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

taining but litUe riveting, all of which can, moreover, be done by machine, consists of triangular
troughing, in which heavy angle-irons at t op and
bottom are connected together by side-plates inclined at an angle of 45 deg. All the above require
no special sections. A vast number of special
sections have, however, been devised, each of which
has advantages and disadvantages of its own, and
into the comparative merits of which we do not
propose t o enter, as this has already been done
very fully by Mr. Olander, but propose to deal
rather with the way in which a concentrated load
on one trough is in certain cases distributed over
adjoining troughs.
This question of load distribution is very impor tant. In Mr. Olander 's paper it was shown
that, taking the case of a locomotive with drivers
7 ft. apart, the load on each wheel being 8 tons,
then if, as he assumes in his practice, the load on

THE DI._'TJU BUTIO

OF LOAD ON
TitOUGH FLOORS FOR BRIDGES.
THE use of steel troughing for flooring bridges
has so many advantages, that its increasing adoption gives no gr ounds for surprise, and we note
that the system is steadily gaining ground in
America, where, for fi nancial reasons, open fl oors
have long been in vogue. The question as to the
comparative strengths and cost of the various systems adopted for floors has been very thoroughly
thrashed out by Mr. Edmund Olander, in an
excellent paper read in lt1arch, 1887, before the
Society of Engineers, and though several new
forms have been devised since that t ime, his
paper is so complete that lit tle remains to be
said on this head. In the paper referred to,
different sections of equal weights and heights were
carefully investigated, and conclusions drawn as to
I

:w

Lm tisa.ys Trougfun

in Fig. 1. 'l'he tendency is constantly towards increasing the weight and stiflheHs of the rail, and
hence for the purpose of calculation we have
assumed that this rail is an 80 lb. rail, 5 in. high,
and having a moment of inertia = 31 (inches}'.
Now if a loaded wheel rests over a sleeper, as
shown in the figure, the trough under it will sink,
and, owing to the stiffness of the rail, part of the
load will be transferred to the other sleepers, and
the ~mount thus transferred is easily calculable by
the principle of elastic work. According to this,
the total work don e in deforming the whole structure of rails and flooring is a minimum, consistent
with the equilibrium of the forces and reactions
acting. Strictly speak ing we ought also to take
into account the work done in deforming the
main girder, but this will not sensibly modify the
results, and it has, therefore, been neglected in
what follows.

80 16 roil
Stuprs 2 ~ 6 ctnlrfS

IS'

3 19

Lind soy'3 floonng 25 lb. 3pan 01$tr/but1on of' o

.s ,gle load on one of tht/ tns1d e pa1rs of roi/J .

Eg .8
I

R =()13 W

RI "!4 ? W

V!O!UtU!U!V!VfV!O!lf'.V!L

R, 013 W

RI 1
' 42 W

R11 31? W

I
1

'

I t

DOJ

f1

'"'

I f

nS

:
liS

I
I

'.

'
'

165 ISf

1$4

t:

'

~f

_,

I
"I

Ftg. 3 .

Pt.g. 2
...

...

.....

.11
,
_ _ __ _....., _

.........

.R

$ - -- - ~H ..............
I

--

\4 - - -

Nobson~ floor'fllg 25 1 s pan dl<3t1'1butlon of loads on t'M /clerat'ls

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

Fig .9

'

IS'I8 8

"
OIJ"

LindsfE":S Tro(Jqh/ng
IS

IJ..

...c:

!W

span .

.....
'

'

f 11$ IY

7flW

~ U9 vr f ' '7

' 'r I IJ1 W # , , 1'1 111 W f/I S If - OIJ W

--ofrw

80 {6 rail w/lh ptn JOI IIl'

Slttptrs 2!. o Cflllrt s

-d'tl

I
J 40

J~ l

~'

s~o

,z~

J41

- o~z w

Fig 10.
I

"

- 'OIS W

tU W

t 6&

'
f H I W.

I ' .H6 W

.t '007 w.

# ' 09t W .

Hobson's floormg 25' spon. dt.str/bulto/1 of load on out.s1de ra~ls

- '039 w

.7

"

~
'

80 l6 rail m ling d1rtctly

on troughs

. 5.

ZGO

4J5

.,JOf

JOf

.
09~ - Of$
V

435

2CO

I
I

+ ' 058 W

Fig. 6.

'

w
I

+13$\V.

+ '19GW

!
!
Y
- ozzw ,'07t W 'Z69W.'J63 W 289W 07/ W- 022W.
'T"

'196

+ tJS w

w.

+ 'OS 8

HDh$MS f/oormg lS 'span.

Oistrt bult or: of load on
tiiSi dt pair of rails

. ? iY'Vt'VTVTV
1'
V
l'\
~
~

IS48.t.

Hobson's floortng ZS'span

Oistrlbuflon ol' load on

outsidt po1r of rails .

oH

t he efficiency of the section per unit of weight, and

also as to ease of erection-a very important
matter ; for, as the author pointed out at t he
t ime, the low initial cost of a section may be
offset by difficulties in riveting it in place.
\Vhere possible nowadays there is a prejudice in
favour of machine riveting, and in this respect the
various sections are by no means on an equality.
The earliest form of section used was a rectangular
trough built up of angles and plates . This section,
though containing a great number of parts, and requiring many rivets, has never theless advantages
of its own, in that it is easy to make the pitch of the
troughing a multiple of the rivet pitch of the main
girders, and, moreover, nearly a.ll the riveting can
be done by machine. T his troughing has since been
modified by substituting channels for t he top and
bottom plates, or, in another direction, by substituting Z -irons for the side plates, but in these cases the
advantage of machine riveting must be abandoned,
though the total amountrequiredisreduced. Another
simple built form consists of a splayed channel
connected by inclined side-plates, and this gives
rather more room for the riveting , which, as before,
must be largely done by hand. A built form con-

Fig .11

w. z6o w.

I
I

481 w.

I
I
I

[)

uo w. o4+ w. - o~w.

each wheelis distributed over 7 ft., the weight of a

certain section required to carry this load would
be 24.17 lb. per foot ., whereas if the whole of the
load came on to a single section, the weight would
have to be increased to 100 lb. per foot. So far as
we know, the way in which the load is distributed
over the troughs by the rail has not hit herto
been worked out. The process is, n o doubt, somewhat tedious, as probably about 7 hours' hard
arithmetical work is required to work out any
special case ab initio, but it may be remarked that
this time is but a small fraction of that required
for the design of even a small bridge.
As an example, let us consider the case of a single
line bridge fl oored with Lindsay's 0 -section troughing.
This troughing is built up of splayed
channels, ~ in. thick at the top and ! in. at the
sides. The total depth of the corrugations of the
finished floor is 7 in., and the pitch 20 in. The
floor weighs 27.10 lb. per ft., and its moment of
inertia is about 91.5 (inches)''. The span of the floor
has been taken as 15 ft. between the main girders.
Let us furth er assume that the floor, when
completed, is ballasted, and the rails laid on
cross sleepers at 2 ft. 6 in. apart, as indicated

In the case shown in Fig. 1 it has been assumed that the rail distributes the load in varying degrees over seven sleepers spaced at 2 ft. 6 in.
centres, and that the trough under each sleeper acts
quite independently of its neighbours, an assumption which we shall justify later on. Now let
us consider the work done in deforming one
complete section of t he floor by loads placed as
indicated in Fig. 2. The distance between the rail
centres has been taken as 5 ft. for convenience in
calculat ion, though t his is, of course, a shade too
great for a standard gauge line. Then in bending
a beam the total work done, as is well known,
1

= .2-=
.,. . E I
0

where M = the bending moment at any point, E

the elastic modulus, and I the moment of iner t ia of
the section. Taking all units in inches, the work
done, in deforming one section of Lindsay's troughing 15 ft. long, uy two loads each equal to R placed
as shown in Fig. 2,
= 1968 . R 2
E

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

320

[SEPT. I 5,

893.

In the case taken there are seven reactions.

That unde~ oach wheel. b eing taken as R 0 , we have
for each ratl, on each side of this :
Two reactions eaob
- R1

,,

"

- R2
-- R~

And, a.1so,

+ 2R2 +

(Ro + 2R1

2RJ) ="\V,

W being the load on each rail. Hence the total

work done on the troughs will be :
Ur =

{ R 02+ 2 R 12+ 2 R 22+ 2 R:~2 } ,

or substituting for R 0 , we have

Ur

1968

= -E

. [(\V-.2R1 -2R2 - 2R3 )2+

2 R 12 + 2 R 22 + 2 R:~2J.

Similarly the work done on the rails can be ascertained in terms of R 1, R 2 , and R~. Calling this
work U 1, we have the total elastic work of defor mation,
Ur + Ur=U,
say, and U is a minimum, with respect toR R
lJ
2'
and R 3
. -...,..dU - d U - dU -o
. . d .R - dRJ - d R -
1

It is unnacessary to go through the whole work

here, but we finally get the three equations :
13,742.8 R 3
8,008.RR3
5,097.5 R 3

+
+
+

8000.8 R :! + 5097.5 R,
1968 W.
8226.8R..! + 4661.8R1 = 1968. W .
4661.8 R 1 + 6194 3 R 1 = 1968. \V.

The solution* of these equations usina sevenfigure logarithms, we make to be as follows!:):

R 1 = .242.245.2 W
R2 = .115.406.0 W
R 3 = - .013.838.8 W
Hence
R-> = + .312.375.2 W.
From this it appears that in the above case rather
less tha~ one-third of t~e weight directly over a
trough Is transferred to 1t, the r est being carried
by the adjacent troughs. The results are recorded
in Fig. 1.. In practice, howe:er, we have usually
to deal with more than one pa1r of wheels, and it is
the corn bined effect of the two that has to be considered. As example, take the case of two loads
7 ft. 6 in. apart, then the r esulting reactions would
b e as in t h e diagram Fig. 3. In this case the
maximum r eaction is rather greater than one-third
the load on one wheeL It will b e noted that the
negative reaction is less than one-seventieth of the
load on one wheel.
Another question arises as t o the effect of the
j oint in modifying the above distribution. On t his
hea.d it may be: r emarked that wit h the very stiff
joints n o w used 1_10 .diminution in the distributing
power of the rail 1s to b e expected, but it was
thought of interest to ascertain the modification in
the distribution, when the rail had a. perfectly
flexible joint. Thus the loading was assumed to
be as in Fig. 4, ther e being a pin joint at the point
shown. On making the calculation-a somewhat
tedious on e-it was found t hat, as was t o be expected, the n egative r eactions were considerably
increased, but the maximum positive reaction was
not so much increased as might have been antici
pated, the distribution being as shown in Fia. 4.
As even the weakest rail j oint has some degr~e of
stiffness, it appears, therefore, that the distribution obtained in assuming a continuously stiff rail
may be relied upon as that actually existing. If the
load rested directly over the joint, the maximun1
reaction would be . 443 W.
If the rails are laid directly on the troughs
without the intervention of cross sleepers, a much
more favourable distribution can be obtained. The
*Some remarks on the best method of solving such equations as the above may be useful. Itl will be seen that
the determinant of the equations is symmetrical, but the
method of solution by determinants is the very worst
that can be adopted. In the method of least squares,
the simultaneous equations there occurring have also a
symmetrical determinant, and for such Gauss has given a
method of solution which greatly reduces the labour of
calculation, and ab the same time provides a check at
every step, and this method will be found fully described
in text-books dealing with the adjustment of observations. By it simultaneous equations of five variab)e3
can, we find from experience, be solved easily in
about 14 hours at most, whereas the five simultaneous
equations used in determining the stresses on the roof of
the Olympia Hall, K ensington, took, we understand,
ma.ny weeks to solve by the determinanb method, and
there was with this latter method far greater liability to
mistakes.

~istance between the points of support of the rail it is advantageous t o use trough s with a wide pitch.

ts ~ow short~ned to 20 in., and the maximum r eactlOn for a smgle load is found to be . 221 of the
~eight .i mmediately above the trough, the distributlOn being as in Fig. 5. With two sets of loads
7 ft. 6 in. apart, the maximum trough reaction
would b e about .2G the load on one axle. This
~es ult ~how~ the advantage of longitudinal sleepers
In conJ.unctwn with trough fl ooring.
Coming now to the case of a double line of rail,
w~ may take Hobson's flooring as used in the
Liverpool Overhead Railway. This floor consists
of troughs pitched at 2 {t. 6 in. centres, and 15 in.
d.eep. It is. built up of arch plates 156 in. thick,
r1v~ted. to J.-tr.ons at the bottom. The span between
mau~ gu~ers Is 25 ft., and the rails are carried by
1ong1tudinal sleepers. If the rail was the typical
one already used, and fixed direct to the trouahing
we fit;td t.hat ~n the case of the inRide pair ~ rail~
the ~1stnb~t10n would be as in Fig . o, and for the
o.utst~e patr as in Fig. 7. Practically the distributiOn Is.probably a little better than this, as though
the rall actually used is not as stiff, we b elieve,
as the typical one taken, the combined stiffness
of the longitudinal sleeper and the rail i~ pro
bably greater. With t wo l oads 7 ft. 6 in. apart
the maxim urn reactions are . 34 W and .435 'V
r espectively (Fjgs. 9 and 10). Just for comparison
we have calculated out the distribut ion on
this. floor, if it had been built of the Lindsay 0
sectwn , used on the single-line spans referred to
above. ' Ve obtained the r esults shown in the
diagram ( Fig. 8). H er e it will be seen that the
maximum reaction is only .165 'V. for a single
load, and . 25 W. with loads 7 ft. 6 in. apart.
H ence, though Hobson 's flooring, as used, has a
moment of inertia of about 560 (in.)t, as aaainst
0
4
91.5 (in. ) for the light sect ion of L indsay,s floor,
taken above, yet the maximum fibre stress in
Lindsay 's section would, with equal lo9.ds on the
centre pair of rails, be only a lit tle more than twice
as great, showing h ow the greater flexibility of
the thinner floor ha! increased the distributing
effect of the rail.
. This, of course, is only an ideal case, as, even
If slrong enough, few would care to use a 7 in.
floor on a. 25-ft. span, and all makers of t roughing
do manufacture thicker floors for double- line
bridges.
.lt'rom the abo ve it appears that within a r easonable degree of approximation the old assumption, of
many years' date, that t he rail distributes t he l oad
ove~ t~ree sleepers, can be r elied upon as safe in
destgnmg trough floors ; and further, t hat with
longitudinal sleepers on single-line bridges the load
may, for the purpose of design, be taken as distributed equally over four troughs. These figures are
only exact for the cases on whi eh the calculation s
above are based, b ut it is probable that they will n ot
vary much with different forms of troughing, and,
moreover, the distribution for any particular case
can be easily worked out when desired, r equiring
only a. few hours' work.
~7 hen, however, we come t o road bridges, and
t he distribution depends on the action of t he road
metal or a t hin layer of concrete, it is difficult t o
believe that any considerable amount of a weigh t
is transferred from a loaded trough to its neighbours. Apart from such distribution as may be
effected by the road metal or con crete, it appears
certain that t he m er e fact of the t rough being con n ected to adjoining ones, cannot transfer much of
the l oad t o t hem. As it sinks r elatively t o its
neighbours, it tends to both twist and bend them.
If the troughs were prevented from twisting, a
considerable amount of the weight would probably
be passed on to t hese n eighbouring troughs, as
their r esistance to bending is large ; but the
torsional resistance of t rough sections is very small,
and hence, by twisting, the edges of these troughs
may easily b e defl ected through a distance corresponding t o t he deflection of the loaded trough by a
comparatively small force.
Thus, in the absence of actual experiment, it d oes
not seem advisable to r eckon on any considerable
distribution of a concentrated weight on a r oad
bridge with trough flooring. On the other hand,
for such a load, it seems fair t o take the whole
trough betwAen A and B (Fig. 11) as r esisting the
load, rather than the amount between C and D ,
as when each of the neighbouring troughs is doing
a fair share of the work. R eckoned in t his way,
the strength of the trough is appreciably increased.
0 wing to the inefficient distribution in s uch floors,

So far as we know, the widest pitched tro ugh yet

made is of 3 ft. 4 in. pitch. Messrs. ' Vestwood
and Bailey make a floor specially for r oad bridaes
w~ich have a cambered upper surface t o corresp~nd
w1th the curve of t he r oadway. The pitch of the
largest of thesQ is, we believe, 2 ft. 8 in.
In his paper on ''Bridge Floors, " already referred to, Mr. Oiander suggests the use of arches
of 4-ft. span, 8~-i n . . rise, and 4! in. thick, the
whole to be backed w1th concrete, tha latter being
2! in. thick over the crown. To test the strength
of arches of this kind, he had one of 5-ft. span and
9-in. rise constructed, and this bore a load of 14
tons without showing any signs of weakness. The
cent re of gravity of t he load corresponded with
one-fourth the span of the arch, and it was distributed over a. l ength of about 18 in. If construc~ed entirely of concrete, so that the backing
and rmg make one homogeneous arch , it is easy to
show that there would be n o appreciable tension
caused in such an arch by a concentrated load
moving over it. Further, if such an arch 1 ft. wide
wer e loaded with a concentrated load of 1 ton
the maximum compression produced would b~
nearly 9 t ons* per square foot. E x periments
made for Mr. Deacon show that good P ortland
cement concrete attains a strength of over 180
tons per square foot in 32 to 36 months, and
of ~bout 16~ tons in about 18 mon t hs. H ence,
takmg the h1gher figure, such an arch as described,
1 ft. wide, would carry a concentrated load of 3 tons
with a factor of safety of nearly 7, and one of
upwards of 4 tons wit h a factor of safety of
5. The last fig ure is smaller than is usual in
masonry, but t he famous Maidenhead bridge, which
has carried t he main Jine traffic of the Great
\Vestern Rail way for upwards of for ty years, is
said to have a factor of safety of only 3, though,
of course, the dead load in this latter case is a
high proportion of t he total, and justifies a smaller
factor of safety than would otherwise be admissible.
It should, however, be n oted that the calculated
stresses obtained above are those which would
ari.sc if the loa~ w ~re concentrated on a s ingle
p01nt of the medial hne of the arch. Since, however, the load is distributed to a. certain extent
over the arch by the r oad metal, or by t he mass
of the arch itself above the medial line, the
stresses actualJy arising are \'ery possibly 25 per
cent. less. Further, as the direct pressure of the
load on the arch is perpendicular to th e arch
thrust, the material of the arch, being subjected
to two stresses o.f t h e same kind at right angles
to each other, 1s under very fav ourable conditions for r esisting these stresses. As the 4-ft.
arch es proposed by Mr. Olander ar e thinner t han
t he 5-ft. ones, the calculated stresses on the two
arches are n early the same, in sp ite of the smaller
span. A composite arch, such as Mr. Olander proposes, is probably somewhat stronaer, if good hard
bricks are used, than an arch co~plctely of concr ete, because the maximum compression in the
homogen eous arch would occur at its upper surface.
The ring of brickwork, h owever, if built of h ard
bricks in cement, is probably mor e unyielding than
the layer of cement above it., and hence relieves
the Ja.ttor to a certain extent, thus reducin ba the
max1mum str ess.

THE

ENGINEERING CONGRESS
CHICAGO.

AT

(BY oult N Ew YoRK CoRRESPONDENT. )

(Continu ed from page 294.)

THE n ext day this Congress listened to a paper

by Samuel A. Thompson , secr etary of the Board
of Trade of Uuluth, M inn., on " The E conomic
Value of a. Ship Canal from t he Great L akes to
the Seaboard." The paper was listened to with
much inter est. The next paper was on the new
and enlarged waterways to meet the demands of
commer ce in Russia, by Emile Fedorvitch de
Hoerschelmann, of Kief, Russia, wh o is one of the
most eminent authorities on the subject of water
commerce and t ranspor tation facilities. After an
interesting discussion, the meeting adjourned to

* This r~sult is obtai ne~ by treating the masonry arch

as an elastic arch of variable moment of inertia.. This

D;lethod is not alto~ethe~ satisfactory ; but the line of resistance thus obtamed (m the case of arches of uniform
section) is that coinciding most nearly with the medial
s~rfac~ o~ the arc~, and ~ence that which most nearly
h~ w1 ~hm the middle th1rd of the arching, and which
g1 ves n se, on the whole, to the least tension .

..

SEPT.

rs, I893]

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

32 !

take the lake trip. The following day a paper by regarded, however , as chiefly inciden tal to the tion between 3 and 6 per cent., and to m easure
Telford Burnham, of Chicago, was presented , exploitation of the zinc d eposits. The total ship- such proportions with fair accuracy.
The hy drogen flame, set to standa rd size, detfcts
showing a. plan for a sh ip railroad t o move ships ments of zinc and lead or es from Benton , the p rinof h e1.vy ton n age from the lakes to the ocean. cipal station in the south-western part of the lead gas when present in proportions varyin g from 0. 2
Oth er papers were presented and discussed, among a nd zinc r E>gion, amounted in 1892 to 13, 800,000 lb., to 3 per cent. , and measures such proportions with

t hem the following : " The Lake Erie and Ohio of which the lead ore was 800,000 l b. The lead preClSlOn.
River Ship Canal, " by Thomas P . R oberts; " I m ores are sent largely to the works of t h e P ennsylThe p r esen ce of ga9 is detected by the presence
proved Water R outes from the reat Lakes to t h E' van ia L ead Cvmpany, at Pittsburg, and some go to of the pale "flame-cap ;" its proportion is esti
A tlantic, '' by T h omas C. l{eefer, of Ottawa, Aurora, Illinois.
mated partly by the character of the cap, b ut
Edward A. N orth, of New York, Samuel A. Thomp'' The Lead and Zinc Deposits of the ~iississippi mainly by its h eight. In order to t ender the cap
son, of Duluth, and Chauncey N. Dutton, of Valley, " by \V. P. J enney, was the next paper. more easily seen, a vertical strip of t h e interior of
Chicago ; '' The Commerce of th e Mississippi Twenty years ago these mines produced half the the lamp-glass, abou t a n inch in breadth, is smok ed
River," by George H. M organ, secretary of the St. lead of t he United tates. At presen t they pro- by a wax taper. This is arranged to form a back
L ouis Merchan ts' Exchange ; and " The Chignecto duce 21 per cent. , yet in 1873 the product was ground against which the cap is viewed, and ser ves
'hip Ra ilway," by H. G. . Ketchum.
22,381 tons, and in 1892 37,000 tons. The author, to throw up the cap and to preven t its obliter ation
The Mining Engineers, after a brief address in conclusion, laid d own t h e following rules for t he by cross reflections from the smooth glass surface.
from the president, Mr. H. ?YI. H owe, list ened to a district spok en of :
The hydrogen is contained in a small steel
paper by Professor S. B. Cht isty on " Mjn ing
" 1. The old rule 'to follow the ore ' h olds good cylinder which can be attached at will.
S chools." This paper instituted a comparison in these as in oth er mining r egions.
If t h e p ercentage of the gas is to be measured, the
between the increase in mineral products and the
" 2. In all underground prospecting the general wick is drawn do wn by the pricker until the flame
graduates of mining schools and the mining popu- rule may be given, to follow the more prominent just loses its bright tip, and if a cap is seen its
lation. I t appears thn.t n either miners n or mining vertical fissures in th e search for ore ; for these height serves to m easure with some approach to
er.gineers are increasing in the ratio of the general have been the channels t hrough which the solutions accuracy the proportion of gas according to a scale
population or t he mineral products. The solution have entered the rocks and formed the ore bodies, given. If n o cap appears over the r educed oil
of this appears in the statement that mining in t h e and along the course of which, in favourable ground, flame, the abEence of gas is not proved, since less
United tates is n ot so complex as elsewhere, hence the deposits of ore occur.
than 3 per ce nt. is n ot indicated by this flame.
does n ot req uire as many engineers n or as many
'' 3. In prospecting n ew ground, attention sh ould The pocket hydrogen cylinder is then attached t o
miners ; at least, this was one of the theories be given to the indication of th e course of the the lamp ; the cylinder serving as a handle is
advanced, and it is probably as good as any oth er.
fiss ures and cross-fissures ; th e work should be grasped in the left hand , while t he hydrogen gas is
F ollowing t his came a paper by Dr. Clement L e concentra ted upon the areas of crossing or inter- slowly turned on by means of a k ey appli~d to the
N e\'e F oster, of Llandudno, urging international section of t h e different belts of fi ssures ; for ex- cylinder valve by t he right hand passed r ound beuniformity in publishing mining statistics, The perience has shown that the largest ore bodies a re hind the lamp. A tvngue of flam e shoots up from
sympathy of his audience was with t he speak er situated at such cros~ings of different fissure the bright .flame as the hydrogen enters ; t h e wick
for the most apparent reason s, and th e doctor was syste ms. On the surface t he eourse of the fissures is then drawn down until the oil flame is extinrequested to prepare a pamphlet f or the Mining may be traced in some localities by the direction of guish ed, and h olding the lamp with the hydrogen
Engineers, in which he would correlate the mining low bluff~, or breaks, or by sags or lines of de- flame on a level with the eye, the flame is set by
staistics of all nations.
'Vhethe r Dr. Foster pression in the even contour of the topography ; means of the cylinder valve to 10 millimetres by
will be expected to attain the age of Methuselah or also by th e strike of outcrops of silicified rock, more viewing it behind the standard wire scale. The
n ot did n ot t ranspire, but h e has undoubtedly a or less mineralised and stained with iron. When h eight of the cap, if any, is then n oted, and meaThat day's carefully searched, such outcrops often afford traces sures the percentage of gas, accc rding to a scale
pretty fair contract to undertake.
session concluded with th e consideration of a sum- of the oxidised minerals resulting from t he weather- given. If no cap is seen t he gas is less than 0. 2
mary of Professor F . P osepny's paper on the ing of galena and blende. E vidences of the dis- per cent. in amount.
"Genesis of Ore D eposits, " together with a kin- turbances of the r ocks should b e carefully observed ;
T o bring back the oil flame, it is simply n ecesdred paper by Professor S. F. Emmons on "The such as b eds dipping locally at steep angles, or in sary to push up the wick, which is at once kindled
Geological D;stribution of the Useful Metals in the a direction different from that of the prevailing in- on touching the hydrogen flame. The hydrogen
clination of t he strata in the region ; and the occur- gas may then be shut oft', and the cylinder detach ed
United States."
This latter paper is a review of the progress and rence of belts of folded, crushed, or brecciatcd and r eplaced in the pocket until it is again r equired.
present ideas in econ omic geology in t h e United rocks.
When using the lamp in the mine for the d etection
States. The author makes some impor tant sug"4. An advisory rule may be given never to sink and m easurement of gas, the standard hJdroaen
gestions for future geological work of scientific a shaft without having put d own a drill h ole in flame is t hus made to supplement the reduced o oil
and econ omic importan ce, in directions where much order to ascertain the character of the und~rlying .flame, and the two .flames carry the indicati<ns
r emains to be done, many large fields being prac- formations, lest time and money b e wasted from from 0. 2 up to 6 per cent. of gaP.
t ically untouch ed. The progr ess which has been striking hard and massive strata or areas of barren
Next came ''Experimental Inv esti~ations on t he
made in th is science in recent years, and its p rac- rock. The diamond drill is not adapted for this L oss of Head of Air Currents in
nderground
t ical results, have been immense ; what more may work in prospecting in t he Cherokee format ion, on
or kings, " by D. Nurgue, of France. Then the
we not expect in the future with the mental train- accoun t of the loose and open structure of th e futth er discussion of '' Ores and Ore D eposits "
ing and manners of thinking that practical geolo- ground, and because the hard chert cuts out the was resumed. The m etallurgists considered the
gists now have ? " The t ruly scientific method in diamonds. In the Cambrian limeston e the m assive following : " Microscopic Metallography," by
t he study of such questions at the present day and uniform structure of t he b eds and the absence J . Osmand, of Paris ; "Microstructure of Ingot
is the reverse of that which was followed in the of ch ert are favourable fot the succesEful employ- Iron in Cast Ingots, " by Professor A. Mart et s, of
early days of geology, when, after the observation ment of the diamond drill. "
Berlin.
Then followed " Segregation and its
of a few isolated facts, eome great geological mind
The n ext day the Institute assembled, and pro- Consequences in Ingots of Iron and Sted, " by
was led to a general theory, and humbler followers ceedin gs were inaugurated by a pa per by J ames Alexander Pairal, Paris . After stating that liqua
were only t oo apt to d o mild violence to nature in D ouglas, of New York, who gave a summary of tion in st eel had been carefully studied for a long
order to make h er facts conform to it. It accu- American inventions relating to ore-crushing ma- time, and that there was no rule by which the
mulates, year aft er year, a multitude of facts of chinery and concentrators. This paper drew forth different me talloids and metals are liquated, the
patient observation, supp:>r ted by studies with the a lon g discussion, and additional inventions over- author proceeded to submit various instances and
microscope and in the laboratory, avoid ing general looked by t h e author were named by t he speakers. to consider them. It was evident that t his study
the :>ries, and only making such ded uctions in regard
N ext came the following paper s, one by H enry was purely empirical, and his conclusiona are necesto local conditions as are supported by t h e over- L ouis, of Singapore, on ''The Specific Gravity of sarily of a general character. They were as follows :
whelming eviden ce of facts. " Our new t heories, Gold Contained in Gold-S ilver Alloys ;" he was
" The atrangement inaugurated at T erre-Noire,
based in this manner, are likely t o be of as much su cceeded by H. A. K eller. of Butte Mont, on in 1870, h as b een universally adopted t o diminish
service as t h e old ones were freq uen tly misleading. ''Improved Slag P ots ;" and T. A. Rickard, of t h e most pron ounced effects of segr egation in
The n ext paper was '' The Mineral D eposits of D enver, read a paper on "The Limitations of the ob taini ng the largest steel ingots for plates and for
'outh- W est Wisconsin, " by Professor \V. P. Stamp Mill. 11 The last-mentioned paper was the h eavy artillery. Success has n ot been obtained for
Dlake. This described the appearance of the ores, means of developing an interesting discussion as t o products of such im:[jortance without many failures,
and told the localities where they were to be found . th e merits of ligh t stamps with a high drop as com- and even to-day we are far from being content with
He classified the ores into irregular and brec- pared with heavy stamps and a low drop.
t he r esult accomplish ed, especially for armour
ciated, and regular sheets and b eds. The r egular
The next morning the following paper was pre- plates. RecourE e has b een ha~ t o hardening, and
and b recciated include most of t h e dry-bone de- sented : "The D etection and Measurement of on good grounds ; but h ardenmg cannot render
rived from the oxidation of t h e blende in place, Firedamp in Mines, " by Professor G. Chesneau, of uniform the r esistance t o sh ock of a block which h as
which passes downwa rd into unchanged blende. France. This was succeeded by '' The Hydrogen n ot h omogeneous composition . We kn ow th e metal
Sometimes the original bedding of tho rocks is but Oil Sa fety Lamp, " by Professor Frank Clowes, of we must n ot use, but d o we know the m etal the
little changed, and there is no disturbance, but in England.
This ]amp has b een devised to burn chemical composition of which resp onds exactly to
other places there is great confusion , irregular oil from a flat wick in the u sual way for lighting the requirements ?
masses of rock being surrounded and invested with purposes, and also to burn a hydrogen flame of
"In all cases the metal which f orms the final
a coating of ore, by which they a re united into one standard size instead of the oil flam~, w hen deli- armour plate differs from the m oth e r metal prepared
mllSS.
cat e and accurate gas-testing is t o be carried ou t . in the furnace, and the problem t hus set us
Ther e are four kinds of ore shipped from the The change from t h e oil fla me t o the hydrogen 'What is the mother metal which ought t o give ~
Wisconsin mines- namely, galena, zinc carbonate, .flame, a nd 11ice t'ersc1 , can be made without opening final }Jroduct of certain composition ? ' is eviden t ly
Llende, and pyrite. Of these th e zinc ores largely the lamp or runnin g any risk in the presence of gas. not easy to solve so long as the solution depends
preponderate. The lead ore is not n ow so much
The 011 flame serves for illumination ; and when upon many variables. One and the same mother
sought as formerly, and most of the old d eposits the wick is drawn down by the '' pricker, " so as t o n;tetal may furnish cast pieces of different composi.
are regarded as exha usted, although now and then abolish the light, t he pale blue r educed oil flame twn.
n e w discoveries are made. The production may be ser ves to detect firedamp or "gas " in any propor"For cannon of large calibre, if we reject, in

'V

"'2"'E N G I N E E R I N G.
[
8
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.)

addition to the part cast in sand and called the masselotte. (sinking h ead), on~-third of the upper part of
the 1ngo~, we can ?~ta1n a t ube practically homogeneous 1n compos1t10n, because the central part is
naturally removed by the boring of the tube. With
extra soft. steels, destin~d for ship or boiler plates,
t~e .solutwn fo~ .practteally perfect homogeneity
hes 1n t he o btammg of a metal more closely deserving its name of extra soft metal. 'Ve must
recognise the error which has been committed in
large constructive industries, whether private or
Governmental, in requiring of a metal called extra
soft, and slightly or not at all sensible to annealing, ten~ile strength amounting to 42 or 48 kilogrammes per square millimetre of section (68, 770 lb.
per square inch).
" It is certainly right to require for boiler plate
a tnetal practically unaffected by hardening. In
that case it is by elongation and by striction
(' ne?king ')--in which all the pure iron products are
defi~1ent-that we should define t h e mechanical properhes of the metal, leaving tensile strength aside.
''The manganese steels have no striction ; n either
h~ve those which contain a high proportion of
ntckel. I r efer to steels respectively carrying more
than 10 pe~ cent. of manganese and 20 to 25 per
cent. of ntckel. The cement or non-hardenimg
carbon exists only in feeble proportion in these
~lloy.s, in which the iron, by a simple quenching
1n 011, appears to be preserved almost wholly in
condition 13. An alloy of 25 per cent. of nickel
with 0.80 per cent. of carbon, after quenching in oil,
gave, under tensile test, 80 kilogrammes per metr e
(113, 760 lb. per square inch) tensile strength, and
60 per cent. elongation in 10 centimetres (3. 9 in.).
'' W e can sincerely declare that in a long industrial car eer, the experience of which has a certain
practical value (F;ince we inaugurated in 1867 at
Terre-Noire the manufacture of extra soft steel
with ferro-manganesc containing 80 per cent. of
manganese), we have never been able to realise or
to see other s realise the desideratum of a homogeneous plate which successfully endured the
hardening test with the tensile str ength of 42 kilogrammes (59,636 lb. ) per square inch her etofor e r equired for boiler metal. The lengthwise sample, cut
from th e bottom of the plate and satisfying a rigorous
quenching test, rarely gave a maximum of 40 kilogrammes (56,892 1b. ). The lengthwise sample from
the top of the plate was mediocre, and often absolutely bad, under the hardening test. And as to
crosswise samples, while t he bottom one would
sometimes bend double, with a metal giving more
than 40 kilogrammes tensile strength, the top one
was always defective. . ..
"In our opinion t he injurious consequences of
segregation must be suppressed by r educing, as far
as possible, the elements subject to liquation.
" Upon t he basic or neutral open-hearth, and
starting with an initial bath of approximately pure
materials, it is easy to obtain a metal containing
n ot more than 0.1 per cent. of carbon ; 0.02 phosphorus and traces of sulphur, with 0.10 of manganese. By adding 0.1 per cent. of aluminum t he
metal can be cast quietly and without altering its
composition. Consequently, if from an ingot so
cast and destined for boiler plate one-fourth to on ethird of the upper part (in which the carbon and
phosphorus may reach r espectively 0.12 and 0. 03,
for example) be cut off, t he r emainder will be a
block of appr oximn.tely perfect homogeneity."
As to boiler plate the author stated :
'' The elongation lengthwise of the annealed
plate ought never to be ~ess than 30 per cent. _in
20 centimetres (7. 89 m.); as r egards tens1le
Ptrength, 40 kilogrammes per square millimetre
(56,892 lb. per square inch) as a maximum seems to
us too high.
"For ship-plates, whatever may be the importance of having a much stronger metal in order to
diminish thickness and weight, it is our opinion
that too much is sacrificed to t his consideration to
the neglect of (1) t he more easy and certain manipulation of a more malleable meta1, and (2) the action
of sea water, which may be a fifth or a fourth more
rapid upon a metal with 45 kilogrammes (64, 003 1b.)
per square inch tensile strength than upon a softer
and more homogeneous metal with only 38 kilogrammes (54,047 lb.) tensile strength.
'' In t he construction of bridges, our preference
for the use of an extra soft metal runs counter to
the gen eral desire of having for t his purpo~e a metal
of high elastic li~ it. But, nevertheles~, 1t has.not
b een wished httherto to secure thlS prectous
mechanical q uality in bridge metal by increasing

CAPSTAN
CONSTRUCTED BY :MR.

LATHES.

ALFRED HERBERT, ENGINEER, COVENTRY.

(For Desc1iption, see Page 328.)

.. '- -,1:;1' -.:rE~

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the hardness beyond a certain very moderate limit.
vVhy not use a new alloy 7 Chrome steel has
already been tested ; and when to a pure metal,
like boiler metal, 0. 2 to 0.4 per cent. of chromium
has been added, homogeneous blocks have been
obtain ed, and t he limit of elasticity has been raised
notably- up to two-thirds of t he breaking strainwithout sensibly altering the elongation.
'' In t he direction of alloys there may be found
various advantageous solutions of t he problems invol ved in the manufacture of metals destined for
civil constructions.
"As a fi nal conclusion of this summary survey,
we would call attention to the fact that tensile
tests and mechanical tests in general may determine
et- prio,i the intrinsic qualities of a mass of fluid
metal, but not those of a solid metallic block,

whether before or after work has been done

upon it. "
The discussion on this paper must have been
quite flattering to t he author. On e speaker gave
t he following extract from a specification in a highgrade Bessemer steel : ' ' Samples taken from the
steel when pour ed shall show an amount of phosphorus n ot exceeding 0.06 per cent. and sulphur
not exceeding 0.05 per cent. Drillings taken from
any part of the finished material .shall show an
amou nt of phosphorus not exceeding 0.07 per cent.
and sul phur not exceeding 0.06 per cent. "
Another speaker cited the case of some specimens
of Swedish pig iron on exhibition at the Exposition, w hi eh, though cast in iron moulds, was
not all white, but showed grey iron in the parts
which cooled comparatively slowly. In explana-

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E N G I NE E R I N G.
tion of thia, T. Bergendal, of Soderfors, Sweden,
The next day the m e!allurg ists again discussed
r em1.rked that the iron in question- a mixed grey steel , especially its manufacture. The B essemer
and white m etal for t he '' Llncashire " r efinery pr ocess in Sweden was r alated by Professor Ackerprocess -fr~quently changes in t exture according mann, of Stockholm, and the open -hearth process
a1 the charge of the blast furnace is m ore or less in the U nited States was presented by H. H .
b asic, other conditions remaining the same. Thus, Campbell, of Steelton, P ennsylvania. The same
when the slag is more ba~ic, a pig iron will be day the mining engin~ers considered ''The B ertha
obtlined with both the g rey and white sharply ~inc Mines, " by W. H. Case ; "Handling of L arge
divided, while with m ore acid slag t he colours will Quantities of Iron Ore, " by J ohn Birkinbine ; the
b e m 0re irregularly mixed. \Vhich of the several discussion was largely as to th e use of t h e steam
kinds is to be preferred depends upon the purpose shovel in stripping and handling ore ; "Improvefor which the pig iron is used.
ments in Ore Dressing, " by 0. Bilharz, Germany;
Dr. Drame gave some analogous experiments in the discussion of which the Luhrig system of coalshown by the segregation of impurities in freezing wa~hing plant employed in Europe was d escribed ;
wa.ter. H e stated that in making artificial ice the "An Improved Hanging Compass," by G. R.
conditions are very similar to those which obtain J ohnson ; and " Electricity in Mining, " by F. 0.
in the cooling of steel or iron , only the rate of cool- Black well.
ing is very much slower. Thus a can of water
The compass being novel and interesting, we give
about 13~ in. square and 32 in . high, h olding about the description almost in full. A is the compass
200 l b. of wator, require~) ab()ut two days to be swung in gimbals , as in the usual form of the infrozen. In such a ca.se one would expect the strum ent; B and BL are two small levels, sunk
graatest concen tration of impurities to be in the into the bottom o f the compass-b ox, one on the
middle or upper p ortion of the interior cone, but in N .-S. and the other on t he E.-W. line. With
the blocks examined the largest amount of im- these the instrument can be levelled perfectly.
purit ies was found in the lower portion of the Outside leveh would have interfered with the
interior of the blocks. This was due doubtless to gimbals. The folding sights ar e of the usual patsom e p eculiarity in the cir:mlation of the cold brine tern. In surveying in the chutes these are n ever
around the outside of the can.
Bearing on the question of the relation between
the d egree of elimination of impurities and the rate
..
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of cooling are the results of analyses of different

I
l1yers of natural ic ) cut from a deep p ond. The
I
water of the p:>nd contained a considerable amoun t
I
r r
A
of dissolved and suspended impurities, and it was
r'
n oticed th1.t each succe3sive layer from the t op
.-.
d ownward was purer than t he one above. There
could have b een no difference in the condit ions of
freeziug in these layers, except the rate ; that is t o
s:1.y, the rate of f reezing was probably slower as the
ice increased in thickness.

I
The President read a paper on "Heat Treatment
I

I
of S teel, " and then came t he paper on ' ~ Micr oI
: " j --:
Structure of Steel , " by AI bert Savern, of Sout h
F'-9

Chicago. He st1ted certain propositions as t o the

characteristics of steel, illustrated by plates, and

from thes9 he drew the conclusions that t he physical properties of a sound piece of steel depend :
1. On the proportion of pearlyte and ferrite, or

pearlyte and cementite, present in t he metal (and

''
f IJio,
..
this is governed solely by the percentage of carbon),

'I

I
I

and

I
2 . On the proportion of p earlyte and ferrite, or
p earlyte and cementicll composition, and heat
JiCAO Of' J ACOO ' S S TArr
....
J
treatment.
With steel of average hardness, the amount of
ferrite is very small ; the grains are in close con- raised, unless the line of sight is near the magtact, and the work of measuring can generally be netic meridian. D is a plate into which the cap E
much shor tened by neglecting altogether the area of th e J acob's staff screws. This d eparture from
occupied by the network itself. All that is neces- the usual form of J acob's staff-heads, in which the
sary then is m erely t o f~llo w ~ith the planime~er instrument turns on a spindle, t he prolongation of
the outline of the space, 1ncludmg all the full gratns the ball of the ball-and-socket j oin t, was occa~ioned
visible in the field of the microscope, to count t hem by the n ecessity of having an easily por table inout, and to figure the average area.
strument. The socket for the usual spindle would
In d ealing with sof t steel, h e m easured indi- have made the carrying case much too bulky. The
vidually a sufficient number of grains of soft compass having been made fast to the head, r eB essem er steel containing 0.11 per cent. carbon vohes on t he centre F, the head E t urning with
m agnified 500 d iameters . By measuring each of the instrument. In surveying the levels, the
the 41 indtvidual grains he found a tota.l area of 1650 screws G and G 1 are loosen ed, and the compass is
sq uare mi l lim ~tres, which gives an average size of taken out of the gimbals. I t is t hen used with t he
40 square millimetres, or, if red uce~ ~o an enla rge- Jacob's staff, as in the ordinary form of t he instrum en t of 100 diam eters, 1.6 square millimetres. M ost men t. With the arrange ment above described,
of the t est -bars were cut l in. square and 20 in. which entails the carriage of only on e extra piece
long. A thin section was _cut at. one end of each (the J acob's staff), the levels can be surveyed in
test polished, etched, and 1ts gra1n measured. The about one-half t he time formerly occupied, and the
test~ were then s ubj ected to tensile strains, and the por tl.bility of the instrument is not affected. Also
maximum load in pounds per square inch, and t he bEtter speed can be made in the chutes, as the
el onaa.tion and reduction per cent., wer e r ecorded. sligh t extra weight, especially that of the plate D,
I ; steel rails h e found the lines of reduction and makes the compass much steadier on the cord.
elonaation follow r emarkably well the changes in
(T o be continued. )
the ~ize of the grain ; both falling rapidly as th e
grain incrcaa ~s, and the ~eduction d~minishin_g m ore
rapidly than the elongatwn. The s1ze of grain d oes
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH
n ot by any mea'ls so much affect the tensile strengt h.
AFRICAN RAILWAYS.
The fall of that line is very gentle. The grain in( Contimted from p3ge 295.)
creasing from 35 t o 221 square millim etre~, i.e.,
TH E lines projected in 1879 were to extend from
sixfold, the corresponding d ecrease of t ensile
Durban nort hwards to Pietermaritzburg, and thence
strength is only about 10,000 lb.
He concludd that the r esults obtained show t o Ladysmith and to the Free State border n ear
that there is a co nst~nt relation between the size of H arrysmith, with a branch to Newcastle and
the grains 9.nd the properties of the metal. They Charlestown to serve the Transvaal border and the
constituts however, only the firat step t oward an 1ich coalmining district in the neighbourhood of
extensive' series of experiments ; but they have Newcastle. A second line was to s tart from Durban
already given much useful infor~ation, and thrown for the north-east frontier,passing through V erulam,
much l ight on the way steel IS affected by heat and a third line along the coast to Tsiyingo . . For
the first sections of these lines, that Is, to P1etertreatm ent.
f

C~t V A'1~f'l . r o~ O I HO

IIIOHTO C~:JtD

S I~~

,.~

maritzburg (70 miles), Verulam (20 miles), and

Tsipingo (12 miles), a s um of 899, 037l. was voted
and appr opriated. This first portion amounted in
length t o about 99 miles, and was opened for traffic
in 1884, and to L~dys mith, an additional 91 miles,
in 1886. At t.his p oint t he line bifurcated, one
branch diverging towards ihe Orange Free State and
Harrysmith and the Transvaal border, and th e coal
districts n ear Newcastle and Dundee. Twehe
miles beyond La.dysmith the main coal branch t o
Dundee and coal station (48 miles) was started at
Biggarsberg Junct ion. Although t hese extensions
were pushed on fairly actively, neither objective
was reached in the period of which we are speaking,
1877 to 1887. It was unfortunate t hat N atalshould
have been deprived of the legit imate advantages
due to her geographical position for so many years,
while the Cape was making hay while the sun shone
so brightly.
In 1881 an attempt was made to start a new era
of railway development in the Cape Colony by
passing the Grahamstown and Port Alfred Railway Act. The idea was to r e,ert to the original
principle of building railways through private
companies with State aid, but the effectual and
reasonable assistance of a guarantee of interest on
capital was unfortunately abandoned for the more
que3tionable policy of a subvention. The r esults
have been such as to discredit and discourage a
most praiseworthy a ttempt t o supplement and
complete the large railway undertakings which,
under the circumstances of long d istances and
sparse populations, called for and warranted direct
Government interven tion t o secure their timely catrying out, by smaller ones in which Govrnment was
but indirectly interested, and were therefore more
legitimately within the scope and means of private
enterprise, mor e especially as they would paes thro ugh
t he more settled and populous and more directly
remunerative districts of the colony. The Grallaml!t own and P ort Alfred Rail way concession, with a
subven tion of 50,000l. , was taken up by an
English company, the first sod was cut in October,
1881, and the first 30 miles (from Port Alfred
t owards Grahamstown) wer e opened for t raffic in
December, 1883, and the r emaining 13 miles before the end of 1884, at a cost of 380,000l , or
8837l. a mile. This line, howevr, owing to t he
local d epression in agriculture and the disasters
in ostrich farming, was not long in getting into
financial difficulties, and passed into the hands of
a receiver, and was worked by a local committee
t o preven t its being entirely shut up. The Government was asked to tak e it over, and a Government
engineer was sent to inspect it, and estimated its
value at 51,000l . in 1890. So this line, which promised so fairly in the inception, and which might
have, with a g uarantee instead of a subsidy, tided
over the period of local d epression, has been
irretrievably wrecked before it had time
to stand fairly on its legs. In 1882 an Act
was passed authorising Yaluable concessions of
land for the construction of a rail way from the
neighbourhood of Tuivani (Stormberg) to the
Tudwe coalfields, the subvention being 1000
acres of coal-bearing land , and either 50,000l., or
25,000 more acr es of other land near th o railway and
25,000l. This concession was taken up by a company of King William's Town and East L ondon
merchants, but from that day to t his has never
been carried out. In 1883 an Act was passed giving
a concessicn for a line from Worcester to Ashton
(Montague) in the Western Province, together with
a subvention of 50, OOOl., in addition t o a sum
amounting to t he total custom dues on the materials
for its const ruction. This was taken up by an
English company, entitled the Cape Central Railway Company, Limited, and t he works were commenced in September , 1884, and t he line (42 miles
in length) was opened for traffic in the middle of
1887 ; but in 1889 the line got into difficulties, and
negotiations are still on foot for cession to Governm ent. The next rail way system init iated during
the second railway period which we have been considering was t he one connected with Delagoa Bay,
and the history of the Por tuguese portion of this
undertaking is probably without parallel in the
annals of concessions.
Delagoa Bay, in the first place, as a harbour ia
as good as, if not better than, any other on the Sout h
African coast; it is also, in respect to t he Transvaal,
as conveniently placed as Durban; but, in respect to
the former, it possesses the conspicuous ad vantage
of belonging to a nation which would be open to
coercion in a way no British colony could ever be.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
The development and perfecting of t he outlets to
CAPE GovERNMENT R AILWAYS, 1892.
the Transvaal through the British colonies has been
entirely due to the i~itiative of .those colonies, and
Aver age Cost per I
Total Cost.

8.
lltil
more or less in desptte of t he w1shes of both Dutch
.Mile.
Republics. A convent ion was signed between t he
P. d.
,
,
d.
8.
Wes'ern sv~tem.
Transvaal and P ortugal in December, 1875, by
7 3
6,603,037
17
9
8,101
815
)ape
Town
to
Y1y
burg,
..

which the respective Governments were to promote M aio line ..

bosch and dock lints, E( rsle Rtver, and ;)Jr
Lowry 's Pass.
railway communication between Pretoria and
17 3,502 16 0
0
4
5,993
29
f{
raaifontein
to
Malmer.bur.v
.
.
.
.

line ..

Loren zo Marques, the advantages to be offered by ~clalmesbury

211,232 12 9
10
35,205
8
6

~alt
River
to
Wynberg
(doubl
~)
..
ynberg line ..
..

21o,013 19 0
2 10
16,358
14
both Governments being somewhat similar, includ- Si mon's Town line
Wy
nberg
t:ia
Kalk
Ba.y
to
Simon's
Town

ing a. subvention of half the cost of the line, free

7,203,086 15 0
8,336 18 1
86!
..
Whole system, total

entry of all railway materials for fifteen years, and

-
Jfi dland System
3,8f9,758 0 6
11
4(0
9,649
7
Por
t
Elizabeth
to
De
Aar
and
N
aa.u
wp
oor
:
all Government land required for the rail way M ain line ..

Junction to Narval's Point.

gratis. The Transvaal proceeded at once, in 1876, B
829,848 18 7
1
6,85R
6
121

Nor
val's
Point
to
Bloemfontein
..
loemfootein line
..

(l
0
1,378,000
0
6,600
0
212
to raise a loan for this purpose of 300, OOOZ. in v aal River lin e ..
Bloemfonteio
to
Vaa.l
River

1,386,063 lt 1
4
7.786 16
178
..
.
.

:
:
Zwar
t
Kops
and
Graa.f
Reine~
H olland, and it was partially subscribed, but the o raaf Reioet line

6 2
637,019
2
15,343
8
36

.
.
..\liceda.le
to
Orahamstown

Portuguese Government, with whom the matter was 0 ra.bamstown line

0 I 7,990,679 1 5 4
8,446 8
946
not of the same importance. and who wished to
Whole system, total

'
E astern System.
avoid having to give a subsidy, allowed the matter lt
3 7
3,016,392
6
10,696 8
282
.
.
.
.
Buffalo
H
a
rbou
r
to
Aliwal
North
.
.
bin line ..
.
.

117,563 H 10
to quietly slumber. The particulars of the rail way Kin~ Will iam's Town
11,766 7 6
10
.
.
Bla.ney
to
King
Wi
lliam's
Town

line

0 0
0
680,000
8,658 0
..
67

on which t he conven t ion was based wer e t he follow- Bethuli e Junction

..

Burgbersdorp to Springfontein
0 0
468,0 10
5,6 18
4
0
83
Middleburg
to
Stormberg

id
laod
and
E~te
rn
Junction

ing-1st section : L orenzo Marques to Transvaal M

-18 5
4,171,965
9,438 16
7
442
border, 56! miles, estimated at 6,500l. a mile. 2nd
Whole system , total

I
section : Border to Top of Drakensberg Mountains,

. '.
142 miles, estimated at 11,500l. a mile ; this was Toto.l of t hree systems, 2252 m iles. Average cost., 8600l. ~ mile. Total cost, 19,365,632l. Ss. 9d. Amount autbor 1secf,
201 m1Llons.
r e-surveyed and considerably cheapened on construction. 3rd section, to Pretoria, 80 miles, esti- plans. The P ortuguese Government th ~reupon, time, and for ten years afterwards, accepted. In
mated at 6, 750l. a mile ; this third section was to in despite of the railway company's protest, m June, 1885-86 overtures were made by private companies
be omitted at fi rst., and the traffic worked by ox 1887, sent their engineers t o survey and mark ? ut to the Free State Government t o undertake extenwagon. Towards t he end of 1883, however, it be- this additional portion. In Decem her, 1887, the lme sions of the Cape railway systems into their t erri
came apparent that there would be a gold Loom in was opened for traftic to the 81.970 kilometre, the tory, but these also met with no success. Jealousy
t he Transvaal, and t his brought the question of t he point indicat ed by the original plans as the Transvaal of th e extension of British infi uence, populatiou,
Delagoa Bay Rail way once more to t he front. The frontier. The Portuguese Government thereupon and capital were the main obstacles against which
prospects of t his railway in view of this boom were declared that the company had n ot complied with the the n ecessity for modern conveniences of transit
so alluring, that the Portuguese Government were terms of their concession, and informed t hem that th e had to contend, and the battle was for years a
able to get the concession (signed December 14, line on t he original plans was incomplete, and that drawn battle. The two inland r epublics turned a
1883) for their por tion of the line taken up by a the frontier was at t he Incomati P oort, where the d eaf ear for years t o th e overtures of both colonies,
British company without a subvention on the basis Transvaal R ail way would end, and that they must who were practically competing the whole time for
of t he Portug uese Govern ment plans from L orenzo extend to that point. The company demurred, the service of the gold fields in the very r easonable
Marques t o the supposed frontier line at the 81.970 stating that all their undertaking and contracts hope t hat by so doing they would materially aid tl: e
kilometre. The terms of the concession were briefly were based on the original plan being correct, and financial prospects of the Dela.goa Bay route,
t he following : Construction to be completed within t hat they obj ected to extending their line to what which was to a much larger extent through their
three years of approval of plans ; company to fix their was, for aught t hey k new, foreign territory. This own territory, and whose outlet was in the possesown scale of rates ; plans to be presented within dispute led to diplomatic intervention on the part sion of a. foreign Government which they hoped to
140 days, and works commenced as soon after as of G.rea.t Britain and t he U nited States in favour influence and control in a way they could never expossible; Governmen t to grant no competing conces- of the company, but t he Portuguese Government pect to do their British colonial nejghbour s. They
sion within 100 kilometres on each side of line. This would not yield, and on October 24, 1889, a d ecree also possibly hoped to obtain an outlet t o the sea of
concession was viewed with extreme disfavour by was issued informing the company that they must their own, through which they would have infinitely
t he Transvaal, who feared that the outlet they had complete their surveys and extend the line t o th e preferred to conduct their commerce, and finally
hoped to control was falling into British hands, and new terminus (600ft. above sea level) in eight acceded to the Cape proposals in d espair at the
was likely to become just as objectionable to them months, or t heir concession wouldj be forfeited and d elay which t heir lEgitimate aspirations encountered
in respect to rates as the colonial ones. Pressure the line confiscated. The company protested that on all sides. A convention for the extension of
was brought to bear on the P ortuguese Government, the rainy season (October to May) would preveut the Cape rail way system to the Orange lfree State
and two memorand a in respect to the railway con- them from surveying or carrying out the works, and was entered into in the early part of 1889, and this
vention, dated May 16 and 17, 1884, were signed that, therefore, the eight months were too short to was supplemented in D ecember, 1890, by a customs
bet ween the two Governments.
The former comply with t he Government ord er, but they would union, including British B echuanaland. This was the
appeared in the Portuguese White Book for 1885, do what they could, and they commenced work effective commencement of the third period of railbut the second was not divulged till May, 1889, in May, 1889, on an additional 3 kilomet.res of way enterprise in South Africa; but, as the negoincidentally on a debate in the Portuguese Cortes. line, and this notwit hstanding t hat some 12 kilo- tions were most acti,ely carried out for several
The published memorandum bound the P ortu- metres of t heir open line had been partially years previously, the assumed date of 1887 is fairly
guese Government to use their best offices to induce destroyed in January by floods.
Further diplo- correct . The above convention was followed in
the company to grant a. favo urable scale of rates matic intervention with a view to obtaining an ex- J a.nuary, 1890, by one between the South African
for the Transvaal traflic. The secret memorandum tension of time t ook place, but this did n ot prevent Company and the Governments of the Cape and
bound them, in the event of the company being the issue of a d ecree on June 25 to Eeize the line, British Bechu&naland for t he extension of the
obstinate, to give the Transvaal leave to themselves and the actual seizure by force of the company's Kimberley line to Vryburg and Mafeking, the first
build a t ram way from t heir border t o L orenzo works t ook place on the 29th. Further diplo- instalment of the t hrough lin e to Kha.ma, Matebele,
Marq ues to carry the materials for the construction matic action supervened, and proposals were made and Mashonaland, or, in other words, the South
of their lines, and in certain events to work pas- to meet the tariff question by the P or tuguese African Company's territories. This con \ren t ion
senger and goods traffic over it. To strengthen the Governm ent giving a. guarantee of interest on t he arranged for a land contribution of 12, 000 square
hands of t he Portuguese Government as against company surrendering their right to fix the tolls, miles from British Bechuanaland, and the loan of
the company, the Transvaal also raised the q uestion but the Government would n ot give a guatantee on the Cape Government credit t o raise the money
of t he position of t heir frontier, declining to accept more than 500, OOOl. capital, so this at t empt also for the undertaking. The Cape Government Railthe delimitation made previously by the P ortuguese fell through . The Government then proceeded t o way Department carried out these extensions, and
engineers, according to which the railway terminus sell the line by public auction, and t he whole t hey were almost wholly done departmentally and
had been fixed on the plans attached to the railway mat ter was finally referred t o internat ional a.r bitra- by the small sub-contract system, and as the
contract. Rumours of the secret memorandum tion, with results which have not yet been made country was particularly easy, the work proceeded
which leaked out through Holland seriously ham- public. There i~, however, little d oubt that this with great rapidity. The first line comm enced was
pered the D0lagoa Bay Rail way Company in raising added one more notable example of the list of from Colesburg to Norval's Point (23.30 miles)
their capital, and delays occurred. The plans failures of rail way enterprise in private hands in where a. new bridge of twelve spans of 130 ft. ~
were not presented before 200 days, nor approved South Africa ; and without reflecting at all upon total length 1626 ft. - was to be erected. Surveys
till June, 1884, and no work having been begun by the behaviour of the Portuguese Government, commence.d and rails were laid by October, 1889,
December, 1885, an extension of one year's time t here is no doubt that its action was entirely due the old bndge nearer Colesburg being in this case
was gran ted, s ubject to works being commenced to its being placed in the ugly predicament of not utilised. A t emporary bridge, 6.25 ft.. above
not later than June, 1886. But the company was being " 'twixt the d evil and the d eep blue sea. "
low water, with 1 in 40 approaches, to convey railnot in a position to commence even by that date, and
In 1879 a concession was very n early obtained way material across, was erected in October the
the Transvaal becoming impat ient, the Portuguese fr om the Free State Governmen t for a line from floods, however, render ed this useless from th~ end
Government commenced t he works themselves. the Orange River near Colesberg to J agersfontein,
These were taken over in lVIarch, 1887, and t he with a branch t o B!oemfontein. On e vote in t he of t~at mont h to Christ~as, but it proved of good
company pushed on the construction on their own Free State H ouse of Assembly lost the concession. serv1ce thr ough .1890 t1ll November, when it was
finally
given
up,
to
be
r
emoved
when
t
he
floods
pera.ocount from t hat time. In June of t hat year the The Government of t he Cape offered the Free State
The Bloemfontein line from N orval's
question of the terminus of the lino, t hat is, the exemption from customs duties on all rail way mitted.
position of the frontier, was brought forward prac- material used for their lines if they would construct P oint, 121 miles in length, was commenced in
tically, it having been agreed between the Trans- a. system connecting their principal centres of com- August, 1889, with ruling gradients of 1 in 80 and
vaal and Portugal t hat its position lay 8 kilometr es merce with t he ends of the colonial lines at Coles- curves of 10 chains radius, and was completed and
further inland than was shown on the railway berg and Aliwal North ; but this was not at that opened for traffic in December, 1890, at a cost of
829. 848l., or 5858l. per mile. The extension in

inclu~ing Sttll~J?I

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

PRESSED STEEL CAR AND TRUCK FRAMES: COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE :FOX SOLID PRESSED STEEL CO~IPANY, JOLIET, ILL., U.S.A.

(Fo1 DescriptiO'Jt, see Page 328.)

-~

--- ----

Bechuanaland, 126t miles in length, was carried

out semi-departmentally, and the buildings, &c.,
were entirely of wood and iron, and inferior to the
other lines but the speed of its construction and
opening w~s phenomenal, as it included two large
bridges one over the Vaal at ]fourteen Streams
and on~ over the Barb~. Here temporary bridges
were erected to open the line, but the permanent
ones replacing them were complete~ in 1891. This
line cost 730,7691., or 5840l. per m1le. At the end

of 1890 the survey of the extension from Bloem- 1 was begun in February, 1890, complet,ed in
fontein to Vilpen's Drift on the Vaal River (212 August, and the earthwork by t he end of the year,
miles in length) was commenced. Construction and it was open for t ra tlic abo ut the same date as
was begun in January, 1891, plate-laying in l\Iay, t he extension to the Vaal River, at a cost of about
and the whole line in the following May, 1892, t he 580, 000l . . or 8658{. per mile. - This is expected to
212 miles being completed in 16~ months. The enable East London to make full use of her
survey on the Bethulie junction line from Burgers- geographical position in competition with the Natal
dorp (eastern system) to Springfontein on the mid- railways, and it must be confessed that the former
]and extension to Bloemfontein (66. 70 miles in apparently requires all the help that can be afforded
length), passing over the Orange River atBethulie, her to make up for much leeway in the past. In

CLUB

RAILWAY

AT

CAR

THE

E X P 0 S I T I 0 N.

COLUMBIAN

CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS. HARLAN AND HOLLINGS\VORTH,

(f)
tY1

vVILMINGTON, DELAWARE, U.S.A.

(For D escription, see Pc.ge 329.)

--

- . _ -........_

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k-- - ----- ............. - -----------------.... ---- -- ..... ..................... - ........... ,........... . . .. .. ...... _ ... . .

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r-

~J,

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

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

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

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>ll

.......,

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lll

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jiJI

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F=I~SEE

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------..

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- - . --- --- ---- - ........... -- .. - _,_. ~ --~ ,.)',_-rr-"T1!r-'!T'-~=="':---::.

1

LU1L

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

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'

addition to these very important extensions, the Cape

Government opened a 5 miles 36 chains ext ension
to Simon's Town in December, 1890, and a 14 miles
6 chains branch from Eerste River vid Somerset
" rest to Sir Lowry's Pass in February, 1890, and
the junction line from Middleburg Railroad viu
Stynsberg to Stormberg junction, 83 miles in length,
on February, 1892, in a little over a year. The Table
on pago 325 records the particulars of the Cape
Government system of railways at the end of 1892.
In the meantime Natal had pushed on her r ails
beyond the Free State boundary to Harrysmith
(opened October, 1892), 58 miles from Ladysmith,
and beyond her coalfields to the Transvaal b oundary
at Charles town (304 miles) from Durban. The
former line there is n o intention of extending into
the Free State for the present, as the midland
~ystem has occupied the field. Surveys are, how-

ever, being made to extend from Charlestown to

Elsburg (100 miles), a point on the Netherlands
railway system close to Pretoria, and the concession is expected to be confirmed by the R~ad t his
year. At the end of 1892 the Natal Government
system of r ail ways consisted of the following :

- - - --

!JIa i n Line.

Durban to Transvaal frontier

Miles
Open

Wt-ole system . .

-.

}- 11 ,153

4,628,242

:i02!

Branches.
Ladysmitb
to Harrysmilib
(Orang e F ree State) . .

Big~arsberg to Dundee

Tsipingo ..

Verulam ..

A v era.~e

p er Mile. Total Cost.

I
I

71 ~

8
12
20

.. I 414!

II
-

- -

19 r

zonq

'*t\
:.:J
-----------------

IUI

-~-...

. . .. . _,.'
- . --

--

.......

-- -

1Ji rt>d

;, ~

/evotton of Fro me

.... ...

The Transvaal in 1887 arranged a loan for rail way

purposes, i .e., to connect Pretoria with Port Elizabeth and Delagoa Bay, with the Rothschilds for
2,500,000l., and the Netherlands Company was
form ed to undertake the bu)lding of railways
throughout the country. The first railways to be
built wer e two lines each of about 30 miles l engt h
from J ohannesberg as a centre to Krugersdorp
and Boksberg ; these were intended chiefly for the
use of the Witwatersrandt Goldfields, the latter
being to bring down coal to the fields.
In 1889, the D elagoa Bay Railway h aving been
completed so far as to enable it to be used for the
transport of permanent way material, the Transvaal Government commenced their connecting line
through the heavy mountainous region of the
Drakensberg, 6000 ft. above sea level. The first
portion (10 miles) through the Crocodile Poort

.. s _._ ..
V'"

'<-

-- ~9.;:
---------- _A_

--"':...- - - - . . . ..... ..... .. _

:::1

...

"ll

--- -

1,-

'!!a.'3

- ...

,.

(1100 ft. above sea level) was built under contract,

cost 25,000l. per mile, and proved pa.rticularly unhealthy t o t h e constructors, owing to the miasma
blown up from the low country, and to animals
being within the t etse fly belt. The portion through
the Elansberg (Devil' a Contoor) is also very heavy,
involving tunnelling, &c. The construction has been
advancing steadily, the lin e having been completed
nearly to t he end of the second section, with a
branch t o Barberton (40 miles) in 1892, and it is
confidently anticipated that the Netherlands
Company will open to Pretoria by the end of
this year.
Before the Cape system reached the Vaal River
the construction of the earthworks on the Pretoria
line had been already commenced, and t he line
will probably be completed to Pretoria (65 miles)
this year. The Transvaal Railway system, as

(N

tv
'-l

E N G I N E E R I N G.
at
present
contemplated,
will
con
s
ist
of
the
follow
1ng:
P artly Opened
and under
Construction.
M ain line-Orange Fcee State border
Miles.
to Portugu~se border, via Pretoria...
344
Branches from J ohannesberg, &c.
60
(completed)
...
. ..
...
. ..
Branches to Barberton, &c. (completed)
40
,
Marahastad (contemplated)
175
T otal . ..
.. .
. ..
619
Of these 444 miles will be completed in 1893.
W e come t o the latest, though n ot least, important system in South Africa, situated in P or t uguese territory, known as the Pung we-Massi K esse
or Beira Railway. Immediately M ash on aland was
open ed up to British influence by the efforts of the
S outh African CharteredCompa.ny,it became evident
that an outlet to the s ea must be found closer than
any of the colonial routes, but which would unfortun ately h ave t o pass through the territory of a foreign
P o wer by no means friendly to Brit ish influence.
By November, 1891, four r outes had been prospected to the interior from t his pa r t of the eastern
c oas t. The one selected runs from a p oint opposite
Lukamba io, on the Pungwe River (12 miles above
Beira, and 60 miles from the mouth of the river),
the river being navigable for vessels up t o 20ft.
draught up t o this p oint (N ueves Ferreira). The
line which has been selected goes from N ueves
l~"erreira to J obo (River Busi, 12 miles), through
Meforga and Gomani to Massi Kesse (:L\-l ashona
frontier), under 200 miles in leng th. The gr adients
will be seldo m over 1 in 100 for the first 150 miles ;
the longest span bridge will be 80 m etr es, over the
Banduri, the n ext longest being t hree of 50 metres.
Near Massi K esse the gradients will b e 1 in 40,
ani a tunnel of one mile in leng th will probably be
n ecessary. The Fort Salisbury branch would start
from Munesse, east of Massi Kesse. The saving in
distance by this route to Fort Salisbury would b e
1000 miles in distance, time two-thirds of present,
and r educe cost to one-third actual. The company
was approved by t h e P ortug uese Governm ent in
F ebruary, 1892, and made a first issue of 250,000l.
d ebent ures last October. The works on a first section of 75 miles from Nueves F erreira, estimated to
cost 225,000l. (or 3000l. per mile), were commenced
about the same date und er contract by a British
contractor, and are proceeding satisfactorily, so
that t h is section should be opened by the middle
of this y ear. The only m atter t o be reg retted with
r esp ect to this, the last-born of the South African
rail ways, is the gauge, 2 ft., but there seems t o be
s ome prospect of this b eing increased to the standard South African gauge b efore the construction
is even completed.
(To be continued.)

FOX'S P RESSED STEEL FRAMES .

TnE gr eat success that has attended the Leeds
works of Messrs. Samson Fox and Co., induced the
firm to es tablish large works in the United States, so
long ago as 1889, for the manufacture of pressed constructi ve steel , for which they had al ready earned a
high reputation . The American firm trade under the
name of the Fox Solid Pressed Steel Com pany, with
offices in N ew York and Chicago. T he works are at
J oliet, Illinois, about 40 miles from Chicago ; they
employ some 400 men, and turn out about 80 car
trucks, besides other work, per day. It is satisfact ory
to note that all the heavy machinery in the works was
made in England, and is in all respects similar to that
used by the Leeds Forge Company, of Leeds. We
may mention that the hydraulic p umping plant
was supplied by Messrs. Tannett, Walker, and Co., of

Jtfg. 4.

_,... ...

-------.

______ ,

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

...
~

Pig.5.

-. ~ 1.

..............
.
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HERBERT'S CAPSTAN LATHES .

OuR illustrations on p age 322 repr esent a type
of capstan lathes manufactured by Mr. Alfred Herbert, engineer, Coventry. These lathes are all
made on the interchangeable syst em, and are so
arranged that they can be supplied either in their
simplest or most complete forms without any al teration to the pat terns. This is well shown by our engravings, where Fig. l represents the la the with
simply a pla.in hollow spindle, plain cut-off rest,
and a capstan rotated by hand. In Fig. 2 the
sa.me lathe is shown, fitted with a capstan rotating
automatically, a n alternative wormwheel feed which
can be thrown in and out of gear instantaneously,
a sliding cut-off rest, and an automatic chur.k and feed
motio n, by means of which the stock is advanced without stopping t he machine. As will be seen, the la the
is well adapted for producing all descriptions of repetition work. S pecial care has been devoted t o securing
the rigidity of the machine, and in arranging its various
handles as conveniently as possible for the attendant.
The end thrust is taken up on a cast -steel ball bearing.
The spindles are ground true on dead centr es and run
in bronze bearings. The cut-off rests have double
adjustable stops, a nd are fitted with wedge adjustments
for the tools. The capstan has an adj ustable conical
h ardened bearing, and is fitted with an independent
locking lever, enabling the capstan block to be
clamped absolutely solid when doing heavy cutting.
T he locking r ing is of st eel, hardened and ground,
whilst the locking bolt, which is also hardened, is
fitted in a long slide with adjustments for wear. The
mechanism is, moreover, completely covered and pro
tecterl from dirt. The capstan slide is operated by a
machine-cut steel r ack and pinion, the latter being cut
solid on its shaft. T he lathes, we may add, are built
in three sizes-viz., 5-in. , 6-in. , and 8!-in. centres, and
take bars up to 2! in. in diameter.

showing this exhibit, which takes a second or third

place amongst the exhibits of the steel manufacturers
of Amerioo. at the World's Fair. The two steel flat
cars, one of which is illustrated on page 326, which
have been built for carrying loads of 100,000 lb. of pig
iron, have attracted much attention amongst railroad
men in the States, from the fact of the essential departure from ordinary methods in the construction of
the framing, which consists of the Fox pressed steel
frameplates strongly riveted together, and combining
simplicity, lightness, and strength in a remarkable
degree. Each of these cars is mounted upon the Fox
pressed steel freight car truck, which has met with
such success that it is now in use upon upwards of
seventy roads in the United States, amongst them the
New York Central, which has over 3000 of them now
in r egular service. The form of this truck or bogie is
well shown by the r eproduction of the photographs on

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Leeds, and the boilers by the Leeds Forge Company.

This firm does not make any exhibit at Chicago,
but the J oliet Company have a very fine display in
t he American section of the Transportation Exhibits
Building. I t is located opposi te the Pullman train,
and covers about 1500 square feet. The exhibit consists of a selection of the specialities of the firm, principally consisting of Fox pressed steel trucks, steel
car frames, passenger car trucks, and an assortment of
various ar ticles press forged and shaped, for railway
and other purposes. The Fox Solid Pressed Steel
Com pany own the largest hydraulic forging plant at
present in the United States, one of their presses
having a table 26 ft. long by ll ft. wide, capable of
exerting an aggregate total pressure of 3000 tons.
The works are equipped with t he most modern and
improved hydraulic appliances for working steel plate
into the many forms in which it is used for pat ent
freight and passenger car trucks, &c., and the success
which has attended the introduction of this system
has been such that further extensions are in progress
for the purpose of developing the business of building
steel car frames for various types of American
rolling stock. A number of examples of this system
have been at various times referred to in ENOINEERtNG,
principally in connection with the use made of the
system on English railways ; and we have the opportunity of producing for the firs t time the illustrati1ns

page 326 ; it is of the rigid bolster type, having springs

ov~r t he axle-boxes, and primarily consists of four main
parts which are strongly riveted together. The pressed
steel passenger trucks have been in use on th e Pennsylvania Railroad with complete success for the past two
years; and a number of other types of trucks are in
course of construction for various forms of service.
Ther e is also exhibited one of a large number of stillheads, 84 in. in diameter by i in. thick, dished
21 in. deep; these plates are made at one heat by
hydraulic pres~ure between suitably formed dieR.
Another excellent form of pressed steel work is in t he
locomotive front end plate, which consists of flanged
plates, and r eplaces the ordinary method of cast eud
used in American locomotive practice; we understand
a very large number of these patent locomotive front
end plates have been fitted during the past year.
Some miscellaneous examples of pressed steel work in
the shape of truck bolsters, centre plates, cylinder
casings, &c. , are well worthy of examination, as showiug what is possible to be done by a suitable use of the
Fox process.
The Leeds Forge Company, at Leeds, who ar e the
users of the same system in this country, have recently made considerable development ia their
methods, principally for colonial railway work;
the system is also steadily meeting' with continued
favour upon English roads, and they are now making

E N G I N E E R I N G.
underframes for passenger cars for the South-Eastern
Ra.ilway ; se,eral hundred pas~enger cars 01~ the
London and South-Western Radway are equtpped
with pressed steel ca.r trucks, and a very large nu mb~r
of pressed st eel frames for goods wagons are now m
use in England.
The illustrations on page 328 show clearly the con
struction of a standard four-wheel truck (New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad ), as made by the
Fox Pressed Steel Company, of J oliet. We may add
in conclusion that the manufacture of trucks for street
railway cars is a speciality of the Fox Company, no
less than 6000 of them being in use. Examples. of
such trucks are shown in place in the Transportatton
Building by the McGuire Manufacturing Company, of
Chicago.

this car pay an annual subscription, in addit~o~ to the

ordinary fares the r ai1road company proVIding the
car and attend~nts. The length of the car is 71 ft. 6 in.
over frames and the width 10ft. ; it is carried on two
sixwheeled' trucks, the rigid wheelbase being 10 ft. ;
our illustration shows clearly the arrangemPnt of
frames and framing, and it will be noticed that the
side frames are very strongly braced. As for. t~e
arrangement of the car, it will be seen that 1t IS
divided into two compart ments, for smokers and nonsmokers, and that at one end there is a commodious
., ... .... ---- -

'

CLUB RAILROAD CAR.

rapid growth of American cities, like that of
crowded centres in this country, has had the effect of
causing business men to take up their residences in
the country at a greater or less distance from their
town offices. In the United States, where distances
are less respected than they are here, colonies of
suburban residences abound, so far away that the
heads of families have but lit tle opportunity of enjoying them, except on Sundays or holidays. The
daily journey to and from their places of business may
occupy a.n hour or even two, and it is desirable that
this considerable portion of each day should be passed
as agreeably as possible. It naturally happens that
friends and neighbours in these suburban colonies
should travel backwards and forwards together, and
should even look to occupy the same car ou the outward and home journeys. Latterly it was suggested that it would be more pleasant to retain
a special car, and out of this idea grew that of
the railroad club car, which rapidly found favour,
and of which many examples a.re to be found
in service to-day. Such a car we illustrate on page
327 ; it is built by Messrs. Harlan and Hollinsworth,
of Wilmington, Delaware, and is shown by them in
the Transportation Building of the Col urn bian Exposition. It is intended for service on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and will run between Plainfield
and Jersey City. The members of the club controlling
THE

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THE "NIAGARA " PULVERI SER.

vVE illustrate on page 323 the Niagara pulverising
mill, as designed and manufactured by .MP.~srs . Coward
and Ihlee Railway-place, Bath. The null generally
consists of a drum, inside of wh~ch revolves an e~ge
runner operated by a shaft earned on two ou_tstde
bearings. R ound the inside of th e drum is a sene~ of
buckets, into which the material passes after bemg
milled and when the contents fall from the buckets at
the tu;ning of the drum th_e finer parti?les are drawn
by an exhaust fan into a sttve-room, while the coarser
material falls again to the track of the edge runne.r.
Figs. 1 to 6 show. the genera~ arrangemen~s of a. mill
of 8ft. internal dtameter, whlle the engra vmgs, F1gs. 7
and 8, are from photographs of a 72:in. mill d.estined for
use abroad in the treatment of baste slag. F tg. 8 shows
the bedplate and driving gear, the crushit;lg drum
being removed. The drum, as shown on F1g. 7, revolves at a speed of about 30 revolu~ions per min~te
upon the four friction r olls of equal stze, a path bemg
formed on the rolls. The friction-roll shafts are all
of steel and fitted with white metal bearings adjustable to' t ake up the wear, which, owing to tb~ slo~
speed, is very slig ht. The. edge runner, wh~ch IS
shown on section Fig. 4, weighs about 2 tons m.the
72-in. mill, and in addition is weighted by. a spnng,
as shown. It is made up of three parts (Ftgs. 5 and
6), one d isc with a l~eavy boss keyed to t~e shaft, and
the second disc passmg over the boss w1th a sleeve.
Both are conical on the periphery (inwards), and when
held together by four bolts they clamp the ch.illed iron
rina. This ring, which is really the crushmg edge,
canbtherefore be replaced at any time with t he minimum
of trouble. The edge runner, of course, is. driven l>.Y cent rifugal force, and the wear of the crus}ung p~th 1s provided for by its being made up of twelve. chtll~d. castiron segments laid into the drum and held m vosttlon.by
one wedge piece (Fig. 4), so that here also httle fittu~g
or skilled labour is required for placing a new path m
position. The material is fed through a. hopper fitted
to the front cover-plate into the leading side of the
edge roller, by which i t is crushe~. ~t accumulates
in the rear of the edge runner, and xs picked up by the
series of buckets on the inside of the dru m, and from
them showered as shown in Fig. 4. The sma.ll particles are drawn by th e air current induced by a fan,
while the heavier particles drop again in front of the
edge runn~r. The position of th~ fan is .shown. on
Fig. 1, whlle the arrangement of dtscharge m to sttveroom is seen on Fig. 3. Across the connecting chamber
are arranged five worm conveyors, and it is scarcely
necessary to explain the principle upon which the air
current sec ures a distribution into these conveyors of
the particles according to their specific gravity

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Card-iJT. -In consequence of the. return o~ the t)outh

Wales miners to their work, every t1p at C~rdtff, Pena.rth,
and Barry has been fu1ly employed .d.unng the last f.ew
days. A lar~e fleet of steamers and sa.tlm.g vessels, w~Ic.h
had been wa1ting for coal, is now thm~nng off, 8nd 1t IS
eKpected that matters will resume the1r normal appearance in about a week. The best steam coal has ~e.en
making 16s. to 17s. per ton, while secondary quahties
haYe brought 14s. to 15s. per ton. As regards household
coal, No. 3 Rhondda large has made 15s. 6d. per ton.
Coke ha~ been in good demand a~ from 18s. to 24s. per
ton, according to quality. The u~n ore trade has remai,ned quiet. The manufactured uon and steel trades
have presented scarcely any new feature. A better
demand has prevailed for tinplate bars.
Bournemouth.-Bournemouth promenade pier is to be
lengthened 130ft. to meet the requirements of gr~a.tly
increased steamer traffic.
The "Oambrian."-The Ca.mbrian, having . been undocked a.nd moored head and steri?, the mach1ne~y contractors, Messrs. Hawthorne, Leshe, and .eo., tried her
engines on Friday. The sta_.rboard engmes. w~nt all
right but after a few revolutwns the eccentnc rmgs of
the port engine broke. As the rings to replace the
broken ones cannot be procured at Pembroke, i~ is expected that the official trial of the engines, whiCh was
proposed to take place this week, will be pos tponed.

Admi1alty I nspection.-The Admiralty yacht Eocha.n..: ...,,..,

tress sailed from Portsmouth on Saturday for Pembroke,

where she embarked on Wednesday the L ords of the Ad
miralty who have commenced their annual inspection of
t ~ 11llp
the dockyards. The cruise is expEcted to last about a.
lavatory. There is a couch in ~ach co~partment, ~ut fortnight.
otherwise the seats are luxunous chatrs, on one stde
The " /Eolus" and the "Spartan."-Tbe .i.Eolus and the
grouped in fours and separated by tables, which are Spartan, cruisers, are to be taken in band a.t once at
not entirely innocent of cards and other means of pas.s- Devonport, to have certain defects which have been
ing t ime, which may sometimes drag slowly, even 1n reported since the termination of the autumn manceu vres
such a vehicle. Cupboards are formed between the made good. The r epairs of both vessels a.re to be com
windows for the use of members, and light r efresh- pleted in six weeks.
ments can be obtained when travelling. In every
South Wales Coal and I ron.-The shipments of coal
detail completeness and luxury are apparent, and the from the four principal Welsh ports in August were as
club car, which bids fair to become a railway institu- follows: Cardiff-foreign, 301,76~ tons; coastwise, 66,974
tion in America, is a d istinr.t advance on the Pullman tons. Newport-foreign, 65,475 tons; coastwise, 42,835
drawing-room car for those persons who desire ex- tons. Swansea-foreign, 73,971 tons; coastwise, 50J.007
tons. Llanelly-foretgn, 11,164 tons; coastwise, ti725
clusiveness and are willing to pay for it.
tons. It follows that the total shipments of the four
ports in Auguet were: Foreign, 452,378 tons; coastNOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
wise, 166,541 tons. The shipments of iron and steel from
the four ports in August were: Cardiff, 2335 tons; NewPHILADELPHIA, September 5.
LAST Saturday the Thomas Iron Company reduced port 1243 tons; Swansea, 124 tons ; Llanelly, 4 tons;
quotations on foundry irons 25 cents per ton. This tota.i, 3706 tons. The shipments of coke were : Cardiff,
week other producers are pursuing the same course, 3176 tons; Newport, 187 tons; Swansea, 395 tons;
Llanelly, nil; total, 3758 tons. The shipments of patent
making No. 1 14.50 doh., and No. 2 13.50 dols. - the fuel
were: Cardiff, 13,041 tons; Newport, 5528 tons ; Swanlowest quotations for standard brands for years. Pro- sea, 31,512 tons; Llanelly, nil; total, 50,081 tons. The
duction is being restricted rather than increased. Un- aggregate shipments of coal fr~m the four prin?ipa.l Welsh
favourable reports are being received from western ports in th e eight ~onths endmg August 31thts year were
centres. Buyers are holding off, awaiting further as follows: Cardiff, 7,413,2-19 tons; Newport, 2,988,916
pos~ ible unfavourable developments. The American tons; Swansea, 1,029,975 tons; Llanelly, 117,025 tons;
Iron and Steel Association has presented a memorial total, 11,549,165 tons. The .~ggregate shipD?ents of iron
to the Ways and .Means Committee, arguing against and steel from the four ports 10 the first eight months
any further tariff r eductions at present. General of this yea.r Wdre: Cardiff, 22,897 tons; Newport, 12,660
apathy exists throughout the furnace and mill inte- tons; Swansea, 1150! tons; Llanelly, 12 tons; total, 36, 719~
rests, and in iron and steel works generally. There tons. The aggregate shipments of coke were : Cardiff,
58,599
tons;
Newport,
3709
tons;
Swansea,
2042!
tons;
is no disposition to place orders for future delivery, Llanelly, nil; total, 64,350f tons. The aggregate shipeven a.t the present exceptionally favourable prices. ments of patent fuel were: Cardiff, 192, 72~ tons; NewBar mills are working irregularly . Plate and struc- port, 32,825 tons; Swansea, 216,631 tons; Llanelly, nit;
tural mills a.re booking no new orders. Steel rails total, 442, 185 tons.
are quoted at 29 dols.; none selling. A reaction must
The "Northumberland."-The Northumberland linesoon arouse buyers, but manufacturers are prepared to of-battle ~hip, which is undergoing a. refit at D evonport,
take advantage of the first improvement to make was to have been out of th e dockyard by December, but
better terms. L ocomotive builders report a general the date of her completion has been deferred until Ma.r<'h,
falling off in orders. The cancellation of orders is 1894. The L ords of the Admiral t y, in sanctioning the
quite general in all branches of industry. The finan- postponement, state that the ship must be completed
cial question is still puzzling the Senate, and until the during the present financial year, as they have no intenbusiness interests can see their way to a certain and tion to make provision for her in next year's Estimates.
early solution of it , business will continue in its present The total cost of the Northumberland's present refit is
estimated a.t 50,121l., of which 32,8211. is to be expended
sluggish condition.
during the current financial year. The delay in completing the vessel is supposed to be due to the manner in
NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-vVEST.
which work has been pushed forward on the BonavenP oll;u,tion of the Yeo.-Threatened by the S herborne ture, the Astr~a, the Hermione, and the Antelope, in
Rural Sanitary Authority with an action at law for order to get them completed for sea.
polluting the Y eo with the sewage of Milborne Port, th e
Port Talbot.-Mr. Maconochie recently visited Port
Wincanton Rural Sanitary Authority adopted a scheme,
D ocks, with a view to making surveys, &c., for
of which the L ocal Govf'rnment Board had expressed Talbot
approval, for the removal from the river of the effl uent their improvement.
sewage from the tanks which had been the cause of the
The Electric Light at T o1quay.-The Torquay Town
alleged nuisance. Under this scheme, the liquid is to be Council again considered, on Tuesday, a proposal to light
carried over the river and distributed upon a wide expanse the town by electricity. The electric lighting comof land, a sewage farm being thus created. The works, mittee reported the result of some correspondence betwe-en
which a.re to cost a sum approaching lOOOl., are now the town clerk and Mr. Trentba.m, electrical engineer.
nearly completed. In its desire to avoid litigation with It appeared that the latter estimated the cost of the
the Sherborne Sanitary Authority Wincanton, by electric current at 6d. per unit, which wa.s the same rate
Temoving the effluent from the river, ba.s incurred, how- a.s gas a.t 4s. 5d. per 1000 cubic feet, or, when economised
ever, the risk of a lawsuit with the trustees of the estate by turning out lights not actually required, 3s. per 1000
of Mr. Wingeld Digby, M.P. At th e last meeting of cubic feet. Details were given as to the cost of the
the Wincanton Sanitary Authority a. letter was read from various systems suggested. Mr. Trentham maintained
Messrs. l<,awlence and Squarey, the agents of the estate, that the high-pressure system was the best for Torqua.y.
stating: '' We a.re surprised to find that the Milborne Port The committee recommended that the town clerk should
Sewage Works are in progress under a. scheme which will ascertain Mr. Trentham's terms for preparing the necesapparently deprive the Goa.thill Mill of all t.he effluent sary specifications and drawings for carrying out the
water, which, during the summer months especially, forms scheme. The estimated cost of the works was 17,403l.,
a. large percentage of the available supply. Mr. Digby
maintenance 3100l. per annum; th~ probable rewould be extremely sorry to h3. ve to take any adverse and
venue at 6d. per unit wa.s set down at 3320l. per annum.
action in the matter ; but he has no alternative but to The
mayor moved the adoption of the report of the combring the matter before his trustees, as obviously if be
mittee; but, after discussion, the council decided to
allowed the matter to pass he would be liable to impeach- adjourn
the further consideration of the subject for six
ment for waste."
months.

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

(SEPT. I 5, I 893.

DETAILS OF EIGHT-WHEELED PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE: COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED B Y

THE NE\V '.l7 0RK CENTRAL AND

H UDSON RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY .

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The inner keelplate is

iu. and the outer
ft m . The vertical web is ! in. in t hick ness. T here
a re, a~ shown in the engraving, four longi tudina ls on
each s1de of the k eel. The ma in deck, which is of
wo?d, h as st eel stringers about 3 ft. 3 in. wid e. T he
ma m and upper d eck beams are ofT-bulbs 8 in. deep
a nd 5 in. horizontal flange amidships, and 7 in. forwa rd and a ft, b ut under the 9.2-in. guns they are 9 in.
deep . T he p ar t icula rs of t he vessel, her ar mament,
engines, and equipment, were fully described in our
p revious a rticle in our issue of August 11 , on the
occa sion of t he vessel being open for public insp ection,
and w e content oursel ,-es n ow by referring t he reader t o
t hat a.nd the ot her art icles indicat ed.

H.M. S. "THESE US. "

ENAMEL FOB I RON CASTINGS. - M essrs. F letcher,

Rn ssell, a nd Co., L imit ed, vVa.rrington, a.re int roducing
the " chimatto " enamel for coati'lg 1ron castings, either in
matt or dead surfaces. The colours and shades are endless
in variety, and one of the principal properti~s is t hat the
enamel is unchanged by red heat continued for long periods.
It has been tried on little hand gas stoves for boiling
ket tles, and the lustre has not been affected, so that it is
suit a ble for enamelling alJ kinds of stoves and grates, a nd
only requires dusting or washing in the ordinary way
like china.ware. The enamelling, too, applied to ornamental railings would give very fine effects. :M essrs.
F tetcher ha.ve put down special pla nt for the product ion,
and intend t o ex bibib specimens in their show-rooms at
an early da te.

---

THE L ATE ~IR. T HOMAS \VILLIAM KENNARD, C.E .~Ianr will lea rn with regret of t he death of Mr. Thomas
\ Vilha.m Kennard, C. E., who passed a. way, a fter a short
illness, on Sunday, the lOth inst., a t his residence, Orchard
H ouse, := unbury. Born in 1825, the second son of the late
Mr. R. W. Kennard, M.P., he was educa t ed for the profession of engineering, and early t oo_k a.n active pa~t in rail way
works in England. .Am~mgst h13 W<?rks certamly ~be bes t
known is the Crumlm V1aduct, a bndge 200 ft. h1gh and
1650 ft. lon g constructed on the girder principle patented
by W a rren a'nd K ennard . .It is 10 t en sp~ns resting u pon
iron piers and was opened m 1857, when 1t was one of the
most rem'a rka.ble, and is still one of the most interest ing,
types of bridge-building in the country. It forms a. ~on
necting link bet ween M onmouth and G~a.morg:a.n shues
in the chain of the Great W est ern Ra1lwa.y 10 Wales .
Many other bridge works were uudert.aken in other
pa rts of the world ; the Crumlin W orks, founded
m 1854 being acti veJy employed.
In 1869 t he subject of' our memoir le~t the management of t~e
works t o his brother , a.sststed by Mr.- :M ayna.rd, theu
engineer, while be proceede~ t o A mer1ca to l&:Y out as
engineer-in -chief and supermten.d the const ruct10n of t ?e
Atlantic and G reat W estern Ra1lwa.y, and here he dts See ENGINEl!BI ~G . YOl. liii., page 180 ; vol. l v., played that resourceful energy whic~ not only ea~ily overcame d iffioult ie.9, but quickened the)nterest and mdustry
.PagE's 200 and 912 ; and page 180 ante.

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THE New Y ork Centra l and Hudson R iver Railroa d

Company show a locom otiv e in the Transp ortat ion
B uilding at J a ck son P a rk, r ema rkable from the fact
that in Jun e last it m a de the journey from New Y ork
to Chicago in a b out 18 hou rs, thus inaugu rating the
new rapid service which has s hortened the j ourney by
a bout six h ours . L ocomotive 999 m ay be rega rded
a s a type of the mos t advanced locomotive pra ctice of
the United S tates, and for this reason we propose to
publish some what complet e details and the specification of this eng ine. W e commence the publication of
the dra wings above a nd on our t wo-page pla t e in the
current issue, a nd shall delay g iving pa rticulars for
the present .

class cruiser Theseus in course of c onstruction a t the

works of the Tha m es Iron Compan y , at Blackwa ll,
and the same vessel read y for launching. This cruiser
is one of t he flee t built und er the Naval D efence Act.
Of the type t h ere we re nine vessels, two of which , t he
G rafton and Theseu s, were constructed a t Blackwall.
These vessels hMe been d escribed in previous issues,* so
that i t is only n ecessa ry now t o mention their chief features. The length is 360ft ., b eam 60ft., a nd on a mea n
draught of 2:3 ft. 9 in. t he displacement is 7391 to~s.
The eng ines ind icat e 12,000 horse-p ower, and g tve
the vessel a sp eed of 19Jf knots un~er forced ~raugbt.
There is no side a rmour, but there 1s a p r otective de.c k
right fore and a ft;, with a n armoured breas twork of 6- m .
steel prot ecting t he engine cy li~ders. . The arr.angem ent of the deck is well shown m our tllustratiOn of
the ship under const ruction.
It has a ma~imu'?
thickness of 5 in., where the g reatest prot ection 1s
r equired , t a perin g t o 2 in. The 5-in. parts ar~ made up
of t wo thickn esses of 1! -in. pl at es and one th1ck~ess ? f
2~- in. plates. The d eck bea~ s are of_angle bulb, wh1ch,. m
the midship part, have a 9-ln. vert1cal fla nge and 3~ -m.
horizonta l fla nge, while in the fo rwa rd and after p a rts
the d epth is 7 in. Ther e is a beam t o every frame, a s
shown in the illustra tion, a n d the a ttachment of beam
and frame is streng then ed by guss~t plate~. The
fram es ar e of Z -section, 3! in. b,Y 6 m. ~y 3 _m.'.. ~he
latter b eing t he r ever se flange. The pla.tt?g 1s l v 10.
abo ve the water line, t he sheer stra ke be1ng do~bl~,
and 22. 5 lb. below the wa t er line, b ut the skm IS
doubled over th e g reat er p art of its ar ea., a ll the bow
being flush on t h e outside. The double bottom ~x
tends over the wh ole of the machinery a nd maga zme

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of h is staff and work men. H e also, in conjunction with

the Marq uis of Salamanca, desig-ned and construct ed a
large number of viad ucts and br1dges in Spain a nd Italy.
H is kindness t o his men and a ffable disposition generally
made h im greatly respec:t ed and est eemed.
H.~I.

BATTLESHIP " DEVASTATION."-T he Devastat ion,

after undergoing a t horough renovation and reconstruct ion in hull, machinery, and armament at Portsmout h,
underwent her eight hours' steam t ri al under nat ural
draught on Tuesday, the 12t h inst. H er t rim was 25 ft.
forward and 26 ft. 8! in. a ft. T he average boiler pressure
was 140 lb., and the mean vacuum was as high as 28.2 in.
starboard and 28; in. port. Wi th 94.4 and 93.2 revolutions the engines developed an indicated horse-power of
3139 and 2861, gi vicg a collective mean power of 6000
horses, or, in other words, 500 beyond the contract. The
mean air pressure in the stokeholds was i in., and the
coal consumpt ion 1.8 lb. per horse- power per hour.
Tbe speed obtained was 13.25 knot s, as t aken by patent
log. The trial was satisfactory though the speed was
slightly under the estimate. The reha bilitat ion of the
earliest of our sea-going mastless turret ships, built in
1869-72, must be regarded as a. noteworthy naval event.
T he central internal portion of the bull has been rebuilt.
This modification involved the rearrangement of t he main
watertight subdivisions, the construction of addit ional coal
bunkers, the fi t t ing of new watertight doors and gearing,
and boiler, engine, shaft, and t hrust bearings, new casings
between decks, and new ventilating a rra ngements. T he
ship has been furn ished with a modern installat ion of
electric lights. A fighting platform or military top has
been added to her mast. This enables a couple of
3-pounder qu ick-fi ring guns to be mounted in one of the
most effecti ve positions on board. The new armament
is as follows : ]four 10-in. 29-ton br~ ech1oad ing s uns, two
7-pounder 200-lb. guns, six 6-pounder quick-firmg guns,
eight 3-pounder quick-fi ring guns, five 5-barrel .45-in.
Gardners, t welve 14-in . torpedoes, two submerged t ubes,
'' A " proportion of torpedo and elect rical stores. The
new machinery for the D evastation has been furnished by Messrs. Ma udslay, Sons, a nd Field. In her
unreformed condition the monitor was propelled by
engines of the d irect -acting trunk type, supplied by
M essrs. J obn P enn and Sons, Green wich. The new propelling m achinery consists of two sets of inverted tripleexpansion engines, of t he collective power of 5500 with
natural draught , and 7000 with forced draught. The
cylinders are 34! in., 61 in ., and 76 in. in d iameter by
42 in. stroke. '!'be condensers have a total cooling surface of 9000 sguare feet, and the working pressure of t he
main boilers 1s 140 lb. on the square inch. \ Vith natural
draue-ht t he estimated speed of t he shi p was 13.4 knot s,
and tb is expected that> with forced draught a speed of
14 knots will be obtaj ned . .In the ~a'1' E stima tes the
probable cost of the Devastat10n's refit ts gtven at 156,261l.,
mcluding 67,555l. for hull fitti ngs a nd equipment , 63,187l.
for machinery, and 11,324l. for gun mountings and tor
pedo gear.

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

EIGHT-WHEELE D PASSE NGER LO COMOTIVE AT THE WORLD'S COLUMB IAN EXPOSITION.

CON. TRUCTED BY THE N EW YORK CENTRAL AND HUDSON RI'VER RAILROAD COMPANY.

( For N ot ice, see P crge 330.)

Fig. 1.

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

331
ment, notwithstanding frequent loading and unloading
of her cargoes at the ports of call and the daily consumption of fuel during voyages.
4. That the ship's bottom is always clean.
5. That there is no tidal current nor wind to interfere
with the steam navigation.
6. That the length of time during which the ship is
kept a.t her ports of call is a.l ways regular.
7. That the length~ of voyage~ remain constant.
8. That the interest on the c.a.pita.J, &c , which constitutes a part of the cost of shipping enterprise does not
fluctuate.
9. That the weights assi~oed and the spacee provided
for cargo and fuel are not 10tercha.ngea.ble.
10. That there is nothing in the shape of Government
restrictions or otherwise to pr-event free competition.
Many of the above suppositions are far from being
practicable. So that the eq uation (3) is, a.t best, of very
little use. We can find the really most economical speed
of a. steamship only when the absolutely true relations
between the power and the speed are known, as well as
the constant expenditure in carrying on the trade. Let
x a.nd y represent the cost and income of a steamshi p at
any speed ; then evidently
y = f (x);

SUSPENSION FOOT-BRIDGE AT BANCHORY.

CONSTRUCTED BY ~IR. LOUIS HARPER, ENGINEER, ABERDEEN.

therefore the relations between them can be represented

by a. curve with reference to a system of co-ord10a.te axes
0 X and 0 Y. Take any point P 1 in the curve (Fig. 1)
a.nd join 0 P 1 Let the angle P 1 0 X be denoted by 0.
Then the ratio of income to cost at the point P1 is
Income
Cost

=J!_ = tan 8
x

The line 0 P 1 cuts the curve at another point P 2 , so that

th e economy is identical for these two points. Now let
us suppose the angle 8 to increase as fa.r as it is possible

-.
--- 1:7'
"'
~{R.

L ouis HARPER, C. E., of Aberdeen, has recently

erected a. couple of foot-bridges on the suspension
principle, one at Feugh Cottage, n ear Banchory, and
over the River Carron, near Fa.lkirk, a nd the former
of th ese is shown in our illustration above. These
bridges are, as will be seen, of a light and graceful
design, and are of ample strength for any load likely to
come on them. The road way is 4 ft. wide, and is built of
planking laid on larch cross-bearers which a re fastened
with hooks to the platform ropes. The suspenders are
iron rods, and are fixed at 2 ft. intervals, connecting
together the main ropes and the platform ropes. The
parapet is of galvanised wire nettin g. The columns
at the end of the bridges are of larch, and rest on
concrete foundations. At each abutment they are
connected together at the top by cross-rods.
The
span is about 100 ft. in the case of Feugh Cottage
Bridge, and 90 ft. in the case of the a.rron Bridge.
The former cost 160l. complete, and the latter, which,
however, had cast-iron colnmos at the abutments instead of larch, 220l. Mr. Harper has received an
order for the supply and erection of a third bridge of
this type over the River Trent in Staffordshire for t he
Duke of utherland.

THE ECONOMICAL SPEED OF

STEAMSHIPS.
T o 1' HE EDITOR Or' ENGINEERING.
SIR,-I have re~d with great interest r. W. J. Mplar's
article on economtcal speed of ijteamshtp~. There 1s one
thing which I fail to understand. Bes.i de the. consum.I?tiod of fuel, surely, there are many thmgs whtch constitute the cost of navigation : the interest on the capital
required t o establish t_he shippi~g business, the ~eprecia.
tion of all the properttea beloogmg to the esta.bhshment,
the fees and duties of various kinds, the wages for officers
a.od men en~aged, the cosb requi~ed to .maintain the
a\lx.iliary engmes on board the eh1p 10 workmg order, and
other sundry expenses. Mr. Millar overlooks them
altogether. They a.re quite independent of th e speed of
the ship. Let this constant expenditure be expressed in
an eqUivalent term of fuel and denoted by F. Then for
a. certain length of time we have

we have, therefore,
3

V=

--=:-

--==
F

2P
V3

Ft:g . J

A3J
= \ . 'V

F .

2P

Hence the most economical speed i~ obtained when

F = 2P
.

.
. (2)
In other words, a.t the most economical speed of the
shi p, the money paid for fuel for the sole purpose of propulsion should be one-third of the total cost m oa.rrying
on the trade. We get then,
Income
Cost

A V
P + F

- ~~

AV

2AV
3lf

3P

AV

.Ft"g. 2.

-3mV2 .
Thus we see that the depression of freight, or the ad va.nce
of price for fuel, tends to increase the most economical
epee>d of the ship and vtce versti. So that the most economical speed for any steamship is by no means a certain
fixed speed, but it is greatly dependent on the states of
the general trades; and the time when the economical
speed is high is a. bad time for the shipping trade, When
the trade is vPry bad, the s peed rises so high that there
would be n o profit to be gained in the business. H ence
the laying idle of so many slow-speed steamships at dull
seasons.
L et C 1 denote the displacement coefficient of propul
sion; then,

~~~~~l~c~~~---~~~------~s~~d~)2
~M~a3~--~o~------------------------~
to do so. Then the points P 1 a.nd P 2 will approach each
other nearer and nearer, until a.t last they coincide at the
p oint P 3 It goes without saying. then, that this is the
maximum limit of economy. At this point we have
dy_y
d X
X

--.

For, as a. property of a geometrical tangent, we have

d Y =tan 8 1

Therefore,

F=

2V D~

dx

Ct

By transformation wa get

V=V _ FCl
2D!

(3)

I obtained this formula and communicated it to the

Society of Engineers in Tokio, J a. pan, last year. Subsequent!y, I was very much rejoiced to nod in a. very excellent paper of Mr. Hollis, of the United States Navy,
p~bhshed in the J ourna.l of the American Society of
Income
A V
AV
Naval Engineers in February of the present year, that
---==-=~=
'
Cost
P + F mV3 + F
the pra.ctically same formula had been worked out by
Chief Engineer John Lowe, United States Navy,
A being a. coefficient.
Differentiation gives us the maximum value of this t en years a.go. His formula. is intended for war Yessels,
in which the main question a.t issue is the distance
ratio, when
covered per ton of fuel consumed, and not the money
1- 3m V 3 = 0.
earned for a. certain amount of capital invested. So that
n~V3+ F
the value of constant Fin above eq uations stands in his
Therefore the most economical speed of the ship" ould formula. for nothing but the consumption of fuel for
various auxiliary purposes outside of propulsion.
be
The above deduction is based on the followi ng assumptions:
(1)

1. That the resistance of the ship varies aa the square

of the speed .
Since, by ~Ir. ~1illa.r's assumption,
2. That the boilers, the engines, and the propellers have
p
constant eflicienoies for a.ll speeds of the ship.
m= - ,
3. That the ship always maintains her normal displace-

vs

0.~-------------------JT

The point P~ becomes known, therefore, when the equation y = f (x) is of a known form. To know the true
relations between the functions x and y for a.U speeds of
the ship, it is necessary to conduct coal consumption trials
or to collect reliable data from long experience on board
the ship, and to prepare a diagram of cost and income as
described above. The tangent to the curve from the origin
of the co-ordinates will touch the curve at the point that
is most economical. Fig. 2 is a. diagram to solve the
financial problem for a. steamboat favoured with Government subsidy, and serving on a. river as a ferryboat, and
periodically going up a.nd down the current. In the fir~t
place, the curve of coal consumption is prepared with
reference to co-ordinate axes 0 1 X and 0 1 Y 1 from the
data. of actual trials. On the axis 0 1 X, produc~d backward, 0 1 0~ is set off, representing the constant expenditure in equivalent terms of fuel. On the line 0 1 0 3 we
next set off the length 0 3 0~, representing the Government s~bsidy, also_in the sam~ equivalent terms. Through
the pomt 0 2 the hne 0 2 Y 2 1s drawn parallel to the axis
0 1 Y 1 On this new axis 0 2 Y :2, the length 0 2 V c is set
off on both sides of the &:\.is 0 2 X, representing the
current of the river. The tangents V el P 1 and V c p ,
drawn to the curve from the points Yel and V o and
touching it at the points P 1 and P2, would give the most
economical speeds 02 vl and 02 v2 relatively to the sursounding water, when the ship is steaming along with the
current and when against it respectively. This is merely
a.n imaginary problem, of course; but it will be sufficient

332

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

t? sh ow .advantages of gra. ph ioal methods in some arCONCRETE BEAMS.

tlOula.r mstances. Apologising for the length of pthe
_To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEEUING.
l etter,
I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
SIR,-\V1th r eference to the experiments on the strength
Y . WADAGAKI.
o f con cret e beam s, by Mr. S. L owcock, quoted in ENGIN ewcastle-on-TynP, Sept ember 11, 1893.
NEERING of September 1, I s hould like to know if that
g~ntleman has any ex planation to offer of the fact that
the constant C is, in the case of 1- G cement, lower at
SPEED PREMIUMS.
twenty-one days than at fourteen days
T o THE EOITOR OP ENGINEERING.
. As r egards his formula, should n~t L be the span
SrR, - In your last you r efer to a. bonus of 40,000l. paid m stea.d o~ the length of the beam, and are the d imens ions
upon one. vessel for the above. In Mr. O'Neill's paper of .the? thud beam accurately g iven as :39 in. by 18 in. by
(Pro~eedmgs of the .United States Naval Institute) he 19 m . .
I am, Sir, yours truly,
e.d~uts-as. I . have pomted out for years past - that
STUD .ENT.
The e~c1ency of th e pro.peller is one of the primar
B edford Pa.tlc, C hiswick, September D, 189:3.
and most Important fact_ors 10 steam propul9ion, to which
e. great deal mor~ attentLOn ought to be p aid. T oo often a
vessel ~oes on tr1a.l with scr e ws t otally unadapted for th e
CONTRACTORS AND THE ADMIRALTY.
spee~ mtended; and when the same has been found
To THE Enrron Or' E~c INEEHING.
wa~tmg, <;>ther screws. are substituted, whose elements are
Sm,-Your leading article of the 1s t inst. must have
enttrely dtfferent, whiCh realise anticipation."
opened the eyes of many contractors d esirous t o get their
A1so:
?cames placed on the Adruiralty list. Mr. Hanbury says
" . yY'it~ suitable propelle~s a spee.d .of 12 per cent. over
~here ought to be proper means for making a fair com~
e.ntlCtpatwn can be ob tamed, g1 vmg a p remium of parison be~ween the . ~st of .a sh~p t;milt in a dockyard,
200,000 dols.; under natural draught an excess wil be and ! he price of a stmilar sh 1p bu1lt m a. pri va.te yard."
r eached on the specified power, which m~ans lOO,OOOdolP. " But 1t would also ~sponish m any t o learn the vast d ifferI have long ag? asked any Government to freely try ence of the supervtston and extra r equirements which are
my system ; and 1t seems to me that it w0uld pay the d e!t'a.nded by many unscrupulous Admiralty overseers in
~eople of the United S t~tes to do so. A very small por - pri vat~ yards., ?ompared with what obt ains in the contLOn of one of s~ ch premmms devoted to a free trial of my structtOn of similar vessels in the R oyal dockyard e. Some
system of altermg t~~ d eveloP.ed p ropulsive area to suit of these gentl~men will actually stand by and allow
the vessel and cond1t1ons while running would save the a lar~e quantity of work t o be completed and then
mo~ey of that or any other country, and enable n earer order 1~ to be pulled to pieces, for some worth'less " fad "
estimates of s peed capacity to be attained for future go- of .their own-dem oralising alike t o both contractors
vernment. I made the offer - by pamphlets and lett erc.- and ~ork.me~~ When que.stioned, they point to their
to all con;cerned, vet:y long ago; and by your courtesy I spe01ficat10n as may be dtrected, and t o the satisfaction
now pubhcly r epeat It.
of .t~e overseer," &c. ; also, "any dispute or difference of
Your obedient servant,
opm10n between their L ordships' officers and the con RoBERT M cGLAssoN
tra~t?r, ~he Controller of the Navy is to decide, and his
Selhurst, S. E., September 11, 1S93.

d ectSton 1s to be final. " This all worked very wdl some

year3 a~o, wh en th e Admiralty were d isposed to interpret
the va.r10us cl.a? ses of the ~peci fica.t~ons r~garding unknown quantities and r eqUirements 10 a fau and liberal
BALL BEARINGS.
manner.
T o 'rHE EnrToR o~< E~GINEERI~G .
The treatment of contractors is shown in the case of
. SI~,- In reply t o your correspondent, Mr. A . G. Ram age,
tn th1s week:s ENGINKER.ING, it may be m ention ed th a.t I the first and seco.nd class cruisera, where the Admiralty
h~d to do wtth about etghteen electric launches fitt ed have refused to g1ve more than a third of the sum they
With baU thrust bearings, which, a.l thou~h well designed, have allow ~d the do ckya~ds for additions a nd im prove~ ere n ot madE:' accura.tE:> ly enough, a s 1t seem ed im pos- m ents_ carrt~d out by pnvate yards. This is certainly
SJble to get the hardened s teel surfaces absolutely true in s~eatmg w1th a vengean ce, House of Commons resoluthemselves and a lso in relation t o each other conse- tLOn and clause in specification notwiths tanding.
I ~uld wax mor e eloguent, and givE' you more particuquently the load was very unequally dis tribut;,d, and
d.oubtless one ball at a. tin:' a t ook the whole load, and occa- lars d1d your space admit of it, although I have only been
swnally a ball crushed, w1th r esults that can be imagined an onlooker.
I am, S ir, your obedient ser vant,
any want of trut~ also causes th.e ba;lls to cr?wd ~ogether:
September 13, 1893.
Sun-CoNTRACTOR.
and the surfaces 10 contact movms- 10 oppos1te directions
no doubt causes consid erable frictl~n.
'
In the bearings referred to above the centre part was
'fHE "TEUTONIC " AND " NEW YORK."
at.tached t o the ~haft, the inclosing sh ell being provided
To THE Eonon OF ENGINEEIUNG.
w1th grooved dtscs t o take the thrusts ahead or astern
Sm,-In. your issue of the 8th inst. you state, and quite
as the case might be.
'
If the part attached to the shaft could be so made as to corr ectly, m your note on the Lucania that the New
admit of a slight r ockin g motion, so th at it could take a Yo_rk on h~r last eastward trip deliver~d her mails in
fa;ir bearing ag~inst ~he balls, or the non -r otating g rooved Londo~ ~afore the T eutonic. Perhaps it may be just t o
discs could be fitted m a r ounded bed to attain the sam e th~ Britts h steame~ to add a. few furth er particulars.
It 1s not very mater1al to sc;ate that the T eutonic sailed
ob).ect, better results might be obtained .
The be~rings cause a dull rumbling s0und on the .ressel. abou~ an hour before her r~val. But it is m~st important
Th e wnter ha.s now t o design som e thrust hearings to to pomt oub wha.t the part1sans of the Amencan line carework. a.t a. ~ax1mum thrus t of only 500 1b. , but previous fully suppress, viz., that the T eutonic had no special mail
from Q~een s~own . She r each ed Queenstown at 3.30 p .m.
expenence wtth balls hardly warrants their use.
The ~ail tram left at 1 p.m. The hou rs lost by this pr oYours faithfully,
ceedmg ~~re far mo!e tha;n those by which the New
Brighton, September 9, 1893.
1I AGNUS VoLK.
Y <;>rk a.nttct_pated b Ar 10 .matl d eli very. The wisdom of
~h1~ course IS not to be discussed in a let ter; the fact is
To THE EurTOR Ol.t' ENGINEERING.
Yours truly,
Sn~.,-Referring t o th e letter _of Mr. Ramage in your mdlBputable.
.
B. w. GINSDURC.
last Jssue, may I suggest that 1f ball or r oller bearings
12, Kmg's Bench-walk, T emple, E. C., Sept. 11, 189~.
are u aed in close contact, one of a sli ghtly smaller
diameter should be interpolated between each of the
bearing ones ? As usually fitted, there must be conLOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.
siderable fri ction and wear at th e points where the balls
To TilE EDI'l'OR OF ENGINEERING.
came in contact with each other, and this might easily
Sm,-The followin g Table, com piled from the railway
be avoided.
Y our obedient servant.
companies' official returns, shows the number of locomoRonER'l' M cGLASSON.
ti ves on the important r ailways on D ecember 31, 1892.
Selhurst, S.E. , September 11, 1893.
It may be added that som e of the companies also possess
some old or duplicate engines which they d o not include
To THE F.f>ITOR Or' ENGISEEHING.
Sm,-W e n otice in your issue of th e 8th inst. the letter in the list.
L ist of L ocomotives on t.h,e Important Linu,
of your correspondent Mr. A . G . Ramage, with refer ence
December 31, 1892.
t o ball bearings for thrust block of propeller s hafts. We
Company.
Engines.
d o not know of any ca.se where balls ha ve been applied
L ondon and North-Western
...
...
2712
to reduce fri ction in this particular application, and
Midland
...
. ..
. ..
...
. . . 2172
from our ex p~rien ce we d o not think any arrangement of
G reat W estern
.. .
.. .
.. .
. . . 1690
balls only would b a found to work satisfactorily. It may,
North Eastern
.. .
...
.. .
. . . 1560
howe\er, interest your correspondtmt to know tha t we
Lancashire and Yorkshire .. .
...
...
1171
hope shortly t o be making trials with our anti-friction
Great Northern
.. .
.. .
...
. ..
949
r oller bearing applied t o propel1 er shafts, and shall be
Great Eastern ...
.. .
.. .
...
.. .
928
pleased to let him know the r esults of the said trials
Manchest er, Sheffield, and L incolnshird...
708
when mad e. In ou r arrangement rollers a re used t o
Caledonian
. ..
. ..
. ..
...
...
696
take the direct pressure, and balls ar e used as " spacers"
North British . . .
. ..
.. .
.. .
. ..
G92
for the said r ollers.
Yours faithfully,
L ondon and South-\Vestern
...
...
598
P URDON AND W ALTER..
L ondon. Brighton, and South Coast
...
417
2, G~orge-street, W e~tminster, S . W.,
South-Eas tern ...
.. .
. ..
. ..
...
378
September 11, 1893.
Glasgow and South-Western
...
...
313
...
. ..
210
L ondon, Chatham, and Dover
To TUE EmTOR or-, ENGINEER ING.
Ta.ff V a. le
...
...
. ..
...
...
190
SIR, -Toe lEt ter on this subject in your iRsue of the 8th
G reat Southern and W est ern (Ir~land) ...
178
inst. wage 310) recalls the fact that Mr. li'yfe, formerly
North Stafford
. ..
. ..
. ..
...
1 ~8
Crinan Canal engineer. built a small wooden screw
Great Northern of Ireland . . .
. ..
...
137
ste~mer about 1865 or 1866, which had a thrusb bearing
Furness...
...
. ..
. ..
...
...
123
with balls working agai nst a. single col1 ar. I saw the
Midl and Great W estern (Ireland )
...
114
arrangement, although not at work; but I believe it did
Nor th L ondon
...
. ..
. ..
...
104
all ri ght.
Yours truly,
Hi~hla.nd
...
.,.
.. .
...
.. ,
100
CLYDE.

LS EPT.

Is, I 893

The t otal number of engines in the United Kingdom

at the close of last year w&a, according to the returns,
17,439.
Yours truly,
CLEliENT E. STRETTON, C.E.
L eicest er, August 21, 1893.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Gla~gow P ig_I:on 11-fa rket.-A Bomewhat stronger tono
ruled m the pig-tron warrant market last Thursday when
SOJ?e 15,000 tons of Scotch iron wer e dealb in. Th~ cash
pnce for Scotch rose in th e early part of the day to
42s. 7~d. per t on, finishing in the afternoon at 42s. 7d.
One lot of Cleveland was disposed of at 35s. Gd. twentyfive d a.ys, but hema~ite iron rE:~a~ ned u nchanged, no busines~, however, bemg done m It t o test prices.
The
closmg settlement prices were-Scotch iron, 42s. Gd.
per t on; Cleveland, 35s. 3d.; Cumberland hematite iron
45s. l~d. p er ton. The market was qui~t on Friday fore~
noon. About 7000 tons of Scotch warrants were dealt in
one. lot going a.t 42s. 7!d. ca~h, with 1s. forfeit in seller'~
?PtLOn, and a~other at 42. lOd. one month, with I s. forfeit
m buy~r s. opt10n. No business was done in Cleveland or
hemati.t e uon. Th e market was idle in the afternoon,
but pnces were steady at the forenoon level. Near the
close of th e market, however, there was some buy ing of
Sc~tch, which stiffened the p rice, up to 42s. 8~d. cash
bemg d one, or ld. per t on ?P from the morning. Aboub
5000 t ons changed hands 10 the afternoon. Cleveland
was quoted ld. up, while Middlesbrough hematite iron
was marked 1~d . per t on down. The settlement prices
at the close w~re-Scotch iron, 42s. 7~d. p er ton; Oleve~and, 35s. 3~.; Cumber land and Middlesbrough hematite
n on respect tyely 45s. 1 ~ d. and 43s. 4!d. per ton. Busi~ess was qut et on Monday forenoon, the d ealings includm~ only 4000 tons, Scotch iron exclusively . 'fhe cash
pnce rose ld. per t on, at 42s. 9~d. Quietness was
also ih~ rule i~ the afternoon, so far as the amount
of bus10ess d omg was concerned, but the price of
Sc?tch was very steady, and 42s. 9d. cash was
pa1d. About 6000 t ons were disposed of. One lob
of 500 tons was d one at 42s. 8d. next Monday with a
','plant.. " At the close the settlfment prices' wereScot ch 1ron, 42~. 9d. per ton ; Cleveland, 35s. 3d. ; Cumberland and M iddl esbr ough hematite iron, 45s. l !d. and
43s. H d. p er ~on r espectively. Tueed ay's for enoon ma.rkeb
was ''ery qmet. About 4000 t ons of Scotch iron were
sold-500 t ons for 43s. one month, and 500 tons at
42s. ~~d. c~sh, ;epresenting a. gain of ! d . per ton on the
previous mght s close. The r emaining 3000 tons were
clone at 42s. 8d . and 42s. 8~d. next week, with" plants."
Cleveland also r ose in price { d. per ton. In th e afterno?n the market was steady, with rather mor e business
domg. Some 7000 or 8000 t ons were d ealt in and
the ca-sh price at the .fi nish marked a drop ~f ~d.
per t.cl? from the m ornm g. Business was also d 0ne
exoffiCially. a t ~s . l Od. ]fr iday, with a. call. Cumberl a~d hemat1t~ n on was quoted 2d. per ton under the
prtces asked m the for enoon. The set tlement prices a.t
the close were- Scotc:h iron, 42s. 9d.; Cleveland, 35s. 3d.;
Qumberla.nd and Middlesbrough h Ematite iron, respectively, ~5s. a.nd 43s. 4~~ per ton.
ome 3000 tons of
Scotch u on wer e dealt 10 this for enoon- 2000 tons ab
42s. 8~d . cash, 500 tons a.t 42s. 11!d., and 500 tons a.t
43s. cash one month, with ls. forfeit in buyers' option
Th e market was steady in the afternoon but still idle.
Only 5000 t ons of Scotch iron were dealt in and at th~
close the <;ash . quotation showed a. drop of' ld. per ton
from the mornmg at 42~ . 8d. cash sellers. The following
are a few. of the q uotatLOns for No. 1 special brands of
makers' Iron : Clyde, 47s. per t on ; Gartsherrie a nd
Summerlee, 49s. ; Ca.lder, ~9s. 6d.; L angloan, 55s. 6d.;
Coltness, 56s.-the foregomg all shipped at G lasgow
Gl~nga.rnock (shipped at Ardrossan), 49s. 6d. ; Shott~
(sh1pped at Leith), 51s. 6d. ; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth), ?3s. 6d. p er to~. . Ther e al'e still only 39 blast
furnace~ m .actual operat10n m Scotland, as compar ed with
79 at thts time last year. and that fact is t ending to keep
the market_steady. With such s mall stocks as ther e are
at present m the makers' yards and th e public warrant
stor~s, and as th ey ar e now being. en croa.ched upon, makers
con.sider themselves. wa.rrant.ed m puttmg up their prices,
wht?h . th ey are qUietly d omg. L ast week's shipments
of ~tg Ir2 n from a~l Scotch ports amounted to 6641 tons,
aga10s~ 17G7 t ons m the corresponding week of last year.
They .mcluded 500 tons f.or Canada, 320 tons for South
Amertca, 135 tons for Ind1a). 480 tons for A ustr9.lia, 100
t ons for Italy, 460 t0ns fCJr uermany, 410 tons for Russia
985 tons for Holland, smaller quantities for otbe~
?ountries, and 3041 tons coastwise. 'fhe stock of warrants
m !Yiessrs. Connal and Co.'s public warrant stor es stood
at 334,347 tons yesterday afternoon, as com pared with
335,080 tons yesterday week, thus showing a r eduction
over th~ week amounting to 753 tons.
F ini.shed I ron and Steel T rades.-The m alleable iron
trade 1s now r eported rather better in Coatbridge and
other districts than it was some few weeks ago. Ord ers
for common ~ars and shee~s, both for local consumption
and to r eplemsh me!chants stocks, are being placed daily.
Large o.rd ers fo~ smgle~ a~d special gauges have been
boo~ed m t he W1shaw distriCt for Australia. Tube strips
are m lar ge d em.a.n.d for C~atbridge and district tubew~rks, a nd .there IS m some mstances a slight ad vance in
prtces. ~t 1s rep~rted that st eel can not be bought except
at a considerable 1ncrea~e on th~ old figures of a couple
of DJOJ?ths ago.. There 1s a. feehng that if the r ecent advance m the prtce of coal could only be dropped even oneh~lf there would be some large orders for st eel placed
wtth Glasgow and Lanarkshire makers ; on the whole
however, many of the works are runni ng fairly wel l.
'
'l'h c Coat Trade.-There is no mater ial change to rerort

SEPT.

Is, I 893]

in respect of the coal trade of Lanarkshire and adjoining

counties. There continues to be a good hea.l~hy demand
for fuel for export purposes, and ho~.e. reqUI~f!me~ts are
satisfactory ; but, owing t o the fa01h~1es be~ng st1ll unequal t o the necessities of the occas~on, shipments are
not being as prGmptly effected as desirable, and as they
should be. T his, in various quarters, has natur~lly
created somewhat of a. surplus, and producers, bemg
unwilling to hold stocks, are shading _prices i~ order ~o
get rid of them. At the moment,_ constd~ra.ble mterest Is
felt as to the action employers w1ll t ake lt;l r~spe?tl of. the
wages question. A large number- the maJOrity, 1t mtght
b&said-are strongly in favour of the las~ ls. of ad v'!-nce
being taken back on the ground that pnces have gtven
way substantially from _the top, and that cu~rent quotati ons (these may be gtven as folio~: ~Iam coal, Ss.
to Ss. 3d. ; ell, 9s. to 9s. 6d. ; splint, Ss. 6d. ; and
stf a. n, 10J. to U s. per ton f.o.b. Glasgow) do not
justify the present rate of pay.
On th e other
band aome of the larger producers are decidedly oppo~ed
to a~y alteration being made, and ar~ue _that not~ung
should be done until the future of the E nghsh coal sttuation is more clearly defi ned.. A private meetin&" of the
Lanarkshire Masters' executtve was to be held thts aftern oon to again consider the question, and it is not i_m probable that it will be submitted to a. general meetmg_of
the association on Friday. The men are concertmg
measures to counteract the threatened reduction, and they
are t o hold a conference on Friday also to consider the
subjecb. Some of thE\ leaders are: disposed to argue for a.
return to the four-days-a.-week p olicy, but that unquestionably would be a distinct breach of the tacit understand ing come t o when the last advance was conceded,
when it was recognised that after the second 1s. was
given the men w~uld _give a fi v~-days-a-week output; and
if the men perstst m returnmg to four .d~ys per w~ek,
while desiring to retain the last advance. 1t IS a certa.mty
th at sooner or later a. serious crisis will develop in the
trade.
N ew Shipbuild~ng Contracts.- An order has been place~
with the L ondon and Glasgow Shipbuilding and Engtnet:\ring Company, Govan, for a. single-screw st eel stea.t;ner
of about 400ft. long, and about 5000 t ons gro~s ca.pa01ty.
She is intended for the "Glen" Line of Chma. traders,
for which many steamers have been built by the same
company. The L ondon and Glasgow yard is now '~ell
provided with work (three large steamers) for the ensumg
winter. J\.Iessrs. Robert Duncan and Co., Port-Glasgow,
ha ve secured a contract to build a large four-masted
steel sailing ship, to carry 3SOO t ons, for the
" Shire " Line of Messrs. Thomas Law and Co., Glasgow.
Messrs. John Shearer and Son, Kelvinba.ugh shipyard,
Glasgow, have contracted with J\.I r. John Simpson, G lasgow to build for him a steel screw steamer of extra
pow~r, and specially desirned for his general coasting
trade, to carry over 600 t~ns, and to have all the most
modern appliances. It 1s also reported that Messrs.
Alexander Stephen and Sons, Linthouse, Govan, who are
well provided with new work, have lately taken a contract for a new steamer of 6000 t ons.

333

E N G I N E E R I N G.
were removed from the i land by the contractor's smack
on August31. D espite the number of workmen on S~les
kerry, the se& f~w 1 and seal~ s~ill s_eem~d to r~ard 1t as
their own domam. and no dmnnut10n m the1r numbe; s
was apparent. The dwelling-houses for four keepers 1n
connection with this lighthouse, situated at Stromness,
were completed and taken over in May last.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.

Manufacturers of iron and steel are, as a. ru_le, only fulfilling contract orders, and are wr~tin&" t o th eu custofe~s
that they cannot guarantee dehvertes: The res'! ~ 18
that a mass of work which ~nd~r or~10ary condttiOns
would be placed in the distr1~t 1s bemg &en.t to Brt~
country or Continental compettto~ for exe~ut10n.
. us1
ness in marine material was expandiDg, but 1t has re~etved
a severe check. It is impossible at p~es~nt to est1~ate
the damage to the future trade of the d1stncti as the drrect
result of this interruption.
A 'rmour-Plates, G'Uns, d:c.-Rollers of armour-plates a.~e
looking for orders at an early date from the home ~utbon
ties as the naval programme must find constdera.b]e
further employment. There is a good dea.! of speculatiOn
as to the manner in which the contracts Wil~ be p~aced, as
any requirements can be locally ~ea.lb ~Vlt_h, etther a~l
steel compound 01 H~rveyised. 'Ibe prm01pa.l orders m
band at present 'are for Spai~ and Russia. '!'he call ~or
finished guns and gun parts IS belc;n v th e average, but "'!1
improvement is looked ~or later m the year. Some fall'
lines are in band for sohd st eel shot and shell. Slack
ness in these departments is throwing a..l?t of men out of
work or on short time. For best quallt1es of cast s_teel
there is a good inquiry, mainly tool steel~ for the Umted
States, South Afri~a, and the North. of l!ouro~e, but converters are much hampered in . the1r op&ratiOns by th e
scarcity and dearness of Yorkshire c~ke, that fr~m other
districts b~ing inferior an~ not sUitable for h1~h-cla.ss
material. It may be ment10ned _that houses turmng ?ut
the largest forgings _are in recetpt of some encouragmg
inquiries from the shtpyards.
.
Engineeri'Yig Departme.nts_.-Th~re are many complamts
as to falling off of W?rk 1.n var1<?us ~ranches, and the
number of h alf-timers 1s be10g raptdly mcreased. In and
about L E:seds machine requirements by local manufacturers
show a great reduction a s compa~ed with the c~rrespoi?d
ing period of last year. L ocomot1ve and tract10n e~gme
builders are not favourably placed, _and the outlo?k 1s not
very encouraging.
Those turnmg out ag_r10ultur ~l
machinery for exl?or~ have a~out got through th1s seas~n s
orders. Some fa.1r hnes are m hand for quarlz-crushmg
machin~ry for expor~, ht~t all departments appear for the
time bemg to be lackmg m energy.
The Coal Crisis.-Stocks of coal, of every description,
are almost exhausted here, and wh ere engine slack can be
got 14s. and 153. per ton is paid for it. The _attempted
importation of Durham coal only _leads to ~1ot,_ as the
colliers on strike have expressed the1r determma.t10n Rot
to permit it. In the majority of instances agents and
coa.lowners have ceased to attempt the introduction of
north country fuel on th e market, and the strike hands
have consequently been more peaceable during the past few
days. In South Yorkshire the men are a s determined as
ever not to submit to any reduction, though they are
suffering great hardship~, and the union funds. are wellnigh exhausted. Last mght, however, a most lmE_ortantl
announcement was made in the adjoining Derbyshire coalfield one that may lead to a radical change
of front here.' A leader of the Derbyshire Miners'
Union counselled the men to go back to work where
the old rate of wages was offered.
This has taken
all by surprise, as it is a direct violation of the
mandate of the federation. If th~t is done so near, ib
will not be long before the example ~s followed in this
district as thousands of hands are m favour of that
course. ' Many pit-own~r~ are prepared to resume ~pera
tions on the old cond1t10ns. Those most expenenced
believe this will lead to the solution of the difficulty, and
that the end of the strike is approaching.

MIDDLESBROUGH, W ednesday.
The Cleveland I ron Trade.- Y esterday there wa.~ a
numerous attendance on 'Change, and the _m arket was 10 a.
fairly cheerful state. A good deal of bus10ess. was done.
but nearly all the iron sold was for promJ?t dehvery, and
this is unusual for September, for at tbts seas~n of the
year Continental consumers general!Y come mto the
market for their autumn supplies. Just now, however,
few orders from abroad are coming to hand, our custom~rs
there evidently regarding the ea~ly future as uncertam,
and waiting m the hope of buymg on more favourable
t erms than they can secure at. present. Makers here
opine that prices are more hkely t o advance than
to recede, and declare that No. 3 is scarce. Yesterday
transactions were recorded ab 35s. 6d. ~or . prompt f.o.b.
delivery of No. 3 g.m.b. Cleveland p1g tron, and producers generally would not quote below that figure, but
business was also done at 35s. 4~d., and there we~e a
good few merchants willing to sell at the latter pnce.
No. 1 was sold at 37s. Gd , No. 4 foundry at. 34s., a~d
grey forge at 33s. The last mentioned quahty was 10
good demand and consid&rable orders might hb.ve been
booked at 32s: 9d. Hematite pig iron was in f~irly good
request, not~ithstanding the limited supphes to the
Sheffield distr1ct. and 43s. Gd. was _gener.ally asked for
mixed numb ~rs of local brands. A fa1r busmess ha3 been
done in warrants during the past few days, as they have
been cheaper than makers' iron. Y esterday ~1tddles
brough warrants closed 35s. 3d. cash buyers. To-day
there was no alteration in the market.
ManufactU'rcd I ron and Steel.-Little new ea? be said
of these two important industries. If anythang. _they
are somewhat improved, but we cannot repot t . higher
rates. There is, however, a little more work gomg on,
and quotations are stiffish. Com~on iro~ bars are quoted
4/. 17s. 6d.; best bars, 5l. 7s. 6d.; Iron sh1p-plat_es, 4l. 15s.;
iron ship angles, 4l. 12s. 6d.; and steel sh1p angles,
4l. 15s.-allless 2~ per cent. discount for cash, Heavy
sections of steel rails remain at 3l. l7s. Gd. net at works,
but it is said that ~ trifle less has been accepted.
The Fuel Trade.-At Newcastle the demand for steam
coal is good and best Northumbrian is quoted as high as
13s. f.o.b., though less is accepted in some cases, a?d a
good deal is being delivered on old con tract s at constderably below this rate. There is a good supply of small
steam, the price of which is about 5s. ~he ~a~es question in Northumberland and Durham l S ex01tmg much
interest. Several employers complain that advances
granted under special circumstances like the present are
diffi cult to get back when a norm~} demand ! eturns.
Clyde L ighthouses Trust.-The trustees of the Clyde Such is undoubtedly the fact, but, w1th everythmg CO?Lighthouses have under consideration a proposal to lay sidered, it would be pleasant to see ~he loyal way m
down fog-signalling apparatus at th e Cloch and Cum- which the miners have stuck to work suttably recog01sed.
brae Lights, at an estimated cost of well-nigh 4000l.
Cleveland Miners' Wages. - At a recently-held meeting
Proposed Harbour I mprovements at P eterhead. -An ex- of the Cleveland Mineowners' Association a letter was
tensive scheme of improvements has just been submitted read from Mr. J oseph Toyn, agent and president of the
to the Peterhea.d Harbour Trustees, the author of which Yorkshire and Cleveland Miners' Association, asking the
is Mr. Shield, :M. Inst. C E. The scheme. which has re- owners t o meet the executi ve committee on the question
ceived the approval of the trust ees, is not unlikely to in- of what wages should obtain after September 30, and
volve an outlay of at least 30.000l. Authority has been also to discuss the ratchet question. A deputation of
given to the trustees to go to Parliament next session for miners attended the meeting, and after the general questhe necessary Parliamentary powers t o carry out the tion of wages had been discussed, the following reply was
made by the mineowners: "The condition and prolesser of two schemes devised by Mr. Shield.
spects of the Cleveland iron trade entirely preclude the
Glasgow and South- W estern Railway Co'Tnpany.-At the owners from assenting to any advance of wages, believin~,
half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of this company, as they do, that such advance would be likely to result 10
which was held in Glasgow yesterday, Sir W. Renny a large reduction of t_he outpu.t, a_nd conseguently lessen \Vatson, chairman, stated how a. very big sum of money ing of employment m the d1stnct. Whtle the owners
had been expended on the doubling of the line between would be happy to see these conditions and prospect s so
Ayr and Girva.n, lines and works open for traffic (includ- altered a-s to warrant an advance of wages, they regret that
ing ext ensions at St. Enoch and from Glasgow &c.), trade since the last wages settlement, and the present outdoubling the line between May bole and Girvan ( Bridget on look, are far from holding out any such hope, but, on the
Cross extension), two new steamers, &c., and he also men- contrary, would in their opinion have justified a. reduction.
tioned various important works that are to be commenced Under these circumstances the most they can propose is
during the present half-year, or are already in pro~ress, to leave the present rates of wages unchanged until D eone of them being the new passenger steamer at Prmce's cember 31 ; or, desiring to afford to the men the fullest
Pier, Greenock.
information as to the present position and future prosSuleskerry Lighthouse.- W ork was resumed at Sules- pects, they ~re willing, if so requested, that the rates
kerry Lighthouse (which lies out in the Atlantic some payable in the Cleveland mines should be made the submiles west of the Orkneys) on April 17, when twenty- ject of a formal arbitration to determine what, if any,
seven workm en, including boatmen, with all requisite alteration therein, up or down, should be made. The
stores, &c., were safely landed. All the mason work has ad va.nce the men had sought was 5 per cent. During the
now been completed, and the tower made ready to receive meeting the ratchet question was mentioned, but no
the lantern, the contract for which has been placed with arrangement was come to with respect thereto.
Messrs. Steven and Struthers, engineers, Glasgow. It is
understood that the lantern and apparatus for lighting
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.
will be the largest and most powerful in the Northern
SHEit'FIELD, W ednesday.
Lighthouse service. The highest ground on the i~land
T he H t.avy Trades.-Trade in the heavy departments is
rises to 50 ft. above the sea., and it is on this eminence
that the lighthouse is erected. From the base of the practically at a. standstill, and complaints come in on
t ower to the light the height will be about 70 ft.; thus a every side. Most of the blast furnaces hereabouts are
light about 120 ft. above sea level is given, and it damped down, and though prices of pig have been adshould be visible from 25 to 30 miles. The dangerous island vanced, sales are very slow both f or foundry and forge.
known as the St'\ck lies 4! m iles south- w~t of Suleskerry, The former commands 40s. to 42s. per ton, and the latter
and the light will, of course, warn the numerous vessels up to 44s. Manufacturers of both iron and steel have, in
which pass in this direction of its proximity. Owing to the majority of instances, had to suspend operations owing
fine wes.ther the work procetded without a hitch, and as to neither coal nor coke being obtainable, or in limited
now only inside fittings remain to be done, Mr. Aitken supply at figures which cannot be afforded. In the Leeds
contemplates finishing his contract in a few months next district the fuel famine is more severe than at Sheffield.
season. As the tower has been completed and ready to Thousands of workmen who have nothing to do with the
receive the lantern, the work could not be advanced any dispute are out of employment, and much distress prefurther this year, so all the men-mostly Shetlanders- vails; but this is not the worst feature of the case.

NrcKEL STEEL ARMouR TRIALs AT CnxusoT.- A

specimen of some nickel-steel armour plates which have
been manufactured at Le Creusat for the n ew Russian
Black Sea. battleship Tri Sviatitelia (Three Saints) has
been tried at Le Creusot in the )?resence of the members
of the Russian Naval CommissiOn, and has given some
remarkable results. The plate measured 8 ftl. by S ft.,
and was 15.9 in. thick. The conditions of acceptance
were that it should receive four blows from Holtzer projectiles of chrome steel, weighin~ 317 lb. apiece, and fired
from a 9.4-in. gun with a. strikmg velocity of 1945 footseconds ; and it was stipulated that no pieCE\ of the target
should be broken off, and that in no case should the base
of the projectile penetrate th e ta-rget to a depth of as
much a s 7. S in. The four rounds were fired at the angles
of a. square which was painted on the centre of the target,
and which measured 4 ft. each way. The order of the
shots was-(a) right lower corner; (b) left lower corner;
(c) left upper corner; (d) right upper corner; and the
following, according to the Times, were the striking
velocities and injuries to projectile and plate: (a) Velocity, 2001 ft. per second. P enetration of the point of
the projectile, 14.1 in. The projectile flew backwards
with the point smashed and the shoulder somewhat set
up. The target showed three Vbry fine cracks running
from the wound. (b) Velocity, 194S ft. per second.
P enetration of the point of the projectile, 10.9 in. The
projectile flew backwards, broken into numerous fragments. As before, three fine cracks developed in the
target. (c) Velo<:ity, 1923 ft. per second. Penetration
of the J?Oint of the projectile, 14 in. The projectile flew
back w1th the head smashed and the cylindrical part somewhat set up. A single fine crack was remarked. (d) Velocity. 1962 ft. p er second. Penetration of the point
of the projectile, 9. 9 in. The projectile flew backwards.
broken into numerous fragments. There were no fresh
cracks, and the old ones were not increased. Examinat ion of the back of the target revealed the existence of
low swellings, varying from 1 in. to 1. 7 in. in elevation~
behind each p oint of impact. Behind points (a) and (bJ
there were some fine cracks, behind points (c) and {d )
there were no cracks at all,

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

334

H. M.
CONSTRUCTED BY

[SEPT. 15, 1893.

..

F IR ST-CLASS CRU I SER "THE SE US."

THR THAMES IRON\VORKS AND SHIPBUILDING COMPANY, LII\liTED, BLACK\VALL,

LONDON.

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CONTENTS.
PAOB
Th e Distribut ion of Load on
Trough Floora for Bridges
(lllu~tratecl) . . . . . . . . . . . 319
'Ihe Engineering Cong ress
at Chicago ( I Uustrated ) . 320
T he De,elopment of South
African R'\ilways ....... . 324
H erbert's Capstan Lathes
( Illustrate l) ... . .. . ..... 328
Fox's Press, d Steel F rames
(lltu11t r ated) .... . ...... 328
'I h e Niag~ra" Pulreriser
( l tlt~.At rated) ..... . . .... 329
Club Railroad C.u (lllttS
trated) .. . .. ..... . ..... 329
N ote3 from the U oited
States .. . .. . . . . . .. .. . . . . 329
Notes from the South West 329
Locomotives a.t the Columbian Expo~it"o n (Illut.
trated ) .... ....... ... . 330
II . ~ .S. " These11s" (lllUJt
ttated) . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . 330
Stt.. pension Foot Bridge at
Ba nchory (llhtst raterl ) .. 331
T he Economical Speed of
Steamsh ips (IUust,ated) 331
S Jeed P remiums .......... 332
B~ll Bearings .... ......... 332
l oocrete Beams . . . . . . . . . . 332
CJotractors and the Admir alty .. ........... ... . .. 332
Lo: om )tive Engines ... . . . 332
lf' itlt a two-page engra ving flj

PAGB

Th e "Teutonic" and " New

York" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Notes from t h e NorLh .. .. . 332
Notes from Cleveland and
t.he N orthern Counties . . 333
Notes from South Yorkshire 333
The Trades Union Congress,
l e93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Some Recent Boiler Explosions ........ .. ..... . ... . 336
Th e Waste of Shipping .... 337
Offic ial Tests i n Norway
with Small-Calibre Rifles 838
The N ew Spa oish Cruiser
"Infan ta A1aria. T eresa" 338
Literature .. .... . . .. .. , 339
Books Received.. . .. .. . . . . 341
Not es .................... 341
Miscellanea. ... . ...... .. .. 342
Reid's Automatic Stea.mReducing Yalve (l llustrated) ........ ... . .. . 343
I ndudtrial Notes .. . . .. .. . . 313
On the M iddl ~shrough Salt
Industry (Jllustrated) .... 3H
The Manufactu re and Testing of Portland Cem ent .. 345
Ex periments o n ' 'Ser ve"
Tubes in Marine Boilers
( flltt8trated) . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Launcht!s and T ial Trips .. 348
" Engineering" Patent Record (lltustrat1 l) .. .. .. _. 349
cm EIGHT-Wll EELED p .AS-

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E NGINEERING.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1893.

THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS, 1893.

THE twenty-fifth Trades Union Congress has
come and gone, and its proceedings, like those of
all former Congresses, have become matters of history. On the whole, it has been a remarkable
Congress, in some respects. It was held in the one
town of all others in which local prej udices are
strong, even most vehement at times, but mainly
on p olitical and religious questions. These, however, sometimes take an industrial and social turn,
and develop an animosity and even a hatred which
finds expression in feuds and violence among workmen generally working together at the same
branches of trade, and even in the same workshops. Only a few weeks ago scenes of violence
were enacted in the town and vicinity of Belfast,
which seemed to augur badly for the th en forthcoming Congress. But those feuds had so far died
out, or were hushed into silence in the Labour Parliament, that no one could have disoovered that
any such existed. Protestants, Catholics, and Dillsenters, Tories, Unionists, Liberals, Radicals, and
Socialists met in the same hall, sat around the same
tables, disoussed the same problems, and ultimately
voted on the questions submitted wit hout regard to
any of the foregoing divergences or predilections.
The delegates differed upon the subject-matter
before them, and voted accordingly ; but they were
not materially influenced by the "isms " or schisms
above referred to. They seemed to be non-existent.
The Belfast Congress was not so large, in point
of numbers, as several of the more recent ones,
the total number of delegates being only 380, as
compared with 495 last year, a decrease of 115
delegates. The total number of members of unions
repr esented at the Congress was stated to be
900,000, as against 1,219,934 last year, a decrease
of 319,934. The r elative proportion of members
represented by each delegate was 2464 in 1892, and
2370 this year. The cash balance last year was
1214l. ; this year it is 1262l., less the cost of the
Congress. The proceedings this year have been less
boisterous than on some former occasions, and the
personal element in debate was less rancorous. On e
cur ious incident was t he expulsion of a delegate one
day on the ground of disqualification, and his reinstatement the next, t hough all the facts remained
precisely the same. But there were no allegations
against the delegate except that he was not
qualified according to a r ecent standing order made
only last year. The only other incident of an
exciting character was an attack by the delegate
of the Fawcett Association (postal employes) upon
the labour members. But the very men whom he
attacked hold letters of thanks from him, written
by the authority of his committee, thanking them
for what they had done on behalf of the postmen.
Generally the proceedings and debates were characterised by good-humour, though at times there was
a babel of sounds, in the course of which the
chairman lost his voice and the bell its tongue ; the
discovery of the latter fact led to a hear ty genuine
laugh and restored good-humour just at the moment
when it was most needed, as the Congress was in
an excitable mood.
The Trades Congress is more and more ceasing
to be a deliberative assembly, and is becoming
merely a recording body of r esolutions often hastily
dra wn, and generally but very little debated. Two
facts alone will indicate what is here meant . With
the exception of the chairman's addr ess, and in one
or two other instances, the speeches were limited
first t o five minutes each, and then to three minutes
each. This limitation may be necessary in order
to enable all the talking delegates t o have th eir say,

335
but it is impossible to put any case. either for or
against a. resolution of importan~e In three or five
minutes. The inevitable result 1s that hasty conclusions are arrived at, and resolutions a:re passed
which it is quite impossible for the Parliamentary
Committee to deal with in the course of the current
year. The n ewer men at t hese Congresses lack the
idea. of proportion, and the Congres~ t~ere~y los~s
that characteristic which formerly dlStingUished _It
of being a practical body, seeking to emho~y In
legislation, from year to year, some of t he subJects
r elegated to the Parliamentary Committee. That
was the object which the Congress originall~ ha~
in view when the committee was created and Instituted. As a r esult of this change of policy the
Parliamentary Committee have n ot been able to
register a single Act of Parliament as the result of
their own initiative. In lieu of this they gave
prominence in their r eport to t hree Acts passed by
Mr. George Ho well, one relating to trade unions,
one to friendly societies, and one to industrial and
provident societies. The committee had numerous
Bills before Parliament, but not on e of them has
become law. This failure to enact is the outcome
of a policy of haste.
The programme for the ensuing Parliamentary
year is larger and wider than that adopted in any
previous year. I t is so wide and far-reaching, that
if t he whole of th e autumn session and the whole
of n ext year were devoted t o it, the maj or portion
of the subjects could not be dealt with. Indeed,
if the whole time of the present Parliament were devoted to the subjects enumerated by the Congress,
to the absolute exclusion of all others, t he measures
could not be carried through both Houses and be
embodied in law. A reference to the old Parliamentary reports of t he committee will show that
they arranged a programme in an order of precedenoe as things to be attempted in each succeeding session. Now, there is no indication of
preference, and no selection of possible measures.
Progress is therefore purely a matter of chance,
even when progress can be made, and the way is
left open for other members of Parliamen t to
"cut in/' to use a P arliamentary phrase, to the
exclusion, if n ot the extinction, of the Congress
leaders who may happen to be in Parliament.
But worse remains behind. Some of the r esolutions passed, and those the most far-reaching,
are impossible of r ealisation, certainly within the
period of the present century. The keynote of t he
policy adopted by the Congress is to be found in
the very lengthy resolution as regards labour r epresentation, which was carried by 160 votes to 32.
This resolution proposed to institute an electoral
fund, to be formed by a contribution by each
society of 6s. per 100 members, the administration
of which is to be in the hands of a committee of
t hirteen persons, inclusive of secretary and treasurer. All candidates receiving support from such
fund must pledge themselves to support the labour
programme of the Congress. Now that programme
was tolerably definitely decided by an amendment
carried by 137 to 92 votes, on t he motion of a
London delegate. The amendment was : "Candidates r eceiving financial assistance must pledge
themselves to support the principle of collective
ownership and control of all the means of production and distribution, and the labour programme
as agreed upon from time to time by the Congress. "
The r esolution with this addendum strikes dead
the Trades Union Congress, and the whole industrial system which called it into existence, in so far
as a paper pellet can strike anything dead. It
is political and socialistic, if you please as
was admitted by all its chief supporters,' but
it ~ardly squares with t he objects and intentwns of a '' Trades Congress. "
How is
the object to be attained ? By Act of Parliament ? Supposing that the end and aim are
good, all measures in favour of '' betterment " of
whatever _kind, ~ill ten d rather to perpetuat~ the
present Industrial system, by making it more
endurable. Therefore progr ess must be brouohtto a
standstill in order to cultivate and intensify discontent, so that in the deadlock a socialistic revolution
can be evol ved out of the chaos. This closing of
the r anks is the death-knell to the proposed electoral fund, and will shut the door to men otherwise useful to the labour cause. The only thina
that it can do is to open the door t o a number of
candidates. who wil~ pr~mise everything and perform nothmg, but It will have no weight in the
councils of the nation, and produce only thorns
and thistles in what is called the Labour Party.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Capital may rest satisfied with the conclusion
arrived at, for the leaders will be too busy outvying
each other, fightin g each other, and attacking each
oth er to allow of any time for r eal organisation
and r eal work, while the weary workers will continue to suffer.
The best bits of work done at the Congress for
practical purposes were t he resolutions and discussions on the Employers' Liability Act and the Bill
now before P arliament to amend it. This discussion
was opportune, in view of the decision of the
Government to take that measure in the autumn
session. Then the subj ect of factory inspection
was also opportune ; but while it is wise t o relax
the examination in some particulars, so as to allow
workmen a chance of being appointed, it is n ot
d esir able t hat the r elaxation shall be permanent.
Workmen have a chance to qualify if they will but
educate themselves, and there is no end of opportunities in that direction. Besides, the Congres3 is
insisting upon examination in oth er directions.
Another pertinent and useful resolution was t hat
in which fair wages and Government contracts
were consider ed. The resolution was a long
one, so as to embrace all the points r elating to
the subj ect. Then the Congress adopted a resolution a-ffirming the propriety of appealing
in the recent case of Templeton 'V. Russell
as to conspiracy. The unemployed were dealt
with in anot h er r esolution on rather open lines, so
as t o allow of movement in that direction if the
opportunity occurs. But there was an intentional
sting in t hat resolut ion. Further amendment of
the Merchandise Marks Acts was proposed and
carried, and also a s tring of resolutions r elating to
boiler examination, coroners' inquests in Scotland,
and a variety of other matters. The eight hours'
r esolution of previous Congressea was re-affirmed,
with a sort of local option, except in the case of the
miners, to which the federation will n ot agree. The
oddest thing at the Congress was the attack upon
the newspaper preRs and the r eporters. The chief
object of the r esolution was directed against particular men, but the terms of it will recoil upon t he
Congress itself.
The chief interest of the Congress was centred
after all in t he election of secretary of the P arliamentary Committee, the committee itself, and
of the place for the n~xt meeting, in 1894. Mr.
Charles Fonwick, M.P., was elected secretary
by 251 votes to 89 for Mr. Keir Hardie, M. P .
This vote was the largest in t he Congress, 340
out of 380 voting. The election of Mr. Fenwick saved the Congr ess from practical extinction. The change in the personnel of the Parliamentary Committee is n ot great, but its
character is very materially altered. Mr. Broadburst reappears on the committee, while Mr. Harford of the Railway Servants' U nion, is displaced.
Mr. Anderson, of the Amalgamated Society of E ngineers, is replaced bY: Mr. Burns, M.P., an~ Mr.
John Wilson, M.P., g1ves place to Mr. E. Cow1e, t h e
President of the Miners' Federation. All the others
were re-elected. Mr. George Shipton, of t he London
Trades Council, was not elected, nor were others of
the older order of trade unionism, such as Mr. J ohn
Inalis of Glasgow, and Mr. Stuart Utley, of
Sh~ffi~ld. The balancing element is defective in
numbers and in force. The aggressive element is
strengthen ed by two out of the t hree new members
elected. The tactics of "capture" have, to some
extent succeeded, but the final issue of the change
will o~ly be seen when the next year's report is
presented. Congr ess promises will then be tested
by the amount of work done, and its qualit~.
N orwich was selected as the place of next. yea.r s
gatherin()' a city which boasted of a textile lndustry b~fore Manchester was heard of in the industrial world. The gathering in Belfast was hist orical in many respects, and the treat ment of the
delegates was exceptionally good. P ossibly the
effect will be to draw closer t ogether the English
and Irish workers in all matters affecting labour,
and thus break down some of the old p rejudices
that have long exi.nted.
S0~1E RECENT BOILER EXPLOSIONS.
THE result of eleven years' working of the
'' Boiler Explosions Act " has been materially to
r educe t he number of these casualti~s, and to
correspondingly lessen t he annual . bill of mortality which had to be regularly pa1d before that
Act was passed. The investigations conducted
by the Board of Trade, and of which we have from

time to time given full r eports in these columns,

have been in the main minute an d thorough, and
although we have occasionally dissented from t h e
judgments of the Commissioners and ventured to
point out where we thought they erred, still, taken
as a whole, the conclusions arrived at have been
equitable, and the publication of the information
gained has been an educational medium that has
n ot failed to be of service. The infliction of
penalties, too, where default has been brough t
home, has had due weight, for it is an
axiom that the fear of suffering in pocket
will influence some people far more t han t he teaching of any number of moral lessons. But t hough
serious explosions are n ot so numerous as formerly,
t he list is still much too high, especially when
t h e fact is borne in mind that such an event as
the bursting of a boiler ough t to be of very rare
occurrence. Given a well-constructed and wellkept boiler, equipped with the fittings n ecessary
for security, and att ended and examin ed by a duly
qualified man-all of which conditions are but
reasonable-and an explosi on ~hould be rendered
impossible. This is the point which should be
strictly borne in mind by those who are inter ested
in the safe and progressive development of commercial enterprise. A mere r eduction in t he yearly
loss of life should not be sufficient ; practically
entire prevention should be the goal kept in view.
That great ignorance, the most reprehensible
r1egligence, and a flagrant non-recognition of due
responsibility, still exist, and that these facts
sh ould, by legislation or some other means, be
grappled with, is illustrated by several r ecent
Government inquiries, particulars of which we have
duly given to our readers. The adoption of even
t he most elementary m ethods for attaining safety
is still the last thing t hought of- if thought of at
all-by many persons, and the question may well
be put, Why should such persons be allowed to
possess and to work for their own profit, and at
great risk to life, such a dangerous apparatus as an
ill-made and ill-kept boiler ? Measur es to prevent
this are, in numerous cases, as much n eeded now as
ever, and this cannot fail to have struck t he reader
of the reports which we have from time to time
published.
Four of the most r ecent Board of Trade investigations may be briefly referred to, inasmuch as they
contain points worthy of more consideration than
the mere recital of the facts will afford.
The first of these dealt wit h an explosion whi eh
occurred off Yarmouth ('Vide E NGINEERING, July 28
last, page 112). The boiler was used on board a
fishing smack, and, when the explosion occurred,
the vessel was burnt to the water's edge, and the
boiler lost in t he sea. The skipper was seriously
injured, but, with the exception of the t hird hand,
who was somewhat hurt, the crew wer e all r escued
and safely landed unharmed. The boiler was a small
vertical one made in 1882, and from that time up
to the date of the explosion only superficial examinations were apparently made. The Commissioners, in their judgment, stated that in all probability the firebox collapsed owing "most likely
to the plates having become so r educed in thickness by internal corrosion as to be unable to withstand the pressure." The boiler being lost, n o
examination could, of course) be made, and the
Commissioners simply had to follow the evidence
and form their conclusions t herefrom. I t does not
appear that any statements were made by the
witnesses to substantiate the corrosion t heory,
and although this defect is a prolific source of explosion in the case of these vertical boilers, more
especially from collapse of the fireboxes, no proof
was adduced that it existed in the boiler in question. On the other hand, t he evidence, we think,
pointed to another cause, and which was probably
the real one. The spring balance of the safety
valve had been, it was stated, originally fitted with
a ferrule to prevent the valve bein g screwed down
and locked fast, but this ferrule had at some time
or other been r emoved, so that there was nothing
to prevent the accumulation of pressure to a dangerous extent by a few turns of t he nut. I t was
affirmed, during the inquiry, t hat at t he por t of
Yarmouth the safety valves on the boilers of
fishing smacks were "habitually tampered wit h. "
In the official report j ust issued by the Board of
Trade t he Commissioners say: "We have been
told that it is a common practice of smacksmen to screw up the nuts of these lever s
so as t o obtain any pressure which they
may desire to have, and it has been proved

that on many occasions coin<3 and washers have

been found jammed between the valves and levers.
. . . . . We are very strongly of opinion that
measures should be taken to stop this practice."
Looking at those facts, it appears to us more than
likely that this explosion was due rather to excessive pressurA through tampering with the safety
valve t han to the cause assigned by the Commis
swners.
The Commissioners r ecommended the adoption
of a lock -up valve. Seeing that the valves at present used are so constantly tampered with by t he
men on board these vessels, who appear to have no
idea of the danger they incur, we certainly think
t he r ecommendation is a wise one. Further, inasmuch as explosions on board iishing smacks and
other small craft are increasing, and now form a
large proportion of the gross a nnual number of explosions from various deEcriptions of boiler, it is but
r easonable that some means should be taken to insure
greater safety for the crews of such vessels. It may
be said that if a man is so stupidly ignorant or leekless as to endanger life and pr operty in the manner
referred to, it is his own affair and his own loss if
he suffer s, and that there is n o reason why there
should be a systematic endeavour to control all t he
evolutions of human perverseness. U nfortunately,
however, it is n ot always that the wrongdoer is the
victim or sole victim of his own act ; very often
others are punished wh o have had n o hand in
originating t he danger, as in t he case under review,
where the smack was burnt to t he water's edge, and
t h e lives of th e crew placed in jeopardy. It therefor e appears that t here is a clear call for a better
state of things, and that the Government should
carefully consider the question at its earliest opport unit y. The boilers on board passenger steamers are
certified by the Board of Trade, and we seeno reason
why a similar precaution should not be taken in the
case of humbler craft, the men on board of which, it
would appear, go to sea with t heir lives in imminent
peril, as. in addition to the ancient danger of being
lost in the storm, they are in too many cases now
confronted by the modern but entir ely surmount able danger of being at any moment blown
up by the boiler. The r eport just issued on t he
explosion at Yarmouth is one to which the attention of the Board of Trade should be specially
directed.
The second investigation which we may briefly
touch on r eferred to an explosion at an iron works
near Bilston ('Vide ENGINEERING, August 11, page
188). The boiler was of ancient make, and of the
old-fashioned egg-ended externally-fired type. I t
burst simply from a seam rip, a defect to which
this class of boiler is peculiarly prone. The back
end was blown 170 yards, but luckily no injury
resulted, as no person happened to be in the way of
the flying fragments. The Commission ers, in their
judgment, after stating that t he boiler had been in
use many years before being laid down at Bilston,
exonerated t he owners from blame, inasmuch as
' 'the seam rip could not have been discovered. "
When introducing his case, Mr. Gough, on behalf
of the Board of Trade, specially mentioned that
many boilers of t his type had burst from a similar
cause, and we should have though t that the Commissioners would, under t h e circumstances, have
given a note of warning in condemnation of the
practice of keeping such a dangerous construction
of boiler in use. lf hidden defects may exist which
at any time may develop a disastrous explosion,
dealing death and destruction around, surely steam
users should be put on their guard, and so risky a
type of boiler should be emphatically condemned.
But in the present case t he Commissioners merely
gave utterance to a mild word or two to t he effect
that "per sons purchasing second-hand boilers
should ascertain their age and have them carefully
examined," although the defect in t he exploded
boiler had just been pronounced to be beyond discovery. All boilers of a ty pe notoriously liable to
suffer from defects which cannot be found out by
inspection ought to be cut up and t hrown on the
scr ap heap. This would be hetter than to daily
risk the lives of the many men who, especially at
iron works, frequently are employed in the immediate vicinity of such boilers.
Bearing closely on this phase of the question,
however, is another, viz., that the boiler was insured by a company which, according to the chief
engineer 's evidence befor e t he Court of I nquiry,
existed by taking risks. So long as dangerous
boilers can be insured in case of blow up, on payment of a money premium, so long will there be

E N G I N E E R I N G.
found owners who are willing to run the risk of whilst if we base the estimate on gross tonnage,
working them. The presiding Commissioner said we find the percentage of loss for t he past year
that in adopting the practice of insuring such boilers was 1. 69. Comparing the figures referring to tona company might be, justified "legally," and he nage- which, perhaps, afford the mor~ ju~t estimight well have finished the sentence by adding that mate-with those of eleven other countnes (mcludit was doubtful if they were justified morally. We ina our colonies), we find that six of them show
certainly think that the custom, where it exists, of better averages; thus the United States lost 1.67
insuring bad or untrustworthy boilers in order to per cent. of its gross steam tonnage, Aust ro-Hunmake a dividend, with little or no examination, is gary 0.90 per cent, Holland 0.17 per cent. , Ger
wrong in principle ; by so doing the owners, rightly many 1.16 per cent., Italy 1.10 per cent., and
or wrongly, are led to think that the boilers are R ussia 1.12 per cent. The countries which show a
safe, while at the same time a dangerous class of heavier proportion of tonnage lost are as follows :
boiler is perpetuated, and an unworthy, though British colonies, 2.41 per cent. ; Franc~, 2.62 per
perh 1ps quite unintentional, disregard of the safety cent. ; Nor way, 2. 72 per cent. ; Spain, 3.40 per
cent. ; and Sweden, 2.39 per cent. In order that a
of their workpeople is the result.
Tae remaining two investigations upon which we closer estimate may be form ed of our position, we
may say a word both dealt with explosions from give the numbers and gross tonnage of steam
small vertical boilers used at farms. (Vide ENOI vessels lost by the count ries named duting t he past
NEERINO, August 25, page 240.) In each case the year : Colonies, 15 vessels, 12,440 tons ; United
boiler was corroded and worn out, and, although States, 9 vessels, 9560 tons ; Austro-Hungary, 2
in use for years, no examination worth the name vessels, 1548 tons ; H olland, 2 vessels, 488 tons ;
had been made. In one instance a blacksmith had France, 19 vessels, 22,412 tons ; Germany, 10
managed to impress the intending purchaser with vessels, 12,591 tons ; Italy, 2 vessels, 3409 tons ;
a sense of his ability to examine boilers, and at his N orwa.y, 8 vessels, 9137 tons ; Russia, 1 vessel, 2297
recommendation the purchase was eff~cted, although tons; Spain, 9 vessels, 14,871 tons; Sweden, 9
the boiler at the time must have been in a highly vessel~:;, 5013 tons. I t may be added that t he
dangerous condition. T wo lives were lost by this remainder of the tohl of steam losses is made up
explosion, and the Commissioners rightly expressed in t he tables as follows : Other E uropean countheir opinion of t he conduct of this amateur in- tries, 8 vessels, 6905 tons ; Asia, 6 vessels, 4638
spector by fining him 20l. There are far too many tons ; Central and South America, 9 vessels, 6590
of these incompetent examiner s in the count ry, tons ; other count ries, 1 vessel, 313 tons. The
and the worst of it is that t heir neighbours have tables give eight columns, into which the losses are
too often implicit faith in t heir capabilities in this divided under t he h eadings of "Abandoned at
direction. Pvssibly the fact that their services may, Sea, " " Broken up, Condemned, &c.," "Burnt,"
as a rule, be obtained very cheaply, lies a.t t he h Collision," "Foundered," "Lost, &c.;' " Missing, " and "Wrecked." A consideration of these
foundation of the faith.
In the other ca'3e the boiler had been bought sub-heads will show t hat the total figures quoted
second-hand for 4l. 10J., and here also an incom- must not be taken as final in the light of "figures
p etent person hld professed to examine it, and of merit " for the respective countries. Thus we
to give his advica, which, of course, was quite find t hat Germany did not condemn a single steam
worthless. The Commissioners considered that t he vessel during the past year, and this largely
owner had erred through ignorance, and or dered accounts for her good average of steam tonnage
hiru to pay 15l. towards the costs of the inv estiga- loss-namely, 1.16 per cent. France, on the other
tion, which, it was stated, amounted to 100l. They hand, condemn ed four steamships, c:f a gross
dwelt strongly on the importance of careful inspec- ton nage of 5188, out of the total fleet of 532
tion, which would h ave prevented both t hese explo- steamers, equalling 853,799 tons gr oss, owned by
sions and saved t he Jives sacrificed. We are in- the nation . The United Kingdom condemned 20
clined to regard as inexcusable an ignorance which steamships, equalling 23,610 tons gross, out of our
prompts its possessor to buy a boiler for 4l. 10s. , total steam fleet of 6035 ships, of 8,601,679 tons
and to keep it in work for ten years without the gross. It may be stated t hat Ger many stands next
slightest semblance of efficient examination. If to the U nited Kingdom in total steam vessels
it were a solitary case we should pass it by owned, the figures for t hat country being 846
with merely a momentary thought, but when we ships of 1,088,830 tons gross.
Our colonies
know that the same neglect of precaution has own a steam fleet exactly equal to that of
occurred over and over again, and will continue to Germany in numbers, but the gross tonnage is less,
occur, we are constrained to ask whether it is not only 515,204; which shows that the average
time that some effectual means of prevention should steamer of the British col onies is not much more
be enforced. If owners ca.nnot keep their boilers than half t he size of t he average steamship of Ger15 1.fe, one of two courses should be followed : either many.
The other countries, besides t hose already
they should be compelled to call in t rustworthy named, which own over300,000 gross tons of steam
examiners, or t h e matter should be taken out of shipping are : United States, 572,252 tons ; Italy,
their hands and under taken for them by some 317,197 tons; Norway, 335,547 tons; Spain,
r eally competent and responsible authority.
436,925 tons. Turning to other sources of loss,
we find t hat England abandoned t hree vessels at
sea, the colonies one, and France one. F our
THE vVASTE OF SHIPPING.
British vessels were burnt, two American, one
TnE enormous production of shipping, which Swedish, one Asian, and two Cent ral American.
goes on continually- although with so great fluctua- By collision England lost t hirteen ships, t he
tion-as t he tide of demand ebbs and flows, is colonies two, Austro-Hungary one, France four,
made commercially possible by reason of t wo chief Germany six, Norway one, Spain one, other Euro
causes, namely, t he waste t hat constantly goes on , pean countries two, and Central and Sout h
and the expansion of the world's commerce. The America one. This gives thirty-one steamers lost
second cause is one that ca.nnot be summarised, by collision out of a total of 215 losses from all
but a fair estimate of the former can be arrived at causes, including the forty-six condemned. Under
by means of t he valuable "Statistical Summary " the headingof "Foundered" England has t hree ships
prepared by Lloyd's Register; the complete sheets tabulated, the colrJnies one, France one, Germany
of which for the past year have recently been issued. one, and Russia one. The figures are promising,
By these tables we learn t hat during 1892 t here although it may be hoped that this heading will
were lost 215 steam vessels of all nationalities, become all but unnecessary before long. The
counting only ships of over 100 tons ; vessels of figures in the "Lost" and the " Missiug" columns
above that size being alone dealt with in this notice. do not call for comment ; but under the heading
The aggregate net tonnage was 164,749, and the of " Wrecked " we find t he most prolific record,
gross aggregate tonnage 257,048. Of this number there being in this column a total for all countries of
vessels belonging to the United Kingdom supply by 103 vessels, or n early 50 per cent. of the total
far the larger propor tion, namely, 105 out of t he losses. Under the heading'' V\7r ecked " are included
total, the gross tonnage being 144,746, or con- vessels lost through stranding or striking on r ocks,
siderably over 50 per cent. of the total tonnage &c., and of the total England supplies 54 ships
for all nations. This would be not far off the the colonies 4, t he United States 4, Austro~
proportion of losses that would be due to this HuJ?gary 1, France 8, Germany 2, Norway 5,
country taking into consideration t he number Sp~un 5, Sweden 5, other European countries 4
of steam vessels we own, as compared to those sail- Asia 5, and Central and South America 6.
'
ing under foreign flags, although in this respect the
So far. we. have dealt wi~h the figures r elating to
figures are rather against us. Thus we find that steam shtppmg only, and 1t could be wished that
the percentage of loss for the United Kingdom is this country appeared t o mor e advantage in the
1.74 on the total numl)er of steamships owned ; matttr of ve~sels lost. The figures, as t hey stand ,

337
put England in a so mew hat higher position than
she should h old if the "Br oken up and Condemned " column were eliminated. Thus we find
that neither Holland nor Italy lost a single ship,
the total wastage of both these countries being d ue
to two ships condemned in each case; that is to say,
not a single Dutch n or Italian steamer was wre~ked
during 1892. Of course, it would not be fa1r to
pit these compar atively small maritime P owers,
owning respective1y uut 201 and 227 steamers,
against our mercantile fieet of over 6000 steamships ; still it is to be hoped the British record will
improve, and t hat we may stand at the head of
nations in the safety of our steamships at sea, as
would become the greatest maritime State the world
has ever seen .
The second table of the r eturn under r eview
gives cor responding figures for sailing vessels, and
here our own country appears to greater advantage
if we take as our standard the percentage of losses
in terms of the total tonnage owned, for there are
but three countries showing a better average,
namely, I taly, R ussia, and Spain. Were the
"Broken up and Condemned" column eliminated,
however, we should not occupy so high a position,
for t hough we possess by far the biggest mercantile
sailing marine, we have n ot condemned so much
tonnage last year as some other countries. Speaking gener ally, it may be stated that the tables show
a gr eater waste of sailing vessels as compared to
steam ; which, of course, is in accordance with
what might be expected. Th~ total number of
sailing vessels of under 100 tons of all nationalities
wrecked or condemned during the past year was
793, the total tonnage being 368,176. Of this
number t h e United Kingdom supplies 144 out of
a total of 3255 vessels owned by t he nation, or nearly
100,000 tons lost out of the total of over 2~ millions
owned ; per centage of tonnage lost, 3 .56. Our
cc,lonies own 1859 sailing ships, tonnage 782,821,
and lost 90 vessels of 40,939 tons ; percentage of
tonnage lost, 5.23. The United States own 2866
sailing ships, of a tonnage of 1,354,174, out of
which 117 ships were lost of 48,468 tons ; percentage of tonnage lost, 3. 58. Austr o-R ungary
owns 207 ships, of 101,437 t ons ; 12 were lost
their tonnage being 9228, or a tonnage loss of 9.10
per cent. The number of Danish sailing ships is
604, tonnage 136,782 ; 24 were lost of 5257 t on s,
giving a tonnage loss of 3. 84 per cent. Holland
owns 316 sailing ships, tonnage 150,987 ; she lost
20 of 9025 tons, which equals a tonnage percentage of 5. 91. French sailing ships number 678,
tonnage 203,909 ; the loss was 45 ships, tonnage
15,053; percentage tonnage loss, 7.38. Germany
owns 1005 ships of 614,924 tons; the loss was 54
of 26,749 tons, eq ualling a tonnage loss of 4.32 p er
cent. I taly has 1173 sailing ships of 501,643 tons the
loss was 37 ships of 17,351 tons, or 3.46 per c~nt.
this percentage is a trifle better than that of th~
U nited Kin gdo~. Norway. ranks only after England and the Untted States 1n t he number of sailing ships she owns, t he figures being 2818 ships
tonnage 1,346,212; she lost 141 ships, of a tonnag~
of 68,135, or a loss of 5. 06 per cent . on the
number owned. The n ext two count ries, Russia
and Spain, are the only ones showing a percentaae
of
0
loss considerably below that of England, but the
number of ships owned by Spain is so small that
the comparison is not of much value, whilst it must
be r emember ed that a considerable number of
Russian ports are closed during the winter which
is more particularly the wreck season ; ~till the
country deserves all credit for showing the lowest
average in sailing ships. Russia has 947 ships of
276,706 tons ; she lost 14 ships of 4542 tons or
l.n4 per cent. Spain owns 471 sailing vessels tonnage 118,037 ; the loss was 7 ships of 2024 to~s, or
1. 71 per cen t. on tonnage. S weden owns 960 sailing vessels of 288,751 tons; she lost 41 vessels of
14,989 tons, or 5. 16 per .cent . of h er total tonnage.
Ot~er European countn es ~ost 28 sailing vessels,
Asta 18, and other count ries 1. Turning to the
causes of loss, we find t hat 104 vessels were abandoned at sea, 152 broken up or condemned 29
b urnt, 41 lost in collision, and 32 foundered.' In
t he columns " L ost, &c., " and " Missina "-under
which headings appear those vessels of which full information is not forthcoming-there are 86 vessels .
whilst 349 sailing ships are returned as "Wrecked ,!
t hat is, lost through strandi ng or strikioa r ocks &~
Taking steam and sailing vessels together we' find
that our percentage of loss is second in merit
only to two ?ther countries, namely, Russia
and Denn1ark , 1f we take ton nage as a basis of

E N G I N E E R I N G.
calculation, whilst only Russia and Spain show
better averages if t he number of ships be con
sidered. Our loss in all vessels (over 100 t ons)
was 2.59 per cent., tonnage loss 2.11 per cent .
Denmark lost 2. 86 per cen t . of her vessels and 1. 69
per cent. of h er tonnage. Russia lost 1. 25 per cen t.
of h er vessels and 1.42 per cent. of her tonnage.
Spain lost 1. 82 per cent. of h er vessels and 3. 04
per cent. of her tonnage. If, however, we take
only the big shipowning countries of the world, we
find the U nited Kingdom has the best average all
round ; and we will conclude our quotations of
figures by giving those for b oth steam and sailing
t onnage, relating to those countries which p ossess
over 1, 000,000 tons of shipping in vessels of over
100 tons. U nited Kingdom , 9620 vessels own ed of
11,157,662 tons ; lost 249 vessels of 235,659 tons ;
percentage vessels lost, 2. 59 ; percen tage of ton
nage lost, 2.11. Colonies, 2705 vessels owned of
1,298,025 tons ; lost 105 vessels of 53,379 tons;
percentage of vessels lost, 3. 88 ; of t onnage, 4. 12.
United States, 3297 vessels owned of 1,926,426
tons ; lost 126 vessels of 58,028 tons ; percentage
of vessels lost, 3.82; of tonnage 3.01. France,
1210 vessels of 1, 057,708 tons ; lost 64 vessels of
37,465 tons ; percentage of vessels lost, 5. 29 ;
Germany, 1851 vessels of
of tonnage, 3. 54.
1, 703,754 tons ; lost 64 vessels of 39,340
tons ; p ercentage of vessels lost, 3. 46 ; of
tonnage, 2. 31. Norway, 3333 vessels of 1, 681,759
t ons; lost 149 vessels of 77,272 t ons ; percentage of
vessels lost, 4. 47 ; tonnage, 4 . 59 per cent. To the
above we will add t he figures for Italy, as she comes
n ot very far short of the 1, 000,000 tons, and more
over has a very creditable average. I taly, 1400
vessels of 818,840 tons; lost 39 vessels of 20,850
t ons, percentage of vessels lost 2. 79, p erce ntage of
tonnage lost 2. 55. As in the above figures r elating
to vessels lost are included those broken up and
condemned, we will give the figures under this
heading for the principal countries, so that our
r eaders may correct t h e percentages of actual loss
by n1isadventure if they wish. U nited Kingdom,
40 vessels of 29,522 tons ; Colonies, 24 vessels of
10,587 tons ; U nited States, 17 vessels of 10,837
t ons ; France, 12 vessels of 7117 tons ; Germany,
15 vessels of 8308 tons ; Norway, 30 vessels of
10,996 tons; I ttLly, 13 vessels of 9145 tons.
Although, as will be seen, we have the lowest
percentage of loss amongst t he seven big shipown
ing nations of t h e world (including our colonies),
yet we cannot look on our position as altogethel'
sa.tisfactory. Ther e are many r easons why we
should stand first, and when these are discounted
there is not, perhaps, a great deal left for us to
boast about. In the first place, in virtue of our
position our ships should be t he best found and
safest of all nations; yet Russia beats us on every
p oint. The large number of steamer s we possess
should ghe us an advantage, but we find by the
r eturns t hat in safety of steam tonnage we only
stand in the second division, being seventh amongst
the twelve countries of which averages of loss are
quoted. The large proportion of steam tonnage
comprised in our ocean liners, which are so little
liable to accident, gives us a great advantage over
other countries; and it must n ot be forgotten t hat
many of our sailing vessels are of great size and
well appointed. We have more engineering estab
lishments, more shipbuilding yards, and more
marit ime resources generally than any other P ower ;
our coasts are magnificently lighted, our harbours
are safe and commodious, and our sh ores are
patrolled by. po~erful tugs. yte have special ~nd
stringent legislatwn , and a trained body of officials
to enforce the State regulations. In spite of all
these advantages we have to depend on our sailing
:fl eet to give us the moderate p osition we h old in
r egar d to the safety of ships at sea. There is cer
tainly roo1n for improvement.

OFFICIAL TESTS IN NORWAY WITH

Sl\1ALLCALIBRE RIFLES.
A NUMBER of exhaustive and interesting tests
with smallcalibre rifles have r ecently taken place
a.t t h e instance of the Norwegian military a.uthori.
ties. The tests, which have been conducted by a
special commission, have r esulted in t h e r ecom
tnendation of the 6. 5-mm. Krag-Jorgensen rifle.
T he tests having in the first place shown with what
kind of powder they should be conducted, riftes of
8 mm., 7.65 mm., 7 mm., and 6.5 mm. were tested,
t he latter proving decidedly superior in ballistic
qu alities. A commencing velocity of 700 metres

---

was recorded, with a pressure in the barrel of about easily accomplished from all p ositions, as compared
4000 atmoapheres. As the pressure in t he barrel with the two others. There is no spring resistance
increases as the calibre decreases, it will, at to be got over, so the loading req uires only a very
least at present, n ot b e advisable to adopt a smaller slight m ovement, which is a great advantage for
calibre than 6.5 mn1. Experiments have been made the soldier, when he, for instance, is in a recum
wit h 5mm. calibre, but the r esults have not been bent position. The weight of t he rifle complete is
satisfactory. As t he 6.5-mm. calibre is exposed to a under 9 lb., with bayonet attached about 5 oz.
very serious strain, the tests also comprised its being above 9 lb. I t is intended to furnish each soldier
able to stand a large number of shots. The results with 150 cartridges, which will weigh bar ely 9 lb.
were very satisfactory, a 6.5mm. rifle being sub.
jected to 4000 shots without h aving perceptibly
THE NEW SPANISH CRUISER
deteriorated.
The preliminary tests having t hus r esulted
" INFANTA MARIA TERESA."
favourably for the 6.5-mm. calibre, exhaustive corn.
THE latest addition to t he Spanish Navy-the
parative tests were made with 8mm. and 6.5.mm. cruiser Infanta l\1a.ria T eresa-which has been
rifles, t he former calibre h aving already been built and engined by La Sociedad An6nima de los
adopted by several countries. The r esults were as Astiller os del Nervion (formerly MartinezRivas
follows:
Palmer), at t heir splendidly equipped works at
\Vith the 6. 5-mm. calibre a considerably greater Bilbao, proceeded last week to Ferrol, in t he north
" rasance , is obtained than with t h e 8 mm. calibre. of Spain, to go on her steam trials. This is one
W ith t he 6. 5mm. calibre, a greater accuracy in of a fleet of ships for the construction of which
hitting, especially at the shorter distances, will be t h e Spanish Government in 1889 voted an extra
obtained t han with the 8.mm. calibre.
ordinary credit of 10,000,000l. Through t h e influ.
The deviation of rotation and t he effect of t he ence of Mr. Mar tinez, one of t h e most enterprising
wind are n o greater wit h the 6.5mm. calibre than capitalists in Spain, and that of his partn er, Sir
with the 8-mm. calibre.
Charles Palmer, Bar t., the experienced and
The 6.5mm. projectiles have great er power of vigorous head of the J arrow firm, the building of
penetration in wood than the 8mm. projectiles, three of the ships was intrusted to the Bilbao firm,
and quite as much in earth and sand.
one of the stipulations being t hat in every case pre
The 6.5-mm. projectiles do not so easily lose their ference must be given to Spanish material and
shape as the 8mm. projectiles.
industries-one of t he primary objects being to
The projectiles used were of lead, with a coating foster the national indust r ies, and mor e especially
of nickelplated steel or nickel bronze.
those of the province of Vizcaya. In J uly, 1889,
I t was observed that where as the power of pene t he contract between the Government and Don
tration into wood was greatest at a distance of Jose Martinez de las Rivas for t he construction of
about 300 ft.-about 12 per cent. greater for the the hulls of t he t hree cruisers was signed, and
6.5mm. than for the 8-mm. calibre-and while it mmediately afterwards efforts were begun to
gradually decreased for every 300 ft., the power of transform what was nothing but a marsh on t he
penetration into sand was comparatively small at a banks of the River N er vion into impor tant shipdistance of 300 ft., whereas it r ose up t o bet ween building, engineeri ng, and ordnance works. Engli~h
1300 ft. and 1600 ft. when there was n ot much dif managers and leading workmen were engaged by
ference between the two calibres. The twist of Sir Charles Palm er, and, after an enormous amount
the rifling in the barrels has been so arranged t hat of labour, the various machine sh eds, frame-bonding
the projectile is comparatively long, so that it corn sheds and furnaces, joiners' shops, &c. , were
bines a fair weight with a small diameter ; still erected ; expensive machinery was brough t from
100 6.5mm. projectiles weigh n o more than 76 England, and t he actual building of th e ships begun .
8mm. proj ectiles.
So st r enuously was the work prosecuted, t hat in
The tests with regard to mechanism and maga- the short space of t hirteen working months t h e
zine comprised the Krag.Jorgensen, the Mann first cruiser was launched with great eclat by the
licher, and the Mauser rifles; the Kropatchek rifle Queen Regent of Spain.
(Portugal), the N agaut rifle (Belgium), the L ee
As stated in a former article,* when we gave a
Speed rifle (England), the Schmidt rifle (S witzer detailed description of the works, t he original
land), t he Marga rifle, and others, having also been intention was t o send out the principal parts of
duly considered and discarded. The three rifles first t he n1achinery finished fr01n Jarrow, where they
named have been tested in the most varied and were to be constructed at Messrs. Palmers' ; but
thorough manner. Ther e were tests for q uick. firing it was afterwards decided, upon the appoint
with and without aim, tests of endurance (500 shots ment of Mr. McKechnie as manager of the engine
without cleaning the barrel, 400 from magazine, and works, to build the engines in Spain, as he under
100 as single loader , but with loaded magazin e), dust took the r esponsibility of t he entire construction
tests, tests of rusting, of firing with increased of t he machinery at the N ervion Works. There
charges (giving a pressure of not less than 5000 atmo- upon the large and spacious engine and boiler shops,
spheres), and finallytests with defective cartridges. with iron and brass foundries, coppersmit hy, bol t
That the ease with which the various mechanisms and rivet shop, &c., wer e begun , t he most improved
could b e handled also was tested, goe(almost with- machinery being sent from this country. E very
out saying.
thing progressed well t ill May 1, 1891, when the
In order to test the different rifles as far as dust engine works wore completely destroyed by fire.
was concerned, they wer e placed in a special box, The work of reconstruction was tackled in a
and for two minutes exposed to a blast of fine sand; systematic manner, and with so much success
they were then taken out of the box ; they were that in t hree months t he workshops were reslightly shaken so as to r emove t h e surplus of sand, erected, and t h e construction of the cruisers' ma
and were t hen tested, both as single and as maga chinery proceeding as if nothing extraordinary had
zine loaders. In order to t ry t he rifles with r egard occurred. Many important parts of t he engines
to rusting, the h andles were screwed off, the breech- wer e destroyed by t he intense heat, and by the
loading mechanism, the magazine, &c., were cleaned water which was poured upon then1 during the
from all grease, and were then immersed in salt progress of the fi re.
water for four hours (with closed mechanism, and
In t he beginning of 1892 the firm of Marti nezas high as the cartridge chamber ); they were then Rivas Palmer was transformed into a limited
left in the open air for two days, and subsequently liability company,+ with a capital of 1,200,000l. ,
twenty shots were fired from t he magazine without and the progress of work upon t h e ship and
any cleaning whatever.
guns, as well as th e reconstruction of the engines,
The commission r ecommends the adoption of the went on satisfactorily until the end of April, 1892,
Krag-Jorgensen mechanism and magazine arrange when, through a disagreement between t he firm
ment, on account of t he following advantages : I t and t he Government, the works were temporarily
gives the most perfect corobi11ation of single closed. But the Government ultimately decided to
loader with magazine as r eserve, and magazine take over the establishment with the intention of
rifle proper, being equally serviceable as single finishing the cruisers on their own account, and the
loader, even if the magazine gets out of order. E nglish managers and workmen wer e retained upon
The !filling and refilling of t he magazine can be their old terms. As official director over the con
effected with loaded rifie, with mechanism closed cern, the Government appointed General Cervera,
and t rigger cocked. The magazine remains intact an experienced naval officer . Under his energetic
when using the rifie as a singleloader, so t hat t here efforts the work forged ah ead, and his pleasant and
is al ways a r eserve of five cartridges, whereas with gentlemanly manner gained him friends among
the M a user ther e are four left, wbile t h e Mannlicher
cannot be used as a single loader. Finally, the
* See ENGINEERING, vol. xl viii., page 504.
loading and r efilling of t he K rag-J orgensen rifle is
t Ibid., vol. li. , pa.ge l 27.

EPT.

15, 1893.]

Spaniards and Englishmen alike. He remained for

about seven months in command of the Astilleros,
when he was appointed Minister of Marine, being
succeeded by General Rocha, who has continued
in charge up to the present. And now, after
all the difficulties and troubles with which the
undertaking has been beset since its beginning,
the firs t of the three cruisers is completely finished
and armed. The other two cruisers are in an advanced state, and may soon be completed. It is
hoped that satisfactory arrangements will then be
come to for the continuance of the establishment.
Hitherto the Government has not been disposed to
relinquish their control over the works until the
cruisers were finished, and consequently discouraged the construction of merchant vessels. It
is hoped now that as soon as terms have been
settled with the company on the part of the Government, that either the company will be put in a
position to carry on the works, or that they will be
purchased by some of the capitalists who are
credited with a desire to see the establishment as
a.cti vely engaged as it might be. Certainly it is
as well equipped as any British yard, and if encoumgement is given, as is suggested by the Shipping Bounty Bill brought before the L egislature,
the construction of these cruisers may mark an important epoch in the industrial history of Spain.
The vessels built clearly prove what we have
written as to the efficiency of the works, as will be
appreciated from a short description, deferring
fuller details until a later date, when we hope soon
to fully illustrate the vessels and their machinery.
The Infanta Maria Teresa is built entirely of
Siemens-Martin steel, is 340 ft. long between perpendiculars, and 364 ft. over all, with a breadth of
65 ft., and a depth of 38 ft., displacing 7000 tons
on a mean draught of 21 ft. 6 in. She has the
usual ram bow, and carries two masts, each having
a military top and signalling yard. The masts and
funnels have just enough rake to give her a very
smart appearance. For 315 ft. amidships she has
an armour belt 5 ft. 6 in. broad, backed by 6-in.
teak. The plates, which were supplied by Messr s.
Cammell and Co., are 12 in. thick, secured by
3!-in. bolts. She has t he usual cellular double
bottom, and has eleven transverse watertight bulkheads, the bunkers being arranged in the usual
manner to afford the machinery as much protection
as possible. She carries in all twelve boats, including a 60-ft. 17-knot vedette boat, four large sailing
pinnaces, a 30-ft. gig, 28-ft. whaleboat, two dingies,
a 25-ft. canoe, and two 30-ft. 8-knot steam launches,
the machinery of the latter being constructed
in the Astilleros. Forward she has a very powerful capstan, and a large warping winch aft, and is
fitted with Muir and Cald well's patent steam
steering gear. The total bunker capacity is over
45,000 cubic feet, and 490 tons of fresh water are
carried under the boilers. Her principal ground
tackle consists of two 90-cwt. and two 30-cwt.
ordinary anchors, two 80-cwt. stockless, and two
kedge anchors of 14 cwt. and 8 cwt. respectively.
The pumping arrangements and ventilation of the
ship have been we11 looked after, and throughout
the whole ship a proper and complete system of
voice-pipe arrangement has been instituted. Between the bridges, conning tower, steering gear,
and engine rooms, as also between the engine and
boiler rooms, &c., l\fessrs. Chad burn's patent telegraph gear has been fitted. Mr. J ames Clark,
formerly of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company,
who went to Bilbao at the commencement of the
works, succeeded Mr. J. P. \-Vilson as manager of
the shipbuilding department, and the short time
in which the first cruiser was built speaks well for
the management.
The ship has in all eight torpedo tubes, and the
principal armament is as follows : Two 28-centimetre guns (one forward and one aft) mounted
in harbette turrets,* ten 14- centimetre guns,
two 7-centimetre guns, eight 57 -millimetre Nordenfeldts, two 11-milliruetre N ordenfeldts, and
eight Hotchkiss. The forgings for these were
brought from England, but they were turned
and finished in the Astilleros Gun Factory, all the
employes of which are Spaniards. This department
is managed by Colonel Albairan, who has had considerable experience in the Govocnment gun factories, and who has satisfactorily finished the
work entrusted to him, which excels by far similar
work produced in the Spanish Royal Dockyards.
The propelling engines are of the vertical triple-

* See ENGINEERING, vol. 1., page 319.

339

E N G I N E E R I N G.
expansion surface-condensing direct-acting type,
driving twin-screws, and are designed to deve~op
collectively about 13,500 indicated horse-power with
forced draught, the contract speed for which is. 20
knots. The dimensions of cylinders are: High
pressure, 42 in. ; intermediate pressure, 62 in .; and
low pressure 92 in., by 46 in. stroke. The cylinders
are fitted throughout with Whitworth's fluid compressed stee~ liners. In both engine and . boiler
rooms there IS plenty of clear space. The cyhnders,
cylinder covers, pistons, and steam chest doors are
all of cast steel. The high-pressure cylinders are
fitted with piston valves, and the intermediate
pressure and low pressure with valves of the ordinary flat-faced ported type. The piston-rod~, which
are 7i in. in diameter, are of Siemens-Martin steel,
as are also all the forgings. The high-pressure
rods are fitted with Beldam's patent packing, the
packing for the intermediate pressure and l_ow
pressure having been s upplied by the CombinatiOn
l\ietallic Packing Company. The thrust blocks
and collars are of cast steel, the latter being of the
horseshoe shape and lined with " Magnolia" metal.
The main surface condensers, which are 10ft. 8 in.
long, are made entirely of brass, having a total surface of 14,600 square feet. Each condenser carries
over 5000 brass tubes 10 ft. 8 in. by ! in. in
diameter. The crankshafts, which were supplied
by Messrs. Cammell and Co., R.re of the ordinary
three-throw type, being made of steel, the
external diameter being 16! in. The reversing
gear is of the ordinary all-round type, both hand
and steam gear being provided. In each engineroom there is a lOO-gallon Kirkaldy's distiller, each
with a circulating pump, as also an evaporator on
Weir's system with its 4-in. cylinder feed pump.
There are four ash-hoisting engines, having two
4!-in. cylinders by 5!-in. stroke, and efficient means
have been provided for handling the ash-buckets
under forced draught . The engines for working
the ammunition hoists are placed one forward and
one aft, both working double hoists. The ammunition hoists themselves are provided with safety
gear, to prevent the charges falling and causing an
explosion on board, in case of the rope suspending
them being shot away. The main steam pipes are
18 in. in diameter, and are all of copper, the sheets
having been brazed and wrought up in the coppersmithy.
Forward of the mainmast a boat-hoisting engine
has been fitted, having 9-in. cylinders, and capable
of lifting 18 tons, the mast being provided with a
suitable boom for raising and lowering the heaviest
boats. Air-compressing machinery, supplied by
Schwartzkopff, for charging the torpedo tubes and
torpedoes, has also been fitted for working up to
1500 lb. pressure. The exhaust steam from the
auxiliary machinery is carried into two auxiliary
condensers 8 ft. long-one in each engine-roomeach condenser being provided with its own air and
circulating pumps, which are worked by entirely
independent engines. These condensers, like the
main, are made entirely of brass, and each contains
about 700 tubes.
In all there are over fifty separate and auxiliary
engines, the whole of which, excepting the windlass,
steering gear, distillers, and vedette boat machinery, have been constructed in the Astilleros. In
a situation convenient to the engine-room an engineers' workshop has been erected, and fully provided with all the requis ite machines, tools, and
grinustones. The two propellers are three-bladed
and cast of Stone's patent No. 3 bronze, the bosses
and tail-pieces being of gun-metal, and the blades
fixed by bolts in the usual manner. The propellers
have a diameter of 16 ft. 5 in. and 20ft. 6 in. pitch,
the expanded surface being 73 square feet. For each
engine there are four lengths of straight shafting,
which was supplied r ough turned and finished in
the Astilleros. The diameter of the intermediate
shafting is 15! in., that of pr:>peller shafting being
15~ in.
Steam is supplied by four double-ended boilers
16 ft. 3 in. in diameter, and two single-ended
boilers 16 ft. 3 in. long by 10 ft. 6 in. in diameter,
and working at a pressure of 150 lb. per square
inch, the test pressure being 250. Following out
the usual plan, to provide greater safety, the boilers
are placed in two separate compartments, the
bunkers being run along each side in the usual way.
There are two fu11nels, 9ft. in diameter, the height
from dead-plate to top of funnel being 69ft. 'fhere
are in all 40 Purves patent boiler flues 6 ft. 6 in.
long, and having a mean diameter of 3 ft. 3 in.
The double-ended boiler tubes are 6 ft. 3 in. by

2! in., the single-ended boiler tubes being 6 f~. 9 in.

by 2!-in., the length between tubeplates being ~or
double-ended 6 ft. 3 in., for single-ended 6 ft. 9 In.
The grate surface is 845 square feet; t ube surface,
22,270 square feet; heating surface, 25,_92~ square
feet. F or supplying steam to the elect_r~chght_and
steering gear engines, there are two auxiliary_ boilers
on the protective ~eck forwa~d, each 8_ ft. 10 In. l_ong
by 7 ft. 9 in. in diameter, w1th a 3! -In. Worthmgton system pump provided. The usual stokehold
arrangements for running un~er forced dr~ught
have been fitted, there being nme fans, having a
diameter of 5 ft. 6 in. The designing and construction of the engines, boilers, and auxiliary machinery,
as well as the construction and equipment of the
engine works, have been carried out by Mr. James
MoKechnie, who has been assisted by Mr. James
Brown, formerly of the Clydebank engineering
staff.

LITERA'l,URE.
By 0LIVER L oDGE, F.R.S., Profes~or of Physics in Victoria. U ni varsity College,
Liverpool. London and New York : Macmillan and
Oo.
THIS book of 400 pages is the outcome of a course
of lectures given in 1887 by Professor Lodge in
University College, Liverpool. It is not always
that professors elect to write out their lecture-notes
for publication. Tyndall did so, and gave students
his manuals on Light, Heat, and Sound ; rrait
expanded his n otes into his ' 'Recent Researches
in Physical Science ;" Stokes developed his into
his admirable book on Light ; and Ball's Christmas
lectures at the Royal Institution (1887) have become the ''Star-Land '' that delights every r eader
of popular astronomy. Dr. L odge, too, has filled
in the outline of his course, and t hereby given the
general scientific r eader a work full of varied and
useful information .
His pioneer s, however, are not selected from
every part of the field of science. Only those are
introduced who explored, or contributed to explore,
the vast domain of astronomy and some conterminous regions. By means of biographical details,
gathered fron1 all "readily available , sources, he
tries to make his pioneers live their life and do
their work before the r eader. Their studies and
successes are chronicled, their trials and failures
recorded, t heir hon ours and hardships are all
vividly described, and t he moral opportunely
pointed. Thus, speaking of Newton (page 185), he
says:
"His method of fluxions was still unpublished; a second
edition of the Principia., with additions and improvements, had yet to appear, but fame had now come upon
him, and with fa1ne 'Worries of all kinds., [The italics are
ours. ]
Galileo's ''energy and imprudence " elicit the
exclamation, '' \V hat a blessing that youth has a
little imprudence and disregard of consequences in
pursuing a high ideal !"
Kepler 's ill-health, weak constitution, and continual distress awaken his sympathy, and he writes
(page 75) :
. " Once more K epler ~a.de a determh:~ed attempt to get
bts arrears of salary patd, and rescue h1mself and family
from their bitter poverty. H e travelled to Prague on
purpose, attended the imperial meeting, and pleaded his
own cause, but it was all fruitless ; and, exhausted by
the journ~y, weakened by over-study, and disheartened
by the failure, . be caught a fe~er, and died in his fiftymoth year. H1s body was buned at Ratisbon, and a
century ago a proposal was made to er~ct a. marble monuI?ent to his memory, but nothing was done. It matters
httle one way or the other whether Germany having
almost refused him bread during his life, should a. century and a half after his death, offer him a stone.!'
On page 50, Tycho Brahe's work, in his island
home of Huen, is rapidly sketched, and we are told
that :
'' ~hilosophers, statesmen, and occasionally kings (includmg our own J ames I.) came to visit the great astronomer and to inspect his curiosities. And very wholesome
for so~e of those great personages was the treatment they
met With. For Tycho was no respecter of persons. His
humbly-born wife sat a.t the head of the table whoever
was there; and he would snub and contradict a chancellor just a-s soon as be would a. serf.,
Descartes's easy-going way of working is noticed
as offering a humane suggestion to over-laborious
students of the present day. On page 147 we
read :
. "He recommends idlene~s as necessary to the productiOn of good mental work. He worked and meditated but a.
few hours a day ; and most of them in bed. He used to
P ioneers of Science.

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

340
thit;1k best in bed, he said. The afternoon h~ devoted to
soCietY: and recreation. After supper he wrote letters
to var10us persons, all plainly intended for publication
a.nd scrupulously preserved. He kevt himself free from
c~re and was most cautious aboub his health, regarding
htmself, no doubt, as a subject of experiment, and wishful
to see how long he could prolong his life.~>
Part I. is entitled, ''From Dusk to D aylirrh t "
.
, b etng
.
e
'
th e. '' pwneers
Copernicus, Tycho Brahe,
Gahleo, Descartes, and Newton. Part I I. is called
4
'
A Couple of Centuries' Progrees ;" it introduces
Roemer and B.radley, L agrange and Laplace, and
(somewhat furhvely) Adams and Leverrier.
~he wor~ of .each of these men is analysed, and
t~e1r c.ontnbutwns to the progress of science indivtduahsed and duly emphasised. Each lecture is
preceded by a summary of facts which must be
invaluable to the student-reader. The whole is
presented in an interesting and scholarly form. The
peculiarities of the author-and Professor Lodge
has a few - naturally manifest themselves here and
there.
On page 165, he finds an opportunity for firina
a shot at examiners. Speaking of Newton, h~
says :
" By the end of the year (1664) he was elected to a
scholarship and took his B. A. degree. The order of merit
for that year never existed or has not been kept. It would
have b~n interesting, nob as a testimony to Newton, but
to the sense or nonsense of the examiners."
This comment is unkind and puzzling, considering
that Dr. Lodge has year after year applied for the
Ex.a.minership in Experimental Philosophy at the
L ondon Univer sity. But perhaps the explanation
may . be found in the ''very modern spirit "
descnbed on page 146. When speaking of Descartes
he says :
"In this, as in many other things, he was imbued with
a very modern spirit, a cynical and sceptical spirit which
to an outside and superficial observer like myself seems
rather rife just now. "
Examinations -even the Cambridge Tripos-do
not command his confidence. Adams "had graduated as Senior Wrangler, it is true, but somebody
must graduate as Senior Wrangler every year, and
every year by no means produces a first-rate m~the
matician" (page 324) ; besides,
" The labelling of a young man on taking his degree is
much more worthless as a testimony to his services and
ability than the general public are apt to suppose."
This sounds strange from one who compelled
himself to toil for years to get his D.Sc.London,
and who subsequently accepted an honorary LL.D.
degree.
We find a trace of this ''modern" spirit, enlivened this time with a dash of humour, in the
paragraph descriptive of Sir Isaac Newton's n omination to Parliament. I t runs thus :
" We are a curious, practical, and rather stupid people,
and our one idea of honouring a man is to vote for him
in some way or other; so they sent Newton to Parliament.
He went, I believe, as a Whig ; but it is not recorded that
he spoke. It is, in fact, recorded that he was once expected to-speak when on a Royal Commission about some
question of chronometers, but that he would not. However, I dare say he made a good average member. "
In referring to Kepler's poverty, he suggestively
writes : "What Kepler might have achieved had
he been relieved of [from ?] those ghastly struggles
for subsistence, one cannot tell." This is not the
only broad hint thrown out as to the n ecessity of
endowing research. Frederick of Denmark and
Rudolph of Bohemia are praised for their patronage of Tycho Brahe; and our own George lii. is
mentioned on account of his generous treatment of
Herschel. The case of Newton, who gave up his
unremunerative Lucasian Professorship for the
Mastership of the Mint, rouses his indignation :
"But what a pitiful business it all is? Here is a man
sent by Heaven to do certain things which no one else
<:ould do. and so long as he is comparatively unknown be
does them, but as soon as he is found out, be is clapped
into a routine office with a big salary; and there is, comparatively speaking, an end of him."
Professor Lodge's mode of treatment-like his
way of lecturing~is often som~what n onchalant,
if n ot phlegmatic. Re occasiOnally, however,
allows himself to warm up into a little glow of
enthusiasm over the achievements of one or other
of his" pioneers." When Newton heard of Picard's
determination of the length of a degree, he began
to review his speculations concerning gravity:
"With intense excitement he runs through the working his mind leaps before his hand, and as he J>ercei ves
the' answer to be co~nin~ out ri~ht, all the infimte me~n
ing and scope of h18 mghty d1scovery flashes upon h1m,

and he can no longer see the paper. He throws down the

pen, and the secret of the universe is, to one man,
known. "
Of kindred dramatic interest are the lines which
conclude a vivid description of Galileo's ever famous
experiment from the top of the Leaning Tower of
PLsa : "The simultaneous clang of those two
weights sounded the death-knell of the old system
of philosophy, and heralded the birth of the n ew."
In the following lines, with which Lecture vr.
opens, Dr. Lodge shows und(,ubted capacity for
poetic colouring : "A generation of slow and
doubtful progress must pass before the first ray of
sunlight can break through the eastern clouds, and
the full orb of day itself appear. "
P er cont1a, he sometimes lapses into trivial schoolboy phraseology. An instance will be found on page
338, where, speaking of meteoric bodies, he says
they may ''splash" into an atmosphere and drop
on to its surface, or they may "duck" out of it
again and revol'"'e r ound us unseen in the clear
space between the earth and the moon.
On page 164 young Newton at Trinity "gets
hold of a Euclid and a Descartes' Geometry. The
Euclid seemed childishly easy and was thrown
aside. " On page 178, Newton's disappointment
with the result of his first calculated value of the
constant of gravity is most interestingly described ;
and then we are assured that '~ so far as is known,
he never mentioned his disappointment to a
soul."
Again, on page 42, we read how Tycho Brahe's
fiery nature
., led him into an absurd though somewhat dangerous
ad venture. A quarrel at some feast on a mathematical
point, with a countryman, led to the fixing of a duel, and
1t was fought with swords at 7 p.m. at the end of December, when, if there was any light at all, it must have been
of a flickering and unsatisfactory nature. The result of
this insane performance was that Tycho got his nose cut
clean off."

Further on we are told how the Danish astronomer constructed an artificial nose, "some say of
gold and silver, some say of putty and brass, " and
also that" he used to carry about with him a box
of cement to apply whenever his nose came off,
which it periodically did."
In discussing the third law of motion, Dr. Lodge
brings forward the objection often urged by engineers who say, ''If the cart pulls against the horse
with precisely the same force as the horse pulls the
cart, why should the cart move 1" To this Dr.
Lodge, with something like "an impul~ive rush ,"
indignantly replies, '' 'Vhy on earth not 1"
Galileo found experimentally that all bodies,
light as well as heavy, tend to fall at the same
rate. "Now this was clean contrary to what he
had been taught," page 88 ; and on page 90 we are
assured that the great philosopher '' was not content to be pooh-poohed and snubbed."
The following must have been penned to show
the author's contempt for what some people are
pleased to call English grammar : '' In twelve
months observational astronomy had made such a
bound as it has never made before or since"
(page 112).
It is trite to say that tastes may differ ; but
there will undoubtedly be many who will admit
that such tit-bits of writing would find a more
appropriate place in a school book on composition
or sty le as exer cises for correction r ather than in a
professedly didactic volume recounting the achievements of pioneers of science.
Of still more questionable propriety is the substance of Lecture V., in which the author takes
infinite pains to describe the treatment of Galileo
by his contemporaries, and chiefly by the officers
of the Inquisition. The same dissonant note is
sounded again and again iu the lectures on Copernicus, Descartes, and Newton. In fact, Professor
Lodge does not begin to recover his normal
equanimity until he has delivered himself of a
solemn warning to the opponents of the Darwinian
t heory of evolution, which warning ominously
concludes thus : "Take heed lest some prophet,
after having excited your indignation at the follies
and bigotry of a bygon e generation, does not turn
upon you with the sentence, 'Thou art the man'"
(page 135).
Dr. Lodge, i n his opening lecture, makes a
sweeping assertion about the middle ages. vVithout specifying any definite period, he asserts t hat
'' the dark ages came as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe." To this we must say that
our Hallam and our Maitland demur. Some cen-

[SEPT. I 5, I

893.

turies of the medi~eval times were dark-dark

like the lines in the solar spectrum, i.e. , by comparison, a.nd not absolutely. Ind eed , those ''dark
ages" were among the palmiest days of the great
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Paris and
Bologna, Padua and Pavia. They saw the discovery
of our English coal measures, the invention of
clocks, the staining of glass, the introduction of
the compass. Surely all this meant scientific
knowledge, as did also the erection of those buildings of marvellous solidity and giant architecture
with which the Continent and our country were
studded over, and which excite the admiration of
knowing visitors to the present day.
. Another stricture we shall permit ourselves before
taking leave of Dr. Lodge's " Pioneers. " This time
it refers to the lecture on comets and meteors. We
are glad to find that Dr. Lodge advocates the
theory established by the labours of Tait, Lord
Kelvin, Schiaparelli, H. A . Newton, and L ockyer.
He r ejects en passa,nt Sir Robert Rall's riew that
all bodies which fall upon the earth were originally
projected from terrestrial volcanoes in ages long
past, and he emphasises his inability to draw a distinction between the countless numbers of cosmic
bodies that constitute our meteor streams and those
daring adventurers that pierce through our atmosphere and crash down upon our earth.
But surely the labours of the late Professor
Adams in connection with the meteoric theory
deserve more than a three-word notice, especially
as Leverrier is awarded the lion's share of commendation for the discovery of U ran us. It was the
memorable star shower of 1866 that led the
Cambridge astronomer to undertake an investigation among the most ponderous in mathematical
astronomy. On the night of November 13 of that
year the earth plunged through the swarm of
meteorites since known as the Leonids from their
appearing to radiate from the constellation Leo.
During six: h ours, from 10.30 P.U. to 4.30 A.M., our
planet kept ploughing its way through the broad
stream of these countless masses. Myriads of them
dipped into our atmosphere, while millions of
others found in its middle strata a ready crematorium in which they flashed for an instant and
then left their ashes to settle down and tell of their
destruction.
This widely-observed display gave rise to some
discuesion as to the constitution of these flying
visitors, and especially as to their movements
through space. Professor H. A. Newton, of Yale
College, New Haven, was among the most careful
observers of meteoric phenomena, and his observations and conclusions still command general attention . He admitted that the meteors were discrete
bodies of all sizes, each fulfillin g its own destiny as
it circled r ound the sun in conformity with Kepler's
laws. The fact that the main body of the shoal
crossed the earth's path on November 13 fixed one
point in its orbit; the direction in which the meteors
were observed to move gave a tangent to the plane
of that orbit; and as the sun was in the focus, the
position of the plane in space was completely
defined. Professor Newton discussed the observed
data, and showed that there were but five orbits in
which the meteors could move, so as to satisfy the
known conditions. One of these was an elongated
ellipse, two others were almost circles differing but
little from our own annual track, and the remaining two were ovals lying within the earth's orbit.
The problem was thus narrowed down to finding
which of the five possible orbits was the one that
best fulfilled all the circumstances of motion of the
meteor swarm. The only further help given
towards the solution of the problem was deduced
by Professor Newton from a careful study of
historical records, viz., that the point in which the
orbit of the meteors intersects that. of the earth
was not fixed, but was noticed to undergo a periodic
displacement in the direction of motion of the shoal
amounting to 29 minutes.
This displacement was attributed by astronomers
to the disturbances which t h e meteoritic shoal experiences in passing near U ran us, Saturn, Jupiter,
and the earth. Adams examined, and , with the
help of his two assistants, estimated quantitatively
the disturbance produced by the planets separately
upon the shoal as it moved along each one of the
five suggested orbits. After months of laborious
computations, he showed in the Monthly Notices
for April, 1867, that the elongated elliptical orbit
was the only one which would account for the
observed shifting of t he node. Of the total
disturbance he assigned 20 minutes to Jupiter,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
7 minutes to Saturn, and 1 minute to U ranus. He pillars" (chapter viii.) may be quoted . H odgkinfound the action of the earth and the other planets
to be n egligible.
\Vhen the other four orbits were similarly
examined, h e found that in n o case could the
n odal disturbance exceed 12 minutes. This calculation therefore settled on the very eccentric orbi t
as the path along which the L eonid meteors travel
through space.
The publication of these results increased t h e
r eputation of the young mathematician who had
solved- unknown to his great contemporary,
L everrier- the mystery of the Uranian perturbations.
Such an achievement in 1867 by a St. John's man
sh ould have found adequate r ecognition in L ecture
XVI., on " Comets and M eteors."
The last lecture of the course-L ecture XVIII.
- treats of tides and their effect on the evolution
and on the final destiny of plan ets. It is an excellent epitome of t h e work of Professor George
Darwin, and of the recent extension of the theory
by Sir R obert Ball in "Time and Tide" and also
in " Glimpses through the Corridors of Time. "
This lecture should be car efully read, as it will serve
to correc~ erroneous impressions that one is likely
to carry away from a perusal of those pages of
L ecture ... TI. in which are explained the two laws
of s~ability of the univer se given and discussed by
L agrange and Laplace.
The "Pion eers of S:::ience " is plentifully illustrated with diagrams, maps, and figures, all of which
will be found to afford valuable aid. There are
also fine por traits of all th e '' pioneers,, as well as
of Carolina Herschel and Sir vVilliam Thomson
(L ord Kelvin .)

---

T heory of Struct1t1es and Strength of Materials, with D ia(lrams, i llustrations, and Exa,mples. By M. T. BovEY,

M.A., &c. New Ynrk and London: Kegan Paul,

Trench, Triibner, and Co., 1893. (817 + xv. pages, and
many woodcuts.)
This is a large and important treatise, so merits a
pretty full n otice. The work aims at the mathematical investigation of the theory of the d esign of
structures ; the methods of calculation, both by
formulro and by graphical solution, are then d eveloped, the former rather more fully ; the graphic
working is , in fact, frequently n ot full enough to
be sufficient of itself for the mast ery of the graphic
method, which r equires a great d eal of practice for
proficiency. A good deal of mat hematical knowledge
is required to read the investigations properly; including , for instan ce, some knowledge of differential equations and of elliptic integrals. A good deal
of space has, we think, been wasted in t he detailed
integration of n umerous cases of deflection, fixed
beams, continuous beams, and of t he elastic curve
generally ; these migh t have been condensed into
a very few general cases, the solutions of w hieh
would involve certain general symbols (often simple
integrals), and the values of these symbols for the
particular cases might have been given in Tables.
This mode of condensation is largely employed in
Rankine:s works, and with the happiest effects;
one spec1al advantage t o the pract ical engineer is
that the details of mere integrations and algebraic
r eductions are thus largely got rid of. A special
and somew bat n ovel feature of this work is t hat
the principles and methods d etailed are illustra~ed by a. .h ost of examples (questions). H ere
aga1n we thmk that the work errs in excessive
fulnes~ ; there a~e, in fact, over 800 examples
(questwns), covenng abou ti 140 pages, i.e., about
o.ne-sixth of the book. Very few of these questwns are worked out. \Ve think that it would
have been of more r eal h elp to the student
if at least the leading steps of a few of the questions
on each chapter had been given, and more details
of gr~phic solutions instead of so many mere
<] u estwns.
E xcept for ( what seems to us) the waste of space
as above, we have in general only unqualified praise
to give of this work. It is divided into thirteen
chapters, e~ch cont~ining a diatinct wide subject, or
group of m1nor subJects. As a whole, the subject
matter of each chapter has b een well considered,
and well developed. The mode in which the effects
of fluctuating stress ar e. gone into (pages 145 to 166)
m~! b e, quoted a~ an 1nstance. After explaining
'Voh.ler s hw, w1th sketches of the experiments
l;eanng t hereon, L aunha.rdt's, Weyrauch's and
l!nwin's form~lre are detailed and applic~tions
g1ven. Or, aga.1n, the very full exposition of what
is known of the conditions of strength of ' ' long

son 's, Gordon's, Rankine's form of Gordon's, Euler's,

and Weyrauch's formulre are quoted and discussed
at length ; various American formulre and Barker's
formula are also qu oted. Again, after developing
at some length the mathematical theories and
formul re resulting therefrom, the author fairly
shows the discrepancies b etween experiments and
practice. One glaring instance is that of earth
pressure, wherein, after many pages of d evelopment
of Rankine's and Coulomb's theories, it is admitted
that the uncertainties are so great that, after all,
mere empirical formu]re have t o be d epended on.
A different sor t of instance is that of wind- pressure,
as to which it is shown, after a. discussion of
numerous experiments (including the recent results
from the Forth Bridge), that there is the greatest
uncertainty as to the maximum wind pressure over
large areas ; so that the legal regulations t h ereon
must be accepted 1J1'0 tem. as the present rule on
the subject. After reading all t he uncertainties
h ere fairly put forward as t o th~ r eliability of many
of the fundamental experimental data u pon which
engineering calculations are necessarily based, one
is inclined t o think that very many structures stand
in spite of-not in consequence of- the calculations. Nevertheless, it is only by such tentative
search after improvement, not by disguising the
uncertainties, that one can hope to improve the
calculations of the future. Amongst the many
good points of this book, some of its practical
Tables are worth special n otice-e.g., weightAJ of
roof coverings (page 67) ; weights of roof frames
(page 68) ; weights of modern bridges (pages 682687) ; loads for highway bridges (page 687) . Besides these, there are many other useful Tables.
Lastly, the print and get-up of the book are good,
and there is a fair index (four pages).

--T he B ook of Delightful and Strange Designs, being One

H ttndred Facsimile I llustrations of the Art of the Japanese StencilCutter. By ANDREW W. T UER, F.S.A.
L ondon : The Leadenhall Press, Limited, 50, L eaden

hall-street, E . C.
The title explains the subject matter, and one can
easily appreciate that a. study of the illustrations
must be valuable to those en gaged in the printing
of textile fabrics. The letterpress, which is in
English, German, and French, tells us that the
Japanese, who has naturally a fine sense of colour
and form, is taught draughtsmanship and painting
in the same manner as h e is taught writing-h~
copies sets which are transcribed over and over
again until the pupil can draw, with absolute ease,
say, a chrysanthemum of conventional sh ape. Attempts have been made to discard conventionality
originally copied from the unimag inative Chinese ;
but it gives freedom and quickness of manipulation,
w hieh, added to the harmonious colour and delicate
gradation of t ones which are characteristic of
Japanese work, produces pleasing results. The
Japanese stencilling system was introduced by a
dyer in the seventeenth century, and enables t he
women to gratify their desire to have the kimono
-their loose garment with wide open sleeveselaborately d ecorated. The stenciller produces
two effects from a single plate, an impression in
colour- indigo blue is largely used- on a white
ground, and a white impression on a coloured
ground. The former is by direct impression, and
the latter by the impression being printed on what
is termed " r esist,, a pigment or substance of whieh
rice paste is the basis, that protects the fabrics from
the acti~n ?f dres. A~ter the resist has been applied,
the fabnc 1s d1pped 1n the dye vat, and the resist is
cleare~ ~way by washing. In many cases, too, the
work 1s Improved by hand touching with gradations
of colours. . As to .the des~gns, it is impossible to
convey any 1mpress10n ; an1mals, flowers, allegorical designs, and Japanese characters peppered over
the surface, all corn bine to charm.

- -BOOKS RECEIVED.
Edited by H.
J .. J?owsrNa. London : Charles Griffin and Co.
L1m1ted.
'
Spon's Tables and M emoran da for Engineers. By J. T.
B URST. London: E. and F. N. Spon.
Griffin's Elecflrical E ngineers' Price Book.

Elemcntar!l L essons, tutt~ Numerical Examples, in Practical

llfechantcs and Machtne Design. By ROBERT GonooN

Bt.AINE, with an introduction by Professor J OHN

;I?ERRY .. New edition, revised and enlarged. \Vi th 79
tllustrat10n~ .. L ondon, Paris, and Melbourne : Cassell
and Co., Ltmi ted. [Price 2s. 6d.]
The Miners' Hand-Book. Compiled by JOHN MILNE
F.R.S. London : Crosby L ockwood and Co.
'

A eronautics: A n A bridgment of A eronautical Specifica-

34I
tions Filed at th e Patent Office from A . D . 1815 to 1891

By GRIFFITH .BREWER and PATRICK Y . ALEXl~OER

Illustrated. London: Taylor and Francis.

Drum Armatures and CorrvmutatMs ( T heory and Practice).

By F. MARTEN WEYMOUTH. London: The E lectricialn

Printing and Publishing Company, Limited.

W hlite's General and Commer cial D irectory of Sheffield,
R c,therham, and all the Parishes, T ownships, Villages, an d
Hamlets within a Radins of Seven M iles from Sheffiela,
for 189394. Sheffield: William White. [Price 14s.]
M echanical Engineering M aterials : T heir P1o-pcrties and
T reatment in Construction. By EDWARD C. R. MARKS,

Assoc. M. Inst. C. E., M. I. Mech. E. Manchester :

The Technical Publishing Company, Limited. [Price
1s. 6d.l

The Coal and M etal M iners' P ocket-Book of Principles,

R ules. F ormulce, and Tables. Scranton, Pa., U.S.A. :

The Colliery Engineer Company.

P ocket-Book of Useful Formulre and M emoranda for Civil

and M echanical E ngineers. By Sir GUILFORD L.

MoLESWORTH and R oBERT BRIDGES MotEswonTH,

M. A. Twenty-third Edition. ReviRed and enlat:_ged.
L ondon: E. and F . and N. Spon ; New York: Spon
and Chamberlain.
T ke Locom,otive Catechism.
By ROBERT GRIMSTIAw.
New York : Norman W. Henley and Co. ; L ondon :
E. and F. N. Spon.

NOTES.
THE ATLANTI C-MEDITERRANEAN CANAL.

IT is under renewed contemplation to extend or

supplement the old Languedoc canal-Canal du
l\1:idi- built some 200 years ago, from Bordeaux at
the Garonne River to the Mediterranea n, by means
of a new canal, which, if completed, will have the
gre~test commercial and military importance. The
proJected canal-Canal des Deux Mers as it
has been appropriately named-is to b~ 27 ft.
deep, 140 to 200 ft. broad, and some 300 miles long.
There are to be 22 locks, built as double locks,
600 f t. long and 80 ft. broad. The canal will proceed from the western outskirts of B ordeaux , and
follow the left border of the Garonne for a distance
of ~bout ~ft.y mi.les, without encountering any very
senous d~fiiculttes. At Castet it passes the old
canal, wh10h ther e enters the river and from t his
poi~t .it has to pass through a very difficult district,
unt1l1t reaches the t own of Castel :::>a.rrasin where
the canal crosses the river. From there the canal
follows the right border of the river as far as
Toulouse, this section not offering engineering
difficulties of any importance. It then crosses the
Garonne for a second time, and the natural conditions will there allow of the building of two
h arbours, of which one will be reserved for naval
purposes. Between T oulouse and N arbonne the
direction of the canal is dependent upon the
gradients, and having passed Naurouse, Castelnandary, M oux, Montredon, and Narbonne the
canal enters the Mediterranean at Gruissan. 'The
promot~rs of the plan ask for a ninety-nine years'
conceRswn, and some financial assistance from the
State.
PowE:a TRANSMISSION I N BELGIUM.
. The small-arms manufactory at Herstal, in Belgium, a couple of miles from Liege built by the
"Fa.brique Nationale d'Armes de ' Guerre, " has
been bu~lt on ~he most .approved principles, and
fitted ~1~h a s1ngularl:y 1nteresting electric power
transm1sswn. The bUildings are on a very large
scale ; the w ~ole of the pre~i~es are heated by
steam . a~d h ghted .by electn01ty. The motive
po~er 1s 1n the first 1nstance provided by a Corliss
eng1n~ of 450 hora e-~ower, making 66 revolutions
per ~1nute, coupled duect to a dynamo which has a
capa01ty of 2400 amperes with 125 volts. The electric energy ~s distrib';lte~ by means of copper ea bles,
and works, 1n the sm1ths sh ops, two dynamos of 250
amperes (e~ch of 37 h orse-power capacity); in the
wood-working ~hops, one dyna~o of 143 amperes (21
horse power); 1n the large ma.ch1ne hall, six dynamos
of 143 amperes (21 h orse-power) each, and four dynamos of. 110 amperes (16 horse-power) each; in
the matr1x sh~p, one dy.nat;no of 50 amperes (8
h orse-power); m the pohshmg shop, one dynamo
of 143 amperes (21 h orse-power) ; in the jacketing
~hop, one dy?amo of 110 amperes (16 h orse-power);
1n the cartr1dge factory, one dynamo of 143 amperes (21 h orse-power). The motor for the feedmg pumps to the boilers is a dynamo of 65 a mperes (10. h orse-power). In the wood-drying dep~rtment 1s a dyn~mo of 23 amperes (3 horse-power).
Fmally, the ma.1n dynamo s upplies electricity for
15~ arc lamps and 520 incandescent lamps. The
~aily production is 150 rifles, 20,000 cartridge
Jackets, ~nd th.e sam~ numb.er of projectil~s. There
1s. a spe01al rail way hne, w1th branches to all the
d1fferent departments of the works, which connects
ELECTRIC

E N G I N E E RI N G.

342
the fa~tory with t~e Berstal station. The buildings
compnse a hall with motors, a boiler-house wooddl1'ing appliances, a . hall with wood-working machines, a large hall with the machines for the metal
work, a workshop for testing instruments, a workshop ~or the manufacture of matrices, polishing and
bro~ zmg sh.ops,, a hall for the manufacture of jacket
tubing, smi~hs shops, a. hall for testing barrels
and mechanisms, a shooting range, a testing-room
for the finished arms, a cartridge factory, and finally
a number of large offices and store-rooms.
THE ATLANTIC RECORD.

Although anticipated, because of their great

power, the performances of the two Cunard steamers
in their last Transatlantic passages are most creditable to the designers and builders, for the one
steamer beat all previous records, and the other
in her first run at sea, maintained a speed not
approached by any steamer on a maiden voyage.
The former, the Campania, in the h omeward run,
accomplished the trip between racing pointsSandy Hook and Daunt's Rock-in 5 days 14 h ours
55 minutes, having throughout that time maintained
~ mean ~peed of 20.94 knots. While accomplished
In less time than her former best run- in May last,
when 5 days 17 hours 27 minutes were needed for
the sea run- the voyage does not indicate the
same high mean rate of speed, for the May run
was on the southern and longer route, the mean
then being 21.3 knots, the best on any sea run yet
made. T~e pe~formance, however, is satisfactory,
and promises still better results ; and here it may
be interesting to glance at the progress since the
former Cunard steamers, the U mbria and Etruria,
held the record before the ad vent of the New York
and Paris:
Homeward.
1888
1892
1993

..
..
..

Umbria . .
New York
Campania

dye.
..
6
..
6
..
6

b.
3
H)
14

scale. The diameter of the wire used in the experiments was ascertained by projecting with a
microscope its shadow on the ecreen at the
same time as the shadow of a standard steel
gauge. The magnification used was about 300,
and the diameters of the wire and the standard were taken to be proportional to the
breadths of their shadows. The accuracy of the
method was proved to be very great, as the results
thus obtained, compared with those obtained for
the same wire by the density method, only differed
by one part. in 2600. The range of the obsenations made extended from about 200 deg. Cent.
above zero to more than 200 deg. below, the lowest
temperatures being obtained by the evaporation of
liquid oxygen, under about 14 millimetres of pressure, and many litres of this substance were used
in the course of the experiments. For intermediate
low temperatures liquid ethylene and C02 in ether
were used. The resistance curves of the pure
metals are nearly straight, though some are concave upwards and others downwards, the magnetic
metals showing the most curvature. Some of the
lines cross each other at low temperatures, and
thus copper, which is ordinarily a worse conductor
than silver, is a better one below - 100 deg. Cent.
The sonorous metals, such as silver, aluminium,
gold, and copper, make the best conductors. The
experiments with alloys are remarkable, mainly in
showing the great effect on the resistance of small
impurities. Thus the resistance of copper containing 3 per cent. of aluminium is enormously greater
than either that of pure copper or pure aluminium.
At -200 deg. Cent., indeed, its resistance is about
36 times as great.

mn.
knots.
12 = 19.11
67 = 20.IO
24 = 20.9!

MISCELLANEA.

THE report of Mr. Ackerman, auditor of the World's

Fair, for the month of August shows a loss of 12,000,000
dols. si nce the Fair was opened. The additional receipts,
It must not be assumed that the U mbria's record owing to a.n increase in the number of visitors, make the
was not broken until 1892, for not only the New report for the month of September a. more favourable one.

York but the Paris, Majestic, and Teutonic were,

in the interval, by successive efforts, bringing it
down by minutes. The New York passage given
shows rather the improvement made jointly by the
other steamers between 1888 and 1892, while the
Campania's run indicates what the Cunard Company
have again done towards lessening the time needed
for the voyage. The best speed of the Campania,
21.3 knots, is over two nautical miles per hour
better than that of the Umbria, but there is every
likelihood of it being more, while the Lucania may
even eclipse her companion. In her first run to
New York she completed the sea voyage in
5 days 14 hours 50 minutes, while her time
from Liverpool, including stoppage at Queenstown,
was 6 days 4 hours 10 minutes. The daily runs
were 460, 490, 498, 516, 523, with284 miles to complete the run, and the improving tendency promises
a record run home next week, as in the case of the
Campania, since it indicates complete satisfaction
on the part of the designer, Mr. Andrew Laing,
who was attending the machinery, and who would
not have opened out his engines unless everything
was favourable.
THE REsisTANCE oF METALS AT Low
TEMPERATURE. .

In a recent number of the Philosophical M aga:,ine, Professors Dewar and Flaming publish the
results of some further experiments upon the reeista.nce of metals and alloys at very low temperatures. It will be remembered that their preliminary observations led to the conclusion that in the
case of all pure metals the resistance vanished at
the absolute ztro, and this conclusion is confirmed
by their more recent experiments. It is only in
the case of perfectly pure metals that the resistance
gives indications of vanishing at this point, and
comparatively small traces of impurities seriously
affect the results recorded, hence extraordinary
care was exercised in obta.ining the various metals
in as pure a state as possible.
One of t~e
difficulties experienced was the want of a satisfactory method of measuring the low temperatures dealt with, which in cases sank considerably below - 200 deg. Cent. Finally,, howev~r, a
platinum thermometer_ was used, w~Ic~ consisted
of a wire of pure platmum, the variatiOns of the
resistance of which formed a measure of the temperature. Its indications proved to be constant,
and were certainly very nearly correct, though at
some future time it is proposed to make an accura~e
comparison between it and the true thermo dynamic

It is proposed to make an important rail way extension

through Bechuana.land, the work to be done by a subsidised company, to whom the Government of the colony
are prepared to a. ward a land grant of 6000 squar e miles,
and a subsidy of 10,000l. a year, to be increased to 20,000Z.
a year when the rail way 1s extended to Palapye. This
subsidy is oo be for a per10d of ten years.
At D osjobro, on the railway between L ondscrona and
Kjellinge, a large manufactory for smokeless powder is
about to be erected for account of a substantial company.
The manufacture will comprise both cotton powder and
smokeless powder, and it is confidently claimed that this
smokeless powder will be the best hitherto offered. It is
expected that the new factory will be in full swing next
spring, and a large demand from abroad for its powder is
reckoned upon.
The anticipation of the Lords of the Admiralty with
regard to the repair and internal reconstruction of the
disabled ship Howe, now in dock at Chatham, will undoubtedly be realised. The work is already so far
advanced th 9.t she will be able to be out of dock before
their lordships arrive on their annual tour of inspection.
In fact, the officials expect to remove her this week, and
there is every probability that she will be ready for sea
again in another month's time. The total cost of the
repairs at Chatham Dockyard will be about 40,000l.
The St. Pancras Vestry, acting_ upon the advice of
their electrical engineer, Professor Robinson, have authorised extensions of their electric lighting installation by
the addition of three 90-unit engmes and dynamos and
three boilers a.t the existing Regent's Park station, with
another sub-station in Regent'9 Park-road. These extensions will enable a further 5000 16 candlepower lamps
installed to be served. The vestry have also decided to
construct a second electric lighting station in combination
with a refuse destructor in King's-road, which will still
further increase the electric lighting of the district.
According to Professor D. S. J a.cobus, for a given tank
capacity and maximum pressure, from four to five times as
much power can be stored by liquid carbonic acid gas as
by compressed air. If the gases are h eated to 383.5 deg.
Fahr. before use, a. carbonic acid compound engine would
require 21.6 lb. of gas, and an air engine 14.3 lb. of air.
If the exhaust of the carbonic acid gas engine is condensed, the theoretical efficiency will be the same as that of
any other heat engine working through the same range of
temperature. Tbe working pressures will, however, be
very high, thus giving rise to practical difficulties.
The latest long-distance electric power transmission
plant in Switzerland is that recently opened at Frinvillier, the wat~r power at that place, which averages
about 350 horse-power, being transmitted to a paper
factory at Biberist, a diatance of nearly 18 miles. At
both the generating and receiving stati9ns th~re are two
continuous current dynamos connected m ser1es. Each
generator supplies a current of 43 amperes at 3000 volts,
so that the potential o.f the line is 6000 volts~ The .ma~n
is overhea.<i, and conslSts of two copper w1res .28 m. m
diameter carried on porcelain insulators fixed on poles
30 ft. high.

[SEPT. IS, I893

The traffic receipts for the week endip_g September 3 on
33 of the principal lines of the United Kingdom
amounted to 1,515,44ll., which, having been earned on
18,388 miles, gave a.n average of 82l. 8s. per mile. For
-he corresponding week in 1892 the receipts of the same
lines amounted to 1,650,823l., with 18,199 miles open
giving an average of 90l. 14s. There was thus a decreas~
of 135,382l. in the receipts, an increase of 189 in the
mileage, and a. decrease of 8l. 6s. in the weekly receipts
per mile. The aggregate receipts for nine weeks to date
amounted on the same 33 lines to 14,330,863l., in comparison with 15,126,139l. for the corresponding period
last year ; decrease, 795,276l.
Trials of the Heilmann electric locomoti,e have recently
been made at Havre, with, it is stated, satisfactory results,
at least in so far as the ease and smoothness of running
are concerned. This locomotive-recently very fully
described in . our p~ges -consists in .Principle . of
a steam engme dn vm~ a dynamo wh1ch supphos
current to motors wh1ch finally effect the propulsion. The engine was tried on a stretch of line
about li miles long, which contained curves of 250ft.
ra.<iius and stiff slopes. The shortness of the run pre
vented any high speed being attained, but at speeds of
from 20 to 25 miles an hour the running of the locomotive was remarkable. In shop trials the ma-chinery has
been run at a speed corresponding to 68 miles per hour.
Trials of the combined efficiency of the engine dynamo
and motors were made on the ret1un of the locomotive
to the shops, but the results of these have not yeb been
published .
According tQ the Scientific A11U1'ican, dynamite has
been used in securing a passage over an ocean bar at
Brunswick, Georgia. The original passage through the
bar had a. depth of 14 ft. at mean low water, and of 20ft.
at high tid e, but this was stopped by a wreck. The next
best passage, giving a. waterway 11~ ft. deep at low tide,
was also stopped by a. wreck a couple of years later.
Pending an api?ropriation from Congress, which could not
be obtained w1thin a reasonable time, it was decided to
endeavour to clear a passage by exploding dynamite in the
ba.r, and a new straight channel showing a depth of
13.3 ft. ab low tide was quickly secured. So successful
has the method proved, that the operations are being continued with a view to obtaining a depth of 16.3 fb. at low
tide. The charges now used weigh 200 lb. each, and up
to the present about 60,000 lb. of the explollive have been
expended.
At a lecture delivered before the Electrical Congress
at the World's Fair, Chicago, Mr. Tesla described a
form of: generator by means of which alternating currents
of perfectly definite frequency could be produced. The
apparatus consists essentially of a very short cylinder
fitted with piston and valves, and a. spring to resist the
motion of the piston-rod. The piston is set in oscillation
by compressed air, supplied at a. pressure of 60 lb. per
square mch. Tbe valves are adjusted to produce a powerful cushion effect in the cylinder at each stroke. This
compression reaches as much as 16 tons, whilst the weight
of the piston and its attachments is only 20 lb. An exceedingly rapid vibration can thus be obtained, such as a
rate of as much as 5000 to 10,000 oscillations per second if
desired. The piston being connected to wires crossing a
magnetic field, these wires are also set in vibration and
a current set up in them. The apparatus is said to be
both light and fairly efficient for the power developed.
Amongst the most interesting papers brought before
the World's Fair Electrical Congress at Chicago, was one
by ProfessorS. P. Thompson on ocean telephony. With
the cables as at present constructed, ocean telephony over
any considerable distance is utterlr_ impracticable owing
to the retardation of the si~als. Even rapid automatic
sending is out of the quest10n. This retardation of the
signals is due to the electrostatic capacity of the cable,
which is distributed uniformly along the whole length of the
line, and cannot be corrected bycoiiJpensa.tingdevices fitted
at the ends of tbe cable. A distributed r emedy is wanted,
and this P rofessor Thompson proposes to obtain by using
electro-magnetic induction to correct the retarding effects
of the electrostatic capacity of the cable. This he does
by constructing the cable on a three-wire system, two of
which are to form the complete circuit, whilst the third
constitutes an inductive shunt connecting these two wires
at intervals. Such a cable would, of course, cost considerably more to construct than an ordinary cable, but
Professor Thompson claims that it would do ten times as
much work.
The new first-class steel gunboat Speedy, 2, was delivered to the Medway Steam Reserve authorities at
SheernePs on Tuesday, on her arrival from the works of
Messrs. Thornycroft, of Chiswick, who built her for the
Government under the provieions of the Naval Defence
Act. It will be remembered that the dimensions of this
boat were such that she could only just get through some
of the bridges, and her successful passage down the river
must be a. source of congratulation to her builders. The
~peedy is of the same dimensions as the gunboats of the
Gossamer type, but has been fitted with engines of greater
power. She has a length of 230ft., a breadth of 27 ft.,
and a dieplacement of 810 tons. Her engines have been
designed to indicate 4500 horse-power under forced
draught- 1000 horse-power in excess of her sister ships
-and it is anticipated she will attain a speed of 20.25
knots. Working under natural draught, the maximum
power of her engines is estimated at 2500 horse-power,
with a speed of 17.75 knota. The armament of the Speedy
is to consist of two 4. 7-in. and four 3-pounder quickfiring guns, together with five tubes for discharging tor
pedoes, one in the bows and two on either side amidships.
The total cost of the Speedy, when fully equipped and
ready for commission, is estimated at 62,379l.

343

E N G I N E E R I N G.
REID'S AUTOMATIC STEAM-REDUCING VALVE.

Ftg.2.

,__~

Fig. 3 .

Fig. 1.

TnE s team- reduciug valve illustrated above is

now being introduced by Messrs. vVm. Reid and
Co., of 112, Fenchnrch-s treet, London, E. C.
A
general view of the vahe is shown in Fig. 1, whilst
the details of its construciion will easily be understood
from Figs. 2 and 3. Referring to these figures, it will
be seen that the high-preusure steam is admitted at A,
and getting below the val ve B tends to keep t his
closed. At th e same t ime a portion of t he st eam also
passes up the bye-pass E to a small double-beat val ve
F. Raising this, it passes down and presses on the
piston D, which, as will be seen, is fixed to the spindle
of t he valve B. This piston is a very loose fit, and so
cannot gain. As it is of larger diamet er than the
valve B, it opens the latter against the steam pressure,
thus adm itting steam to the low-pressure side of the
valve. F rom this low-pressure side a pipe Lis connected by a syphon to a water chamber M, closed at
the top by a piston r esting on a diaphragm of dermatine N. lf the pressure on t he low-pressure side of the
valve increases beyond that for which the spring is
set, t he piston is raised by the pressure, ancl by means
of the lever I closes t he small double-beat valve F,
which done, the main val ve of course closes automatically. By means of the screw and fly nut shown t o the
right of this lever, the double-beat valve eau be kept
closed, under which conditions the vah re acts as an
ordinary stop valve. It is claimed that t his valve
maintains a very constant pressur e on the low-pressure
side, even when that on the high-pressure side varies
through wide ranges.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
TuE great coal dispute is still the one absorbing
topic in t he industrial world. It colours and affects
all other questions, and exerts an influence upon
nearly all trades. In some districts the excitement
has q uieted down, and large numbers of men have
resumed work, as, for example, in 'outh Wales ; but
in some other districts t he excitement has become
intensified, and, unfortunately, deplorable rioting and
outrage have taken place. So violent has been the
attitude and the conduct of the men on strike in
several districts- notably Leeds, Pentefract, Dewsbury, Featherstone, and some other places- that the
military have been called into requisition, conflicts
have taken place, and some ha Ye been killed and many
injured in the collisions between the strikers and t he
civil and military forces. Everybody must deplore
these conflicts. The fact that they have taken place
is proof that the presence of the military was necessary.
In places where they were absent attacks were made
upon workmen, houses were wrecked, offices were
attacked and wrecked, the books were t orn and set on
fire, t he workings were injured by wagons and other
things being th rown down the shafts, the gear was cut
and otherwise damaged, and stacks of coal were set
ablaze in some districts. It is impossible t o defend such
outrage and violence. They recoil upon the men and
injure their cause. 11oreover, such conduct helps t o
justify recourse being had to the military in cases of
labour disputes. During the last quarter of a century,
notwithstanding serious disputes in many districts,
the presence of the military for ces has been infrequent,

and the policy of resorting t o them in assumed cases of

need has been dying out. Under the new 1egime
there has been a return to the old, bad policy of military interference, and the blame must r est upon those
who rendered such a policy desirable. The old leaders
have been striving to avoid such conflicts, and they
had well-nigh succeeded. A precedent has been established for the calling out of the forces of t he Crown ,
and t he local authorities will have t o provide the
means for payment of all the costs.
In the South W ales and Monmouthshire districts
t he men haYe been resuming work, the strike having
practically collapsed at most of the collieries.
One singular fact has contributed to this r esult
- namely, the influx of a certain proportion of
cotch miners to t ake the places of those on strike.
The Federation of Miners has not prevented this ;
possibly they could not prevent it. Yet the federation
is supposed to include the Scotch miners. The weakness of federation is that i t includes badly organised,
as well as effectively organised, districts. If st renuous
effor ts were made to strengthen the local organisations
all along the line, the federation would be all-powerful ; but a federation of weak unions is not really
strong.
Alt hough the ' Velsh miners generally
have resumed work, the stoppage that has taken place,
the scarcity and dearness of fuel, and the feeling of
uncertainty that exists, have all combined to affect
other industries, and in numerous cases have so operated as to close t he works. The stoppage of t he tinplate works has thrown idle some 5000 persons. The
stoppage, or partial stoppage, of the iron and steel
works has thrown out of work many t housands more.
The shipping trade has ueen so far paralysed as to
necessitate the docking of numerous vessels at all the
ports, so that the sailors, firemen, dockers, and others
are out of work. The depression in trade, which has
caused the coal crisis, has now deepened into almost
stagnation, which stagnation will .still further depress
the coalmining industries.
The coal crisis in Durham and Northumberland may
be said to be over. The men are at work, and pits
which have been idle or only partially employed are
busy once again. But the two counties are still more
or less in a state of ferment. The federation agents
are scouring the colliery districts, holding meetings
and conferences, and they report enthusiastic receptions and gatherings in all places visited, and cordial
resolution!!! of support.
The federation men are
strengthened in their policy uy reason of the fact that
Durham and Northumberland coal is being sent into
the strike districts, and thus the miners in these
counties are helping to defeat their comrades elsewhere.
Such competition, however, is inevitable.
In the Staffordshire districts t he impolicy of the
general strike has found vent in a determination to resume work at all pits where th e reduction
is not insisted upon. But a n ew difficulty has
arisen. On the men declaring their willingness to resume work, the coalowners declared in favour of the
policy of the federated owners, and asked for a 25 per
cent. reduction, which they had not intimated before.
This is exactly the policy which was foreseen, and was
pointed out to the men. H aving struck without
reason, they are asked to submit to t he full reduction
demanded in other districts. This counterblast policy
of the mineowners is caus~g. a good deal of anxiet y,
and they are asked not to ms1st upon the reduction, at

least for the present. S taffordshire will now become

a diffi cul ty when the conference meets.
In the Forest of Dean, on a ballot as to continuing
at work at the pits not already s topped, the men vot ed
for continuing at work, the "noes" numbering only 98.
At a later date there were r umours of a general settlement being negotiated on the basis of 7i per cent.
reduction, in three instalments of 2~ per cent. each on
October 1, November 1, and December 1. The fact is,
the Forest of Dean was all right so long as the men
were supported by the federation; but as soon as the
general strike took place, the r esources failed, and the
men were reduced to great straits. Poverty did the
rest.
In the Lancashire districts the men ar e being assisted
very generously by large donations from outsiders.
The contributions are not exactly t o the strike funds,
but to relieve the families in th eir distress. It
is understood that the balloting in Lancashire will be
largely in favour of r esis ting the proposed reduction
to the last. But perhaps they will not be so strong
against arbitration. Upon this subject the agents have
been reticent.
In the N ottin ghamshire districts there have been
scenes of violence. In one case the men on strike
actually went down the pits to get out t he" blacklegs."
At some other places th ere were disturbances. The men
at most of the pits declare that they will remain out for
months rather than submit to the reduction. The local
tradesl?eople and the r eligious congr egations are making
collectiOns in support of the fam ilies, or, at least, to
affor d some relief. Only one colliery r eplied in the
affirmative to an offer of the men to return to work at
the old rates ; t he others either refused or sent no reply
to the let ter of the miners' officials.
In the Scot ch district s the contest is virtually over.
The Fife and C!ackmannan men have accepted 121 per
cent. advance, in lieu of the 25 per cent. asked, and
have r esumed work. In other districts, in the 'Vest of
Scotland particularly, the men have also resumed work
on t he basis of a compromise. In the Lothians there
is still some show of fight, but it is expect ed t hat there
also a settlement will be effected. In the districts of
Edinburgh and H addington the compromise was
agreed to before the expiry of th e notices so that
work was not interfered with. Altogether the dispute
may be said to be practicall y over in Scot land and
with it also the stoppage of other large work s. '
In Der~yshire ~here is acute distre~s, but the public
are affordmg asststance, and the children are being
fed. At two collieries the men were offered work on
the old terms, but this was r efused by a large majority
of the men.
I? the Yorkshire distdcts there is the greatest
exCitement and the most intense irritation. The disturbances have been r iotous and violent, and the
leaders haYe been compelled to denounce them. But
the men are out of hand for the most part . They are
suffering acute distress. They can see coal brought
from Durham a nd other places. They are the back bone ~f t~,e federation, ~nd in a se~se are '' fighting for
dear hfe.
A collapse m Y orkshl.l'e means the entire
oollapse of the struggle.
The state of trade, as indicated by the report of the
:Amalgamat~d So~iety of Engineers . for September,
1s very aenous m deed. Never, smce the nnion
~as formed on its present. basis, have so many of
1ta members been 1n r ece1pt of donation benefit

'

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

344
except in the months of ~larch, April, and :May in
that most disastrous year , 1879. The total number
on donation benefit was 6074 ; on the sick list, 1739 ;
and in receipt of superannuation allowance, 2358, or
an aggregate of 10,171 out of 72,892 members. The
cost of maintenan ce per month was 4327l., or 1s. 5d.
per member per w eek, exclusive of over 8 l . expended
from the contingent fund. The cause is '' the abnormally bad state of trade, accentuated no doubt
by the lamentable struggle in the coal industry."
It is p ointed out that var ious other industries are
affected di~astrously by the coal strike, most of
which react with d ireful effect upon the engineering branches.
\Yith all this depression, em phasised by the miners' dispute, the engineers ex p ress
genuine and h earty sympathy with the miners in
their struggle. The conclusion drawn is that Parliament must do something, and that more labour r epresentatives shall be returned, with the view of preventing such catastrophes in the future. How "to prevent
th e recurrence of such barbarous methods of starving
men into subjection " is hinted at rather than explained, or even indicated. The fixiog of wages by
Act of Parliament cannot be intended, and the miners,
so far, have r esented arbitration. Trade h as declined
seriously in America and Canada, the increase of men
out of work and on t he funds is mor e than threefold.
In Australia it is n o better than it w as, even if as
good. The outlook is n ot cheering anywh ere.

n ew orders appear to have come in from outside districts at a satisfactor y r ate, both for crude a nd
finished iron. !\I ost of t he works are tolerably busy,
as the supply of fuel has not been materially diminished,
owing to the sliding scale arrangements in force. The
price of fuel is higher, and consequently quotations
a re in most cases enhanced for all k inds of material.
But the outlook is not very enco uraging after all, for
the increased demand, here, as in Scotland, is not d ue
to a larger aggregate trade, but mainly t o i ts being
diver ted into other channels wh ere the coal strike is
not operating.

ON THE MIDDLESBROUGH SALT

INDUSTRY.*

By :Mr. RICHARD GRIG G, of :M iddlesbrough.

Communicated through Mr. E . vVINDSOR RrcBARDSt
Vice-President.
(Concluded from page 316.)
D rilling T ools. - The tools used (Fig. 4) consist of a chisel
or "bit " B, stem A , 32 ft. loog, jars J, sinker barK, 10 fb.
long, and rope socket S. These are called a '' string of
tools," and are altogether about 60 ft. long. They are connected by taper screwjoints, one of whioh is shown in
Fig. 5. This joint gives great strength; a. few turns
bring it home, and a.n arrangement of levers screws it up
so tightly that it does not often unscrew in use, notwithstanding the vibration to which incessant blows subject
the tools. The jars J, Fig. 4, are a pair of links having a
vertical play of 9 in. ; they are for the purpose of freeing
tools if jammed or fastened in any way, by en abling
The report of the Ironfounders shows an increase of the
the driller to give a succession of upward blows which
124 on donation benefit, but a decrease of ten on dispute loosen the tools, no matter how firmly they may be held.
allowan ce. The number on donation, sick, superannua tion, and all oth er benefits was 2610; of these
only seven w ere in receipt of dispute pay. In all other
&ction of Brine Well. Port Ck.Mrene&
cases there was an incr ease on the funds as compared
CLAY
with last month. The weekly outlay on all t he benefits
was 849l. per week, or Is. 1 ~d . per member per week.
The total number of memberg is 15,036, and the balance
in hand over 39,69ll. T h e details as regards the state

of trade are not encouraging. I n n o d istrict is it'' good,"

and t h e intensity of the slackness has increased. The

Fig .7.
I
Fig 4
r eports from America state that a large number of men

are out of w ork , and those recently emigrating to the

String of Tool'
I
RZ.D .s.ANOCT0/1/f

States from this coun try have failed to obt ain wo rk.
Fig .s. I
The dispute at Barrow has been settled. The failure of
Scr~w - Joint

t.he feder ation instituted in 1891 at New...:astle, seems

Temper
T
~
to h ave occurred by r eason of a dispute in two branches
Scrc""
~
of trade. But some of the causes of that disput e
....
3
appear to be removed, and, t herefore, possibly the
"'Q
Ironfounders will again join the federation. But the
~
Engineers also broke away, and consequently th e body
Cl)
as originally constituted h as been weakened to that
Q
c
extent.
Q;
"'
D~ltH6AHD

I
I
I

()

The report of the Ironmoulders of Scotla nd. is not

quite so discouraging as that of some oth er um~ns. It
says: " While we a re not able to speak of .a.tune. of
good trade, stiU, when we compare O?r pos1t10n w1th
that of the oth er iron trades, there 1s no r eason for
being alarmed." The figures show that ther~ is an
incr ease of men at work of 168 as compa r ed w1th last
m onth. The total number of member s in employment
is gr eater t han at any period this year except on the
18th of March last. The out -of-work payments have
consequently been l ess.

Ro~S4ck

The cotton spinners of Lancashire, the united me!llber ship of whose union is 16,677 persons, ar~ bus1er
than for some time past, except that there 1s some
trouble as to fuel. Still, very fe'Y .are on the fun ~s,
and the cases of dispute are very tnfimg. The association is slowly but surely recovering from t he severe
s t rain of the late strike.
The eng ineering branches of trade in the Lancas~ire
districts manifest li ttle change, except that. there 1s a
greater difficulty in ob~ain ing fuel. Th1s tends t o
curtail op erations, and m so me cases has led ~o suspensions or to short. tim.e. The hea-vy statiOnary
engine builders are st1ll fa1rly busy, and are n.ot badly
off for orders. But, generally , the orders 1~ other
branches come in slowly, and are not of ~ons1derable
weight, while those on ~and are not suffi~1ent to keep
the works in f ull operatwn for a long p en od.

- --

"'

"-

RED SANO.STONl
WrTH

Sand

.+ -

[ () I'ASI./111

V/lt~

-+t-~~l lf.<-.~-1

Jars

- --

The report of the Amalgamated Carpenters and

Joiners for September shows that the re are 40,679
members of whom only 971 were retur ned as unemployed a'nd on benefit. This is most encouraging,
amid so many signs of a contrary character. For
mon ths past the m embers of this ut~i~n and others ~n
the build ing trades have been ge.mu~g advances. 1n
wages, and, in some places, a reductiOn of workmg
hours also.

..,....

: 142'i

....

Q:

""
.t:
~

'

Augcr$Wn :
I

MlfP.J.
W ITN

OriJJti
8
bit

1863.C.

ROCJI SALT

The temper screw Tis a.n ingenious con trivance for attaching the cable C to th~ walking beam, and enables the
driller to slacken or t1 gbten the cable, and to cause the
tools to revolve when drilling. In Fig. 6 is shown a
section of the sand pump. W~at can ~e effec~ed b.Y t~ese
appliances in the bands of a htghly sk1lled dr1ller 1s l1ttle
short of the marvellous. H oles have been drilled nearly
a mile in depth, perfectly. straigh t and perfectly ro~nd.
In Austria, indeed, a hole 1s reported to have be~n dr1lled
to a depth of over 6000 ft., but the deepest Amer10an hole,
at Pittsburg, is 4618 fb.
A ccidents. - Th e driller 's only knowledge ? f th.e tools
while in the borehole is through the c:a.ble, whtch ~ts b.and
never leaves while drilling. Extraordmary comphcat10ns

Amid all the discouragements 'Volverh.ampton seems

* Paper read before the Institution of Meohe.nical
to be on the winning side just n~w. W1th a toler~ble
amount of business on hand pnor to the coal stnke, Engineers.

sometimes arise; a faulty joint may unscrew, or a tool

break, the upper end of which may be driven quite aside
from the line of the hole. In the effort to recover it,
other tools may be lost, until :perhaps a ton of iron blocks
the well. On all this a "run m " may occur, burying the
whole possibly 100ft. deep and at 1000 ft . or more below
the surface. ' Vith patient and wonderful skill the bole
is cleaned out, t ool a fter tool withdrawn, and the cause
of th e mischief straightened up and got ou t. Or the
hole may collapse, burying the tools, and "sticking" the
jars. Then the cable is cut at the lowest accessible point ;
the hole is lined with t ubes, which follow the tools down;
the burifld tools are got hold of, and by the action of
jars are drawn out inch by inch. ::>ometime~, though
rarely, holes have to be abandoned as the result of such
accidents.
Sinhng and Lining of Middlesbrough Wells.-The
diameter of the ~Iiddlesbrough wells is 8 in. A fter construction of the rig, the first process is to drive down
10in. tubes, furnished with a strong shoe, through the
surface clay, sand, gravel, &c., to a depth of from
80 ft. to 130 fb., till the sandstone is reached, for
which purpose the rig is temporarily transform ed
into a clumsy-lookio~ but efficient piledriver. After
this the drilling begms. Thicknesses of from 300 fb.
to 700ft. of water-bearing red sandstone are passed
through, then red marl down to the white stone
overlying the salt, then r~tten marl, and then the ealt
bed; the drilling stops at the bottom of the salt. The
8-io. hole is then lined, either throughout from top to
bottom, or else only through the b<:>ttom 200 ft., ~vhicb. i3
the region of falls _of marl. For th1s bo~tol? port~on ~to .
tube is used of 5~ m. bore. If t he bole ts hoed b1gh e~ up
the tubes are i in. thick and 6~ in. bore; at th e co.uphngs
they are then 7~ in. in diameter outside. In F1g. 7 1s
shown a section of a brine well at Port Clarence. The
tubes are perforated at A to permit ingress of water from
the sandstone; and again at Bat the top of the salt bed,
to let t his water flow over the rock salt. They are also
perforated at C at the bottom of t he bed to permit ingr~ss
of brine to the pump tubes D. The latter are ! m.
thick and 4 in. bore from the surface down to 250 ft.
depth, as far as th e pump barrel E ; and thence
3~ in. bore below, down to the bottom, where tbe.y
are perforated at F through a length of 4ft. to adro1t
the brine. The pump is ~~ in. bore with 4 ft. stroke,
is connected by iron rods to t he walking beam, and provided with a stuffing-box and brin~ outl~t at.surface.
P umping of Brine.-As soon as the well 1s bored, the
pump tubes in pla~e, and the PU'f!lP rods attached., the
small cavity occupied by the woll1n th e salt bed w1ll. be
filled with fully saturated brine; and t he pump bemg
started at the normal speed of twel ve to fourteen strokes
per minute, the first d1scharge will be water, until the
brine, passing up the suction pipe, appears in a muddy
stream. It quickly clears, and as quickly becomes weak,
through the exhaustion of the contents of the cavity,
which is as yet small. Water is found in the sandstone
within 20ft. of the surface, and, standing in the annular
space, balances the column of brine so far as the difference
io their specific gravity permits. A column of water
1200 ft. supports one of brtoe having a heig.h t of nea~ly
1000 ft.; the pump therefore has really to hft the brme
only about 200ft. A new well, if working properly, increases daily in yield as the cavity in the salt bed becomes
enlarged through the removal of salt and thereby presents
a larger area of salt surface for solution. Owing to its
greater specific gravity, the strongest brine is always
found at the bottom of the well ; and if the pumping is
considerable, brine of decreasing strength, or even fresh
water, will occupy the upper part of the cavity. The
solvent power of the water, of course, steadily becomes
less as full saturation is approached, until it ceases altogether. T he resulb is that more salt is removed from the
top of the bed than from lower down ; and thus the shape
of the cavity should become that of a fiat funnel or
shallow inverted cone, depending somewhat on bow the
well is pumped, whether so fast as to yield weak bri ne
or not. This has proved to be what really happens.
Wells bored ab from 40 to 60 yards distance from old
wells have found the cavity already formed and of a depth
which, considered in relation to the salt removed, confirmed this theory. In another case a fall of rock
broke the well tubes. The fallen stone was drilled
through, and fresh tubes inserted to the cavity beneath
it. A fter the pumping had been resumed, the stone
slipped down H ft., breaking the tubes again. lb was
again pierced and the process repeated until the stone
was lowered 6ft., showing that solution of the supporting
side of the funnel had allowed the stone to slip down.
The pumper confessed defeat, and now pumps from the
top of the atone ; but be bides his t ime in the l>elief that
scHmce will eventually provide an explosive which shall
oreate a sufficient disturbance in the very heart and vitals
of that obdurate ston~. Last, but perh aps not least, an
abandoned cavity at Nancy having been pumped dry was
entered, and found to be of the shape m~ica~ecl. I~ is
obvious that the funnel shape of the caVIty ts an Important matter, and an unfortunate one, for pumping,
because it removes support from the neighbourh ood of the
tubes where it is most needed; and heavy falls of marl and
rock ~ccur, which break the tubes, no matter how strong
they are, althoughlightfalls maybe resisted, and areknown
only by the discoloration of the brine; iin . ateel lining
tubes are used; and with this thicknes3 the worst bent and
broken tubes after a fall have, with great strain and difficulty, been so far stra.i.g htened as .to be got o~t by~ steady
pull with two 50 ton JS.CkS j but 1D a well Wlth
steel
tubes the bend wa~ such that withdrawal was impossible,
and the well bad to be abandoned. After a fall, weak brine
or water is obtained ; the in valuable rig is detached from
the pumping gear, and is used to withdraw the tubes
above the break, generally leaving from 60 ft. to 100 ft.

rtn.

SEPT.

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

15, 1893]

in the well. The t ools are then strung up, a nd a.n attempt
is mad e to drill down b~ the side of the old tubes and
to pub fresh tub?s in. 'Ibis operation is often atte nded
with en dle R perplexiti es and difficulttes ; neverth eless
wells h:we been repaired in this way many t imes. Tools
are often lost in this cleaning-out process; in one instance
a string of t ool!i, cable a nd all, went down a cavi ty, and
remain there; and yet the well is work ing still. 'l'he
num ber of wells which have been pumped and afterwards
abandoned for various reasons is beh eved not t o exceed
t en.
Y ield and St,ength of Brine. - Well3 vary considerably,
b )th in yield and in strength of brine. This may be due
t o the exist ence of earthy matter, which may cover the
salt with a coating of mud, and thus check solution, or it
may be due to defect ive couplings or tubesJ which would
p srmit dilution of the brine by the entrance of water into
t he pump tubes from the annular space surrounding them.
A well pumping t en hours p er day, and yielding 200 tons
of salt in brine per week, would be considered doing good
work.
Surface S ulJs idence.- The question of possible subsidence
of the surface has naturally excited a. good deal of interest
in :M iddles brough. In Cheshire the flooding of old rock salt mines and the subsequent pum ping, as well as the
removal of the mineral from the course of the "runs, u
h ave led t o serious subsidence and to extraordinary
behaviour on the part of houses, roads, streams, and
bridges ; but at ~Iiddlesbrough th e depth of the salt bP,d
is so much grea.t~r, and the character of the strata so
d ifferent, that it does not follow the same results will
ocour. It is believed that great arches will form them
selves over the funnel-shaped cavities in the rock salt,
from point to point of sup port; or that the interstices left
by broken masses of fallen rook will equal the bulk of
salt removed, and will so support the S"Urface. On the
other hand, it is the opinion of experienced persons in
Cheshire that subsidence will ultimately take place ; and
t o this result the experience of mining engineera seems t o
point. All that can so far be said with certainty is that
n o sign of subsidence has yeb shown itself.
F iltration and E vaporation of B rine.-On reaching the
surface the brine is conveyed in pi pes t o a. filter bed, constructed on the pattern of ordinn.ry water works sand
filter . These act well, and pass a. clear bright brine to
the r~servoir, whence it is pumped to the pans for evaporation. Notwith standing the fact that endless efforts
have been made to iruprove the method of evaporation,
and that a. large number of plans have been devised for
this purpose, yet to-day, just a.s 1800 years ago, open pans
are used, having beat passed under them. 'l'be only
d ifference is that th e R omans used pans made of lead and
not more than a. few feet square, while t o-day much
larger pans made of steel and iron a re empl oyed. The
ordinary size of common salt-pans is 60 ft. by 24 ft. by
1! ft. deep, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The pans are set

.Ft.g.8.
Hvrdle

Salt Pan

Hvrd/~

upon longitudinal walls, which form flues t o convey the

products of combustion from fireplaces at one end of the
pan to the chimney at th e other. As the water is driven
off by evaporation, th e Ealt crystals form on the surface of
the brine, and gradually sink t o the bottom ; thE'y are
drawn by rakes to the side of the pan, a nd lifted out and
deposited npon decks or "hurdles, " from which th e
adhering brine drains back into the pans.
Salt.-Fine sa.lt is obtained from salt which is boiled,
the fineness of grain depending upon th e temperature a.t
which the brine is evaporated; the higher the tempera
ture, the finer the grain ; the lower the temperature, the
larger the crystals. Block salt or "squares, are obtained
bv drawing off boiled salt a.t short intervals into m oulds ;
the squares are afterwards dried by surplus beat from the
pans. Table and dairy salt are obtained by grinding
squares. Common salt is drawn every other day from
brine kept at about 190 deg. Fa.hr. ; fishery is drawn
every seven or fourteen days, according t o grain, from
brine kept a.t about 100 dig. All these processes are very
simple, yet the salt manufacturer is not without his difficulties and perplexities ; and a certain degree of skill and
good management is essential to the successful prosecution of thiCJ, as of every other industry.
CoKE I N G&RMANY.-The German coke syndicate
d ecided to reduce production in AugYst to the extent of
25 per cent. Tbe reduction in the production in July
"as a.t the rate of 30 per cent.

THE MANUFACTURE AND TESTING OF

PORTLAND CEMENT.*
P ORTLAND cement consists of a. chemical combination
of lime, silica, and a.lumina with iron in certain well defined proportion~, together with alkalies, magnesia, &c. ,
which enter in a minor and less essential degree into it:t
composition.
The lime may vary from .. .
58 to 64 per cent.
The silica
,
...
18 , 24
,
The alum ina. and iron
. ..
8 , 14
,
the three t ogether a.mountinEf to about 05 or 96 per cent.
of the wholo, and the proper ttes of th e cement produced
will depend on the proportions which th ese ingredients
bear to one another. Tbe magnesia., alkalies, and sulphuric anhydride affect its properties in a minor degree.
A hydraulic lime contains a. larger percentage of lime
than a P ortland cement, and consequently its nature is
such that it requires hydrating before use, whereas P ortland cement is fit for use without previous hydration;
this diffE'rence being due not only to the difference in
composition, bnt also to the degree to which calcination
is carried.
The processes of manufacturing Portland cement consist,
in the first instance, of obtaining a. perfectly mechanical
admixture of such raw materials as are suitable and available, subsequently reducing this mechanical admixture to
a chemical one by calcination, and afterwards grinding
the clinker so produced.
Given any materials which contain amongst them th e
lime, silica., and a.lumina, and which may by proper admixture in definite proportions, produce the components
of a Portland cement, then P ortland cemenb may be produced from them, but in many cases the cost of production may be prohibitive.
Those ma terials which are capable of reduction by
water a re not only the most economical t o reduce, but are
al o capable of producing the most perfect mechanical admixture, and the more pE\rfect is then thb chemical compound produced by c1.lcination. The chalks and clays
from which Portland cement ie produced on the Thames
and Medwa.y in England, and tbe chalk and clay which
are used at Yancton, Dakota, U.S.A., at the works of the
Western P ortland Cement Company, are examples of
materials whi<'h lend themselves easily to disintegration
and reduction by water .
Other raw materials which are not capable of reduction
by water have to be ground t o powder and then mi xed,
and with suitable machinery the extra. expense need not
be great. Examples of such ma.terials are to be found in
the blue lias formation, from wh ich many cement works
in the Midland Counties of England derive their supply
of raw material. In this case the stone and the shale
which separate the beds of st one, are both used in the
production of cement, th e proportion of shale t o stone
used being determined by the chemical composition of
each, but as both are capable of being ground as brought
from the quarry, they are generally ground in their
proper proportions together, the grinding and subsequent
pugging effectin g the mixing.
Another modification in the means of obtaining a
mechanical admixture of two materials, is where one is
capable of being reduced by water and the other is not,
as, for instance, a. hard limestone a nd a clay. Such an
instance, among many others, is found a.t J:>arahyba do
Norte, Brazi l, where a bard limestone is used in conj unction with a ri ver mud, and th e admixture is produced by
grinding the limestone, dryin~ and then grinding the
mud, and then weighing and mtxing them in their proper
proportions.
For the further treatment of materials which are
reduced and mixed by water, there are two well-known
processes, both p_rocE.'sses being subject to many variations in detail. The first, and the oldest, and probably,
all things considered, the most satisfact ory, except in the
matter of economy, is t o wash the chalk and clay together
in a wash-n1ill with a very la rge q ua.nti~y of water. Tbe
slip so produced runs away by an overflow, and id conducted by proper channels into large reservoirs or backs,
where the solid particles in the slip gradually sink to the
bottom, and the clear water is drawn off by weirs and
sluices. When a. back or reser voir is full, and the slip has
attained sufficient solidity to be removed in barrows, it is
laid on the drying floor, and subsequently loaded into
the kiln. This process, it will be readily understood,
produces the most perfect mechanical admixture of the
two materials which it is possible t o attain. The second
well-known method is to wash the chalk and clay in a
wash -mill as before, but with considerably less water, and
inst ead of taking the o'"erflow, the slip produced is simply
allowed to pass through a g rating, and, consequently, it
is not reduced in the wash-mill to that same degree of
fineness to which it is in the previously described process. In order, therefore, to obtain that required fineness,
the slip, as it pa.ses through the g-l'ids of the wash-mill,
is conducted to a. pair of ordinary millstones and ground,
from whence it passes direct on to the drying floors, and
is dri ed ready for calcination. As will be seen, these two
processes lend themselves to many modifications, in
accordance with exigencies of the site, &c., and the fancy
or whim of the manufacturer. When dealing with
materials which are reduced by grinding, there are two
well-known methods. The one is to mix it in a. pu~
mill with a fairly large quantity of water, reducing 1t
into a kind of stiff slip, which may be dried on a. drying
floor; the other is to mix it with a. small quantity of
water and make it into bricks in any of the well-known
dry brick machines, which bricks are then dried in the
ordinary way previous to calcination.

345
The difference in the two processes does not seem very
great, but there is perhaps more difference between them
than is apparent at first sight. \Vhen mi xed into a
stiff slip there is possibly from 25 t o 30 per cent. of water
to evaporate from it before it is suffi ciently dry to
load into the kiln; at the same time the dr! ed slip has the
advantage of being more or less porous, a nd consequently
is fairly easy to calcine. In the process of compressi ng
the slip into dry bricks, or briquettes, the amount of
water to evaporate is perhaps only 12 or 13 per cent., but
owing to the density of the brick it is diffi cult to eva.po
ra te this water, and the dried brick does not lend itself
readily to easy and regular calcination in the kiln.
The means adopted for drying the slip, slurry, or
bricks, are various. The oldest and perhaps best known
is that of having ordinary tiled floors with flues und erneath, through which th e combusti on from coking ovens
is passed, the slip being laid on the t op of the tiles; by
thts means the slip is d ried, and a. certain quantity of
coke is produced which is used as a supplementary supply
to t hat which is required for the calcination of the cement
in the kilns. Other floors are of iron plates, under which
free steam is passed, and again there are many drying
floors which are constructed like ordinary brick drying
floors, witboub any pretension t o economy. But the mosb
advanced method is to construct the <hying floor at the
level of the top of the kiln, and to use the waste heat from
the k iln for drying the slurry or bricks for the nex t load
m g.
'fbe requirements of calcination are: That the calcination should be stopped just short of vitrifaction ; that
the proper degree of calcination should be effected
rapidly, and that the clinker should be burned, nob
baked; that the product of a. kiln should show a n e~en
and regular degree of calcination throughout ; and lastly,
that these results should be obtained with due conom y
with respect to fuel, and the kiln which best satisfies theee
requirements is the one to be adopted.
On drawing a. kiln, all ligbb burnt portions should be
pick ed out, and only the thoroughly burnt clinker passed
to the crushers for subsequent grindin g, and it is u~ua.l
to put the light burnb on the top of another kiln for
further calcination, or in some works small subsidiary
kilos are used for its further calcination.
The calcination of a. Portland cement has hitherto been
carried out in intermittent kilns; the diffi culty of altering
this and ad opting a continuous or running kiln has been
the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiently refractory
material to form the lining of the kiln- not so much on
account of the beat in a cement kiln being greater than
that t o which fi rebricks are subjected in many other
manufactures, but to the presence of the lime in the
cement acting on the silica. and a.lu mina in the bricks.
causing them to flux and enter into combination with the
sli p of the cement.
The econ omical grinding of cement has attracted the
attention of a great number of inventors. The two
princi~les which have perhaps attracted the greatest
attentton are those of edge-runners and ball mills, and
the economy in power by both these principles over ordinary millstones is very considerable, and the cost of
repairs and maintenance is also, in most cases, consider
ably reduced ; but whether the grinding is as efficient, is
another question altogether. Mere fineness does not
satisfy the question, as a cement may be ground t o an
equal fineness in two different mills, and yet one will be
all grit a nd the other all flour and the more floury a.
cement is, the better will be the results obtained with
ib, both in the testing-room and in actual practice ; and
undoubtedly no grinding machine that has as yet been
invented will produce the same percentage of flour on
equal ~inding, as the ordinary millstone. Mills on the
ball pnnciple give better results than those on the edgerunner principle, but are not so efficient as millstones.
The power con sumed by the several prin c iple~, reduced
to the production of one t on of cement per hour, may be
approximately stated to be as follows :

30 to 32 indicated
horse - power per
ton p er hour.
Ball principle ...
... ... 16 to 18 indicated
horse - power p er
t on per hour.
Edge-runner principle
... 12 to 14 indicated
horse pow<:r per
ton per hour.
In each case the c:ment being ground to a fineness
of about 6 per cent. residue on a. 50 by 50 sieve, and
it will thus be seen that the power required is proportio~a.t~ t o the_ amount of flour produced.
The great
obJeCtion to mtllstone~, from a. manufacturer's point of
view, is the great expense entailed in dressing them, as
in a. burst of four pairs of st ones, one pair will always
have to be up being dressed, and there is, therefore,
not only the expen se of dressing, but there is the increaEed
capital charge in requiring four mills t o do the work of
three. It seems possible, though the author has not had
the opportunity of trying it, that by giving the millstones
a fine dress with a. considerable depth of fac~. the first
grinding of the cement might be effected in one or other
of the grinding machines and finished only in the millston es.
Very few cements are fit for use immediately they are
ground, and all cements are improved by judicious and
careful warehCiusing.
The objct of testing cement is to obtain a. k~owl edge
of the material which is about to be used, and the author
maintains that that knowledge can best be obtained by
gauging a. ce~ent by itse~f. with the addition only of
*Abstract of paper read by Mr. H enry Fa.ija, water, and w1thout theaddttlon of sand or other material~
M.I.C.E., at the International Engineering Congress, as these th emselves by variations in their composition
Chicago.
form, and nature, introduce an element of error, inde~
For millstones...

.. .

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

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pendently of any good or b ad qualities in the cement; also

that the r esults obtained in the testing-room and laboratory, are infinitely superior, so far as strength is concerned,
to any that can be obtained in actual practice ; ~nd
that it is the object of the manipulator m the testmgroom to obtain the very best results which his knowledge
and skill enable him to.
A very true knowledge of the value of a cement may be
obtained by determining the following properties :
1. The time which a cement takes to set.
2. Its soundness or freedom from blowing.
3. The fineness to whi<;h it is ground.
4. Its tensile strength at three or seven days.
Of tb(;Se the most important is of course its soundn~ss.
The setting properties of a cement may b e d~ter~n~.ed
by taking a few ounces of the ~ement and mlX~ng
it with the very smallest quantity of .water wh1ch
will allow of its being worked up with a trowel
into a t enacious mass that will r etain the form ~nto
which it is made . This should be shaped up mto
a pat of about 3 in. long by 1! in. wide and ! in. thick,
and placed on a n on-porous slab, and it may be considered '' set hard " when the J?ressure of the. thulJl~
nail will no longer mark it. Or, 1f the thumbnail test ts
considered t oo primitive, a Vica.t n eedle m ay be u~ed ; th e
n eedle having a flat point with a diameter of 0.1 m., and
loaded with a weight of 3lb. The needle _should be
allowed to remain on the pat for about one mmute, and
when on removal no mark is left, the cem ent. may b e ~n
s idered set hard. There itJ, .boweve~, an :p.t~!J?lediat~
s tage wbi<;h s hould be noted, vtz. , the ttme of . tmttal.set,
and this is of more importance than the ttme. w_h10h a
cement t akes to finally set. A cement when It IS first
worked up into a pat, has a glossy, wet _ appear~nce
due t o the excess of water w~ich. was us.ed . m ~augtn~,
remaining on the surface, and It wtll r em am m tht~ condition until the setting commences. The water w1ll then
leave the surface and become absorbed by the cement as
it sets or orystaU{ses. When once this pr<><?8ss has co~
m enced any disturbance of the cement will destr? Y Its
constru~tive value hen ce it will be seen that the time of
"initial set " of a~ment, or the time that elapses between
the first addition of water and the commencem ent of
setting, defines the time whic~ may be ta~en fo~ tbe_pr? per
manipulation of the cement m the work m which 1b IS to
b e used.
k tt'
Cements may be di vide_d into t_wo classes, qmc se mg
and slow setting. A quick settmg cement m~y hav,~ an
"initial set" of seven or eight minutes, a_nd wtll be set
hard " within the h our; iJ? a slow se~tmg cement the
time of initial set is sometimes very dlffiou_lt to d efine,
but it may be set hard in from from two to s1x hours.

(To be contin ued.)

D u TCII CoAt.-It appears that 96,144 tons of coal were

raised last year in Holland.

'I I

' I :I

EXPERIMENTS ON ''SERVE '' TUBES IN

MARINE BOILERS.
Some E xperi?Mrtts on the Combination of I nduced Draught
and H ot A ir, A pplied to Marine Boile1s Fitted with
"Se1-ve " Tubes and R etarders.*
By J. D. ELLIS , Managin~ Director, Messr s. John Brown
and Co., Ltmited, Sheffield.

I N these days of triple and quadruple expansiOn engmes

and high speed for ships, I tr~st some rem~rks and res~lts
of experiments on the ~conom!cal and efhCie!lt prod~ct10n
of steam for marine bOilers wtll n ot be unmtfilrestmg t o
the m embers of this Institution.
The combined use of strong artificial suction draught,
" Serve " tubes and retarders, and furth er utilising the
beat of the gas~s when they have left the boiler, seem to
me the natural outcome of the requirements of the. day.
The engine power demanded by the present ships has
advanced by leaps and bounds, and tw? o! the latest
built have reached a power of over 30,000 mdwated h orsepower each. lb h as, therefore, b eC?me an urge~t n ecessity to obtain more work per cubtc ~oot of. boiler _than
hitherto, not only without loss, but, tf posstble, w1th a
gain of economy.
.
The hei6'ht of smokestacks for natural draugh~ has m creased w1tb the in crease in the size of the shtps, and
thus a vacuum of about ~ in. of water has bee~ r each ed ,
being nearly twice as much as had bee'!l <?btamed only
three or four years ago in the gr eat maJOrity of vessels
with natural draught. In other v~ssel~ ~he draught has
been artificially increased by blowmg atr m to an OJ?en or
closed stokehold or closed furnace. Mr. M ar t m h as
worked in the direction of e~hausting . th~ gases by_fans
in the funn el instead of forcm~ the au m to the bo1lers.
Jets of s team: or compr essed a1r in the funnE\1 have been
tried t o obt ain an incr ease of draught. . ~r. Howden has,
in addition to his forced drau~bt, ut1l~sed so~e ?f the
beat of the waste gases by h eatmg the a tr, makm~ 1t pass
r ound a n est of short vertical tubes through wb10h the
waste gases go from the smokebox ~o the funn el. In
other cases t h e air has been heated shgbtly by th~ ~eat
wbioh would otherwise have been lost _by ra~1at10n .
R etarders have been used by Mr. Ho~den m p~am tubes
with forced draught t o bring the swtft~y passmg gases
into b etter contact with the bee.t-absorbmg B!lr~ace, and
have thereby, as well as to some extent by rad1at1on, been
a source of economy.
The advent of the" Serve " tubes haR marked another
important era in the history of boilers. The h eat-absorbing surface of the "Serve " tube is. muo~ greater than
that of a plain tube of the same outside dtameter, and a
retarder placed in the centre of the "Serve" tubes makes,
for a draught of ~ in. and over of water pressure or

* Paper read before the Institution of Naval Archi

t ect a.

--

vacuum, the most efficient and econ om ical combination

I know at present.
Having ascertained in ordioary si nfile-ended S cot ch
marine boilers the value of the "Serve tub~ and of ~b~
tetarder with different rates of draught, wtth l\1artm s
induced draught with cold air, and H owd en 's fo_rced
drausht with h eated air, it seemed to me that a. considerable rmprovem ent was possible over ~xisting practic~ by
combinmg and ext ending the best _features. of the var10~s
systems, and the accompanying IllustratiOn s show th1s
combination as it has been at work for over twelve months
at the Atlas Works in boilers Nos. 7 and 8.
I have preferred artificial "suction " draught to
"forced" draught,, because ~t s~~med the, natural w_ay of
increasing the effi01enc~, ~emg natural draught mtensified, produced by arttfiCial means, merely because the
equivalent h eight of smokestack cannot be used at s.ea.
Seeing that in any caRe, _whetb~r the draught be suct10n
or forced, a given quantity of a1r must pas~ through the
boiler at a certain sl?e~d to prod u.c e a gt ven com bust ion and being of opm10n that suctiOn draught was less
likeiy to produce trouble in the combustion ~hamber th~n
forced draught at the high rate of combustt on _I . bad .n
view the b est means applicable at sea of obtammg this
kind' of draught bad to be consider ed . S team jets in the
funnel could not be entertained b ecause of the loss .of the
water. Air jet s were d oubtful. Fans ~ad been tned for
exhausting the gases, and the b eat bad. g1 ven trouble even
wh~n burning at rates ~ar ~elow those mtend~d by me ; or
t o avoid the gases passmg m to the fans ab a bt.g h t.emperature the tubes bad to be made ver y small m d iameter,
wer~ therefore liable t o choke readily, and red1:1ced gre.atly
the amount of coal which could be burnt w1th a gtven
rate of draught compared with o~dinary-si z~d tub_es.
Besides this, the cr owded tubes Impeded circulatiOn
within the boiler. I knew the "Serve " tubes a~ retarders would reduce the heat of the ~ases appreCiably
within the b oiler itself; but, as I d esu ed to b~n at the
r ate of 45 lb. to 60 lb. per sq uare foot of full-stze grate,
ther efore three or four times the rate of ordi.nary natural
draught, the t emperature of the g~ses esc_apmg from the
boiler into the smok ebox would still be htgb , and would
r equire t o be furth er a~sorbed for the ~ouble .purpose of
pr eventing d ifficulty w1th the fans and mcre~mg ~be efficiency per pound of fueL A n est of short vertJCal au-heating tubes, as in the Howden systAm, w~uld d o good, but I
d esired something more, becau~e I wtsb ed to bu~n at a
h igh er rate. Thus I came to hori zontal t~bes, which are
more effective than vertical on es, and whiCh can be used
of greater len~th. '1;~e ulti~ate combination an~ extension is shown m the tllustrat10ns above, the leadmg features of the boiler being tberefore1. Suction or induced draught.
2. The utilisation of the waste gases for beating the
air befor e it passes into the furnace.
3. '' Ser ve " tubes.
4. Retarders in the tubes.
The principal dimen sion s of the boiler! are as follow '

347

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

EPT. I 5, I 893.]

TABLE I.- RESULTS OF EXPERIMENT MADE "\VITH "SERVE, TUBES AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED ON A~GUST 2~, TO 27,
29 TO 30, EPTEMBER 1 TO 2, 2 TO 3, 1892, ATLAS WORKS, SHEFFIELD. NOS. 7 AND 8 MARINE BOILERS.
SERVE TUBES
'VITH RETARDERS AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED.
...,
...
"d
...
.
.
Q)
CID
GICISO
CID
...
...

...,
...
...
c
c
~00
~....
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August '13 to 27. -In this experiment all bars were cle aned and tubes swept befor e starting ; fires were cleaned every twelve hours alterna~ely ; the tubes were not swept dunng t he whole of
t his t rial. In this test all bot ai~ was passed above t he fires, and cold air underneath, the bottom doors being half open to allow admittance of cold au.
.
.
August 29 to 30.- In this expPriment new firebars were put in, and tubes swept before starting ; tires were cleo.ned every four hours ; the t ubes were not swept dunog the whole of the t r1al.
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.
.
.
September 1 to 2.- In this experiment all bars were cleaned and tubes swept before star ting; fires wer e cleaned e very six hours ; the tubeR were !lot swept d~rmg the whole of lhts tnal. In
this test the hot.air feed was both top and bottom, but underneath the bars the bot air was diluted with cold air hE>ing admitted throug h sevent y holes 1n eQ.Ob ashp1t door ; there was also a second
perforated plate behind tha ashpit door, for the purpose of mi xing the air thoroughly . The temperature of air under grate wa s o.o o.verage of about 150 deg. Fabr. .
.
.
.
September 2 to 3.-In this ex periment all bare were cleaned nod tubes s wept befot'e star ting; fires cleaned e very six bou1s; the tubes were. not ~wept dunoa- the whole of t h1s tr1al. In th1s
test all hot air was paBSed abo\'e the fi res. and cold o.ir underneath ; t he bottom doors being Ehut, the oold ai r passed through seventy boles dnlled m eo.ch door fo r the purpose ; area of these
boles, 124 square inches, i.e., 62 square ior hes in eaob door; area for pas3age of air over both fi res, 220 square in ches.

TABLE II. - RE ULTS OF EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH "SERVE " TUBES AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED ON AUGUST 15 AND
NOVEMBER 5, 8, 15, 17, AND 18, 1892, ATLAS WORKS, SHEFFIELD. NOB. 7 AND 8 MARINE BOILERS. "SERVE '' TUBES WITH
RETARDERS AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED.

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REMARK . -In these experiments with Welsh and American coal, t.he best r esults were obtained by putting all the hot air under the grate with the ashpit doors closed, the hot ai r being
diluted by the c old o.ir being admitted through the boles in asbpit doors. Fires kept a moderate thickness. Du rin~ the 48 hours' test the mode of admitting the air was tried in various ways,
but the best results were obtained as above stated . This experimenting with the ,alves a ccounts for the apparently low evaporat-ion. The 6rebars in this test were partly cleaned every
eight hours ; but in the others t h ey were not cleaned during the whole of the tests. Melting point of lead, 630 deg. Fabr. ; of zinc, 700 deg. Fahr.

TABLE IlL - RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH "SERVE, TUBES AND INDUCED HOT-Affi FEED ON FEBRUARY 24, 27,
AND MARCH 15, 1893, ATLAS \VORKS, SHEFFIELD.
No. 7 MARINE BOILER.
"SERVE " TUBES WITH RETARDERS AND
INDUCED HOT-AlR FEED.

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RB\IARRS.-February 2 & :
door for the purp~se .
February 27 and March 16: In these expenments all the bot atr was passed under the fires, but wn.s diluted with cold air, admitted through seventy holes in each ashpit door.
In the abo"e expenmeots the ftrebars were cleaned and tubes swept before starting. The 6 reba.rs were not cleaned again during the whole of the seven hours' t est.
Melting point of bismuth 493 d eg
Fah r. ; of lead , 630 d eg. Fabr.

TABLE IV.-RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH ''SERVE" TUBES AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED, MAY 5 AND 8, 1893,
ATLAS WORKS, SHEFFIELD. No. 7 MARINE BOILER. "SERVE, TUBES WITH RETARDERS AND INDUCED HOT-AIR FEED.
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:r.:
::r:
c='~ ...

::s 0"'- ~
OcnAa.

m.

i
~

14. 36
16.81

R;E'l ~RKS ..- May 6, 1893 . In the seven hours run. the fires were not cleaned for the whole of the seven hours . The fi r es were kept very thick, and all the hot air put on top of fi re t he cold air

Cloly be10g adm1tted under gr ate. May 8, 1893 : In th1s test of Sc~to~ coal, the bars were again not cleaned during t he whole of the run, but the fires were very thin and the whole of 'the air b 0 tb
bea.ted and cold, was passed under the grate. The results were, 1t w11l be eeen, much better even than on May 6. Melting point of lead , 630 deg. Fa.br,
'

GI

E ER I

G.

( Diarntttr of l>o1ltn
..
..
10 ft. 6 io.
1 Length
we u
no w metals o r whi<h th m lting poi nt i well propelling ngin &re u _tantia1ly of th,
,,
..
.
n 1 t rn
10
"
6
"
k~own, in prefert!"oo to any ki nd of pyrorn t.ei'l'. Th~
Pu" u" ftuee In fiLch hoi ltr ..
2
the of th o th r '
1 of the la! . Th c kt! ,
loaide dianaettr of ftuo . .
..
tr1 1 onmtn nco w1th the 6rt "' lm rnt down to a minimum, l in. ! a nd th tri~l w mad
2 ft. lO! In.
it.h th n in ho
up
l..enl(th Of fUIII I
and 6m"b as n taar a po 1ble. w1th th am h igh t u f to :l.l l D. :t'ht I' " !'r of th tr.odi6oo ( rrit lth" L J ,
7 .. 6. "
:rotal nu m her c,f tub (" t r\ t:-:.;
ll
fir and m' oondition. Th T bJ "'how how th t m ha' mg a dtam t r of 1, fr. and a m n 1 i h, f }!-i fL ! 10.
',uta rle diameter of tub 1
Sl m .
J rature of th g
is greatly r ucro fo r they r a h Th ap ndoo tabl bo t.h r ol of tb o r a i n
Tbickne of ordioarv
tub
..
1
..
..
uu
"
the
fan~,
and
the
he~t
uttli
d
by
the
htgh
wmperatun
fort h halr h ur
mP.d :
N u.m~r of tt.a) t ube
..
..
u
of the aar, and th att fa<:tory \'aporation per pound u f
Tbtck ot
.l U io.

D)il r
Jndi t.ta<J
R ,luenal.
Pi tch of tub 1 from centre to
Pr u re. l (o r Puwer.
taoo .
centre
..
L~aky
tube
ends
are
unknown,
and
coke
n
ta
ha'

t "
lb.
Total heatbtorbi ng eurfaco of
hPen found . to .occur o nly with coal froiJl certain m in .
tubtt
..
..
..
.. 13)3.0 q. ft.
H
11, 347
1Q.3
' l
Boiler
'-'
The heatdlltrtbuting s urface evidently do th ir \\ Ork
Heat di trlllutln.r eurface of
lfJ()
11,5 0
HH
we
ll.
on
u
rquar
foot
of
b~ating
urface
having
'apotu bel
..
..
..
. 7U
HU
11, 2:J.
lfl'
ratcd u much a Hi. lb. of cold wa~r (i O d ~.) pPr
llut dletrtbulloi eurface of
15i
ll,-4f
114
hour (
Tabl No. IV.) with ootch co.J fo r ,. n hour
furnacu ..
..
..
..
i6
151
11,~:!-\
lfH
. ;~
H u t. dl trihutl n~t aurface of
without cleaning the grate, a veragi ng o\er th whol
1a l
11,6~
H
.G!J
~mlJu tlon chambe rs . .
..
05
period & combu ti on of 59.3 4 lb. per quare foot of ~rat .
"
1&7
1l,l)f, J
lU:J
.'i
Tot I h. at-di trl\mling eurface
In our exper imen ts we ha\'e already uaed
u tb \VaJ
..
..
. . 9 11
per lJoaler . .
Hi
10, I
10'.?
. ~1
Newe&;Stle,
South
Y
ork!hire,
,
cotch,
Lancashire,
P
no~
Area of a-rate eurrace . .
..
3 )
8f l vaDtan, and Australian coal, and it. is intended to con Th fo~lo wi '!g m ana w r au equ nt.ly work d out :
L ng\h of g ratt . .
..
..
0 ft. 8 "lo.
team tn bot len~, H . s lb. ; ,. uum, 2i. ; r 'olutaon ,
tmue the ex.pcrim~nts until all th e different kind prinf'i
Dart, S to . deep, In. t.hlck, utd
port; m an prc.... ur
h h
I in. lr tpa<'e
pally u ed m ou r m E:'rca.nt1le navy havo been tried and 103. 2 starboard and 103
Proportion or g rate to total
52.37 and 5~. 73; 1ntt:rm diate, :?11.00 and ~ti 3.r,'. lo'
tbo comparath1e r ults ascerta in d.
'
heat io.r aurface . .
..
..
1 to 28. "
I am well aware that these exper imen ts ha,e ~n mad 12.51 and 12.3.): mdtcat !d ho po\\ r high ti49 and
lo the heu alJ orlJi og chamlJen
17i3; tn~rmodtatc, 1, '~and 19".! ; Jo w,' _ :!& 'and :. atu;
tbere ar~ ..
..
..
.. 0 tul;ea (pi&Jo) o n land , and with a comparativ ly lo w pr Wf' ol ~am.
but I am u nabJo to a any :rufbcient reason why imtlar to tal tndtoat.ec.l hone-power, 56f tar board and 54_,11 port..
Alr-buti ng
Diameter of tulJes outeiJe
..
3 In.
bo
ad\antage: and re ulta s hould not beobtaioedat (a i f th T le coil ti \ e in di t d hor -pow r wu con :!qU ot.Jy
LtniCth of tu~ ..
..
.. U ft. 4 in.
u)t " hich
That'koe 1 of tubt
..
..
y~tem be adopted, provided ~re i taken to k' p th 11,379. o r 3i 9 hon beyond the oont:r& t a
. 11 61 n.
Total but ab10rblng au rfae~ ..
900 ..l ft .
boilers reasonably free fro m otl an:! solid matter. Oo wa obt:am~ with aoon umptionof ru l (lbrri ,dt; p
Fan to each bo1lt'r
..
..
1
hor ~
ship thu 6t.t d is wo rking sati facto r ily and se\ raJ ~a nav1gat.ton) amountmg to :?.4 lb. pt-r indi
Diameter of fan O\ er llpe of
o thf rs will be running sho rtly.
'
pow r per h our, and an air p r ur 10 th ato kt.holde
hlad .
..
..
.
..
6 ft. 61n.
Futt ar.d
of th &\ ra
.B id s the princ ipal advanhg of h igh evaporation t'<)ual to . G3 in ., o r only a t.ntle 10
Wid
t
h
c.f
fnn
.
.
..
..
enaiou
Wtth ~00my and safety, t her br l'edUCing the OUffiOOr u od fo r natu ra) draught. Th m an peed r aJi d dot iag
Diameter of eneine cy lindert 1 " 0 "
me ured by " h rub" J , w 17.92,
(to C) lloden) . .
..
..
o~ botlers (~naequently the botl r 8pace and weigh t th fou.r hour~.
7 In.
Stroke
..
..
..
..
h1therto requared ) . the following f urther ad \'an tag th e tmated a . d und r agoi ng cond it i n beiog Ji .0
6 "
knot.a. Tb eng1 n w re aft rw rd t ted fvr tf'Jppinlf
appear to me no t u01mportant :
. It will be fl e n that the boiler itself is ~n o rdinary
Cool ~tokebold o r engineroom, if the air supply is taken and tarting, wilh the ft,IJowing r nl : From full f*-00
aaogltH.ndPd ootch type marine boiler, with " Pur\ ea , from the latter instead of th e atmosphere.
ahoad to top, i
nd ; full peed t. rn, Gl oondrt ; full
furna <'ee and "
n e tubes. The combuff tio n chamber
peed a tern to full peed ahead , j ~
nd1 and aJ..o
Clean t.ok ehold, the oo~l d us t being sucked in to th
i fairly large fo r the ize of boiler. The tubes 3! in boil en.
und r various conditio n of cut-off. Th truu 'w
ta .
out.did_e diameter, are llpaced somewhat furth e; apart
pect.
Absence of r isk of burns to fi re men, the flam e at. all factory in e,~ery
than 11 customary n o w, and good c irculation of water times being ucked away fro m th m .
and r~y e cape of s~am ar~ thereby fac ilitated. In
Th lu~e tool crowa~amt-r R oland, which hM been built
C on venience to firem('n, there being no ,la)ves to hut
eelectmg !oJO large a du~meter of tubes- instca.d of the or open, when opening o r d o in~ the d oor a..
for the Norddeutsch r Lloyd, o f Bren1 n, by )(
. ir
usual small diameter11- for high rates of combustion, I
. mo ke with ~nskilful firing 1s gr 3 tly reduced, and ,V, G. Arm trong, ~Ittchell, and Co., Limited, w talcen
wu not concerned as to the amount of heat " diatribut- wttb careful fi rmg need not oocur at all, with any kmd out to a o n
do
ay. \ ugust 30, fo r ht>r tnal trip
ing " aurf&("e within the boiler, and this finally came out of coal.
The d imeo ions ar u follo w : Leo~th, 3.Ji ft. : br adtb~
at the proportion of 28.4 quare feet to o ne square foot of
4~ ft. ; and d E>pth, ., ft. 3 in. The R oland 1 th pion Pr
G reat elaatici t y of power under ready control.
grate aurfacc.
mall plain tubes have been n ecessary
hip of o ne of tb X orddeut: her Lloyd ' n ew d partu~
Greatly reduc d quanti ty of clink rand r idue.
previou 1y fo r the aake of obtaining the utmo t heatIn making publ ic the
re. ults of the combination I and i nrranged for th e tran port o f migr nt.i and carg~
abeorbin~ e~rface; but by u ing the "_Serve " type of d ire to C'\ pre my indebt d ne to the t-mi n ent Fr n'c b from Brem rha,en to X w Y o rk.
nth trial th Roland
tu~, I obtamed much m ore hcat-a.b o rbmg s urface wit.h engineer, [r . .J. en 'e, for hi faluable sugg t ions, and attained a speed of O\er 13 k not.9 " h1ch w
ruid f\:d
the Rmn.ller numb. r of 3!-in. tubes wid ely spaciOd, than to the atafi at the Atlas W orks.
~ trem ly sati factory, and the ~al consumption whi<.-h
eou_ld be do ne w1th. a large number of small diam ter
was mPa."!ured during five hour ' oontinuou run~i ng at
platn tubee clo ely pttchNi. The ad vantages are obvious:
12.25 knota, cam out at 1.5 lb. per indicated ho t-pow l'
ancreued section for the pa.ssage of the gase ; increased
pe_r h our . Th m binary was ~upplicd by th \Valb nd
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.
beat-absorbing urfaoo, and better circulation of the
T HE ne w fint-cl
a-u nboat R nard. which was built Sltpway and Engi~ r ing Com(l6DY, Lim it . A mewater and escape of team. };vents have pro\1 d that in and c ngi ned by L trd Broth~l'!l, of Ba rkenh &d was ub- what DO\e} ature ID the m hiD ry d partm nt i the
th~ e boilel'8 prolonged evaporation can take plaoo, with- jf'Cttd to a full-power trial of h r macbtoery 'at
a o n o:>ee aah ~jector. A mall hopper in th tok bold is con out trouble, and from coal feed, at unprec d ented rate \\Ted n day, the 6th imt. Tbe trtal w condu cted und r nect~ to th~ hip'~ id abol' t h wa~r lin by a
ntJy
for thi class of boiler.
natural draught, and wu of ~ht hou d uration. tbo lopm g ro;stron pape. At the bottom o f t h ptQe a j t
The Rrate is in two len~ths - tbe bar are o rd inary r u1ts attained ooing COD id r d \' ry sati fa ctory. \V1th of team 1 allo wed to ntn wh r tt m t:4 a t am o f
wrought-iron bal'8, 2ft. 10 10. lo ng by 3 in. deep, :J in . a s~am pr ure of H !l.6 lb., and th ng-in wo rking 2L9 water, upplied by a pump. Tbo am &C'llon tak place
thic k at top by i tn. at bottom. spaced S in. apart. The revol uti ons pcr minute, a m ean of 2~ .6 hon!.e-power was a in the o rd inary btlge ej ctor, and t.h e tr am of wat r
only departure from o rdinarr practice is that the gra.te regi tered, with a speed of 1i.6 knots. The \'es e l is pre- fl:l8h tbro~gh th lJo tt.om of the hoppe r, throuab th
d1 charge ptpe, and ou t at th e hip' ad at an no rmou-i
fo r h igh rate of oombu t 10n. say, ov~r 35 lb. , r i s paring for her forced -draugh t trial.
''~locity. Th
hee are poured in to th hopJ>Qr and d1 towards thA back (2 in. in 5 ft. i n. total I ngth ), inatead
r wtth
of falling about 2 in. a i u ual U p to 35 lb. per squ&r
Oo aturday. the 9th in t there WM launched from charged through tbe tde by th e tre m o f w
foot the grate may be ho ri zontal. I did not arri,e at th (> hiJ~yard ~f i r W . . Arm tr;ong. M itch lJ, and
., u<:h fo rce as to throw t hem a CODBid rable d tan
thie c-oncluaio n wtthouo consid erable exper iment. At at El wtck, Newca tle, a new cnuser for th Ch1lian R - f rom the 11hip' id .
o ne time it seemed as if I hould require to ha' e recour e public, nam d the Blanco J.: oca.Jada. The v
1 i 3i0 ft.
Th o ffi c ial fo r :d-d raught tri 1 of th fiNt d
tMto a tubular grate with air or water passing through th e 10 length ; 4fi ft. 6 in. in bi'E'adth; draught, 1 ft. 6 m .
u
.., fulJy c rr1 d o ut on th
same : but, realising th objections to such grat , I per d i p lacement. 4400 tons; ind ica d hor -pow r, 11, 600: pedo gunboab Leda "
ott d
aeven.<J, after having repeatedly burnt do wn in half an speed under foi"CE'd draught, 2-.?j knots. The armament 11th in t . , off b rn 11, th o dockyard ~Jog n pr
ho ur a new wrought-iron grate composed of bar aa above i heavy, oon~i ting of two 1 -in. br hloading gu na, te n by ~Jr. P atl i. o n, wb iJ Mr. Sa mu 1 R cxk r pr nt
tb Admiraltr, . and l-1~. J . P . .H all the ng10 r con
eloping d o wnwartls. The gradual raising o f the back end 6-in. quick -fi ri ng gun , twehe 3 pou nde r guns, tw h
of ,
cl n~in ~
to :! in. alxwe fro nt f' nd ha.s resulted in our being entire ly 1-pou oder gun ; aDd five torptdo tu~. Th ves 1 i& to tractors. Tha ~.:~ tbe thtrd or tha cl
by M n . .Jo hn I on and o n , Lim1t d, and all b ,.
r eli6ved of all an xi ty as to the g rate , ' e n when be command d by Commander J oaqui n ~(unoz.
e~
ded oootr t n qu1 r m~nts. T h n~in w
illu burning at GO lb. per quar foot .
:? .
For OOD\ ~ n i n ee o f admi ion of the air in proper quan
The trial o f the new oi l-carry ing teamer J>otoma c trated and d " r ibcd ID Est... J~Eli!'G \ ol lv r
titi s a bo ,e or belo w th gra~, I u e the ca.st-tron mou th - were carri d out on ~In oday and T uesday, t.h 4th The machinery i requtred to d ' ' lop 3500 md1 ttd
pi
introd uce<! by Mr llo v.~deo, aod have modifi d and 5th in t. The teamer ha been con trocted by bor -powH w1th not nlor t han :l in. of a1r pre ..... ur m
the m to my requir~ments . The H o wde o mo uthpiece has ~1 re. A . and J. Ingli , Poiotho~ , fo r the Anglo- the to k bold : tb L !da obtai nro a m n of !;01 ho"" .
nr in boal " of 11 lb;
one ,alve O\er th fire, and two at the side for the air to American
11 ompal\y, of Lond o n a nd X w York power with an M rag t am 1.J
pa und er the grate. I ha' e added two vah
O\ er th e unde r
tb e d ire tioo
of ~fr. J o hn D. Jami
n: \acuum. 27.5; ~,oJution11, :!46; m an tr pr ur in
1 w~ 1 . 3
fire, aa I fou nd the usual practice ga"~ incomplete com - a m mber of the L ondon board. and i of the fol stokehold~. 2 2l in. The speed of tbe '
bu. tio n with certain cl es of coal, because 1t did no t }o wing dim n ion~, viz. : ~ngth betw n per pend i- kn ots. The foUo wing d tails b ow th p ow rs for th ix
admit suffici nt air ov r the grate. In ou r boiler the cu~rs, 34:> ft. ; beam, 44 ft. : d pth to upper d eck, half-hours a.s tak n :
'\JVU ti \ ta.
three top val v ~.re wide open, and the two aid \'ah
31 ft. 6 in . ; . nd h i proJlf"lled by ngin
of about
HalfIndi ted IIo e -P o w r .
Indi t !d
shut, fo r smoky
I, and t.tu ttr,J fo r n on m oky coal 3000 indicated hor a-power . The speed of the Potomac H ours.
tarbo&rd.
P o rt.
Uo
Pow r.
A number o f mall hol
in the bottom furnace doors w
rtained to bo 13.05 knot.!, " hich indicates a uffi 17( 9
1
176.3
:l!>Ji.i
allow a cer tai n quantity o f cold a i r to be drawn in under ci nt margin of power to contend with winur gal
in
()
_,
liil
1 11 2
3.): . 0
the gratt-, and it i o nly th heated a ir which i p ut aome- the N o rth Atlantic, and at thi apeed n o ~brataon w
3
17ii G
11 ....
3562..0
times ov r, ..omet im und r the grate, according to the perceptible in the officers' saloon.
4
19:r,. l
],
5
37Ul.6
nature o f the coal. Thus we have found e \- ry sort of
'l:.(
5
lHOl 9
17Gi. 1
... 0
ooal can be burned with econ om y without amok .
The R
lotion, a first -cl a battl hi p of the R oyal
G
17 ' J G
1iti9 G
3:~ l.l
The Tabl
of
perime nu (reprodu d o n th e prevereign cl
, built and ngin d by l.I rs. Pa1mer a nd
cooing page) gtve th r . ults of ,-arioua cl
of
of Jarrow, wen t on Thur..day, Augu t 31, fo r a COD
~le n indi tOO hor~ pow r forth
coal, moderate and h igh ra.td of combu tion, hort and trac to rs' four hour ' full power trtal, und~r what i
thr h .>u
...
...
.
..
~~ 01 2
l ong trialfl, and gra
cle n ed at gr-eat and small r officially d tgnau.-d
modified foi'CE'd d raught. The
of t he boil r-, hic h are of th marm looointenalt'. These resulu, I tru t, ar indiHdually and ditr 1'\:D\: bctw n th i and e trem e forced draught may Th f uma
moti ' e ty~, are corrugated on the 11d and top o n
c ,uecth~ly int resti ng. I ha\ 6 tmdea,oured to t:l1mi - be conci .. Jy tated to be tbi that wher
the n~ in
nat all circum tanc
which m ight mak tb r ulta und r the fo rm r condition are contracted to d ev Jop a t.b princtp1 e of ~lr. }'. \V. \\. bb, of tb L od n
d o ubtful. F or experiments. th water ie taktn from m an of at ll t 13,000 horte , und r the latter oond i tion and X o rth W t rn Rathray, nd the fi box end1
hokA mad of C'&lt-iro n plates planed to t mpJo.~. th~ contrac t i for 11,000 horses. T b r w a hght wind of th tubee w r fitted wttb ftrrul o n tb Adntira.lt.y
n
aminattoo aft r th ~ triaJ-. the 'X>i1 " were
The in ide dimen ion are 4 ft. .J in . by 4 ft. 4 ~ i o. 1 tbrou~bout the day, w ith a perfectly mooth
The plan.
bv 9ft. high. One inch d pth of water equal l U gaJJon trim of tb ~hip W&8 23 ft. 10 in. forward and 25ft. sin. found to ba' e u tainld no ill cffct from th applicati n
~ 100 lb. The quantity pumpe.J m to the bot len can be aft, gh iog a m n irnmel'8ion of 24 ft. in . or 3ft. 10 in . of forced draught.
read off at any t ime by th
1 d gaug gl
. Th 1
than herd i$rned load draught. T he battl hip ~ot
coal i~t w ighP.d out car fully as the tria1 p ~. M er und r wav at ~1ght o'clock,
ring a dtrect coune for
I ~m.\~ PIM'ROL.n.Y.-The di oovery of a rit b
trol um
cury tb~rmomttel'8 are used for temperat.aree to GOO deg. Be by H ad fo r the pui"J)OfEe o f obtaining a run in d p field i r pvr~d in t h A
m d ' trict, Brit h nd ia . A
}..ahr. Only on e indication noed the means of m aaua -~ wat r. and '"hortly ~ fore nin o' lock everything w
company und r t h titl of th
am 011 ~rndi te i.a
iog a higher tt>mperature- viz.., the "~mokebox. For thiA t"l>ady for tb haJf-hoarly obaer\ations to be~n. T he . about too n up the oil r
u
o f tb i'f'8't"n..

I.

.
..
..

too

""r

---

~,

eo.,

---

E N G I N E E R I N G.
" ENGINEERING ,, ILLUSTRATED PATENT
RECORD.
COMPILED BY

W. LLOYD WISE.

SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
T~e

number (lf views given in the Specification Drawing8 is stated

ttl ~eh ca~ e ; where n one are mentioned the Specification i8
not 1ltmtrated.
'
Where l nventioM are communicated from abroad the Names
&~ . of the Co~mu?ticators are given tn i talics.

'
Coptes of SpecijtcattoJt,Q m11y be obtai ned at the Patent Office
Sa~ Branc?t, 38, CursitorBtreet, Chancerylane E. C. at the
un;fono, pnce o/ 8d.
'
'
The dCf~<' o.[ th_e ~dvertisement of the acce1)tance of a complete
soecl)Wttton ts, t.n each case, given after the abstract, tmlus the
Patent has been. sealed, when tlLP- date of sealing is given.
~ nu person ~ay at a~y time w ithin two m onths .front the date of
1/~e ad ve~t taeme~t oj the acceptance of a complete specijication,
gtve noltce at the Patent O.Oice of oppo8ition to the grant of a
Pate>lt on any of tlte o,ounds mentioned in the ~et.

whe~

the speed of the engine is too g r eat. Means are provided fo r

cau~mg the go,:ernor to t hrottle the supply of gas when the
engme ex~ee ds 1ts norma l speed before th e bitand-miss mo ve.
ment, wh tch operates the gM admission valve, ca.o come into
pll.y. (d ccepted .Augttst 2, 1893).
m ve n~ l(? n

r elates to P.etroleum, &c., engmes, in which t he

vapor1stng chamber c 18 constructed so as to contain a cer tain
amount of oil, which is maintained at a uniform dept h and heated
by c~ nductors d, e, t he beat being transmitted tbrouf?h these to
the 011 from the combustion chamber b or cylind er a or from tbe
waste gases of combustion conveyed tbro~gh th e exhaust ports,
&c. , arranged to pass through the vaporising ch amber , and the

..
piston is con1pr essed. The g overnor (Fig. 2) is applied by means
of a. sl eeve H sl:ding on the outside of the cylinder B aod connected by a spi!Jdle passing through a gland in the top of the
steam chest wttb a g over nor capablf' of moving it up and down,
so as to contr act and enlarge the por ts E. (A ccepted July ~U
1893).

1892.- In th1s m veo t 10n t he carbon o r negati ve electrode is

made disc-shaped, .and suppor ted upon an axle a rr anged to
be r evol ved, a port10o only of the electrode dipping into the

16,845. J. and A. Pren tlce, Westown, Thankerton

La~ark~ . Eng~ne Governors.. [3 F'igs. J September 21:

1.

/J 411

Fig .3.

._..

,I :

./

'',,..

...

.. .... 0 ...

...

-........... ......."'I
.-

Pig.2.

f'xl'iti ng ft uid. The car bons are car ried upon a spindle E insu
lated by a. covering of gutta-percha F. T he carbon discs for each
c e11 a r e placed io electr ical contac t by a core G. To connect th e
t \VO elictr odes together, a mercury t rough J is used electricall y
c?noect.ed t<? th.e zinc; aod connect ed to the ca rbon is a copper
d:sc whtch dtps ID the m ercury. (~ ccepted A ugust 2, 1893).

[~

expands io the steam cylinder. Near t h e end of the stroke the

piston Q uncovers th e ports F , and, during its passage to t he
bottom o f the stroke and back again to t his poin t, steam exhausts.
During the r emai nd t r of the \lpstroke until t he por ts E ar e again
uoco,ered by t he p!ston C, the steam io the cylinder A abo ve the

15,417. J. E. W e yman, G~lldford, Surrey. P e tro~eum ~ &c., E n gines. (10 F l.lS.]

Au~ust 27, 1892.-This

E LECTRICAL APPARATUS.
17,246. T. J. D . ltawllns, L ymington , Hampshire.
Electric ~ri~ar~ B atte ries. [4 .F igs.] Septem ber 27,

F~

349

heat t h rough the ext er nal conductors e being generated from an

exter nal lamp; t his vapor iser for ming a separate cha mber in t he
cylinder of the engine. Tbe ai r to su pply combustion in the
cylinder is ~rawn through the com bustion ch~m ber or the po!ts,
&c. , so that 1t can be heated, aod at t he same ttme the vaporismg
vessel pre,ent ed from becoming too hot.. Ao automatio feed er
is pro vided by m eans of which the supply of oil is r egulated aod
the le\'el maintained in t he \'a por ising Clhamber . (A ccepted
.4. UJ U8t 2I 1893).

1892:-Th.IS rn vent1on relates to eogme goverltors d escr11Jed in

spectficatton No. 1620 of 1892. The ftuid is drawn from the closed
cham be~, the s.u ppl~ to wb:ch is regulated, and, if t he speed of
the mato engtO( S 1 n ~reases abnormally , the suction from, is
greate r than t~ e ftutd supply to , the tank , a vacuum being
the_reby c reated: 10 the dosed chamber , a nd t he pisto n, agaitJst the
act~on of a s~mng , s i ~ks under atmospher ic pr essu re into the
cyhnder .. A t8 t.he flUid ta n.k forminct t h e fou ndat ion of the a p .
paratus, lll the ~t des of w h tch ar e ai r holes a. Al is the tank
cover ; B, Bl, C, Cl, the pumps ; D t he cylindr ical "sue t ion"
chamber , on the to, of which the <'ylioder E is fi tted and from t he
top of which a pipe F leads to the bottom of the tank A, t.bis pipe

G UNS, &c.
15,223. T. Perkes, L ondon . B reechloa d i n g Small
Arms. (4 Figs. ) August 24, 1892.-Tbis invention relates to
t.he ejecting a nd lock mechanism of breechloadiog small a rms.
The spr inJr is operated and compressed by the knuckle or the gun
or a movable p rojection in it such as a rod, a o d is made selfcocking , thus r emo\ ing the r esistance to the closing of the gun.
In t he lock mechanism the spring is operated by the fore end, the
compr ession for firing being g iven by the fore end on closing lbe

.Fig. 1.

o
.
...

GAS, &c., E NGINES.

18,020. J. S outhall, Worcester. Gas, &c., E ngines

Figs.] Oot~ber 10, ~892.-Tbis in ven tion r elates to gas an d

otl motor eogmes. K ts par t of t h e combustion space of th e
cy linder into which opens the vah re. This vah'e ha.s attached
to it a. ring forming a. slide valve gover ning the exhaust por t
M , th6 air s upply port N, and the port 0 for supply of gas or otl
vapou r. When the working piston of the engi ne commences it ~
exh'lust stroke, t he face of the cam Y causes t he end of lever Z t 0
press oo t he eod of the spindle E, lifc.ing t he valve sufficien tl .)
to allow of the exhaust gases passin~ into the por~ M ; at th e
?Om!Jlencemeot of the next outstroke of the piston, the ,ahe
18 still fur ther raised by t he a c tion of the cam face uot il the r in g
closes the port M and uncovers ports 0 and N for th e suppl y
of gas and air to the cylinder ; when the piston makes its instrok e

I '

Fig .2.

8'
F'

Fig .2.

gun, and the expans ion being allowe d on opening, Lhis ex pansion
operating to cock the tumbler. A is tb e extract or leg, A' the
bent, D tbe ejecting lever in whic h is a r ecess to take the free
eods of the spring- C, which ha.s a tongue C1 at t he turn eo d. D is
t be d eten t taking into a slot cut io the extractor . E is a r od
wor king from and photed to the hammer , and capable of opera t
The main spring F of
I ng the sprinct C on the fall of the latter.
t b e lock mechanism is pivoted at F 1 and its free ends work io a
r ecess in t he hammer . ( A ccepted .dugust 2, 1893).
15,613. C. B echls, T urin, Italy. F irearm s, [15 Figs.)
August 31, 1892.-T his in vention relates to mean s for facilitating
r
t he use of firearms at nig ht, and consists in t he employment of
e lectric lamps with a storage battery in order to illumine the
'''lt
8 ights of riftes, &c. T he electric accum ulat or is inclosed in a
8mall sheet-metal box A arrangfd under the barrel. T wo h oles
com pressi ng the charge the val ve ia closed. At the end of this a. re pro vided in the lid for the ter minals, and a spr ing is attached
compr( S3ion ~troke t he lever Z, operated by another cam faoe Y2, to the box by a screw at one e nd, a stud carrying a platin u m poin t
d raws back the spindle E, open ing the val ve A, which allows some bei ng provided at the other. The application of a. cer tain amount
of the compressed explosi\re charge to pass by the passage J to 0 f p ressu re oo t he spr ing causes the point to make con tact with a
t he ig niter , thus igniting the charge to actuate the next outstroke
nf the piston. The lever Z is operated by t he sliding cam Y,
d riven by a pin in t he motion shaft B, this shaft being driven by
ge:ning o n the c rankshaft at a. s peed of one r evolution for two
of the c ra nkshaft. The one end of the lever Z wor ks between
t he two cam faces, whic h act on it so as to cause its other end ,
whic h works in an eye on the spindle E, to impa rt to the valve
the necessary for ward movements for supply and exhaust, a nd
to the small valve A the r equir ed li ft fo r ignition. ( A ccepted
Fig . 4 .
r;=~ Ji'ig .J.
.4ugtl8t 2, 1893).

ha' iog a controlling cock. H, Hl, I , 11 ar e Ji pes \vhicb cc.m

municate, respec tively, '' itb the suet ion c hamber D and t he
pumps B Bl, aod C, 0'.
Pipes connect the pumps B, Bl
aod C, Cl with the tank, and L, Ll, M, Ml a re the pum p
plung ers con nected by Jiok cross h eads 0 , 01 to the pins of t h e
c ranks Q, Q1 on the c ross s haft R. S ar e t he bear ings ot t h e
sha ft, and T a belt pulley. bare stuffing boxes. Tb e ball va lv:8
c, c1 a re fitt ed in the val ve CD.f ings d , d' . e is a piston wor kin~
io t he cyli nder E. e' is a colla r on the piston , between which a nd
the top o f the cylinder a spr ing g is interposrd. The piston e is
so connected to t he va lve for con t rolling tbe supply of motive fiu id
to the main engin~s that its inward motion sh uts and its outward
motion opens t he valve, the sprin g g norma lly tending to pr ess
outwards the piston e, and, thE>refore, to keep open the supply
valve of the engines. (.Accepted J 11.ly 26, 1893).

16,326. J. S. Starn es, London. Stuffing-Boxes, &c.,

of Steam Engines and P umps. (4 Figs.) September 12,
1892.- I o this in vention ao additional member is provided to the
packing gland, and eer ves as a !!plit cyli ndrica l sleeve D pr ovided
at the upper end with ftao~es a, b. Ther e is a space between the

'

17,277. B. B. Andrew, A. R. Bellamy, and R .

Garslde, Reddish, Stockport. Governing the Speed
of Gas, &c., Engines. (6 F igs. ) ~eptember 28, 1892.- This
in vention relates t o means for govermng tht> speed of gas, &c.,
e ngines. The sleeve f ot a centrifu~al governor is connected by
r ods g, li to the end of . a. shor t le\'er i mounted on a shaft j, sup

IS lO

pl atinum plate, and close the ci rcuit of t he lamp, which then

ill uminates the sight. The box is attach ed by a small spr ing
c atch worked by a p r ees b utton , so that the lamp, contained
tn a r ing embracing the barrel, can be readily placed in front of
a nd abo ve t he sight or any other position. The direction of the
ra y of light from the la mp is io t hat of the a xis of the gun, so as
to enable the line of sight to be determined wh en th e surro und
g dar kness is complete. Mechanical means a re provid ed for
m
p utt ing the lamp into aod out of action. (Accepted July 26,
1893).

Jv .

111n

ported on the engine fram e so t hat the movemen t of the go,eroor

c:1.used by irregularities io the speed of t he engine causes the
lever to oscillate upon it3 stud. To the boss of this lever is a lso
s cured an arm. the end of whic h is shaped so as to keep the
s t riking finger k out of con tact with the hir.and-miss mo tion ,

STEAM ENGINES AND BOILER S.

15,068. M. H . Robinson, Thames Ditton, Surrey.
s team, &c., Engines. L6 Figs. ) August 20, 1892.-This in

ve ntion r elates to the constr uction of siogle-aoting steam enginet~.

A is the steam cylinder and B the valve cylinder , in which work
tb e steam and valve pistons 0, C r espectively . At th e top of the
s team enters the cylinder A from th e cheet D by ports E
at
. roke
lU t he cylinder B, aod forces the piston G downwarrls, and with
it the val\e piston C. At a ce r tain p oint this p iston covers the
ports E io the valve cylinder B, aod c uts off t h e steam, wh ich t h en

ftanges a and c sufficiently deep for the intr oduction of a series of

nuts a rranged circ umfer entially between t he two, and opera ted
by a spanne r, and t h er eby caused to scr ew up and d own fix ed
bolts E seoured to the flange of the to p of the s tuffing-box, and
passing through a, to the ftange of th e stuffing-box gland c.
(Accepted J uly ~6, 1893) .

15,817. W . and A. W. Sisson, Gloucester. Steam

Boilers. (5 Figs.) September 3, 1892.- In this inYen bion the
firebox is constr uc ted with rows of tubes crossing it from side to
side in t hree different directions, each row of tubes lying to a
plane inclined to the horizontal suffic iently to cause a n adequate
cir culation of water to be set up t hrough the tubes, the axes of
which lie up and dow n the incline. T he boiler is eonstru c ted
with an inter nal fi rebox 2, within the upper por tion of wh ich !lr e
a rranged three series of water tubes 3, 4, and 6 conn eoted to the
fi rebox, and a rranged to extend in t hree different d irections. ThE\
tubes in each of the g roups a r e in two planes one above th e other,
a nd each slig htly inclined to t h e hor izontal, so as to cause a n
effective circulation of water and steam to be set up through t hem
when they ar e ex posed to the heat of t he fire within the fi rebox.

350

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

fS EPT. I 5, I 893.

To enable access to be gained to the tubes tor cleaning or renew- destination by a. pipej provided with a cock and a thermometer g. and capable of being reciprocated laterally. A le,er lt h2 com
ing them, the boiler shell is constructed in two parts adapted to The products of combustion take a dire<'tly opposite path to that munic'ates the movement of the lever k to the shaft d. When
be connected and disconnected to and from each other and to of the steam by entering into the upper portion of the lower the yarn is being' wound on the thick part of the spool it revolves
more slowly, but more quickly as it nears the thin part.
(Accepted July 2G, 1893).

16,549. s. Alley and J. A. MacLellan, Polmadle,

Renfrews., N.B.

I2

A. Shlels, Glasgow. Water Gauges for

BoUers. [5 Figs.] eptember 9, 1892.- This invention rebtes

for Casting.

(4 Figs.) September 16, 1 892.-':.~is inven tion has for its object
to provide means for making castings of large size, and consists
of a box, upon which is t emporarily secured the flask, in which "
half mould is to be form ed, this box having at one side or end of
it brackets hinged to fixed standards, so as to allow of the box
and flask being turned completely over for the purpose of depo
si ting the flask with the mould in it upon a truck, the turnmg
over being effected by hoisti ng appa1atus, a chain from which is
connected to a. swivelling shackle at the end of the box furthest
from the binges. The flask A, in which a balf mould is to be
for med, is temporarily secured to a. cast-iron box B of a r ectangular form. On one side of the box B are formed brackets C,
bing-ed to fixed standards D, to allow of the box and the flask beinaturned completely O\'er. The flask A is connectEd to the box B

. 1.

and fcom the uptake 7 from t h e firebox. For t his purpose to the
exterior of each of the adj acent ends of the two parts 1, la. of the
boiler shell is r iveted an angle iron for ming a circular flan ge 8.
(A ccepted ~ ug1tst 2, 1893).

Making Moulds

FJ .1

14.890.

16,145.

t1 water gauges tor boilers, and it has for its object to so construct
the gauge that whilst it , under normal conditions, allows a perfect
blow throuj:th, the steam and water ways are closed automatically
in the event of the gauge-glass breaking. Fitted in the interior
of the glass tube e is a ver tical spindle h, which has a small piston
valve ion it at its upper end, and a disc valve j, of larger a rea than
the piston valve. scr ewed on its lower end. The extreme upper
end of the spindle passes through a guide hole l, bored in a bridge
1n secured to the ring- seat of the piston valve. This seat has
a central hole for the r eception of the piston i , and is fitted
into a washer o secur ed in the brass fitti ng a. of the gauge. Sruall
p r ojections par e fitted to the vahe seat, and catch in correspondIDg r ecesses in the screwed washer o. When the nut is taken
out, the bridge m can be easily turned r ound in the one or other
direction, so as to screw the washer up or down, and thereby

chamber, and then into the upper par t of the next one immediately above, and so on, leaving by the chimney after having
passed through t he upper par t of the highest chamber of the
apparatus. (.A ccepted ..Attgust 2, 1893).

13,954. T. Shepherd, Manchester, and M. Ollver,

Salford. Piston Packing Rings. [2 F igs. ) August 2,

1892.-This invention relates to packing rings for pistons, and

consists of metallic r ings made U -shape which fit side by side
into a corresponding recess in the piston, with their free ends
working against the sides of the cylinder. The body of t he
piston is form ed in two halves, and the recess formed to
recei\e the rings is slight Jy less than the width of the two

Pig.1.

Fig.2.

Pig .2

Fig . 2 .
P~ . 1.

)O(

Jar

ri ngs, a space being thus left between the two halves. This
space is filled in by a series of thin discs of material such as
brass, surrounding the piston -rod. The rings are cut through at
one place to allow of their expansion a nd ~on traction, and a re
fitted with "steam bits " at this place to prevent the passage of
steam. The rings readily give on being compressed between the
two halves, this allowing them to become elongated, and so compensate for the wear. (.& ccepted .Augttst 2, 1893).

MISCELLANEOUS.
adjust the valve se:1.t to any desired position. Th ~ diameter of
16,927. W. B. Thompson, Dundee, N.B. Plate
the water valve j is such t hat when the gauge-~las~ 1s b~oken t~e Bending Machines. [2 :ltigs.) September 2-e, 1892.- In this
r ush of water lifts it up off its rest t and forces 1t up a~amst a cn- in vention all t he drivin~ gear is concentrated atone side A. The
cular seat in the fitting b, so as to close the waterway, th1s valve n_or - gable at the other side B consists of a base 3 carryine- the bearings
ma.lly resting on fou r triangular suppor ts made on the upper_s1~ e 4 of the lower rollers 5, those of the upper and adjustable roller
of the hollow cylindrical rest t, which has passage ways cut 111 1t,
covers over opening w leading to the blow-off cock. The hole
made through its top serves as a guide for the lowt-r end of the
spindle h. If the gauge-glass is b~oken the w~ter rush~s through
cook g , and lifts up the water valve;, togeth_e!Wlth the spmdle hand
Ftg 1
the steam vahe i and as the water valve; 1S of greater area than
the steam valve i ,' the upward pressur e forces the valve i tightly
into the hole made in seat and so cuts off the escape of steam,
8
at t he same time as the wa.t~r val ve closes tight up against its seat
7
1 at t he bottom of the gauge-glass and cuts off the escape of
water. When the gauge is in proper working order the Yalves fall
down and leave a free passage. (.Accepted ~ugust 2, 1893).

8317. A. Miller, London. Heatin~ 'Yate~ Supply

of Bollers. [6 Figs.] April 25, 1893.-Th1S

mven~10n

has for
its object the beating of t?e.f ee~ supply of steam hollers before
it enters the main one as 1t 1s d1soharged from the feed pumps.
The feed is forced by the pump through pipes to the check valve

by shackles F, which engage with studs Yl, fi xed in bosses F'l in

the ends of the box. The shackles F are jointed to rods G, passing through lugs on the box, and these r ods are adjustabl e
by means of disc nuts screwed on their ends. Springs H are
applied between t he shoulders of the rods G and the outer part of
a wooden bedpiece J, fixed on top of tbe box B, through which
the rods pass before going throug h the 1ugs, so as to keep them
from dropping " hen the shackles are disconnected from the studs
cf the ftask. For the flask A, in which the flan ges and inner side
of a. segmental plate are to be moulded, s lides K, L, .M ar~ fi~ted
a.t the sides and ends of the box B, and are adapted to the mchnations of the flanges to be moulded, and to which the flange patterns are fixed. 'I he sliders are arr anged in guides, and move
out or in when external hand wheels are turned. (Accepted J uly
26, 1893).

737. J. s. Starnes, London. Stern Tubes of Steam

ships. (7 Figs. ) January 12, 1 93.- Tbis invention has for its
object to provide means for preventing leakage or r ush of water
from the stern tubes of scr ew .steamers. a and lJ ar e respecti ''ely
the top and bottom hat ves of the vahe box, with flanges al and bl,
by wh1ch the.y are bolted together_around t~e. shaft. in _th~ valvebox is contamed the vahe d havmg a sem10u cular prOJection dl,
which fits upon the shaft e like a saddle. The valve d is raised
or lower ed by m eans of the screwed spindle e carried upwards
through the stuffing-box/, and actuated wben r eq uired by the
ha ndwheel h. Tbis bandwheel his formed around its periphery
with indentations into which takes the pawl o, which is pivoted to
the standards p bolted to the \'alve-box cover, and ser ves to hold
~

F~ . 2
r

~-9
.

..li.

. I
0

Ft:g .2.

b
A

A, and as it accumulates in the boiler, escapes ~Y ~h e valve B

into the main boiler. The beat from the furnace 1mpmges on the
roof aud sid es of the firebo x, and if fitted wit h tu~es acceler~tes
the raisi ng of the temperature of the feed before 1t escapes mto
the main boiler. (A ccepted ..August 2, 1893).

A. Bratoluboft', Moscow.
Produ~i':lg
su 'erheated Steam. [2 Figs.] August 17, 1892.-Th1s l-ll
ven~on relates to means for the production of ~upe~eated s.team

l.J1

IJ'

---

'!t-

'.

~ .

o)

to' ~

.. . ..

l-

l'p: :
.. ,
,.-

.... f

'

7 being suppor ted by a cross beam maioto.in ed by strong columns

9. Ey thts construction half a plate can be bent, then with- the valve secur ely in any fixed position by the interposition of a
drawn, turned end for end, a nd the operation completed . Means pin q through the standards and pawl. 'l.'h e fore par t l of the
ar e provided for bending plates of great length without with- valve-box may be formed as a stuffing-box, and t he old gland from
d rawing a nd turning them. (..4 ccepted July 26, 1893).
the stuffing-box of the stern tube is made use of for it, so that the
16,140. T . Thorpe, New Basford, Notts. Winding packing and support of the tail shaft a nd stuffi ng-box a re douhly
Machines. [2 F igs. ) October 7, 1892.-This in vention r e- secured. To affix this shut-off vahe and valve-box to the stern
t ube the gland is drawn out of the stu ffi ng-box of the stern
tube a suOicient distance to allow of t he introdu ction of the
Fig.2.
two bahes a and b of the valve- box, which a re bolted t ogether
around the tail shaft through their longitudinal flanges. The
box then is slid along the shaft. and the spigot i enters the
stuffing-box of stern tube and take9 the place of the gland removed from it. (A cceptecl.Auow,t 2, 189a).

14 890.

and for applying it to steam engines, and cons1sts 1~ a senes of

tubes a a rranged in the heating chambers I . II.! wJ:nch art: s~paFig 7 .
t d by brick arches b and the lower part of whtch 1s also d1vt~ed
~:o~ the upper by a thin brick arch c, channels fo~ conveym~
the hot gases being thus formed. Steam comes b) the tube d
p rovided with a regulating cock e into the first tube of the upper
r ow arranged in the upper chamber 11. Th_e ste_am passes con16140
secu tively through the tubes of the two rows1n th1~ cho.mber, and
comes down into the first tube of the upper row 10 the chamber latea to a winding or spooling machine i~ which a rot~ry_ moti_on of
directly beneath if there are more t ha.o two chat;nbers, _and so on varying speed is communicated to the sp!ndles a by fn_c~10n d1scs b
until $he lower chamber I. is rea~hed, the steam 1n <;om m~ out _of secured to the tormer, and disce c carrted by the dnvmg shaft cl
the end tube of the lower row in this ch!'-mber bemg led to tts

UNITED STATES PAT.ENTS AND PATENT PRACTIOF.

Deecriptions with illustrations of imentions paten ted in t he
United States of America from 1847 t o the present time, and
repor ts of trials of patent law cases in the United States, may be
con ulted, gratis, at t he offices oi E xo tNBERHiO , 35 and 36, Bed lordstr eet, Strand.
LA YIS H DECORATION.-The dome

of the Colorado eapi tol

is now approaching completion . It is proposed t o CO\'er
it with a heavy plating of silver. Colorado, it will be
remembered, is a great silver State.