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259
STONE-DRESSING MACHINE.
CONSTRUCTED
BY
:MESSRS.
BR UN TON
AND
TRIER,
LONDON.
LITERATURE.
Scientific and Technical Papers of W erncr von S ieml'nS.
Vol. I. Translated from the second German edition.
London : John Murray. 1892.
is the first of three volumes in which it is intended to publish an English translation of the
second German edition of the collected papers of
the late Dr. Werner von Siemens, together with a
biography, as well as an account of the rise of the
great electrical firm of Siemens and Halske.
The volume consists of his scientific papers alone,
which are n ow published in a collected form in
English for the first time, and in the preface it is
stated that it is believed that it will prove ''Dr.
vVern er von Siemens to be one of the foremost
amongst the many workers who, during the present
century, have revolutionised the manner of living
by developing science, and applying its m ethods to
the problems of everyday life.'
It has long been recognised that the Brothers
Siemens, from the nature of their work, occupied
an important place in the band of practical scientific
men who have been the means of making the great
changes in social and national life which have
occurr ed during the latter half of this century.
P ossessing, as they did, a knowledge of the latest
ad va.nces made in science, and the resources of
minds trained in the practical school of manufacture, they ably discharged the responsibilities that
fell upon them as industrial leaders. At the time
when their public work began, the electric telegraph, which has, as much as anything else, r evolutionised our commercial life, was in its infancy,
and was only being adopted for land lines ; ocean
t elegraphy had not been attempted, for the difficulties connected with the effective insulation and
protection of the wire r endered success improbable.
'fhe great interest of the present volume will be
when it is considered
that it contains
reft.lif)ed
T H IS
time is spoken of as being a practically measurable interval by the aid of the method, but it is
now recognised that the measurement of intervals
of time by the aid of the spark is subject to errors
amounting t o n early 100 times this.
It is stated in a paper on the electric telegraph, published in 1860, that, as early as 1847,
260
T~e wire itself is passed slowly throucrh a tank of
ac1dulated water in which the work~an k eeps his
hand. As soon a.s any defective part (such as may
u e due to an atr-bubble encloseu in the auttap er cha covering) passes into the tank, ''the ~ork
men recei~es such sharp shocks as could n ot escape
the attentwn of even t he dullest." Education has
probably since inr.reased t he "figure of merit " of
the human galvanoscope to such an extent as to
r 9nder its u se undesirable, but this reminds me of
some of Cavendish's experiments. Ther e can,
~owever, ~e n o doubt that few, if any, weak places
1n the coattng would escape t.he sear ching test of an
alternating electromotive force of several hundreds
of _volts. The. finished wire was further tested by
be1ng placed 1n a tank, and the steady current
pas~ing .thr?ugh. the core to the water when placed
~n c~rcutt wtth e1ght cells was considered too great if
1t ~1sturbed a sensitiYe galvanometer. The more
sat1sfactory tests by loss of potentials involving the
u se of an electr ometer are described in a joint paper
of later date (1860), and the well-known test for
faults bearing the author's name is asrecentas 1874.
There was much to say in 1850 in favour of
under~round wires on account of their exemption
from 1nterference by atmospheric influences. But
a.s soon as ~elegra.phists h ad long well-insulated
hnes on whtch to operate, they experienced the
effects due to the very considerable electr ostatic
capacity of the line. These effects ar e referred to
in the memoir, and their cause poin ted out, but the
li:mitat~on thereby imposed upon the speed of
s1gnalhng does not appear to havA been felt until
rapid aut01natic instruments had been perfected
and brought .i nto general use. The preference by
the author for dial instruments, whether printing
ones or not, to t hose of the Morae type, is shown
as early as this date, so that the essential differences bet ween the practice of the workers in
this country and on the Continent had already exhibited themselves. The disadvantages of the
system adopted had in some measure been felt,
but in such hands as those of the author and his
eo-workers were minimised, in order that t he concurrent advantages migh t be r etained.
In a paper published in 1856, the author deals
with the practicability of sending several signals
simultaneously by one wire, and mentions all t he
more important principles that have since been
followed in practice. Singularly enough he consider ed Kruse's method to be out of t he range of
practicability, whereas it is at present in use on
the mor e important circuits of this country, though
many important details had to be invented before
this was possible. The methods advocated for
iuplex working, t hough similar to those now
adopted, were not at t his date sufficiently developed
to render it possible to apply them to lines having
much electrostatic capacity.
Some experiments on electrostatic induction,
published in 1857, furnish interesting reading,
particularly when it is considered that they were
undertaken with a distinctly practical end in
view. In the course of these experiments, Siemens
found by accident that by heating a glass plate,
used as the dielectric of his condenser, there was
an apparent increase in the dielectric constant ; so
much so, that on heating the glass up to the melting
point of lead, the deflection of the needle of his
ballistic galvanometer was increased some 30 times
by the extra charge. He was ultimately led to the
belief that the incr eased capacity of the condenser
was really due to an electrolytic separation from
the glass of metallic sodium and potassium at the
coating answering to the negative electrode. This
hypothesis has been confirmed in a striking way by
the recent experiments of W artburg and Tegetmeier, who have satisfactorily shown the actual
substitution as well as the transference of ions in a
glass plate submitted to electrical stress at a similarly elevated temperature.
The state of electrical science was such that the
author considers the differences between the socalled ''free " and ''jar " electricities, and proceeds to verify F araday's view that the surface
charges on insulated conductors are due to the
presence of a similar an~ opposite charge _upon the
walls of the room in wh1ch the conductor 1s placed,
and hence that no true distinction exists. At the
same time the difference between '' electric force "
or potential and the '' density " of charge_ is well
appreciated. The author proceeds to cons1der the
nature of the molecular work done by the silent
discharge through a dielectric, and describes his
apparatus in whi<:h ozone can be produced by such
E N G I N E E R I N G.
means. The causes by which the discharge takes
t he form of sparks when a conducting fi lm is
opposed to an unstable dielectric, such as a layer of
air, ar e very clearly pointed out, and then, after
stating that he still did not consider the experimental
work sufficiently advanced to dogmatise, he adds,
''Finally, I will only r emark t hereon, t hat it is
very l ikely t hat the seat of the electricity is removed from t he conductors to t he n on-conductors
surrounding them, and may be defined as an
electrical polarisation of t he latter." He did not
let the matter rest here, for in a later paper we find
h im describing experiments upon the heating effect
of successive charges upon the dielectric of a condenser. It is a little amusing to-day, when it is
proposed to rationalise the electrical units, to find
that practical electr icians and scientific investigators,
in the persons of Dr. Siemens and L ord Kelvin,
discovered a difference of ' ' 4 1r " between some of
their independently devised formulre.
In a book offering so much solid r eading, it is a
change to see a little of the humorous side of the
author. In a description of a visit to the top of
the Cheops pyramid during a sandstorm, we are
offered an account of t he initiation of an Arab
escort into t he mysteries of western science. Grave
doubts existed in the sober minds of t he Arabs as
to the legitimacy of certain proceedings upon the
top of t he pyramid with electric sparks drawn from
t he Mghly char ged air. The r emonstrances of the
Arabs proved to be without avail, so t he latter decided to remove th e savants by force, and with every
prospect of success, until the effect of a !-in. spark
from a L eyden jar (extemporised out of a bottle of
champagne covered with wet paper) was tried upon
the nose of the most powerful and aggressive of
the Arabs. The way in which the astonished son
of the desert fell, picked himself up, and then,
with a great howl, disappear ed as fast as he could,
followed by his companions, is vividly described.
P erhaps the moat important chapter in the book
is that r elating to the proposal for a repr oducible
unit of electrical resistance. The Brother s Siemens
early recognised the importance of exact r esistance
tests, and, like V arley and others, had sets of coils
made. Now that the mercury unit of Siemens has
at last been expressed in terms of t he C. G. S. unit
to four significant figures, it is a useful check upon
other standards, but Siemens at that day could
hardly have realised the difficulties in the reproduction of a standard to the high degree of accuracy
soon demand4td by the advance of science. On the
other hand, his unit is r eadily r eproduced for comparatively r ough purposes, and it is only lately that
one has been able to say what an ''ohm" is. Now
that the R oyal ComGl.ission on electrical standards
has completed its labours the matter is different,
but if Siemens's essentially practical unit had been
adopted, it would have saved years of doubt and
difficulty, and after all would have been upon as
satisfactory a basis as the metre itself, or our muchabused standard yard.
His searching criticism upon the first determination of the ohm by the British Association in 1860,
proved to be only too well founded, as, for example,
his r emarks upon the length of the wire of the
r otating coil, and although the unit was not "some
few per cent." in error, as he thought might possibly be t he case, still it proved to be over 1 per
cent. different from what was intended. In 1860,
for practical purposes, doubtless Siemens's unit had
more to commend it than now, for an exactness
of ! per cent. was then sufficient; the contrast
to-day is but a measure of t he rate at which electric::l.l science has advanced in the meantime.
The remarkable properties of selenium form the
subject of several papers, and one point to which
further attention ought to be directed is the observation that, without any indication of polarisation,
the resistances of certain forms of selenium ''cells "
vary with the size of the positive eleotrode, so
that: if one of these cells be made with differentlysized electrodes, its resistance will be found to
have a different value if the direction of the testing current be reversed. The explanation given
of the behaviour of selenium under the action of
light and heat, is that depolymerisation occurs, and
this seems good on general grounds.
One of these papers, in answer to one by Dr.
Bornstein, goes on to discuss the use of selenium
in photometers, as well as the subject of the brilliancy of illumination. The author holds that a
correct photometer should show differ ently-coloured
lights as ~quivalent, when they make distant
objects perceptive in the same degree.
[SEPT.
I , I 893.
VleW.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
heterodox ; but as the statement of his opinion is
accom.panied by the descript.ion of many novel
experiments, our knowledge 1s very considerably
enriched on that account alone. One of these
experimentg is with a Loyden jar, one coating of
which is a sheet of flame ; and al thouah such a cond enser shows much loss, similar t~ that due to
leakage, it is quite capable of receiving and subsequently parting with A. charge. The work of translating this volume must have been very heavy
indeed, but has been on the whole well performed.
A number of passages are written in what is a
somewhat involved style, but this can hardly be
avoided. Surely, h owever, in the execution of such
important and responsible work, the translator
ought to have the cr edit, and the reader the satisfaction, of having t he translator 's name which is
.
'
not gwen.
Then, too, in an English edition
the
w?odcuts, of which there are n ot a large number,
mtght surely be made afresh with English lettering,
~hereas we have ~o.be content with those employed
1n the Germa.n ed1t1on. There are a few misprints,
too, as,. for instan?e, in the formulre on page 127 ;
but th1s can eastly be attended to in a future
edition. There is an excellent portrait of the
author, and the volume is one which can be read
with great profit by any one possessing an interest
in physical science, and muoh in its pages is so important as to call for further investigation now that
the author's labour is past. In his inaugural
address, when admitted into the Berlin Academy
of Science, he pointed out that science did not
exist only for the enjoyment of the limited number
of its professors, lmt that the task of those who
studied it was to increase the store of knowledge
of the human race so as to "lighten the hard fight
for material existence by pressing into service the
slumbering forces of nature. " T owards this end
Siemens did his full share of work, as the present
volume amply shows; and when we r eceive the
second and third volumes we shall probably see
that the hard fight for material existence has been
materially lessened by his labours.
ouR
NEw
AT
YoRK CoRRESPONDENT.)
trOD.
261
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
cost of handling the railroad traffic over the heavy Dominion of South Africa) are embraced in this
gradients. It was startling at the trial to hear the map, as jn considering a subject of such general
diverse testimony of engineers on the economy of interest as railway enterprise, no distinction can
types of locomotives. In his testimony for the really be drawn between them, and they must be
canal company, he had maintained that one ton of considered as the concrete whole which it is to be
the Welsh coal used in the locomotives of the road hoped they may become in the not remote future ;
would lift 600,000 tons 1 ft. high, whtle t hose on and that rail way development has and will largely
the other side had maintained that it would not do and powerfully contribute to this result, no one can
nearly so much-in fact, about 400,000 tons only. doubt.
He was pleased to note that the r esults obtained
The history of railway enterprise in South Africa
by Professor Goss and given in the paper, when may be generally divided into three periods. The
corrected for the difference in value of the coals first period, extending roughly from 1857 to 1877,
used, sustained his opinion, being about 641,000 may be called the period of private enterprise. The
tons 1 ft. high. Just hefore leaving England he second period, from 1877 to 1887, may be termed
had talked with Mr. Webb regarding the perform- one of intra-colonial Government enterprise.
ance of one of his latest compound locomotives, The third, from 1887 to the present time, has been
Mr. Webb informing him that these locomotives one of extra-colonial Government enterprise.
were now carrying traffic over the road at an exDuring the first twenty-year period all the earlier
penditure of 2 oz. of coal per ton per mile, a per- colonial lines were planned, constructed, and passed
formance which was r egarded as exceptionally out of the hands of the private companies who made
,
good.
them into the hands of the Colonial Governments.
The secretary then presented in abstract Mr. A. The Government of the Cape Colony did not, howMallet's paper on "Locomotives Operating by ever, wait to commence the planning and construcTotal Adhesion on Curves of Small Radius," which tion of rail way lines on its own account till it had
was followed by that on '' The Development of the purchased all the undertakings in private hands,
Compound Locomotive," by A. von Borries, of but several years previously, say in 1873, in
Hanover, Germany. This paper showed much consequence of the impetus imparted to trade by
patient research, being for the most part historical. the successful working of the Diamond Fields, an
8uch papers are always of interest, because they extension to Worcester in the W astern Province
afford a target for the iconoclast to shoot at. There was for the second time authorised. The Natal
is one craft, however, which has thus far resisted Government followed exactly in the footsteps of
them, and that is N oah's Ark ; the reason for this the sister colony in the matter of purchasing private
will appear to the Bible student, for Moses' account lines and undertaking Government extensions. It
of the Author of the design precludes any anterior appears, therefore, that the second period slightly
claim ; but for thi~, no doubt, a. certain writer overlapped the first, and during this tenyear period,
would announce that he had often thought of such within the Cape Colony at least, the bulk of the
a design in a previous state of existence, only his main lines and branches, the objective of which was
ideas were of a more ..esthetical character than the Diamond and Gold Fields traffic, have been
corn pleted and opened, either directly or indirectly,
those shown in the Ark.
'' Experiences in the Construction and Opera- by the Government concerned. During the latter
tion cf Rack Railways," by Albert Schneider, was half of this period an attempt was made to revert
then read by the secretary. This was discussed by to the original principle of subsidised lines conMr. Hildenbrand, who represents the Abt system structed by private enterprise, with far from enin the United States, and to whom we are indebted couraging results. The third period of extrafor the Pike's Peak Railroad. Mr. Hildenbrand colonial Government enterprise was inaugurated by
gave the paper credit for its comprehensiveness and the Convention f()r the extension of the Cape
for the many illustrations of the roads and rolling Government rail ways into the Orange Free State,
stock. He thought almost any load c0uld be the Transvaal, and British Bechuanaland, by which
handled with a suitably designed locomotive. He the Cape Government Railway Department became
set down the cost of this sty le of road with a rack constructors and workers of foreign lines, ratified
over an ordinary one at 15,000 dols. per mile, and by t he Cape Parliament in 1889.
The terminal starting points of the South African
stated further, owing to the fact that a much shorter
road could be constructed between two terminal railway systems have been determined by the posipoints in a hilly or mountainous country where the tion of the somewhat limited number of points
grades made possible by the rack were used, the along the coast of South Africa a.t which nature has
total cost of the road would bo, in most cases, less, afforded fairly good roadateadand harbour accommodation, and in the neighbourhood of which the more
and the operating expenses as well.
Chairman Nason then read the report of the important centres of population have arisen. It is
Standing Committee on Standard F1anges, giving a somewhat remarkable that natural harbours and
statement of what had been done in conjunction safe roadsteads should have been so conspicuous by
with the Master Steam and Hot Water Fitters. their absence in the long coast line abutting on
The effort made to secure the adoption of standard either side at the second most southerly and temflanges by manufacturers is making general pro- pestuous cape in the world, and which is the most
gress, only one concern having thus far refused to important natural passing point for the world's
commerce. It might be almost stated that there
do so.
(To be continued. )
are no natural harbours, and only seven partially
protected road steads- Port N olloth, Table, Kalk,
Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, and Delagoa
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH
Bays, and two river mouths, Port Alfred and
AFRICAN RAILWAYS.
Pungue, which have so far been utilised as ports in
IT is doubtful whether the general public would connection with rail way lines along some three
agree with the assertion that rail way enterprise in thousand miles of South African coast.. Enormous
any country is a subject second to none in impor- as the passing traffic has always been and is, this
tance for that country. "But few engineers would absence of natural harbours has militated to a great
dispute the fact t hat in the present century the extent against the possible increase of merchant
development of a country, that is, its progress in the shipping t ouching thereat, beyond the bare necesranks of civilisation, is chiefly dependent on the sities of the South African trade itself, and, as a conmeans and facilities it affords for external and in- sequence, against the rapid settlement of the country,
ternal communication, and rail ways rank first which has therefore somewhat lagged behind other
among such means. The subject matter of this and less favoured colonial sites in this respect.
Rail way construction in the Cape Colony comarticle will be dealt with under the following
heads : 1. General History of Rail ways in South menced with a line from Cape Town to W ellingt~n
Africa. 2. D etails of Location, Construction, in the Western Province. An Act was passed m
Equipment, and Maintenance of South African the se~sion of 1857 by the Colonial Parliament,
Railways.
3. Past and Probable Future Cost. guaranteeing a minimum rate of interest (6 per
4. Traffic and Earnings of Constructed lines. 5. cent.) on a sum not exceeding 500, OOOl., and for a
Government v. Private Railways. 6. The Ox Wagon period limited to fifty years from the openi~g of ~he
v. Locomotive Train. 7. Objects to be aimed at railway for traffic, to any company or pnvate mdividual who would undertake the working and
in Future Rail way Extensions.
1. The plan on the next page, prepared from the construction of the line. Like many others of the
Cape Government rail way maps, shows the various more important steps towards progress which have
existing and proposed lines in a way which will been taken in this colony, this Act was due to the
suitably explain their origin and object. It will be foresight of Governor Sir George Grey, who himself
seen that the whole of the South African colonies turned the first sod on March 31, 185!.>. Half
and adjacent territories and states (the future the Government guarantee was secured in a very
ENGINEERING,
1, 1893.
SEPTE?!IB'ER
'
COMPOUND ENGINES, WITH "WALKING " BEA)~ AM, OF THE PADDLE STEAMER "HONAM."
CONSTRUCTED BY .MESSRS. A.
AND J. INGLh, Ll
'
(Fo1 lJucnpl ,,,.. d1 set P(lgt 26'>.)
.,..,-- -------,.....
/
',
''
,l
L====
. -
L.
.. _
,
_
.I
E N G I N E E R I N G.
SEPT. I, I893]
peculiar way, viz., it was not to be charged to the
general revenue of the colony, but to ~he reven~e
of the d ivisions most benefited by the hne, that 1s,
the Cape, Stellenbosch, and the Paarl. Th_is
principle has been largely adopted elsewhere In
foreign countries, both in Europe and America, and
seems to be a very sound and expedient one, and
in some respects it is rather unfortunate that it
was not given a more extended trial in South Africa,
as it might have materially assisted in the development of subsidiary and local lines, though it was
inapplicable to the t runk lines leading to the interior. In projecting this line from Cape Town to
Wellin gton, only local wants and reasons were consulted ; it ran through a rich agricultural and
p opulous district which could readily support a
rail way service, irrespective of the development of
interior trade or ulterior extensions, although when
the latter came t o be planned this line became the
ground work of the main trunk rail way from the
west to the int erior.
11
F~. 1.
n '
----~
L---~---~--~r---1'-
RAILWAYS .
C4;>> Go.trnm~n t 1/w'""'")ll
~~~~
1/aiQ/
o,.,. - -
~hlr
""~
- . .. ..
CD"'lld ;;:==
., txllfl>o~IUd
Act in 1870. Act 13 of 1873 re-authorised the extension of t he railway to Worcester, and the sum
of 315, OOOl. was appropriated for this purpose
(4922l. per mile). Turning now to t he Eastern
Province of the Cape, we find .that an ~et was
passed in 1862 for the constructiOn of a hne fr?m
P ort Elizabeth to Grahamstown, but nothing
was done under the authority of this Act.
A company was incorporated in 1871 ~n Poz t
Elizabeth
and obtained the concessiOn for
a rail way from Zwaartkops to Uitenhage, 13
miles in length ; this company was form ed by
a few local merchants in Port Elizabeth ; they had
plenty of capital at their command, and the undertaking, as experience has shown, was sound and
r emunerative, but they unfortunately made a
bungle of the financing, and the Cape Government
stepped in and took over the li~e ~efore completion for 63, 760l., or 4904l. per mile, In 1873. The
timber for the bridges on this line, which was
colonial, and improperly seasoned, had to be renewed at once before t he lir..e was opened for
traffic, at a cost of 13,000l. (or 1000l. per mile).
It is necessary to t urn to Namaqualand for the
next instance of private railway enterprise during
our first period. The Port N olloth Rail way was
constructed to connect the Cape Copper 1\fining
Company's mines at O'Okiep with the small harbour at Port Nolloth. This railway was built for
and by the company, and opened for traffic in
January, 1876. For this p urpose the following
Acts were obtained : (1) in 1869, authorising the
construction of 48 miles : (2) in 1871, for 12 miles
more to I{ookfontein ; (3) in 1873, for 38 miles to
O'Okiep. Port Nolloth is 300 miles from Cape
Town, communication being maintained by coasting steamer every ten days. The line is of a
2 ft. 6 in. gauge (being the narrowest gauge
adopt-ed in South Africa, with the sole exception
of the Beira Railway, which is 2 ft.). Locomotives were originally used, but scarcity of water
and over-abundance of sand made their employment so expensive and unsatisfactory that
they have been abandoned, and the traffic is now
worked by mules, assisted by gravitation on the
downward journey. There is a missionary station
a t Steinkopf, near t he end of the line, but a passenger carriage, running three times a week, amply
serves the traffic. We may, however, rank this
line as one of the best, if not the very best, paying
railways in South Africa.
('l'o be continued.)
PLA T E
SHEA R S
FOR
CLYDEBR I DG E
CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS.
S T EEL
JOHNSTONE,
\\T 0 R K
s.
t-.)
"'
N.D.
C)
~
z
t:r1
t:r1
~
~
z
G)
..
"
c-......::.
--=....;-'
:.:;;::>-~
-.--. -
~-
..
--
'
...._.----~
-~
-=::::~-
~-
'
(fl
~
~
--i
-......
~
()()
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
N.J.
Fig. 1.
'tot'--
- -- -/)-.
Jik..._
V
f'T
' "- .. ..
----------------------- ..
..
21
//
~~-
--------- --
- --
--- -- -
--
............................... 1. . .
'lot
.
-"
~
;:::
c~
.. ' " L
V~ ~
'-=
.1 . 11
.t
:~
s~ .~ :L
:._____________..:s:::.....:oo:L: :
: ., " .,
4!1
--------....L---
4-.J/; --------t------- --------- IG 3~ .. ... ..................... - ..... - ..... --.. ---- ------- -- .................. 8 ' &n
------- -----"i
8
.
aJ' IQ '/l ,,
- ..... -- ................ ................................ ........... - ...
t -- ...... ....... ............ --- --- ------ ..I
700()
-~
I
I
~l:
-- -
The reJative coal consumption results wou]d be interesting, but they are not given in the case of the
Puritan. In the Inglis boats fuel economy has
always been a marked feature.
The high -pressure cylinder of the Honam's
engines is 40 in. in diameter, with a stroke of
10 ft., while the low-pressure cylinder is 72 in.
in diameter, with a stroke of 9 ft. 10 in., the difference in stroke being due to the inclination of the
cylinders. Double-beat steam and exhaust valves
are provided, while the high-pressure cylinder
268
E N G I N E E R I N G.
-
P ,t ..tirulars nf Some P a ddle Stexme1s tcith R eam Enqincs I t is shown hy the L eslie Brothers :Manufacturing
Constructed b!f M curs. ltl{)li.~, Glasgow.
~
Company, of P a.terson, ew ,Jersey, and is the out----.
-JC3:.:
come of various othe r and e:lrlier patterns that bowed
($
!$
-Oroas tonnage . . . . . .
that ex ternally it resembles a co vered car, but with
3076 1781 3168
00
28
the addition of a formidable wheel surrounded by
l..engt.h on load-water line
ft . 292
242
308
270
Breadth moulded . .
..
,,
42
36
42
a. casing a nd mounted at th e f ront end of the car .
38
Depth mould ed
.
. . ft. io I 15 12 6
16 13 3
\Y ithin the car, which is carried on t wo four -wheeled
Load dr.L u~nt.
..
..
ft.
11
11
10 0
10
1
trucks, is the machinery for driving the wheel. As a
I>~adwe tg-bt capaity
. . ton, 920
6~6
876
43
a
comparison with the present type, there is a lso shown
Men.)urement capa.dty in to1u o I
40ft...
..
..
..
. seos 1972 asoo
23.
the No. 1 "rotary , made by the same firm. This was
Passenger accommod1tion, Euro
put into service in J a nuary, 1887, on the Union Pacific
1s I u
pean
..
..
..
.
21
13
For daY Railway, and during t hat winter it ran 2930 miles, and
Passenger
accommodat:on
cleared the t racks over that distance at a cost of
ligbt
0 .1inese, first class
..
16
a 18 ser
Vl CC
16. 9 cents, or about 8~d., p er mile; or, including t he
Pl.Hene-er
ac.:ommoda tion
0 r..ly.
pushing engine attached to it, f or 33.5 cent s p er mile.
Cbincse, second claE& . .
. ' 164
1C6
170
Up to April 1, 1893, this rotary No. 1 had cleared
S ,>eed on trial
.
. . k not
13
12
121
16~
B . P. 40 67,319 miles ; i ts last work was in Echo Canon on
Diameter of C)lind er
.
in
68
62
72 { J1.
P. 72 "?vlarch 29 of this year, w here the snow had filled t he
S~roke . .
ft.
12
10
14 J 10 0
c uttin gs to an almost unprecedented depth; the
l
9 10
I ndica ~e.i hor e . p ~wer
mach ine was almost im mediately after eent to Chicago
1450 1200 1840
2900
Stea.m pressur<:
..
1h.
27
:35
33
75
for exhibition. The wheel in front of the car, and on
Consumption of fuel at full power
which the efficiency of the snow plough depends, is about
per hour ..
..
.. C\\ t.
3J
27
40
lOft. in diameter a nd 40in. deep. To the cast-iron centre
I
a re bolted ten radial scoops, open on the front from the
is fi tted with expansion valves. The surface con- cen t re to t he periphery. On each side of the scoop is
denser is placed alo ng dide the cylinders, as shown hinged a. cutting blade so arranged as to reverse auto
in the forward elevation, while the pumps are matically; the capacity of each knife is such that it
worked hy a. rod fro m the walking b eam, as shown cuts sufficient snow to fill the scoop t o which it is
on the fro nt el e vation. The cooling surface is 5395 attached during one revolution of t h e wheel; by this
square feet.
The walking b eam, which is con - means all choking of the machine is avoided. The wheel
structed in the same way as is usually adopte d in is inclosed in a circular casin g rather larger tha n the diaAmericln vessels, with cast-iro n centre and forged meter of the wheel, with a square hood above, t he top
steel strap, is 23 ft. in length, 11 ft. d eep, and of which is curved over as sho wn, to deflect the snow.
At th e top of the hood is an opening which can ue
weighs 14 ton~. The sec tion of beam strap is closed on the right or left with a slide, operated from
7 in. by 9 in., and the main centre is 14 in. in dia- the inside of the car, so as to throw the str eam of
meter in the main b earings.
The piston-r od is snow on one side or other of the t rack as may be
6f in. in diameter in the case of the high-press ure, desired. The boiler placed within the car is of the
and 7 in. in that of the l ow-pressure engine, and of r egular locomoti ve type, bolted to the frame of t he
steel, while the co nnecting-rod is 23 ft. long from machine, which consists of heav y I and channel irons;
ce ntre t o centre, and 13 in. in diameter. The crank- there is considerable weight and solid ity in this frame,
shaft is 17t in. in diameter. The paddle-wheels have rendered necessary by the hea\'y strains thrown upon
feathering floa ts, and are entirely of steel. They it. The engines are also of the locomotive ty pe, with
are 21 ft. in diameter, and the floats are 15 ft. by a p air of horizontal cylinders bolted to the frame, 17 in.
dia meter and 22 in. stroke. Po wer is transmitted t o
4ft. These latter measurements are very unusual, in
two crank discs on t he countersha ft,on which is mounted
and it would certainly be very interes ting to kno w if a. bevel pinion that gears into the bevel wheel on the
the builders of s ome of the recent fast paddle main shaft carrying the wheel. Both shafts run in
steamers have gone s o far as to reduce the diameter long bearings, and a. thrust journal is fitted t o the wheelof their wheels t o 2.1 times the strok~, or to shaft. The trucks on which the snow plough is
increase the tloat area t o 60 square fee t.
moun ted are substantially of the ordi nary American
Steam is supplied from three double-ended four-wheeled type; the fron t truck, however, has a n
boilers placed athwartships and fired from the extra frame for carry ing an ice plough and Ba nger .
wings. These b oilers are 14 ft. in dia m eter and The former protects the machine from being derailed
14 ft. l o ng, and have in all l 8 furnaces. The grate by snow or ice adhering to the rails or ties. It is swung
area. is 297 sq uaro feet, and the heat in g sur face from the front of the extra. frame in such a way that it
can be lowered until the p oints of the two ice cutters
7939 square feet. They work at a pressure of a nd chisel edges it carries can be lowered to within l in.
75 lb., and at 33 revolutions the engines d e vel oped of the top of the ra ils, which are thus k ept clear of
2900 indicated h o rse-power.
ice. Any accumulation is r emoved by t he fla nger which
The steamer, which, with the engines working is hung from the back of the ex tra frame. Both of
at this p o wer, attained a speed of 16! knot s , is these devices are operated by an air cylinder arranged
270 ft. lo ng, the breadth m o ulded being 38 ft ., and with steam connections in case the supply of comthe extreme breadth 72 ft. 6 in., the d e pth pressed a ir should fa il ; t hey are con trolled fr om t he car,
moulded 13 f t. 3 in., and the extr eme 30 ft. and an indicat or is provided t o show w hether they are
The tonnage is 2800 t ons.
The sponsons, up or do wn. The following are some of t he principal
while supported in the usua l way by beams and dimensions of the snow plough which we ill ustrate :
Disbnce from cent re to centre of
stay:J, the beams b eing 8 ft. apart, are carried
trucks ...
...
..
...
... 15 ft. 5~ in.
round the e n t ire ship. There are three d ecks.
T otal wheel base
. ..
.. .
.. . 19 " 11~ "
The l ower deck, which is fo r cargo, is of steel,
R igid wheel base
.. .
.. .
.. . 4 " 6 ,.
while the two above are of wood, the distance
8
...
...
. ..
N umber of wheels
33 in.
Diameter of wheels . ..
...
. ..
between each being 9 ft. The t op deck is e ntirely
,.
journals .. .
...
.. .
rese rved fo r promenading, and on the main deck
5t
"
L ength of journals
.. .
.. .
. ..
9~ ,,
there are large saloons. The Chinese saloon is
D iamet~r of axles
...
...
.. .
5t
H
abaft of the engines, and i~ 72 ft. l ong by 45 ft.
Outside width of car . ..
. ..
.. . 9 ft. 7i in.
mean width. }.,orward of the machinery are un. ..
... 30 ', 4 ,,
T otal length of car .. .
H eight from rail t o t op of smoke
U3ua1Jy large s tate-rooms f o r European passengers.
staok .. .
...
. ..
...
. 13 , 11 ~ in.
The dining saloon is forward o n this deck. I t
Diameter of snow wheel
...
..
9 , ' 8~ ''
is 44 H. lo ng by 36 ft. mean breadth, and is
...
...
.. . 3 , 4 ,,
W idth of wheel.. .
seated f or t we nty passen gers.
10
Number of scoops
.. .
.. .
.. .
Projection of wheel shaft from face
. ..
. ..
.. .
. .. 4 ft. 9 in.
of car .. .
ROTARY SNO\V PLOUGH .
Diameter of shaft to face of thrust
A Mo:-w t h e striking novelties to the Eugliah visitor
bearing
...
.. .
...
...
Bt in.
at the Columbian Exposition, are the snow ploughs exDiameter of shaft t o face of casthibited in the Transp or tation Building. Probably in
8 in.
iron boss
...
.. .
...
. ..
no European country, except Russia. or Scandinavia,
Diameter of sha ft at end
...
. ..
G '
3 ft. 4 in.
need a snow plough form a. par t of a. railroad equipment.
...
.. .
L ength of thrust bearing
10 ftl.
Diameter of wheel casing .. .
.. .
The occasions when rail way traffic is arrested, or eveu
Extreme width of ,.
...
... 10ft. 6 in.
inte rfered with, in this r.ountry are com pa ratively rare,
D epth of casing from front of car ...
4 ,, 1 "
a nd under no circumstances have vast masses of snow
.. . 10 " 1 "
H e1gbt of casinfr from rail ...
t o be dealt with, as in the United States. In t he
Projection of hood of casi ng from
n orth of Scotland, indeed, the more rigorous climate
5 ,. 7 ,,
front of car . ..
...
..
..
r enders the mechanical clearing of the tracke more
Belpaire
Ty pe of boiler . ..
.. .
.. .
.. .
frequently necessary. America. is th e home of the
5t in.
Diameter
...
.. .
...
. ..
snow p lo ugh, and the latest developme~~s which are
Thickness of plates . ..
. ..
.. .
! ,
exhibited at Chicago, are, indeed, surpnsmg and mas...
. ..
.. .
L ength of fi rebox
92 "
4G ,
'Vidth
,
...
.. .
...
s ive machines. One of these we illustrate on page 267.
Q) CIS
- -
~5
(SEPT.
~Laterial of firebo \. and boilf r
...
Number of tubes
.
...
Out ide diameter of t ubes ...
L ength of tubes
.. .
.. .
~faterial ..
.. .
..
.. .
Diameter of steam dome .. .
Height
,
,.
.. .
Number of cylinders ...
.. .
Diameter
,,
.. .
.. .
Stroke .. .
...
.. .
.. .
Diameter of crank disc
..
,
counter haft .. .
Pitch diameter of bevel pinion
Number of teeth
..
.. .
Pitch diameter of berel wheel
Number of t eeth
..
...
Class of Lrake .. .
.. .
.. .
I, I 893 .
...
...
Rte-1
lil
2 in .
... 9 ft. 10 in .
... Iron B. \ V.G .
...
30 in.
...
46~ .,
...
..
...
...
...
.. .
...
2
1'i in.
22 ,.
2 ft. !l in.
6~ in.
30- ,.
22
49.63 in.
39
... W estioghou e
automatic
T otal
.. .
..
...
Dola.
492 63
490.43
983.06
SEPT.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
I, I8931
269
Diamettr of cylinders
ID .
19
19
19
up in this work. Per metre in length of the breakwater
Stroke of piston
..
26
26
24
there is no less than 860 cubic metres of ma.terial (fxcludMetalli c, by }
ing the parapet), and yet the total height from foundaKiod of piston packi ng
C.
C.
J
erome,
Same
Same
{
tion to top (parapet excluded) is only 21 metres, so that
Chicago
were all the material put into the form of a. rectangular
Diameter of p istonrod
in.
~t
3!
Size of a~eam ports . .
,,
1g x 18~
I t X 18! Ig X l 8l oross-section of the height given (21 metres) it would ha,e
,,
exhaust porta
,.
3 x 18!
3 X 18t 3 X 18! a. width of not less than 41 metre!?.
The design is the ordinary composite arrangement of
Wh eels, d:c.
Diamcterofdrivingwbeele in.
72
49
assorted rubble from the foundation up to 6 mE'tres below
1\5
truck wheels ,.
3J
30
low-water level ; from th ence up to 1 metre above low.,
driving axle jo';l r
water le\'el there are large concrete blocks of 60 and 100
nal
..
..
..
1 n.
8
11
6t
&!
61t and H
- e6
/s!
6i
6!
6!
6!
and 5
36
36
Boiler.
Description of boiler ..
8elpaire type, , )
by Well man 1
I ron and Steel J"' Same
Company,
Thurlow, Pa.
60
58
Steel
Steel
! to t
~ to ~
No. U B.W.G.,
by Duquesne I
Tube Works
Same
Company,
Pittsburg
202
l SO
2}
2}
Same
Ehrht
ex posed to the Atlantic, so that in this respect the ~ir
rolliog the plate double the width of the broadest end Number
D .e.meter , ,
JO .
33
31
33
cumstances
are
further
comparable.
of the tapered plate and cutting two tapered plates Total wheel base
..
10 ft. 6 in .
58
Steel
J to :
~
1J
11
11
..
E N G I N E E R I N G.
(SEPT.
1893
I,
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
,:
.
'
.
.
-- ...
r=;;':~= J;~~- -- J
"'"'
'
-... .
-""'
.,
/I
-.. I
. .r.. "
'
I
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'
......
'
Fig. 2.
'
'I
'
I
I
'
I
- 't
I
0
Fig 1.
'
I
k-----
I
4--------- J
ll:. . . .
'
l.L........
4
91'
'J
- 0-
I
I
I
''
------------- ------
I
I
I
I
- - - 4
'
. ........ ..
__ J
1:::::
" J
""'
!<:)
~:::::::======~ r~
..
'
__ ""'::::..
- _r_ ,
~~~~------~--~ ~
0
";("- - -
'
.....
CS>
1........11
. '
<$,
I;)
V)
"lI
'~'!!
--
I
I
...
o
'
-'
I
. '
I
I
I
I
0
180,
ENGINE VIBRATION.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-'Vith reference t? your ~ecent interesting articl,e
on the balancing of marme engmes, and Mr. Y arrow s
experiment, I inclose .a sketch of_ an arrangement of the
reciprocating parts wh10h would give a perfect balance.
It is an old idea to balance by means of cranks opposite to one another, but the arrangement eketched may
have some novel features.
.
. .
The reciprocating parts of eac~ cyhnder are movm~ m
opposite directions, and the we1gh;ts o~ lihe parts bemg
made equal, the stresses due to mert1a are equal and
oppositely direct ed.
.
.
.
B y using two valves to each cylmder, the mertia. of the
valves might be similarly balanced.
Beside the balancing effect, the friction of the crank- of the engine is so objectionable, the absence of vibration
shaft bearings would be reduced, as the bearings would could ha-rdly be t oo dearly bought.
be relieved from all pressure due to the steam on the
Yours faithfully,
piston.
H. T OZER.
Of courea the objection to such an arrangement is the
August 22, 1893.
multiplication of parts and theexfen::~e of the crankshaft.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR-I have read with great interest your article on
engine vibration in ENGINEEUING of August 11. I have
previously made and gained experience which coincides
precisely with those experiments made lately by Mr.
Yarrow on a small engme indicating 1600 horse-power,
and as I imagine that my experiruents will be of interest to many of your readers, I will describe them as
follows:
One of the mail steamers belonging to the Austrian
Lloyd's Steam Navigation Company bad her old compound engines converted into triple-expansion engines,
by putting on each cylinder of the old compound emrine
a small high-pressure cylinder, as usually done. ForI
merly those engines ran 70 revolutions per minute, and
I
I
it was intended to keep the same number of revolutions
I
for the converted engine, and to keep also the same pro
peller. After the conversion of the engine was effected, it
I
I
was found that when the engine reached the same number
I
I
I
of revolutions as formerly, such t errific vibrations were
I
I
set up that all the steam pipes and connections were in
r-. 1 I
r
I
danger, and the scan tlings forming the engine foundation
I
I
I
,. I
were
likely to be loosened. At the st ern of the ship the
_I
r.
- - I
- vibration was so bad that no pa.ssen~er could have slept
Il lS
I
in his berth. To obviate such a sen ous defeat, a series
of experiments was made.
1. The engines were stayed by longitudinal and
athwartship stays, but without any favourable results.
2. 60 tons of cast iron were put under the engine foundaThis might be reduced by placing the centre lines of ~he
two cylinders at right angles to one another, and couphng tion to give more resistance to the ship, which improved
things a. little, but not very much. Vibrations at the
the connecting-rods into the same cranks.
Balancing in a vertical direction by means of a revol ~ stern was just a.s bad as before.
3. The two high-pressure piston valves wore taken out.
ing weight, lea1ing the lateral stresses unbalanced, 1s
the boiler pressure was reduced t o six atmospheres, a.nd
only a. partial solution of the difficulty.
For pleasure steamers, where the continual throbbing the engines run as before, compound, with the only dif-
w.
-o-
"
"
~lESSRS.
A.
AND J.
(f)
t'lj
"'0
..,
...H
......
OQ
\0
t'Ij
z
CJ
~
z
tT1
tT1
~
~
1/.W.BEJiNETr
.t4Di> C
z
C"l
ference that the weight of the moving parts of each and decreasing respectively until the right proportion
engine was increased by the weights of the high-pressure
,.....pistons and piston-rods which were added to 1t. The
~ibration of engine and ship was just as before, perhaps a
~
f }<:J 1 ~
F<.fJ
24;
..
little more ; this could not be precisely ascertained, as
,
)!'
.......
increasing the weight of the movin g parts. As the
- ... . . . - .
ment such as Mr. Yarrow has made in his shop would have
u
,..,I1[[
1that it jumped off from its supporting springs after a few
turns of the handle of the turning gE>ar, which corresponded
J
18,.,
~
to! the aotual state of affairs on board ship. The next
thing was to put balance weights on the mod~l and
change the weights of those balance weights by adding was attained between moving parts and balance weights.
,,..
.3i
F . KODOLITSCH.
FEED-\VATER HEATING.
To THE EDITOR 0~ ENGINEERING.
Sm,- M. .J. A. Kormand, in his clear and interesting letter, leaves very little more to be said by us, as
the points of differen ce between us are very few. It is
gratifying to us to find a gentleman of such authority and
expertence in almost perfect accord with us on so impor
tant a subject.
We may, however, be allowed to say that our aims in
ad voca.ting feed heaters are :
1. To heat the feed water, and thus by equalising temperatures relieve the boiler of the alarming and injurious
strains due to unequal expansion.
2. To extract the- air from the h eated water in order to
render the feed water non-corrosive.
3. To remove all greasy matters from the feed water.
4. Placing the heater on the delivery side of the feed
pump, thus at once obviating any trouble in the working
of the pump, and at the same t ime securing the maximum
of heat being imparted to the water.
\Ve think each of the above points are of equal importance, and that the machine which we manufacture deals
with tbe whole of them in a simple and satisfactory
manner.
We quite agree with M. Normand as to the utility and
t-..)
'-..}
H
E N G I N E E R I N G.
[SEPt.
t, 1893.
a~ visability o fitting fe.e~ water filters! and think with 35s. 3d. ; Cum berland and !vliddlesbrough hematite iron, ammonia has been considerably reduced, with the result
respectively, 45s. and 43s. 3d. per ton. The market was that the prier, of the commodity has now run up to 15l. 5s.
somewhat uregular on Friday forenoon. At the opening per ton, whereas the p rice a year ago was only lOl. 5s. per
the tone for Scotch was firm, and 42s. 7d. cash per ton ton. The advance in price had already been in progress
was paid. Subsequently the price dropped to 42~. 5~d., for some month s, hub a very marked impetus has just
but finally rallied to 42s. 6~d. About 10,000 tons were been given to the advance by the action of the ironsold. One or two lots of Cleveland were sold at 35s. 3d. masters; indeed, within the past few weeks, the price has
per ton cash. A fair amount of business was done in been run up 2l. per ton.
Scotch iron in the afternoon, largely of an option characShipbuilding Oontracts.-It is probable tbab contracts
ter, however, 4000 tons having been done at 42:~. 6d. a
month, with ls. forfeit in sellers' option, and 2000 tons at for som~thing like 40,000 tons of n ew shipping have been
42s. 4~d . and 42s. 5d. this week with "plants." The casb placed with Clyde shipbuilders during the past month;
business was done at 42s. 6~d. Monday and 42s. 6d. one newspaper puts the amount at even 60,000 tons, and
other days this week. Business was also done at 423. 5~d. speaks of a " boom " having again overtaken this branch
cash, and at the close sellers were quoting 42d. 6~d., of local trade. The more recent contracts include an
or the price current at the forenoon's close. Including order for a cargo and passenger steamer of 4500 tons,
option business, fully 12,000 tons of iron changed bands. which is to be built by the L ondon and Glasgow ShipIn Cleveland 1{)00 tons were dealt in at 35s. 3~d. and building and En_gineering Company. Messrs. D. and W.
35s. 4d. cash, and the price at the last was 1~d. per ton Henderson and C o. have also secured an order for a screw
better than in the forenoon. One lot of Cleveland bema- steamer of about 3000 tons gross.
kindly consented to accept these pos~s, an:d are now fell to 423. 5d. cash, with sellers over at that quotatlOn- prtce.
or l~d. per ton down from the m orning. Business was
en~aged arranging the programme of thts sect~ on.
.
Rolling Mill Proprietors and tke Situation.-The memalso
done
at
42s.
7!d.
Friday
with
a
call,
and
at
42s.
lO~d.
The honorary presidents of the several sect10ns w1ll be
bers of the Rolling Mill Proprietors' Association have
one
month
with
6d.
forfeit
in
buyers'
option.
Cleveland
elected by the executive committAe as soon as th~ names
issued a. circular in which they say : ''In consequence of
iron
was
i~
very
activa
demand,
bet~een.SOOO
and
10,000
of those foreign celebrities shall bs known who wtll take
the high prices which are now being charged for coal, and
tons
being
sold-one
operator
alone
d1spos10gof
6000
to~s.
pa.rt in the Congress.
in view of the fact that the r@lling mills are bein~ worked
The
price
was
very
fiat,
down
to
35s.
l~d.
cash
be10g
After the t ermination of the Congress several excur
at a. loss, we r egret to have to inform you that either the
done
with
sellers
at
35s.
2d.,
or
2~d.
back
from
the
fore~ions will be arranged, amongst which one will be to the
mills must be set down or a higher charge made for rolling
noon:
In
addition
to
the
cash
transacti~ns,
d
ealing
.al~o
Irongate on the lower Danube, to ~elgrade, and to Conduring the continuance of the strike. The rolling mill
took
pla.ce
at
36s.
lid.
a
month
fixed,
w1th
1~.
forfeit
m
stantinople, which, doubtless, wlll be of some attracproprietors are reluctant to adopt the former alternativ e,
sellers'
option.
At
thfl
close
the
settlement
pnces
weretion.
but recommend their customers to give out as little work
Scotch
iron,
42d.
4~d.
per
ton
;
Clevel.and
35s.
l~d.;
I remain, Sir, yours obediently.
1
Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite tron, respec as possible until the coal dispute is settled; m ean while,
C. M uLLER, M .D.
ti vely, 45s. and 43s. 1~~ per ton. Business was very in some measure to mitigate the loss consequent on the
(Chief Secretary).
quiet in the market this forenoon, but the tone was excessive price we have to pay for fuel, tbe association
steady on the whole. From 8000 to 10,000 tons of Scotch have resolved that until further notice the discounts will
be as follows: Rods, 15 per cent. ; cast-steel sheets, net;
were
sold,
the
cash
price
varying
between
42s.
4~d.
and
THE UriLlSATION OF SMALL COAL.
Bessemer steel sheets, 5 per cent.; circulars, 15 per cent.''
42s.
!ijd.
per
ton.
Some
lo
..
s
were
sold
at
42s..
4d.
a.nd
To TH& Eor'l'OR oF ENGIN&&RING.
The Coal Orisis.-Until this week the men in this
SIR - In your article on the utiliga.tion of small coal 42s. 4~d. on Friday with a "plant," 42s. 6~d. Frt?,ay w1t~
plant. district have been very peaceable, and have expressed
(pa.ge'248 of last issu~) we . find you refer to the Perret a call and 42s. 3d. one m onth open wtth a.
furnace, but make no ment10n of ours, although we h~ve The ~arket was very quiet in the afternoon u~til just their intention of abiding by the decisions of the
constructed and erected a larger number of dust-burn10g about the close when one dealer came m and federation. In the meantime prices of coal are at ex
furnaces than any other firm. In South Wale&,. for bu~n bought 5000 to~s, which stiffened the ~arket, and treme rates ; engine slack that was 6s. 6d. a month
ing anthracite, we have fitted hundreds o~ b01le~s w1th sellers were asking 42s. 6~d. at the ~nLBh, an ~d ago is now 13s. 6d., and 6s. to Ss. per ton is the
Ontstde average increase in the rates for house coal. North
most satisfactory results ; these are d ea:lmg wtth . the vance of l~d. per ton from the mormng.
exact form of fuel to which you referr~d m your ar~tcle, of this there was very little doing, but 1000 .tons country coke agents are pressing business in this locali ty,
and do it in a. way that leaves. ~o.tb10g to be desired. changed hands at 42s. 6~d. and 42s. 7d. cext week wttb a but the commodity is only taken where ibis absolutely
They meet the difficulty of util1s10g small coal, both call. A few lots of Cleveland iron were d~alt in, and the neces3ary to c.m tinue operations. Ib is believed tha.t
anthracite and soft coal, with a.n efficiency that has price also mad& l i d. ?f advance. The clos10g settlement when the dispute is settled it will be found a. consider
prices were Scotch uon, 42s. 6d. per ton ; Cl~vel.and, able portion of the coal trade will have permanently lefb
never been equalled.
.
35s. 3d. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough bemat1t~ 1ron, the district.
We are, S1r, yours truly,
respectively, 45s. and 43s. Hd. P.er ton. The folloWip.g are
MELDRUM BROTHERS.
N ational A ssociation of Ooll iery M a;nag e1s. -The annual
some of the prices of No. 1 spe01al brands of makers 1ron :
Atlantic Works, City-road, Manchester,
Gartsherrie and Summerlee, 49s. per ton ; Calder, 4~s. 6d.; general meeting of this body will be held in Sheffield on
August 29, 1893.
Langloan, 54s. 6d. ; Coltness, 66s. --the foregomg all Friday, Septemb~r 1. The report of the council states
shipped at Glasgow; Glengarn~ck (shipped at Ardro~san), that " the wide influence of the association may be
48a. 6d. ; Shotts (shipped at Le1th), 5ls. ; Car~on (~h1pped gathered from the fact that it has now amongst its memNOTES FROM THE NORTH.
at Grangemouth). 53s. 6d. per ton. Last weeks shtpments bers colliery managers from Scotland, N ortbumberland,
GLASGOW, Wednesday.
of pig iron from all Scotch P'?rts amounted t~ 6230 tons, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland, North Wales, Lan
Glasgow P ig-Iron M arket. -In consequence of a pre~i as compared with 5124 tons m the correspondmg week of cash ire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, N ottingba.msbire, \Var
sure of sales of Scotch iron, the warrant market was du last year They included 650 tons for Canada., 405 tons wickshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, W or cestershire,
last Thursday forenoon. About 6000 tons were soldi and for Indi~, 150 tons for Australia, 170 t?ns for Italy, 450 Gloucestershire, Monmoutbsbire, and South Wales. The
the cash price dropped to 42s. 5!d. per. ton. One ?t ?f tons for Germany, 220 tons for Russia, 140 tons f~r ~ffect of certain steps adopted in accordance with the
Scotch sold ab 42a. 9~d. one month, w1t.b ls. forfett m H olland, 300 tons for China and Japan, small~r quanti committee's sugges tions is that the balance-sheet is th e
buyer's option. The market opened flat t.n the afternoon ties for other countries, and 3451 tons coastwtse. T~e most fa,ourable one that th e council has ever issued.
on the announcement of the bank rate bemg advanced to stock of pig iron in M essrs. Connal a:nd Co.'s public The council suggests to branches the d esirability of co5 per cent. and business was done at 42s. 4d. per ton cash warrant s tores stood at 336,780 tons, aga10st 337,790 tons operating with the tf'cbnical education committee of the
on Mond~y of this week. There was a. reco~ery after- yesterday w~ek, thus showing for the past week a r educ- county council of their district in arranging for highd however on the announcement that etght blast tion amountmg to 1010 tons.
class lectures on mining subjects. One of the chief
ft:r~:~es had be~n dampe~ down and two blown out, and
objects of the association is to improve the scientific and
t 423 6d cash was pa.1d for Scotch ; but at tb~ close
Scotck B last Furnaces.-Some eighteen blast furnac~ intellectual p osition of colliery managers, and the council
~tier~ we ~e s~llers at 42s. 5~d .., w~icb made t~e price un- have been damped down during the past week or so, m is of opinion that lectur es on mining problems by experts
t ab the opemng 10 the morn10g. .A bout consequence of the action of the ~iners. At t~e end o f are most useful means to that end. The executive learn
tha
m
f
d
h
c a.nge ro
1 d'
two last week th ere were only forty-stx .furnace.s .m actual with pleasure the success which has attended these
10 000 or 12 000 tons were dealt m, m e u 108,' one or
.
lots at 42 3 9d and 42s. 9~d. one month, wttb l s. forfeit operation. The ironmast~rs are now 10 a postt10u to J;>Ut lectur es in some districts, and strongly r ecommend the
in buyer./ option. Several tho~sand tons of Cleveland their coal on the market and get the benefit of the high branches to approach their county councils at once with a.
view to arran~e for such lectures during the winter.
abo changed hands, and the priCe dropped ld. per ton. prices that have lately been reached.
Cumberland hamatite iron was done at 45s. 3~. a mon~h
S ulphate of Ammonia.-Owing to. the stoppage of so Happily famiharity with fatal accidents, which is the
for a sm1.ll quantity. The settlement prtces at t e many blast furnaces, the product10n of sulphate of experience of various colliery managers, does not engender
eLse wers-S~otch iron, 423. 4jd. per t on; Cleveland,
SEPT. I ' I
893]
273
E N G I N E E R I N G.
directors are complaining that the siding accom~odation at
the stations is insufficient to meet goods trafi:ic, a~d they
are pressing the company to make large extensio~s, m vol ving an outlay of several thousand pounds. ':I;' he dtrecto~s C?f
the Buokfastlei~h Company do not constder that 1t 1s
responsible for this outlay.
T he "Ferret " ancl the "Lynx. "-The Ferret and the
Lynx, two of twenty torped o-boat destroyers, which are
to have a guaranteed speed of 27 knots per hour, are to be
ready for trials at Devonport during the early part of the
next year. Both these vessels are being built .bY Messrs.
Laird Brothers, of Birkenhead. The F erret IS to be out
of the contractors' hands by F ebruary 20, and the Lynx
by April 5. No. 97 torpedo-boat, which is one of ten now
in course of construction, will be ready for transfer from
the contractors to Devonport by the end of D ecember.
rams.
THE FASl'EST PADDLE BoAT IN THE WoRLD.-In re
ference to our note undt:~r this heading in our issue of
August 11 the Societe Cockerill point out that the speed
of 22.16 k~ots obtained by the L eopold I I. .was tb~ mean
of a number of runs on the measured mtle, wh1L'lt the
speed of 22.2 knots attained by their boat the Marie
H enriette was the mean of four runs from Cloch to
Cumbrae, over which the mean speed of the L eopold II.
was 21.955, the runs being as follows:
Number of
Revolutions.
Knots.
Time.
hr. min.
2210
37 6
51.40
21.77
37 40
2215
37 1i
51.75
2180
37 37~
}
}
SA~lUDA'S
274
E N G I N E E R I N G.
[SEPT.
L0 C0 M0 TI VES
AT
TH E
C0 L UMBI AN
\VORKS,
I, I 893.
E X P 0 S I T I 0 N.
DUNKIRK,
N. Y.
- -
FIG.
1.
, .
-...,_
FIG.
2.
-.
Fta. 3. "
E N G I N E E R I N G.
AGENTS FOR ''ENGINEERING.''
6 p.m. on Thursday. In consequence of the necessity think nothing of political interests-so far as the we pay as prem1um on our msurance.
for going to press early with a portion of the editton,
We would go further than Mr. H anbury, and not
alterations for standing Advertisements should be Navy is concerned- but would simply strive for
received not later than 1 p.m. on Wednesday after such things as would be for the prosperity of the only pit the Government establishments against
noon 1n each week.
fleet, as an engine of national defence ; and private yards, but dockyard against dockyard. If
The sole Agents for Advertisements from the Con not, be i t r emarked, either as a means of providing half a dozen similar ships are to be built, they
tlnent of Europe and the French Colonies are the
a profession for younger sons, of keeping private should be distributed amongst as many different
AGENCE HAV AS, 8, Place de la Bourse, Paris.
shtpyards and engine shops employed, nor for the establishments, Government or private, and the
SUBSCRIPTIONS, HOME AND FOREIGN.
support of the working men and tradespeople of results compared. The proposal is, of course,
ENGINEERING can be supplied, direct from the publisher, the dockyard towns. If these personal interests far from novel, and there are, equally of course,
p ost free tor Twelve Months at the following rates, payable in could be sunk, there would be the makings of a several far from novel objections to it. The chief,
advance : strong party in the H ouse ; for there are numbers in r egard to the inter-dockyard competition, is
For the United Kingdom .... .... .. .. .... 1 9 2
having a knowledge of all the elements which build that some of the dockyards are more favourably
.. all places abroad:up the service. The party would, of course, always situated in regard to carrying out work than others.
Thin paper copies ..... ... .. 1 16 0
be in opposition, and its members should be pledged Thus at Portsmouth there is more concentration of
Thick
..
. ... ........ 2 0 6
n ever to accept oftice ; so, doubtless, after all, offices than at Chatham ; but this is an argument
All accounts are payable t o the publisher, Ma.. CBARLU GILBBRT.
Indeed, when we come t o that the offices should be remodelled. The plant
Cheques should be c roesed " Union Bank, Cbariog Cross Branoh." the idea is Utopian .
P ost Office Orders payable a t Bedtord-street, Strand, W.O.
think deep er, the scheme bristles with difficulties. and machinery in some yards are more efficient than
When forei~n Subsoriptions are sent by Post Office Orders F or instance, the dockyard members, whose poli- in others, and the same r easoning applies here ;
advice should be sent to the Publisher .
tical mission is simply to get all the work and the in fact, the chief argument in favour of the competiForeign and Colonial Subscribers receiving
Incomplete Copies through News-Agents are re- highest pay for dockyard hands, could ne\er be ex- t ion system is that it would necessitate a clean
quested to communicate the fact to the Publisher, pected to suppor t any measure which would im- sweep of much that is obsolete and inefficient-not
together with the Agent's N$\me and Address.
to say deplorably rotten . It is the latter fact,
prove
the
r
egulations
as
to
con
tract-built
vessels,
01Dce for Publication and Advertisements. Nos.
and we should hardly find the admirals helping to however, which is the true obstacle to r eform in
85 and 36, Bedford-street, Strand, London, W.C.
improve the status of the engineering branch, if the this direction. Too many sleepy, obsolete, comb.LlJGRAPIDO A.DDRBSB-ENG INEERING. LONDON.
proposals clashed with the interests of the executive fortable ways and customs would have the disquietTBLBPHONB N UMBBR-3663.
officers. Yet these two things stand in the fore- ing glare of publicity turned upon them, and the
most place of n ecessity in naval reform. Whatever unnecessary would become painfully obvious.
ENGINEERING is regietered for transmission abroad.
may be the difficulties in .the_ way of form atio~ <?f Happily for the unnecessary, the British public
an independent and consc1enbous naval party, 1t 1s cares for none of these things at present ; nor will
CONTENTS.
certain t hat very little good will be done until some it until we have to put our naval resources to their
PAOB \
PAOB
ultimate use, when we shall find, at the cost of men
the
units
which
now
cohesion
is
effected
between
Literature ... . .. . ... . . 259 Not~ from Sout h York
The E ngin eering Cong ress
1 sh1re ..... . .. . .......... 272 criticise-t oo often from the faddist point of view and treasure, how lamentably deficient we are in
at Chicago . . _ .... .. .. .. 261 Notes from Cleveland: and
- the naval policy of whatever side happens to be our organisation.
The De\"elopment of South
the Nor thern Count1es .. 273
The N aval Defence Act occupied a good deal of
Africa n Railways (IllusNotes from th~ South-Wesb 273 in power. N o wonder the H ouse empties when
t 1ated) ...... ....... ... .. 264 The N~vy Esttmate~ . . .. .. 275 the Naval Estimates come on. The fight is alto- attention during the debate. The subject was quite
Beam Engines for Paddl~
The Ra1lways of I~d1a .. .. .. 276 gether too one-sided to be _of interest ; the result well thrashed out at the time the Act was passed, and
SteamPrs (Illustrated) .. 266 Manchester
Sh1p Canal
all that can be added to what was then said is that
Rota ry Snow Ploug h (Illusl:'~ospects : . .. ..... : .... 277 is always a foregone concluston.
trated) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Bnt1sh qolome.s at 9 h1cago 277
'fhe discussion of this week was on the usual the prognostications of evil then made regarding
Trie r's Double-Action Stone
Non Ar clDg- Ltgh t mng Ar
it, have not been fulfilled, but, on the contrary, it
party
lines.
L
ord
Ge~rge
Rami]
ton
made
a
lo~
g
Dressing Machine (lllusI r ester U llu8trated) . . .. .. 278
trated) . .. . ....... ..... 268 11Notes (I llustrated) .... ~ ... 279 speech, the aim of wh1Ch was to sho~ how ad~Ir has resulted in good for the Navy. Lord George
Automatic IIeating and V enNotes from the Umt~d
Hamilton in his speech showed how fallacious are
ably
the
late
First
L
ord
of
the
Admualty
gu1ded
tilatiog F r eight Car (RStates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
naval policy, whilst Sir U . K ay-Shuttleworth and many of the comparisons made between the navies
lustrated) .. .. . ..... .. .. 269 A Water-Cooled Brake ErgoH eavy Plate Shear s for th e
m~ter (l_llmtrated) . . .. . . . 280 the Chancellor of the Exchequer attempted to of different nations. It is said that one country
Clydebridge Steel Works
Manne Boller Co~stru<?tlOn 280 t hrow discredit on that which had been done possesses so many first-class battleships and so
(lllu.strated) .. ... . ... 269 L~unches and Tnal Tnps .. 282
Locomotives at the ColumMiscellanea .... .. ... .. . ... 282 during the previous Administration, a~d magnify many of the second class, but in many cases the
first-class ships are first-class only in size, being
bia n Exposition (l llus
6- lnch Foot Lathe (lllus
their
own
wisdom
in
the
conduct
of
affaus.
From
trated).. . . . . .. .. . .. .. . . 269
t_rated) .. .. :.. . . . .. .. . .. 283
unfit for r.hat category in nearly a11 r espects as to
a
lawyer's
point
of
view
n
othing
could
have
b~en
7-Ton Travelling Jib Crane
Bner 's Red uc10g Valve (ll
(Illustrated) ... . .... .... 269
l u.sltCX:Ud) ...... ...... .. 283 more admirable than much of the verbal fencmg offensive and defensive powerR. '' Brassey's Annual"
H a r bour Works(lllustrated) 26Q Iodustnal Note~ .. .... : ... 283 and quibbling, but to the sing~e-m~nded Briton it gives England thirty-five first-class battleships, but
Engine Vibr ation (lllusI mpr ovemen ts 1n t he R1ver
many of these are very slow and have but an elementraud) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 270
Tees (l llust,ated).: .. . . . . 284 is very sad to see the most v1tal m ter ests of the
tary secondary armament- that important factor. in
'Feed- Water Heating ...... 271 F ast Ocean Steamshtps (ncountry made the shuttlecock of party politics.
Congress of Hygiene . . . . . . 272
lustrated) . - . . . . . . . . . . . 286
the offensive power of a modern war vessel- wlulst
The
debate
was
opened
on
Monday
last,
August
The Utilisntion of Small
The Port of Ve01ce (l llusCoal.. .. .. . . .. . . .. .. . . . . 272
trat~d) .. : .. ;,-- .......... 287 28, by Mr. Hanbury, upon the shipbuilding vote of some have really obsolete muzzle-loaders. L ord
Geor O'e Hamilton would deduct thirteen vessels
Notes from the North . .. . 272 cc Eog1oeer1Dg Patent Re
1
797
OOOl.
beinCY
brought
forward.
1\Ir.
H
anbury
cord ( ntustrated) . . . . . . 289
~ade' an excall:nt speech, which was a capital from bthis list of so-called " first-class " battleships,
With a Two-Page Engrav!ng of the COJ!POUBD E N GINES,
illustration of what we have advanced above; the namely, the five echelon turret ships Agarnemnon,
WITH u WALKING" BEAJf!. _OF '!HE P~DDLE
futility of attempting too much single-handed. We Ajax, Inflexible, Edinburgh, and Colossus. These
-NOTICE.
ENGINEERING.
STE~MJ!R
HONAJf.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
vessels are all very slow, and have no s ubsidiary
armament. To these should be added the Devastation, Thunderer, Dreadnought, Neptune, Superb,
Alexandra, and Temeraire. The sunken Victoria
makes the thirteenth ship to be deducted from the
original list. No one can question that the older
ships above named could never hope to compete on
anything like equal terms with the more modern
vessels recently turned out, both in this country
and abroad, but in making comparison it is
necessary to see in what case the oth er side
stands. The late First Lord has made the necessal'y inquiry, and he finds that only one ship
-the Redoubtable- should be deducted from
the French list of first- class battleships, leaving that country with a t otal of fifteen vessels
worthy of the class. From the Russian list one
ship also is taken-the Peter the Great-so that
ten vessels remain. We thus see that, according to
the amended list, Great Britain has after all but 22
first-class line-of-battle ships against 25 of the two
other Powers combined- and that tht'y might be
combined in line of battle we suppose no one doubts
the possibility in light of recent developments.
L ord George advised a supplementary estin1ate to
provide funds for building a ship to replace the
Victoria, and instanced the fact that he asked for
money in a supplementary estimate when the
Sultan was sunk. The Government, however,
thinks there is no necessity for haste. It may be
pointed out that had we gone to war with any
naval Power, or combination of naval Powers,
within the last few months, we should have
started with what would have been equivalent to a serious defeat to the bad- the
Victoria at the bottom of the Mediterranean, t he
Howe with h er bottom ripped open from stem to
stern, and the Camperdown unseaworthy from the
damage to her bow. The placing of three firstclass battleships out of action, without any damage
received in return, would be the equivalent to our
foes of a very satisfactory engagement. The work
on the Howe should also form the subject of
a supplementary estimate, as it is quite extra work,
out of the category of " fair wear and tear," but
this proposal was also negatived by the authorities.
As was said during the discussion, ''The Treasury
had completely overmastered the Admiralty. "
A point that was touched lightly upon during
the deba.te, but one upon which more is likely to
be h eard bAfore long, was the treatment of contractors by the Admiralty. Sir Edward Reed
quoted some particulars of cost of cruisers- the
figures also serve to illustrate what we have already
said as to the difficulty of arriving at conclusions as
to cost-by which it was shown that three vessels
of the Edgar class, built by private contract, cost
respectively 334,000l. and 337,000l. per ship, which
was 30,000l. less than the Admiralty estimate. Two
similar ships were built in t he dockyards, and cost
37, OOOl. more than the estimate. The Secretary to
the Admiralty explained that the increase was due,
first, to additions and improvements made to the
ships during their construction, and, secondly, to
increase of wages. The increase in wages was only
4000l. ; consequently 33,000l. had been spent in
additions and improvements. " These additions
and improvements," said Sir Ed ward, ''had been
forced on the contractors, who had naturally applied for some corresponding allowance. But the
Admiralty had refused to give them more than a
third of the sum they had themselves expended
on addition~ and improvements, with the result
that the contractors were, if not practically ruined,
subjected t.o a loss of the most shameful kind. " In
replying to this point, Sir U. l{ay-Shuttleworth
said that the extras ' 'were adjusted item by item
on the basis of the prices asked for by the contractors."
"\Ve are not aware what value is to be attached
to the latter statement, but it is evident that either
it is grossly misleading or else Sir Ed ward Reed
has been quite misinformed. . No contractor wo~ld
ask for prices for extras whtch would leave h1m
with a heavy pecuniary loss, and we are forced to
the conclusion that the "basis of adjustment>"
r eferred to by the Financial Secretary, _bore but a
d istant relation to the actual payment; 1n fact, the
phrase was a piece of that political jugglerr w~ich
Government officials are so clever at putt1ng tnto
the mouths of Ministers for parliamentary use.
"\Vhatever may be the merits of the present case,
however we know that the Admiralty have of late
taken a' very ill-advised attitude with regard to
contractors, and we have no hesitation in saying
the Board has used the enormous powers it reserves to itself in a manner that is oppressive
and unfair.
\Ve hear complaints on this score
from some who were formerly the closest
friends of the Admiralty, and amongst the most
trusted of naval contractors. We are precluded from giving instances, because contractors are naturally timid, and conversations on
these points have to be regarded as confidential,
but in the matter of " extras" great injustice has
been shown. These extras are forced on the contractor, and the Admiralty officials determine the
prices paid. Unless contractors have entered into
a sudden conspiracy to misrepresent facts, the sums
allowed are now often quite inadequate to pay for
the work and material.
It will be a bad thing for the country if the
Admiralty succeed in destroying th e confidence of
contractors, and the new departure seems likely to
lead to this end. Agreements to supply articles
are drawn in such a way that the department has
quite despotic powers, and so long as the contractors felt that they could depend on t he good
faith of the department they were content it should
be so, a tacit understanding being sufficient guarantee to protect them from injustice. That has been the
tradition between the service and contractors for
ages, but a new policy has arisen lately, and contractors have found that not only will the powers,
hitherto justly exercised, be used for the purposes
of extortion, but even finesse will be had recourse to
to gain an advantage in settling a contract. Certain
persons at Whitehall appear to act as if all contractors were dishonest, and to take ad vantage of
them were a clever and creditable thing to do.
[SEPT.
I, I ggj.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
Secretary, to make the fact known throughout of warehouses by private enterprise. It is also
the world, so that goods may be shipped direct to proposed to encourage the construction of 1200 to
Manchester against the opening of the canal. The 1500 ton barges for transfer or st?rage o_f go?ds, a
canal as far as Saltport, a length of J1 miles, indeed, system which should commend Itself,_ In. VIew. of
has been opened for some time. During the half- the large number of canals in communtcatLOD: With
year 708,169 t ons of merchandise traffic have been the ship canal. Lord Egerton, the chau ma!l
c:u ried o,er the opened portion of the canal, as ' of the company, is certainly co~fident of ul~I
against 423,579 tons during the corresponding period mate success. There is no questiOn of the su~t
in 1892. Saltport, indeed, has become a port of ability of the proportions of the canal, and Its
great importance, and already Lloyd's have an great convenience, on which he enlarged at th_e
agent there, 'vhile regular services are conducted meeting, and further of its being a g ~eat engiResults per Train Mile in Rupees.
- - - - - - - - : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - to L ondon and GlasO'OW for the transport of Man- neering undertaking which does cr~d.It to the
chaster products. One of the vessels carried 4000 abilit y and courage of Mr. Leader "'\VIllu~~s; b u t
Standard Gauge.
Metre Gauge.
t ons, the draught of water having been 21 ft., merit is not always rewarded. . His lo~dship urged
-indicating a satisfactory depth of water at the that the population of the district contiguous to the
1892 a.
18912.
18912.
18923.
entrance at Eastham. Of the traffic only 48,132 canal, which, including only the area to a~d from
- - t ons was chargeable with tolls, the remainder which traffic is carted around Manchester, IS put at
Earnings
4. 23
4. 39
3.03
3. 01
..
,
Expenet>s
1. 98
1. 52
1.58
1.93
being for the construction of the canal works, two millions, must be fed, and he looked for a large
2.41
1.43
N et earnings . .
1.51
but this was sufficient to pay working expenses import of foodstuffs, notably from Ireland, as. well
.. I 2.30
and leave a balance. Along the line of the canal as raw material. But as Sir John Harwood p01nted
These results should be considered in conjunc- establishments are being erected ; a pontoon dock out, in a speech studiously moderate, a great part
tion with the fact that the cost of the metre gauge 300 ft. long and 70 ft. wide is already in the of the traffic would be taken from other places, and
lines is but half that of the standard lines. The dock (see page 250 ante) ; graving docks are under there would be a desperate fight for it, although
standard line trains on the average carry 209 construction, while ten dredg~rs are at work cutting he believed that the canal would win in the end,
passengers, each tra veiling 43.64 miles, while the waterway and removing the dams. The finan- because the cost of transport by water is much
the metre train takes 230 passengers, each going cial situation is settled, the needed funds having cheaper than carriage by rail. It is well that this
40.43 miles. The case is reversed in the goods been provided by the Manchester Corporation, who contest should be borne in mind, particularly in
trains, where each standard train takes 140 tons, have now borrowed 4i millions for the scheme, the arrangement of agreements for warehouses,
each ton going 178 miles, against 77.69 tons going while the cost of the important work carried out &c. ; for, after all, victory usually rests upon
131 miles. The rates do not differ much as between during the year has been within the estimates. details. Financial differences which determine the
t he two systems, although there is great variety. The sales of plant not now required are realising choice of routes or of ports of discharge are not due
The lowest fare in some cases is ~d. per mile, but good prices. There is, moreover, complete harmony so much to transport itself as to the little conusually 1d. to l !d. ; third-class fares range from between the corporation and the shareholders' veniences and despatch which insure quick and
1id. to 2!d. per mile ; second-class, 3d. to 4!d. ; directors, so that there was cause for satisfaction economical discharge and loading.
and t he first-class from 6d. to 9d. Of the total at the meeting, which, however, was very properly
number of passengers carried the two lowest classes blended with a due appr eciation of the necessity
BRITISH OOLONIES AT CHICAGO.
constituted 97.37 per cent., the second-class 2.24 for very careful action.
I I. - CEYLON.
per cent., and the first-class . 39 per cent. of the
The present stats of the works justifies the exGREAT BRITAIN shines at the Columbian Expo
whole. Goods rates vary so much that unless de- pectation that the canal will be open within the next
t ails of the classification were given the figures half-year. It was at one time anticipated that the sition by the reflected light of her colonies, which
would not be interesting, but it may be noted that works at Runcorn would occupy two years, owing have never before appeared to such advantage at
food grains are carried for l id. to 3d. and 4d. per to the arrangements made with the Weaver Trustees any International Exposition. Some, it is true,
ton per mile, and coal at slightly cheaper rates.
to pass traffic through the canal docks ; but the have abstained altogether - a wise proceeding for
As to the expenses, the increasing use of Indian work has been carried forward so expeditiously any country not prepared t o make a fully creditcoal for fuel tends to economy. 875,000 tons out that it was practically completed in fourteen able display ; but those which have taken part
of t he total of 1,080,000 tons of coal used last year months, and now water is let into the canal for 3~ have covered themselves with credit, and have to
was from Indian mines. In addition, of course, miles in front of Runcorn. This work involved the some extent made good the deficiencies of the
there was the native wood, patent fuel, &c. The construction of heavy embankment, extending to mother country. Prominent among all our posfollowing as to the working expenses per train 2 miles, on ground reclaimed from the Mersey, and sessions are New South \Vales and Canada, but
mile may be interesting :
which passes from ' Veston Point past the old that is because they are the most important and
Runcorn Docks and under the great Runcorn the richest. Relatively it is hard to judge who has
Standard. , Metre.
British.
Bridge. The canal thus divided from the estuary done the best where all have done so well. In a
of t he Mersey is being dredged to 26 ft. depth, but recent issu\3 we endeavoured to give an idea of the
r upee
rupee
d.
Maintenance
. 50
.87
5.19
there is still a series of openings below Runcorn exhibit made by Cape Colony ; to-day we propose to
Locomotive . .
.64
.63
8.31
where
sluices,
&c.,
will
subsequently
be
placed,
in
Carriages and wagons ..
.17
.11
2. 98
General
.18
.21
1.39
flow of water into the Mersey. The works at this State for the Colonies, informed the Governor of
point also included the construction of the Wedton Cey Ion that a R oyal Commission had been
We have given the British results for a normal Mersey Lock (600 ft. long), of a lay-by with a depth appointed to look after the interests of Great
year. Taking the rupee at ls. 4d. value, it is seen of 12ft., and of a swing bridge described, with Britain and her colonies at the Columbian
that only in traffic charges can the Indian rail ways, others, in a series of articles on bridges in our Exposition, and suggested that if it was ineven of metre gauge, claim a lower rate of expenses. previous volume. Foundations had to be made for tended that the island should be represented,
The employment of native labour largely accounts a~ ad?itional line in co~nection with a possible arrangements should be made direct with the
for this item being less. Of the 17,000 employed w1dening for accommodatmg the Scotch mail traffic Co_mmissioD:. A local committee of eight distinonly 4500 are now Europeans, the great majority ?f the London and N orth-Western Railway, accord- gmshed residents was formed, and this committee
of whorn are on the main lines, while of East mg to agreem~nt; but if the company do not decided that it would be preferable to maintain an
Indians there are 5807.
apply for parliamentary powers to widen their line independen_t position, while o~ ~ourse working in
within three years, they must recoup the canal com- harmony with the Royal CommlSSLOn. The Colonial
pany
~he cost of the fo~ndations now being put in. Secretary approved this course, and the work of
l\IANCHESTER SHIP CANAL
The h1gh-level road bndge near Latchford is almost preparation_ was co~menced. The persons chiefly
PROSPECTS.
completed, and the water let into the canal from Interested In makmg a successful exhibit from
THE shareholders of the Manchester Ship Canal Latchford to Warburton.
The new aqueduct Ceylon were the members of the Planters' Associahave never met under more satisfactory auspices carrying the Bridgewater Canal at Barton and tion, their desire being to open up new market l!l
than they did at the half-yearly meeting on Mon- which is 1100 ft. long, weighing, when full of ~ater for Ceylon tea in the United States. So far as
day. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the arbiter on the 1400 tons, is about completed. From Barto~ can be judged, they will fully achieve this object,
claim of the London and North-Western and Great to Manchester the work is nearly finished, and in and reap an ample return on t he money and trouble
\ Vestern Rail way Companies for compensation for other lengths the process of removing the old rail- expended by t hem. In 1891 the Hon. J. J. Grinthe deviation of their lines, had a warded a sum ways and of excavating is proceeding. The directors linton, a member of the Legislative Council wa8
equal to a fourth of the original claim. The total ~oo, _are maki~g everY: effort to have t he sewage pass~ appointed as special Commissioner, and h e w~s insum claimed was about 450, OOOl., and the canal mg Into the nvers tributary to the canal deodorised structed to go to Chicago in 1892 to make arranO'ecompany had even to deposit 383, 713l. by agree- or purified.
ments for space, &c. , with the Executive of the
ment before possession of the old lines was granted. . While thus pushing forward operations, the Exposition. One result of Mr. Grinlinton's visit
But now the total sum awarded is 100,66ll., so that duectors are s tr enuously endeavouring to insure was t~e allotment of about 28,000 square feet in
although probably 2o,OOOZ. of expenses have been a large measure of financial success from the open- four dtfferent parts of the Exposition buildings and
incurred, the Canal Company have secured an ad ing. In the sale of surplus land the principle gro unds, as follows :
vantage by r esorting to arbitration. The progress of on _whic~ they are proceeding is to encourage works
Sq. Ft.
the works during the half-year was decided the whiCh will foster traffic. Thus a large sawmill is
The Ceylon Pavilion ...
... 24,000
Agricultural
,
...
droughthavingproved of great advantage. The Run- to be erected at Ellesmere Port, a co-operative soap
...
...
1,684
1\IIanufactures ,,
... ... .. .
1,350
corn section, which involved the greatest difficulties work at Irlam, large frozen meat stores at Mode
Women's Building
...
540
from an engineering point of view, and was t here- Wheel, pontoon and ship-repairing works at Ellesfore ~etained in the hands of the engineer instead mere, and a pontoon and graving dock at Mode
27,574
of bemg let to contractors, has practically been com- Wheel, where, also, large abattoirs are to be conThe Ceylon Pavilion is beautifully situated on
ple~ed, so t hat now t here is every prospect of navi- s~ructed by the Mancheste~ and Sa~ford Corporagahon to Manchester being open in six months, and tiOns. Other works are bemg negotiated for while t he north ~id~ of the grounds, not far from the
L ord Rosebery has been officially asked, as Foreign agreements are under consideration for the e~ection ~e~man Bmld1ng, an~ facing the lake. Its design
IS Simple, rectangular m plan, with a bold octagonal
goods earnings. Bombay, by the way, is very
steadily absorbing the majority of the wheat export
traffic, to the disadvantage principally of Calcutta.
Coal, which comes next to grain, stands about the
average, 2.88 million tons. Metals and oils show
increases ; but the most remarkable difference is in
the carriage of sugar , of which over 1 million tons
have been carried, against 29,159 t ons in the
previous year. Other products show little changf'.
The results per train mileage may be tabulated :
277
E N G I N E E R I N G.
rotunda in the centre, and entrances at the
ce~tre of each end and at front and back. The
obJect ?f the architect in designing this pavilion
lvas to ~ntroduce as much native work as possible.
-:A-ccordmgly, ~e find tha~ the_four stairways leadIng to the main floor, whiCh 1s raised 4 ft. above
the ground, are in .richly carved stone, copied or
adap~ed from the r~1ns of temples that still mark
the s1te of the ancient capital of Ceylon, and date
from 545 B. c. to 1235 A. D. Passing through the
handsomely carved portals, the visitor finds himself in the main hall, the ceiling of which is
B';Jpported by t~enty - f?ur elaborately carved
pillars ~rranged 1n. two hers, the upper portion
supportmg the higher r oof of the pavilion ;
all of these columns, with their curious cross
bracket capitals, are copied from the finest examples..of decorative work possessed hy c~ylon.
Th~ cetlmg ~f the pavilion is divided into panels of
sat1nwood riChly carved, and the inner faces of the
wa~ls are filled with paintings executed by native
art1sts: Perhaps the most important feature of the
court 1s the tea-room that is placed at the top of
th_e ~entral. rotun~a, access being obtained by a
wInding starrway, Inclosed within a screen of very
elaborately carved wood. This room which commands beautiful views of the lake and grounds, has
proved. a great attraction to privileged visitors, and
from It a general knowledge of the virtues of
Ce~lon tea has been distributed to all parts of the
United ~tates:
The exterior of the building is
fra~ed In satmw.ood, and t he steep tiled roofs are
copied from classic Ceylon architecture. The cases
within this characteristic building are of satinwood
and ebony, and are crowded with the natural and
ma~ufactured products of the island, specimens of
nahve art, &c. The architect of the pavilion is
Mr. H. F. Tomalin, Public Works D epartment,
Ceylon. The smaller courts-those in the Agricultural, Manufactures, and "\Vomen's Buildingsthough, of course, much less ornate, are conceived
and executed in the same spirit.
We have said that the primary inducement to
exhibit at Chicago was the wish t o make known
Ceylon tea in t he United States; it followed
naturally that everything should be made to reflect
the importance of this growing industry. Even in
this country few people realise h ow great has been
the development of tea plantation in an island
whose staple product we are accustomed to believe
is coffee. As a matter of fact, however, this latter
industry is in decadence, h aving been a. few years
since irreparably damaged by disease ; the consequence of this disaster was that coffee planters
started on t he cultivation of tea.. The first imports
were made to this country in 1873, when 23 lb.
were sent over ; in 1880 this had grown to
162,575 lb. ; in 1885 to 4,372, 000 lb.; in 1890 to
45,799,000 lb .; and in 1892 to 71,809,000 lb. At
the present time no less than 265,000 acres are
under tea cultivation, and it is worth noting that
while the profitable limits of coffee cultivation are
fixed between 2000 ft. and 5000 ft. above sea level,
tea plants flourish from near sea level to 6000 ft.
above it, the more delicate and lesser yields coming
from the higher elevations. The crops vary from
350 lb. to 700 lb. per acre, though this rises as high
in some cases as 1000 lb. The climate appears
especially favourable for tea cultivation, as the
leaves are picked aJmost continuously at intervals
of ten days. When brought to the factory it is
spread thinly on shelves and left to wither for twentyfour h ours (or longer in wet weather), after which
it is put on to rolling machines for a short time,
and allowed to ferment in shallow trays for a few
h ours. The final process consists in exposing the
fermented mass to a temperature of from 180 deg.
to 240 deg. for about a quarter of an h our. After
cooling, separation by means of screens assorts the
tea into different q ualities, and it is ready for packing, an operation preceded by a second heating to
150 deg.
India and Ceylon h ave well-nigh driven China
teas from the British market, and Ceylon may
b e proud of this comparatively new in.dustry, wh.ich
places her in the van of tea-producmg countries,
and as3ures for her a source of weal th not likely to
be troubled by disastrous competition. The area
of land placed under cultivation for this purpose is
annually increasing, and it appears a moderate
estimate to expect that within t he next five years
300 000 acres will be devoted to the production of
at l~ast 100 million pounds of tea. With the exception of some 5 million pounds c?nsumed in the
island, all the rest must find a foretgn market, and
Germany .. .
123,077
. ..
92,291
Holland .. .
. ..
2,280
970
Italy
.. .
4,279
4, 649
. ..
Russia.
.. .
...
11,2il0
400
Spain
.. .
...
16,995
13,380
Sweden .. .
...
300
Turkey .. .
.. .
...
4,211
3,130
India
.. .
. ..
620,161
528,037
Australia. .. .
. . . 3,210,598
5,166,154
America .. .
...
163,187
100,8D3
Africa.
.. .
.. .
70,828
64,728
103,988
China
.. .
..
163,041
Singapore .. .
11,381
...
3, 618
89,617
~Ia.uritius .. .
. ..
68,783
18,326
~Ia.lta.
.. .
... . ..
2, 000
--
Total
. . . 68,274, 420 71,153,657
[SEPT.
I,
1893.
NON-ARCING LIGHTNING
ARRESTER.
SEPT.
279
E N G I N E E R I N G.
I, I893]
Fig . 2 .
C ROCI NO
/16(8
Piu. 1.
.
,.
186/.A
.....",
.'
II 1'
I
F~g. 4- !i
I
I
"
-.
'
..'
o
N 0 T E S.
THE NoRTH SEA-BALTIC CANAL.
THE approaching compl~tion of the North Sea
Baltic Canal (the canal w11l, n o doubt, be opened,
accordino- to t he original plan, in 1895) has caused
quite a. ~umber of important engineering undertakino-s t o be taken in hand , or, at any r ate,
serio;sly proj ect ed. The Copenhagen free harbour,
which will entail an expenditure of abo ut 1,000,000l.,
must be classed among these, and at Dantzic the
buildino- of a. free harbour is n ow under discussion.
In Sweden the Malmo will be materially extended,
and other schemes have also been to the for e.
Liibeck has extended her quay acccommodation;
and the Trave-Elbe Canal will, n o doubt, soon be
commenced. Pillau and K onigsberg will be connected by a ca.nal20 ft. deep, which will cost about
375,000l. The town of Stettin is expending 550,000l.
upon an extension of bulwarks and harbours,
and Bremen will apply 1,500,000l. to t.he deepenino- of the vVeser. Hamburg, finally, is building
a deep harbour at Cuxhaven; an~ at Kiel material
extensions of the harbour are be1ng urgently advocated; in any case some additional quay accommodation will be provided for.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
The recent rep ort of the Committee appointed to
frame clauses for inser tion in the Bills promoted by
electric railways (see page 85 ante) emphasises t he
well-known fact that there is a large amount of
leakage when the rails are used as conductors for
the current. When only one rail is used for this purpose the leakage is into the earth, and thence along
any pipes or wires that offer an easy path. When
iho rails are used as the positive and n egative conductors r espectively, the leakage becomes very much
more serious, and, indeed, is practically prohibitive
of this method of working. Our columns cont.ain
accounts of several attempts t o avoid this difficulty
'
----
To provide against these dangers, the W eatinghouse Company have devised the "keyston e
arrester " shown in Fig. 4. By comparing Figs. 3
and 4, it will be seen that the path of the discharge
will be from the line across the air-gap of the
arrester, and thence t o earth. In leaping across
this air-space, sufficient heat is produced to expand
the air inclosed within the chamber; and thus
violently to blow out the two carbon rods or arms
(shown as black heavy Jines) passing through the
marble sides of the apparatus. As the carbon tips
separate from the carbon blocks, against which they
slightly press, two new arcs are formed, which
further increase the suddenness and violence of the
expansion of the air within the chamber. The arms
are thus driven out into t he position shown by the
dotted lines (Fig. 4), thereby breaking the circuit
and protecting the machines. The arms strike a
horizontal bumper and fall back at once into t heir
normal position, the arrester being then r eady for
further discharges.
The action of the apparatus is infltantaneous as
a pistol shot ; t h e duration of the discharge is practically inappreciable, and the t ime during which
the dynamo is short-circuited is infinitesimal, and
hen ce no damage can ensue. In a recent trial the
entire power-house of one of the large electric
railway companies of New York was short-circuiied
through t his arrester, and the circuit was interrupted so promptly that no spark whatever could
be noticed at t he brushes of the generators.
The arresters used by the Westinghouse Com-
Fig. l.
---
- --
ig. 2 .
- - --
lt
t
280
E N G I N E E R I N G.
C.E., descr ibes the use of con crete in brid<>'e substructures in N ova Scotia. For s uch purpo~es concrete has, h e claims, many advantages. Suitable
stone for ashlar work is often unobtainable at a
reasonable price, and then concrete is much cheaper.
Concrete piers can also b e built by unskilled labour,
and with great rapidity. During t h e past ten years
the piers and abutme nts of 147 bridges have b een
built of con cr ete in Nova Scotia, and of these only
one has fa iled, and in this case the want of success
was due to careless workmanship. The climate of
Nova Scotia is very trying to ordinary masonry, as
i t ran ges from 15 deg. b elow zero Fahr. t o 90 deg.
ab ove. In on e case t h e masonry piers of a lar<>'e
bridge proved a constant source of expense to
the rail way company. The water penetrated the
masonry at high tido, and on the tide receding
froze there, dislodging the s tones. I t was finally
determined to case the whole pier in concrete, a nd
since t h en ther e has been n o further trouble. In
forming piers of concrete the heart of the pier was
made out of rubble concrete, and t he face out of
fine con cr ete. This fine concrete consisted of one
part clean gravel, t wo parts sand, and one part
P ortland cement. The hearting was formed by
laying the rubble stones in position by hand . None
of these stones weighed less than 20 lb. , and they
were placed 2 in. to 3 in. apart. The whole was finally
EM
DC
[SEPT.
I,
1893.
OM
17S?
s
the installation. The actual plant is for 16,000
incandescence lamps of 16 candles ; provision is,
however, to be made for a considerable extension,
probably tripling, of the plant. The lighting of
certain districts is t o commence with December.
The installation will be interesting not only for ils
dimensions, but chiefly f or t he combination of the
continuous and the alternating or rather diphase
current systems. The feeding of the lamp circuits
will be effected by means of continuous-current
dynamos and accumulators. The p ower h ouse
b eing, h owever, at a distance of two miles from
the t o wn, high-pressure alternators have been
selected as primary generators not to require
t)O heavy conductors.
Two triple-expansion
steam engines of 500 h orse - power each are
being erected in t h e power h ouse. They are
coupled directly with two diphase dynamos for
1800 volts and 100 amperes, connected in parallel,
whose fi elds are excited by two smaller dynamos.
These exciters will supply the current for Jighting
the p ower h ouse. The main currents pass through
three lead-covered cables to the two diphase
motor s. Each of the iron-sheathed cables contains two concentric leads, the third cable remaining for reserve. The m otors are again directly
coupled with the continuous-current dynam? s,
whose current flows t o two accumulator batten es
of 148 cells each of a capacity of from 1500 to
2200 ampe;e- hours, discharging at about 500
amperes. The three-wire system will be adopted
for the lamp circuits. The annexed diagram explains the connection s. S r epresents lamps at the
station, E D t he exciting dynamo, EM the exciting
magnets D G alternate double-current generator,
D M a.lt~rnate d ouble-current motor, D continuouscurrent dynamo, L line, A battery. R otary transformers of the polyphase ~ype are also spok_en
of in t h e information supplied t o us. A l.arge Installation of this kind will b e watched w1th considerable interest.
CoNCRETE PIERS IN NovA ScoTIA.
In a paper presente d to the International Engin eering Congress, Chicago, Mr. Martin Murphy,
grouted up with fine concrete, so that the composition of the h earting was five parts rubble stones, one
part g ravel, two sand, and one P ortland cement.
Many arches were also built of con crete. At first
care was taken to avoid h orizon tal planes of
weakness by build ing up the concrete in layers
with radial j oints, so that each layer resembled a
voussoir. At present, h owever, the a rches are
built en masse, s ufficient material b eing provided
t o complete the job at once. In d ep ositing concrete under water, Mr. Murphy has made use of
paper bags stiffened with glucose, and holding 1
cubic foot of concrete each. These a.re made up
q uickly and deposited rapidly one after the other.
The paper is immediately d estr oyed by t he submersion, and t he concrete remains. The cost of
the b ags is about 35 cents per cubic yard of concrete. This meth od has been s uccessfully employed
in 15ft. to 18 ft. of water.
NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
PHILADELPHIA, August 22, 1893.
I T is safe to say that at no time in the history of
the country was there so much business held in check,
awaiting t he action of t he Government on questions of
finance. R ailroad companies t hree months ago bad
plans completed for considerable work in track-laying,
t he putting in of machinery, and the extension of
fa cilities ; much of this projected work is at a standstill. Hundreds of enterprises have been set aside for
the time being, which, if prosecuted, would sustain
quite a demand for iron and steel products. All
branches of the iron trade suffer alike. The little
business that is coming in is coYering only immediate
requirements. Prices have not \'arid for two or three
~ eeks, and it seems impossible to make any impression on them. The weekly production is now about
100,000 tons of crude iron. Pig tin has dropped, and
t inplate moves sluggishly. The arrival of large shipments of gold, and the prospect of an early vote upon
the silver question at vVashington, are creating
anticipations of relief. Coal production continues
heavy in all regions. The coke output has very
largely declined, owing to suspension of furnaces,
mills, and foundries. Manufacturin g interests hope
for a reaction as soon as the public mind is set at rest.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.
ON the 24th ulb. the s.s. Olive was taken out on trial
at the measured mile at Tynemoutb, when a speed of
9~. knots. was obtained, ~be vessel being loaded. The
trtal was 1n every way sat1sfactory. The Olive has been
built by M essrs. W. Harkess and Son, of Middlesbrough,
for Messrs. J. Burnett and Sons, of L ond on, for their
London and Paris line, and is fitted with lowering masts
an? funnel, to ~nabl~ h er t o pass under bridges across the
Seme. The dtmens10ns are 173 ft. by 26 ft. 6 in. by
12ft. 9 in., and the vessel oarries about 600 tons on a
drau~ht of 11 ft. The e~gines a re by Messrs. Westgarth,
Enghsh, and Co., of M1ddlesbrough, and have cylinders
15~ in., 25 in., and 41 in. in diameter by 27 in. stroke,
the steam pressure being 160 lb.
The second-class cruiser Bonaventure carried out h er
four hours' trial of her machinery under forced draught
in a highly satisfactory manner on :Friday, the 25th ult.,
off Plymouth. On Wednesday particularly good results
were realised in the natural draught trial, when a. speed
of 19.2 knots was obtained with an indicated horse-power
of 7340. On Friday an indicated horse-power of 9279
was developed, giving a. mean speed of 20 knots. The
contractors' estimated speed was 19.3 knots and 9000
horse-power. The engines worked smoothly throughout,
and there were n o signs of a leak anywhere when an
examination of the machinery was made at the completion of the trial. Details follow: Mea.n steam in boilers,
145 lb. ; mean steam in engine-room, 136 lb. ; air pressure in stokeholds, .87 in. ; vacuum-starboard, 26.4;
p ort, 26.1; revolutions-starboard, 144.9; port, 141.4;
mean pressure in cylinders, high pressure-starboard,
53.1; port, 54.1 ; intermediate-starboard, 29.5; ~ort,
29.0; low pressure-starboard, 14.5; port, 14.5; mdicated horse-power-starboard, 4685; port, 4594-tota.l,
9279 ; speed by log, 20 knots. The mean speed of three
runs along the land was 20.3 knots; in one a speed of 22
knots was reached. Before returning to the Sound gun
trials and trials of the capstan and steering engines were
successfully carried out. The helm was put hard a-port
from hard a-starboard in 22 seo.
I
MISCELLANEA.
THE Yosb Typewriter Company, Limited! h~ve removed
their Irish branch from Central Hotel BUildmgs, Berrystreet, to 9, Rosemary-street, Dublin.
The annual summer excursion of the Junior Engineering Society, particulars of which were given in our
issue of August 4 last, passPd off very successfully, and
the members returned to town on August 19.
Our readers will regret to learn that, owing to ill-health,
Mr. Thomas Urquhart has found it necessary to resign
his position as manager of the Nevsky Iron Works, St.
P etersburg, and retire to this co~ntry. Mr. U rquha~t
has spent twenty-five years in Russia, and the va~ue of h1;5
contributions t o the advancement of locomotive engineering is universally recognised.
We recently mentioned the proposed employment of a
diving-bell at the barrage across the Nile. Mr ..Lieurnur's
ingenuity seems to have been rewarded. It IS report~d
that the diving-bell operations ha~e been successful m
locating the leak in the bed of the r1ver on t~e up stream
side of the dam, and endeavours were bemg made to
close the passage before the barrage gates were opened.
The flow of water was utilised to send a puddle of clay
through the passage, and it was hoped .that some of
the clay would remain and eventually close 1t up.
From experiments made by Messrs. S~emen~ and
Halske Berlin it appears that the average hfe of mcan descent'Ja.mps ~t different expenditure of watts per candlep ower is as follows :
Life of
Expenditure
L a.mp.
of Energy.
45 hours
1.5 watts p er candle...
...
.. .
200 ,,
2
,,
,,
...
...
. ..
450 ,,
2. 5
''
''
. ..
. ..
. ..
1000 ,
3
"
"
...
...
.. .
1000 "
3. 5
''
''
...
. ..
. ..
The traffic receipts for the week ending. Augus~ 20 on
33 of the principal lines . of the. Umted Kmgdom
amounted to 1,489,048l., wh10h, havmg been e~rned on
18 388 miles gave an average of 80l. 19s. per mtle. For
th~ corresp~nding week in 1892 t~e receipts of . the same
lines amounted to 1, 707,347l., with 18,19!) mtles open,
giving an average of 93l. lOa. There was thus a d~crease
of 218,299l. in the receipts, an i~crease of 189 m .the
mileage and a decrease of 12l. 11s. m the weekly receipts
per mil~. The aggregate rec~ipts for seven weeks. to date
amounted on the same 33 hnes to 11, 316,11~l. , m c~m
parison with 11,808,4921.. for the correspondmg pertod
last. year ; decrease, 492,379l.
(SEPT.
I, I 893.
along the opposite slope of the great watershed referred to, as to preclude, he fears, the hope of any
connection with such inter -continental scheme; so
what comes more directly home to Le considered is,
What can the colony do for itself, and how soon ?
The sur vey for a. line of railway to the frontier of the
colony has been entered upon. The result will
materially help the Government to come to a. decision
whether or not British Honduras can in the near future
undertake such an enterprise, which it is generally
acknowledged is essential to open the locked-up Crown
lands to the south and west, that have been for generations and still are practically a terra incognita, a nd likely
to remain so without a railway. If any railway approaching British Honduras could be met by the extension of a
local line beyond the colony in whatever direction may
prove practicable, the ad vantage for the colony would be
great, and Belize might be reestablished as an entrepot
for Southern Mexieo and no small portion of the northern
part of the Republic of Gua.temala. Further, the value
to the colony of a. branch ser vice along th e valley of the
Upper Sibun River through and into Crown lands is
evident.
Tuesday's Gazette contain~ the provisional regulations
for the navigation of the Corinth Canal. They include
the following : The net tonnage, resulting from the
system of measurement laid down by the International
Commission of Constantinople, and inscribed on the
vessel's official papers, is the basis for levying the navigation dues, which at present are as follows: For steam
vessels proceeding to or from the Adriatic-75 centimes
per ton for mail steamers, and thos~ that habitually carry
passengers; 50 centimes per ton for all other vessels. For
steam vessels not proceeding to or from the Adriatic-50
centimes per t on for mail steamers, and those that habitually carry passengers ; and 40 centimes per ton for all other
vessels. A charge of 1 fr. per passenger will also be levied.
The following will pay no transit dues: Hellenic vessels
of war, except vessels assimilated to them by special conventions. Fishing and other boats under the H ellenic
fia.g whose tonnage does not exceed 3 tons. The charge for
towage in the canal by the tugs of the society is fixed at 10
centimes per ton ; the minimum charge to be 50 fr. The
charge for pilotage is fixed at 1! centimes per ton; the
minimum charge to be 10 fr. Vessels may be towed by
tugs not belonging to. the Ca.~a.l Society. Sue~ tugs must
pay the dues to which ordmary vessels passmg through
the canal are subject; except when going through the
canal to meet vessels of their owner, which they intend
towing; or when returnjng to their usual berth after
having towed a vessel through, when they shall not be
subject to payment of the dues. The Canal Society
accepts, in payment, draughts at sight drawn by masters
on th eir owners, a nd accepted by the society. Payment
in cash at the entry of the oanal must be in gold coins, of
the type of coins of the Latin Union, or in sterling pounds
at the fixed rate of excha nge of 25.15 fr.; or in coins of
20 marks at the fixed rate of exchange of 24.85 fr.; or in
T urkish pounds at the fixed rate of exchange of 22.75 fr.;
or in Egyptian pounds at the fixed rate of exchange of
25.75 fr. Silver coins, such as are legal tender in
Greece, are accepted in payment as odd money up
to 10 francs. The dimensions of the canal, when corn
pleted will be as follows: D epth, 26i ft.; width at the
bottom, 70 ft. ; tota.l length in statute miles 3 miles
1610 yards.
From the last British Consular report it appears that the
manufacture of Portland cement has been commenced in
China. The works are &ituated at Tonshang, 80 miles from
Tientsin, and were opened three years ago. The plant is
of the most modern description. A branch line connects
the works with a railway running to Tientsin. The raw
materials used are mountain limestone, fireclay, marl, and
a rough kind of china clay, all of which are found in the
immediate neighbourhood of the works. The fuel used
is hard furnace coke made on the premises from the local
bituminous coal. The process of manufacture is somewhat more elaborate than that adopted in the Thames
works, much greater care and attention being necessary
to insure the production of good Portland clinker. The
present output is 300 tons per week, and is the limit of
thecapacity of works. It is all used at the various works
of the Imperial Government harbours, forts, Yellow
River embankment, railways, arsenals, &c., very little
fi nding its way into the bands of private consumers.
There is every probability that the demand will soon be
largely in excess of the existing works. The cement is
guaranteed to stand a tensile strai~ of 400 ~b. per squ.are
inch at seven days. For some ttme considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining cement of uniform
quality. It was no easy matter to get the ignorant,
slovenly Chinese coolie to understand the absolute necessity of accuracy and carefulness in every stage of the
process. No reliance whatever could be placed on the
native foremen nor any assistance expected from them,
their ideas being as loose and crude as those of the coolie.
Bnt something like system has at last been established,
and the work technically proceeds with the utmost satisfaction, the output being as uniform in quality as it is
possible to obtain anywhere. The furnace coke employed
in the kilns was also a great source of trouble at first.
The teohnical work, including a large chemical laboratory
and assay office, in which the minerals from the various
mines and establishments of the Chinese Engineering and
Mining Company, as well as of the Government, are analysed and assayed, is under the control of an English
manager, whose sole foreign assistant is an English mill~
wright. Owing to the severity of the winter, it is impossible to do any mixing for four months in the year, so
that the output is limited to about 9500 tons per annum.
The work goes on for sixteen hours a day, including
Sundays.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
6-INCH FOOT LATHE.
CONSTRUCTED BY
MR.
W.
H.
ASTBURY,
GRANTHA~I.
11 SI '
[NDUSTRIAL NOTES.
TRIS lathe has been designed for tool-room purp oses and the higher grades of mechanical work re quired by electricians and amateurs. vVhilst it is not
marked by any new features in construction, the
proportions adop ted, combined with the various fixt ures, adapt t he machine to performing effectually a
wide range of work, as sliding, surfacing, screwcutting, milling, elot-drilling, grooving taps and
r eamers, wheel-cutting, dividing, &c.
The lathe shown has a gap bed of rather unusual
length, viz., 7-ft. , admitting piec~s 4 ft.. 6 in. between
t.he cen tres, and by removing the bridge piece oYer
the gap the swing is 24 in.
The headstocks are 6 in. height of centr es. The
fast head is double geared, the wheels and pinions
being of gun-met al, with machine-cut teeth. The
spindle is of crucible st eel. It has conical necks
hardened and ground t rue, and running in hardened
steel bushes with pro,ision for adjustment.
The rear end of the headstock carries a reversing
motion with steel cut pinions. A d idsion plate and
stop, and also a tangent wheel and worm, are fitted to
the spindle for d ividing for wheel-cutting, grooving,
&c. ; they having an index reading to thousandths of
an inch. Various chucks are pro,ided for boring,
d rilling, &c. The saddle has T -slots on the top, and
tr,werses the full length of t he bed, having positive
self-acting, sliding, and surfacing motions, controlled
by friction and driven by a. back feed -rod from t he
change gears. The cross-slide carries a compound tool
rest graduated to swivel to any angle; a separate
vertical attachment to the cross-slide, also g raduated,
is provided, upon which the upper, or tool slide, can
be mounted, affording a. convenient arrangement for
making angular milling cutters, bevel gears, and suchlike. To the tool slide can also be fixed vertical and horizontal cutting and drilling spindles, driven by the overhead works from the treadle-wheel by endless bands,
a.s shown, for tap grooving, cutting key seats, &c. For
THE coal dispute still overehadows every other incident in the labour world, and gives colour to all labour
questions. It is peculiar in many respects, inasmuch
as the dispute is not a. squa.re one as between coalowners and miners merely, but is also a dispute
between different sections of miners. I t was thought
that the recent conference held in London would lead
to some kind of m odus l'ivemli by which at least
the area of the dispute would be circumscribed, by
allowing sections of the men to return to work
where the reductions in wa.ges were not insisted
upon. The r esolut ions arrived at, however, scarcely
pointed to such a.n arrangement. The possibility
of an arrangement upon the basis of no further
ad vance in wages until the prices of 1890 were
reached was indicated, but the cea.l decision was tha.t
no partial settlement should be agreed to. The expulsion of the Durham delegates rather pointed to a prolongation of the d ispute and to the possibility of its
extension, especially as it was followed by a delegation to v isit the northern counties, so as t o counteract
what is alleged to have been l ukewarmness on t he
part of the local officials. Altogether the situation
has been rather complicated than simplified by the
L ondon confer ence. Some of the prominent leaders
ar e inclined t o t hink that the refusal of arbitration
was a mistake, and such a. course of action was equivalent to t he burning of the bridges, so that there should
be no retreat.
T he situation in the ,y elsh coalfields has changed
somewhat, b ut the federationists and the sliding scale
men face each other as combatan ts. Indeed, the figh t
in Wales is mainly between these two sections, the
coalowuers having little to do in the quarrel, except that
they employ the law to enforce the existin g contracts.
It appears that a. large batch of men have been already
fined for breach of contract, though the fines were of
small amount. But the cases decided govern other s, so
t hat a large number may be prosecuted and fined unless
they r esume work. Upon this matter there is a
very strong d ivergence of opinion, though the feeling
in favour of a r esumption of work has been growing
stronger and stronger of late.
One of the misfortunes in connection with the South
\ Vales dispute is the dead set made against :Mr. 'Villiam
Abraham, .M. P. ' Vhatever complaints may be made
against the sliding scale, he and his colleagues only
voiced the decisions of the men's own conferences, by
large majorities, after the matter had been thrashed
out with much vehemence, a.nd some bitterness.
That the leaders believe the scale t o have worked
w ith advantage on the whole is most true. Their
content ion is that, over a series of years, the sliding
scale has tended to equalise wages; that if it has not
~
tended to advance wages to the highest point, it has
prevented the falling of wages to the lowest point.
'.he recent redu ctions in South Wales caused a
divergence of opinion upon the value of the scale as a
r egula.tor of wages. But the circumstances ha.ve been
somewhat peculiar. The situation is n ew. In no
oth.er instance have .the wages been kept up by a fede
:atton. The experience thus gained may be valuable
In the future. But events have not quite justified the
split among the men at this juncture.
The F.o~~st of Dean men are to be pitied. The dispute ongmally commenc~d in that district, in so
far as the federation is concerned. First came
shortness of work ; the pits were partially closed,
and large numbers were idle. Then came a determination to strike, but the relief rather took the
shape of out of-work pay than strike pay. For a time
the men got more by not working than by partial employment. But when the real strike commenced the
pay was stopped, so as to place all upon an equal foot
ing of no pay for the first week or two, or longer.
Now it appears that strike pay is not forthcoming,
and the men are wavering to the verge of giving way.
The reasons for the peculiar circumstances are that
the local associations have the command of their own
funds, the federation having no large central funds at
command. Hence the position in the Forest of Dean,
and hence their present attitude.
The condition of affairs in Durham remains much
the same as before. The ballot indicates a resolve
not to strike. This resolve seems to have been
strengthened by the conduct of the recent conference
in expelling the Durham delegates. But in some of
the districts the men are strong for a strike. There
is a. feeling of sympathy with the efforts of the federation to keep up wages, which is natural and inevitable. The times are trying to the men and to their
accredited officials.
In the Midland coalfields there has been and is some
wavering. Most of the local miners' associations are
weak in funds, and inducements have been held out
to return to work in many instances. The restiveness
of the men increases as the pinch of poverty comes
home to them.
The strength of the federation appears to lie in the
Yorkshire and Lancashire districts, both of which are
well organised, and pretty well off for funds. They
have also sturdy leaders who are prepared to risk
n1uch for the cause they have espoused. If their
policy fails, they, at least, can point to a great struggle
for the conditions which they have formulated, and
in which nearly 300,000 men have taken part. They
know the cost of fa.ilure. The very existence of the
federation depends upon some arrangement which shall
not spell defeat. If they can secure conditions which
do not amount to defeat, the organisation will survive,
and will perhaps become all the stronger for the contest. If they fail, the federation will become a mere
matter of history.
The condition of the engineering industries in Lancashire, as elsewhere, is affected by the coal dispute, the
scarcity of fuel and its dearness. Otherwise the prospects of trade are, if anything, better than they were,
though the general run of engineering industries remains in a quiet state. :JY!ost branches continue to be
only moderately supplied with work, e.nd new orders
come forward very slowly, but some have been and
are being placed. Stationary engine builders have a considerable amount of work, while boilermakers are fairly
well off for orders. Locomotive builders have recently
secured moderate orders, but not sufficient to keep the
works going at full speed. ~1achine toolmakers are
fairly well employed here and there, but, as a general
rule, they are short of work. Labour questions ar e
quiet in all the engineering branches, there being an
almost total absence of disputes, and no indication has
been given of any intention to reduce wages, or to alter
the working hours, either as regards the fifty-three hour::J
per week, or the eight hours in the few firms where the
experiment is being tried. It is expected that t he
report a~ to the latter experiment will be of a
favourable character when t he time comes to review
its working over the year during which it is being
tried. The iron trade is very quiet; very little business is being done. The finished iron trade is even
worse, the works being either partially or wholly
stopped for want of fuel, or because of its high price.
1foderate inquiries are reported for steel, but business
generally is very slow.
In the Cleveland district things are less bright than
they were. The dispute as to the use of the rat~het
machine in the ironstone mines has developed mto
what might be termed an acute stage; the men
think that they will be able to command their
t erms. They sa.y generally that they will refuse to
work the ratchets on th e t erms now in vogue on and
after September 5. The tippers and daymen also
N G 1N E E R l N G.
agree not to go into the mines and fill the stone. The together with the liabilities of the then existing Tees
agitation is against the system, not against the ratchet, Navigation Company. The jurisdiction of the Tees
Conservancy extends from welldefined limits in Tees
they say.
Bay to a. point in the river at High \Vorsall, a distance of
The Scotch iron and steel trades have entered into 25 miles from Tees Bay. The area. comprised within
a rather serious crisis. The mineowners, under g reat their jurisdiction is about 8000 acres ; 7500 acres in the
and 500 acres beyond the estuary.
pressure, have agreed to advance the wages of the estuary
Channel of River.-At one time there were no less than
miners 2s. per day. The first advance of b. not being four different channels of the river between Middlesdeemed sufficient, the men went for another Is., so brough and the sea ; these channels were so tortuous,
that there have been two advances of ls. each within varying, and uncertain that several of the leading lights
a fortnight or three weeks. The prices of iron and were placed upon rollers so that they could be the more
steel will not permit of working at such high r ates, and easily moved as the main channel shifted. The depth of
many furnaces have been damped down, and the iron water on th e bar in 1863 was 3! ft. at low water of ordiworks have been partially or wholly closed. Large nary spring tides. At the present time the depth on the
purchases were made of Cleveland iron, it would seem, bar is 20ft. at low water and 37ft. at high water. This
but nothing has been able to put life into the iron and material improvement has been effected by the judicious
construction of training walls, by dredging, and by the
steel trades.
construction of breakwaters.
Training Walls.-At present there are about 24 miles
In South Wales all the large works have been upset of training walls in the river and estuary ; these training
by the coal dispute, and the excitement consequent walls are carried up to about 5 ft. a.bove low-water level,
thereupon. At Ebbw Vale Iron and St eel Works the and are constructed entirely of slag from the local iron
men had to turn out to defend the non-strikers, one of works. The greater part of the slag was broken at the
the most curious of all modern labour developments. iron works into piect:~s that could easily be handled,
As matters have now quieted down, those men have loaded there into keels and punts, and cast out by hand
resumed work. But at the large iron and steel works on the site of the work; but, wherever the depth perat Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Blaenavon, Briton FeiTy, and mitted, thAbroken slag was dropped from hopper barges
to form the foundations of the walls. Occasionally during
Swansea, many furnaces have been damped down, and the the
progress of the work the sand overlying the clay on
works have been wholly or partially stopped. A large the site of the walls was scoured away to a depth of 18 ft.
number of the tinplat~ works have had to suspend or 20 ft., while in some cases the deposit of slag has been
operations. Thousands of iron and steel workers, continued by keels and hopper barges for a period of six
copper and tin workers, have been thrown idle by the weeks before the wall began to show above low water.
excitement and stoppages at the pits, and by the The formation of these walls was in progress for twentythreatening conduct of the strikers.
Singularly seven years. By the construction of these training walls
enough, the prices have not materially advanced in and the other works referred to, the river at low water is
any of these trades, though the price of fuel has gone now confined in one channel, as shown on the accomup considerably. The condition of things in the panying plan.
Breakwaters.-The South Gare breakwater for the proSouth \Vales districts is deplorable just now, and tection
of the entrance to the river was begun in 1863, and
no one can forecast the result of the coal crisis.
took twenty-four years to build; it is a Portland cement
concrete structure, upon a foundation of slag, with slag
In the Wolverhampton district generally the condi- hearting between the exterior walls near the head, where
tion of things in the iron, steel, and cognate industries it has an extreme width of 220ft. at the level of the roadhas not been so bad as elsewhere. The 1ocal iron trade way. Nearly 5,000,000 tons of slag and over 18,000 tons
continues fairly busy, and the mills and forges have of cement were used in its construction. The whole
been better employed since the great heat has subsided structure is upwards of 2! miles in length. Owing to
and the weather become more favourable for working. increased scour in the river and other causes, it has been
Here the fuel question is not so acute, the firms being fouad necessary to protect the head of the breakwater
a wave breaker of concrete blocks, varying in weight
able to get supplies from collieries not on strike. Bar by
from 300 tons to 40 tons each.
and plate orders appear to be tolerably plentiful at
For the manufacture of the larger concrete blocks a
the old rates, and makers refuse to accept forward timber platform was prepared on a suitable part of the
contracts except at the rate of from 10 to 12i per cent. foreshore, a little above the level of low water. Upon
advance in prices. Makers of common sheets are this platform blocks were built in frames, and when the
pre- y well employed, and steel plates are in demand concrete was carried about half the height of the block
two timber baulks were built into the block; these baulks
owing to the stoppages in Wales.
were laid across the block, with their ends projecting some
In the Birmingham district the supply of pig iron little distance beyond its sides, so that chains for lifting the
has been restricted in consequence of the damping block could be readily attached to the timbers. For depositdown of furnaces in Yorkshire a11d Derbyshire, and ing these blocks two barges were rigidlysf1cured some 20ft.
by means of two heavily trussed timber beams laid
prices are somewhat higher. There is a steady demand apart
across and secured to the decks of the craft, one beam forfor finished iron, and prices have hardened. The local ward, the other aft; these beams were also used as lifting
trades have not been so acutely touched by the coal beams. When a concrete block had to be deposited, the
dispute as in some other districts, but they have felt barges were brought to the platform on the early flood
the pressure in many instances. No serious disputes tide, and placed so that the block to be removed lay
directly underneath the lifting beams and fairly between
exist in those districts.
the barges. The chains attached to the tim hers of the
The Trades Union Congress will open its sittings at concrete block were made fast to the lifting beams ; and
Belfast on Monday next, but its doings and proceedings as the tide rose, the block thus secured was lifted from
will be left for general treatment until the sittings the platform and carried where required between the two
barges ; the barges were then moored, the chains released,
have ended. The Zurich Congress has not left its mark and
the block dropped into position . Blocks were also
behind it, as was anticipated, for the different factions built upon launching ways laid across the deck of a barge;
continue to attack each other just as much as they the barge so loaded was towed into position, and the
usually do the capitalists. The fact is the leaders of blocks launched where required. Large masses of conthe "new movement" do not quite know where they crete were also deposited by sinking old and otherwise
stand, or what their policy is. The men see many things useless craft filled with concrete.
Blocks of 60 to 70 tons are now built on launching ways
that are wrong, and need to be remedied; but they are
not at one as to the remedy, and even if they were, laid at the level of the roadway of the breakwater, and are
they are not at one as to the means and methods to be launched by screw or hydraulic ja.cks some two or three
months after their manufacture. During stormy weather
adopted.
it has frequently happened that a 60ton block has been
off its ways and driven by the sea a couple of
The state of things on the Continent of Europe has washed
hundred feet along the road way before being finally
been rather strained in several instances-in Italy washed over the side of the breakwater. The glass in the
between French and Italian workmen; in Spain lantern of the lighthouse, 55ft. above the level of high
partly over industrial and social, and partly over water, has also suffered in stormy weather.
political matters ; in Belgium, parts of France, and
The North Gare breakwater has been completed for a.
in Austro-Hungary, over the condition of miners, length of 3330 ft., and a. return wall formed across the
stirred up, no doubt, to some extent by the coal strike end of the work to protect the slag backing on the harbour side of the breakwater. The structure of the breakher e.
water consist s of a solid Portland cement concrete wall
The British Government has made a further advance on the sea face, averaging 12 ft. in thickness by 26 ft. in
in the improvement of the condition of its employes. height. On the harbour face the wall is backed by
balls for a.n average width of 50 ft. The slag
The War Office and the Admiralty have agreed slag
balls used for backin~ weigh about 3i tons each, and
generally to a minimum wage for the labourers. This are brought from the Iron works in barges ~pecially confixing of a minimum will ha,e the effect of lifting up structed for this purpose ; each barge carries forty slag
the entire labouring class to that standard. The wages bogies on cradles, and each bogie carri es a slag ball. The
have been low enough in all conscience.
loaded bogjes are lifted from the barge by means of an
overhead Titan crane, and placed on rails; ten or fifteen
bogies are formed into a train and run to the tip bead
IlHPROVEMENTS IN THE RIVER TEES.* behind the breakwater. About 1,000,000 tons of slag
By Mr. GEORGE J. CLARKE, of Stockton, Engineer to the have so far been used in the construction of the breakTees Conservancy CommiAsion.
water. This work has been temporarily discontinued, in
T ees Conservancy.-Forty.one years ago the Tees Con- order that observations may be made of the changes, if
servancy Commission was constituted by Parliamentary any, which may take place in the entrance channel or
authority, and took over the control of the River Tees, North Gare sands.
* Paper read before the Institution of 1-Iechanical Rcclarnation of Foresho1c.-Tbe reclamation of the foreshore of the River Tees has engaged the attention of the
Engineers
---
E N G I N E E R I N G.
The hopper barges are built of iron. Their principal
dimensions are : L ength, about 90ft. ; breadth, 27 !t. ;
depth, 11ft. They have six doors, three on each side,
hinged to the keelson; each door is abou t 8~ ft. long by
6 fb. wide. The doors are raised by hand-winches arranged
on th e after deck of the hopper. Two men are req ui~ed
for each hopper targe. The tugboats used for towmg
the hopper barges are mostly double engine paddle boats
of from 40 to 60 horse-power, and carry a crew of five
men : one master, t"'o enginemen, one fireman, and one
deck hand.
So many and so varied are the fact0rs affecting the cost
of dredging- the nature of the material to be removed,
the depth of cut which may be made by the buckets at
6ach revolution, the depth of the cuttins required, the exposure of the situation, the length of. tune ~uring w~ich
work may be carried on each day Without mterrupt10n,
the distance to which the material has to be towed, &c.that only the most general comparison can be made of th e
cost of dredging at one place with the cost of dredging at
another. On the T ees alone, the cost of some of the
dredging done during the year 1891-2 varied from 4d. to
20.4d. per ton, while the average cost of the whole year 's
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dredging was 8.62d. per ton. During the same period the
cost of towage varied from1.65d. to 4.98d. per ton. The
cost of dredging here given includes the cost of the dis
posal of the dredgings, the cost of all wages, coals, stores,
repairs, chains, tow-ropes, &c., for dredgers, tugs, and
hopper barges; but is exclusive of the first cost of the
dredgers, tugs, and hopper barges.
Lighti1U) of Oham.nel.-There are altogether fifteen
lights upon the T ees : one white revolving flashlight in the
lighthouse ab the end of the South Gare breakwater,
visible for a distance of ten miles ; two red leading lights
at the fifth buoy, two similar lights at the ninth buoy,
two green lights, four fixed white lights, one occulting
white light, two gas buoys, and a pilots' shelter. Of
these, the two gas buoys, the pilots' shelter, and three of
the beacon lights are supplied with compressed oil gas,
ea~h having a storage capacity available for six weeks,
burning day and night continuouRly. The application of
this illuminant, instead of oil, is now being extended to
the whole of the lights on the river, with the exception
of the south breakwater light, and the fifth buoy leading
lights. The gas is manufactured by the Commission at
their Graving D ock Works at Cargo Fleet, near Middlesbrough. A barge carrying two large welded storeholders,
ha,ring a total storage capacity of 900 cubic feet, is spe
cially reserved for the purpose of refilling the cylinders
of the various lights ; these storeholders are charged at
the gas works with a ~pressure of 10 atmospheres, and
towed from light to lignt as occasion requires; the pressure in the storebolders is sufficient to recharge th e
cylinders of the lights by simply connecting them through
a flexible pipe. The barge containing the storeholders is
kept always afloat with the storeholders fully charged.
Moorings.- There are altogether about a hundred
mooring buoys in the river and estuary, the property of
the Commisson, besides some forty mooring dolphins.
The more recent mooring buoys are made of mild steel
plates, with cast-steel crossheads and nuts, and forged
steel spindles and shackles; they are 8 ft. in diameter by
9ft. long. Both the ebb and flood buoys in a berth are
secured by a 3in. stud chain, shackled to three bridle
chains which lead from three ,Piles placed in the form of
a triangle; these piles are dnven well below the surface
of the river bed.
Results of I mprovements.-As some indication of the de
velopment of th e river, it may be of interest to note that the
largest cargo shipped from Middlesbrough D ock in 1864
was 708 tons. The largest in 1891 was 5000 tons, while in
1892 ~ ves~el with 6500 tons dead weight cargo left the river.
Br1efiy It may be stated that by the energy, enterprise,
and forethought of the Tees Conservancy Commission, an
exposed and dangerous estuary has been converted into a
safe and commodious harbour of refuge ; a. shallow wandering, and uncertain river has been converted into'a safe
navigable waterway; and a Jarye tract of waste and useless foreshore hae been reclaimed, and made available for
profitable and useful purposes.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
was cut off in the oylinders at one-third of the stroke.
The boilers were tubular a.nd of the square box type, and
they were double-ended. There were ten boilers in all,
18 ft. long, 17ft. 6 in. wide, and 14 ft. high, with 112
furnaces.
The Campa.nia. has also two separate sets of propelling
machinery, but in her case they drive twin screws. The
propelling power is fully three-and-a-half times that
of the Great Eastern, and the speed more than 50 per
cent. greater. This increase in power and speed is obtained with a daily coal consumption that is but little in
excess of the Great Eastern's. There a.re five cylinders
to each set of the Campa.nia's en~inee, and they work
three cranks. There are two htgh-pressure and two
low-pressure cylinders, and the high-pressure cylinders
are placed upon the low-pressure.
The cylinders
are 37 in., 79 in., and 98 in. in diameter respectively,
with 69 in. stroke. The screw propeller~ are smaller than
that of the Great Eastern. The boilers are thirteen in
number, twelve being double-ended, and one single-ended,
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room for about 800 separate cabins, larger than those now
fitted up in packet ships, with large saloons capable of
accommodating 1000 or 1500 first and second class ~as
sengers, and would carry 3000 ton&; weight of cargo, Without making any allowance for that increase of speed pro
portiona.te to the mere increase of size, of which we see
every day fresh proof; the average speed of the ship,
with the proposed power of engine and calculated consum~tion of coal, would be 14 knots at the average,
makmg the passage out in 34! days, say 36; but With
that increased speed which has been shown to take place
with increased dimensions, we may speculate upon the
voyage being performed in 30 days.
"This same vessel, fitted up for the Australian voyage,
and loaded deeper, would carry coals to Australia and
back; would take out 3000 passengers easily, and a. small
amount of cargo only, but could bring back any amount
that could be conveniently collected; or if proVIsion were
made for taking in 3000 or 4000 tons of coal in Australia,
that additional amount of cargo might be taken on the
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in the contrivance of the best means to carry them into
practical effect."
Su~cienb capital was raised to build the ship, which
the dueotors ,~tat~d could be completed in eighteen
mont~s,, and
~h1ch would, undoubtedly, according to
a.~l ex1stmg experience, pa~s through the water at a. veloc~ty of 15 knots an hour, ,wtth a smaller power in proportlon t o tonnag'e t han ordma.ry ves~:~els now require to make
10 knot s." Th~ first plates of the flat portion of the
bottom were la.1d on May 1, 1854, but 1t wa.s not till
NovefD:ber 3, 185~, that she w~s ready for launching. The
la~nchmg operatiOn wa.s, as 1s well knownha. disastrous
failure, and the vessel was not got into t e water till
January 31, 1858. The cost of the launch is said to have
amounted to 120,000l., and tha company's funds became
exhausted. The vessel lay in the Thames for more than a
year with all work stopped upon her, when she passed into
the hands of a new company called the " Great Ship Company." S he made her first steam trial in September,
1859; and as the t rade for which she was originally intended could only be worked, if at all, by a number of
such ships making voyages at regular, and nob too long
intervals, with smaller vessels in the Indian Ocean t~
distribute the freight and passengers among the eastern
ports, this idea. bad t o be given up. She was accordingly
pub into the Atlantic trade, and xr.ade nine Transatlantic
voyages between 1860 and 1863. Upon the fourth voyage,
with 400 passen'ters on board, the rudder head was
twisted off, and the paddle-wheels damaged in a heavy
gale, and the vessel wa~ obliged t o put back to Queenstown. On another voyage outwards to New York, she
passed over a reef of rocks off Long I sland Sound, which
t ore the bottom plating open in ten places, and made one
h ole 80 ft. long and 10 fb. wide. Her very complete subdivision protected her against anything more than local
damage, and most of the passengers landed in ignorance
of an accident! which would probably have proved fatal
to any obh er existing 1essel.
The Great Eastern's speed npon the Atlantic sometimes reached 14~ to 15 knots average during on e day,
with a draught of water on leavicg port of about 28 ft.
Upon one voyage her speed averaged 13! knots outwards,
and 14 kn ots homewards. The highest average speeds
upon the Atlantic in 1852, when the Great Eastern was
designed, were about 10 knots. It will thus be seen that
the anticipa.tiona with regard to her speed were not withou t justification.
Owing to the impossibility of working upon the Atlantic
at a profit, the ship passed into other hands, and was
afterwards occupied chiefly in cable-laying. After the
demand for her employment in this work fell off, she lay
many years, uncared for, in Milford Haven, and was at
last sold and broken up.
~Ir. W . S. Lindsa.y says: "Though far from realising
the expectations once enterba.ined with regard t o speed*
and !mall consumption of fuel, her failure is m ainly to
be attributed t o the fact that, at the time she wa.s constructed, there were no lines of traffic on which a vessel
of such h uge capacity could procure, with despatch, the
amount of freight or passage money necessary to insure a.
profit."
The G reat Eastern was a. failure commercially; but,
from a mechanical point of view. she was in all her main
features successful t o a degree that was marvellous, when
compared with the standard of the time. Mr. Brunei
did not know the "law of comparison, " taught us by the
late Mr. Froude, whieh shows bow the power required to
drive a ton of dis placement at a given speed in a small
ship becomes reduced as the dimensions are increased in
similar ships; but be well knew the fact that the pro.Portion of power to dis placement becomes less as a sh1p is
increased in size, for the same speed. He acted upon this
principle in 1836 in the design of the famous Atlantic
steamer Great W esternb and carried it to a.n extreme
length in the design oft e Great Eastern.
Mr. Brunei said : "I never embarked in any one thing
to which I have so entirely devoted myself, and to which
I have d~voted so much time, thought, and labour, and
on the success of which I have staked so much reputation. "t This will be understood when the responsibilities
of the designer of such a. vast and novel work are considered. Almost ever ything bad t o be thought out and
arranged for, with but very little help from existing ideas
and experience. Mr. Brunei said in one of his memoranda : "E very part has to be considered and designed as
if an iron ship had never before been built; indeed, I believe we should get on much quicker if we had no previous habits and prejudices on the subject."
The lines were designed by Mr. Scott Russell upon his
wave-line principle. The cellular construction of the
hull, and the inner bottom, with the very complete
internal ~ubdivision into watertight compartments
-an arrangement that would fulfil the most modern
a nd stringent requirements, as laid down in the
recent report of the Bulkhead Committee- were due to
~r. Brun.el. Inv~sti~ations upon th~ rolling of ships,
wtth spao1a.l applrcat10n to the deste-n of the Great
Eastern, were made for Mr. Brunei by bts friend, the late
Mr. William Froude; and, I think, we probably o we
Mr. Froude's important contributions ul>on the rolling
of ships t o our Transactions to his association with Mr.
Brunei in this matter. Mr. Froude employs in his first
paper on "The Rolling of Ships" (vol. ii. of Transactions,
pages 219-221} data obtained from rolling experiments
made with a model of the Great Eastef'n. Mr. Brunei
also wanted to experiment upon the relati ve resistances
E N G I N E E R I N G.
in water of clean copper and painted iron surfaces, with
the view, at first, of having the outer shell of the Great
Ea.stera of wood, sheathed with copper. He apvears to
have finally settled upon iron, because of the d1fficulty
of devising any means of dealing exhaustively with the
question; and because be doubted whether, with a. very
long surface, the smoothness would much affect the total
resistance.
Having dealt at much greater length with the subject!
of the Great Eastern than I would otherwise have done,
because of the want of information in our Transactions
respecting the design amd performances of the most
w~:mderful piece of naval architecture eve~ project ed, I
w11l pass on to some of the general quest1ons involved
by the growing demand for increased speed a.t sea..
There are already several ships that can cross the
Atlantic ab an average speed of over 20 knots, or 23
statut~ miles per hour.
The Campa.nia crossed from
Sandy Hook to Queenstown, on h er first voyage in ~!ay
last, at an average of 21.3 knots, and during one day she
averaged 22.3 knot s. These speeds are a little over 24!
and 25i statute miles per hour respeoti vely. It is thus
already possible to cross the A tlantic at a.s great a. speed
as journeys of the same length could be made on land by
all but the fastest rail way trains. The Canadian Pacific
Railway, for instance, takes 5 days 19 hours between
Montreal and Vancouver, a. distance of 2906 miles, giving
an average apeed of a little less than 21 miles per hour.
There are various standards by which the speeds of
ships are judged. W e have the trial speeds, which may
be determined by a series of runs over a measured mile,
or by runs over various distances in smooth water at sea ;
we have runs for a certain length of time in ordinary
weather at sea; and, finally, we have the average speed
which a ship can maintain, year after year, over the whole
of her voyages in all seas and all weathers.
The last-named is the kind of s peed now under consideration. A mong the conditions essential to high speed,
as thus d efined, are : (1) Great size of ship ; (2) a form
suitable for driving easily at high speeds over heavy seas
without shipping heavy wa.ter1 or lifting the propellers
sufficiently to cause racing ; (;:s) deep draught of water;
(4) steadiness in ~ sea. way; (5} great stren~th of st~uc
ture and of ma.chm ery; (6) a large proportion of b01ler
power, so as t o enable a full supplf of steam for the
engines to be easily kept; (7) a ful and well-regulated
supply of air to the furnaces.
(To be oontinued.)
SPADO~,
288
E N G I N E E RI N G.
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.... ..........
~
1719
r.
d ecided to order the construction of two st eamers in England, one of which, with a tonnage of 1200, will ply between the Bulgarian ports and Constantinople, while the
other, with a t onnage of 800, will und ertake the local
coast service. It seems probable that the local service
will prove remunerative, but the Austrian Lloyd steamers
will be dangerous competitors for the traffic with Con.
stantinople. The new venture gives evidence of the enterB uLGARIAN SHIPPING ENTERPRISE.-The first Bulgarian prising spirit of the Bulgarians, which is also indicated
Steamship Navigation Company was ina?gurated at a by the numerous co-opera.tive societies now being formed
meeting of subscribe ra on August 29, at wh10h a. board of in all parts of the country.
directors was nominated. The new ~mpany w1ll have a
capital of 2 000 000 fr. and will recmve a Governm ent
A P owRRF t.:L HAN DWORKRD Fa E ENGJNB'.-A new
subvention ~qu~l to 9 per cent. of the paid-up capital; design of ~. aud fire engine has juE.t bet n constructed by
1,300,000 fr. have b een alr~ady subscribed. It has been Messrs. M erryweather and Sons for one of the leading
SEPT.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
i, 1893]
come backwards out of the space, and thus releasing the sear lead escaping oil or liquid grease into the oil well and. to ~revent
and allowing it to be pulled off and the hammer to fall, the bolt it passing to the outer side. The edge ~f the s~1eld s. also
similarly treated and packed, the end bemg. proVIded Wl~h a
leather, as a packing to exclud~ dust. The SJ~es of the shtelds
Pig . 1.
a re reces.sed and: recta.ngula~ ~mgs are fitted 10 them, the cas
OoMPILED BY W. LLO'"Y..,..,D WISE.
ings havmg sprmge h eld w1th1n the r eturn ed:ges of them to
BELBCTBD ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPEOIFIOATIONB
retain the sprmgs in their positions! and Y':t gtve play for comUNDER THE ACTS 1888-1888.
pression . The open parts of the ca.smgs fit 1n the recesses of the
shields, aod the outer parts bear against the walls of the axle box.
'I'M number of views given in the Specification Drawf,ngs (8 stated
'8'
(.Accepted July 12, 1893).
in each case; where none are mentioned, the Specification u
wt illmtrated.
17,904. J. B. Atherton, Manhattan, Ralnh.l lJ,
Where I nventions are communicated from abroad, the Natmt8
Lancs. Chain. Making Machinery, &c. (4 F~gs.J
&c., of the Communicators are given in italiC8.
Ootober 7 1892.-This in vention relates to t he machines deecnbfd
Copiu of Specifications mmy be obtained at the Patent O{ftce
in Patent'No. 1063 of 1892, and its object is to enable t~em to fo.rm
Sale Branch, SS, Cursitorstreet, Clutncery-latM, E.C. , at the
a weldless ohain in whioh the ends of each length of wu e formm g
uniform price of Sd.
the link are twined upon themselves to a g r eater ~xtent. T~e
The date of the advertisem-ent of the acuptame oJ a complete
sprocket-wheel C is 6xed upon the spindle B to rece1ve the cham
specification is, in each case, given after the abstract, u1lless the
16Jgg
after the principal operations of Its f?rmation are ~ompleted. The
Patent has been sealed, when the date of sealing is given.
D is fixed upon the epmdle B, on whtr h ts also fixed
..tny pe1son may at any time within two months from the date (If A reuuining outside, behind the projection C, until the look is aratchet-wheel
notched wheel. The lever F is pr ovided with a pawl at
the advertisem ent of the acceptance of a complete specification, again cooked, when the space is again filled as before. (A ccepted
give wtice at the Patent Office of onosition to the gramt of a J u ly 19, 1893).
Patent on any of the grouniis mentioned in the .Act.
Fig .Z .
RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
GAS, &c., ENGINES.
15,700. W. R. Sykes, London. Railway Signalling
16,339. S. Grlftin, B ath , Somerset. Liquid Hydro- Apparatus. [6 F igs.) September 1, 1892.-Th_is in\'enti<?n
carbon, &c., Engines. [3 Figs.) September 13, 1892.- ha.s refer ence to balance lever plates fixed upon the etgnal P?St 10
This invention r elates to liquid hydrocarbon, &o. , engines. When
the pr~ssUTe in the motor oylinder reaches a. certain point, it a cts
on the available area. of the enlarged stem of the valve C and
opens it, allowing communication between the passages A, E,
the compressed and inflammable charge being thu~ admitted to
the igniting tube and fi red. The valve C is held open by the pressure in the cylinder until the exhaust val ve is opened, when it is
~~Fig.2.
c:
Fig.J.
Fig. 3.
GUNS. &c.
Valves. [3 Figs.) September 9, 1892.-This in vention relatfs
15,070. G. F. R e dfern, London. (E. Temstrom, slanting position, and a movement givEn to the middle up to sluice valves. The main valve A is made with double doors B
A snu res, S eine, Jl,ance. ) Armoured Turrets. [4 F igs. ) right rod o to the diAtant arm, eo that the bottom of a slot having parallel faces a nd fitting r ings C, and slidin&r betwe<n
Au~ust
Pig. I
'bears against a pin. Upon the stop signal being operated in opposite faces, encircling ports in the valve casing E. The main
the rear cabin, the balance lever d is worked, and through a roller vahe is worked by a. tubular screw spindle F, whirh, without
actuates the cam piece j, to which is conneoted the rod k to the
Fig .1 .
Ft9.Z
Ff{J. 7.
Fig.2.
a
moving on eod, acts on an internally screwed nut Fl fixed to a
projecting part of t he main valve. Through the tubular spindle
extends a small screw one G, which similarly acts on an inter
nally scr ewed nut secured to a small valve between the plates of
t he main one, and is adapted to close a small port thr ough the
latter. Indicators are provided for Rhowing separately the positions of t he main and small valves. (A ccepted Jttly 12, 1893).
... ...
...
...
August 29, 1892.-This invention relates to dressing and preparing long fibres for spinnin~r, in which the latter, carried in clamps,
are caused to move intermittently along beams having vertical
movement, whereby the fibres are brought under the action of
teeth of aprons and thus combed. Each press m m1 as it occupies
successheJy positions m to m3 presents a longer portion of
the fibres suspended from it to the action of the combs during
------
MISCELLANEOUS.
15,918. W. Button, London. ( M. Brown, Woodstock,
the friction between those parts. The gun is supported in a Cape of Good IIopa.) Shields of Axle-Boxes. [5 F igs.)
cylinderf having trunnions carried in bearings in the cupola, September B, 1892.- This invention relates to paoking the shields
ringel, m being arr~nged for locking the gun in firing- position and employed in axle-boxes to prevent entry of dust and escape of
,
ISO 70.B
Fig ..Z
.. ------
ISS/11
[2 Figs. ]
D. B. Farqubarson, Newcastle-on-Tyne
P<!ta:toD~gglng Machines. ~5 Figs.) O~tober 3, 1892._:
17,552.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
290
(SEPT.
I, I 893.
Ieee chaloe driven by sproc ket wheels from gearing on the axle leather is maintained in place hy a r ing n having a concave face the counterpar t die. A cutter T is fixed across the piston-rod
ca~ried by the two d riving .wheels. The potatoes, after being t o fit the top of the former, which fits into the annula r space and under the lever D, to raise the lt.tter when the fCirmer la moved
rateed by a share, a r e deh ver ed on to the inner aide of t he has a flange forming a means of attachment to the cylinder bead. upwards, the d ie F being raised with it by the links H. (.Acupttd
(.A ccepted J uly 12, 1893).
July 19, 1898).
15,859. W. Button. London. (M. Br01vn, Wood1tock,
14,507. J. IL Collllls, Glasgow. Dyelllg aa4
Cape Town, Cape of Good H ope.) Bydraullo Ltftlllg Soourlllg YarD. [11 Figa.] August 11, 1892.-This invention
Jaoka. [3 Figs.] September 3, 1892. -This invention relates retates to machinery for d yeing and scouring yarn. The revoluto hydraulic lifting jacks, and its object is to p r event the ram tio~s of the ab~t 8 operate!" co~-wheel ?"1 and cam, t.nd the lt.tter
r eced ing after pressure is put on for lifting purpose. The ram aa tt r evolves gtves an oscallataog motaon to leven pt, pl, t.nd
A is fi xed upon the traversin~ screw base B t.nd carries the slid cra.nk p , ther eby partially revolving backwards and forwt.rd.e the
ing cylinder C, notches D bemg arranged in parallel order on
.1
~ . 1.
,
Fig.2.
.\
I I
c
0
tf.
the ram A for engaging the spring catches E when the CD.m levers
ITSSZ.
Fare folded backwards oJose against the sides of the cylind er 0
the potatoes to roll off the screen on to the surface of the g round lng them down the shoulders formed by t heir fo rked pivoted ends
at the r ear end of the machine. (.Accepted J uly 6, 1893).
turn against the face of the cylind er and withdraw the spring
15,428. B., B.
and F. Wren, Manchester. Balling catches E from the notches D for allowing free downward moveI
m
ent
of
the
cylind
er
C
on
the
ram
A.
(.Aectpted
July
19,
1893).
Thread. [4 Figs.] Auctust 27, 1892.-This invention relates to
a m achine for balling thread, &c. , and consists of a main frame
16,590. J. Noltsch, Chemnitz, Saxony. Sitting
to the front part of which is attached a swinging frame c carrying Machtnes for Flour, &c. [4 Figs. ] September 16, 1892.a series of spindles d d riven by bevel wheels e on a shaft carried This invention relates to the revolving vanes of sifting machines
in the swing frame, and actuated by pulleys and endless bands for g rt.nular material, such aa fiour. The machine i8 mounted
from the main d riving shaft. The swinging motion is imparted in a frame consiating of fou r posts M and a pair of beariDgs b, h,
to tbe frame c by bellcrank levers and links, the bowl g2 of the which support a.nd guide the shaft d, the lat ter being provided
bellcrank lever g working on t he outer edge of the cam h, a bole with a journal / and belt pulley n . The hushes g, i of the bearin the per iphery of the plate h being made at the point where t he ings h and bare divided and adjustable. The stand is divided chain wheels dl , d2, from which a r e suspended the two eeta of
d epression for "coverin ~:t in" is to be situated, this r ecess being into three compar tments A, B, 0 by means of partition plates pol es j with their hanks of yarn. The poles are suspended by
the chains pa88ing over the wheels dl, d 2 so that they balance each
oth er and t herefOt"e, at each partial turn of the wheels ln one
dir ection, the yarn at one side of the maobine is dipped whilst
that on t he other sid e is raised up, and vic1 veraa. (.Acupttd
J uly 19, l~S).
c.,
. Z.
[4 Figs. ]
Jii:g.l .
Fcg .1
Fig . 2 .
'
o, ol, oll, oa fixed to the frame by scr ews, a sheet metal trough,
r iveted to the bottom plate, fo rming a fourbh compartment. On
the driving shaft dare conical drums c, cl, c2, having incUned fan
blades, while tile correspondingly conical sieves surrounding tbe
latter a r e mounted on wooden bars placed in the compartments
A, B, 0, and a rranged in circular rows, t hA upper ends being
secured to the par titions o, ot, o2 by an~le iron rings, while the
lower ends are screwed upon other partitions secured to the
framework. (.A ccepted July 19, 1893).
'
Yt.g. 3 .
Fig. ! .
I f
Fig .2. .
16193.
A
When this is heincr effected the front side of t h e supplementary
piston c is exposed to the pressure from the hydraulic main
thr ough the inlet branch h, while the main cylinder and back of
the supplementary one through the hole d 1 are in communication
with the exhaust. When these conditions are reversed and the
main ram is being forced out, a g reater pressure is exer ted than
that due to the area of the main ram alone. At the bottom of the
gland r ecess a neck ring is placed and form ed .so as t? receiv~ a
U cup leather tladdJe fashion, the conv ex portaon havmg a seraes
of p rojec~>ioos j, in which the cup leather r ests, the hyd raulic
liquid freely ci rculating between these projections and p&seing to
the inside of the oup leatbet' by means of the boles le from tbe
main cylinder. The cross holes m, communicating between the
spaces, materially assist in retaining a uniform pressure inside
~lle cup leather, ~nd keeping j t tigbt "t low prese~ree . ~he