for gtven conditions. He said that a
~1ght-h~nded proJectile, when acted on by a couple tendm g to ttlt up the nose, would turn to the left as a. matter
of fa.ct i.t would tu.rn to the right. At the' time I had
the chanty to take 1b for granted that this was a mere
s!ii? of the pen; but I ?egin to think otherwise. Ib is
r1d1culous to say that, ID his recent letter " the whole
subject was thrash~d oub. Nothing was glo~sed over."
He pretendd t o sattsfy the "burning desire for figures to
accurately express the force moments due t o tlie gyroscopic action in the Cobra.,'' by the " complete statement " that t he algebraic sum of two equal amounts of
contrary sign is zero !
I_f ne really understands the subjecb, and desires to
~s1st those who do no!!, let him explain in which direction each separate gyroscope tends to move the frame
and why; and what is the amount of the couple, a nd giv~
the proof. A good many people k now in which direction the couple acts; for t he benefit of thQse who do not
I will say that the motion of the axis is towa.rdt\ that
p osibion,. ab right a.ng~es t o i ts prese.nt direction, in which
1ts rota.tton would be m the same duecbion as that which
the tilting couple would produce in a. non-rotating body.
To take a.n exa.~ple, let a ship with a single right-handed
screw be stea.mmg due norbh, across a. sweJJ, and ab a. given
momenb l~b her bow be rising a nd her stern falling. The
couple actmg to defl ect the shafb is a clockwise on e viewed
~rom t~e wes t, so the ship turns t.:>~vards that position
m wh10h her shafo would be turmng clockwise when
viewed f rom the wesb, that is, her head goes to the east.
Bub few know wha.b the amount of the couple is for a.
given.ratA of swerving; and, it would seem, still fe wer
can gt ve the proof, and t hat is what is being asked for.
These dictionaries never t ell one anything_ he wants to
know. I look in " Spon's Dictionary of E ngineering "
for ''gy roscope" or '' s-yrostab," and neither word is
there. There is " gyra.t1on." under which head is noth ing
to bhe J?.Oint. U nder "Mechanical Movements," however, is {No. 5711) the "gyroscope" or "rotascope," "an
instrument illustrating the tendency of rotating bodies to
preserve their plane of rotation." H ere the thing gets
one more name, but that d oes not advance matters much ;
if it did , they would be advanced enough in all conscience by na mes I have heard applied to it by puz:ded
observers, but a respectable journal would nob p rint them.
Next comes, in bhe same place, No. 5712, B ohnenberger's
machine, "illustrating the same tendency of rotating
bodies." It is stated that the ring which supports the
axis " will resist a. considerable pressure tending to displace it." What is a considerable pressure? An ounce,
or a pound, or a t on, or what ?
In "Ure's Dictionary of Artll, ~1a.nufae>tures, and
Mines," neither "gyroscope " nor " gyros tat " is found ;
no, nor "rota-scop e." U nder "artillery, " however, is a.
most interesting exposition of the argument which led to
the adoption of rifled guns; but quantitive estimates are,
as usual, conspicuous by their absence. A long- extract is
given from Armstrong'a communication to the British
Association, subsequently to 1854-exa.ct date not given.
T he following extract occurs :
''The resistance which a projectile encounters in pa.saing through the air is mainly dependent upon the area. of
its cross section, and the ad vantage of lengthening a
bulleb consists in augmenting the weight without increasing this sectional area.; out in order to realise this
advanta~e it is essential that the bu1let be guided endways in Its course, and this can only be effected by causing
it t o rotate rapid ly upon its longer axis. which is accomplished by ring it from a rifled bore. This peculiar influence of rotation, in giving persistency of direction t o
the axis of a projectile, is en tirely disti nct from that
which it also poss~~es of correcting the tendency to aberration arising from irregular form or density ; and in
order t o investigate experimentally the n ature of this '
aotion, I constructed an apparatus by which a. cylindrical
bullet could be pub iuto extremely rapid rotation, and be
t hen suspended in a. manner which left it free to turn
in any direction.
"When thus suspended, the rotating bullet exhibited
the same remarkable properties as are possessed by the
revolving disc in the recently invented 10strument called
the 'gyroscope.' When pressure was applied to e ither
end of the axi~, the movement which took place was nob
in the direction of the pressure, but at righb a.n~les t o it.
Thus a. ver tical pr~sure dPflected t he axis hor1zontal1y,
while a lateral pr~sure deflected it vertica.Uy. But the
important point elicited was thi~, that the time required
to produce these indirect movements became greater as
the velocity was increased, and, consequently, that the
amoun t of deflection produced in a given time by a. given
pressure diminished a~ the rotation was accelera ted. Now,
a.ll disturbing forces which op erate upon a. projectile
during its flight must necessarily be of very short continuance, and can therefore have but little influence in
divert ing t he axis when thus stiffened by rapid rotation."
The rest of the paper is equally good reading, but I forbear t o quote it; most of your read ers have access to the
book. lb musb be remembered that when that was
written the instrument was ne wly invented, and precise
qttantitive estimate~ could hardly be expected. Bub since

gimbals G G) the masses of the turbines tended to take

up similar axeo parallel to R 1 and R2. and the structure
ha.d to resist this t endency, although the boat as a. whole
offered no resistance to the pitching. I think your correspondent, Mr. Oassel, states the practical condition of
affairs in bhe Cobra, where he considers the possibility of
the Cobra pitching. rolling, and turning ab bhe same
w oment ; this would. of coursA, make R 1 unequal to R 2
above, and there would be an external resistance.
Yours faith fully,

then the matter has been thrashed out, and the forces,
rates of moveme nt, and so on, have been arrived at. We
wan t to know bow strongly this curious instrument,
which seems t o resemble a. sentient being, resents being
changed i n direction. I know the direction of change,
and am not likely to forget it. Ib wa.s given me by a man
who understood the subject, hub I do not know where he
is now. He also gave me the formula. for the rate of
movement; I am not sure thab I understood it, and I have
lost i~. I was so glad to get a. reason for th e extraordinary
behaviour of the instrument- as Sir H. Maxim says, "like
a pig wibh a. will of its owo" - tha.b I did not trouble about
the measure of the rate of motion . I very much regret it.
In other matter~, engineers are oontenb with formulae
only a.s memoranda.; only to save time; to save themeelves the trouble of proving the formuJre again for themEel ves. They take very li ttle on trust. In this matter let
us have d efinite information, on which we can fearl~sly
proceed.
Y curs faithfully,

H. J.

45, Park-road, Cla.rencG-ga.te. Regent's Pa,r k, N. W,

November 2, 1901.

--To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR,-The weights attributed to the rotating portions
of the Cobra's turbines by some of your correspondents
are greater than I supposed when writing the letter
which you published on the 1st inst. and would ma.ke the
stresses equi va.lently greater. The character of the
stresses ma.y, h owever, be considered independently of
t heir quantity, and, as Jou are evidently disposed to
have the subjcb thrashe out in your columns, perhaps
you will allow me to clear the ground by pointing out
some fundamen tal principles of gyroscopic action which
are, I believe, undisputed by anyone on either ~ide of
the controversy : as to whether the working of the Cobra's
turbines did or did not create stresses in consequence of
the rolling and pitching of the vessel.
In your issue of the l sb inst. Mr. ~Iacfarlane G ray de
scribe~, in connection with his Fig. l , precisely the same
actions of force as the '' pri ma.rv " a nd ' secondary " forceR
described in Prop. XXVI., Book X., of "The Ocean, "
second edition, which I published in 1885, and have
repeated ab greater length, commencing page 102, in
the "Essays on the Action of Astral G ravitation,"
which I published last year. I point out that agreement
of explanation because it shows that as regards whab is
practically the fundamental action of the forces involved
there is no di fference of opinion between us, though we
arrive at different results as regards the existence of effective action in the turbines.
An inibia.l difference between us is that Mr. G ray, in
one of the letters referred to by him, says that the reaction against the rolling "is the supporting paradoxical
force which has made the gyroscope a mystery," whereas
I deny the existence of any such mystery as regards the
nature of thab reaction. and claim to have shown in the
above-mentioned work~ tha.b ib is the aotion by which
universal gravitation resists all impressed motion with a.
force which is as the square of bhe velocity of the motion
resist ed.
As a t heory of the action, which is acknowledged by
both parties to the controversy, bhe resistance of gravitation stands alone; there is no ri val theory which professes to give any clearly defined explanation of the
phenomenon, and it seems rather rash for anyone who
professes nob to know what the ca.us9 of bhat acknowledged gyroscopic reaction is, to be positive, nevertheless,
that it could nob have created stresses a~ the Cobra. rolled
and pitched in the heavy seas. The diagram given wi th
my letter in your issue of the 1st insb. serves to illustrate
this interaction of forces, as well as the intera~tion of
gravity and the impressed force of rotation ~here expla ined.
The downward force of gravity is 16.1 ft. per second.
L et an instantaneous velocity of pitching motion be at
the rate of 10 fb. per second, which is less than a t hird of
that ~iven by gravity in a second; and leb the velocity of
rotat10n of the turbines be 100 ft. per second. That velocity of rotation, wit h a radius of gy ration of 1 ft., would
represent a.bout half speed, which is, perhaps, the
highest velocity that could have been ventured on in the
rough weather which caused the disaster. We have
then a force of rotation equiva.lenb to about six times
tha.b of gravity. and a. force of pitching equivalent
to about one-third that of gravity. Bufl, roughly, in
the rotation every pound weight gives t lb. x 6 =
1~ lb. of force; and in the pitching, each pound
weight gives ~ lb. x ! = l lb. of force. And if there
really were 10 tons of rotating turbine in the ship. there
would then be whilst the turbines were falling with the
pitching of t he ship an upward resistance to tha.t motion
of 22,400 x 1~ + ~of 22,400 = 37,330 lb., against a. resistance to a downward force of 29,860 lb. ; and the respective resistancas of universal gravitation (vis 'linertice) to
those motions are as 14 t.o 9 approximately: and tha.b
difference of stress is reversed as the turbines rise again
with the pitching of the ship; tha t is to ~ay, under those
conditions there would be a. reversing action of 10 ton s of
stress.
Those figures may require various corrections, perhaps
in diminu tion of the stress ; but, in addition to that
pitching stro: , there is the r olling stress, which may a t
times act in conjunction with it, together with a.
further stress caused by putting the helm over to
change the ship's course; and a paramount consideration is as to the amount of leverage which the position of the turbines in the ship may h ave allowed to
be brought into action, inc:-easing the stress of waves
which lifted either the bow or the stern of the ship; or
the amount of stress requisite to make thP ship answer
her helm whilst pitching. The effect of thoEe two classes
of stress would have a. general tendency to exceed that of
the rolling stresses in proportion as the eqmne of the
length of t he ship exceeded the square of the width;
because there is a greater leverage for a. transverse bend
in proportion as the length exceeds the width, and a. reduction of resisting streng th in the same proportion ; and
therefore the foregoing arguments make ib a.ppel\r that
str~ses equivalent to more than five times the weight of
the turbinee might easily be created in a rough sea. by

K. Y.

T o TnE EDITOR Ol!' ENGINXERIKO.

SIR - In his recent lett er on this subject, Mr. Matbhey
says, in a.n early parb of the second column, " When spun
ra pidly and placed on the support, it does not fa11 down,
as one might expecb, even if weighted ab the outer end of
the axis, but precesses in a. horizontal plane." Now, as
gyroscopic ac~ion is only caused by a. change in the di rection of the ax is of revolution. is not the axis in the example given being slowly tilted by gravity, a.nd will not
the axis of t he gyroscope in its motion round the su pporting pi vob elant more and more as precession continues?
I am, Sir. yours faithfully,
H ENRY J . DJ~ VIS.
L ondon, November 6, 1901.
To THE EmTon o~ ENGL\'EEIUNC.
Sm,-I venture to submit a. graphic anaJyeis which
readily shows the proof to Sir Hira.m Maxim'o statemen t
of the condition of the problem of two equal masses revol ving a.tl rqual but opposi te speeds on parallel axes in
the Pame frame. The resulta.nts show that the fra.me
may be moved in any position without offerin g resistance.
hu b internal stresses are seb up which musb be absorbed
by the frame.
By the theory of rotors we may represent the amount
of motion of a. revolvin rr mass by a line whose length to
scale shows the angular momentum (1\I w k'2h where M is
the mass of the body and w is the angular speed) and k21
is the (radius of gyration)2, whose direction is tha.b of the
axis of rotation, and the " sense " or position of the arrow
head shows the direction of rotation, i.e. , whether it is
" clockwise" or ' 'anti-clockwise." 8nppose two equ al
masses M1 and M 2 on parallel axes a a, b b in the frame
F which is mounted in gimbals ab G G. Draw A to scale
representing the angular momentum of M., parallel to axis

Fig . 1.

BINGHAM POWELL.

fl,

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A

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a a, and the arrow head to show the direction of rotation,

in this case " clockwise.,, In the same way B represents
the a ngular momentum of M 2 , the length of B being equal
to A since M~ is of equal mass to M1 and revolving at the
same speed, but the arrow head of B is in the opposite
direction to that of A, because M~ is revolving in a.n
opposite sense ("anti-clockwise'') to M .
Now suppose the frame F is turned about the gimbals
G G, while M 1 and M 2 are revolving, then draw C to
scale showing the angular momentum (or k '1'l x speed x
mass of the frame + M 1 M 2) (where J~ is the radius of
gyration of ( frawe + revolving masses)) of the frame.
The " sense" of C may be as shown for the present case.
If we compound C with A, t he resul tant is R., and compounding C with B the resultant is R2.
These resultants show the axes which M 1 and M 2 tend
to take up when t he frame is r evolved about G G. bub we
see t ha.b R 1 and R 2 are each of equal a.mounb and inclined
symmetrically to the axes a. a and b b, so R1 - R2 = 0 ,
or the external resistance to motion is nil. But M1tends
to bake up a n axis p arallel to R 1 and M2 to take an axis
parallel to R.3 and this must be resisted by the frame F.
In the case of the Cobra, of course, when the destroyer
pitched (equivalent to the frame F turning a.boub the

E N G I N E E R I N G.

[Nov. 8,

190r.

THE REDHEUGH BRIDGE BETWEEN NEWCASTLE AND GATESHEAD.

.MEtlSRS. SANDE~fAN AND ni ONCRIEFF, l\rLM. INST. C.E., ENG INEER'; SIR 'VILLIA~I ARROL AND CO., GLASGOW, CONTRACTORS

(Fo-r Description, see Page 644.)

LEVATION AT SlOG

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outer bearing. That ia to sa.y, that by this ingenious con- turn. T he di3advanta~es of bored guides when used in
struction the pressure, a.nd consequently the friction a.nd lar~e engi~es are : (1) They develo~ more friction than
wear on the bearinga is increased in the ratio of 1 to 2.38. gmdes ha.vmg plane surfaces. (2) They are not adjust
Another effect of placing the main bearin~s so close able, and tha.t parb of the guide nearest the cylinder
t ogether will be that ib will be almost impossible to pre. gets hotter and expands to a. larger dinmeter than the
WM. LEIGHTON J ORDAN.
outer end. (3) The glands and cro3sheads are difficult
vent the shaft wriggling from side to side.
November 6, 1901.
The crankpin of a multiple throw shaft is the part sub- to get at.
It is interesting to note tha~ the p~ice paid for the
jected to the heaviest strains, but by the method adopted
LARGE - POWER STEAM ENGINES FOR in this case, the pins are relieved of all twisting strains, Allis engines is 57,000t., whilst the Musg ra.ve engines
47, OOOt.
ELECTRIC TRACTION AND THANSMIS- the resulb being that the whole of the turning effort of cost
Although these engines may be the largest engines in
the engine is transmitted by direct pressure from one
SION.
crank to the next, the crankpins acting as levers fixed a t this country d riving alternators, they are not the largest
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING .
one end only. If this action is worked out, it will be found vertical compound Corliss engines built in, a.nd at work in,
SIR, - In view of the importance which the manufacture to result in a very unequal distribution of pressures acting this country. I enclose my card.
of large-power steam engines will attain in the near in opposite directions in different bearing~, a.nd that the
Y ours truly,
future, the activity with which our American cousins are arrangement is one well calculated to oring about the
B RI'IISHERI
endeavouring by a.ll means in their power to capture this very conditions the evil effects of which this construotion
industry, and the unfair and misleading criticisms of such is specially designed to avoid.
as your corres:pondent "Citizen," I beg to make a few reTHE
MINERAL
WEALTH
OF
SPAIN.
The
best
arrangemen
t
for
a.
crankshaft
is
unquestionmarks concernmg the design of the Allis engines at the
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
G lasgow Corporation Tramway Station, which I presume ably that universally adopted in marine practice-vi :G. , a
are the latest and best:type that America can offer. Some rigid crankshaft having a bearin g on each side of every. SIR,- 1 have only just returned home and have seen
deta.ih of these engines are given in your special number crank, as close as p ossible to the crank webs. As for the your issue of Ootober 11, in which I have read the article
heavy flywheel a.nd alternat or, th ese ought to be provided "Anglo-Spanish Iron Combine," which terminates :
of TRACTION AND T RANSMISSION.
The first p eculiarity which strikes a British engineer is with a pair of bearings quite distinct from the engine, "Spain is rich in minerals, but some of the principal
deposits
are nob readily accessible, and until Englishand
be
connected
up
to
the
outer
coupling
of
the
engine
the design of the crankshaft, which is jointed ab each
crankpin for the purpose, i t is stated, of pre venting hea.t shaft. The Musgrave shaft is of vastly superior design to men provide railwa7s a.nd working capital, they will not
ma.de accessible.'
ing due to unequal wear of the beartngs, or to any the A llis, althou~h in ma.ny respects it gives one the beNow,
although an Englishman, I am not quite so exclusettlement of the foundations. The result is tbab every impression of havmg been to some extent Americanised. sive as the writer of your article, a.nd I thmk the word
There is one other point to which I would draw attencrank is overhung, and in the case of the high-pressu re
"Englishmen " might be substituted by "foreigners."
and the first low-pressure, the distance between the centre tion, and that is the bored guid s so generally adopted in
The object of my letter does nob make it nece:sary to
of the crankpins a.nd the centre of the nearest bearing is America. The only advantage they possess is cheapness inquire whether such a.n absolute opinion be correct re
3 ft. 4 in., whilst the centres of the two bearings them- of construction. One American firm claims for bored garding the complete abstinence of Spanish capital from
eel ves are only 4 ft . 10 in. This means that t he pressure guides the ad vantage tha.t it allows the crosshead to turn such enterprises, for experience shows tha.b the lead of
on the bearing nearest the crankpin is 1.69 times tha.t round to follow the orankpin when the crankshaft gets foreigners has, of late years. been followed by native
exerted on the crankpin, and bha.t a resultant pressure in out of line. Another improves these guides by boring enterprise to some exten t. While believing this will conthe opposite direction equal to 0.69 is developed in the each aide to different centres, so that the crosshead cannot

their rotation ; a nd that force would be alternated in

somewhat suddf:n jerks which wou!d do more miechief
than an equal force steadily applied.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

'

Nov. 8, 190 1.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

THE

attached to the driving wheels by link connections sub

sta.ntially as described."
Yours faithfully,

REDHEUGH BRIDGE.

i\IJ~, RS. ANDF.niAN AND MONCRigli'F, Ml\J. IN T. C. E., ENGINElTIR, .

RoBERT

S.

DoBBIE.

Whitley Bay, November 4, 1901.

(For Description, see Page 644)

SOUTH AFRICAN COAL.

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FOR IVATE rt M A INS.

OnOINARY

.JOINT

Fi[J.IOZ.

SOUTH A FRIOAN TELEGRAPHY.-The number of tele

~rams which passed over the Cape Government telegraphs
m May was 354,311, as compared with 308,434 in May,
1900. The revenue acquired in May this year was 22,172l.,
as compared with 13,941l. in May, 1900.

...
I

A brEBIOAN CoAL FOR GERMANY.-The steamer Ormesby

has been chartered to take the first full cargo of Pennsyh-anian anthracite coal ever shipped. The cargo will
consist of 3000 tons of anthracite coal, which will be
landed ab Stettin, bob which will be ultimately carried to
Berlin. The coal will be laid down at Berlin ab 31s. 6d.
p er ton.

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To THHI EDITOR oF ENGI.NEEBING.

Sm,-In your interesting article on South Afrie&n co1l,
in your issue of the lab inst., you d o n ob make any mention of the Syferfontein Colliery, a. property on the West
Rand, tha.b will, on the termination of the war, be a very
important factor in the supply of Johannesburg, and be
able to successfully compete for the supply of the mines
of the Rand wesb of that town.
The property consists of over 5000 acres of freeh old
land, and the sole coal rights of about 20,000 aores adjoining, between Syferfontein and the main reef, a ~reab part
of which has been proved to be coal-bearing. lb 1s situated
about 16 miles from Johannesburg, and about 9 miles
south-east of .R!lndfontein. The new Imperial military
railway. in course of construction and nearly completed,
which shot tens the distance by the main line from Cape
Town to .J oha.nnesburg by some mileP, goes through part
of the property, within two miles of the present shaftJ.
The mine has been working through the war in a small
way, and has been and is supplying the works of bhe
Johannesburg Water Works Company, ab Zuurbekom,
about 2' miles distant from the shafb, and, when carriage
can be obtained, some of the West Rand mines.
A seam c f coal over 200 h. in thickness has been proved
by boring, and 100 ft. by shah, a great part of which is
equa.l to the best Middleburg coal.
fhe owners of the property contemplate, on the termination of the war, quipping the mine for an oubpub
of s:>me 2000 or 3000 tons per diem, and connecting with
the new Imperial railway, above mentioned, by a siding.
I may add that when the discovery of such a large
eea.m of coal was made on this property-about two yea.ra
ago-iil created a great sensation among scientific men
and the general public of the Transvaal, as it was
believed bliab ib was the largest seam of coal that has yeb
been discovered in the world.
Yours faithfully,
E . R. OUAUIINS.
38, Gracechurch-streeb. L ondon, E. C.,
November 6 1901.

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---------- -------

LOCOMOTIVES IN RUBSIA.-The railway companies of

European and Asiatic Russia owned ab bhe close of last
year 12,187 locomotiveta, of which 19 per cent. were used
for passenger trains. Of the whole number of engines
upon the Russian lines, 47601 or39 per cent., had been constructed abroad, while the remainder were made in Russia.
The Ruaaian S tate lines owned 8690 engin~, of which
5660 were built ab home, and 3030 abroad. During the
last four years the administration of the Russian State
lines has bought 3160 locomotives in Russia, and 84 from
foreign works.
COLASTINE.- The Fren ch Railway Company of Santa
F e has made a proposal for building a mole, 2666 ftJ. in
length, ab the port of Colastine. The proposal has been
submitted to the Argentine Congress by the executive. A
deposit of 60,000 dole. in public bonds is to be required
as a guarantP.e, and the Argentine Government also stipulates that the works shall l ecome Government property
ab the end of forty years, the Government to have the
right of expropriation ab any time for the public benefit ;
and in such case, a~arb from the value of the works, a 20
per cen t. premium ts to be paid as an indemnity.

---

N &w ZEALJL~D l'Y!AILS.-Lasbyea.r the New Zealand

Government paid a subsidy of 17,000l. for a mail service
between Auckland and San Francisco, which gave thirteen round trips, and was timed to run from port to port
in twenty-one d ays. This year it is asked bo pay from
25,000l. to 30,000l. for a much superior service, giving
seventeen round trips in the twelve months and running
from port to port in sixteen days. The old service was
by sbeamers of 3000 tons; the new service is by steamers
of fully d ouble that tonnage. In conjunction with the
steamer improvements there ha.ve been important increases of speed on the Amerie&n overland rail ways, mail
trains now running between San FranciEco and New
Yot k on well under four days. What can be done by the
modern steamers and the m odern express brains which
are now employed on the direct homeward road via San
Franciaco is aptly shown by the presenb mail time. The
mails which left Auckland on August 17 reached San
Francisco on September 2, and were despatched from
N ew York to L ondon by the Oampania on September 7.
The Caml?ania.'s high rat e of speed enabled letters to be
delivered m L ondon in 25 days 16 hours after their leaving
Auckland.
THE

tinue, I go with your article in feeling that it will be

quite insufficient, and the assistance of foreign capital
will certainly be necessary, nob alone to develop the
mineral riches, b~b also ~ail ways, irrigation canal~, and
many other material requirements of the country.
But Spain has closed the door to any further investment of foreign capital in the country by recently enacting that no engineer shall practise in Spain who does nob
p ossess a. Spani&h diplom&, the obtaining of which is
praotioally impossible for a foreigner.
Consequently the foreign capitalist who would undertake the construction of rail ways or other public works.
the workin~ of mines, &c., is faced with the necessity of
placing his mter ests in the hands of a. Spanish engineerthat is to say, of a person unknown to him, and is prevented employing the engineer of his confidence whom
he has known for years.
These are bhe bare fa.olis without any comment, and I
ask if it oan bs rea.!!onably expected that ca.piba.lists will
entrust the spending of their money bo strangers, and if

Spain has consulted her beat interests in passing such

regulations.
I am, Sir, yours truly,
Madrid, November 1, 1901.
A.

THE ELECTRIFICATION OF THE

METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINREBlNG.
SIR,- In reference to the letter of Mt s us. Brown,
Boveri, et Cie., I would point out that I took oub a
United States patent for the flexible suspension of gearless motors on wheeled vehicles on May 9, 1890
(No. 452,992). One of the claims is as follows: "A
wheeled vehicle having an electric propelJing motor
entirely supported or sustained by elastic su~porting
devices, the armature or rotary partJ thereof bemg supported by a hollow sleve which surrounds the axle
uniting the drive wheels, said sleeve being mechanically

E N G I N E E R I N G.
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

off in the number of new contracts closed by the Clyde

shipbuilders. The decline in the number of orders in the
preceding month has not improved to any extent, though
the launches of new vessels have been fairly well up to the
average. The ordera booked during October amount to
quite25,000 tons. Seventeen new vessels were launched.
The followins- are a. fe w of the prinoipa.l vessels launched:
Messrs. Wilha.mDenny & Brothers, Dumbarton, launched
for the British India Steam N avigation Company, the
Ia.nthia., a. twin-screw steamer of 5150 tons; the Inverio,
a three-decked screw steamer of 4700 tons. built by
Messre. Willia.m H amilton and Co. Port Glasgow, for
Messrs. Andrew Weir and Co., Glasgow ; the Cla.n
M 'Millan, screw steamer of 4600 tons, for Messrs.
Cogger, Irvine, and Co., Glasgow, built by Messrs.
M'Millau and Co., Dumbarton i the MigueldeLarrinaga.,
screw steamer of 4300 tons, ouilt ~ Messrs. Russell
and Co., Port Glasgow, for Messrs. Larrina.ga and Co.,
of Liverpool; t he Kilbride, screw steamer, 3800 tons,
built for Messrs. N 11,pier and Connell, by Messrs. Charles
Connell and Co., Whiteinoh; the Dunolly, screw steamer,
3285 tons, built for Messrs. Glen a.nd Co., G lasgow, by
Messrs. A. Rodger and Co., P ort G lasgow ; and other
st-eamers ranging from 2350 tons down to steamers of 300
tons and 180 tons.
Order for a Steel Sailing Ship in Dwndee.- The Dundee
Shipbuilders' Company have j ust booked an order for a.
la.rge sailing ship for Messrs. J. Hardie and Co., shipowners, Glasgow. She will be similar to the H ougomont
and the Ni velle, belongin~ to the same owners, and will
also be constructed to the classification of the British
Corporation R egistry.
The "Morvmouth."-One of the events of this month
will be the launch of th e first-class armoured cruiser
Monmouth, which is ex~eoted to leave the yard of the
L ondon and Glasgow Shipbuilding and Engineering
Company next Tuesday. She is a. vessel of 9800 tons
displacement, and is to have engines of 22,000 horse-power,
made by the builders.
Export of Bricks frorn Glasgow.-For a month or two
past scarcely any sailing ves~el or steamer has left the
Clyde for foreign ports without baking large quantities of
bricks. The Senator has just loaded with 2400 tons of
bricks. She is a sailing vessel, and the bricks are nob
dumped in, but carefully built up in the holds.
Royal Society of Editnburgh.-On Monday night the
first ordinary meeting of the session of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh was held, L ord McL aren in the chair.
He made a summation of the papers read in la.sb session,
and on the administration of the society, Several papers
were read, one of which was on " A n I nstrument for the
Mechanical Trisection of an Angle," by Mr. James N .
Millar (read by P rofessor Chrystal).

[Nov. 8, 1 go r.
silver-plated wa.reand cutlery houses are complaining of ex.
treme difficulty in obtaining orders, distributora t hroughout the coun try declining to commit themselves to any
weight of stook for the coming season, as sales wilJ, i b is
feared, be extremely small.
South Yorkshtre Co'l-l Trade.-Tbe heavy fogs of the
last three days have caused the consumption of gas to be
almost doubled, and the railways nob having been
able to take new traffic forward, gas companies have
had to dra w largely from stook. Should this weather
continue, some of these companies will be very
seriously ha.mpered. The large steel works are also
finding difficulty in obtaining supplies, and have used
up most of their stooks. Work, however, generally is
slack, and there is not the weight of fuel being used that
was the case a. few months back. The decline previously
reported in the house coal trade con tinues, and the de
mand, both for L ondon and the local markets, is restricted.
Prices, however, are kept up. Best Silkstones are
making from 13s. to 14s. per ton, and Barnsley house
12~. to 123. 6d. per ton. Good bards are selling at 10s.
to 10s. 6d. per ton, and prices for the commoner class of
coal, of whiCh there is an abundant supply, are as follows :
Screened slack, 7s. per ton ; pit di tto, 33. per ton. The
coke trade does nob Ehow any improvemen t.

GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Glasgow Pig-I ron Market.-Not more than about 1000
tons of pig iron changed hands last Thursday forenoon.
Shotts were covering in Scotch iron, which advanced in
price 2~d. per ton, which wa-s also made by Cleveland
iron. Generally speaking the market was fi rm. Abou b
8000 tons changed hands in the afternoon, and prices
were very firm. Scotch advanced another 1d. per ton, and
hematite iron made 3d. per ton. The settlement prices
were: Scotch, 54s. 10~d. per ton; Cleveland, 44s. 10~d ;
and Cumber land hematite iron, 60s. per ton. At the forenoon meeting of the market on Friday a couple of thousand
tons were dealt in. Cleveland alone met with attention.
Scotch was unchanged, while Cleveland lost 3d. p er ton.
Scotch was done at 54s. per ton, delivery ab the end of
the year, and Cleveland at 443. 8d, delivery at same time.
At the afternoon market some 8000 tons were donE>, and
prices were slightly easier. Scotch reacted to 54s. 11d., or
4d. per ton under the preceding night, and Cleveland to
4h . 6d., also a drop of 4d. per ton from the precedin g
day. The closing settlement prices we.re: 55~., 44s. 6d.,
and 59s. 10~d. per ton. At the forenoon sitting on ~1on
d a.y the warrant market showed that some 6000 tons
chan~ed hands, and that Scotch rose 1d. per ton, while
Cleveland lost 2d. per ton. At the afternoon market 5000
tons changed hands, and the close was fiat, Cleveland showNOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE
ing a drop on the day of 5d. per ton, and hematite iron 6d.
NORTHERN COUNTIES.
per ton. At bheolosethesettlementprices w ere: 54~.10~d. ,
44s. 3d., and hematite iron 59$. 7! d. per ton. The market
MIDDLESBROUGH, W ednesday.
was steady on Tuesda.y forenoon, but exceedingly quiet,
The Cleveland Iron Trade.-Y esterday there was a.
and only some 2000 tons changed hands, about equally
large attendance on 'Change, but the market was quiet,
with little business doing. Buyers were backward, but,
divided between Cumberland hematite iron and Cleveland. The latter was done 1d. per ton up ab 44s. 3d. one
on the other band, pig-iron producers did nob display any
grea.t anxiety to secure ordera. Little or no difference
month, with buyers over, and Cumberla.nd hematite
existed in quotations for No. 3 Cleveland iron, No. 4
iron, after being done 1d. per t on better, at 593. 5d.
per ton cash, left off at 59~. 4~d. per ton buyers.
foundry, and grey fo rge ; and, in fact, No. 3 was
Scotch warrants were nob dealt in, and the only
disposed of in place of foundry, the former being plentiful
and the latter scarce. G rey forge was very strong. Most
quotation was 54~. 7d. per ton, sellers one month.
Nob a single transaction t ook placs in the aftermakers asked 44s. 6d. for prompt f.o.b. delivery of N o. 3
g.m.b. Cleveland pig iron, but they did nob find buyera
noon, and the quotations were ju3t round the foreprepared to pay bhab figure, especially a~ merchants were
noon close. At the close the settlement prices were :
quite prepared to accept 44s. 3d., which was also the re54s. 10~d., 44s. 1~d., and 59s. 4.\d. per ton. The market
cognised market rate for No. 4 foundry and grey forge.
was flat this forenoon ; only some 3000 tons were dealt in.
East Coast hematite pig iron was as scarce as ever, there
Cleveland alone met with attention, and the price fell 1~d.
being none at an available for this month's deliv~ry.
per ton a b 44s. That class of iron was also sold ab 43s. 9d.
Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were pub ab 60~. delivered a month ahead.
p~r ton three months delivery. At the afternoon meeting
S~a.nish ore was steadr and unchanged in price, notonly 2000 tons changed hands, and Scotch closed 1d.
Wlbhstanding lower freights, rubio being 153. 9d. ex-ship
per ton easier than ab midday, b ut Cleveland finished
T ees. T o-day prices were not quotably altered.
1:\d. p er ton easier.
The settlement prices were :
54s. 9d., 44s., and 59s. 3d. per ton. The followManufactured Iron and Steel.-Finished iron and steel
ing are the quotations for makers' No. 1 iron: Clyde,
show very little alteration. New orders are by no means
66s. 6d. ; Gartsherrie, 67e. ; L angloan, 69J. 6d. ;
easily secured, and several producers would probably now
SummerleE>, 71s. ; Coltness, 71s. 6d.-the foregoing all
make concessions to obtain contracts. though prices, on
shipped ab Glasgow; Glenga.rnock (shipped ab Ardrosthe whole, are not quotably lowered. Steel ship-plates are
san), 66s.; Shotts (shipped a.b Leith), 70~.; Carro? (shipped
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHillE.
6l. ; steel ship-angles, 5t. 17e. 6d. ; iron sbipplates,
at Grangemouth), 67s. 6d. per ton. The erratic fluctuaSHEFFIELD, W ednesday.
6l. 17s. 6d. ; and iron ship-angles, Gl. 53.-all less the
tions in Scotch warrants have continued during the week,
Sheffield Society of Etngineers and Metallurgists.-Pro- customary 21 per cent. discount.
but the quantity of iron changing hands is infinitesimal, fessor
W. Ripper, M. Ins b. C. E., presided over the opening
and only concerns a few dealers here, who are more or lees
Iron and Steel Shipments.-Shipments of iron and
the
1901-2
session
of
the
ab)ve
society,
held
meeting
of
interested in this class of warrants. F or delivery three in the T echnical Deparnment of the U niversity College on steel for October fell short of what was expected,
months hence Scotch warrants have changed hands ab Monday night. A lantern lecture on " Silver Alloys of still the grand total was 2000 tons better than the
as low a.s 52s. 9d. per ton. In W est Coast hematite iron Indus trial Importance ,, was given by :Mr. Ernesb A. previous month, and 6000 tons above the clearances of
warrants an advancement has been made, but only one
October last year. Compared with the large shipments
or two odd transactions have ta.ken place in them. Smith, A.R.S.M., of the Sheffield Assay Office.
of October, 1899, however, there was a decrease of no
Life-Sa'l.,ifng A pparatus in CoUieries.-On Friday a less than 42,000 tons. The shipments of pig i ron for b'1e
American ad vices continue favourable, bun there seems to
be a little easing off in t?e urgent demand~ fo~ prm;npt de- largely attended meeting of the M idland Institute of month just ended reached 81,748 tons, of which 38,533
livery. 'be volume of mternal consumpt10n IS still very Mining, Civil, and Mechanical Eo~ineer3 was held ab tons went to foreign ports, and 43, 165 tons coastwise.
large, though some makersoomplai?of the sc~rcityof ord~ra Wakefield, Mr. J. J errard presiding. A paper on Scotland was again the largest customer, baking 30,604
for future delivery. Cargoes of uon contmue to arrive " Coal-mining in India ,, was read, and then Mr. M. H. tons ; Germany came next with 13,230 tons ; H olland
with fair regularity from Ca~ada. T~e total nnn;tbe~ of Harrison introduced the subject of "a joint colliery took 6115 tons; and Sweden 6914 t ons. Only 10,418
blast-furnaces new blowing IS 83, aga.mst 78 a.b th1s time rescue station." The Simon-Carves by-product plant tons of manufactured iron were shipped last month,
last year but one has been damped at Shotts, while used at the Monckton Main Colliery was also considered. 7276 tons of which went coastwise, and 3142 tons
another has been blown in ab Glengarnock for the produc- Afterwards the President explained the life-saving appa- to foreign customers. Steel was cleared to the extion of hematite iron. The stook of pig iron in Messrs. ratus recently exhibited in working order by Mr. Gar- tent of 20,306 tons, 9504 tons of it being sent coastwise'
Connal and Co.'s public warra.nt stores stood yesterday forth ab Altofts Colliery. It transpired that several and 10,802 tons foreign, nearly 3000 tons being senb to
afternoon at 56,891 tons, against 57,018 ton~ yesterday improvements were about to be made in the apparatus, Russia, who was the largest customer.
week, thus showing for the past week a reduotton amount- and Mr. Ga.rforth hoped to again experiment with it in
Cleveland Mine'rs' Wages Reduced. -Fortunately, a.
December.
ing to 127 tons.
stoppage of work at the Oleveland ironstone mines has
Bradford T echnical College. -On Wednesday, the 30th been prevented by the mineowners agreeing to the miners
Sulphate of Ammonia:-There id a somewhat _1ive!y
demand for this commodtby, and up to 11 t. per ton IS patd ulb. the delegates of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce offer to submit to a. reduction in wages of 1' per oenb.
for it for forward delivery, say, January to March of the on the Technical Instruction Committee presented their The owners ab first asked for a 2! per cent. reduction.
new year. The shipments ab L eith last week amounted report to the Chamber. It was stated that decided
Messrs. Do-r man, L ong, and Oo., Lim.ited.- The annual
progress
bad
been
made
ab
the
college
during
the
year,
to 509 tons.
report and balance-sheet of the directors of Messrs.
now
being
in
the
textile
classes
241
sbudents
in
the
there
Filnished Iron a-nd Steel.-Thinga are very quiet in the building and 103 at the district classes. The college, Dorma.n, L ong, and Co., Limited, shows the profits of the
finished iron and steel trades, most of the works are however, was unduly cramped, and two courses were firm for the year ending Se~tember 30 last to have been
fairly well supplied with or~ers, b~t both Germa;ny a~d now open-either to confine themselves to perfecting the 118,534l. 17s. 9d., which, w1th the balance brought forCanada. are sending steel m.to th1s c~mntry, e~ther m work now being done, or do such work as would lead to ward from last year of 21,090l. 153. 1d. makes a. total of
the finished condition or as billets. Prtoes rema.m com- the establishment of new trades in the town. M r. F. 139,625l. 12s. 10d., which it is proposed should be applied
paratively steady in both departments. New oon~raots, Hooper said be thought a new college would have to be as follows: Interest on debent ure stook and debentures,
in view of the fall of 5s. per ton for steel plate m the built, and that would require the expenditure of from 16, 038l. 123. Id.; direotor3' fees (excluding managing
N or bh of England, can only be made freely here by con- 50, OOOl. to 100, OOOl.
directors), 2000l.; written off for depreciation, 26, OOOl. ;

carried to reserve account, 25,000l. ; interim dividend~,

C8SSIO
nS.
Scarborough Technical School.-Mr. A. S. Tetley, 23. 6d. per share, paid J une 8, 1901. 13,125l. ; final diviDispute in a Slag Case.- ~ord K inoairney closed t he
M. A ., at present head master of the Cou.nty Interme- dend for the year, 6s. per share, payable on D ecember 10,
record in the Courb of Sees10n yesterday, and orde!ed diate
ab Newt0wn (Montgomeryshue), has been 190 L, 31, 500l ; ba.la.noe carried forward, 26, 962l. Os. 9d.
proof in an action by the La.ngloa~ Iron and C.hemwal appoinSohooJ
ted principal of th~ Sca.rborough Municipal T ech- Mr. A. de Londe L ong, one of the founders of the
Company Limited L a.ngloan, agamsb Cla.rk, Stmpson,
busines3, and who for many years took an active part
and Scot11: contra()t~rs, Edinburgh, for payment of 1000l. nical School. The salary IS 500l. per year.
I ron and Steel.-lb was stated last week that a. very in the m~nagement of the works, has retired from
as damages for alleged breach of contract. On May 1,
1901 the purs uers sold to the defenders 15,000 tons of serious falling-off in business in the iron and steel works the board. The fall in prices which bad already
slag 'at the rate of 6d. per ton. The defenders refused to of the city was taking place. Some of these works are begun twelve months ago, continued during the year;
take delivery, and the pursuers have consequently suf- nob running more than four days per week, and unl.ess in spite of this the works of the company have been
fered loss and damage to the amount sued for. The d~ orders come in more freely than has been the c~e. duru~g kept fully employed, and the present condition of the
fenders deny that there wM any contract. They expla.m the last fortnight, even that. amou~b of acbtvttv '!Ill order-book is satisfactory. The buildingd, machinery,
that negotiations took place as to the sup~ly of the slag, nob be ma.intained. The fa.lhng-off m the consumpt10n and tools have been maintained out of revenue in a
but the contract was to depend on the abih.ty of ~he de- of these steels in the armour-plate, forging, rail way, and thoroughly efficient state, and the stooks valued on the
fenders to adj ust a satisfactory rate for oarrtage With the other departments is very marked, and current orders are basis of present prices. Mr. A. J. Dorman and Mr. F .
Caledonian Railway Company. They were unable to do only small. Consumers are tempting makers to accept Waiters Bond are the retiring di'reotorkl, and, being
orders at a small reduction, but they say with the pre~enb eligible, offer themselves for re.eleotion. The auditors,
this, and no oontraob was concluded.
Messrs. W. B. Peat and Co., also retir~, and offer themcost
of
production
itl
is
impossible
to
ma.ke
any
concess10n.
(Jlyile Shipbuilding Trade : ~a/wnohes in Oct~betr. -';t'he Travellers who are oub in the home market representing selles for re-eleo ~ion.
month of 0Jtob'.)r was characteriSed by a. finanCial falling-

'

Nov. 8, 190 1.]

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

E N G I N E E RI N G.
MISCELLAJ.\TEA.

Oa\d~tf.-Stea?l coal has shown little change, the best

THE U ni ted States naval estimates for the year ending
descr1pt10ns ha:-v~ng made 16s. 6d. to 17s. per ton. ; while June 30, 1903, amount to 98,910,984 dols., or 21 million
secondary quahtte~ have br.ou~hb 15s. 3d. to 15s. 6d . p er ton. dollars more thl\n for 1!)02.

There has been h ttle vat1at10n also in the quotations for

house coal ; No. 3 Rhondda large has made 15s. Gd. p er ton.
O~ke has brought about former terms, foundry quali ties
bemg quoted atJ 20s. to 2ls. p er ton, and furnace ditto at
17s .. 6d. t o 18s. Gd. p er t on. As regards iron ore, the best
rubto has brought 14s. 3d. to 14s. 6d. per ton, while
Ta.fna has made 15s. t o 15s. 6d. per ton.
Glouoester cvnd Birmingham Navigation.-The directors
of the ~h9:rpn~ss New D ocks and G loucester and Birmin~
ham Navigation Company reporb a decrease of 1015l. 10
the tonnage reve?ue for the past half year. The balance
of. neb revenue. JS 8962l. Considerable alterations are
be.m g effected m the W orcester wharf property at Birmlngham.
. Oart?iff Graving Doo~s.:-The Bute Dry Dock and En~meermg: Oompa.ny, Lu:~nted, has acquired a con t rolling
m terest m the Mercantile. Pontoon Company, Limited.
The p ontoon company wtll, however, oonbinue to be
worked as a separate concern.
S1Uansea.-The finished iron and steel works are fully
Employed, and there is abpresent no want of orders. No
sales have, however, been effected recen t ly beyond the
close of the year. The shipments of tinplates have been
arge, and stooks have dechned.
Welsh Stearn Ooal.-The French General Trans-Atlantic
Company has placed an order for steam coal with the
Ocean Company. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company has placed an order for 10,000 tons of Albion st eam
oo~l and 5000 tons of Harria's navigation; the contract
pr10 ~s are _15s. 4d . and 15s. 6d. p er ton respeoti vely. A n
Itahan rallway contract for 20,000 t ons of best Monmouthshire coal has been divided bet ween M oosrs. M organ, W akley, a~d Co., and Messre. Filou tt and Co.; the
coutraot pr10e 1s 20s. 6d. ,Per ton . Another Italian railway contract for 40,000 tons of small steam coal has been
taken by M essrs. Gueret and Co. at 148. p er t on.
The" Queen. "-The building of the new line-of-battleship
Queen is being pushed forward ab a rapid rate at D evon p ort. L a.st week 50 shipwrights were sent to her from
the cruiser Encounter, and on Monday a large number of
mechanics a nd labourers who have been employed on the
Montagu were also put on the Queen. The Queen waa
to have been launched at the end of M arch; hub so
rapidly is work proceedin g tha t the local officers have
informed the L ords of the Admiralty that there is
no reason why the launch should not take place
during the first week of M a rch.
In the case of
the other line-of-battleships which have been built at
Devonport, it has been found impossible to build their
casemates until after the vessels have been floated, owing
to the n on -delivery of the armour-plates. But four casemates of the Queen have been already built, and all the
armour-~lates for the rem aining eight casema.tes have
been deh vered. The oasemates are made of steel specially
hardened and 6 in. thick, each plate weighing abou t
10~ tons. Internally the Queen is so far a dvanced that
she will be heavier on leaving the building slip than any
vessel yet launched at Devon port.
L la!nelly N e1v Dock.- The question of the completion of
of Llanelly new dock was discussed on M onday at a meeting of the Llanelly Harbour Commissioners. The engineer (Mr. J. Vaugban Stewa.rt) stated that he expected
t o begin the cutting for the entrance by Christmas time.
The work would occupy three or four months, according
to the state of the weather. With regard to the lighting
of the dock, the engineer is in favour of the adoption of
some electric system.
Official Changes at Devonport.-O wing to an application from Devonport D "ckyard for an increase in
the engineering staff, the L ords of the Admiralby
have approved of t he a pJ?ointment of an additional
assistant to the chief engmeer of the yard, and the
following ap_pointments have been made: Ohief engineer W. H. B ecket t, second assistant to the chief
engi~eer of Ports mouth D ockyard, to b e first assistant at D evonport; chief engineer G. W. R oome,
second assist ant at Devonport, to be first assistant at
Malta ; engineer Sidney R ider, assistant at Sheerness, to
be second assistant ab Devonport; engineer A. R. Grant,
assistant to chief engineer (for charge of drawing-office)
at D cvonporb, t o be. assistant ~n charge of drawi?g-office
at Sheerness vice Rider; Eogmeer G. W. Baldwm t o be
assistant a t D evonport (in charge of drawing-office) vioe
G rant.
The Electric L ight at Tivert~n.-The Tiverbon Tow~
Council met on M onday to constder a proposed expenditure of 11 OOOl. on a. scheme of electric lighting advocated
bv Mr. Adam~. with water-generating power at Ws.shfield
Mill. Mr. Alderman Amoryopposed the Washfield Mill
scheme; and, apart from the uncertain nature of the water
su pply thought the expense of the suggested scheme had
been u~der-estimated. He submitted an estimate of a
scheme on the same lines as tha.t advocated by Mr.
Ada.ms which would cost 18,650l, including 2500l. for
cable 4oool. accumulAtors, 5000l. laying mains, and 1700l.
conbi~gcncies. Mr. vVatkins moved that Mr. Am_ory's
figures be supplied to the experts and borough enganeer
for comparison and. report. This was a.g~eed to. The
borough engineer saLd he would pu~ the d1~erent statements in parallel columns, and subm1t them m a report a t
the next meeting of the Council.

. lb is a nnouD;ced that .the annual dinner of the InstitutiOn of Eleotr10al En_gmeers will be held in the Grand
H all of the Hotel Ceoil on the evening of M onday
D ecember 9.
'
The German Minister for Public W orks is about to
order 420 locomotives, and the contract will be given to
only German firms. The amount of the order is about
25,000,000 marks, or some 1, 250, OOOl.
The Farnley Iron Oompany are con templating putting
down a Mond gas plant to drive three large ga:s engines,
and also for t he supply of gas to various parts of the
works for use in forges and puddling furnaces.
Oopl?er is believed to exist in various parts of Greece,
and mmes h.ave been worked at O thrys. near Lamia,
an? Alagoma, n~ar Oalamata.. The D epartmen t of
mes offers to asstst persons desirous of making exploratiOns.
In accorda~ce with an Imperial decree-, the Turkish
Gov~rnment l S .about to enga~e eight engineers in
B elgJUm. who wtll be sent to Syria to push on the works
of the Damascu~-Mecca. R~il way. A Syrian newspaper
states that the rails of th1s hne ha.ve now been laid over a
distance of nearly 14 kilometres.
The Government of the Con~o State has decided t o
con str~ct som~ 600. miles of rallwa.y in Upper Congo.
The ratl ~ays m the northern district have proved a rem!lt;te! atLve concern, although the aubject of muoh hostile
cr1btotsm at the start. Other railway projects in the
Congo State are also under contemplat10n.
The Dannemora. iron. mines sell their ores only t o
members of the corporatiOn, and the production is limited
to 50,000 tons per annum. The ore is got underground
and h as an averag-e of 50 per cent. of metallic iron, and
from 0.0025 to 0.005 per cent. of phosphorus. The mine
has been operated for 400 years at least, and is now
846 f b. deep.
A submerged bell-signal buoy is t o be established ab
Egg R ook, Marblehead, U.S.A., in 15 fa thoms of water
and about 50 ft. below the surface. A bell inside it wili
be rung by electrical energy transmitted through a cable
from a. P.Ower-house on shore, the idea being that the
sound will t ravel th rough the water farther than ib would
through air.
The t raffic receipts for the week ending October 27 on
33 of the principal lines of the U nited Kingdom amounted
to 1,860,371t., which was earned on 20,153;} miles. For
tpe corresponding week in 1900 t~e receipts of t he same
hnes amounted te 1,849,532l., with 19, 885~ miles open.
There was thus an increa.se of 10,839l. in the receipts and
an increase of 267~ in the mileage.
'
Wireless t elegraphy has been e3tablished between
the Blaavand ~huk Lighthouse an:i the light-ship VyJ
a d~sta.noe .of about .18. m.i les. I t. a ppears t o ~ork qu1t~
sattsfactorily, and 1b IS Lmmabertal whether 1b is clear
or foggy, calm or storm . Next it is proposed to fib the
Horns Rev light ship with wirreless t elegraph appliances
the distance from the la tter to Blaavandshuk is about 30
miles.
The B lack Sea-Ba.lbio Canal scheme, which has often
been discussed, is again to the fore. This time a syndicate of Belgian capitalisti are understood to have proposed to the Ru~sian Government the construction of
the said canal. The G overnment is said to look upon
the demands of the syndicate as somewhat exorbitan~.
The Government is altogether in favour of leaving this
canal q uestion in abeyance until R ussia herself takes the
initiative of constructin g this canal, which was then to
form a sequel to the large S iberian Railway.
The Flensburg Shipbuilding Company, Flensburg, in
the Duchy of Sleswiok, have done exceedingly well during
ita last financial year. They have delivered seven
steamera for trans-Atlantic traffic, with an aggregate
burthen of 40,015 registered tons and a value of about
600, OOOl. There are orders in hand for the current year
which will keep them fully occupied. The dividend is
18 per cent., the same as it has been during the last two
yea~.
The capital of the company is now 3,300,000
marks (165, OOOl. ), with a reserve fund of 1, 900,000 marks
(or nearly 100, OOOl.).
A small exhibition, but one of some interest, was that
opened ab the l\IIedioa.l Examination Hall, Victoria. Embankment, W.C., on Thursday, October31, in which were
shown SP.ecimens of apparatus constructed by teachers
and pupils of the science classes under the control of
the School B oard. Speaking ~enerally, the display must
be considered to be disappointmg, since in far too many
oases the energies of the ma.kera had been directed t o copying the somewhat elaborate pieces of apparatus for ~uanti
tative work figured in the older text-books. Q ua.htative
work must naturally precede quantitative, but there seems
little reason in most oases for using any but the simplest
apparatus for ib.
Some few of the teachers at these
classes seem to have grasped this fa.ot; and we would
especially note a very simple devioe for illustrating the
expansion of metals by heat. The whole apparatus consisted of a couple of corks glued to a. board, a piece of
wire perforated at each end, a pin, and along needle. The
wire was firmly pinned to one cork, and the needle etuck
through the hole at its other end into the second cork,
just sufficiently to stand. On beat being applied to the
wire the expansion of the latter tilts the needle. An inG otn IN CRI U.-Rioh gold discoveries are stated to genious clamp for holding light apparatus in any po~ibion
and at any angle was shown by Mr. G . H. Wollatt.
have been made in the sou th of Chili.

It was made entirely of corks and pieces of glass rod.

In other cases exhibits, though showing considerable
manipulative skill on the par-t of their makers, should
really be classed as toys rather t han as scientific apparatus. We may instance an electric see-saw and an
d ectric pistol .
In view of the great specialisation which has been a
feature of manufacturing engineering during the past few
year~, and the consequ~nt growing dearth of general mecha.mcs, a .n ew apprent10eship system has been started at
the Baldwm Works, with a v1ew t o training men specially
fitted for such posts as assistant-foremen foremen and
the like. The apprentices taken are' divided 'into
three c1B;Sses. The first-class includes boys of 17 years of
a~e, havmg had a good common school education, who will
bmd thems~lyes to serve for four years, a.nd will recognise
the supervision by the firm of their conduct out of
tbe shOJ? as weB as i~ it. Such apprentices must
attend m ght schools durmg the first three years of their
apprenticeship, and acquire there a. knowledge of elementary algebra., geometry, and meohanica.l drawing.
The second class of apprentices must have bad an advanced
grammar school or high school training. They must serve
for three years, a.?d attend night schools to. learn drawing,
unle~ already fau draughtsmen. The thud-class indenture IS really a form of agreement for young men over
twenty-one years of age, and is intended for graduates of
techmcal colleges who desire instruction in practical shop
work. The agreement in this case is for two years. The
rates of pay are as follows :
First Second Third F ourth
Year.
Y ear. Year. Year.
Per
P er
Per
Per
Hour. Hour. H our. Hour.
Apprentices of the
. .. 2~ d.
first class
3!d.
4~d .
5~d .
Apprentices of the
second class . .. 3~d.
~d.
5~d.
Apprentices of the
third class
. .. 6~d.
8d.
In addition, apprentices of the first class are awarded a
bonus of about 25l. on completing the term of their indenture, and those of the second class one of about 20l
The firD?, in add ition to teaching .the youths t heir trade:
as ~xplamed, also endeavour to gtve special attention to
theu welfare a.nd progress. They see that their work is
changed as often as their proficiency justifies it and
und~rtake ~direct them to sni~able boa.rdiug.house's. A
speCial offi01al, known as Supermtendent of A pprentices
has been appointed to look after them generally.
'
I Ltrnors CENTRAL RAILROAD.- The Illinois Central
Railroad Company has decided to carry its capital stook
from 66,000,000 dole. t o 79,200,000 dols. The additional
capital will be employed in betterments (including doubling
track between Chicago and New Orleans}, purchasing locomotives and cars, and acquiring the PAoria., Decatur and
Ma.ttoon, the Mattoon and Eva.nsville, and the P~oria
Deoatur, and Evansville lines.
'
THE H OMESTEAD STEEL WoRKs .-Extensive improve~ents and additions to equipment are about t o be made
m the armour-plate department of the Homestead Steel
W~rks of ~he Carnegie Steel Company, ab Homestead,
Philadelph1a. Some 4,.oog,ooo dols. has been expended in
the ~apartment, and 1b lS now proposed to practically
dup~tcate the present plant. Another 12l000-ton hydraulic
forgmg J?ress and further furnaces will oe included in the
new eqmpment.
GERMAN 9o~LMINING.-The deliveri~s by .railway from
the three prm01pal German coal-producmg d1stricts in tbe
first nine m~nths of this year w~re 54,929,300 tons, as
compared w1th 55,317,720 t ons m the corresponding
~eriod of 1900. In these totals the deli varies from the
Ruhr figured for 36,213,030 tons and 36.718,730 tons respectively ; those from the Sarre for 5,313,640 t ons and
5, 349,180 tons respectively; and those from Silesia. for
13,402,630 t ons and 13,249,810 tons respectively.
. CLEVELAND.-The population of Cleveland, Ohio, bad
risen last year to 381,768. In 1890 the corresponding
population was 261,253; in 1880, 160,141; in 1870, 92 825
and in 1860, 48,843. In 1870 Cleveland was the fifteenth
largest city in the U nited States ; in 1880 it had become
the eleventh, in 1890 the tenth, and in 1900 the seventh.
In 1814 Clevela~d was a village with 100 inhabitants.
91evela.nd ~as now. 568~ m~les of str~ets. Su~erior-streetJ
IS 132 fb. w1de, wh1le Euohd-avenue ts 80ft. w1de. Wilson
and Case-avenues are also each 90ft. wide.
F RillNOR STEillLMAKINO. -The quantity of steel rails made
in France in the first half of this year was 157,841 ton1 as
compared with 146,803 tons in the corresponding period of
1900 ; of merchants' st eel, 306,237 t ons as compared with
351, 508 tons; and of plates, 133,115 tons as compared
with 162,931 tons ; making an a.ggr~gate of o97,193 tons
as compared with 661,242 tons. Steel ingots were mad~
in France in the first half of this year to the extent of
736,721 tons, as compared with 813,164 tons in the oorre
sponding period of 1900.
GAS AT PARJS.-The revenue of the Parisian Company
for L ighting and Heating by Gas in September amounted
to 258,457l., as compared with 266,779l. in September
1900, showing a. decrease of 8322l., or 3.12 per cent. Th~
aggregate revenue of the company for the first nine
montlis of .this year was 2,. 401,03~l., as compared with
2,454,53Rl. m the correspondmg pertod of 1900, showing a
decrease of 53,503l., or 2.48 per cent. this year. This
decrease is largely accounted for by the absence of an
exhibition this year in Paris.

SUGAR-CANE TRIPLE-CRUSHING PLANT FOR THE EGYPTIAN SUGAR AND

CONSTRUCTED BY

l\1E SSR~.

D.

LA.ND

COMPANY.

0\
U\
tv

STEWART AND CO., LIMITED, ENGINEERE', GLASGO"\Y,

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Nov. 8, 1901.]

ENGI

E E R I N G.

AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."

At78TRU, VIenna: Lehmann and Wentzel, Karntneratraaae.

TRACTION and TRANSMISSION.

(Publilhed on the flrlt Tuud.ay in ea.oh month.)

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The ltconomlc11 of Street Rallwo.ye.
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tlons In Text) .... . ......... .. .. 173
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l'he Now meotdc Puwor Ph\nt for
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1\nd llluatmUona In Text) . .... . 162
the Urook lyu Illwld TnLnsltCom
NORWAY, Ohristiania: Oammermeyers, Boghandel, Carl Johans ltlunlcl))tLI Trodlng :
J)tlOY (Ph\tc XLVI. ) .. .......... 1112
Oade, 41 and 43.
(1.) Uy W. Valentine Ball. . .... 160 The Goltlaclunldt Proc08ll of
()) Uy A u oth er Borougb Eng l
l~l eot.rl o Rn ll W eld lug ( Plate
NEw SOUTH W ALBB, Sydney : Turner and Henderson, 16 and 18,
ll t'Cr . 16.&
X l,~ VJI.) . . . ............. . ... .. 185
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QtTBBNSLAND (SOUTH), Brisbane : Gordon and Gotch .
brogllo . . . . .... . .... . ... ... 166
nnd Llghtlug System ('PitLte
(NoRTn), T ownsville : T. Willmett and Co.
The hl tu u:hes ter nntl Liver pool
Xf,VJll. , and Dlwtmtlona In
Eloctrl u Express l'l4llwny ...... 168 1 Text) .. .. .... .. .. . ...... .. .... 188
RolTBR.DAM: ll. A. Kramer and Son.
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through Messrs. 0. L. Daube and Co., Frankfurt-am

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===-----==- -=----===--

NOTIOE8 OF MEETINGS.

TIIB JNSTJTUTION OF On rL E NotNEBRS.-Tuesday, November 12,

at 8 p.m. Paper to be flubmitted for discussion : "Toe Disobarge of Sewage into a Tidal Estuary," by Mr. W. Kaye Parry,
M. A., B.A.I., M . Imt. O.E., and l\Ir. W. E. Adeney, D.Sc.
TilE INSTITUTION OF M"ECIIANlCAL ENOINKERS.-Friday, November 12, when t he chai r will be taken at 8 p.m. The followin g
paper will be read and discussed : "The Balancing of Locomotives," by Professor W. E . Dalby, Member, of London.
TUB INSTITUTION OF J UNIOR ENOINBER8.-Saturday, November 16,
visit, at S p. m., the Standardising Laboratory . of the Board of
Trade Standards Department, Westminster.

ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1901.
FOREIGN-BUILT LOCOMOTIVES.

JN a recent issue we commented on a letter

ENGINEERING can be supplied, direct from the Publisher, written by Lord George Hamilton, the Secretary
post free for twelve months at the following rates, payable in of State for India, on the question of purchasing
advance:locomotives from foreign manufact urers. Since we
For the United Kingdom.. .. .. .. . .. . .. 1
9 2
wrote, the discussion on this subject has widened,
, all placas abroad : Thin paper copies .. . .. .. .. 1 16 0
important
letters
having
been
written.
The
some
Tbick
,
.. . .. .. .. . 2 0 6
one most notable of these has been published in the
.!11 accounts are payable to "ENGINERRIN<!," Limited.
Cheques should be c rossed " Union Bank, Charing u ross Branch." Times, and is sign ed by the t hree important Glasgow
Post Office Orders payable at Bedtord-street, Strand, W.O.
firms making locomotives, Messrs. Neilson, Reid,
When F or eign Subscriptions are sent by Post Office Orders,
and Oo., Messrs. Dubs and Co., and Messrs. Sharp,
advice should be sent to the Publisher .
Foreign and Colonial Subscribers receiving incomplete copies Stewart, and Co. The letter first states that "the
through newsagents are requested to communicate the fact to American engine is designed with a view of reducthe Publisher, together with the agent's name and address.
Oftloes for Publication and Advertisements,,Nos. 85 ing as much as p~ssible the a~ount of hand _lab?ur
in the course of Its construction, and substituting
and 86, Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C.
machine work instead, and it is therefore a cheaper
TBLBOllPHlO
ADDRBSB-ENGINEBRING, LONDON.
engine to build .in works which a.r~ equip~ed

TBLEPRONB NmmaR- 8668 Gel"rard.

for its constructiOn, than the Br1t1Bh engine
is in works equipped for the construction of the
CONTENTS,
British E ngine." Although the letter does not say
PAGE
PAGB so here, we think t~at the readers of the Times
The New Subway in New
Notes from the South-West 651
York City .. ............ 637 Miscellanea .. .. ............ 651 would gather from this, and from the general tone
The Institution of 1\IechaForeign-Built Locomotives 653 of t he letter, that American engines are not only
nical Engineers (lllus.) . . 637 Statistics under t h e Workcheaper, but also inferior to British-buiJt engines.
The British Association .. . . 640
men'd Compensation Aot,
Onmpouod Duplex F eed1897 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 Indeed later on the letter says : '' As to workmanPumps at the G IMgow
Tin Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655 ship, w'e have reason to ~elieve that the American
Exhibition (Illmt1atect) .. 64 3 The Iostitution of Civil Eo
Slotting Machine at the
gineers.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6G6 engines eupplied to this country were very far
Glasjlow Exhibition (IlThe E conomic Pos ition of
below the standard of workmanship obtaining in
lust rated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 3
Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
the best locomotive works in Britain, and we have
Oallendar's Portable lodic aNotes .... .. ....... . . 667
had before us unofficial information from India
tor fo r Pl"tlnum Thermo
Public Works in New
meter (}llustrated) . . . . . . 644
Zt!aland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 which goes far to show that the same was the case
The Redheugh Bridge (llThe Eleotriftcat.ion of the
in the Indian engines."
lmtrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Metropolitan and Metro
A Sugar -Cane Triple-Crushpolit.an Dittt.rlct Railways 658
We do not propose here to draw a comparieon
ing Plaot (Illustr ated) .. 646 Diag rams of Three Months'
between the intrinsic or operating value of the work
Gyroscopic Action and t he
Fluctuations in Prices of
Loss of the " Oobra" (llMetals . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. 660 respectively put into these British and American
ltutrated) . . .. .. .... . .. . 647 20-Ton Locomotive Steam
engines. To do that . of one's own. kno~ledge
Large. Power Steam Engines
C rane (Illustrated) .. . . . 661
Industrial Notes ... ..... 662 would necessitate constderable expenence In the
for Electrio Traction and
.. . . . . . . . . . . 648 Gas- Eoaine
Research (Ilactual working of the two types ; and though a good
,..
T ransm i ss1on
Tbe Min eral Wealth of Spain 648
lmtrated) . ... .... ... 668 many reports have re~ched us, they are n?t suffiThe Electrification of tbe
Boiler Explosion at Gorton 663
ciently detailed, suffi01ently complete, nor 1n some
Metropolitan Railways .. 649 The Haokney
Municipal
South African Coal ....... 649
Electric ity Works and Re
cases sufficiently well authenticated, to warrant
Notes from the North .... 66('
fuse Destructor .... .. .. 667
Notes from Soutb York
NotesfromJapan ......... . 668 the expression of an opini~n on the whole case.
There is so much on each side that may not have
shire.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 The Meroadier Multiplex
Notes from Cleveland and
Telegraph . . . . ....... .. 668 been heard. We are speaking now of work recently
the Northern Counties .. 660 Launohes and Trial Trips .. 668
done, and of engines about which a good deal has
W~th a 'I'wo-Pa,gt Eng.,aving of THE REDHEUGH BRIDGE
lately been said.
BETW BEN NEWCASTLE AND GATESHE-AD.
-

There are, however, some general features which

are patent. The British locomotive is, at any rate
to British engineers, a. far more handsome piece of
work than the American engine. Absence of .
hand-work leads to a lack of finish, and this is a
defect in appearance. The hand-work, however,
that is used for orn~mentation is expensive, especially in a country like America where labour is
dear.
We must consider the value put upon
decorative work. In England we take more pride
in the fine detailerl finish of our engines, and are
willing to pay for it. It must be remembered
that hand-finish is more cheaply secured in England
than in the United States.
This, however, is but one aspect of the question.
In r egard to utility, hand-work and machine-work
stand on a different footing. There are, of course,
certain operations that still require skilled hand
labour, but the ingenuity of the machine-tool
maker is constantly lessening them. There is no
need in these columns to point out in how many
ways the highly-organised machine tool has enabled
operationR to be performed by comparatively
unskilled operators, which formerly could only
be successfully carried out by long labour of
highly-trained mechanics. For sheer utility not
only is machine-work quicker and cheaper, but it
is often more nearly accurate than that t urned out
by the highest type of handicraft. In short, it is not
a. slur on an engine to say it contains a great deal
of machine work, so long as attention is given to
those details of finish-we are not now referring to
mere ornamentation- which the machine cannot
compass.
If we turn to other matters treated upon in the
letters, we find statements which indicate that
British locomotive makers have just ground for
complaint. For instance, it is stated : "When
the American builders began to compete, they were
allowed to offer their own type of engine, except
in the case of sorne details which did not affect the
general coDBtruction." This refers to engines for
India, and the same thing has elsewhere been
said of other locomotives we have brought over
h orn the United States, notably the Midland
engines made recently by the Bald win Company,
of Philadelphia.. It is hardly necessary to say
now that the statement was incorrect, as anyone
acquainted wit h American engines, and who has
seen the engines in question, will recognise. As
a matter of fact, these engines, although called
"Mogul , locomotives, were made to special drawings, the design being new to the makers.
The Glasgow firms state, however, in reference
to the broad-gauge engines for India, that they
were asked to build to British types only ; but the
foreign locomotives that have been supplied have
outside cylinders, and therefore have not, of course,
crank axles. The difference in price due to the
absence of the costly crank axles will be apparent.
Naturally, British makers can build engines with
plain axles and outside cylinders as well as another
type, if t hey are given an opportunity.
The next detail brought forward is one upon 'vhich
home makers of locomotives and several other engineering structures and machines have good cause
to complain.
"As to the materials employed in
the conRtruction," the letter says, " the British
builders are compelled to obtain certain materials
from two or three makers, whose productions have
been found to give the most satisfactory results in
working, but which are, not unnaturally, costly."
It is to be presumed that the American contractors were not bound by similar conditions, and if
this were so, the British builders were decidedly
at a disadvantage, manifestly unfair.
When
makers of certain materials, or appliances, know
that their productions are in a specification, they,
not unnaturally, as the letter says, do not feel
compelled to cut their prices to any considerable extent. This, to take an example from
another branch of engineering, is one of the
reasons- perhaps the chief reason--why so many
ships are now built on speculation. The contractors here have a. free hand; whilst if a
ship is constructed to order, and the contractor is
bound to put in, say, Smith's pumps, Brown's
winches, and Jones's steering gear, the stimulus of
competition is absent, and the price goes up accordingly. In the case of materials for locomotives a
choice is sometimes given between two large firms;
but the advantage is illusory, for firms of this class
often have a tacit understanding not to cut prices,
being content to pass on orders one day, and make
up for t he escaped profits by the handsome margin on

E N G I N E E R I N G.
the next transaction. If purchasers-or rather their
professional advisers-would simply specify physical
tests for material, it would do much to cheapen
production. Unfortunately, it is a simpler thing
for the consulting engineer to bind the contractor
to go to a particular firm, the goods of which are
known by long experience to be beyond reproach,
but which takes advantage of its repu tation to
charge prices out of all reason .
The letter of the three Glasgow firms next deals
with German competition, which it describes as a
new thing. "The two orders recently sent to
Germany are the first that have been given for
locomotives." As a matt!3r of historical fact, that
is not the case. 0 ur readers will remember-at
least those whose memories are long enough will
remember-that in connection with the Paris
Exhibition of 1867* we gave a list of certain
locomotives exhibited at that time, and amongst
them was one constructed by Emile ICessler, of
E sslingen, in Germany.
This was one of a
substantial part of a large ocler for locomotives
given out by the East India R':l.il way Company. It was a four-coupled engine designed for
mixed traffic of moderate passenger trains and light
goods. A great many of the engines then ordered
by the East India Company were 1nade in this
country, but also a good m~ny were constructed,
from the same drawings and specifications as the
English engines, in the E sslingen Works. We
understand that it is only within the last year or
so that the engines of this type have been broken
up, after from 34 to 38 years' servic.e, and it would
form an interesting contribution to the present
controversy if the relative costs of maintenance
of these English and German-built locomotives
during their long period of service could be given.
Whilst dealing with the historical aspect of
the question under discussion, i t may be of
interest to state that the Midland Railway system
is an old customer of the Baldwin Company,
of Philadelphia. In the year 1840 these shops
were owned by "'\Villiam Morris and Co. (the
present proprietors are Burnham, Williams, and
Co. ), and at that period four locomotives were
built there for the Birmingham and Gloucester
Railway Company.
They were ~ore .esp.ecially designed to work over the L1ekey 1nchne,
which extends from Bromsgrove to Blackwell,
a. distance of nearly three miles, the gradient
being 1 in 37. The Birmingham and .Gloucester.. R ail way is now part of the Midland
system. The American engines were single drivers,
48 in. in diameter, wheels placed forward of the
firebox, and a four-wheeled leading bogie. The
cylinders were lOt in. in diameter by 18 in. stroke,
outside connected, and placed on the smoke-box
above the truck wheels. The weight was 21,500 lb.
in working order. The '' Phila.delphia," one of the
four, is said to have drawn a. train of loaded wagons,
weighing in all 74 tons, up a grade of 2. 7 per cent.
at a speed of 9! miles per hour..
.
.
Returning to matters of more Immediate Interest,
we agree with the Gl~sgow mak9rs that "India.
has yet to prove 'Germany can serve her better
than Eugland '." That! however, is not the whole
question. There are times when Englan~ cannot
serve even herself in the matter of locomotives, and
that is the chief, if not the only reason, orders have
gone abroad. In this, railway mana~ers a:e t? bla!fie
for not exercising foret~ought In d1s~nbut1ng
their orders more evenly 1n regard. to t1m~. It
would as the letter states, be very Interestmg to
know 'what makers of material are accepted in ~he
case of German engines. Pro~ably. no very stnngent regulations are laid down In this !espect; but
in caseB of emergency, such as have arisen through
delaying orders long after theY: ought to. have been
given out, purchasers cannot dlC~ate tl~e1r .terms so
easily and the contractor, knowmg this, 1s apt to
assum~ a. " take-it-or-leave-it'' attitude. "We can
buy German tyres, axles, &c., much c~,eaper than
we can get them in t his country, says. the
Glasgow letter, "but so far we have not d~s1re~,
nor have we been invite~, to use the~e ~aterials In
the construction of engines for Ind1a:.
It woul~
have been more satisfactory to ~nghsh people If
the firms had plainly stated they did not desire to
purchase the German . war~s .because cheapness
did not compensate for 1nfer10rtty; b.ut o~e ~ould
gather this is inferred. Anyhow, 1f th1s 1s not
the case probably a little more freedom of m~rket
allowed 'to our locomotive builders would brmg a

* See ENGINEERING, vol. iii., page 309.

[Nov. 8,

nearer equality of price between England and

Germany.
Though we may go to Germany, or America, or
Belgium for locomotives, the Glasgow firms point
out that at the present time they are getting
foreign orders ''from such countries as Holland,
Sweden, Spain," &c., in competition with German
makers ; and that since the East Indian and Assam
Bengal Compl\nies sent their orders to Hanover,
two other Indian rail way companies have placed
orders for twent.y-five and six engines respectively
with home manufacturers ; " preferring," says the
letter, ''to pay a. higher price and to wait longer
for what they presumably believe will ult imately
prove to be the cheapest source of supply."

STATISTICS UNDER THE WORKMEN'S

COMPENSATION ACT, 1897.
THE Home Office has just issued a return giving
an account of the proceedings taken during last
year under the Workmen's Compensation Act of
1897, and the Employers' Liability Act of 1880.
Neither of the Statutes contains any provision for
the making of returns to show the working of the
systems of compensation which they respectively
established, and the only sources from which
official statistics can be obtained are the returns
of cases which came before the County Courts,
supplied by the registrars, and the returns of
other cases-comparatively few in numberin which memoranda recording agreements or
awards by private arbitrators under the Compensation Act are registered. It is unfort unate
that while the returns contain some information of
interest, they leave untouched the great body of
cases of compensation to workmen; for in the majority of cases compensation is settled by agreement
or by informal arbitration, of which no memoran
dum is registered and n o official information is
available.
The total number of cases under tho 'Vorkmen's
Compensation Act dealt with in England and Wales
in 1900 was 1145, as compared with 999 in t he
previous year. The number decided by judges
increased from 638 to 1046, while the number of
cases in which a special arbitrator was appointed
fell from 98 to 29. The cases settled by acceptance
of money paid into Court numbered 70. In addition to these, 407 cases w9re either withdrawn,
settled out of Court, or otherwise disposed of in such
a. way as not to enable the officials of the Court to
state definitely the results. Of the claims for compensation cases settled with the assistance of the
Courts, the decision in 867 cases was in favour of the
applicant, and in 194 in favour of the respondent.
The proportion of cases in which the applicant
was successful therefore increased from 75 per cent.
in 1899 to 81 per cent. in 1900. In 331 cases the
award was a lump sum; in 536 a wf\ekly payment.
Both figures showed an increase as compared with
the previous year. In 248 cases compensation was
awarded on account of death. Omitting three
cases in which the deceased left no dependants,
~here remained 245 cases in which compensation
was awarded to the dependants. The total amount
so awarded was 40,042l. 13s. 11d., a slight increase over the total figure for the previous year;
but the average award in each case fell from
173l. ls. 7d. to 163l. 8s. 9d. In 536 cases of injury a
weekly sum was assigned, 300 being cases of total
and 236 cases of partial incapacity. The average
weekly allowance in the former was 11s. 6d., and
in the latter 10s. 9d., as compared with 10s. 11d.
and 9s. 2d. in 1899. The increase is very likely
due to the rise in the average rates of wages which
occurred in 1900. The number of cases under the
six heads of employment to which the Act of 1897
is applicable are as follows :

Railway
Factory
Mine .. .
Quarry ...

.. .
...

...

Eo~ineering wo.t k

Bmlding

...

T0ta.l

233

.. .

...
...
...

1900.
157
764
271

51
114
159

166
151

...

...

1347

1552

...
...
...

. .'

...

1899.
104
686

43

It is interestin<>' to notice that in cases which

were settled und:r agreement registered in the
County Court, the compensation was slightly
higher than in cases heard before the Court. The
avera<>'e award to dependants in case of death was
17H.l4s. 2d., as compared with 163l. Ss. 9d. The
average weekly p'lyment was, in case of total in

I 90!.

capacity, 14s. 3d. ; and, in cases of partial incapacity, 13s. 1d., as compared with 11s. 6d. and
10s. 9d.
Dealing wit h the figures under t he Employers'
Liability Act, it is pointed out that in 1898
the actions taken in the County Courts numbered
681, judgment was entered for the plaintiff in
220, for the defendant in 126 ; three were r emoved
into the High Court, 332 otherwise disposed of, and
the amount of damages awarded was 16,853l. 5s. 2d.
In 1899 the cases were 505, the plaintiff succeeding
in 153, the defendant in 91; one was removed to
the High Court, 260 otherwise disposed of, and t he
damages awarded, 10,679l. 16s . 10d. Last year
the cases numbered 511, the decision was in favour
of the plaintiff in 158, and of the defendant in 74;
two were removed to the High Court, 277 otherwise
disposed of, and the damages awarded, 11,196l.
13s. 6d. It is pointed out that the reduction
in the number of cases, as compared with 1898,
when the Compensation Act came into operation,
amounts only to about 25 per cent., while the reduction in the amount recovered is about 34 per
cent. The average amount of damages in case of
death amounted under the Employers' Liability
Act to 158l. 16s. 7d. ; in c~ses under the Workmen's Compensation Act to 163l. Ss. 9d. The
average amount of solicitors' costs was 2ll. 4s.
under the former Act, and 9l. 17s. 9d. under the
latter.
The number of cases under the Workmen's Compensation Act carried to the Court of Appeal in
England was 90, or nearly 6 per cent. of the cases
that came before the County Courts. This was an
increase as cornpared with 1899, when the figure
was 54. In Scotland also the number of appeals
increased from 18 to 32. Of the 90 appeals, 31 were
appeals by workmen and 59 by employers. Of
the former nine, of the latter 25, were successful.
'rhe shtistics with regard to the point at issue in
the various cases are especially interesting. In 42
cases the question was whether the workmen's
employment was one to which the Act applied.
In 15 the meaning of the expression " arising out
of, and in the course of, the employment " was in
dispute. In no less than 20 the appeal turned upon
the meaning of the term '' undertakers." There
were seven appeals to the House of L ords. In six
of these cases the workman was the appellant, and
in five of the six the appeal was successful- in
some of them, on points of very great importance
to the working of the Act.
During the year 1900 only two additional schemes
were certifi ed-one for a factory affecting 129
persons, and t he other for a mine affecting 1179
persons. Adding these to the schemes previously
certified (see Statistics for 1899, page 8), the total
number of certified schemes, and workmen affected
by them, on December 31, 1900, was as follows :
Railways ... 2 Workmen in the employment 41,174
FactoriE'~ . . . 18
,
,
,
16,494
Mines
... 28
,
,
,
73,871
Quarry
.. . 1
,
,
,
470
-

Tohl

.. .

. .. 132,009

The following general conclusions are drawn from

the R eturn : "Speaking generally, it will be seen
that the Returns for 1900 do not show any very
great change in the operation ~f the Act compared
with those for the year 1899, the first complete
year when the Workmen's Compensation Act was
in operation. There is, however, a tendency to
increase in the number of cases brought before the
County Courts, and still more in the number of
cases carried to appeal. In spite of this increase,
the statement must be repeated, not less emphatically than before, that the cases which come before
the County Courts do not represent more than a
very small proportion of those in which compensation is paid under the Act. The great majority of
claims are settled by agreement, and only a small
percentage are carried to formal arbitration. In
the case of deaths, where the claims are for comparatively large s ums, we find, as in 1899, that a
good many are disputed. We have accurate statis
tics of the number of deaths by accident in railways, factories, mines, and quarries. In 1900 the
number of deaths by accident, and of claims for
compensation, were as shown on the next page .
Even in case of death, therefore, where large sums
would generally be pa.ya.ble, not more th!}n 14 per
cent. of the claims were carried before the Court
for decision: a smaller percentage than that for
1899, when the proportion was 15 per cent . As
regards claims for injury, though there are no
official figures of the number of persons injured

Nov. 8, rgoi.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

which are of any value in this connection, the state-

gtven 1n these columns; in normal times the only
~.,e~t ma~ be repea.ted that the unoffici a-l fi ures ~emn~nt of the .once .large trade which we enjoy ed
a' atlable In certatn Industries indicate olearJygthat 1n thts. commodity wtth the United States consists
ex~lustvely of "rebate plate "- imported plate on
Number of Cases brough t before the which 99 per cent. of the duty is remitted when
Number
County Courts in 1900.
ex~orted again in the shape of cans packed with oil,
of
frutt, meatq, fish, and other American produce.
Deaths

10
Workmen'c:t Emptoyen/
Thanks to the duty, the Trust has been enabled to
1900.
Com penaa Vabi hty
To ~al.
c~arge prep.osterously high prices for its goods, and
tion Act.
Act.
_ still underb.Id the Welsh article, and thus it happens
Ra itwny
457 so that our shtpments to that land of free institutions
1
81
Fact'lry

864
130
13
143
329,435
tons
in
1890
to
less
than
have
fallen
from
Mine ..
89 &
89
0
94
Qll ~rry

60,000 tons last year. But by the same token

99
1
9

9
when
t.he
mills
of
the
Trust
are
closed,
the
con~
Total
231!
so3
19
3.n
sumer IS at a loss for plate ; and in the case of the
_
___.:__recent strike, the pressure was all the greater from
the number of litigated cases is le s than 1 er the fact that when the strike commenced, stocks in
th? country were on a very small scale. It was in
cent. of the total number of cases in which
p
sation is payable.
compen. this way that so much unwonted American business
has come !ecently to the United Kingdom. It
woul~ be Interesting to . know if the figures of
TIN PLATES.
Am~ncan manu~actured tinplate are or are not in~E have it on the authority of Mr. S. J. Burrell clustve of plate .Imported in the black state, and
Prto~ that the wave of prosperity which has visited ?lassed as AmeriCan on the s~rength of being dipped
the t1nplate trade during the last two years is now ~ the ~ountry. Maki~g all reasonable allowances,
on the. ebb;. and that gentleman, who is one of ~t remams that the stndes made by the American
our ch1e.f shippers of this commodity, and whose Industry have been phenomenally rapid. In each
observatiOns a.re .sel~om wide of the mark, adds year down to 1898 there was an annual increase
that . the old Indteatwns o~ slackening trade are of about 50 per cent. in production of tinmakmg then1selves felt and giving rise to wails- plate in the United States. The falling off last
w:ho has not heard them any time during the last year to 302,655 tons from the maximum 360 875
eight .or ten years 1-:-on t~e score of "high-priced tons in the preceding twelve months is referabl'e to
matertals, of l~w selhng prices, of impending ruin, the policy ~f the Tinplate Company in restricting
and so forth.
F or the time being the South the outp':lt In order the better to keep up prices.
\Va.les works are well engaged-in fact, prompt Imports Into the States, it will be seen, are only
dehvery of plates ordered now is difficult to secure o.nefifth of the total of ten years ago, and as the
and will remain difficult until about the end of th~ South Wales producers have not found it possible
year. But after that not much work is on the to ~ecu~e an outlet i~ other directions for goods for
books, a.nd .b?yers are displaying considerable wh10h m normal 01rcumstances Arr.erica has no
~hyness In gtvmg out fresh business. The truth longer any need, they have had to reduce their
IS. that the res'_lmption of work by the tinplate capacity by a wholesale closing down of mille.
mills of ~he United St~tes Steel Corporation, after
the ve.ry meffectual stn~e, changed the conditions
THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL
matenally; and, what IS worse, it coincided with
increasing depression on the Continent, which is
ENGINEERS.
now o~e of the be~t o.utlets for English plate.
A CENTURY of engineering in sixty minutes is to
~h ere IS not. mu?h likelihood of an early ~nd con- use a slang expression, rather a large order. Yet
stderable reVIval m Germany, Russia and the other that was t he programme Mr Charles Hawksley set
countries of Europe ; and apart frord the '' rebate " before his hearers, when he rose last Tuesday eventrade, America has no further use for our plate. ing at the Institution of Civil Engineers, to read his
It is. possibl~ that buyers who want plate but are Presidential Address. He called it "a brief retroholdmg off In the hope of a substantial fall in spect of the advance made during the nineteenth
prices may wait a little too long, especially if the century in the 1nore prominent branches of civil
promised hardening of steel and coal should come engineering." The method he followed was to
about ; but that is a contingency upon which it divide the subject into sections, under such headwould be unwise to place too 1nany hopes, and the ings as roads, canals, rail ways, and the like, and to
present buying for forward delivery is certainly point out the differences in the conditions ruling in
on a small scale. The situation is n1ade all each early in the last century and at the present
the more unsatisfactory to producers by t he day. Of course it was quite impossible to deal
number of old plants which were brought into adequately with any ene subject; all that was
operation again during the rush of orders, but attempted was to give a few striking facts, and to
which are an obstacle now that conditions are less leave the hearers to make their deductions. The
abnormal. Probably a fair amount of business address is too long for us to print in full; all we
will come along between this time and January to can do is to take out a line or two here and there,
replace orders which will by that time be executed; to show how completely the President overthrew
but the industrial depression on the Continent the idea that the " old times " were " good."
In 1811 the mail coaches, on account of the
shows no signs of mending, and this means that
there will be no marked revival in South Wales, deplorable condition of the roads, occupied 41
even if Canada, the East Indies, and Australasia hours in the journey from London to Holyhead,
respond generously. We do not desire to rub in and even in 1837 the time was 27 hours. The fare
the moral of the present situation too brutally, from London to Edinburgh was 11! guineas inside
particularly as the market for our tinplate is not and 7! guineas outside. Nevertheless, at that date
capable of any remarkable expansion on the spot; the mail coaches ran 16,000 miles daily. At the
but with all their uncertainties, something might beginning of the century there were 3000 miles of
be done to improve the conditions, and we second canals and navigations in the United Kingdom, and
Mr. Prior when he says : " If manufacturers would in 1898, 3907 miles, of which 1139 miles belonged
only take a broad and longsighted view of the to the rail way companies. The first passenger line
prospects of the trade, take the labour leaders into to be worked by a steam locomotive, the Stockton
counsel, remodel antiquated works, lay down im- and Darlington, was opened in 1825. The first.class
proved machinery, and generally brace themselves carriages comprised the bodies of three stage-coaches;
up, they would have little to fear. But the chances the third-class carriages were open, the sides being
are in favour of their going on in the same old way 3 ft. or 3 ft. 6 in. in height. During the century
until they wake up and find the Americana, after 960 million pounds sterling were invested in railcapturing our larger foreign trade, offering to sell ways. In 1840 the total number of lighthouses,
tinplates in Liverpool and London, as they will light vessels, and local lights in the British Isles
surely do in their own time, perhaps not many was 169, whereas in 1900 the number was 1100.
years away." In some quarters there is a decided Candles and oil were the only lighthouse illuminants
tendency to magnify the consequences of the at the commencement of the century, and gave but
American invasion; in South Wales the disposition a feeble light. Now oil burners will give an intenis to minimise it-much the more fatal attitude of sity of 1800 candle-power, while the electric arc is
reckoned in millions of candles. While wind was
the two to British commercial interests.
Although the total has shrunk so much in the the only propelling power for ships, there could
last ten years, the American takings of English not be any great increase in their size. In 1802 a
tin plates still dwarf the takings of any other steam tug-boat drew two loaded vessels on the
country. The explanation of this we have already Forth and CJyde Canal. In 18 19 the Savannah

1-

crossed the Atl~ntic in 26 days, partly by steam

and partly by satl ; but it was not until 183:3 that
a. vessel m~de th~ voyage entirely by steam, the
t1me occupted bemg 17 days. Now the voyage is
made by German liners in less than six days. At
the com~encement of the century the largest war
vessels did not exce~d 2500 tons burden (builder's
~onnage) ; now the diSplacement of a battleship is
ID excess of 15,000 tons. The twin-screw steamer
Oceanic has a tonnage of 17 274 gross and 6917
net, and the Celtic 20,904 t~ns gross and 13,449
tons net .
~n. relation to water works, Mr. Hawksley is of
opmwn that dams should not be built of masonry
when earth and puddle would answer the purpos~
equally well at less cost ; and he also holds that
100 ft. of w~ter is not a limiting depth of earthen
c~ams . H e IS opposed to placing a concrete core, in
li~u of puddle, in the centre of a dam. At the begin~ung of th~ century there were very few impoundID~ reservoirs for water works purposes, pumping
being mostly resorted to. The engines worked
at a pressure of 5 lb. of steam and used about
10 lb. of coal per indicated hor;e-power per hour.
In London the supply of water amoun~s to 35
gallons per head per day, and during the past
autumn has not been curtailed, althouah the
northern towns, with gravitation supplie; have
been in great difficulties. Mr. Haw ksley ha~ made
careful inquiries as to the amount of water used
for domestic. purposes. H~ has found, in six large
to_wns supplied by companies, that the amount dist nbuted for domestic and non-metered purposes
was ?n an average 19 g.allons per head per day ;
and 1n ten towns supplied by public authorities
18! gallons. He i~ not an advocate of the purchase
of water undertakings by public authorities. He
finds t~e Streets O.ommittees complain of the Water
Oo~mittees breakmg up the re-paved streets, quite
as .bitterly as they do of companies for the same
thmg; and that the local authorities will run risks
in order to maintain profits, which no company
would dare to incur.

At. the commencement .of the century there were

f~w, If any, sewers, and In 1844 a Royal CommisSIOn reported a deplorable condition of affairs in
~egard to sanitary arrangements. Every house had
I~s own cesspool, very often in the basement. As
time progressed sewerage grew rapidly with
the result that rivers were polluted most' extensively.
The purification of sewaae was first
effected in 1865, and dozens of p;ocesses have
been tried since, with more or less success.
It w~s in ~ 797 that Murdoch first lighted his
premises with gas, and this method of illumination was publicly shown in 1802. Now there
are 100 millions sterling invested in the manufacture and distribution of gas, and gas-holders
are m?-~e up to .12 million cubic feet capacity.
Electricity, the rival of gas, was used in the
electric arc in 1~02. by Sir Humphrey Davy, at
the Royal Institution. The firsh public telegraph line was put down in 1838, and all the
lines were transferred to the Government in 1870.
The land lines in Great Britain and Ireland now
total 33,000 miles. The first submarine cable
wa~ laid between Dover and Calais in 1851 by
Crampton, and now there are 1769 submarine
cables of an aggregate length of 189,000 nautical
miles. Electricity was generated by mechanical
power by Faraday in 1831, and now 131,000,000l.
of capital are invested, in this country alone, in
electrical enterprises.
Having completed his rapid survey of the progress of engineering in the last century, Mr.
Hawksley referred to the Committee formed by the
Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Naval
Architects, and Iron and Steel Instibute, to consider the question of standard sections of iron
and steel. The Committee heard much evidence,
and then divided in four sections, representing
(1) bridges and general construction ; (2) railway
rolling stock, under-frames; (3) rails ; and (4) ships
and these are now at work standardising the variou
sections used in the particular branche~:; of industry.
We have done less than justice to the President's address, by picking out isolated facts and
threading them together like beads on a string.
But it was scarcely necessary to follow his plan and
give the antitheses, for our readers are kept so
well informed of the latest practice in all the
branches of engineering, that they could supply
that kind of information in fat> greater detail than
could be attempted in an hour's address. The great

E N G I N E E R I N G.
use of such review as Mr. Hawksley gave is to
force home on all the hearers the conviction that
the future is full of possibilities, and that they
must prepare themselves for them. During the
whole of the century the rate of progression
has been an increasing one. The last ten years
were more fertile than the first. We are not yet
on the top of the curve ; it is not even in sight,
and there are greater possibilities before us than
there were before the fathers of the profession.
Sir Benjamin Baker, in his Presidential Address
recalled the saying that our future does not li~
before us, but streams from behind us over our
~eads. As far as o?r own future is concerned, it
1s what we make 1t by preparing ourselves in
advance ; and it is only those who take large views
of the possibilities ahead that are likely to be ready
when the time comes. Although our lives have
been passed among a succession of marvels, we
sAem to think that the latest will be last and
that there will be no more. It is to be feared
that there are many engineers who fervently hope
that we have attained finality, and that they will
not be called upon again to readjust themselves
to fit new conditions. It is one of the purposes of
a presidential address to dispel such ideas, and
to impress on the profession the need of continued
and increased effort.

THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF JAPAN.

JAPAN, like other eastern countries, has often
been misjudged by her western critics. For a
good many years after the beginning of modern
intercourse with foreign nations it was looked
upon, to a large extent, simply as a good field for
the curio hunter, the artist, and the globe-trotter.
The artistic instincts and capabilities of the people
were admitted, and the beauty of the country was
admired; but even after serious attempts had been
made to adapt western methods and ideas, the
great majority of people who spoke or wrote about
the Japanese refused to give them credit for being
more than clever imitators and adaptors. For
instance, Sir Harry Parkes, with all his know ledge
0f the F ar E ast, could only see them as children
playing with the fashions of the VI est, and this
opinion was generally shared, until the Japanese
cannon at the Yalu River placed their unwieldy
and unprogressi ve Chinese neighbour at their
mercy. Those who really knew them, however,
were well aware that for fully a quarter of a
century they had been laying the foundations of
a new civilisation by a very thorough system of
education, and, moreover, that they had made very
considerable pr0gre~s in the applications of western
science and methods to industrial production. In
several departments, and especially in those connected wit.h the cotton manufacture, Japanese
goods are to be found in all the chief mat kets in
the Far East. The Japanese navy forms a very
important factor in the forces to be taken into
account when estimating the probabilities of any
international quarrel in that quarter of the globe.
Its army has won admiration, not only for its
bravery, but also for the thorough manner in which
it is equipped, and the able manner in which it is
handled. Japanese merchant ships are to be found
in many of the chief ports in all parts of the world,
and the place of Japan in the comity of nations has
now been admitted, even by her keenest critics.
Now however, the criticism has taken another
form: aud while they admit the facts which we
have stated, they say that they have been accomplished at the expense of what is p;actic~lly
national bankruptcy, and that the country 1s rap1dly
drifting to ruin. We have from time to time
given some account of the industrial progress of
Japan, bu.t as th~t ?annot be consi~ered real unless
the finanCial basis 1s sound, we w1ll glance at the
economic conditions of the country and see how far
the pessimistic views are justified.
Our task is very much simplified by the frank
manner in which the Japanese Government publishes statements of its accounts. The financial
annual which has just been issued by the Depart1nent of Finance in Tokyo, contains a vast amount
of interesting information, but, of course, we can
on1y note a few of its ll_lore important figure s. ~he
budget estimates for the current fiscal year, whiCh
ends on March 31, give a revenue of 277,497,003
yen and an expenditure of 276, 9~8, 646 yen, and
as the yen may, for practical pu_rposes, be take~ at
2s. the corresponding figures 1n pounds sterhng
is found by dividing the amount in Japanese cur-

[Nov. 8,

1901.

rency by 10. These figures include both the military armaments ; (b) the establishment of an
ordinary and extraordinary revenue and expendi- Imperial .University at Kioto ; (c) the improveture, and they show an enormous increase in recent ment_of ~1vers for purposes of navigation ; (d) the
years. If we go no furth er back than 1896-6, we colon1satlon ?f the ~okkaido ; (e) the improvefind that for that year the total income was ment of ra1lway hnes and the extension of
only 118,4:32,721 yen, and the expenditure th~ telegraph and te~ephone service ; (f) the esta85,317,180 yen, with a surplus of no less than bhshmAnt of exper1mental farms and of insti33,115,541 yen. That was, however, in what has tutes for training in all branches of the silk
come. to be called the ante-helium days, and later on industry ; (g) the e~couragement of foreign trade;
we w1ll note some of the items which have increased and (h) the establishment of a Government iron
the figures to their present amount. Taxation has foundry. '!'his programme can be divided into
grown at a very rapid rate. It has increased two parts; one warlike, the other unwarlike; or,
fro1n 73,567,908 yen in the first-named year to to take another classification, one unproductive
138,741,469 yen in the current year. The national and the other productive. The " warlike" part
debt, notwithstanding the Chinese indemnity, now of the programme (including the iron foundry)
stands at the v_ery considerable figure of 518,764,195 was t.o absorb 142,000,000 yen; the unwarlike,
yen, all of wh10h has been accumulated since 1870, 52,0.0 0,000 yen. In terms of st erling, the whole
when the fir.:3t public loan was negotiated. Local amounted to about 19,500,000l. There was, howloans to the Axtent of 35,779,922 yen have been ever, to be a considerable addition to the ordiraised. All this would be rather alarming if we did nary expenditure, so that the total expenditure
not, at the same t ime, look at the amount of in- (extending over a period of six years) which
dustrial and commercial development during the belongs to what is known as the "First Period
same period. There are now 873 industrial com- Expansion Programme " is about 25,000,000l.
panies, with an aggregate capital of 192,211,140 In 1897 - 8 there was initiated the '' Second
yen.; 2518 comm_ercial companies, with an aggregate Period Expansion Programme," which was a
cap1tal of 483,8o5,508 yen; 55 railway companies sequence to the first, and included works to be
with an aggregate capital of 276,640,000 yen; and carried on in continuance of those under the
2356 banking companies, with an aggregate capital first period programme, such as the construcof 504,119,559 yen. The number of companies of tion of coast batteries, the building of barracks,
all sorts in Japan last year is returned as 5543, the manufacture of arms, the making up of deficits
with an aggregate capital of 1,364, 799,004 yen ; of in the funds set apart for the use of firearms facwhich 878,154,396 yen was paid up. There is no tories and a woollen cloth factory for the producindication how much of this is foreign capita], but tion of materials for the clothes of the soldiers and
we should imagine that the amount is relatively sailors. The second programme required 38,358,594
yen for military and 118,324,718 yen for naval
small.
The publication to which we have referred con- expenditure. Some of the items, however,
tains many interesting returns. One, for instance, have tiurned out greater than was estimated, and
.shows the amount of money in circulation in the it is probably not over -stating Japan's expenditure
different years since 1868, another the rates of in- for her army and navy expansion, consequent
t eres t throughout the empire, and a third the value upon, and subsequent to, the war with China, at
of the imports and exports. We have, however, 400,000,000 yen, or 40,000, OOOl. Both the profrom time to time given information on some of grammes have been practically carriea out, and
these points, and we need not go into details re- by the spending of the money Japan is now in the
garding them in the meantime. The table relating possession of an army and navy of which she is
to the amount of tonnage of steam vessels entered proud and may well be proud. There can be no
.lt ports in Japan is very interesting. Last year the doubt that it is the possession of these, and not
total number was 5330, with a tonnage of 9, 606,752 simply the progress which she has made in
tons, and of these 2645 were Japanese ships, with commerce and industry, that has induced the
a tonnage of 3,363,657 tons, a most remarkable de- Powers to admit her into the comity of nations.
velopment when we remember that a quarter of a The action of Russia, France, and Germany, taught
century ago the Japanese had no steamships. her a lesson she is not likely to forget, She saw
The total number of sailing ships which last that unless ~he could make herself sufficiently
year entered at ports in Japan from foreign coun- strong to be respected, she would be coerced by the
tries was 1300, with a tonnage of 218,870, and of Powers, and she resolved to strengthen herself ;
these 614, with a tonnage of 56,951, were Japanese the wisdom of which no one will doubt, provided
vessels, besides 558 junks, of a total tonnage of she did not go beyond her means and place a heavy
5923. The Table showing the total number and burden on her people.
AB a matter of fact, however, the greater part of
tonnage of Yessels belonging to the Empire of
Japan from 1870 to 1899 is very instructive. In the extra expendit ure has been paid for by China.
the first-named of these years there were 35 steam The total amount of the indemnity paid by China
vessels, with a total regist ered tonnage of 15,498, was 365,529,067 yen, the greater part of which
and 11 sailing vessels, with a total registered tonnage was used for the purpose of carrying out the naval
of 2454, or a tot al number of vessels of 46 and a and military expansion programmes. Moreover,
tonnage of 17,952. In 1899 the number of steam the development of railways has led to a great
vessels was 1221, with a total registered tonnage of expansion of trade and industry, and, there315,168, and of sailing vessels 3322, with a total fore, to an increase of the tax-paying power
registered tonnage of 269,032, or a total number of the country, and the amount of taxation per
of vessels of 4:543 and a tonnage of 584,200. In head of population is relatively small . Direct
1872 there were only 18 miles of railway in the taxation amounts to about 83,000,000 yen, and as
whole country, while in 1899 the length of line the population of the Japanese Empire (including
opened to traffic was 3635 miles. The statistics Formosa) ~s probably nearly 50,000,000, the amount
relating to posts, telegraphs, and telephones show in proportion to population cannot be deemed exequal progress, but we need not meantime go into cessive. Moreover, the system of taxation is being
graduated, so that it presses lightly on the lower
details of the figures.
The report to which we have been referring is orders, the result being, as the Times correspondent
for the most part confined to bare statistics, and declares, that at no period of their history have
critics of Japan may say that while the correctness the masses been in such easy circumstances as they
of these figures may be admitted, they show nothing are at the present time. The national debt of the
of the actual financial condition of the country. country stands at a little over 50,000,000l. sterling,
For some idea of that we must turn to another that is a trifle over 1l. r,t erling per head, which is
report on the post-helium financial administra- not a very great burden for a country like Japan.
tion in Japan, 1896-1900, by Count Matsukata Against that debt it has valuable assets, not the
Masayoshi, recently Minister of State for Finance. least being the recognition of the proper position of
An excellent resumeof that report, by a well-informed Japan by the great Powers of the world.
At the same time it must be admitted that at the
writer, appears in the M onthly B eview for October.
It is out of our sphere to enter into detai]s of finance; present time money is scarce and dear in Japan,
for these we must refer to the publications men- and it is not to be wondered at. The Japanese
tioned, and we will simply note a few of the. most im- have sunk a great part of their floatin g cash in
portant points and conclusions . Count Matsukata enterprises, many of which are yielding good
admits the increase in the expenditure of Japan returns ; others will not pay, either directly or
is startling, and he goes on to give particulars indirectly, for a considerable time, but they were
of the programme which caused it. We have all necessary for the development of the country.
in previous articles given some account of this The Japanese should give increased facilities for
programme, but its principal features may thus the employment of foreign"capital in their country,
be summarised: (a) the expansion of naval and and there can be little doubt that if care and judg-

Nov. 8, 1901.]
ment be exercised that it would yield a good
return. We commend the study of the details
given in the publications we have mentioned to
those who are interested in the suhje::t.

NOTES.
THE GLASGOW CORPORATION TRAl\fW AYS.
IN our issue of August 30, we published a letter
from a correspondent asking several questions as to
t he re1ative amounts of work being done by the
Allis, Musgrave, and Stewart engines in connection
with the Glasgow Corporation electric tramways.
That letter, however, did not elicit any reply in
our columns, but a letter signed (Baillie) John
Ferguson, and dated from Benberb House, L enzie,
has just appeared in a Glasgow evening paper,
giving much of the desired information, and
apparently semi-officially, for the letter concludes with the following sentence: "I give t his
with the authority of the Convener of the Tramways Committee." The following is the text of
the most important part of the letter : '' The two
American engines were with us a month before the
time. The two from Musgrave's have only done
three weeks' work now at the end of Octobor. Had
we not had two from America the electric cars
would not have run in Glasgow during May, June,
July, and August. This has been a loss of 70, OOOl.
it now appears. Messrs. Duncan Stewart and Co.
made two Rmall or auxiliary engines, by means of
which, aided by current from the Electric Lighting
Department, some 40 cars were run at times, which
enabled the bearings of the main engines to be adjusted occasionally at t he beginning, when heated.
The relief amounted to 40 cars, so it can be seen how
the public was inconvenienced. Musgrave's engine (only one yet up) appears nearly, if not quite,
equal to the American. Each will drive over 400
cars. It is only just to the Councillors, who refuse
to go against their knowledge to please shouts and
catch-cries which they know to be wrong, that the
true state of the case should be made public property."
WATER-T uBE BoiLERS.
A letter written to the Time3 by Messrs. Thornycroft and Oo. raises the question of water-tube
boilers in foreign navies. In spite of facts, a large
section of the public have, we believe, been led to
conclude that the British Navy is at a disadvantage
compared to foreign navies, by reason of having so
large a part of the Fleet fitted with water-tube
boilers. In regard to the Thornycroft type, we are
now informed by the Chiswick firm that out of
1,074,440 indicated horse-power placed in war vessels
of fifteen countries, Great Britain owns no n1ore
than 294,350 indicated horse~power. Turning to
the other well-known English firm that has become
identified with water-tube boiler invention, we
are not aware that a complete list has been published of the Yarrow boiler, but a table lately made
public (which does not include some recent vessels)
gives a total of 194,400 indicated horse- power
placed in battleships and large cruisers of foreign
navies. If we add to this the boilers in destroyers, torpedo-boats, and the smaller cruisers,
of which there are r ecords of 157 additional
boilers of this kind in foreign vessels, the
total would be enormously increased. The above
are two types of boiler of English design, and
largely of British make ; so that it might be
supposed they would appear more largely in
British vessels. In place of that we find that the
number made for foreign vessels very largely
exceeds that for home use. If we had details
of the N ormand boiler, the balance on the
foreign side would doubtless be largely increased;
whilst probably the Reid boiler would carry
the figures somewhat in the opposite direction.
These are sma11-tube boilers, which were originally
not supposed to be suitable for big vessels ; though,
presumably, recent events have somewhat altered
this opinion. Turning to large-t ube boilers, we
find by a list of Belleville boilers fitted in British
and foreign navies respectively, that our own
Government has purchased a total horse-power,
roughly, about equal to that supplied to all foreign
powers combined. Of the Niclausse boilers we
have figures that are up to date. England has but
49,000 indicated horse-power in her Navy out of a
total of 560,000 indicated horse-power supplied to
all war vessels. vVith the Babcock and Wilcox
boiler, again, the preponderance is immensely on
the foreign side, this type of boiler having been
fitted in British war vessels to the extent of

E N G I N E E R I N G.
66,800 indicated horse-power; whilst in navies
abroad there are boilers giving an aggregate of
166,150 indicated horse-power. It will be understood we speak here only of naval vessels, and it
wi11 also be remembered that the latter type of
boiler especially has been used for a very large
number of mercantile craft, as compared to the
list of war vessels in which it has been placed.
We do not quote the above figures as complete or
comprehensive, but merely with a view of affording
an idea of the extent to which the water-tube
boiler has been fitted in foreign navies. If, as
some persona appear to believe, and try to make
the uninstructed public believe also, ships with
water-tube b oilers are to be incapable of carrying
out warlike operations, it is not only the British
Navy that will be rendered harmless in case of war.

PUBLIC WORKS IN NEW ZEALAND.

WHAT is known as the central route for the No~th
Island Main Trunk Railway of New Zealand havmg
been finally determined on, steps ha v_e be~n taken to
put further work in hand. Format10n IS no.w w~ll
advanced between Kawakawa and TaumaranUJ, whll_e
bush-felling, &c., is in hand south of the Wanganut.
From the south end the works now extend nearly to
Turan~arere. The erection of the M.akohine. viaduct
is makmg satisfactory progress, notwithstanding that
work has been retarded by continue~ bad weath.er.
The viaduct will be completed dunng the ensumg
summer and the line will then be opened to Mangaweka. 'The works in hand for this year will involve
a. somewhat larger outlay than was made upon the
line in 1900. The New Zealand Government has
experienced great difficulty in dealing with the New
Zealand Midland Railway. Theexpendit~re made upon
this line is returned at 1, 108,628l. , of whtch, however,
THE DIRECTION OF NAvAL CoNSTRUCTION.
only 654,41ll. was expended on actual ~onstruotion
The Times of Tuesday last stated that there was and equipment, the balance of 454,217l. bemg abso.rl;>ed
good reason to believe that Sir W. H. White, by supervision, commission, sa~aries, cost of rai.SlDf!
Assistant Controller and Director of Naval Con- capital, interest charged on cap1tal account, and Incistruction, had determined to resign his position. dentals. The working of the New Zealand Govern
The friends of Sir William White have for some ment lines last year was attended with satisfactory
time past been forced to recognise that h e would retlults. The length of line in operation in 1900-1 was
have to take this step unless a marked improve- 2212 miles, as compared with 2104 miles in 1899-1900.
The
revenue
for
1900-1
was
1,
727,
236l.,
as
compared
ment were to occur in his health. The loss with 1,623,89ll. in 1899-1900, showing an increase of
of his services is a severe blow to the Navy, 103,345l. The working expenses for 1900-1 were
and it will be indeed difficult to fill his 1, 127,848l., as compared with 1,052,358l. in 1899-1900,
place. The number of naval architects of highest showing an increase of 75,490l. The excess of revenue
rank is extremely limited, and of these all over working expenses in 1900-1 was accordingly
are employed in lucrative positions. The Admi- 599,388l.,as compared with 671,533l. in 1899-1900. The
ralty does not offer great inducement. The pay is capital cost of the lines opened for traffic Jast
comparatively small, and the work of an extremely year was 17,207,328l. , as compared with 16,703,887l.
harassing nature. Sir William White was alto- in 1899-1900. The interest earned upon capital exgether an exceptional man for the post. Brought pended rose in 1900-1 to 3.48 per cent., as comup in the Service, he had so high an appreciation pared with 3.42 per cent. in 1899-1900. It may
of the honour of serving the country in an official be noted that the corresponding return upon the
position, that he was willing to sacrifice possible Victorian Government lines was 3. 07 per cent. ;
the Queensland Government lines, 2.67 per cent.,
substantial advantages, and the sure prospect of a upon
upon the South Australian Government lines, 3.61
brilliant career, in order to become the Director per cent.; upon the TaPmanian Government lines, 1.11
of Naval Construction at Whitehall. The sacrifice per cent.; upon the New South Wales Government
was greater than many suppose. As the chief of lines, 3. 63 per cent.; and upon the Western Australian
Elswick shipyard Mr. White- as he then was-had Government lines, 5. 81 per cent. The work of equip
actually, as well as n ominally, the direction of ping rolling stock with W estinghonse brakes is being
naval construction. The glory of successes achieved ~roceeded with as rapidly as possible, and vehicles eo
was his own, excepting, of course, in vessels built fitted will shortly be running on the mR.il trains to
for the British Navy for which designs are sent out New Plymouth and Napier. Notwithstanding that
from the department. At the Admiralty there are every effort has been made to keep pa.ce with the
the Admirals, who can dictate the elements of growing traffic of the New Zealand Government lines
design, and the professional staff have the un- by the construction aad importation of further rollthankful duty of keeping claimants for different ing stock, it is only with great difficulty that the
trade of the colony has been carried on. The enfeatures of offence and defence within the four gine
power and rolling stock have been utilised
corners of Nature's laws. When Sir William to their utmost capacity, and the great amount of
White returned to the Admiralty, the country was t raffic has necessitated the running of an unusual
on the eve of a great awakening. The Navy had number of special trains and the payment of large
been allowed to fall into a dangerously weak con- sums for overtime. The following additions have been
dition, and it was seen that only by great effort made to the rolling stock during the last six years:
could it be raised to adequate strength. This task 36 locomotives, 306 carriages, 37 brake vans, and
has been performed during Sir William White's 2363 trucks. A considerable portion of the lipes in
tenure of office, and his part of it has worn him different parts of the colony now require to be relaid
out.
Although a man originally of excep- with heavier rails, so as to admit of the use of engines
tionally strong constitution, and temperate in of the most powerful type. ~'or the year ending
all things, except in work, the labour thrown March 31, 1901, the House of Representatives voted
upon him by this unexampled record of ship 433,997l. for the construction of roads; the amount
expended for the year was 310,660l. The
construction and design has proved a heavier actually
telegraph service of New Zealand is attached to the
burden than an exceptionally strong man could post office, and it may be noted in connection with
bear. It is to be hoped that the authorities who submarine cable business that plans are being prearrange matters will remember these things. Sir pared for the necessary buildings for offic.e rs and
William White proved, in the earliest days of his staff quarters at Doubtless Bay, for working the
career, that he possessed abilities of the highest Pacific cab1e, which is expected to be in operation by
order. These have been always devoted, except the end of 1902. The business over existing cables
for the brief three years he was at Elswick, to landed in New Zealand increased last year by 2218
thr3 public service ; but since he has taken the messages and 6646l. in value, the total for the year,
directorship of his department, be has crowded the not including press work, being 55,219l. The earnings
work of a lifetime into a few years. There is a of the New Zealand and Sydney cable amounted last
rule that when a public servant resigns his position, year to 19,309l. The New Zealand Government conhe sacrifices all claim for past services. It is to be templates the experiment, at any rate, of a State coal
mine. For coal now delivered to Colonial Governhoped, however, that no pedantic considerations of ment steamers at Greymouth 17s. 6d. per ton is being
red tape and routine will be allowed to weigh in paid, and it is contended that the eame coal can be
the present instance. Whatever arrangement was profitably put on board at 10s. per ton if it is delivered
made when Mr. White returned to the Admiralty, from a Government coal mine. The idea is ultimately to
and high as his professional reputation then was, extend the output, so as to enable Go,?ernment coal to
no one appreciated the magnit ude of the work he be also supplied to householders upon reasona">le terms.
had before him, nor the brilliant manner in which
it would be performed. The public may r est
THE K osMOS LINE - The Mexican GovernTOent baa
assured that the Admiralty recogniRe these facts,
and will desire what is just. If its aspirations are granted a. concession to the Kosmos Line of Hamburg
which will secure regular communication be
t hwarted by another department, it will not add steamers,
tween Europe and the western coast of Mexico. By the
to the good reputation and popularity of the present terms of the concession, the Kosmos Line engages to
Administration.
establish a monthly service between Hamburg, Antwerp,
London, Aoapulco, Manzanillo, San Blaa, Mazatlan, and
San Francisco. The company \Vill a1 so arrange for comAUTOM.~TIO CLOCK REGULA'l'ION.-The whole of the munications at London, Antwerp. or Hamburg, wit.h
olooks on the Cape Town Suburban Ra.ilwa.y are to be other steamers of th3 same line tradiDg to Mediterranean
automatioalJy regulated every hour from the Observa..ory. ports.

E N G I N E E R I N G.

[Nov. 8,

==

THE ELECTRIFICATION OJ.i"' THE METRO- tioal wor~. Mr. Rice considered ib mnoh easier to ope~ate a t~a.m by me!l'ns of the series parallel control- that
POLITAN ANDMErROPOLITANDISTRIOT lll,
st~rt}ng the tram, accelerating ib, and controlling itRAILWAYS.
t~an 1t 1st~ opera.te the automatic air brakes used for stop-

90 t.

sarue ser vice. Wit~ regard to the locomotives of the

Central L ondon Railway, Mr. .Rice1s company advised a
geared: moto.r. On the other hand, for trains running
100 mil~ Without stops, Mr. .Rice said he thought the
( Oontilnued from page 613.)
pu~g a. tram. There can be nothing simpler than the a.~ternatmg-ourrenb system would be as good as the
ON W.ednes~ay, .the 30th ulb., the proceedine:s wi th regard senes .Paralle.l con.trol. S?ould the Metrop olitan D istrict d1reot.curren t sys~em. There were many oases where it
to thts arb1tratnon were resumed. Mr. Cripps, K.C., electrify then railway wt th the system in universal use wou~d ~ea questiOn that would require very careful inM.P . the counsel on behalf of the Metropolitan Rai l- there would b~ abs~lutely no fear of electrical troubles: vest1~at10n to recommend one or the other system. Should
way Compa.ny, handed to the umpire, the H on. Alfred The G~neral E lectn c 9 ompany have made experiments, the difficulty o~ acceleration, due to frequent stops, disLyttelton, K.C., ~1.P., and to Mr. J . Fletcher Moulton, extendmg over a penod of about ten years to find out appear, Mr. R1ce would nob, even then, recommend th e
K:C.,, MP.,. the counsel on behalf of the Metropolitan w~ether tbree- ph~se and two-phase induotiod motors were system advocated by Ganz, because of the difficul ty of
D1stnct Ra1lway Company. the electrical proposal for suttabl~ for traot10n work as motors on rolling stock and cont.rol, the large a.m~unt of idle ourrenb, the lower
the s~stem ad vacated by Messrs. Ganz and Co. This, they ~td not find them suitable for ser vice such a; th at effi.m~ncy, and because It had n ever been tried on a comaccordmg to Mr. Moulbon, wa~ nob so much a d escription described! and for conditions such as exist on the London !llerOial scale such as to warrant the Underground putting
~Ietropohtan. These machines built for working in " cas- ID of such a system. As to the storage batteries proposed
as a n eulogy o~ the system i!l question.
The prooeedmgs were con t mued by the oross-examinat10n cade,,, or in conoatenation, i; nob a ne w idea a nd the by M~ssrs. ';rhomson-~ouston, there is always an advanof M r. Yerkes by Mr. M oulton, in the course of which he General Electric Company were very muoh.st ..uck bv what tage In havmg them m reserve. One of t he great disaffi rmed tba.t he had never been interested peouniarily in seemed to be the theoretical simplicity of the induction advantages of the system advocated by G&nz is that one
any one s~stem rath.er than any other excepting from the three-phase motor system ; it seemed t hat it would do oan.not use a sto~age ba~tery as a re:erve in case of
pmnt of view of wbtch worked best; that he bad b een in away with the rotating machinery in the sub-stations and acmdenb. There 1S no fear n?w concerning the hunting
command. of between 500 and .600 miles of stree~ rail ways, it was hoped that i b would give a new and a better of rotar~ con verter.3. Revertmg to the series parallel
all of whtoh h e, together With other3 had e1ther built system than the direct current. It was felt that thero control, Ib answers most perfectly, and is very efficient.
or changed or improved; part of thes~ were tra mways would be a. great a? vantage in dispensing with th e com- The rotary nonv~rters, according to Mr. Rice, are the
part elevated roads, !?art were low level, and part wer~ mutators of the direct curren t. Therefore the Gen eral mo~b wonderfu_l .Pieces of_ mach inery that have ever been
cable .road~,. all runm~g through a closely built. up city, Electric Company made be3ts with the ex press object of designed, req uirmg practically no atten tion and standing
and With trams travelhng a.t a three-quarter minute head- ascertaining the practical advantages of the three-phase all sorts of rough usage.
way. The Lake-street Road, 14 miles long, was operated motor for tramway p urposes. With regard to cosb they
Mr. Swi.nburne. consulting engineer, London, was
by steam before Mr. Y erkes tl'ansformed it t o electricity came to the conclusion that to build motors of a substan- next ex!l'miDed. He ?Onfirmed in every poin t the evithis road n~w. carries about 7500 passengers a da.y, o; tial~y ~qual effioienc7 under running conditions - not denc.e give~ by Mr. Rtce. He stated, with regard to the
nearly 30 mtlhons a. year. The whole of the Chicago takmg 1ato account, m the comparison, the conditions of ?ons1d~rat10n of safety, that a cu rrent of 500 to 600 vol ts
lines transformed or built by Mr. Y erkes carry about acceleration of the t rains - the motors would have to ~a serwus one, but not dangerous with short contact;
480,000 '()eopl~ a day, equal to a~out 150 million a year. be very much la rger a nd very much more oost1y and 1t would only be dangerous with a good con tacb, with wet
All o~ these hne~ a~e on t he dtreob-ourrent system ; in that the cost of operation of a road would be the;efore finge~~, and probably wet boot~. There is otherwise subAmen ca. n o electn o hoes of any importance are operated greater. Mr. Rice said it must b e borne in mind he stantially no danger. Alternating currents at 500 volts
on any other system. After giving t he history of the was limiting his testi mony to the use of three. phase are much more dangerous than direct at 600 and when
formation of the Traction Company, Mr. Y erkes stated motors upon work of the character under discuesion that o~e c~mes bo ~000 there is no comparison. 'The trolley
that that comp'l.ny had not the slightest p ecuniary is, for roads requiring high degree3 of acceleration' with Wires ID tbe system ad vocat~d by.Ganz are thin ; they would
interest ~n a ny system. With regard to Mr. Coffin, frequen.t stops. The. three-phase motor only operates ~ear very fast ; safety de vices In troduce diffi.cul tieP, and
the Prestdent of the General E lectric Company and economtCally ab what 1s known as ~ynchronous speed; this ID some cases break down also; it is better therefore to
t o Messrs. J. G. Whi te and Co., who are shareh~lders syn chronous speed must be obtamed by employing the ?!lve systems that do nob need safety devices, and are not
in the Traction Company, and who tendered for the work method of oa~cade half speed or full speed, but it ID themsel v_es dangerous. Sa..fety devices generally fai l at
of electrifying the I one~ Circle, it would matter nothing to must bs ab one or the other of these two speeds. In the very tim e th~y~ are. want~d; they are left as safethem, Mr. Yerkes certified, whether Lhey would put in a ot~er words, a long run at top speed, and a substantially guards, they remaiD W
Unbned for yeart:~ and when an accithree-phase or a direct-current system. Besides this the ~mform speed, are necessary to have it pay at all. This den~ cor:t:les they !l're inoperative. S~feb7 willhout safety
G~neral Eleollric Company make alternating-current' ma- I~ due to the fact tha.t the induction motor is very ineffi- devtces IS what IS wanted. For repairmg the tunnels
chmery, and have ma.nufactured more of this type than the Cient as compared With the series motor or t he direct- and mounting the wires, power would have to be shut
Ganz Company. Mr. Coffin has n ever a,gked Mr. Yerkes for current motor during the p eriod of acceleration. R unninll off from the section under consideration the wires
a contract. With the direct-current system, Mr. Yerkes ab or near full sp eed, the efficiency of the two systems would would- f<?rm a very c01;nplic~ted se~ies ab th~ junctions.
repeated that they ran trains with a three-quarter ruinute nob be very different. With a long spell at top speed 1\Ir. S~mburne explamed 10 deta1l the working of the
headway, but that t hey could run with only a half-minu te the three-phase motor would be lower in first cost. mobors m the system a,g ad vacated by Ganz also the water
head way, and he was sure they could not do any snob and. perhaps, a little more economical and would rheos~ab, wbi~h W?rks under air pressure, ~nd cannot be a
thing with a ny other system. The so.oalled Ge.nz system cost a little less in operation. In the Inne~ Circle bow- ~rao t10al deviCe ; Ib would not give the suitable acceleramay be ever so good, but to take what has not b een tried ever. the conditions are diametrically opposed to' what ~ton. .T~ree-phase motora and liquid rbeostaos a re quite
at all would be such reckless behaviour that he would nob would be considered proper for the economical operation madmiSSible where there are frequent train stops and an
d o it. He would nob think of taking this system, even of a three-phase motor, the work being almost entirely ~norm~usly congested traffic ; with them it would be
if i t had started at Lecco last summer-when it was booked that of acceleration ; for immediately the trains would Imposs~ble to make up time. Mr. Swinburne explained
to start-and had been a success right up to the present llet up to top speed. they would have to begin to stop. that with three-phase motors, the fi rst stator JS contime. If he could wait three years and d o n othing, With three-phase induction motors for traction work nec:ted permanen~ly to the 3000-vol b circuit ; it is alway3
and then if it was a succees, he would instal it, but be th ere is no system of control which is comparable with active. .On sbartiDg? when connecting up takes place, a
would not think of doing i b otherwise. The direct the series puallel system u~ed with the con tinuous cur- current ~s produced m the first rotor by induollion. This
current has been doing good service year after year; ib rent. As to the water resistances proposed with the ourren b IS led to the se~ond stator, which is nob for 3000
h as carried the peoplE!, and ib has done it punctually Ganz motors, they are not practical at all. W ater rheo- volts, ~ub for 300, !J'nd Ib excites the second stator. Then
and properly, which is what is wanted. and is the only stats have been known and used by the General Electric there IS a ourren~ IDduced in the second rotor, and that is
reason why he insists on direct current. The usual working Company for very many years ; they have several thou controlled by resistance and by controlling the current of
pressure is 500 volts, and there has never bsen a death sands in operation, hub they confine their use entirely to t?e second stator ; all the other currents a.re controlled
from electricity on the whole of the lines imprcved or testing puq~ose~, and where they may ?e set up in ~place ~I~ht through, so that the whole control of the ourrenb
built by Mr. Yerkes.
free from vtbrab10n, and where thAy wtll cause no mjury. IS .m the second ~otor. 9n sta.rting, the mechanism starts
Mr. Cripps d ecided ab this point to reserve the cross- The placing of t hese rheostats on locomotive oars seemed w1th a large resistance m the second rotor and therefore
to Mr. Rice about the most absurd arrangement that a "~ood d~al of power is was~ed, but gradually that
examination of Mr. Y erkes.
The examination which followed was mostly of a purely could be proposed from a practical standpoin ~. He would ~e:ttatance ts redu?ed to nothiD~, and by the time i t
t echnical order. Mr. E. W. Rice, third vice-president of the certainly never p ermit his company 1 with his presen t IS reduced to nothiDg the train has gob half speed. At
General Electric Company of America, was first called; experience, to use such a device, or propose ib with half speed, as the two motors go together, they each
then 1\Ir .J. Swinburne, consulting engi neer, London: he any seriousness ; he would condemn it most heartily. c:>rrespond to ha~f of the full speed, so that the train
was followed by Mr. Cbapman. Mr. Yerkes1d engineer; by With regard to the roller device proposed by Ganz would t?en. oo_nbmue to run ab half-speed. The first
Mr. Pbilip Dawson ; and by Mr. George Estall, engineer for taking in the curren t, Mr. Rice stated be had motor Olr?utt Is then opened; that throws the second
and locomotive superintendent of the District Company. never seen one used in practice, outside experimental motor. entuely out of gear and leaves it idle. Tbe fi rst
Mr. Rice hM en tire charge of all the manufacturing work; nothing seems to give the satisfaction which the rotor IS then treated wi th resistance in the same way as
a nd e ngineering departments of t he General E lectric Com- standard trolley, as finally evolved, does. As to the bow, i b the ~e~ond rotor has be~n, a large resistance is pub in,
p any, the output of which company id about seven million would be very unsafe in a tunnel with such a high ten- and ~t IS reduced to nothmg; by the time it is reduc~d to
sterling p er annum ; traction forms a very important part sion between the wires, and with such a small amount of ?oth~ng, one motor is working efficien tly, a nd the train
of the company's busine~s. This company has made about room for p1acing the wires and trolleys. The device IS gomg ab full speed. When it iR wanted to stop the
65 per cen t. of the apparatus used for t ramways and elec- which is used for changing the current from a three- two motors are thrown into gear a.s before e~cept
tric railways in the U nited States, and about 50 p er phase alternating curren t to a continuous current is one tha.t t~ere is a high resistance in the secox{d rotor,
cen t. of those used in Great Britain through one of their of th e simplest and most practical methods th at has ever wh10h ts gradu~lly reduced to nothing. By the time in
!l.llied companies- the B ritish T homson-Houston-and ab been constr ucted or devised. The rotary converters that ha,g gob to notbmg, the sp sed of the train is reduced to
least 25 per cent. of the apparatus used on the Con- are in operation on the Central L ondon Railway have run half-speed, !lnd during tha~ time the motors a re aotiog as
tinent, equal to about 2i million horse-power of electric for 1~ years withou t having the comm utators smoothed generators, and a re pumpmg back some energy into the
motors alone, not including generators and transformerF. down, a nd th ey frequen tly operate on loads double li~e~. When half-speed is reached, and no more eleo.
T he General E lectric Company spend about 200,000l. the normal loads for which they have been designed, trio movement can be done, the Westinghouse brake
annually on their engineering staff and on experimental without giving the slightest trouble whatever. What is is applied until the train stops. When the motors
work, and it does not make any difference to them true of the Central L ondon Railway is true of several are concatenated, the current that ha~ to excite the
whether they supp1y three. ph~e or direct-current me- hundred th ousands of horse-power of rotary con verters second motor has to go through the whole of the
chanism, provided that one will do the work as well as which the General Electric Company have in operation fi rst motor; i t can b.e co?sidered almost a separate
the other. The company advise the use of three.phase in various parts of the world. All difficulties with the current from th~b which 1s used for giving a push.
mechanism for every proper p urpose they are large conver ters have disappeared with t he carbon brushes ; ac- A way of meeting the d ifficulty would be to alter
With threemanufacturers of two-phase and three-phase motors, and cording to Mr. Rice, the carbon brush to-day is la rgely the number of p oles in the stator.
h ave supplied them largely for workshop machinery. the secret of the success of the present tramway system; phase motors t he speed is limited to the maximum
Mr. Rice st~ted that three-phase ~enerating an~ tr~ns the commutators operating with carbon brushes run speed for which the motors have been built in
mission at h1gh pressure, w1th ultimate conversiOn ~nto many thousands of miles without any attention what- the U nderground there would never be a chan;e of
direct current of 500 or 600 volts for use on the hne, soever, and he would just as soon have a commutator getting to the maximum speed, the motora would be
was the system now p ractically universally adopted in under such conditions as he would have a. collector ring. always accelerating and stopping. The waste of {lOwer
all la rge undertakings ; he did not know of any other The rotary converters take in alternating current through is measured by the motors falling short of the maxtmum
better system, and did nob believe there wa~ a ny collector rings, and deliver a continuous ourren b through speed. The very best acceleration p ossible with constant
better one for driving tramways and elevated roads, th e commutators ; the collector rings give no less pressure is given by series-wound direct-current maor roads operated in tunnels where the service is trouble than the commutator; both operate sat isfac- chine~. 'Fhe return of en~r~y to the line, w~bh three-phase
such that it require.s frequen t stops and. h!gh ~c_ele torily, but there is nothing to be said in favour of m~to~a, 1s so small that 1t 1s no~ worth 'Yh1l~ considering;
ration ab frequent m tervals. In Mr. Rtee s. opimon, the collector rings as against the commutators. The tb1s IS nob an advantage suffiment to JUStify sacrificing
induction three-pha~e motors are most unsUitable for W estinghouse Oompany, the only other American other things; i t is better to throw that small amount of
such work. On the other hand, the direotcurrent company that are exploiting any apparatus on a large en~rgy away_, and t<? use a system that g.ives good accelesystem has given the most universal satisfaction scale, sell nothing and advise nothing but the con. ration. Besides th1tt, the energy that IS given back is
under all conditions which obtain in practice. Every tinuous-ourrenb railway motors for such purposes. M r know~ as ~ magnetising ourr~nb ; the m~gnetising ourdetail has been carefully worked out, has been studied Rice stated he found n o difference between an under- rent IS gomg on all the t1me, and 1t is such an
experimenta11y, and haa stood the test of years of prao- ground railway and an elevated rail way having the evil that when it gets doubled, a.s is the oa~e wheQ

Nov. 8, 1901.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

the motors are concatenating, the evil would count. r . was collected by means o an immense trolley, weigh
balance the benefit of the energy saved. Ib would be ing 357 lb., cunsisting of no less than 300 parlis.
much better to out them off and give them the chance The accepted form of trolley for the same ser vice would
of cooling. The primary stator being always on the weigh 125 lb., and has but 45 parts. The cost of the
trolley, there is a waste of power. Heating of a. Ganz trolley would be about 40l., while the direct-current
motor forms the motor's limit : when a. motor gets trolley is sold for 6l., and the cost of maintenance of each
too hot, it has to be replaced by a larger one. At would be aboub in proportion to the fi rst cost. The
Earl's Court and Aldgate Corner there would be double safety suspension device proposed by Messrs. Gan z
systems of overhead trolleys and large gaps would have would be a danger device, according to Mr. Cha.pma.n'~
to be made. In the work of eleotrifyinrr the U nderground, explanations. With regard to the trolleys, they are made
a system must be adopted which admits of being pub in to roll, but a rolling bearing has never yet worked success
without stopping the present traffic ; Mr. Swinburne fully in any trolley; the trolley soon slides, and has the
stated he did nob see how overhead wires can be put in wearing effect of a sliding oonta.ob. In the Ganz mobors,
without stopping the {>resent traffic. With direct current, the air ~ap between rotor and sba.tor is about 11'! io.; the
traffic could be contmuous, the conductors being on the rotor we1ghs a little over a ton. In direct.curren b motors
ground. Mr. Swinburne was furth er cross-examined as the air gap is generally 1~ in., which is a great ad vantage.
to the resp~cti ve power and cost of the plant prop_QSed by Ab the trials carried outi ab L ecoo, the consumption was
Thomson-Houston and that proposed by Ganz. He gave 65 to 85 watt-hours per ton-mile depending upon the
figures in reply in favour of the Thomson-Houston plant; length of the run, the acceleration being / " ft. per second
but Mr. Chapman, Mr. Yerkes's engineer, having been per ' second. On the Inner Circle the accelerat1on should
9.uestioned more extensively in this same subject, we shall be 1~ fb. per second per second, equal bo one mile per hour
hmib our repor t on this point to Mr. Chapman's statements. per second. The Oentr~l L ondon figure is 41~ wattThreepha,se motors do nob accelerate well when they are hours per ton-mile, the acceleration being about 1 fb.
in ca.sca.de and when nob in cascade, one motor is abso- per second per second on the level. At Sondrio the
lutely idle, and only half the acceleration is obtained, or car was lighted from an accumulator carried on the
double the current must be taken. Anything short of oar and charged by currant from a rotary converber;
synchronism, they run with considerable inefficiency. the car carried also a static transformer. At Aldga.te
Mr. Swinburne rebutted, in short, all the statements pub and other p arts, according to Mr. Chapman, a dea<l
forward by Ganz, and by the engineers in their report, secti0n would have to be established, and the train
in fa vour of the system proposed by Ga.nz ; he pointed would have to come to a stop on that section; then the
out ab the same time, and in detail, all the advantages current would be reversed, and the train would move
in favour of the directcurrent system for use on the with the motor reversed. The length of the dead
U nderground Rail way.
section would have to vary with the length of the train.
Before repor ting the further technical evidence given by With a suitable distribution of the rails, this diffiMr. Chapma.n and M r. Philip Dawson, it is necessary bo culty would not arise with direct current. The cases in
state that Mr. Ernest Moon raised the question of the which the direct-current system has been applied in
right of the G reab Western Rs.ilway Company to inter- America are fully as complex as the District would be,
vene on the inquiry, for the purpose of indicating how and this system is abaolntely sat isfactory for all classes of
elecbrifioabion would affeot their mterests in the Metro- traction. In the 500 miles of overhead trolley and 50
politan R!l.ilway. He pointed oub that it would not be miles of third-rail elevated railway built by M r. Chappermissible to the Great Western Company to be allowed man there has nob been during the whole seven years
to intervene in order to ad voca.te the adoption of a third of working any man killed or seriously injured. When
system ; all that would be p ermissible would be for them giving a price of 45,000t. for sub-stations, IYir. Chapman
to say which of the two systems is more suitable for the based his calculations on 7500 kilowatts used for the
purposes of the traffic which they interpolate upon the traffic, ab a price of 6l . If the demand were doubled and
Metropolitan Railway. The umpire decided t hat the made 15,000 kilowatts, the 6l. would still hold ~ood. On
Board of Arbitration had no po wer to admit the Great the other hand, the Ganz price and double trams would
Western as parties in the arbitration between the Dis. nob hold good, because the rail for the return of their curtrict Company and the Metropolitan Company; but rent, even on the basis of their present proposition, is
hoped that they would have the views of the Great fixed for a 13~-volt drop. vVith double the number of
kilowatts the drop in the rail would be practically proWestern witnesses, if they desire to give evidence.
In further crossexamination by Mr. Cripps and re- hibitive. They would have to have t wice the number of
examination by :Mr. Moullon, Mr. Yerkes gave the history sub.stations. About 80 per cent. of the 6l . would be for
of his visit to Budapest, also that of his engineers, Messrs. rotary converters and the switchboards. The cost of
Cha.pman, Parsball, and Da.wson, both to Budapest and to accumulators, which would be used for night service,
the Sondrio L ecoo Rail way. Mr. Yerkes did nob want to would be about 7l. per ampere-hour on t he basis of tworely upon hearsay as to the a.pplicability_of the system Lour discharge. The total cost of 60 miles of contact
advocated by Ganz to the Inner Circle. His personal in rail for the direct-current system, equal to 15 miles of
vestigation and the reports be received from his engineer.?, double line, the rail weighing 80 l b. per yard, would be
fully decided him to discard the said system. He deter- 68, 950l. ; the cost of the overhead copper wire, to be used
mined he would not put the money of his associates into it, in the three phase system, had nob been gone m to by Mr.
but would go to arbitration and then see where he landed. Chapma.n ; he stated, however, that it would have to be
The technical question was resumed by the cross- renewed every year and a half. The roller trolley would
examination of M r. J. R. Cha.pman, M r. Yerkes's engi- soon become clogged and act as a sliding trolley ; under
neer. Mr. Cha.pman has had more than 27 years' expe- this condition, and with a minute and a quarter service,
rience in connection with rail way work in the U nited the trolley wire would nob last six months. At Sondrio
States, and for the last ten years he has been engaged the tests were made at night time; the highest speed
exclusively in electric tramways. The lines built or was 40 miles an hour, and it took over a mile to reach that
transformed by 1\tir. Chapma.n in the U nited States carry speed. With regard to the power of both plants, that
above 200 million pa~sengers a year. On all these rail- tendered for by Thomson-Houston showed 10,000 kiloways the direct-current system is used, 'vith series parallel watts at the maximum load; the Thomson-Houston plant
control, the current being generated direct ~nd the lines would carry 100 per cent. overload, j ust the same as the
fed ab 500 volts; there would be no electrical difficulty, Ganz plant; therefore, if it was wanted to compare the
he stated, in working the Inner Circle on the direct- two propositions on the bMi3 of the overload, the
current system. The series parallel control works either Thom~on-Houston plant should be considered as being
with locomotives or motor-c&.rs. According to Mr. Chap- 20,000 kilowatts. Referring again to acceleration, Mr.
man, the British Thomson-Houston tender is for a first- Chapman stated that with direct current the required
class equipment, for the proposition as covered by the fi~ure is obtained every day with hundreds of trains ;
specification, and is a little too liberal as to the power- Wltih the alternating J>Ower, the thing has never
house equipment, while the Ganz tender was nob. To yet been done, and 1b is a q uestion whether it
prove this, Mr. Chapman handed in a. complete analysis can be with any reasonable expenditure of current.
he made of both plants. The boilers proposed by Messrs. Acceleration cannot be secured equally well with the
Ganz have a total beating surface of 48,000 square feet, alternating current as with the d irect. M r. Chapwhile those of the British Thomson-Houston Company man explained how the acceleration was a.rri ved at,
have a total of 80,000 square feet; it was absolutely im- ab the trials made on the Lecco line. The question of
possible to give 14,000 ktlowabts wi th 48,000 square fee~, the boiler plant wa-s also passed in review afresh, and Mr.
of heating surface. The engines proposed by Thom- Chapman said that Messrs. Ga.n~ proposed to superheat
son-Houston represented the best and most modern the abeam, while Messrs. Thomson-Housbon did nob. The
type ; the condensers proposed by Messrs. Ganz were mere superheating of steam required fuel just the same as the
jet condensers opera.11ed by a beam worked from each generation of steam. It was possible to do work with a
tngine, and it was practically impossible to run a modern less a mount of stenm superheated to 100 deg., 200 deg., or
traction plant w1thoub independent condensers. The 300 deg. than with saturated steam, bub it takes superThomson-Houston pumping plant is a. first-cla-ss one, beaters and fuel. The Ganz superheaters being really
with an ample margin of safety ; while if a plant were part. of the boilers, the gr~?-te are~ ha.s to be considered ;
started with the pumps proposed by Messrs. Ganz, but 1t would be absolutely 1mposs1ble for the Ga.nz boilers,
more pumps would immediately have to be bought. In as proposed, to produce as much steam as the Thomsonthe T homson-Houston tender, the exciting plant con- Housbon boilers, and for the Ganz engines to give continusisted of four complete units, each wi th engine and ously the power specified. Reverting bo the accumulators,
dynamo; while the Ganz proposal is to place an exciter they would allow of the shutting down of the poweron the end of the shaft of each engine; therefore, when- hous.e every night, and lighting the whole property, besides
ever that engine is shunted, the exciter is shunted! and movmg a certain number of trains. On the Sondrio line
if anything is wrong with the exciter that engine 18 out the power factor was .7, the effect of which was to render
of service. This was very bad practice. With regard all the plant and all the c1bles 40 per cent. larger; it reto the auxiliary engines, the Ganz tender wa~ also most quired 40 per cent . more copper to do the same work.
incomplete. The Thomson- Houston t ender included 'l,he safety device was again considered by Mr. Chapman
duplicate cables from the generating stations to the sub. and he stated that until it was tried it would nob be worth
stations, while the Ganz tender did nob. The two plants the manufacture.
were of the same character, bub there was a great deal
Mr. Philip Dawson was then called. He stated
less in one case than in the other ; the Ganz machinery he had built or equipped personally over 1000 miles
was of a. very much lower grade all the way through of electric tramways, and installed about a quarter of a
than the Thomson-Houston. There is not a foot of line million horse-power for the purpose. He bad no oonworked in E ngland or America on the system advocated neoti~n with. nor interest in, any particular system of
by Mesara. Ganz. On the Sondrio Lecco line the current traot10n. He knew all the important three . phase

6s9
sys tems that were wo. king; they were all tourist roads,
eevera.l of which only ran in s~mmer. On b~e Burgdorf-Thun line the trains vaned Letween e1ght and
twelve in either direction per day; the average number
of trains on the line ab once, on the total length of
25 miles varied between two and five, and that at
bbe busiest time-in the summer. This line ran at a
pres3ure of 750 volts. ~I r. Dawson stated that the ?onsequence of increasing the small air gap of alterna~t!lg
currenb motora would be the increase of the magnettsmg
currents and lowering the power factor. A 2millimebre
air ga.o w.~os nob a sufficient one for traction work. M r.
Dawson added that he had put up probably about 80 per
cent. of all the overhead wires in the U nited K ingdom;
thab rigid suspensions would nob suit ab all, as they
brought about tlre breaking of the wire. The suspension
should be as elastic as possible, to red uce the hammer blow
when the collecting device goes over. The repairs of the
wires would cause serious interruption of the traffic, becauee
the current would have to be shut off ab either end of the
section under repair before anybody would be able
to venture to do any work; the time taken would
cause a very serious delay on a. line like the Metropolitan. Overhead wires like those proposed upon a
high-tension current should not be permitted in a tunnel.
The difficulty of the triangular junction, like Aldgate,
would be very bard to get over practically. Mr. Dawson
said he had constructed several nllousands of trolleys, and
was very sceptical as to the practical service of those proposed under the heavy conditions in which they would have
to work. Liquid rheosba.ts were not suitable, their resistance would vary with the proportions of the solu tion and
with the temperature, and they bad only been used hitherto
experimentally. The MetroJ,>olitan was nob at all comparable with the Burgdorf-Thun .Railway, the distances
between the stops bemg very short, and the chief point
to be taken into consideration was rapid acceleration.
To obtain it with the alternating current, very much
larger motors would be required than with the direct
current. With regard to the designing of suitable
a.lterna.ting.current motors with the required acoelera~ion, M~. Da.wson stated that he would spend money
m expertments when ne~essary; and when experiment
had fully proved 1\ ~hmg, . then he would adopt it.
For gettmg over the dlflicult1es, such as the one which
exists ab Aldgabe, one solution, according bo Mr. D a.wson
would be a complication of mechanism to pub the motor~
oub of gear, and they would have to be _pub out of gear
precisely at the right momen t. Mr. Da.wson further
sho wed and described the standard practice of supporting the trolley, and pointed oub the defects of the
safety device proposed by Ganz. He ended his crossexa~inati~n by sta.t~ng that the endeavour to use safety
~eVlces ~th the duec.t.currenb had originated mostly
1n the nnnds of the dtfferen b tradesmen in the towns
~here eleotri.c ~ra.ction w~s being installed. He added
1b was astomshm g what mventive facul ties were deve.
loped when electric tramways were being put down in
a town, and after the tramways bad been r unning a
Y.ear there were no more safety devices from that time
t1ll :work was started at the next town. But none of these
dev1ces w~re ever pub up, except experimentally to please
the public.. They were ba.ken down again a,s they
proved unsat1sfactory.
~r. Da.wson's cross-examination was followed by the
ev1de~ce of Mr. George ~st~ll, engineer and locomotive
su permtendent of the DlStncb Railway Company. Mr.
Esta.ll sba~ed he had to ,be responsible for the conduct of
the expe~1ments at Earls Court so far as the safe working
of the ra1lway. was concerned. ~a railway engineer, he
had a.lway.s VIewed ov.erhea.d wues of every kind with
great a.nxteby; _they mvolved. a considerable deal of
trouble and anxtety from a x;namte~ance point of view.
He sh9wed from a mal?, a~d m detatl, the various points
at whtch .m.any comphcat10ns existed where there were
storage s1dmgs and many crossings of a complicated
m~.ture, wher~ double overhead wires would have to be
latd, and posst? ly a. number of ~ther wires for protective
purposes. Tht~, w1th .the myrtads of posts and attachments, stay-poles, gut~es, and other things, presented
an. a.moun~ of work wh10h seemed-from a maintenance
pomt of ~1ew-a. ve~y serio~s thing indeed, apart from
the qu ~t10n of a.c~ndents hkeJy to arise from any of
th~ apphances com~n.g down, and to be dealt with very
qutckly .. The repatrmg durin g traffic time would be a
v~ry senous matter.. When breakdowns happen now,
Wlbh th~ present plam way of running, the diffi culty
of . g~ttmg the breakdown gang to the spot was the
prm01pal rea~on for tho~e delays which, to the public,
appeared unreasonable. The real difficulty is getting
~o the. spot, .and this woul~ be increased very much
m deahng mbh overhead wues. The line was nearly
all covered way, under fiat girderd, and practically
there would be no ~ead way at all for the wire!.
~r: E~tall showed . th1s from a. drawing. The electnfi~atiOn of the ratl:way would mean the raising of the
carnage ~latforms 9 m. or morer so as to allow for the
undergean~g; that would pra.chcally reduce the height
of the carnages ; therefore the new rolling stook would
no d?ubt have to take advantage of every piece of
margm that there wa-s to get commodious carriages. The
w~ml~ thus fill up the whole of the loading gauge Th!
DtstrlCb now ra.~ rather . more than 20 hour8 in the 24
and all the ttme available for repairs and rela.yin'
and so on, was four hours. Mr. Esta.U said that th~
a.dverde mroumsbance~ under which traffic would have
to be. conducted wtth overhead wires were of an
appa.lhng character. In a letter he wrot~ on Mamh 1
19~1,. to Mr. J. S. Forbes, Chairman of the Metropolita~
Dtstnob Company, Mr. Estall deprecated the
f
ove~hea.d wires, whatever ~e the electric system re~6e t~
to, m. the U nderground Ratlway.
r
Thts concluded the evidence on behalf of the Metro.

E N G I N E E R I N G.

66o

[N ov. 8. 1 got.

polita.n Disbricb Railway Company, in favour of a. directDIAG~AMS OF THREE MONTHS' FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES OF METALS.
current system.
On Tuesday, the 5bh inst., Mr. C. A. Cripps, K.C.,
(Specwlly compiled f rom Ojfo;ial RepO?ts of L ondon M etal amd Scotch P ig-!?on W arra;nt Market!.)
opened the case on behalf of the Metropolitan
. a~lwa.y Company, and commenced the cross-examinaOCTOBER.
S EPTEMB"ER.
AUGUST.
tion of Mr. 0 . T . Blathy, the manager of the electrical
works of Messrs. Ga.~z and Co., of Budapest. Mr.

Bla.thy gave furbher evi~enoe on the 6th insb. in favour of

12

the use of ~he alterna.tmg-current system in the Undergrou~d Rallwa.y, as a.Js~ did Mr. Gisberb Kapp. In our
1/
~
il"'
ne~t l.Ssue we shall contmue our report of this mosb inter1/G
estmg case.
;;iii
~~

t[-r.,

(To be oontinw;d.)

~~

114

..,....

. T~ F AROE CoALs .- Tbe reports are somewhat conflt~t~ng ~bout the . prospects of starting a national coalmmm~ 1nd~stry 1n. these islands. The quality of the
coals 1s fauly sattsfactory, but their location is nob
favourable,. entailing comparatively heavy expenses for
both b~eakmg and transport. Besides, the layers are
only ~hm, and there also may be some difficulty about
securmg tonnage at reasonable freights inasmuch as the
vessels will have to go there in ballast. These are the
objections raised by sceptics who know the natural conditions; but in spite of this it is under contemplation to
fori? ~ .good-sized comp_anY., of some 400,000l. capital,
which 1t 1t proposed to ratse m Paris and London.

"--Wl

~ ~

I~

IIZ

CATALOGUES.- The Sta.nhope Water Engineering Company, of 20, Bucklersbury, London, send us a catalogue
of the S~anhope water-softeners, purifiers, and beaters.
The s~bJeCb of wat~r-softening and purifying is now
attractn?g the attent10n of.stean;t user~, who are beginning
to rea.hse .how much t.h eir boilers a re deteriorated by
scale. This catalogue IS really a treatise on the art of
water -softening, and will be of use to many.

"-

110

EIBIEIHB~BIHitg:Brt1B-+trti3~~ttTFrttT:flTt~1+'++-q:1+~+1+"'14~'14+~~'l!1
&G

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.f.:.
....
36

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IN '

,
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. PERSONAL.-Messrs. Ho!tzapffel and Co. announce that

m con~equence of the exp.ua.t10n of their lease, they are
removmg from 64, Cha.rmg-cros~, S. W., to 13 and 14,
New Bond-streefl, London, W.- In commemoration of
the twenty.fifbh anniversary of the foundation of the firm
of essrs. J ohnson and Phillips, telegraph and electrical
engineers, of Charlton, a handsome silver bowl was on
Thursday evening, last week, presented to Mr.' Waiter
Claude Johnson, M. Inst. C.E., M. Inst. E.E., ab the
works by Mr. J. Macgregor, general manager, on behalf
of the staff, foremen and workmen, as a. token of their
regard and goodwill. Nearly the whole of the 600 or 700
employes of the firm, of which Mr. JohnEon is now the
only member-Mr. Phillips having died several years
ago-were present.

Z4

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14

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12

Coun t ry.

Russia.

Sweden and Norway

Germany

F rance

I taly

tons
344,818
392,147
611,273
619,391
472,982

tons
404,127
40Q,935
671,645
6 l3,897
430,142

tons
463,95 1
488,393
466,245
478,923
462,699

When we come to deal with the exports fur the first nine
months of this year, we find that they amounted to
32,879,830 tons, as compared with 34 332,923 tons in the
correspondingJ?eriodof 1900, and32,506,559 tons in the corresponding pen od of 1899. The exports in the first three
quarters of the last three years exceeded 1,000,000 tons in
the following ca.~es :

-- --------------Country.

Russia
Sweden and
Denmark
Germany

France

Spain . .
Italy . .
Egypt..

..
..
Nn" "r
..
..
..
..

..

..

..
..
..

..
..
..

1900.

1899.

tons
2,146,69\l
3,06j,657
1,594,963

tone
2,7 12,714
3,281,829
1,636,669
1,423,454
6.2CH,444
1,898,806
4,006,826
1,474,574

t one
2,902,202
3,438,662
1,525,937
3, 793,166
4,917,9'8
1, f\';3' 376
4,248,854
1,550,227

4.~,771

1901.

5,816,283
1,996,528
4,206,983
1,592,478

M INING P RoDUOl'ION IN THE UNITED KrNGDOM.-The

general reporb an~ sta.tistic3 for 1900 relating to m!nes
and quarries, pubhshed by the H ome Office, and edtted
by Mr. C. L e Neve Foster, F .R S., states that: The last
year of the nineteent h century is remarkable from the
fact thab the value of the mineral output of the U nited
Kingdom, exclusive of the produce of shallow quarrie8,
was no less than 135,957, 676l. , or 38,487, 380l. more than

1111$

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8
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A.

1: !;)

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$GLASGOW HOLIOA Y.
X FUNERA L OAYOF PRESIDENT MC
KINLY

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,.,.,

.,

......

,_ -

lilliii

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MARKET

l u.~
llii

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Sept., 1901. Sept., 1900. Sept. , 1899.

-, ,_,

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OuR COAL ABROAD.- We have now another month's

experience available as to the effect of the export duty of
1s. J?er ton imposed by Parliament upon coal leaving
British ports ; and it must be admitted that if the
development of a great export coal t rade is to be
regard ed as a. matter of national importance, the results
disclosed are not albo~ether favourable. On the other
band, if all the coal ratSed from British collieries is sbill
readily sold ab a fairly good price, any check experienced in the shipments abroad is not a matter of
much importance. The coalo wners' view of the subject
appears, however, to be that as miners' wages have
experienced a considerable advance, it is necessary to
keep the price of coal at a. higher level ; and this, they
think, can only be done by developing external markets
with all possible vigour. 'fhe quantity of coal-including
also coke and patent fuel-ex ported in September was
3, 799,352 tons, as compared with 4,115,197 tons in September, 1900, and 3,763,206 tons in September, 1899.
The exports to the following countries exceeded 300,000
tons in each case :

.....

HI.[U.i;t IIJ,.,nl~
..l.

I,

lr..

...

.lJ In

-.,

'4}
I(7 105)
X 6

14 /6
la
AUOVST.

2J)

ll2b28

31 ,J

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13

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11

15

17 21

OCTOBER

23 25 2' .SI

IN the accompanying diagrams each vertical line represents a market day, and each horizontal
line represents ls. in the case of tin plates, hematite, Scotch, and Cleveland iron, and ll. in all
other cases. The price of quicksilver is per bottle, the contents of which vary in weight from
70 lb. to 80 lb. The metal prices are per ton. Heavy steel rails are to Middlesbrough quotations. Tin plates are per box of I. 0 . cokes.

last year, which itself showed a gain of about 20 millions

compared with 1898. The enormous increase is due partly
t o the larger quantity of coal produced, but mainly to the
higher a~erage price per ton. The total outpub of coal
for 1900 was 225,181, 300 tons, valued at 121,652,506l.; in
1899 the corresponding ~ures were 220, 094,781 bona and
83,481,137l. The largest contribution to the increased
output of coal was made by the great coalfield of Yorkshire, D erbY,shire, and Nottinghamshire, which yielded
nearly 2i million tons more than in 1899. Scotland shows
an increase of nearly 2,000,000 tons; Northumberland and
Durham together only about a. quarter of a. million; L ancashire, Oheshire, and the Midland coalfields together
about 1,000,000 tons. On bhe other band, the produce of
Wales has declined considerably, for the outpub of the
South Wales coalfield fell baok by more than half a million
tons. The output of coal in 1851, as estimated by the R oyal
Commission appointed in 1866 to inquire into the several
matters relative to coal in the United Kingdom, was
abou~ 50,875,000 tons, s:> tha.t the progress of the l~sb half

century may be summed up by saying that we are now

raising more than four times as much coal ns we did fifty
years ago. The total output of coal from 1851 to 1900,
bobh years inclusive, amounts to 6,510,000,000 tons, or an
average of 130,000,000 tons annually. The rise in the
price of coal in no way stopped the ever-increasing exports, which amounted to 44,089,197 ton~, e~clusive of
2,000,000 tons of coke and patent fueJ. The total increa8e
in 1900 was nearly 31000,000 tons of coal, for which F rance
was largely responstble. Compared with coal, to whioh
belongs 89 per cent. of the tobal value of the output of our
mines and quarries, all obher minerals sink into insignificance. Their total value was only 14.305,080l, or far less
than the rise in value due to coal. Next in imporbanc~
is iron ore; but the 8:&J> is wide, for we drop at once to a
value of about 4:1; mtlhons sterling, only one-thirtieth of
bbat of the coal. The output of iron ore, which rose in
1899, has now begun to drop. The falling off is most
ma.tked in the Cleveland aistrict, Lincolnshire, and
N ortham ptonsbire.

0 \".

661

E N G I N E E R I N G.

190!.]

LO OMOTI\TE

20-TO

COXSTRUCTED BY :\IE. . R ' . ,JOHN li.

STEAM

CR A E.

LlMITl~D

\VIL.'ON .\ l > CO.,

ENGINEER,',

Ll\ ERPOOL.

\YE illustrate abo,e a 21 ton locomoth e steam cran e be used iu siLgle lap, a n 1 th~ barrels have machin od
so th at t he wear on the ropes is reduced t o a
constr ucted t>y .Me~srs. John H. vV ileon aud Co. , groove~,

Li mited , at th e ir new work s a t eacombe, near Liver poo l, to t be order of :\l ossrs. S. Peareon and Son,
Limi ted , for lhoi r ~Icxic 1n contract. ~rh is crane is
one of a set of ten s pecially desigued for thi s cont ract.
It will be noted that e\erything possible has been
done to secure a powerful too l suitable for the heavi e~t
work at a foreign station, wh ere r epai rs aro difficult
and ex pensive.
The whole of the body and carriage is built up of
steel plates and a ngles, and a ll gear ing, in cluding the
ra.l'lt ann roller-pa.t,h, is of st eel, mR.chi oe-mo ulded.
All th e bearings a re adjustable, and are fitted wit h
extra heavy g un -metal st-eps.
The lif c.ing gear has two speeds, so thtJ.t lig ht, loads
can be dealt with at a very ra,pid rate.
teel wire
ropes are used for lifting throughout, the windi ng
drums ht-ing of ample d =a meter, EO that the rope can

m1mmum.
There w ere two si zes of cn.Les-10-ton and 20 ton
- th e latter being sent to Coat zaccalcos and nlina
Cruz ( the terminal ports of the 'r'ehuantepec Railwa.y).
Three 10-ton cra nes of simila r patt,ern w ere a lso
mounted o n "perman ent- way" can iages, 4 ft . 8~ io.
gauge, fi tted wi t h six wheels and axles, and a lso w ith
Elprings and ce ntra l buffers, l o run wi t h the standard
rolling stock of t he r a ilway for use in t he erection of
bridgework , &c., and a fterwa rds as breakdown cranes.
The followiug T ables give a good idea of the capa
city of t hese cranos, w hi oh were all t horoughly tested
I
in the builders' yard before being ~hippe d :

Table of Pa1ticular s-20-11on Crane.

L oad lifted ab 20-fb. radi us

...

.,

30

11

..

40

.. .

20 tons
12 , ,

8 ,

peed of 1 f t for 20 t ) ns

8 ,.
...

"

...

...

~t)

... 70
... 150

f t. per min .

.,

"
travel
.. .

"
Gauge of rails
...
...
11 fr.
...
\Vheelbnse ...
...
12 ,
.. . ...
H eight of boiler
... .. . ...
11 ,
Diameter of boiler ...
5 ,
...
W orlcing pressure of stea~
... 80 lb. per Eq. in.
Diameter of engine cylinders
iO in.
...
troke of engine oy linders ...
...
12 "
T otal weighb in working order ...
62 t ons
L eng th of j ib ...
... ... ...
50 fb .
Table of Particulars-10-Ton Cra-ne.
L oad lifted a.b 16 fb. rad ius
10 tons
...
...
8 ,
,
,
20 fb. "
,
.,
32 fb. .,
. ..
4 ,
S peed of lifo for 10 t ons
,

...

travelling ...
Ga.oge of rails
...

...

,.

,,

11

...

...

48 ft . per min.
. . . 120 f b. ,
,
. . 400 (b. ,
,
... 4 ( b. 8~ in. & 7 fb

.. .

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Wheelb1se
...
Height of boii~r
...
Diameter of boiler . . .
. ..
W.orking pressure of steam
Dtameter of engine cylinders
Stroke of engine cylinders ..
T otal weight in working order
L 9ngth of jib ...
... ...

...

...
...

...

7 fb. 6 in.
9 , 6 ,,
4, 6 ,
80 lb. per sq. in.
9 in.
10 ,
37 tons
35 ft.

act a~ a remed y , are too dangerous to b3 tried as

~xpenme.nts. Trade union action is n ot always wise,
1s often, tndeed, very unwise, b u t the unions help to
balance industrial power; and if capita l and labour
could see their way clear to a mu t u al good unde rstanding, all would be benefited.
There is still some uu certa.in tv as to t he ad vice
w~1ich will be tendered by the Ptt.rlia m entary Comnnt.t ee of t~~ T~ades Union Con gr ess a~ regards t h e
pohcy of ht1gat10n.
ome Eeem t o favour figh t in CY
e mployers in co urts of law, oth ers are doub tful o~
opposed to such a policy. There are ins tances in
which t he union s must face the court~:~, as, for example
when they become defendants in a case. There ar~
others, so me times, when a q uest ion must be carried tt.:>
the High Court, or even t o the House of Lords. Such
a one is that of the picketing injunction case at
Black burn- n ot that as to the baud of musicians
but t h e firdt case where an inj unction w as granted:
There a principle is involved, and the highest court
can only pronounce a final verdict. But the p assion
for li t igation is an imprudent one, a nd can never
r eally solve labour problem<J.
I t seems not unlikely tha~ the unions will h ave q u ite onough
to do ~s defendants, without becoming pla intiffs,
and thts appears to be Mr. Frederic Harrison's
view of the situation. The one g reat thing for
the un i?ns now t o do is t o k eep a t ight hand upon
~ggress1Ye members. The re are a lways some, the few
m mo3t cases, w ho a re for a fi O' b t - by strikes if need
be, by litig!l.tbn if cnance offers, or by some other
means. Those fiery and often times fussy me m ber.s
must be held in ch eck. Prudence, a careful abstention from doubtful method~, must ch aracterise th '3

umons.

[Nov. 8,

1901.

t rades have been q uiet. Buying has been limited in

most d ep artmen ts to the p resent requireme nts of
cons umer s whose stock s were low, or who had not
booked contracts for fu t ure s upp' i s. But prod ucers
of finished iron h ave well-filled order -books and are
~ndisposed to force business at present, whe~ pig iron
1s reported to be scar ce, a nd the rates tending upward:~ .
Some h eavy orders for best ba r and cable iron have
been distributed by the Admiralty Department, bu t
eom m on unmarked iron h as only been in moderate sale.
Galva nised corrugated roofing iron and common black
sheets a re. no~ ~o ~uch in demand, but producers are
able to ma mtam the1r rates. Thero has been increassd
activity in hoop and tube iron at full rates. Steel
~lso is in good demand, but rates hava not gre 1tly
m creased. In the engineering and allied ind ustrie1
ac~ivity is ge~erally well maintained.
Eogineers,
bOilermak ers, 1ronfound ers, bridge and girder con structors, tanlnnaker~, s miths a nd striker s, and those
engaged on rail way work a re well employed ; and ~o
a lso are those engaged in t he chief hard ware industrie 3
for t he most p art. So far the p )Sition is fairly good.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
T HE action of th e Sou th Wales min er .3 in stoppina
work at the pits, in order to arrest the d ow nward
p~ice of coal, m ay h ave impor tant results. The com mittee who ordered the stoppage are the operative
members of the slidingscl.le co mmittee and if their
action had no countenance or support from their
colleagues, .the employers en the co mmittee, it w as,
to ~ay the least of i t, a strange depar Lure from the
ordmary rules t hat ~ovorn su c.h bodies. The stoppage
was not absolutelyw1t hout notice, because themanifesto
was publicly issu ed calling upon the m en t o cease work.
But. t hat was not a legal notice ; it did n ot fulfil the
condi t ions as to time; the step was therefore a most
unwise and d.a.ngerous one, and opened the door to
I n t he Birmingham district bu ~iness in the iron a nd
legal ~roceedmgs a nd to litigation. Coal is a prime
steel t r ades is said t o be conduct ed wit h great caution.
factor 1n all t hat concerns industrial life. Tra de, comM:uked bar firms are well s upplied wi t h orders a nd
merce, a:nd manufactures dep end upon it. Without it
prospects are hopeful. In unmllrked iron there has
locomotton on land and sea would be disorganised a nd
?een inequality in prices, m llkers in some cases a.ccep t ' and'
to a. l arge extent, be stoppe i. All the iron, steel,
mg much below quoted rates. Sheets are in fa ir
ot.her m etal industrie3 ; a ll th ~ great textile indusdemand at q uoted rates. T he eng ineering and allied
~nes, and a la ..ge prop )rtion of all other manufac turtra-Jes a re for t he most p art fairly well employed, but
mg trades, r equire fuel to k eep them going. If, t h erenot under much pressure. Other iron, steel, and
fore, those co~ce rned in getting and supplying t h is
metal-using trades vary, but a re genercJ.lly active.
absolute necesstty should be able to s top supplies, and
rule the market by monopoly , the whole country
The p osition of the engineering t rades throughout
would b e involved in difficulty. The action is not one
Lancashire continues much t he same as previously re
of s upply and demand in the economical sense, for t he
p orted. In the locomoti ve and ra il way carriage and
demand is great, and stoppage cuts off the supplies
The prop:>sed g reat boycott of British shipping, in wagon-b uilding branche~ a considerable quantity of
most needed.
the ports of Holland, Denmark, Sweden . Norway, and new work is continually coming forward, and estabsouthwards in Fra nce a nd I taly, by the .dockers o f t he lishments are so full of work that there is employThe coalowners might, no doubt, h ave summoned t he N~th~rla.nds, is doomed .to fa ilure , a~ every righ t- m ent for all engitged for the next yea r. And still
whole of the men, individually and collectively, at thmkmg man w ould desire that i t should be, and orders com e in, bu t e!l.rly delivery is out of the
once for breach of contract in absenting themselves as every well-informed person anticipated i t would be. question. A good d eal of the n e w work is on Colonial
from work without legal notice, and t h ey might have It was from t he first a monstrous proposal as impoli tic account, for the Cc~.pe and Sou t h African m ilitary
entered an a ction against the whole of the m en who as it was unjust. The idea waCJ not that of trade railways, and a furth t r batch of orders for steel
signed the circular. At a m eeting held at Cardiff, the union leaders pure a nd simple, but of political aa ita- w~gons is expected. Boilermak et s are well supplierl
Monmouthshire and South Wales Coalowners' Associa- tors who desired to make some politicd capital o~t of J vn eh work ganerally. E lectrical engineers a re still
tion w er a in confer ence for several hour.:~ discussing the it. The idea a ppea rs to have arisen and been fostered very busy, but new work is not q uite so pressing in
Machine-too! makers compla in
si tuation, namely, "the action of the miners' l eaders in as a retaliation u pon us for the war in South A frica. some departmen ts.
bringing about the sto ppages of the collieries, wi t h the It is not difficult t o u nderstand t hat Dutchmen feel that they are com pleting ord ers in hand, and tha.t
view of r estricting the output a nd p reventing a fall in irritated, even vengeful in this m atter, as t he Trans- t h e new work coming forward is no~ sufficient to
The textile machine-making
market prices. " The r esult of the proceedings, which vaalers are of Dutch nationalit y. But what has that r eplace them fully.
were private, as officially com municated to the press, to do with Danes, Swed es, Norwegians Frenchmen branch es a re still very q uiet, many firms b eing .sh ort
was the following r esolution : "That such action as a nd Italians ? Some of the dockers of Antwerp, Am~ of wor~ . ~her e are no materia! signs of improvethe Association are advisE:d be taken against (l) the sterdam, and other p orts may have been fascinated wi th ment In thts d ep artment of engmeeri og. The iron
individua l wor~men, or some of them ; (2) the men the idea, but would it n ot have b een a bad return for trade cont inues slow, only hand-to-month business.
who ~igned the notices calling t he men out for the the supposed b~nefit the dockers d erived in those ports P:i~es r~main una ltered. a s re~ards quotations.
holidays; and (3) the South Wales Miners' F ederation from the Enghsh dock ers in their labour struggles? Fmtshed 1ronmak ers a re domg a fa.1r amount of work
and the Miners' Federation of G reat Britain. That a I t is a strange comment upon the doctrine of the and are well off for orders.
-committee, consisting of the owners' side of the brotherhood of man preached by Socialists, and of the
There is n. rumour, a ppuen t ly well founded, that
Sliding Scale Committee, be h er eby appointed to act doctrine of the solidarity of l abour preached by trade
for the Association in the conduct of E:uch actions as unionists. If such a boycott could take place, which, the master builders are contemplating a reduction in
t.h ey m ay be advised to take. " The action t a ken, in the face of commer cial t reaties, is more t ha n doubt- wages in ma ny districts. The trade unions are on
whateve r i t may be, cannt.:>t fail to be of vHa.l import- ful, those wh o would suffer most would be the workin ()' th e a lert, and i t is exp ected that meetings will be
ance to working m en. If they invite litigation, they classes of the ports boycotted, a nd t h e countries j~ h eld and proteshtions made aga inst any attempt to
m u st abide the results. There has been a rumour of which the ports are. This is another of the wild reduce w ages. Notification of reductions h ave, it is
a lock-out as the result. B ut this would aggravate ech emes into which some of t he labour lead ers of the said, been addressed to t.he building trades of Birmingham, to b e followed by si milar notices i n other c ?n tres.
the sit uation . Coal w ould become scarce and dear; present day have blundered.
the men wou ld gain no ad vantage, an d the public
The Spanish Government h ava in t roduced a BtU
L abour r eports from the N orth of England indic.1te
would s uffer. Workmen would be wise in leaving
m a rkets and prices to take care of themselves. Their a fear that depression in the shippiog trade is in pro- dealing with strikes, and t he relations generally be
l eaders a re not able to control supplies and prices, spect. The rates of freight are low, a nd the time is tween employers and work people. I t proposes to cre ate
approaching when the B altic por ts will be closed. A s arbit rat ion courts to which all such questions shall
bu t they ma y be able to r egul!l.t e wages.
yet the number of idle st eamers is small, but some a re be referred. I t will be interesting t o watch the proA co mpreh ensive and valuab la p ap er on "Trusts only busy in connection with the war in South A fri ca., ceedings in connection wi th t hat measure, and to ascer a nd British Tra de " was read la.st week before t he at the end of which many, it is exp ected, will be idle. tain what it intends, and how it will work practically.
Political Economy Circle of t he National Liberal C lub, F or the present, h owever, the number of seamen
At great meetings of colliers h eld on Saturd ay last
by Mr. Robert Donald. The "Circle " is not devoted unemployed is not large. I t is feared that next year
to p9.rty politics, but ig regarded as an educationa l in- will be a dull one in the shipping trade. Coal-mine rs throughout a large portion of the Sout h Wale~ coal
stitution inside the club, at the meet ings of which in Durham and Northumberland a re busy; indeed, districts t he men generally supported the action of
papers are r ead by experts, whatever their polit ical in Durham they are busier than they were in the the Operatives' Section of the Sliding Scale Comconv iction s may be, or to whatever party they may be- summer, in spite of the coal tax. The import!l.tion of mittee. S )me of the sp eak er s rather hinted that a.
long . W ith the qu estion of t he right or wrong of tru&ts, Canadian iron is reg!l.rded as a possible factor in co m- dispute next year, or at latest in 1903, was ineYitable,
and they said t hat they were n ever better prepared for
as such, we have h er e nothing to do ; it is too vast p etition in t he iron trade.
it t han n ow. Does n ot that imply a determination to
-and complicated a subject to be discussed in these
It is repor ted that the T udhoe Iron \Vor ks will be a nticipate events because the exchequer is full ? The
"Notes." But t he curious thing in the discussion on
the paper was tha t two of the principal speak ers rather cl osed at the end of th is month. They have been in policy seems to be a fateful one, and may be disastrous.
w elcomed trusts in relation to workmen's organisations , existence for nearly fifty years, and one of the earliest The e mployers have, i t is reported, taken out some
but from totally opposite standpoints. One, a leading of t h e Bessemer con vert ers was there erected. It is 700 summonses, probably as test cases. If the d ecision
socia list of the D emocratic party, hailed them as a hoped that the work s are only to be closed for a time, is ad verse t o the men, there is no r eason why t he whole
means of breaking down commercialism, and thus of in ord er to be remodelled , but some fear that they will should not be simila rly treated. The action of the
p aving t he way for a demo cratic revolution. "Ruin be definitely closed as metallurgical works. I t is said leaders is very much open t o question on all points.
trade unions," he said, "and t h en the p eople will that the cost o f production is too great for manufacture
At the recent municipal elections tte working classes
r evo lt." The oth er welcom ed trusts as a means of put- to be profitable. :M oreover, there has been a tendency
have in some cities and towns been very busy in t rying
ting an end t o trad e u nions, which h e d eclared were of late for the blastfu rnaces to go eastwa rd. Three
t o extend labour representation, and not without some
useless from a n economic point of view, and disadvan - other firms h ave, i t appears, gone in that direction ;
s uccess. In Bradford, Yorkshi re, they have been
tageous. He declared t hat they did not materially it is thought p ossible t hat the Tudhoe works will
la rgely successful, a nd also in somQ other towns to a
follow,
under
t
he
same
company.
But
the
closing
of
affect wages, for if t h ey had never existed, wages
lesser degree. Fair wages, shorter hourP, b etter con
such
works
means
great
privation
in
t
he
locality,
for
a
would have gone up just t h e sam e by r eason of demand
clitions of employment, and better homes have been
time
at
least,
and
t
he
inhabitants
feel
uneasy
at
the
for la bour, and the generous ins tincts of employers.
the rallying cries, sometimes with good effect. B ut
prospect
of
furnaces
out
of
blast.
Working men have strange advisers at times. If they
what of West Ham? 'here, i t is sg.id, the rates amount
go astray, there is some excuse. But deep distress,
In the '\Volvubampton district the iron a nd e,t eel to 50 p er cent. on the renhl.
cau sed by whatever means, and violent r evolution to

..

:.

N ov. 8, 1901.]

s;on:
y

1~

G I N E E R I N G.

GAS-ENGINE RESEARCH.

TABLE I.- 0 T rials (ste page 666).

------C lear 1
ance
Stroke
Vol. in V?l. in
U t tes. Lltre~:~.

tb~v1~~~:3~!hN~~esi~ 1~gtxnd on pages 664 and 665.

0;~pleting thi~ :::or~~

APPENDIX IV.

W. B unsT 'LL M b
.
B trmmg
bam U ni versiby.
a.
'
e m er of
,
(Concluded front page 631.)
FREDERIO

667 the diagrams,

66.,

G AS-EN GINE RESEARCH.

R cpo1t to the Gas-Engine Research Oom:rnittcc *

rofes3or

pages 666 a.nd

- - - : - - - - - -T ABLE VIII.

C learaoce Surface. Compression .

Ra.Lio :
Clear . Vol.
Oy lr. Vol. T otal. J aoketed . Abso
lute.
-

sq. cm.
,0 ,

Bo~rJ'6fMAL m vestigabion b~ been conducted by the

Q)

----

e~

Q) ~
Q) .

-8~

til

Gas per Hour.

eS

lb. p er I ~

kg. p er
1 852
fi. 5 !2
sq. c m . eq. in .
0 3
-------..:.:.
:..:.-l_~..:1.:.:.:
1lo~~o:..._:._~
103_1>_.:._..:...
6.~
51
03

BOILE~ E ..: PLOSION AT GORTON

...
.0
e:3

sq. c m.

a.. C:
CII Q)

Q)

- -1 -

T AB t.J:D 1I.

c ub. ft.
139
136
123
107
105
96
81
78

lt1:(
3.91
3 82
3.49
3.03
2 97
2. 72

- -- - - -1---

.r::
~ 0
1- - -

1.00
34 3
1 30
17.2
26.3
Trade, u nd er the Bmler E xplosions Acb 1882
2
26.1
.99
82.5
1. 23
17. 3
3
25. 0
32.1
.05
1.22
18.2
A~ril 25g::~het~o~k:~~a~heexGplos~oC
n
which o.ccur;ed o~
Revol~tions
per
Explosions
per
Per
Cent.
of
T
es
t
No.
4
22 2
.84
rea.u entral Ra1lway Com
:30.7
1.17
20. 4
lt11
oute.
Minute.
I
Full
Power.
pany, G orton, near Manchester The Co
. .

5
22.6
.86
28.6
1.09
20.0
Mr. H oward S mith a.nd M J H H mmiSstoners wet e
6
22.8
.87
30.3
1
1.15
19 0
108.7
06.2
06

7
2.38
20.7
. 70
34.1
2
1.29
app~a.red for the Board ~f Trade ~~dtt.M MrR~ough
21. 9
197. 0
06.4
08
8
2. 21
22.7
.56
~8.0
1.44
a
19.9
200.8
05. 1
barr1ster, for the ra.ilway company a'nd for M r.Th ot es,
95
4
199.6
Sl6.3
works mana.g~r, and ~Ir. J. H., Thompsonr. boilrn ~y,
OJ
6
198.8
90. 1
100
spector, b<;>th m t heir e mploy.
,
er In
T AUI.F; IX
(l
194.4
94. 1
97
7
b ~In opemng b_h e proceedmgs, Mr. Gough stated thab the
201.6
92.;
Ol
8
I
o~ er m quest ton was one of the type known a~ a ohimne
202 2
88.0
O.ilories
88
Weight

Air
b01ler. The shell was 30 ft. long by 5 ft 3~ 1 d 1" Y
Exhaust R t>jected
of Air Weigh t of Air+Gas
T e3t
T J\.BLE III.
Gas p er
per
TemT ernto
p
e
r
meter, composed of. 11 belts originally ~~ in~ thi~k.
No.
E
xploExplo
perap era
Exhaust
Explo

was one of two hollers employed for workin a. steam

----SlOD.
si on.
tu re.
tu re.
p er ExCompression.
sion.
Suc
,ion
ha.mmef, hthe pressure being GO lb. on the square fncb The T~ 't Suc tion
plosion.
nm
Tempera
No.
name o b e maker and the date of make were unk~own
P ressure.

tu
re.
P ressure. I Tempera- PVn = Oonst.
kl(.
kg.
d eg. C. d eJr. C.
In 1_887 a new flue was added, a.nd in 1888 the lowe; _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _
calories
1 t~e_._____
1
.00418
.000300
.OO J67
15
992
1.09
port~on of the shell plates was renewed. In 1899 further
2
.00429
.000376
.<'0467
16
067
0.99
}(g. p er deg. Cent. kg. per d eg. Cen t.
repa.us were maqe, the ~op end plate and the upper belb
3
.00430
.000347
.00174
16
907
0.99
eq
c
m.
s
q.
cm.
of the ?Pta.ke, wtbh theu angle rings being renewed a.nd
4
.00470
.000297
.C0500
15
877
0.99
1
1
0
155
0.45
420
1.
3&
0
6
the b01l~r was tested by hydraulic p~essure to 100 lb er
.00483
.000283
.00611
15
857
0.97
~
10
1:>1
6.43
412
1.317
6
.00501 .000273
...I 9"
.00528
I
15
Nluare mob, and by steam to 70 lb . The two b~il~rs
0.91
1.0
1t3
6. 73
430
1.380
7
.00514
.000242
. 00538
15
817
0.94
os. 13 and 14. were bot.h ab work on April 25, and both
4
10
130
6 43
378
1.347
8
.00521
.000234
.005!14
16
757
0.86
5
1.0
120
6. 59
had ~~en exa.mmed pre Vlously and reported to be in good
877
1.364
6
1.0
113
6.09
317
cond1t10n. On nhe morning of the date named bhe pres1.307
7
1.0
94
6.62
328
1.367
sure wa.s up to 60 lb., a.nd at ha.lf-pa.sb ten the furna.oema.n
TAilLE X.
8
10
78
fi.81
:l27
I
1
38~
opened the d oor of the furna.oe of No. 13 to look ab the
heat. It ~as op~ned only for a few seconds and then
Jac ket TemperaLure.
TABLE I V.
Heat Given to Jackets.
~losed, and1mmedta~ly afterwa.rdsbhe boiler exploded, the
T est

mberna.l flue collaJ?Smg from end to end, a.nd rupburin .

Number .
d
m

"
' 8 eS

Exh
nust
.
co
o
0
c:
84i
...
8"'
Per
Through t~e openmg~ thus formed . the steam and wat~r 6:;::1
:3 1-o
:3 ...
Iolet.
0
Outlet.
:;::1~
Per Cent.
Q)8 Q)
c
~
0
Explo&ion.
esoa.{>ed With grea.b Vt?lence, wreokmg the brick flues and z
8~
SP.. . 8 - s:~. I
- II .;

m
1:1 "~ - d
f:
-><Q)
8 ..
"' -:3><8
hea.tmg furnace, ~urling the debris in all directions, and CIIQ)... )( Ill
P
t
es- eS
"'cv:l
Tempe"'
...
d eg. Cent. d eg. Oen t.
ell
::I
calorie@.
"
...
o
:-1
"'..C
"'
~
:3
:;;j
o..
.._,
A
so sevE-rely scaldmg the furnaceman that he died the ~
:a ... .....
s ure. rature.
=a
~Q)
1
18
64
1.41
41
2
sa.m~ day. A coroner's inquest bad been held, and a
-17
] .33
65
40
kg.
per
d
eg.
C.
kg.
litres
p
e
r
deg.
C.
3
kg.
p
er
18
verdtcb re.turned to the effecb tha.b the death had been due
66
1.29
42
q. c m
eq.
cm.
s
q.
om.
4
1
7
64
.97
37
to an. a.c01denb. ~ su rveyor to the B :>a.rd of Trade had
1
11.75
1749
2.36
2.96
4.69
6
902
1. 413
18
62
.90
36
exammed the _holler a.f~er the collapsed flue h ad been
2
2.36
14 39
1677
2.93
067
6
4.65
1. 395
16
66
.88
37
removed fo~ h1s convemence, and he found no evidence
a 17.32 1677 1.99
2.83
7
007
4.41
1. 382
16
61
.64
30
12.32
4
2.60
1480
2.85
of overheatmg from shortness of water or from scale.
4. 25
877
8
1. 4116
16
68
.66
26
6
11.72
1331
2.67
288
857
1.
3.09
332
The safety valves were found to be loaded to a pressure
6
11.75
122!
2.4l
2.78
797
3.82
1. 307
of ab<;>ub 66 lb. p er square inch, and the steam gauge was
0. 66
7
2.98
l lM
2.98
St7
3.73
1. 299
TABLE X I.

practtcally corr~ob.. Some defectiv~ riveting was found,

8
2.85
9. 20
977
2. 93
3.33
757
1. 204
and although ~hts mtght ba.ve contl'lbuted to the severity Test
Te mperature a t End of H ea t Lost by Res idue at
of . the e.xplos10n, the Board of Tra<ie engineer did not
T ABLE V.
N umber.
Adiabatic Expansion . Exhaust per Explosion.
thmk bh1s had been the cause. From ca.loulabions he bad

Q)
I.H.P . D H. P.......

made he had found tb~b the flue. had lost ibs cylindrical
e o
g::S
m"'
deg. Cen t.
calories
Q) Q)
5
()'
0~
form, and tha.b the boiler was bemg worked with a. very . oc
1
.. z
1872

0.060
- 0
-i:IQ)
g

Mean P ressure, ~:3

~

...
oi
""
.
2
~~
small factor of sa.fe~y, so tha.t a. slight distortion of the ~ ......
Q) Q)
s
1302
eS -O
0.045
Q) Ill
Q)(/2
Gross.
CGI
s:
...
f
~
.....
p.a..
Q) a: 0~
3
1247
..
eS
0.060
flue would really brmg about a. collapse.
~ ><
......
ue
o
.2eS
Q)
"'
111:3
oo
0 ~ . .... ;"!:
Q)~
4
1142
0.046
::a
;:t:l
:::d .... ~ ~ ~~ ~
1tfr. J. G . R obinson, L ocomotive Superintendent to the ~ ~s:l.
o6
1002
0.050

G reat Central Railway Company, gave e vidence as to the 6

897
0.040
kg.
per
kg.
p
er
kg.
per
'
lb.
p.
ge!leral system of inspection and working adopted. The
7
89i
0.060
~q. 10.
sq. c m . sq. c m. sq. C'm.
bo1let:S w~re nob in~ured, and he thought for this type an 1 06.2 66.7 4.60
8
'i12
0.070
0.12
4.67
5.27 3.03 4.04 3.0l 0. 77
examma.tlon four t tmes a year was quite sufficien t. Since 2 06.4 64.7 4. 56
4. 44
0.11
6.10 3.87 1.16 3.10 0 so
the explo3ion he had, at the request of the Board of 3 05. 1 62.7 4.41
0.12
4.29
4.93 3.68 3.84 2.86 o. 78
TABLE X li.
06.3
60.4
4.25
0.12
4.13
4.81
3.69
3.48 2.60 o. 72
Trade, test ed the sister boiler No. 14, and in tba.b case 4
66.7
0.11
3.88
3.99
4.66 8.47 3.66 2. 73 10. 79
th~ tube collapsed at a pressure of 245 lb. The two 6 ~9. 1
94. 1
64. 3
3.82
0.1 2
3 70
4. 21 3.14 8.17 2.37 0.76
neat
b::nlers had been worked under the sa.me conditions and 67 92.
dia
Work
H
eat
to
Heat
to
Ra
5
53.0
3. 73
0.13
360
4.03 3.01 2.46 1.83 10.61
Ex
Test
per
Ex
Jac
ket
Exhaust
tion
as ba~d as each obher. Witness ha.d nob gone inb~ the 8 88 0 47.3 3.33
rcer Total. pended Balance.
0.14
8.19
3.4 3 2.66 2.06 1.63 0.60
p
No. plosion. p er ~x- uer ~x- E x 0
quesh on of whab was the factor of s~fety for boilers of
p er Explos10n.
ploson.
sio
n.
T ABLE VI.
this description.
plosion.
- - 1 - - - -t- - __ , __ _
:rvrr. John Timms, formerly foreman boilermaker a t

calorie !calories calories calo n e calories cal ories per cent

Calories
Rat io
Heating
Gorton W orks, ga.ve particulars of the repairs, and said
1
T est
Oas
Air
0.60
1.41
1.00
0.06
3.20
8.43
- 6.7
p
er
of
A'
r
Lo
Va
lue
of.
Gas,
thab bhe work was done in the usual manner and with Number per ~x plo per ~xplc
0.0 6
2
0.67
1.38
0.00
2.90
- 9.1
3.30
Lit re of
a
.ts
Calo~es
8\0ll.
SlOD .
the ordinary material.
2.94
0. 06
3.06
3
o.55
1. 29
o.99
-3.6
per Lttre.
Mixture.
4
0. 64
0.97
0.09
0.06
Among other witneeses examined was Mr. William
2.60
2.62
- 0.6
5
0.50
0.00
0.97
0.06
2. 48
2.49
-0.4
Thomley, bhe works manager, who said they had no obber
li t re
lit res
6
0.48
0.88
0.01
0.06
2.37
2.39
-08
6.0
6. 0
0.833
0.687
3.41
1
boilers like the exploded one-. The authorities at the
2.17
7
0.47
0. 64
0.94
0.06
2.14
+ 1.4
0.
662
3.60
6.
2
6.0
0.806
2
works thought the horizontal boiler was better and more
8
0.42
0.66
0.86
1.96
0.06
2.07
-6.3
5. 0
0.611
3
68
5.8
0.736
3
economical He had no very definite theory a.boub the
n.O
7.3
0.03
0.623
3.83
4
explosion; he supposed there musb ha ve been some weak
0. 562
3.94
79
5.0
0.490
6
T ABLE X III.
pJace in the boiler, but they ba d nob been able to fi nd it.
6.0
0 623
4.G9
8.6
0.481
6
9.8
6.0
0.463
0.427
4.10
Tht ra wa.s, be thought, no e vidence t o show tbab the tube
7
6.0
0.443
10. 3
0.413
4.25
8
Weigh ts.
was nob of cy lindrioal form ; and his information was that
Energy
Nos. 13 and 14 boilers were both alike. They ha.d been
of
T ABLE VII.
Total
Ex
C harg e
doing the same work since 1887.
.S
uc
tion
C lear WelJtht T empe haust at Ex
Test

Mr. J. H. Thompson, boiler examiner, said that

... Q)
ance per Ex rat ure. T empe- ba ust
Air
Gas
No.
...- <IS
d

although he ha.d noticed pitting in No. 13 boiler, it was 8

Q)
o:J
rature. pe r Exper Ex per E x Re&idue plOlliOn.
<
Cl
c,,
<Cl
d
0

:3

nob of a character which, in his opinion, called for any

0
plosion.
plosion . plos ion. pe r Ex
...Q) 0Ill
0
z

~
0
Ku.
special attention. There was very little scale in the

plosion.
p,.
...
0
0
g
8

I
..... 0
Gl
eS
:G
8
-boiler.
"'
p,.
eo a.
...
~
eS 0...
0
kg.
kg.
deg. 0 . d eg. C . calories
kJr.
k~.
After some contradictory evidence a.a to \Vhetber the ~ ..c 0
lx::
~ .... ~
~
0
992
155
1.14
1 .00418 .00039() .00082 .00689
--
safety valve wa~ blowing off or nob on the morning
1.1862+ .00011 0
161
967
1.12
2 .00429 .000376 .00080 .00647
.0720
6.66
6.
7
6.84
0.82
1
10
78
of the explosion, Mr. W . G. TrowelJ, engineer-surveyor
907
143
1.04
3 .00489 .000347 .00088 .00562
fi.98
6.00
6.0 ,. 185~ + .000 ll5 T .0718
2.
00
10.30
2
to the B oard of Trade, gave details of the examination
877
1.03
130
4 .00470 .000297 .00088 .00588
6. 7 . 1834 + .000112 T .0716
6.66
6.80
0.12 4.12
3
857
120
1.93
he had mad e of the exploded boiler. In hie opinion the
6 .00~ 83 .000288 .00093 .00604
7.0 .1807+.000108 T .0710
ROO
7. 74
7.92 7. 14
4
797
113
.95
6 .00601 .000273 .00089 .0(1617
cause of ~he explosion was the distortion of the flue.
8.7 .1798+ .000106 T . 0709
8.67
8.76
6.94 8.12
5
,
94
817
1.06
.00614 .000242 .00117 .00665

9.3 .178 4+.00010! T .0706

9. 31
From the a ppearance of the flue after the collapse he
6,...
9. 20
9.89
6.4i
78
757
1.01
.00621 .000234 .00148 .00687
8
.0704
11.0
.1764+
.000101
T
10.88
99
1
11.11
6.
69
10
I
could not form any conclusion a.s to bow long this dis12. 6 .1760+. 000099 T .0701
tortion ha.d existed . It mighb have been caused by - 8 4. 72 12 46 12.60 -12. 66
eborbn~s of water or by the accumulation of scale. There
was some defective mveting, but he did not attribute the measurements generally, the flue had not deteriorated 1 the previous witness. In his opimon, even if the tube
explosion to thab. After bhe explosion bheflue was cub oub beyond wha t mighb be Axpected after 13 or 14 years' us3. had been of good form, a pressure of 40 lb. should nob
and holes were drilled bo a.ecertain bhe remaining thick- The opening of the furnace door might in tbie case have have been exceeded. as againsb 60 lb. with ohe tube not
ness, a.nd the mean wa.s found to be H in. Taking the done harm, a~ it set up a particular strees which would nob truly cylindrical. The distortion might have been graocour in a boiler of the ordinary type.
dually increasing for a. year or two, or ib might have
~Jr. William Harris, senior engineer-surveyor to the happened within a week or even less.
the
Institution
of
Mechanical
read
before
* Paper
Board of Trade a.b Liverpool, confirmed the evidenc9 of
This concluded the evidence, after which Mr. Gough
Engineers.

. h

---

It _

Cl)

~~~

..... ~

Cl)

-..

Cl)~

..

Cl)

rJ}

..

..

Q)

-------~~~~~--~~~----------~~---------------

E N G I N E E R I N G.

[Nov. 8,

1901.

GAS -ENGINE

RESEARCH.

(See P ctge 663.)

APPENDIX V.
T aDI..E I .-D T rials (see page 666).
C learance
Vol. in
L\ ' res.

___,____ ----

5. 522

0.25

1550
TABLE

M1uue
199.0
196.7
199.1
20!).3
202.0
202.6
200.7
200.2
200.5

9.t7
9. 3
98.0
96.6
95.1
95.0
92.7
93.7
92.9
96.4

3
4

5
6
7
8
9
10

8 92
8.1.-.2
8.70
8.70
8 85
8.b6
8.36
8.82
8.72
T ADLE

..

Ql

..,

Ql

<1S

...

..

,J:J

SQ)
~

e~

z..,

....

eO ..

CD

~~

Ql

1
2
3
4
5

6
7
8
9
10

Cl)

xG~

8~
~~
8s:lo

~><8
_ceQI
o;:a8

litres

2.09
1.63
1 .98
2.07
2.09
1.99
2.17
2.12
1.99
1.97

Pressure.

Temperat ure.

kg. p e r
sq. om.
2.73
2.65
2.83
2.90
2.89
2.76
2.86
2.72
2.7a
2.66

deg. C.

TABLE

...

Q)
,J:J

Ql

CD~

8 .2.9
~

~
Cl)

Ql

f-4

- ..
~::s

p.Q)

~s:lo

1 92.7
2 92.8

a 98.o

4
5
6
7
b
9
10

..

06.6
96.1
95.0
92.7
93.7
9l.9
95.4

s:2

M ean Pressure,
Gross.

s:2
~0

o.Ql~
a.. o
~
ooo

...
0

.. ..,

Ql

QG>
aS ..
GI::S
:-;am

Inlet.

0.648
O.ij24
0.579
0.6b3
0. 529
0.479
0.4 57
0.425
0.418
0. 392

kg. per
&q. cm.
4.10
4.21
4.86
4.47
4.36
3.99
3.88
3. 70
3.63
3.34

I.H.-P.

Q) ...
Cl)

Ql

s:lo

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

9.32
9.02
8. 1U
7.90
6.93
6.61
5.76
5.28
5.19
4. 59

4.71
6.32
6.92
7.4?.
9.09
9.96
10.94
,11.93
,l1.80
12.90

Qa.g per Hour.

4JJ,.
" 0
CD,e

s:2
0

- ..

s:20
~ 11

..>

6
7
8
9
10

- ...
0~

..

~
.J:JCDO
0 ~~

..;u b. tt.
115
112
109
104
98
91
85
80
79
75

m.
a. 26
3. 17
3.09
2.91
2 77
2.58
2.41
2.27
2.24
2.12

B.H.-P .

o ..

l b. per kg. per kg. per kg. per

.iq. Ul sq. c m. sq. cm. sq. cm.
3.98 .J .4613.33 3 . 71 2. 77 l) . 83
0. 12
4.10
58.3
4.09 4.57 3.413.412.540.75
0.12
4.21
59.9
4. 24 4.96 3. 70 3.80 2 .84 0.77
O.ll
4.35
61.9
4.35 5.08 3 . 7 9 3.71 2.77 0.73
0.12
4.47
63.6
4.94
4.88 3 . 64 3.51 2.62 0. 72
0. 12
4 36
62 0
3.~7
4.453. 3~a 10 2.a1 o.7o
0.12
3.99
66.7
0. 13
3.75 4.21 3 1 .J 2 . 91 2 .17 0 . 69
3.88
55 2
t .06 13.0'3 2.81 2.10 0 69
0.12
3 5~
3.70
52.6
0.12
3.51 3.94 2 .94 2.70 2.01 0.69
516
3.63
3.22 3.71 2.77 2.37 1. 77 0.64
0. 12
3.3-l
47.5

addrePsed the Court on behalf of the Board of Trade, and

submitted various questiono on which judgment was
desired. Among these questions were whether the
boiler was fib for a workmg pressure of 60 lb. per
equare inch, whether it ha.d ever been condemned,
whether proper mea.sures were ta.ken by Mr. Thompson
and Mr. Tbornley, whether the explosion was caueed by
the neglect of both or either of these gentlemen, and,
if so, was the Great Central Railway Company liable for
such neglect ?
.
Ab the inviba.tion of Mr. Howard Smtth, Mr. Rhodes
addressed the Courb in defence of the Greao Central Railway Company. He urged that t~e explosion was an
accident which reflected no blame e1ther upon the company or their servants. The inquiry had, he thought,
arisen out of a Rbatement made by a. witnees at the inquest
to the 6ffeob tha.t the deceased man had said some time
before his death that the boiler had been condemned.

6.7
7. 0
7.7
8. 1
9.2
9.7
10.8
11.0
11.9
13.4

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

.1834 + .l00112 T
.1827+ .000111 T
. 18 ll + .000108 1
.1804 + .000107 T
.1785+ .000105 T
.1778+ .000103 T
.1765+ .OOOIOL T
.1756+ .000100 T
.1756+ .000100 T
.1745 +. 000099 T

.0715
.0713
.0711
.0710
. 0707
.0706
.0705
.0702
.0702
.0700

..,~

Q)~
Q)o

G~o

,.,. .
o..-. ..

~~

- ...

25.7
24.4
2UI
20.5
20.0
20.4
20.1
19.7
20.0
20.2

0 s::~.II:

.98

30.9
32.7
28.6
28.1
27.9
29.2
29.1
28. 6
29.2
3 l.6

.s-a

.83
.78
. 76
.77
. 76
.75
. 76
.77

lX

k~.

.000J29
.000324
.000295
.000289
.000275
.000255
.000244
.000229
. 000227
.000211

.00488
.0051 13
.005Ol
.005 27
.00525
.00542
.005 49
.00&51
.005.~s
.005.51

8
9
1U

~~~
0

...

-0

~-

8 s::~.::::: ~
.0

1.17
1. 24
1.09
1.07
1.06
1.11
1.10
1.08

1.11
1. 20

Cl)

z..,

-8~
aS

.!dii
...
o><

oZJ

cu
8

J.os:l

QIQI
.c
8 -0

~~

....

t s:2.

s::l.o

QIO

.,eo

c.
aS o x

.... .I>Q

~d~
~"")

calorie oaloried

1
2
3
4
6
6
7
8
9
10

18 1
19.1
2 l. 2
22.1
22.7
22.3
22.7
23 1
22.7
22.5

s:;~.l=l
0

8p

Caloriea
0.02
0.01
0.02
0 01
0.03
0 02
0.03
0.03
0.03
O.Oi

0 51
0.53
0.5 l
0 56
0.55
0.60
0.49
0.46
0.45
O.H

1.09
1.18
0. 8 '
0.91
0. 77
0. 80
0.66
0.60
0.61
0.62

~
0

...

cu

s:;l.

<D

o. ... CO

Q)

...... o
~~c.

~ ~~

..,0
c:S~

c:Sasx
QI.Q~

....-ox

-.....

C~t l o ri e

calories
0.96
0.93
0.99
1.05
0.98
0.9 L
0.92
0.86
0.81
0.71

0. 06
0.06
U.06
0.06
0. 06
0.06
0.()6
0.06
0.06
0.06

Q)

..,cuo
aS 'g
G>GIX

c.

c:S
0

"0 ~

Cll~

;l.
....

Xll.

,.,

. ...

><

--- - - - - ------

~ '""~

calories c alorIes
2.64
2.85
2.7l
2.77
2. 46
2. 54
2. 59
2. 54
2.39
2.42
2. 29
2.24
2.16
2.14
2. 01
2.1.'2
1.96
1. 99
1.75
1.84

s:2
cS

c:S
~

p. cent.
-7. 4
- 2.2
-3.5
+ 2.0
-1.2
+ 2.2
+ 0.9
-0.5
-1.5
-4.9

TAnLE

- ---

deg- . c. deg. C.
15
862
15
822
15
872
15
887
15
842
15
777
15
787
15
749
15
702
15
637

Ill

,J:J

HPat Loa~ by Residue at

Exhaust per Explosion.

692

-- - - -TABLE

43
33
36
32
36
31
30
31
28

68i

..

Ill

XLrr.

Weights.

...
.c
sc

Culoriea

Q)

Weig ht

Rt-j~Ctt:d
Weight
of
Air
+
Gas
A
lf
Exhaust
of Air
to
Gas
per
pe
r
Tem
pe
Tempeper Ex
Exhaust
Explosion
Explo
s1on
ratu
re.
rature.
ph. s ion .
p er
Explosion
kg.
.00455
.00471
.OOH4
.00!98
.00498
.00617
.00525
. 00528
.00535
.00531)

6
6
7

...

""cS~
CD
.,.aS

- ... ::::s
.Ocuo

Cl)

cuGI'
...
.!d.,

0~ ...

~
.J:JcuO
~ s::l.~
0

38

XL

d ejl'. Oent.
1062
1047
1047
J072
1(){12
877
797
707

2
3

.., .

eo""

'
T est
No.

calories
1.09
1.18
0.84
0 9L
0.77
0.80
0.66
0.60
0.6L
0.52

Temperat ure at End of

Adiabatic Expansion.

!:!:::

~q.

.. ~ - ~
o o - as

~~ ~ ~

VIU.

'fABLE

1.34i
1.338
1.324
1.327
1.3!.7
1.291
1.251
1.245
1.230
1.199

G~""
.,.cS

Cl)

Gl

..,

<liS

cu

6. 70
6.95
7.69
8.20
9. 30
9.99
10.94
12.10
11.93
13.5 L

<l~

s:2

6.75
6.96
7.70
7.96
9.0l
0.42
10.75
11.68
11.88
13.37

Te3t
Number.

deg. Cent.
65
62
62
64
e6
fO
61
66
63
64

VII.

Per Cent.

.1$

~0

..,

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

--

deg. Cent.
12
12
14
15
H
H
16
15
15
16

1
2

Per
Explottion.

Outlet..

'J)

~QI

10.9
11.7

T ABLE

V.
Cl)

Qoj'
cea..
Ql~
:-;am

862
822
872
887
842
777
787
7.J9
702
637

Q~

ca,rfl
._
m
~~

...

Ql

Q)

Ql

Cl)

Exhaust.

8 .....

10.;

... = IrJ ;. I....

< ~c
0
.. 0
...G> .!a 8 ...... 0s
..... ...
s:lo
aS ..
0
P! ....
~
s:2

G'J

IV.

Ql

e
::I
z..,

1
2

Ql

i>

Q)

1.345
1.364
1.357
1.349
1.349
1 .359
1.345
1.345
1.357
1.360

8 . s:lo

:-;a8

kg. per deg. O

Eq. cm.
13.60
1437
18.28
1509
1442
14.80
14.41
1454
1372
14.05
1245
13.81
12.18
1145
11.85
1094
1023
12.60
12.00
~97

..

4152
468
44 6
429
406
409
373
359
360
32 7

""'s:= I

,J:J

P V" = Const.

~e
G>QI

-a
X
aSQI

...

91
93
9i

~.66

143
140
132
128
115
110
98
Si
81
69

4.86!
4.864
4.b6l
4.973
4.97e
4.978
4.978
4. 978
4.978
4.978

Heat Given to Jackets

Test
Number.

TaBLE

de g. c.

kg. per
sq. cm.

6.5
6.8
7.4
8.0
84
9.4
9.9

T ABLE

9~

I
T emp era
tur e.

- -- -

9!
93
96
94
94

nio

deg. C .

litres
3.71
3.84
3.87
4. 06
4. 06
4. 22
4 28
4. 3 l
4.36
4 32

X.

Jacket Temperature.

113

IlL

P r essure

l.tre
1).580
0 670
0.520
0.510
0.485
0.450
0.430
0.403
0.400
0 37L

1
2
3
4
6
6
7
8
9
10

Compression.

Suction
Tempera
tu re.

kg. per
sq. cm.
1.00
1.00
1 .00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1 .00
0.95
1.00
1.00

P e r Cent. of
l~'ull P\>wcr.

Minute.

20~.0

S uction
P r essu r e.

I . .

II.

TAD LE

905

T ABLE

Calories
Air
Heatimr,
Test
Ga9 per per lxplo- Rat1o: ALr Value of Oaf
per
N umber Explosion
Litr~ of
sion.
to Gas.
Calo~ies per
L1tre.
Mixture.

kg. per lb. per

~q om. Pq. in.
8. 72
124

&~volutions per I Explosions p e r

1
2
8
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Test
No.

eq. cm.

cm.

Te3t
Number.

Ahso
lute.

Tota' . Jac k eted.

PQ.

1.389

-----

Clearance Surface. Compres&ioo.

Stroke
Ratio :
Vol. in Clear. Vol.
Litres.
C3l r. Vol.

VI.

TABLE

~
Cl)

Ql

calories
0.96
0.93
0.99
1.06
0 98
0.91
O.Q2
0.86
0.81
0. 7L

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Energy
of
.
ExCba.r6'e
S
t
l
U
C
IOD
h
.
t
Cl~arTota.
at ExTempe
aus
Air per Gas per a nee Weig bt. rature. Tempe- haust
Explo- Explo- Residue
rature. per Ex

S10D.
b10D. per Explosion.
plosion.

kg.
.00455
.00471
. 00474
.00498
.00498
.00517
.00525
.00528
.1)0535
.OU530

--

kLf.
.(.00329
.000324
.000295
,g00289
.000275
.000265
.000244
.000229
.000227
.OOO!ll

k~r.
. (00~00

.000304
.0004:15
.UOO~i6

.t00505
.000483
.Ol0578
.00082!
.000763

.0ouao I
-

--

kg.
de~r. C.
.005?28
143
.0053 4
140
.00547
1a2
.00554
128
00576
115
.00583
110
.00607
98
.)0633
84
.0063 t
84
.0066 l
69

de~.

C. calor ies
862
0.91
822
0 86
872
0.95
887
0.99
8:12
1.0l
777
0.87
787
0.93
749
0 91
i02
0.84
637
0.79

But ib had never been condtmr.ed ; if i~ had, the com- , consider t~ab he had ha? sofficienb experie~ce to be enpany would at once have ceased to " ork 1t.
trusted With the very 1mp:>rtant duty of mspecting so
M ~. Howa d Sm.ith remarked tba~ be was sure the mar;ty of the rail way company'd boiler3.. The .firdt examiGrcao. Cent~al .Railway Com;pa.ny would never work a nat10n Mr. Thompson had mado of thts pa.rucd -.r boilE>r
def c~1ve bmler 1f they knew 11'.
was on December 27, 1898, when he reported that its con
Mr. Rhodes, c mtinuing his. defeno~, I;>vinted out. that dition ~as ~oo~, an~ ~hat ~he working pres.Qure was 60 lb.,
the company had bad the b01ler pf nodwally exammed, for whtcb, m b1:! op1u1on, 10 was fitted. He did nob ao
once thoroughly, and thre~ or f~ur. time3 partially, every tbab time tbitJk io n~cessary .to gauge ~he flue. Ou
year, and bad taken what m thf:'Ir Judgment were reason- March 3L, 1899, he agam exammed the boiler, and again
able precautions to insure the t:!a.fe working of the boilt-r. reported it~ condition as good. In September of that
The Court then adjourned until the following day, the ye9or he re{>orted that the first ring of the flue was pitted,
Commissioners meantime visiting the work:! and making and this p1tting he nott:d in J a.nuary, April, J unf:', and
an examination of the exploded boiler.
~eptember, 1900, record ing the resulw of his txaminations
On the reassembling of the Cour~, M r. Howard Smith in a register kept for the purpose. The examination on
gave judgment. He reviewed very carefully the evidence June 7, 1900, was a thorough one, and Mr. Thompson had
which had been tendered as to the construction of the told the Court that he then f0und that the pitting had
boiler, the system o~ working and inspection, and the SO';Dew~at increased. He then gauged the Eecond and
cause of the explostoD. Mr. Thornley, as the works thud rmgs of the flue and found that they were nob
manager, was responeible for the upkeep of all the materially out of shape, being only about i in. out of
boilers at ths Gorton W orke, and Mr. J. H . Thompson form. If he had found distortion existing to the
wa.s responsible for their periodical inspe ction. Mr. extent of ~ in., he would have called the attenThompson was a boilermaker by trade, and had served tion of the works manager thHeto. The Commishis apprentir.eship as such. He began his career at the sioners were of opinion that the flue ab thab time
Gorton Works a.s a riveter, and then became an insp~ctor was not substantially oub of form. The last examinaof boilers, 116 boilers being under his care, includmg 26 tion he made was on December 26, 1900, when he reported
at those works. On this point it might be observed that thab there was pitting on the first two rings. No inquiry,
albhough he had been described by Mr. Thornley as a however, seemed to have been made by the works
thorou~hly practical boiler maker, he had had no training manager or by a.ny other responsible person as to the
in the mspection of boilers other than what he had picked extent of that pibbiDg. It was rather a matter of surup when effecting repairs. He, no doubt, knew some- prise to the Courb that some such step was nob taken,
thing about his duties, but the Commissioners did nob for when an inspector of a. boiler reported in that way,
1

...

Nov. 8, 190I.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.

GAS -ENGINE

665

RESEARCH. (See Page 663.)

APPENDIX VI.
Hoat Additions

- ...

. . G)

11)

.c

P!

ES

dlo~
~o

9.8

c1

11.0

0.929

0.42

1.19

10.8

0.36

.., .!3
.. c.
o ::s o
CA :;;

-O.R02

1.04

Cl)

I- 0.958
I 0.616
I

aSc

fh::

0.626

~
G)~ ~
t:.o
.. B
CQJ

0 ~

.9 .

11)

CIICO
.C!:Il Q

0.289

Con During
Test btlu t Volume During CompresNumber and Constant Exp!l.nsion

HOD.
Ptessure.

eO

cso :;

0.534

Durio~

::s

.......

oOO

0.626

0 594

-c.,

m -..c

0. 568

Heat Given to J aoket

~ bD

0. 807

1.120

~b.O

~ CiH~

1.829
-

b.O~~
CQ1eaSc

..,.CQ1

t:rl

B7

D7

0
0
Q1 ~Cl)

Q)o

10.3

Ao

~c

Cl)

.. c
aSo

~~
..

I QGI
~~
O a..
As:l.
.!dB
.., o
oO

g~

.....

.s

~x p os~on.

'0

'0~

.6J
Cl)

c;

Q1

~~
aS

sa
eA

~~

~0
'Cp.

~ ~~
-..,.

<ee&.
E!3

as Q1
m

ass

..

Oal<nies per

APPENDIX I X .
E xperinnents on T ilme of JNrilng Charge.

0. 278
0.308

0.303

0.851

0.33

0.06

0.87

0.83

0 37

0.33

0.02

0.68

0.77

c1

0.53

D7

07!

0.384

0.01
0.02

11)

Ratio of
Jacketed
Clearance Surface per
Volume to
Cent. of
Cylinder
Clearance
Volume.
Su rface.

.c

8
::s

-......
aS

A'i
B9
C7
D8

0.57
0.4 6
0.34
0.25

.c

C.,;>

-tiJ ...:>
8

0 0

Cl.

Cl)

Q1 ~

:.:;a

o ..s:l. ..Q)~ -~

o- 1
4.86
6.30
8.44

--..
8

-A 7

GO.._.
Q1

Oas. Cubic
Feet per Hour.

11.11 10.6
11.73 11.4
10.99 11.0
11.93 11.9

Com pressioo.

Suction.

Dro

0.73

0.66

E xperiment on Temperat'lllre duri ng Compression.

99
90
94
84

336
328
369

-as:....

Pow&R.

0 BNT.

1146
1098
1164
109 1

311

Poin t of
St roke.

LroH'l'ING GAs.

()0

Ca>
- Q

aSEod of
.e O
IS
Adiabatic E xbaust. I. H . P. B.H. P. t:Q)~
:;a
Expansion.

mum.

962
852
897
707

1~4

))7
Ds

Point 0 = beginning of com pression.

IExplosiOl
AJ axi-

8.86
3.81
4.03
4.06

867
747
817
749

0.70
0.66
0.61
0.69

2. i2
2.61
2.46
2.81

34 9

-647

33.6
84.1
28.6

647
662
650

Temperntu re,
Jacket Water.

BALA~ OR

HBA'r

PEROEI.\TAGES.

The rmal
Efficiency

Inlet.

Outlet. I H-P. J .1cket. Exhaust.

64
OL
61
66

11
14

16
16

18.9
21.2
21.9
23. 1

29.0
29.0
30.0
30.0

Radi..~tion .

B.H -P.
Total. per Cent.

2.7
3.0
2.8
3.0

49.4
43.2
43.9
42 6

100.0
96.4
98 0
98.7

o.a

0.4
0.6
O.fi
0.7
0.8
0.9

Ratio, air to gas ..

Point of StrokP.

Suction

11.3

11.6

12.1

Test number

x.
12.1

1030
1280
1220
lliO
1085
1030
880
880
750

40

S2

1216
1294
1278
1192
1187
1100
1000
946
890

1840
1290
1250
1200
1170
1130
1000
946
850

48

86

yl

Ratio of air to gas ..

11.8

T Emperatures, Deg. Cent.

1460
1440
1440
1260
1245
!Z46
1070
1030
946

O.f 6
0. 12
0.22
0.33
0.41
0.62
0.63
0.74
0.87

X :"

Point of Stroke.

.. {

Fundamental
inten ra.l

0. 1
(.2
0.8
0.4
0.6
0.6
0. 7
0.8
0.9
Suction

1340
1290
ll70
1070

eo5

840
8 16
816
760

..

y2

y:J

13.6

18.7

0.276
0.251

0.714
0.690

0. 272
0 274

0 69)
Wire broke

Before
After

0.108
0.99

0.262
0.266

0.10R
0.105

0.265

30

1Hl0
1HO
1070
1000
946
840
776
740
675

1100
1100

65

31

Ratio.

11.0

Zo.
12.4

Tt mperalur eP.

Point of Stroke.

10 ~0

14QO
1470
1290
1170
1086
946

1290
1250
1100
1040
1040
946

740
700
61

8:0

{
Fundamental
{
interval

Ice point ..

Test Number.

- -Ratio.

I z2.
12.2-

I
1

ZJ
12 2

Before
After

0.426
0. 422

0.380
0.380

0.478
0.476

Before
After

0.162
0. 162

0142
0.142

0.186
0.186

z4.

Zn.

z7.

12.2

] 2.2

12 6

Za.

-12.8

Zg.

Zto

12.8

12.9

130)
1260
1190
1130
1020
960
860
860
760

1400
1230
1210
1060
910
870
770
790
7SO

8!l

64

Temperaturer, deg. Ctnt.

Point of St roke.

Suction.

840
760

0.1
0. 2
0.3
0. 4
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.8
09

1280
1160
l100
1040
910
870
810
7LO

49

Suction.

87

8SO

(}!.Q

1326
1200
11 20
1010
860
940
S20
740
720

1670
1470
1370
1260
1160
1120
1020
980
890

1520
1420
1870
1240
1130
1100
l OSO
940
900

1660
1440
1325
1220
1130
1070
1000
920
850

1310
1246
1170
1100
1010

41

41

28

42

T HERMOMF.1' RS.

Ice point befor e

after

Fundamental interval
before
..
.
Fund a mental interval
after . .
..
..

1.067 1 .197 Ice point before

Wire
Wir e
,
after

broke lroke
Fundamental interval
.404
b t fore
.090

Fun damentallnterval
after . .

880
730
690

.661
.661

.464
.449

.505

.4H

.'i78
Wh e
brcke

.226

.176

.2e9

.216

.l EO

.197

.239

.179

.216

.176

.209

.784

.734
Wil e
broke

.64 l
.614

.278

.271

.271

. ~34

suo

.44 9

z,., Z11, Zg have long compensators:

0.0272
0.0269
0.0269
0.0276
0.0277
0.0279
0.028L
0.0282
O.G277
0.0271

Indicator Open .

-- deg. Cent. -1190

988

Outlet.

74.2
69.9
59.6

62. 5
68.8
51.2

Heat Radiated Mean Temper Hour.

pera.ture.

Air Temperature.

deg. Oent.
68.3
64.0
56 3

deg. Cent.
16.
16.2
17.0

large calories
436
376
360

Revolutions per
Minute.

0.
8.03

6.31

CO.
0

986
906
760
700
e6o
630

0.05
0. 12
0.22
0.83
041
0.62
C\.63
0.74
0.87

3.702
3 149
2.697

deg. Cent.
1160
939

0. 2 of stroke
0.8
,

180

WrRE 0.0015 IN. IN DIAMETXR (see page 667).

zl .

4.25~

Trial for 00 with Cooled Exhaust.

Thermometers.

Before
After

Test Number.

litres
7.667
7.015
6.463
6.910
6.368
4.806

-r

R'Uliation Test.

Temperatur es, Deg. Oent.

Thermometers.
Ice point

Indicator Shut.

d eg. Oeot. deg. Cent.

Wire 0.0025 In. in Dia;meter (see page 667).

xi.

PV

Volume.

Experinnent Oompa;r-i'fl{l Tcrnperatulres Measured with

Indicator Open am.d Shut .

13.2
14 0
13.4
16.9

Wire 0.0020 I n. Diameter (dee page 667).

G Al.VANOMETER OBSERVATION.

299
307
816
316
32!
334
344
366
317
402

kg. p. sq. cm .
1.077
1.179
1.3ll
1.472
1.676
1.940

2.277
2.716
9.3 14
4.193

OD

APPENDIX VIII.

x.,.
-

Pres3ure.

0
C\.1
(J.2

Inlet.

Test Numbet-.

Temperatu re
Deg. Oeot.
A b~ol ut e .

Lower
Beating
Value of
Gas B.T.U.
per Cubic
Feet.

24 6
22.0
20. ';'
19.7

---

6.83
6.86
5.39
6.2S

B9
c7
D8

99.2
97.3
92.6
93.7

aS

T EM PERATU RES, DKG.

-

206.8
203.6
201.6
200.2

Rat io
Air
to
co., 0
Per
P Pr
per
p er Oo.s.
II. H. -P. B.H -P.
Cent. Oent.

80

s:l.
Cl)
c0

Ol' CHANGE Ol!' CmrPRRSSION.

...Q1

o::S
-c
~~~

o>G)
..
8o cP.
.Q
G>s:~,

3.75

EXHAUST

Q1

ll)~

oo

7l
69
62
68

--

..

C ,

En&cT

Do

0.64

APPENDl X VII.
T ADLE SHOWING

71

12J
124
124
124
lt4

0.76
0.68
0.97
0.96
0.88
0.87
0.86
0.74

8.7
9.8
7.4
8.0
8.4
9.9
10.7
11.7

0.02

--0.03

Firing Point,
Nominal Ratio
Fraction of Stroke.
Air to Gas.

lb. per sq. in .

71

Da
Dot

0.08

Compression.

Bs

B7

0.181

-0. 30~

B7

--

- -

0.4 8

Ao

Me!l.sured

Total.

Test
Number.

.6~<1

they wo uld have thought that at all events the en gin eer
in charge, or some obher responsible person, would have
inquired as to what extent the pitting existed, in order to
know if the boiler could safely be worked at a pressure
of 60 lb. on the square inch. Mr. Trowell had t old the
Court thab boilers of this cla-ss w ere exposed to unequal
strains, caused mainly by the sudd en opening of the
furnace doors, whereby combustion was ch eck ed, and a n
inrush of cold air took place, setting up unequal contraction or expan sion. In Mr. Trowell's opinion the explos ion was due to the distortion of the flue caused by overh eating throllgh shortness of water, or accumulation of
scale, or perhaps by a s udden contraction, hub when that
distortion occurred Mr. Trowell wa.s unable to saywhether eome time before the explosion or shortly before>,
and the Court quite understood and appreciated his
inability to demde that point. By calculations, Mr.
Trowell found that the collapsing pressure of the flue
was a.boub 87 lb. to 90 lb. under steam and 162 lb. under
water, a nd he had told the Court that a distortion of
1 in. t o 1~ in. would be snfficienb to produce a collapse
ab a pressure of between 50 lb. a nd 60 lb. per square
inch. In answer to various questions submitted by the
B oard o f Trade, Mr. Howard Smith said thab the Commissioners con sidered that originally the boiler waa fib for
a working pressure of 60 lb., bub they d id n ot think thab
propeor measures were tak e n by Mr. Thornley bo satisfy
himself that the boiler was being worked u nder safe conditions, at all events recently. In their judgment Mr.
Thompson was nob competent t o thoroughly examine
boilers , ab leasb wibhoutJ some adequate supervision; and
they thought he should n ot have been entrusted with this
duty.
Bes ides this, when pitting was r eported, Mr.
Thornley did nob take any steps to s atisfy himself a.s bo its
extent. The report merely m entioned " pitting; , it
might have b een slighb and immaterial, or in might have
been ~a.vely dangerous . Mr. Thotnley seem ed content t o
p ass 1t over withoub invesbig~t~bion, and in this res pect
they did n ob think he took proper measures to a scertain
whether the boiler was bemg worked under safe conditione. The b oiler was periodically examined by Mr.
Thompson, bub, in the judgment of the Commissioners,
the examinations were n ob properly made. although they
thought he mad e them to the besb o f his skill. The
plates should ha. ve b een dri1led in June or December,
1900, to a scErtain the extent of the pitting, and calculations s h o uld have been made to ascertain the safe working
pressure. It would then have been found that the boiler

666

[Nov. H,

E N G I N E E R I N G.

RESEARCH.

GAS-ENGINE

I 901.

(See Page 66 : 3 .)

Tri.tvt.s C.
)

Tesl Ce

~ ~~~r::---r-;M".hB~47"'~
69~Ki.:::-.--r--~,a~

15

667 lbs. o "

1. P.. 393 Kw.

11
12

200
a I\
~ l ov ~?\+---f-::
5--::2~:....:...._;4--~
160
. 7 JP.

10

~ l'W ~~~-t---1--~-~

M.P. . 4 55 Kc em}
64 7 Us. o "
I. P. 387 Kw.
519 JP.

200

Tesl C4

Tes l C3

10

.15

G04 lbs. o"

200
150

8 ~ 120 ~~nr+::--:.ot=-+-~
~ 100
6
so ~~~~~-r--~-4
c.,
+ ~ 60 ~..&"C;uow,.c,.r..c,.v/~ ~~J-~

5
5

... 40 1-~s;:;"-'~%~~~~

2 ~

20 ~~~~~~~

O +r-r.-,_o-+-r-~~~-+~~

34 CZear-Q
~ ~

CUaJ-

Test Cs.

I
I ~u;e,

I
I

I
I

I
I

50

:\':1 l lettr
: a~

.l:lz

Test Cc
M.P.. 382 J(. .
54<~

15

lb.s.

](}

I. P.. 3 14 ](w.

'

M.P.. 373 ~ . Cnt

53 0 UJ.r. 0 .
.P.- 301 Kw.
403 JP.

0"

Cnt z

100

Test C,

I
I

}.f. P.

333 Ki . cm% :
473 lbs. o"
PV

Z O+_

I
I

Test Ca

PV u s. C

421 JP.

PV

r'

SO

M.P 399 Ki. . mz

56 7 lbs.. a "
I. P.- 347 Kw.

15

50

O'+r~.-+-~~.4~~~4-~

0
34

aear

.so

u;n.ce .
t7DI~') Fercc~e

so

100

qfStroke

50

lOO
I

34Clear -

a:nce

l'era ntage ~(Stroke

Pn,rmtagt

if Strolu

Test Dz

Trf.;aM .D

J.P.. 341 Kw.

~200 ~W!~~f.!:::
P. ~4:;}.J~Og.K.~.~J:...j JS

4.57 JP.
-. -+----1

200

12 ~ 180 1-W~-~~~~-=----~

~ 160 ~~~1.~B~.-~3~33~~
~w
~.--~
1 ~ 140 ~~r-+4
-~_6~
1P.-~~ l
8

Tes-t

M.P. 4'-3
z 1
619lhs.o"
.f. P.. 375 Kw.

M.P.- 4 47 .Ki. .

583 UJs. n''

.,

Test D 3

D 4o

Test D5
2
.P... 436 ]{( .
620 l!Js. a
f..P.. 364 Kw.

636 lbs. o"

J.P- 379 Kw.
508 JP.

:120 ~i?Sf179r--+--+---f--4

~100 ~~~~--~~+-~

6 ~ 80 ~~~Wk-4-----l-=-~
54

60 r=~~~~~~4----l

40

5
5

. 2ob~~~~~

02.5

0
.'Clear-
I hi1'> ~D

'

I
I

I """..._.., I
I

Test De

an.cc

1qo 2,saear. ,

50

50

'

Test D,

~{P.

3 88 /(c . cm1

Test D 8

I
I

I
I

M.P.. 370

071,

I
I

I
I
I

cvu;,e-

50

I
I
I
I
I

I0.00ZfCkar-~

D,

I
I
I

526 Us. o"

MP.- 363

I Q.7tCe.

100

I
I

Test

50

. cmJ
51 6 lbs. a"

I
I

Test

D~

I
I

I
I

M.P.. 334 J on.-2

I. P.. 2 77 Kw.

371 JP.
5

5
5

was nob safe ab a working pressure of more than about 40 lb.

As a. pressure of 50 lb. or 60 lb. was necessary t o drive the
hammer, the boiler would have been useless unless fitted
with o. new flue. As the explosion was caused by
the distortion of the tube, and as they were unable to say how long before the collapse. the . distortion appeared, theY: could nob so.y that 1b ext~ted
to a. material extent 1n D ecember last; the exploston.
in their judgment, was not caused by the neglect of
Mr Thornley or Mr. Tbompson. They must, however,
poi~t out that for some time before the explosion the
b oiler was being worked with a low factor of safety, and
if this had solely caused the explosion, they would have
had to find Mr. Thornley to blame, and seriously to
blame for nob having a.ecertained the thickness of the
plates' of the flue wh~n his attention was ~alled on several
occasions to the pittmg, and for nob h~vmg then ascertained wha.b was really the s~fe workmg pr~sur~. As
the explosion was not.ca.used dtrectly by deter10rat.10n of
the flue the Commiss10ners were n ob able to say 1b was
caused by the neglect of Mr. Thornley or Mr. ThomJ?SOn.
lb followed therefore, that the Great Central Ra~lway
Com pany ~ere not responsible for it, and under the oir
oumsta.n ces no blame would be attached to them, and

there would be no order as bo cost3. Subsequontly the

Commissioners and Mr. Gough expressed bbetr appreciation of the valuable help rendered by the railway com.
pany t o the officers of the Board of Trade in endeavour
mg to a.rri ve R.t the f ~ots regarding the explosion, and
in particular for having, in com pliance wi t h the Board of
Trade's reques b, tested to destruction the companion
boiler to the one that bad exploded.
The inquiry then t erminated.
BELGIAN CoAt-MrNING.-M. Harze, Director-General
of Mines in Bel~ium, has publi~hed his report on B elgian
coal production in 1900. ~I. H arze returns the outpub of
the year ab 23,462,817 tons, of the estimated value of
16,338,792l. These figures represent the hi~hest annual
~xtraotion ever attained in Belgium, and the greatsst
value for any one year. We must, however, deduct from
these figures the consumption ab the mines, and this reduced bhe extraction of 1900 to a. neb total of 21,239,353
tom~, of an aggregate commercial value of 15,637,405l.,
~i ving an average selling price of 14~. 9d. per ton, or
43. 4d. more than the corresponding a.vera~e for 1899.
'be output of 1!JOOwas obtained from 265 pi ts tn op~ration ,
or five less than in 1899. The nurnberof pits in re3erve at the

close of 1900 was 47. while 17 further pits were in course

of development. The number of workpeople employed
lasb year averaged 132,749, or 7491 more than in 1899, 8345
more than in 1898, and 10, 3:33 more than in 1897. A~
regards the increase in the number of workpeople in 1900
as compared wi th 1899, 6.8 p er cent. occurred in the staff
employed below ground and 3.4 p er oenb. in t he surface
sbaff. The number of working days la.sb year is given by
M. Harze ab 300, and ths wa~es paid averaged 3~. 9d.
per day, showing an increase of 18 p er oen~. as com~ arerl
with 1899, 30 per cent. as compared wit h 1898, and
37 per cent. as compared with 1897. 'be capitalists
interested in Belgian coa.lmining realised large profi ts Jasb
year, and their work people naturally reoei ved a. higher
remuneration than in former periods. The aggregate
profit3 of 1900 are reburoed by M. Ha.rze ab 4,068,136l..
spread over 108 collieries. Ten collieries were still worked
last year at a. los3 of 73,330l. There were 27 strikes last
year among B elgian coalminers. Five of these, in which
increases of wages were demanded, were p artially suo
cessfu1. One strike resulbing from the dismissal of a
workman was also succ~sful ; the other 2l strikes
failed. The most serious strike occurred in the Liege
distr iob.

E N G I N E E R I N G.

N ov. 8, I9or.]

.-.

l'H>0
1200

... ~

~"
&VVV

1400

............

'-.

Test Xa

'

,,.o J

:-o-..

..,.,.

'
~

""-L

'

800

--

.... !'-....
'

.... ,,.o

v v

,....

Test X 8

.......

'V

(/3ee Pctge 663.)

RESEARCH.

GAS-ENGINE

.....

Te st X 4

}4()00

1200

!"-... .

, ......o

.lvvv

......

..

-.

'

'

I
I
I

10

}"ll- IV

~~--~--+--4--~

N
(\

lOO

~ JOO~~~f--t--f----1
'i
~

~ 5

\\

03L,------+~--_,..L.-P--r'-J-I--r"'-t....,..-{
1 0
.,

TriAM~s

Test Y1.

"- ~

'

1200

Y.

) 400

j ",..,:,o

rvv

v vv

I
I

.......

........

Y3

~
I
t

0 I'

........ .

llo...

I
I
I

Test.

I
I

5
I.
(1082 N}

03~
I
I
, ---------~-+-r~4-~o-+-r4-~
l o

~~7-------_,~-+-r~~
. ~-r~4-4l
1

:Percoddge-

Of Stroke

Test Z,

Z.
Test Z!\

Tri;a,~s

Test Z2

Percm;ta,ge of StroJu

' 1oo' '

37 Cliar-

arue.

'

so

Perct:~e-

1 0

of Stroke-

THF: HACKNEY MUNICIPAL ELECTRICITY

WORKS AND REFUSE DESTRUCTOR.
THE electric station of Ha.cknAy was opened on
Thursday, October 31, almost exactly a. year after
the laying of the foundation stone. The Provisional
Order da.tes from 1893, when the now separated
parishes of Stoke Newiogton and Hackney were still
united, and was obtained at a cost of 12ll. odd. When
the Hackney Vestry had become the administrative
body, a large number of municipalities, comprising
D.>ver, Bedford, Portsmouth, Oldham, Leeds, Southampton, and also Shoreditch and St. Pancras, were
vidited by the committee to {)t udy the problems of
electric lighting and refusedestruction. The committee
havin~ in 1897 resolved, on the motion of Mr. John
Vl . \ biter, that the vestry should itself put the E lectric
Light ing Orrler in operation undl r its own direct control, Mr. R. Ha!llmond, M. l ast. C.E., of vVes~m in ster,

f0

wa~

l 0

'

so

I IlO

requested to advise the committee, a.nd he submitted in March, 1899, a scheme for the establishment of electricity supply works in conjunction
with refuse destructors. The scheme was approved of,
and Mr. Hammond was appoioted consulting engineer, l\1:es~ r3. Gordoo and Gunton, of Finsbury, being
appointed architects. Low-pressure continuous current is supplied on the three-wire system, at 240
volts for lamp and 480 volts for motive power.
The works have been erected on ground adjoin
iog the L eg, Cd.nal, and are situated at the lower
end of Millfields road, Lower Clapton ; the freehold
site, of about five acres, has been acquired for
SOOOl. The whole scheme will cost about 285,000l.
it is estimated. The situation is very convenient, as
coal can come up the Thames and t he Lea Canal ; a.nd
there is ample room for further extension. The building', erected by Mr. J. Greenwood, of Arthur-street,
London Bridge, form a ha.ndsom~ block of brickwork,

'

50

100

so

'100

,....

"b

=-'')~

with red and malin brick facings and stone dressing.

The engine-house, 130 ft. by 50ft., is designed in bays
wit,h a.roading, the walls being lined with white crystopal tiles, the dado being of ivory-white glazed bricks
with chocolate band. This building can accommodate
a 6000 horse-power plant. So far, two 500 horse power
Willans and Robinson en~ines, and two 1000 horsepower engines of Messrs. Bellis and Moroom, of Birmingham, have been put down ; one of the former was
running on the 31st ult. with direct exhaust. The
engines are all of the vertical type and will be connected with condensers, situated on the same floor,
the pumps being on a lower level. The dynamos a.re
supplied by Messrs. Holmcs and Co., of Newoastle-ouTyne. A 15.ton crane, made by Messrs. Higginbott om and Manoock, of Manchester, spans the fine hall.
The distribution cables a.re laid in stoneware and iron
troughs filled with compJund. The switchboard, by
~1essrs. F~rra.nti and Co. , LimitPd, of Hollinwood,

668

E N G I N E E R I N G.

has been placed in a gallery, and faces the two large

generator sets ; the twelve feeder cables start from the
oack of the panels. The b3.ttery, of 2800 amperehours capacity, come3 from the Tudor Accumulator
Company, London. The British Insulu.ted Wire Company, of Prescot; Messrs. Johnson and Phillips, of
Charlton ; and Messrs. Chamberlain and Hookham, of
Bir~ing.ham, supplied the wiring, the arc lamps, the
testmg mstruments, and the meters. The electrical
outfit of the works is due to Messrs. Marryatand Place
of L')ndon. There is one condenser, by M:essrd. Cola:
Marchant, ani Morley, of Bradford, for each pair of
engines. The water-cooling plant and the cooling tower
have been constructed by the Klein Engineering Company, of Manchester; the feed pumpg by the Worthington Company; two of the pumps are driven by electric
motors, two by steam. Steam will b3 generated in six
Ba.bcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers, three of which
are placed in the boiler-house.
The other three boilers belong to the refuse-destructor plant, which MeRsrs. HugheCJ and Stirling, of
London, will have roady by next spring. It is to burn
160 tons of refuse in 24 hours at a temperature of
2000 deg. Fahr. The garbage will arrive in tip-carts
on an inclined approach in front of the building, and
will be t9.ken up from pits by bucket chain elevators
and distributed from bins of 200 tons capacity over the
hoppera, which are carried by brackets fixed to the
fronts of the twelve furnace cells. Tbere will be four
furnaces for each boiler, and steam is, with the aid of
reducing valves, to be raised a.t a. constant pre3sure of
250 lb.
The smoke stack has a height of 200 ft .,
and 9ft. internal diameter. A Green economiser has
been installed.
For private lighting, 4d. will be charged per unit;
for motive power, for which there is at present little
demand, 2d. Meters will be let a.t a charge of l s. per
quarter, and the free-wiring system h'l.s been adopted
for the benefit of holders of short leases. The Borough
Council will provide and fix the wires and fittings,
charging a rental of 5~d. per lamp per quarter for any
lamp of any power up to 50 candles. "Free wire"
consumers will be g iven the option of purchasing these
wires and fittings on reasonable terms.
The opening ceremony waCJ presided over by the
Mayor of Hackey. At the banquet which was given
by the consulting engineer, the a rchitect, and contractors, in the Hotel Cecil, Mr. Robert Hammond
occupied the chair.

NOTES FROM JAPAN.

(FROM OuR OwN CoRRESPONDENT.)

NOTWITHSTANDING what I wrote in my last notes,
the loan by the Russian B1-nk to the Tokyo Street
R3.ilway Company did not come off. With the prospects of a rice harvest at least 10 per cent. over the
average, a nd a generally better feeling in business
circles, shares are beginning to harden ; Japan rail ways
are quoted at 72. 95; Kiusbiu ditto, 53.85; Tanko ditto,
77.80; and Y usen Kaisha (Japan Steamship Company), 75.60.
In Yokohama exports exceeded the imports last
month by 5~ million yen. The total amount of exports
being from this port 10,633,936 yen, and the imports
4,884,445 yen for the month, the principal items
being :
Exports.
Yen.
6,590,09!
Silk
. ..
. ..

386,774
Waste silk
.. .

2,422,456
Ha. bate silk
.. .

3!0,167
Silk Ha.ndkercbieh

449,186

Tea
. ..
. ..

17,160

Cobton yarn ...
.

427,997
.. .
Copper . . .
. ..

I rnports.
Cotton . . .
...
. ..
...
...
369,807
Rice
. ..
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
166,901
Sugar
. ..
...
...
. ..
.. .
2, 397,1 57
K erosene
...
...
...
...
894,7 18
Cotton yarn
. ..
. ..
.. .
. ..
459,704
...
...
...
...
17,911
Crepes ...
Wool
...
...
...
..
. ..
206,394
Metals . . .
...
...
. ..
.. .
1'38 258
Piece goods
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
20 l, 341
The metal market is still very dull, and importers
have very large stocks , while t he retailer is much
overstocked, Next moo th, after the rice is har\ested,
is looked forward to with much hope by metal dealers.
The surplus rice ought to put something like 50,000,000
yen into circulation. It is generally supposed that
50,000,000 yens' worth of 5 per cent. Government
bonds have been sold at 90 per cent. of face value net to
America. It has been talked of for some time, and it
looks as if the transaction had at last been settled .
This money will all be wanted by the Gover~me~t to
carry on public work; .and. as a g reat deal of 1t wd.l be
spent in the co~ntry, 1t wtll. put a lot of money 1nto
circulation, and Improve busmess generally.
Though for the month of September the exports exceeded the imports for Y okohama, yet for the whole
country the balance of trad e was against J apa.n to the

extent of 2! million yen, the whole foreign trade for

the month being: Imports, 23,630,567 yen; and the
exports, 21,3t2,914 yen.
Japan deserves a few years of commer cial prosperity,
as she has had a hard time of it lately ; and I am sure
she really has a prosperous future before her.
Tokyo, 0Jtober 3, 1901.

THE MEROADIER MULTIPLEX

TELEGRAPH.
THE following is a translation of a note presented to the
Aca.demie des Sciences by M. Mercadier, professor a.b
the Polytechnic School, and inventor of the telegraph
system be9.ring his name :
'' It is known that by means of various arrangements (the
apparatus of V an Rysselbergbe, Ma.iche, Ca.ilho, Picard,
&c.) placed in parallel on a telephone circuit, i b is po~sible
to send simultaneously into the circuit telephone signals
and signals from ordinary t elegraph apparatus, suob as
the Morae, Hugbes, &c.
''This result depends on the difference in the properties
and effects of continuous currents and those of the undulatory currents produced in telephonic apparatus. This
must also hold good for every system of telegraphy other
than a telephone which employs undulatory currents for
the formn.bion of signals-a~, for in~tance, the system of
multiplex telegraphy which I descri bed in the Oornptes
Rendus, in the A 1-males T eleg1aphiques of 1898, and in
the Journal de Physique of 1900 (ENGINEERING, June
28, 1901), in which the signal~ result from the employment of undulatory currents produced by electric
tuning-forks.
"In fact, I announced as certain the possibility of employing simultaneously, in the same circuit, the multiplex
telegraph and an ordinary telegraph. I have recently
been able to verify this very completely.
"In the month of July last, whilst making trials with
the multiplex telegraph on a cirouib from Paris to BJrdeaux, and whilst utilisin~ one of the arrangements above
mentioned (that of M. Catlho)it was found that we could,
during whole hours, transmit and receive telegrams in
the multiplAx undulabory current syfltem by several
operators (as many as twelve at one time) and during
the same b1me, without bhe opera.tora even perceiving it,
transmit and receive, with n. Morse apparatus, a Hughes
apparatus, or even a Baudo~ with four keyboards, obher
stgnals, service messages, and telegrams, by employing
continnous currents.
"This result was obbained, nob only in bhe terminal
stations ab Pt1.ris and Bordeaux, but also in an intermediate station in the s!Lme oircuib established ab Tours.
"These experiments have fu rbher presented no difficulty, nor have they necessitated any modification either
in the ordinary telegraph apparatus or the multiplex
system. Their importance from the scientific point of
view, or from that of the intensive utilisation of telegraph
wire systems will be immediately evident; for on the
one hand, they show that in a single point of a metallic
circuit, it is possible at one momenb, and wibhoub confusion, to cross as many as twenty-five sim ultaneous
electric movements, a remarkable experimental confirmation of the mechanical law of small movements; and, on
the other hand, that either between two terminal stations
connected by a. oircuib of 700 to 800 kilometres in length,
or between intermediate stt1.tions inserted along the
circuit, it is possible to excbange more than 1300 telegrams of twenby w0rds each in an hour, of which 900
can go either way.
"To give a simple idea. of the rapidity of transmission
that can be thus obtained, it is only necessary to say thab
the text of a page of a large newspaper, such as the Temps,
which contains about 9000 word~, could be tra.nsmioted
from Paris to Bordeaux by the multi{>lex system alone,
employing twelve transmitters (cuttmg the text into
twelve portions), in the space of one hour only ; by the
multiplex and a Ba.udot with four keyboards, working
simultaneously (cutting the text into sixteen parts), in
about half an hour; and, further, during this same halfhour the station ab Bordeaux could transmit to Paris by
the multiplex, with the same apparatus, a text equivalent
to a half-page of the sa.me newspaper."

[Nov. 8,

1901.

b:>ilers working at a pressure of 160 lb. per square inch

supply the necessary steam. Notwithstanding the un.
favourable state of the weather and the heavy sea prevailing a.b the time, a satisfactory trial was effected, and a
speed of 11 knots attained.

--

The s.P. Mira, which has been Luilb for MessrP.

Be~sler, Waechter, and Co., of London, by Messrs. 0. S.
Swan and Hunter, Limited, of Wallsend-on-Tyne, was
taken to sea. on Thursday, the 31st. ult., for her trial trip.
The ~lira is a steel screw steamer of the following dimensions : Length over all, 355 fb. ; beam extreme, 47 h. ;
and depth moulded, 29 ft. 1 in. ; aLd she has been builo
to carry oil in bulk. For this purpose she is divided by
an ath wartship bulkhead and centre line bulkhead into
twelve separate oil tank compartments. These will be
filled and emptied by two large duplex pumps. The tanks
have been arranged to carry 5100 tons of oil, a.nd the
vessel will carry, besides her oil cargo, 500 tons of bunku
coaL The machinery has been constructed by Messr~.
Blair and Co., Limited, of Stockton, and consists of a set
of triple-expansion engines, having cylinders 25 in., 42 in.,
and 68 in. in diameter by 45 in. stroke, steam being supplied by two single-ended boilers 16 fo. 6 in. in diameter
by 12ft. long, working at a pressure of 180 lb. The machinery on tlhe trial trip worked without a hitch and
the vessel attained a speed of 111 knobs, which was con
sidered highly sa.tisf.actory.

--

Oa Saturday, the 2nd insb., tbe s.s. T olesby, builb by

Messrs . .Ropner and Son, of Stockton-on-Tees, to the
order of ~Iessra. R. Ropner and Co., of West Hartlepool,
made a. very satisfactory official trial t rip in the Tees
Bay, her average speed being 10~ knots, her engines
having been supplied by Messre. Bla.ir and Co., Limited,
of Stockton-on-Tees.
Messrs. Wood, Skinner, and Co., Limited, succe&-fully
launched from their shipbuilding yard at Bill Quay,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Wednesday afternoon, the 30~h
ult., a steel screw steamer, named the Romsda1, which
has been builb by them to the otder of Captain 0. A. A.
Hirsch, of Cbristiansund, Norway. Tbe principal dimensions of the vessel are as follow, viz. : Length, 280 ft.;
breadth, 39 fb. 6 in.; depth moulded, 21 ft.; with a deadweight carrying capacity of about 3100 tons. She is of
bhe improved smgle-deck type, with short poop, bridge,
and top-gallant forecastle, and is provided with water
balla.sb in the cellular double bottom, all fore and afb and
in after peak tank. ' he propelling machinery has been
constructed and will be fioted by the North-Ea..qtern
Marine Engjneering Company, Limited, ab the Nort~
umberland Engine Workfl, Wallsend-on-Tyne, and Wlll
consist of a set of triple-expansion engines of the improved
bype, having cylinders 21 in., 34 in., and 56 io. in diameter,
with a stroke of 36 in., steam being supplied by two large
steel multitubula.r boilers working ab a. pressure of 170 lb .
per square inch.
THE NORTHUMBERLAND COALFIELO.-There is a. movement among some of the colliery-owners of Northumberland to put down a large power station in the hearb of tbe
Northumberland coalfield, for the purposes of a cheap
electricity supply for lighting, power, and traction. A
syndicate is being formed by the mine-owners and those
connected with mining for the purpose of making an
application to Parliament in the coming se!!sion.

"WATER-HAMMER" IN STEAM PIPE3.-At a meeting

of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
on the 29~h ulb., Mr. C. E. Stromeyer read a paper on
"ExplosionR of Steam Pipes due to Water-Hammers,"
dealing with the subject both from a theoretical and
practical point of view. H e referred to the reports of
the Commissioners of the Board of Trade, according to
which about fifty steam-pipe explosions have occurred
from the above causes during the last seventeen years, and
thab the majority were brought about by the opening of
drain cocks of stea.m pipes in which water had accumulated,
while a few were clearly due to a plug of water having
been shot from the boiler ends of the pipes to the engine
ends. Mr. Stromeyer first investigated the pressure
which is set up when an elastic body suddenly comes to
resb, the solution of which problem was correctly
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.
guessed ab by Dr. A. Ritter in 1889, hub he was
ON Tuesday, the 29th ulb., there was launched the unable to give a proof of th~ pos:1ibility of disconscrew steamer Thespis, built by Me.qsrs. Sir Raylton tinuity of motion, which is part of the phenomena of
Dixon and Oo., Limited, to the order of Messrs. La.mport an elastic blow. This pJint was fully gone into by
and Holt, of LiverJ:>OOl, for their Brazil, New York, and Mr. Stromeyer, a.nd also illustrated by means of
Liverpool trade. The principal dimensions are: 3!l0 ft. an unloaded belie ll spring. Having established this
by 50 fb. by 20.6 H. moulded, and she has a dead weight theory, it was easy to see thab when a.n ela.st,ic prismatic
carrying capacity of aboub 6450 tons on a light draught of body is moving axially, its front surface comes to resb inwater. Triple-expansion engines will be supplied by stantaneously on contact with a.n unmovable obstacle,
Messrs. R "cba.rdsons, Westgarbh, and Co., Limited, of while the more disba.nb parts of the bar come to rest also
Hartlepool, having cylinders 27~ in., 46 in., and 74 in. in instantaneously when the wave of pressure or of change
diameter by 54 in. stroke, provided with steam by three of velocity reaches them. This wave travels with the
large doubleended boilers working at 200 lb. pressure. velocity of sound, and as the tail end of the bar ha.s mainBotb bull and machinery of this vessel have been built tained its velocity ibis quite clear that the axial pressure
under the Special Survey and to take the cl~ific~tion of in the bar is the product of the elasticity of the material
the British Corporation for the Survey and Reg1stry of into the ratio of the velocity of the object to the velocity
of sound. With th e help of this theory it was easy to
Shipping.
calculate the pressure which a plug of water of a given
On Tuesday, the 29th ulb., the large steel screw steamer len~bb travelling a given distance under the influence of
Battersea Bridge, built by Messrs. William Gray and a g1ven pressure Will exerb if brought to a full stop.
Co., Limited, for the Bridge Steam Shipping Company, 'his was illustrated to the meeting by the bursting of
Limited, London (Messrs. Moor Innes, and Co., two glass tubes by means of water-~ammers.. A nova
managers), was taken to t:ea for her trial trip. T.he experiment wns then also made, sbowmg how viOlent are
vessel is 341 ft. in length, 47 fo. i n breadth, and 27 fb. 4 m. the concussions seb up even in a small glass tube if the
in depbh . The engi!les are _of the tripl~-e~pan.sion type, wa.ber which was originally contained therein was drained
having oyhndera 25 m., 40 m., and 65 m. m dtameter by off while under steam pressure. lVIany engineers were
42 in. stroke, and have been supplied from the Central present at the meeting and mentioned some interesting
Marine Engine Works of the buildera. T\vo lar~e st~el oases of burst pi pes.