DEc.

22,

749

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

1893.]
A NEW PERU.

( FRoM A C o RRESPON D ENT . )

gigantic scheme of rail way communication

between the U nited States and the most southerly
Republic of South America has been, for some
years, occupying the at tention of American capitalists, who believe t hat the full letter of the Monroe
doctrine can only be put into practice by binding
together the p eoples of both continents with rails
of s teel over which the "iron horse" may run for
the benefit of all.
Already very large s ums of
money have been expended in reconnaissance, and
a vast amount of information has been obtained regarding territory mu<'h of which was never before
visited by the for eigner.
The reports of the engineers who visited the
different sections of the proposed rail way do not contain, in any instance, an expression of the impracticability, not to say impossibility, of the scheme,
although at many points it has been found that the
construction will be a hard nut to crack, and, consequently, the shareholders will require pockets of
fathomless depth in order to meet the enormous
cost. But even supposing that the railway should
be built, what would be the gain 1 It will
" switchback ,,
form a Brobdingnagi1n
eystem along which the alternating elevations and depressions will, in some parts,
have a range of over 8000 ft., and therefore
pleasure-seekers would have the full benefit
of their money's worth in the shape of
wonderful combinations and changes of climate. Its financial outlook, however, is
different.
The people~ of South and Central America have not, up to the present at least,
depended solely upon the United States
for their trade- either export or import..
Indeed, their ideas in that respect are
thoroughly cosmopolitan, and, in Yisiting
their shops, one sees just as many classes
of goods stamped with European trade-mar'k s
as with that of the American eagle. The
Americans certainly put a lot of goods on the
market, but, with the exception of hard ware
and some lines of cotton fabrics, they do
not even hold their own with England,
France, and Germany. The two latter countries
are well represented in fancy lines which are
ever in demand. The American carrying trade
would need a second Diogenes to discover it, for, as
a matter of fact, a ship flying the stars and stripes
is an object of curiosity.
Of course there is plenty of enthusiasm regarding the project on the part of the different republics,
but when it comes to a question of joinin~ in the
financial part of the pr<"'gra.mme, the enthusiasm
will assume a milder form. What the Republics
of South America want are rail ways that run
bet ween points within their own territory, and
not lines from Chicago to the Antarctic Ocean,
with flag stations at almost inaccessible points
in the Andes. The lines required are those
that will tap the rich districts of the interior, such
as lie in the valleys between the three ranges of
the Cordilleras, and enable the products of such
territories to be conveyed to either coast as the
necessities of commerce may dictate. The Argentine Republic and Chili are engaged in such a
scheme, and, if the money is forthcoming, the
Transandine railway will in a few years become a
powerful rival of the line at Panama. Of the
latter it may be said that the sooner there is an
international arrangement for its operation, the
sooner it will succeed in what it has done much
t owards- killing the trade of western South
America.
But while Chili and the Argentin e are engaged
iu joining hands over the Andes, or at ]east through
them, for many tunnels will be required, their
neighbour Peru is busy scheming out internal improvements, which, if carried out, will raise her
from the dust of the late unfortunate war, and place
her once more in the van of South American Republics. Like most of her neighbours, her finances
are not r obust, but it is to her credit that she is
striving to recoup her losses through peaceful
channe~s, and, if sh e is not disturbed by any
internecine struggles, she will gradually develop
her power as a member of the commercial and political world. The crisis brought on by the silver
question has affected her considerably, but not more
so than any of the other countries that have carried
THE

While this state of affairs exists in the valleys

proper the uplands remain at all tim es a barren
waste ~f sand, because the water obtained during
the rainy season quickly percolates t~rough the
loose soil, and the fine sand is soon drifted about
by the winds in much the same manner .as the ~ry
snow in the north-west of Canada. Th1s sand 1s a
source of great inconvenieJ?-ce an~ trouble to ~he
inhabitants of the tc~blazo Immediately bordermg
the rivers. You may build a house in an apparently good location, but. af.ter ~ few mont~s you
will hardly be able to distinguish your residence
from any of the adjacent sandhills. The fact that
you have erected a barrier to the free course of the
wind will result in the sand being accumulated at
your door so fast that unless you prepare to remove
your goods and chattels to other parts promptly,
you will wake up some morning only to find _that
you are living in a cellar, the ground having attained
an altitude considerably higher than that of your
ridge pole. In the town of Arenal may be seen today a church not only completely enveloped in eand,
but also filled with it up to the rafters, and in the
vicinity are many houses that had to be abandoned
owing to the encroachment of the sand. The same
can be said of many other places in this
department.
Thus the inhabitants have to combat the
MAP OF THE DEPART1f!" OF PIURA.

two great extremes of absolute sterility and

:,
over-abundance of water, which alternate
....
a.t uneven periods, the drought being at
least ten times as prolonged as the floods ;
but, even under these difficult circumstances,
they are able to produce a. fair amount of
cotton, which commands a high price, as
.
it
is
very
white,
and
long
in
fibre.
.
The possibilities of the Chira and Piura
~~'"LfJ....- ...
Valleys are so very great, if the watershed
\
were controlled, and a thorough system of
'
irrigation practised, that the subject is now
- ...
under consideration by several prominent
engineers, who have been examinirg the
SCC H U RA
rivers from their sources to their mouths,
D CS CRT
Sco l tt I 56 mtfe...r.
with the view to the construction {)f such
__.. ...... ....
/,,
works as will render the great tracts of land

t
fit for culture at all seasons of the year. The
land is so light and friable that it would be
worse than useless to cut channels to lead
the CordilleraE~, the seasons are marked by a total the river water direct to the interior portions
absence of rain during periods varying between of the ground. If a channel of, say, 2 ft. be
fi ve and seven years. 'Vhen the period of rain cut, the action of the water soon wears away the
sets in, however, it makes up for lo~t time, and soil, and the property becomes either an island,
the quebradas, that for six years have been nothing because of the river dividing itself, or it is transbut valleys of burning sand, become in the space of ferred to the opposite bank by the stream deserting
a few days the channels of fearful torrents, that the old bed for the new. There is a striking
carry great masses of rock along as if they were instance of this near Sullana, where the cotton
pieces of driftwood. In a journey along the coast chacta is now in the centre of the river. Again, it
some startling effects of the power of the water are will be a very difficult matt r to take, as it is proto be seen. At the mouths of the q~tebradas, posed by some, the water from the river immerocks weighing many tons are piled up in a great diately north of Sullana, and lead it down by canal
barrier, and are cemented together by the clay and along the base of the tablazo, because the owners of
sand that have been deposited in the interstices by the property along the river between the canal
the receding water. To move such masses would inlet and the point where the water returns to the
require months of labour, yet when the rain com- river, strongly object to have their lands deprived
mences in the Cordilleras the wall of rocks is swept of the water that passes a.t present. Pumping by
into the sea as if it was built of cane and mud. steam power has been tried, and was found to be
The writer has seen in the vicinity of Cabo Blanco too costly, but a system of waterw heel is to be
(Department of Piura) r ocks, which would weigh introduced, and this, in places where there is
at least 30 tons, buried in the sand of the beach, sufficient current, will do a great deal to irrigate
and on going up the qHebrada discovered that they individual haciendas at small cost.
had been brought down as much as two leagues by
The map, Fig. 1, on this page, will indicate the
the water, as the same formation was not met with peculiar position of the watershed and its outlets.
within that distance. Nothing can be done to remedy From the mouth, which forms an extended delta to
the destructive influence of the wa.ter from the ce?Tos Arenal, the River Chira normally flows between two
without great E\xpense, but, as the tabla:o or table- low banks, and has an average width of about 250
land is high, it is possible to store sufficient water yards. At Arenal the land rises abruptly on the
in the interior of the province for use during the southern and eastern bank, while on the northern
dry period. This remark refers to the lands ly!ng and w~stern the change of level is very slight, except
between the Chira and Tumbe~ Rivers, which dis- where spurs of the elevated range jut out to the
trict has but a very small population, and that dis- water's edge. During the greater portion of the
tributed according to the positions of small streams dry season the stream is divided up by countless
that flow toward the sea, the greater portion of the sa~dbanks, so~e of which e~tend for upwards of a
territory being a desert.
miJe, but occas10nally-that Is, when there are mists
In the valleys of the Chira and Piura Rivers there in the mountains whi eh form the watershed of the
is the same uncertainty as regards water. During river-the volume of water increases sufficiently to
the rainy season the ri vera overflow their banks, cover these shoals, and the river then aesumes an
and sweep everything that is movable into the impo~ing aspec~, al~hough there is really not
Pacific. 'Vhen the dry season sets in, the people sufficient water In whiCh a hen, sufferioa from acute
hasten to plant cotton, corn, yucas, camotes, and, suicidal mania, could accomplish self-d~~truction.
in fact, all sorts of vegetables, on the ground from
Farther up, the river flows through a definits
which the water recedes, and for two years they channel even when the water is very low, ar.d in
harvest from two to four crops per year, after some places a de~th of four to seven feet can always
which the land becomes so parched that nothing be found. As will be seen by the chart the river
will grow on it .
is fed by three distin<t stnams - the Mac!.l~a, Quiros,
on business on the basis of the white metal. When
the news of the action of the Indian Government
arrived by cable, she suffered a great shock, but the
wise counsel of her Ministers was followed, and the
r ecovery in values was almost as rapid as the decline,
although the former standard was not, nor will it
be, reached. Peru has much to sell, and therefore,
if any scheme is put in operation whereby contracts
can be made for gold or for silver, she will be able
t o hold her own just as well as her neighbours.
The enormous territory that extends from the
latitude of Lima to the frontier of Ecuador and
Nueva Granada, and from the western Cordilleras
to the Brazilian boundary line, is still practically
unknown, and for the sole reason that it is almost
as inaccessible as the African lake regions, owing to
the absence of roads. Of this territory more will
be said later on, as the first object of this article is
to deal with a district but a short distance from the
Pacific coast.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the northern
coast of Peru is the absence of an adequate supply
of water. Throughout the territory lying between
the eighth parallel of south latitude and the Gulf
of Guayaquil, and as far back as the foot-hills of

,-- -

...

EXPOSITION.
OBSERVATION AND PRI\TATE SLEEPING CARS AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN
CONSTRUCTED BY THE PULLDIAN PALACE CAR COMPANY, PULL~IAN,

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U"l

ILL.

(Fo1 Desc1iption, see Page 755.)

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and Somatc- " hich ha\'e numerous tributaries in earth, whi ch holds the major portion until it is This great work, which is but one instance of the
the mountains of Ayavaca and Frias. These moun- evaporated again next day by the action of the skill of the primitive inhabitants of Peru, was
accomplished under a. system of government truly
tains form a spur of, and are overshadowed by, the solar rays.
western range of the Cord ill eras, so that but little
The In cas had evidently studied this question of communistic, and it ehould be a guide to those who
of the moisture-la den air from the east reaches precipitation carefully before locating their wonder - are going to undertake the work of irrigation in the
them, it being cond ensed on the eastern slopes of ful canal between the head waters of the Chira and valley of the Chira., as tampering with the river
the range that marks the western boundary of the Colan on the Bay of Payta, because they selected south of where it is joined by t he Somate can only
Department of Cajamar ca. The supply of water for their inlets the two points Chocan and La result in failure to distribute the water equitably,
to the Rio Chir1. therefore depends solely upon the Solana, wher e they not only secured the fullest and that will mean dissatisfaction, which may be
clouds from the Pacific, borne by the south-west complement of supply, but also the elevation neces- followed by energetic measures of self-protection on
winds which prevail tow11.rd and after sunset, but, 1sary to utilise the force of gravitation. The Rio 1 the part of the various property-owners. A canal
a.s the precipitation rarely takes the form of rain, (they would call a. bucket of water a. lake in these properly located will do much to lessen, if not
the increase of the river volume is very gradual, as countries) Soma.te was ignored by them, and even prevent, the destructive floods that are now looked
the clouds are condensed by direct contact with the , now it contributes but little to the general supply. upon as a matter of course, and even expected,

during the season of rain, and, when the long dry

period has arrived, there can always be on hand a.
reserve of water for irrigation as well as for domestic
purposes.
It will be noticed that all the little p-ueblu~ are
situated imm ediately on the banks of the rivers, but
even to these the water has to be brought on
donkeys' backs, in barrels holding about nine
gallons each, and is sold from house t o house just
as is milk in London. The port of Payta is at
present wholely dependent upon the ra.ilwa.y for its
supply of water, which is brought from Vivia.te, a
station marked on the map as La. Chira, distance 17 miles. It is then hawked about the

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DEc.

1893.]

22,

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

751

OBSERVATION AND PRIVATE SLEEPING CARS: WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE PULL~IAN PALACE CAR COJ\IPANY, PULLMAN, ILL .

.Pig.n.
Partition

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streets and sold at 20 cents per cargo (two barrels,

holding 9 gallons each). Should there ever be a
breakdown on the line, a water famine in the port is
certain, as the supply by donkeys would not be
sufficient, a journey of 34 miles for every 20
aallons being necessary. A commendable effurt
is beina made by the United States Consular Agent,
Mr. J .F. Hopkins, to sink a well for water within
the limits of the town, and, if he succeeds in obtaining a sufficient supply, he will no.t only secure for
himself a handsome return, but will be the means
of attracting to the port of Payta ~he numerous
whaling vessels that now go for the1r fresh-water
supply to Eten and Pacasmayo. However,. if the
irriaation question is solved, that of supplymg not
only Payta, but Piura, which depends during the
dry season upo~ wells only, ~nd the other towns of
the province, will ~ot be a d1fficult ?ne.
.
If the Chira R1 ver system requ1res regulat10n,
that of the Piura needs complete reconstruction, as
the full effects of the prolonged drought are felt in
that valley. The map shows how the watershed
supplying the Piura River is confined to the south-

..
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western slopes of the Altos de Frias, which face an

extensive sand desert. There are many tributaries
to the north and east of the river, but none to the
south and west, the Sechura desert, extending as
far as the Pacific, being devoid of all vegetable life.
The Sechura Indians live mainJy on the coast, and
follow the calling of fishermen. Their means of
existence depend on their harvests at sea, as they
barter their fish at Payta, Piura, and other points,
for the necessary vegetable food. At Catacaos, where
there are other tribes, the hatmaking industry is the
mainstay of t he population. There, what are known
in England as ''Panama hats," are manufactured
in large quantities, and some of them are of very
fine quality, selling for as much as 150 solas- after
t hey have left the possession of the makers.
Sunday is their day of sale, and it is a. wonderful
sight in the Plaza on that day. The mode of
selling is very odd. An Indian will walk up to one
of the buyers, who usually sit on the footpath outside their doors, and thrust a hat into his hands.
He does not open his lips ; in fact, not a muscle of
his face moves, and one could be pardoned for

imagining h im an escaped effigy from Madame

Tussaud's. The buyer turns the hat over, examines
it carefully, and names a price without even looking at the vendor, who remains perfectly silent and
motionless. If the price is not satisfactory he
increases it a little; still no answer. Then' the
price is gradually raised, and when the r~quired
figure is reached a ''Si" is grunted out by the
seller. The hat is then tossed into the house and
the money paid, without another word being
spoken. If the purchaser does not rise to the
amount wanted by the seller, the hat is thrust back
at the Indian, who moves off as before- silent.
One buyer after another is visited in like manner
until all t he hats are sold, and then a large proportion of the money goes to the supplier of the
grass, who gives credit, and the rest is divided up
between solid food and chicha.
The only means of improving the Piura River
system is by curtailing the flow near Yapatera, and
forming reservoirs with proper storm overflows.
A good fall could thus be obtained for distribution,
but the cost would be more than the landowners

752

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

STEAM

BOILER

(DEc.

2 2, I

893.

EX PER I MEN T S.

R ESULTS OF EXPERIMENT No. XVIII.

PARTICULARS AND DIMENSIONS OF BOILER.
Date of Trial:
June 15, 1888.

I
1

Place:
Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
Type of Boilo1 :
Portable boiler, locomotive.
Beating Surface :
Heating surface of boiler

.. .
...

. ..
...

..
...

...

3 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft. 4 in.

. .. 10.5 square feet
...
27.2

No brickwork. Straight
. .. {
through small tubes to
chimney.

...

PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

5.3 hours

Steam Pressure:
Mean steam pressure above atmosphere . . .
. ..
,
absolute steam pressure
.. .
...
. ..
Temperature Fahr. corresponding to this pressure

...

...

72lb.

86.7 "
. .. 317.7 deg. Fahr.

Feed Water:
Temperature of feed
.. .
...
...
Total feed water evaporated . ..
. ..
,
,
per hour ...

...
.. .
.. .

...
...

...

.. .
.. .

Coal and Ashes:

Total coa.l put on grate ...
...
.. .

,
dra.wn ...
.. . ...
...
...
,
used, including ashes a.nd clinker
Per cent. of ash and clinker in total coal used
moisture in fuel ...
... ...

"

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

...
...
...

. ..

would relish. The work in this river is not likely

to be commenced until the Chira improvements are
well under way, and their results noted. It is
probable, however, that a scheme will be proposed
to supply Piura and vicinity direct from the Chira.
To sum up the proposed improvements regarding
irrigation, it can be stated, as a matter of fact, that
the amount of land now non-productive (reaching
hundreds of thousands of acres) will, if brought
into cultivation, pay for the work in a very short
space of time, as the climate is admirably suited to
the production of cotton, coffee, tobacco, and other
valuable vegetables, as will be seen by the following official list of crops harvested from land that is
favourably situated as regards irrigation:
Crops per year.
Sugar-cane . ..
. ..
...
.. .
4
Cotton . ..
...
.. .
...
. ..
2
Maize ...
.. .
...
...
. ..
4
Rice ..
.. .
...
...
3
Ramie ...
.. .
...
.. .
...
4
Tobacco
...
...
...
...
5 to 8
Coffee ...
. ..
.. .
...
.. .
2
Hemp . ..
...
...
...
...
2
Cacao .. .
..
..
..
.. { ;:a~ r~~~~~
P otatoes
..
...
...
...
2
Camotes (sweet potatoe;,) .. .
...
3
Yucas ...
...
. ..
...
...
2
Beans ...
..
...
...
...
4
Cocoa-nuts .. .
...
...
. .. {;:a~ ~~~~d.
(To be continued. )

STEAM BOILER EXPERIMENTS.

No. XIII.
By Mr. BRYAN DoNKIN, Jun., and Professor
A. B. \V. KENNEDY, F .R.S.

E x pe1iment N o.

. ..
...
104lb.
&c.
...
0. 912
.. .
. ..
114 lb.
.. . 261b. ash, 15lb. olinker

...

...

...

...

...

.. .

0.25 in .

...

Kind of Hues and direction of gases

Draught:
Chimney draught .. .

... 285 square feet.

Fluea:

Coal and Ashes-continued.

Total weight of pure and dry coal used l?er hour ...
Ratio of total pure and dry coal to coal moluding ash,
Total coal used, including ash and clinker, per bonr
, weight of ash and clinker
...
...
...

Temperature of Gases :
T~m~erature of furnace gases at base of chimney ...
.. .
. ..
575 deg. Fahr.
Rtse m temperature of ga~es from temperature of air on day, about 515
,

Flregrate:
Dimensions of firegrate . . .
. ..
. ..
Area. of grate
...
...
. ..
..
Ratio of ha~ing surfa-ce to grate surface

Time:
Duration .. .

PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS-cor.tinucd.

XVIII., J une 15, 1888. -

This experiment was made at the request of the

authors at the R oyal Arsenal, Wool wich, by the
kind pe~mission of Colonel English, R .E , and the
authorities.
The boiler used was made by Messrs. Marshall,
Sons, and Co. ; it was of the multitubular locom otive type, and was not new.. Th~ feed water
was weighed in a tank on a weighbridge, but the
gases were unfortunately not analysed. Lie uten1nt-

.. .

...
..

...
...

.. .

...

60 deg. Fahr.
4869 lb.
920

"

616 lb.
...
10
''
.. .
606 ,
.. 4.3 ash, 2.5 clinker
...
2

PRINCIPAL RESULTS.

Combustion:
Pounds of coal burnt per square foot of grate surface per hour ...
,
,
,
heating surface per hour
Transmission of Beat :
Thermal units per square foot of heating surface per hour

...

Evaporation:
Pounds of water evaporated per pound of coal from feed temperature . . .
...
. ..
...
. ..
...
...
. ..
. ..
E}~~h~~ent .~.vapo~~tion .~~r po~~d o~ .~oal ~~~m a~~ at .~~2 de~:
Equivalent evaporation per pound of coal pure and dry ...
. ..
,
,
,
square foot of grate per hour
.. .
,,
,
,
,
heating surface
.. .
Factor of evaporation ...
...
.. .
...
...
...
.. .

10.8 lb.
0.4 ,
3730 T. U .

8.03 lb.
9. !57 ,
10.5 ,
104.4 "
3.85 ,,
1.192

Percentage Balance-Sheet of H eat.

H eat Evolved.

Per Cent.

H eat from pure and dry coal ...

100

------ 1

Total

...

100

H eat Absorbed.

Per Cent.

Heating and evaporating water!

Radiation and unaccounted for
.. .
.. .
by difference . ..

65.2

------------------------------Total

.. .

...

3!. 8
100 0

Colonel English, Professor Dw~lshauvers. Dery, I ment, and 9 lb. in the first. L:1stly, the evapord.and one of the authors, were present.
The boiler tive efficiency in No. XI. Experiment was 70 per
was h oused, but not surrounded by brickwork of cent., and inN o. XVIII. 65 p er cent., or 5 per cent.
any kind, and the barrel only covered in the usual better efficiency with 11 per cent. more h eating
way with wood lagging and sheet iron. Stoking surface, all the oth er results being approximately
by hand was done by the ordinary fireman~; the the same.
The d etailed figures are given in
boiler was not forced, and there was no economiser. the Table annexed. A radiation trial in this case
The steam generated was employed to drive a steam unfortunately could not be arranged for.
engine. The boiler was in regular use at the
Arsenal, and was worked under ordinary conditions, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NAVAL
nothing being especially prepared for t he trial.
ARCHITECTS.
It is not considered necessary to g ive a drawing
(F .n.oM ouR NEw YORK CoRRESPONDENT.)
of this b oiler, as, though smaller, it is similar in
( Contilnued from page 722.)
all respects t o the one illustrated in ENGINEERING
INSPECTION oF MACHINERY AND BoiLERS.
on page 344, March 18, 1892, and was by the
THE " United States Treasury Rules for the
same maker. No time curves have b een ptepared.
The duration of the experiment, viz.,
hours, Inspection of Machinery and Boilers" was by
was rather short, but could not well be prolonged. James T. Boyd, and produced an active discussion.
Colonel English kindly gave the authors every Mr. Boyd demanded a revision. Among other
assistance possible to insure good reliable results. matters, he wished the clause requiring a chief
The gases from the fire went straight through the engineer thirty years of age, and whose service
tubes and up the chimney. Steam pressure was as first assistant had been for five years, in
cases where the engines exceeded 2000 horseabout 72 lb.
The temperature of the furnace gases leaving the power, struck out; likewise that which made
boiler, viz., 575 deg. Fahr., was too high for the most the law apply to b oilers now in service, the
economical working; however, 8 lb. of water were effect of this being to reduce the working presevaporated per pound of coal from the temperature sures 10 per cent. of existing boilers. He thought
of the cold feed. About 11 lb. of coal were burnt the laws and rules should be revised by engiper square foot of grate. As this experiment (No. neers of prominence, one from the navy, one
XVIII.) was made with a locomotive tubular boiler from the revenue marine, one from the merchant
of the same construction as that used in Experiment marine, and one captain from the merchant marine.
No. XI., and as the two boilers are very nearly the He illustrated the defects of the present laws by a
same size, it may be interesting to compare the letter from Mr. J. F. Pankhurst, general manager
chief results. The same coal was burnt, and both of the Globe Iron Works, of Cleveland, 0., to the
were fired by hand. The heating s urface was about Board of Supervising Inspectors, with reference to
11 per cent. less in Experiment N o. XVIII. than the safety valves on the new Belleville b oilers which
in Experiment XI. The grate areas, pressure of the Globe Works are building for t he Great
steam, feed temperatures, and the coal burnt per Northern twin-screw passenger steamers. The
hour differed very little. In the latter test the existing United States rules for calculating the size
of safety valves were adopted in the days when 30 lb.
water evaporated per hour was rather less.
The temperature of the gases and the chimney was considered a high pressure for a marine boiler,
draught did not differ much in the two cases. The and it takes no account of the steam pressure in
pounds of coal burnt per square foot of grate per the boiler. The absurdity of this rule is shown
hour were 10.8 and 12.5 respectively. The thermal by the fact that if the safety valves on these Belleunits transmitted per square f oot of heating surface villa boilers were made the full size called for, they
were very nearly the same ; 8 lb. of water were would have an area 2~ times as great as the crossevaporated per pound of coal in the last experi- section of the main steam pipe, and would empty

5t

DEc.

22,

1893.]

753

E N G I N E E RI N G.

the whole boiler in 17 seconds at 250 lb. pressure.

The sudden opening of so large an exit a.t high
DETAILS oF HoLLOW SHAF1'ING; BETHLEHEM !RuN " roRKS.
pressure is generally c::m ceded to be exceedingly - - - - - - - - - I.,....

...
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Cl.
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dangerous, and q uite likely in itself to cause the
......
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.
s:: C:l:l g.
~ z 8 w
explosion of a weak boiler.
::::>
Q) .... _. en
so~
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a>.....,
'0
........
....
In the discussion, which was extended, it ap
ea .. . ;; c
: oo A 'ag .d
Comparison of Three Steel Shafts.
..s::c ....... ~p.
~ .......
So CJ
c
peared that all present desired a great reform in
WOt- ,..(1) .
~cd
eno ....
...
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.a
Q)
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..s::
s:l
- (") tl
t he existing methods, although they differed as to
0
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cr.x
=
.
.
..
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~
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~
~ ... $
,.~~~g..c
the method to b e employed. The speakers thought
~
~ () - 0
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o~a:l
~ --o a
Case I.
~
o
-AZ
~ p. < ril (/)
there was too much theory, and a number claimed
ea.. .. _..,..
..c. .....
that technical mechanical formuh:e should be ex
13.Z i 3
131.95
cluded, so as to make the rules conform to pro- Arus of ser tions .
..
.
..
..
..
..
..
. . sq. tn .
1354
1346
hts per yard . .
..
..
..
.. .
..
..
..
..
.1 b
gress. The spe:1.kers all scored the present methods Weig
Comp!l ra~he strengths under applied loads 10 flexur e, o r under appho:d
100
in unmeasured terms. Col. E. A. Stevens thought horse-powers in tor~ ion
307
..
..
.
..
..
.
.
t here should be an officer with the rank of a Cabinet Load, in p ounds, at middle of a span of 12ft. oo two suppo. tta, whtch stratns
276,200
89,900
to
one-halt
elastic
limit
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
officer to reprdsent the merchant marine at Wash- Lengt.h of beam on two supports, which is strc&ioed by its own wei~ ht to one
77 ft. 6 in .
121ft. 6 in.
ington. This view was favoured by Mr. Stratton,
half elastic limits
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
.
..
who also thought, and most agreed with him, that Horse-powers transmittEd at 60 revc lutioos per minute whc n strainEd to
15,780
6180
one ba' f elastio limits . .
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
the establishment of a Department of Commerce, of
equal importance with other departments, and including the Bureau of Navigation, the Life-Saving
.
,.... .......
cv:
Cl.
os Q) Q)
s:: ..~ '1j c ~ ..
Service, the Lighthouse Board, Hydrographic Office,
<tQ)P.
os A........ ~
<JS
....J~

...., .0.
.,. m
o Q) s:: ra;! er
Q).....
Revenue Marine Service, and Steamboat Inspection
.... "'j .... .,.., (/)
s () osQ)..
.
.
=
Service, would be productive of incalculable good
.s . -~Q). .
~Cl
:ooA
e-~ -9
Comparison of Three Steel Shafts.
.
,......
eo
~000
....
_p.
to t he merchant marine. Mr. Stratton said that if
....,
-d
.... 'li 0 ....... (/) .
_.,. ....
we...,
.0
QSQS
en
a Secretary of Commerce could, in his official report
Q)::>~..-4~-..s::e
. s:: . e
s~o,..sGIO
fl.) .... gS .... ~g$
to CJngress, give force to recommendations need~
.)dO_:
oc><Q)
o
~ ~::::...., c11 oo.,
;.:: 2 ... er
Case 11.
....s::
~ - - od
ful to a proper conservation and development of
cet.li:cAZ..r. ....
~ Cl.<
ra;! en
our marine, such as is given to the recommenda- - - - - - - - - - - - -
. I
tions of the Secretary of War with r egard to river Areas of sections . .
12(1. 28
120. 17
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
. sq . 10 .
1227
1226
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
lb
and harbour improvements, it would be of g reat Weights per yard . .
strengths under appliEd loads in flexure, or under applitd
value in taking away the appearance of lobbying, Comparative
100
293
horse powe1 s in torsion
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
now so necessary in putting through Congress even Load, which, at middle of a beam 12 ft . in span on t wo supports, cause~
77,500
227,2CO
strains equal to one-half e'a.stic limit
..
..
..
..
. . . .lb.
the smallest measure desired to benefit Americ.1n Len~th
of beam on two supports which is strained by its own wc..ight to one
shipping.
75 ft. 9 io.
115 ft. 6 in.
halC elastic ltmils
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
G)

.~

G)_.,.

~m

~ ~

"'jO~...,

,-4

Q)

..

Q)

QC

ea, -

_..

"'j.oo~

FoRorncs.
The next paper was by Mr. R. W. Davenport,
and entitled : "Production in the United States
of Heavy Steel Engine, Gun, and Armour-J.Il~ite
Fvrgings. '' This paper should be printed in full,
but space does not permit, and the condensation
will of courae only present its salient points. The
author traced the development of forging plants,
stating that five ye:1rs ago the United States had
none. In 1885 the Bethlehem Company, of which
the author is vice-president, decided to establish
a. plant of the firat order. The contract was given
to Sir J oseph Whit worth and Co., and the principal items were : Two hydraulic forging presses
comp~ete. with engines and pumps, one of 1500
and one of 4500 tons capacity, together with two
\VhitwOJth hydraulic travelling forging cranes and
other necessary appliances for each press; a complete fluid compression plant, including a press of
7000 t ons capacity and a 125-ton hydraulic travell ing crane for serving it (the upper and lower
heads of this press, weighing respectively about
135 and 120 tons, were mllde at the Bethlehem
works); some large machine tools, such as lathes
and boring milh, typical of the best development
in their r espective classes ; a] so designs of openhearth furnaces and special tools. These machines
were guaranteed to represent the latest practice of
the Whitworth Company, and this was fulfilled,
although it was erected and put in operation by
the employe~ of the Bethlehem Company, who at
the s\me time constructed a fine plant of four
open-hearth furnaces of 110 to 120 tons, and a
machine shop of grand dimensions, partly equipped
with t ools exceeding in capacity and power any
ever in the country. Preparations were also made
for the production of armour-plate, the U nited
States Navy having decided on all-steel plates.
Although the contract made with theN avy Department did not specify forged heavy armour, yet the
company decided to make it by this process, and
made a. contract with the Creusot Company for
drawings of machinery and full information as to
m ~thods and shop practice, a.s well as the
right to manufacture armour-plates under their
patents. \Vhile the new plant was in general
modelled after that at Creusot, modifications were
introduced, Ruch a,, the increase of the weight of
the hammer from 100 tons to 125 tons, the length
of the forging dies from 6 ft. 6 in. to 10 ft., and
the steam pressure from 75 lb. to 125 lb. The
valve motion was also greatly improved, and
hydraulic travelling cranes used instead of power
swinging ones. Likewise improvements were made
in the bending press ani in the tern pering plant.
In two years and a half after ihe actual work on
the plant had been begun, the first armour-plate
was forged. The result of experiments on the
forging presses led to the construction of a doubleHEAVY STEEL

H orse powers transmitted at 50 revolu tions per minute \\hen strain<d t.o
one-half ebstic l.mits ..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..

cylinder forging press of 14,000 tons capacity, with

pumps driven by 15,000 horse-power en~ines, the
design of Mr. John Fritz, and with Mr. E. D.
Leavitt, jun., as consulting engineer on the pumps
and engines.
The author then divided his subject into the
following heads : 1. " The Casting of Ingots." 2.
''The Conditions of Shaping and Forging." 3.
"Treatm-nt after Forging/' 4. "Introduction of
U ousual Ingredients into the Composition of the
Steel intended to give to it Desirable Qualities."
He considered the best method for avoiding defects
in casting to be the Whitworth process of fluid
compression. He thought uniform heat at a proper
temperatur~ the first requisite in shaping and
forging ; but the next one was the use of proper
machinery. Internal strains and defects frequently
r esulted from shaping with hammers of insufficient
power . Hydraulic pressure of such a character as
to penetrate to the centre and cause flowing throughout the mass, and continued for a suitable time, so
as to insure thorough action, is favourable to the
best results. A similar effect is attained, though
to a. less degree, by the use of a hammer developing ample power for the work, especially if such
power is due to a great weight falling by gravity
only. The author continued :
'' A most important factor in the use of hydraulic
presses for forging is, the ability to produce with
them long lengths forged hollow over a mandril,
and this class of forgings is especially adaptable to
marine shafting and the parts of built-up guns.
"In the manufacture of hollow forgings the conditions of shaping are in all respects favourable to
the production of sound work of the highest quality.
A hole of suitable size is bored throughout the central ax is of the unforged ingot, thereby r emoving
the portions rendered defective by segregation and
'piping,' and disclosing any interior defects that
may not have been removed by boring. The bored
ingot forms a hollow cylinder with walls much
thinner than the cross section of the solid ingot ;
this condition great1y facilitates heating, and practically removes the danger of internal cracking
during that operation. The forging of the comparatively thin walls of the cylinder over a solid
mandril also insures thorough work, and makes it
possible to turn the forging out at a low and uniform
heat, thus fixing a uniformly fine or amorphous grain.
A solid forging, on the other hand, of the same
outside diameter, would be much hotter towards
the central axis than on the outside, and the
gradual loss of this high internal beat will tend to
coarsen the grain by crystallisation and set up
internal strains.
In the hollow forgings any
internal defects show themselves on the inner sur-

12,980

44 30

... Q) .

sP.-~-.a
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CD ...
o .r1
Q) ~ gS('/)00

os

a-

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~~CD

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.

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~

bi....J...

.a-

:::~:.::: o

!t

en

s::"'j Q)g -oo

"'j~ Q)a:
Q)
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p.

280 65
2861
307
276,200
83 ft. iu.
15,780

Q,)

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:ea: < CD..,~Eg

...., Cl.-

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8 ... .c
--a ... - os:
CD

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:',.jf

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c .~

..s:: ....,

0 a) ....
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r:z:l

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"'j~Q)~t-tl,..

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~~

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p.

2i6.34
2513
29S
2'17,200
80 ft. 8 in.
12,930

face, while in solid forgings their presence is hidden

and can only be disclosed by boring.
Hollow
forgings of beautiful appearance and of a large
variety of dimensions are daily produced under
the hydraulic presses at the Bethlehem forge, and
this class of work was well represented in the company 's exhibit at the Chicago Exposition by several
fine specimen s, one of which is a. shaft 20 inches
in outside diameter, 67 fe et long, with a hole 8 inches
in d iameter forged through the entire length. "
After forging, two processes are employed, '' viz.,
annealing and tempering, or hardening, or a conbination of the two. To these must be added surface or case hardening, which, while heretofore
frequently used in the treatment of small forgings,
has recently come into prominence on a large scale
in the application of the Harvey and other processes
to the production of hard-faced armour-plate."
Then followed a description of these procee sea
and their effect.
Under "unusual ingredients introduced for the
purpose of imparting physical qualities," the author
specified chromium, tungsten, manganese (in mol'e
than usual quantities), aluminum and nickel, and
stated some experiments had been made with
copper.
He alAo described the effect of each on the steel.
In regard to gun forgings, he said it r equired all
the resources of the stee1maker to obtain a pet feet
product, a.nd thought a steel alloy would probably
give the best results.
\Vhile chrome had been
u~ed for parts of small ~imensio!ls, he thought
n1ekel gave the best promise for Improvement in
physical qualities. In reg11rd to armour-plate, he
claimed the introduction of carbon by cementation
~nto the face of the plate, with subsequent hardenIngs, known as the Harvey process, had given the
bes~ result~. In respect to marine shafting and
engine forgmgs there was a field for great improvement. He conceded that soft steel had some advantages, particularly when manufactured at forges
where the harder class of steel was not understood
or could not be handled properly, and that it would
bear rougher treatment; it also cost less for machining. Against all this he set the low elastic limit
of soft steel, and attributed many failures in it to
this cl.use. The desire to reduce the weiaht of
parts in the marine engines without sacrificing
stiffness had led ~o hollow forgings. The danger of
too great red uctwn had led to making the axial
holes too s~all to allow of prope~ hollow forging
on a mandrtl, a?d resu~te~ 111 sohd forgings with
subsequent bonngs, brmgmg about a distinct loss
i~ the quality of the metal. The remedy seemed to
him to be the use of a material with a greater
elastic limit and a degree of toughness able to resist

75 5

E N G I N E E R I N G.
PECKHAM'S EXTENSI ON TRAl\IW AY TRUCK.
CONSTRUCTED BY THE PECKHA!\1 !\IOTOR T RUCK AND

WHEEL. C01IPANY,

KING STON,

N.Y.,

U. S.A.

Fig. 1.

F O

Fc.g.2.

6_ ~
0

~~.~IV

I::=

.:

--

~wo

_I;

.--

Pir"

10

(To be continued. )

'

I
LJgg!'O)

-;

"~

I
I

I
I

'I
'

'I

PULLMAN OBSERVATION AND SLEEPING

CAR.

FIGS. 9 to 15, on pages 750 and 751, show the arrange'I r'\

ment of two more of the very elaborate railway

~\\I
~k
p
cars exhibited at t he Columbian Exposition by the

C)
e
llf((
P ullman Company. Both are triumphs of luxury in
lo O(o
I
0
0
railroad accommodation, and, as will be seen from
..,
0
0
0
0
the plan, Fig. 10, there is no crowding possible in the
fi)
0 00
a>
'
''
observation car. One half is arranged with fixed seat s,
t;::
G
)lJll:
~
G
\..
and the other is disposed as a drawing-room, the two
'
'''\,../
b
""
~
compartmen ts being separated by two private Eections,
~
'
~~~
~
~
each with four seats. In the centre of the car is the
~a J
J
......
I
V
ladies' retiring-room, divided into a vestibule, a bathl 9 0
l
9
0
..----------' () ;
=C:]! ~
.......
room , and a toilette; a second lavatory is provided at
~ ~~~:
11001
...
ltO
one end of the car. The seats in the drawing-room

1
I
I
~L..,.
are arranged in the best manner for comfort and
r
~ 0 0
\
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
~ for seeing the country, and a t the end is a covered
~ ~~
platform
on
which
chairs
can
be
placed
;
in
~~
.

CJ
....
,

,..,_..

' .
the centre of t,he drawing-room is a writing-table.
\

.
.Fig.4.
T he fittings throughout are of the most elaborate

Flf;.5.
- .... -J
"'- ~ .
marble
is
replaced
by
onyx,
and
the
character;
'
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.,.;; . .
:~o
' <) "".' ..'. '
.
'tl~
'"
bath-room and lavatories are tiled throughout. The
.
"

" .
..
"
outer platforms at the ends of the car are protected by
<:
.....~
....
. .
----------t .. --.. y.
l6 ~ ---- - --railings and gates, and t he whole width of the plat....
0
0
0
0
0
0

for m is available for st anding room, beoause the step

can be covered with hinged flaps that when lowered
0
form an extension of the platform. The sleeping-car
shown by the plan, Fig. 13, is of a very select and
Z016.8.
luxurious kind. It is divided into ten rooms, accommodating twenty persons : the rooms are fit ted with
silk, plush, and carved woods, the colours and de~igns
each varying, and every room is provided with its
a gain in strength of three to one, and a reduction
2. The spar-deck scuttles or hatches to take in of
in weigh t of more than one-half as compar ed wit h coal in bulk over all, supplemented by side ports own lavatory concealed beneath triangular cushions in
one corner of the comp artment. Figs. 11, 12, 14, and
solid soft steel shafts of equal weight and strength to adapt the ship to coaling by oth er methods .
15 are cross.sect ions giving some idea of the style of
respectively. "
3. Imp roved mechanical appliances for handling decoration ad opted.
This paper called forth a very interesting dis- coal, not only in hoisting and dumping it on b oard
cussion, which drew forth valuable opinions and in bulk, but in getting it out of t he bunkers into
suggestions.
th e fire-rooms.
PECKHAM DOUBLE ~ EXTENSION CANTJ.
In cruising ships he would place the bunkers
LEVER TRAMWAY TRUCK AT THE
CoAL BuNKERs.
below the protective d eck, extending t h em t he
WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
Next came "Coal Bunkers and Coaling Ships," breadth of the ship, but dividing them by a fore- "'E illustrate on this page a form of truck for elec
by Lieut. A. P. Nittack, U.S.N. The author and -aft bulkhead amidships. A pair of bunkers, tric cars, constructed by the Peckham Motor Truck
t hought the disposition of the bunkers and the starboard and port, would thus take up all the and Wheel Company, Kingston, N. Y., U.S.A., for the
lack of adequate facilities prevented t h e rapid space vertically between the protective deck and Brooklyn City Railroad Company, and exhibited at the
coaling of a man-of-war. He showed by the follow- th e inner b ottom, and, longitudinally, bet ween vYorld's Fair, Chicago. The prmcipa-1 feature of the
ing T able what was the capacity of the bunkers, the athwartship watertight bulkheads. It is pro- truck is the care taken to prevent end and side oscillaand the time required to fill them, in cer tain men- p osed that one pair b e forward of the fire-room, t ions of t he ca.r body, which, it has been found by
of- war:
and another between the engine and fire-rooms; experience, seriously diminish the adhesion of th<'
Time re- or in case there are two fire-rooms, as is usual, and wheels. The woodcut, F ig. 1, shows very well the
general construction of the truck, whilst fur ther details
Total Coal
quired to
Capacity. Fill Bunkers. it is desired to add a third pair of bunkers, then are given in the line engravings, Figs. 2 to 5. In all
Tons.
Hours. between the two fire-rooms. From their large size motor cars it is advantageous if the motors can be
Atlanta .. .
... ... ... 490
33
they would admit of rapid coaling, and from their easily got at on simply lifting off the car body. This,
Chicago .. .
...
... 824
28
position would be a great protection from raking of course, means an open-topped bogie, the usual
Charleston
...
... 758
26
fire either forward or aft. For each pair of bunkera, centrepin bearing being inadmissible. In the present
Yorktown
.. .
... ~80
24

in t h e amidship line, h e would have a rectangular case the car body is carried upon a frame supported by
..
Baltimore
...
... 1145
60
trunk, at least 6ft. by 12ft. , from the protective up eight spiral springs resting upon the frames of the truck
San Francisco ...
...
... G28
33
Newark ...
. ..
...
... 800
28
t o the spar deck-this t o be used as a coaling hatch , proper, and by four ordinary carriage springs. The
and to be strong enough itself to h old coal when the springs, as will be seen, are placed so as t o reduce end
What was needed in future ships to coal r apidly bunkers are full. It should be divided fore and or side oscillation to a. minimum. The main truck
was:
aft by the longitudinal bulkhead between the pair frame is supported by spiral springs from the axle1. As few and as large bunkers as are consistent of bunkers carried up to within at least 10ft. of boxes, the construct~on of which is shown in Figs. 4
wi\h the r equirements of coal protection, water- the spar deck. The author then described in d etail and 5. To the axles 1s keyed a. spurwheel, into which
gears a pinion on the end of the motor shaft. The motor
tight subdivision, and considerations of stability.
the arrangements and the apparatus necessary, itself is ca.rried by a. frame, one end of which rests on
""\.

.:

'tY

I
I

I
I
I

--

--

.Jf'

.~

._

'~

'

....

., ~

.:e ~
r Pl '1

together with t h e various advantages that he claimed

for his system.

--

[DEc.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
the axle of the wheel it drives, and the other end on
the spring banger, shown in detail in Fig. 3. Two
motors can be fitted to each truck, as shown in Fig. 2,
from which also the general arrangement of the brake
gear will be apparent. The principal dimensions of
the truck are as follows :
L ength of car sill . . .
. ..
.. .
. ..
26ft.
,
truss support .. .
.. .
. ..
20ft.
,
truck frame .. .
.. .
. ..
16 ft.
,
spring base . ..
...
. .. 12ft. 8 in.
,
wheel ,
.. .
. ..
. .. 6 ft. 6 in.
Width of truck fra.me .. .
...
. .. 5 ft. 11 in.
Height of truck frame with empty car
hod y
. ..
. ..
...
...
. ..
25!- in.

FOUR - CYLI NDER COMPOUND LOCOl\1:0TIVE A'r THE WORLD'S COLOMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
\ VE publish below and on page 75! engravings showing

the details of const ruction of the four -cylinder compound

consolidation locomotive which formed the subject of
our two-page plate of Dec(!mber 8, and of which a
woodcut was also published in our issue of the 20th

between the inner and outer firebox is from 3~ in. to

4 in. wide, but pockets are formed in the outer plating
to give room for the axle-boxes of the trailing wheels.
This necessit:ttes a corresponding cutting away of the
mud ring, as shown in Fig. 10. The firegrate is fitted
with rocking bars of cast iron, details of which are
illustrated in Fig. 11. The frames, of the usual American bar type, are of wrought' iron, and are shown in
F ig. 12, whilst Fig. 13 shows the arrangement of brake
gear, which has been supplied by the New York Air
Brake Company.
Coming to the cylinders, these are arranged tandem
fashion, the high-pressure leading. As will be seen
from Jfig. 14, page 754, the diameters of these cylinders
are 13 in. and 26 in. respectively, the stroke being 2ft.
2 in. The cylinder ratio is therefore 1 : 2. 8 7. The
valves, as usual in America, are placed on top of the
cylinders (see Figs. 15 and 16) ; that for the low pressure cylinder is of the ordinary D type (Figs. 20 to
23), balanced by relief frames behind. The high-pressure valve is of the piston type (Figs. 17 and 18), and is
driven by linkwork from the low-pressure valve-rod in
such a way that the two val \es move in opposite directions. This is accomplished by placing a rocking arm
J/ . "-.. .
. ...h-.,
..

.-.... :
.

. ,. l '

.... 31 ....

!I'' .. ~~"-- i

-4-.!<- " -1>-t

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.

,~

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... ;

,~
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. ..~:

t . ....

....... t..4f-l

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J

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~N

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Fig.2.9.

~~:

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f:
, ___ _..J.l :I

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---

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.51!~--------

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Fig.3Q

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-----72'' - ------ .. ------ ---~

s&tz---- --- -- -------------

k----- . . -------

October. The engine in question was exhibited. in

the Transportation Department of the Columb~an
Exposition, Chicago, by the Brooks Loco~otn:e
Works of Dunkirk, N. Y. , who have hu1lt 1t
for th~ Great Northern Railroad of America. The
engine as will be seen by reference to Fig. 1
of our' two- page plate of December 8, has eight
coupled wheels and a two-wheeled. bogie in fron~.
End views and sections of the engme ar_e sho~vn ~n
Figs. 2 to 5. The boiler_(Figs. 6 and 7) lS 63 m. 10
diameter and 11 ft. 7! m . long between tubeplates.
I t is of the Belpaire type, and is built enti~ely of steel,
the plates being ,rr,l in. thick, and the workt~g pressure
180 l b. per square inch. The tubes, 208 m number,
are of iron, 2! in. in diameter, No. ~1 B.vV.~. ~he
firebox is 9 ft. 6 in. long inside, and 1s 5 ft: 6 m: w1de
at the top, being narrowed down to 32 m . w1de at
the grate in order to pass the bar frames. The space

I
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o

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:

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-.. +-',., :
~

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

.,

Gl ----- - -----; -- 42 .!:-----------

-o--

'f1' ]0-

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.
...
--"
0

in the intermediate receiver, as shown in Fig. 14, one

end of which is attached by a link to the low-pressure
valve-rod, and tbe other to the high-pressure piston
valve. The lubrication of this rocking arm is accomplished by mounting it on a hollow spindle, connected
t o the low-pressure lubricator. The general particulars of the valve setting are as follows:
.
1n.
... 4
H igh-pressure valve, travel ...
...
...
,
,
lap
...
. ..
, inside clearance ...
... 0
"
lead ...
.. .
'' ve, travel ... .. . ... 7
L ow-pressure val
...
outside lap .. .
",
inside clearance

"
.. . -h
",
lead ...
.. .

t
l

))

"

89 3

valve, and relief valves of the same size are fitted to

the low-pressure cylinder. The starting valve consists of a reducing val ve fitted between the main steam
pipe and the low-pressure vahre.chest. Thia valve is
shown in place in Fig. 16, and in detail in Fig. 19. As
will be seen, it consists of a spring-loaded valve which
is normally closed, and this is the position in which it
is shown in our engraving. It will, however, be seen
that the thrust of the spring is transferred to a forked
rod, l in. wide, between the two branches of which
the valve spindle passes. This rod is widened out
beyond the valve at either end t o 1! in., and by
forcing this widened portion past the spindle the
spring is shoved down, and the valve opened and held
open until the pressure on the low-pressure steam
chest is sufficient to again compress the spring and
close the valve. The forked rod aforementioned is
connected to the reversing lever in such a way that
whenever this lever is in its extreme position, in either
backward or forward gear, the reducing valve ~s
opened, but is cloeed on bringing the lever back
towards mid gear. Details of the connecting and
coupling rods are given in Figs. 25 to 27, whilst the
construction of the two-wheeled bogie is shown in
Figs. 28 to 30.

ENGINES OF THE ITALIAN CRUISER

'' ARETUSA."

Fig.2'7.

. ,

_1

If

. ...
4.~:

2 2, I

The main steam pipe, at its connection with the

high-pressure cylinder, is fitted with a 2-in. vacuum

ON the two-page plate published with this issue

we reproduce drawings of the engines of the Italian
cruiser Aretusa, designed and constructed by Messrs.
Orlando Brothers in their shipbuilding yard and engine
works in L eghorn. The Aretusa, of which an engrav~
ing is ghen on page 759, is a torpedo cruiser of 850
tons, and is sintilar to the Skipjack and Sheldrake, and
other vessels of the British Navy. The hull and armament have been designed by the late Commander Vigna,
of the Italian Royal Navy, while the engines were
designed by Eng. Sal vatore Orlando, and constructed
under the direct supervision of the late Mr. Giuseppe
Orlando.
The total weight of engines, boilers, water, spare
pieces, &c., is 173 tons, making about 86 lb. per indicated horsepower. The stroke is very short, owing
to the necessity of bringing the cylinders below the
protective deck. The principal dimensions of the
cylinders are as follows :
Diameter of high-pressure
0.590m. (23.23 in.)
cylinder ...
.. .
...
Diameter of intermediate
...
0. 919 m. (36.18 in.)
pressure cylinder
Diameter of low- pressure
1.375 m. (54.13in.)
cylinder ...
...
.. .
0. 460 m. (18.11 in.)
Stroke
...
...
.. .
The shortness of stroke does not involve any inconvenience in working, which is ~mooth and r egular.
The engines are placed in two separate compartments,
the reversing and starting gears being in the centre,
and the condensers placed at the sides of the ship.
Each condenser has 1787 brass tubes, 16 millimetres
(.63 in.) in diameter, with a condensing surface of 237
square metres (255 1.14 square feet). The condensing
water is driven through the condensers by two centrifugal pumps, the suction and discharge pipes being
250 millimetres (9. 84 in.) in diameter. The condensers
are made entirely of delta metal. The feed and bilge
pumps are of the Worthington modified pattern, and
their working was very effective during the whole
of the trials, and also when the vessel was under steam

m
commiss1on
.
The low-pressure slide valves are fitted with Joy 's
assistant cylinders, this being their first application in
Italy. Each of these developed during the t rials 8 to
10 indicated horse-power. The slide valve and rod
weigh 326 kilogrammes ((718. 7 l b.) The low-pressure
eccentrics worked smoothly, and did not show any indication of heating at a speed of 270 r evolutions.
The boilers, fou r in number, of the open-bottom
locomotive type, are placed two forward and two aft
of the engines, the former supplying the port and the
latter the starboard engiuea. The total heating surface is 782 square metres (8417.68 square feet), and the
firegrate surface 17.28 square metres (about 1 85 ~ square
feet). The air blast is delivered under the grates
through a closed ashpit, each boiler having its own
funnel of 1.60 metres (62.99 in.) in diameter. The
boilers proved very satisfactory. No leakage, priming,
or other defect was noticed under natural or forced
draught steaming.
The propellers' bosses are of gun-metal, with blades
of Stone's patent bronze, the diameter being 2.400
metres(8 ft.), and the pitch 2.760metres (9ft. 0.66in. )
Under the contract two t rials were to be made,
one of ten hours' duration under natural draught,
tohe power developed to be not less than 2000
indicated horse-power, and a three hours' trial under
forced draught, with an indicated horse-power of
not less than 4000. A premium was t o he paid for
extra power developed in the forced draught trial.
The natural draught trial was made on September 22,
1892, with a commission of naval officers on board,
under the presidency of Comandante De Simone. The

ENGINEERING,

DECEMBER

22, 1893.

TRIPLE-E XP ANSION E NG INES O F TH E ITALIA N TOR PE DO GUNBOAT "ARETUSA."

CONSTRUCTED BY MESSR-S.

ORLANDO BROTHERS, L EUHORN.

(For Descri7>ti<nt,

3U

Page 756 )

Fig.2

_l

1:1 \

lml

!r \

_l

!.-----~~~----~
I

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I

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Fig.3.

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IS44.e

TAILSY 6. PA:ICC I.NG\

'

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

757

INDICATOR AND VIBRATION DIAGRAMS; ITALIAN TORPEDO GUNBOAT "ARETUSA."

115

pm

/ . IS

Pressurt in lht bodtrs -----lbs __ 173

,
tn lht tngmt room s __ _ ., _. 170

m lht f,rst rtcttvtr. __ , __ 60

in tht suond rtcttvtr_ _ __ 15

Pressure tn lht boiltrs __ ------ Lhs _170

"
tn tht tngmt rooms .--- .. _168
tn tht first rtettvtr. __ _ ,1 - 50
1,
,,
intht suond reuw~r- ., __ l'l
Vacuum .__ ____ __ _________________ 23'
RfvO lutions ptr Mit7utt . ______ _____ Z64

zz
Minute ___ _______ __ 260

Vacuum---- ---- -- -- - ------ -- -- -Rl' vo(utions ptr

-....

p.m

Fig. 5 .

JOY's

INDICATOR DIAGRAMS.

Prt.SSurt iA. ~ bodt!rs llu;.176 .Rev ~ 2&6.

Fig. 8 .

Pig.71.

(;)
V

Mtan

V)

Q..
~

prtssun Kg 4 551 H.P654d'lJ'1ir--...

Mtan prt'ssrJ.rt

Kg

5.01.1

HP 14Q. I8

Q,

c:

"l::s

"t:s
c
..()
c..

.....c:s

J fccuv Pr>e.ssure Kg. :l, !JS .

N
<::>

Q,

c:s

Mtan prtSsurt Kg . 2.21) HP n1 3/.

V)

c:

l..J

-,
~

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Fig . 9

c: N

Fig . 6.

0\

Q..

...

-( ;)

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-.....,"'

Fig . IO .

---

N
.......

~
....
c":s

138& A

c:s

c!:;

Mfan prtSsun Kg 0 91. /.H. P. 764 75

Q..
-.J

.Fig.12.

t on prtssurt Kg 2.13.1 H P 157 Z8

Fig _:_.7:_.
. .------~

I .JI.P. 7. 22

Mta n prtHv.rt

Q..

K9

Mea:~v

0 94 4,/ HP 755 . 10

PrusurC/ Kg . 8, 90 .

I . H .P. 9, S8

-.1

Colleclt'vt

I HP 2253. 16
-Toto{ IHP for tht two Eng,nts 444 9 , 4 2 .

Collufivt I H . P. 219 G 'l6

Frg.16.

r------------------------------------------------------------------ ~

.Fig.Jt!.

.Bn:dge

!U..volu Iions 2'l2.

~--~------~~----------------~-----------------r.o g
..ct.

.Extrcm.c, A/l,. rv.:volution.e 230.

17.

. .-1-eme
,/r:i.;JCv

A.n
~l/
Vo

Jlcv" 7 1 ;,,n

q
vvt.(A;VV' '-<J

2SO.

--

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

1-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A'g.JB. Extrer:.e .Afv. Jle.;oluLu:n :; UO.

..Fig.15. Extrane .AIL. Revol:o.iums 2 78.

, ~8'8

_, ____________________________________________________________

firm was r epresented by ~Iessrs. Orlando, jun., the

ship being in command of Captain Parolda. The
weather was fine, with a slight nor th-west wind
blowing. The trial commenced at 6. 15 a.. m ., the
eng ines being under full s team at about 230 r evolutions per minute with natural draught. The ship
started opposite the ~leloria. Tower. The mean
average of the revolutions indicated by the continuous
r ecording apparatus for the ten hours was for the
port engine 21 .7 r evolutions, and for the starboard
engine 218.5 r evolutions.
During natural draught
trials it is allowed in the Italian Navy to run the fans
t o assist the ventilation, but not to give any air
pressure in the stol(eholds. This time the fans were
not p ut in motion during the trial, as the contractors
did not consider it necessary. The distance of 72
miles from the Meloria. to Nervi, in the Gulf of
Genoa., was run in 3 hours 59 minutes, giving a. mean
speed of 18.06 knots. The s hip was then turned and
put on her r eturn course, completing her trial at
4.15 p. m., south of L eghorn, without a. single
hitch during the whole of the ten hours' run. The
mean indicated horse-power for th e ten hours was
2129, being 129 over the contract. The vibration of
the hull was very slight ; t he annexed cur ves (Figs.
13, 14, and 15) were taken at the extremes forward
and aft, and on the bridge, which is a little aft of the
centre of the ship. It should be noted that the
number of r evolutions a.t th e time of t ak ing these
vibra tion diagrams varied slightly, as indicated on the
diagrams.
The diagrams t aken from the Joy's assista nt
cylinders gave a collective indica ted horse-power of
13.0 . The working of the ma.in engines was very
satisfactory and noiseless, withoutheating or trouble.
The forced draught three hours' trial was also suc cessful. The contract power to be obtained on this
trial was 4000 horse-power, but this was exceeded by
422, the mean ind icated horse-power for th e three
hours being 4422, with a. mean of 264 r evolutions per
minute for the starboard engine and 265.23 for the port
eng ine. The assistant cylinders gave 16.80 indicated
horse-power, this power being added to the power
developed by the main engines. Diag rams were taken
e,ery q uarter of an hour; we a rc able to g ive those of
1.15 p.m. (Figs. 5 t o 10}. The mean indicated horsepower being 422 over the contract, the maximum of
the premium, about 5000t., has been paid to the firm.

1::'9&
~

~~-------------------------- 1

The highest number of revolutions per minute, reached

several times during the trials, was 269 for the starboard engine and 270 for the port ; the approximate
maximum power reached was ncady 4 00 indicated
horse- power. Ann exed are also th e diagrams of the
Joy's assistant cylinder (Figs. 11 and 12). A mec.n
speed of 20. 70 knots was obtained during the three
hours' trial. There was rain and wind blowing strongly
from the south-west toward the finish of the trial.
On the same day, before start ing the official trial,
curves were taken t o show the vibrations under differ ent speeds. The curves are reproduced on Figs. 16
to 18. The g reatest vibrations were observed at a
speed of from 2;:$0 to 240 rev olutions, while at a. higher
speed the vibrations diminished. On the preliminary
trials, however, the vibrations were very remarkable.
In order to obviate this, the constructors decided to
change th e low-pressure pistons. The original lowpressure pistons were of the usual form, with cast -iron
rings similar to those of the high and intermediate
cylinders, and weighed each 540 kilogrammes
( 1190! lb.} . They were changed for new pistons with
brass rings, each weighing 430 kilogrammes (948 lb.).
The r esult was a d ecided impro vement, as it d iminished the vibrations in the hull, and allowed the
engines to be run at t heir very high power witbcut the
slightest trnuble.
It may be added that t he Aretnsa is 2:~0 ft. long
by 25 ft. 6 in. beam, and a t 11 ft. 9 in. draug ht displaces 740 tons. Her armament consists of one 12centimctre gu n, six 6-pounders, and three 3-pounder
quick-firing guns, and three machine guns. She can
launch five torpedoes simultaneously.

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.

December 11 , 1893.
TuE purchase of 4:3,000 t ong of ~tcel rails by th e
P ennsylvania. Railroad Company probably marks a
new era in r ail hnyiug. Sc,era.l other systems are in
need of supplies, and makers expect their orders in
J an uary. The mill price is fixed at 24 dols. The
d eprelJsed condition of trad e continues in all other
branches. Manufacturers are trying to force business
by moderate concessions. Locomotive builders are
obta ining a. little more work, but the demand for
rolling stock has not yet improved. Foundry iron is
moving slowly at 14 dols. for No. 1, forge iron 12 dols. ,
PHU..ADELPUIA,

steel billets 19. 50 dols. in eastern market s. Old iron

rails are 14 dols.; there is no demand. ~lerchant bar
mills are running half capacity. The tariff ag itation
is now on, and the expectation is that a. decision will
be reached within two weeks.
ome are in favour of
postponing the date of the fnforcement of the Bill until
'eptt-mber. The general situation in business has not
improved. There is an unprecedentedly large volume
of money in banks. Competition is very severe in all
channels of trade. Idleness is quite general, a 1 there
is but little r esumption of work. Large buyt....... in all
directions are purchasing very meagrely. This condition of things will continue into January, when a.
r evival of great er or less magnit ude may be expected.
new tunnel 1486! ft. long has
been built along the Arlberg Railway. Tbe tunnel was
rendered necessary by the fall of an a. valancba in July, 1892.
ARLBEllG RAILWAY. - A

Nsw THA~JES ExcunsiON STEAMER.-The Fairfield

Shipbuilding Company have just laid down in th eir
works at Govan a. new light-draught paddle steamer,
which is to be built on the American principle with four
decks. This vessel, ordered by Mr. Arnold \VilJiams,
and intended for a new company registered as the Palace
Steamer Company, will be 330 ft. long, with a. beam of
40 ft., a. moulded depth to t he upper promenade deck of
21 ft. 6 in., and a. draught of 8 ft. 6 in. The hull will be
composed of steel throughout, and there are to be no
fe wer than eleven bulkheads, designed to give rigidity
and safety to the wh ole structure. In all there will be
four decks-lower, main, upper, and promenade deck.
The last mentioned, extendmg over the vessel for threefourths of its length, and free from all obstructions except
the bridge, the ('hart-house, and the ventilators, is to be
reserved exclusively for firstclass passengers, while ample
promenading space will be provided for second-cl8.8s
passengers on the upper deck, which will correspond to
the promenade deck of the Royal Sovereig n and other
popular Thames pleasure steamers. Thero will for firstclass passengers be two handsome dining-rooms, situate
one on the lower deck and the other on tho main deck,
the total seating being for 400 person~, and ample dining
space is being arranged for second-class travell<>rs. The
vessel, which is to be well appointed throughout, and to
cost UO,OOOl., is intended for a new summer service either
to Boulogne or to Ostend, or to both alternately, and her
engines, capable of st>curing a continuous speed of 20
knots, will allow of th e return journe-y being made to
either place from London in a day. The vessel will be
completed by June

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

[DEc.

22,

1893.

PISTON AND PISTON VALVE PACKING.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE LEEDS ENGINEERING AND HYDRAULIC COMPANY, ENGINEERS, LEEDS.

Fig.3

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\VE illustrate on this page a form of packing for

piston rings now being manufactured by the Leeds
Engineering and Hydraulic Company, of the Providence Works, Cross Stamford-street, Leeds. The
packing represented in F igs. l and 2 is the form
adopted for a 29-in. piston, whilst ia Figs. 3 and
4 the same type of packing is shown as applied to a
marine engine piston-valve. Essentially the packing
consists of four rings, of which the inner pair are not
split, and are turned to fit the body of the piston on
the inside. Externally they are turned to a. conical
form, so that when in position the two form a pair
of truncated cones placed base to base. rockets
varying in size a nd number with the diameter of
the piston are cast in these rings, and in them are
placed spiral springs, as shown, the pressure of
which tends to keep the rings apart from each
other. The other pair of rings are split, and fit the
cylinder externally, whilst internally they are turned
to fit the conical portions of the inner pair of rings.
As these latter are always being pressed apart by the
springs aforementioned, it is obvious that the result
of this will be that the split rings are pressed outwards against the cylin<Jer walls. As will be seen,
there is al ways solid metal between the body of the
piston and the wall of the cylinder. The only points
in which the packing varies with the size of the piston
are in the number and stiffness of the springs used, and
in the thickness of the rings themselves. The makers
have, we understand, found it advantageous to replace
two or threP, of the spiral springs by brass pins, which
tit tightly into the boles in o~e of the inner ~ings, and
loosely into the other. TblS keeps the rmgs more
securely in position.

a is the reciprocating pis ton by which motion is

given to the water used for washing; b is the sieve
or screen on which the ore or coal is washed. As
the rectangular piston moves up and down, it causes
a backward and forward flow or pulsation of the
water contained in the trough. This is communicated
to the water in the other half of the trough, and the
water is thus made to pass backwards and forwards
through the sieYe, keeping the material operated
upon in agitation. This, of course, is the ordinary
jigging machine, well known to mining engineers.

diaphragm rises, assuming the position shown in Fig.

2, and carries with it the rectangular pis ton. It is
assisted in this by the reaction of the spring shown
coiled round the connecting-rod ( F'ig. 1) ; at the same
time the valve actuated by the lever and weight
descends. The flow of water, being thus suddenly
arrested by the closing of the va.l ve, expends its kinetic
energ y by causing th e diaphragm to reciprocate, forcing
down the rectangular wooden piston, and thus producing the downward stroke. The momentum of the
water also at the same time causes the valve to rise

r~g.t.

--

Fig. ~.

ORE AND COAL WASHING MACHINE.

ON the present page we illustrate a ne'! type of
jigging machine, designed for concentr~tmg ores,
coal- washing, and other purposes of eJ: like natur~.
In jigging machines which have ~xed .s1eves, wher~m
minerals or other substances, haviDg d1fferent spec~fic
gravities, are separated by means. of a. pulsat~ng
stream of water, the plung_ers ~h1ch _gt~e mot10n
to the water generall~ rece1ve, _m ex1stmg types,
their reciprocatory mot10n from etther cranks, eccentrics, or levers and tappets. . Such arrangements
necessitate steam or other mottve power and shafting and the chief merit cla~ed for the appar~tus
we' now describe is that experunve permanent fittmgs
are dispensed with, and, if there b~ a na~ural bead
of water, no other sou~cc:> of p_ower ~s requtred. ~e
ferring to our illustr.atlOn~, Ftg .. l lS a c.ross sect10n
of the machine, wh11Bt F1g. 2 IS a sect10n through
the ,ralve cylinder on a. larger scale. The appara.~us
will be seen to consist of a trough or tank, wh1ch
is divided at its upper part into two compartments;

Referring now to Fig. 2, we seo how the reoiprocating motion is ghen t o the wooden piston, and
this constitutes the novelty of the apparatus.
V\'ater at pressure flows into the cha~ber (a a.).
This is closed at the bottom by a d1aphragm of
indiarubber or other flexible material. A r od, the
top of which is shown in Fig. 2, connects the diaphragm to the rectangular ~vood~n piston, which
agitates the water, as shown 1n F1g. l. The upper
part of the chamber a terntinates in a va~ve case
into which fits a piston valve, the latter bemg controlled by means of the le,er
weight shown, ?r, if
necessary, a spring may be used 1n place. of t_he wetght,
the action being the same, ~owever, 1n e~ther case.
The chamber a a being filled w1th water havlDg a head,
its interior is subjected to a static presRure. Upon
the piston valve being raised, water flows from the
chamber by the ports (two of which ~re sho~ in the
illustration), and the static pressure belDg reheved, the

an?

(its premature opening being provided against by providing a suitable amount of lead), and the same cycle
of movements is repeated.
It would appear at first sight that after the machine
had been in work for a few strokes it would cease
to act, as an equilibrium of pressure would be set up
in the chamber a , so that the piston in the cylinder
above would be forced upwards sufficiently to
open the ports wide enough to give a balance
to the two opposing forces - namely, those of the
weight and le\er above, and of the water pressure
due to the head. Such, however, is not the
case, the action being somewhat similar to that of
the hydraulic ram, or water hammer, often experienced
in pipes. The apparatus will, we understand, work
with a head of from 10 ft. to 20 ft. or more. After
the water has passed through the motive part of the
machine, it is utilised for supplying the hutches, and
it is said that experience shows but little more water

THE

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is required for the double purpose of driving and

washing than would be necessary for washing alone.
The machine has the undoubted advantage of b eing
co mpact, portable, and easily installed, no foundation
being required, whilst it can be put in any position
where a. pipe can be run to it. V a.riation in speed of
running is obtained by adjustment of the weight or
spring, the speed of the machine being adjustable from
80 to 350 strokes per minute with a 25-ft. head, and to
higher speeds with a greater head. In all jigging
machines of t his nature some head of water is required
to carry off the "skimpings, " or light waste material ,
and also to force the water through the sieves and
j igging hutches.
vVe recently h ad an opportunity of seeing one of
these machines in practical work at Brentford,
when it was engaged in separating cinders from ashes,
and it is probable that in manufacturing establish ments, where there is any considerable a moun t of
steam power employed, it would pay very well to wash
ashes in this way, for the sake of the useful fuel r ecovered in the shape of cinders. The following are
particulars of a trial made previously to our visit:
The size of the hydraulic cylinder was 6 in. in d iameter.
The number of strokes made was 120 p er minute,
their length being I in. to ! in.; the amount of water
was 50.55 lb. per minute, a nd the bead of water 25ft.
The size of the plunger was 2 ft. 11 in. by 1 ft. 3 in.,

the sieve being of the same dimensions. The horsepower of the machine was 0.38. In coal-washing by
the ordinary process, it has been found that a
weight of water equal to one-half the weight of
coal washed was required, so that washing 30 tons
of coal would require 15 tons of water. The amount
of water used with one of these machines, to get the
same result in coal-washing, was 13.5 tons, thus showing a saving of water of 1.5 tons in ten hours, in addition
to the saving resulting from th e fact that no steam or
other motive power was made use of.
The advantages claimed are as follows: The machine
is entirely independent of all other plant, and ma y be
used in places where no motiv-e power is available. I t
is extremely simple; there are but few moving parts;
no shafting, with the necessary attention and lubrication, is required. There is no belting to perish. The
machines can be fitted in any position, and their speed
regulated without r egard to the other plant. This
is a matter of great importance, as, for the proper
and efficient performance of their work, jigging
machines requ ire a. steady and uniform speed, whereas
the speed of th e shafting in mining plant is subject to
variation due to the changing load in the ore-crushers
and other machines, and it is often necessary t o employ
coned pulleys or other gear to enable the speed of the
jigging machinery to be altered. This hydraulic
jigging machine, producing its own motive power and

being quite distinct from other plant, can be regulated

as to speed by the simple operation of altering
the tension of the controlling spring or the p osition of
the weight upon the lever, as the case may be. There
is also an absence of lateral vibration, which is inherent to the use of eccentrics, &c., and as modern
practice tends to the use of a. considerably increased
speed, this is also a. matter of importance. The
machine may be driven by water, which is used
over and over again, or it can be actuated by means
of a ram in a running stream at a distance from it,
the ram r a ising water, and thus giving the required
head.
The machine is the invention of Messrs. Sennett and
Durie, of Brentford, London, and is being introduced
by them.
R ussiAN ROADS.- A most important Russian road along
the north coaet of the Black Sea. is approaching its completion. Its length is over 200 miles, and its construction
will undoubtedly have the greatest influence upon the
culti vation of large tracts which are at present very
thinly populated, a. fact which has made the work con siderably more difficult. Both from a. commercial and
a military point of view, the new road possesses great
advantages.
RAILWAY COLLISIONS AT ROSCREA AND ENFIELD.-

General Hutchinson's reports on two slight collisions

have just appeared. The first, which occurred on October8
near Roscrea station, on the Great Southern and W astern
Railway of Ireland, was caused by the driver of a light
engine attempting to "bank" a. passenger train up an
incline, although this was contrary to the block rules and
necessitated his passing two signals of danger ! H e ra n
into the train he wished to a-ssist, and six passengers were
injured, and the guard, who was at the door of his van,
was knocked off, but happily not seriously injured.
After the collision the train was found to be divided, and
the driver of the lighb engine alleges tha.b it was the
dividing of the train that caused the collision, but General
Hutohinson think~ that this was the effect of bhe collision,
rather than the cause. The second collision was a. slight
one at Enfield Town terminal station, on the Great Eastern
Railway, where, on October 17, a.n incoming passenger
train collided with the buffer-stops. Seven passengers
complained of injury, and the buffer-stops, which were
old, were damaged.
Like most buffer-st op collisions,
this was due to running into a. terminal station trustin~
only to the continuous brake, which in this case, however,
did not fail to acb, but caused the wheels to skid. S uch
collisions will continue to occur until all railway companies adopt the rule of allowing the use of band brakes
only when entering terminal stations, reserving the continuous brake for other occasions, and see that it is strictly
carried out. To limit the speed to " hand-brake " speed,
without forbidding the use of the continuous brake, is
quite useless. Must we wa.ib till some duke is killed
before the Board of Trade insist on this?

V\

\0

760

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

.
G~soow, Wednesday.
Glasgow P tg-l?on M arket. - A fMrly large business was
done in the pigiron market last Thursday forenoon.
Scotch warrants were dealt in at 44d., 433. 11~d., and
~-!s. O~d. p er ton, the close .being sellers at the latter
tigure, and buye~s at ~4 3. , wh1ob was an advance of 1~d.
from the precedmg m ght. ClevE'land iron was in acttve
d~mand at 363. 2d. and 36s. 2~d. cash per t on closing
wtth buyers at the latter. 'l.' bis was a n in~rease of
2!d. on Wednesday's prices. H ematite iron was dealt
in at 46.;. 2~d . and 463. 3d. one month, buyers
over at the close at th e latter quotation. The
afternoon m arket was firm in tone. S ome 5000 or 6000
tons uf Scotch iro::t changed hands at 44s. cash, at which
there were sellers at the close, and buyers offering ! d. per
ton l ess. 'l' here was a. turnover of about 8000 tons of
Cleveland iron at ~6s. 2~d . to 26s. l~d. per t on cash also
at 36s. 5d. and 36s. 4d. one month. A slight decli'ne in
the prices of hematite iron was recorded. The settlement prices at the closA w-ere-Scotch iron, 44s. per ton;
Cleveland, 363. 1~d. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough
h emati te iron, respectively, 46s. 1~d. and 44s. per ton.
Th~ market was very idle <;m F riday forenoon. No cash
busm ess was d one, and m the case of Scot ch iron no
month busines.s either ; ~ut unofficially 500 tons were sold
at 43s. 10d . tbts week, w1th a plan t. Of Cleveland iron
2500 t ons were sold a.t 3Gs. 4;d. one month and 500 ton~
?f hematite iron changed bands at 46~. 3~d.' per ton cash
1n 21 days. In tb~ afternoon the market was active, and
the tone was very fi rm. Onl y some 5000 or 6000 t ons of
Scotch were dealt in, but about 8000 or 10, 000 tons of
Cleveland and 4000 or 5000 tons of Cumberland hem a.tite
iron we re operated in. Scotch and Cleveland were unchanged in price from the morning, but Cumberland hema.
ti te iron rose 1d. per ton and h--Iiddlesbrougb 2d. The closing
settlement prices were- Scotch iron, 44s. p er ton Cleve~and, 36s. 3tl. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite
n on, 463. ~d. and 44s. 3d. per t on re, pecti vely. The
market was active on Monday, and a large amount of
business was d on e at both m eetings of the "ring. " It
was mostly, however, of an inside character. P rices were
firm during the forenoon, but a pressure of sales in the
afternoon led to a sharp break in values. As compared
with ]'riday's prices, Scotch declined 2~d., Cleveland 4d.,
and bematite Irons 6d. to 3~d. per ton. The se ttlement
prices at the close were-Scotch iron, 43s. 9d. per t on
Cleveland, 35s. lO~ d.; Cumber land and Middlesbrough
h ematite iron, respecti vely, 453. 9d. and 43:3. 10~d. p er
ton. The m arket was very animated on Tuesday forenoon, the quantity of iron changing hands being the
largest recorded for any meeting of the "ring" for some
considerable time back. The market was well supported,
ho wever, one l ine of 20,000 tons of S cot ch iron being
taken at 43~ . 9~d. a month ; but at the close of the morning meeting the cash price marked a drop of 3d. per ton
from the previous day 's finish. It is probab!e that about
40,000 t on:3 of Seotch iron were dealt in, including 5000
tons at 4!8. per t on one month, with 1s. forfei t in buyers'
option. Some 10, 000 tons of Cleveland and 5000 tons
of hematite irons we!'e deal t in. In the afternoon
there was e vidently less disposition to sell, and the prices
recovered n early the whole of the previous loss, the final
quotation only showing a drop of ~d. per ton on the d ay.
Clevela nd and hem:l.tite irons were also acti ve, especially
the former, which gave way 2d. per t on. Cumberla.nd
hema.tite iron lost ld. p er t on, and Middlesbrough 4 ~d.
Ab the close the settlement pric~s were-Scotch iron,
43s. 9d. p er ton ; Cleveland, 353. 9d. ; bematite irons,
r especti vel y, 45s. 9d. and 43s. 6d. per ton.
Only
a. small amount of busi ness was done this forenoon.
S cotch warrants chan ged bands at 4 ~s. 9id. cash,
and some Cleveland iron was sold at 35s. ~d. cash.
In the afterno::m b usi ness was d one in Scotoh iron
at 43s. l Od. cash, but n o cash transactions were
reported in respect of any other irons. The following are the current quotat ions for several No. 1 brands
of ma.kerd' iron: Ga.r tsherrie, Calder, a nd S ummerlee.
52s. Gd. per ton ; L angloan and Coltness, 56s. 6d.-the
foregoing all shipped at Glasgow ; Glengarnock (bhipped
at A rd rossan ), 5l s. ; S botts (sh1pped at L eith), 54s. 6d. ;
Carron (shipped at Gra ngemouth ), 54s. Gd. per ton. A
n umber of bla~t furnaces are again blowing, including
Dixon 's at Govan and Calder, but it is d itticult t o say
h ow many are now actually blowing. A year ago there
were 76 furnaces in full blast.
L ast week's shipm ents of pig iron from all Scot ch ports amounted t o
5616 tons as compared with 5144 tons in the corresponding week 'of last year. 1' h ey included 217 t ons for India,
350 t ons for Italy, smaller quantities for other countries,
and 4599 t ons coastwise. The st ock of p ig iron in Messrs.
Connal and Co. 'd public warrant stores stood at 321,597
t ons yesterday afternoon, against 322,340 tons yest~rday
week, thus showing a decrease for th e week amountmg to
743 t on s.
Fini~hed I ron and Stecl.-Not much change falls to be
not ed in regard to the fi nished iro? and steel ~ra.~es.
Prices remain firm, but the demand ts somewb~t hm1~ed
just at this tin.e. Several of ~ht3 steel works m wh1ch
operations were suspen~ed du~mg the recent coal trade
strike a re this week agam makmg steel to meet the orders
book ed some time ago. '!'he~ can now ge~ coal at. mo~e
reasonable r ates, and not unlikely t he .holtday, which JS
customary a t the turn of tbe year, w1ll be much mo.e
limited than usual.
Cc,pptr Market. - L ast Thursday and Friday copper was
quoted by s~llers at 43/. 7s. 6d. per ton ca~h . On Monday
there was a. drop of 2s. 6d. to 43l. 5s. , which was also the
quota~ion of sellerd on Tuesday, and t o-day they have
r educed their quot ation to 43l. 2s. 6d.
New Shipbuilding Contracts.-It is ste.ted to-day tha.t

M essrs. R obert Napier and Eons h ave just b ook ed an

order from an Aberdeen firm for a large screw steamer
similar to the Damascus, which wa-s a handsomely fittedup vessel in which were embodied all the latest improvement~ . They have also secured an order for a. steamer
for service on the Manchester Canal. - M essrs. Scott
and Co. , Greenock, are now laving down the k eel
for a new steamer for M essrs. J. and J. D enhohn,
Greenock, wh o rP.cently bad two 1250-ton steam ers built
by the same fi rm.- It is said that one of the Govan firms
has received orders for fi\"e or six steam trawlers. - OrderE
for two large sailing ships, of about 2700 tons each, have
just been obtained by Messrs. Russell and Co. , PortGlasgow, from a Glasgow firm.
I nstiflut ion of Civil Engincers.-Tbe first meeting of the
Glasgow A ssociation of Students for this session was
held on M onday evening, when the president, Mr. George
Graham, M. Inst. C. E., delivered his opening address.
H e t ook as his subj ect ' The Changes Consequent on th e
General Advance of the P rosperity and Trade of the
Country," partly relatin g to this district. During the
address numerous drawings, photographs, and m odels
were shown. There was a large attendance at the
meeting.
I nstiflution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
-An ordin a:cy meeting of this Institution was held last
ni ght, the chair being occupied by Mr. George Russell,
vicepresident, in the absence of the president, Mr. J ohn
Inglis. The chai rman announced that it was proposed by
the council t o elect Dr. W . H. Wh ite, Cbjef Constructor
to the Admiralty, an honorary member of the Institution.
An interesti ng discussion t ook place on the paper of P rofessor B iles on the ''Streng th of L arge Ships," the speakers
being Mr. F. P. Purves, Mr. Stromeyer, Mr. Tbom, and
Mr. Archer. At next meeting the discussion will be re
sumed, and on that occasion the President will have
something to say. Tbere was, likewise, a discussion on Cap
t ain J ohn Bain 's paper on "The Effect of Reversing the
Screw Propeller of a Steamship upon the Steering. " Mr.
Mallison, Mr. W . R . M. Thomson, Mr. Thorn, and Mr.
Purves were the speakers. Captain Bain was not present
t o reply. Subsequentlyl.-..Mr. Alexander M orton read a
paper on "Rotary and ..tteaction E ngines." A fter some
critical remarks upon the new invention of M r. M orton
by Professor Barr, M . Inst. C.E. , the discussion was
adjourned till next meeting.
Lloyd's R egister and the Sci1nce of Naval Arch,itecture. Professor Biles, of Glasgow U ni versity, has received t he
following important intimation from th e 3ecretary t o
Lloyd 's R egister of B ri tish and Foreign S hipping:
"With reference to your suggestion on the subject of the
amoun't of the committee's grant, I have much pleasure
in acquainting you th at, in view of the manner in which
it appears their previous action in th e matter has been
appreciated, and in order t o promote still further th e
study of the science of naval architecture, the committee
have detHmin ed to increase the amount of th eir annual
grant in connection with the scholarship in naval a rchitecture at the Glasgow U ni versity from 50l. to 150l. ,
so as to admit of th~ scholarship being competed for
annually. "
East of Scotland Engineering A ssocia.tion. -At a meeting of this Association held last night in Edinburgh, M r.
R obert K eir, surveyor, read a paper on " Some Notes as
to the Warming. Cooling, and V entilation of a Large
W orking Space," which brought ou t a very interesting
discussion.

NO'rES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

SHEFFIELD, W ednesday.
Chesterfield and Midland I nstitution of Engineers.-A
general meeting of this Institution was held on Saturday
ab Not tingham. Mr. George Lewis presided. Out of th&
five papers on the agenda. only two were dealt with, some
two hours and a half being taken u p by the explanation
a nd subsequent discussion of the relative merits of two
portable safety lamps for detecting small percentages of
inflammable gas. One is that of Professor Clowes, of
Nottingham, with standard hydrogen flame, and the
other that of Mr. A. H. S t okes, H er Majesty's Inspector
of Mines, in which th e standard flame is alcohol.
Since t he issue of his paper in F ebruary last,
Professor Clowes has made several imp rovem~n ts in his
lamp. These he explained in full. The weight of the
cylinder which holds the hydrogen has been redueed from
l R oz. t o 13 oz , and at the same time the capacity has
been doubled t o bold su fficient hydrogen to burn alto
gether for an hour and a half. Professor Clowes claims
that by his lamps, by means of a wire gauge, the quantity
of inflammable gas present, down t o a quarter and up t o
three per cent., can easily be ascertained, th e " cap" for
the smaller quantity being 17 mm. Mr. Stokes also described his lamp. H e said that no lamp could equal the
P ieler lamp, but for ma.n)'Wellknown reasons that could
not be generall y used. He had t aken the idea of the
Pieler lamp, and reduced the flame to. act for small
quantities. The arrangement by whJCh t he small
alcohol lamp is fitted into the ordinary safety lamp, as
be ex plained itt is very in~enious. It .i~ .made. of alUl;ninium, and, as 1t only w~1 ghs 2! oz., 1t 1s eas!Jy carnad
about in the pock et until needed for use. H1s scale for
reckoning the alterations in the height.of the "cap " was
si mpl e, being easily calculated by ha.lf-mches. Professor
R ed wood said he found that the hydrogen flame gave remarkably satisfactory results in detecting the presence of
petroleum gas. As a result of his experience be bad ~ome
t o the conclusion that hyd rogen formed the more deh cate
t est. B oth Professor Clowes and Mr . Stokes were heartily
thanked for their papers.
1'h.c Miners' Out~ook. -~(r. B. Pickard, on being inter

[DEc.

2 2,

1893.

viewed, states that householders have n o need t o buy a

single t on of coal extra between now and February 1.
There will, be says, be no st oppage, n o lack of fuel, the
middlemen will not be in a posit10n to reAp another
bountiful har vest, nor will the South Wales, Durham, or
Northumberland miners ha ve another glorious opportunity
as they lately have had. The miners of the federation
have fought for and will continue to fight for a livi ng
wage, though their idea of a living wage is not exactly
that of the colliery- owners. They knew what the ownerd
assessed the li ving wage at, but it was not for him t o
state what the minimum living wage was assessed at by
the miners.
E arle's Shipbuildin:; Company, Limitcd.- Tbe directors,
in their annual report, regret that in common with nearly
every industrial concern in the kingdom the company hru:~
suffered from the unparalleled depression in trade experienced during the past few years. Its business, moreo ver,
has been most seriously affected by the unfortun ate and
prolonged strikes of the dockers at Hull in the spring of
th e year, and of the colliers in the summer and autumn,
which contest paralysed the trades of the Humber ports.
These things, t ogether with th e cost of the ex tra work in
finishing a nd fitting out H er Majesty's ships Endymion
and St. George, have caused the company's working t o
resul t in a loss, which th e directord d eeply deplore,
though the causes have been beyond their control. A
claim has been made on th e A dmiralt y for the cost of th e
extra work on these ships. After re f ~rring to t he completi on of these vessels, the report states that the
machinery bas been fi t ted in H.M.S. Charybdis, at Sheerness D ockyard, and has si nce been tried und er steam.
The Admiralty has given the company orders for two of
the new class high-speed torpedo destroyers, t hus showing
their appreciation of its work. A fter dwelling on other
work in hand, th e directors regret t hat Sir J obn Brown
has, owing to advanced age, resigned his position as
chairman. Mr. Galloway, the depu ty-chairman, has
been appointed to that position. The loss on the year's
working was 4866l.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MrDDLESBROUGn, W ednesday.
T he <Jlevela;n.d I ron T rade.-Y esterday th ere was a
large atten dance on 'Change here, bu t the market was
easier, owing t o Middlesbroubh warrants h aving been
thrown on the Glasgow market, and not much business
was transacted. Makers' iron, however, did not alter
much in price, producers having a fai r amount of work
on band, and being anything but disposed to reduce their
quotations. A few parcels of No. 3 g.m. b. Cleveland pig
iron were sold at 35s. 7~d . for prompt f.o.b. delivery, but
most sellers held out tor 35s. 9d. Buyers were rather
backward, and in some cases would offer only 35s. Gd.
for prompt No. 3. The lowE'r qualities were, if anything, a shade easier, but the general quotation s were
34s. 9d. for No. 4 foundry, and 34s. 3d. for grey forge
although some firms, perhaps, accepted rather le~s:
Middlesbrough warrants opened at 35s. 7d. and clostd
35s. 8d. cash buyers, with little or nothing doing in them.
A fair demand was reported for hematite pig iron, and it
was not easy to purchase mixed n umbers of local brand3
under 43s. Gd. for early f.o. b. delivery. Spanish ore was
quiet, about 12s. ex-sh1 p T ees being tbe tJri ce of rubio.
'l'od ay our market was stead y, and there was rather
more disposition to do business, but th e quantity of iron
which changed hands was not large. A few transactions
w~re recorded at ~5s. 7~d. for prompt No. 3, and that
figu re was generally mentioned both by buyers and
sellers. Other classes of iron were at thl'3 same rates as
yesterday. Middlesbrough warrants advanOE.d t o 35s. 9d.
cash buyers.
Manufa ctured I ron cvnd Steel.-There is very little new
in the manufactured iron and steel tr.tdes. Quotations
continue low, and new work is scarce. Steel plate makers
however, a re a little better employed, and some firms ar~
inclined t o ask a tritie higher rates for their produce but
orders m ight still be ~laced a.t the same price as quoted a
week ago. Common 1ron bars are 4l. 17s. 6d.; best bars
5l. 7s. 6d.; . iron s~ip-plates, 4l. 15s. ; steel ship plates:
5l. 2s. 6d. ; 1ron sh1p angles, 4l. 12s. od.; and st~l ship
angles, 4l. 15s. -all less the customary 2~ per cent. dis
count for cash. H eavy sections of steel rails are quoted
3l. 12s. 6j. net at works.
Tke Fuel Trade.- Tbe fuel trade generally is in a fairly
satisfactory conditi on. Coal is steady, with a good demand
for delivery early next year, and there are negotiations for
deli very a good way a head. It is stated that theNewcastle
Gas Company have placed part of th eir contract for nexb
year at 7::1. 9d. per t on delivered. This is an advance of
about ls. per ton on the minimum rates of last year.
L ocomotive coal is steady. }few contracts for next year
have yet been placed, but fair prices are expected to be
realised . V ery little coal is now available for tb is year's
deli very. At Newcastle 15s. f.o.b. is q uoted for bE'st
Northumbrian steam coal, and 6s. for ~m all, but for next
year's contracts prices are much lower. Gas coal is in
fairly good demand, but deliveries are now likely t o diminish. H ousehold coal is ~teady, manufacturing coal firm.
Coke continues d ear, and makers hold out for their high
rates. H ere 13s. to 14s. has to be paid for good blast furnace coke deli vered at consumers' works over next quarter.
Cltvcland In~tttution of Engineers.-On 11onday night
~1r. G. T . Ni~bolson, of Sunderland, read a paper at a
meeting of the Cleveland Institute of Engineers on "Harbour Improvements at ~u nd erl and : N ew Protecting
Piers.,, 'fbe paper pointed out that the Wear Commissioners, as early as 1723, com menced erecting piers to
make ~underland a s~fe harbour of refuge, and schem~

DEc.

22,

r893.]

had since been submitted by Stevenson, Meik, Coode, and

Mr. Wake, the present engm eer. It was decided in 1884
to proceed with the construction of the pier at R oker on
Mr. Wake's plan, t 0 extend a distance of 2880 ft. in a
south-easterly d irection into the sea, and having a curve
of 2280 ft. rad ius, and on September 14, 1885, the
first block was laid. Previously to th is date the sea
wall and portion of the shore end of the pier bad been
already built by means of concrete deposited en m~sse ,
and faced with granite within cofferdams, which were
required to enable the commissioners to remoYe the sand
down to the rocks. At the present time a. total length
of 2311 ft. has been completed, leaving a length of 569 ft.
t o be done, which, it is anticipated, will take three or four
years to complete. A subway, 6ft. 3 in. high and 4 ft.
wide, is formed in the heart of the pier, as a means of
access to the lighthouse in st ormy weather. For a.
considerable distance out the blockwork, of a height
of 23 f t. , was set on the rock. dressed, and levelled
u p with concrete t o receive the blocks; but when
deeper water was reached the foundati on, to a.
height of 18 in. ab0\7 8 low water, was made up of large
concrete bags, of 116, 75, and 52 t ons weight, laid across
tb ~ site of the foundation. The pier is built of four courses
of blocks, each block averaging 43 t ons in weight, all outside
blocks having a. facing of red granite, in courses of 10 in.,
11 i n., and 12 in. deep. The north pier has cost 176, 565l.
already, and other 66,000!. will be required to complete
the work ; whilst 44,566l. has been sp ent on the south pier,
and it is estimated that 127,545l. more will be required to
complete this work.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

Cctrdiff.- The market for both stea.m and house coal
has shown an easier t one for prompt shipments, but for
deli varies a fter the holidays quotations have exhibited no
change. The best steam coal has made 15s. 9d. to 16s. 6d.
per t on, and second ary qualit ies have brought 14s. 9d.
t o 153. p er t on.
No. a Rhondda large has brought
14s. 6d. to 14s. 9d. p er ton. Coke has been quiet ; foundry
qualities have made 20s. t o 20s. 6d., andfuroace ditto17s.
t o 1Ss. per t on. The manufactured iron a nd steel trades
have exhibited little change.
T he Tinplate Trade.-Tbe W aterloo Tinplate W orks,
owned by Captain Phillip~, Monmouthsbire, have re
started. A reducti nn of 10 per cent. in wages has been
attempted at th e Clyne Work~ , and has been rejected
by the men. On M onday n oti ce of a stoppage of the
works was given.
T he "RetrilJution."-The Retribution, cruiser, which
was built and engined by Palmar's Iron and Shipbuilding
Company, Limited, of J arrowon-Tyne, arri ved at Devonport from the contractors in July, 1892. After a series of
successful trials bad been made, a crack was discovered
in one of the centre furnaces of the port after boiler; and
as the contractors bad been put to considerable expense
through ha ving to renew a similar defective furnace in
the Pique, cruiser, th e L ords of the Admiralty decided
t o accept the R etribution's defective furnace if it were so
patched as t o ba rendered efficient. After undergoing a
variety of p ressure t ests, th e patch was pronounced perfect ; but during the recent naval manceuvres the patched
furnace showed signs of weakness. Since the ma.nceuvres
the vessel has been lying idle until a few days since,
when she was placed in Keyhambasin for a general overhaul. It is now discovered that one of the centre furnaces of the port forward boiler has d eveloped a crack of
considerable length. A rep ort of the vessel's condition
was on Thursday sent to the L0rds of the Admiralty, as
well as to the contractors.
P enarth P ier.-The construction of this pier is expected
t o be commenced without delay.
The "A strarea."-Tbe Astrarea, cruiser, went outside
Plymouth Breakwater on Wednesday for an eight-hours
natural draught trial of her machinery. This was the
first of the full-power trials to which the Astrrea is t o be
subjected, and it was in every way satis factory. The
results were: Mean steam in boilers, 147lb. ; vacuum, star
board, 27.21 in. ; port, 27 in. ; revolutions, starboard,
130.5; port, 130.8 ; air pressure, .44 in. ; indicated horsepower, starboard, 3811; por t, 3789 -total, 7600; speed by
log, 19 knots. The engines worked smoothly throughout.
The Astr rea. again went out for a four-hours forced
draught trial of maobinery on Saturday. The mean
results were : Mean steam in boilers, 149 lb. ; vacuum,
starboard, 24.1 in. ; port, 25. 3 in. ; revolutions, st arboard,
138 1; port, 138.5; air pressure, 1.44 in. ; indicated
horse-power, starboard, 4437 ; port, 4675; total, 9112;
speed by log, 19.75 knots. The estimated h orse-power
wa.s exceeded by 112, and the estimated sp eed by half a
knot.
Abcr.larc-Jferthyr Collieries.-Electricity is now employed for working the pumping arrangements below
ground. Two large hauling engines have been erect ed,
one of which is expected to be shortly bringing coal to the
surface at the rate of 1000 tons per day.
Portsmmtk N ew Docks.-The works at th ese dock s are
practically st opped, although they were commenced only
a few months since, as ne w designs have to be prepared .
The docks are to be 15 ft. long-er than was originally
proposed, and this change involves many t echnical difficulties. Many of the navvies engaged were employed on
the Manchest er Canal, having been in the ser vice of
Messrs. Price, contract ors for the docks, and sub-contractors for the Manchester Canal. Scores of them
tramped to Portsmouth t o obtai n work. The majority
of these are now thrown out of employment, M , during
the r a-designing of the plans, operations are practically
~t a standstill.

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

AT the second general meeting of th~ N~wcastle?~

T yne Association of Students of the Instttut~on of CtvJl
Engineers, held at the Durham College of Smence on the
13th inst., a paper on ' ' L ocomotive Cranes " was read by
Mr. P. M. Pritcbard, Stud. Inst. C E.
The annual m eeting of the Newcastle and Dis t~ict
Association of Foremen Engineers and .1\fechamcal
Draughtsmen was held on Saturday, December 2, at
25, W estga.te road , Newcastle, Mr. G. H epple, Pr~ident,
occupied the chair at the outset. The following officebearers were then elected for the ensuing year: President,
lVIr. J. Anderaon, Wallsend; vice- president, Mr. W.
S tafford, Newcastle ; treasurer, M. T . Hunter, Gateshead ; secretR.ry, Mr . \V. D alrymple, South Shields.
The traffic receipts for the week ending D ecember 10
on 33 of the principal lines of the U nited Kingdom
amounted t o 1,383,727l., which was earned on 18,338
miles. For the co rresponding week in 1892 the r ecei pts
of the same lines amounted to 1, 361,188l. , with 18,199
miles open. There was thus an increase of 22,539l. in t he
receipts, and an increase of 189 in the mileage. The
aggregate receipts for the 23 weeks amounted on the same
33 lines t o 33,835,355l. , in comparison with 36,079,642l.
for the corresponding period last year; deo:-ease, 2,244, 287t.
The Borough of Harrogate has decided to attempt to
utilise its town refuse as fuel for a municipal electric light
station, and has accepted plans for this p urpose, prepared
by Mr. G. Wilkinson, M.I.C.E., Southport. Mr. Wilkinson proposes to tip t he refuse, as brought by carts, on to
a platform, from whence it is conveyed automaticall y, in
a" rough " sitter, where th e old pots, cans, &c. , are removed. The remainder of the refuse is then passed into
a drying cylinder, in which its moisture is extracted, and
its weight reduced by nearly one-third. The dried
material then passes on to another sifter, which removes
the fine dust, and the remainder is then automatically fed
into special boiler furnaces. The outcome of the scheme
will be awaited with interest.
Ab a meeting of the New York Electrical Society, Mr.
Nicola T esla st at ed that be thought he would soon be
ia a position t o produce twice as much electricity from a
given weight of coal than is done at present. This be
proposed t o do with his "vibrator," which he des~ribed
ia a lecture given before the electrical section of the
Engineering Congress at the World's Fair. In this both
engine and dynamo are reduced t o their simplest parts.
The engine has no packing, and the recivrocation t <l.kes
place at an enormous speed, 100 metres per second being
obtainable, and hence the expansion of the steam used is
corresp ondingly rapid. V ery high pressures can also be
used, as there is no trouble with lubrication. In fact,
Mr. T esla is now having a boiler made for a 350-lb. steam
pressure. The dynamo may consist of a sim.Ple coil caused
to oscillate by the '' ,~ ibrator " in a magnettc field.
The Netherlands Society for the Promotion of Industry
offer a gold medal and 30t. for the best paper on the pro
duction of electricity by windmills, its storage, transmission, and utilisation. The following points in particular should be attend ed t o : 1. What is the average
energy a common windmill is able to produce per day
of 24 hours in combination with an electrb accumulator ;
what would be the installation most suitable to this effect,
and what would be the cost of one horse-power hour ?
2. I s it possible, from an economical point of view, to
apply t he new aerial motors on an ext ensive scale for the
accumulation and the utilisation of this energy ? If so,
what mechanics! appliance3 would be required for this
purpose? The project of a supposed application of the
syst em, by whi ch a factory is provided with light and
power, is wanted as an illustration. Answers must be
sent before July J, 1894, with the author's name, in a
closed envelope, to the general secretary of the Society,
F . W. Van Eeden, at Haarlem, Holland.
Amongst the very interesting exhibits at the W orld 's
E xposition, Chicago, was the Laval st~am turbine, which
ran at a. speed of 20,000 to 30,000 revolutions p er minute,
and developed 20 horse-power. The wheel was only4 in.
in diameter, and as it was impossible to perfectly balance
it, the difficulties arising from centrifugal force at the
high speeds attained, were avoided by mounting the wheel
on a very flexible shaft, which yielded so as to allow the
wheel to rotat e about its centre of gravity, whether this
coincided with its centre of figure or not. W e rememuer
seeing some time ago drawings for a centrifugal separator
in which a somewhat similar plan was followed . The
separator was m ounted hori zontally on a stiff spindle,
one end of which was carried in a bearing attached by a
ball-andsocket joint to the frame of the machine, whilst
t he bearing ab the other end of th e shaft was carried by
four springs, thus allowing a certain f:eedom of motion to
that end of the spindle. The machine, we believe, was
never actually constructed.
At a recent meeting of the Engineers' Club, Philadelphia, a discussion took place on the pressures required
in riveting machines. Mr. Wilfred L ewis recalled that
experiments made some years ago by William ~ellers a nd
Co. , of Philadelphia, on a numbdr of l in. rivets, showed
that under a pressure of 10,000 lb. the rivet swelled and
filled the hole wit hout forming a head. At 20,000 lb the
head was formed, the plates slightly pinched; at 30,000 lb.
the ri vet was well-made ; at40, 000 lb. the metal in the plates
around the rivet began t o stretch, and increased under
higher pressure. From th ese experiments it was concluded
that a pressure of 300,000 lb. was required per square inch
of ri vet section in cold riveting. In hot ri veting, until
the last few years, the pressures used d id not exceed
60,000 lb., but now 150,000 lb. was not uncommon. Mr.
~Tames Cbristie ~t~ted that in girder WQrk for red-hot

ri vets, with a. length of grip notl e.xceeding 3 di!l'met~rs,

50 tons per square inch of rivet sect10n was su~01ent, but
with larger ri vets higher pressnres were .reqmre~, and,
in extreme oases, 100 t ons p~r square m ob m1ght be
necessary.
A n ew Imperi al train for the Czar .of Russia is at
present being built at the Alexandrowsk1 \ Vagon ~anu
factory at' St. Petersburg. It con:Sists of ele.ven car~1ages,
of which one is reserved for the ra1lway offictals, a kt.tcben
carriage, and two luggage vans. With the exceP.t10n of
wheels and the axles, which have been supphcd by
K ru;pp, at E ssen, the whole of th e material is of Russian
origm and manufacture. By means of a very power~ul
automatic bral<e, the train can be brought to a sta.n~sttll,
in a minimum of tim e, from every one of the carnag-es.
The intarior of the carriages is appoi nted ~ith much
tast e. The windows are different on both ~1des ; ~he
side with the corridor has windows of a untform S17.P,
whilst tb~ windows on the other side are mad e in accordance with the requirements of the various compartm ents.
The passages between the various ca~s ar~ vestibuled.
The carriage of the Cza.r and Czarma. 1s connected
directly with the dining-room, then comes the large
saloon car, the carriages of the G rand Dukes, &c. The
carriages will be sent on a '' trial trip " t o Copenhagen ;
some of them have already been sent t o Vienna and
back.
The fifth annual conversazione of the Institute of
Marine Engineers was held at the Town Hall, Stratford,
on the 8th inst. There was a large gathering ot members
and friends, numbering over 500. among which were included the President, Mr. W. H . White; P ast-Presidents
Messrs. Beldam and Ma.nuel; and several vice-presidents
and members of the coun cil. The programme, in addition to vocal and instrumental music, comprised a series
of ex periments, by Mr. M. Gray, "On Anderton's New
Stereoscopic Lantern, " and experiments "On Surface T ension and Bubbles," by Dr. Hermann Hoffert, of the Royal
College of Science, South K en&ington. Around the room
were arranged objects of special interest-among these we
may mention models of McGlassson 's reversible propeller,
Joy's val ve gear, Murdoch's locomotive 1781-4, the band
some m odel of s.s. L ondon Belle, and a very exquisitely
finished model of an engine and boiler, the work of C. R.
vVymer, an engineer apprentice. The United Asbest os
Company exhibited specimens of crude and manufactured
asbestos. Mr. Ruthten bad on view bis balance steering
gear; and Messrs. Dewrance showed their patt:~nt ren ewable stop valve, water gauges, &c.
The new s.s. Gothic, which has just been completed by
M essrs. Harland and Wolff, L imited, for Messrs. I smay,
Imrie, and Co., and which is to sail between New Zealand and home, is not only the largest vessel i.n the
Australasian trade, but is fi tted for carrying no less than
75,000 to 80,000 carcases of frozen mutton. She is fitted
with two complete duplir.at e refrigerating machines by
J. and E. Hall, Limited, of Dartford, on the same lines
as a number of st eamers fi tted by them for importing
frozen mutton on a very large scale from the R iver Plate,
and which proved so successful. The machin es cool a
large quantity of brine to some 30 d eg. or 40 deg. below
the freezing point of water, and tbi3 ia circulat ed by
means of pumps through pipes nest ed between the deck
b eams of the holds to be kept frozen; the pipes thus
occupy no useful space, and a.re out of harm's way on the
outward voyage, when the ship is carrying a general
cargo. In the Gothic special attention has been devoted
to the carriage of dairy produce, for which perfectly
re~lar and even t~mperatures are indispensable, the
brme pipe syst em lending itself particularly well to
this purpose, as all the temperatures throughout the refrigera ted holds and 'tween-decks can be regulated from
the engineroom, without entering the eold spaces for
opening and closing air trunks, whj ch have been by this
system entirely done away with.
In a recent issue of the "Comptes R end us " of the
Paris Acad emie des Sciences, M. Moissan. describes a
continuous electric furnace in which materials may be
melted out of contact with the carbon vapour of the arc.
The body of the furnace is constructed out of bricks of
lime, surrounding a central cavity. The sides of this
ca vity are lined with alternate plates of carbon and magnesia, the latter being nex t the lime, as, if the carbon
plates were in contact with the lime, combination would
occur at th e high t emperatures reach ed, liquid calcium
ca.rbonate being formed. The magnesia plates are irreducible by carbon, and hence can only waste away by
direct volatilisation. The cavity is closed with simple
plates, above which is placed a block of lime. The aro
carbons p ass through opposite walls of the furn ac~, and
tb e arc is struck between them in the centre of th e cavity.
Below the a rc, and above the bottom of the cavity, a tube
of pure carbon 1 or 2 centimetres in diameter passes
through the furnace from side t o side, and is inclined at
an a ngle of 30 d e~. to the horizon tal. The ores t o be
fused are placed in this tube and th e arc struck. The
metal as reduced flows down to th e lower end of the tube,
where it can be collect ed. Using a current of 600 amper s
at 60 volts, M. Moissan has produced an ingot of chro
mium of 2 kilogrammes weight. The fused metal was cast
in moulds of sesquioxide of chromium, to which it ga,e up
any carbon it originally contained. The h eated part of
the carbon tube is transformed into graphite.
R ussra. -The production of coal in Russia. lastl
year was 6, 913,351 tons. It should be observed that the
expression " coal , must be ta_ke~ to include anthracite,
coal properly so called, and hgmtes. The D onetz basin
figured in last year's output for 3,560,000 tons, or 43..J.,OOO
t ons more th~n in 1891.
C oAL IN

THE CANADIAN

COURTS AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN

EXPOSITION.

(For Dc::x;1iption, see P age 772.)

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DEc.

22,

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

1893.]

AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."

riff'

AusTRIA, Vienna: Lehma.nn and Wentzel, K ii.rntnerstra.sse.

OAP& ToWN : Gordon and Gotoh.
EDTNBURGn: John Menzies and Co. , 12, Hanover-str eet.
FR.L'lCE, Paris : Boyveau and Chevillet, Librairie Etrangere, 22,
Rue d e la Ba.nque ; M. Em. Terquem, 3lble Boulevard Haussmann.
Also for Adver~iseme nLB, Agonc e lla.vas, 8, Place de la Bourse.
(See below.)
GERMANY, Berlin: Messrs. A. Asher and Co., 5, Unter d en Linden .
Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus.
Mulhouse: H . Stuckelberger .
GLASGOW : Willia.m Love,

I NDIA, Calcutta.: Thacker, Spink, and Co.

Bombay: Thacker and Co., Limited.
l'rALY : U. H oepli , Milan, and any post office.
LrV"KRPOOL : Mrs. Ta.ylor, Landing Stage.
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THE DEBATE ON THE NAVY.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
PAGE
A New Peru (Illmtrated) . . 749 The Evol ution of the AtlanSteam Boiler Exp~riments.
tic Greyhound .. .. _ ... 766
No. x nr. . . ......... ... 762 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
'lhe American Society of
Shipbuilding and Marine
Naval Architects . ..... .. 752
Engineering in 1893 (I llusPullman Obser vation and
trated ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
8leeping Car (Illustrated) 756 H .vdra.ulic Power S upply in
Peckham Do11ble-Extension
London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
CantileverTram way Truck
The Stability of Armourat the World's Columbian
clads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
l!:xposition tlUuatrated) . . 755 Steam J ets ........ . ..... . 770
!''our - Cylinder Compound
The U nemployed ..... . ... . 770
Locomotive at the World's
Economical ~peed of SteamColumbia n Exposition (Il s hips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
lustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Patent Office Libra ry ...... 770
Eoginesof the Italian Cruiser
Method of Taking Out
" Aret usa" (Illustrated).. 766
Str esses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
N otes from the United
Vertical Engine and CentriStates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
fugal Pump (l llmtrated) 771
P iston a nd Piston Valve
Baxters' Lock Nut (Illu &
Pack i n~ (Illmtrated) .. .. 758
trated) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
0 re and Coal Wa.shing
Industrial Notes . ... . . . 771
Machine (l llmtrated) . . . . 758 British Colonies at the
Notes from t he North .. . . 760
World's Columbian ExNotes from Cleveland and
position (I llustrated) . . . . 772
the Northern Counties .. '760 Some Practica l Ex amples of
Notes from South Yorkshire 760
Blasting (IUmtrated) ... . 773
N otes from the South-West 761 Rail way uollision at DroitMiscellanea .......... . 761
wich . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . 774
The Debate on t heN avy . . 763 Launc hes and Trial Trips .. 774
Da ngerous Occupations . . 764 Eng ineering" Patent Re
The Distribution of Power
cord (Illustrated) . . . . 776
from Niagara .. . . . . '766

lJ'ilh a Two- Page EngraiJing of the TR IPLE-EXPANSION

ENGINES OF' TilE ITALIAN TORPEDO GUNBOAT
" A.RETUSA."

that it is almost impossible to separate t he administration of the Navy from party politics. The fact
although deplorable, is inevitable, unless some radi~
cal change be made, and it is useless to blame this
or that individual for a defect which is inherent to
the perniciou~ s~stem that has grown t o be a part
of our ConstitutiOn. Lord George Hamilton was
careful to say that his motion was of a non-partisan
character, and we are willing to give him credit for
all candour, but the task of lifting the administration of the Navy out of th e mire of party p olitics
was entirely beyond his powers ; as, indeed, it is
b_eyond the po~er of an~ state~man so to do by
s1mple declaratiOn of a v:1sh or Intention. Whatever may have been said, or might have been said
by the leaders on either side, had the Prim~
Minister accepted L ord George Hamilton's motion
it would have been looked on as a party victory for
the Opposition, and would have been made use of
at the polls.
It is n ot for this r eason that the course taken by
Mr. _Gladsto~e should meet with ap~roval, although
parhamentanans appear to cons1der it an allsufficient excuse. So degraded have we become
that political self-preservation is unblushinCTly
acknowledged the first law of nature for fr~nt
benches. ''Is it likely," say the supporters of the
Government, "that Mr. Gladstone should acknowledge his adversaries right and himself wrong 1 It
would be sin1ply political suicide ! " Such sentiments are n ot dishAd up raw and undisCTuised for
the consumption of the British public ; that is n ot
our modern British m_anne:. We cozen and gloze ;
we obscure counsel with wtndy rhetoric we ignore
facts which do not serve our purpose ' or unduly
emp.hasise others tha~ do; we attribute unworthy
mot1ves to others, posmg ourselves as the most disinterested of patriots : but p erish ordor arts
learning, national honour, and public security s~
long as we can sit tight in the sunshine of 'the
Treasury Bench, dooming our opponents t o the cool
shade of Opposition : and there is not a pin to
choose between either party.
H owever, the administration of the Navy is in
the grip of party politics, and it is the duty of
every non-political journal to make as good a fight
as l)ossible for the true interests of the country.
A few weeks ago* we published a simple statement

* See page 593 ante.

of facts which showed what would be, at a future

date, the position of the British Navy in relation
to that of two other P owers. We then stated that
we wer e too near danger p oint for inq uiry into
this question t o be any longer delayed, and we
think an unbiassed examination of the Tables we
put forward can lead to n o other conclusion.
Certainly n othing said in the debate of lastjTuesday
evening has weakened our opinion in this respect.
L ord George Hamilton was repeating our previous
statement in asserting that "our command of the
sea is at the present moment in jeopardy," although
the danger might be prospective rather than immediate, and we can therefore support the Conservative ex-First L ord of the Admiralty without
fear of accusation of political bias. Time is indeed
iu this matter the master of the situation. It is
not as it was in days past, when wars were prolonged,
and the construction of vessels could be pushed
forward t o take their place in the line of battle
though they might not be commenc~d at the time
peace was brok en. In this way England's shipbuilding r esources have stood her in good stead in
the days of the old wars ; but such things will not
happen again. As a nation now finds it self on the
declaration of war, so will it have to fight its way
to the end. P otential energy is n ot likely to be
a factor of modern naval s uccess, although shipyards and engineering shops will be of value to
make good quickly the damages of battle. Modern
wars are of short duration on land, and ar e likely
to be still shorter on sea. The end might come
before we had t ime even to launch half-a-dozen
torpedo-boats.
W hen the Naval D efence Act of 1889 was passed,
the Government of the day undertook that the
British Navy of 1894 would be equal to any t wo
navies of Europe. Lord George Hamilton claimed
that this promise was fulfilled, or would be by April!
next, but that there was little margin to spare.
Looking to the fut ure, however, he found that at
the commencement of t he next financial year
France will have six battleships building, and three
more will be commenced in that year. The displacement of these nine ships would be 106,000
tons. ~ussia will have six battleships building, and
two w1ll be commenced next year. This gives
eight altogether, with a displacement of 90,000
tons; or, taking. b oth France and Russia, seventeen
battleships, with an aggregate t onnage of 196,000
tons. Of course we have n ot next year's programme
revealed, but as at present arranged Great Britain
will have three ships building, representing 42,000
tons, and two of these have only been commenced
within the last three weeks or so. In addition to
these line-of-battle ships, France and R ussia have
each two coast defence vessels in construction,
having an aggregate tonnage of 21,000 tons and
these vessels are so heavily armed and armoured that
they might take their place in the line of battle were
they present; and the course of naval warfare would
likely be such that they would have every chance
of being present. Passing to first-class cruisers
L ord George Hamilton pointed out t hat Franc~
will have five buildin g, r epresenting a displace~ent of 30,000 tons, and Russia two, equal to a
d1splacement of 23,000 t ons. Against this, EnCY}and
will h ave only one building, representing ; displacement of 1.4, 000 tons, a single vessel not yet
begun. Summ1ng up these figures, it will be found
that at the comlll:ence!flent of the next naval year
Fr~n?e and Russ1a: Will have twenty-eight ships
bu1ldmg, represent1ng a displacement of 270 000
tons, and Great Britain will have four ships b~ild
ing, re_presenting a displacement of 56,000 tons.
Summtng up, Lord George said that in the course
of n ext year France and Russia will have twentyone armoured ships in various stages of construction, with a total displacement of 217 000 tons
which would be equal to half the total ~umber of
battleships available for the Navy of Great Britain.
We find a good deal of comfort in Mr. Gladstone's reply to the late First Lord's attack. With
th? :political part of the question, which the Prime
Minis ter resolutely refused to ignore, we have little
concern. It is a satisfaction that Mr. Gladstone
acknowledges it to be "the capital duty of the
Government to make adequate proposals for the
defence of the country. " Such a phrase may of
course, mean n othing, but in the present case' we
think it means a. great deal. The present Government have found they have made rather a mistake.
Und~r pressure of a fallin g r evenue, and with a
~efic1t t o face, t he old tactics-common alike in
tunes past to both parties-have been to squeeze

E N G I N E E RING.
the Navy. It was an easy and popular course,
but of late years the Press has done something to enlighten the public, and since
the great exposure of 1884, a new temper
has been engendered. The average citizen sees
how essential a strong Navy is to national existence ; not simply to national self-glorification, but
to the continuance of that commerce by which W9
all live. The present Government have been somewhat slow to recognise this salutary awakening,
but the course of affairs out of doors during the
last few weeks has apparently opened their eyes.
If we can read between the lines of Mr. Gladstone's
speech, therefore, we shall have a fair shipbuilding
programme when the Estimates are brought forward early next year. Doubtless it would have
pleased the Government well enough to have
acquiesced in that which Lord George Hamilton
asked, but it does not do for old parliamentary
hands to climb down. It exalts the wisdom of the
other side.
There is one circumstance in connection with the
provision for naval expenditure which seems as hopeless as ever. When the late Government brought
forward the Naval Defence Bill, it was attacked by
the Opposition for reasons which appeared to us, and
which we still believe, to have been purely partisan.
It is difiicult to see how business men, accustomed
to the conduct of large constructive works, could
seriously question the wisdom of providing something like a continuous programme. The opposition, fortunately unavailing, was, however, so
strong and so explicitly stated that even parliamentarians have not been able to eat their words,
and the Navy Estimates will still remain the
sport of public opinion, as it blows hot or cold
from year to year, whilst the prospect of a
poor Budget is likely to produce that state of
danger which unscrupulous Chancellors of the
Exchequer-and they are all unscrupulous-have
no hesitation in bringing about by curtailing the
Navy Estimates. One would have thought that
Governments would have been only too glad to
be protected against themselves, or against the
breath of unpopularity due to a rise in taxation ;
and so they would have been were it not that political tactics demand opposition to one of the wisest
measures ever brought before Parliament.

DANGEROUS OCCUPATIONS.
PuBLIC opinion is rapidly changing on the subject of dangerous occupations. Formerly the conditions of employment were regarded as a matter of
consideration for the workman only, and if he
accepted them it was assumed that he found ~he
risks were counterbalanced by the advantages. He
was free to follow or to leave a calling as he
chose, and the fact that he retained it was assumed
to be evidence that he found it more remunerative
than other and safer occupations. The Manchester
school of politicians, which preached the doctrine
that individuals and classes were quite able to safeguard their own interests, both personal and financial, without aid from the State, is now pretty
nearly extinct, for experience has clearly shown the
fallaciousness of its views. Freedom of contract
between an employer with capital, and a workman
without capital, either in the shape of money in his
pocket or of a share in the funds and protection of
a trade union, is a very one-sided affair. The claims
of an empty stomach cannot be deferred until better
times, like those of capital, but must be met day
by day, and, if possible, several times a. day.
Hence the isolated workman is not usually in a.
p osition to make an independen~ bargain with his
possible employers, and demand 1ncrea~ed payment
to cover the risks of a dangerous occupation. It is
only in times of great commercial prosperity, when
every possible hand is employed, that the less
skilled and unorganised workers are able to make
successful demands for increased remuneration. At
all other times the demand for employment keeps
waaes down to a. point at which t he risks to life
and limb are not provided for, and it further prevents any systematic agitation for improved means
and processes by which these risks may be mi!limised. The better class of workmen- those w1th
more than average ability-naturally avoid callings which threaten their lives, and hence it comes
that these are filled with the least able of the
labouring classes. Those with no education or
skill and those who from physical or mental reasons
are i'nept in fighting the battle of life, find themselves impelled by a force too powerful to be re

sisted into trades in which the dangers are greatest

and the pay smallest.
The sense of a civilised community now demands
that the State should endeavour to exercise a
paternal care over those that are not competent to
take care of themselves. Women and children
have long been the subject of special industrial
legislation, and now this is even being extended to
adult male workers. Provided this is not carried too
far, no reasonable person can object to it. The great
majority of employers are anxious to deal justly
with those that work for them, but the task is
rendered difficult-and sometimes almost impossible-by an unscrupulous minority, whose competition iu the market r enders liberal treatment
almost impossible.
L egislation is required in
many trades to bring up a few members to the
standard of humanity that the majority desire to
practise, and which they would readily adopt, were
it not that it would put them at a disadvantage in
the market, and lessen not only their profits, but
the amount of employment that they could provide. Further, legislation is valuable in preventing the evils that come from long acquaintance
with danger. It needs some external pressure to
cause even a gentle-hearted man to adopt new
systems of working, even when they do not entail
any great expense. Habit is very powerful, and
most of us endure inconveniences in our daily life
simply because we continually defer making the
slight effort required for their abolition. We contemplate in all seriousness making the change next
week or next month, and years slide past without
it being effected. Not without reason the demon
said, "To-morrow always was my favourite day. "
An Act of Parliament is useful when it obliges us
to fix a date for the reform which we have not
hitherto been able to find a fitting opportunity to
undertake.
The present Home Secretary, the Right. Hon.
H. H. Asquith, has turned his attention to the question of dangerous occupations, and within the past
few days two reports of department committees
have been issued regarding them, on " Various
Lead Industries," and on "Potteries" respectively.
The former is the more important of the two, as
the industries in question are notoriously dangerous, particularly that dealing with the manufact ure of white lead. For some time past much has,
however, been done to render it less n oxious to
the work people by t he issue of rules whieh r equire
the employers to provide overalls and respirators
for use in certain processes, and also accommodation for washing and bathing. The employer is
required to see that the workpeople wash faces and
hands before . each meal-time, and take a weekly
bath. He has to provide all necessary appliances
for t heRe purposes, and insist on their use. By these
means the constant absorption of lead through the
skin is greatly reduced ; the overalls prevent the
clothes becoming fouled, while the cleansing prevents lead particles being carried into food, or
accumulated under the nails and in the pores of
the skin. To minimise the absorption of lead dust,
the plates of lead carbonate are required to be
wetted before they are r emoved from the '' white
beds,, and again at the crushing mills. But in
spite of these precautions much dust is created.
That this is so will be understood from a description of the process of manufacture. Gratings or
thin plates of metallic lead are made into stacks
within a brick cell. This is done as follows : The
floor of the stack is first covered with a layer of
tan ; on this are arranged as closely as possible
stoneware pots filled with dilute acetic acid,
and on t he top of these are placed four or five
layers of lead plate. The whole is covered over
with boards, forming a second floor, upon which fresh
layers of tan, pots, and plates are arranged. This
is in its turn covered in the same way, and so on
until the stack is full, as many as ten or more
layers going into one stack. When it is complete,
it is closed and left ten to fifteen weeks ; the tan
heats and evolves carbonic acid, the heat volatilising
the acetic acid. Chemical action between the lead,
the carbonic acid, the acetic acid, and the air takes
place, leading through a series of changes n ot
clearly understood to the ultimate production of an
amorphous basic carbonate of lead, or white lead.
'Vhen the process is supposed to be complete, the
stack is opened and taken to pieces. The corroded
lead plates are carried in trays, generally by
women, to corrugated r ollers, over which there
passes a constant stream of water. In front of these
rollers the corroded lead is tipped, after being

[DEc.

2 2, I

893.

dipped in water or thoroughly wetted by a

hose, otherwise much dust arises, and even this
does not entirely prevent it. In passing through
the r ollers the w bite lead is separated from any
r emaining blue or metallic lead. The crushed
material next passes into a shallow tank, having a
perforated bottom, in which it is raked about, completing the separation. 'l'he blue lead is rakd
out, and the white lead passes with the current of
water to grinding mills, where it is ground up anu
run into a series of washing tanks or becks. Here
the lead settles, and the water is run off; the white
lead is then removed, put into earthenware or
copper pans, and placed in drying ovens. There
it remains from three to five days ; the pans are
taken from the ovens by hand labour, and the dry
white lead is either packed directly in casks or
thrown into bins for subsequent conversion into
paint. The emptying of the ovens and the packing
of the white lead is necessarily a very dusty operation, since the white lead, being perfectly dry and
friable, rises readily as dust.
Such i a general outline of the process. The chief
danger arises from the inhalation of the dust,
which is carried directly into the lungs, and also by
the saliva into the stomach. There is also danger
from absorption through the skin, and by particles
being dropped into food from the hands. These
two latter are fairly provided against by the present
regulations, and it is to the former that the committee directed their principal attention. They
found, by inquiring of the medical officers connected with the various works, that women are more
susceptible to lead poisoning than men, and young
girls than full-grown women. It is well known
that lead is capricious in its action on the human
constitution, and that while some can resist its effects
almost perfectly, others succumb very readily. From
the evidence taken it would appear t hat a strong
organisation is the best defence, and that consequently the weaker sex are the chief sufferers. As
it is impossible to predict what will be the effect
on a given person of the absorption of lead, the
committee have taken the bold course of recommending that no female labour be permitted, after
January 1, 1896, in the white beds, the rollers, the
wash becks, the stoves, or in packing dry white
lead. Practically this covers the entire manufacture, and, if the recommendation be adopted, must
have very serious consequences on the trade.
It is little less than a revolution to prohibit
women working at a manufacture t hat has hitherto
been carried on almost entirely by them. It means
either that higher-priced male labour must be
employed, or that machinery must be adopted as far
as possible. Engineers are not likely to grumble
at this latter alternative ; at some of the best
organised works many of the processes are conducted by aid of automatic mechanism, and in all
machinery might be adopted to a greater extent
t han it is. It shows how crude processes survive
when labour is cheap and ignorant when we r elate
that, in forming the stacks, in some works women
carry on their heads plates of lead, varying from
30 lb. to 50 lb., up ladders 10 ft. to 15 ft.
high. At others women cast these plates from
the molten lead. Evidently the owners need some
pressure brought to bear upon them in order to
enable them to recognise that they live at the close
of the nineteenth century, and to see that not only
is it indecent to allow ignorant women to continue
in such tasks, but also that it is uneconomical.
The disinclination that we should otherwise feel
in concurring in the recommendation to abolish
female labour at two years' n otice is a good deal
reduced by the knowledge that it is now used, in
part, for such unnecessary purposes.
From time to time processes for t he manufacture
of white lead in a perfectly innocuous manner have
been placed before the public, and some of these
are now at work, but their output is, relatively, so
small that the committee pass them over in a few
words. Foreign competition in white lead is so
~ev.ere that regulations demanding a radical change
1n 1ts method of manufacture would kill the home
industry entirely. Besides white lead , there is
manufactured sulphate of lead, red lead, orange
lead, lit harge, and yellow lead . None of these
latter are so poisonous as white lead, and beyond
general recommendations concerning Tentilation
and personal cleanliness the committee have little
to suggest.
The Potteries Committee of Inquiry found that
the chief evil they had to deal with was the dust of
clay and flint. These haye a serious effect O{l the

DEc.

22 ,

1893.]

E N G I N E E RI N G.

~ealth of the workers, setting up inflammatory action that he had not been present at the r eading of various occasions, for different classes of work,

1n the lungs, and ending in gradual consolidation and

abolition of the functions of the organs. Analysis
of the mortality r eturns for males above the aae of
fourteen f?r the .year 1890, of the parish of Stokeon-Trent, 1nclud1ng the county borough of Hanley,
the boroughs of Longton and Stoke, and the large
town of Fenton, show that, of the total mortality
from all causes among potters, bronchitis accounted
for 42 per cent., pneumonia and pleurisy 8
per cent., and pulmonary consumption 21 per
cent. Thus 71 per cent. of the deaths arose from
chest disea3es. Among pressers, bronchitis was the
cause of death in 47 per cent. of the cases and
other lu~g diseases in 7 per cent. ; pulm~nary
consumpt10n accounted for 21 per cent. In this
clags, therefore, 75 per cent. die from chest diseases.
In males above fourteen, living in t he district,
but not engaged in pottery labour, di~eases of the
chest produced 26 per cent., and pulmonary consumption 14 per cent. of the deaths. The dust is not
directly poisonous, in the ordinary sense of the
word, but it is so deleterious that the average length
of life among potters is forty-eight yeard, while
among non-potters in the district it is fifty-three
years. I t is evidently impossible to abolish clay
and flint in the pottery trades, or to prohibit adult
male labour, and therefore the committee could
only insist on improved vent.ilation and greater
cleanliness.
Lead poisoning also occurs in the potteries from
the glazes employed, and is especially liable to
attack young women and lads, especially if they are
ill fed or debilitated. The bad effects of the lead
are, however. being gradually reduced, as shown
by the statistics of the h ospitals and the experience
of medical men. This is probably due to greater
personal cleanliness, to an improved standard of
living, and possibly to increased intelligence among
the worker3. The committee suggest that in future
no child under fourteen be employed in the dipping
house or the dippers' drying room, or in any process
of ware-cleaning after the dippers, glost placing,
china scouring, ground laying, or majolica painting, or in any process in which lead is used . Overalls and head coverings are to be provided for all
workers exposed to lead dust; no food is to be
eaten in a room in which lead is employed; efficient
ventilation and daily cleansing are to be provided
for; washing appliances are t o be supplied ; excessive temperature in the workshops is to be
avoided, and no female under sixeeen years of age
is t o be employed at treading the lathes used by
turners.
These recommendations are much less drastic
than those propounded by the Committee on
Lead Indus tries, the danger to be met being
less imminent.
They amount to little more
than common-sense s uggestions that any humane
employer would wish to carry out. It is evident,
however, from the tone of the report, that
greater opposition is to be expected from th~ workpeople than from the employers. Dust 1s preferred to drauCThts, overalls are found to be irksome
to work in :crupulous cleanliness involves more
trouble tha.~ work people often care to take, and in
many ways the proposed reforms will provoke
opposition. The position of an employer thus
becomes very unpleasant. He is urged to spend
money and thought for the benefit of his workpeople and he finds his efforts resisted by the very
person~ who reap the gain of it. H~ must conso~e
himself by the reflection that were It not for thts
want of thought- this preference of .pre~ent ease
to future well-being- he would find It d1ffi.cult to
obtain hands and would have to pay greatly
increased wa~es for those he did get. It is undoubtedly tr~e that the office of t~e Inspector of
Factories is as much concerned w1th workpeople
as with employers, and that a consta.n~ and steady
pressure is r equired to bring bot~ partles up .to the
level of practice which .b~t~ ~dmtt. to be desuable.
One great use of these Inquiries will be to demonstrate to the labourers that t hey must bear their
part in the steps taken for the preservation of their
health.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER

FROl\1 NIAGARA.
AT the meetinrr of the Institution of Electrical
EnCTineers held o~ Thursday, the 14th ins~. , the
dis~ussion on Professor F orbes's paper on "The
Distribution of P ower from Nia.gara" w~s resume~.
The firat speaker was Mr. Fenant1, who said

the paper, but had been able to study it since. A

remarkable fact in connection with the scheme was
that, although a. number of the best designers in
the world had been asked to prepare plans, and
ha~ done so, none of these had been found entirely
satisfactory, but the information supplied had apparently furnished a. very good basis for the designs
actually adopted. In the dynamos there were
several novel features, such as the oil insulation of
t~e coils. On this head he might mention that he
himself had taken out a provisional patent for a
very similar method some years ago, but had afterwards abandoned the idea, and he thouCTht wisely.
The engineers to the Cataract Corn pany had been
round the Continent examining designs and collecting information, and in the dynamo designed
by Professor Forbes he recognised features due to
Mr. C. E. L. Brown, of Baden, such as the mica
insulated armature coils, which were a special
feature of Mr. Brown's design. He was surprised
t~a.t after all the researches made a higher potentlal than 2000 volts was not adopted in the
dynamos. The practice of transforming up had
o?jectionable features. There was a. very great
d1fference between designing and building dynamos as a r egular every-day practice, and
designing t hem after getting all the information available in the world, and then doing
the work, without great personal experience in the
making, and above all in the running, of such
machines. If this matter ha.d been left to those
who sent in the best designs, and t he work of improvement placed in their hands, it would, he
thought, ha.ve been better. I t was, he noted, proposed to use 20,000 volts on the line. This was
adopted on the assumption that since 10,000 v<:>lts
difference between one wire and the earth was used
at D eptford, there would be no more difficulty in
using 20,000 volts between the two leads. This was a
fallacy. At Deptford concentric wiring was adopted,
in which, though the outer might get to earth, no
harm was done, whilst if one of the mains at Niagara
did so the electromotive force would fall to 10,000
volts. In limiting their first attempt at high potential work to 20,000 volts, he thought the author and
his assistants were very wise. Looking at the subway
as shown in the drawings, he t hought it would be
a. very " hot " place. He had been very close to a.
very high electromotive force himself, and found
10,000 volts quite alarming when it got out of
control. He thought the proposed periodicity of
16! was too low, and even with one of 25, lighting
would have to be sacrificed. Forty would be a
much more satisfactory number, as with it both
arc and incandescent lighting were possible. One
side of the question was most important,
viz., the general principles on which the Cataract
Company got its information and assistance.
They proceeded in a very clever way. They
formed a commission, including the greatest scientists in the world, to obtain and report on plans and
specifications, for which very inadequate prizes
were offered. Though these plans were prepared
by experts, one firm alone having spent 1000l. on
them, nothing was found satisfactory, and so the
next year the company sent its engineers r ound the
world to gather information, though intending all
the time to have the work executed in America.
In short, the designs as adopted were based upon the
unrecompensed work of the world. He did n ot
attach any blame to Professor Forbes personally,
but he must regret that t he beautifully worked
scheme of the company had been so successful.
Mr. Alexander Siemens, referring to Mr. Ferranti's
cha.rae aaa.inst the Cataract Company, thought it
was ~nly right to point out that the co~ditions. of
the competition clearly showed that 1t was Intended to execute the work in America.. His own
firm had not thought these conditions were sufficiently favourable for them to undertake the preparation of detailed plans, and they had accordinaly only sent in an outline scheme, and so were
out of the running for the prizes. The amount of
the prizes was also clearly stated, and all tenderers
must have acted with open eyes. With regard to
t he potential of 20,000 volts, he did not.perceive any
difficulty in making cabl~s to carry th1s. In some
experiments made by hts firm, 50,000 volts ~ad
been safely carried. In respect to one other .pomt,
was it so absolutely certain that the contmuous
current could not have been used by running the
machines in series ? P ersonally, with the experience he had gained, he would be afraid of undertaking the insulation of the dynamos. He had on
0

made comparative estimates for the alternating and

continuous current systems, and, up to the present,
had always found the advantage to lie with the
continuous current.
Mr. S. H. Evershed remarked that much fault
had been found with the low periodicity adopted,
but he thought previous speakers had not considered the effect of the back electromotive force
caused by mutual induction between the mains.
Taking the mains as of 3 square inches in section,
and the current density as 333 amperes per square
inch, the back electromotive force at a periodicity
of 100 would be 880 volts per mile, whilst the loss
due to direct resistance of the cables would be 27
volts only. At a periodicity of 25 the back electromotive force would be reduced to 192 volts, the loss
due to resistance remaining as before. From these
figures it was evident that Professor F orbes had
a strong argument in favour of a low frequency.
There was a point, however, on which he wished
for information, viz., the reasons for adopting an
artificial load for facilitating the working of the
machines in parallel. The device appeared unnecessary, as alternators were successfully paralleled
without such aid.
Mr. Crompton found fault with the paper in that
no information was given as to the estimated cost
per horse-power transmitted to Buffalo. All other
questions as to details of design, insulation, periodicity, were subordinate to this one question, Would
the enterprise pay 7 His own firm had had many
similar schemes, of course on a. smaller scale,
brought before them, but in every instance they
had to abandon the project on account of the cost
involved, even when the distance to which the
power was to be transmitted was only ten or fifteen miles. With regard to the question of ethics
raised by Mr. Ferranti, he quite agreed that there
had been a barefaced attempt to pick the brains of
the world. Ife spoke feelingly on the subject,
because the last corner in variably did this, since
no system of patent laws yet devised could protect
the pioneers, who were, of course, unable to cover
every possible method of accomplishing a given
end in their specifications. He agreed with Mr.
Siemens as to the comparative advantages of the
continuous current, holding that with a given
amount of copper more could be done by the continuous than by the alternating system. Mr. Siemens claimed that he could supply cables safe for
working at 20,000 volts, but he had said nothing
as to the cost of such cables. R e wondered if
Professor Forbes had ever seen a high-tension
switchboard during a thunderstorm. Be did not
mean a. natural thunderstorm due to the elements,
but a "real artificial" one, due to the vagaries of
high-tension current itself. He t hought that if
arcing occurred at one end of the 18-mile conduit,
it would soon reach the other end. He had a good
deal of experience with porcelain insulators, which
he saw it was proposed to use in the conduit, and had
found that what was good enough for the telegraph
department was not good enough for use in und erground lighting conduits. After much trouble he
had, however, got a material which worked satisfactorily a.t an electromotive force of 200 volts ; but
20,000 volts was a. very different matter. Oil insulation he did not believe in, nor did he agree
with previous speakers that a. periodicity of 42 was
satisfactory in arc lighting.
Mr. Kapp read a communication from Mr.
C. E. L. Brown to the effect that he had found no
difficulty in working alternators in parallel even at
high periodicities. In fact, he had been unable to
detect any difference in the working between a
range of 15 periods and 100. He had worked
a. machine of his successfully in parallel with a.
Ganz machine having a totally difl'erent curve of
electromotive force. No artificial load was necessary. As regards transformers, a high frequency
was certainly best. It should fur ther be kept in mind
that large transformers would not run cool as easily
as small ones. For motors a. high fre quency was
quite as good as a. low one, and for arc lighting
a periodicity of less than 40 was useless. He
thought the adoption of a. two-phase system with
four wires was good, but apparently the worst
possible design for the dynamos had been selected.
In reply, Professor Forbes congratulated ths
Institution on the discussion that night, which had
risen far above tho level to which it had sunk at
the previous meeting. The speakers that evening
had at least attempted to grasp ihe problem,
whereas on the previous occasion he had felt

766

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

nothing but sorrow at the failure of the various ~educed ~y the concentr~c system ; still he thought
speakers to take a comprehensive view of the sub- 1t more hkely to occur w1th it than with one of the
ject, though there was some excuse in the fact conductors in the subway. He had to thank Mr.
that but little time had been available for the study Evershed for his calculation of the ba.ck electromoof the paper before the discussion took place. ti.v~ force, showing the necessity of a low perioFor . a work of this kind months of study were diCity. Mr. Crompton complained that no details
requtred. One remarkable feature of the discus- had been gi~ en as to cost, but neither now nor at a
sion was, however, the fact that nearly every future date was it likely that this information would
adverse. criticism had been combated by some be published. In conclusion he would state that he
succeedmg speaker. He was astonished at the way had now not one particle less confidence in his
in which the. proposed adoptio~ of low frequency designs than he had before the discussion took
had been rece1 ved. He had claimed no credit for place.
it, as he had believed himself to be a mere plodder
but, judging from the discussion, he appeared to be'
in fact, a discoverer. In noting the varyin<Y opinion~ THE EVOLUTION OF THE ATLANTIC
GREYHOUND.
expressed from different parts of the h~h, he had
MR. CHARLES H. CRAMP'H paper, read at the
observed a sort of reflection of the course of r easoning he had himself gone through before draw- first meeting of the American Society of Naval
ing up his .final plans, and he had n o doubt that Architects and Marine Engineers, has already been
when the various speakers had had time for further ~eferred to .in these columns. We had a full report
cons~deration, their opinions would be greatly 1n our last ISsue, and we recommend its perusal to
mod1fi~d.. In 1890 every member of the Niagara those of our readers who are interested in the
Comm1ss1on was opposed to the adoption of the subject. Mr. Cramp was assuredly well advised in
alternating current, but since then all but one had his choice of a starting-point. For some reason
been converted. In his report, drawn up at that which we must confess we have never been able t~
time, the use of the alternate current, an electro- appreciate, the fashion has been to take the Arimotive force of 2000 volts, step-up transformers zona as the first of the distinguished family, and to
and Tesla motors, were all outlined. The only ignore her immediate predecessors, who were little
mistake he made at the time was to recommend inferi?r i~ speed, and .possibly were actually her
the Mordey alternator, which had, by further superwrs In results attamed for expenditure. Mr.
experiment, been found unsuitable for the con- Cramp's paper takes the famous City of Brussels as
ditions obtaining at Niagara. Mr. Mordey would the starting-point. There is some reason in doing
remember that in experiments made to teat this so. She was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic
in which it was attempted to run the machin e~ under eight days, and if a line must be drawn somein parallel with a high resistance, consistin(7 of where, as it obviously must, here is a convenient
glow lamps interpolated between the machines, place to rule it. In his description of this ship
the lamps went up and down with a perio- however, we at once fiud a divergence between hi~
dicity of several seconds. In his remarks, Mr. notes and our own. fie says her engines were
Mordey had entirely failed to grasp the fact that simple directacting, with two cylinders 90 in. in
this was a power plant, and not an electric lighting diameter and 54 in. stroke. We have thought
one. The machines used must run in step without a that they were horizontal trunk engines, with
waste current, and no risk of breakdowns could be cylinders 91~ in. in diameter and 48 in. stroke.
faced, such as had occasionally occurred with t he This discrepancy is n ot very important, but it serves
Mordey alternator, which, in short, did not work to show how difficult it is to arrive at absolute
well enough for his company. He had adopted the accuracy concerning things not a quarter of a
principle of the artificial load as an additional pre- cent~ry old. Le.av~ng her, he mentions the Oceanic,
caution against breakdown. He had anticipated Celhc, and Adnat1c. The former he surely gives
that manufacturing firms would raise difficulties as 100 t ons too much. For her gross tonnage was
to providing transformers to work on the plant, and 3707, not 3808 tons. The error in respect to the
had therefore himself prepared designs for every two ~ater ~hip~ is more important, but it is probably
special case required. He had given experimental a pnnter s m1stake. The length of the Adriatic
proofs of the advantages of low frequency, with should be 437 ft., not 417 ft., and the steam preswhich proofs no speaker had dealt. Mr. Mordey sure carried was never as high as 80lb. These points
wanted him to use 500 volts, but in that case 400 should be emphasised, for to the great length of the
square inches of copper would be required. It early White Star boats is largely attributable the
should be remembered that the space required for regularity and comfort which characterised them,
insulation in a 5000 horse-power machine was pro- whilst their economy in working with what nowaportionately less than in a smaller machine. Pro- days would be called low-pressure steam should n ot
fessor E. Thomson had objected to the design of the be minimised. So far, Mr. Cramp has been comdynamo on one point, and had the support of Mr. paring vessels by their length between perpendiKapp. But Professor Thomson 's criticism was based culars, but in speaking of the City of Berlin some
on the common American system of proportioning other measurement is taken, for we should call her
the parts, not by Kelvin's law, but by the drop of length 488 ft. 6 in., not 499ft.
In speaking of the Britannic and Germanic, the
electromotive force. The dynamos in question
could, no doubt, have been improved in efficiency vessels which competed so successfully with the City
by aiding more copper or more iron, but he had of Berlin for the Atlantic record, justice is again
stopped short at the point at which an expenditure inadvertently denied to the economy of the Belof 60 dols. would not increase the output by 1 horse- fast ships by putting their steam pressure and indipower. Mr. Ferranti had charged him with appr?- cated horse-power too high. The most important
priating the ideas of Mr. C. E. L . Brown, but 1n point of difference between ourselves and Mr.
answer it was only necessary to recall the fact that Cramp's history is in regard to the competition of
in the letter read by Mr. Kapp, Mr. Brown said the flyers of 1881. We agree t hat the Servia was
that the worst possible design had been adopted. "out of the hunt " as regards the blue riband, but
He had to thank Mr. Kapp for his study of the Mr. Cramp asserts that the City of Rome held it
dynamo, and his favo~rable . criticism of the with a passage of 6 days 18 hours, and beat the
same. Ris own calculatwns d1d not agree per- Alaska by some 37 minutes. We know that the
fectly with those of Mr. Kapp, but the difference City of Rome was claimed as a record boat, but
was not large, and Mr. Kapp could not be ex- we do not think the claim was sustained. Whilst
pected to go into the ~inutire of the desig~. R e- she was in Inman's hands she never got near the
turning to Mr. Ferrant1, he absolutely den1ed that record, and her subsequent passages were measured
that there was any plausible resemblance between in a provoking and confusing manner, some pubhis own machine and any of those submitted to the lished times being reckoned from Roche's P oint. to
Cataract Company. Though he had not intentionally Fire Island, and on other occasions the Fastnet
tried to make his machine of an original type, the was taken as the eastern end of the course.
The America was surely worth a fuller notice
fact nevertheless remained that the design differed
more from those submitted to t he company than than is given her, for she was a very remarkable
ship,
even
if
her
career
was
not
a
financial
success.
these latter did inte'r se. Mr. Ferranti had also
said that if one of his conductors were put to ground, Her rival, the Oregon, is credited with a steam
the electromotive force would be reduced to 10,000 pressure of 170 lb. This would be a good pressure
volts, and had advocated the claims of concentric for triple-expansion engines. The Oregon had
wiring in which one of the conductors was already only compound engines, and we think Mr. Cramp
to ground. What would happen, though, to the will find 100 lb. n earer her li1nit.
Mr. Cramp then goes into interesting details
electromotive force if the other conductor grounded ?
regarding
the
triple-expansion
vessels
built
for
the
He would have no electromotive force at the
further end at all ! Of course the risk of this was North German Lloyd Company at Fairficld, and

(DEC.

2 2, I

893 .

gives a tabl~ of allowance for Southampton passages at var1ous mean speeds to bring them into
the parity of Queenstown. Here he says that at
19! knots some fourteen hours must be allowed
for the extra distance to Southampton. In fourteen hours at that speed some 273 nautical miles
would be run. This s tatement by the builder of
~uture competitors with the present record-holders
1s of great value, and should be pigeon-holed for
future reference when controversies on records and
ports are to the fore.
Curiously .enough, whilst he gives full and
accurate particulars of the Colurn bia, N ormannia
and Furst Bismarck, he ignores the Hamburg
L~ne's Augusta Victoria, and speaks of the Fiirst
B1~marc~ a~ the first really important merchant
ship bmlt 1n Germany. Surely the difference
bet~een the ~wo ~hips is not enough to destroy the
e~rher ~easels cla1m. If ~nworthy of the distinctwn claimed for her later s1ster, she might at least
be deemed worthy of mention. The criticisms on
present British practice are brief, and the same
remark may be applied to those on future American
building. The theory is excellent. No one wishes
to carry unremunerative deadweight, but if it be
found that to do so promotes the objects for which
the ship was. b:uilt, viz., the c?mfort of passengers
and the rap1d1ty and regularity of transit, better
and more cheaply than other means could do the
diminution of cargo capacity earnin(7
no~inal
6
freights may be, and possibly is, a go od invest
ment.

NOTES.
THE wATER REQUIRED FOR FLUSHING CLOSETS
AND DRAINS.
A S"!'ECI~L committee of the Sanitary Institution
have_Just 1ssued ~ report on the quantity of water
required for flushmg water-closets, in which a very
subst~ntial increase in the amount now commonly
used 1s recommended. In the course of their work
the committee have carried out a series of over
800 experiments, and their recommendations are
therefore, of great weight. A number of drain~
were ~aid, consisting partly of pipes and partly of
half-p1pes and OJ?en ch~nnels. The gradients
adopt~d for t h e 4-u~. drains 50ft. long were 1 in
30, 11n 40, n:nd 1 1n 76, a~d for the 4in. pipes
26ft. long 11n 40. The 6-m. drains 50 ft. long
were laid at 1 in 30 and 1 in 40, and those 26ft.
long at 1 in 40. At the head of each drain a
sim:ple short hopper ?asin of good type was fitted,
havmg an S trap w1th a 2-in. sealleadin(7 with a
bend into the drain, the top of the clos~t basin
being 2 ft. 3 in. aboye the ~rain. A good syphon
waste-preventer, d1schargmg 2 gallons in five
second~, and 3 gallons in .ten seconds, was placed
4 ft. 3 1n. above the basin, with which it communicated with a 1!-in. pipe. Artificial excreta, made
out of. soft soap, cocoa fibre, and clay, together with
five pieces of newspaper, were placed in the basin
and the flushing cistern discharged, notin(7 in
each case how much material was left inb the
closet traps, in the drains, and in the disconnecting traps placed at the lower end of the
drains. The amount that passed through was
also noted. As regards the closet trap, it was
found that a 2-gallon flush left, on the averaCJe 5
per cent. of the m~teria.l in the trap, whiist a
3-gallon flush practiCally cleared, the retention
being 1 per cent. only. In the drains little difference was found between t he 4-in. and t he 6in.
When 50 ft. long, and laid at 1 in 40, with a
2-gallon flush 21 per cent. of the material was
r~tained, a.nd with a 3-gallon flush 3 per cent. In
d1sconnectmg traps 36 per cent. was retained with
a 2-gallon flush, and 26 per cent. with a 3-gallon
flush. 1? th~ case of t~e 26-ft. drains, 3 per cent .
~as reta1n~d 1n t he dr~1ns, and 26 per cent. in the
d1sconnectmg trap, with a 2-gallon flush whilst
with a 3-gallon flush these figures were reduced to
1 per cent.. and 19 p~r cent ..respectively. Taking
a general v1ew of the1r exper1ments the committee
consider that the minimum flush sh~uld be fixed at
3 gallons, and tbe maximum at not less than 3!
gallons.
CARRIAGE-WAY PAVEMENTS.
A very interesting paper on "Carriage-way
Pavements" was read before the Society of Arts on
December 13, by Mr. Lewis H. Isaacs, F.R.I.B:A.,
Assoc. Inst. C. E., surveyor to t he Board of Works
for the Holborn District. One of the difficulties
in . constructing a satisfactory pavement was, he
po1nted out, due to the extension of tramways,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
as it was exceedingly difficult to maintain the r oad
near the tram r ails. In theN orth of England, pavem ents were freq u ently made of gritstone sets,
which did n ot t ake a p olish and become slippery like
g ranite, and wer e cheaper t o lay, though less durable.
'fhe block s varied in width fro m 5 in. to 7 in., and
wer e from 7 in. to 10 in. long, and 8 in. to 10 in.
deep . \Vit h g ranite sets, block s 3 in . wide proved
in tho lon g run m or e econ om ical than t h ose 4 in.
wide. The first cost of laying 3 in. by n in. sets
of Aberdeen gr a nite in Gracechurch-strcet was
l 4s. 6d. a yard, and when tak en up at the end of
twenty - ti ve y ear s, the total o ut lay, including
r epairs, had been 18s. 9d. p er square yar d, from
which 2s. 3d. s h ould be taken for the value of the
old material. The n et cost per year was th us 74d.
p er squa re yard. A t p r esent prices this would be
increased to 9~d. p er yard. \Vood is more exp en sive,
costing about 1s. 4!d. per squar e yard per annum,
the initial cost being Ss. 6d. p er ya rd. This class
of pavem ent should n ot b e used on steeper grades
t han 1 in 30, or at n1ost 1 in 27. Asphalte was
the favourite pavement in Berlin, and was yearly
being extended. The h or ses did not slip on it
much, as it was kept very clean, being washed
d o wn every morning and after every good shower
of rain. Its total cost is about ls. 9d. per yard
per annum for laying and maintenance. As regards
street cleansing, m ost Cont inental cities were
b etter treated in this respect than London. The
p r oper method was to wash the streets with copious
supplies of water, and it would be a g r eat ad vantage if L ondon had a municipal supply of unfiltered
water laid on specially f or this purpose. The following Table shows t h e compar ative merits of
asphalte, g ranite, and wood under various heads :
Firsb.
Second.
Third.
Public hygiene .. . A~phalte G ranite
W ood
Noiselessness .. .
'Vood
Asphalte Granite
Safety for horses,
under existing
conditions
for
...
W ood
Asphalte Granite
cleansing
Cleansing . ..
. .. Aspbalte Granite
Wood
G ranite Asphalte
Durability
...
,
Asphalte
,
W ood
Economy ...
. ..
Facility of repairs Aspha.lte
,
Granite
for tram"
ways
...
,
Asphalte
... Granite
SHIPBUILDING AND MARINE
ENG INEERING I N 1893.
THE fact that the total production of new shipping
t hroughou t the kingdom in the year n ow closing is
3 5,000 tons, or nearly a fourth, less than the aggregate of last year, is not surprising, and, from some
points of Yiew, not altogether unsatisfactory. It is
true it indicates that w here four men found employment in 1892 only three men were required in 1893 ;
and t hat, therefore, there was but three-fourths the
money earned at shipbuilding. But activity in shipbuilding can only be satisfactory in the best sense
when the conditions warrant that prosperity. It has
been shown by official statistics compiled by Lloyd's
that the waste of s hipping does not much exceed
300,000 tons per annum. As a. ma tter of fact , if we
t ake the r emovals from that reg istry, owing to
all causes, for the past year given in the r eport
issued quite recently, we find that the vessels lost,
stranded, or r emoved from a ctive service made up a
t otal of 257,048 tons. This, of course, takes no
cognisance of vessels removed by sale to other countrit>s, and these are as active, if not more so, in their
competition and trade as when carrying the union
jack. Another point to be noted is that as Lloyd's
includes a. great preponderance of the tonnage of
nearly every maritime nation within its purview, the
257,048 tons indicated r epresent, within a comparatively few tons, the loss of ocean cargo-carrying
craft throughout the world. The loss in the British
merchant fleet in the twelve months was 144,746
tons, and with this latter figure we have probably
more to do. There is, it is tru e, some room for
excess to deal with the increase of merchandise to be
carried, due to natural expansion of trade; but this
is really a limited quantity, and as the production in
past years has been largely exceeding the legitimate
demands, the fact that there is d ecr eased output is
not without its advantages.
Even this year, as we shall presently show, the
total merchant tonnage for British owners exceeds
what we have termed the waste of shipping, although
not so largely as in some recent years, and this circum stance r eally g ives courage in the hope of future improvement. The extensive machinery now in use in the
shipyards a nd engine works tends to facilitate production at a. rapid pace, and this, combined with the
p opularity of enormous cargo-carrying vessels of 5000
to 8000 tons dead weight capacity, aggravates the situa-

tion. It is becoming more and more recogni~ed that

sal vation for the shipbuilder as well ~s sh1po~ner
lies in occasional cessation, or part1al cessat10n,
and the fact that stoppage of works b.rings in
its wake dire results t o workmen does n ot 10fiuence
greatly.
Probably the men or t.heir representatives a re in part to blame. The t1me was when
employers were willing to take wor k even. a.t .terms
necessitating some sacrifice, satisfied to ~amtat.n the
bond of union. Now, however, commerctal constderations dominate more and more, and the growing tend ency of parliamentary interference seer:ns likely .to
further this end. Instead of la bour and cap1tal recogntsing a community of interests, there is apparent on both
sides a spirit of independence which is derogatory. t o
the maintenance of mutual advancemen t. In the closmg
year, notwit hstanding the extr.eme difiicu~ty of ~nding
work ther e have been many disputes, wh1ch, w1th t he
exercise of a little self-control and good sense, might
well have been ob~iated. The joiners' dispute at
Glasgow is an instance in point. On the Clyde there is
a. most hopeful desire on th e part of the employers
for mutual action between the masters' and men's
associations. Yet the workmen seem at times desirous
of acting independently, irrespective of previous agreements. The purpose of a. trades ~nion appa.rentl~ is,
at least occasionally, to make stnkes, not to obvtate
them, and certainly liberty, if not also th e other t~vo
high-sounding but qui~e incons~stent terms, equ!-l~ty
and fraternity, are sacnficed. Is 1t, therefore, surpnsmg
that commercial considerations outweigh the desire t o
keep works going? In several cases firms wr.ite us
stating that they have no return to make, as It ~7 as
impossible t o get work except at less than cost pnce.
Under the circumstances they were clearly better t o
act as they did. In view of all the facts, it is, indeed,
surprising that the tonnage is as high as it is. These
are the conditions w hieh operated. Let us now consider the r esult.
' Ve have said that the waste of shipping in the
Brit ish fleet in the year was 144,746 tons. The output from private yards in the United Kingdom this
year was 883,874 t ons. This represents the measurement of 742 craft, small and great-from the tiny
launch to the Cunard liner Lucania, of something
like 18,000 tons displacement and 12,950 tons measurement. Of this total, however, 158,292 tons were for
foreign countries, and deducting al~o the tonnage for the
British Navy- this year, unhappily, very small- the
t otal British merchant tonnage is 710,000 tons, which
is 565,000 tons more than the waste. The tonnage
construct ed for foreign nations, however, must really be
considered, since it enters into competition, and thu
we find tha.t Britain alone has much more than met
the loss due to wrecks, &c., without considering the
increasing tonnage constructed by other nations. The
T ABLE I.-A ggregates of P roduction i1i. the United
K ingdom.

1n

1892 and 1891. In th e latter years it bore a proport ion to the total merchant tonnage of ~4? a nd 20.2
p er cent. respectively. This year the rat1o ts ~ 5 .4 per
c ent. The merchant tonnage therefo~e added lS, coO?p aratively speaking, a trifle more ~:ffic1ent on the basiS
If we
0 f cargo-carrying than it at first stght aJ?pears.
a ssume that a ship is able to do but a thud of the work
0 f a steamer, and bring t he mercha.~t ~onnage for
t he year to the basis of steam tonnage, 1t. wil~ be found
t hat the production of the year now closmg 1s equal to
829 000 steam tons, wher eas in 1892 it was 948,000
t on~ and in 1891 about one million tons. The decrease,
t her~fore in production, although it represents a
f ourth so'far as wage-earning goes, is only equal to an

CROSS rONS'18SG 6

1.

aso. ooo,

I,JOO . OO
1, 250, 00
1.200. QO
1,150. 00'I
I, 100, 00
/, OSO,OO
' 000,00
!JSO. OO
900. 00
850. 00'/J
800, 000
750, 00
700, ooo
650. 00)I
600, 00, I
550,000
500. 000
450, 00
'100, 000
350,00 0
300. 00v
'"
250, 000 "'\
20(), 0071

'6 2

4 G 8 70 2 4- 6 8 80 1 4 G

(J

90 Z 4 & 8
~

...

,,

'"
',,"
"

'"

~ A

"

~f43)

' 'J

...

\I/ V

18S&.8 60 2 I G 8 70 2 4 6 8 80 2 4 G 8 90 Z ~ G 8
1860.
1870.
1880.
. 1890.

eighth so far as cargo-carrying or freight competition

I'he decline in the sailing tonnage pro1s concerned.

bably indicat es less speculative building, although
1ately the principle h~s be~n . growing .of a m~nager
organising a. company ~1th bnll~an:t prom1s~s,. w h10h '!-re
not r ealisable accord10g to ex1st10g cond1t10ns, w1th
the view primar ily of securing commission on gross
earnings. The total sail tonnage is 134,036 tons, the
measurement of 234 vessels. It is barely hali what it
was a year ago, when it r eached an abnormal le\"el,
but it about equals the totals of 1890 and 1889. The
decrease is more in the general size of the craft th an
in number, there being a less disposition for the
moment to construct immense craft, and it may be
that the mishaps to some of the big ships hitherto
built have had some effect in bringing about this
result.
The tonnage of steamers shows a very great decrease
on several past years, the aggregate being 749,838, the
measurement of 508 vessels. This is 225,000 tons of a
decrease. The total, in other words, is only two-thirds
Aggregat es of Produotion.
of the steam tonnage of the two past years. If comparison is made with the three preceding years, the
drop is still more marked, being in the case of 1889
1893.
1892.
1891.
1890.
about 430,000 tons. In the t otal of 1889, t oo, a comtons.
tons.
tons.
tons
paratively small number of warships were included.
Steamers*
.
749,838
974,826
1,003,796
1,139,015

228,749
Sailing ships ..
275,136
141,929 Instead, however, of being matter for satisfaction, it
134,036

is quite possible that this total of 1, 188,000 tons has,

Totals
..
. . 883,874 1,249,962 1,232,546 1,280,944 in large measure, necessitated the short total this year.
68,100
British Navy yards ..
31,640
50,450
22,620
That it is a case of necessity not only the lowness of
1- - Grand totals
..
916,514 1,300,412 1,300,646 1,303,464 freights* obtaining, but the extent of idle tonnage,
Steel tonnage of pri
1
----demonstrate, as well as the low r emuneration to
vate yards . .
. . 871,436 1,207,311 1,195,083 1,208,72 3 capital sunk in steamship companies, on which subjects
Per cent. of total ..
96.8
97.00
98.6
94 1
_ _ _ _ _ __ .._ _
we wrote quite r ecently. t
The decrease in steam
Foreign owned ton1
nage . .
..
.. I 158,292
227,462
188,312
272,963 tonnage has, of course, materially affected the marine
15.1
21.3
18.46
Per cent. of total . I 17.94
engineering industry, and probably this may not be an
Total merchant ton
naget..
..
872,449 1,131,816 1,130,816 1,194,705 inappropriate point a.t which to r efer eo it. Table Ill.
gives the collective power of the eng ines const r ucted
Per cent. of steam merchant tonnage to total
79.8
88.2
84.6
75.5
a t the various ports. Included, of course, is the
Indicated horsepower
power for st eamers r e-cngined. The total is affected,
of engines . .
. I 917,354 1,003,529 1,022,206 I 1,078,256
more than is that of tonnage, by work for the
Per cent. of all warships to merchant -----1
----------1----- Government, for although the Admiralty are more
sbipsbuilt ..
.. ,
4.95
13.1
9
6.1
inclined now than formerly to allow the engine works
in connection with the Dockyards to construct new
* Includes warships built in private yards. t Excludes British engines for cruisers and gunboats, there is still a large
and foreign warship3.
number of warships engined by private firms. Indeed,
tonnage of the year, however, is from 400,000 to fully one-fourth of th e total power is for British
500,000 tons less than in the four previous years and foreign Government vessels, for the London
although in 1888 i t was about as low, as will be seen' firms, the Thomson, Fairfield, Earle, and the Barrow
from the diagram accompanying this article, whic h Companies, as well as Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie, and
g ives the aggregate production in all private yards Co., have their totals augmented by Government work .
The falling-off, however, is not quite so marked if w e l\1oreover, a goodly part of the tota.l is for ships reexclude ships-of-war, for d uring the past three years a engined, although not so large as in some previous
large number of vessels have been constructed through - years. The total povn~r, including all marine engines,
out the country for the N aval Defence Act fleet. I t was, therefore, 917,354, as against fully a million
is, therefore, desirable that, as in Table I. , the tota1 indicated horse-power in the three preceding y ears.
merchant tonnage built should be shown separately Excepting Government vessels, comparatively few
since it reflects on the general question of freight s.' high - speed steamers have been constructed, the
From this Table it will be seen that the decrease i n great majority of the engines being for cargo-carrying
merchant tonnage is not more than 330,000 tons in an y steamers, and in these latter the aim is to proyear since 1888, and is about 260,000 t ons when com - duce the lowest power consistent with a moderate
parison is made with the past two years. A point
which is not without its significance is that th e
* See ENGINEERING, page 486 ante.
sail tonnage is very much less this year than it was
t l b1'd. , page 544 ante.

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

[DEc.

22,

1893.

TABLE !I.-STATISTICS OF SHIPBUILDING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 188893.

Total Production.

District.
1893.

Scotland.

1892.

- tons

tons

1S91.

1890.

tons

tons

1889.

1888.

tons

tons

Clyde (including outports) . . 279,916 335,191 335,076 353,7H> 335,201 278,970

30,047
Other ~cotch ports
22,723
59,361 67 ,95~
69,155

60,664

Per Cent. of Steel to Total Tons.

1893.
99.48
100

1892.
98.87
95. 17

1891.
98.68
94.88

Eng~and.

Per Cent. of Steam to Total Tons.

1892.

1891.

04.8
96.9

52.3
52.2

68.00
54.79

1888.

1893.

96
90

1892.

1891.

1890.

1889. 1888

81.6
93

14.7
36 6

21.37
25.3

26.72
32.2

36.6
18.3

34.4
14

--

~2. 6

10.4

98.88
100
98.14
100

97.2
99.8
93.05
97.98

96.36
100
97.56
100

94 6
98.6
76.71
.1.00

98.28
98.19
98.18
100

96.31
90.3
95.15
100

98.94
79.18
95.42
100

99.34
100
96
I
100

26.4
10.95
35.3
17.1

26.85
10. 2
12.1
1.35

27.2
12.85
11.28
11.8

34
17 6
4.3
6.6

21.2 27.3
22.2
23
67 7.68
13. 23 8.9

99. 32
98.1
98.43
37

100
88.6
100
66

100
93.44
99.14
43.76

88.5
90.3
79 ij
43.8

75
97.6
57.5
100

75.75
67.7
100
100

86 33
50.65
99.14
98.~4

19
72
100
100

23.4
21.6
0
1.67

5.17
186
8
5.77

17.19
10.78
0
5.49

0
22.6
6.8
0

88.5 15.5
15 5
38
9.8
5.2
32.62
0

98.75

96

93.02

73

95.7

67.2

74.56

66

.87

7.65

15.29

17

25

17

Belfast and Londonderry 37

87,256

99,827 103,466

77,376

speed when the vessel is heavily laden. In most cases

the triple-expansion engine has been adopted, and
there are two or three instances where it has been
introduced for paddle steamers, driving three cranks.
Messrs. Inglis last year, and Messrs. Denny this year,
have so fitted steamers, and the results have been most
satisfactory. There are this year, too, for the first
time, if we mistake not, instances of the quadruple
four- crank engine in large steamer s. These are the
large International liners Kensington and Southwark,
built by ~Iessrs. Thomson and Messrs. Denny respect ively, but the quadruple, as a rule, does n ot seem t o
have met with that favour which was anticipated.
T ABLE III.-Indicated H orse-Power of Engines
Constructed.
1893.

1892.

1891.

1890.

Clyd e

Otbe r Scotch ports . .

Tyn e

Wea r

Tees

liartlepool

Ilum ber

Barr ow and district ..
..
Mersey..

Blyt hand Whitby
Tha mea and other
.Bn glish ports

Irela. nd ..

255,435
23,010
114,147
77,665
51,471
48,550
28,290
31,480
15,468
2,080

275,899
3l,405

36,300
34,850
10,942

332,906
39,090
185,741
98,070
73,480
57,990
67,923
26,975
17,075
6,894

374,324
41,671
206,311
97,000
60,000
57,000
H,380
62,720
28,403
8,830

189,048
55,720

98,006
48,390

70,112
45,950

69,432
38,285

Total
The Dockyards

892,354
27,000

1,003,529
3,500

1,022,206

1,078,256

228,00~

104,261
43,378
67,460
2~,643

917,354 11,007,029

T-he coal saving, it is urged, does n.ot comp~nsate for

the increas~ in working parts, p art1eularly m a cargo
steamer, where the tear and wear is great and the
facilities for repair under emergency not too many.
'fhere is indicated in the past two years a tendency
to go back to the compound engines for coasting
steamers as well as steam trawlers. The contention
is that while the coal efficiency is not so great, the
engines are more readily manipulated by men wl~o a~e
not over skilful, and the tear and wear questiOn 1s
again brought forward.
. .
As will be seen from Table Ill., all distncts have
suffered, although those depending on Government
work do not show the same heavy decreases. Moreover,
the districts that undertake re-engining work have
done fairly well. On the Clyde, although there has
been a large decrease in the total tonnag~, it ha~ been
largely in sailing vessels, so that the manne engm eering output is not so much less, the decrease on 1892
being only 20,000 indicated horse-power, or about. 7!
per cent. It is much g reater on the totals of precedmg
years. In the other parts of Scotland it is about 20 per
cent. On the Tyne it is particularly heavy, the total
being but a half what it was. This is also the case
with tonnage, being in both instances consequent on
the fact that less Government work has been undertaken. Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie, and ~o., ,have. not
completed the same large number of cruisers engmes,
and Messrs. Palmer had not two battleships wit h their
engines. The~e were completed during the year, but
were included m the t otals of 1892. The total power
of the \Year shows a decrease of about 25 per cent. ; ~he
Tees is rather higher, owing to the greater proportiOn
of steam tonnage. The other ports show a less total,
that in the case of the Mersey being but a half, due
again to the warship engines constructed last year.
This also accounts for the. increase i~ the Th.a~es
total, while Ireland occup1es a ~red1ta.ble pos1t10n,
showing an increase over a sen cs of years, notwithstanding that the vessels were all of moderate speed, although, as a rule, of greater averaae size than the fleet sent from any other port.
Nearly all firms indicate decreases except where
Government work is the chief product. 1-Iessrs.

87,265

40,308

100

100

100

93

94.1

85.05

87.7

3.6

3.6

5.7

'
I

I reland.

1893.

1888.

T yne

147,248 229,469 185,369 234,754 281,710 213,205

Wear

122,535 190,802 192,114 197,481 217,336 142,410

57,170
93,915
99,279 120,132 127,739 110,436
Tees

West Hartlepool
..
. . 66,641 90,924 96,993 99,847 84,109 73,909
Ba.rrow-in-Furness(including
Workington & Wbitebaven) 26,791 33,489 36,845 27,549 41,691 12,471
30,253
40,125
25,975
Mersey ..
9,071

35,773
22,538 I

16,059
20,202
Blyth and Whitby . .
..
5,010
21,277
11,754
24,118
7,474
9,624
Humber (Hull and Grimsby)
9,143 14,094 19,070
21,712
Thames and other English
37,388 10,3i6 14,785
and Welsh ports
13,625
33,123 37,795

I Per Cent. of Foreign owned to Total Tons.

78.4

Humphrys, Tennant, and Co., London, have completed engines for British and foreign vessels which
aggregate 83,600 indicated horse-power; but, of
course, these have not been exclusively built this
year. In like manner, Messrs. Ma.udsley, Son, and
Field completed engines of about 54,000 indicated
horse-power. Messrs. Penn have completed engines
of n early 30,000 indicat ed horse-power. The Fairfield Company top the list of firms in the provinces,
with a total of 48,300 tons, the aggregate of six
sets of engines, including those for the Lucania, the
new Cunard steamer. The five years' tota l of th is
firm is 208,300 indicated horse-power, with which
the engineering m anagement have reason to be
satisfied, in view, particularly, of the high speeds
got with the steamers. The majority of the vessels
were of 20 knots speed. Messrs. Thomson, of Clydebank, come second with 42, lOO indicated horsepower, also for high-speed craft, including three
paddle steamers, and a British cruiser built in one
of the Dockyards. Messrs. Harland and "'-.,.olff,
Belfast, come next with 41,640 indicated horsepower. These were mostly for cargo or "intermediate" steamers, many of them twin-screw. L ast
year this firm took second place amongst engineers,
th eir total being 37,550 indicated horse-power. The
Central Marine Works, West Hartlepool, completed
25 sets of engines, of 36,550 indicated horse-power, including three sets for old steamers. This is above
the average, and is in addition to twel ve ordinary
ma.rine engines built for a sugar refinery in China.
The total of this firm for five years has been 169,800
indicated horse-power for 135 vessels, so that the
mean is about 1260 indicated horse-power. All were
for the merchant service. The Naval Construction
Company, of Barrow, who were third last year with
26,975 indicated horse-power, have this year a total
of 30,800 indicated horse-power, the largest engines
being for an Indian troopship. Messrs. Denny and
Co., Dumbarton, take a creditable place with 30,060
indicated horse-power, all for merchant vessels. Very
few of the other firms exceed 25,000 indicated horsepower.
One of the most remarkable features is the decrease
in foreign-owned tonnage built in the kingdom. There
has been a steady decrease over a series of years from
293,093 tons in 1889 to 158,292 tons this year. This
latter is about half the former, but one must at the
same time consider the decrease in the aggregate.
Withal, however, foreign countries are taking a less
proportion of our tonnage. In 1 89 other nations took
22.37 per cent. of the tonnage produced, and this de creased to 15. 1 per cent. last year, consequent, as we
then conjectured, to a less inclination to risk money at
a time when the shipping trad e was depressed than
was displayed by the British shipowner. Even with the
aggregate output so low, the foreign proportion is now
only 17. 94 per cent. It can scarcely be said that this
is due t o any decrease in the activity in building
up merchant navies, for one might almost say that,
notwithstanding the condition of the shipping trade,
there is manifest on all hands a desire for a merchant
navy, and, as a consequence, we are taking a lessening
share in the carrying trade of other countries. Probably Norway indicates greatest vitality for her position amongst the nations. Her courage is worthy of
the Viking, and, to jndge from the figures given in
Table IV., she seems, while supporting her own
builders to patronise British firms, for in three years
nearly 100,000 tons have been sent thither. The time
was when they were satisfied with our old discarded
barks but now they are constructing a large fleet
of modern ships and steamers, which, with the daring
and hardihood of the Norwegian, are worked most
economically, and therefore most successfully, in competition with our. vessel~. It is sc.ar cely n?cessary to
indicate our vanous clients. S pam, Russia, France,

2 .96

13 7

and Germany have taken a fair tonnage, but there arc

evidences in consular reports of activity in shipbuilding in these centres.
TABLE IV .-Countries where B1itish-built Forei{lnowncd
Ships were Registered.
1893.

Norway

S pam ..
Russia.

F ranee

Austr ia

Colonies and India ..

er many

~outh
Amerioa

B elgium

1ta.ly . .

W est lndies .
urkey

bina . .

Greece

D en mark

A frica . .
0 t her nations and not classified

1892.

1891.

19,850
3,699
10,365
2,064
21800
25,964
19,623
9,182
1,782

50, 70~
3,637
7,690
7,597
1,179
39,894
31,392
14,148

1,087

2,399

27,737
17,17l
16,083
12,021
10,37d
9,718
8,379
7,65 l
7,538
5,060
3,921
2,329
1,830
1,817
614
110
26,935

1,855
7,073

11,812

63,968

53,790

158,292

1 188,312

227,462

3,218
-

The total t onnage of vessels for British owners was,

therefore, 725,582 tons ; and as the foreig n-owned
tonnage indicates a d ecr easing tendency, it follows
that the home shipping is on a r ising ratio. The
point of interest is really as to its distribution amongst
the ports. Last year London took 27.6 per cent.
of the total; this year the ratio is 28.1 per cent.
Glasgow this year comes second with 18.8 per cent.,
against only 9.85 per cent. last year. Li verpool, wh ich
was first among the ports two years a go, is but third
this year, with 15.26 per cent. of the total, against
25 per cent. last year. The n orth-eastern ports from
Blyth to \Vhitby take 15.15 per cent., against 17.6 per
cent. last year, the Tyne and Hartlepool taking the
greater proportion. Cardiff and the Bristol ports
took 4. 73 per cent. ; Hull and Grimsby about
4 per cent. Of the total England took 73.5 per cent.,
nearly the same proportion as last year. Scotland
took 25.3 per cent. -22 per cent. being for the Clydethe proportion of the north country last year havh1g
been 18 per cent. Ireland, however, has not spent
much in tonnage, her proportion of the total being
only 1.2 against 7 per cent. in the previous year, and,
curiously enough, Scotland has sent nearly t:he whole
of that tonnage. The Irish, however, have sen t more
tonnage to cotland than they got. Similarly the
north-east ports have contributed largely to the
Glasgow tonnage, while but one steamer was sent from
the Clyde to the north-east ports. One steamer built
on the Clyde had her engines from the north-east coast.
Last year it was the other way about.
Little need be said as to the character of the vessels
launched. The most important was the Lucania, consort to the Campania. \Ye have already placed on
record not only full details of the vessels, but also of
their performances. * They have done well in their
first year, having by successive runs reduced the
record to 5 days 12 hours 47 minutes outwards,
and 5 days 12 hours 7 minutes homeward, the former
being the run by the Lucania and the latter by the
Campania. Both were made at the same time, in the
end of October and beginning of November, and the
mean speed was, respectively, 20.93 and 21.28 knots.
The Campania in seven runs outward has maintained
an average of 20.1 knots, her highest mean for a
voyage being 20.94: knots, while the average on the
seven homeward runs was 20.90 knots, the highest
speed being 21.3 on her maiden trip home. The
Lucania in her runs out and home has averaged 20 7

- - - - --------- - - - - - - - - - * See

vol. 1v. , pages 461, 660, 71-:l, 771,

838, 912, and pages 46, 309, 342, 399, 460, 517, 580, 648,
ante.
ENGINEERING,

DEc.

22,

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

1893.]

knots, the maximum being about the same as those

of the Campania. It is only fair to state that these
averages do not include the runs for NovemberDecember, when abnormal weather was experienced.
The most remarkable paddle steamer construct ed was
the L eopold II. by Messrs. \V. Denny and Brothers,
Dumbarton. This vessel, which has been described in
E ~W INEERI~C: , attained a mean speed on four runs
between the Cloch and Cumbrae Lights on the Clyde
of 21.955 knots; while the mean on the measured
mile was 2~.16 knots. This vessel wa.s for the Belgian
Government's service between Ostend and Dover. The
Cockerill Company, of Belgium, constructed a sister
vessel, and on the same course-between the lights
on the Clyde- the mean speed was 22.2 knots, so that
it would appear that the honour for the fastest padd le
steamer afloat r ests with the Continent. It is t o be
hoped that t he opportunity may be for thcoming for
another effort by British builders. A passing reference
may be made to the British torpedo- boat destroyers,
described in recent issues, and t o the two new Thames
excursion steamers, Royal Sovereign, built by Fairfield,
and the London Belle, by Messrs. Denny. The former
company are building a steamer for a r eturn trip day
service between L ondon and Continental ports. Messrs.
Thomson have built several fast steamers for service
on th e Clyde and on the Irish coast . T here is
a. growing tendency to build what we have called
''intermedia te" steamers, which, while having a large
cargo capacity, carry at a moderate speed-say 16
knots- a number of passengers t o America, the Cape,
or Australia. Several of these immense vessels have
been built this year. There are the Kensington and
Southwark, of 9000 tons, by Messrs. Thomson and
Denny respecti\ely. They carry over 10,000 tons of
cargo and 200 saloon passengers. There were several
vessels built by Messrs. Harland and Wolff fo r the
'Vhite Star Australian service, and the Union Company of South Africa, the largest being the Cevic, of
8500 tons. Several of these vessels are propelled by
twin screws. I ndeed, the twin screw is being more
largely adopted. Thirty-five merchant steamers have
been fitted with twin screws, in addition to Government
vessels, and of these merchant steamers five were over
6000 tons, one was between 5000 and 6000 t ons, five
between 4000 and 5000 tons, and three between 3000
and 4000 tons. The great majority of the vessels
constructed, however, were of the '' t ramp " type,
the primary consideration being the cargo-carrying capaci ty, and thus t hey have been fitly called
" rectangular boxes." Indeed, as has been pointed
out, some owners refuse to consider all other points as
against this one feature, qu ite oblivious of the fact
that form materially affects the relation of power to
speed, out of all proportion to the little gain in ext ra
cargo cubic area. t There was but one sailing ship over
3000 tons, whereas in the past t wo years there were
seYen and eight respecthely. T able V. offers suggestion as to the size of the vessels.
TABLE V.-Sh owing Sizes of Vessels.
1893.

11

11

,.

4000
5000
Over 5000 tons "
"

e
ciS

-.....en

en

220
51
56

173

363
77
82
107
76
260
28

Under 500 tone

Between 500 and 1000 tons
, 1000 ,, 2000
2000
3000
"
,. 3000 , 4000 ,"

bO

..
c:S

Cl)

c:S

11

30
19
1

71

61
20
17

--

505

1891.

1892.

234

G)

-I

bO

-....-

ciS

c:S

Cl)

t:o

c
....
.....

-m
ciS

UJ

322

346
73
100
128
8
20
20

21

80
61
7

71

16

76
47
8

The t otal production of the various districts is given

in Table II., which a lso includes the ratio of steam,
steel, and foreign tonnage t o the total. As to the
material of construction, it may be noted that the
ratio of steel to the total is 98.6 per cent. The
iron tonnage totals 11 ,689 tons, made up largely of
steam trawlers, which are mostly of iron , with compound engines.
Wood accounts for 749 tons. All
the districts have suffered in the depression, although
Ireland and the Clyde districts have come best out of
t he ordeal. The first- class builders have shown a didposition t o compete for all work, content to have anything since they could not get the best work, and thus
we find Fairfield and the Pal mer Company each constructing a sailing ship. The Clyde total shows a decrease
of 16 per cent. when compared with the two preceding
years, which is the more r emarkable as in each of these
two years there was about 20,000 tons of war vessels.
The other Scotch ports have suffered badly, the total
being abou t a third what it was in the two preceding years. The Tyne and Wear show decreases
of one-third, that in the former ca~e being partly due
to inflation last year , consequent on the launch of

* See ENGINEERING, vol. l v., pages 444 and 737, and

vol. 1vi., pages 182 and 273.

t See E~GINEERING, page 159 ante.

two battleships. The Tees, although only .5i per

cent. behind last year, is nearly a fourth behmd the
total of 1891 and 1892. Hartlepool shows a decrease
of 26. 8 p er cent. on 1892, and of about 3~ per cent ..on
the two previous years. The d ecrease m Barrow- m lfurness and district is 20 per cent. on the average of
several years, while the Mersey has produced only a
fourth of last year's total, but th is is due to the fact
that there was then included a battleship and two
gunboats. In Ireland, as we have said, the decrease
is not so great, being 12.6 and 15.6 per cent. on the
two preceding year s. This is the only case where
there is any improvement on the figures of 1890, the
increase on that year being 12.9 per cent. The follo'!ing Tab}e, read in conjunction with Table II., lS
interesting.
T ABLE VI.-Pc?centage of Decreases in T onnage
1.'n P rilncipal District3.

-Clyde ..

loo 1892 Total. On 1891 Total On 1890 Total.

Other Scotch

por t~

Tyne

Wear ..
Tees
Hartlepool
Ireland

16.4

61.5
35.8
86.8

6.35
26.8
12 6

16.3
66.7

20 6
36.4
21.6

31.3
15.6

20.8
62.5
87.8

37,8
2d. 4
33.3

* Increase of 12.9 per cent.

While deferrin g the anal ysis of the r eturns of the
various districts and builders, it may be interesting
here t o stat e that Messrs. Harland and \Volff, Belfast,
have again the largest total of any one firm-65,660
tons, the measu rement of fifteen vessels. This t otal,
however, is 3000 t ons lower than that of las t year,
which, a.s the production of one yar d, was u nprecedented , although Messrs. Russell, with three yards on
the Clyde, exceeded it in 1890. :Messrs. Harland's
total includes one vessel of 8500 t ons, one of 7720
tons, a third of 6200 tons, a fourth of 5800 tons, a fifth
of 5204 tons, and four of abou t 4750 tons. Messrs.
Gray, of Hartlepool, again take s.econ d place, wi~h
eig hteen vessels of 50,349 tons, while last year theu
t otal was 59,810 tons. :Messrs. R ussell, on th e Clyde,
come third, as last year, the total being twenty-seven
vessels, of 47,093 t ons. The two other firms exceeding
30,000 tons are Messrs. J. L. Thompson and Sons,
underland, with twehe vessels, of 32,441 tons ; and
Messrs. C. S. Swan and Hunter, 'Vallsend, with t en
vessels, of 31,088 tons.

HYDRAULIC POWER SUPPLY IN LONDON.

AT the ordinary meeting of the Institution of Civil
Engineers, held on Tuesday, D ecember 19, M r. Giles,
P resident, in the chair, a communication was read treating the subject of ''Hydraulic P ower Supply in L ond on,"
by Mr. E . .H. Ellington, M . Inst. C.E.
The paper first recorded the considerable progress made
in the distribution of hydraulic J?OWer during the past
five years, the number of ma.cbmes worked from the
system in L ondon having risen from 609 in December,
1887, to 1755 in December, 1892, and the length of mains
laid from 27 to 58 miles in the same period, whilst the
available horse-power bad increased from 800 to 2600. A
public supply was now given in L iverpool, and works
were in progress at Birmingham, Manchester, and several
foreign towns.
The first pumping station in L ondon, at Falcon Wharf,
Blackfriars, was described by the author in a paper read
before the Institution in 1887. Since that time other
pumping stations had been erected at Millbank, near the
Houses of Parliament, and at Wapping, near the entrance
to the L ond on Docks, while a fourth station was in course
of erection at City-road, near the R egent's Canal. The
general arrangement of th e latter stations was much the
same as tha.t at Falcon Wharf, except that at W apping
triple-expansion engines bad been employed with a steampressure of 150 lb. per square inch. The water used was
obtained a.t ~Iillba.nk from the gravel bed overlying th e
London clay. Through this bed about 150ft. of headings
had been driven. The water contained iron, which was
deposited on exposure to the air. For get ting rid of this
iron and filtering the water, the PorterClark lime process
was employed, at a cost of 1.05d. per 1000 gallons. The
average output from the station was 1,500,000 gallons per
week.
The water ab the W apping pumping station was obtained partly from the gravel bed, as at Millbank, and
partly from the L ondon Dock. The quantity of iron in
the water was much less than ab Millbank, and the
Pulsometer Company's "Torrent " charcoal filters were
used at that station. For the purpose of clarification,
"alumino-ferric " had been successfully employed. The
capacity of the Wapping station was 800,000 gallons in
twenty-four hours. The water used ab the several stations
was pumped into tank-:J situated over the engine and
boiler houses by pumps worked by hyd raulic pressure.
These pumps had proved to be economical machines, and
possessed the great ad vantage of being able to work by
the pressure in the mains when the main engin"Js and
boilers were stopped during the night. The only station
worked continuously was that at ]falcon Wharf. The
total capacity of the accumulators in connection with the
system was 1600 gallons, while the capacity of the pumping plant was 3500 gallons per minute. This showed
that the accumulator::J acted almost exolusi vely as regu-

la tors of the pressure, and bad little effect in reEpect of

storage.

The results of tests of the ' Vapp10g tr1p e-~xpans1 on

engines and boilers made by Mr. Bryan Donkm showed
a. consumption of 1. 3 lb. of coal p~r 1 horse-power per
hour. The increased economy ga~ned by the use of
triple-expansion engines and the h1g~ s.tea.m-pressure of
150 lb. per square inch wer~ very stn_kmg. At Falcon
Wharf with compound engtnes worklDg at 85 lb. per
square' inch, 4048 ga1lons, at a pressure of 732 ~b. per
square inch, were pumped for every bundredweig~t of
coal consumed. Ab Millbank, with the same engmes,
but with 100 lb. per square inch of steam pressur e, 4130
gallons, and at Wapping 5118 ga~lons, were pumpe~ per
hundred weight of coal. The effiCiency of the pl~nt m respect of coal consumption, working over long p~nods, was
much below t he efficiency of th e trial runs, and It app~~red
that only about 60 l?er cent. of th~ coal burnt was utihsed
at efficiencies obta.med in the tnals; and 32 per cent. of
the balance was wasted by the intermitten t .running of the
plant. Notwithstanding tha.t the total ~el~ verf of pow~r
had more than doubled since 1887, no dtmmutwn of thlS
loss had resulted.
The author proceeded to discuss .the q~estio~ as to
whether it was possible to increase th1s effict~ncy m practice by improving the load-factors ; and espec1a.lly whether
a combination of power supplY: du~ing th ~ day, an~ the
use of the energy for electric lighttng d urmg the Dlght,
would pro~uce such a result-an.d ar~i ved at the conclusion that httle or no advantage m thu~ respect was to be
gained by such combination. The load factor of the
hydraulicl supply for the year 1887 was 0.275; for 1889,
0.338; and for 1892, 0.326. It was pointed out that the
improvement of the load factors in recent years over 1887
was due to the enlarged area of supply, and not to the
increased quantity of power supplied-the time of maximum d emand varying in the different di~tricts supplied.
L oad diagrams were given of the electric supply on
December 21, 1892 (a foggy day), in W estminst er, and of
the hydraulic supply on the same day, and the two were
combmed. The load factor for the combined curve wae
0.522, while the electric load-factor alone was 0.533 a.nd
the hydraulic load -factor 0.495. It was further pointed
out that under the most favourable conditions a supply
approaching the maximum would only be given on 280
days in the course of a year, and that it was impossible,
without storage, to obtain from any combination of supplies more than twelve hours' work out of twenty-four
- a condition which would only produce a load-factor of
0.380 against 0.325 actually realised. A low load-factor
was likely therefore to be a permanent cause of low
efficiency in all methods of supplying energy which did
not admit of extensive storage. The load -factor bad,
however, a far greater influence upon the amount of
capital outlay per unit of output than it had upon the
cost of fuel and station expenses.
Particulars were furnished of the actual cost of the
supply of hydraulic energy for the years 1884 to 1892
under the headings : (1) Station and Distribution Expenses; (2) Repairs; and (3) General Charges. In the
result it appeared that the amount of the supply was unlikely to affect the working cost favourably t o any substantial extent. The experience of the cost of supply in
L ondon showed that the total expenses had increased
in direct ratio to the total output, added to a constant
representing the minimum cost of working the undertaking irrespective of the output. There was no reason
to believe that exper ience in relation to hydraulic
supply in L ondon was likely to differ materially from
that of other undertakin~s established for supplying
energy in towns from artificial sources. If works were
planned on a moderate scale in relation to the probable
outpub, and would allow of extensions as required, the
minimum cost of supply would be approximated to within
a comparatively short period, and fur ther development
was unlikely to exercise any material influence on the
co~t. The influence of capital expenditure on plant in
relation to output was as important as the actual expense
in determining the cost at which th~ consumer could
obtain energy. The capital outlay for hydraulic supply
in L ondon had fallen from 2.8l. per 1000 gallons in 1885
to 1.24l. in 1892, and a further r eduction was anticipated
in the future.
In conclusion, reference was made to the value of the
high-pressure supply for purposes of fire-extinction.
Attention was also directed to the value of the Pelton
water-wheel for high pressures, especially for dri ving
dynamos, in substitution of the hydraulic engines
hitherto used. By this apparatus 66 per cent. of the
hydraulic energy could be converted into ~lectrical energy,
which could be obtained in this way at a cost of about
6d. per Board o.f Trade ~nit. The elect~ic lighting of
Antwerp was be10g established on a combmed hydraulic
and electrical system of this kind, devised by t he late
Professor Van Rysselberghe, of Ghent.
THE AMERICAN NAVY.-A return which has been prepared by Mr. Herbert, and forwarded to the Hon. J. D.
~ayres, chairman of the Home Committee on AppropriatiOns, shows the actual cost of the ''New Navy" since its
inception, and these are the chief items: Amount appropriated upon the increase of the navy since March, 1893,
to the end of October, 1893, 77,184,163 dols.; amount
expended, 65,288,739 dols. ; amount appropriated for construction and machinery plants at the several navy yards
from September, 1888, to end of October, 1893, 715 000
dols.; expended, 658,862 dols. Appended to this fi~n.n
cial sta.tement i~ a table giving the probable d ates of the
vesAels now bemg constructed, and according to this 23
vessels, including battleships, cruisers, gunboats, and
torpedo-boats, are to be launched between January next
and January, 1896.

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

770
THE STABILITY OF ARMOURCLADS.
To THE E DITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR,-The considerable importance of the constructive

stability of ships is probably sufficient reason for intruding the subject further to your notice; and as Mr. J. J.
O'Neill in his letter asks, "A~a.in, in the light of the
Victoria's midship structure, 'N. A. ' might, perhaps, be
good enough to show that injury in this r egion would be
at least equally disastrous as a.t the ends," in reply to
w~ich the opinion might be expressed that injury to the
m1dship portion could not be more disastrous than injury
to the ends.
And to show that it is equally so is not a difficult matter,
for, ~_ith injury. to the midship structure, the shoulder or
sta.b1hty there 1s destroyed, there is no reserve of buoyancy or stability left to either side to which the vessel
may incline, and she rolls over.
A ves~el intact has a shoulder or righting power at the
water line to right the vessel upon any inclination or
pow~r acting on the Vt\ssel. If a portion of the midship
structure is destroyed, the vessel loses so much of her
original buoya.nGy and shoulder in proportion to the
volume destroyed. The vessel sinks deeper in the water
in proportion to the volume destroyed, thus increasing
the upsetting power of the bottom buoyancy ; and, with a
reduced volume of shoulder or stability at the water line,
there may not be sufficient power to resist any inclination
of the vessel, and consequent capsize.
The object of constructors should be to place a reserve
of buoyancy shoulder and stability within the vessel that
shall resiet this overturning power of bottom buoyancy, and
maintain the vessel upright on the surface of the water.
Double bottoms in the vicinity of the portion in jured
only add to this upsetting vqlume of bottom buoyancy,
and helping to the capsize.
Cofferdams would hardly meet the case. \Vhat is
wanted is a posi~ive internal reserve of shoulder or stability that shall be eq ual to, or greater than, the original
shoulder or stability intact.
But in the present system of construction the slightest
injury to the hull seems to prove disastrous, and to render
the vessel unstable and liable to capsize. Is it too much
to conceive that some attempt should be made to render
the vessel more unsinkable and stable under the condition
of injury?
Here is a <iread ful disaster which should be a warning
in time. Cannot we hope that some consideration and
investigation should be made in the matter by our present
B oard of Admiralty?
In referring to the earlier type of vessel, we do not
notice any very great alteration in the internal constructien of the present type of vessel, with the exception of
the addition of the "protective deck." But this ''protective deck" is of but little valne as giving internal
reserve of buoyancy and stability to the vessel, as proved
in the case of the Victoria.
It is to be hoped that the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty may be disposed to look more clos~ly into the
matter of the construction of armourclads internally for
protection from sinking or foundering in any future
designs for shi ps for the Royal Navy.
I am, Sir,
Your very obedient servant,
L ondon, S. E., December, 1893.

STEAM JETS.
To TRE EvrToR oF ENGINEERING.

N. A.

effect as a solid central jet of 4 millimetres diameter,

which is considerably larger than our average size. This
size of nozzle, viz., 4 millimetres, was taken as a. standard
for comparison, as being the size of nozzle in the third
tyRe of blower referred to later on.
The position of the regulating screw in the duJ?lex
nozzle was found after making several tests with vanous
forms and sizes of combining tubes, giving equal volume
of outlet air at equal pressures. The air lpressures tested
were j in. water column, which may be taken as a normal
ashpit pressure, 1 in. water, and 2 in. water.
To arrive at the proportional efficiency of the nozzles,
an air receiver of a certain capacity was filled with cold dry
air ab 20 lb. pressure above the atmospere, and emptied
fi rst through the duplex nozzle with the re~ulator in the
p_roper position, and then through the s1mple nozzle.
This was repeated several times, and it was found that
the duplex nozzle reduced t he pressure from 20 lb. to
5 lb. in 25 seconds, whereas the simple nozzle, giving the
same effect, required 45 seconds. In other words, the
duplex nozzle, to give equal effect, required 80 per cent.
more steam than the simple central nozzle.
We presume, however, that the efficiency of the nozzle
as such is of secondary consideration, and that the really
interesting question is a.~ to the relative efficiency of the
complete blowers. To ascertain this a. series of experiments were made with the duplex nozzle and the combining tube supplied with it, with our own blowers of
various sizes, and a third form of blower which has
recently bt:!en in evidence. The air pressures tested with
were as mentioned above, viz.,~ in., 1 in., and 2-in. water
column, the corresponding steam pressures being 16lb.,
42lb., and 70 lb. above the atmosphere.
The net result of the series of experiments is to show
that to do a given quantity of work, where our blower
required a unit weight of steam, say llb., the duplex
arrangement used between 2~ lb. and 3J lb., and the
third form of blower from 2 lb. to 4.f lb.
As the question of forced or assisted draught is continuously coming more to the front, and as the steam
jeb offers the simplest a.nd, for most purposes, the best
form of blower, we think the figures given above should
be of interest to many of your readers.
Yours truly,
MELDRUM BROS.

Atlantic Works, City-road, Manchester,

December 19, 1893.

THE UNEMPLOYED.
To THE E DITOR m ENOINEERING.

Srn,-In your review lasb week of th e Blue-Book tssued

by the Board of Tra.de upon the unemployed, you refer to
"' trade societies a.s being effective agencies " dealing
therewith, and state that these "pay their members when
out of work from 3s. 6d. to 18s. per week, " some of these
extending over "one or two quarters" of the year. You
also state that those "agencies are best which give unemployed benefit," one reason being '' they relieve the rates,"
and that "in the skilled trades 10 per cent. are unemployed. "
In your '' Industrial Notes " you say more than one
seventh of the engineers are on the funds, " costing l s. 8d.
per member per week." You also state the '' Ironfounders
are granting 5s. per week to time-expired members,, &c.
Now, for my own part, although I freely admit the problem of the unemployed is a very difficult one and that
trade societies are showing an ~xcellent spirit' of " help
one another" in the matter, I cannot see the wisdom of
having, say, 5 to 10 per cent. of the whole of the workers
ah_vays out of work from year's ~nd to year's end, and
bemg mo~e .or less well supporte~ m enforced idleness by
the rema.mmg 90 to 95 per cent. m employment; neither
can I see that trade societies ought to be specially required
to relieve the rates.
There is one thing about the unemployed question
which always puzzles me-namely, Why does every person
you ask give a different reason for it, and generally a pre
judiced one? There must be a correct reason, and some
of our best-informed . men must know the reason. Why
cannot the laws wh10h govern labour economics be laid
down simply in text-books and taught in schools ?
It appears to me that if every man in the country made
the greatest possible production of useful commodities by
means of the most improved machinery, and that every
gaol, workhouse, &c., was converted into a modern highclass factory, we should then be in the best wealth-producing condition. But I am told no. It would interfere
with free labour to put prisoners to useful work or employ
workhouse people usefully. They say, in effect, the less
the output the richer we are; the fewer the workers, and
the more numerous the idlers, the higher the wages and
the better off the people. One man says we want a good
war to reduce the population. Another, let us build warships to employ the people. The building trades pray for
fires and earthquakes, the decorators for royal weddingt~,
the shipbuilders for gales and shipwrecks, &c.
I cannot, however, see bow limiting production, or destroying what is already produced, or putting peoplecriminals or not-to unproductive labour can be of the
least service in increasing wealth, nor can I see how increased production of useful commodities can fail to
increase wealth.
Yours faithfully,

SIR,-A month or nwo since many of the technical

journals, under the heading of "Duplex Nozzles," pub
lished certain disparaging statements as to the status of
an old and tried friend, viz.r the solid, simple, or central
steam jet as applied to blowmg purposes. As strong conservatives in this matter, we wish you to allow us to reply
on the other side.
Sir Willia.m Siemens was, we believe, one of the first to
claim higher efficiency for the annular over the central or
solid atea.m jet for blowing purposes. We bad, however,
supposed that no one in these days who had given the
subject any practical consideration would now s~pport
the proposition. It should, however, be noticed, m the
first place, that a. nominally annular jet is not really so
unless the air, or whatever other fluid is to be pro~elled,
is admitted into the annulus throu~h the centre, as 10 the
blowers designed by Sir Willia.m Stamens. In the duplex
nozzle referred to above, not only is no p rovision made
for admitting air inside the annulus, but th~ ann ular jet
itself acts as a shield to prevent access of air to the ~n
tral or solid jet. This explains the ad vantage of the Interrupted annulus of. the duplex no.zzle, the three o~ four
jets in the ring allowmg access of au to the central Jet a~
well as all round tbemsel ves.
We have made the subject of jet blowers a special study
for the last ten years, and, with respect to the form of
nozzle have come to a definite conclusion that the central
or solid jet is the most efficient for all ordinary purposes,
and that any departure from this nob only increases the
first cost and adds useless complications, but actually detracts from the efficiency.
Having these very decided opinions, we were rat.ber
surprised a.t the prominent position given in the techmcal
press to the alleged advantages claimed for ~he duplex
J. F.ERRADEE.
nozzlt'. To leave no room for doubt, y;~ obtamed on~ of
Stafford, December 19, 1893.
the du{>lex nozzles (as well as .the combtm~g ~ube supphed
with it), and conducted a series of tests wtth It, the resu~ts
of which we give below. '.ple _nozzl~ has a. cen~ral Jet
:P~ in. in diameter, and three J.ets m a rt~g surroundmg th.e
ECONOMICAL SPEED OF STEAMSHIPS.
central jet, and having a var1able opemJ?-g,. the full maxlTo TITE EDITOR Ob' ENGINEERING.
mum area being equal to that of a sohd Jet upwards of
Sm,- In his letter of October ~ " ~ Se." calls atten
.
7 millimetres in diameter.
The duplex nozzle was regulated so as to gtve the same tion to an error of Mr. W. J. ~l1llar s, where he asserts

[DEc.

1893.

2 2,

that '' the work done will vary as the producti of the
power exerted and space traversed."
If that is the actual wording, it must undoubtedly be a.
slip of the pen. "B. Se.," to prove the error, makes use
of the assumption that the power varies a3 the cube of the
velocity; and though I am perfectly aware that this is
stated on the authority of Rankine, I am afraid it is rwt
at all in accordance uith fact. No one has a. higher
respect for the writings of Rankine than I have, butl I
cannot accept them as infallible, and when his statements
do not agree with actual experiment, I, for one, part company with him on this road to knowledge.
If "B. Se." says he believes Rankine notwithstanding
-which is equivalent to "so much the worse for the facts "
-there is an end to the argument; but if he thinks my
statement is not correct, I hope he will give me a few
examples (one or two good ones will be sufficient) of ships
or torpedo-boats whose horse-power varies as the cube of
the velocity. I can give him dozens where it is either very
much less or very much more, whichever he pleases. Of
course there must be no nonsense about the examples.
They must embrace a wide range of speeds. " B. Se."
will find that at low speeds the power varies considerably
lower than V 3: at about 10 or 12 knots it is somewhere
about V 3 ; the power then increases much faster than V3
up t o about 17 knots, above which speeds it again increases
at a lower ratio than V 3.
The resistance does not vary a.s V 2, but as - kt, or
f:J
or Ey V, or l Oa, V, up to about 17 knots, where
t=time, V =velocity; k, {3, y, and a being constants.
Above 17 knots the law changes.

et,

St. Helena, November 24, 1893.

R.

DE

V ILLA~liL.

PATENT OFFICE LIBRARY.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR,- ! fully indorse the remarks of " Disgusted " re

the delay in getting periodicals a.t this library. '.fhere are,
however, some foreign periodicals, such as the "Revue
Generale des Chemins de Fer," the "Organ fiir }i'ortschritte," which appear very irregularly, so that thP
Patent Office librarians cannot be altogether blamed for
the unpunctuality with which these appear on the tables
of the library rooms.
A good catalogue is sadly wanted, also some arrangement whereby readers would be enabled to find out what
new books are put on the shelves. There is also much
delay in this respect, for one would naturally expect that
a. Patent Office library would t ry to keep abreast of the
times with regard to technical literature.
The lighting of the library leaves much to be desired,
and ibis a wonder to me that there are so many visitors
ab night.
Several systems of gas lighting have been
tried, but I think the present arrangement is the worst
of all. \Vhy has not electric light been introduced ? \Ve
hope to see marked improvements in the new Patent
Office library, for the present management is in many
respects most unsatisfactory.
Yours faithfully,
London, N., December 18, 1893.
M ERNOK.

METHOD OF TAKING OUT STRESSES.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR,-! notice that in my letter of November 14, kindly

published by you on the ,15th inst., there is an error,
viz., in the formuhe for flanges "cosine" should read
''sine " in every case. I believe this is my mistake.
With apology for giving you so much trouble,
I am, yours truly,
B URNET ADA.MS.
December 17, 1883.
"BnYriSH A ssociATION " Scmnv T BREAD SrsTEM.
-Messrs. SeHg, Sonnenthal, and Co. , London, have
brought out one of their "Lightning " pattern screwplates adapted to the "British AssociatiOn system " of
screw thread. The case contains nine sizes, Nos. 0 to 8,
and should do much towards extending the adoption of
this valuable system of threads. The dies are circular in
form, and are held in an elastic stock. The adjustment
is made by a. conical-hE-aded screw, which tends to separate
the dies, whilst they can be forced together by a tightening screw on the stock. They are thus held very rigidly.
The thread is out full depth at one operation.
T HE

CATALOGUES. - We hMe received from the General

Elecric Company, Limited, of 69 and 71, Queen Victoriastreet, London, a copy of their catalogue of electric plan t
for 1894. Incandescent lamps are a new feature in this
catalogue, the EdisonSwan monopoly having expired.
Of these, two classes are supplied by the company, viz.,
long life lamps and high-efficiency lamps. 'l'he former
take 56 watts for 16 candle-power lamps, and have an
average life of 1200 hours. An important note is added,
to the effect that Continental candle-power is 14 per cent.
less than the E nglish standard, a. fact of which consumers would do well to take note in purchasing foreignma<ie lamps. In addition to lamps, the catalogue includes illustrated and priced descriptions of practically
every variety of electric plant, from dynamos to medical
coils.-We have also received a copy of the new catalogue
issued ~J Messrs. J . Copeland and Co., of the Pul teneystreet Engine W orks, Glasgow, containing reproductions
of photographs taken of the different types of engines,
boilers, evaporating plant, hydraulic presses, and other
machinery constructed by them.

DEc.

22,

1893.]

771

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

there is always a certain pressure between it and the

stud. Any loosening of the lower nut, due to working, will tend to press it upwards, and, by means of
the cones, the pressure of the upper nut ou the stud
E~GINEERS, BRADFORD. will be increased.

VERTICAL ENGINE AND CENTRIFUGAL PUMP.

C)NSTRUCTED BY ~IESSRS. THWAITES BROTHERS, LIMITED 1

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
THE state of the skilled labour market, as disclosed
by the Board of T rade Jou'r nal and the Labou1
Gazette shows a decrease in the proportion of unemployed' for the first time this year. Indeed, the pro
portion is even slightly under that of 1892 at the same
date.
In the thirty-two societies which r eported
there was an aggregate of 338,689 members, the total
number of unemployed being 24,534, or 7.2 per cent.,
as against 7.3 per cent. in October. In October and
November of last year the proportions were 7. 9 and
7.8 per cent. respectively. Considering that the total
number of societies reporting is ten more this year,
with a largely increased membership in nearly all
cases, the returns are more favourable than was
expected. 'rhe percentage of unemployed members
in the thirty-two societies shows a larger proportion
out of work all through the year, as compared with
last year, but, whereas the number increased rapidly
from the end of August up to the end of November, in
1892, the variation this year in the same three months
has been very ttlight, and the curve is now towards a
lessened proportion, and this, too, in spite of the dislocation of trade by the coal crisis, lasting over four months.
In the shipping and iron and steel trades the proportion out of work was large, being equal to 12.2 per
cent. of the total, bn t, on the whole, the prospects are
brighter than for some time past. In the building
trades the proportion out of work was only 3. 7 per
cent., as compared with 3.6 in the previous month.
The furnishing trades show some improvement, the
ratio being 5.4 per cent. out of work, as against 6.1
in the previous month. The cotton trades are brisk,
but the woollen, silk, hosiery, and lace trades are
depressed. The clothing and boot and shoe trades have
been very f!lack, especially for this season of the year,
while the printing and allied trades have fallen from
5.2 per cent. to 3.8 per cent. of unemployed. The
classified percentages show that only 1 per cent. of
the engineering and shipbuilding industries report
trade as good, while 81 per cent. represent it as dull
to very bad. This is the worst case of all the detailed
trades. The number of fresh disputes is fewer, and
the numbers involved smaller than in any month of
this year. Of the 35,769 members affected by disputes,
32,000 belonged to the Scotch coalmining industry,
in which the dispute has, happily, ended. The engineering and co~nate trades appear to have no dis
pute worth recording.

WE illustrate on this page a centrifugal pump and

BAXTERS' LOCK NUT.
engine combined, which is being exhibited by Messrs.
THE accompanying illustration represents an arTh waites Brothers, Limited, of Bradford, along with rangement introduced by Messrs. Baxters, Limited
other machines, at the Industrial Exhibition at New- Sandiacre, N otts, with the view of counteracting th~
castle-on-Tyne. The pump is constructed on the
Capell principle, and is capable of discharging 450
tons of water per hour. The engine is, as will be
seen, of the vertical type, the cylinder being supported on four steel columns of ample size, so as to
insure complete stiffness in working. All the working
parts are made adjustable and with large wearing
surfaces, and the lubrication is automatic and
adapted for continuous running. The combination
is specially suitable for draining docks, or for circulating the water through the condensers on board
ship, and owing to the special construction of the
pump, it is claimed that it can be run at a slower
speed than any other pump of the same size. The
results of trials supporting this claim were published
in our issue of February 3, 1893. We understand
that Messrs. Thwaites have a large number of these
machines in progress for various vessels in our Navy.

e================
THE MEXICAN NAVY.-The establishment of a Government dockyard is being considered in connection with the
proposed improvement of the Mexican Navy. The port
of Guayma.s is said to be its probable site. 'Vera Cruz is
to have an arsenal and a floating dock. The latter is
being built in France.

tendency of nuts to slacken under vibration, without interfering with freedom of adjustment. There
are really two nuts. That touching the work has
as shown in the illustration , a fem ale cone, and th~
upper nut is shaped to fit into this. The upper nut
is split through, and is sprung on to the stud, so that

Unusual attention has been given to the state of

trade in the unskilled branches of labour, and some
rather curious results are given as the outcome of
special inquiry. It appears that the dock and riveraid~ workers have, .as a rul~, bee~ steadily employed,
an Improvement bemg mamfest m London and Liverpool, while at Cardiff work continues brisk. As regards the employment of dock labourers in London at
all places except Tilbury, the total employed in 'the
last week of November was 7736, as compared with
6886 in the first week of the month. The average for
t he four weeks was 7151, as compared with 7313 in
November, 1892. The average in October was 6698
as compared with 6812 in October last year. The mor~
detailed figures in the chart show a larcre rise in the
proportion of employed during the two last weeks of
November. But the total number of paupers has increased rather largely, and some curious suggestions
arc thrown out as to the cause. The coal strike
affected very many adversely, by slackness of work
and decreased wages. Illness also has contributed to
the increase of pauperism in various districts. But it
appears that the most notable feature in the increase
of pauperism is from the ranks of the common lodginghouse class, a class which, from one cause aml another
such as unfitness from sickness, privation and a roving
disposition, seldom takes permanent 'employment.
These people have, doubtless, also suffered from the
coal strikes, for the money collected for the miners in
the streets of London was diverted from the ordinary
beggar. But in West Ham the increase has been abnormal, there being over 3000 paupers more than in
November, 1892. In most of the east-end districts of the
metro.pol~ certain trades are very slack, but the chief
suffenng 1s among the labouring class of a rather un
certain character as to regular employment, that is to
say, the casual labourers generally. Many railway employes, and those whose work is in connection with the
railways and the other carrying trades, north, south,
east, and west, have suffered owing to the coal dispute. ~s that. dispute is now ended, it is . probable
that the mdustnes affected will revive somewhat and
thus lessen the number of unemployed and of the
paupers.
The report of the Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders

E N G I N E E R I N G.
~ociety for December shows a very bad state of trade, request.

m so far as employment is concerned in those industries. The total number on the funds was 8743, as
against 8486 last month. The number on donation
was 3889, as compared with 4060 last month, a decrease of 171 ; but there was an increase of 187 signing the vacant book, which more than counterbalances
the decrease. The number out of work was 6852, or 18
per cent. of the total members, exclusive of the sick
and superannuated. The cost of benefits was 7075l.
nearly. The report says : "All this does not look very
bright, but we are inclined to think that soon after the
New Y eo.r has commenced there will be an improvement. There are indica-tions in the right directions. "
\Vith all the depression, the number of members increases, which is a most unusual thing in the history
of trade unions. An increase of contributions is imposed upon all members who run out of benefit, so
that neglect to pay up imposes upon them ex tra pay,
with the loss of benefiL for a time. Efforts are also
being made to restrain the agents of some employers
touting for men out of the district. The report reminds such employers t hat the society often helps them
when trade is brisk and men scarce, so that there ought
to be some reciprocity. But, generally, the employers
and the union work harmoniously together, as the last
four years abundantly prove. The report contains an
item of 17l. lls. 4d. paid to a shipbuilding firm for
losses sustained by the bad workmanship of four memb ere. But the men named have to repay the amount
to the society before being entitled to benefit. The
bonus claims are rather heavy- 2125l. for accidents,
nine of which are for 100l. each, and 23 for 50l. each,
the other& being 25l. each. The outlook in the several
chief shipbuilding districts is not very promising, but
on the Clyde alone there are about 177,000 tons in
h and. On the Tyne things are quiet. On the Tees
there is an improvement. In the boiler and bridgemaking districts things look a little brighter, and
esp ecially in the Staffordshire districts. As the ship
joiners' strike is ended, things will be busier en the
Clyde for some time to come. There is mention of an
appeal to the Government rP.specting some recent contracts.

Armour and ship-plate makers are very

slack, but a few firms are fairly busy in the railway
tyre and axle departments. S kate and joiners' toolmakers are fairly busy, and iron and steel founders
are a little better off for work, though 7 per cent. are
still out of work, while many are on s hort time. Steel
smelters are moce active, for the demand for Bessemer
and Siemens steel billets is fairly good, and that for
steel wire is causing exceptional activity. There is
also an increased demand for best crucible cast steel,
both for export and for the better classes of cutlery.
In t he general staple trades of the district it is alleged
that fully 50 per cent. are only pa.rtially employed, and
the Sheffield Corporation is finding work for the
labouring class in levelling, laying, and improving the
recreation grounds of the town, in accordance with
the circular of the Local Government Board. The
building trades are busy, very few really skilled men
being out of work. In other districts of Yorkshire the
engineering and cognate branches of trade are very
dull. In Leeds and the surrounding district one
large firm is stated to be busy, and that one is on
special work, the manufacture of electrical appliances,
for which there is a good demand at present. The
ironfounders and st eelworkers are very slack, the
close of the coal strike not having had the full effect
expected as yet. But the glass trades are better off
for work now that fuel is no longer scarce. Yorkshire generally suffered much from the coal dispute,
and the districts a.re very slowly recovering from the
disorganised condition of trade consequent thereupon.
The industries not largely dependent upon the coal
su pply are in a better condition, but all have suffered,
and are still suffering, from the sa.me cause.
In the Hull district engineering and shipbuilding have
been in a bad state for some time past, from 20 to 25 per
cent. of workmen being out of work. But owing to the
recent gales and damage to shipping, a good deal of
repairing has come in, which has given a degree of
activity not otherwise obtainable, the number of unemployed having thereby been reduced. The other
shipping and riverside trades have been busy since the
close of the coal dispute, and the demand for seamen is
great er than for some time past. On the whole,
things are better and brighter in Hull than for a long
t ime has been the case. The prospects for the new
year also are regarded as tolerably favourJ..ble, as trade
goes.

[DEc.

22,

1893.

boilermakers, and ironfounders report no improvement in trade, but the iron and tinplate workers are
fully employed. The iron trade is a lso reported good
in Gloucestershire. The miners in the Forest of Dean
are busy, but not over busy in the Bristol and
Somerset coalfields generally.
In the Birmingham district, engineers, toolmakers,
machinists, bedstead-makers, and cycle-makers are
more active, but a goodly number of men are out of
employment. Bra.ssworkers on electrical work are
busy, but not for cabinetwork or house furnishing.
Electro-plate workers, metal rollers, tubeworkers,
wireworkers, and the several branches of the iron
trade are tolerably well em ployed. The tinplate
trade is fairly good, but some are out of work.
\Vorkers in malleable iron are busy, and iron fencing
is in demand. Enamelled sign and advertising p~ ates
trades are so busy that some are working night and
day. Many of the miscellanous trades of the district
are fairly well employed, a nd several that were
depressed are feeling some improvement. The bed
stead.makers have secured an advance of 5 per cent.
by federating with the employers. This appears to
be one of the possible methods of industrial peace in
the future.
In the coal tra.des the first step has been taken in
the constitution of a Board of Conciliation, a. meeting
of the reprenta.tives of the coalowners and the federated
miners having been held to prepare a code of working
rules and elect a. chairman. 'fhe latter they were
not able to agree upon, so that the matter is referred
to the Speaker of the House of Commons to nominate
one. It is a matter of regret that the conference could
not agree upon a chairman, bu t the provision of a way
out of the difficulty in case of any want of agreement,
has been found to be most valuable. There seems
to be little doubt as to the successful launching of
the Conciliation Board a t the date originally fixed.

---

The Scotch miners have arranged their difficulty,

and coal no longer blocks the way to indus trial activity.
The question for the public now is, \Vhat is to be done
to reduce prices ? The miners are getting no more
In the Lancashire districts there is a more hopeful
wages now than they were six months ago, except in
tone in the engineering branches of industry, although
South Wales, where they have an increase of 2~ per
just at present the signs of revival are few and not very
cent., and in some parts of Scotland and in the
apparent. Heavy stationary engine bu ilders have a
Forest of Dean; but the price of coal is at least 6s.
or 7s. p er ton dearer in London, and much dearer elsefa ir amount of work on hand, and machine t ool makers
are tolerably well employed, but generally the estabI n the W olverhampton district some good business where tha.n it was six months ago.
lishments for t he most p9.rt are only mod erately sup- was done during the past week, though the orders
plied with work. In the boilermaking branches trade booked were of limited weight, mostly for home conThe House of Lords has passed the Employer&'
is quieter than it has been for some time past, and in sumption, aud for the completion of contracts. There Liability Bill through Committee, and also the third
the locomotive branches the trade outlook is far from were also good inquiries for galvanised sheets, common reading. Now it will ha fe to be returned to the
satisfactory. In the :M anchester district the engineers bars, and hoop iron, by export agents. But the Commons with the contracting-out clause in it, and
describe trade as bad; the steam engine makers as "would-be buyers" complain of high prices, and hold some further "amendments." The question is, \Vhat
moderate, but with a slight increase in the number of back. It is said that Belgian makers and competitors will the House of Commons do ? The answer is believed
unemployed; the machine workers and metal planers, ara again in the market with building and bridge- to be : Reject the amendments of the House of Lords,
and a lso brassfounders and finishers, report the state building requisites, underselling the British makers. and restore the Bill to where it was when it left the
of trade as moderate, but the boilermakers as bad, It is s tated that the Belgian prices are 15s. per t on Commons. There is some t alk of a possible mod'lls
though the number out of work has not increased. In below local makers in Staffordshire, after all the cost 'lirendi, after a conference with the Lords, but much
the iron trade there has been a firmer tone, but not of carriage. Yet the local makers declare that they will depend upon the way in which the advocates of
so much on account of a largely increased demand, as cannot make at a profit while coal and fuel are so dear the change made in the Bill conduct their cause in the
because of the scarcity of supplies. The expectation in price. The makers of finished iron, bars, plates, Commons. If no arrangement can be effected , the
is that prices will advance during the next two or three and angles especially complain, and even hint the possi- work expended on this Bill is practically lost. For the
months, and therefore there appears to be some desire bility of closing the works in preference to reducing pre- present t he Bill is "bung up. ,
to place orders for delivery at present rates during that sent prices. Steel plates and billets are in fair demand,
period. Manufactured iron is firm at recent rates, and fair offers are made for common sheet , angle, and
but there is no quotable advance at present. In the ship iron for home consumption. In the engineering
BRITISH COLONIES AT THE WORLD'S
steel trade raw material has advanced by about 1s. per branches trade is regarded as fair, but some are out of
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.*
ton, but for steel boiler plates quotations are merely work. Puddlers, mill rollers, steel workers, and blastBy J AlfES DREDGE, Member of the British Royal
nominal, as there is very little inquiry. In the furnacemen are busy when coal is available. Bridge
Commission.
Oldham and Bolton districts the iron and s teel in- and girder makers, boiler and ta.nk makers, and
(C()l(lcluded from page 745.)
dustries are a little brighter; two large iron works, gasholder makers are well employed, as also are the
4, 5, AND 6. J A hfAI CA, TRINIDAD, BRJTISR GtHAN A.-We
long closed owing to the coal dispute, have been re- heavy iron founders. In the hardware trades business
opened, and generally there is a more hopeful tone. is dull, except in the lock trade. The brass and copper must pass over with only a few words the splendid efforts
In the Barrow district the steel works have re-started , trades have improved in some branches, and so also made by these little colonies t ') do credit to the Mother
to show the world their special resources, and
a nd at \Vorkington the men at the steel works have edge.tool and agricultural implement makers. Country,
to aid in the success of the Columbian Exposition. The
are on full time. The shipping trades are, however, Short time is being worked in the tinplate, iron-plate, view of the Jamaica Court in the Manufactures Building
quiet. In the Liverpool district the s~ipping i~ and steel toy trades; t he anvil-smiths and vice-makers will suffice to show how well arranged and varied were
dustries and all cognate branches are qUlet, and m are also slack. Generally the district has well main- the contributions from this island. They comJ?rised
some cases very dull. But the general run of ~he tained ita own for some months past, but the competi specimens of all the useful animal, vegetable, and mmeral
products, plans and photographs, pottery, textile goods,
cotton industries keep well employed, and the build- tion of other districts will now be felt in most cases.
aud other native manufactures. and statistics. The
ing trades are fairly well off for work, bearing in mind
In the pottery district s of Staffordshire the iron and J a.maica exhibit was under the charge of Colonel C. J.
the season of the year. On the whole the outlook is
Ward,
the
commissioner
for
the
colony.
The
very
beausteel
and
the
engineering
trades
suffered
severely
by
not altogether discourag ing, though there ~re few
tiful display of timber in the Forestry and Agri cultu~a.l
the
scarcity
of
coal
~nd
fuel
generally.
Fully
10
per
actual indications of activity. In the chem1cal and
Building,
made
by
Trinidad,
under
the
care
of
JV!r.
Vm
glass industries trade has been resumed, after t he long cent. of the engineering trades are unemployed. But cent, opened up new possibilities to American builders,
stoppage for lack of coal, but many men are still out of it is thought that t rade will improve with the New and especially to the constructors of rail way cars, for
Year in all the local industries, as well as in t he iron whom nothing is too costly in the way of wood for
employment.
--and steel trades. Among the miscellaneous trades of internal decoration. It is satisfActory to note that it is
In the Sheffield and Rotherham district the local the district there is a slight improvement in some, the earnest desire of this colony to present its collecticn
industries generally are not so active as usual at this while others maintain the general activity which has to your Institute.
British Guiana, with Mr. J . J. Quelch as commistime of year. The silver and electro-plate trades are prevailed for some time past , in cases not much affected
not so well employed as in previous years at t~is by the high price of fuel. The worst trades report sioner, shone chiefly in the Agrioultural Building, where
a. very beautiful pavilion the agricultural products of
date. they are working twelve hours per day m- 10 per cent. of the men out of work, while some are in
the colony were well displayed.
stead of fifteen usually in December. There is a as low as 4 per cent. The general average would be
1. I NDIA.-India was, unfortunately, but very poorly
larger demand for railway material than for the last about 7i per cent. unemployed in the district.
represented, though the handful of f'xhibitoJ s in the
Manufactures Buildin g exhibited Indian textile, metal
three months but the accumulation of work is said
.
.
ot to equal' the losses resulting from the recent
In the Bristol, Gloucester, and So~erset6h1re rlis- work, &c., of great value. The commi~sioner, Mr.
~toppage. Cutlery, files, and steel generally ~re quiet tricts en~ineering is not so ~ood as m o~tober, but
* Read in abstract before the Imperial Institute.
to dull, but engineering work is said to be m better . the electr1cal branches are fa1rly busy. Shipwrights,

D Ec.

2 2,

E N G I N E E RI N G.

1893.]

Blechynden, however, erected a. very beautiful Oriental

pavilion in the grounds, chiefly for the benefit of the
Indian T ea. Association, and in this building, eight
different di tricts and about 100 different companies were
represented. It ap{>ears probable that one r esult of the
Columbian E xpos1t10n in the U nited S tates, will be a
large t ransfer of the tea t rade from China. to India and
Ceylon.
8. C.\NADA.- There remains for notice the exhibib made
by the Dominion of Canada.. A s may be naturally supposed, this exhibit was of the highest importance, and one
of special interest to that section of the American people
who look f<>rward with hope to the Dominion seoedmg
from it~ allegiance and throwing in its lot with the Stars
and Strip~s; proba.bly there is nob a very la rge number of
serious people either in tb~ United S tates or Canada. who
regard this oontin~enoy as a possible one, and the
mphat i c loyaHy displayed during the whole period of
the Exhibition by Canadians of all shades of political
opinion, who visited Chicago, must have been sufficient
to set at rest any doubt which might previously have

Building, the trophies of bituminous and anthracite coal

from British Columbia, and of others from the Nova.
Scotia coalfi elds, hinted at the wide extent of this source
of wealth. These and displays of nickel and nickel ore
formed the chitlf feature of the Canadian mining court, but
there were also remarkable collections of minerals from
all parts of the Dominion. The Forestry Building showed
how rich Canada is in wood, both of fine quality and
colour for cabinet and decorative work, and in pine and
cedar. The Douglas fir from the Pacific slope was exhi
bited in planks 4 in. thick, 4 ft. wide, and of prodigious
length, and the Quebec pine and spruce were also well
represented. E specially worthy of notice was the trophy
of wood pulp in all stages of manufacture, from th e rough
timber to fini shed paper, and many other articles manufactured from this material. The pa,ilion of Canada in
the Agricultural Hall was one of the beautiful objects
within the building; it illust rated in a concentrated form
the magni ficent resources of the soil enjo.ved by th e
D ominion. Ooe of the objects that attracted most
popular attention was a monster cheese weighing 11 tons,

.. j

FIG.

13.

H ORTICULTURAL SECTIOX.

existed on the subject. The various pictures thrown on

the screen will ser ve to gi \' e an idea of the extent and
oba.raoter of the diapla.y wade by Canada. in almost every
department of the E xhibition. In the Manufactures
Building the crowded space behind the handsome screen
upon the main aisle was filled with exhibits attesting the
manufacturing power of the Dominion. There were shown
cases of t extile fabrics, furs, leather, cutlery, and porcelain ; trophies of bard ware, wall papers, stoves, and
graphite; exhibits of furniture, musical instruments, and
carved stonework. In the Machinery Hall the Canadian
section was highly creditable, althou~h of course it was
dwarfed by the fine display made by Germany and some
other nat10ns. In the Transportation Building, the
Canadian section was of exceptional interest. Besides
the magnificent exhibits made by the Canadian Pacific
R ailway Company, there were a large number of objects
connected with railroad equipment; there was a fine
model of the Chignecto ship railway, which, when completed, will shorten the ocean voyage to ports on t he L ower
St. L awrence, and spare vessels a long stretch of dangerous
navigation. T here was a. fine collection of road vehicle~,
for which Canada is famous, including a large series l' f
sleighs. Th~re were many models of vessels, amongst
which was a specially fi ne one of the Empress of J apau.
one of the Pacific fleet working in connection with the>
transcontinental railroad ; there were also specimens
of na.ti ve canoes. The fishing industry of Canada is
very important, and it was well represented in the
Fishery Building by models, prepared specimens of all
kinds of fish taken in Canadian waters, fishing appliances, fish presened for food, and general products.
The ad vantage of proximity t o Chicago, enjoyed by
Canada., enabled her, among all the foreign countries, to
make an exceptionally fine display in the H orticultural
Building, where she occupied 9000 ft., divided into three
courts, devoted to frui t, vegetables, and wine respectively.
In this section the province of Ontario was conspicuous.
Especially interesting was the display from an experimental Government farm at Ottawa, from which were
sent one hundred and thirty varieties of grapes, thirtysix of raspberries, fifty-seven of currants, seventy-four of
gooseberries, and forty-four vari eties of cherries. D espite the fact that Canada. lost a large amount of her fruit
display by the destruction of the cold storage building,
she occupied one-sixth of the space set aside in the Horticultural Building for fruit. In the !vlines and Mining

and manufactured for the D ominion Government ; one

of the Chicago newspapers, commenting on this prodigious
effort of the dairy, stated that "ib was due to the collaboration of no less than 1400 cows.'' Finally reference
should be made to the Canadian }>avilion, where the
executive representa.thes had thetr offices. Of the
officials, the chief commissioner was Mr. T. S. L arke ; the
commissioner for Central Toronto was lVIr. G. N. Cockburn; for Ontario, Mr. Awrey; and for Quebec, Mr. John
Mcintosb.
The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was full of
wonders- the triumphs of soience, of art, and of industry
in all its forms; it was a bewildering forecast of the
legacy which the energy and skill and civilisation of the
expi ring century will bequeath to its successor. But
surely none of the illustrations of progress gathered
together within the limits of J ackson Park exceeded
those contributed by the colonies of this country, whose
cr&dit has indeed been nobly maintai ned by her children.

SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF

BLASTING.*
By Mr. PERRY F. NuRSEY, Pa.sb President.
(Contilnued from page 714.)

Demolition of a Bridge at R eadi-ng.- In the course of

widening the Great W estern Railway between Maidenhood and DidcotJ, several brick and timber bridge3 bad to
be demolished and superseded by structuras on more
modern p rinciples. The difficulty which had to be nontended with in the removal of these bridges was that
they were over the main line, and it was a sine qw1 non
that the traffic should be in no way interfered with or
obstructed. It was originally intended to put in skeleton
centre ribs wi th laggings under the arches, and upon
these to remove the arches piecemeal. There was not,
however, sufficient room bet ween the minimum structure
gauge and the soffit of the arches to introduce the ribs
a.od lagging, so that plan had to be abandoned. Among
others was one of Brunei's brick over bridges, known as
Mustard L ane Bridge, carrying the roadway across the
line at !l2 miles 71! chains, at the east end of Sonning
Cutting, near R eading. The contractors for that p ortion

* Pllper read before the Society of Engineers.

773
of the works in which the bridge was situated were
Messrs. Lucas a nd Aird, whose engineer, Mr. Herbert
Ashley, consulted the author in the spring of 1891, a~ to
t he feasibility of removing the st~ucture by blastmg.
Having inspected the bridge and sa.t1sfied the contractors
on that point, and having submitted a. scheme for carrying out the operation, tho author was instructed to pro
ceed with the work.
The bridge consisted of three semi-elliptical brick spans
of 31ft. 6 in., and 28ft. 6 in. high from rail level to sof? t,
with brick abutments, parapets and w!ng walls, the cut~mg
here being 30 ft. deep. The two p1ers were 5 ft. th1ck,
and the bridge was 19ft. wide between the parapets. ~be
lines of rails passed under the centre sp~n, the two s~de
spana being over the slopes of the cuttmg. An outhne
of the bridge, with the parapet removed ready for blas~
ing, is seen at Fig. 5 (next page). T.he sc~eme of dem~h
tion propounded by the author conststed m first cuttmg
through the crown of each of the side arches by blasting,
and then through that of the centre arch. 'l'his would
leave the piers standing with a. half-span attached on
either side. Then by simultaneously firing charges on
the inside of the two piers at the springing of the centre
arch, it was conceived that the pier would be thrown outwards on to th e slopes of the cutting, the two halves of
the centre arch falling on to the rails. Thi:~ point was
important in view of clearing a. way the debris, as the time
during which the work of denaolition had t o be carried
out and the line cleared was very short. It wast moreover, ordered that no explosive was to be placed m position until a. given train, which marked the commencement
of the longest inter val, which was two hours, bad passed.
The bridge was prepared by removing the road metalling
and the _parapetsi and the holes were drilled as shown in
plan at Fig. 6.
b will be seen that there were five sets
of four holes, markoo respectively A, B, C, D, and E.
In deciding U{>On the quantity of explosive to be employed, while usmg sufficient to bring down the bridge,
great care had to be taken not to damage the telegraph
wires. nor to injure a cottage which was situate just ab
the end of the bridge. Carbo-dynamite was the explosive
selected by the author for the work, and ib was decided
to charge each of the boles in row A with 8 oz., those in
row C with 6 oz. , and those in row E with 6 oz. These
charges were for cutting through the crowns of the three
arches, the borebolee for which were 13 in. deep, just
passing throu~b th ree gut of the five rings of brickwork.
In the two sertes of boles Band D, which were 5 ft. 6 in.
deep, and were drilled in the haunches of the central
arch, the charges for the top and bottom boles were eaoh
16 oz. , and those for the two intermediate holes 14 oz.
each. The quantity of carbo-dynamite used was therefore 12lb. 8 oz. , plus twent_y 1-oz. primers, which brought
the total to 13 lb. 12 oz. The charges wera tamped with
dry loco sand.
'he method of exploding the charges simultanrously
in three sets of fours tn the crowns of tbe arches and one
set of eight in the two haun che~, was a.s follows : A
length of instantaneous or lightning fu:Ge, burning at the
rate of 150 ft. per second, Wad attached to the detonator
in ea~b priming charge, and was led ioto a coupling box.
H ere they were coupled up to a length of ordinary 30second safety fu ze, which, on being lighted, burned down
to the group of instantaneous fu zes, igniting them and
ex ploding the detonators, and through them the charges.
The arrangement of the fu zes for exploding the chargE's
in the crowns is seen at Figs. 7 and 9, and that for exploding the charges in the haunches at Fig. 8. The safety
fuze is marked S, and the instantaneous fuze I. The
simultaneous explosion of the various cbarge3 was necessary in order, firstly, to get the maximum effect out of
the combined charge ; secondly, to save time; and thirdly
to prev~nt the possibility of the ex_plosion of one charg~
separatmg an unexploded one from tts fu ze, or otherwise
dislodging it so that it might constitute a source of
danger to the workmen when clearing away the debris.
The day fixed fo.r the de~olition. was Sunday, April 19,
1891, and everythmg was 1n readmess for charging the
holes at 2 p.m., ab which hour the train which marked
the commencement of the longest interval was to pass.
As a. matter of facb, however, the train was 15 mintutes
late, but directly it bad passed the holes in row A were
cb~rged and simultaneously fired, the crown of the arch
bemg c:ut completely through. Rows C and E were then
success1vely charged and fired with similarly satisfactory
results. Then came the heavier charges in the haunches
which were likewise put in and fired. It was hoped that
t~ey would have ha.d the desired eff~t of throwing the
pters over on to the slopes of th e cuttmg, and permitting
the two halves of the centre span to fall inwards on to a
bed of straw below. U nfortunately this was not the case
for the piers moved slightly round upon themselves and
the two halves of the centre span jammed at the f~ont
the whole structure, however, being broken up int~
numerous partR, and ready to fall down directly the nip a.t
the front was ov~rcome. T o this end h eavy ropes were
thrown over the r1m of the brok~n arch, just at the bite,
and a.tta.ched to a goods locomot1ve which bad brought up
a tram of workmen and materials prior to the blast.
After. two breakages of. the ropes, the bridge and one of
t he p~ers came .down w1th a crash, sending clouds of red
du.st mto the atr. The want of success in bringing the
br1dge clean do~n by means of the explosive was doubtlea~ due to the 01rcums~a.nce that the final charge was j ust
a. httle too sm~ll . Thts was th e result of anxious carefulness not to mj ~re the telt'gra.ph wires or the adjacent
house .. On mountmg to the top of th e bridge, after the
explostons, to arrange the hauling tackle, the structure was seen to be rent ~nd fissured in all directions.
It was al~o clear that a trtfie stron~er chuge in each of
th~ boles. m. the baunche~ of the c:entre arch would have
re:,ulted m 1ts comp.lete, mstead of ltti partial, collapse.
As soon as the bndge was down, a gang of about 40 men

ENGINEERING.

774
set to work to clear the down line, which was more free
from d ebris than the up line. A large portion of one pier
had deposited itself over the latter, while the other pier
was only slightly shifted from its normal position. As
the larger masses of brickwork were broken up, the debris
was loaded into trucks and the trusses of straw finally
cleared off, the down line being opened for traffic in about
two hours from the collapse of the structure. This wa.s
some time after the period assigned, and consequently the
traffic was delayed. As soon a.s the wa.y had been cleared,
the waiting trains were passed through, and the traffic
both up and down was carried on over the down rails.
The removal of the wreckage was no easy matter, as
Brunei's brickwork held splendidly together, the pier on
the up line obstinately resisting demolition on a large
scale, and yielding only to piecemeal disintegration and
removal. It was a fine night, though rather cold, and a
liberal supply of refreshments being provided by the con tractors, the nav vies and labourers stuck to their work
throughout the night as only English navvies and labourers
can stick.
Nor is less to be said for the company's
sectional engineer and other officials, who, with the contractors' engmeer, remained by with the author and his

mite, roburite, securite, bellite, von Da.hmen's safety

dynamite, fortis powder, Hengst's powder, lithofra.cteur,
and carbo- dynamite. It will be seen, however, that for
his practical work be has selected the two latter only.
This is not because of their greatly superior power over
the others, for there is not, in his opinion, such a. very
wide margin between any of them as regards strength as
is sometimes claimed for them. There is, however, a.
difference between some of them a.s regards the wa.y in
which they exert that strength. L et us take, for example
dynamite, which is the oldest and best-known high ex~
plosive (but which is now gradually being superseded by
other nitro-compounds), and compare its action with that
of lithofracteur, which at one time promised to become
its formidable rival. The explosion of dynamite takes
place with flashing rapidity, and its full power being so
mstantaneously developed, its action is more or less
locally intensified, resulting in a smashing effect within
a comparatively limited area. In lithofracteur, however
the power is d eveloped a little more slowly, and the re~
tardation causes it. to act w.ith greater.liftiJ?R' and_ rend~ng
effect than dynamite, and Its power IS ut1hsed m domg
work over a wider area. There are also two other featurea
I

Fig.5.

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2 2, I 893.

this driver, though it would have been wiser of him to

have slackened speed on first seeing the trucks, even if be
was not sure of their fouling his road. Although it was
just possible for the signalman to Ree the two nearest
trucks, yet. owing to the sidings and curv~, it was extremely difficult for him to notice that they were on the
wrong road, and therefore he cannot be held to blame.
The foreman sbunter, however, should have seen that they
were properly coupled ; and even if, as he stated in his
evidence, he bad coupled them on to the other trucks before the train had backed on to the down line, be should
have seen that they had not become uncoupled and been
left behind when the train drew forward n.gain. The goods
guard, though not responsible while shunting operations
were going on, should have seen that nearly a third of his
train was missing, and it is certainly curious that the
driver of the goods train failed to see the trucks when
running round his train.
Any of the many devices for automatically protecting
trains shunted on to the wrong road (a plentiful crop of
which have appeared sine~ the T aunton accident) would
not have protected these trucks; but, had it been the
practice for all trains shunting at the rua.nr. sidings ab this
spot to always run with a van at their tatl, the failure to
do this would have at once called the signalman's attention to something being wrong. It is always dangerous
to allow a train to be on a main line without a. van at its
tail, and it is to be hoped that this accident, which might
easily have ben as disastrous as that at Taunton, will
lead to every endeavour being made to always arrange for
this in future

'"'~

II

Fig .6.

(DEc.

s.

colleague, Mr. W alter F. Reed, all night. By 7 o'clock on

Monday morning both lines were cleared, and the re
mova.l of the wreckage sufficiently ad va.nced to permit of
the finish being left in the hands of subordinates who had
arrived to relieve guard. Not being able to get at the
quantity of brickwork moved, the author can only summarise the result by stating the broad fact that one of
Brunei's bridges, consisting of three spans of 31 ft. 6 in.
each, over the Great Western Railway, was demolished by
a di vided charge of 13 lb. 12 oz. of carbo-dynamite.
With the exception of the delay caused to the traffic, the
result was considered to be most satisfactory.
As regards the quantity of explosive employed to perform a given amount of work, the result compares favourably with that in the case of another bri~ge in th~ Son~ing
Cutting, which was subsequently demohshed ~Y blast mg.
This b ridge, although in the same cutting, did not come
within Messrs. Lucas and Aird's contract. It was taken
down in September, 1891, but not by the author. The
bridge had one semi-elliptical arch of 30 ft. Ppan and a.
roadway width of 18 ft. 3 in., carrying a. road over the
railway. The bridge was stri:r;>ped in the same way as
that removed by the author, In addition to which the
brick and concrete backing was cleared away from both
sides of the arch. In this case the total charge was 23 lb.
12 oz. of tonite, disposed in thirty holes. As a matter
of course the disintegration of the structure was more
complete: and the clearanc~ of the deb~is, therefo~e,
effected more quick~y than m the auth?r s case, as, mdeed, it should be with 23~ lb. of explos1ve for .one arch,
as against only l3i lb. for three arches. In v1ew, however of the delay that took place in .the clearance
oper~tion after the blast in the author's bndge, he would
undoubtedly slightly increase his ch.ar~es to a .g~oss
amount of about 16 lb. in the case of a Simllar demoht10n,
other things being equal.
As r~gards the precautionary measures taken, the
author may mention that in order to prevent damage to
the rails by the projection downwards of the bottoms of
the shot holes, or by the fall of the bridge, the permanent
way was protected by a double layer of trusses of straw,
placed crosswise one over the other. The author, bowever, would not adopt this method again, for .the reason
that it binders the removal of the smaller port1pns of the
debris. In place of straw he would use stout timbers .for
protecting the rails from injury. A further pr.ecautlOn
was the presence of a staff of telegraph ~en w1th tools
and materials for repairing anydam~ged w1res, but whose
services fortunately were not reqm~ed, although a ! ew
brickbats were hurled tbroue-h the air at each explosiOn.
The windows of the a.djo~mng ~ottage were opened, and
the tenants were temporarily evJCted. No da.m.age, h~w
ever was done here only a few fragments of bnck falhng
bar~lessly although not noiselessly, u~n the slated roof.
The reaso~ for this immunity was ma.mly due to the fact
that the holes were all put in vertically, and that the
charges were well distributed.
.
.
Selection of Explosivea.-In the course of his experience,
the author has had to experimen~ with and to demonstrate
on a working scale tb~ pract1oa~ cha.~acter ? f a. con
sidera.ble n umber of btgh explostves, mcludmg dyna.

which commanded lithofracteur and carbo-dynamite to

the author in the circumstances under which he employed
them. These are plasticity and resistance to the action of
water. Plasticity enables an explosive to be pressed well
home in to a borehole of larger size than the cartridge, or
one of irregular shape. It can also be made to readily
conform to the shape of a cleft or crevice in which it may
be desired to use it. Capability of resisting the action of
water, too, is of the greatest importance in sub-aqueous
operations, or in the event of accidental exposure to
water. such as occurred with the author both at Jersey
and Wapping. Water, moreover, from its incompressibility, forms an excellent tamping, and in vertical holes
and holes bored at an angle which permits of the water
being retained, it is not unfrequently used to advantage
with explosives which permit of it. In dwelling upon
these features, the author would by no means be thought
to decry the excellent qualities of the other explosives
mentioned by him, and still others to which he has not
referred. There are circumstances in which the use of
lithofracteur and carbo-dynamite would be inadmissible,
and where some of the others alone could be employed.
(To be contilnluecJ,.)

RAIL\VAY COLLISION AT DROITWICH.

ON October 26 the 1.25 p.m. down Midland passen~er
train from Bristol to Birmingham ran inbo six trucks
which had been left on the line just north of Droitwich.
Five passengers complained of injury, and some damage
was done to the tram and the permanent way. From
Major Marindin's report, which baa just appeared, we
gather than an up goods train had, after doing some
shunting at an up siding, been shunted through a crossover road on to the down line to allow an up goods to
pass, and, as it was about to turn at Droitwicb to form a
down goods, ib had already been marshalled at a siding
some three-quarters of a mile before reaching Droitwicb
Junction, wtth the guard's brake-van next to the engine.
After the train had been placed on the down line, it drew
forward towards the station, leaving six trucks on the
down line unknown to any of the shunters or guards.
The engine was then uncoupled an~ ran round its train,
using the same cross-over road that 1t had run through to
get on to the down line, but, a.lthoug~ the ~ngine ca~e
within 180 yards of the wagons, the dr1 ver failed t o nottce
them. The engine then coupled on to its train and drew
it forward on to the Great Western line clear of the branch
to Birmingham, to allow the Midland passenger to pass.
The passenger train left the station with all the signals
off and when the engine was some 200 yards from the
tr~cks the driver saw them1 but,. owing to there being
sidings at the spot, and the hne bemg on a curve ~f about
24 chains radius, he did not realise that they were m front
of him until he was about 50 yards from them, when he
did all he could to stop his train. The first wagon was
completely broken up, and. it derailed the engine, cau~ing
it to foul the up line, whtle the other five were driven
ahead a q ua.rter of a mile.
Major !VIa.rindin considers that no blame attaches to

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

THE new screw steamer St. Brieuc, built to the order
of Vicomte Le Guales de Mezaubrant by ~1essrs. J. J ones
and Sons, of Liverpool, went on trtal on the 11th inst.
The dimensions of the steamer are : L ength between
perpendiculars, 158 ft. ; beam, 25 ft. 6 in. (moulded) ;
depth, 12 ft. She is about 400 tons gross, and is intended for the passenger and cargo trade between Havre
and St. Brieuc. She is fitted with triple-expansion engines,
the cylinders being 14 in., 22 in . and 36 in. diameter
respectively, having 2ft. stroke. The pumps have a uniform stroke of 16 in. The dimensi ons of the pumps are:
Air, 12 in. ; circulating, 7 in.; feed, 3! in. ; and two bilge
pumps of 3 in. The engines are supplied with steam by
two single-ended multitubular steel boilers 9 ft. 9 in. in
diameter by 9ft. 1 in. in length, each with two furnaces,
the grate area being 52.7 square feet, and beating surface
1442 square feet. U nder the cross bunker, which has
a capacity of 50 tons, is placed a fresh-water ballast tank
for supplying the boilers, and on deck a tank is placed
for the exhaust steam of the deck winches. On the trial,
a speed of 12 knots was attained with a working pressure
of 160 lb., 98 revolutions, and 420 indicated horse-power,
an ample supply of steam being given with partially
closed d ampers during the greater part of the trip.
Several special cabins are provided for passengers.
The s.s. Hotham Newton left the Cleveland dockyard
of Sir Raylton Dixon and Co., Middlesbrough, for her
official trial trip on the 12th inst. This vessel has been
built to the order of l\Iessrs. J. M. Lennard and Sons, of
Middlesbrough, for carrying oil in bulk. The principal
dimensions are : L ength, 322 ft. ; beam, 41 ft. ; depth
moulded, 26 fb. 6 in. The hull is divided into tanks for
the carrying of oil by thirteen transverse bulkheads, and
a. centre line bulkhead which runs right fore and aft.
Water ballast is provided for under the engines and
boilers and pump-room, and also in the fore and after
peaks. This is the first oil steamer built on Kenda.ll 's
patent system of expa.nsion trunkways for controlling the
oil cargoes under varying degrees of tempera~ure. These
trunkways allow a clear spa<le in the middle of the ship
for the stowage of coal and gel?era.l cargoes, as they are
fitted at the sides of the vessel mstead of on each side of
the centre-line bulkhead, as in previous _systems. A
cofferdam is provided at each end of the otl tanks, and
can be rapidly filled with water in case of need. The
engines and boilers are placed right afb, and these have
been fitted by the North-Eaetern Marine .Engineer!ng
Company, Limited, of Sunderland, the cyhn~ers bemg
24 in., 39 in., and 64 in. in diameter by 42 m. stroke,
with two large steel boilers working ab 160 lb. pressure.
On the trial everything worked satisfactorily, a speed of
over 12 knots being attained.
The last of the three lar~e cattle steamers builb by
Messrs. Furness, Withy, and Co. , L imited, Hartlepool,
for the Chesapeake and Ohio Steamship Company,
L imited, was taken out to sea for trial trip on the 12~h
insb. The engines, which were built by Messr.3. S.
Richardson and Sons, Hartlepool, worked satisfactorily.
The twin-screw steamer Southwark, built by Messrs.
William Denny and Broe., Dumbarton, for the Inter
national Navigation Company, has completed a series of
steam and coal consumption trials, with sa.tisfa<'tory results. The dimensions are 480 ft. by 57 ft. by 40 ft., the
gross tonnage being 8650 tons, and the net 5600 tons. The
dead weight carrying capacity exceeds 10,000 tons, and she
has accommodation for 200 saloon passengers, and between decks 1000 emigrants can be carried. The engines
are of the quadruple-expansion type, with four cranks,
the cylinders being 25! in., 37~ in .. 52~ in., and 74 io.,
with a. stroke in each case of 54 in. On tbe trial the vessel
carried more than half her dead weight, and the mean of
two runs on the measured mile gave a. speed equal to
16. 38 knots, the boilers supplying a sufficiency of steam.
The boilers are fitted with Brown's system of induced
draught. The steamer is intended for service between
Li\'erpool and Philadelphia.

DEc.

22,

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.
COMPILED BY

w.

775

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

1893.]

joi nted lever is depr essed. Within the cabin is a le,er ~ whio_h and the ashpit d oors 7. The products of combustion pass upthe signal wire is attached. By pulling this lever the stgnal1s wards t hrough the perforations in the arohes 16 and 17, and are

. . 1.

. 2 . ..

LLOYD WISE.

SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
The number of views given in the Specijica,tion Drawings is stated
in each ca,se ; where none are mentioned, the Specification is
not illustrated.
Where I nventions are communicated f rom abroad, the Names,
<f&c., of the Communicators are given in italic$.
Copies of Specijicatunu; may be obtained at the Patent Office
Sale Branch, 38, Cursitor-street, Chancery-lane, E. C., a t the
un;form price of 8d.
T he date of the advertisement nf the acceptance of a complete
specification is, in each case, given o:fter the aJ>stract, unless the
P atent has been sealed, when the date of sealilng is given .
.Any person may at any time within two months from the date of
the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification,
give notice a t the Patent Office of opposition to the gram.t of a
Patent on any of the grounds mentioned Wl the A ct.

GUNS, &c.
20,215. A. Chapman, Wlgston, Leicestershire. R e
peattn g Fire-Arms. [11 F igs.] November 9, 1892.-This

tovention refers par ticula rly to repeating ft re-a.rms of the "Lee-Metford " type, and its object is to dispense with the present form of
ma~:razi n e, and to provide an a rrangement for feec:H ng the cartridges
to t he chamber of a g un by means of a belt h passing through an
opening in the under side of the fi re-arm. The mo'"ement of this

. .

19

, ...2 ()>
-.

18

..

10

9
13

lowered and the wire d rawn forward until t he catch is in position

to secure it with the signal d epressed . (.Accepted N ovember 8,
1893).

'

10

23,284. E. B arton and W. Seddon, Bolton, Lancs. utilised by passing_through the flues _of a boiler, and then

Railway Signals.

[2

Fjgs.J D_ec ember17, 189~.-This

i~ ven

around the air-h eatmg ftues of the hot-au apparatus.

N ovember 8, 1893).

(.Accepted

ven t ion has reference to railway stgoals, and cons1sts of a stg nal
wire compensator and multiplying wheel for facilitating t~e
68'10. J . W oods Boston Linooln~h~e. . Steam,
movements of signals and insuring their action. An eccen tn c
wheel G is attached to the operating handle A by a rod H, and is &c., Engines. (3 F'igs.] Aprif 1, 1893.- Thls mvent10o re~ates
provided with g rips L which come in con tact with a chain M to means for actuating the cut-off val ''es of steam, &c., engmes,
so that it is increased or diminished equally at each end of the
str oke of the valve as the load on the engine vari~s. A slotted
'.
' '
quadrant i is employed , with which t he valve spmdle en~ages1
P.f
one end of t he link being connected by a rod to a lever n p1votea
_..,
--~.
o n the engine framt> , this lever being j oined by a rod o .to a_n
''',,
L'ig
J
eccentric q on t he eng ine shaft, while the othe r end of t he hnk JS

,
,,
,
,'

. .. "'

,,

~,

Fig . 1.

--
f'..

......,------

.. _ . . . . .

.....

..... "' ~

' - -l

'

Ji'ig . 2 .

'11.

-~

i I I~

' ...... ~
'

...

,._I

-------:.
.
'.
,. -- -- ''

---~- ~ - ~ --

. ---

--

oI

--.....,..,
--.........

~:a.:-

20 21J:

- N
'~

t!

Fig.J.

belt is effected by means of a spring cylinder operat ed by a hand

k nob, and p rovid ed with studs to engage the car tridges, from
whence they are removed by the extractor for d elivery to the
cham ber in t he harrel by the action of the b reech-bolt g. This
extractor is connected to a spring-controlled platform k, which,
when d epressed, is level with the cartridge on t he top of the
cylinder, a.od when raised by t he a ction of the spring lis in a line
with the chamber in the barrel. (Accepted .November 8, 1893).

T . B ergman n, Gaggenau, B aden , Germany. Small Ar m s . [13 Pigs. ) June 12, 1893.-This _inveJ?11,509.

tioo r elates to b reechloadmg small arms. Wheu a cartrtdge 1s

fired in the barrel by pulling the trigger, t he pressure of the
gases is generated so ra pidly, and is so ~reat upon the side walls of
the cartridge-case, t hat t he latter, with the breech-bolt B and
breech closure, cannot move back immediately. After the projec-

Rg.2.

coupled to the signal wire N. As the full side of the wheel presses
down the chain during its operation, it increases t he speed of t.he
signal. The ohain passes beyond the eccen tric wheel and over
another pulley, its end being a ttached to a frame carrying weights
which comprises the compensator , a nd insures the signal droppin~
when the operating handle is r eleased by the poin tsman. ( Accepted
November ~. 1893).

connected by a rod to one end of a lever adjustably pi voted on t he

engine fram e, the other end of this lever being slotted so as to
engage a pin on the firs t lever ; the c>ccentric thus operatt'S the
two ends of the lillk in opposite directions. 'Ihe heigh t of the
governor balls adjusts the position of the link r elatively with the
val ve spindle, and the movement of the valve will be varit'd to
18,485. L. B . Kenney, Da n svme, Livin gstone, New increase or diminish the cut-off equally at each end of the s trokE.'.
Yor k . Car Couplings. [7 Figs. ) October a, 1893.-This (.Accepted N ovember 8, 1893).
invention has r elation to t win-jaw couplings of the "Janney "
1'14'1. J . E . L. Og d en, Goole, Yorks. R e ducing
type, a.od its object is to provide means fo r automatically t hrow- Valves . [3 Figs. ] January 26, 1893.-This invention relates to
ing open the pi voted jaw and maintaining it in ~bat position while steam, &o., pre u re reducing valves. When t he steam preesure
uncoupled. A is the drawhead, B the coupling jaw, b a non- acts on the t op of the valves, and the low-pressure side B has
rotatable pivot bolt on which is pi voted the j aw B. A coil spring steam enoug h to keep down t he diaphragm F against the action
surrounds t h e bolt at one end, and has one of its ends eng aging of a spring G, then when the low steam pressure is a little more
it, and its other end bearing on an adjacent part of the jaw. A reduced, t he spring forces up the diaphragm, opens the small
removable casing surrounds the spring, and has one of its sides steam valve, and admits high-pressu re steam to the hollow of the

Fi& .1 .

.Fig . z.

Ft..g J.
;

Fig .S.

"'---' IIS09

tile has reach ed a sufficien t amount of propelling force, the

powd er gases still in excess open the breech, and the breech-bolt
is forced back to its utmost limit, the spent cartridge being
ejected and t he lock being cooked anew. Du ring the forward
movemen t of the br eech-bolt B another cartridg e is passed out
of the ma.gazint~ into the barrel. The finger allows the t rigger to
move back for renewed pulli ng, and the weapon is ag ain r eady
for firing. (.A ccepted N ovember 8, 1893).

Prj.J.
A

larJ,re valve, and t o its balancing cylinder and piston. The diaphragm being released from the pressure of this steam on the top
of the small valYe, moves up further, and the latter , by coming
into contact with a bridge, permits steam to have acceBB to the
low-pressure side, till the pressure rises sufficiently to move the
diaphragm against its spring, and so close both small and lar~er
steam valves, and cut off steam supply to the low-preBSure s1de
until a further fall o~ours there. (.Accepted N ovember 8, 1893).

MA CHINE T OOLS, SBAFT I NG, &o.

open, through which one end of t he spring works, means being
B . Bockt n g W altou, Lancs. Reducin g
21,'129. G. B r own, Eastftel d, Galashlels, N.B. Driv p rovided for r emov ably clamping the casing in place. A locking Va169.
l ves . [7 Figs.] January 4, 1893.-This invention has
1ng B a n ds. [1 Fig.] November 28, 1892.-This inven tion plate is pivoted on the side opposite the jaw, a spring normally reference
to valves employed to distribute fluids under a high

relates to means for r egulating and equalising the t ension of closing 1t. A horizontal lever works through the side of the drawspindle-driving bands. Th e band A d ri vt>s the spindle B from head, and has its inner end connected to the looking plate, this pressure in mains, at a reduced preBSure.
the power -driven cylinder C, and in d escending runs over the lever being capable of bE.'in g locked to hold the locking plate out of
operative posttioo. The drawhead has a ftanged mouth, and the
locking jaw is provided with a looking ann, the locking plate
normally bearing against the flang e round the mouth of the draw
Fig.2.
head. A vertical pin passes through ears on the end of the
locking plate oppos1te the jaw, the spriBg normally pressing the
c
locking plate forward. ( Accepted N ovem ber 8, 1893).

pulley D, which slides on rods E fixed into an arm F on the

fram e of t he machine. The pulley D is drawn forward or let
back by a weight H hung on the end of a cord G which runs over
a. smaller fixed pulley J, thereby regulating and equalising t h e
tension of t he band A. (A ccepted .Novem ber 1, 1893).

RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
22,903. T. Marsden and I. Thompson, Nelson,
Lan cs. Actuating RaUway Signals. [3 Figs. ) December
13, 1892.-This invention comprises a levt>r A j ointed to the rails
and inclined upwards, so that when an engine or carriage pa ses
over one end o r it, the other end raises a catch to cause the release
of a chain fi xed to a balance lever attached to the semaphore, and
thus r aise the signal automatically and retain it so long as the

When the steam on

STEAM ENGINJCS AND BOILERS.

3806. G. B ark er, B irmin gh a m. (S. P . H utchinson,
P hiladelphia, P enn., U.S.A.) F urnaces. [5 F igs. ] Feb-

ruary ~1, 1893. -This invention relates to furnaces. 4 is the

shEll, 1 t he ashpit, 11 t he g rate, 20 the dome, 18 the staves, and
9 an adjufltable ring. The ashpit 1 is provided with air-tight
fit ting doors and a perforated g rate bearing 8. Means are provided
for admitting and regulating air t o t he shell 4, stave 18, and perforated arch 16 from the ashpit 1. ThE.' fire is kindled by lig ht
fuel placed on the g rate, the coal or coke for the permanent fire
added ; the feeding door is then closed, and a.s the staves 18 become heated, the air from the a.shpit passes t hrough apertures
8, 10, through g rooves 19, and ming les with the gases above the fuel,
and burns at a high temperature. The arch 16 becomes highly
heated, and deflecting heat back upon the fuel, increases the
heat a.t the centre of the furnace. The temperature rises in the
furnace chamber above t he fuel to an intense heat , which oan be
moderated by partially closing the apertures 8 by the leYer 30 and
ring 9, and can be arrested by entirely olosing the apertures 8

the outlet side of the val ve c reach es a p ressure above the desired
one, this pressure within the apparatus a , acting upon its diaphragms !l-1, causes each two of the latter which are adjar.ent to
mo,e a httle way away from each other, the combined small

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

Ft.g .Z
c

----- .______..

:.:--------- valves, t he trip plates H, Hl having a projection G on each, to

release the valve-rod C from the wris t plate A, the t rip plate
being actuated by the engine gover nor, and moved upon the
same axis as the wrist plate. A spring D is provided for holdin~
the valve-rod C in contact with the wrist plate. (Accepted N o
vember 8, 1893).
24,134. T., R., and W . Lees, Bolllnwood, Lanes
Expansion Valves of Steam Engines. [8 Figs.) De
oember 31, 1892.-This invention relates to the construction of
expansion valves for steam engines in order to vary the quantity
of steam admitted to the cylinder at each stroke to correspond to
the work on the engine. In applying it to an eogine in which the
lifting of a single valve controls the quantity of steam, two
rocking shafts are used, one of which is operated by a lever
from an eccentric on the crankshaft, so that the valve is lifted
twice during each revolution of the crankshaft, and steam ad
mitted to each end of the cylinder! On ea.ch of the rock shafts is
mounted a bellcrank lever, the upper a rms of which a re con
nect< d by a link, so that both levers move simultaneously, but
in opposite directions. On the lower horizontal a r m of each bellcrank lever are t riggers, also shaped as bellcrank levers, the

2 2,

1893.

hinged to the first. The bow A of tbe clip is secured to tbe axle wheels. The horizontal rod carrying the star\\ heel S is rotated
b~ a.tieplate and nuts. Upon the forward arm of the bow of the hy means of a clutch H , arJd slotted Je,er riding over a flxed stud
chp ts formed the lower half of a square box made to receive the projecting from the lcom fra me, eo that as the stay moves back
forward pi r ot-pin carried by the forked inner end of the thill-iron
D. To the r ear upper part of the lower half A2 is hinged the upper
half. When the cover is down its front part is kept from longi
Fig.2.
tudinal or lateral displacement by two dowel pine entering holes
correspondingly located in the lower half on each side of a. screw
~
tapped perforation made to r eceive the bolt B. Within tbe cen
tro.l part of the lower and upper hah es, rectang ular bearing
blocks E a~e placed, these blocks consisting of vulcanised
rubber, and each ha,riog formed in it a semi-cylindrical g roove.
TrarJeversely each block is a narrow g roove of larger dia.met<'r
than the g roove e, to receive a cylindrical collar formed upon
Fig.1.
a pin centrally between the forks of the thil1-iron. (.Accepted
November 8, 1893).
20,460. J. Whitehead, Tottlngton. La.ncs. Supplying Fuel to Furnaces. [2 .Figs.] November 12, 18{:12.
- This invention relates to fuel supplying and distr ibuting appa
ratue described in Patent No. ll,082 of 1890, and consists in
meanA for conveJ iog tbe fuel along the distributing t r0ugh
and feeding it to the discharge funnels in front of the

:I
0

""

.."

"

--

mo,ements of all tbe diaphragmq, through the spindle b and

lever d, thus mo,ing t.he Yc~.h e c towards its seat cl, and r estricting
the passa~e for the tt )\V of steam, and reducing the pressure
admitted to and exis.ing in the case d and chamber a on the
delivery slde of the valve c. (Accepted November 8, 1893).
260. T . Walker and G. F . Alder, Tewltesbury,
Gloucester&. Expanston Gear. [9 F igs.) January 6,
1893.-This 10, ention relates to t rip expc~.n sto n gea r for fluid
pressure t ngiues, and consists of steam admission valve gear
having a wrist plate with projections on its periphery in c-rder
to duw with it the valve-rods C so as to open the admis ion

[DEc.

EOS&

ward and for ward the rod is made to rock, and so givs the
necessu y movement to the etarwheel. ( i! ccepted N ovembe1 8,
1893).
23,679. J. Wild, Oldham, Lancs. Mortising and
Boring Boles. [3 F~gs. ] Oecember 23, 1892.-This in ,ention
consists in means for mortising and bor ing timber eo that it can
be worked by either hand or power. Oo a fram e A is mounted a
sliding head b which carries the chisels and bits c to which a
toothed r ack d is secured. Furthe r back on the same frame
another toothed rac k e is fitted, and so arran~ed that it can be
secured to the fram e A or elide up and down. Between these two

70460
0

furnaces. In place of t he endless belt a. shaft a is employed

along the trough D, and is arranged to move about. To these
shafts a series of scrapers are attac hed, which sene to mO\'e the
fuel along until it is guided by gates g extending throu~h open
inge into the funnels io front of the furnace. (Accepted November
8, 1893).

Fi.g .1.

23,840. B. and F. A. Bolt, Rochdale, Lancs. Reel

ing, &c., Machines. [4 Yigs. ] December 24, 1892.-This

invention relates to appliances fo r holding down spindles in
spinning. &c., macbinfs. Instead of the spring hook usual1y
employed for each spiodl<', a rod is mounted upon the spindle rail

..

'

Fig. 2.1l=~I
a
.. ...

...

.;

..

.
. ,.- ...':',... .. '"'...,...,.~'"'...,._,,.,,. .., ,...
:. ' ,...... ~ .......

:;

"

lower arms of which are eo formed as to engage under lateral projections on the val ve spindle, and raise the spindle at ea.ch lift
of either of the triggers. The ltft of the valve and the time it
r emains open depend on the length of time during which one of
the tr iggers is actio~ on the under surface of the lateral proj ec
tioos of the v11l ve spmdle. To modify the shock due to the rapid
closing of the valve, the valve spindle is connected with an air
dashpot, the piston of which is provided with air passages
covered at the top by a sliding plate. When the valve S.Pindle
is raised the piston of the daehpot is depressed, and tbe a.u contained in it passes through the air passages by the sliding plate.
On the spindle falling, the piston rises, and drawing air through
a small orifice, its free motion is impeded, and thus a too rapid
descent of the vahre spindle is checked. (Accepted N ovembe) 8,
1893).
llriiSCELLANEOUS.
1109. J. M. Betherington, Manchester. Bearings
for Mules, ac. (1 F ig. ) January 18. 1893.-This in vention
relates to bear ings for mules. The shaft is fitted to revolve in
bearings, and an annular collar c is mounted upon it, and le

' ..

a\.\.

' '"'''-'-'

-."4. ;, ' ' ' '

'"'''

ll.HO

spindles b, and prevents them from being lifted du ring doffing.

. il)
This rod is mounted upon the s pindle rail, so that when required
it can be moved back clear of the edges of the wharves to free the tooth~d racks d, e, a.ud gearing into them, and mounted on a stud
spindles, and r eplaced to hold and lock them in position. (Ac- f.~rned by a hand lever, but eo arran~red that it oan be secured
cepted November 8, 1893).
n~pdl y to tbe lever {J or ldt perfectly free to revohe on the stud
21,601. M. T . N eale, London. Sea Signalling Ap .(, !S a spurwheel h, so that when it is required to mortise by band
paratus. [5 Figs. ) November 26, 1892.-The vessel A i>J fitted 1t 18 only necessary to secure t he spurwheel h to the lever g, and
with a gong 0 , and B with a resonator and microphone D for re the r~ck e to _the frame A, and loosen the s tud in the framework.
ceiving the sound emitted from the gong when struck by the The~ bJ; ~ovmg t he hand le\'er g up or down, a corresponding
hammer E, that can be operated from the deck. When the bell is mot10n ts given to th~ head b. Means are provid ed tor mortising
struck, the mechanical vibration is conveyed through the water in by po wer and for bonng by power or hand. (A ccepted .November
every direction, but especially in a direct line ahead of the part of 1, 1893).
the bell struck. The resonator D is placed at the same level as the

---

UNITED STATES PATENTS AND PATENT PRAOTIOE.

J?esoriptions with illu~trations of inventions patented in the
Umted Sta.tC:e of Amer1c1. from 184_7 to the present time, and
reports of tnals of patent law ca.ses m the United States may be
consulted, g rat is, at the offices ot ENGINEERING, 35 and 36, Bedford
street, Strand.

AN AMERICAN SHIP CAN'AL.-A projec t for cutting a

s h1p canal b e tween Chesa.pea.ke Bay and the Delaware
has b en r ecently r eviYed.

--VICTORIAN SuSPENSION BRIDGE.-When

-- --

,
.0

Ftg. / .

Fig .3;.--..

a, so that it projects over the edges of the whanres c of the

.Fig.1.

secured by a ecrew. A washer e is mounted upon the flange of

the bearing bush b. In the opposite faces of the par ts c and: e
channels are formed to receive hard steel balls/ , the channels 10
the two faces forming an annular race. (Accepted N ovember 8,
1893.)
18,245. M. Todd, New Be~ford, Bristol, Mass.,
U.S.A. ThUl Couplings. [5 F u.JB. ] September 29, 1893.-

A@~

bell, and its diaphragm is in vibratiooa.leJmpatby with t he bell C.

The mechanical vibrations received by the diaphragm I cause the
electrical pulsations in the wires J or Jl to deftt ct the needle in
strumf:nt to the left or right, according whether the sounds a re
received on the starboard or port side. The needle instrument is
in electrical connection with a mag net, ahove which is arranged
a short reed for reproducing upon the receiving vessel the sounds
or signals sent by the JZ'ODg of the ,easel communicating. (A c
cspted N (IVtmber 8, 1393).

8058. J. and A. Moss. Bebden Bridge, Yorks.

Picking Motion of Looms for Weaving. [6 !tins.]
April 21, 1893.-This in vention refers to the picking mechanism
of looms for weaving. Overhead picking a rms a re employed,
composed of fiat spring steel, eo tbat after being bowed and sud denly released they exert sufficient force to p ropel the shuttle
A
backwards and for wards across the loom. These spring picking
arms are connected at their upper ends to short cross-shafts
I, which are connected together by lever arms and connectingrod,
so tba.t when the crossshafte are rocked the two picking arms
are moved ba.ckwards and forwards in the same direction. The
rocking motion is imparted to one of the oroesehafts by an
This invention relates to thill couplings, in w~iob one half of ~he eccentric M a.nd rods driven from the crankshaft by toothed
thilliron pivot box is s'!cured to t he axle clip, the other bemg

A
the ques
tion o~ re-erecting a bridge over the Snowy, des troyed by
floods m 1891, was before the Orbost coun ci1, a suggestion
of ~ s uspension ~ridge, made by Mr. George Seymour,
e n gmeer to the shtre, was a ccepted. The bridge consists
of four bays of 27 ft. each on the east side of the river
a?d three of the same length on the w est s ide, a suspen~
s~on span of 165 ft . ~ and two spans o f 55ft., on e on either
s1de of the susp e n siOn. There are four 6-in. s te~l cablefl
capable o f a strain of 150 tons each. The suspe nde r s:
placed at a dis tance of 5 ft. apart, were t es te d to 10 tone
ea~h. Th e t o w er s are 26ft. above th e decking of the
bridge, and are fo rmed of four piles of 18 in. in dia
mete r, stayed by a. strut pile o n ea ch side, and let into
a foundation of fourteen heavy piles. The base o f the
foundation on which each t ower s ta:1 d s cover s an area
of 180 square fee b. The piles ba ve b een dri ven down to
the r ock, and are braced together and c lose b oarded to
prevent the lodgm ent o f timber. The cables are anchored
to the piers on the bank of the ri ver, a nd these, again, are
s tayed and braced. The d ecking is from 25 ft. t o 30 ft.
aboT"e summer level. The width varies from 17ft. to
55 ft. The su spen sion s pan is stiffen ed by lattice ~irders
6 ft. high, with 10 ft. apex, and the rigidity of th1s por
tion of the brid~e is satd t o be so perfec t that no more
vibration is not10ea.ble in walking or riding over it than
on many ordinary bridges of 25 ft . span.