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

Ocr. 4, 1901.]
DIE FORGING.-No. VIII.
By JosEPH HoRNER.
A striking illustration of the vast utilities of die
forging is seen in locomotive work. In this work
thousands of similar articles of certain kinds are
standardized and made in a year, and for many
years in succession , without alteration. In locomotive shops, therefore, die forging is seen in higher
perfection than it is in the average manufacturing
British shop. N o better proof of the wide adaptability of die forging is afforded than that which
is seen in the Great Western Railway shops at

and the quiet herculean strength of the hydraulic

press, can be observed under the same roof. But
the press predominates overwhelmingly, and it is
the system which appears to be most suitable for
the massive character of the work done. The most
powerful presses at present in use have a maximum
power of 200 tons. Looking at th~ work of these,
it is appreciated how the smith in a shop provided
with hammers only is handicapped. It is felt that
modern forging is becoming less and less a matter
of technical skill, more and more one of force.
Some pieces of work that would occupy a smith
working on the anvil, and assisted by a light power

Fig. 211.

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FlrTING SlfOP.

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.
1 t.
12.

13.
11.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

H yd,r aulic and othe1 .Ma !t ines.

l OOton bending macbioe.
'i5ton presta, fo'ur pillar typE'.
100 t.on tbree~ ram rress, with intEnsifier.
100-ton prese.
Ditto.
200-ton tbrec -r<.m press.
30 ton prees.
Ditto.
20-ton pr<s?.
50 ton press.
C rown hendiog machine.
Hytirnulic punching ma hir.e.
Hr dnut=c ~>h earing mac hinr.
25-ton foo t -operated pre: s.
75 tou 4-pilla r type.
25-lon foot operated prt ss.
f.O.ton prC'S~ .
Ditto.
100 t on pr s ~.
100- ton pres~.

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TABLE 01<' REFERENCE,

2t. 100-ton press.

22. 25-ton foo't-operated presP.
23. 10-owt:. steam hammer.
24. Ditto.
25. Ditto.
26. Ditto.
27. 3'l-cwt. steam hammer.
28. Steam hammer.
29. Ditto.
30. D ro~ hammer.
31. Oomcal rolls.
32. Drilling machinE'.
33. Brett hammer.
34. Ditto.
35. Greenwood and D.4t!ey hammer.
36. Centrifugal pumpo.
37. 60-ton wddiog ba.mmer.
38. H ctherington saw.

Ftonaccs.
A. Double-plate re,et beratory furnnor .
B. Ditt<'.
0 . Double welding furoa - e.

Swindon, where anything from a carriage key to a

buffer guide, or from a. tiny lever to a draw-bar
hook, or a brake piston, or a horse manger, is
stamped in dies. Through the courtesy of Mr.
Dean, we have enjoyed opportunities of studying the work of this hydraulic forging plant,
mostly by Messrs. Fielding and Platt, Limited, of
Gloucester, which has been lately established there
in a new shop. We are also much indebted to the
kind assistance of Mr. Hogarth, the general manager
over the carriage and wagon departments. This
plant is inter esting not only because of its magnitude, but aho by r eason of the special adaptability
of the hydraulic press to wagon work. Some of
this is very massi \re, yet it is practically done in
tiies many of which run into several hundredweights, in strong contrast to the lighter stamping
clone under drop hammers, which are also represented at Swindon. The special functions of the
light drop hammer, the noisy jarring steam hammer,

D. Double welding furnace.

E. Furnaos for heating guttering.
F. Welding furnace.
G. Forge.
H. Ditto.
J. Ditto.
J. Ditto.
K. Ditto.
L. Ditto.
M. Ditto.
N . Ditto.
0 . \Yeldiog furnace.
P. Ditto.
Q. l itto.
R. F?rgP.
S. Ditto.
T. Ditto.
u. ritto.
V. Ditto.
w. IJitto.
X. Ditto.
Y. Ditto.
Z. Ditto.

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hammer, a couple of hours to make, are. done,

without exaggeration, in a couple of minutes in
a press. The metal is bound to take the for m
impressed upon it by the force behind squeezing it
into the dies. More than that, some for ms which the
smith would hardly know how to tackle with ordinary
appliances, present few difficulties when 200-tons
pre~sure is brought to bear on them. The covers and
pistons of vacuum cylinders, and buffer guides, are
cases in point, typical of much work t hat is done in
c1st iron when power forging is not available
One sees, too, the advantage of the hydraulic press
when mentally comparing the work ~one thereby
with that of the shop using drop or light stean1
hamm~rd for die forgings beyond their capacity.
With the press a lot of preliminary forging can be
done away with in many jobs, and the work
brought into shape from a very rough piece in
two or three operations, and often in a single
squeeze. This will sometimes leave a thick broad

fin but that also is easily severeu in a strjpping

di~. But preliminary dra.wing ~own, exact be~ding,
welding, bossing, &c.! 1s av01de~. In this, of
course, the die forger 1s much ass~sted ~Y the u~e
of mild steel, which has no practical cllff~renc~ 1n
strength, "length way" and "crossway? as 1~on
has. Such being the case, already a heavier forgrng
press is in course of construction for Swindon- one
of 500 tons- where work that is at present b eing
dealt with in detail will be stamped at one squeeze.
Very little iron is used~ the wagon-stam:pin,g shop.
In the locomotive-stampmg department 1t 1s used
to a greater extent. Where a forging is subj~cted to
much .strain, bending is resorted tQ, or bendmg and
welding when necessary. But when t~ere is no
great strain, iron forgings, thoug.h havmg curved
outlines, are stamped from the sohd, as when mad-e
in mild steel. But this practice is explained by
the facts that only very superior iron is used, and
that the work of forging is so arranged that the
iron shall be improved by that operation, closing
the fibres and practica11y welding them together
into a homogeneous mass. Old iron is balled up
into billets, which are piled up ready for use, and
odds and ends are thus reheated and welded and
used over and over again, ensuring a supply of
excellent qualities of iron.
'J.lhe new stamping shop has been built for dealing mainly with the forgings for wagon and carriage
work, but other details of a miscellaneous character
for general service are handled. It is quite distinct from the locomotive stamping department.
The ,hammers in the latter are steam hammers,
and Brett's drop hammers operated hy steam ;
in the wagon shop hydraulic presses predominate
over whelmingly.
This shop is newly built, to accommodate r oughly
double the volume of work that could he produced
in the old one. When in full swing it turns out
about 178 tons of forgings in a week, which include
about 100 sets of wagon work, besides that for
carriages, and other misceUaneous articles. From
200 to 280 men are employed here. It is instruc
ti ve to note that with the development of die
forging at Swindon the occupation of the smith in
that particular department has gone. There was
formerly much overt opposition to its introduction,
and the matter was finally sol ved by the substitution of new men, who were not trained as smiths,
and who had ho prej udices to be overcome, and the
die forging is now done hymen who have been trained
up in that class of work alone. The differences in
cost are very great. A few pence will cover the
labour cost of a difficult forgin g. On the other hand
there is the cost of stamps and forgi ng plant .
.. The shop, which is shown in plan in Fig. 211
and certain portions by the views on pages 471
and 474, is a fine building, with brick walls,
well buttressed, covered with a saw-tooth roof,
and having north light, a system which the
Great Western Railway have adopted in other
new buildings about their extensive works,
which, it may be interesting to note, now give
employment to about 12,000 hands . The shopmeasures 239ft. 6 in. in length inside, and is divided
into three broad bays by light built- up steel columns.
The total width is 180ft., the bays measuring 60ft.
each. Outside, in separate and attached buildings,
are situated the power-house and accumulators for
supplying the hydraulic presses, the blower-house
for supplying the forges with blast., and the fitting
shop, in which those dies that are too s mall to be
c ' stare cut in blocks of mld steel. The shop is
laid out well for the handling of heavy work, the
forges, furnaces, and presses being arranged in
longitudinal lines, leaving broad, clear gangways
between. Besides forgings, plate girder work is
done in the central bay, and this is served by a
yard crane that runs in from outside when required,
as there ate no overhead travellers in the building.
There are 27 hydraulic machines in the shop,
mostly presses. The power is obtained fr om a
pair of double cylinder pumping engines, the p ositions of which are seen in the plan in the power
house at the top left-hand corner. Each engine has
two cylinders 16 in. in diameter , and four singleacting plungers, working direct from the steam
pistons. T he stroke is 21 in., giving a water
pressure of 1500 lb. per square inch. The capacity
of the pumps is 2! gallons per revolution- equal
to 3 horse-power ; this at 40 revolutions per minute
would equal 120 horse-power. These charge two
accumulators, 14 ft. 9 in. in diameter, in pits, the
weight of each being 80 tons, made up of loose
rubble. The starting and stoppage of the engines

470

are controlled by a trip motion on the accumulators

Th~se engines and accumulators were made at
Swindon.
The blast for the forges is obtained from two
Root's blowers, by Meesrs. Samuelson in a house
at t~e opposite end of t he building, 'seen at t he
top. r 1ght-hand c?rner of Fig. 211, d riven by engines
whiCh can. be dJ.sconnec.ted at the connecting rod.
Each engme wlth a . single. bl~wer works during
alternate months, dunng wh1ch Interval the engine
and blow~r that ar e thrown out are overhauled.
r;rhese engtnes also were built at S windon. The blast
Is co~ve~ ed ~nto t he shop through 20-in. mains,
t~e dtstnbutwn of which is seen in the plan view,
F1g. 211.
The most powerful n1achines are ranged along
the lower end of the shop. Some of these are
n ew, others have been t ransferr ed from the old
~tamp ing shop. In these last the accumulator water
Is used throughout the entire length of st.roke of
the rams ; but the later ones are water st\vers
water from~ tank acting only by gravity actuate~
the ram raptdly through its strok e until it touches
the work, when the accumulator water is turned on
producing the final squeeze. These n ewer machine~
are therefore quick in action and economical of
water.
The hydraulic press marked 1 in Fig. 211, the
first when starting from the lower left-hand corner
of. t~e shop, is by Messrs. Fielding and Platt,
Limited, by ~h orn all ~he presses in this shop
have been bUilt, excepting a few of special type
that were constructed at Swindon. No. 1 exerts
a pressure of 100 tons by accumulator water
through the entire stroke, the speed being rather
slow by comparison wit h t he newer type just n ow
men~ioned .
It is fitted with two rams-a top
vertical one, and a horizontal one. The machine
was bending T ee irons between top aRd bottom
blocks, the latter being bolted to the slotted table.
Angles are similarly bent. Nos. 3, 4, and 5 on
the plan are also 100-ton presses. But No. 3
is fitted with an intensifier, so that 200 tons can
be exerted on the top ram. It is besides a 3-ram
press, having top, bottom, and horizontal rams.
Nos. 4 and 5 are quick-forging presses also, with
.three rams ; and samples of bolster brackets for
timher wagons forged on these are seen on the
ground adjacent in F ig. 212, page 471. Between
Nos. 1 and 3 there is a 4-pilla r, 75-ton press, made
at Swindon, with a large piston head and 18-in.
stroke, used for bending, punching, and Hanging.
The most useful type of Fielding and Platt press
at Swindon is that in which top, bottom, and
horizontal rams are used. The horizontal ram
especially is a most useful adjunct. Without it
numerous forgings could not be shaped by p ower
alone, but the work of the pr ess would have to be
supplemented by hand work, or not done at all.
We propose to give some illustrations of this class
of work in other ar~icles. The bottom die permits
of upward Hanging, and also of the removal of a
piece of work from a deep encircling die.
The b iggest press at present in the stamping shop,
of 200 tons power, is that shown in plan at No. 6.
It is a triple-ram press of t he n e wer type, using pressure water only at the final movement . It is used
for finishing buffer guides and mangers, the details
of which we h ope to illustrate in another article.
Alongside it lay a q uantity of water guttering for
shop roofs, in section-like sphtyed channels, t hat
h ad been pressed on the machine. The guttering
was made in 10-ft. lengths, pressed at one heat in
massive cast-iron top and bottom dies of the same
length. Dies of this length and mass, bolted to
table and top ro.m, afforded a striking illustration
of the utility of the press for very mllssive work.
And still this press is not powerful enough for the
growing weight of work, among which the buffer
guides just mentioned are included, to be illustrated later. Adjacent to the 200-ton press are
t hree small ones, made at Swindon, marked 7, 8,
and 9 in plan. They are used for pressing t he
light invoice boxes used on wagons. These are
three-column machines; 7 and 8 of 9-in. vertical
stroke and 30 tons pressure, No. 9 of 9-in. stroke
and 20 tons p ressure.
No. 10 is a 50 ton Fielding pr ess, having one
horizontal and one ver tical ram . This is used for
pressing the covers of the brake cylinders, ~n
interesting piece of work, to which reference wtll
again be made. G and H adjacent are forges for
serving this press. No. 11 is a crown bending machine filted with rolls for bending t he axle guards
of w~gons. It is an hydraulic m11chine operated

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

[OcT. 4, 190r.

by a horizontal cylinder, with a 2 ft . 6 in. stroke,

made at S windon, but is not seen on the photographs.
Nos: 12 and 13 are two powerful shearing and
p unching machines by Messrs. F ielding and Platt.
'fhey.are shown in Fig. 213, page 471 ; both are hydrauhc, and t he action is rendered automatic at will.
The shearing machine will cut 1!-in. steel cold, the
punch will put a 1-in. hole through 1-in. plate cold.
and larger holes in thinner plates. One punch
t hat we noticed was 4! in. in dia meter.
Returning t o the end whence we started, a row
? f furnaces ~uns i n. line to serve the h eavy presses
JUSt passed tn reVIew. ~ and B are double plate
reverb.eratoryfur naces, which are for slow heating by
the chimney draught alone, and ar e used for plates
that have to be bent only but not welded. 0 and D
are double welding furnaces. E is a reverberatory
furnace for heating the guttering and the mangers
that are be~t under the 200-ton press (No. 6) on
t~e other Side of the avenue.
Bars for Mansell
nngs are also heated here, and these rings are
t urned round on rolls adjacent. F is a welding
furnace.
The welding furnaces, which number six in a11,

N os. 20 and 21 are 100-ton presses used for

buffer guides, and a forgeS serves both. These are
seen in tl~e v~ew, Fig. 215, page 471, with buffer
sockets lymg 1n the foreground, an account of the
stamping of which will be given later. The work
is divided between the two presses. N o. 22 is a
foot-controlled machine of 25 tons power, of the
water-saving type, engaged in making the collars
for the buffer shoes; and R is its forge.
Orossing over the middle bay, which is left clear
for plated work, we leave the hydraulic presses for
the hammers and miscellaneous machines. The
first tool is a 10-cwt. hammer, N o. 23, meaning by
that the deadweight of the tup and rod. This is
occupied in welding up axle guards in dies, and
.is served by the circular forges J and K
Nos. 24,
25, and 26 are 10-cwt. hammers with their forges
L and M ; 28 and 29 ar e steam h~mmers, and N X
their forges ; 38 is a H etherington hot saw Z Z
its forge. N os. 27 are 30-cwt. steam ha~ mers
engaged in stamping d raw-bar hooks, scroll irons,
&c, served by the furnaces with boilers 0 P
adjacent. N o. 31 is a little set of vertical conical
rolls, which are used for bending the cases of the
wagon-buffer guides previously mentioned, an

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Fro. 216.

are h eated by the waste heat of multitubular

boilers, which are placed over them, and which
were designed by Mr . Dean. The boilers are
of large di mensions, work to 150 lb. , and supply
steam to the shop hammers and the engines. The
fireboxes are built with brickwork.
Going back again past the furnaces to the end of
the shop, we come to a small 25-ton two-ram press
marked 14 in the plan. It is worked by the foot of
t he man while standing in front of the machine.
The vert ical ram has a stroke of 8 in., and the
horizontal one a 12-in. stroke, operated direct from
the accumulator. No. 16 is a duplicate of No. 14.
No. 15 is a 75-ton power four-pillar machine, made
at Swindon, and is a duplicate of No. 2, already
not iced.
N o. 17 is a 50-ton Fielding press with two rams,
vertical and horizontal. This is a. recen t one of the
water-saver type. About two gallons of tank water
brings the vertical ram down on the work, after
which about a quart from the accumulator puts on
th e final pressure. The horizontal r am takes rather
less. The press, No. 17, seen in Fig. 214, page
474, is used for making buffer shoes, t hree of
which ar e seen on the ground alongside. No. 18 is
like 17, but is one of t he older machines, in which
water is taken wholly from the accumulators, using
abo ut half a gallon. Between these is a double
forge marked V. No. 19 is a 100-ton machine
engaged in bending old rails for stop-blocks. The
rail is held down on a bottom die by th e top ram,
while a die on the horizontal ram imparts the
pressure and form against the rail held against
the opposed die. No. 37 is a 50-ton press with a
vertical ram only, and T is a forge that serves both .

..

interesting job t o be illustrated subsequently. V

is the forge ; 36 are centrifugal pumps for waste
water. Adjacent lies one of the half-dozen furnaces with boilers ; 35 is a Greenwood and Batley
drop hammer of the board-operated type, and W is
its forge ; 32 is a common drilling machine. T wo
Brett hammers, 33 and 34, a.nd a double forge, 2,
complete the shop equipment.
J.\.lost of the dies used are of cast iron by reason
of their mass, but the lighter work is E:tamped in
dies of mild steel, of which the shop marked
" fitting shop " serves for a store and a die-sinking
shop combined. It is adequately equipped with a
small collection of good machine tools, driven by
an independent engine, and with fitters' benches.
The engine is a single-cylinder one , made at
Swindon, and th e ntachine tools include a Brown
and Sharpe N o. 3 universal milling machine ; a
vertical miller by Ar chdale, with a 3-in. spindle ; a
3-ft. table with oil groove running round ; an 18-in.
slotter by th e same firm, having a 4-ft. circular
table. A double-spindle drill by the same firm
has its heads adjustable along a cross-rail and table
adjustable vertically. T here is also a screw-cutting
lathe of 12-in. centres, by Craven Brothers.
In another article illustrations of some of tho
most interesting dies used at Swindon will be
given, from which the adaptability of the hydraulic
press for die forging will be rendered more strikingly apparent than might be inferred from a de
scription of the power of the machines. Mean
while we give in Fig. 216, on the present page, a
view prepared from a photograph taken in the
yard at Swindon, which will give some idea of the
stock of heavy dies available for stamping work.

DIE-FORGING PLANT AT THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY WORKS,

CONSTRUCTED BY 11ESSRS.

SWINDON.

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F I ELDING AND PLATT, LIMITED, EXGINEERS, GLOUCESTER.

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(For Descr-iption, see Page 469.)

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

[OcT. 4,

1901.

worker at physics ; in Tait, Scotlt\nd possessed a overcome the defects in training by the construcTHE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
powerful and original investigator. " Of Fitz- tion of royal roads to scientific knowledge. Engi(Continued from page 441.)
gerald, of Dublin," Major MacMahon said, " it is neering students had been urged to forego the
not easy to speak in this room without emotion ; for study of Euclid, and, as a substitute, to practice
THE PHYSICAL AND CHEl\IICAL SECTIONS.
many years he was the life and soul of this section." drawing triangles and squares; it had been pointed
IT h.as already been pointed .ou.t in our introduc- Passing then to a review of the development of out to them that the object of t he study was the
tory . remarks that th~ predrctlOns of a record mathematics in this country, Major MacMahon practical carrying out of mathematical operations,
mee~mg of the AssoCI~t~o~ were by no nleans .stated that during the greater part of the eighteenth that they should aim at a collection of mathematical
realised. Popular exhr~rtrons both attract and century the study of mathematics had been at a rules-of-thumb, and that the knowledge of the
deter.
It was late rn the season for the low ebb in the United Kingdom. It was not till1845 meaning of processes might be left out so long as
West of Scotland, an~ m~ny who had co.me to that we could point to the great names of W. Rowan, they grasped the application of the rules. It had
Glasgow fo~ t~e Engmeerrng Congress did. ~ot Hamilton, McCullagh, Adams, Boole, Salmon, been stated in particular that the study of the funfeel ~u?h rnchned .to stay oyer for the Brrtrsh Stokes, Sylvester, Cayley, William Thomson, H. damental principles of infinitesimal calculus might
AssoC1at10n, the. sessron of whrc~ ?ommenced five J. S. Smith, and Clerk_ Maxwell. The year be indefinitely deferred so long as the student was
days later. It rs thus not surp~rsrng that the at- 1845 also marked the dissolution of an interesting able to differentiate and integrate a few of the simtenda~ce,-.1912 ~embers,. assocrates, and holdera society, the Mathematical Society of Spitalfields, plest functions. The advocates of these views were
of ladres trckets m all-drd. not reach the numb~rs which Major MacMahon would like to rescue from urging a process of" cramming " for the work of life
of the first Glasgow meetmg of 1866, at whrch the oblivion that seems to threaten it. It was which compared unfavourably with that adopted
2133 names w:ere entered, no~ that of the second founded in 1717 by Joseph Middleton, the original by the so-called crammers for examinations. "The
Glasgow meetrng of 1876, w.hrch broug~t to~<:ther members being mostly silk weavers of French ex- latter I believe to be, as a rule, much maligned
2774 membe:s: The scarcrty of. forergn vrsrtors traction. Originally little more than a working individuals who succeed by good organisation, bard
was also strrkmg.. The who~e hat only cou~ted man's club, which discussed questions of mathe- work and personal influence where the majority
twenty,. among whiCh we mentron Dr. V. Crem1eu, matics and natural philosophy on Saturday even- of public and private schools fail ; the examinao! .Parr~; Chancellor MacCracken, of New ~ork ings and limited the number of its members to the tions for which t heir students compete encourage
Unryersrty; Mr. H. Noble MacCracken, 0 ! Belrut, "square of seven," it developed into a very useful them to teach their pupils to think, and not t o rely
Syrra; Professo~ W. Marckwald, of Berhn; Pro- institution, counting men like Dollond, Simpson, principally upon remembering rules . . . The
feasor Arthur MIChael, of Boston, Mass.; Professor S&underson Paroissen and Gompertz among its crammer for examinations has disappeared, if he
Mitta.g-Leffler, LL.D., of Stock~olm; Professor members, a.'nd arrangi~g for lectures and demon- ever existed. But what can be said for the prinEdward Morley, of Cleveland, Oh10! Professor G. strations in various branches of science. These ciple of cramming for the work of one's life 1 Here
Quincke, LL.D., F.R.S., of Herdelberg; Mr. lectures involved the society in an action at law, an examination would be no check; the awakening
A. Laurence.. Rotoh, . of Boston, Mass. ; and which, though successful, crippled its means. In of the student would come slowly ; he might exist
Prof.essor JoJl Sakurai, LL:D., of Japan. But 1845 the society was taken over by the Royal for a while on his formulre and methods, but with
Sectrons A and B, and e~pecially the form?r, were Astronomical Society, which dates from 1821. "It the march of events, resulting in new ideas, new
as b\1sy as. ever. Sectron A-Mathematical. and seems a pity that no more effort was made to keep apparatus, new inventions, new materials, requirPhysical Science-alo~e of .al~ the ten old sect10ns, the old institution alive. The fact is that at that ing the utmost development of t he powers of the
sat on Saturday .mornmg, JOme~ only ~Y. the ~ew date the Royal Society had no sympathy with mind, he will constantly find himself hopelessly at
eleventh Educatwnal Sect10n; rt subdivrded ~to special societies, and did all in its power to dis- sea and in constant danger of discovering that he is
two depa~ments on four dars ; the Astronomical, courage them." The funds of the Spitalfields Society not alone in thinking himself an imposter . . . I
~ath~matrcal, or Me~eorological J?epartment meet- were largely augmented by an elaborate system do not believe in royal roads, though I appreciate
Ing su~ultaneously wrth the Physrcal Department, of fines. The subscription was 6s. 6d. a quarter; the advantage of easy coaches in kindred sciences."
an~ diSposed altogether of seventy-seven papers. there was a fine of 2s. 6d. for introducing contro- Everybody will agree with the essence of these
This programme, one o~ unprecedented length, could verted points of divinity or politics, and of 6d. for remarks on the serious dangers of the rule-of-thumb
not have been ~lied w1thou~ hard work o~ the part letting off fireworks. In proposing the vote of training. But we should not be astonished to find
of the Secretarres ; the sacrrfice of.a few Important thanks to the President of the section, Lord Kelvin the defence by the President of t he Mathematical
papers on the auth.or~' o';;t suggest10n, among them expressed the opinion that oratoric~l firewo~ks Section, of the crammer, the much maligned indithe" Law of Radrabon, by Dr. Larmor, now t~e were meant and Professor Rocker, In secondmg vidual, widely quoted and advertised.
Coming then to the necessity for specialisation
leading spirit of . Secti?n A ; . and a gener~.l dis- the vote, suggested that, considering that only fifty
couragement of discussions, w1th the. exceptr?n C?f years ago an important educational institution of in our age of rapid progress, Major MaclVIahon
a few primary questions .. The Chemrcal Se~tron rs the country had written to Cambridge to inquire n oted that the word " specialist " seemed often to
never so overburdened wrth papers as Sectron A. whether mathematics and physics were not . the be used as a term of opprobrium, or as a symbol of
But it had to subdivide into two depa~tments on same subject, the Spitalfields physicists might have narrowmindedness. He did not recommend men
Friday and to meet on Wednesday morntng, o~ the fined useless mathematical digressions. But Major who run in intellectual blinkers, who wilfully
day that in some Sectio!ls is ~eft free for excursrons, MacMahon explained that it was simply chemical restrain themselves from observing the work of
others, from following up any connecting lines and
in order to get through Its thrrty-five papers. Bo~h fireworks.
The Mathematical Society of London, he coo- from collaboration, treating the general advance of
Sections opet;led at 10 .or 10:30, and deliberated ttll
l or 2 P.M. wrthout adJourmng for lunc~eon. The tinued was established in 1866. The stately scientific truth as of no concern. As a specialist he
Committee meetings pr~ceded the Sectronal meet- edifice' of the Theory of Functions presented an would denote a man who makes original discoveries
ings. Major P. A. MacMahon, D.Sc., F.R.S., of imposing appearance before it attracted more than in some branch of science. A subject might be reLondon, presided in Sectio~ ~ ; Professo~ Pe.rcy superficial notice in this country and in America. garded as narrow, either because it had not
Frankland, F.R.S., .of Brrmrngham University, During recent years, however,.much of .the leeway attracted many workers, or because it was extremely
in B. The Secretar1es of A were Dr. C. H. had been made up, and Enghsh-speakmg mathe- difficult. In either case the specialist had a grand
Lees, Recorder; Dr. H. J. Carslaw, M.A; Mr. maticia.ns had introduced the first notions into opportunity, but must have a fairly wide knowP. H. Cowell, M.A. ; Dr. W. Stewart, M. A.; elementary text-books. Geometry, on the other ledge of his subject before he could determine
and Professor L. R. Wilberforce, M.A. The hand had been treated somewhat coldly during the which particular line was to engage his thoughts.
Secretaries of B were Dr. T. K. Rose, Recorder ; last twenty-five years in this country, because the These views he further explained with regard to the
Dr. W. C. Anderson, M. A.; .Dr: G. G. Render- theory of differential equations was now o~ s~ch theory of numbers, which in comparatively recent
son, M.A.; Professor F. S. Ktppmg, F.R.S.; a~d commanding importance. As regards organisatiOn times had been a subject of small extent and of
Professor W. J. Pope. Of the . ~OOOt. allo'Ye~ In and co-operation in mathematics, Germany stood restricted application to other branches of science.
grants this year by th? Brrtrsh ~ssocratr~m, first. What co-operation could achieve in the Major MacMahon particularly referred to the
230l. have gone to Section A for
Electrical domain of pure science, we saw from the observa- theory of invariants and to c0mbinational analysis,
Standards," ''Seismological Observa~ions," "Inves- tions of the tiny planet Eros. Discovered a few two branches which he has made his own. The
tigation of the Upp~r Atmosp~ere by Means o,~ years ago by De Witt, it was during its recent latter occupies the extensive region between the
Kites," and '' MSlgnetrc Observ~twns at Falmot;tth ; favourable opposition watched from no fewer th~n algebras of discontinuous and continuous quantity.
66l. have been pla.ced .at the dtsposal of Sectron ~ fifty observatories in all pa~ts of the world, In '' The specialist who wishes to accomplish work of
for " The Determinatron of Wave-Length Tables, accordance with the resolutrons of a conference the highest excellence, " he concluded, ''must be
learned in the resources of science, and have con"The Investigation of the Rela~ion~ between A~- held at Paris in July, 1900.
sorption Spectra and the Const1tut10n of Or~anrc
Turning to applied physics, Major MacMahon stantly in mind its grandeur and its unity. "
We have already alluded to the words in which
Substances "and "Researches on the Propertres of reverted to Professor Perry's opinion that the
standard of knowledge in electrical engineering Professor R.ii.cker, the President of the Assoqia.Metals and' Alloys affected by Dissolved Gases."
In t he following report we have grouped the was not so high in this country as elsewhere. tion expressed the Section's thanks. He further
papers as far as possible, irrespective of the order They all knew, as well as many men in the refe~red to the world-wide importance of co-operain which they were read.
street, that that was so. Professor Pe~ry had tion and to the value of the international catalogue
assigned several reasons for he present tmpasse: of scientific lite:cature, now in preparation. As to
MAJOR M AcMAHON's AnoREss.
a want of knowledge of mathematics, bad teach- cramming, there were two '\Jf~ys of teaching, and the
views were not, after all, b0 very far apart. We
and
antiquated
m~~hods
of
ing
of
mathematics,
Major MacMahon dealt wi~h vario~s points in his
miaht develop the method and then sh ow how to
in
general,
.
want
of
reco~~rtron
that
education
presidential address, but which he drd not attempt
apply it, or we might first demonstrate the ~ec~s
engineering
h:;
ad
vancmg
at
a
prodrgwus
ra~e,
to classify. His first re~arks were deyoted t? the
sity for solving a problem and then e.xplarn 1ts
municipal
procrastination,
&c.
We
reaJ?ed,
MaJor
losses which mathematrcal and physrcal scre!lce
principle. He h?ped . that t~e questron. would
as
we
had
sowed.
The
Importance
MacMahon
said,
had suffered during the year. The name of Hermrte,
receive ample consrderatron durmg the meetmg.
in
secondary
schools
had
been
of
science
teaching
the veteran French mathematician, ~ould always
be connected with the Herculean achrevement. of overlooked workshops and manufactories were
TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS.
solving the general quintic equation, . and with not treated as laboratories for research ; the
A very important discussion t ook place on SaturGovernment
did
not
adequately
encourage
scientific
his Oours d'.Analyse. Rowland, of Balti~?re, was
day morning in. a joint .meeting with th.e new
men;
and
private
b~nefactors
were
not
so
numerous
in the forefront of the ranks of the physrcrst~. In
Educational Sechon L, whrch made a very v1gorouA
as
in
other
countrres.
It
had
been
attempted
to
Viriamu J ones the Association had lost an assrduous

OcT. 4, Igor.J

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

start under the presidency of Sir John Gorst M P

the subject, emphasised that the better teaching of
F.R.S.
' . ., mathematics would improve teaching in general.
The discussion was open ed by Professor Perry He was profoundly discontented with the actual
whose views are not unfamiliar to our readers: methods. Mathematics should be taugh t as a proHe urged the criterion of usefulness in determin- cess of reasoning, not as a means of cultivating the
ing what subjects should be taught and the manner memory. But he was not sure that he concurred
in which they should be taught. But by useful- in Professor P erry's skipping, if it meant passing
ness h~ does not understand what one might at over matters the student did not understand ;
once thmk of. He set up a long table of obvious skip ping was legitimate if it signified keeping to
forms of usefulness which would accrue from the the main road and avoiding unimportant bystudy of mathematics, comprising higher emotions paths . Professor Hudson also referred to the
ment~l P.leasures, and brain development ; passing faulty way of teaching arithmetic. I t is, indeed,
exam1nat10ns-the only form hitherto recognised striking that we are so antiquated even in that
by teachers and n ot neglected-giving man mental branch ; the absurd examples of the ordinary text~ools .as easy ~o use as his ar~s ~nd legs ; teach- books seem to have been compiled solely with the
Ing h1m the 1mporta.noe of th1nk1ng for himself object of catching the eye of the hunter for smart
making him feel in any profession that he kne~ sums for examination papers.
the principl~s on :Which it was founded ; giving
Professor Forsyth, of Cambridge, was distinctly
the acute phtlosoph10al minds counsel of perfect ion critical. Professor Perry's language indicated an
and preventi~g the attempt to develop any philo- extravagant want of appreciation of facts. How
soph1Cal subJect from the purely abstract point Professor Perry could instruct his students in the
of view. Fifty years ago physics and chemistry short space at his disposal, was beyond his comprehad been taught to all men in the same way, as if hension. Subjects did not progress on the lines of
t hey all wanted to become chemists or phy- direct usefulness. Application of pure science had
sicists, and we still taught elementary mathe- often come centuries after the mathematical dismatics as if every body were to become a pure coveries. Th~ teaching of geometry was a difficult
mathematician, instead of adopting different matter ; he would first teach geometry with the
methods for different students, for advanced in- rule and compasses before passing to reasoned destruction, at any rate. On t he other hand, Pro- ductions. But he stood up for E uclid because it
fessor Perry recommended a syllabus which he had was the most widely accepted text -book and for
introduced, with the approval of t he Science and other reasons.
Art Department, in many sch ools and colleges,
Major MacMahon r esponded to one of Professor
as well for engineer apprentices as for the average Perry's attacks by saying that the latter seemed to
British boy, and for the few intellect ual, and the look upon all boys as future engineers. They could
very few likely t o become great mathematicians. not give up Euclid before a substitute had been
It was essential that a._ method should be applied found; but he would combine Euolidean geometry
which was not hurtful to the one boy in a thousand, with geometrical drawing, and would take solid
fond of abstract reasoning, but it was just as geometry, spherical t rigonometry, and spherical
essential that the average boy should not be ham- astronomy together.
p ered. At present we taught all boys what was
Professor Rlicker thought that we were fairly
called mathematical philosophy in order that we agreed as to the advisability of approaching the
might catch in our n et the one pure mathematician, s ubject from the concrete side, especially for young
and did our best to ruin the others. There was children. Later on t he student should, perhaps,
hardly any man who might n ot become a dis- consider every step he was going to take. Yet he
coverer, and the earlier t he age at which we gave should rapidly be brought up to a point. The
him a chance of exercising his individuality, the various difficulties and quali~cations with which the
better. The student should be taught through his first statement must be guarded could afterwards
own experience, through examples worked out by be inquired into. Knowledge had advanced per
himself. All advocates of orthodox methods salt11/m. Somebody s~w ahead of him, formed a
seemed willing to sacrifice every form of usefulness conclusion, and then built the bridge which enabled
to one form- the emotional mind-training inherent others to follow him. Professor Perry had referred
in a perfect logical system. As soon as we gave up to the teachers as the chief sinners as regards
the idea of absolute correctness, a perfectly new de- examinations. Examinations had their weak points ;
parture might be made in the study of mathematics. but where they were harmful, he would not blame
The ancients devoted a lifetime to the study of arith- the teachers. The English people wished that
metic; it required days to extract a square root or their teachers should be tested in this manner.
Professor S. P . Thompson followed this cardinal
to multiply two numbers. B ut was t here any great
harm in skipping all that, and setting a b oy to point up furth er. As examiner in physics in the
learn his multiplication table, and in starting his University of London, he knew what deplorable
abstract reasoning at a more advanced period ? Let stuff was passed off as mathematics in the lower
the boy assume the truth of some of .Euclid's pro- examinations. The Civil Service Commissioners,
positions of the first four book s, by f~uth partly, or who dictated t o the teachers, and not the t eachers,
by trial ; give hi~ the fi fth ~ook ~y algebra ; ~et were chiefly responsible for much bad teaching. In
him assume the s1xth to be a:uomat10 ; and let h1m some examinations the use of calculus was expressly
begin his serious study there, where he had n ow to forbidden. We should r eform our examiners, inleave off. The present method strained at gnats to spectors, and universities : that was t he first step
swallow camels. W hy not put aside a good deal so to be recommended.
Mr. Parker Smith, M.P., of Glasgow, wondered
as to let the boy get quickly to the solution of partial
differential equations which few men now reach 1 that parents and the country spent so much money
If we adhered to the old Alexandrian way, we on education without troubling more about the
should grow stale before we knew much more t han results. The pressure as regards examination practhey did. For the advanced study of natural phe- tice did not come from the out-side, as Professor
n omena, we needed the fruits of the best mathe- Riicker had stated-but from the inside, from lazy
matical work.
Mathematics was a powerful teachers and pedantic authorit.ies. Mrs. Shaw, of
weapon it was enough to know h ow to use it, London, wished to extend the benefits of better
and to ieave to others the art of forging the mathematical instruction and of r eformed examinawea.pon, the complete study of it. The s~udy of tions to girls.
Professor Henrici, of the Central Institute, con physical science, and therefore of mathemat10~, was
of the utmost importance to all, however nch or curred with Professor Perry. Years ago, we r epoor and to the country both for the knowledge it member-at the Bath meeting, if we are not misgave' and for the scientific habit of thought it taken- he expressed his opinion pithily by saying
developed. But t~e orthod.ox method .d ~stroyed t hat Euclid could Itot be buried deeply enough; that
the power of thinkmg, and Inculcated d1shke and seems still to be his opinion, and h e does not stand
so isolated now as he stood then. Professor Miall, of
hatred for scientific computation.
The average young engineer hated mathematics. Leeds, put the matter very clearly. It had been
That was leadin a towards disaster, and we were said that we could not dispense with Euclid before
face to face with the ghastly fact that our engineers we could substitute another recognised authority
were unfitted by their sch~ol educati?n to un.d~rgo for him. Had they thought how ridiculous that
the indispensable scientific technical tra1nmg. remark must appear to any body but an EnglishHigher mathematics had become most useful ; man 1 The German, Italian, or Swiss, had no
but the complefe study of its philosophY: was n ot such god. We may add that many of the electrical
engineers whose mathematical inv estigations are
necessarily part of a school or college curriculum.
There was ample material to agree with, and to deemed worthy of careful study, would sorely be
differ from in Professor Perry's opening. Professor puzzled by any reference to the books of Euclid.
W. H. H.' Hudson, of King's College, a writer on It might he asked how students were to be ex-

473

amined if not all taught out of the same text-book.

That indicated the measure of their ed uoational
position ; first came the examiner, then, he supposed, the teacher : Where did the pupil come in 1
We wer e encumbered by irresponsible, often unintelligent, examiners and inspectors. He did n ot
wish to abolish them ; but he would abolish the
detailed minute syllabus, and would allow the
teacher to take part in the examinations. It was,
moreover, contrary to the human mind to pu~ a
highly- developed artificial system of geometry
before the schoolboy, who should be taught by
exploratory methods, such as traced out in the
"Inventional Geometry : a Series of Questions, , of
W. G. Spencer, the father of Herbert Spencer. The
experimental teaching of geometry by paper-folding
was excellent.
Professor A. Lodge, of Cooper 's H ill, pleaded
for concrete teaching. Professor Minchin, also of
Cooper's Hill, likewise wished to get rid of Euclid.
But he r egarded the head masters, rather than the
Civil Service Commissioners, as the r eal stumblingblock.
Professor J amieson, of Glasgow, agreed with
Professor Perry as an engineer, electrician, and
author, and regretted that the Scottish Educational
Department had crippled t he excellent methods in
use in Aberdeen.
Sir John Gorst, in summing up, said he was convinced that some good would result from t he discussion, which he trusted the English teacher
would read. He did not at all r egret t he sbrong
language used. His own experience was in accord
with the opinions of the majority. In his younger
days he had taught Maori boys arithmetic, and
found them extraordinarily apt and quick ; but
when he, in his enthusiasm, proceeded to lessons in
E uclid, he failed absolutely.
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.

This paper by Professors A. G. Greenhill,

F.R.S., of Woolwich, and C. V . Boys, F .R.S.,
of South Kensington, has special reference to the
geometrical interpretation of the terms in the
fundamental equations of spherical trigon ometry.
R eference was made to Delambre and Morgan
Jenkins.
In another paper, by Professor Greenhill, on
THE SIMPLE P ENDULUM WITHOUT APPROJUMATION ,

a method 'vas given of assigning an inferior and

superior limit to the time of oscillat ion, without
employing any approximation.
THE NATIONAL
PHYSI CAL LABORATORY.
.

Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., the director of the

National Physical Laboratory, reported on the progress being made with this institution. It will be
remembered that Queen Victoria assigned Bushy
~ouse, in Bushy Park, dating from Queen Anne's
t1me and originally the official residence of the
Ranger of ~he Park, with 20 acres of ground, to the
Royal SoCiety for the purpose of establishing a
national laboratory. The officials of t he Office of
Works have now for almost a year been busy makina
the necessary alterations. Dr. Glazebrook wished
to express the indeb tedness of the Committee particularly to Lord Esher, the permanent sec~etary
of t his office, and to Mr. Rivers, the surveyor. The
house is very substantial1y built, and on the whole
well adapted for its purpose. It consists of a central block, about 70 ft. square, standing on a
vaul.ted basement, and wings, practically singlestoried, at each corner. Two of the wings contain
two r ooms, 35 ft. by 20ft. by about 18 fb. high, the
other t wo wings each one room of that size . The
two general laboratories will be in the main building, whose large entrance-hall is being convet'ted
into a library and an apparatus-room. The floor of
the baseme~t is . coyered with a thick layer of
concrete ; s1x fatr-s1 zed rooms have very t hick
~aliA.; two others are . entirely . surrounded by
n1tenor walls and vaultmg, and 1t will be easy
to maintain a steady temperature in these l'Ooms
throughout the year. A lift is being fitted up in
the corner, and a mercury column, 54ft. in height
is being erected for testing pressure gauges and
indicators, &c. ; the lift will facilitate taking readin.gs as in the Reichsanstalt. Higher pressures
w1ll be produced by other means. The engineerinO'
laboratory and engine-house are about 100 yard~
to the north of the house. The room, 80 ft. by
50ft., is lighted from the n orth by a shed roof, and
longitudinalJy divided into two bays by a series of
r olled steel pillars. The one bay will be provided

474

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

with a light t raveller ; t he shafting will run alonO'

the other. Power will be derived from a
horse-power _P arsons' turbine, and distributed elecDIE - FORGING PLANT AT SWINDON.
trically ; other engine makers would not guarantee
fr~edom from vibrations. Accumulators are also CONSTRUCTED BY 'MESSRS. FIELDING AND PLATT, LIMITED, ENGINEERS, GLOUCESTER.
being put dow n. Among the work first to be
at~acked will be ~hat of the Alloys Research Corn(For Description, see Pc.tge 469.)
m~ttee, pho~-m~crographic examination of steel
rails, d~termina~wn of the elastic properties of
alloys w1th the aid of a Buckton testing n1achine of
special design. There are no funds for a largo
machine. Sir Andrew Noble has presented an excellent comparator, and other measuring machines
of the highest class will be available. Screw gauO'es
are to. be tested, and high temperature ther~o
metry. 1s to be taken up. The engineering laboratory I S to be opened before the end of t his year
under the superintendence of Dr. T. E. Stanton
whose researches on the theory of surface con~
densers are well known.

60

A NEW uNIT OF P RESSURE.

This d.iscussion was to have been opened by Dr.
C. E. Guillaume, of the Paris Bureau International
des Poids et Mesures. In his absence Professor
H . _L. Call,endar, of University Colleg~, read Dr.
Gut~aume s corn~ unication, which he had only
received that mornmg. The necessity for the general
adoption of a n?rmal unit of pressure on the c. g.s.
system, Dr. Gmllaume stated, would be admitted
but there. would b~ difference of opinion as regard~
the practical multiple and the practical standard.
(The. c.g.s. unit of pressure is one dyne per square
centimetre. ) Both the atmosphere unit and the kilogramme per square centimetre represented almost
one megadyn~, 106 c. g.s. units ; but they did not
correspon~ w1th the J oule. The question of a
normal latitude had been rendered more difficult
recently by the discovery of local anomalies. He
woul~ adopt as mean value for g that of the
Mediterran ean coast, 980.714 centimetres per
second per second (the Greenwich value is ~liO'htly
smaller), and as mercury density is 13.5950~ the
pressure of a mercul'y column of 1 metre would be
1.33328 megadyne per square centimetre. Then
1 megadyne would be represented by 75.003 centimetres of mercury at zero Cent . But the uncertainty of g and of the mass of a cubic centimetre
would affect t his standard. Practically 75 centimetres would be sufficiently accurate, considerinO'
all the uncerbainties. The change from a normal
barometer of 76 (now in u~e) t o one of 75 centimetres would modify the values of our thermometric degrees and of fusing and boiling points,
&c. The best way would be to adopt theoretical1y
t he megadyne as unit of pressure (already much
applied), but not to make any changes in thermometry for t he present while our thermometrical
scales remained under revision.
Mr. E. H. Griffiths, F. R. S., of Cambridge, was
n ot so afraid of t he change in the boiling points.
It had to come some time, and the longer we
waited the more difficult it would be. For engineers an alteration of 0.38 deg. in the boiling
point would have no importance. The mean barometric level was, moreover, rather 750 than 760
centimetres. There was an immense advantage in
having a rational system.
Professor Callendar, speaking on his own behalf,
entirely agreed with Gu illaume. The adoption of
the megadyne seemed absolutely necessary. To
get over t he inconvenience that the p v would be
0.1 joule (and not 1 joule, 1 joule being 107 ergs),
if we adopt the megadyne working through
1 cubic centimetre, he would suggest introducing
t he litre and the term atmolitre, when one
atmolitre would be 100 joules. As regards the
alterations in the specific heats, touched upon
by Mr. Griffi.ths, most of our data were too uncert ain. Our text-books contained many unjustifiable
figures. Thus the absolute zero of temperat ure was
stated to be - 273.7 deg., wbile - 273 deg. was
much more likely to be exact. With the new alterations proposed it would become - 274 deg. Cent.
Professor Everett, now of Ealing, author of the
excellent " Illustrations of the C.G.S. System of
U nits," first published in 1875, questioned several
of Guillaume's factors. The Paris Congrees had
adopted 13.596 (not .590) for the density of mercury,
and the Geodetic Conference 980.692 as the value
of g for 45 deg. at sea level ; Helmert, of Potsdam, head of that conference, would prefer 980.92
for Paris, without reduction to sea level.
Professor Schuster, of Manchester, would measure
in megadynes, but considering the serious incon-

FIG.

213.

venience t hat the change would involve, as we

should have to inquire whether a paper was written
before or after 1901, would not trouble about the
practical standard ; if we dropped the British units,
the advantage would be infinitely greater. P rofessor
E . W. Morley; of Cleveland, Ohio, said t hat the
uncertainty of the value of g at Washington and
New York, compared to the Paris value, had caused
him the grfatest difficulties in his vapour density
determinations.
Mr. W. N. Sha.w, secretary of the Meteorological
Office, London, said that if any change on t he
ohm precedence were intended, involving a new
graduation of all instrumentP, t he matter would,
indeed, be serious ; if only experiments were needed
for determining t he conversion factors, the change
would be valuable. Reference had been made ~o
the position of meteorologists- (he did not t hink

they had any particular object.ion)- and to t he survival of the Fahrenheit scale. It was a very
sturdy survival, considering that it was used on all
British and American ships ; nothing was so irrational as to designate the freezing point of water by
zero. It should furth er be re me mbered that th~
laboratories had, in such questions, much less inf) uence on instrument makera than the users vf
thormometers in the army, navy, and other departments.
A

N EW GAUGE FOR SMALL PRESSURES.

On behalf of himself and of Mr. Charles F.

Brush, Professor E . W. Morley very briefly
described two forms of gauges for the measurement of small gas pressures, especially of aqueous
vapour, where l\1cLeod's gauge is not convenient.
In both forms, a mercurial syphon gauge having

O cT. 4, 190I.]

E N G I N E E RI N G.

475

THE "BOREAS" AIR- COMPRESSOR AT THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

CON

'Tl~UCTl~D

BY :ME .'I R, .. LACY7 ,

HULBER"',
AND CO') ENGINEER
LONDON
J
4
I.)

(For Desc1iption, see Page 480.)

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also applied fiducial points of glass, and had been may reach one part in 2000. Further particulars
troubled by electrical attraction appar en tly. Pro- were given in t he paper on the
fessor Morley replied that he had given glass up
VARIATION OF THE CRITICA.L V ELOOITY OF WATER
for this reason.
WITH TEMPERATURE,
We mention briefly the
by Dr. Barnes and E. J. Coker, also r ead by Pro~
CoMPARISON oF CoNSTANT VoLUME AND CoNSTANT feasor Callendar. When a liq uid flows through a fine
PRESSURE SCALES FOR HYDROGEN BETWEEN tube, he stated, eddies began to show with a certain
0 DEo. AND - 190 DEo. CENT. ,
critical velocity, for which Osborne Reynolds gave
by Dr. W. Travers and Mr. G. Senter, of U ni- the formulre V0 = B yjd; where d is t he diameter of
versity College, L ondon. Dr. Travers' researches the tube and y the viscosity after Poiseuille. The
on the liq uefaction of hydrogen for the separation water must be absolutely quiet before entering the
of helium and neon, and his remarkable skill in tube, and this is obtained by mak ing it flow
fitting up t he most complicated glass apparatus are from a high tank, in which, however, convection
well known ; this n e w valuable work is a further currents may arise, though t he water took weeks to
outcome of t hose researches. Further,
cool. Noticing t hat with undisturbed linear flow
t he wire became superheated by 8 deg. or 10 deg.,
A METHOD OF DETER?IIININO THE SPECIFIC HEATS and with eddies only by 2 deg., Dr. Barnes
oF METALS AT L ow TEMPERATURES,
heated his i-in. t ubes, 8 ft . long, externally;
by Messrs. C. Bedford and 0. F. Green, of Cam- he worked between 10 deg. and 60 deg. Cent.,
bridge, which Professor Callendar described on while Reynolds did n ot go above 22 deg. I t would
behalf of the authors; it concerns a promising appear that the critical velocity does not remain
proportional to t he viscosity wit h higher tempera~
modification of the methods of mixtures.
t ures. Professor Wilberforce pointed out in the
VARIATION 0.14~ THE SPECIFIC HEAT OF wATER.
discussion t hat the critical velocity was not supAt the Toronto meetiog, Professor H . L. Cal- posed by Reynolds to be proportional to t he
lenda.r and Dr. H . T. Barnes, of McGill University, viscosity, but only to be a function of it, and the
Montreal, first brought this subject bofore the series of experimen ts of Reynolds and Barnes
TRANSMISSION OF H EAT THROUOR WATER
Association. Professor Callendar n ow contributed were not directly comparable, though they came
VAPOUR.
a further note. W e described their steady-flow to the same results at low temperatures; the cenWith the help of this gauge, the same authors calorimeter in our r eport on the Dover meeting. tral wire would alter the conditions of flow,
have investigated t he transmissibn of heat through Water flows through a fine tube, and is heated although very thin. Dr. Larmor thought that t he
water vapour at pressures from taturation at freez- during its passage by a central platinum wire, q uestion was whether there would be any slip, and
ing point to less t-han 0.00~001 atmospheres. ; th r~e through which an electric current passes; t he whole Mr. Tr. Carter , alluding to boiler t ubes, asked
series of experiments bemg conducted w1th dif- is carefully jacketed, and t he temperature of the whet her the absorption of heat from outside would
ferent apparatus. At low pressures water transmits water is determined as it enters and leaves . The not set up a tendency to convection currents in t he
heat more rapidly than air, but less rapidly t han recen t experiments of Dr. Barnes cover the range tube ; the latter Professor Callendar did not conhydrogen ; the superiorit y over air attains its from 60 to 92 deg. Cent. The specific heat of water sider probable.
maximum of 30 per cent. at about 0.00002 atmos- is the same at 20 and 60 deg. Cent. Professor
THE CLEARING oF T uRBID SoLUTIONS.
phere. At 0. 0006 air and water vapour transD?-it Callendar pointed out that the rate of flow affected
Professor G. Quincke, F.R.S. , of Heidelberg,
equally well at higher pressure water transmits t he loss of heat through t he vacuum jacket. That
less ra.pidly than air. Professor McLeod mentioned loss is small at low te1npetature, but for slow rates dealt with t his difficult problem. I t is well
the peculiar coincidence t hat L ord Rayleigh had . of flow and temperatures near t he boiling point it known that water will keep small particles sue ..
tubes 5 centimetres in diameter, is mounted on
an instrument like a level t rier, and differences in
level are ascertained by determining the inclinations of the whole gauge which is required to bring
the two surfaces to coincide wit h two fiducial points
in the axes of the two arms. The principle, which
is due to Professor Morley, can b e carried out in
two ways. In the first t he syphon gauge is carried
on a bridge, supported at one end by t wo points
which rest on a horizontal plate on a solid pier, and
at the other by the point of a micrometer screw,
which itself rests on the same horizontal plate. In
the axes of the two plates are two platinum points
at the same level. The observer, moving his eye
up and down, causes the image of a window bar to
move across the depression in the mercury made
by the ~wo fiducial points .. From t he a.ppea~an?e
of this Image he can equahse the depressiOn withm
lees than " 1" t h of a millimetre without optical
appliances; but the observatiop. takes sever~!
minutes. Mr. Brush therefore Introduced a pa1r
of mirrors between the arms of the syphon, so
adjusted that ~he two fiducial P?ints, as. we~l as
their mercury Images, are Eeen stde by side In a
microscope partially superposed. This arrangement works excellently and allows r eadings to
within 0. 0001 millimetre.
.

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

[OcT. 4,

1901.

pended for very long periods, and that acid and

salt solutions exercise a clearing action, as we see
when salt sea water is mixed with turbid river
water. Schulze and Schloesing had cleared such
clay suspensions with one part in 100,000 of calcium or magnesium chloride; BodHinder, W.
Spring, and also B~uus believed that electrolytes
promote clearing, and insulators retard it. Professor
~ Quin.cke, experimenting with many organic and
InorganiC substances, finds no difference between
electrolytes and non-electrolytes, but draws attention to the appearance of an oily, viscous fluid on
any flakes formed. Where this oil meets the
liquid, surface tension and periodical vortices are
set up which unite the small particles ; a certain
concentration of the salt solution was necessary,
as BodHinder had observed. But there is, according to Quincke, no electromotive force on the
boundary surfaces, by which assumption J. J.
Thomson and H ardy explained the remarkable
fact that turbid solutions remain apparently unchanged for months and years. The light seemed
to promote the spreading of the oily liquid, and in
suspensions, illuminated fr01n the one side, particles
seemed to travel towar4s the light (positive photodromy). Besquerel and others also assumed an
improbable retarding influence of light (negative
photodromy). But the photodromy might also be
explained by the heating effect of light on the tiny
air bubbles, which were generally present, though
scarcely visible even under the microscope; these
bubbles form condensation nuclei. At the Oxford
meeting in 1894, Professor Quincke advocated
electro-capillary currents for the living cell ; they
might have something to do with the phenomena.
He further pointed out that the periodical, not
constant, velocities of the particlen, and the reflection of the impulses from the walls, caused interferences which probably constituted the chief reason
for the stratification observed in emulsions after
long standing.

and A. Wood, Professor Gray announced that some

experiments of Lord Kelvin, of 1864, had been
taken up again and extended, because it was observed that wood displayed a recovery of its elasticity in the interval of rest over Sundays. Bars
of pine and maple, one centimetre square, about a
metre in length, are rested on both ends and oscillated by means of an electromagnetic device, fixed
to the middle of the bar, and Young's modulus is
determined. In pine, the elasticity diminishes
during agitation and is partly recovered, less completely as the experiments continue, during the
periods of rest ; the elasticity curve is thus a broken
line with a downward trend. In maple, the effects
were much smaller, and one specimen began with
an increase in the elasticity during the oscillations;
the general tendency was, however, a decrease in
the modulus to which Professor Gray ascribes the
much commented-on circumstance that old violins
become more easy to play upon. Whether or not
the varnish has anything to do with the beauty of
tone of a Stradivari, as Major MacMahon inquired,
has not been investigated: The deflection of the
rods would be much greater than in violin practice ;
but the investigations do not apper t o have been
carried very far. A further paper by Professor
Gray, on
TEMPERATURE AND INTERNAL V ISCOSITIES OF
SoLIDs,

THE PoTENTIAL DIFFERENCES oF ALLOTROPIC

SILVER.

Mr. J. A. Craw, of Glasgow, read a. preliminary

note on this subject, on which, we ma.y add, Berthelot has this summer published long papers.
Mr. Craw puts plates of silver, differently treated,
in a solution of potassium nitrate containing a little
sil ~er nitrate, and determines the differenees of
potential ; rolled silver became anodic to electrolytic silver, e.g. In the brief discussion Mr. F. G.
Cottrell, of Oakland, California, mentioned that he
had in vain looked for potential differences between
two pieces of the same copper wire, dipped into
copper sulphate, one of which was strained to the
breaking point ; on the other hand, he had found
such differences on cleaving sublimed zinc crystals.
Mr. Craw also read a paper on the
DETERMINATION oF THE SuRFACE TENSION OF
MERCURY BY THE METHOD OF RIPPLES.

This may be a good paper, and the accuracy

realised in the improved apparatus may be as valuable, as Professor Gray, who occupied the chair,
believed. But it was a long manuscript, and the
author did not spare the audience one word; nor
did he-being unfortunately, for a reason not explained, prevented from showing his photog raphsoffer a single diagram. Similar comment must be
applied to Mr. Craw's paper on the

deals with the torsional vibrations of wires, 4 E FFECT oF NoN-ELECTROLYTES oN THE LIPPMANN
ELECTROMETER.
metres in length, and the longitudinal vibrations
1\fr. Craw finds Nernst's view, that non-electroof close spiral springs, suspended vertically within
a tube, from 3 to 5 centimetres in diameter, lytes should have no effect, not confirmed. H e
jacketed with steam so as to vary the temperature had evidently examined many substances, chloral
between 12 and 90 deg. Cent. The materials so far hydrate, phenol, hydroquinone, which had a peculiar
examined are iron, steel, copper, brass, and German effect, among them; but the authoritative way in
silver. With higher temperatures t he rate of sub- which he summarised his ''immense results, " a9
sidence of the vibration incrP.ased, i .e., the ampli- lJr. L armor put it, under fourteen headings, if we
tudes diminished, showing a diminution of the are not mistaken, was not very convincing .
viscosity; with very small oscillations the rate of THE THEORY OF THE LIPP~:U.NN ELECTROMETER.
subsidence became constant; German silver differed
This preliminary communication, by Mr. F . G.
HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE.
from the other materials. On the diagrams loads
This paper, by Professor Ramsay, F.R.S., and were expressed in pounds, other quantities in Cottrell, concerns chiefly electrometers of the Lippmann type, in which a bulb of mercury and a capilMr. G. Senter, touches upon another side of the metrical values.
lary tube filled with mercury are joined by a bent
same problem which one should have thought
tube containing some so-called ''inert" conductor,
ELECTRICAL STANDARDS.
would have long since been cleared up. Experisulphuric acid, &c., and some depolariser, as a rule
menting with more or less colloidal solutions of
On behalf of this committee, Dr. Glazebrook a mercury salt; but it applies also to mercury
arsenious sulphide and similar substances, Picton briefly announced that progress had been made in
and Linder and others, Professor Ramsay said, mercury standards, and the work was progressing dropping electrodes. The inert liquid, if present
had noticed that the particles and their motions at Bushy Park. The grant of 45l. for platinum wire in sufficient quantity, has been supposed, according
might be visible, or only the motions visible, or for thermometers had been spent, but Mr. Matthey to the Helmholtz-Lippmann theory, to prevent the
neither be visible, and the question was whether kept a stock of the same very pure wire for them. difference of metallic ions in the liquid form proor not such particles affected the hydrostatic pres- Owing to the death of Professor Viriamu Jones, ducing any electromotive force, and thus affecting
sure. To put the matter tersely, Professor Ramsay little work had been done with the ampere balance. the readings. Mr. Cottrell thinks, however, that
this can be so only under two conditions, rarely fulspoke of lead shot poured into a bucket of water.
filled
in
the
ordinary
electrometers
containing
That shot would manifestly not influence a hydroSILVER VoLTMETERS.
strong mineral acids or their salts. These were
meter placed in the bucket ; but if we made the
This note on the Comparisons of t he Deposits that the total quantity of depolariser above the
shot particles smaller and smaller, at what stage
did the influence commence 1 In oth~r language, on Silver V oltmeters with Different Solvents, by mercury in the capillary is small in comparison
Mr.
S
.
Skinner,
forms
an
appendix
to
the
Report,
that
used
up
during
the
period
of
the
measurewith
when did the hydrometer indicate the density of
and
was
also
read
by
Mr.
Glazebrook.
Since
ment,
and
that
the
depolariser
could
diffuse
from
the emulsion 1 As long as the particles are so
small that nothing but the polarisation of light Schuster and Gannon and Crossley observed in the concentrated into the dilute portion of the
indicates their presence, the hydrostatic pressure 1892 that of two silver voltmeters in series, one solution without undergoing dissociation. Potasin vactw, the other in air, the former deposited sium iodide and also cyanides might satisfy the
corresponded to the mean density. For coarser
conditions : the former gave, without any applied
more
silver,
silver
voltmeters
have
been
much
particles the question was open, and their own
Pyridin having recently been found a current, an abnormal surface tension value . .
determinations of the densities of various emul- discussed.
very convenient solvent for electrolytic researches,
sions or solutions with the aid of the hydro- Mr. Skinner prepared two identical silver voltFREEZING PoiNTS OF DILUTE SoLUTIONs.
meter or pyknometer (closed bottle) left it unMr. E. H . Griffiths, F .R.s.; of Cambridge,
with
an
aqueous
nitrate
solution
in
the
one
meters,
decided. The pyknometer gave, indeed, always
and a pyridin solution in the other. The pyridin gave a very brief summary of his work, which has
slightly higher values, but the necessary correc- deposits proved always a little heavier, the diffe~ now lasted four years, and which requires extreme
tions were very complicated; and if there were no ences rising to 0.4 per cent. The chief reason 1s care and perseverance. He has made more than a
hydrostatic pressure due to the cream in the milk, probably that the hard crust, resembling mother- thousand experiments, each taking about 1~ hours,
our lactometer tests would be fallacious. Lord of-pearl, obtained from the pyridin, can safely be with pure water alone, and any strong wind renders
Kelvin said that the dynamics of the case were washed, whilst with the fine crystalline deposits from the work impossible. The freezing-point determiexceedingly difficult; a mA.n being swallowed up by water the washing process may easily lead to losses. nations supplement the determinations of the elecquicksand might, however, diminish the danger Mr. Skinner,s results would favour the electro- trolytic conductivities. When any salt is dissolved
by brushing off the sand settling upon his body. chemical equivalent 0.1119 (instead of 0.1118, partly in water the freezing point of the solut ion is deProfessor Quincke considered the problem as accepted now), and would thus slightly lower the pressed by an amount fixed by the law of Raoult,
settled ; the influence depended upon the motion value of the electromotive force of the normal who died recently, and is dependent apparently upon
of the particles, and would n ot e_xist for a cons~ant black cell; in his report on the question before the the number of the separate particles, but. not upon
velocity- (Professor Boys substttu t ed accelerat10n) Paris Physical Congress, we may mention, Leduc their substance. That is to say, quantities of
-of the falling particles, but would exiat for summed up in favour of the higher value, for which substances proportional to their molecular weights
periodical impulses. Dr. Larmor stated that t he Mr. Griffiths also spoke o.t Glasgow. Professor produce. the s~me . depre~sion: If electrolytes are
buoyancy of stirred-up muddy water was greater Threlfall, F.R.S., of Birmingham, took exception in solutwns d1Ssoc1ated 1nto wns, as the n1odern
than that of water. Professor Greenhill suggested to the loose way in which the term electrochemical theories assume, the freezing-point depression
a crucial experiment, to watch the effects of the equivalent was often applied. With rising potential should be two, three, &c., times larger than in the
formation of a precipitate in a test tu be on a at the kathode, we should get hydrogen, thallium, case of n on-electrolytes (like sugar), according to
balance, and Mr. J . Aitken, F.R.S., of Fal~irk, lead and other impurities of silver deposited, and the number- two, three, &c.-of ions. That
expressed his belief that aqueous vapour part1cles curr~nt concentration, agitation, temperature, &c , electrolytes give greater depressions of the freezing
in the air were in rapid movement.
conditions should be stated in papers. Dr. Bottom- points has long been known. But the proof that
the partial dissociation becomes complete with
lay,
Lord
Kelvin,
and
Professor
A.
Gray,
referred
ELASTIO FATIGUE oF METALS AND WooDs .
to the work of Thomas Gray, of Glasgow, on copper extreme dilutions had, so far, not been given by
In this paper by Professor A. Gray, F.R.S., of
the freezing-point method. No two observers
Glasgow, and Messrs. J. S. Dunlop (sinoe deceased) voltmeters.

OcT. 4, 190 1.]

agreed quite about very high dilutions at which,
as Mr. Griffiths has himself pointed out in previous
communications, the impurities of so-called pure
water make t heir influence felt very strongly.
'Vith his resistance bridge, 1\ir. Griffiths can
estimate temperatures to within 0. 000003 deg.
Cent., and he arrives at the conclusion that t he
freezing-point depression in the chlorides of potassium, sodium, and barium, is really twice as much
as for cane sugar. Thus, as Professor Ramsay
expressed it, the dissociation t heory is placed on
a firm foundation.
ELECTROLYSIS OF ALKALI VAPOURS.
This paper, by Dr. H . A. Wilson, of Cambridge,
concerns a p oint upon which Arrhenius, one of
the fathers of t he disociation theory, and others,
have experimented a good deal : the validity of
F araday's law for salt sprays. Dr. Wilson heats a
platinum tube, 40 centimetres long, 1 cen timetre
external diameter, up to 1400 deg. Cent. in a gas
furnace. Inside the t ube is an axial electrode,
w hi eh is charged through a battery up to 800
volts, and whose temperat ure is measured wit h
the aid of t hermo-couples. A mixture of air and
salt spray is introduced from t he other end of t he
t ube, and the current determined which flows
from the inner electrode to the t ube, a radial distance of 3 millimetres. I t was found that all
alkali salts yield similar current curves, and t hat
these curves finally become horizontal, indicating
saturation currents. Furt her, that sprays containing 10 gramm es of salt per lit re gave 10 times
stronger currents t han sprays with one gramme of
Ealt, and t hat the product of t he maximum
(saturation) current and the electrochemical equivalent has a constant value. That means that
F araday's law holds for salt sprays. The sprays
are producd by forcing air through aqueous salt
solutions, and the amount of salt in t he spray can
be estimated in the following way. A mixture of
the spray and coal gas is burned in a Bunsen ; in
another B unsen close by a bead of the salt is heated,
and the loss of this bead ascertained when both
flames show t he same colour intensity; t his method
Dr. Wilson stated to be fairly accurate.
CONDUCTION O.F ELECTRICITY THROUGH M ERCURY
V APOUR.
Professor A. Schuster, F.R.S., t he author of
this paper, spoke of t he difficulties he had experienced during the past two years in obtaining
pure mercury vapour. His mercury is contained in
the legs of an inverted U tube, into which t he
platinum electrodes are fused; but t he whole apparatus was complicated, and if n o other trouble
occurred, the platinum became amalgamated in a
fort night or so, and the glass cracked ; nickelling
the electrodes seemed to be a r emedy against this .
But bubbles of air or some decomposition product
of glass would always make their appearance
finally . The current of 1000 cells, about 2000 volts,
would not pass t hrough t he cold mercury vapour in
t he bend of t he U ; but it would start at 100 deg.
Cent. , and in his purest vapour at 160 deg.; in
absolutely pure vapour it might n ot pass at all. The
disrharge and sparks started from the line of contact between the mercury and glass, and the didcharge did show t he much-debated dark space,
which Professor Schuster was mainly looking for,
which might yet be due to impurities, however.
In a t riangular discussion, or rat her conversation,
with Professor Schuster and Townsend, L ord Kelvin
considered this obsfrvation of t he dark space as
very "upsetting," with respect to the free paths of
molecules ; but Professor Schuster did not t hink
the dark space had anything to do with the free
paths.
I NTERFERENCE AND P oLARISATION OF E LECTRIC
WAVES.
Professor G. Quincke described in this paper some
interesting experiments made at Heidelberg. An
ordinary vibrator for electric waves, consisting of
two egg-shaped bodies, connected with an induction coil, is placed in front of the horizontal axis of
a tube which may be likened to two U 's whose legs
and shor t horizontal arms have been joined . At
t he Junction of the two branches are boxes, by the
aid of which t he length of the t ube can be altered.
When t he tube was turned a bove its axis, so t hat its
plane was at r ight angles to t he vibrator plane, no
waves passed; t he apparatus thus behaved like a
Nicol for electric waves. Instead of t he tube a
T -piece was also used ; the stem of the T could be

477

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

demand for rapid transportation t han to tunnel t he

ground, perforate t he hard rock, and build a broad
and convenient subway from end . to end of ~he
island. Like all grand projects, t his .o~e met '!1th
prolonge~ opposition, chiefly f~om pohtica.l parties ;
but t he mterests of the pubhc, tho.u gh th~Y. c.ould
a wait the good pleasure of w~anghng ,POhtlCtans,
were bound ultimately to prevail. Engineers were
then consulted, plans prepared, and the millions
finally voted. Today t he work is well in hand,
and two years more will see its completion. Then
the business magnates of the City, and the men
and women unable or unwilling to brook delay,
will be daily borne to t heir destination by electric
t rains running at t he rate of 40 miles. an how:.
The first serious proposal for raptd t rans1t .was
made as far back as 1866, when the Metropolitan
Company, with Mr. E. W. Serrel as chief engineer,
proposed to build a r oad from Battery Park, at the
lower end of the island, to Kingsbridge, near the
upper. The new system was to consist of three
double-track roads, viz., a subway, a surface r oad,
and an elevated road . The surface road was to be
operated by horse traction, and t he other two by
steam. The subway was intended for the transpor tation of freight, the surface cars for way passengers,
CHANGE oF CoNDUCTIVITY oF METALLIC PARTICLES and the elevated road for running express trains.
UNDER CYCLIC ELECTROMOTIVE VARIATION.
The Metropolitan Company offered to purchase
Professor Jagadis Chunder Bose, M.A., D.Sc., the right of way through the centre of the blocks
discoursed in this paper on what is commonly of buildings, and so arrange their structures as not
called "coherers," without using that term. The to interfere materially with street traffic.
In 1868 the L egislat ure granted a charter to t he
electric conductivity of metals and other substances
applied as filings, rods in contact, or point-disc .New York City Underground Company, with liberal
contacts, varies under electric radiation, and may powers as to the route to be selected, and amount
increase (iron, magnesium), or diminish (potassium, of capital to be invested. I t also chartered the
iodine) ; the various modifications of silver differ Beach Pneumatic Company, with authorisation to
also in this respect, and some substance3 ar e n eutral. build an underground r oad from the Battery up
Substances of both classes may or may not undergo Broad way. Connection was to be made at t he
self-recovery. Professor Bose reproduced and studied Grand Central Station at 42nd-street, so as to afford
these phenomena by obser ving t he change in t he cur- rapid communication with all stations on the Harlem
rent intensities under the influence of cyclic rapid or division, which line was built specially for the
slow changes in t he electromotive force impressed, passenger traffic of t he borough of the Broux. The
and his very clever r ecording apparatus enable company began t heir t unnelling work under Broadhim to follow the variations closely. Metallic way, but soon abandoned it. It may here be menparticles, he confirms, do not obey Ohtn's law. The tioned that the work was done by means of the
conductivity increases constantly with increased Beach shield, a form of shield which, with some
electromotive force ; and there is often a critical slight modifications, was afterwards employed in all
electromotive force at which the curves show an suomarine t unnelling work.
almost abrupt bend ; strong initial currents seem to
The voice of the p eople favoured the elevated
lower t hat critical point, and to mitigate its abrupt- rat her than the undergr ound structure, so that in
ness. When there is complete recovery, the forward 1871 t he first section of the present elevated system
and return curves coincide entirely, showing that was constructed. It was opened in 1872. Although
t he substance is left in the same molecular condi- t he new road greatly relieved the general public
t ion. In other cases a r esidual effect was indi- traffic, yet it was found to disfigure the streets and
cated. Alluding to the different conductivities of to decr ease t he value of property. The incessant
t he allotropic modifications of carbon and t he noise was another objectionable feature. Popular
change of yellow into red phosphorus by radiation, clamour, fed by t he daily Press, drove engineers to
Professor Bose r egards his experiments as indi- again seriously think of an underground permanent
cating molecular changes. That is hardly the way way as the only final solution to the problem of
in which other experiments on coherers express rapid transit for the city.
their r esults. Time did not allow of any discussion
In May, 1872, the Legislature incorporated the
of t he paper by t he very attentive audience.
New York City Rapid Transit Company, authorising Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associates to
(To be continued. )
construct and operate an underground road upon a
specified route extending from t he City Hall to
THE NEW SUBWAY IN NEW YORK o9th-street, closely following the lino of the subway
which
is
now
in
course
of
cons
truction.
It
CITY.
was to connect with t he Grand Cen tral at 42ndBY CHAlt LES PRELINI, C.E. , New York.
stroet. The reasons assigned for t he preference of
THIS great enterprise, which is being carried out the underground system wer e its safety, capacit y
wit h all the American energy of an electrical age, for passenger t ranspor tation , and t he high speed
is one of surpassing inter est. Difficulties of con- that could be attained by means of powerful engines
siderable magnit ude and perplexing problems of running over a solid r oad-bed.
various kinds ha\e confronted the engineers in
To provide adequate facilities for t he ever-incharge of the work, so that it must be instructive creasing passenger t raffic, t he State Legislature of
to every member of the profession to see how the 1875 created a Rapid Transit Commission, t he result
latter have been solved and the former overcome.
of whose deliberations was the elevated railroad
The most congested part of t he Cit y of New system which . is in use to-day. Another CommisYork extends over Manhattan I sland, an elongated sion was appoin ted in 1891, but without any fruitstrdtch of land about 14 miles long, with an average ful results . Finally, in 1894, the Legislature
breadth of l J miles. Its world.famed business passed another Act creating a new Commission,
centre is situated at the lower end of the island, composed of the Mayor and the Comptroller of the
where its narrowness offers considerable impedance City, the President of the Chamber of Commerce,
to circulation and general traffic .
and five citizens named in the Bill. The Act conFrom their r ebidences up town, business and ferred the power either to sell a franchise to a
professional men have to-day a good service of private corporation or to embark the city into
trolley lines and of elevated ra.ilroads ; but even municipal construction and ownership; the option
the expresses which are run at convenient hours on resting with t he voters at the next general
tho "L " (elevated) roads have failed to satisfy the election. The vote of 1894 favoured t he cit y as
eagerness of t he busy thousands t hat crowd them against private ownership by a majority exceeding
morning and evening .
3 to 1. The Commission t hen proposed a subway
As t he streets are everywhere laid with trolley under Broad way ; but so great was the opposition
lines, and as the long avenues are disfigured with of the Broadway proprietors to t he scheme that a
t he structures of t he elevated roads, no other way new route was adopted.
was left to satis fy the growing clamour of popular
This route, as shown in Fig. 1, starts from a

shortened or lengthened, and a screen placed under

it to r eflect t he waves back. B y altering the length
of t hese t ubes, interference could be produced, and
it was found that the wave length remained unchanged ; fi lling the tubes with various liquids and
placing t roughs outside, the wave length changed,
but t he ratio of the wave length inside t he tube to
that outside did not vary, this ratio being 4/3. Dr.
L armor suggested the following explanation, on
the spur of tbe moment, which Professor G. Quincke
was inclined to accept : The spheres are only
exciters, t he tube, that is, its width at the mout h,
is the r eal vibrator, and therefore the wave length
seemed constant . The original Hertz vibrators
did not give waves of definite wave length, and
wer e t herefore not suitable for wireless telegraphy. The vertical air wire acted as a sounding
board ; if the air wire or antenna. was to pick out a
definite wave length, corresponding to its own
period, as Quincke's t ube did, t he system would
have to be isolated. Professor Quincke added that
t he tubes, 8 or 6 centimetres in diameter, were made
of zinc or tinned iron. Professor Lange, in Vienna,
who first applied this form of apparatus, had used
cardboard.

THE

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continues to follow Broadway, the length of 38

streets, dividing into two lines at 97th-street. One
of the branches proceeds along Broadway to ! 90thstreet, where t he line, emerging from the tunnel ,
crosses over to Elwood-street, on a viaduct, and
from there to Kingsbridge-avenue, Riverdale-avenue
(230th-street), and finally to t he northern terminus,
near Bailey-avenue.
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passes under private property to 104th-street, where

it goes . under Central Park to !lOth-street, near
Lenox-avenue. I t thence continues to a point
near 142nd-street, from which it proceeds to the
Harlem River. Here it passes under t he river, and
then continues under private property up to !49thstreet. It follows this street to '!,bird-avenue, from
which it crosses under Westchester-avenue. At a
convenient point it emerges from the tunnel and is

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loop which encircles the triangular area occupied

by City Hall Park and the General Post Office.
From the loop, the line passes under .Centre-street
and Elm-street, and continues under L afayetteplace across As torplace, t hrough Ninth-street to
Fourth-avenue. The road continues under Parkavenue until it reaches 42nd-street, from which it
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carried on a viaduct along and over W estchesteravenue, Southern Boulevard, and Bostin-road to
Broux Park. The portion of the line from 97thstreet to Broux P ark will be known as the East
Side Line. The road will be provided with four
t racks up to 96th-street, at which point it will
divide into two double tracks, having stations both
for local and express trains.
After the route had been selected, it became

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479

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

OcT. 4, 1901.]

. THE ~100RWOOD BENNETT CARBURETTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

0

(For Desc1'iption, see Page 480 .)

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necessary to determine the details of construction ;

and here two distinct and opposite modes had to be
considered, viz., either to drive tunnels of circular
iron-lined t ubes at such depths as to pass under all
pipes, mains, sewers, and other sub-s~rface structures, or else to make an open excavatwn, remove
or rearrange the water and gas mains, the sewers
and similar structures which might be encountered,
then to build the railway as close to t he surface as
variations in the topography of the route and other
local conditions permitted> and finally to restore
the surface of the street to its original state.
The first plan involved no interference with
existing traffic, and would probably have been
cheaper in first construction ; but it would have
necessitated the use of elevators at all stations, the
expense of operating which would more tpan offset
the saving in the initial cost. The second plan,
on the other hand, was objectionable on account
of its interference with street traffic and its incommoding persons residing or carrying on business near the route; but, of course, such inconveniences .would be limited to the period of construction. That over, there would be a maximum
of conv&nience to all. Moreover, the structure
would be close to the surface, thus bringing
the platformlevel near the level of the street, so
that a greater proportion of short-distance travel
could be realised than in the case of a deep tunnel.
For these reasons the Commission adopted the
second plan, of a shaJlow construction, the longitudinal profile of which is shown in Fig. 2, page 478.
The underground road ,.has three different types
of section, viz., the rectangular, the barrel-vault, 1
and the circular. The rectanguhlr is used for the
greater part of the four-tracked road (Fig. 4, page

478) and also for a portion of the road having only

two tracks. The dimensions adopted for the four
tracks are 50ft. by 13 ft. , and for the double
tracks 25 ft . by 13 ft. The barrel-vault section
(Fig. 5) has a semi-circular arch 12! ft. radius,
and a clear height above the base of the rail of
18 ft. This has been adopted for the portion of
the line which has to be tunnelled. The circular
SECTION OF DEEP TUNNEl. NORTH OF J04!'!S!

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section, 15 ft. in diameter (Fig. 6) will be used

under the Harlem River. There will be two similar
parallel tunnels built side by side for the up and
down trains.
The lining of the tunnel will be of concrete
carried by a framework of steel. The floor consists of a foundation layer of concrete, upon which
is placed a covering of asphalte with a layer of concrete on top. In this uppermost layer are set the

stone pedestals which carry the steel columns and

the supports of the tracks. The steel framework
consists of transverse bents of columns and !-beams
spaced about 5 ft. apart along the subway. The
interior columns of each bent are built up of bulbangle and plate columns of H section. The wall
columns are I beams, as are also the roof beams.
Between the I beams, wall columns and roof beams,
there is a concrete filling, so that the roof of the
subway is made up of concrete arches resting on
the flanges of the I beams of t he roof. The concrete masonry of the roof, foundat ions and sidewalls, contain a layer of waterproofing, so as to
prevent the percolation of water, and thus keep
the whole undergr ound road perfectly dry.
At places where the standard subway is replaced
by tunnels, these will be lined with concrete walls
and arches. As the roof of the tunnel under the
Harlem River will be rather close to the river bed
the tunnel will be built by means of cofferdams:
It will be lined with iron made up of segments
with radial and circumferential flanges. These
iron tubes will be embedded in concrete, and will
be flush with the river bed.
~he road wi~l ~rosa Manhatt:an Avenue Valley on
a viaduct cons1stmg of plate girder spans carried by
trestle bents at the ends, and by trestle towers at
the central position. The elevated line proper will
consist of plate-girder spans, supported on plate
cross-girders, carried by columns set at the curb
lines.
The plans and specifications of the New York
Subw~y, or, as it is popularly called, the Rapid
Trans1t, have b een prepared by Mr. William Barclay Parsons, member of the Institution of Civil
Engineers, as well as member of the American

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

Society of Civil Engineers, and chief engineer of

the Rapid Transit Commission.
The writer of this introductory article is greatly
indebted to Mr. Parsons for the courteous manner
in which he gave him all t he facilities n ecessary to
make a complete study of the New York monumental subway.
In accordance with the powers conferred by the
Legislature in 1894 on the Rapid Transit Cornmission, it was decided to call for contractors to
buil~fithe proposed rail way, and to operate it for a
spem ed period. The city agreed ~o p~y the s uecessfu~ cont ra?tor th~ amount of hts btd for con-
s~ruct~~n,. ~htle the ~~ tbrnd s~oul~ bay ~ r~ntal,
VIZ.,.
e 10 eres o~ e on s Issue
Y t e.City to
pro~I~le the required funds, together Wl~h . an
add1t10nal one per cent. per a.nnutn as a stnktng
fund.
By this arrangement the city secured the immedhte construction of a. means of rapid transportation without, however, burdening the t axpayers, as
the contractor agreed to pay the interest on the sum
invested. It was estimated that, at about the end
of 45 years, the net earnings of the line and the
accumulations of the sinking fund would be sufficient to return the principal, after which all the
rental would be net profit. It was also stipulated
that, on t he expiration of the lease, the city could
grant a new one, and doubtless on much more advantageous terms.
Contractors were accordingly invited to bid
either for the whole line, or only for portions of it;
and for this purpose the en t ire route was divided
up into four sections, which were distributed as
follows :
Section 1.- From City Hall to Elmstreet and
Fourth-avenue, and thence by way of 42nd.street
and Broad way to 59th-street.
S ection 2. - From 59th-street to 140th-street and
Broadway.
Section 3.-The East side-road, under 104thstreet and Central Pa;rk, and then along L enoxnvenue to 135th-street.
S ection 4. - The extension both of the east and
west line to their terminal stations.
On January 15, 1901, t he day appointed by the
Commission for opening the bids, only two were received-one from Mr. John B. McDonald and the
other from Mr. AndrewOnderdonk. Mr. McDonald's
proposal was to build Section 1 for 15,000,000 dols. ;
Sections 1 and 2 for 26,000,000 dols. ; Sections 1,
2, and 3 for 32,000,000 dols.; and the whole for
35,000,000 dols. Mr. Onderdonk offered to build
Section 1 for 17,000,000 dols. ; Sec~ions 1 and 2
for 28,000,000 dols.; Sections 1, 2, and 3 for
35,000,000 d ols.; and the whole line for 39,300,000
dols.
At a meeting held on January 16, the Commission awarded to Mr. McDonald the contract for
the construction and operation of the whole
Rapid Trans it line. On February 19 t he Rapid
Transit Subway Company was incorporated, with
Mr. August Belmont a.s president, and on the 24th
of the same month Mr. McDonald, the s uccessful
bidder, signed the contract.
The engineering staff of the Commission was
appointed as follows :
Mr. William Barclay Parsons, M. Am. Soc. C.E.,
Chief Engineer; Mr. George S . Rice, M. Am. Soc.
C .E., Deputy Chief Engineer ; Mr. Calvin W.
Hendrick, M. Am. Soc. C.E., Sewer Division ; Mr.
Albert Carr, M . Am. Soc. C.E., First Division;
Mr. Alfred Craven, M. Am. Soc. C.E., Second
Division .; Mr. Beverley R. Value, M. Am. Soc.
C E., Third Divi~ion ; Mr. Eugene Klapp, M. Am.
Soc. C.E., Fourth Division; Mr. St. John Clarke,
M. Am. Soc. C.E., Chief Draughtsman.
The first division of the line includes the loop at
the south terminal, and goes to 41st-street and Parkavenue. It comprises four sections. The second
division includes that portion of the line which lies
between 41st-street and Park-avenue on the one
hand, and 104th-street and 'Broadway on the other.
It comprises four sections. The t hird division
includes the east and west side lines of t he subway,
and contains six sections. The fourth and last
division comprises all the elevated structures, including the viaduct acr~ss Manhatta~-av~nue. It
is divided into three sectwns, each being m charge
of an assistant engineer.
The total work of the subway is estimated a.s
follows:
. . . 1, 700, 288 oub. yards
Earth to be excavated .. .
... 773,093 ,,
filled back .. .
,,
... 92L, 128 ,,
R ook to be e1xoava.ted . , ,

Rook to be tunnelled ...

... 368,60G cub. yards
Steel used in struobure3 ...
.. .
G5,044 tons
Cast-iron used .. .
...
...
7,901 ,.
Concrete used

... 489,122 cub. yards

~~~!r~~~~fl~g .:: ::: ::: 7}~:~~g sq. yards
Vault lights
...
...
...
6,640
,
L ooa.l stations, num ber of
...
43
Express otatlions . . .
...
. ..
5
Station elevators (lifts) ...
...
10
Track, total length

305.380 fb.
,
underground
...
.. . 245 514
,
elevated .. .
.. .
.. .
59; 766 ::
On March 24, 1901, Mayor Van Wyck dug the
first spadeful of earth in front of the City Hall,
thus solemnly ina ugurating the construction of the
subway. Actual work was begun a few days Jater
with the rearran<Yement of t he Bleekerstreet
sewers.
o
In ord er to be able to complete the work within
the specified time of 4! years, contractor McDonald
sublet the various sections to t he following subcontractors:
Section 1, from City Hall to Chambera-streeb, the
Degnan and MoLea.n Construction Company.
Section 2, from Chambers.streeb to Grea.t Jones-sbreeb
the Degnan and MoLean Construction Company.
'
Section 3, from Great J ones-street to 33rdstreet, Messre.
Holbrook, Cabot, and Da.y.
Seoticn 4, from 33rd-streeb to 41st-street, Mr. Ira
Shailer.
Section 5A, from 4ht-streeb to 47bh.street and Broadway, the Degnan and MoLean Construction Company.
Section 5n, from 47th-street to 6lst.street, Messr~.
N oughton a.nd Co.
Seonion 6A, from 6ls t-street to 82od-streeb, Mr. William
Bradley.
SeotJion 6B, from 82ild-streeb to 104bh-streeb, Mr. William
Bradley.
Section 7, Ess~ Side L inA, from 104?h-sbreet to llObh
street, Me~sx:s. Hopper and Farrell.
Section 8, Ea.~t Side Line, from llOth-sbreeb to !31ststreet, Messrs. Hopper and Farrell.
Section 9. Easb Side Line, from 13lst-streeb to !49thstreet and Westchester-avenue, Mr. J . C R ogers.
Section 10, Ea~t Side Line, from !49 th-street to t3rminus (elevated structure).
Section 11, from 104th.street to 125th-street, and
Broad way, Mr. J obn Shields.
Section 12. from 125oh-street to 133rd-streeb and Broadway (elevated structure).
Section 13, from 133rd .street to 18lst-sbreeb, Messrs.
L. B. MoCabe and Brother.
Section 14, from 18Lst1-street to Fort George, Messrs.
L. B. MoCabe and Brother.
Section 15, from Fort George to wesb termin~l (elevated
structure).
The s ub-contracts for the elevated structurehave been given to Mr. S. P. Roberts for t he
foundations ; to t he A m erican Bridge Company for
the materials, and to Messrs. Terry and rench for
the erection of the steel work. All the steel required
for the subway is being ,provided bY.. the Carnegie
Steel Works, Pittsburgh, Pa.; the cement by t he
United Building Material Company, and t he waterproofing by t he Sicilian Asphalt Company.
(To be continued.)
THE "BOREAS" AIR COMPRESSOR.
THE '' Boreas" air compressor exhibited at Glasgow
by Messrs. Lacy, Hulbert and Co , of 25, Victoriastreet, S. W., is of the two-stage type, an '' interoooler"
being provided on the base of the machine, through
which the air is passed on its way to the high-pressure
from the low-pressure cylinder. The heat generated
by the initial stage of compression is given up in the
"intercooler," and as a consequence the work to be
expended on the second and final compression is substantially diminished.
As our engravings on page 475 show, one cylinder
only is employed, the first stage of compression being
effdoted above the piston, and the second below it
in the annular space between the large trunk shown
and the cylinder wall. Both the cylinder and its
cover are wa.terjacketed. The main inlet valves,
which are placed in t he cover, have a very small clearance. They are all identical, and, being made of steal,
are very light, and thus work with little noise or wear.
The inter-cooler consists of a system of steel tubing
immersed in water, contained in a tank formed in
the base of the machine, and this tank also acts as ~
reservoir for the water circulated through the cylinder
jackets. The discharge valves for both sides of t he
piston, as well as the inlet valves for the lower side
of the same, are contained in boxes quite distinct from
the cylinder proper, and are r eadily accessible for
inspection and renewal. The crank is lubricated on
the splash system, being, as will be seen, completely
enclosed. Other working surfaces are kept oiled by
means of a system of forced lubrication, worked by
a small valveless pump, driven from one end of the
crankshaft, This draws oil from a well in the casing
through a filter, and delivers it tQ the differ~qt bear-

[OcT. 4, I 901.
ings. Suitable oil-catchers return the oil to the well
for use again.
The ma?hi.ne is fitted wi th ~utom.atic regulati ng
gear, consistmg of a "pneumat10 sw1 tch," adjus ted
~or any desired pressure, which, when this pressure
IS reached on the r 9ceiver, turns the air discharged
from below the piston back into the low.pressure
cylinder above it. 'f he air is then simply circulated through the machine, no work being done save
that necessary to overcome frictional r esistanoes.
~his plan l?ads t? very close regulation of the pressure
In the receiver, smoe but small differences of pressure
suffice to actuate the switch ; and, as the compressor
is . kept running, no time is lost in recharging the recetver when the pressure in it tends to fall.
OIL FUEL FOR GAS ENGINES.
'FHE gas engi~e and the oil engine are very near
akin, but there IS no doub t that the former enjoys the
be.t~e~ reputation. It. has outgrown its early ecoentrtmttes! and works with the regulSl.rity and smoothness wh10h befits adult age. The oil engine, on the
other hand, is still in its youth, and is apt at times
to indulge in freaks that are exceedingly trying to its
owner. It can work splendidly in the ba nds of tho~e
who thoroughly understand it, but, under any but the
most capa.ble managemenii, it often pro,res more
t han troublesome.
The difficulty generally lies in
the vaporiser. It must be hot enouah to convert
the oil into vapour at the r equired r at:, and not ho~
enough to "crack '' it, and the rate at which this is
to be done may vary from minute to minute. Considering the difficulty of the operation, it is wonderful how
successfully it is performed on the whole. It would,
however, be an advantage if it could be avoided, and
the engine fed with a vapour of constant composition,
just as is done in a gas engine. To do this, Mr. Bennett, of Messra. Moorwood, Sons, a.nd Co., Limited,
Harleston Iron Works. Sheffield, ha.s devised a vaporiser
which works at a much lower temperat ure than usual,
and contains a far larger quantity of oil. This oil is
kept at somewhere about 300 deg. Fahr.-that is, at
a temperature a t which it is ready to part with its
vapour, but at which the vapour needs some stimulation to make it come a.way in quantity. This stimulation is supplied by blowing air throt1gh the oil in
fine streams. The jets break up the oil, r elease the
vapour, and carry it forward. The combined air a.nd
\'a pour are then used .in a gas engine of ordinary
design, j ust as if they were town's gas, except that
they form one-fourth of the charge instead of about
one-tenth.
The analogy of this method of preparing the gaseous
fuel to that employed in the petrol or benzine motor
will strike everyone. Of course, benzine is used
cold, as it is a liquid capable of evaporating at
normal temperature~, but in other respects there
is a great likeness between the two procedures.
The great handiness of the petrol engine, as compared with the heavy oil engine, is experimental
evidence in favour of the contention that low-temperature vaporisation is preferable to that which demands almost a red heat. It is well known that great
efforts have been made to construct motor oars with
engines using heavy oil, and, so far, with very little
success, although the ad vantages to be gained would
justify large outlay in experment. The heavy oilt~e par.affin of .t~e. lamp shop-can. be obtained .at any
v1llage m the OIVIltsed world, and m ma.ny places that
are outside civilisation, while p etrol od.n only be bouoht
at a few places, and the supply at them is by no me~ns
certain. The power of an engine is als o much greater
with paraffin than with petrol, while the danger of
explosion is r educed to the vanishing point. If by
means of the Moorwood-Bennett carburetter it became
practicable to use heavy oil in a motor car, that
vehicle would enter into a new stage of its career.
On page 479 we give an engraving of a 3 horse'"
power Crossley gas engine fitted with a MoorwoodBennett vaporiser or carburetter. The latter is the
vertical oast-iron cylinder shown behind the engine.
At one side of it there is a ga.uge glass in which
the height of the oil can be seen. This height is kept
constant, a drop or two of oil being allowed to fall
into the carburetter each time the engine takes a
charge, the suction lifting a VS\lve and allowing this to
happen. The carburetter is jacketed, and through t.be
external envelope part of the exhaust gases are -passed
to provide the necessary heat for the oil. An airinlet pipe extends downward<J through the carburetter,
opening below the surface of the oil. while its upper
end has an adjustable opening. The airexit pipe
comes from the upper part of the carburetter, and is
connected to the cylinder of the engine, just as if it
were a gas pipe from the meter, or the anti.fiuctuation
bag.
Apart from small details, that completes the desorip
tion of the apparatus, which, it will be seen, is ex
ceedingly simple. Nevertheless, its effects are important. The engine in the engraving is, as we have
stated, of 3 horae-power nominal. It is in the enginehQuse a~ thQ Teohllical ~ghooll St. George's s'luare~

OcT. 4, rgox.]

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

Sheffield, where it is undergoing a series of tests at the

bands of Professor R ipper. These t est s are not yet
complete, but fr01n an interim report we take t he
following extract :
'~The oil val?oriser continues to work very sa.tisfactonly, nnd by 1ts u se we hM~e been able to obtain regularly from 20 to 40 per cent. more power out of the
eng!ne as an oil engine, than its ra ted power as a gas
engme.
" With regard to t he rate o.f oil consumption, this
9 brake horsepower gas engme, working as a 10.5
brake hor.se- po~er oil engine, has been using 0.53 pints
of Russo~me otl per . brake horse-power. This is t he
lowest 011 consumptton of any engine kn own to me
a nd it is 28 per cent. lower than that of th e best
eng ine at t he recent Cardiff Show."
From a second report we take the following :
".This system of generating oil vapour enables an
ordmary gas engine, without any alteration in construction, to be used su ccessfully
an oil engine.
'.' Tl~e system k ~eps the engine and valves free from
obJecttO!lable solid matt~r, which gh~es so much
trouble. m !Dany types ~f o1l en~ines.. The power produced ts htgher than w1th ordmary otl engines, whioh
means that a smaller engine with this system will do
the same work as a. larger engine with other systems. ''
All who know Professor Rtpper will be cer tain that
he had satisfied himself most fully before he wrote t he
above.
L_ast week we bad an opportunity of seeing the
en.gme at ~ork. .It wa.~ running at 250 revolutions per
nnnute, wtth alltts adjustments as received from t he
makers. It was worked at 8, 10, and 14! brake
horse-power, In the latter case the initial pressure
was 280 lb. p er square inch, which explains the large
power developed. The engine ran per fectly steadily,
and was s tarted without difficulty. This, however,
requires more t ime than with a gas engine, for the
carburetter has to be heated up for some 15 minutes
by a. blowing lamp. By the removal of t wo plugs in
the jacket of the carburetter, the flame of the lamp
can be sent r ound the vessel containing t he oil.
The q uestion naturally arises as to whether the oil
suffers a fractional distillation, the lighter particles
coming away first, a nd then the heavier. Probably
there is some action of t his kind, but it is r educed to
very small proportions by the system of feeding t he
oil in by drops. At the end of a day's run there is a
certain quantity of heavy oil left which can only be
vaporised by raising its temperature very considerably. its proportion to the amount used is very small,
and possibly it mig ht be found of special value as a.
cylinder-lubricating oil. Even if it has t o be thrown
away, the matter is of no importance, as it is reckoned
in the consumption given above. It is likely that this
residuum is the cause of some of the trouble found in
the ordinary oil engine, a nd that its removal is a distinct benefit.
The matter may be briefly summed up. The Moorwood-Bennett carburetter enables gas engines to
run with oil vapour at less expense than with town
gas, and more cheaply tha.u any exis ting oil eng ine.
It increases the power of an engine of a given size of
cylinder by 20 to 40 per cent. over what it will give
with lighting gas, and by still more if it be an ordinary
oil engine. The apparatus is very simple, and needs
little attention, so that it is ava ilable for use on a.
motor car or a. yaoht. At present the apparatus is
not in the market, but negotiat ions are in progress for
i ts introduction.

as

AND LOCAL RAILWAY

SER\TICES.
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-A practical experience of the difficulty of gabbing
from one wayside sbation on a. main line of railway to
another has suggested the following thoughts :
Is not too muoh prominence given to record runs and
the shortening of the bime between one terminus and
another ? For the whole-distance passengers this may be
an excellent arrangement, hub ib means that the line is of
hub little benefit to bhe ~reater parb of bhe country
through whioh it passes, the dwellers therein having no
opportunity of boarding bhe express trains that dash pasb
them. Suppose that, instead of running trains for 200
miles without a. stop. we were to oa.ll a. halb about every
40 miles: this would nob prolong the journey unduly,
and ib would give people living along the line a chance
of joining the express. No part of the line could then be
more than 20 miles from an express-stopping station ;
and, to render the arrangement complete, we should run
slow trains in both directions to meet the expresses, and
also see bha.t, whenever an express reached a stoppingplace, there should be a. looal train ready to sta~b off m
each direction, and oarry passengers a. few sta.taons forward or backward, as they might require. In this w_ay
the utility of an express train would be immensely mcreased wibhoob in any appreciable extent impairing its
efficiency as a. means of quickly traversing long distances.
Even thus, however, an express brain would nob be
available for use by a traveller wishing to proceed from a
station half-way between two of the stopping places to
the next similarly situated station, bub he would be
obliged to traverse the 40 miles entirely by slow train.
To remedy this we might arrange twQ sets of express

..

stopping station~, a and b, thus :

a b a

a b.

Some expresses being appointed bo call a.t all the a

stations, and others to call a.n all bhe b stations instead.
In this way no point of the line would be more than ten
miles from an express-stopping sba.tion, and yet no express
would be stopped more frequently bha.n before. We
should distribute our favoura in fact between double bbe
number of stations, to bhe great adYantage of residents on
the line.
The de~ign, in shorb, is to combin~ absolutely express
t~affio (wtt~ stoppages ev.ery fifty mmutes or so) with a
hberal serv10e of slow trams all along the line to act a~
feed ers of the expresses, and so develop a traffic, not only
from one terminus to another, hub from any wayside
station to any other, however disnant. This, ib fleems to
me, is the true function of a. rail way, and nob merely to
transport a Londoner from his overgrown oity to a. seaside
resorn on the other side of England.
I am, &o.,
AL~'RED

J.

Ar~L~:N.

L ondon Insbitu tion, Finsbury Circus, E. C.,

September 28, 1901.

In some de3troyers, after running in heavy weather, these

stays have been found damaged, and the steam pipes at
the fore end of the engine-room leaking- at the joints;
this shows bhab the stays and steam ptpes are affected
by the working of the vessel, and that they p robably take
a. \Vod share in stiffening her.
ith turbine engines these stays, if fitted, would be
much lower down, and would not affect the stiffness of
the upper parb of the engine-room.
No w if we suppose the Cobra supported on two waves,
and the weighb of engines, boilers, coal, and re~erve tank of
feed water to come between these two waves, we should
have a tendency for the ship to bend, the keel being in
tension and the upper deck in compression. Now, as
pointed out before, we have no stays high up to assist in
resisting this compression, and a.s ma.y be presumed from
previous ex perience, the deck and sides are nob strong
enough by themselves, u.nd therefore collapse. If the
Cobra bad had her store-rooms and maga:r.ines ab the fore
and after ends of the ship full of stores and ammuni tion,
they would have partially balanced this action. as they
might have been outside bhe two wave tops. Of course,
the boiler-rooms are stayed by means of the bunker bulk.
heads running fore and aft.
Y ours truly,
Gm PER.

GOODS-TRAIN LOADS.
To THE E DITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-The startling announcement has appeared in
laat week's daily press bhat the ships sent to explore the
site of the Cobra's wreok have failed to discover any
trace of a rook upon which she could have struck. Some
other oause must therefore be sought for her breaking
asunder amidships so suddenly and without warning.
May the suggestion be offered whether the explanation
may possibly be found in the supera.dded gyrosoopio
action of her twelve turbines themselves, rotating at so
high a spe~d a.s 1200 revolutions per minute in planes
transverse to bhe ship's length ? Being unable at present
to refer bo the full debails given in your vol. lxviii..
(pages 191, 221, and 256), I have recourse for bhe moment
to the statement in vol. lxix. (page 219) respecting the
turbines in bbe sister-ship, the Viper. Here the weight of
propellers, shafting, &c., is given as 7f tons, to which
apparently must be added the wei~hts of the twelve turbines. The photogrtl.ph of the Vtper in page 2l9 shows
her steaming in a. smooth sea, where gyroscopic action
would not come into play. Bub in a rough sea, eaoh
wave she breasts would throw a bending strain upon her
amid ~hips, alternately upwards and d ownwards ; as in
tAsting an axle under a falling weight, and reversing ib
between eaoh blow. To such alternate straining, aggravated by the gyroscopic resistance, must the Cobra have
been subjected by the heavy seas she encountered from
bhe moment of qu1tting the Tyne till she so suddenly broke
in two.
Would any of your many competent readers think it
worth while to investigate this suggestion ?-such as the
H on. Charles A. Parsons himself, or Mr. R. Edmund
Froude, Mr. J. Ma.ofarlane Gray, Mr. A. Malloch, Mr.
Beauchamp Tower, Mr. C. Humphrey Wmgfield, Mr.
THE IRISH CHANNEL TUNNEL.
Sydney Barnaby, or any of the college professors of engiTo THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
neering, who3e mathematics have not rusted like those of
I GNORAMUS.
m,-Mr. Grimsha.w writes to you on the Irish Ohannel
Tunnel, ca'lling atbention to the fact thab no estimate has
been made of the cosb of changing the Irish gaugeA M uNICIPAL MoTon.- The tramways committee of
5 ft. 3 in.- to the English and Sootch-4 fb. 8*- in: The
tunnel project does include laying a tihird rail.. from the the L eeds Oity Council has passed a resolution authorisju nc.~ion with the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway ing the Lord Mayor to order a motor for the use of the
into Belfast, so a~ to work the line into Belfast T erminust corporation staff ab a cost of 276l.
as a mixed gauge of 4 fb. 8~ in. and 5 ft. 3 in. This would
Ror.LING STOCK ON RAILWATS.-The expenditure
meeb the first requirements of the project, for, so far as
passengers are concerned, all must change carriages at made for additional working stook upon the principal
Belfast, there being, as yeb, no through pa.ssen~er service English, Welsh, Irish, and Scotch rail ways during the
across Belfast. But as to goods traffic, Belfast 1s to a very past half-year, and the aggregate expenditure made under
large extent a. distributing centre for the interior, and, I the Ea.me head to the close of June, 1901, were as follows:
am informed, increasingly so, so bhab ab firsb the amount
Comp~ny.
Half-Year. To June SO, 1901.
,
of transhipment would not be very large; hub whatever

Belfast Northern Counties ..

1,529
489,803
i b would be, would be easily arranged by a transfer
9,195
Caledonian
..
..
..
7,238,292
station ab bhe junction near Carriokfergus. I have
27,214
Glasgow South-Western
..
2,482,735
made three or four of these transfer stlations between
Great Central . .
..
..
64,880
5,612,746
3 fb. gauge and 5 ft. 3 in. gauge lines in Ireland, and
Great Eastern . .
..
. . 168,065
0,261,964
the ccsb of transhipment has been ascertained, and on an
Great Northern
..
..
83,351
7,359,020
Great Northern (Ireland) ..
average is found to be covered by 3d. per ton, and the
2l,M6
989,705
Great Southern and We3tern
cattle can be transferred across a transfer platform into
(Ireland)
..
..
..
31,014
1,196,638
onher wagons in a very simple and oheap manner.
Great Wes tern . .
..
. . 122 ,744
12,142,082
As soon as a good Awerican or Canadian through
Lancashire and Yorkshire . . 164,943
7,135,616
service is arranged, a third rail would be laid from or
Brighton ..
.
..
. . 103,905
3,295,013
over theNorthern Counties line to suoh station, or pori',
Ohatham ..
..
..
..
82
1,673,700
as may be selected ; and the cosb of this for a double
North Western ..
..
. . 160,645
10,781,593
South Western ..
..
..
67 ,09J
6 , 2~0,055
line of way would be approximately 900l. per mile, nob a
Tilbury . .
..
..
..
6,022
481,05!
very large amount in connection with so large a developMetropolitan . .
..
..
20,184
567,368
ment.
Metropolitan District .
..
nil
303,546
Further, third rails would be laid as found necessary
Midland . .
..
..
. . 289,444
1t',475,343
by the principal line~, and mixed gauge used, and thus
Midland Great Western
..
21,794
802,739
North British . .
..
. . 129,762
7,121,589
gradually, in the course of time, new wagons would be
North-Eastern ..
.
..
127,786
12,258,145
builb of English gauge, and t he gauge would be assimiNor th Staffordshire . .
..
'i, 161
960,9~7
lated without any great expenditure or loss of stook.
South -Eastern . .
..
..
77,181
3,243,860
Yours faithfully,
Tatf Vale
..
..
..
126
692,980
JAMBS BARTON.
\>Vi th regard to the new rolling-stock expenditure of the
E xchange Buildings, Dundalk, October 2, 1901.
L ondon, Chatham, and Dover and the South Eastern
it should be observed that these undertakings are no~
worked by a joint managing committee, and that this
THE LOSS OF THE "COBRA.."
committee expendfld 352,647l for additional working
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
Sm,-So many theories are being written about the stook dnring the first half-yeftr. Altogether, it would
fatal loss of t he Oobra, that it may be as well to look at appear that the 24 companies expended between them
the practical side of the question. The weakest part of 2,053,213l.. for the first hal~ of 1901, making their aggrethe hull of a destroyer is tha.b ab the top and sides of the gate workmg stook expendtture 114,238,005l. I t will be

seen that the fi~ures for the firsb half-year vary greatly
engme-room.
In des broyers with reciprocating engines, the engines being affected, of course, by the different oircumstances:
are stayed fore and aft as well as a.bhwarbships to bhe and also probably, to some extent, by the divergent
upp~r parts of the ens-ine-room, at the euds and sides. policies of the various companies,
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-I am pleased by your remarks on the criticisms
of the Statist, on page 456 of your laab issue, for although
E':l~lish rail way management may nob be perfeob, few
cnt10s take the trouble to understand what it is. The
principle of ' ' charging what the traffic will bear , for
mstance, is usually misunderstood to mean sq u~e~d ng
individual consigners.
From a shareholder's point of view. the principle
mi~h t, I . think, b~ stat~d n.s ohargin~ the lowest rates
wh10h ratlwa.y oap1tal w1ll bear. It 1s unders Dood that
dividends and fixed charges are not considered in making
rates. There is no traffic that '1/l,ust go ; even where rates
are not apparently competitive, the traffic is. lb is not
lavish capital outlay whioh causes a railway to oppress
the trader; bu~, as Professor Hadley says, the prospective
traffic and rabes are (or ought to be) takf:ln into account
before incurring fixed char~es.
What are called " oompet1tive rates," which are (or ought
to be) limited by operating expenses, ultimately rule the
rates from non-competitive points. All rates, therefore,
tend to be reduced to the poi nb of merely paying expenses.
Dub these expenses may be reduced by further outlays of
capitnJ, as seems to be the case in the North-W astern
improvements at Crewe. More traffic can then be taken
at lower rates.
Thus rates based on "what the traffic will bear " come
to be based on oosb of service, meaning operating expenses
only, and the process goes on unt il no more capital can
be got.
Yours obediently,
September 29, 1901.
W. M.

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II

[OcT. 4, 1901.

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

OcT. 4, 1901.]

CONTINUOUS WEIGHING MACHINE.

CON 'TRUCTED BY l\IESSR~.

~A~IUEL

DENI~ON

AND SON,

ENGINEER ', LEEDS.

FIG .

5.

..

synchronising of these movements-the grip.ping of t he

steelyard and the fall of the qu~drant-1s bro~ght
about by two cams carried by a hor1zonta:l shaft dr1ven
direct from the conveyor travel-mechamsm by means
of an upright shaft and a pair of mitre w~ee]s, aa
shown in Fig. 5 ; only one of the two cams IS seen.
The one cam operates tbe gripper, the other the
measuring quadrant. The meobauism of the latt~r is
shown in full Jines on Fig. 4, while the dotted hnes
refer to the gripper gear, in which A engages with
the roller B attached to the right angle lever C,
and pressed against the face of the cam by the
circular compression weight D; from the lo~er
part of C a rod is attached and connects w1th
the compression bar E . I t can readily be seen t~at
a depression on hhe cam A causes the compresston
bar to move inward by force of the weight D, and
to grip the steelyard at F. The meaE~uring quadrant
is operated by the cam G, which engages wi th the
roller H upon a second right-angled lever I pi voted
on the same centre as the lever C, and worked by a
weight J. This lever is similflrly attached by a rod to
t he measuring quadrant. Through the operation of
the cam and this series of levers there is a pulling
action on the quadrant which moves forward against
the steelyard according to the height which it may
have been raised by the load passing over the conveyor.
To minimise the blow of the quadrant on the steelyard, a counterweight is suspended to the measuring
quadrant .
The measuring quadrant is provided with ten pawls,
(Fig 4), which engage wi th a finely-divided ratchet
wheel firmly keyed to the spindle upon which the quadrant is loo~ely mounted. It will thus be seen that
when the quadrant falls forward, the p&wls slip over the
teeth of the ratchet wheel, and when the quadrant is
returned to its normal position the ratchet rotates
through an angle proportionate to the fall of the quadrant-otherwise proportionate to the load. A set of
ten pawls is also fitted to prevent a ny return motion
of the ratchet wheel. The motion of the ratchet is
transferred to a suitable counting mechanism. shown
in the engraving in front of the main pillar. The
whole of the gear is operated from the con,eyor .
The same general principle has been successfully
applied to a tram way-wt~ighi ng meuh-i.nism, as illasrrated by F igs. 1 to 3 and Fig 6. Iu this case the
movements necessary are produced by a cam upon a.
rocking shaft worked by a tappet on the tram way
wagon ~.s it passes over the machine. The ca.m is
hown at A. As the t a ppet travels it firs t operates
the gripping mechaniAm. 1'his latter consists of a ri ght~n~le lever, having the horizont .. l arm we gh ed
at J for the rf'turn s ro ~- e, and the upright part E>nding
with a cam f~ c e engagi11g with tha roller C. As r he
oparat ing cam is pu~hed back by the wagou, the ro11er C
f<i>lls, thus npping the lever by me 'ne of the jaw D,
to which tt is attached by the link E (F g 3). As the
wagon proceeds the tappet engage~ wi th a. further
projection upon the operating cam, pushing it still
furth t:' r back. This causes the pulley upon the uprightarm F to pre s endw1se the shaft G, to the further
E> nd of which the measurmg quadrant is conoecrt-d.
T he conu .. ction is by meaus of a liuk having an oblong
slot, . so that the m.-asuring quadrant i. f, ee to fH-11
forward agait.st the Ptt:lelyard, carrying with tt a series
of pawls acriog in . the samd w...y as in tbe couveyor
machine already described. U tJOn the return ~troke
the amount of the load is exhib1ted uplO the di ...) H
and on t he numer1cal counter I . The d1al a11d counter
are in an inclined position for faci lity i.n reading. Tbe
return stroke of the shaft G is obtained by means of
the weight J, and its motion is further controlled
by the air buffer K. We have seen both machines in
operation, and they worked very smoothly.

Fw. 6.

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.

\VE illustrate on the present and opposite pages two

forms of the Blake-Denison continuous weigher as
manufactured by l\Iessrs. Samuel Denison a nd Son,
HunsletFoundry , Leeds: the one specially adapted for
automatically weighing material carried by conveyors,
picking-bands, &c., without interfering with the t ravel
of the band, while t he other illustrates the same principle applied to a t ramway. The weighing of m11-terial
passing over band conveyors has usually involved the
tipping of the coal or grain into a weighhopper and
back again to the travelling band or t rough, with
the result that the amount of breakage or dust
has been increased; while at the same time greater
headway was required. \Yi t h the Blake - Denison
system the band trave]s over a roller substituted
for one of t he ordinary kind, the pitch being
uniform with that of all the otherR, but it is attached
to the weighing machine, the mechanism of which
automatically records the weight carried by this
special roller as often as the band conveyor traveJs a
distance equal to the pitch of the rollers. Thus, if the
rollers are 6 ft. apart, the operation of weighing occurs
at 6-ft. intervals of the band. The roller is carried on
the lower frame suspended by a rod from one end of

the steelyard, which is constructed so as to rise perpend icuJarJy to the load; a gripping device is fitted at
the free end of the steelyard to hold it for an instant
st ationary, while a measuring cam ascer tains and
records the position of t he steelyard when so held.
I n t he case of a conveyor for very heavy material,
such as ore, t he makers have arranged a sy tem of
levers, contained in a box below the fulcrum of the
steelyard, to reduce the weight coming upon the
knife-edge of the steeJyard itself. The resistance to
the load in this case is provided by a plunger work ing
in a bath of mercury in a cylindrical vessel, which is
clearly shown attached to the steelyard on the general
view of the machine (Fig. 1). The same object may
be attained by the use of a spring or by other means ;
but with the spring there is a possibility of the steelyard oscilJat ing, whereas the mercury bath insures
steady movement.
The measuring device is really t he most interesting,
as it is the most ingenious part of the machine, and
it is illustrated in detail by Fig. 4. It consists
of a section of a quad rant ro fiLted that it is free to
fall against the lower edge of the st0lyard immediately after the steelyard has been gripped. The

September 25.
TnE striking mills are now for the most part
running. The t inplate workers are demanding Qertain
con cessions, and in case of refusal declare they will
strike. Among recently-announced improyements are
a JarO'e addition to t he American bridge works near
Pittsburgh, a large machinery plant at Braddocks, a
200,000 dole. galvanising plant at S haron, P a., and an
extensive addition to the works of t he haron Steel
Company at that place. Other extensions, heretofore
noted, are being hastened wi t h all possible expedition,
in view of the extraordinary demand in sight. The
copper companies are affect ed by the failure of the
Amalgamated Copper Company to declare an extra
dividend. The earnings of t he five great copper corn.
panies controlled by the AmaJgamated are no more
than to pay 8 per cent. on 155,000,000 dots. capita1isa
tion. Rumours prevail of a drop. The European demand having fallen off, over-production is beginning
to be apparent. The only course left open to main
tain price at 17 c.ents is to reduce production.
As to market condi tione, the de\relopments of the
past few days all point to a large business during the
coming months in the way of covering demands
PntLADEl.PHIA,

 N C I N E E R I N G.
for the coming y ear. L arge consumers are seeking
to arrive at conclusion s as t o t he incr ease of production d uring t he fi rst half of next year, from the
n ew plan ts now under construction. The unknowable fact or in the problem is the magnit ude of
t~e inco~in~ r equirements.
Apparently, t hey are
Wi thout hm1t. For the present, users of iron and
st eel feel t hey ar e running no risk in ordering a fe w
m ont hs ahead. But the fact is recognised that prices
of some s teel prod ucts are on an artificial basisp articula rly as to B cssemer pig, billets, and r ails.
The answer , is that the combinat ions can cont rol
prices. T h is view is not accepted everywher e. Those
who cont rol t heir or e supply (and all do ) would not
l~se money at half the ruling price for ra ils. B ut in
Vlew of the present and prospective demand, the
question of lower pr ices can be indefinitely postpon ed.
Railma king capacity will be considerably enlarged.
R ailr oad managers in the W est have not altogether
r elinq uished the idea of get t ing mills of t heir own.
T he E usley -Alabama mill will m ake rails in D ecember. . The Color ado mill is to be enlar ged , but its
~oc1.tt o n f_or bds cheap ores. ~here will be q ui te an
Increase 1n op -1n-h~ar r..h capaet ty in the coming year.
PJg iron is very strong in a ll markets. Many furnaces
a re sold to December 31.

THE REDHEUGH BRIDGE, NEWCASTLEON-TYNE.

ON our two- page plate t his week we i llustrate some
of the details of t he ne w bridge r ecent ly er ected over
t he T yne by Sir William Arrol and Co. , of Glasgow,
to t he designs of Messr s . Sandeman and Moncrieff,
1vi.M.I. C. E. , of N ewcastle- on-T yne. The br idge r eplaces a structure erect ed some years ago, mainly
wi th t he object of connecting t he gas and water
mains on the south of t he river with t hose on
the north. Traffic has, h owever, incr eased so
much of late that bet ter accommodation was required,
a.nd hence t.he ne w structure was decided on. In our
issue of 1\iay 10 last we illustr ated the new bridge as
it approached completion, and we purpose in fu t ure
issues t o illusr.r ate fu rther deta ils of t he metal work
and masonry, and sha ll ther efore reser ve a complete
d escript ion of t he structure t ill t hese are availa ble.
I r, will be sufficient in t he meantime to state t hat the
bridge consists of t wo channel spans of 252 f t. each,
two shore spans of 170 ft. each , its total length, including approaches, being 1190 ft . The carriage-way
is 20 ft . wide, and t here are t wo 7 ft . sidewalks.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, W ednesday.
Glasgow Plg-Iron Market.-Tbe pig-iron wa.rrantmarkeb
was flat and idle on Thursday forenoon, when aboutl 5000
tons were dealt! in ab lower prices. D ealing, as on some
previous days, was confined to Cleveland iron, which
closed 4d per ton do wn ab 45s. ld. per boo cash buyers.
Scotch warrants were quoted 1d. per ton down a n53s. lld.
per ton cash buyers, and Cleveland hematite iron was
quoted unchanged a.b 60o. per ton cash sellers. Only 5000
to 6000 tons were done in t he afternoon, the market!
closmg weak. Scotch warrants, which were again
undPalt in, were q uoted 3d. per ton down on the day
at 53~. 11d. cash buyers. Cleveland closed 4~d. p er
t on down on the day a b 453. O~d . cash buyers, and
Cumber land hematite iron fimsbed 4id. d0wn .ab 59d. 7~d.
per ton one monnh. T he settlemen t prices were as
follow : S cotch, 54s. ; CLeveland, 45s. l i d. ; hematite
iron, 59-:J. 9d. per ton. The warrant mark~b was rather
fir mer in tone on F riday forenoon in sym pathy
with the recovery than had been made in copper,
the weakness of which had previously accounted for
t he fall. About 6000 tons changed hands, and Scotch
made l id. and Cl~veland 2id. Scotch was sold at
53~. l~d. for the end of t he year, with sellers afterwards ao 53~. per ton. In the afoernoon pig iron was
steR.dy atl near the previous prices. The sales amounted
to 2500 tons, incluri 1ng 1000 of Cleveland atJ 45s. O!d. the
end of the year, and 44s. l O!d. for the middle of J anuary.
T he closing settlemen o priCes were : 54s., 45s. 2!d., and
59o. 8~d. T he market was quiet in the forenoon on
M onday, when about 8000 tons were dealt i n. W hile
Sc~>tch warrants WAre l d. per ton easier at 53.:J. 11d. per
ton C'l.Sh sellers, Cleveland was 1d. per ton better &tJ
45s. 2!d. per ton cash, wi th buyers over. Only some 3000
tons were done in nhe afternoon. Scotch warrants, which
were nob dea.l bin, were quoted ab Frtday's closing prices54:i. per ton cash sellers. Cleveland leftl off l id. per ton
up on t he day at 45s. 3d. per ton cash, with saller3 over.
Cumberland hemanite iron finished ld. per ton up on
the day at 59s. 9id. per ton cash sellers. T he settlement prices were : 53s. lO~d. , 45s. 3d., and 59~. ?~d.
p er ton. B usiness was very slack on the ptg-u on
m arket on Tuesday forenoon, when not more than
1000 tons chang-ed hands. Prices, however, were
firm Scotch maktng ~d. and Cleveland l d. per ton. Only
oth~r 1500 t ons were dealt in ab the afternoon session,
but prices were firm, Scotch gaining 3d. per ton on the day,
and Cleveland ld. per ton. At the close the set tlement
prices were : 543. , ~53. 4ld., and 593. 9d. per ton. Some
4000 t ons of pig iron oban~ed hands ao the forenoon
market to-day. Scotch lost l i d. per ton, Cleveland was
unchanged, and hematite iron was firmer. At th_e afternoon session abou t 3000 bona were dealt . m, and
prioes remained steady. ~rhe settlement pr1oe~ were

[OcT. 4, 1901.

64s., 45s. 4!d., and 59a. lOi d. per ton. The fol- thence over wide areas. The advantage to be derived from
lowing are t he quotations for No. 1 makers, iron: electrical transmission lay in the fact that the power
Clyde, 66s. 6d. per ton; Gartsherrie and Calder, 67s. ; could be applied at any speed, and transmitted with the
Langloan, 69.s. 6d.; S ummerlee, 71s.; Col bness, 78.s. per greatest convenience to points distant from its sourc.e.
t on.-all the foregoing shipped ~t Glasgow; Glengarnock .On the subject of tool-making, he said that our tool(shipped ab Ardrossa.n), 66s. ; Shotts (shipped at L eith), makers were showing a tendency to follow American
70s.; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth), 69s. 6d. per methods, and he declared that there was no reason why
ton. There has been rather less business doing during we should lose the lead in mechanical engineering.
the past week with . home consumers, but the demand
Co-operative Coal-Mitning.- On Tuesday, delegates from
cont.muea. go?~ agamso current .contracts, although societies constituting the North-Western section of the
fore1g!l mqut~Ies are very restriCted. Th~ latest Co-operative U nion unanimously approved of a. scheme
Amencan ad v10es are stronger for early reqUirements, to purcha~e for 80,000t. an estate of 2045 acres near
but as regards the future confidence .s not s~ pro- Donca.ster, in order to sink a colliery, and to work it on
nou~ced. The ~um~er of furnaces m blast IS 83, behalf of the co-operative societies. The matter will be
agamsb 80 at thts ttme l~st year. Y esterday after- brought before the wholesale society for confirmation.
noon the amount of stock m Messrs. Connal and Co.'s
p~blic warrant stores stood at 58,311 tons, as compared
M r . 0: B. McL aren, M.P., on. A merican Oompeti~ion.
w1th 58,321 tons yesterday week, thus showing a reduc- - Speak10g at the annual meet10g of the Sheepbr1dge
tion for the past week amounting to 10 tons.
Coal and Iron Company on Monday, Mr. C. B. McLaren,
. .
. . .
.
M.P., said that his opinion was that the day would come
Fvntshe<l Ir9n and Steel.-The followiDg mttmatton has when the Americans would have to settle the differences
been commumcated ~Y Mr. John M. Mac;Leo~, . C.A., to between capital and labour, as had been done in this
Me;ssrs. J ames C.. Btshop and John Cronm, JOmt se~~e- country during the past generation. When labour was
t~nes of the ~cont~sh M anufact?,red Iron Trade Con~1ha- better organised in the u nited States, the Americans
tton and ..A;rbitlrat1on Board: , In terms of the remtb, I would nob find it s0 easy to send iron and steel over to
have exammed ~e employers books for J.uly an~ A~gust, this country. Up to the present the competition had not
1901, and I certtfy ~hat the average reahs~,d net. pr1ce at affected the iron trade very largely, hub itJ had been useful
works bro':lght out l S 6l. 3s. 2.57d. per ton. Thl~ m~ans in calling the attention of ironworkers to American
no change m the wages of t~e wor~men. H ema.tite uon methods. They (the Sheepbridge Company) bad nob
warrants have been d~alb m du~mg the week ab from been behind any concern in this country in taking ideas
59:1. 9d. to 59s. 7i d. , w_hllst makers. brands va:ry from 60s. from the u nited States. Their new pipe plant was not
to 61s. per ~on, accordmg to t~e ttme of dehvery. Both only superior to a:nything i~ this country, but there was
E ast Coast; and Scotch are m goo~ demand, and are only one as good 10 the U m ted States. The new blastquoted_ at 60s. to 63s: 6d . . pe~ ton delivered at the steel furnace was a most beautiful piece of mechanical ingeworks m the respective dlStncts.
nuity, and there was nob another furnace of the kind in
Clyde ShipbwilcUng T rade : La111nches dur ing Septe'flt- E ngland, or, perhaps, in Europe.
ber .- During the month which ended on Monday there
I ron and Steel.-The improvement in the iron and steel
were 17 vessels l~unched on the Clyde,_ of a total of trades of the district is sustained, the recent ad vances
~0, 910 tons, as a.g~mst 16 vessels, aggregatmg 27,000 tons, having had little, if any, effect in checking ordera.
m tJhe cor.resp~n~mg month of last year. . S_ome of the Makers are by no mea.ns anxious to sell largely for forC_lyde shtpbmldmg ~rms are rath~r unwtlling to. fur- ward delivery, believing that a further and early advance
msh the facts regardmg vessels _wh~ch they are behaved will be attainable. The output of material has been
to have oontracbed for, ~ut 1t 1s known that the largely increased during the past month, and all round
new work contracted for d urmg the past month amounted the outlook is more satisfactory than it has been for a
to about 35,000 tons. The new _contracts are spread considerable period.
.
.
all over the Clyde, and the btggest vessel IS one
Sou th Y o1kshvre Coal Tnuu-T here 1s no change to be
of 8000 tons to be built by Messrs R obert D uncan and
Co., P or t Glasgow, for home own~ra. H ere arA some of recorda~ in connection "!ibh the ~oal trade of the distric~.
the vessels launched: The S birala, 5500 tons, built by Many J?Its are ~ow rnnmng full t1m~, and the. averag~ IS
Messrs. A . and J. Inglis, Pointhouse, Glasgow, for the ~bout five day~ .work a week. Busmess contmues br.Isk
British-India S team Navigation Company; the Baron 10 house quahttes. The first-grade sorbs are mOVl!lg
BaHour, builtl for Mr. H ugh H agarth, Glasgow, by aw:a.y very freely, London and the Eastern Coun ttes
Messrs. A. R odger and Co. , P ort Glasgow ; the Corfe bemg large customers for these classes of coal. Secondary
Castle and the A lnwick Castle, builo respectively by sorts do nob fin~ sue? a ready market . A; general advance
Messrs. Barclay. Curie, and Co., and by Messrs. W m. has been mad.e m pnces for softs, averagmg about l a. per
Beard more and Co., for the U nion-Castle Line of Son oh ton. Best Stlkstones make from 13s. 6d. to 14.s. 6d. per
African steamers, both 4600 tons ; t he Hansang, 2350 ton, a~d Barnsley_ ho~se U s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. _per t?n
tons, built for the Indo-China Steam Navigation Com- There IS no ~ltera~10n ~n the demand. for hards, m. wh10h
pany, by the L ondon and Glasgow Shipbuilding and a steady busmess ts bemg_ done. Rallway compames an.d
E ngineering Company the I ndrasamba 6500 tonS~ built manufacturers are drawmg full supphes under theu
by JYiessrs Connell ar{d Co. , Scotstow~, for Mr.' T. B. contracts . . Small coal ~s in po~r demand, and stocks are
Rayden, Liverpool ; the L athin_gton, 3800 tons, built for accumulatt~g ab the_p1ts. P~10es ar~ weak. The coke
Mr. Kay, Belfast, by Messrs. R obert Dun can and Co., trade remams. unchanged, busmess bemg s teady.
P ort Glasgow. Already the total launches of the nine
months amount to 161, and aggregate 357,387 tons, larger
than any total for t he whole year.
NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE
Opening of St. Fillans .Rail1..uay.- On Tuesday, Octo
NORTHERN COUNTIES.
her 1, t he first section of the Lochearnhead and Comsie
MrDDLESBROUGH, W ednesda.y,
R ailway-which extends from Comsie to St. Fillans, a
The Oltvelana I ron T rade.- Yesterday t here was a.
dtstance of six miles-was opened for all classes of pretty numerous attendance on 'Change, t he market wa~
traffic. For the present, three trains are to run each way rather strong and a fair business was recorded. Pig iron
per day. The work on the second section of the line, buyers were a good deal in evidence, and some l'ather large
from St. F illans to L ochearnhead, is already started, sales occurred. No. 3 g. m. b. Cleveland pig iron wa5
Mr. J ohn P aton and Co., contractors, GlaS~gow, who hold 45s. 6d. for prompt f. o.b. delivery. At the opening of
the contract for the first! section, being again the con- the market buyers hesitated to pay that price. and as a
tractors.
matter of facb purch~es were made at 45s. 4id., but
T he N ew L ight Railway to Leadhills.-This railway towards the close 45s. 6d. became the genera,! quotation,
was opened on Tuesday. T his line is of considerable and business was done at that figure. The lower qualities
local importance, for hitherto t he district has been cut off were very firm in price and were scarce, especially grey
from all railway connections. I t is about six miJes in forge, of which there was said to be practically none obtain.
length, and bye and bye it will be extended to W enlock- able for early delivery. No. 4 found ry was raised to
head, about three miles fur bher. L eadhills is said to be 44s. 6d. ; grey forge, to 44s. ; mottled, to 43s. 6d. ; and
the highest inhabited villa~e in Scotland. Ib enjoys a whi te, to 43s. East Coast hematite pig was a good deal
very pure atmosphere, betng exceptionally pure and inq uired after, but makers having recently sold their
bracing. The speed of the brains is nob to exceed 20 output for a month to six weeks ahead, and t here being
miles per hour, and the drivers have been instructed to no stook, there was no iron available for sale, and constop at a moment's notice when approaching the level sequen nly no business was tran'Bacted. The demand was

for early delivery. P roducers quoted 60s. for Nos. 1, 2,

crossmgs.
and 3 delivered over the month of November, and that
was the only offer they were S\ble to make. There was a
good deal of g rumbhng about t he scarcity of hematite
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.
u on, and buyers who have failed to make their contracts
SHEFFIELD, Wednesday.
not now likely to geb their wants satisfied. Spanish
Sheepb1idge Coal OI1Ul Iron Cc., 111,p any.-A dividend of are
ore was steady, and in fair request at aboub 15s. 9d.
20 per ceno. was declared at the annual meeting of the ex-ship
Tees for rubio. To-day quotations were un
above company, held at Sheffield on Monday. The
chairman (Mr. F rederick Fowler) remarked that the altered.
Manujactu1ed bon and Steel.- During th~ week little
output of coal was slightly less t han in t~e. prec~ding year,
mainly because the colh ers, when recetvmg h1gh wages, new ha.s occurred in the manufactured iron and steel
would play on SatUidays and Mondays. The p~ice of trades. In most branches a. good deal of work is being
coal had fallen on t he average 5s. per ton, and It was turned out and q uotations are well upheld. P roducers
ant icipated that the tax on coal would be felt chiefly_on have fairly good contracts on hand, and they are not
secondary q ualities. Just now trade wa~ rather steadter, necessitated to press bheir articles on the market. In one
or t wo departments a rather better inquiry is reported.
and prices were slightly better.
Reclucti on in JiJTaqes.-Mr. W aterhouse, in his reporb to
L eeds Association of Enginee'ls.- Ab the opening meeting of t he winter session in connection with this Society, t he Boatd of Conciliation and Arbitration for llhe Manuthe president (Mr. G. W. Blackburn, M.I.M.E .) gave factured Iron and Steel T rade of the North of E ngland,
an interesting address. Alluding to the developm~nt of states t hat in accordance with the sliding scale arrange
electricity he said steam power would, he t hought, m the menb there will be a reduction of 6d. per ton on P.uddling,
near fu ture, be generally repl_aced by large interns.~ cC?m and 5 per cent. on all other forge and mill wages,
busbion motors in the neighbourhood of colher1es, to take place from the 30th ulb. The average net
where a lower class of fuel could be used without coat selling prtoe per ton on manufactured iron has fallen
uf oarriagc, ur vo war gas migh b be cliuttiuuted fro m 6J. 8d. during July and Auguab. This is the third

E N G I N g E R t N G.

OcT. 4, 1901.]
r~du ction t his y ear, wages having fallen 17~ per cent.
~mce J anuary. 'rhe only encouraging feature is an

MI CELLANEA.
A SHORT speciu.l course of lectures on Insulation and
Insulating Materials is aboub to be delivered by Mr.
Mervyn O'Gorman, J\II. I. .fi~ E ., n.t the T echnical Col'lege,
Finsbury, on Thursday e venings. The fi rst! of the six
lectures will be given on October lOth.

m crease of some 500 tons in t he sales, as compared wi bh

the.preced.i ng two mon t hs .. The sales and average net
selhng pr1ces per ton d unng the two mon t hs ending
August 31 were : Rails, 154 tons, 5l. 19~. 5. 76d.; plates,
4254 ton~. 7l. 3:~. 8. 33d.; bara. 10,337 tons, Gt. 6~. 8.93d.;
angles, 1396 tons, 6l. 9a. 1. () td.
I ron and Steel Shipm,ents.- Pig-iron shipmen ts for
epteD?ber are disappointing, and are, in fact, with the
exceptiOn of those for the same month last year, the
worst September olearanoes since 1894. For t he month
just ended they totalled 83,211 tons, against 73 872 tons
for the previous month, and 81, 482 tons for S eptember,
1900. Scotland was the biggest customer takin~ 28 895
to~s ou t of a total coastwise clearance ~f 39.722 t~ns.
Sh1pments to foreig n p orts amounted to 43 496 tons
of which Germany took 14.144 t ons ; Italy 9147 tons;
and H olland, 6811 tons. I t will thus b; seen that
the q.erman trade ha-s fallen away very greatly. At
one b1 me a very large proportion of the pig iron made
here wa.s sent to Germany. Manufactured iron shipments
for Sep tember amounted to 11,174 tons, against 18, 100
tons for August, and 15,894 for September a year ago.
S teel clearances reached 16,052 tons last month. against
15,875 tons for th e previous month, and 14,163 tons
fo~ t he corregponding period a year ago.
The lar~est
shipments of manufactured iron last month (1370
t ons) was to Egypt; and India was the best customer for
steel, t aking 3167 tons; Russia. coming second, with 2128
tons.
Coal and Ooke.-Coal is steady. Unscreened Durham
bunkers are q uoted lls. to lle\. 3d. f.o.b., and best Durham gas 123. to 123. 6d. f.o.b. The demand for coke
continlles good, and the supply is hardly suffi cient to
meet the requirement:~. Medium blasb. furnace qn9.lities
have been ad vanoed to 163. 6d. delive red here.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

Oard~tt:-S team

coal prices have been well maintained.

There are even indications of the market hardening
during the present month. The best steam coal has made
17s. 6d. to 18s. per ton, while secondary q ualities have
brough t 16s. 9d. to 17s. per ton. The demand for househ old coal has been good; No. 3 Rhondda large has made
16s. to 16~. 3d. per ton. Coke has maintained former
rates, foundry q ualities making 193. to 203. per ton, and
furnace ditto 16s. 6d. to 17s. 6d. per ton. As regards
iron ore, the best rubio has brought 14s. 3d. to 14s. 6d.
p er ton, while tafna has realised 15s. to 15s. 6d. per ton.
W elsh Coal for Egypt.- A contract for 110,000 tons of
large steam coal for the Egypt ian Go vernment railways
has been closed at N ewport at 12s. 2d. per ton free on

board.
T he South Wales Steel Trade.-A meeting of the iron
and steel workers, mechanics, and others sliding-scale
committee for South Wales and Monmouthshire, was
held atAbergavenny, on Tuesday, to receive the auditors'
award of the average price of rails ~nd bars for the three
months ending August 31, 1900; the result being that
wa ges will be reduced 7 per cen t. as from October 1.
W elsh Coal f or Italy .- M essrs. Pyman, Watson, and
Co., have secured an Italian Navy order for 50,000 tons
of best Cardiff steam coal. The cost price, including
freight, is 32s. 2d. p er ton net ; and, according to the
ter~s of the c_ontract,. d elivery is to b~ ~ade ab 24
Ape01fied ports m certam arranged quantitieS over the
last quarte~ of.the presenb year. After deducting f~eighb
and other 10c1dental charges, the free-on-board prtce of
the coal contracted for works out ab something like 17s.
per ton.
OcvrcU.ff Tramway s.- The Tramway Committee of the
Cardiff T own Council passed on :H'riday a resolution
asking the council to infor m th~ tramways company that
unless the offer to purchase the hnes at 40,000l . is accepted
by October 21, the offer would be wit~dra~n, and arbitration resorted to. At the same ~eetmg, 1t was stated
t hat work ab the new power sta.t10n would nob be complated until three mo?ths after the date anticipated,
viz., the end of March, mstead of the end of December.
Sewage Disposal.- The T redegar D istrict Council has
received a repor~ from MessrR. Beesley, Son, and Nicholls
upon a scheme of se werage and eewage disposal. Pro.
vision is to be made in the sewers for at least three times
the present population of 18,000. Two methods of purification are dealt with in the reporb, viz., singlecontacb
bacteria beds, and the double.contacb system. The sewers
will be laid a.t such a depth as will allow of cella r floors
being drained. The Sirbowy and the Nantymelyn Brook
will be used for flushing purposes. The works comprise
about 10~ miles of sewers. The engineers recommend
that an area of 25 acres s hould be secured for the reception of the sewage. The eng ineE.'l'B consider that either
the septic or double contact of bacterial treatment would
be applicable to the district. The estimate of the septic
tank system, after allowing 5 per cen t. for contingencies,
is 33,943l. ; and of the doublecontaob system 33. OOll.
Ex-eter Raittoay .- After some delay in construchon,
the Exeter Railway is at length approaching completion.
Although less th an nine miles in length, the line will form
a n important addition to the railways of th e disbricb,
since it wiJI link the Great Western system a b E xeter
with the T eign Valley R ailway near Ashton, and thereby
bring the valley of the Teisn into direct communication
with Exeter, shorten the dtstance between Moretonhampetea.d Q.nd Exeter by eight miles, and in conjunction with
the Teign V alley Railway provide a second line between
Exeter and Newton Abbot. The contracbors-Messrs. J.
and J. Dickson, ofLondon-a.re pushing on the work with
vigour. Mr. F. Bluetb is the engineer cono~rned.

The first submarine b oat for the British N a vy was

successfully launched on W ednesday, t he 2od inst., from
the yard of Messrs. Vickers, Sons, and Maxim. Limited,
ab Ba.rrow-in-Furness, in the presence of a. di8tin~uisbed
company. The boab was illustrated and d escnbed in
E NGINEERING, vol. lxxi., page 395.
The traffic receipts for the week ending September 22
on 33 of the principal lines of the U nited Kingdom
amounted to 2,047,785t., which wa~ earnf'd on 20,15:ij
miles. For t~e corresponding week in 1900 t~e receip r.s
of. the same hnes amounted to .2.036,294t., wtth 1~, 886~
mtle~ open. Th~re was thus. a~ l!lcrease ~f 11,49ll. m the
recetpts, and an 1ncrease of 267~ m the mtleage.
A report drawn up by two eng-ineers appointed to
examine into the stability of the Brooklyn Suspension
Bridgf', after the recent accident, states that important
repairs are urgently needed, as the presen t margin of
safety appears very small. This state of affd.irs seems
to have been brought about by deterioration and overloading. The full report has nob ye b been published, as
the authorities desire to have furtlher expert opinion on
the matter.
A large plant for the production of ferro.chrome by
means of the elect ric furnace has been erected at the
F alls of G reat Kanawha, near Charle3ton, by the Willson
Aluminium Comp!lny. The present plant is capable of
producing 3000 electrical horse-power, but the water available will suffice to more than double this output should
the necessity arise. The ferrochrome is produced from
ores imported from Asia Minor. The output of the work-.
is at present all taken by the Carnegie and Bethlehem
Steel Companies for armour-plate manufacture.
The Railroad Gazette states that steel castings a re now
being used for the bar frameq of the heavy locomotives
now coming into use in the United States. For lighter
engine~ the welded wrought iron frame is still employed,
as ltl is cheaper than a steel casting, and the welds being
comparatively light, can be readily and thoroughly made.
At the B ald win Locomotive Works the pre~ent practice
is to use sbeel casting-s for all frames for engines having
cylinders 20 in. in diameter or more. F rom January 1 to
Aug.usn 3 lla~t this firm turned out 336 engines winh steel
castmgs for frames.
A smart piece of work was accomplished on board the
steamship 'rita.ni a, belonging to Messrs. C. Howard and
Sons, L ondon, during her voyage from Cape Town to
Monte Video. When 19 days out she lost her propeller,
and was helpless in a somewhat unfrequented track of
the Atlan tic. She carr ied a spare propeller, and an effort
was at once made to fix ib. By ballasting forward the
stern was raised oub of the water, and after nine hours'
work th e new propeller was gob into position. The v~sel
arrived ab M onte Video without further mishap, nnd it
was found that the work had be~n done so satisfactorily
t~at she w&s able to proceed w1th a ca.~go to a Contme~tal port, and thence to Barry w1thout further
repaus.
Official intimation has just reached Mr. Edwin 0 . Sacha,
chairman of the British Fire Prevention Committee that
a large eilver portrait medal accorded by her Majesty the
German Empress in connection wibh the Fire Cong'l'ees
of June last, ha; been presented to the executive of the
committee as a mark of appreciation for the services
rendered by. that body in the demons~ration of ~cientific
and economic aspeobs of fire protection. It wtll be re!Dembered tha~ a deputation of ~be committee, ?Omprismg Mr. Edwm 0 . Sachs (cbauman), M r. E lhs Mars,
Mr. F. R . F arrow, and M~. C. E .. ~oa.d, ac?om.p anied
by the secretary and ~ngmeer, v1s1te~ . Berhn m .the
summer, and that an 1mport a.nb exh1b1t of techntcal
mod els. ~nd photogra~h~ . wa.s lo~ned to t~e G:erma.n
author1t1es for the exh1b1t10n held m connectiOn w1th the
congresP.
A series of experiments on the switches beRt suited for
use with high potential currents was recently carried
out at the generatin~ station of the Metropolitan
1'raction Company, New York. Particulars of the
observations made and the con clusions arrived ab are
given in a. paper read by Mr. E. W. Rice, Jun., at the
Buffalo convention of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers. M r. Rice states that air break switches proved
useless. At 40,000 volts the arc drew out to a distance of
over 30 fb., and gave rise to oscillations, doubling or treblin~ the normal potential of the system. A type of switch
whtch was found to work satisfactorily at 40,000 volts
was, however, ultimately devised, This consists of two
conta-cts, each immersed in an open-topped can of oil. A
bridge-piece, suitably arranged, is placed above the cans,
and on being lowered completes the circuit with the submerged contacts. The circuit is opened by raising the
bridge-piece, the amount of rise being 12 in. in the case
of a switch for 6000 volts and 17 in. for a 12,000volb
switch passing 800 amperes.
During the summer the new railway line from Le Fayet
to Chamounix was opened. This line has been constructed
by the P aris-Lyon-Mediterran ee Railway Company, but
is of metre gauge, and is worked by electric power. Its
total length is 19 k ilometres (11.8 mtles), and the total rise
in this distance is 1500 ftl. The maximum gradient is
1 in 11.1 for a distance of 1.35 miles, and there is another
gradient of 1 in 12:\-. which is 0.85 mile long. These
gradi _n ts are wo:kr::d by adhesion, the speed up being

'

6.2 miles per hour. A third rail is laid along these gradien ts with which theapecial brakesboes on the cars can engage. 'seven bridges, ranging in span from 85.3 ft. to151 h .,
have been required . Two only are o~ masonry. th e remainder being of steel. T he curren t1 1s collected from a
side rail and water pow~r is, of course, used at t he
generati~g stations, of whi ch there are two. EtJ.oh is
provided with four dynamos of 200 kilowatts each. and
two exciting d yn amos of 40 ktlowat ts each, but the water
available is capable of operating very much larger plants.
The trains consist of four carriages, each. capa.ble of car.rying thirty-two passengers, t~e total we1ght loaded. bemg
90 tons. F or the major porttOn of the year five trams are
to be run daily each way, but in the two bu~i est months
nine will be required. The cost has bt>en htgh, avera.ging 35,000t. per mile. and hence fares have been fixed ab
double the ordinary ratee.
. The Thames Embankment will shortly be lighted
entirely by means of electricity. The firsb portion of
the lighting was formally op~ned on .Februa~y 23 last by
the L ondon Cuunty CounciL Thts coostated of the
parapet lighting, where the stand ards already existing
for the purpose of carrying the g as lamps we re fi t ted with
lanterns and arc lamps s pecially del\ignfd and made by
obe G ilbert Arc L amp C>mpany, Limited, Cbiogford. to
resemble as far as pos"ible the old de8ign. Owing to the
closeness of the standards and the limited space to be
lighted by those particular lamps, lamps taking aboub
half the usual amouni> of electrical energy and giving a
proportionately small light were used. There are considerable difficulties in using these small curreno lamps,
and this is the fi rst time they have been succe.qRfully used
for extem~i ve public lighting, The lighting of the m~:~.in
ohoroughfarP, now A-bouo to be startt-d, also contains some
novel feature~. The engineet'S to the C\>unoil recc,mmended t hA u~e of long-hurning open-t}pe Gilbert arc
lamps, 50-80 hour. taking 6 f o. of c~:~.rbon, which greatly
lessen the cost of labour for recarboning. The la.mps are
also provided wi th arrangemen ts for lowAring them to
the ground, thus avoiding the use of laddorR which are
particularly inconvenient m crowded streets. The current~
is supplied from a gaR-dri ven station, also Hectt d to the:,
requirements of the County Council's engineers.
BoROUGH 0~' BLACKDURN.-The Electri city Comm;ttee
of l::Hackburn h~~ove accepted the tender of MPPSrs. Dick,
Kerr, and Co., Limited, of 110, Cannon.street, L ondon, for
three 850kilowatt abeam dynamo sets with Belli~s engines.
CoAL CoNSUMPTION IN FRANCE.-The American Coa.l
and Shipping Agency, of 2, Square de l'Opera, Paris,
hav1=1 issued a series of sketch maps showing diagramati
cally tee consumption of domestic and foreign coal in
the different departments of F rance. From obis ib
appears that F rance provides for ~bout aeventenths of
her needs from her own resources, whilst abou t one-sixth
the total is imported from Great Britain. Britit~h coal
is naturally most used in the Maritime D epartmt:nts.
TELEGRAPH IN I NDIA -The lengbh of te}Pgraph
in British India in 1890.91 wa-s 37,070 miles. In 1895-96
the total had risen to 46,375 m1les ; and in 1899-1900 it
bad further advanced to 52 909 mtlt-s. The leof!'th of
telegraph cable in operation in British India in 1890 91
was 261 miles ; in 1895 96, 263 miles ; and in 1899-1900,
283 mtlee. The capital ex pended upon Indian teltgraphs
stood in 18991900 at 4,510 939l. The number of meesages
forwa.rded last year was 6. 237.301, uroduoing a reven ue of
565,676l. The working expenses of the year havin g bPen
447 758l., the net revenus of the twelve mon ~hs was
117 9l8l , or 2.61 per cent. upnn the capital expended.
The corresponding return in 1898-99 wa-s 1.60 per cent.
THE

"FERROFIX."-On page 543 of our last volume, we called

attention to a new flux called "Ferrofix, " which is manufactured by Messrs. H . Bertram and Co , 28, Queen
street, E. C., and used for brazing cast iron. Since tb en we
have, on two occasions, bad to repair certain oast iron
parts of our printing machinery. The operation was in
each case performed by brazing, using '' ferrofix " as a flux,
and the result ha~ been thoroughly satisfactory. We
mention this fact thinking that it may be of interest to
users of printing machinery, who are, we know from experience. often put to considerable inconvenience through
the breakage of one or more of the many cast iron parts
of their machines, and have, in consequence, either to geb
new parts, or have the old ones patched up in a clumsy
and expensive
manner,
the
delay
so
caused
being
often

very senous.
PERSONAL.-The British Thomson-Hou ~ton Company,
Limited, have removed their pti ncipal office to their
works at Rugby, and will in future maintain only a
branch offi ce at 83, Cannon-street, E.C. -Mr. W. Stamm,
of 25, College-hill, Cannon.streeb, E .C., informs us that
he ha,s been appointed sole agent for the United Kingdom
of Mr. Ernst Schiess, of DuesseldorfOberbilk, manufacturer of machine tools of every description, and especially
for heavy work.- We are asked to state that Mr. Wil
liam Boby has moved his offices from U cion-court to
Nos. 876-879 in Sal isbury H ouse, London-wal1, E C.Mr. J enner G. Marsh all, consultingl engineer, has removed
from Norwich U nion Chambers, Con~reve. street, Birmingham, to Athen reum Cbambera, 71, Temple-row,
Birmingham.- Dr. David T. D 11.y, head of the Mineral
R esources D epartment of the U nited S tates Geological
Survey, has been appointed to the f'ditorship of the
Engineerilng anuJ, }rifi nVn,g Journal, of New York, vacant
by the re~retted death of Mr. R. P. Rothwell, under
whose gUidance the journal in question attained its
present position as the leading mining a.nd meballurgioal
journal of the U nited States.

GATESHEAD.

THE REDHEUGH BRIDGE BETWEEN NEWCASTLE AND

1fESSRS.

SANDEMAN

AND

MONCRIEFF,

MM. INST. C. E.,

eo.,

AND

ARROL

WILL!AM:

SIR

ENGINEERS ;

LIMITED,

.p.
00
0\

CONTRACTORS.

GLASGOW,

(For Notice, see Page 484.)

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ENGINEERING,

4, 1901.

OCTOBER

THE REDHEUGI-I BR IDGE BETWEEN NEWCAS TLE A N D GATESHE A D.

MESSRS. SANDEMAN AKD MONCRIEFF, MM. INST. C.E., ENGINEERS; SIR WILLIAM ARROL AND CO., (TLASGOW, CONTRACTORS.

(For Nuttice, see Page 484.)

Fig . 7.
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PLAN ON TriP

E N G I N E E R I N G.
AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."
AUSTRIA, Vienna : Lehmann a n d Wentzel, Kli.rnt neratraeae.
CAPE TOWN : Gordon and Gotch.
EDINBURGH : _John Menzies and Oo., 12, Hanover -street.
FRANOB, Pans : Boyveau and Ohevillet, Librairie Etrang~re, 22,
RAJue de la Banq~e ; M. Em. Terquem, 31 bls , Boulevard Ha.ussmao.
so for Adv~rttsemenU!, Agence H awa.s, 8, Place de la Bourse.
GBRMANY, Berhn : Messrs. A. Asher and Oo. 5 Un tet den Liuden
Frnnkfur~am-Main : Messrs. G.
Daube and Oo. (fo~
Advert1semenU!).
Leipzig : F . A. Drockh aus.
Mulhouse : H. Stuckelberger
GLASGOW : William Love.
.
I xou, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, and Oo.
Bomba.y: Tha.cker and Oo., Limited.
ITALY: U. Hoepli, Milan, a.nd a ny post office.
LIVERPOOL: Mrs. Taylor, Landing Sta,:re.
~1ANCHBSTKR: .J~hn. Heywood, 143, Deansgate.
NORWAY, Ohnstta.ma: Oammermeyers, Boghand el Oarl Joh ans
Gade, 41 and 43.
'
NBw SouTH W ALBS, Sydney : T u rner and Hend erson 16 an d 18
Hunter-street. Oordon and Gotch, George-street. '
'
Q UBBNSLAXD (SOUTH~ Brisbane : Oordon and Gotch.
(NORTH , Townsville : T. Willmett a nd Oo.
R OTTBRDA.H : H. A. ram er and Son.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide: W. 0. R igby.
UNlTBD STATBB, Ne~ York : W. H . Wiley, 43, East 19th-street.
Ch1cago: H. V. Holmes, 1257-1258, Mon adnock
Block.
VICTORIA Melbourne : Melville, Mu llen, and Slade, 261/264 Oollinsstreet. Oordon and Gotch , Limited, Queen-street.

i.

TRACTION and TRANSMISSION.

(Publilhed on the ftr&t Tuuday in each month.)
PART VU. NOW RtBADY.
28. Net; POST FRu 28. 4<1.
Publlahed a~ the omcea of ENGINBBRING, 86 and 86, Bedford Street,
Strand, London, W.O.
PaiOB

CONTENTS OF No. 7.
P.lO:I

'rhc LQln~l Respont~l bili tles o! Elect le 'l' ramwny Com panie~:~ . .By W.
Valenth1e &11. .. . ...... . . .. . . . .
E lcct l'lo Motors on Bl\l.t lesJh l ps. By
J. W . Kellogg (Plates XVU. to
. :X X. and IIJustmtlons lo 'l'ext)..
~nom ics of Street Rn lhvo.y~:~.
By t he Hon. Robort P . P or ter
(Plllt.e )L'( I.) . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . ..
Mu n lcl pa.l Trading:
(u~.By D lxon U . Drw lcll . . . . . .

f'AOS

Com ad W. Cooke ( lll ust mtlous

lrl 'I.,ext) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

60

fu\ll wo.ys In <..:u l)l\ , ....... , .... ,

'fho OrenohleChapu.rellluJa l~lec
t rl c Rull w11y (P h\ tes XX VIU. to
71
X X XI. nnd llluatmtlonsln Tex t)
Fie>. ihle Tnlll14mu slon. By Sldney
R uMell (Illustrati on s in 'l'ext ) ..
81 'l'mctl on and T nmsmJsslon Notes:
T he Wh itehead Enclosed Go
00
venaor (J llustmt.ed ) ........
{11 By the H on. Robert P.
,
Autom~ttl c S wl t.e h for 200-Volt
ortcr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
100
Cmreut (lllustrat.ed ) . . ......
T ho Kubcl Turbine Jltstlllllltion .
T he Southpor t E lectric Trnm.By P rof. P n\zll, Zul'lo), {Pla t es
t.1u (Plt\t.e XXXH.) .......
XXII. to XX VH. a.nd Dhutru'fho .British Sch uckort Comtlona ln Text) . . .. ... . . . .... .. 101
pany '!! Rxh lbits a t G ltu~gow
T he K r icgcr Elcct rom obile. .By
I
(l'l ~tt.e XXX lli.) ....... ... ..

110
110

120
126

12i
127
128

NOTICE TO CONTINENTAL ADVJCRTISERS.

Advertisements from Germany should now be sent

through Messrs. G. L. Daube an~ Co., Frankfurt-amMain, who have, been appointed our Sole Agents for
that country for Trade displayed Advertisements.
We beg to announce that American Subscriptions to ENGINEERING
m ay now be addressed eithe r dir ect to the P ublisher , Mr . 0 . R. Advertisements from France, Belgium, and HolJ ou NSON, at the offices of this Journal, Nos . 35 and 3~, Bedford- land should be sent through the Agence Havas,
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ENGINEERING.
F~IDA Y ,

OCTOBER 4, 1901.

AMERI CAN RECI PROCITY.

THE cruel assassination of P resident McK inley

is not to check t he progress of a notable development of American policy t hat was for eshadowed by
t he speech he delivered so shortly befor e his death.
For many years past t he abandonment of extr eme
P rotection by t he United States Governmen t has
been predicted, but no administration has hit her to
SUBSCRIPTIONS, HOME AND FOREIGN.
felt itself strong enough to face t he storm t hat
ENGINEERING can be sup plied, direct from t b Publish er , would be aroused by even t he suggestion of such a
post free for twelve m onths at t h e follow ing rates, paya ble in policy, supp osing t he will were t here. There can
advance:be no doubt t hat in t he eastern part of t he. R epublic
For the United Kingdom . ........... .. 1
9 2
the exis ting fiscal system was generally pr eferred.
a.Jl pla<:ea abroad : The late Presiden t himself first rose to popularity
Thin paper cop ies .. .. .. . f t 6 0
T hick
2 0 6
as t he author of the more stringent system of ProAll accounU! a re payable to "ENGINEERING " Limited. tection wit h which his name was associated ; and
Cheques should be crossed " Union Bank, Oharing Cross Bran ch."
the unexampled prosperity of t he count ry th~t has
Post Office Orders payable at Bedford-street, Stra nd, W. O.
When Foreign Subscriptions a re sent by Post Office Orders, been experienced during t he last few years-a proadvice should be sent to the Publisher.
sperity t hat extended to all classes-made it very
Forei~n a nd Colonial Subscribers r eceiving incom plete copies
through newsagents are requested to com m unicate the fe.ct to difficult to advance t he Free Trade doctrines that
t h e Publisher, together with the a gen t 's name a nd add ress.
are all but universally considered- or were unt il
Oftlces for Publication and Advertisements, Nos. 35 quite r ecent times- the axioms of our own fiscal
and 36, Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C.
policy. That America and England stood on
differen t plat forms must never be forgotten. The
TBLB9RAPR10 ADDRBSB- ENGINEERING, LONDON.
United States had young industries to cherish and
TBLBPHONB NuMBBR-8668 Gerrard.
protect until t hey gained a firm footing. For t he
-- maj ority of t hem t hat time has passed.
CONTENTS,
I t has been one of the commonplaces of F reePAGE I
PAOR traders here to insist t hat American Protection is
Die Forging.- No. VIII.
Miecellanell ..... ... ...... .. 485
'' I f only
(Illusttated) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4a9 jAmerica n Reciprocity .. .. 487 t he best friend of t he Brit ish exporter.
Tbe British Association . .. . 472 A R eview of Japan ese Trade 488 t he Americans h~d Free Trade, 11 t hey would say,
The New Subway in New
Some Peculiar tties of Steel 489
" how much mor e severe t rans-Atlantic competition
Yor k City (Illustrated) .. 477 R ecen t Developmen t in t h e
The "Bor ea.s" A ir Oom
j Alkali Trade ... ..... .. . . 489 would become. As P rotectionists we n eed not fear
pressor (l llmt1ated) . . 480 The Metal Ma rkets . . . . . . . . 490 them. " The p osition could be suppor ted by all t he
E ngineering Valuations . . 491
Oil F uel for Gas Engines
(lllttstrated) .. . .... ..... 480 N otes . .. ......... .. .... .. 491 well-known argumen ts and examples, but it has
E x press a nd Local Railway
Egyptian I rrigation ... . .... 492 been a little discon certing of late to find, in spite
Ser vices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 1 Lau nch es and Trial Trips .. 493 of t heory, t hat Americans have not only been
Oood a-Train Load s .. .. .. . . 481 Notes from Japan .. .. .... 494
competing wit h and sometimes beating us in
T Je Irish Oba nnel T unn el 481 Diagrams of Th r ee 1\Ionths'
he Loss of t h e " Cobra " . . 481
Fluctuat ions in Prices of
neutral markets abroad, but have attacked British
T he Blak e-Denison Oontinu~Ietal s .. .. .. .. .. . . ...... 494
Industrial Notes . ...... . .. 495 manufacturers with success, even within our own
ous Weighing Mach ine
(Illmtmtid) . .. .. .. .. 483 Ligh tin~ t h e Scottish and
borders ; and t hat to no small extent .
Notes from t h e Un ited
Isle of Man Coasts ..... . 496
The reason for t his is chiefly to be found quite
States . . ... .......... 488 Canadia n Agricultura l Ma
The Redheugb B rid~e, Newch in ery (l lltutratcd) .... 497 outside polit.ical considerations, and those who
castle -on-Ty n e (Illm.) .. 484 The Correct Treatmen t of
wish to be more fully informed on t he subj ect
Notes from t h e Nort h . .. . 484
S teel (nlustmted) .... .. 498
cannot do better than consult t he r emarkable
Notes from Sou th York Dangers from Trolley Wires,
shire .. .. .. .. . . .. . . .. .. .. 484
a nd th eir P revent ion (I lseries of articles published in th ese columns two
N otes from Cleveland and
' lustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 years ago, and which were cont ributed by some of
t h e Nort h ern Count ies .. 484 "Engineenng" Patent Re
N otes from t he SouthWeat 486
cord (Illustrated) ...... 503 t he foremost men engaged in t he actual work of
With a Two-Page Engraving oj T HE R EDHEUGH BR IDGE United Sta~es industry.
W hen Presiden t McKinley succumbed to the inBETWEEN NEWCASTLE ~ .ND GATESH E~D.
11

11

.. .. .. ..

juries so wantonly inflicted upon him, a new and

unknown force appear ed. That it was an important
fo1ce every one who had come in contact with Mr.
Roosevelt, eit her as Vice-President or in his for mer
official position, was fully aware. Those who were
acquainted with him, however, were sure t hat
whatever course he took would be t hat which in
his opinion would be most conducive to the prosperity of America, whatever the danger and whatever the difficulty to himself personally, and care
less how the procedure would affect other States.
No man has ever been less afraid of being patriotic
than P resident Roosevelt. Ther e is nothing of t he
fluid cosmopolitan in his character.
S uch a man was needed if the firm -rooted P rotectionist policy was to be fought. The establish
ment of the gian t trusts and combines, of which we
have heard so much lately, has both strengthened
and weakened t he upholders of a prohibitive
tariff. I t has strengthened them by putting t he
cont rol of vast r esources and immense capital into
a few powerful hands ; and it is one of the tirst rules
of warfare t hat power should be concentrated to
r esist attack- t hat it should not be squander ed by
diffusion amongst many non-coherent units. This
is t he view of t he citizen as a producer ; but the
citizen, as a consumer, has had brought home to
him- eupposing he has thought the matter out
logically- how this vast power in a few hands may
raise t he price of commodities, r estrict production,
and so reduce t he standard of prosperity and comfort t hroughout t he land. Thus it is t hat the
citizens of t he United States are mostly p ulled two
ways, for nearly all are both producers and consumers.
The first point of interest is, which way will t he
balance of opinion incline 1 That settled, t he, for
us, still more momentous question will arise as to
how far it will enable America to fulfil the F ree
Trade p rophecy, and make it more difficult t han
ever for our manufact urers to hold the markets they
have so long ruled in foreign states. vVe say
nothing about our home trade, because if America.
will sell us some things at a cheaper rate than we
can make them for ourselves, so much t he better
for us to buy them, and improve our chance of producing other things mor e effectively.
Mr. Roosevelt has not been long in declaring
himself. He abides by t he statement of his pre
decessor. " Isolation is no longer possible or desirable," t he late P resident had said. ' ' Trade
statistics indicate t hat the count ry is in a state of
unexampled prosperity ; and the figures are al most
appalling. That all the people is participating in
t his great prosperity is seen by the unprecedented
deposits in the savings banks. Our capacity to
produce has developed so enormously t hat the
problem of more markets r equire immediate attention. A system which p rovides for t he mut ual
exchange of commodities is manifestly essential.
We must not repose in t he fancied security that we
can for ever sell everything, and buy little or
nothing. Reciprocity is t he material outgrowth of
our wonderful industrial development. If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed for
revenue or to protect our ind ustries, why should
t hey not be employed to extend our markets
abroad ~

11

This was t he view of t he dead President; it is

t he policy of his successor- the man who weilds,
for a time long enough to establish a policy, an
actual power exceeding t hat of t he Crown of England in matters of this nature. If M r. McKinley's
words were not altogether conclusive in some
respects-his reference to the need '' to protect
our industries" is capable of a wide interpretation
- it is to be understood that " reciprocity 77 was
intended to be the watch word of his policy. Mr.
Roosevelt has endorsed t his unequivocally. He is
in favour of a more liberal reciprocity, so that t he
surplus production of t he United States can be
disposed of by fair and equitable arrangements
with foreign countries. He is for the abolition of
such tariff's as ar e no longer needed for revenue
purposes, if such abolition can be operated without harming American industries and labour.
P robably no tariff can be abolish ed in any count ry
wit hout harming some individual branch of in
dustry and labour; but does Mr. Roosevelt mean,
by "American industries and labour, 77 the industry
and labour of t he United States taken as a whole ?
I t is ~question time will answer; but it is of great
impor tance to ourselves. There are certain commodities that can be made mo1'e chear,ly in England
t han in America ; naturally and inev1tably they ar e

N G 1 N E R I N G.

....

[OcT. 4, i got.

----

not so ':ume~ous as the~ once were, but a good

many still extst. We w11l suppose, for instance,
that steel ship-plates can be produced more cheaply
here than in the United States, whilst the reverse
might be the case in regard to rails. 'V ill the duby
on plates be reduced and that on rails maintained 1
That would be to us a gift of the gods ; it would
not be reciprocity; though it would not be out of
keeping with the new policy as expressed in the
words we have quoted. If, on the other hand the
wider interpretation be put on ''American in'dustries and labour, " our steel plates would hasten
that shipbuilding industry which America is so
anxious to re-establish, and the whole labour and industry of the country would benefit ; whilst American steel-plate makers themselves would be spurred
on to fresh exertions towards the improvement and
cheapening of their manufactures.
We do not
forget, in saying this, that American steel plates
have been sent to us; we take a purely supposititious instance simply for illustration.
'Ve are not among those who fear the Free Trade
competition of the United States. We k now that
a Free Trade policy would enable America to produce
many things more cheaply than she now does; but
the opening of the American market should compensate for this-a compensation for us and a gain
for America too. The old narrow doctrine that
one nation can only benefit at the expense of another is not, we fear, yet dead ; but we hope it is
dying. To produce well and cheaply what a country
is most fitted to produce, and to distribute it widely,
is for the benefit of all civilised humanity. It ie
only by incapacity that any one nation suffers loss
in this respect. If America, or Russia, or any
other country, can grow 10 bushels of wheat where
we can produce but five, let America or Russia
grow the wheat, and let us turn our farmers into
engineers, or cotton-spinners, or to whatever may
be more convenient, so that we may make for the
American wheat-growers what they are not manufacturing for themselves. With the same brains
and the same industry, the man or the nation that
pays most attention to a given industry is likely
to succeed, unless disqualified. by inferior natural
resources of the country. If a people has neither
brains, nor industry, nor l.latural resources, it must
go to the wall in any case. That is a position we
need not consider in regard to ourselves.
Although these things are true, it by no means
follows that the coming American policy has no
interest for us. The United States have reared
such a vast consuming population that their potentiality as customers and caterers cannot be a matter
of indifference. If the new tariff regulations are
to be framed so as to continue to exclude us
from selling our products in America- if the reciprocity is to be a spurious reciprocity, applicable
only or mainly to countries who do not manufacture the things made in Am erica- then, doubtless,
we shall suffer ; and it will be no consolation that
America will suffer too. Not to buy from whence
thinO'S can be most profitably obtained is a loss for
the ~onsumer as it is for the producer. The facility
for exchange supplied by the steamship and the
locomotive has largely brought distant markets to
an equality with those at home.
.
It is not, therefore, only a selfish desrre that
prompts us to ?ope Mr. Roos~vel~'s policy wiH be
"fair and equitable, ; that It will lead to the
entire abolition of commercial war with other
countries. "
Warfare, whether commercial or
other wise, is an evil for both victor and vanquished, and commercial war is ~s cruel as military
war. It js a sordid contest which calls forth none
of the nobler characteristics of self-sacrifice and
valour which are displayed when men un~ergo
hardship and risk their lives for the protectiOn of
their country 's honour and welfare.

quent to 1890 the returns may be considered absolutely reliable, though 15 per cent. would, up to
the end of 1898, have to be added to the totals in
each instance, to arrive at the correct values when
landed in Japan, as down to the close of that year
the value of all imports represent only t he original
cost of goods q,t the places of production.
Mr. Longford's report shows the annual values
of the foreign tl'ade of Japan since the year 1872,
the shares of the United Kingdom, and of those
countries which are her principal competitors in
the import trade since 1883, and the shares of
British colonies and the total import trade of the
British Empire to Japan since 1890. We will give
a few of the more important figures contained in
the report.
The value of the import trade in 1872 was
4, 500, OOOl., and of the total trade over 8, 750,OOOl.
Although during 1877-78 the country passed through
the Satsuma rebellion, the most serious crisis in
its history, these values had in 1880 grown to
nearly 7, 500, OOOl. and to over 12,500, OOOl. respectively, an advance which was in itself very
substantial and gave the fairest promise for the
future. A continuance of the advance in imports
was, however, checked for the next few years.
From 1872 to 1881 there was a heavy balance of
trade against the country ; there had been a continuous exporb of specie, and the coinage was
replaced by an inconvertible paper currency. The
necessities of the Satsuina rebellion caused a large
over issue of this currency, so that its exchange
value with silver from 1879 gradually fell f1om par
until it reached a discount of over 82 per cent.
All import trade was greatly handicapped, not
only by this debasement of the currency, but by
the violent fluctuations which from week to week
took place in its exchange value ; and it was not
until 1884, when the cur rency resumed its par
valu~, that the import trade began to resume the
promising appearance it gave in 1880. Both the
import and the total trade have since continued
to advance steadily, though the former was again
most unfavourably affected by the continuous fall
in the values of the silver coinage of Japan,
as compared with gold, during the years 189095. The large import trade of 1890 marked
what was, for the time, an excessive importation, for which the two following years
had to suffer, and the same remark may be
made of that of the year 1900, which will, in like
manner, possibly injuriously affect the returns for
the present and, perhaps, following year. But
taking the average annual value of the past four
years, 1897-1900, as a fair criterion of Japan's
present purchasing power, it is seen that she now
takes nearly 26,000,000l. worth of goods from
abroad, as compared with 4,500,000l. in 1872,
7,250.000l. in 1880, and 13,000,000l. in the exceptional year of 1890. The development of the values
of her export and total trade is little less striking,
and the whole shows a rapidity of commercial
advance which affords a very great contrast to
what has taken place in China. The following are
the figures for the years named :

A REVIEW OF JAPANESE TRADE.

In considering t hese figures, it is always to be

remembered that the advance would have been
much more striking had the returns been given in
the local currency of Japan. The unit in this
represented in 1872, 4s. 6d. ; in 1880, 4s. ; in 1890,
3s. 3d. ; and in 1900, 2s. Oid.; and the advance in
the last-mentioned year, as compared with 1872, is
in currency fully twelvefold, i nstead of sixfold, in
sterling ; and, as compared with 1880, nearly eightfold, instead of four-fold.
If we examine ~he Tables showing the shares of
the principa~ Wester!!- .countries ":hich supply
Japan's reqUirements, It Is seen that 1n 1883 more
than half the total imports cam') from the lTnited

THE industrial and commercial development of

Japan has been one of the marvels of the last
quarter of the nineteenth cent~ry! and ~Ir.
Consul Longford has done good serVlce. ID prepanng
a report, which has jus~ been P.ubhshed by ~he
Foreign Office, which briefly reVIews ~he foreign
trade and shipping of Japan for the peno~ 187~ to
1900. The year 1872 is taken as the starti~g p01nt,
as it was then that the Japanese Customs returns
were prepared on an imvrov~d. system . ~o
attempt was made in them to discrimu1ate couutries
of origin till 1883, and it was not t.ill 1890 ! hat the
discrimination was accurately earned out. Subse-

Year.
1872
1880
1883
1890
189l
1892
1803
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
U99
1900

Total Import
Trade.

Total Export
Trade.

Total Foreign
Trade.

4,680,000
7,3l4,000
5,669.00Q
13,282.000
10,488,000
10,662,('00
11,652,000
12,681,000
13,526,000
18,7n3,000
22,829,000
28,305,000
22,499.000

8,831,000
12,808,000
12,711,000
22,862,000

29 , 32~ . 000

4,251,000
6,484,000
7,142,000
9,680,000
12,798,000
13,143,000
ll,397,000
11,801,000
14,624,000
12,629,000
16,398 000
1,630,001
2 l,94l,OOO
20,869,000

2 ~.286,000

23,805 000
2:!,0 9,000
24,482,000
28,150,000
ln,a82,000
3~.227,000

44 .935,000
44 .440.000
50,193,000

Kingdom ; in 1890 about one-third ; in 1898 considerably less than one-fourth ; in 1899 little
more than one-fifth ; and in 1900 one-fourth ; and
that i~ the last-mentioned three years the aggregate Import trade of the whole British Empire
bears a less favourable ratio to the whole import
trade of Japan than did that of the United Kingdom alone in 1883. Of course, we could not expect to keep up the high proportion of the whole
trade which we had in the early years of foreign
trade with Japan ; but after alJ, we have not much
to complain of, when we note that in 1890 the total
British imports amounted to 6, 723, OOOl. , whereas
in 1900 they were 11,085, OOOl.
The trade of Germany has in the same period
advanced from about one-twentieth to one-tenth of
the whole, and of the United States (including
Canada in 1883) from about oneninth to over
one-fifth. German trade is, and has always
been, exclusively in articles which compete di~ectly with British productions.
It is only
1n very recent years, on the other hand, that the
United States has become a competitor with the
United Kingdom, the trade of that country having,
until1896, been almost entirely in such products as
kerosene oil, flour, leather, and tobacco, whereas it
now includes machinery of all kinds, scientific and
other instruments, metal manufactures, rail~, railway and bridge materials, boots, clothing, cotto~
tissues, and even coal, &c., the supply of all of
which was formerly considered under the exclusive
control of the United Kingdom. Not only has the
trade of Germany and the United States with Japan
developed very rapidly in recent years, but the
most strenuous efforts are being made in both these
countries to prepare the way for very considerable
extensions in the future. The principal item in
French trade, representing perhaps five-eighths of
the whole, is the woollen staple mousseline-delaine, the production of which is not seriously
attempted by British manufacturers, and trade
rivalry with France can therefore only be said to
exist to a small extent.
Mr. Longford says that :while much of the success of Germany and the United States must be
ascribed to the willingness of the manufacturers of
both countries to specially cater for the requirements of the Japanese, to advertising, and to the
energy and vigilance of agents, some of it, and not
the least, is undoubtedly due to facilities of through
transport from the seat of production in both countries to the destination of the goods in Japan, and
he refers to some remarks he made in a Consular
report published in 1897, in which the advant'ages
to American and German manufacturers, as compared with those of Britain, in the matter of shipping
were shown. For instance, freights on iron from
the United Kingdom are often 5s. per ton higher
than from Antwerp, and from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per ton
higher than from H amburg ; and both on the Continent and the United States the railway and t he
shipping companies co-operate. As an example,
iron is shipped from the Eastern States to the
Pacific Coast, and thence by steamer to J apan, at
rates averaging about 35s. per ton for the whole
journey; whereas rail from Glasgow to London
would cost 303. per ton alone, and freight thence
to Japan 32s. 6d., making a total of 62s. 6d. Besides
which, the American maker delivers the goods to
the carrier at his own door, and obtains a through
bill of lading at once, whereas the Glasgow shipper
would have to deal first with the railway and then
with the steamship company, and probably pay
dock dues as well. It is quite evident that we
must extend our ideas of engineering, and apply
scientific principles to the organisation of trade and
industry as well as to the manufacturing processes.
The second part of the report shows the numbers
and tonnage of all merchant shipping entered at
Japanese ports in the year 1883, and from the year
1890 to 1900; but as we have frequ ently given
details on this subject, we need not take up
much space with it at present. The most striking
feature of the statistics is the development of
the highly-subsidised Japanese tonnage. In 1883
entries of Japanese vessels we.Ye so insignificant that they were not considered worthy of the
slightest notice 'in the Consular Report. In 1900
they amounted in number to over 3000 vessels, of
nearly 3,500,000 tons, and while in 1891 only 10
per cent. of the total imports and exports was
borne in Japanese ships, in 1900, out of a total
export and import trade of 480,000,000 yen, the
value of that carried on Japanese bottoms was
over 148,000,000 yen. In 1872 Japan possessed

 N G I N E E R I N G.
96 merchant steamers, of an aggregate tonnage of
23,364 tons. They were all, without exception,
vessels which had been condemned by their original
owners as unfit for fur ther profitable service, were
ill-found and ill-managed, and never ventuled
beyond the coasts of Japan. In 1900 her merchant
fleet included 846 steamers, of 528,321 tons, most
of them vessels of the highest t ypes of modern construction, thoroughly efluipped in every r espect,
well managed, and successfully competing, both as
freig-ht and passenger carriers to all par ts of t he
world, with t he best lines of British, German, and
United tates shipping.
. With regard to the shipping of other nationalities
1n Japanese ports, Mr. L ongford r emarks t hat,
n urtured in the same way as t he J apanese, by heavy
subsidies, German shipping to Japan has lately
shown a marked increase, and he expresses the
opinion t hat a similar increase will soon take place
in t he United States shipping; while that of Russia,
also heavily subsidised, is already developing considerably. French shipping continues, as it has
always been, to be almost exclusively confined to the
steamers of the Messageries Maritime Company.

Ol\1:E PECULIARITIES OF STEEL.

IN viow of the present predominance of steel as
a. material of construction, and the exceedingly
satisfactory way in which it behaves in general, it
is somewhat curious to look back and note t he
distrust with which it was regarded by engineers
of the last generation. \Vhen Sir Henry Bessemer
suggested the use of steel for rails, a prominent
engineer remarked t hat those who wished might
use steel, b ut t hat personally he was not desirous
of being indicted for manslaughter. The good
qualities of t he material were, however, gradually
recognised, but at the same time there were
periodically expre~:sions of alarm at certain mysterious failures, of which at t he present time we
hear little or nothing. In one case we remember
a steel girder bridge was being built. A flange
plate had been riveted on one evening, and on
starting work next morning, was found cracked
across the centre. At a later date still, some consternation was caused by the publication of a report
by M r. Maginis on t he failure of a boiler, t he steel
plates of which , after successfully passing Lloyd's
tests, and being worked up without difficulty, cracked
spontaneously after about
years' work. Largely
in consequence of incidents of t his nature, engineers realised t hat it was insufficient to specify t he
chemical composition of steel, or even the physical
tests which it must pass, but that attention must
also be paid to methods of manufacture. This
course occasion ed strong p rotests from the steelmakers, who claimed that they should be allowed a
free hand in operating t heir furnaces or mills,
and that all the engineer had a right to demand was a steel capable of passing certain
physical tests. To a limited degree there was,
and is, force in this contention. An analysis
of some of t he earlier steel rails, which had an
excellent record, often discloses a composition
which nowadays would certainly lead to t he
r ejection of the metal, whatever its showing
in the matter of physical tests. On the other
hand, some of the heavy section rails used of
late years have worn badly, alt hough from a
chemical point of view the metal was hardly
capable of improvement. To a certain extent this
defect in t he wear of heavy steel rails has been met
by increasing t he percentage of carbon, but it is
now generally admitted that the real remedy is to
be found in finishing the rails at a. lower temperature. This is the more important, in that t he
g reater the quantity of non-ferrous constituents, the
lower is the temperatu1e at which the working of
the metal should be completed, so that, from this
point of view, the increase in the carbon tends to
aggravate the difficulty. The curious fashion in
which the critical temperatur es of steel are affected
by increasing t he carbon content is capitally shown
in a series of cooling curves illustrating a paper by
M. Leon Levy, published in the second volume of
t he French Commission on t he testing of the
materials of construction. With steel containing 0.12
per cen t . of carbon, three crit ical points are observed,
t he most marked corresponding to a temperature
of 827.5 deg. Cent. As t he carbon increases, the
t hree voints gradually approach each other, and
finally, with steels containing 0.80 per cent. of
carhon, coalesce, the corresponding temperature
bemg aboul 66b d g. Uun~., \\ hich ib uot greatly

2t

different from the temperature of recalescence in

t he milder qualit ies.
M. Osmond has pointed out t hat t he quality
of structural steel is really a function of three
variables, viz., its chemical composition, its structure, and its freedom from initial stresses. All
of these variables may differ materially even in
bars rolled from a single ingot. Experiment shows
t hat whilst the ingot is solidifying, the carbon
sulphur and phosphorus tend to concentrate in
the centre of the upper third of the ingot. Indeed, a content of phosphorus, on t he average
but 0.06 for t he whole ingot, may, through
segegration, be fiv~ t imes this figure in parts. The
struct ure of a steel depends mainly on its t reatment from the ingot up to t he finished bar. Much
light has been thrown on this matter by t he microscopic examinat ion of the polished and etched surfaces of the metal, whilst t he knowledge of the
properties of solutions worked out in other departmen ts of science have permitted of some explanation being given of t he peculiarities of structure
found. Mere heat treatment is alone sufficient to
considerably alter t he structure of a bar. To cite
a case brought forward by Mr. Kreuzpointner,
a bar of .4 per cent. carbon steel was cut into four
pieces. One of these, tested in its original condition,
showed a tensile strength of 103,000 lb. per square
inch with an elongation of 15 per cent. By suitable
heat treatment of a second piece of the bar, a steel
was obtained showing a tensile strength of
87,000 lb., and an elongation of 35 per cent. in 2 in.
A third piece, heated differently, gave a tensile
strength of 84,000 lb., with an elongation of 22 per
cent.; whilst the fourt h piece, annealed at a high
temperature, and " soaked " for 2i hours, had a
tensile strength of 80,000 lb. and an elongation of
20 per cent. in 2 in. A microscopic study of
etched sections showP.d corresponding changes in
t he structure of the metal. The " soaked " in
particular had a large coarse grain, and clearly
showed the pernicious effect of the treatment to
which it had been subjected. Similarly, t he high
q uality of the Krupp armour is generally understood to be due to a peculiar heat treatmen t. As
for initial stresses, they can, of course, be relieved
by annealing ; though there is a danger of, at t he
same t ime, altering the structure of t he metal for
the worse, unless the process is carried out with
judgment.
These facts are now pretty well known, and
the engineer is seldom much t roubled about the
q uality of his materials, since most steel works
are now in a posit ion to supply an article of
uniform and excellent quality. In fact, the burden
of responsibility has largely been transferred to the
shoulders of t he steelmaker, since by careful inspection and tests his customer can make sure of get ting
t he class of material he r equires. Possibly the
steelmaker is worried too much in t his regard, since
specifications for steel sometimes differ only enough
in chemical composition to cause trouble in the mill,
whilst the finished product is practically t he same.
In other cases excellent steel has been r ejected as
failing to comply with the physical 1equirements,
whereas t he whole trouble arose from its being
tested t oo soon after rolling, a certain t ime being
needed for t he molecules to settle down after the
violent disturbances to which t hey have been subjected.
It is probable t hat some of the early Bessemer
steel was q uite equal in qualit y to any of t he mild
steel since made, b ut this success was attained by t he
use of expensive and selected ores and fuels. The
boast of the modern metallurgist is t hat out of
very unpromising raw material he is able to
produce an article that leaves little to be desired in
either quality or price. This success has not been
attained without many failures, and much groping
in the dark as to theit origin.
It is only
within the last few years that any clue has been
obtained to a. working theory of steel. Unfortunately,
the manufacturer cannot wait to supply his market
till phyaicists have completed their theories on
t he nature of its product, and of the intimate effect
of t he various processes to which it is subjected.
Did he do so, he might save the cost of many
expensive failures, b ut would infallibly lose his
customers. Hence, at the outset he is bound to
confine himself to the use of certain materials and
certain processes which experience has proved to be
satisfactory. Only as scientific knowledge slowly
accumulates is he able to devart from his rule-ofthumb procedure, and thus be in a position to
utilise cheaLJer sources of suvply.

Owing to the larger percentage of non-ferrous

materials present in tool steel, the difficulties due
to segregation and t he like are much greater than
in t he case of t he milder structural q ualities. We
thus find that makers of t his class of steel are still
dependent upon the use of high-priced ores, all
attempts to use the cheaper raw materials having
so far resulted in failure. Probably, as our knowledge of metallurgy increases, t his difficulty will be
overcome. As matters stand, however, t his is far
from being the case, and we find in a r ecent issue
of t he Chemical N ews a warning by Mr. Sergius
Kern against the open-hearth high-carbon steel,
which is sometimes now dishonestly sold as crucible
tool steel, and which gives distinctly poor results
when used for cutting instruments. Mr. Kern
states that analysis will generally disclose the
open-heart h origin of a tool steel which has proved
unsatisfactory. The content of manganese is much
larger t han it should be, and t he silicon generally
lower t han it is in crucible steel.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE

ALKALI TRADE.
l.i!' there is one t hing mor e t han another which
characterises our chemical industries to-day, it is
the constant change in procedure which is necessitated in order t hat profits may be sustained under
t he continually varying conditions of both r equirements and prices. In the present article we have
nothing of startling novelty in the way of new
demands to refer to, nor have there recently been
developed any new processes of an epoch-making
character which seem to invite the eye of caustic
or benevolent criticism; our imm ediate purpose is
rather to draw attention to one or two changes of
procedure which are not without interest, both
from t he general standpoint of the manufacturing chemist, and more particularly to those who
buy and use the commodities of which we propose
to treat. To touch , first, on the subject of
caustic soda, a chemical so largely used in the
soap, paper, and many other industries ; t he
present high prices for t he different strengths
which now prevail, and which are the r esult of a
tacit agreement amongst the principal makers,
has p roved a source of much mental disq uietude to buyers, who recall sadly the much
lower price at which t hey could buy three or four
years ago. Of course, t he caustic manufacturers
look
at t he situation from qui te another point of

v1ew.
The present price has caused a good many buyers
of caustic t o wonder whether it would not, after all,
pay t hem to revert to a practice which was much more
common at one time than it is at present, and to make
t he caustic on their own premises. Where the substance is used in the concentrated liquid form, and
is not required as a solid for sale at a distance,
there is no difficult y at all in making it from soda
ash, t he manufacture consisting merely of boiling
a solution of t he ash with quicklime.
Certain
precautions as to the strength of t he liquor
have to be carefully observed, but there is r eally
no difficulty in t he matter. The chemical change
which takes place is the conversion of sodium
carbonate and hydrate of lime into calcium carbonate and hydrate of soda or caustic, the latter
being in solution, while the former settles down to
the bottom of t he pan as a mud. The chief objection to carrying out the process in a small way for
the users' own needs is the difficulty of disposing
of t he waste chalk. It is difficult to free it
entirely from caustic soda ; or, at any rate, if it is
all washed out, a liquor is obtained of such a degree
of dilution that it does not pay for the f uel necessary for its concentration. Its disposal, where waste
land in quantity is not contiguous to the works, has
in the past proved a thorn in the flesh of t he
small manufacturer ; and it is not surprising, therefore, that t he cost of carting away this refuse
material acts as a potent deterrent to any action
h? migh t wish to take in the way of resuscitating
h1s former procedure. Of course, when the difference between the price of the soda ash and
t hat of caustic soda is not very wide- when it
stands, let us say, at about 3Z. a ton-there
is no great inducement t o go in for the
manufacture personally ; but when, as at the
present t ime, t he difference is nearer 6l. t han
3l., it is not surprising that the user should look
with somewhat envious eyes upon t he profits that
the alkali manufacturers are receiving.
But even aupposing t hat n o s uch obstacle as t hat

490

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

[OcT. 4,

1901.

presen~ed by the waste calcium carbonate existed, pany of salt beds of their own has acted potently cannot afford to go on

there Is the ever-present possibility that current

prices may not be sustained. If a fall occurred,
those who had involved themselves in expenditure
on plant of their own would look rather foolish. As
regards this matter, there seems to be a general
feeling that a drop will occur before very long, as
. there is no difficult~ whatever in getting orders
filled-a state of affairs quite the re\erse of that
obtaining two years ago, when the mercerising
boom was at its height. If it was generally felt
that the present prices would be indefinitely maintained or augmented, there is no doubt that many
large consumers would buy soda ash and causticise
it; but present indications do not seem to point
to this development. To turn now to a matter
which more intimately concerns the alkali manufacturer It is noticeable that a tendency exists
to make a market for liquid caustic in place
. of the solid product which has so lon<Y
been
0
the principal object of manufacture. The reaRon
for this is the important one of economy in fuel ;
a point of importance in the case being that the
chief expense in fuel is incurred in the concentration pots in boiling the strong liquor down to dryness. Of course, all this fuel is saved if the stuff
can be sold in the liquid condition; and the chief
point to be considered is whether the railway carriage on the water present is less or greater than
the cost of the coal. This point has been de. finitely decided in favour of the liquid product, that
is, at the present price of fuel ; and a regular trade
has now arisen in t.he liquor, which is concentrated
to 90 deg. Tw. strength, and sent out in tank
wagons to the consumer's works. The advantage is not on the makers' side by any means, because the buyer is saved a good deal of trouble in
breaking up and dissolving the solid, an operation
which, we may remark in passing, is often attended with more expense than is generally supposed by those who compare the relative costs of
caustic solid, powdered, or liquid. The tankwagon system of despatch answers well enough,
because the contents can be run off rapidly without
loss into a store tank' ; but it is otherwise when
the liquor is sold in carboys, except, perhaps, for
small consumers.
There is another point about this liquid caustic,
and that is, that the evaporation of the weak
liquor can be carried on with good economical
effect in a vacuum apparatus, and this is now being
regularly done. In the case of the solid this
plant could not be used for obvious reasons, but its
adoption for concentrating cauatic liquor up to the
necessary point has been followed by very gratifying results ; and there can be no doubt that this
systen:, so economical of fuel compared with open
pan evaporation, will see a large extension in
chemical works in the near future; that is, where the
necessary expenditure in plant does not succeed in
frightening the manufacturer away from what will
undeniably prove an ultimate advantage. It is understood that this system of evaporating caustic
liquor, which is in operation at the works of the
Castner-Kellner Alkali Company at Runcorn, has
given every satisfaction since it has been in use ;
and several works, other than alkali works-with
which branch of the chemical trades we are exclusively concerned to-day-have adopted it, to their
expressed advantage, in evaporating liquor down
to the crystallising point.
To turn for a moment to the consideration of
the chief raw material of the alkali tradecommon salt, to wit- it is essential that for the
ammonia process of making soda ash the factory
must be situated on the spot where brine is
obtainable ; and the discovery of late years of
new saliniferous districts, such as those of Fleetwood, Barrow, and Tees-side, has seen the alkali
industry established in districts remote from those
associated in history with its inception and development. There is a rather important point,
however, about these salt-fields, and that is, that
the: brine obtained by direct pumping is not of
uniform density in all its areas of production. Thus,
while it is possible in Cheshir~ to obtain a fullysaturated liquor, a weaker one 1s got at Fleetwood;
thus making it necessary for the works at the
latter place to conce~trl:'te their salt solut~on by
evaporation before 1t ts . read~ for. us~ 1n the
ammonia-soda process ; th1s p01nt, It will be at
once seen, gives the .Cheshire manufa~turers an
advantage in the savtng of !uel. With regar~
to the price of dry salt as used 1n the Leblan~ alkah
process, the acquisition by the United Alkali Oom-

in the way of their obtaining mor.e favourable terms

from the Salt. Union than was formerly the case.
Respecting the manufacture of salt itself fron'l the
brine, it cannot be said that any advancement in
the way of economy has taken place of late years,
or, i~deed, for a great number of years; and we
c~rtatnly do not profess t~ entertain any optimistic
vtews as to any decrease In cost of production, or,
in other words, in fuel, in the near future ; and we
say this in spite of the fact that the results of
certain experiments which have been conducted by
the Salt Union have not yet been made public for
the information of expectant shareholders.
.The position of prophet is not one to be assumed
w1th carelessness, but the rOle has a certain fascination on occasions, and we are inclined to run the
risk in the present case. With regard to the prices
likely to be current for alkali next year, there is
certainly likely to be a drop, but it will not be
a big one, or one calculated to bring much comfort
to ~onsumers, as is clearly evident by the prices at
which contracts over next year are now being
placed. To turn for a moment to the consideration
of potash. Here we have a diametrically opposite
state of affairs compared with caustic soda. Potash,
both carbonate and caustic, has seen a very big
fall indeed during the last year ; the high prices
recently prevailing, and those of to-day, being due
to a concatenation of circumstances of considerable
interest, but which the limits of our present space
do not permit of being given in extenso. In contradistinction to soda, the bulk of our potash comes
from abroad, Germany being our principal source.
Early in last year, however, certain fiscal conditions
of the beet-sugar manufacture led to a diminution
in the production of potash, which is obtained as a
bye-product; ' further than this, certain sources of
supply, which are tapped by navigable rivers, proved
unaYailable, . owing to lowness of water; and these
fact1, coupled with the increased demand in Great
Britain and elsewhere, led to consumers finding
great difficulty in getting what they wanted.
Now, however, a new source of supply in the
shape of large sugar works in the South of Russia.
has acted potently in reducing the strain of
the market : so much so, indeed, that potassium
carbonate of good commercial quality can to-day be
bought in quantity at about 15l. per ton. The
great influx of Continental potash of late years has
naturally done a good deal in killing the home
manufacture : a prominent raw material for which
is the American black ash, so called, which is
qbtained as a bye-product in economic forestry.
These few observations on potash are not put forward as in any way a concise epitome of the present state or future prospects of this branch of
the alkali industry, but they are not without
interest as instancing the rapidity with which
fluctuations are liable to occur in the chemical
industries- to the no small chagrin of those who
have sunk money in plant, destined in a short
t ime to become practically valueless. Not that
mutability in human affairs is prominent only in
the chemical trades, but that this branch is peculiarly open to reverses of fortune is a fact to
which the history of the subject abundantly
testifies.

THE METAL MARKETS.

increasing the total.

Some of its friends consider that it will reduce
the production of its mines still further rather
than lower the price of copper, but that re~ains to be seen. By the one course consumptiOn would be encouraged ; by the other it is being
discouraged; and it sea-ms to most of us to be the
part of wisdom to follow the first course, whereby
compensation for a lower range of profits would be
obtained from the greater quantity used.
At the present time there is no disposition to
help the Combine by purchasing copper. The new
supplies last month, according to Merton's statistics,
were 16,043 tons. They were 606 tons under
the volume of trade deliveries, and in addition 450
tons were taken out of warehouse for shipment to
America ; so that the visible supply of 24,765 tons
is 1056 tons lower than at the end of August. The
supplies compare with an average of over 21,000
tons for each of the previous twelve months, and
the decrease is referable to the policy of the
Americans in keeping back shipments in order to
support the market. For the year to September 30
the total supplies to Europe from the United
Sta.tes have been 108,575 tons, whereas for the
previous period they were as much as 159,063 tons.
The significant point is the smallness of the trade
takings. In September they were 16,649 tons;
in August, 18,770 tons; in July, 19,812 tons ; and
in June, 21,184 toris ; showing a steady decline
down to a point which is without parallel since
July, 1899. The average for the past twelve
months works out at 21,250 tons, and for the year
to September, 1900, at 22,250 tons.
From all this we infer-business not being in a
state of depression- that consumers are buying as
little copper as they possibly can. By so doing
they are helping to break the back of a greedy
monopoly. They are actuated, of course, by the
belief that the smash up is imminent, and we
should encourage them to persevere but that the
trade output will be diminished, while we (not
being in the secrets of the Amalgamated Company) cannot say when this body will turn
round, having achieved the double purpose with
which it is credited- lowering of prices to vermit it to com'3 in on the ground floor, and the
intimidation of the independent producers, one
of the largest of which, we are told, has expressed
its willingness to reduce production by 10 per
cent. We are assuming here that the real explanation of the fall is to be found in market
manipulations, and not in the inability of the Combine to go on playing the game ; and we are referring to the whole situation again because of
its importance to all users of copper, and in smaller
measure to users of other metals as well.
Tin has naturally been affected by the fluctuations of the other metal. The existing level of
prices is artificial, and, as is the case with copper
again, it has been maintained because of the strength
of the " bull , clique. During last month there
was a net decline of 6l. per ton. The present quotation-112l. per ton for Straits tin-shows a considerable drop from the highest point (153l.)
reached last year ; but there is plenty of room for
a further fall before a reasonable level is again
reached. Should copper collapse, tin is certain to
follow suit, because the conditions are much similar
in each case, and a speculative fright is very contagious. Meantime, the supplies of the metal have
increased during the past month, by reason of the
.Banka-Billiton sale. New supplies reached 7604
tons, as compared with 5123 tons in August, while
the deliveries were only 5765 tons, as compared
with 7244 t ons. The result is that the visible
supply stands at 17,643 tons, against 15,804 tons.
The most important agent in bringing tin down,
when the psychological moment arrives, wi1l be the
fact that production is now well ahead of consumption.
For the twelve months to September 30 the supplies (exclusive of Cornish
and Bolivian, which go direct into consumption,
and are therefore not included in the statistics)
were 71,985 tons, and the deliveries 70,527 tons,
whereas in 1899-1900 the supplies were 64,678 tons,
and the deliveries 66,747 tons, and for 1898-9 the
respective figures were 62,751 tons and 67,422 tons.
Shipments from the Straits are growing: for the
past twelve months they reached 49,653 tons,
against 42,733 tons in the previous period.

ALL the authorities have been giving expression

to their views on the subject of the copper situation, but nothing very definite has been allowed to
leak out with regard to the intentions of the Amalgamated Copper Company, which has the issue in
its own hands. Messrs. J ames Lewis and Son are
informed " on good authority " that the Americans
have no intention of reducing their price, and they
add that '' at present there appears to be no necessity to materially reduce their production, the total
supplies of copper to Europe and the United States
to date this year being less than 5 per cent. in excess
of those of last year. The consumption in England
and France (allowing for absorption of consumers'
stocks) is fully equal to that of last year, and
although that of Germany shows a falling off of
13 500 tons, this is probably counterbalanced by
th~ increased consumption reported from the
United States." There remains the question of
secret stores in America, and although definite
information on this head is unobtainable, there is
no room to doubt that these stores are con- PRUSSIAN RoLLING SrooK.-The administration of the
siderable.
The Amalgamated Company . can Prussian State Railways has let contracts for 305 loco
carry this quantity, in all probability, but it mobivea and 498 passenger carriages.

OcT. 4, 1901.]

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

491

account for new purchases ; making a revised valua- such periodical revision of prices as may be deemed
ENGINEERING VALUATIONS .
tion every three or five years, and in the intervals desirable, whether at the end of three years or five.
(Continued from page 415.)
I t is not necessary to show the amount of depretaking credit in the account8 for the last preceding
SMALL LoosE PLANT, PATTERNs, AND TooLs.
valuation. But to this course there are objections. ciation in the balance-sheet, nor even in the
LoosE plant, patterns, and tools are probably the In the first place, although the articles are numerous, trading account. What is necessary is that t~e la~t
portion of an engineering firm's assets most trouble- and many of them of small value individually, the value arrived at shall be entered as an as~et, JUSt m
some and difficult to properly value. From some aggregate value of them is too considerable for the the same manner as stock on h~nd. The methods
of the inoident8 which reduce the valuation of other adoption of a rule-of-thumb-method of dealing with of adjusting that value in the books are various, and
portions of the property they are free ; they are them. 'l'hen again, apart from the question of can be properly and minutely recorded. in the books
mobile, and can r~adily be removed from place to preventable losses, there is a considerable margin of account without disclosing to a curious world the
place if it should become necessary to remove the for economy in their use, and economy is promoted process by which it is arrived at.
works or dispose of the plant. The loss of trade by having any want of it forcibly presented to the
(To be oontinued.)

to a particular district, or the tendency to migra- manager in some form of trading account. It is
t~on thereof to another locality more favourably likewise d,esirable for something akin to detective
NOTES.
situated with respect to changed conditions, will purposes that a record in a concise and easily underTHE ELECTROLYSIS OF F usED ALKALI
not, therefore, have so disastrous an effect on the stood form should be kept of all variations by way
CHLORIDES.
sale of small plant and tools as it has on buildings of additions or returns to stores, and plant, of this
IT
has
long
been
known
t
hat
the
sodium
yield
and on heavy machine-tools, engines or boilers .description. Moreover, without some such record
permanently fixed in position, and resting on heavy the valuation will be a mere matter of guess in the electrolysis of fused sodium chloride defoundations. On the other hand, these small work; a surmise prob~bly well within the market creases as the temperature risee, and as a mixture
articles have dangers peculiarly their own; they value as part of a going concern, but unsatisfactory of the chlorides of sodium and potassium melts at a
have a wonderful way of disappearing before they and misle~ding if taken !ls a basis f?r sale or pur- considerably lower temperature than either of the
are worn out, or of being mysteriously exchanged chase. Finally, there IS the questwn of detailed salts, such mixtures have been used. If the two
for .inferior and damaged counterparts; they are cost accounts. Though cost accounts are not the salts are used in equivalent proportions, and the
subJect to great and rapid attrition which cannot subject of immediate consideration, they supply sodium chloride is afterwards constantlyreplenished,
be compensated by any ordinary scheme of writing another objection to the foregoing methods of the electrolysis gives a sodium which does not conoff; and such portions as patterns and foundry- valuing loose plant. The proper amount of de- tain nwre than 1 per cent. of pota'ssiun1. Such
boxes have in the eyes of their owners a fictitious preciation would not be written off at suffi- a sodium is sufficiently pure for many technical
value, which require extremely favourable circum- ciently short intervals, and would therefore not purposes. In investigating the causes of the
stances to develop into a real value, utterly beyond be included in the departmental and subsequent sodium losses, Arthur Fischer, of the Aachen
Technical High School, dispensed with a specia)
any price they would ordinarily realise on sale. expenditure account8.
Besides the writ ing off an annual percentage,
Exc~pt for the trouble of making the entries, crucible, dipping the two electrode"s directly into
generally and properly regarded as impracticable, there IS no real reason why the chisels and hammers the salt mixture, and employing the current heat
there are three methods available for depreciating portable ~orges, and wheelbarrows, and ladders: for keeping the salts in fusion. It was observed
or appreciating the value of such stock. One is to and the like, should not be dealt with in the same that the sodium did not appear to rise from the
value the miscellaneous loose plant afresh every account as steam hamme~s, bending machines, and kathode, but from a point between the two elecyear; the second to maintain and renew entirely lathe~; they are all s ubJect to use and wear, and trodes, and the reason seems to be the following :
out ~f revenue, writing off no depreciation, but the different rates of wear are merely a question of The free liberation of chlorine at the anode causes
occaswnally making a revaluation as an additional degr~e, and do n?t involve any principle. It is a brisk convection current towards the anode in
precaution; the third, which is approved by Mr. posstble to get qmt of the clerical difficulty by the lower portions of the fused mass. This
Matheson for foundry boxes and similar articles using a slight modification of the form of record current partly carries the sodium particlesis to value such boxes, whether old or new, at 20s: already given under the head of buildings ; making, which, i.f once united in small globules, are
per ton above pig iron rate, without regard to the however, the loose plant a separate account, or not so hable to be burnt by the chlorine or
current market price. In practice, however, this even accounts, from the more permanent fixed the air as might be feared- with it, so that rising
latter method is but a variation of the first, whilst plant, so as to facilitate references to both classes. from the lower extremity of the kathode they are
in many factories it may be convenient to treat In~tead of an individual entry of each file or deflected in a curve, and seem, in the surface layers
part of the loose plant on the first plan ~pd part on chisel, o~ even of each po.rtable forge or driving to return to the kathode, as if they came from th~
the second.
belt (~h10h would b~ red~cmg book-keeping to an anode rather than from the kathode. In order to
But whatever plan is adopted, it is essential, both absurdtty) the entr1es wtll be for the various k~ep the sodium particles from going astray,
for sound finance, and proper and safe valuation, cl~sses, such records of numbers or quantities Fischer surrounded the kathode with a hood rethat pa~terns should be regarded as very doubtful bemg made as are possible, in order that the s~mbling a hat, the brim of which forms a co~ling
assets ; If they are for stook machines and castings mat;tager may at .stocktaking have presented to his pipe. The fused salt solidifies on this ring and
they will rapidly wear out through constant use~ notice the quanttty of materials destroyed, as well as ~he liberation of sodium remains confined t-o the
if they are expensive and highly-finished patterns: the money cost of such destructive use. The modi- Inner space of the hood . The whole mass was
or heavy and ela~orately fitted foundry boxes, fied form we would suggest would be as under :
however, apt to solidify. A larger hood suit:
ably placed answered for a time. But when the
prepa~ed for a sp~01al ord~r, there is the possibility
Loose Pla;nt Book.
crust of resolidified salt had commenced to crack
of therr never bemg reqUired again, though stored
for many years. It is, indeed, sometimes conand to peel off, the copper pipe was q uiokly eaten
Portable Forges. Estimated Life - - Months.
tended that every castin.g or set of castings should,
th~ough at sp~ts opposite the anode, the copper
at the outset, pay for Its pattern ; but this, to be
- - - - - . - - : - - - - : - - - - - - - evidently playmg the part of an intermediate
theoretically correct, presupposes that the pattern
~lectrode on which sodium appeared. A proper
Depreciation.
No. or Price
Value msulation of the kathode hence seemed advisable
will not again be used. It would be as absurd to
Date.
Qua.n. of
Value.
at
pedantically follow such a rule, without considerabut there are few insulators which will act in fused
tity. Issue.
Quan- Val
Dec. 81.
tion ~r variation, as to cha~ge the cost of a planing
salts. Marble is one of them, and marble slabs
tity.
ue.
-- - - - - - 1- - - were tried in various ways. Finally, the two elecmachine to the first watertight door on which it is - - -1- -
1890
used. As a mere matter of account, it is evident that
trod.es were arranged horizontally in ~lignment in
January 1,
Balanced
9
in. working out detailed costs, the first casting made
an non box, across which a cooling trough of
June 13 . .
a
m1ght appear to cost many times the amount of
marble w!ls placed, dipping a little into the mass
&o.
. . &o.
the subsequent ?nes, ~erelY: because an expensive
and cooling, but not freezing, it. The anode
pattern was debited to It wluch could not be debited
was a carbon rod; the kathode a hollow iron pipe
again to the others, although it was nsed for their
through
which
the
sodium
which
floated
on
the
salt
Chisels (Various). Estimated Life-- Months.
production.
On the other hand, patterns and
flow~d off. The arr~ngement entirely obviates the
templates prepared for a particular ship for which
- detr1mental .convection currents, and consequent

1890
there is no repeat order, are frequently preserved
losses of sodium. But as the sodium spreads on
January 1,
~y shipbuilders, and regarded by thetn and recorded
the surface, the current density diminishes and
balance
98
m theu books as a valuable asset, for many years
January 16
6
with it the heating effect of the current. 'As a
so 10
after all. hope ?f agai.n using them has passed away.
result! tl!e fused salt becomes sluggish, and the elec"
February
1
1
The pobcy of mconsiderately charging all patterns
8
4
trolysis 1s more and more limited to the neighbour
&o.
&o.
to the first order, though sometimes pedant ic
hoo.d of t~e anode. A quick removal of the sodium,
and absurd, cert~inly displavs more wisdom than ,
desrrable I~ every respect, has hence to be provided
this.
.,
fo~, and Ftsoher appears to have been successful in
Srnal! loose plant and tools, in which may be em- . A ~ook in this form can readily be kept by any this task as well.
braced uon and steel tools, belting, chains, ropes, mt~lhgent storekeeper, under the direction of the
port~ble forges, carts, wheelbarrows, and ladders, eng1neer, and the correctness of the entries in it ELECT~IOITY ON THE BELGIAN LIGHT RAILWAYS.
An .Importa?t step in the matter of introducin
r~qmre a very heavy annual percentage rate- some- ?an be checked fro.m his stores' ledger. The checktl.mes as much as 50 per cent.- to adequately pro- In~ of .thes~ ~ntries is a matter of mechanical de- electric tract10n on the Belgian light rail w g
Vlde for the wear and tear to which they are sub- tail which, If It be deemed desirable, can be per- (Chemin de Fer Vi?inaux) was taken last, Ap~h~
ject. They are also so numerous that a. detailed formed by the auditor or his clerks whilst the ~hen stea!D locomotives ceased to run on the lines
record of th.e~ in a schedul~, kept corrected up to a~tual ~aluation .of the loose plant, and the deprecia- ~ the ~eighbourhood of Oharleroi. These ard~te by addi~lODS and ~epletwns, is an exceedingly tiOn written off 1n order to arrive at such valuation tloula; hn~s hav~ an aggregate length of just ~ver
difficult and uksome, if not absolutely impossible will s~ill remain with the managing engineer, whos~ 14 miles, ~clus1ve of tracks at the depots. The
task. A sim_Ple plan is therefore adopted by many techn~cal knowledge enables him to correctly wor~ of fittmg them fo; steam tr!lotion has been
firms of valumg them, old and new alike at half appraise them. The results can readily be checked, carried out by the So01ete Electrtque et H d
li
f
Ch
1
.
y
rauthe~ ?riginal cost, ~vriting off nothing' for de- so far a~ numbers are concerned, at each annual q~e o
ar erOI, under the terms of a most
.T he undertaker was not
pre01at10n, and adding nothing ta the capital stocktaktng, and, sa far as values are concerned, at stnngent . contract.
onl~ requued to eomplete the line to the satis..

492
faction of the '' Societe N ationale," but had also
to specify in his tender the working cost per
train- kilometre, exclusive of the wages of the
train staff, and to guarantee that ; this cost
should not be exceeded. To render this clause
operative, the undertaker was further required
to operate the road with his own staff for a
period of three years. The average working cost
of the last two of these years being determined by
the accountants, the contractor is to be paid as his
expenses the total found pltts 10 per cent., with a
maximum, however, not exceeding his guarantee.
Should it prove that his guarantee is exceeded,
the surplus will be capitalised, and he will be
required to pay 4 per cent. on the capital for a
period of fifteen years. These onerous conditions
did not check tenders, offers being received from
four firms, and the contract, as stated, was a warded
to the Societe Electrique et Hydraulique of Charleroi, whose tender amounted to 1, 163,790 francs
(46, 150l. ). The guaranteed working cost for
575,000 train-kilometres (357,290 train-miles) per
annum was 0.1049 francs per train-kilometre (1.63d.
per t rain - mile) ; for 625,000 train - kilometres
(388,360 train-miles), 0.1025 francs per train-kilometre (1.59d. per train-mile); and for 700,000 trainkilometres (434,960 train-miles) or more, 0.10 franc
per train-kilometre (1.55d. per train-mile). Speeds
of 8 kilometres (4. 97 miles) per hour are required
up the steepest gradients of 7 per cent., whilst on
the level the cars provided are capable of running at
40 kilometres (24. 85 miles) per hour. The rolling
stock consists of twenty-two motor and twenty-two
trailer oars, the former carrying thirty-five and the
latter forty passengers. The former weigh empty
6. 8 tons, and the latter 3 tons ; the total weight of
the train fully loaded being about 15 tons. The
plant consists of four Bollinokx compound engines
capable of generating each 325 horse-power, the
guaranteed steam consumption being 13.4 lb. of
water per indicated horse-power per hour on full
load. The dynamos are driven by belting, and are
each designed to give 360 amperes at 560 volts at
full load, and 450 amperes and 600 volts at. over
load. They are of 8-pole type, and are guaranteed
to give 560 watts for each indicated horse-power in
the steam cylinders. The current is taken to the
cars by overhead trolley wires supported on side
poles. To reduce risk of electrolysis, there is a
return conductor, of old :r;ails laid in concrete,
which is connected up to the main rails at every
85 metres. The motor cars have each two
30 horse-power motors ; and since the change was
made the popularity of the lines has increased
40 per cent.. , and twenty-three trains are required
to deal with the traffic in place of the sixteen
originally provided for.
THt: Som-FusAN RAILWAY.
The Japanese are evidently determined to make
themselves the chief constructors of rail ways in
Korea.. Unfortunately for them, the difficulty of
rai2ing the necessary funds is, in the present state
of the money market, one which is not easily got
over. Still, they are showing that they are .~ot
easily discouraged. The promoters of the SoulFusan railway have placed before the shareholders
the programme of their proposed w:ork, as dra~n
out by Mr. Kasai, the chief expert 1n the .. serviCe
of the company. The railway starts at Soul and
terminates at Fusan. The most pron1inent places
where stations are to be established are Suigen,
25 n1iles from Soul; Tempo, which lies ~t a
distance of about 50 miles from the cap1tal ;
Shokuyan, 3 miles south of Tempo; Zengiken,
72 miles from Soul ; Koshin, at 90 ; and Renzan,
at 200. From this point the line branches off to
the west, and proceeds to Kokei, a distance of
7 miles; then running up the river through
Gunzan-po (n. seaport town 10 miles from Renzan),
it finally reaches a point where connection will be
made by vessels plying to Kokei, and which are at
present available for the transport of railway
materials. Between Soul and Renzan the g~oun.d
s level . but from the latter point the region IS
~ounta~ous and the roads are rugged, until at
150 miles the famous Kinzan is reache~. Prod'ng still further the line reaches Eido-Ken,
ce_d
I ay between Soui and Fusan. It then traverses
1
~ wShin fu Pass and arrives at W aik wan-a
d et nee ~f 195 :nnes from the capital. The
s~~tfon of 80 miles between Kinzun and W aikwan
is expected to present no small difficulty. ; indeed,
it will constitute the most arduous portiOn of the
wo~~k on tije railwar. Berond the 2l5 mil~s mark.

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

[OcT. 4,

1901.

is a large city, accessible from the north through friction between the parts would thus be varied, a
Seido and Emyo, which borders Fusan along the circumstance to which Edison and others have
river Rakuto. The whole length of the line iti long since drawn attention. R. von Lieben modi287 miles, and when completed it will enable the fied the arrangement as follows : Instead of the
passengers to reach Fusan from Soul in 10 to 12 platinum belt, which gave trouble by bending,
hours, at an average speed of 28.7 miles an hour. he used a copper disc, 2 millimetres thick,
The line has been laid out not only with the 450 millimetres in diameter, placed between
object of tapping the traffic of the large towns, two iron discs, and turning between centres
but also of developing the industrial resources of which served as conductors. The speed could
the country. There are to be 42 stations on the be varied by employing a p ulley resting edgeline to begin with; but t his number will be ways on the disc. The copper rim, the essenincreased as the traffic grows. At Fusan-chin is to tial part of the device, is carefully turned and
be established a workshop for the construction and polished. A wooden wedge, with an edge about 0.5
repair of rolling-stock. There will be a consider- millimetre thick and 0. 75 millimetre broad, bears
able amount of tunnelling on the line, the total against the rim. As electrolyte there was employed
length of tunnels being 40,700 ft., the longest copper or zinc sulphate, acid, neutral, or alkaline ;
being about 1 mile. The longest bridges will be the alkaline solutions, especially the zinc sulphate
at Rakuto and Kiuko, the former being 1400 ft. to which caustic potash was added, answered much
and t he latter 1200 ft. The total length of bridges better than the copper solution, but t he zinc
on the line will be 20,500 ft. In Japan the gauge hydrate gradually clogged the wedge; wiping, howin general use is 3ft. 6 in. ; but in Korea it is to ever, cured t he trouble. In these cases copper or zinc,
be 4 ft. 8 in., so that 75-lb. rails may be used .. or both, were deposited on the copper rim. In other
The Soul-Fusan railway was originally intended to experiments the rim was first silvered, and a small
be a double track ; but, for the present, a single silver electrode was placed in the wedge cell, and
track will be laid. The land over which the silver cyanide employed as electrolyte ; in others,
proposed line will pass is generally of crystalline again, the electrode was platinum, the electrolyte
gneiss and granite; but the district between Soul iodide of potassium. The deposits on the rim conand Renzan- a distance of 100 miles-is of clay, sisted of silver, hydrogen, or oxygen. The noises
with no stone on the surface. Between Waikwan accompanying the gas generation disturbed the
and Fusan no soft earth is to be seen on the reproduction of speech, and, on the whole, the
surface, the land being entirely of hard rocks. experiments were more successful when the copper
There will thus be an ample supply of building disc, with its rim of copper or silver, was made
stones; but timber for sleepers, bridges, and the kathode than when it formed the anode.
buildings of all descriptions will require to be
'
imported. The contpany proposes to use American
pine, as it is found to be much cheaper, both as
EGYPTIAN IRRIGATION.
regards cost and transport, than Japanese timber.
IN connection with the paper on "Irrigation in the
The clay along the route is believed to be suitable NileValley, and its Future," read by Mr. W. vYillcocks,
for the manufacture of bricks, and therefore a 0. M. G., before t he International Engineering Connumber of factories are to be established as the gress, Glasgow, and published by us on page 336
work proceeds. Cement must be procured from ante, we gave, in our report of the speech of Mr.
abroad. Koreans are to be employed for excavation Vernon Harcourt (see page 311 ante), a short account
and other 1abour, as they are said to be much of the project designed by Mr. Russel Aitken for
adding
to
the
water
available
for
irrigation
in
Egypt.
stronger than Japanese, and their wages are As the pacification of the Soudan has brought this
smaller.
matter into the region of practical politics, the matter
is now of much interest: and we therefore, in the
ELECTROLYTIC TELEPHONOGRAPHS.
following paragraphs, deal with the matter in greater
As every loose contact, and also any variable cur- detail than was possible in our report of the Congress.
The annual rise of the Nile, which reaches its
rent, even, that passes through the electric arc, may be
made to speak, and since Poulsen and Petersen have highest at Assouan in September, supplies the water
succeeded in obtaining magnetic telephonic records for irrigating the" winter crop;" but if the flood level
available for reproduction, it is not surprising that does not rise high enough to fill the irrigation canals,
we should hear of electrolytic telephonographs. little or nothing can be done to remedy the deficiency.
If there should not be the required amount of water
The idea occurred simultaneously to Professor in the river at "Low Nile," the land which has been
N ernst, of Gottingen, and to one of his students, sown in the full expectation of obtaining an adequate
R. von Lieben, and the latter is continuing the re- supply of water for the "summer crop," and does
searches, so far with rather indifferent practical not get it, has to be abandoned, entailing great loss
success. Yet the subject is in itself interesting. to the cultivator, and some loss to the Government,
The first arrangen1ent used was a direct adaptation which cannot collect the tax for irrigated crops.
Such being the case, it was evident to Mr. Russel
of the Petersen device to electrolysis. An endless
belt of platinum is moved by an electric motor over Aitken, who, during his residence in India, had some
two pulleys. From below presses gently against experience of irrigation and of the vast quantities of
the belt a little wedge of wood, placed in a small water required for irrigating land in hot arid climateEI,
electrolytic cell. The transmitting microphone is that the reservoir in course of construction at Assouan,
and which, with its dam reduced in height, was to
placed in the primary of a transformer, whose contain only 1060 million cubic metres of water, was
circuit comprises five accumulators. The electro- totally insufficient to irrigate all the land it was
lytic cell, with its one electrode, and the platinum stated in the newspapers it would irrigate. So he
bel~ an~ battery, belong to the seconda~y circuit wrote to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
. whi~h. IS closed by me~~s of a switch, for pointing this out, and advising that the project should
receivmg records, and JOined to a telephone be abandoned, as being totally inadequate to fulfil all
for reproduction. The leading idea was that the the requirements for which it was deaigne~, viz., the
local electrolytic polarisation, impressed upon securing of an adequate supply of water durmg "Low
the moving belt, co?ld be .util.ised. in the same Nile " for irrigating all the lands suited for '' summer
way as the magnetic polarisation 1n the Poul- crop."
The
requirements
for
irrigation
at
"
Low
Nile
"
are
sen experi~ents. This p~oved, indeed, pe~- shown in the subjoined memorandum, and it will be
fectly possible, and sometimes the electrolyt~c seen that during a " Maximum Low Nile ': no. water
records could be used for several hundred repet~ is required to supplement the water fl.owmg m the
tions. B?t the effect is. not purely an. electrolytiC river ; but during an '' Aver~ge Low ~~le " 7000
one, and Its nature remains to be es~ab~1sh~d.. For million cubic metres, and durmg a '' Mmtmum Low
the sounds became the clearer- withm limits, . of Nile " 10 000 million cubic metres are required to
.
course-the strong~r the constant.curren.t ~upphed su~pleme~t the water flowing in the _river.
In examining the Valley of the Nil? to see If these
by the battery, which, as we mentiOned, IS Inserted
in the secondary ?ircuit. These constant c~rre!lts large quantities of water could be obtamed, Mr. Russel
would be sup~ru:nposed ~pon the polansat10~ Aitken first examined the Equatorial lakes; but he
currents, and It 1s not duectly clear why theu found that the Albert N yanza is either being raised at
its
southern
end
by
volcanic
action,
or
the
waters
flow.
strength should intensify the telephone sounds, as ing out of the lake are cutting their way throug~ the
t~e telephone re~ponds only to the cur.rent fluctua- barriers that impound it; and, further, ~hat even 1f the
t10ns. There m1ght be a contact resistance effect water in the Albert Nyanza could be Impounded and
increasing with the current strength; but the dealt with, it could not reach Khartoum in any reason
polarisation of the different experiments was of a able time, owing to its having .to pass through the vast
varied nature, as will be seen. The inv~stigators marshes which cover the site where an enormous lake
incline to the belief. that the str?ng m1crophone formerly existed.
Lake Dembea or Tsana, in Abyssinia, with an areo,
currents pr?duce a .kmd of mechan10a~ loosenmg of
th~ respect1ve portiOns of t~e t;netalhc b~lts, and of 1200 square miles, and with a su~cient rainfa.ll ?n
th1s etfect alt~rs the polar1sation capa01ty 1 the a gathering ~rouqd Qf ~000 square puleet WO\lld 1 1f 1ta

O cT. 4, rgo1.]
waters were raised to a h eigh t of m etres, or 26~ f t.,
supply all the water required for "summer crop" in
Egypt and the Lower oudan.
_At the request of the Foreign Office, ~Ir. Russel
Attken embodied these views in a report , and this
repor t w as sen t by the Foreign Office more than two
years ago to Cairo.
About a year ago this report wa.a a aain sent to
Cai ro, a long w ith reports by :Mr. L~ F . Vernon
Ha.rcourt and ~Ir. Ha.wksha.w, also advocating Lake
D embea or Tsana as t h e most advantageous source of
w a ter s upply for summer irrigation; but the Governmen t of Egypt was not at t hat t ime convin ced that a
larger supply was necessary than could be got from
t he reser voir at Assouan .
At the { I beginning of th is year J however J the
E gyp t tan ':'overn ment. voted a s um of money to be
expended m surveys m that pa rt of the Nile alley
above \Ya dy Halfa and bel ow K.lurtoum which had
been in the hand3 of the ~1a.hdi, when the Assouan
Resenoir was determined on.
Apparently n o s uitable sit3, or sites, were found for
f urther ret:~ervoirs in the Lower N ile V alley. for in
the Blue Book issued this summer L a ke Dembea or
T sana. is indicat ed by the Egyptian Governm ent a s
the only tho roug hly reliable source f rom which a
su fficie n~ s upply of wate r for summer irrigation can
be obtamed, thus somewhat tardily adopting :Mr.
Rus3el Aitke_!l's project of n early threa years ago.
The follow10g memorandum gives the quanti ~ies of
water available :

MEMOBANDlil\f.
Lake Dembea as a, Supp lemental Supply for I rrigation
in Egypt and the Sou dan.
' Water a.t present passing the Nileometer a.t Low N ile :
During a maximum year .. . 1000 cub . m. per second.
,
a.n a:v~rage year . .. 500
,,
,
,
a. mtmmum year . . . 250
,
,
" Amount of water required at L ow N ile to s upplement
the water p assing in the river at Assouan, so thab it ma.y
never be less than ab the rate of 1000 cubic metres p er
f.econd :
During a maximum year... None.
,
an average year ... 600 cub. m. per second.
,
a minimum year ... 750
,
11
"Total amoun t of water per ann um required frJm Lake
D ambea to s upplement the water now passing bhe Nileometer at Assouan, so that there shall n ever be less than
1000 cubic metres per second at Low N ile :
In a maximum year
... None.
... 7,000 million cubic metres.
11 an average year
,, a minimum year
... 10,000
,
11
" Value of agricultural products to be obtained from the
water of L ake D embea in Egypt as per 1Yir. Willcock's
b ook on "Egyptian Irrigation," viz., 1200l. per million
cubic metres of water :
During a maximum year ... None.
,
a n average year ... 8,400,000l.
,
a minimum year ... 12,000,000l.
" Amount of wa.cer in be impounded in Lake Dembea.
with a dam 26~ ft. high, 25.000 million cubic metres.
" The present dam now being constructed holds up but
1060 million cubic metres, having a. value of but 1,272,000l.
in agricultura l products.
1899.
R ussEL ATTKEN. "

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

ON Wednesday, August 28, M essrs. I s hika.waj ima Shipbmlding and E ngineering Company, Limited, of Tokyo,
Japan, launched from their s hipbuilding yard ab Uraga.,
n ear Yokosuka., a steel screw steamer, built to the order
of Mr. Shichihei Oiye, of Oaaka, for the V ladivostock
Line. The vessel, which is named K otsU Maru, which
means "communication," is of thespardecked type, built
under special survey to class 100 A 1 a t Lloyd's, and also
in accordance wi th the J ll.paneseShipbuilding Encouragem en t Act. The vessel is of the following dimensions :
L ength over all, 251 ft.; length between perpendicula rs,
240ft.; breadth moulded, 34 ft . ; d epth moulded, 22ft.;
h aving a displacement of 2800 t ons, a nd a g ross regis ter
tonnage of 1650 tons, and is fitted with double bottom for
water ballast on the cellular principle fore and aft, and
also in fore-and-aft peak tanks. Her engine~, al so con structed by the company ab their engine shop in T okyo,
are of triple-expansion type of 1150 indicated horee-p ower,
having cylinders 18~ in ., 30 in., and 52 in. in d iameter,
with stroke of 36 in., steam being supplied from two large
single -ended s teel boilers, working ab 200 lb. pressure,
and fitted with evaporators~ &c.
There was la unched on Tuesday, the 17th ulb., from the
yard of Messrs. W. Simons and Co., Limited, Renfrew,
complete and ready for work, a powerful t win-screw, sternwen, bucket ladder, hopper dredger, constructed to the
order of the N a.ta.l Govern ment, under the direction of the
Agenb-Genera.l for Natal, Sir Walter Peace, K .C.M.G.
T he dredger will be engaged on the harbour extension
works no w being carried out ab Durban, Por t Natal, for
which work she has been specially designed.
Her
dimensions are 290 fb. by 38 ft . by 15 ft. 9 in. The hopper
capacity is 800 tons. The hull is subdivided into eleven
watertight compartments by means of watertight bulkheads carried up to the main deck. The bucket ladder
working through a central well ab t he stern of the vessel
js of Sllffioient length to dredge to a depth of 40 fb. from

E N G I N E E R I N G.
the light-draught line when the hopper is empty. The
buckets are of large capacity, and are capable of filling the
vessel's own hopper in one hou r. A set of d redging claws
are fixed on the bucket chain for dealing with a very hard
clay botto m and rook. P ropelling power is p rovided by
two sets of t ri-oom pound surface-cond e nsing engines,
designed to drive the vessel ab 10 knots, steam being
s upplied from two multitubular steel boilers constructed
for a working pressure of 160 lb. per square inob.
Powerful triple-ba rrelled mooring winches are fitted ab
bow and stern for manamvring and regulating the out of
the dredger when at work. These winches are so designed that t he head, s tero, or thwa.rtship chains oan be
bakon in or slackened out together or separately. For
con trolling the buokeb ladder a. special powerful friotionl\l
hoist gear is provided. The hopper doors are operated by
steam and band appliances. On leaving the ways the
d redger was named the Teredo.

493
ab a pressure of 160 lb. par square inob. This machinery
is ex pected to drive the vessel a t a speed of 12 knots at sea.
On Saturday, the 28 bb ul b., the scre w steamer Sans u,
which has been built for Messre. E lder, Dempster, and
Co., of Liverpool, by the T yne Iron Ship Building Company, Limited, of Willington Quay-on-Tyne, was taken
to sea on her trial. She is 325 fb. long by 45 ft. broad,
and carries a.n exceptionally large measurement cargo .on
light draughb. She has engine3~3 in., 37 in, and 6~ m.
i n dillmeter by 42 in. stroke, with two large steel b01lera
which have been built bv the Wa.llsend Slipway and
E ngineering Company, Limited.
A speed of over
10 knots was attained.
T he Clyde S hipbuilding and Eagineering Company,
Li mited, Port G lasgow, launched on Saturday forenoon,
the 28oh ulb., the scre w steamer L a.koj a, which they have
bu ilb for MesBre. Elder, D em pster, and Co , Liveroool.
The general dimensions of bhe vessel are : L ength. 310 fb.;
breadth, 45 ft .; depth, 30 fb. She will be fi tted by the
builders with triple-expansion engines of 1200 indicated
horse-power. The Lakoja is the fi rst of two sister ships
which the firm are building for M essrs. Elder, Dempster ,
and Co. They will be fi bted to carry cattle and general
carg0, and each will have accommodation for about a
dozen fi rsb-ola.ss p assengers. Oa completion the L akoja.
will be placod on the o wners' ser vice o n the W esb Ooast
of A frica, for which she has been specially designed.

On W ednesday, the 25bh ulb., the la rge steel screw

s teamer Knjas Gorbschakow, built by Messrs. W . G ray
and Co. Limited, for the Northern Steamship Company,
L imited, St. Petersburg, was taken to sea for her trial
trip. The vessel takes Lloyd's highest class, is 341 fb. in
length over all, 47 ft . in breadth, and 27 ft. 4 in. deep.
She has an extra long bridge, p oop, and topgallant forecastle. The engines have cylindera 25 in., 40 in., a nd
65 in. in diameter by 42 in. stroke, and have been supplied from the Central Marine Eng ine Works of Messrs.
W . G ray a nd Co. There are two large steel boilers,
- -which work at a. pressure of 160 lb. per square inch. The
~Messrs. the Laxevaags Enginee ring and Shipbuilding
trial was a. very successful one. The average s peed of Company, Bergen, Norway, launched on Saturd n.y, the
sh ip was fully 12 knots.
28th ult., the s.s. T a_phir, a cargo steamer built t o the
order of Mr. Erich Lindoe, Ha.ugasund. The principal
The s.P. Flynderborg, bu ilb t o the order of the Steam dimensions are : L ength between perpendiculars, 244 ft. ;
Navigation Company '' Dd.n nebrog," of Copenhagen, beam extreme, 36 fb. ; depth moulded, 19 fb. The machiwas, on Thursday, the 26th ult., successfully launched at nery is also con .:.tructed by the Laxevaags Company, the
the yard of the Elsinore Iron Shipbuilding a.nd E ngineer- cylinders being 17! in., 29 in., and 48 in. in dia.meber by
ing Company, E lsinore, Denmark. T his steamer is built 33 in. stroke. T he boiler is constru cted for a working
of steel to the highest class at both Bureau Veritas and pressure of 175 lb. per square inch.
British Lloyd's, and her dimensions are : 250 fb. by 36 fb.
On Saturday, the 28th ulb., the new steamer L langibby,
by 18ft. 4~ in. depth of hold . The engines ~re of the tripleex pan~ion type, with surface condenser, indicating 700 352 fb. 3 in. by 49 ft. 6 in. by 28 ft. 3 in., built by Messrs.
Ropner and Son, Stookton-on T ees, to the order of
horse-power.
M essrs. Gladstone and Co., West HarblepooJ, for aocount
Mr. P. Moral, Cardiff, made her official t ri al trip in
On Thursday, the 26th ulb., the fine new steel screw of
bhe T ees Bay, and made an average speed of 12 knots.
steamer Ole Bull, which has j ust been completed by The vessel will carry 6370 t ons on Lloyd's summer freeMessrs. Wood, Skinner, and Oo. , Limited, BiJl Quay- board. She is fitted with triple ex pa.n~ion engines by
on-T yne, to the order of Mr. Carl Mathieen, of Ber~en, Mess rs. Blair and Oo., Limited, of Stockbon-on-Tees,
Nor way, proceeded t o ssa. for a ligh t trial trip. The
vessel's dimensions are : L ength, 270 ft.; breadth, wibh a working pressure of 180 l b.
38 fb. 6 in.; depth moulded, 19 fo. 11 in. The propelling
M essrs. Harland and Wolff, B elfast, hnnched on
machiner y has been supplied from the Nor bhumberla.nd
28th ulb., the large steel twin-screw steamer
Engine Works of t he North-Eastern Marine Engineerjng Saturday,
Noordam. The ne w vessel, the gross tonnage of which
Company, Limited, Wallsend-on -T yne, and consists of is about 12,500 tons, has been built to the order of the
a. seb of triple-expansion engines, having cylinders 19 in., H olland-Amer ica. Line to trade between Rotterdam and
31 in., and 51 in. in diameter by 33 in. stroke, supplied New York, &!ld besides being a very large cargo carrier,
wibh steam by two large s teel boilers of 175 lb. working will have accom modation for a considerable n umber of
pressure. The trial proved satisfactory, the machinery passengers.
working w ibhoub a hitch.

--

On Friday, the 27th ulll., the ne w steamer Allanton,

builb by the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, Limited,
proceeded on her official trial. She is a steel scre w
steamer, 340 f t. between perpendiculars by 48 fb. broad by
3 1 fb. deep, a.nd will carry 7150 tons deadweight upon
Lloyd's freeboa.rd . The main engines a re by the NorthEastern M11.rine E ngineering Company, Limited, Sunderland, and have cylinders 26 in., 42~ in., a nd 69~ in. in
diameter by 45 in. stroke, steam being supplied by three
large boilerB working a.t a pressure of 180 lb. per square
inch.

- --

The t win-screw steamer Alnwick Oastle, which Messrs.

W illiam Beard more and Co., Govau (late R. N a.pier
and Sons), have built for the U nion Castle Mail Steamship Company, Limited, was la unched on Friday, the
27th ult. The A lnwick Castle is the first of two twinscrew steamers which the firm &rE\ building for the U nion
Castle Line. The steamers have been specially designed
to carry aboub 7000 tons on a. moderate drau~ht with good
sea. speed. Very comfortable accommodatiOn has been
provided in a. com modious deck -house amidships for firstclass passengers, the fittings being of polished oak; and
a. large number of third-class passengera and emigrants
can be carried in the ' tween decks. A large refrigerating
chamber is fitted on t he lo wer deck a.fli, with suitable
machinery for mainta.iniog the various cham bers a.t a. low
t emperature. T he maohiuery, which has been constructed
by the builders, consists of two sets of triple-exp ansion
engines, having cylinders 21~ in., 35 in., and 68 in. in diameter respectively, by a 4-fb. stroke, and four single-ended
boilers fibted for a. working press ure of 200 lb. 'fh e
Alnwick Castle is the first merchant vessel that has been
builb by the new firm of Willia.m Beardmore and Co. The
nu mber of ship3 and engines that were built by the late
firm of Robert Napier and Sons was 475. The A lnwiok
Castle was the fifteenth ship tha.b had been launched from
the premises t o ir D ona.ld Ourrie's order.
There was laonched on Saturday, the 28th ult., from
the East Shipbuilding Yard of Messrs. C. S. Swan and
Hunter, Limite<!. Wallsend, a. large twin-scre w steamer
named the Lake Michigan, which has been builb for the
B eaver Line, Liverpool. The velisel is of t he following
leading dimen"'ions: L ength over all, 483 ft.; beam extreme, 56 h.; depbh moulded t o upper deck, 34 fb. 10 in.
The machinery is being constructed by Messrs . .Riohardsons, Westgarth, and Oo., Limited, Hartlepool, and
consists of two sets of triple-expansion eng ines, having
cylinders 23~ in., 38 in., and 64 in. in diameter with a.
stroke of 45 in., steam being generated in four aingleende4 boilers l f) fb. in diameter br 11 fb. 9 in. long, working

On M onday, the 30th ult., Messrs. Cra.ig, Taylor,

and Co., launched from ~eH- Thornaby Shipbuilding
Yard, Thorna.by-on-Tees, a s~el sorew et-ee.mer of the
following dimensions, viz. : 332 fb. by 46 ft . by 23 fb. 9 in.
depth moulded. The engines have been constructed by
Messrs. Blair and Co., Limited, Sbockton, the cylinders
being 23~ in., 39 in., and 64 in. in diameter by 42 in.
stroke, with two large boilers working a.t 160 lb. pressure. The vessel was named Melobesia.
The L ondon and Glasgow Engineering and Shipbuilding Company, Limited, launched from their shipyard at
Govan on Monday, the 30th ulb., a fi nely-modelled steel
screw steamer for the Indo-China. Steam Navigation
Company's coasting trade in the Eastern seas. The
dimensions of the vessel are as follow: 290 fb. by 42ft.
by 25 fb. moulded, with engines of the triple-expansion
type, having cylinders 21 in., 34 in., and 56 in. in diameter by 42 in. stroke. She was n amed Hang Sang
(which represents in the Chinese language "perpetual
increase").
GROWTH 0.1!' I NDIAN RAILWAYS.-The aggregate length
of railway in operation in B ritish India at the close of last
year was 24,707 miles, as compared with 23,470 miles ab
the close of 1899; 2 1, 960 miles ab the dose of 1898 ; 20,982
mile3 a.t the close of 1897 ; 20,111 miles a.t the close of
1896; 19,406 miles at the close of 1895 ; 18,841 miles at
the close of 1894; 18,459 miles at the close of 1893; and
17,768 miles ab the close of 1892. It follows that 6939
miles of new Indian rai l way were brotJghb into operation
d uring the eight years ending with 1900 inclusive.
There are now only t wo remaining guaranteed companies,
viz., the M adras and the Bombay, Baroda., and Central
India. These two companies owned between them 1305
mi les of line at the close of last year. There are 23
assisted Indian railway companies, and these bad 1514
miles of line in operation at the close of 1900. The
number of State lines is 28, a:nd they represented a.t the
close of last year an aggregate of 18,941 miles of com pleted line. The agg regate length of 28 native State
lines stood lasb year at 2873 miles. There are also three
foreign lines in British India, viz : the Wes t of India.
Portuguese, the P ondicherry, and the Ka.ra.ikal and
Pera.ian. These foreign lines comprised between them
last year 74 miles miles of cJmpleted line. The ptincipa.l tate lines lasb year were: Easb Indian, 1840 miles ;
North-Western, 3006 miles; Rajputana. and Malwa, 1678
miles, Southern Ma.hra.tta., 1458 miles; Great Indian
Peninsula., 1358 miles ; B engal and Ma.gpur, 1226 miles ;
Oudh and Rohilkhand, 1038 miles; Burma., 1124 miles ;
and Soqth Indian, 1034 mile~,

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

494
NOTES FROM JAPAN.

(FRoM

OuR OwN

CoRRESPONDENT.)

THE Tokyo Ci~y is now in a fair way of getting

~lectrical trams. First, t~~ present~' horse tramway,,
1s to be changed to electn01ty by domg away with all
the present. plant, ~ncluding the rails, and erec~ing an
up to-date tnstallat10n of plant, supplied by Americans
o~ a ~?ng term of credit; and now the ~' City Tram
Lme has made a.n arrangement with the RussoChinese Bank to procure a loan from them to build the
first section of the line. This Russian Bank seems
very active in Japan just now. When I get further
particulars of the loan, I will give them to your readers.
All of the first-cla,ss industrial shares are very cheap
now, and offer an excellent investment for capital.
In April of 1899 I gave four quotations for the following shares :

1899.
1901
J a.pan railway
...
. ..
77.50
69.70
...
.. .
60.60
52.10
. Sa.nyo railway
. ..
5U 00
Kiusbiu railway ...
67.80
Nippon Y usen Kaisha.
(Japan Mail Steamship
.
Company)
...
.. .
64.20
72 95

You~llseeili~~thesetwoyeMs~lofilieshares

except~g those of the Japan Mail Steamship Company,'

DIAGRAMS OF THREE MONTHS' FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES OF METALS.

(Specially compiled from Oiftcial Repcnts of London Metal amd Scotch Pig-Iron Warrcunt Marktt..)
SEPTELIOER.

AUGUST.

JULY.

m~rt~~~M~~H~~H~+H~~~~~~~g~~~W~

t-+++-t-H-~-H--+-"1-+--'-'--+-~"
/':0,7'l"'J-1-t-t-t-H-t-+-+-HH-+-+-+-+-4-+.....~........_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

h ave d ropped over1 0 percent.,butimmediatelythere

is any rel~xation in the money market they will jump
\

back agam. No wonder the Japan J\llail Steamship "8 H-H--t-H-Hr-t-++-+H--HH-~~++

Company's shares stand so high, their last dividend
'"t-t-t-i-+++-HH-+++i:+-HI-+-H~+-+-J-.::W-W
was 12 per cent. , and they carried 1, 000,000 yen to the

. ++-H~::::r---H-++-Ht---Hf-4-+-l-+-l4-l-~~~
~i-+-f--+--+-+-..j..-.4.-1
1
reserve. All of the above are 50 yen paid-up shares.
114H-tlr-ttt-t-H-ti+tt+H+t-++-t+t+H+I+-H++-++-l~+-+-+-l++-lf-+-W--W+...,....~+:W+U-~Fiveper cent. ~overnmentwarbonds stand at 87 J en
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~
for 100 yen face.value. ~overnment bonds are largely _

.
.
'
.
used in Japan for making ~overnment and other con-
10
tract deposits, the depositor gets the interest on them,

which he would not do were be to deposit cash.

ii
68

Trade is just as dull as ever, and money still remains

.
rs
,~ ~
~
~ D PI ....
at its high rate of discount. Money is very much
66
~
wanted; there have been many rumours about a
64
.
large sale of ~overnment bonos abroad, and it is
62
reported that the delay in the transaction is caused
only by the price the Government wants. The figure
60

the Government is said to want for sterling-faced

.J . ...
'--
'.
..
.,
...

bonds is about 93 yen.

., .. ... . . . f

l... '

~
ERRATUM.-In our article on "The Minerva. and Hyacinth Trials," see page 292 ante, it was computed that the
Hyacinth used approximately 40 tons of make-up water
per day. This should have been 50 tons. Although the
general conclusion we drew is unaffected by this error, the
quantitative results need correction.
GERMAN CoAL-MINING.-Tbere are five great coal-producing districts in Germany, viz., Breslau, Halle, Kla.ustha.l, Dortmund, and Bonn. In the first two quarters of
this year these five districts bad an average of 276 pits in
operation, a.s compared with a. corresponding average of
210 pits in 1900. Their production in the first quarter of
this year was 25,560,132 tons, and in the second quarter
24,268,251 tons; making an aggregate of 49,828,383 tons.
The corresJ>onding' production in the first two quarters of
1900 was: First quarter, 25,588,065 tons; second quarter,
24,031,085 tons; making a. total of 49,619,150 tons. Production accordingly increased in the first two quarters of
this year to the extent of 209,233 tons, or 0.42 per cent.
The production of the Bresla.u district in the first
half of this year was 14. 68~, 213 tons, a.s compared
with 14,535,437 tous; of the Halle district, 5397
tons, as compared with 5356 tons; of the Klausthal district, 332,492 tons, as compared with 372,749
tons; of the Dortmund district, 28,931,535 tons, as
compared with 28,832,706 tons; and of the Bonn district, 5 876,746 tons, as compared with 5,872,902 tons.
The average number of workpeople employed in the five
districts in the first half of th1s year was 402,091, as compared with 365,270 in the corresponding period of 1900,
showing an increase of 36, 821. In these tot~ls the Bresla.u
district figured for 102,748, as compared mth 90,785; the
Halle district for 45, as compared with 42 ; the Klausthal
district for 3542 as compared with 3485; the Dortmund
district for 242,118, as compared with 220,125; and the
Bonn district for 53,638, as compared with 50,833. The
deliveries from the five districts in the first half of this
year were 46,744,359 tons, as compared with 47,040,346 tons
m the corresponding period of 1900, showing a. decrease of
295 987 tons. The deliveries in the first quarter of 1901
we:e 23,870,036 tons, as compared with 24,172,981 tons,
and in the second quarter 22,874,323 tons, as compared
with 22 867 365 tons. The deliveries from the Breslau
district in the first half of this year were 13.313, 13? to.ns,
as compared with 13,464,772 tons ; from the Halle d1str10t,
3862 tons as compared with 4914 tons; from the Klausthal district, 321,005 tons, as compared with 356,450 tons;
from the Dortmund district; 27,345,090 tons, as compared
with 27 441105 tons ; and from the Bonn district,
5, 761,270 to~s, as co~pared with 5, 773 195 tons. T~e
imports of coal into Germany in the first half of th1s
year were 2,850,822 tons, 8.!1 compared with 3,310,900 to~s
m the corresponding .per1od of 1900, 2,526,558 tons ~n
the corresponding penod of 1899, and 2,541,576 tons m
the' corresponding period of 1898. . The exports of coal
from Germany in the first half of tbl.S year were 7,131,533
tons, as compared with 7,597,177 to?s in the correspo~d
ing period of 1900, 6, 676,734 tons .m the correspond~ng
eriod of 1899, 6,452,712 tons 1~ [the correspond!ng
~eriod of 1898, and 5,524,912 tons m the correspondmg
period of 18R7'

' '

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60/-

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*GLASGOW HOLIDAY.
"FUNERAL DAY OF PRESIDENT 11~ KINUYJHO MARK IT.

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JULY.

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14

AUOVST.

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28

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IN the accompanying diagrams each vertical line represents a market day, and each horizontal
line represents ls. in the case of tin plates, hematite, Scotch, and Cleveland iron, and lZ. in all
other cases.
The price of quicksilver is per bottle, the contents of which vary in weight from
70 lb. to 80 lb. The metal prices are per ton. Heavy steel rails are to Middlesbrough quota..
t ions. 'J.'in plate:s are per box of I. 0. cokes.

OcT. 4,

1901.

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

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
I N 1.899 the L9obour Depar~men ~ of the Board of
Trade 1ssued a. firat report on foreign labour entitled
an "Abstract of Foreign Labour Statistic;,,, The
second report has just appeared. It is explained tha~
t~ese reports are intended to supplement the "Sta.tisttOal ~bs~~act of the Principal and other Foreign
Count r1es of the Commercial Department, and also
t he. "An~ual Ab~tract of Labour S tatistics of the
Umted K.mgdom.
S uoh a series of reports has
long been neede~, and t~~ Board of Trade is doing
excellent work 1n compthog and publishing such
volumes. It i~ to be hoped that they will now be
annua~, for t heir value depends upon the regularity
of their a~pearance, as ~uch as upon their fuln ess, and
t he exactitude .of t he mformation collected digested
selected, and tabulated. In these latter re~pects th~
Boa:rd of rr:rad~ sta~ds pre.eminent, and the range of
t het.r pubhcat10ns 1s continually extending as new
~ub.Je~ts .come up for treatment within the Board's
Juned1ct10n.
In all, twelve countries were included in the first
report; in this there are thirteen, Japan being included. Here we have gathered together and tabulated facts a nd figures re]ating to Austria-Hungary
Belgium, Denmark, Fr~nce, Germany, Holland, Italy:
Norway, Sweden, Swi tzerland, Russia, the U nited
Stat es, and Japan. The information relates to trade
unions, labour disputes, conciliation and arbitration
workmen, insurance,. co-operation, _and wages i~
.Japan, and of t he ra1lway employes m Russia. Oldage pensions are limited to countries where insurance
is compulsory.

The total number of trade unions in Denmark iij

reported to be 1195, with 96,295 members. Of those
1058 unions, with 78,867 members, were affiliated ~
the General Federation. In Germany, the number of
Social Democratic unions making returns was 86 423
with a total of 596,419 memb3rs ; of the latter
946
were non-affiliated. T here are also 36 "Ch;isti~n "
trade unions, wiLh 111,860 members. The chief
unions were in the textile, mining, and the
In H olland there were 501
t ransport trades.
unions, 131 of which are described as Roman
Catholic; number of members not given. In France
there were 2685 unions, with 492,647 members, of
whom 432,950 were federated. Those engaged in
transport service lead the way with 160,208 members.
The number of unions paying unemployed benefit was
66, wi t h 14,701 members. The total amount so paid
was 14,70ll. in the year given. In S witzerland the
number of unions in 1896 is not stated, but the t ot al
membership is said to have been 11,966; in 1899 the
affiliated unions numbered 758, with a membership of
49,034. In Austria-H ungary the number of unions
was 883, with 157,773 members ; in Hungary alone
there were 126 unions, with 23,603 members. In the
United States the number of unions makiog returns
was 1087 ; total membeu, 171,067 in the tate of
New York; in Connecticut , 138 unions, with 10,737
members; in Indiana, 217 unions and 19,081 members.
Those figures for the U nited States are manifestly
incomplete. No figures are given for lleJgium or the
other four countries.
As regards labour disputes, the following brief
summary ma.y be of interest: Disputes in Sweden,
104; number of persons involved, 10,290; time lo3t,
331,600 working days; in Denmark, 98 disputes;
number of persons, 36,096; time lost, 2,828,447 days;
Germany, 1311 disputes; number of persons, 116,486 ;
t ime lost not given; in France, 744 disputes; persons
involved, 177,081; time lost, 3,550,734 working days;
in I taly, 294 disputes; persons involved, 44,200, and
6934 otherwise affected; t ime lost, 364,167 days; in
Austria, number of disputes, 311 ; number in\"ohed,
60,137; time lost, all included, 1,136,185 days. In the
United States the figures do not come down later than
1894, in which half-year t he strikes numbered 896,
involving 482,066 p ersons ; there were a Jso 35 lockouts, involving 369 p ersons. The time lost is given in
averages.
Conciliation and arbitration do not flourish in t he
countries named better than in this country- not so
well, indeed. In Germany there are Industrial Courts;
in tho last y ear given there were 44 applications ;
agreements were effected in 18 cases, and in 11 the
Courts made awards. Of t he latter, 2 were accepted
and 9 were rejected; in 8 cases no decision was
arrived at. In France, in 1899 t here were 740 strikes.
The law of 1892 was put into operation in 197 casesonce by the initiative of employers, 112 ti mes by the
workpeople, 4 times by both parties, and 80 times by
justices of the peace. Employers refused conciliation
in 65 instances; the operatives in one case only. In
13 cases both parties refused to submit to conciliation.
The total number of d isputes settled by conciliation
was 36, and 6 by arbitra tion. In Massachusetts there
were 1113 disputes, affecting 2830 establishments; 330
of the disputes were submitted to t he Board of Conciliation. Of those, 136 wer~ settled by negot iation,
123 by the recommendations of the Board, while in 71

IS

495

often been pointed out in "Industrial Note~ " that the

plans proposed are costly, and tha.t any general scheme
would affect more or less seriously some friendly
societies, and all the trade unions, which provide
superannuation benefits. If the great friendly societies
should consent to formulate a scheme, t hey will at
least see that those societies of self-help by mutual aid
do not suffer. Seven of the great Orders, with
2, 782,649 members, out of an aggregate of 3,587,513,
have refused to act. In every proposal hitherto made
the payments are too high, the pensions too small;
and yet they have come out ex ~remely cost ly to the
The a ttitude of the American Federation of L1.bour nation. The desirability of old-age pensions is acknowin respect of the steel strike is unmistakable. The ledged by most ~eople, but very few are prepared to
A merican Fede1aflionist defines it, and endorses to the advocate any definite scheme.
full t~e. demands of the American " Amalgamated
The position of the iron and steel trades in the
AssoOiatLOn of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers. " The
pr~siden~ and secretary went to Pitt sburgh specially vVolverhampton district has improved. Firmnees in
to mYesttgate the mat ter, and the report is that "We quotation is characteristic in all the leading branches,
unhesitatingly declare our judgment that the position with an upward t endency in prices. Marked bars
of the Amalgamated Association is absolutely justified, have been in steady request, and it is reported that
as essential to its continuance and effectiveness as a contracts are being offered at present full rates, for
uni~n of the wor~ers of the.trade, as well as the pro- some time ahead. Best unmarked merchant iron is
tectwn of t he nghts and mterests of its members. " firm, but business has been done in ordinary common
But the report throws some light upon t he earlier bars at full rates. Black sheets have been in good
~egotiations.
The collapse of the strike must be demand by galvanisers who have heavy orders for
tndeed a blow to A merican unionism, if the pronounce roo~ng sheet s for colonial markets. Corrugated galment of the Feclerationist is to be accepted in full, as vamsed sheets have gone up in price. Tube strip is in
to the importance and effects of the struggle. It good demand a.t higher rates. Hoops, boiler pJates,
throws the blame of the contest upon the Steel Trust, tank iron, and stamping sheets are a]so in steady eale.
but t he workers do not seem to have realised its power Steel is fairly active, recent rates being well maintained.
~he whole of the engineering and allied trades conwhen they formulated their demands.
The Fede?ationist is full of informat ion as to the tmue to be fairly busy, the cycle sections being the
history of labour struggles in the States, and as to slackest. Boiler and tank makers are full of work, as
the more prominent men who have figured in that also are the locomotive and other railway branches.
history. With its portraits, indexes, directory, re- For the most part, the hardware industries continue
ports, &c., it has grown into a considerable volume, to be well employed, but there are variations as regards
and surpasses any bimilar publication ever issued by activity. Generally the position is not unfavourable,
the trades of this country. The reports of the vast and the outlook is not discouraging.
army of labour organisers in the various States of the
In the Birmingham dist ricts the improvement in the
Federal U nion give a fair outline of the work being
done during t he current year. The failure of the steel iron and steel trades is fairly well maintained. Orders
strik e may be a blow, and a severe one, but the are being distributed more freely, and prices are firm,
Federationist predicts future successes for labour in in some cases stiffening, especially for steel. Marked
the United States. A failure stimulates to further bars and sheets are in good request, at full rates, wi t h
exertion, and that is t he lesson drawn from t he a tendency upwards. The engineering and allied industries are fairly well employed, but there is an indicolJapse of the steel strike.
cation of sl ackening in some instances. The other
The injunction granted by t he ViceChancellor, iron, steel, and metalusing industries vary somewhat;
Duchy of Lancaster, against picketing in t he Black- but it is exceptional for any to report serious slackburn case on Wednesday last week appears to be ness. The prospects are not regarded as so good as
more important than some others cited in t he case. they were in some branches, especially the lighter ones.
A strike was on a.t the mills of a Blackburn firm, in On t he whole t he position is favourable.
conseQ uence, it is alleged, of bad materials. The firm
The engineering trades throughout Lancashire
prayed for an injunction to restrain the union from
picketing the premises. No violence, intimidation, manifest no material change. In several important
or coercion was alleged, only that the pickets caused branches activity is well maintained, but in others it
In giving judgment, the Vice- is repol'ted that orders are being completed without
inconvenience.
Chancellor said : "There appeared to be a relson- adequate new work to replace them. All sections of
able suspicion t hat certain thiogs which were not electrical engineering, locomotive, railway carriage
strictly in accordance wit.h the law were being done and wagon building, boilermaking, high-speed engine
- he would not go further than this- and therefore building, and hydraulic engineering are, as a rule,
he thought there was sufficient ground to justify an well employed, and the prospects are t hat they will
iojunction. '' It thus appears that an overt act is not be for some time to come. :Machine toolmakers are
needed in order to create an offence justifying an in- mostly well employed, but some firms complain of
junction. It is evident that trade unions will have to being rat her short of new work to replace orders runreview the whole situation by the light of recent de- ning out. The textile ma~hine makiog branches are
cisions, especially as regards picketing. Even procur- for the most part depressed. With the exception of
ing and giving information, as eanctioned by the Act, the latter, the position is not unfavourable, and the
will have its dangers, if the complainants plead in- prospects for the near future are not discouraging.
convenience. The words of the injunction were more In the iron and steel trades a tolerable strong tone has
limited than those of the judgment- thus: "To restrain been maintained, but a want of confidence has led to
the defendants from procuring or inducing any persons irregularity in prices. Low cutting is reported in pig
to commit a breach of contract entered into with the iron, but local makors are firm in their rate~. Finished
plaintiffs., This is ri ght enough, because to do so is iron is in regular and rather brisk demand. Generally
to commi t an illegal act; but surely the defendants the buying is limited t o present requirements, but
ought to have committed some such act in order to where concessions are made some business is done for
justify the restraint. A mere suspicion that they forwa.rd delivery.
might do so is carrying the law farther than ever it
The dispute at Grimsby has been dragging along,
had been carried in the olden days, before the Trade
but t here were signs at the close of last week of some
Union Acts, or the Labour Laws.
possible arrangement. The voting of the men on the
The question of oldage pensions in this country employers' terms was almost unanimously in favour
has been found to be difficult of solution. For a. few of their rejection- only three voting for acceptance ;
years it was a staple topic of discussion, and we they were unanimous against signing on a t the Federawere promised a measure, or meaAures, by the tion offices. The owners had hitherto refused arbistrongest Government of recent years. Schemes were tration, but a. few days ago there was a.n indication of
prepared and ifsued, and resolutions by the score acceptance if the whole question without reserve was
were passed in favour of t he principle. But the referred. Even now it may be that the good offices of
original propounder of the proposal made no sign as some of the local men will pave the way for a modus
regards a Bill t o attain the object. Now l.Ir. Cham- ope1andi, so that vessels may put t o sea pending a
berlain has practically acknowledged his hopelessness, settlement.
or a t least his helplessness, in the matter. Having
failed to draft a scheme, he throws the responEibility
At a meeting of the South Wales and Monmouthupon the Friendly Societies, whom he desires to for- shire Iron and Steel Trades Sliding-Scale Committee,
mulate a scheme. The Higll Ranger of the Foresters, held at Abergavenny, t he auditor's report was read
at t he Court recently held in Glouce&ter, alludes to and considered as regards the average Eelling price of
this in his address, a nd says : "Mr. Chamber]ain has rails a nd bars ; when it was decided that wages be
undoubtedly set the Friendly Societies a task which reduced 7 per cent., and day-workers in proportion,
they will be in no hurry to take up. " Members of on and from the 31st ult.
those societies differ on the question ; indeed, there is
Owing to a further decline in the selling price of
very litt le consensus of opinion as to any plan,
although many sigh for the object. I t has often and steel plates, the wages of the Consett Company's ~!ills
cases there was no agreement. Peaceful methods
advance ~lowly in all countries.
The foregoing summaries give some idea of the report
~n question. It is difficult to group some of the fig ures
mto a small compa.ss, for the bases differ. As t ime
goes on it may be possible to extend the tables, and
marshal the facts and figures more closely, on similar
lines, in the several matters treated of. T he more we
get to know of industrial organisation and its results
ab road, t he better will it be for all parties connected
with labour at home.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
at Darlington have been reduced another 7! per cent., erected on the coasts under the jurisdiction of the Commaking a. total reduction in wages of 20 per cent. missioners of Northern Lighthouses, 16 lighthouses, 21
fo~- signals, a.nd 28 lighted beacons; and there have been
during the current year.
laid down one liglitship, equipped with a fog-signal,
At a meeting of the North of England Board of 15lighted buoys and 9 unlighted buoys, and 12 unlighted
have been erected.
Conciliation and Arbitration in the iron and steel beacons
The course of a seaman making for, and navigating, the
trades, a further reduction of wages Wd.S declared of Scottish coast has thus been much facilitated, though, no
6J. p3r ton on puddling, and 5 per cent. on all other doubt, much remains to be done, for there are still man:y
forge and mill wages. The rates will rule for October outlying dangers unguarded, and stretches of coast line with
and November.
50 or even 100 miles between the lights, while the range of
our most powerful lights in weather when they are most
The North and North-East Cotton Spinners and required does nob exceed 9 or 10 miles.
The oharacteristics of the lights on the Scottish coast
Manufacturers' Association have agreed to accept the
invitation of the Operatives' Association to a. conference, have also been much improved as regards their distinctive
to discuss the question of alleged "driving in weaving oharacter, which, next to the existence of a light at all,
is the most important factor in its usefulness. It has
sheds."
been the policy of the Northern Lighthouse Board to
gradually alter the old fixed lights, which are liable to be
The strike of ga.sworkers at Cork began in May mistaken, or ab all events not so readily recognised or
and came to an end on Tuesday last. The company identified, and give them a definite character. During
retain in their service all the men taken on during the the last 25 years eight fixed lights on the coast of Scotland
dispute ; but 40 of the strike hands resumed work on have been altered to flashing or occulting lights. The
Wednesday. The rest are to be t11ken on as vacancies introduction by Messrs. Chance, in 1874, of the grouparise, except three of the ringleaders, who are not to flashing characberistic, proposed by the late Dr. Hopbe re-employed by the company under any circum- kinson, put into the hands of the lighthouse engineer the
power of greatly varying the character of lights, and many
stances.
lights of this character have been installed on the coast.
Further, the periods of many of the lights have been
An injunction order is threatened in connection shortened
as much as possible, consistently with other
with the builders' labourers' strike at Swansea. This considerations. Not onlv has the number of the lights
has arisen in consequence of the attempt of those on been increased and the characters improved, but the
strike to interfere with the non-strikers. A town powers of the lights on the Scottish coast have been
councillor was said to be among the strikera. It is greatly increased.
ThuE~, in 187o the most powerful
said that the dispute has cost the Gasworkers Union light on the Scottish coast had a power equal to 44,500
candles ; now there are several over 100,000 candles, and
2000l. and the employers some 3000l. already.
the Isle of Man electric light has a power which we calcuOn September 22 about 1000 colliers struck work, late is equal to 3, 000,000 candles. The limitation of the
without notice, at the Bwllfa Dare Colliery, Aberdeen. duration of flashes to about half a second, and the reducThe cause was a dispute between the management and tion to a minimum of the number of faces of the apparatus,
have long been recognised as leading principles, and acted
a. workman as to the setting of a cog. Surely this on
in Scotland where consistent witli producing the proper
was an insufficient cause.
characteristic, and a duration of flash of sufficient length.
The recent increase in the power of the apparatus has
It is reported that a. strike of some thirty wagoners been efteoted by the use of one or both of the following
took place at Sunderland in support of a demand improvements in lighthouse apparat.us, which have b~en
by three others for the dismissal of one man. This described by Mel1srs. Chance as " most valuable Imma.n ha.d performed his journey quicker than the three provements."
(1) The introduction of hyper-radianb or long foc!l'l
others-such was his offence. The employers refused
distance apparatus, proposed by Messrs. S~evenson m
to dismiss him, hence the strike.
1869, designed and experimented on by them m 1885, and
introduced in many Hghts since that date, both ab home
The conductors employed on the Hartlepool electric and
abroad. (2) The introduction of Mr. Charles A.
tramways struck work at the end of last ~eek owing Stevenson's equiangular prisms, which effect a saving of
to a. dispute as to the conduct of one of the mspeotors, 15 per cent. of the light incident on them at 45 deg.,
whose dismissal they demanded.
and 26 per cent. ab 40 deg., and which permit!, w~th
efficiency, of the use of refractors of 80 deg. focal openmg
All the men employed at the Harbour of Barcelona in place of only 60 deg. with Fresnel el~ments . . The
in loadinu
and unloading vessels, &c., struck work adoption of flint glass to extend the refractmg port10n bo
0
last week for higher wages. So fa.r, the conduct of 80 deg. caused more loss ?f lig~t bha~ if catadioptric
prisms had been used f<;>r this port10n ; mdeed., the great
the men has been peaceable.
divergence from the pnsms, an~ the ~oss of light due to
In the French mining districts a general strik~ is using flint glass, rendered th1s portwn of the apparatus

advocated, to commence on November 1. The qu~st10~ practically u~eless as a lighthouse agent.

This increase in the power of the lights has nob been
was submitted to the Referendum by the Mmers
by increasing the size of the burners employed,
National Federation, and it is said that the prepon- effected
as no burner of a larger diameter than six wicks for hyperderating majority in favo~u. is great. The dema~ds radianb and five wicks for first-order flashing lights, have
are an eight-hours day, mmimum wage, and a pens10n been i~troduced, because, owing to want of focal compactness, a.nd the fact that little i~crease of intensity is
scheme.
obtained, larger burner~ ar.e c<;>ns1der~d nob to warrant
It is reported that. New ~outh ~ale:s has decid~d the additional consumpt10n m ml and difficulty of manageto adopt compulsory 1ndustr1al arb1tra:t10n, the Legls- ment they en tail. Nor has the length of flashes been
h.tive Assembly having passed the B1ll for that pur- reduced below four-tenths of a second, as anything less
than about half a second is, we consider, too short to give,
pose.
.
t under practical conditions, full perception.
The Australian workers are see~mg to preve~
With the exception of one electric ligh t? and five
coloured workpeople of any kind bemg employed m
that Commonwealth. The Home Government are stations where oil gas is employed, ~our of wh10~ are. also
the illuminant u~ed m the Sco~tiSh ~Ight
rather staggered at the demand, as well they may be. incandescent,
houses is paraffin. The in.troduotwn of g~ as theil~umm~nt
has permitted, at less Important stattons, of dis~ensmg
with the attendance of one of the keepers! ~educmg the
LIGHTING THE SCOTTISH AND ISLE OF staff to one who is rung up should anytnmg go wrong
MAN COASTS.
with the light by an electric automatic alarum.
In the case of lights made ?Y oversea vessels, and ooa~t
.Recent Improvtments Vn. the Lighting a;nd Buoying, ~c..,
lights which are intended to hght long ~tretches of coast, 1t
of the Scottish and Isle of Man Coasts.*
is necessary that they should be of considerable power, and
B DAVID A. STEVENSON, B.Sc., F.R.S.E., M. ~nsb. that they should be constantly attended by keepers to
C.EY_, Engineer to the Commissioners of Northern Light- ensure their due exhibition. There are, however, many
places on the Scottish coast, as in sounds, lochs, and
house.'\.
A GLANCE at a chart of Scotla.nd shows that, owing to firths where lights do not require to be seen at a great
its exceptionally rugged coasbhne, a~d ~umerous oub- dista~ce and where even the extinction of the light for a
1 in islands and dangers, the task of llgbtmg and. oth.er- time w~uld only cause inconvenience to the sailor, not
~isegguarding it effeotua:Ur for the purposes of n~v1gat10n disaster. In such oases the lights J?aY obviously be of
is a.n interesting and difficult problem for the lighthouse low power, and be unattended contmuously by ke~pers.
Lighted beacons and buoys have consequently been mtro
en8!i!~ to want of fundd little was done up ti111854 to duced at such places on the Scottish coast, to the great
li ht the sounds and kyles on .the west coasb, between advantageef navigation, and at a verys.mall cost. ~went~
t:e outlying islands a.nd the mamland, nor the coasts of three of these beacons and buoys are hghted on Pmtsch s
the Orkney and Shetland Islands, nor of the western system of compressed oi~ gas, and have g~v~n comple~e
and northern shores of the mainland. T~e war of 1854, satisfaction. They req uue only to ~e v1s1ted once m
h
r made it necessary that somethmg should be six weeks or so. Originally, the fixed-hght c~araoter was
d~::;~ ~nable the fleet to navigate the northern seas ab all that was available, but on our suggestiOn Messrs.
least with some degree of safety, and the advantage of Pintsoh introduced a method whereby they show one,
li hting the wes~ coast so~nds came al~o about the same two, or three flashes as des~ red, and . this has greatly
ti~e to be appremated. Smce that penod go<;>d progrees increased their usefulness, besides redumng t?e consu~p
and in 1875 there were 60 lighthouses, tion of gas. Twenty-one beacons are hghted w1~h
made
b een
b
as
, "'"

1s on the coasu.
" petroleum burned in the B~nson-Lee and ~ee lamps,, m
98 b
49 beacons
and 2 fog-signa
Duri~~y~he last 25 years (since 1875) there have been which the wicks are carbon-t1ppe~, and reqUlre attentwn
every four or five days, but are an 1m pro vemen t, as !egards
safety and power, on the No~wegi.an Trotter-Lmdberg
*p
read before the International Engineering system which was first used 1~ this '!aY: When these
apser Glasgow 1901. Section II. : W aberways and lights require to be made fhsbmg, bhts IS produced by
. ,
C on~res ,
Mantime Work~.

--

[OcT. 4,

190I.

revolving shades driven by the current of heated air from

the flame. The buoys in use on the Scottish coast have
been increased in size and imtroved in shape, so as to ride
upright even in strong tida currents, and they are for
these reasons more readily seen and picked up by the
sailor.
The Otter Rook light-vessel just launched will be unattended by a crew, and has been desi gned to lie in a.
very exp:>sed situation. The lantern apparatus and
glasswork were specially designed to suib the circumstances, and made by M~ssrs. Chance. The gas fittings
a.re on Messrs. Pintsoh's system, and they are the contractors for the work.
0 wing to the prevalence of fog a.nd snow showers on
the Scottish coast, amounting to between 300 and 400
hours in the year, and lasting occasionally for spells without a break of 36 hours, the question of fogsignaJling is
very important. F og signalt~ minister not only to the
safety of navigation, but facilitate the making of regular
passages, and hence are greatly appreciated by the sailor
a.nd the shipowner. The 24 fog signals erected on the
Scottish coast during- the last 25 years have explosive cartridges at two statiOns, and siren fog-horns actuated by
compressed air at all the rest. These tonite signal~, whioh
give a loud report!, were originated by the Elder Brethren
of the Trinity House, and are of great value in certain
situations. They are only used on the Scottish coast at
rock stations, where the siren horn could not be introduced.
except at a. very large cost, as they are not so efficient a.nd
much more expensive bo maintain than fog-horn signals.
F or fog horns the mobi ve power to compre~s the air used
25 years ago was hot-air engines, which were excellent
for the purpose, as they did nob require a supply of fresh
water, which is not easily obtained at most lighthouse
stations; but, on the other band, they took about threequarters of an hour to start, and were costly bo keep in
repair. We accordingly introduced, in 1883, ga...q engines
driven by oil gas, which require little water, and have nob
the drawbacks of the hot-air engine ; and this having
proved successful, we followed it up by the introduction,
m 1889, of the oil engine then just perfected. Both of
bhese improvements were first used for fog-signalling purposes in Scotland, and the oil engine is now almost invariably so used. Steam engines have been introduced ab
two stations ; in one case because steam boilers were
already ab the station for the electric light engine, and in
the other because the oil engine had not been introduced,
and, being a lightship station, the choice lay between
hot-air and stea.m engines.
Where oil engines are used, a fog-horn can now be put
in operation in about eight minutes, even if there is no
air stored, which, however, is done in several oases, so
that the signal can be practically instantaneously started.
In recent cases the engine power introduced at fog-signal
stations ha.a been about 50 horse-power, one-third of which
is reserve. The working pressure used as a rule is about
30 lb. per square inch, and about 46 cubic feet of air per
eecond of blowing is expended. The siren used is a
modification of Mr. Slight's cylindrical siren. By improving the shape and enlarging the horn and air passages,
opening out aud :properly forming the air ports of the
siren, driving the Siren by an air motor, and properly proportioning the storage to the air consumption, we have
recently greatly increased the efficiency of the siren foghorn.
For the purposes of distinction, groups of blasts have
been introduced, two, three, and four blasts given in
quick succession, and these are still further differentiated
by making the blasts of different pitch when necessarr.
Our endeavour has been to make these blasts as long 1n
duration as possible, consistently with due economy, our
view and experience being that a long blast is more effective than a short blast, and that no blast should be less
than three seconds, and that five seconds is what should
be aimed at. The periods of some recent signals have
also been reduced to 1! minute, though this is, in our
opinion, perhaps unnecessarily shorb, as in most situations
a two, or even three, minutes' period would serve the
sailor's requirements, permit of a great reduction of the
power, and therefore reduce the expense necessary to produce an effective signal.
In spite of all that ha.s been done to improve our fog
signals, they are undoubtedly the weak point in the _provision made for leading and guiding the sailor. This IS, it
is to be feared, inherent in the system of using the air as
the carrier of fog-signal warnings, for sound signals are
uncertain, both as to penetration and location, and the
solution of the difficulty will probably ultimately be found
in Mr. Charles A . Stevenson's proposal of 1892, of an
electric cable or conductor laid down off a coast or danger
so as to act on an instrument on board each vessel, a.nd so
either warn the sailor of his proximity to it, and therefore
to a coast or danger, or as a lead along which vessels
might sail, keeping, as it were, in touch with the cable.
Although not directly connected with the guarding of
the ooa.sb, the remoteness of many of the lighthouses on
the Scottish coast, one of which is 40 miles from land,
one 20, and several about 12, at a very early period
caused consideration to be given to the I?Ossibili by of
connecting them with the shore by eleotr10 telegraph.
The expense involved probibi ted the adoption of electric
cables ; and in 1894 the 9ommissioners . of Northern
Lighthouses made an exper1ment of the wueless system
of telegraphy proposed by Mr. Charles A. Stevenson, on
the scale and distance that was required for one of the
stations in the Northern Lighthouses Service. This
experiment, which was carried out with the assistance of
the General Post Office officials in Edinburgh, proved
quite successful ; but the Board of Trade deolin~d to
sanction its adoption on the ground that flag Signals
were sufficient.
ince then many other similar or cognate proposals have been suggested, but nothing practical
has yet been done.

Ocr . 4. 1901.]

E N G 1 N E E R 1N G.

497

CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL M.A.CHINERY 1' returns .to its place. ~bile the bundle is being bound 1 an inch of the ground, which is necessary when the grain

..
.
.
.
and dehvered, the gram brought up by the elevators is is much beaten down. To insure the twine being tied
fJ 1 uruUwraL ltfach~ncry ~~ the Caln"!'~t~ P avilion at the held bl;l'ck b:y the l?ng curved needle-arm to prevent its about the centre of the bundle, whether the grain is long
Glasgow Internatwnal E xhtbttton, 1901. *
beconnt:tg nnxed With the knotter, and to permit of a clear or short, the entire packing and binding mechanism may

By Mr. G.

FnosT, B.A.Sc., Smith's F alls

Ontario, Canada.
'

HARWOOD

(Concluded from page

K notters - Th e
diff
. 447
. .
.
ere~t 10 detail I~ all the bm?ers
shown in Fi s. ~ a~~
of a disc keye~ to 1the k 14it b ther~h col~lSts hessentially
arts either b ea
no, er s a wor u ng ~ e m~vable
Eold th t . Y ms,or spm: teeth, a not<?hed disc or ~mg: to
hook toe r~~~~ea tt~P ~~rt ~ookth km~e, and a htnpP,mg
One end of the twine 1is ~lw~om h ld gnpper w. enh t1ed.
ys e by the tw1ne- older

separatwn of the bundles.

The bundles, or sh~aves, may be. delivered on to the
ground or a. sheaf-carrier. The earner is attached to the
frl>:' me, and IS.operated by a foot lev~r under control of the
d1:1ver. It will carry as many .us s1x sheaves, ~vhich are
~aid down at <?ne place, thus savlng much labour m gather1ng and stackl1_lg.
.
.
On all the bmders. w1th the exceptiOn of the Frost and
Wood, ~i~. 13, the lmotter ~:lriving shaft is in the. cent re
of the 4nvmg wheel. On tbiS1 howev~r, a~ eccentnc lever
wheel 18 used. W hen the oundle 18 bemg compressed

be shifted, the square packer-driving shaft sliding through

the centre of the driving sprocket. Other adjustments,
not made from the driver's seat, are, regulating the size
of the bundle for damp or dry grain, done by altering the
positio~ of the compass hook regu.~ting the tigh~ness of
the twlne about the sheaf; and ratsmg and lowermg the
entire machine by a crank and worm gear working a spur
pinion along an enclosed rack.
. ~ocal co~ditions ar~ all provided for. The three cond1t10~s wh10p are so diff~rent from those of Canada as to
reqmre speCial constructton are, the value of the straw

i ( notting ~,\1echantsms

A pplicatio':l of Rolle-r and B alf B earings in various Machtnes .

Fig.II.M assey -H arri s,

F4J.15. !l-1 oweP.

B~
'-:- .:.. ':\
- - \f:"~~
.J
,,

,. -

- - - - -"" -
I

- -

S tul B al/;
~AdjusWu Scr~w

Fig. 73. Frost and Wood.

'
\ --.

I .....

Fig . 1Z. Frost and Wood.

- - -0
...

~.

" I 'I

\'-

'- ~-

-- .. ,.._,

I
I
I

Tr,ghtner Scrl/w

- -- ..,.,

PU.J .16 .

Alower

Fig

17.Bind er .

'

-.-.

Fi g. 18. R eaper

Fig. 14 . M axwell .

Ro/Ur

Buu-Utg

(Jon q)
I

and tied, the chain draws on the long spokes, and when
being delivered, it draws on the shorb spokes. The
object of this arrangement is to obtain a greater power
for compression, maldn~ a tight bundle, and for tying;
thus making a more umform draught by relieving the
horses of the sudden and intermittent strains caused by
the binding operation, and to give a quicker delivery of
the bundle and return of the needle.
Acljustnncnts.- A number of parts are capable of adjustment to meet the varying conditions of crops, land
and weather, nearly all the adjustments being made by
levers within convenient reach of the operator, and while
the machine is in motion. 'l'he reel has a wide range of
adjustment up and down, forward anq back, ~y means of
a hand and a foot lever, to enable 1t to pick up long,
short, or tangled grain, and lay it evenly agamst the knife
and on the platform canvas. It is balanced by a spring,
making it easy to operate, and permitting it to pass
* Paper read before the Internationnl Engineering Con- an obstruction without breakage. The tilt of the machine
is regulated by another lever, to provide for cutting within
gress, Glas3ow, 1901. Section Ill. : Mechanical.

tightly wedged between it and a short sleeve ; and as the

needle returns to its place, the twine is drawn through
the eye from the t\vine-can, and against this the grain is
packed. When the knotting ,mechanism. is. set in OP,eration the curved needle arm r~ses, compl~tmg the cu cle
around the bundle and carrymg the twme beyond the
holder, lays it across the top of the gripper and into
one of the notches on the holder. There are now
two strands acr~ the tying hook, whic~ is giv~n
one quick revolutwn by the teeth on the disc1 and In
doing so a roller worl<ing along a cam has raiSed and
closed the top of the grip:P.er, tightly gripping the double
strand and holding it while the tWlne is cut, and as the
stripping hook removes the loop from the gripper, the
ends are held and are drawn through the loop, thus completins the knot. The delivery arms attached to the
revolvmg shaft now discharge the bundll\, and the needle

the dampness of the climate, and the narrow gates in

common use. The value of straw requires that the ma
chine be made with an entirely _open rear to allow any
length of grain to be handled, while in America the rear
of tne ml\chine is closed, and the height is regulated by
the raise-and-lower gear to cut a length of straw that will
easily pass up the elevators \vithin the space between the
closed ends. The Canadian grain is, as a rule, dry, but
in Great Britain it is so damp that it soon soaks the plat
form canvas, causing it to shrink; and when it dries again,
the canvas expand! . In order, therefore, to keep it
always tight, springs are provided in the platform, which
contract when the canvas shrinks, and force the rollers
outward again when it dries, thus keeping it always just
tight enough to work perfectly. In W astern Canada
there are no gates at all, and in Eastern Canada the gates
are wide, but in Great Britain the gates are too narrow to
allow the projecting points of the divid~rs to pass through
ensily when the machine is mounted sideways on the
transport truck. To provide for this, the dividers are

E N G I N E E R I N G.
mboade to fold, reducing the width of the machine by
a ut 2ft.
B ea:ings.- The application of roller and ball-bearings
t
~g~cultural
machinery (Figs. 15 to 18) has resulted in so
d ucmg t~e draught that two light horses can now easily
raw machines fo!merly requiring three or four horses ;
a:nd at the same. time they ha~e ma~er~ally lengthened the
life of the machines by r:educmg fnct10n on the wearing
parts. .I~ all the Canad1an mowers a nd binde.rs shown in
the ~xh1~It, roller and ball-bearings are used. The proper
apph cat10n of these bearings has been a problem that has
taken years of ~xperimenting to solve. At first they were
us~d. on the bmder only for the .bearings of the m 11in
dnvmg whe~l, then they were put m a small grain wheel
and . the mam gear shaft, a nd latterly they have been
applied to the cranks~aft and to t he bearings of the apron
rollers. After a certam amount of experience, it has been
found that on the crankshaft they can be applied only at
~he ~ear end. At the c~>nn~ting-rod end, the constant
Jarrmg caused. by the ~apid vibratory motion of the knife
renders thet;n 1mpractica~le, as the strongest cage is soon
~haken t? pi~ces, so at thlS place a renewable brnss wearmg bushing lS used. Their use on the apron rollers has not
prove4 a success, as the extremely small cages and rollers
nec~t~ted soon become clogged with oil and dust so in
a maJonty of the machines self-aligning metal beari~gs are
used. The. roller ?ea.Fin~ are made of hardened steel
~oilers of I m. to fl m. m diameter, so set in a malleable
lr<?n. cage that they are free to turn with little or no
fnct10n on the ends of the cage, and at the same time will
not <:<>me out of place when the cage is removed for
clearung.
9n the mower~ rolle~ are used for the bearings of the
dnve-wheels a~a the mtermedi:tte' gearing, and renewable brass bushmgs on the cross-shaft
Ball-bearings are used to take up the end thrust o~
shaf~s .due. to the bevel gear. On some of the machines
proVIsion 1s also D?ade for taking up the wear in the bevel
whee~s, thus keepi~g them always in perfect mesh, and
allowmg the mnchme to work as evenly after years of use
as when new.
. The u~e of steel f~r the framework and platform of the
bmder 1s now uru versal. Formerly the platform was
!Jlade o~ :woodhsome of the braces of wood, and some of
rron, gtVIDg' _t e ma-chine a heavy and cumbersome appeal'8;nce. With the reduced price of steel caused by the
erect10n of a number of steel works in Canada i ts use
has been la~ely extended by all manufacturers'. Now
the platform lS made of sheet steel rolled perfectly levEl'l
and brace? b~neath by diagonal and cross-braces of angl~
steel.. ThlS JrlV~ the platform ext!a strength and rigidity,
combmed with light ness. The mam frame of the machine
the braces and shafting are all of steel ; the sprocket
wheels and the working parts on which there is not much
strain are of malleable iron, and the bearings of the main
gear shaft are of cast iron, as is also the frame of the bindmg ruecha!lism attachment, to keep the shafting in permanent alignment.
Reaper.- On farms where the crop is not of sufficient
acreage to warrant the purchase of a binder, the reaper
is used. The self-delivery reaper has a gearing driven
from the main wheel, which operates four or five-rake arms
ove~ a quad~nt-shape4 platform. These lay the grain
agamst the knife, carry 1t across t he t>latform, and deliver
it in even-sized gavels, readf. for tying by hand. The adjustment of the rake-arms will allow every rake to deliver
as is done when the crop is heavy, or only the second'
third, fourth, or fifth, according to the crop, or all th~
rakes can be thrown out of gear.
The manual delivery reaper is a combination of the
ordinary mower and a reaping attachment. This attachment consists of a tilting platform pivoted to a cutterbar, and the necessary g-uards, extension dividers, supporting wheels for the mside and outside shoes, and an
extra seat for the second operator, who lays the grain
apgainst the knife by a long-handled rake, and tilts the
1latform with his foot to allow the cut grain to pass off it.
In all varieties of farm machinery the manufacturer
must have his machine (1) strong enough and of sufficient
capacity to successfully handle the most difficult conditions to be met with in the class of work for which it is
intended ; (2) as light as possible without impairing
its strength, and of the lightest possible draught i (3)
simple in construction and easy in operation. Agncultural implements are not, as a rule, operated by expert
mechanical men, so there must be no complicated mechanisms, and all adjusting levers must be easily worked and
convenient to the driver; (4) reasonable in cost. Although
the best of material must be used in the construction,
the fitting of the parts, the running of all gears. and the
adjustments must be perfect, and the methods of construction must be of such a nature as to produce the machinery at a price within the reach of the farmers of all
countries.
Canadian manufacturers have met these and other requisites by the use in their factories of the most ingenious
labour-eaving machinery, much of which is made for
as,g ricultural implement work alone, and by systems of
hop practice that concentrate and specialise the different
clnsses of work; with t he result that they are able to place
their goods on the markets of the world at a reasonable
price, and with the certR-in knowledge that the machine in
every part, as well as in its entirety, is p erfect; that as
soon as the several pieces. in which it is shipped from the
factory, are put together, it will work, and successfully
meet all reasonable conditions, and the m<\llY abuses, that
are imposed upon it.
BuENOS AYRES.-The population of Buenos Ayres at
the clo e of April, this year, was 829,896. This great
accumulation of human life m~kes Buenos Ayres the
second largest town inhabited by the L atin race, Paris
being the first.

[OcT. 4,

1901.

Am.erican.

THE CORRECT TREATMENT OF STEEL.*

By Mr. C. H. RmsDALE, F.I.C. (Middlesbrough).

Carbon.
Sulphur. Phosphorus. Maoga.nea@.
SiJicon.
(Continued from page 426.)
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
~n the pa.p~r o~ " Brittleness in Soft Steel," read before
0.14*
0.03
0.065
0.13
I 0.56
tht~ Inst1tut10n m May, 1898, the writer has also de0 17*
0.01
0.11
0.05
0.7.
scn~d a number of instances where extreme brittleness
0.09t
'
0.04
0.02
0.13
0.28
.
practtcally beyond the bounds of composition for work~
- o.09t
nil
0.03
0.09
0.37
0.12t
nil
able steel, and su~h as even 1! per cent. to 2 per cen t. of
0.12
0.09
0,80
O.Oit
nil
0.068
0.15
0 58
~arbon coul~ not 1mpart to unhardened steel, was induced
0.24
0.02
0.0&
008
0.68
m steel of etght makes, some exceptionally pu~e and soft,
by treatment only. Indeed, extremes of bnttleness in
soft steel (such as a bar breaking when falling a few feet
* These two were being used indlecriminatelf at one works
with English steel contatnlng 0 0.09 per cent., S 0.1!> per cent.,
on a plat~d floor) can only be produced by treatment. t
There lS now ample and conclusive evidence both from S 0.08 per cent. P 9.06 per cent., Mn 0.42 per cent. The three
were eupphed by them.
the .numerous instances which come under the personal analyses
t All described ae ., Good."
notice of. most men having experience with steel and
also publlShed, of'
Germam.
(a). The purest and best steel failing when subjected to
unsuitable t reatment, such as it might meet with in ordiCarbon.
Silicon.
Sulphur. Phosphorus Manganese.
nary processes.:t
(b) St~el which, from ~ts compositio~, would generally
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
per cent.
0.06
No record
be considered. bad and Impur~, standmg all prescribed
0.01
0.07
0.32
0.06
,
0.02
0.()8
0.37
tes~ and requ~ementsof practiCe, the treatment evidently
0.06
0.04
0.14
0.43
havmg been ns:ht.
"
0.05
,
0.02
0.05
0.20
As ~urther illustrating the question of purity, other
0.11
0.02
0.07
0.32
count~es regularly produce a great deal of steel which is
0.07
0.04
.
0.10
0.32
"
0.10
~ore rmpure and varies between wider limits than Eng0.03
0.08
0.40
"
0.10
0.02
0.11
lish makers dare supply; but here the users often do not
0.40
"
0.09
0.01
0.08
0.58
know its compositiOn, and unless treatment causes
0.10
0.01
0.09
0.60
trouble, ,it goes through all right the same as purer steel.
"
0.11
'>.02
0.09
066
Amencan steel often runs up to 0.10 per cent. and even
0.08
,"
0.02
0.10
0.46
0.12 per cent. of phosphorus, and if of "acid " make, to
0.10 per cent. or more of sulphur, whilst the carbon in
~oft steel often run.s up ~o 0.15 per cent. or over. An
The fact is, far t~ .much importance has been generally
m stance was met w1th qmte recently of American " soft ,, attached to compos1t10n p er se, and far too little to right
st eel containing carbon 0.34 per cen t. ; phosphorus, 0.08 treatment.
p~r ~ent.; ma1:1ganes~, . 0.58 per cent.; being used indis. Neither trouble nor expense is spared by makers to
cnmmately with British soft steel not exceeding 0.10 gtve ~be bes~ composition.* .11:1 how many works where
per cent. <?ar?on !l'nd 0.52 per cen t. manganese. ThiS is not steellS used 1s adequate prov1sion made for having the
the .only snnilar mstance that has come under the writer's treatment well under coml!land ? V[ould !lOt frequently
notice.
the lea~t extra troub~e (for m~tance, m turnmg or stacking
German steel, too though some of it low in carbon bars differently whilst cooling) be considered sufficient
phosphorus, and sulphur; also much of it runs up to o.i reaso1:1 for the suggestion to be dismissed at once as not
per cent. and 0.14 per cent. phosphorus, as has been p~ct10able? Yet surely every works ought to have profreely admitted to the writer and others in German VISIOn for ~mpl~te control, not only of finishing temperaworks.
tures, to filll;Sh higher or lower at will, as required, but
The Tables in the next column give some analyses of also for coofu?.g, so as to cool- (a) equally throughout; (b)
soft American and German steels from the records of the slowly or raptdly.
writer's laborato~y, where most of them were made. They
A differ~mce o! two or three hundredths per cent. of
are not selected m any .way, but from the date of wljting, carbon or Impunty more or less, is quite insufficient to
backwards over a penod, all have been taken w1thout h~ve a~y n9~iceable ~ffect unless the treatment also
o~ions. The foregoing remarks are not an n.ttack on differs, m whic? case 1t would probabl have _practically
fore1~ steel 1 but simply given in illustration of the the salD:e.effect If there were not the shght difference in
quest10n at lSsue.
compos1t10n.
B. I s the Onl!inary .Routine of Wo1k'ing-up such as to
* Paper read before the International Engineering ma~e the. B est of Stee~, or is there a T endency to D eteru~rate ~t, anu:l SC??nett'Tn~s Spoil 'it Completely ?
Cong:ress, Glasgow, 1901. Section V. : Iron and Steel.
Whilst the h~v1er articles, such as rails, jolSts, &c.,
t Yet such a thing happening to a single bar would
probably result in the whole lot being condemned. The are generally firushed by the steelmaker himself and he
sooner such brittleness is recognised as being solely the thus .controls the treatment right through in th~ case of
result of treatment by the u~er, the sooner is there a t?e lighter trades, as has already been intimated, he has
chance of his looking into his own working, locating little or no control, the steel jassing out of his hands
throug~ that of at least one, an frequently two or more
cause, and thus stopging it.
t St~'s ,paper, "Brittleness in Soft Steel Produced by successive users, each of whom subjects it to some furthe~
AnnealmgJ Journal of the I ron ancl Steel I nst itute, 1898, processes, which soon far outweigh in their effect on the
No. II. ; Ridsdale's paper, "Brittleness in Soft Steel," steel the maker's share ; and many working-up processes
J ou1rud of the Iron an,cl Steel In:;titute, 1898, No. I. ; tend to make the steel harder or destroy its "nature" in
'' Practical Microscopic Analysis," J owrnal of the IrO'tt other ways.
.In many cases thi~ treatment is dictated not by haw it
and Steel Imtitute, 1899, No. II. ; Cycle crank which
failed, mentioned in J?resent paper; Hunt, in his will !l'ffect the material, but by what will give the least
paper before the Amenoon Institute of Mining Engi- possi~le t~ouble and cost. Thus it is treated primarily
neers (see bon cvnd Coal T1ade:; .Review, June 7, page t<? smt therr .tools or plant. The men, too, if paid by
1885), quotes American works which find rails give too p1ecew~rk, gtve ~~re thought to output than care as to
soft tests because finished too hot. He also states that the ult imate condition of the steel. Hence if a process
chemical composition is secondary to physical treatment: (such as annealing), formerly considered necessary can
mechanical tests of plates, rails, &c. , which gives tests be omitted or output increased in any way so long as
contrary to what would be expected from their analysis. the cost is reduced, no matter whether the treatment
In the report made in 1900 by the Rails Commission ~o which the st eel must submit is more severe or not this
appointed by the Board of Trade, most exhaustive in- lS done, though the treatment involved to attain t~ may
vestigations of all kinds with rails which had been in long ~redispose the st eel to fail under sudden shock or conactual servi_ce, s~~e p~re and some containing large tmued or n.ccentuaW vibration or in some other way.
In other cases, where the ultimate chara-cter of the maamounts of 1mpunties, VlZ. :
terial is taken into consideration during manufacture
From
To
with the intent to give it every chance, the very mean~
Per Cent. Per Cent.
tak~n to provide against injurious effects may be so
Carbon .. .
.. .
.. .
0.291
0.454
earned o~t as to I?roduce them. Annealing in one or
Manganese
.. .
.. .
0.47
1.14
othet: of 1ts forms lS perhaps the wost common instance
Silicon ...
.. .
..
0.041
0.207
of thlS.
Sulphur ...
.. .
.. .
0.028
0.094
Again, rolled steel for various sections is every day
Phosphorus
...
...
0. 058
0.105
being introduced where other materialt was used before
Slag and oxides . . .
...
0. 046
0. 098
and the comumers themselves may not alwaxs knm~
show that on the whole t he harder (impurer) were better exactly what they want, Then there a re still works
than the (purer) softer. Dormus, an Austrian railwar, where for ~he most part wrought iron is rolled, and which
engineer, in his "Weitere Studien uebc>r Schienensta.hl, ' only occasiOnally use steel as a small proportion of the
Z eitsolvrift des Oesterr. Ingenietw uncl A rchitekt<:~t Ve1eines, whole. In such cases, where furnaces, reheating tempe1898, Nos. 44 to 48, gives comparisons of a portion of the ratures, draughtil\g, and strength of rolls &c. are
line which had worn very badly, and many of the rails had ad~pted for iron, t~ere is a strong probability of' steel
broken_, though they had only been down eleven yearS ~emg heated to a higher temperature than it requires on
and eighty million tons had passed over them, ' vith 1ts own account.
another portion in which the rails had been in use twenty . Again, the snme s~eel is freque~tly used for quite
years, and 102 million tons had passed over them, yet they d~er~nt purposes wluch may reqmre opposite charachad worn very slightly, and not a single rail had broken. tenstiCs.
Considering how m~ch steel does not get the best
The bad rails were fairly low in impurities, the phosphorus averaging 0.07 per cent., whilst the good ones treatment, the wonder IS, not that there should occa..c;ioncontained no less than 0.114 to 0.147 per cent. Andrews, ally be complaints, but that there are so few, especially
in his paper on '' The Wear of Rails in Tunnels," read in cases in which every inch or so is treated separately
before the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1000, mentions and rejected for the slightest defect. Yet it is usual fo~
rails with 0.12 per cent. sul,Phur which had worn very
*Both in plant, materials, laboratories, with large
well, as Stead in the discussiOn pointed out, better than
the average life. Brovot, Stahl wnd Eisen January 15, staffs, &c.
t Cast iron, cnst steel, malleable castings, wrought
1896, gives a number of instances of steel i1igh in phosiron, &c.
phorus standing very good mechanical test~.

..

..

OcT. 4, 1901.]
the steel to receive t he blame, and t he maker be left t o
clear himself if he can, inst ead of t he users looking for the
fault in t heir own t reatmen t. The men, especially if paid
on output, will not admit that t he treatment hns va ried,
and if t he maker sug~ests t hat this has been so, he
is ask ed to show in deta1l how t his Ct\n be. Therefore the
~aker, rather t han offend hi customer, often accepts as
hlS fault wha t he really does not believe to be his. In
most in tn.nces, when t rouble arises, it a ffects only a small
propor tion of the whole-say, occasional bars, and not
n. whole ca.st of 10 t ons or upwards.
Though generally regarded ns indicating irregulari ty
~f the steel, this very fact points far more strongly t o
1~regular treatmen t due ~o exception al causes. CompositlOn d oes not var y mater1a lly between one par t of a cast
a t:'d a t:'other, except what occurs from the outside of a
ptece mwards due to segregation, whilst any variation
due to treatmen t by t he maker does not count, as it is
obliterated on reheating by t he user.
ometimes samples are a nalysed , and if impurity is
found, one or two hundredths above 0.00 per cen t., or t he
carbon varying to t he sam e exten t from specification,
t hat is regarded as the explanation. Purity is a good
t hing 1 but men whose knowledge is more academical than
practtcal a re apt t o go t oo far ; a nd t o pronounce all st eel
unfit for use for ordinary purposes which contains more
th~n a t?t al of 0.01 or 0.02 per cent . of any impurity is
mtsleadm g.
The idea t hat the user's t reatment is the cause of an7.
unus ual behaviour in t he teel seldom occurs to him, and 1f
he says he " does not care what t he composit ion is so long
as it gives good practical results," he means t hat since the
analysis is good, the cause must be due in some other way
t o the maker .
If a maker has made steel really bad in any way, the
fault manifest s itself in his wor k, and if it does not do so,
i t is good enough for mo~t purpo es.
III.
Can the maker do 'nW1'e than at pre.'fent .? And, on the
other hand, is it wort h the user's 'while t'roubling to
go into this matter, a..ncl ttt'udy the character of each
.~teel to .~ee what he can do .?
As a r ule, if a manufncturer knows exactly what processes the steel will have to go t hrough, he can supply a
qual it y which will successfully endure more severe t reatmen t t han would be necessary if its na ture received due
consideration. But frequently he does not k now thjs,
whil t sometimes any informa t iOn on t he subject is jealously g uarded. Thus , teel, t hough CJ_ui te pure, may
easily be supplied of unsuit able compo it10n.
A regards composition, it is by no means cer tain that
a still furt her reduction of t he already sma ll q uan t ities of
silicon, s ulphur, a nd phosphorus usually met wi t h would
for most purposes be a ttended with con esponding advantages ; and for the present, at an y rate, it is simpler and
cheap er to work to limits of up to 0.08 p er cent. for each
impurity than to only 0.05 per cent. or 0.6 p er cent.,
greater purity meaning greater expense.
A ll processes in genera l use seldom exceed the former,
whilst the latter mean more care in t he selection of materials and throughout, so that, broadly, greater purity
means greater co t. The writer wishes it to be distinctly
understood t hat he is n ot seeking in the least to ad vocat e
impure steel. Makers are constan t ly t r yi ng by all pract ical means t o obtain great er purity and soundness, and
for their own sakes not t o sail as near the limit as they
can in order t o minimise the quantity thrown out, since
n o elf-respecting maker knowingly sends bad mat erial
away. The tendency, therefore, is towards greater purity,
a nd meanwhile it would be wise t o take the means that
do exist to improve its qualit ies. As a whole, the steel
t hat is mar keted is really very good ma terial, and regularly
bears treatment and stands test s such as, to t he best of
t he writer's belief, would not have been thought possible
(unless with rare exceptions) say 20 years ago, and which
ordinar y iron w1ll n ot stand;* a nd if a quali ty suited t o
t he requirements were always selected and treated more
in harmon y wit h its na ture, still bet ter results would be
obtained.
E ven where, for convenience in keeping stocks, one
quality of steel is used for as many different purposes as
possible, great er attention to right treatmen t w11l often
save much t rouble, and thus practically give more latitude. It is from wan t of a t tention to treatment that
such anomalies a re sometimes met wi th as that a maker's
st eel rolled by one user suits a second, but rolled by
another user does not, or rolled by a user suits one of
his cust omers but not another . Equally it is no doubt
owing to the distincti ve charact eristics of material being
det ermined mainly by its t reatment tha t s uch occurrences
(as one occasiona lly hears of) a re possible a9 soft st eel
being sold as S wedish cha rcoal iron, and B essemer st eel
as crucible steel~ and giving the purchasers satisfaction.
On the other nand, no ma tter whose fa ult it is, when
st eel is on ce spoiled it is vexatious, and may lead t o
strained rela tions be tween friends. N o one likes to have
wasters or to ma ke complaints. and it is to be hop ed that
many may be willing t o look carefully into their own processes and treatment, and see if there is a nything in them
which can be modified to the ad vantage of the st eel.
E ven with our present knowledge of the laws affecting
st eel, t here is. in .ma ny ~ses readr t o hand a. means of
vastly improvm g 1ts ult1ma t e quality, s-reat er than could
be hoped for in the direction of compo 1tion.
It should not be forgotten~ when dealing with st eels of
different makes or typ es, tnat ever y st eel usually has a
charact er of its own (much as other met a ls, s uch as aluminium or copper), and t.h ough 0.02 or 0.~3 p er c~nt.
varia ti on may not ma tter tf tlie treatment 1s not trymg,
SECTION

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

499

the more so the nature of the necessary process is, t he

more impor tant is it that this oharacter should be studied,
and the treatment should be discriminative, being in
harmony with the nature of the st eel, if the best results
are t o be obtained.
F or instance, a st eel wit h
C.
Si.
S.
P.
Mn.
0.09
nil
0.05
0.06
0. 50
will be softer and require less heat than one by another
proces.11 with
C.
Si.
S.
P.
Mn.
0.15
O.OG
O.OG
0.00
0.45
H ence, to argue that because one stands a certain treat ment and the other does not, the latter is unsuitable or
at fault, is not fair. Whichever the treatment is adapted
to, the other will show to disad vantage.
The right treatment may be just as easy as the wrong ;
and since the st eel industries ha ve an unceasingly hard
struggle, and all t hat affect s thei r welfare becomes a
matter of nationa,l importance, surely every known means
should be used to insure that the steel now a vailable
shall be used so as to give the very best results.*
SEo'r iON

IV.

The Condition of Steel, Cllrtel H ow i t is A.(fectecl by

Work at D ~tf'e'rent T emperatures.
As a g uide to the applica t ion of the principles t o details of practice in instances other than those shown la t er
un (whtch are also based on them), and so tha t we
may clearly underst and them in their prnctical bearing,
let us follow the main changes which take place in steel ,
and how t hey affect its properties whilst it pflsses from
t he molten stat e until it becomes solid and cold, and 1.1ice
ve1stl; and, avoiding as far as possible t he use of scientific
t erms (and p erhaps at t he risk of strict accuracy), endeavour to con vey the general idea of what for all practical
purposes appears to happen. t
THE CooLING o~o

T EEL.

M olten to Critical P oint.- When molten steel cools it

cr ystallises, t he pure iron " grains ":l: settling out , and the
more quietly and slowly it cools, t he larger they are.
The last par t to set contains more of t he car bon and impuri t ies, and may be termed the "cement " which binds
the grains together.
If disturbed just as the gtains are formed, this cement
is still so liq uid or soft tha t t her have little or no cohesion, and the mat erial is quite ' rotten " or red-short in
t he extreme. A t a ljttle lower temperature it becomes
cohesive and freely plastic, and it can therefore be readily
worked, t he cement being so oft t hat the gt-ains 1 tho u ~ h
cohering enough to permit t his, are not held rtgidly m
their relative posit ions, but are able to move about each
other so ea ily that they a re not themselves a ppreciably
broken up; and if work is stopped whilst at this temperature, especially if the coolmg is slow, the grain is
found to be ver large and coarse.
In fact, a t this tempera ture the size and shape of the
grain is not a ffect ed by work, only by t he interference and
other conditions of cooling, and the Riece exhjbits no flow
lines and ha no rolling hardness. 'lhe larger the grain,
however, t he less coherent it is (owing to the larger area.
of the cleavage planes) if subjected t o sudden sliock; so
the piece is wanting m t oughness, and may be actually
'' rotten. "
Crit ical P oint.- The point of equal hardness of grain
and cement, at or below which change of shape of the
mass (by work ) begins to affect appreciably the size and
shape of the grain.
As the t erupemture descends, a point is reached at
which t he cement is a pproximat ely no softer t han the
~rain , so t hey wi ll not so readily move about or flow in
1t ; and when the work applied i sufficiently strong, all
yields together, and the grain is broken up or elongated,
kneaded, and in terlocked, a nd the materia l thus becomes
t ougher, being dovetailed as well as stuck together.
Flow lines become distinct, and rolling hardness begins
t o be impar ted, these effeots being less marked if the
cooling is slow.
This ha been termed the "Crit ical poin t, "11 and is
probably for SQft steel about 1000 deg. Cent., say orange
or b1ight red, and lower for higher car bon steel. ,-r

Below t his point to low red the grain becomes finer

and more interlocked, and hence t o a cer tain p oint t he
lower the t empera ture to which it is cont inued t he more
work increases toughness of mat eria l. At t he same t ime,
as t he t emperature decreases the stiffer tl~e binding
medium become, , and the more strongly t he grnms adhere ;
and consequently t he more they are "broken up " in
working, and t he more power it takes t o make them flow,
the lines of flow becoming more clearly defined, and the
mass in p arts, being already stretched or under tension
by the unequal strains et up by t he distortion of working,
is harder or stiffer.
The higher the temperature below t he critical poin t
described, at which work on the piece i8 finished, not
only are the st rains set up by working less in the fi rst
place, but the longer t ime it will take to cool; and whether
from t his, or from its la rge ma , or any other cause, if
its cooling is retarded t he st rains set up gradually distribut e themselves, and are correspondingly diminished
or eliminated, and the final '' rolling hardness " is t herefore less. If the finishing temperature is lower, this
softening effect is, of course, less. Thus t o a certain
point the hotter the finishing t emperature t he softer t he
material, though not necessati ly t ougher; for if the s-rain
is too large, there will be want of t oughness. The tdeal
finishing poin t is clearly, therefore, t hat at which these
two oppo ite tendencies are properly balanced.
B elow Red Heat. - As work lS cont inued, the rela tive
plasticity of the cement ing material t o t hat of t he gra ins
becomes rapidly less, until it reaches a t
B lue H eat, the State of llfinimurn Plasticity.-Approximately 316 deg. to 371 deg. C. The grains ad here so
strongly, that if force is appli ed to change the shape of
the mater ial (whether by work or by t he effects of violent
expansion or contraction through sudden or local chilling),
it does not uniformly penetrate the mass ; internal strains,
more or less nearly equal to the extent of its endurance,
and which may be termed incipient rupt ure, are set up,*
and actual rupt ure between or in many of the grain t
frequently occurs, those nearest the furnace being sometimes par tially detached or loosened .
Thus, although strain applied slowly will often, hy
forcing parts to stretch which had not previously done so
to the full extent of t heir elastic limit, a fford relief a nd
allow the mat erial to bend without rupture, t here is
always a predisposition for the mass t o break undet
sudden stress or vibration . The temperature, too, from
which the piece has to cool is so low that there is little m
no oppor t unity for these strains t o be distributed and
thus relieved.
Chilling, of course, in all cases A.Ccentua tes the strains
or rolling hardness,! but in the case of a piece of steel
chilled from near critical point, t he initial strains set up
by work have been so slight that, though chilling fi xe
them, the total hardening effect is for soft steel far less
than in the case of steel first worked down to a much
lower temperature, even if slowly cooled a fterwards.
B elow B lue H eat. - Aiter the t emperature of working
gets below straw heat (250 deg. Cent. ), and until it 1s
really cold, i.e., at a tmo pheric t emperature, sn.y 15 deg.
Cent., steel is more plast10 than at a blue heat, though
still affected in much the same way if work is sufficientl y
strong. A t still lower t em{>era.t ures, say below freezingpoint, it becomes harder agam.
From the foregoing we see that toughness dep ends on
cohesion of the grain, and the tp"eat er this is the greater
the toughness. W ant of cohes10n a t or near the setting
rcoint, or at a ny temperature down to red heat, is t ermed
' R ed -shortness." W ant of cohesion when cold (atmospheric temperature) is " Cold-shortness."
oftness is
readiness of the grain to change its relative position, a nd
hardness the reverse.
R EH EATJNG.

When material which has been worked below critica l

t empera ture, and hence is distorted and strained , is reheated, as the temperature rises the reverse effects take
place t o a large ext ent, t here being no external work.
After passing above blue heat, the grains and the cement
holding them together get softer, and begin t o yieldll to
the internal strams till they adju t themselves ; and so,
although t he mass retains its new sha pe, its internal
structure is rearranged, and the strain redistributed or
* Proper t reatment should be universal not exceptional removed, and t he material loses its rolling hardne..c;s
There can he no question that in cases where it is adopted and becomes soft and tough again. This is t rue annealit pays well for itself. The writer has some marked ing. ~
Annealing has two actions:
instances in mind.
t In endeavouring t o present a fairly continuous outline,
1. Removing the rolling hardness. This is done
which shall embody such principles having n. direct bear- whether it is heated to a pret ty high temperature, sar,
ing on practice as are necessar y for comprehending the 950 deg. or 1000 deg., as well as if only heated to " W, ,
various conditions produced, the writer has availed him- say 730 deg. to 800 deg.
2. M aking it fine-grained , for which reheating should
self of such statements by a. large nnmber of authorities
as appear to best explain them. T o quote each one would only be to, or slightly above, "\V."
require t oo many footnotes. Whilst it must be clearly
* .Just as with a piece of thick hot glass or slag sudunderstood that some of the explanations must necessarily
be hy pothetical, they are proba bly substantially correct . denly cooled.
The terms "grain " and "cement, , being simple and
t Such p arts as had been strained or stret ched t o the
convenient, are used here, but only in a general sense, extent of their elastic limit.
:t Both by fi xing the strains and setting up new on~s
without reference to any controversial views. "Cement "
due to sudd~n con traction.
must not he confounded wit h cement carbon, F e3C.
:t \Vhich are of such form, when uninterfered with, as On several occa ions pit'ces of slab rendered so brittle
will .Pack very closely t ogether and require very little by rolling too cold or chilling a t blue heat that they broke
off very brittle when cold sh eared, on reheating to cherrybindmg medium.
Notice how easily, for a second or so after they are redness and chilling in wa ter sheared quite soft; and a
made, s pla hes of steel can be broken up by a bar; but plate rolled from such a piece was also quite soft, a nd
immedia tely afterwards it becomes very t ough and diffi- st ood the most severe bendmg tests.
cult to t ear apart.
11 The point at which this takes place at all rapidly has
11 T chernoff, Brinell, &c.
been termed " V " by Brinell, but, as pointed out later
~ There appears to be at present no ready means for it has been proved that , given sufficient time, it begin~
actua lly measuring the t emperature in degrees Centigrade. sooner.
It cannot be done pyrometrically, because a couple cannot
~ Of course, this treatmen t will not remove actual rup* , uch faults as seaminess or lamination, or deficiencies be in erted in the piece at the moment of ceasing work. ture which ha-s alreB:dY taken place, though, no doub t.
in bend test which would condemn steel, are cheerfully Therefore, the eye lS the only means of g~uging the tem- furt her work a t a htgh t emperature would eau e it t o
weld up.
perature.
looked over or not regarded as fa ults in iron.

soo

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

Just, however, as the cement in cooling below red heat

~eCS~me harder than the grains, so in reheating con-espondmgly ; at t.hese temp~rat~res t~e grains are still softer ;
an~ hence if t he heatmg IS rap1d the grains soften more
qm~kly than th~ cement, and it is they which yield to
the .m tern~ strams (already existing, and also set up by
rap1d heatmg) and become pulled asunder, or out of their
DIAGR~M

[OcT. 4,

1901.

~it~er of the above ways, be can-ied too far so a.s to be in- req~ires to be \~orked a.t a lower temperature for the

Junous.
Fatigue and restoration by rest come under this category, as they are a continuation of the law at still lower
t emperatures ; ~ut as t hese n.re not strictly 'treatment,"
t~ey t~re not diScussed here. The con verse fracture by
v1brat10n and alleged growth of grain, and consequent

gram to b~ suffi01ently acted on, n.nd at lower tempera.

t~res ~trams a.re more readily set up. Similarly, steels
w1th little or no carbon (li ke iron) have so little cement
thn:t they do not lose their coherency at n. temperature at
wh10h h1gher car bon st eels with more cement would and
hence will bea1 a higher working temperature without

II. *

Ill.

DIAGRAM

. The bebavl?ur of steel at different temperl\tures would

of the following

The bElhavi.our of s teel at different 'empera.tures would seem to suggest the oocu
rrenc11
of the followwg

aeem to &uggeat the ooourreO<lo

t

ORANGES IN THE "GRAIN" AND ., CEMENT " WHILST REHEATING.

CHANGBS IN THE "G}tAIN " AND ''CEMENT WHILST COOLING.

HA~DNF.SB

. Thi~ "diagram is not intended as a measure of the changes, but siwply to ind1cate their
d uect1ons.
HARDNESS or WANT
"
Sr.zE

Of

OF

,.

PLASTICITY of cement .
.
,
grtUn .
,

gr.un
.

11

'SIZE

__________ ,__ ... __

11

lllflllflfftflilfs

CH ILLlNG at once t\rrests growth of grain, and if auffi

ciently rapid , may break the grain up st1"lJ fur'her
~

'

or GnAtN (a'ft'eoted from the point nt whlah groWU.

GRAIN from cessation of heating

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

* F~om ~his d:~ram and r.lso Diagram Ul.. 1t will be clear how the time element
acts , stuce tf the hoe of growth," even from one of the low temperatures
t" ,, d
"t
"}1
h

.
,
ue
COD
lD<4e
( ar enoug b , 1 w1 renc a. po1nt as btgh as that from on-e of t.he higher te
arrest ed sooner.
mperatures

ORILLING-Size of grain when arrested by this .

HA R D N E ss

>

...m

C)

--z
1:

:D

rn
)>

...rn

''

P 0 IN T

SETTfNC

''

l l:

rn

CRITICAL POINT}

PERIOD OF' PRACTICALLY EQUAL HARDNESS

' ' ..

..

-1

' ..

''

''

~POINT

'

r
rn
~

... -c:
CfJ

rn

(/)

BLUE

HEAT

STRAW

HEAT

CR

.. .. ...

CEASES

TO

CROW

sI z E.

P 0 I NT

'

' ... ...

' ..

CR~ATEST

;!

'

OF STRAIN

-1

>

'

HEAT

)>

( I

I
STRAW HEAT

'

...
C/1

:0

rn

c:
3:

.. .. ..

...

HARDNESS

STATE OF' STRAIN

2:

-~

DANGERS FROM TROLLEY WIRES, AND

THEIR PREVENTION.*
By Professor ANDREW JAMIESON, M.I.E.E.,
M. Inst. C.E., F.R.S.E., &o.
I. .Recent A ccidents, and tke N ectssity for tl~ Proptf'
Protection of Trolley Wires from Contact 'ltfith other Overhead Oonductors.-Sca.rcely n. week or even a day pa.sses
that we do nob notice in the public and the technical press
an account of one or more accidents arising from the
con.tacb of overhead conductors with trolley wires. These
acCld~nts.prove .that so long ~s telephone, teJegraph, and
electric hghtJ wues are permitted to cross over electrio
tra.mwa.y routes, there is a. liability to their occurrence
~nd further, tJ~a.tJ we still lac~ a. perfect system of guard~
mg trolley wues from acCidental contact with other
conduotors. There is also the danger a.rieing from the
fracture of the trolley wire and its contact with persons
or animals.
It will be still fresh in the memory of every one present
that about 1 pm. on the 4th February of this year a
large numbel' of telephone wires in Liverpool fell upo~ a
trolley line, and resulted in the electrocution of two men
and two horses, as well a.s the electrification and injury
of a dozen personEZ. Further, on the 7th of February "a.
cluster of electric light wires in Princes-road, Liverpool
lodged on the tram way trolley wire, causing the breakag~
of the electrio lamps in the vicinity." "On February
9th (in the same cicy) a trolley head fouled a span wire
and broke it, so that ib came into contaot with the trolley
wire and with the ground, thus causing a.la.rm to the
passengers and pedestrians, due to the heavy sparking
and arcing.'~
It is needless for me to multiply these examples.
Suffice it to say that we have had in this city of Glasgow

HARDNESS

AND

SIZE

(To be contvmud.)

3:
c:
3:

AND

falling to pieces, though they a.re better without it unless

wanted very soft .

.... .. ..

'
NORMAL ATMOSPHERIC TEMP \RA TU RE.:

(J)

SIZE .

Though ch illing at low temperatures does not .harden steel if work hu not been con
t inued to the.se low tempera.tures, if it has, thiln chilling fix es the hardneas.

" D

l
BLUE

::0

(/)

)>

rn

)>

-4
~
"U

rn

"

::0

:0

:0

'. 0.

:0

''

rn

..

rn
-1

-u

,. D.

"U

)>

rn

f'

-1

-1

AN 0

. shown at A.
}

RED SHORT PERIOD

''

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

-c:
..
..
, ROTTEN

RED SHORT PERIOD

...

:r.
S>

c:

f1)

C/1.

:--,-,ROTTEN
----...-=------ S TT IN C

SIZE

3:

.eeeeeeeeeeeee

:D

oint
nt whtc~ gram ceases. t? grow~. Fl'om this they would, of course, continue parallel pwith
the maxtmum and mm1mum hnes to t.he line indicatiog normnl a.tmospheric tempel'3.
t.ure. rN~~ , 1
AND

tlfflflffltlflflfs

F~r clea~n!!SS these lines .have not been carried beyond the lioe indicating the

HARDNESS

,. I

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

The siz~ of grain at commencement of reheating is

.
.
Reheati~g only toW gives the finest grain obtainable with slo~
coohng .
.
.
.

Rebe~ting a little (say 100 C) above W, by allowing more re-growth.

gtvea a slightly larger grain .
.
.
.
.
.
.
If rehelltod to a sufficiently high temperature, the gram has grov,:n
.tf . agl\ln ao much as to be larger than before reheating . .

. t eeeeeeeeeeee&

begins to a point beyond W by internl\l strains) .

GROWTH OF GR AIN frJm point at which work ceases till

t.he temperature becomes so low that growth is
stopped. The strain at the same time becomes dis
sipated

GROWTH OF

GRAIN as affected uy work (normal working)

or want of plasticity of cement

brittleness or loss of na.ture (strain or incipient rupture),

might be considered "treatment," as being a. contributory
cause to faults developed ; l>roba.bly when this occurs the
coarse grain was already eXIStent, and rupture only ensued
from vibration causing cracks to develop .
When the temperature rises considerably above crit ical
point, and approaches setting or melting point, the
cemen t again becomes too soft to hold the grains firmly ;
and their coherency becoming les.c:;, the stage of " redshortness " is once more reached. Thus we see one reason
why overheating produces ' ' red-shortness." A nother
is the burning out of the carbon from the carbide of iron
in the small quantity of cement; thus it loses its nature
and ceases to act as such ; or, if carried too fn.r, not
only may the carbon have been burned out, but there
may be even substituted a film of oxide which reduces cohesion still further. It is easy to understand from the above how the presence of a little carbon,
say 0.1 per cent. to 0.15 per cen t. {or similarly of
ma.ngn.nese, silicon, and possibly even phosphorus) enables
the steel to stand more fire (i. e., heating for n. longer
time or t o a higher b eat, provided it is below the t emperature of red -shortness) w1thout exhibiting want of cohesion during or after working from this cause: this quantity
taking longer to burn out than, say, 0.05 per cen t., to
0.07 per cent.; but at the same time, if it gets higher
* Stea.d has traced it down to (low red ) 600 deg. Cent. than this t here is so much more cement t hat it becomes Paper read before t he International Engineering
to 750 deg. Cent., 48 hours. "Brittleness in Soft Steel soft too readily, and the grain is too much cushioned, and
does not get worked enough ; hence higher carbon steel Congres.ca, Gl&EZgow, 1901. Section IX. : Electrical
Produced by Annealing," pages 9 and 33.
more or less regular shape into new a.nd more interlocking
shapes, and a.re t hus ' 'broken up." This even a~plies t o
the large grains of materia l finished too hot, and IS particularly important because material predisposed to be
brittle, from either bein~ finished at too high or too low
temperatures, regains 1ts good qualities if rapidly reheated. If the heating is more gradual the straine. operate
less violently ; and, though the softenin~ effects are to
some exten~ obtained, the "breaki?g up '~ IS less. marked.
Hence the unportance of t he heatmg bem g rn.p1d to obtain the maximum softening effect.
When the temperature rises above critical point n.gain,
the cement becoming softer than the grains, they follow
the natural law of attraction and tend to aggregn.te into
la rger gmins with thicker intervening bands of cement,
just the same as before the material had received sufficien t
work at a t emperature below critical point; the higher
t he temperature t he more this is so, n.nd the slower the
cooling the more it is visible when cold. The same law
is always ready to come into operation even at lower temperatures, but at or near blue heat t he cement is so stiff
and offers so much resistance that it is unable to do so,
although at t emperatures considerably below the critical
point*- the lowev reds-provided the time is sufficiently
long, a. similar result is obtained. Annealing may, in

OcT. 4, Igor.J

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

seve!al .instances of ~rok~n telephone and guard wires

oomm.g m to .oo~tac~ wtbh h ve trolley lines, and producing
alarmmg .somt1llatlons ; although, fortunately, no fatal
electrocut1ons have, so far, occurred from these causes.
Many other electric tra mway installation~:~, however, bobh
at home and abroad, supply sad instances of injury and
even death.
2. JJI~thods 1U~llick have been A~pted and P1oposed f or
Protectton agatnst Contacts Wtth Trolley W i res.-The
f<?rm of g uard a~opted ab Liverpool, Leed~, &c., with the
v1ew of preventmg conbact between the trolley wires and
other broken or sagging conductors, is illustrated by Fig. 1.
lb consists of strips of wood machined to the shape shown
by bhe cross section, and supported by brass distance
pieces or clips, which are soldered to the upper surface of
the trolley wire ab convenient intervals. Although one
of the. oheape~t, ~nd p~rh aps one of the least unsightly
forms m use, tts m effi01enoy as a. safeguard against fallen
s~ringy bronze telephone wires was demonstrated by the
Lt verpool catastrophe. The dotted lines in the cross
section and longitudinal view of the previous figures serve
to indicate how the telephone wires curl and make contact
with the t rolley wire; or they may be dragged into oonneo

sor
an aerial line crosses or is in proximity to any metallic
substance. precautions shall be taken by the undertakers
against the pos~ibility of the line coming i.nto contaob
with the meta.lho subsbanoe, or of the metalhc substance
comin~ into contact with the line by break age or otherwise."*
The regulations by bhe Post Office authorities for telegra.ph and telephone wires crossing above trolley wire~,
prior bo August, 1901, have been as follows:
1. " When there is only a single t rolley wire or two
trolley wires not more than 12 in. apart, bwo guard wires
should b e erected as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.
2. " When trolley wires are mora than 12 in. apa.r b,
and do nob exceed 3 fb., the guard wires should be increased to three in number, as shown by Fig. 8.
3. ''When ~he distance separating bhe trolley wires ex
ceeds 3 fb., each wire should be separately guarded by
two wires, as shown by Fig. 9."

steel wire, carried parallel to and about 2 ft. above the

live oar wires. Ab first, these guard wires were insulated
from earth and placed from 8 in. to 1 ft. to the left and
right of the respective trolley wires. Now, however,
they are earthed at the feeder pole of each half-mile
section, and placed for the most part vertically above bhe
t rolley wires which they are intended bo protect, as in
Fig. 5. But as has been proved in actual practice. and
as is shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5, bhe
fallen springy telephone wires do make contact, nob only
with bhe guard, hub also with bhe trolley wires. When the
former were insula ted, the current from the latter entered
the fallen wires, and was therefore n ot only a great source
of danger to passing human beings and animals, but has
been known to set fire to telephone stations, wherein
there were ei t her no protecting fuses or inefficient ones.
When the ~uard wires are earthed, the short piece of
contaob-makmg fallen wire is expected bo melb almost
instanta.neonsly, and the street end thereof tJo fall harmlessly bo the ground. This may happen without affecting
the fuses or the automatic out-out swi tches a.b the tramway sub or main stations. In the case of a large number
of overhead conductors simultaneously making oonhcb

FIGS. 4 TO 7.-ILLUSTRATI NG P OST OFFICE R EGULA

TTONS ll'OR G UARD WIRES.

If these Post Office regulations were fai t hfully and

carefully carried out, there can be no doubt that the

Pig. 1.
I

Wood, CuardrPu:tu:Jv lw'W- ---

Fall.elv

'---

CROSS SECTION

-....

.--""

Scrf.MI oolb- - - .

) Wtre-

Steel clip -- ---

LONGITUDINAL VIEW

Tro~ -wiT~-

liuard System tlitherto Adopted at L1verpoo/ & Leeds 8c.

At

Fig. 3.

.
,
FUJ. ""

Guard System now bem9 adopted at L1verpool.

Fig. 4.
lrlS7 IlaJ.dl

. ,/
'\ --Guard, H'ircs - -i -~t:J
\<- -Pallelv Wires -~

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

lo

/'
I

/I

.,

Of
Trolley Hi res 1r.;o:r...
f~
.,........ .
\
I

(1D43

..

c) I

oI

' I
'
:p!

r----~-p
"',----r
n :
11

IF'!

'' I
'I
t"
I

'II

I
I

,I

""'-

H&e8

qr-.o~,..--

t/1---+

to.,-

J.
I

B--Q

3' ---:.~

One.Tro~ Wti-t~

Two Trol!1f_ W'tre$.

Not qyer 12apart

Two Trol14' l'Vires.

Not wer 9apart;.

fig. 9.

'I

I
I

~-

'

Two GuanL Wzr~ fOr ecu:Jv fuiU~ &~

o- ---I - tr -.....If"\
-rv

.. ,.

OIL. -
vr

~
,.

'

Three, Gu.arlL W'trM

8.-+r- 12 --- '1'-- 8 ---"

~

,/

Pig. B.

Fig. 7,
"""\JI~

''\

- "'

Two GuartL

I
I

'

tF,-=-=-~~:
I '' I
' ----- I--- lt"l'>

-,.

J(

. at Glasgow and elsewhere.

Guard Wires' as adopted

!1 '

l;ti =-1:~
~. :
...
..JI'L

jb-
----)
- rr.
1
Hi

.\ /

~- 1i'Olk1' W&es -
.,., - ... . .
.
A. .
I

0-8~-+-o=-~
.

II
I

.'

l.<fallel~ J+fres-'1 - .-

Two Guard Wzres

' I'

\
Earll u :d
/
oy tiuard JVuu--- ;fo

Fig. G.

~~

I.1\......._ . /

/ \

il

''

. ,--... .

./

Fig. 5.

' _...,. .I

1/

.,

+(70:;..]ii:'J ------------- -Ovu 3' - ------ ________... _-~

IJ

'1

70

(1Df1. 8}

tion therewith by a passing vehicle or car. In fact, to

prevent the trolley wire current entering any of the f11.llen
overhead conductors, the insulation resistance of the
wooden strips would require to be great under all atmospheric conditions, the broken wires must clear the
trolley wire, and remain free until repaired. But such
assumptions are most unlikely of fulfil ment in stormy or
sno wy weather, and where there is considerable traffic.*
Figs. 4 and 5 show t he t wo methods of arranging the
guard wires which have been tried in Glasgow and n:any
other installations. Wherever telephone or other wires
are suspended above and across the trolley wires, each of
the latter is guarded by one N o. 7 S. W .G. galvanised
* Since writing the foregoing part of this paper, I have
received from Mr. C. R. B ellamy, the general manas-er
of the Liverpool Corporation Tramways, a d esoript1on
and drawings of the latesn plan of supporting their
"wooden guard strips." His drawings are reproduced
in Figs. 2 and 3, which are self-explanatory. The following is an extract from his letter of August 12. 1901 :
''I have now the pleas ure of sending you a drawing
showing the details and method of proteoti!Jg the troller
wires in Liverpool by means of guard stnps. In add ttion, I am sending you eamples-one with a brass ~pring
clip carrying a. 1 -grooved wood s~rip, and tb!3 o~her,
which is the latest and besb form, w1th a steel ohp ptece.
In dealing with the subject, you will be pleased to know

.soFeet

Two TroUey Wire$.

(}vu 3 ft. apart.

with the guard and the trolley wires, these safety devices
are expected to act, and thus render the trolley wire of
the section neutral and harmless. Telegraph and tramway Angineers bold somewhat opposite views in regard
to the advantages a nd safety arismg from the insulating
-tersus the earthing of guard wires, which will be referred to later in the paper.
III. Board Q{ Trade and Post Offi ce R egulations--In
the B oard of Trade "Elecbric Tramway Rules," which
were issued in March, 1894, there are no regulations a.s to
guard wires. In Form No. 2, revised and published by
the B oard of Trade in 1896, we find in Clause 22 the
following statement regarding crossing wires: ""There

chances of br0ken telegraph or telephone wires coming

into contact with the tramway troJley wires would be
minimised. But tramway contractors and companies, or
corporation~, as well as the ~enera.l public, may be expected to object to the multiplicity of such wires so near
the roadway, their liability to become inextricably mixed
up in the case of an accident to one or more of them;
and also on resthetic grounds. I understand, however,
that these regulations have been adopted in Bradford and
other places. I am nob aware of anf place where cros3laoing or h ammook-netting guard w1res have been introduced, as proposed by the Posb Office, where the erection
of telegraph or telephone wires are eo close to the
trolley wues as to render the n.fore-mentioned protec
that, following the trouble we had in Febrnary lasbt we tions inadequate. t
arranged with the Telephone Company to cable the wnole
IV.-Contaots Between and the Breaki'n{J of Guard and
of the ir wires crossing our trolley wires, and to place
them underground by 8eptember, 1902. Ab this momenb
* Combined recent inspeobions have been made by the
a great number of telephone wires have been placed Post Office a nd the Board of Trade Electrical Engineers,
underground, and none cross our trolley wires except by with the view of formulating a joint set of rules. I have
aerial cablee. We have nob yeb finally arranged the been promised copies of these before the reading of this
matte~: with the postal authorities, hub we are on the paper. lb is therefore likely that these special rules will
ver~e of a. settlemen t. As a result of ou r experience be printed here in the P roceedings of this Institution.
durmg the pa-sb two years, we are strongly of opinion
t The author has to thank Mr. J. Gavey, assistant
that overhead wires crossing trolley wires must always be engineer-in chief of the pasbal telegraphs, and Mr. W. A.
a source of danger, whatever may be the protective Valentine, Glasgow district manager of the National
methods. We have therefore determined (as far as pos- T elephone Company, for the specimens of telegraph
sible) to have them all cleared away."
and telephone wires and cables submitted to the meeting.

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

502
Trolley Wires.-The cl.ief and the primary causes of such
contacts and breakages arise from :
1. The omission to turn the trolley pole at the end
of a tramcar line in the proper slanting d irecbion for
the return journey, or whenever the direction of the
propulsion of a car has to be reversed. The neglect of
this precaution often unsbips the trolley pole from the
trolley wire, and permits the former to (foul the
guard wire or its cross-street span wire, thus severing
the binding between the latter two wires, or breaking
the guard wire.
2. U nsbipment of the trolley pulley at street corners
where the hangers are too short, or the frogs and the
ca.st bronze (V) or ( +) brackets at crossings are badly
adjusted.
3. Disoonnclion between the trolley wire from hangers,
splicing ears, or sectional insulators due to their soldering
and clipping; or, due to th'e breaking of ea.rt~, and of the
trollev wire ab the pinching pins of bracket oross~ngs.
4. Fusing of the trolley wire due to intermittent contact and arcing between it and a dieconnected guard or
span wire.*
Since the _guard wires are generally made of ~ut one
No. 7 S. W.G. galvanised steel wire (of .18 in. diameter,
having a breaking stre~s of 2000 lb.), when as the crossstreet spans for the guard wires are composed of sevenstrand galvanised steel wires (each wire of which is
No. 14 S. W.G. of .08 in. diameter, with a. combined
breaking st~s of over 3500 lb. for the complete strand),
the chances are that either the guard wire or its weak
binding to the span wire is broken. Then, the guard wire
falls into contact with the trolley wire. If the former be
insulated and originally fixed about 2 ft. above and some
8 in. to 1 H. to the right or left of the trolley wire, it has
the chance of falling clear of the same. The current may
then be switched off at the nearest s treet pillar-b)x from
the half-mile section in which the mishap took place, and
guard wire re-fixed without causing any damage. If, bowever, the guard wire should be earthed, either ab the
centre or the ends of its half-mile section, or preferably
at ~everal pole-points .along the s~ine, and ~f ib. be
origtnally supported verbca.lly above tts trolley wue, then
it naturally falls upon the latter, and the current therefrom enters the former and causes delay and trouble.
When the guard wire is only earthed ab each en~ of a
half-mile section, and con~ot takes place between 1t and
the trolley wire (say about tbe centre of this section), then
the joint resistance of the contact and the two quartermile lengths of guard wire may b3 so great that the
current pa.ssing through the contact does nob incre3.Se the
normal trolley wire current bY. an amount sufficient to
blow the nearest station fuges (tf there are any), or to. free
the automatic out-out.
I am of the opinion that guard wires and their bindingd
should be made of sil:oon bronze, instead of the usual
galvanised steel. These would be stronger for ~~e same
size and would not only have greater oonducbtvtty, but
they should withstand the rapid corrosive effect w~ich
grimy chemical-laden atmospherE s have upon galvamsed
steel wire.
It is seldom that the trolley wires break from overtension arising from mal-erection, or even from fouling
the trolley poles. They are usually c?~posed of the v~ry
best bard drawn 98 per cent. conduottvtty copper, havmg
a diameter of .37 in., which is equivalent to No. 3/0
S . W. G., or fully 00 B. and S. ~auge. 1_'he. initial stress
which this wire will withstand before begmmng to stretch
i~ over .64,000 lb., or 2i tons per squar~ inch of full
section. Buti, when subjected to a contmuou.s steady
pull the very small elongation of 4 per cent. JS accompanied by a gradual diminution of the o~iginal cross. area
of fully 40 per cent. In any .c ase t~ere IS comparattvelr
little chance of the trolley w1~e ~emg broke~ by an acmdental stress except where tb becomes raptdly worn ab
sharp street' curves. Special watchfulness is therefore
necessary a.t such curves in order tbat the copper wir~s
may be renewed before they become unduly reduced m

[Ocr. 4,

band switches, iu each of the half-milestreet pillar switchr

boxes. There should also be a telephone, or a connection for one in each of these boxes, in order to be able
to communicate direct to the current supply stations
and the engineer's office. It is unusual t o place either
tuses or even automatic switches in these pillar-boxes, for
most tramway engineers object to multiplying such devices. Th~y therefore simply insert therein a. main
feeder hand-switch and a trolley wire sEc tion band-switch
for each oar line, plus a t elephone wire oonn o~ion.
Moreover, keys for opening these boxes are (as a rule)
only given to the engineering staff; and consequently
neither the oar driver, nor the conductor, nor the car inspectors can operate the3e switches in case of an accident
to any particular section. All that they can do under
the circumstances is to use their insulating gloves and
pliers, or earth a fallen wire to the rails, a.nd communicate with the head office from the nearest special telephone pillar. This roundabout proceeding causes an
unneoassary waste of time and blocking of the traffic, a.a
well as a possible cause of danger to passengers. Why
not supply these emplos
with keys, and gb e each of
them clea.r printed instructions how to act under oerbain
circumstaiiceta ?
3. Black well and Co.'s "earthing device " is attached
to either a bracket aJ m or a. trolley wire suspensiGn, and
ib acts when the trolley wire breaks, by mechanically
sbort-circuiting it to the rail~. *
4. Placing an earthing switch in each car. In the case
of the severance or disconnection of a. trolley wire, or a
serious downfall of overhead conductors, all that the
driver or the guard ha.s to do is to break the glass front
of a special box and turn a. switch, or insert a. plug into a
metal hole, thus immediately earthing the trolley wire t o
the tramway rails through the trolley pole and oa.r wheels.
This opel'a.tion instantly cause3 an abnormal current to
Bow in the feeder to the section in which the car happens
to be at the time, and consequently blows its safety fuse
or frees its automatic switch ab the station. This device,
which is b eing'tried in Leeds, seems to me to 'be one of
the simplest and most direct methods of rendering a. section neutral in the case of an emergency. The attendant
at the station should be authorised to close the freed automatic circuit-breaker three successive times; when, should
it persistently and immedia tely fly out again, he must
attend to the telephone for instructions before again
closing the switch.
VII. Aeri al Telephone a'fld T elegraph Cables v. Unde?qr ound W ires or Cables.-In Gla~ gow there are now
three
a.abhorities dealing with these important matters,

e3

VIZ. :

I 901.

CHEMIOAL D EPARTMENT, October 5, 1900.

T ABLE II.- Analysis of Three Samples of Copper Alloy*
for "Ears" a;n,d "Pull-Ojfs."

St raight Line Guard Double Trolley Singl e

l!:a.r.
Pull Off.
Pun Off.

Copper
Tin
Lead
Zinc

88.54
7. 79
0.75

85.8 ~

4.67
2 86
6.24

p er cent.
85.8!
8.73
0.72
4.13

* These fitt ings are g en eully made of "Admiral ty M1x

ture."

T EST III.-Tensile T est of " D'irigs " Globe Strain.

(Insulati on Green Colour).
The first perceptible extension was noticed when the
tensile stress reached 2.6 tons {5600 lb.), while the composition slightly cracked. The specimen broke through
botbom eye ab the maximum stress of 2.9 tons {6496lb. ),
while the original crack in the composition widened.
TxsT IV. - Tensile Tests of T~vo B rooklyn Strain l'fl sulator&. (Composition R ed Oolour).
The large one broke through large eye after a strefs of
3.3 tons (7.392 lb.) was reached. The sm~Jl one broke
through large eye after a s train of 2.2 tons (4928lb.) was
reached. The composition did nob show signs of cracking
in either case.
TEST V.-Tensile T est of Double. P u,ll O.tt: (Composition
Green Colour. )
First perceptible extension observed when the tensile
strain reached .07 tons (156.8 lb.). Insulated bolt became
fast at 1.1 tons (2464lb.), ruptured through one at m ab a
stress of 1. 9 tons (4256 lb.).
Original distance between centres of eyeholes, 6 io.,
extended 3 in. to 4 in. when bolt became fast. Total
extension at rupture, 2 in. Composition intact..
TEST VI.-Tensile Test of Si ngle P ull O.ff. (Composition
Green Colour.)
The first perceptible extension showed ab a. stre$S of
.09 tons {201.6 lb.). Insulated bolt began to bend at 1.2
tons (2688 lb.), and centre of bolt to centre of eyehole
extended 1 in. Final rupture at 1.9 tons (4 256lb.).
TEST VII.-Oompression T est on Si'flgle Pull O,(J Insulated
B olt. (Red Colou r.)
Original diameter, 1.18 in., tlightly tap<red.
At 4 tons (8960 lb.) very slight cracks observable in
composition.
At 6 tons (13,440 lb.) diameter or dt-fleotion stocd ab
1.17 in.
At 10 tons (22,400 lb.) diameter or dt-fleotion stood ab
1.165 in.
At 11 tons {24,640 lb. ) diameter or deflection stood at
1.15 in.
At 11~ tons (25, 760 lb. ) badly cracked.
Txs1 VIII- Oom,pression Test on Single Pull Off I nsulated Bolt. (Green Colour .)
Original diameter 1.18 in., slightly tapered.
Ab 4 tons ( 8,960 lb.) showed very slight cracks.
, 6 , (13,449lb.) diameter or dE:flection wa.s 1.17 in.
" 8 , (17,920 lb)
"
,
1.16 "
Cracks in composition graduall y extended as weight
was applied, until at 8 tons (17, 920 lb.) it was badly
cracked.
T EST I X .-T ensile Test of Ear with I nsulated Bolt Sorewcd
in. (Green Colour.)
After gradually applying the stress up to 2 tons
{4480 lb.) the composition came off head of bolt. The ea.r
collapsed on both sides of screwed neck when the stress
reached 4.6 tons (10,304lb.).

1. The Government Postal E ogineering Department,

who have placed their principal t elegraph and t elephone
city wires underground, bub who have still a large number
of aerial wires.
2. The National Telephone Company, who have
hitherto carried their fine bronze wires overhead, a.nd
who, being prevented from opening the streets, are now
running a.er1al tel ephone cables. These consist of about
100 paper-insulated wires, twisted together and then insulated as a whole with oanva.s and vulcanised india-rubber,
protected by waterproof ma tting and s brong woven tape.
These cables are suspended by hooks pung from strong
stranded steel span wires, attached to brackets, fixed to
the wa.lb or the roofs of buildings. Two conductors are
used for each clo3ed telephone circuit to avoid induction,
ion spans are not likely
&c. Such cables and their suspen@
to interfere with tramway trolley wires; and even if they
did come down in th e oase 0f a fire, they are so large,
well insulated and strong, that they could be more readily
dealb with than a similar number of b are bronze springy

wues.
3. We have the Corporation of Glasgow, who have just
started a telephone exchange, and who, having full authority in regard totheir streets, have verr properly taken
the precaution to place all their city wtres and cables in
underground cast-iron pipes, where they approach the

B AHIA BLANOA.-The Babia. Blanoa and North-W astern

tram way Jines
Sl zq,
])
.
,..,
V. Freeilnq, Earthing, 0111.d other Sa-fet'}J wwes.-..,.Jven
Tbere cannot be the slightest doubt that the only sure .Railway Company has called for bids for the construca~uming tha.b the trolley and guard wu:es are mad CJ of and safe plan is to place ~11 non-tramway electrical con- tion of a. proposed mole, &o, at the porb of B1hia Blanoa.
the best materials and have been erected m. tb~ ~ost ~ub
stantial manner ; further, that the. former 1s dtvtded m to
APPENDIX.
separate half-mile sections, of wh10h as few as may be

TABLE I. - TxsTs OF TROLLEY, S PAN, AND G uARD WIRES FOR GLASGOW C o RPORATION TRA~IWAYS.
practicable a.re ~upplied wit~ our~~nb fro~, ~h~ powerhouse or sub-sta.t10n by any smgle feeder , tt. Id, ~ever
By t he Steel Company of Scotland, Hillside Works, Augu st 30, 1900.
.
.
.

.
.

'

theless, necessary to be able to ren~er a.ny sect10n mope

I
ra.ti ve or "dead " as soon as posstble after a.ny one .or
j
Ex t enI
Break - Initial &Ion

other of the previously mentioned faults occur t?ereu~.

per
Size of
Din.P er
ing
SAM PLE S.
Actual
Stress.
Many devices have bee~ proposed an~ adopted wtth thts

S tress. Oer. t.
.
Fracture.
Oen t.
met er .
S tr ess .
in 8 In.
objecb in view, of whtoh the followmg may be men

tioned
:
.

h
"'
"'h
1
lb.
t ons per lb. per
diam., are!\,
area,
t ons
10

'
1 Fuses
and automat10 out-out swtto es au u e supp Y

sq.
in
.
Jn .
sq.
m
.
sq.
m
.
f
q.
m.

statlone. Bat, a.s we have already sta..ted, these do not

64,200
4.0
824
24. 2
.24
.0452
26
67.9
.1 J75
Oold drawn copper trolley wire. 3/0 S. W. G. .37
slwa.ys act unless an abnormal current 1S demanded by a. Trolley span wire, galvanised st eel of se,e
79,(00
35.5
"short circuit " to ''earth " or to the "return " con2.15
4816
.0606
s t rands. E ach wire No. 12 S. W.G.
. . . 05
spa n wire, galvanised Ateet of seven
ductor.

.
b
1 G uard
90,200
40. 3
358i
.0397
1.60
st rands. Each wire No. 14 S. W.G.
. . . .085
2. Fuses or automahct cut-out swtto es, or stmp Y
1

Guard wire, one No. 7 S .W.G. galvan sed

* S ae Appendix Table I ., for sizes and tests of these

ste ~l

.l EO

.0253

wires.- The Table~ were kindly supplied to the author

through Mr. John Young, the gene ral manager of the
Gla.Pgow Corporation Tramways. The au.tbor b~ also to
thank Mr. Young and Mr. Clark, the Chtef En~meer of
the Glasgow Tramways, for the n~merous speCimens of
trolley, guard, span, and pull off w~res, as '!ell as ears,
insulators, and other overhead fittmgs, whtoh are now
before the m emhers.

Placed
t See The Light RO!Uway and Tramuvay J o_u~l of
32 33 and 42, for desortpt10ns of
J U 1Y 6, 1901' Pacres
n - 'lw
- - .J m .

Quin's safety sw1'!'Itcb ; ' also' The .nu.-z.

ay , w1W1
~ 1 O/TJ'I/ Wa.Y
World of July 11, 1901, for ~r; Ma.nville s pa r on thiS

wit

drawings were

placed

before

the

0 85

1904

33.6

75,200

15.0

.12

.0113

55.8

d uctora of wha.1 ever kind underground. If this were done, The company id carrying o~b. many impr~ve~ents, and ia
then there would be no necessity for guard wires, thereby putting down a large eleotrto p ower and hghtmg plant.
leaving the trolley wires free. from extraneous contacts,
THE 0 0R1NTR CANAL.-The number of ships which
and minimising the aforementiOned dangerP.
passed through the Corinth Ca.nallast year was 3037, of an
These switches a.nd drawings were sent by the British aggregate burthen of 432,431 tonP. The corresponding
Insulated Wire Company, Limited, who are the sole movement in 1899 was 2952 ships, of an aggregate
burthen of 453 857 tons . The net revenue of the canal is
makers.
h
d 1
* F or illus trations and descrip tions see t e p eno 1ca s still extremely, small and is wholly inadequate to provide
referred to in the freviou~ footn'!te. , Specimens of for the debenture 2ervice, which has fallen very seriously
Blaokwell and Oo.'s ' Earthmg DeVloes were placed in arrear, the d eficiency ab the close of 1900 amounting to
367,666~.
before
the
me
m
bars.
members.

OcT. 4,

1 901.]

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

503

duotors there is on the consumer's premises t he fu ll differ ence of

potential between t he conductora; but with the fourt h or neutral
conductor added, the difference of potential on t he consumer's
premises for lighting circuits la t he pressur e between any one of
the three principal conductors and the neutral conductor. F rom
COMPILltD BY
LLOYD WISE.
this it follows t hat, if in each case the difference of potential on
SELECTED ABBTRA<n'S OF RECENT PUBLIBHED BPBOIFIOATIONB the consumer's premises is the same, the p ressure between' the
three p rincipal conductors oan, with the addition of a neutral conUNDER TIIB AOTS OF 1883-1888.
T~e number oj vietos given in the SpecifiAatim Dratuings i8 stated ductor, be increa.eed in comparison with the p ressur e when emthr ee conductors only, in the ratio of 3 to 1, and the curtn e.ach case ; where ?lOne are mentioned the SpeciR""tion i8 ploying
rents being t ransmitted at a higher pressure, a g re.~ot saving of
not tlltutrated.
'
'.!"""'

position in t he valve body by means of an expansion chuck ; according to this invention and in order t hat t he construction of the
machine may be simpl6ed and the jaws r eliably controlled, the
guide socket for the cutter spindle passes through the face-plate,
anci is ad justed and held in position by a lock-nut screwed upon
an exter nal thread of the guide socket and resting upon the faceplate. The lower part of the guide socket is thickened and
for med in the shape of a cone or provided with a separate cone
piece1 upon the surface of which are movably and exchangeably
attaoned three or more Jaws or do~ capable of being radially
expanded through the ra1sing of t he combined guide-socket and
cone. (Accepted July 31, 1901.)

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.

w.

Where inventions are communicated from abroad the N a't'MB

&:~., of the C~m.m.~nicators are given in italics.
'
'
Coptu of SpecijicattO?l8 may be obtained at the Patent OJftce Sale
Bramc~, S6, Southampton Bttildings Cha11cery-lane W. c. at
the tJ/n:tform price of Bd.
'
'
'
The d~e of. th~ a~vertiBement of the acceptance of a Complete
Svecificattm ta, tn each case, given after the abstract, unlus the
Patent ha.s been sealed, tohen the date of sealing i8 give11..
.Any person f!tav, at any time within two months from the date of
t~e adv~rtt.sement of the acceptance of a Complete Specificatwn.,
gwe nottce at the Patent Office of opposition to the grant of a
Pate11.t m any of the grounds mentioned in the .Acts.

E.g.2.

16,.868. H. Austin, Birmingham.

Screwing Dies.

[3 FtgB. ] September 22, 1900.-T his invention relates to dies for

screwing of t he kind in which the cutting edges are brought against
the metal to be cut, each some distance in advance of the point
through whioh a line passes from the axis of the metal which is

Fig.t

Fig. 3.

.fig.2.

AGRICULTURAL APPLIANCES.
12.780. H . R. Grlflln, L ondon. H orse Bakes.
[3 F1gs ) June 22, 1901. - In order to enable wide horae r akes to

1VJ.3.

FifJ.tJ..
being cut in a direction parallel with that of the movement of the
die ; and in order that auoh dies shall not be liable to form a thr ead
of untrue pitch, one or more of the r earmost threads is made to
extend across t he full widt h of the face of the die so as to act a.e a
''tUide. The r ear portions of those threads that do not act ns
guides are cut away. (A ccepted July 31, 1901.)

be t ranspor ted through narrow ways a shor t auxiliary axle is

becured to the r ake frame Q.t r ight angles to the rake axle, and

Fig.2.

STEAM ENGINES, BOILERS, EVAPOBATORS, &c.

11,782. L. M. Bellevllle, Saint Dents. Seine, Frauce.
Su perheater. [2 Figs.) June 8, 1901 -A Belleville boiler

1tnu1

superhe.a.ter according to tbie invention compris~s superb.eatiog

copper is ( ffected. This inveoUoo consiate in th e division In a tubes Situated between the water tubes and the economtser or
compound cable of the fourth conductor before r eferred to, and in
ita disposition r elative to the three pr incipal cooductorfl, the
object being to keep the outside diameter of t he cable small, and
at the same time to imure that all the conductors shall be readily
accessibl e, and t he neutral conductor readily identifiable. In on e
arrangement the neutral conductor is divided into three, which are
laid in t he t roughs formed between the main conducto rt~, t he
th ree unite being joined togethrr 1\t in tE>rval1:1. l rt other dispositions t he neutral cond uctor is subdlvided into eit her two, four, or
ae,en units. (Accepted J uly 31, 1001.)
1

.Ftg.3.

,,,

GAS ENGINES, PRODUCERS, H OLDERS, &c.

13,401. A. J. Bou l t, London. (A. Jfolet, Buenos
when it is d esired to t raverse such narrow ways the wheels are ~ yres. ) Mixer for Gases. [4 Figs.] July 25, 1900.taken off the axle p roper and put on to the shor t. axle, and t he Tbis apparatus comprises two devices of the water meter kind, one
shafts are then fixed to the end of the rake. Means are p rovided wor ked by J,taa p ressure and serving to pass pressure gM, Q.Od the
by which t he aforesaid operation can be readily effected. (Accepted other mounted upon the same spindle and diven by it and aening
July 31, 1901.)

ELECTRICAL APPARAT US.

22,362. V. I. Feeny, L ondon. (~ llgemeine Electri ..itiil8
Ge.sellBchaft, Berlin.) Dynamos . [S .Figs.) December 8, 1900.

- In order to p revent at.raio upon t he wheel r im of a flywheel

dynamo t he magnetic elements are mounted upon a separate r ing
attached to t h e wheel rim in such a way that the said r ing is free

. ?..

\..

.,J

Jl~l
::.-

.=.J

t
~

-=

:.I

~ -zyr

,..

--

,,

to expand and to take .up in itself t h e ceot rifugnl stress arisi~g

from t he r otation of 1ta own mass and that of t h e magnet1c
element s carried by it. Wedges may be driven between th e
wheel r im and t h e pole-piece ring in order that some of the
centr ifugal strain upon the castiron whe('l rim may be taken up
by the carrier r ing. (A ccepted July 31, 1901.)

87!6. 0. A. Zander and B . Ingestrom , Stockholm.

Dynemos. [2111gB.] Apr il 2i, 1901. tConventlon dat(', Octobtr

feed-water heater so as to be in a current of ga.eea bot enough to

superheat the steam without risk of burning the tubes. Steam
ftows to the superheater from th e steam collecting and feed-water
purifying d rums. (Accepted J uly 31, 1901.)

18122. D . Adorjan, Budapest, Hungary. Loco

m otive B ollers and Superheaters. [2 F igs. ] October 11,

1900.-According to this invention, in applying a superh~ater to

a locomotive the superheater is arranged laterally to the boiler, the
of the pipes of the superheater beinJ,t connected together and
to d raw lo nir to mix with t he ga.e. Tbe apparatus i~ ~omprlaed heads
within one casing provided with pa.eeages and a m~xmg apace forming a continuous conduit For superheating the steam, some
for the junotioa and interdiffusion of t he J,taaes, or wtth passages
only if th(' jnses (pumping and pumped) are to be led away
unmixed. ( ccepted J v.ly 31, 1901.)
J

MACHINE AND OTHER TOOLS, SBAFTING, &c.

12, 1900.)-l n dynamos of a certain type, constructed on ~h~ p rio

17,000. J . J. Witt, HamburgStelnw~rder. Ger
ciplelof t he Faraday diao, the armatur~ is according to .th1a mv~n many. ValveReseatlng Machine. [t i'"!!B. ] ~~ptem
tioo made of noo-magnetio metal h avmg a low electriCal restet

Fig. 1.

I I
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- ----

-------

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==

Fig.1.

Fig. 2.

Fi.g.2.

{VII)

ance- for example, copper. The type of m.a ch ioe to which t h e

improvemen t is applied has an armature d1vided mto segments
and conn ected in series and elastically mounted tor t h e purpose
of enabling it to be rotated a~ a high speed. (.Accepted J uly 31,
1901.)

w.
B. Esson, London. TbreePhase ~~r
Cables. (4 .Jiigs.] J une 21, 1901.-For t he t raoamtasion

12 720.

rent

or distribution of thr ee-phase ourreo~, tb~ee co~duotora are generally employed the light or power c1romta bewg connected be
(110#01
any two of tbe'adjaceot conductors. If a four th o1 ne~tral con
ductor is added to these three p r iooipal conductors, an 1mproved
electrical balancing of the system ts, it is stated, effected, the ber ~"4 1900 - In val vereseating machines of t h e klnd in wbi~h
circuits in this case being connected between any one of the thr ee the g~ide ~ Jket of t he cutter spindle is cent red and secured 10
conductors a nd the neut ral conductor. \Vjth only three coo

of the oombuation product is condu cted from the fir ebox through
pipes passing from the aides of the firebox and through the boiler
shell into the h eaters, from whloh the s-ases pass t hrough lateral
openings into the amokebox. The h eatmg is regulated by means
of dampers in the pipes leading from the fir ebox to the super beater. A second steam dome is used if t he fi rst dome is retamed
for t he purpose of receiving wet steam. (Accepted July 31, 1901.)

11,861. H. A. Malhan, Hamburg, Germany. Engine

Indicators. [2 Figs. ) June 10, 1901.- l o an indicator of t he

kind provided with an arrestin~ device, and in wb ioh t h e papercar rymg drum is connected Wlth the reciprocating grooved disc
by a disonsageable coupling which, during the reciprocation of the
grooved dtao, can be thrown in or out of operation at will ; according to this invention and for the purpose of r endering such ap
paratus more simple, and to diminish the weight ther eof, t he

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

(Ocr. 4,

papercarryin~ drum is loosely and rotatably mounted upon a

..

1901.

ver~ical bolt if furth er opportunities for lateral movement are mities of the levers may be formed of or oo,ored with india
fixed shaft and oan be placed in or out of action by being axially desued.
(&ccepted J ttly 31, 1901.)
rubber. (A ccepted J ttly 31, 1001.)

Ptfj.1.

12,966. A. IUebe, Berlin. Ball Bearings, [2 Figs.]

MISCELLANEOUS.

~.2.

June 26, 1001.- In. ball bea.tings the balls wear unequally either in
consequence of dtfiereoces in the material or in their formation
and this varying wear and the resulting inequality in the dia~
meters of the balls causes friction in those bearings in which tbe
load acts vertically to the plane of t he ball racl'. The balls in
consequence of their unequal diameter tend to ha\'e unequal
rotary speeds, and it thus bn.ppens that the larger tend to overrun the smaller, and exert pressure upon them, thereby causing

15,868. Sir W. G. Armstrong and Co., Limited,

and E . L. Orde, ~ewcastle-on-Tyne. Oil and Water
Separator. [2 il'i!J8.] s.~Pt~ml>er 6, 1000. In order to J!rovide
m.ean~ w~ereby the .fuel. 011 supplied to the pumps io counection

w!th hqUJdfuelbur!lmg tnsta.llations can be freed from admixture

w1th v:ater, nccordm~ to th~s inventi.on t he suction pipe of t he
pump IS made of ttextble tub1og, and 1ts end is provided with a.
buoyant vessel arranged and connected in such a manner that
t.be open e.nd of t he pip~ i~ kept below the surface of the fuel oil.
To as~ist tn the separat10n of the water fr om the oil, a steam coil

---~-~"tJ. Z.

sli~ i~j:t fric~ion.

In order to pre,ent this fri ctir n, according to

thts tnvent1on the race or t rack for the balls is providrd in one
place with a recess. The balls passing tbid recess are relieved of
pressure, and by reason of t he incline they receive an acceleration
and t~er~by escape ~or a moment e~ch from the pressure of the
foUowmg ball. Wttb each revolut1on therefore any improper
pressures which may haYe arisen are readjusted, and thus heavy
permanent friction between the balls is avoided. (Accepted J ul11
31, 1901.)
.
.

di.splaced,_so that a ,fretih indicator. card can be put upon the drum
wtthout dtsoonnectmg the cords. (.Accepted Julv 31, 1901.)

14,516. E. Perkins, Gainsborough, Lincs. Cylln

drlcal ReU~f.and Dr~tntng Valve. [6 Figs.) August u,

13,284. E. Benn, Kalser lautern ; and L. Graf,

Munich, Germany. Mechanical Slfter. [2 Figs.]

1900.;-In a drarnmt{ and rebef valve for steam eng ine cylinders,
and m order t hat such valves may be controlled only by the

July 28, 1900.-In silting apparatus of this kind, having parallel

crank. motion, according to this invention t he sides of the scoops
oppostte the course for the material to be sifted are provided with
curved or . s~mi~ircular incisions in order to prev~nt material
from remammg 10 the corners of the scoops, and 10 such wise
that any material tending to remain may be thrown over from

'

~. 2.

,_ ______ _

'

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...

pressure in the receiver or in the steam passages leading to the

cylinder, according to this invention such a device comprises a
valve and pressure plug having different areas r elatively so proportioned that they provide a balance to suit the amount of compression necessary for cushioning. (.Accepted July 81, 1901.)

TEXT IIE MACHINERY.

W. E. Beys, Manchester. (S. w. H olde-n,
B eidelber!J, Ge1mainy.) Yarn atJd Thread Clearers.
16 504.

September 17, 1900.-In winding, reelin~, and similar

machines, flannel, woollen and similar washers or discs are used
Cor the dou ble purpose of clearing leaf and other foreign matter
from the yarns and threads, and for creating drag or tension
therein. According to the present invention such clearers are
made from plain or corrugated wire gauzE'. In one arrangement
similar discs of the wire gauze have their ed~es turned down in
such a. manner that when two of them are placed together there
will be formed between them a peripheral V shaped g roove.
Such a pair forms a single olearer, and its components are pressed
together by a spring or otherwise. Usually, the clearer so made
is moun ted upon a spiodle with a fast collar on one side, and on
[6 Figs.]

or other heating apparat us is fitted to the buoyant vessel or float

near the end of the pipe, and is arranged at the end of or inside
t~e suction pipe. By this means the fu el oil is maintained at a
h1gher ~emperature near the end of or inside the pipe than elsewhere 10 the bunker or recept-acll'. This heating arrangement
also has .the advantage _that where certain kinds of fuel oil are
u~e.d .wh1ch become sohd at a low temperature the oil in the
VlOtotty of the end of the suction pipe is maintained in a liquid
state, and therefore can be easily drawn up by the pump.
(Accepted July 81, 1901.)

one soo o~ into t?e next. . For the cleaning material a P.O.Ssage or
c ha~nel IS provtde~ passmg round each sifting surface and con
nect10_g ~he end. w1th ~be com~eoce~ent, so that the cleaning
~atenal 1s ke_pt. m contmuous .o~rcula~t~n. The supporting bear
mg for the Slftmg box compnses res1ltent bars or rods for per
mittiog the box to perform a circular movement over the frame
of the machine. (A ccepted July 31, 1901.)

11 843. H. Traun, Hamburg, Germany. Lubricated

16,770. J . ~ Le Maltre, Rohats, Guernsey. Wire Surfaces. [7 F ins.l June 10, 1901.- Rubber is mixed with
NaUs. [~0 F u;s. ] . S~ptem~er 20, 1900.-An improved wire from. ~.0 per cent. to 50 ~er cent. of graphite, applied to surfaces

nail acoordmg to th1s _mvent1on has the point or cutting end

made o~ brad awl or ch1selshape, so that when the nail is driven
the cuttmg edge may out acro~s the g rain of the wood and so
prevent the splitting which oftm occurs by reason of the points

requmog to be of a lubrtcnted character, and vulcanised in place.

~he surfaces to which the. mixture is applied may be vnnously
mdented to ensure re' enllon of the graphite-rubber compound
w~en vulcanised. raokif!~ rings of the materiaJ, which arc re
qutred to ke>p t~elf res1hency when heated, are provided with
steel <'O:Es. (A ccepted July 24, 1901. )

Flreproo~

~.2.

Q) "I noJ
I

the other side a loose collar pressed into contact with the clearer
by a spiral sprln~ surroundlng the shaft and abutting against t he
fas t collar of the next contiguous clearer on the same spindle.
Alternatively t he clea rer may be constituted by a single plane,
curved or circular piece of wire gauze so arranged that the
yarn or thread is compelled to pass over and in firm contact with
the surface. In this case the piece of wire gauze may form the
wall of a C'age or the like which may or may not be arranged
to be continuously rotatEd otherwise than by contact with the
yarn or thread. The gauze, it is stated, effectively removes all
the dirt and leaf on the yarn or thread, these r emoved foreign
matters passing through the gauze and falling into a receptacle
arran~ted to catch them. There may in some cases be inter
posed between the wire .gauze disos a single diso or washer of felt
or the like. (Accepted July 81, 1901.)

Ill

190~. - ln

of nails entering nt random between and pushing aside the grain

of the wood into which they are driven. The beads of the nails
are elongated in a direction at right angles to the cutting edgt>,
both for the ~uidance of the workman when inserting the nail,
and in order to r( duoe to a minimum Lbe excefsive indentation
in the wood generally caused by the heads of nails heretofore
in use. (Accepted July 31, 1901.)

17,627. J . E. Longfield, Ennlskean, Cork, and W.

and J. J. Hardy, Alnwlck Northumberland. suspending Device. [2 Figs. ) October 4, 1900.- This invention
relates to a device of the "grip" t.y(>e for suspending arlicles of

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article betwEen the gripping extremities of the levers, the latter

are lifted, wi th the effect that they recede from one another and
leave a sufficient interval for the introduction of the article.
Upon the eaid extremities being again allowed to fall, they automatically engage the article on its opposite sides, the g1ip iacreo.sing with the weight to be suspended. Tt::e gripping extre

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coupling for cycles and other vehicles and designed to allow rotary
movement in various directions, according to this invention,
comprises a modified form of ball and socket joint in which t he

ball is held at the end of an attachment on the vehicle and id

gripped between two plates at the end of the trallerbar, the
pressure of the plates upon the ball being regulated by a
bolt and nut. The plates may swivel upon the end of t he
trailer bar, to which they are in that oase loo11ely attached by a

,,i

various kinds, and com~ri ses a pa1r of pendant ltlvers pivoted

at their upper ext remittee, and arranged in such manner that
their lower extremities cross one another, and engage the article
to be suspended on its opposite sides. In order to insert the

VEHICLES.
17,406. J. Mills and W. B. Falford, Coventry.
Tratler Couplblg. [3 Figs.] October 2, 1900.- A trailer

Flooring and Roofing. r5 Figs.] August 20,

_thts P.art con.or ete fireproo f floor or roof a form of stet'l

o.r Jron gtr(:JH 1s used, preferably having three flanges on each
stde, the mtddle flanges supporting fireclay air conduits having
arched covers and interior vertical supporting walls. The fireolny

J . H. Turner, Barrhead, Renfrewshlre

14,847.

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con.duits are supported on the girders by projecting arms, between

whtch the fine groutin~ to surround the girder bottom is fi lled.
T_he bases of the condutts nre sulftciently wide to meet under the
g1rders, and the under surfaces are provided with undercut
channels or recesses to make a keying for the ceiling plaster.
(Accepted August 7, 1901.)

UNITED S['ATES PATENTS AND PATENT PBAOTIOE.

J?escriptions with ill~strations of inventions patented in the
Umted Stntes of Amer1ca from 1847 to the present time and
reports of trials of patent law cases in the United States m'ay be
consulted, gmtis, at the ofllces of ENOI.NEBRINO, 85 nod 36 Bedford
street, Strand
'