Nov. 3, 1893.

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

its sphe~ical rollers or balls so interposed between The Auto Machinery Company claim, however, to
BALL BEARINGS.
the bearmg surfaces, that the only friction existing have reduced this matter to a state of certainty, so
THE use of balls to give an anti-friction bearing
that natural selection is no longer necessary. We
is of course a very old device, but until the bicycle
now propose to describe the method by which the
Fig.
J.
brought them into use they had a very small a.ppliw
balls they produce are made.
cation. The reason of this is not difficult to underOur illustration, Fig. 3 on the present page,
stand. In order to g"t a good ball bearing several
shows the ball-turning shop of the company, where
points have to be secured, otherwise the bearing
the principal machines are situated. F ig. 4, page
may be worse than an ordinary one. In the first
530, is a general view of one of the most recent
~
place, the balls must be absolutely of one size in
of
ball-turning
machines,
whilst
Figs.
5
types
I
r--J
order to secure the best results, otherwise the
and G, on the same page, give the details. By
work is unequa11y distribuLed ; secondly, balls
means of those machines, a straight rod of iron
)
must be quite spherical ; thirdly, the material
or other metal, slightly larger than the size of the
from which they are made must have the physiballs to be made, is cut up into a series of balls
cal properties necessary to stand the excessive
which are true spheres.
p to the present the
wear and tear. In bicycles, the introduction of
company has made balls from ! in. to 2 in. in diaball bearings was preceded by that of roller bearings,
meter, but so much success has been attained with
in which cylinders were used in place of spheres,
these sizes, that it is expected that considerably
and for a long time the rollers were preferred by
heavier bearings, requiring larger balls, will be
many riders on account of their greater accuracy ;
ultimately made. The wire or rod from which
I
' \

it being naturally far easier to turn a series of

''
the balls are made is of the best crucible cast steel
.'

uniform cylinders than a series of uniform

of the closest ~'l'ain ; it is generally known as
1

11

:
I

I I

' I

tl

.. .

.. .

I :

..

..

F1o.

3.

B-1LL- Ttr1~~INO SHoP OF TIIE

spheres.
Improvemen t in the manufacture of
balls, however, gradually led t o the ousting of the
roller bearing ; and to such perfection has the
production of steel spheres for ball bearings been
brought, that a. broken ball is almost an unknown
circumstance wh ere the ,ery best descriptions are
adopted. \Ye have lately paid a visit to the works
of the Auto l\:lachinery Company of Coventry, an
establishment which has been started solely for
the purpose of making steel spheres for ball bearings. These bearings are now being used for other
purposes than bicycles and tricycles, the perfection to which the design and manufacture of ball
bearings have been carried having made possible the application of the device to many
purposes of engine~ring construction whore it
was previously impossible; indeed, the .\uto
Machinery Company are now making ball~ for
bearings up to as much as 2 jn. in diameter. There
can be no doubt as to the advantage of the ball
bearing for nearly all purposes, supposing the balls
can be made to stand. The Auto Company say
that the best anti-friction bearing is one which has

AtYro

MACH INERY Col\IPANY, CovENTRY.

is that caused by the poi ut of con tact of each ball j diamond steel, and costs, we understand, about
with its neighbour. Our illustrations, Figs. 1 and 190l. per ton. Great care has to be taken in the
2, represent a section and side elevation of the hardening, but to this point we shall refer later.
bearing that has been designed to meet this view.
The machine illustrated on page 530 is autoThe figures represent the bearings of a dynamo matic in its action, the wire only requiring to
which we recently saw at work, and which cortainly be placed in when a new length is used; one
ran with remarkable smoothness, at a speed of over girl attends to six of these machines, and when
1000 revolutions a minute, for a considerable a length of wire has been used up, the matime without a sign of heating. \Vhon ball bearings chine throws itself out of gear automatically.
were first introduced for cycles, the balls were The mode of action is as follows : The machine
made of case-hardened iron, naturally an unsuit- has n. hollow mandril, through which the wire is
able material, a the case-hardeuing must have ren- passed, and there is a traversing headstock which
dered the task of finishing the balls truly spherical feeds the metal up to the cutters, the latter having
almost impossible. The grooves in which the balls no longitudinal motion. The headstock is fed up
ran were also badly designed, as they were turned in this way by a long screw placed beside the bed,
to fit the balls, and there was therefore a consider- and this leading screw is actuated by a toothed
able amount of friction. Steel was afterwards quadrant mounted on a. disc, and arranged to
introduced, but it \\&'3 not of the best quality. In engage with a. pinion on the end of the leading
spite of these dieadvantages, the use of ball bear- screw. In this way, at the time the wire is
ings wa. found a. greaL impro' ement in the running fed up so as to bring a new section to the
of bicycles, and by a course of natural selection cutters to form another ball, the teeth of the
due to taking out broken balls as they occurred, q uadrant engage with those of the pinions: of
at last the rider might get a fairly good bearing. course at that t ime the cutters are withdrawn, and

E N G I N E E R I N G.
the c~tti~g op~r~tion is suspended. The cutting
operahon Itself 1s In four stages, carried on by four
sets of ?utters. ~he first thing done is to turn
a . ne~k In the wire ; when this is finish ed the
w1re I~ fed on, . and by another cutting tool the
n eck Is made Into two half-circles by means of
one cutter shaped for t he purpose. In this way
one half of two adjacent balls is made at one
cut.. Both these operations are performed by
stationary cutters, and the wire is then fed on anot~ er stage, so that t he roughly turned ball, not
qu1te separa~ed from its neighbour, is br ought
under a r otatmg crown cutter. As this turns r ound,
and the ball t~rns at the same tim e, a sphere is
produced: This cutter does not, however, go right
to the axis of the wire, and the balls are thus left
attached to each other. The next operation is
to separate them, and for this the wire is fed

SJ.?ecial aptit ude for t he work, and to assist him in

Ius. work, the hardening room is always kept in a
uniform state of illumination . When the steel balls
have been properly heated, they are thrown into a
lar~e tank of water. ~fter t~is they are ground
agam, the final operatwn bemg conducted with
great care to bring them to the exact size. The
last operation is the :polishing, which brings the
balls up t o a very beautiful Eurface; it is performed
by means of :wooden laps, c.onsisting of beec.h wood,
placed endwtse of the gram, rouge being used as
the polishing material. These laps run 1500 revolutions a minu te.
During the process of manufacture, the balls
are tested by automatic testin()' machines these
c?nsistin.g of two bars of harde~ed steel, piaced a
g1ven distance apart. The final testino- however, is t he principal one, and is an ope~~tion of

Fig . B

--------

Iig . .

Fig . JO .

I :
0

.;

forward another step. The balls are cut off one

by one, also by means of r otating crown cutters,
and as t hey are separated they fall into a receptacle,
to be taken a way for fut ther operations. In the
shop illustrated in Fig. 3 there are 150 of these
machines at work.
The balls are turned out by t he machines j ust
described to within 1 ~3<Y"l> of t he finished size. Th ey
are next taken to the lapping department, wher e
they are g rou nd to an accuracy of 2 r}o~ in., by
means of cast-iron laps with grooves t urned in them.
I t is, of course, nccc3sary to keep these grooves
accurately t o size ; that is t o say, they must be
turned to a curve of t he proper radius, for t he
grooves are not complete half-circles; if they were,
it would be necessary that the two laps should meet.
The laps are constancly being tested by gauge, and are
turned immediately any variation from the standard
size is discovered. A lap will last about three
months but d uring that time the groove has constantly to be turned down. The material used ~n
lappin()' is powder ed emery and a hydrocarbon ml.
Aft;r the balls have been ground in this manner,
they are hardened, and this process has to be conducted with great care, so as to get tl.ll balls of
the same temperature, neither too hard nor too
soft. An American gas furnace is used for heating,
t he blast being obtained by a fan . It has been
found best in order to get the right t emperature,
to trust td the eye of a skilled operator: with a

[Nov. J, I 8gJ.

some magnitude, the testing-room being ({Uite a

large place, containing a good many machines. In
the first machioe steel bars are placed a distance
apart not greater than the r equired diameter
of the ball~. All, therefore, that are too large do
not pass through, but roll down t he bars, which
ar e slight ly inclined for the purpose, into a box
placed for their reception. The machine will in
this way search out balls that are half of a thousandth part of an inch too large, allowing balls
that ma.y be of the exact size or too small to pass
between the bars into a. r eceptacle placed below
them for the purpose. In this way all balls that
are too large have been disposed of, and it now
remains t o eliminate t hose too small. In the n ext
machine t he bars are placed half of a thousandth
part of an inch closer together than the required
diameter of the balls ; therefore balls of t he exact
size, within the limits assigned, are retained, whilst
those too small drop through into the box beneath.
The operation may be divided up into several stages,
so as to get a gradual and more accurate sifting,
but the limit of error given is ';]."(lo~ in. The
testing instruments hav e naturally to be very
carefully looked after, and they are tested constantly by means of a micrometer gauge. After
this a microscopic examination is made of every
ball in order t o discover flaws that may exist,
and which are at once reYealed by means of the
polishing.

An .i mportant !?ar t of the works-perhaps the

most Important- Is the tool-room for it is on the
.
accuracy of the machmes
that the' work produced
depends. The Auto Company make all their own
machine tools- i. e., all used in the production of
balls-:-and in t~is department they have some very
beaut.iful machme tools, such as lathes, planing
maclunes, c c. ; many of these are American prod uc~i?ne, son!e of them very costly tools, but the
add1t10nal pnce, we are told, is more than compensated for by the accuracy of t he machines and
~herefore, the perfection of work they turn out.' Thi~
~s a statem.ent w:e hear more often than is pleasant
1n connectiOn with the finer kinds of machine tools
that come from the United States. It is a matter
that English machine tool makers might well turn
their attention to. I t should be stated $hat the
steel used for cutters is of exactly the same description as that used for the manufacture of the balls.
The number of balls made at these works is
a~out 80,000 a day, mostly, of course, of the smaller
s1zes, although, as stated, t he larger sizes are fast
coming into requisition. The success that has
attended the manufacture of balls is chiefly due to
the ~xtreme care taken in their production, not
only In the process of manufactur~, but in material.
~s the Auto Company point out, it is of the fi rst
Importance that all the balls in a bearing should be
oi ono size, and if one be nt\JTJ in. larger than its
fellows, that ball not only sustains all the weight,
but has to push all the r emaining balls of the set
r ound. F or high speeds and light loads small balls
should be used, the diameter of the balls increasina
0
wit h the load.
~'rom what has been said, it will be seen t hat the
chief secret of success in ball bearings consists in
the material used- not only for balls but also for
the settings~bei~g of the best quality, so that the
prop.er combmat~on of hardness and toughness is
obtamed, and this can only be got by best crucible
steel. Accuracy in man ufacture is obtained Ly
means of Il!-achines . of precision, and extremely
?are!ul ga~gmg; whilst a proper design in the bearmg Itself 1n r egard to the size of balls, &c. , has to
be ?arefully worked. out from data obtained by expenance ; these pomts being observed, it seems
probable t hat ball bearings will obtain a much
The Auto Company has
wider applic~tion.
already supphed t hem, for many engineering purposes, t o several of t he leading firms of this country
and the Continent.
In conclusion, we may r efer to some of the
various types of ball bearings produced at the
works we ~ ave be en . noticing. In Fig. 7, on page
530, we g1 ye a sechon of a bearing to take end
thrust, whtch has been desjgned for a drilling
machine. Figs. 8 and 9, annexed, show ball bearings .for .engines, lathes, &c . ; whilst Fig. 10 is an
apphcatwn of balls to a. carriage axle. It may be
stated t hat t he list price of balls runs from about
2B. 6d. a gross for t he i-in. balls up to about 84.s. a
gross fo~ t~e 1-in. sizefl, the cost increasing rapidly
as the siZe mcreases.

THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL

ENGINEERS.
ON 'Vednesday and Thursday evenings of last
week- C?ct~ber 26 and ~7-a ge.neral meeting of
the InstitutiOn of Mechan1eal Engmeers was held in
the theatre of. the Ins.titution of Civil Engineers,
un~~r the chairmanship of the. president, Dr.
Wuham Anderson. The proceedmgs opened with
the r eading of the minutes of the last meeting,
and the secretary next announced that Professor
Alexander B. W. l{ennedy, F.R.S., had been proposed to succeed Dr. Anderson as president of the
Institution. !ifotice was next given of certain proposed alterations in the by-laws relating to life
membership and the printing of papers, which
will have to be considered at the annual meeting in
F ebruary next. By-law 15 it is proposed shall,
when altered, read as follows: "Any member,
associate member, or associate, whose subscription is not in arrear, may at any time compound for his subscription for the current and
all future years, by the payment of 50l., if paid in
any one of the first five years of his membership.
If paid subsequently, the sum of 501. shall be
reduced by ll. per annum for CYery year of
membership after five years. All compositions
shall be deemed to be capital moneys of the Institution. " I t will be seen that this rule will place
memhera of long standing on a much more equitable footing as regards life composition than they

Nov. 3, 1893.]
:

now are. By-law29 is proposed to be made as follows :

"All papers shall be submitted to the council for approval and after their approval, shall be read by the
secret~ry at the general meetings, or by the author
with the consent of the council, or, if so directed by
t he counci) , shall be printed in the1 Proceedings
. "
without having been read at a genera mee~mg.
There were two papers down on the hst : the
first, on "Artificial Lighting of \Vorksh ops," by Mr.
Benjamin A. Dobson, of Bolton ; and the seco~d ,
on " The \Vorking of Steam Pumps on the Russian
South- Western Railway, " by J\1r. Alexander
Borodin, the engineer-director of those rail ways.
oF WoR KSHOPs.
1tfr. Dobson 's paper, which was taken on the
\Vednesday evening, we print in full in our present issue, and we may, therefore, proceed at once
to the discussion.
1tfr. J. A. F. Aspinall, the chief mechanical engineGr of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway,
was the first speaker. He said that at H orwich
they were six miles away from Bolton, where Mr.
Dobson's works were situated . The author had
said that, in the latter place, all winds except the
west and north-west bring the surcharged atmosphere from other manufacturing di~tricts, P.roducing at any season of the year, tf the wind
happened to be slight, a sky rang ing from dull lead
to dark brown. For four years in s uccession it
bad occurred at the author's works that, on J uno
21- the longest day-gas in every room, amounting to nearly 7500 jets, had to be lighted by 11
o'clock in the morning, and had remained lighted
until the works ceased, and this had occurred
in other t owns, and in weather tha.t ought to
har-e secured abundant sunshine.
To such an
extent did gloom prevail, that in clear weather
the effect of bright light becomes even distressing
to the eyesight, simply from the rarity of the contrast. As H orwich was six miles away, they were
not quite as badly off as that, and did see the sun
sometimes. Mr. Aspinall had placed on the wall
a cross-section of one of the bays of the shops at
Horwich. The author had stated that four inverted arc lamps were tried in these shops, but
owing to the great height at which they had to be
fixed they were not successful. They had, h owever, since been placed in the large drawing offices,
and the light for drawing purposes was as perfect as light could be. Mr. Aspinall had succeeded
in lighting the main machine shop with ordinary
open arc lamps, each protruding through a whitewashed disc, formed of light hoardings framed
together. In this way artificial illumination was
produced by means of reflected and direct rc1ys,
but all the advantages of the reflected light were
not gained, because the eye has a tendency to glance
upwards towards the dazzling arcs, and shadows
are projected. The reflectors, the speaker stated,
'vere 13 ft. in diameter, and 23 ft. 6 in. from the
ground. They were obliged to place them at that
height in order to clear the jibs of the traYelling
cranes used in the shops and the belting of machines. The lamps wore so arranged that the positive carbon was placed beneath the negative, and
the rays of light were thus thrown up from the
crater. It was quite true, as Mr. Dobson had
stated, that the system of using reflected light for
electrical illumination was not new, it having been
tried extensively in Belgium, but the thanks of
members were none the less due to :1\fr. D obson
for calling attention to this matter, and especially
to the advantages of the positive carbon being
belcw, whilst the negati,e carbon was above.
There was, however, one objection to this arrangement, for the particles of carbon were likely to fall
off and drop into the crater, which l\-Ould cause a
jump in the light; that, however, would not matter
much if there were many lamps. In the arrangement of lamps at the H orwich shops (a dia<Yram of
which was put on the wall) there was one :re lamp
to light an area of 151 square yards ; these were 10
and 15 ampere lamps.
?\Ir. Charles Parsons said that ten or fifteen years
ago a similar lamp to that described by the author
h~d been shown in Paris by :1\Iessrs. Sa utter, L emonmer, at;ld .eo. J\;fr. Dobson had described his lamp
as consislmg of two carbons of different diameters
the upper, or. ~e~a.tivo carhon, being sol td , a.nd th~
lower, or postttve carbon , being annular and rather
larger in diameter, their areas being 0.200 and
~.486. squar~ inches respectively; this proportion
msurmg the1r both consuming at the same speed
and thus avoiding the necessity of clockwork. Th~
LIGHTING

E N G I N E E R I N G.
carbons were drawn together by pulley spring and Luneville, where the piece of incandescent carb~n
counterweight, and their distance apart regulated had fallen on the cotton beneath. When cotton 111
by magnetic brake. In Pii.ris, the s peaker said, the a loose condition does get on fire, as the author had
arrangement was not satisfactory, because the pointed out, it is much like a train ?f gunpo~d.er,
carbons were bad, but improvements in their manu- and the mill referred to was kept tn a cond1hon
facture had now enabled the s uccess of the installa- far from clean, being covered with a thickn.e:s of
tion described by Mr. Dobson to be achieved. J\1r. fly steeped in oil over the floor, walls, and ce1hng ;
Parsons pointed out h ow admirable such a light this became so suddenly a mass of flame that the
would be for use in large halls, libraries, &c.
workpeople had some difficulty in making their
A large part of the author's paper was tak~n escape from the burning building.
up by the discussion of the fire risks due to this
Mr. de :=3cgundo said that the system of reflected
form of lighting, there having been a good deal light described by .the author mu~t be. very expen of difficulty with the insurance companies. In sive. In the detalls as to cost given 1n the paper,
order to test the validity of the objections raised it was said that, having regat"d to the number of
as to the use of the light in cotton mills, the workoeople who could be served with the light, the
author had made a fairly complete series of ex- cost was less than that of gas; whilst the light was
periments, which are narrated in full in the stron<Ycr and more general, so that in respect of
paper, the result being that he had come to the candl~-power it would be considerably better than
conclusion there was less danger in using arc lamps <Yas. In the three-storey building at the author's
than with the ordinary gas jets. Mr. Rogers, ~vorks there were 502 gas jets, each burning 4 cubic
speaking on this point, suggested that a clear glass feet per h our; <Yas costing 2s. 8d. per 1000 cubic
dome should be placed above the lamp and over the feet would, th: refore, come to something like
reflector. Another speaker, Mr. Human, dwelt at 5s. 4d. per h our for this consumption. In tho
length on this subject of fire risk. He said that sixty electric lamps the only consumption was that
insurance companies looked on cotton mills as of thA carbons, which was reckoned at ~d. per lamp
second only to gunpowder works in point of in- per hour. This had subsequently been reduced
flammability. The author had referred at length considerably, but taking this basis, the sixty lamps
to the danger that arose from the cotton-fly takmg would together cost 2s. 6d. per hour for carbons.
fire. He had sn.id that in a mill in B elgium, where The sixty-six incandescent lamps which were inthe cotton used was of the poorest quality, so that eluded in the 70 horse-power absorbed bythedynamo
the amount of fly was particularly great, there was would, of course, add to this cost, as they were only
directly over the cardmg engines an arc lamp of 1000-hour lamps. The greatest co~t of the original inmore than 1200 candle-power, and that during four stallation would be depreciation and horse power.
hours spent in watching and n oting the effect of Taking the whole into consideration, the author had
the lamp upon the fly n o spark was visible outside said it was probable th e cost of electric lighting
the reflector. Sometimes, when the fly was un- would be more t han that of gas, but as the l ight was
usually thick in the air, owing to a carding engine so much more satisfactory, it might prove an economy
being brushed out, a slight coruscation could be in most cases to adopt it. In Mr. Dobson's case the
perceived near the centre of the retlector, like the total candle-power of the 500 gas jets would be
twinkling of a star, but this would only occul" now r oughly 8500, while the arc and incandescent lamps
and then. Undoubtedly a certain amount of fly combined would have 73,000 candle-power, much
was consumed , because, when the lamp was lowered of which was useless, however, except as regards the
for examination,~ residue was found in the bottom general effect of the light. In quoting these figures
of the cone, composed of the very lightest tinder of from the author's paper, we should, bower-er, point
cotton, but utterly uninfiammable under any cir- out that J\1r. D obson had stated in regard to them
cumstances. In this country, the auth or stated, that he was hardly in a position yet to be able to
the insurance companies declined to countenance give sufficient data to be of much practical Yalue.
any experiments, on the ground that millowners Mr. de Segundo @aid that ~d. per h our for carbons
had been satisfied up to that time with gaslight. appeared to be high, but the author did not take
Mr. Human agreed that if there had been danger into consideration the cost of horse power.
If,
from cotton fly it would be found by t h e use of however, that were to be added to the ~d . per hour,
gas, but what the insurance companies looked upon it would bring the cost up to a considerable amount.
as a serious source of possible fires was the falling The speaker was afraid that very often a great deal
of p~rticles from the carbon. Mr. Dobson had was said about the candle-power of the arc la mp
referred to two cases in his paper ; h e had without th e subj ect being well understood, and he
said that the definite allegation had been gave some very amusing instances of mif>takes that
made by the insurance companies that on two had occurred in this direction. It was hardly fair,
occasions fires had been caused abroad in cotton however, to speak of the candle-power of the arc
mills which were lighted with arc lamps, and h e lamps under consideration, as so much c f the
had made inquiries h ascertain what amount of illuminating effect was absorbed. He would sugtruth there was in this statement. I n the first gest, however, that the reflector b elow the lamp,
case, it transpired that not a cotton mill , but a by which the l ight was thrown on to the ceiling,
cotton store, had been burnt, and this store was should be made of some opalescen t material, and
lighted, not by arc lamps, but by glow lamps only, he could not but think that proper lighting could
and the theory to account for the conflagration be obtained without this great absorption of light.
was that of spontaneous combustion, which was by J\1r. D obson had said, in describing t he ~ffect, that
no means rare when cotton was stored in bulk. In a general tempered light was obtained. This might
the second instance, the light was not produced by be so, but the statement was too vague to be taken
an open arc lamp inside an invertd conical reflector, as a comparison between the merits of the arc and
but by an ordinary arc lamp surrounded by a glass incandescent lamps. He t ook it for granted that
globe. There was an aperture in the b ottom of the the advant~ges of electric ligh t over gas were
lamp, and owing to s0me disarrangement of the acknowledged ; this was a matter that had got beclockwork regulating the carbon, a portion of an yond the regions of controversy, and therefore he
incandescent carbon had been split off, and falling did n ot allude to it., hut what was wanted was
through tho aperture upon a mass of cotton beneath, definite and accurate measurement, in order that the
had set it on fire. This lamp, Mr. Human stated, advantages of different sy&tems of electtic lighting
was a Pilsen inverted arc lamp, t he poles being might be ascertained. Th e author had statfd that
reversed, and it illustrated the danger that arose his la mps were lowered every eight hours. This
from the dropping of glowing carbon. They had, appeared to the speaker to point to the ue of an
moreover, to remember that accident might cccur obsolete form of lamp; 32 h ours was now the
to the lamp itself; lamps with their balances and ordinary period for many lamps, but 64 hours was
counterweights were heavy things, and were sus- not an excessive time for th e carbons to last
P~I?-ded by c~ains, so that there was .always a possi- whilst there was no doubt t h e period would
bthty of ace1dent ; but what wa.s st1ll more serious 1 be increased to 128 hours. Referring again to the
was the human factor . . The tn.mmers had to pul1 figures as to cost, the speaker pointed out that
1
down the lamps or to tilt them m order to arrange Mr. Dobson would get his power for generation ( f
the carbons, a nd it might be that they would electrical energy on the most advantageous t erms.
n eglect .to fast~n th~ conn.ections, or one of the having his own mill engine, and steam being genes us~ enswn cha1ns nught g tve way. In l\-1r. Dob- rated on a large scale. The fact pointed to the loss
sons ca~e the refl ector no d oubt was fixed, but the of light by t.he inverted lnmp and reflection system.
lamp m1~ht faH altoge~her ; antl however well it fie also thought that the incandescent lamp WaR
w~s designed, t~ey shll bad to depend on the becoming a reasonable thing in r egard to cost. It
~rtmmer, who might n eglect to see the fastenings might be advisable to work the glow lamp at a high
1n order. Should the lamp .fall, there would be the efficiency, say two watts per candle power, and
same result as that descnbed by the author at replaco tho lamps often, they p erhaps lasting only

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

530

[Nov. 3, I 893 .

THE MANUFACTURE OF

BALL BEARINGS.

(For Description, see Page 527.)

I

~--~-----=================~

Fig .5.

I
I

_ ..._~~+

.. -

=~-41~

:-

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

t---'-1 '

--------

I'

... . .

......

'
I
- - .. I +~ - -4o - ----- t: ::.- .......

------

~--~
I -1

- ---~---

: I'I

~,

I' .

'

I I

1oI

I
I '-----1

'

-- -

.. -

..... J

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

fi'ig . 7.
I

- ............ .......

.. .. ... ..

. I

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

'I

'

I
FIG.

'
'I
I
I

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I

'

'

1 ... f'

'

.... -' . \
'
:\

...

'

4.
fJI7 D

F IGS .

TO

G.

B ALL- 'rtl R"" l NO ~ia.CIIINE.

(me-third of the standard 1000 h ours . If lamps panic in mills and crowded workshops, owing t o
were to be sold at 1s. each- and he did not see why I the failure of the light. In order to provide
they should not be- it w.ould I?robab!y be economy against t~is and oth.er disa~vantages from the
to use the incandescent h ght duect, mstead of the works bemg thrown m to ent1re darkness, he had
~reflected arc light.
arranged in a jute mill, in which he had laid down
Mr. Small dwelt upon the danger that arose from J an installation of electric l ight, that there should

be what he described as a '' police circuit. " There

were in Lhe mill 700 lamps, and of these 10 per
cent., or 70 lamps, were arranged on the police circuit . In the case t o which he was alluding the
police circuit was supplied wi th current from the
public mains, but it could be worked by accumulator battmies, or in any other way, so that it
were from an independent source. In order to make
the arrangement automatic, a switch had been
devised, by which the police circuit was brought
into play immediately u pon the main source of
light failin g. This was effected by a simple device
of an electro-magnet. The police circuit was also
of use when the more effective method of illumination was not required, such as in clearing up, or
when the people were coming in to work in the
early morning.
Dr. W. H. \ Vhite said that he had seen the
Sautter-Lemonnier lamp r~ferred to by Mr. Parsons. This was in the 1878 Exhibition at Paris,
and it was placed in a building which was exceedingly difficult t o light, there being pillars and
machinery, which would cast heavy shadows if illuminated in the ordinary direct method. The results, however, were excellent, as the diffusion of
light was so complete that there was an almost entire
absence of shado ws. ~Ir. Dobson's figures as to
cost had been criticised, but these, the speaker
considered, were largely subsidiary t o the fact that

53 I

E N G I N E E R I N G.
BOILER TURNING,
C0 N ST R U CT E D

BY

:M E S S R S.

BORING,

RUSHWOR'l'H

-- --

AND DRILLING MACHINE.

AN D

C 0 .,

E N G I N E E R S,

S 0 vV E R B Y

B R I D G E.

(Fo'r Deso?'iption, see Pctge 536.)

there was produced a result required for the more ' candles would be such that it would quite justify
efficient operating of the author's works. Electric an installation of electric light being made for the
light might seem a costly thing. Engines, dynamos, purpose of building these vessels.
lVIr. A. P. Trotter said that t he reason the reaod lamps were impressive ; the ordinary candle
was not. When at Newcastle, however, he had flected method of lighting had received so little
gone into the question of cost in r egard to the arti- attention was t hat people did not r ealise that whiteticial illumination required in building a battleship. wash was so useful a r eflector as it really was. He
The number of ordinary tallow candles required would suggest t hat those in doubt about this nutter
was known. He would not quote amounts, not should take a sheet of paper and a looking-glass and
having the exact figures by him ; but the result of 1 reflect light from th~m. By means of the reflected
a comparison was that he had concluded the cost of 1 light from the paper it would be difficult to cast a

shadow, whilst with the looking-glass that could be

done. For this reason many persons would think
that the paper did not r eflect the light ; such,
however, was n ot the case; the paper reflected the
light from many points, whilst the looking-glass
concentrated it. As a matter of fact, he would
state that clean white blotting- paper reflected
82 per cent. of the light cast upon it, and it was,
therefore, better than the use of opal glass. It
would be a good thing if the proprietors of works
would consider a little more closely the value of

532
frequently white washing their shops, and if they
made a comparison it would be found that the cost
of whitewashing was m ore than warranted by the
saving in the expense of artificial illumination .
\Vith r egard to the suggestion of one speaker that
the r eflector used by Mr. Dobson (which was below
the lamp, it will be remembered ) should be made
of opalescent glass, Mr. Trotter pointed out that
it had been found that in an ordinary arc la mp wi th
the nega.ti ve carbon at the bottom, a r eflector placed
above was of little use, so very small a part of the
light being projected upwards . Therefore there
would n ot be much light coming through the opalescent glass beneath.
Professor Kennedy said that he had had the advantage of seeing the installation d escribed by Mr.
D obson in his paper, and which he had placed in
his works at B olton. Since then he had recomm ended it in one or two places, and found it the
very thing that was wanted, and he wondered it
was n ot used a great d eal more ; for instance, in a
night-school for drawing at Newcastle there were
68 to 70 men and boys studying, and there was
a gaslight for each person.
The state of the
atmosphere could not be very good under these
circumstances, but probably two arc lamps arranged
in the manner described by the author would have
given equal illumination, suppo3ing the ceiling and
walls t ') have bee:1 properly whitewashed. The
great object was to get light from as many points
as p ossible, and Mr. Dobson's reflector did this.
In regard to the comparison of the volume of light,
and the crit icism to which t he author 's figures had
been subjected, it was to be regretted that t he electricians had followed t he example of mechanical
engineers in one of their most uncouth barbarisms.
They had t aken a nominal candle-power, as engineers had a nominal horse-po wer.
The t erms
were misleading, and the comparisons made by
them wer e untrustworthy ; they were, indeed, entirely nominal quan t ities. In regard to t he nominal
candle-power of t he electric arc, he would poin t
out that it must be divided instead of multiplied,
to arrive at a true result for practical illuminating
purposes ; but the speaker t hought candle-power
was not t he crucial point in the present case. Mr.
D ob3on wanted t o get an eff~clive illumination for
the work he had to perform, and if he could get
this at a reasonable cost by the methods described,
in a manner superior t o any other m ethods, t hat
was the practical r esult to be aimed at.
The President, Dr. Anderson, t hought t hat the
system described by the author was not only effective, but it was economical, too. At Wool wich
Arsenal they had a shed with saw-tooth r oof, and
sometimes when going round t he Arsenal at night, he
thought how much their neighbours ought to be obliged to them for the large volume of light t hey gratuitously distributed into the surrounding; space but
though Dr. Anderson migh t think it a nice t hing to
oblige his n eigh bours, he was under the impression
that there was a great deal of waste. The difficulty
in using the arc lamp in machine sh ops was the
shadows that were cast . He had seen the reflected
system described by the author, which was then in
operation in a room below, and he had been surprised to .find that ~e.could read a .book equ.ally we11
s tanding In any pos1t10n, there bemg practiCally no
shadow cast.
In replying t o the discussio~ , ~r. D obson . said
that his paper had not .any sc~entlfic pre.tenswns.
He had gained experience In a practical and,
perhaps, rough-and-ready manner, for the purpose
of lighting his shops to the ~est ad vant~ge, and
having arrived at what he cons1dered a satisfactory
conclusion, he t hought it a duty, and a very pleasant duty, to give his brot~er members the benefit
of his labours. All experiments as to the opalescent shades and glass covers r eferred to had been
tried and had altogether failed. In the first case,
even' clear glass absorbed more light than was
thought but that was not the question. In workshops there was always a great deal of dust flying
about and that would get on to the glass in a very
short' time and destroy the illuminating power of
the arrangement. One speaker had alluded to lamps
which would run for 32 and even 64 hours. Be
was acquainted with lamps of t his description.
They had parallel carbons, and were subjec~ to
flicker as the arc changed. The lamp he descnbed
had not the same d efect when good carbons were
used, but in any case they lowered .the lamp.s every
eight hours for t he p urpose o~ clean~ng. This was a
wise economy, as, to get effiCiency, It was necessary
to keep both the r eflecting surface and also the

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

[ Nov. 3, 1893.

lamps themselves in good order. He was more Egypt, and from the famous mound of Lachish in
than pleased to hear what Professor Kennedy had Syria, wher e the I sraelites d estroyed the ancient
said about candle-power. H e had attacked t his town or t owns of the Amm onites, and over tho
subject of illumination from a practicg.l standpoin t, ruins built their t own, which was finally besieged
and in the course of his investigations he had found and destroyed by Sennacherib. The ornaments
himself altogether unable to grasp the candle~ power from t he bottom of t he mound are essentially
problem. This he had attributed to his own defi- copper ; then come bronze objects, specially arrowciency of intellectual power, but it was a r elief to heads; finally iron implements, of I sraelitish period
him t o learn from so good an authority as Professor probably. The copper implem ents have a strangely
Kennedy that the obscurity was not in his own red colour, which Dr. Gladstone found to be due
brain. In regard to that which t he gentleman, who to admixture of cuprous oxide; a chisel, of about
spoke on behalf of the insurance companies, had. 1500 B. c. , contained 73.6 per cent. of copper and
said, he maintained t hat it was impossible by any 24.0 per cent. of this oxide, the specific gravity
method of fair usage to get a spark outside the being only 6. 6, against 8. 9 pure copper. This
reflector, even if the cotton fly were piled up inside, cuprous oxide hardens the copper ; but even such
and he would say t hat t he method of illumination a material would scarcely be hard enough to
by electricity was the safest that could be usd . In cut granite and basalt. The admixture, which is
the case t o whieh he had made reference, and observed in almost every specimen, may be
which had been quoted by the speaker, where part accidental or intentional, produced by overpoling.
of the carbon had dropped on the cotton, there Dr. Gladstone and Mr. Hibbert are investigating
was a hole in the bottom of the lamp, through the influence of this cuprous oxide. The Egyptian
which the piece of carbon had fallen. In the lamp coppers go back to the fourth and fifth dynasties,
referred to in his paper there was no such hole, that is, as far as our historical knowledge. Vve
and if the carbon were to split off and fall, it would have it on record that the copper mines of the Sinai
only fallintothe bottom of the refiector. With r egard peninsula were conquered by the Egyptians, and
to the police circuit, he was now arranging what worked by them for many centuries. Some tools
he called "pilot lights, " which amounted to the of 3500 B. c. contain 10 per cent. of tin. A basket
same thing. The method of working the current of t ools, fortunat ely forgotten at Kahun about
for the police circuit from the town mains was a 1200 B. c., shows copper alloyed with arsenic and
good one, but in his case they had t o use a sub- antimony. The real bronze period begins later.
sidiary engine. In r eference to the remarks of We hesitate t o assume that the Egyptians reduced
Dr. Anderson, he would say that the saw-tooth both copper and tin to produce what the Bible calls
roof was admirably adapted for reflecting purposes brass, that is, bronze. But Dr. Gladstone has a
if the slanting part were kept well whitewashed, small ring of t in, evidently reduced from hlende ;
and almost as much light would be reflected as if in fact, there are a good many tin objects that we
the r oof were quite flat. In conclusion, Mr. Dobson can assign t o about 1400 B. 0 . L ead, a wire of
referred to the statement, made in his paper, that very pure lead, has been found at L achish, wher e
the figures as to cost were by no means complete, also silver ornaments - a bracelet, &c. - occur, wi th
but he would be pleased to go further into the 6. 5 per cent. of coppP-r, a little gold, and nearly
matter, and would furnish fuller and more accurate 2 per cent . of silver chloride. The lead bronze
details for publication in the Transactions.
statuettes from the same locality, as from elseAt the conclusion of the sitting, members went where, clearly belong to later Greek and Roman
do wnstairs into one of the r ooms of the Institu- periods. S uch lead bronzes, of the coveted gr eenish
tion, in which a lamp fitted on the author's system hue, deteriorate quickly. Beads of antimony have
was placed, and were enabled to judge for them- also been discovered at Lachish, whilst we Euroselves of the justice of the claims made with regard peans fancy t hat metallic antimony was unknown
to the diffusion of light obtained by the system de- before the days of Basilius Valentinus, a monk who
scribed ; it was found impossible to throw a shadow lived near Erfurt about 1460. The paper suggests
of any depth. There can be no doubt as to the many important considerations. That there was,
great boon such a system of lighting would be, not in many count r ies, a copper age before the bronze
only in workshops, but in drawing offices, libraries, age, is evident. It would be best, perhaps, t o dis&c. Many will d oubtless remember t he installa- card the "stone, bronze, and iron ages" of civilisation of arc lamps (one of t he earliest) in the tion altogether. Those ages have nothing to do
reading-room of t he British Museum ; although with dates, n or can they form a gauge for the
the illumination was of the greatest brilliancy, civilisation attained. Dr. Munro, president of the
it was all but impossible to read, owing t o the Anthropological Section H , pointed out that a
contrast between light and shade. In the full copper age can be proved for North America
glare of a lamp it was like trying to read in bright - where it may still be said to exist-Hungary,
sunlight, whilst if an attempt were made to shade Ireland, and other countries; Professor Hildethe book at all, the contrast of the surrounding b rand , of Stockholm, finds proofs of it all oyer
ligh t was so great that the print became practically Scandinavia. But that copper age is probably only
illegible. This, perhaps, was an extreme case; the a phase of the neolit hic or stone age, as Sir J ohn
illumination of the room at the Institution of Civil Evans and Professor Boyd Dawkins remarked.
Engineers being at the other end of the scale, and it The Indians of North America treated and u tilised
would be difficult to imagine anything more perfect the native copper of Lake S uperior like stones ; it
than the latter. Doubtless there was economically was not subjected to metallurgical processes. Sir
an excess of light for the size of the apartment, but H enry R oscoe, M.P., asked in Section B, why an
the point was made fully manifest that whatever iron age did not precede. That may not be so exlight there might be would be admirably distributed. traordinary ; the ordinary iron ores bear not a
Some photographs handed r ound at the meeting trace of metallic appearance. The Egyptians did
illustrated this point to an equal degree. They know iron, and used it to a certain ext ent. The
represent ten seconds' exposur e, and in the parts very name of the metal, however, Professor Sayee,
beneath lathes and other machine tools the detail the great E gyptologist, remarked, indicates that
was quite ~pparent, whereas if the ordinary direct its meteoric origin was recognised. The Egyptians
lighting had been used there would have been called iron ba,-n-pe, t he Babylonians, an-bar;
nothing but black shadow. Mr. Dobson 's paper both names mean "heavenly metal." H ow the
was an ad mirable contribution, and the vote of Egyptians were able to work their granite marvels
thanks that was passed at the conclusion of t he with copper and bronze tools, is a mystery. Prositting was of a more than ordinaril y cordial fessor Sayee possesses a bronze chisel, or wedge, of
the sixth dynasty period; the one end is flattened
nat ure.
out, hammered, perhaps, in some way ; the other
(To be contintud.)
sharp and hard and a lit tle jagged. According to
Mr. Sayee, t he Egyptians of the eighteen th dynasty
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
did know tin. But neither the Egyptian nor
(Continued f rom page 506.)
the Assyrian language contains a word that can be
T OOLS AND 0RNA1\IENTS OF COPPER AND OTHER identified with tin, whilst most metals, even antimony, and, as just mentioned, iron, had their
METALS FROM EGYPT AND PALE TINE.
DR. GLADSTONE, F .R. S., presented this very names. As to t he origin of t in, t he claims of Great
important paper to both the Chemical and t he Britain wer e of course put forth, by Mr. H. Stopes.
Anthropological Sections, and there can be no Dr. Gladstone's view that t here are, or were, tin
doubt that the latter was the more competen t body mines so mew here in Abyssinia, sounds much more
to deal with the matter. Dr. Flinders Petrie and feasible; in any case, we need only go to Asia
Mr. Buss have placed at Dr. Gladstone's disposal Minor to find ti n. Mr. 'fhomas Turner, of Mason
some t ools and ornaments, mostly very small College, Birmingham, gave in Section B some very
objects, for chemical analysis. They came from interesting notes about the history of iron and

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

Nov. 3, r893.]
bronze. The British l\1useum possesses an iron axehead of 1370 :e. c.: ., t he oldest authenticated iron
implement k nown , but a. piece of iro~ was ~ound in
an air passaae of the Great Pyram1d, w h1ch may
have b een thero since 3700 B.O. A bronze cylinder
of 3223 n c. is the oldest Lronze in the British
Museum. The Chinese still harden copper wi t h
iron, as t he Hindoos used to do.
NATIVE I RON MANOF.A.CTURE IN B ENGAl ..
This paper, by M essrs. Harris and Th. Turner,
is also of some what historical character. It deals
with the past and the pr esen t, and, inasmuch as the
main paper . was r eserved for the Ir~:m and St~el
Institute. w1th the fu ture. Mr. Harr1s has stud1ed
the native iron indus try in Bengal, where they
employ furnaces and h and - blowing apparatus
similar to those which Dr. P er cy illustrated in his
' ' Metallurgy. " The furnace is made of clay from th e
white ant hills ; in these, weathered magnetite is
r educed by means of charcoal wit hout a. flux.
These furnaces wer e also known to t he Egyptians
of the sixth cen t ury. Mr. Turner exhibited several
remarkably fi ne specimens : a n iron purer , perh aps,
than England can supply, with 99.95 per cen t. of
iron and .015 of phosphorus. The primitive plant
can turn out a bloom of 3 cwt. in less t ha n three
hours. The h ot bloom is cut, hammered, r eh eated,
and hammered again.
I NTERNA'riONAL STANDARD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF
IRON AND STEEL.
Mr. Thomas Turner is the secretary of this committee, and autho r of this fifth report. The work
of the British members was completed last year
already. The American m embers are, h owever,
scattered over so vast a territory ths.t the fi nal
meeting had not taken place yet. Professor Langley
has sent an ad vance report of t he analyses, which
was to be r evised at Chicago. We append the mean
results of t he analyses of t he American Committee
(I. ) and t he B r itish Committee (If. )

I.
Standard .
C<lrbon
Silicon

Sulphur
Phosphorus
~Bngo.nese

.-

No. I.

No. 2.

No. 3.

No. 4.

l.HO

.80

.454
.152
.004
.015
.140

.180

.015
.038

No. 2.

No. 3.

I No. 4.

.s t G

.4i6

.202
.004
.010
.124

.270
.001
.016
.254

.088

.098

IT.
No. 1.

St:~.ndBrd .

Carbon .

..
..
Silicon

..
..
Sulphur, not more t han
Phosphorus
..
..
~anganese
.
..

. . 1.414
..
..

. 263
.006

..

.018
.259

.19l
.007
.014

.14 1

. Ul

.145

.003

.1121

.151
.008

.039
.078
.130

- ------------------ The final reports from Sweden were n ot yet at

hand either. According to a communication by
Professor Akerman, t here is very good agreement
with the British analyses.
Standard 5 h as b een
hermetically sealed up in glass t ubes, like the
other four standards. The analysis has, h owever,
been postponed until the method of analysis is
fi nally settled by the various committees.
As reports of this kind are not discussed, Dr.
Rid eal and Dr. Gladstone t hanked the committee
for the great t r ouble t hey take in t his most important work.
NITRIDE OF I RON.
Mr. G. J . Fowler, of Manchester, confirmed Mr.
Stahlschmidt's r esearch on iron ni tride. Iron is
r educed from th e h ydrate by means of hydrogen,
and heated a little above the mel ting p oint of lead
in a current of ammonia gas. The air has to be carefully excluded all the time. The r esulting product
is a. gr ey powder, less bluish than iron reduced
from the hydrate, gritty and slightly magn etic.
For analysis it is dissolved in hydrochloric acid,
evaporated with platinum chlorid e, and the
ammonium-plat inum chloride is weighed.
The
percen tage of nitrogen depends upon the length of
exposure t o ammonia, but d oes n ot rise a bove
11.1 per cent. There is the refore only on e iron
nitride. The suhstance may be obtained also, but
less pure, by heating iron amalgam or ferrous
chloride or bromide in ammonia.
CYANO-NITRIDE OF 'l'IT.ANI UM IN F ERROMANOAISESE.
This paper, by Mr. T . W . H ogg, treats of a
similar compound, but h as a much wider interes t.
It shows that ferro-manganese is simply s warming

with t iny cr ystals of cyano-nitride of titanium and

other t itanium compounds, and th at such mites can
be analysed , collected, and counted, or at least estimated. The meth od of procedure iCJ in itself
interesting. Titanium has long been known to be
present in many pig ir ons and in certain blast furn ace alloys. Mr. H 0gg has experimen ted with
ferr o-ma11ganese from England and Wales . In al l
cases except on e- t his being an iron with only 11
per cent. of man ganese, the oth ers con taining 60, 70,
80, and more per cent.- h e found crystals in abundan ce. Fifty gr ammes of the metal are dissol ved,
under constant cooling, in dilute ni t ric acid of 1.2
specific gravity ; after settling, t h e sedim en t contains nitro-carbon s and t itanium compounds ; it is
filtered off, as only t he larger crystals separate
spontaneously, dried, rubbed in a mortar, and
poured into a large porcelain basin fo r elutriation ,
which was accomplished under r ocking, settling,
and by sucking off the water by means of a pipette.
The crystals, copper -coloured or of golden hue, can
finally be taken up with a moist brush. On the
micr oscopic glass they look like a t hin patch of gold
paint. The crystals are very beautiful, cubic and
octahedric forms prevailing , curiously combin ed
often to a sor t of star equally d eveloped along
the three axes, and r esembling , owing to perspective, an icosah edr on . They contain a lit tle
iron and may be magnetic--sufficiently so to pick
them up - owing to t his fact.
B oiling with
hydrochloric acid d oes n ot remove all the iron.
The crystals are about rdGo in. in diameter,
some several t housandths, the great number considerably less. One milligramme was spr ead out
upon a. stage micr om eter , and the individuals were
counted. Ther e would b e about 600,000 crystals
in a cubic inch of ferr o-mangan ese, perhaps fewer ,
often tw ice and three times as ma ny. This n umber
was ch ecked by weigh t test, the whole collection
weighing about .04 gr amme. The percentage of
titanium in ferr o-ma.ngan ese varied between . 03 and
.07 per cen t . Our knowledge of the structur e of
iron is yet so imperfect t hat communications of this
type deserve the greatest attention.
FLUORINE.
The ''Dem onstrat ion of the Preparation and
Properties of Fluorin e by M oissan's Method, " by
Mr. Moissan's assistant, Dr. lVIeslans, was the
popular even t of the proceedings. S ome y ears ago
Mr. M oissan isolated fluorine, which so far had
baffled all attempts at separation , and in a measure
remained a hypothetical element. Dr. Thorpe, of
South Kensington, failed in the r epetition of t h ese
experiments, which were d oubted by some ch emists .
At the r equest of Professor Emerson Reynolds,
lVIr. M oissan, r egretting his inability to come
himself, sen t over his assistant with the full plant,
which was exhibited. Mr. M eslans contented himself with d emonstrating, making brie f r emarks in
French, and conve rted all doubters, if any wer e
preAent, into enthusiastic b elievers. Fluor-spar is
d ecomposed in a platinum r etort by means of sulphuric acid, and the anhydrous hydrofiu ori c acid,
dried and purified, brought into a U -tube for electr olytical d ecomposit ion. The vessels and tubes ar e
of platinum, t h e stoppers of flu or -spar. The
hydrofi uor ic acid is an ins ulator, and r esisted
all electrolytical attacks un t il Fremy suggested
the addition of a fifth of fluoride of potassium . The U -tube stood in a cooling vessel of
about a quar t capacity, containing condensed
methyl chloride, which reduces the temperature to
- 23 deg . Cent. As soon as t h e current of 70 volts
and 25 amper es was turned on, minor explosions
were heard, and fumes b ega.n to issu e from t he fine
platinum tube through which the fluorin e was to
escape into the air. It did so ; and, although it
d id n ot appear so v icious as it has been d escribed,
soon set the crowded audience coughing and longing for fresh air. Nobody was any the worse for it ,
however. As th e fluorine at once d ecomposes, with
the m oisture in the air, into hydrofluoric acid and
ozon e, th ese two substances were practically what
was smelt and felt ; ammonia was passed r ound
instead of eau de Cologn e. The experimen t had t o
be temporarily interrup ted after some minutes, as
the stock of methyl chloride gave out; 1t'Ir. Meslans
had b een experimenting the day previous. The
low temperature is n ecessary on account of the
high volatility of t he hydrofluoric acid. As,
h owever, some of the potassium salt, carried over
by the violence of t he r eaction, stops up t he d ischar ge tube, which is the size of a clay pipe stem,
Dr. Meslan s was constantly applying h is Bunse n

533
to heat t h e t ube. I odine at on ce combined with
the fl uorine under explosion ; sulphur burn~d with
its well-known blue flame; ph osphorus as 1n oxygen ; silicon a nd boron glowed like burning coal; carbon itself wo uld n ot catch fire. I t does so under
proper con ditions. On the motion of Sir H enry
Roscoe the thanks of the A ssociation wer e conveyed t o Mr. 1VT oissan hy wire. Dr. Thorpe E~id
t hat Mr. Moissan had been kind en ough to exa.mtne
h is apparatus , which h e had sent over to Paris ; but
t hat he, however, had not been able yet to r epeat the
experiment. On the request of the President, he
gave a s ummary of the properties of the now fai.rly
settled r efractory element. It attacks every thi~ g
-even the platinum-iridium electrodes. As to 1!s
appear an ce, even M oissan can hardly speak , as It
cannot be brought into tran sparent vessels, and
fu mes so badly. I t seems to be a greenish-yellowish
gas, like chlorine. Its atomic weigh t Mo~ssan ~as
dt'termined by filling two exactly equal platmum_Jars
with nitrogen , and r eplacing in the one the nltroaen by fi uorine ; since the atomic weigh ts of
~itrogen (14) a nd fiuo~ir.e. (19~ do n ot differ ~uch,
h owever, this d etermmat10n IS not very r ehable.
Mr. M eslans also exhibited ono of :1\foisl:lan 's latest
pr oducts, uranium carbide obtained iu his e~eo
trical furn ace. Thi~ is a dull blackish mass, whiCh,
when sha ken in th~ stoppered b ottle, sparks m ost
energetically; the carbide, or its combustion product, has a peculiar sme 11.
H ALOIDS ; LIGHT AND THE HvnRACI DS
OF H ALOGENS.
Dr. A . Richardson, of Clifton, r eported that the
time of exposure n ecessary to start t he d ecomposition of gaseous hydrogen chloride, or of aqueous
solutions of t h e acid under the influence of light
in the presence of oxygen, varies considerably.
The nature of the glass and the time of contact
between glass and acid is of influence.
P ENDULUM ACTINOMETER.
Dr. Richa.rdson and Mr. Quick exhibited a
modified form of Bunsen and R oscoe's p endulum
actinometer.
The apparatus exp oses a. strip of
sensitised paper to the light for comparative tests
with standard strips ; a clockwor k opens a shutter
periodically. After d escrib in g this actinometer,
Dr. Richardson showed a much -contested experiment about which the section did n ot come to any
agr eement, t ho ugh Sir Henry R oscoe granted tha(i
Dr. Richardson had succeeded where he h ad failed.
Tubes filled w ith chlorine and bromine, shut off by
mer cury and sulphuric acid gas, are illuminated by
magnesium light, when there is an immediate expansion-due, says Dr. Richardson, to actinic rays,
or, as asserted by Profeseor Dixon and others, to
h eat r ays simply a fter all. The only way of settling
the knotty point will be by continued, most car eful
exper iments, which Dr. Rich ardson is r eady to
conduct.
T HE I oDINE VA LUE oF SuNLIGHT IN THE
HIGH A LPS.
During the winter months, which, owing to
weak h ealt h, Dr. Rid eal h ad to spend in tho Engadine, h e conducted a seri es of observations on the
iodine value of the Alpine air, carefully follo wing
t h e instruction s laid down by the Air Analysis
Committee of Manchester. St. M orit z, where he
stayed, is 7000 ft . above sea leYel, enjoys a clea r,
r emarkably dry atmosphere, b ut is n ot particularly
appr o priate for su ch tests, as it is h emmed in so that
Manche~ter, with its d l.y of 8.3 h ours in January,
should get almost h alf as much again of daylight as
this Alpine r esor t . The iodine average for the
nineteen brightest days in January was 9. 34 milligrammes of iodine per h our p er 100 cubic cent imetrell, the maximum and minimum being 13.6 and
5.7. The daily average in Manchester is 4.5, that
is, equivalent t o half a.n h our at St. M oritz. V ery
few observations of this kind are extant. Dr.
Rideal is n o d oubt correct in ascribing a good deal
of the hygienic value of these m ountain h ealth
resorts to t he comparatively large amount of sunlight upon which on e may coun t t h er e.
A cTION o-r LICHT uPoN D YED CoLouRs .
This committee, of which Professor Hummel is
secr etary, has undertaken a very laborious and
tedious task, to determine by experiment the re~
lative fastness to light of patterns of silk, cotton,
and wool, dyed with 2 per cent. of the artificial
commercial colouring matters, and to the same
depth with natural c0lourin g matter~. They were

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

534
exposed in the country at Adel, 5 n1iles n orth of
Leeds, in Mr. J ames A. Hirst's garden, t he patterns
b eing pinned on deal boards, cover ed with white
calico, and fixed vertically in glazed wooden cases,
the air, after being filtered thr ough cotton wool,
circulating freely. E very pattern was divided into
six pieces. One of these was protected , the oth ers
exposed for different periods.
The shortest
"fading" period was about three weeks, May and
June, 1892 ; at th e end of the first period t he
standards wer e removed and new standards again
exposed with the piece until fading to the same
extent had r esulted. The fourth and fifth serie~
were exposed for a length of two or three fading
periods, so that the fifth set might have a.n exposure of on e year. This method was adopted in
order to be able to expose in different years, as it is
impossible to deal wit h a wh ole set simultaneously.
The r eport, a pamphlet of eight pages, contains
already a great deal of inter est. The colours are
numbered according to the "Tabellarische Uebersicht der Kiinstlichen Organischen Farbstoffe,"
by Schultz and J ulius. The eosins and allied
colours are the most fugitive ; the methoxy group
increases the fastness of the paler tint surviving
after a few weeks. All basic r eds, including magentas, are fugitive, ; the azo reds, and, mor e still,
the secondary diazo compounds, are fast . Madder ,
cochineal, k ermes, alitarin, and some chromotropes,
2 R and 2 B, belong to the exceedingly limited
number of very fast reds ; the Congo r eds have not
been tried yet.

[N ov. 3, I 89 3

EMBOSSING PRESS A T THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE E.

W. BLI S

CO~IPANY,

DROOKLY~,

N. Y.

(For Description, see Page 536.)

Fig. 1.

(To be continued.)

TfiE

ENGINEERING CONGRESS
CHICAGO.
(BY

ouR

NEw

AT

YoRK C oRRESPONDENT.)

(Continued from page 474. )

'' THE Vibration of Steamers, " by Otto Schlick,

of Hamburg, was the next paper. He said it was
a phenomenon of which formerly but li ttle notice
had been taken. The writer wish es to differ right
h ere. Eviden tly the author is a good sailor, or he
would have been compelled to notice it, and to
prove by demonstration t hat h e had noticed it.
The most important forces are : The thrust of
the propeller in drivin g the vessel forward ; the
twisting couple exerted by the engines; the twisting couple of t he propeller ; t he centrifugal force
of the r otating masses, if the centre of graYity is
not in the line of axis ; t he inertia of the reciprocating parts, especially the piston , the piston -rod,
and connecting-rod. Of all the forces mentioned,
the last is of gr eatest importance in causing
vibrations.
The time of a complete vibration depends :
1. On the mass of the parts of a ship which alter
their location in the change of form .
2. On the intensity of th e for ce wi th which the
body of the ship tends to resume its original form,
i .e. , on t he elasticity.
He then considered the vibrations extending over
the entire hull, and divided them thus :
1. Those undulations which produce a vertical
stress in the central longitudinal plane.
2. Those which corresp ond to a tors ional stress
of the longitudinal axis, whereby t he planes of the
individual frames have a "rolling 11 motion imparted to them.
The author illustrated the effect of these vi brations by means of diagrams. H e described an
arrangement invented by him for measuring verti cal
vibrations, and detailed, in conclusion , a number
of experiments he had made with t he German gun b oat Meteor. Ile also stated that t he period of
vibrations could be influenced by a careful distribution of the weights on board, and further, in twinscrew ships, by the ratio of the number of revolutions of the engines. If these could be made the
same, and the piston of one engine be made to move
in a direction opposite t o that of the other, the vibrations would almost disappear. R e considered further experiments were necessary to determine the
m ost practicable number of r evolutions of the
engines, having the question of vibrations in view.
This paper received much discussion, and in the
course of it Dr. Elgar stated t hat when the length
of a ship was mor e t han twelve times her depth,
there was sure to be much vibration. This paper
r eceived a most thorough discussion at the hands of
the various experts, and its distinguished author
received many compliments from all present for t he

,,
2 010

Fig. 2 .

--

....
-..

---------

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

535

STEAM STEERING GEAR OF THE ROYAL MAIL STEAMER "NILE."

CONSTRUCT~D BY ~IE SRS. NAPIER BROTHERS, LIMJTED, GLASGOW.
(Fo1 D~ctiption, see Page 537.)

--

--.. -

0 '

able and exhaustive manner in which he presented

it.
" \Velded Seams in Plates " was presented by
Mr. Warren E. Hill, the vice-president of the
Continental Iron Works of New York. This gentleman is one of the foremost in his p rofession, and
his works are among the best in the country. The
first monitor was from their place, and Mr. Row land,
the president, has been honoured time and again
by the various societies of which he is a m em her.
Mr. Hill's paper was full of interest, and received
marked attention, as it deserTed t o.
The paper commenced with a description of platewelding as practised twenty-five years ago, in which
a V-shaped piece waCJ interposed between the sides,
and plates by this methf>d withstood tests of 450 lb.
to the square inch. Reservoirs to store carbolic acid
gas so welded withstood 1800 lb. Mr. Hill then
continued as follows :
"The best plate-welding work known to the
writer is done by a machine of the corn bined roller
and hydraulic type, embodying an unyielding
anvil roller which is on one side of the seam, and
a movable roller which is applied to the other
side, and which is pressed to its work by hydraulic
power of unvarying pressure.
''This machine consists of two vertically arranged
stakes or levers strongly secured together at their
base, one of which supports at its upper end the
stationary inside anvil roll, the face of which is
convexed to the circle of the cylinder to be worked ;
and this stake also serves as the guide of a cylindercarrying table that is vertically operated by hydraulic power. The other or outer stake carries at
its upper end, and opposite the anvil roll, a laterally
working slide block, in which is mounted the outer
or movable roll, which has its face concaved to the
circle of the cylinder to be welded, and is in the
axial plane of the anvil roller. The heating furnaces are mounted on top of the stakes just above
t he welding rolls, the outer furnace being adjustable
to and from the other, both being in the same
working plane.
''The cylinder to be welded is lifted over the inner
stake and properly clamped at its lower end to the
table, the seam parts being in the vertical line

between the furnaces and welding rolls. The gas

furnaces are now turned on to heat that portion of
the seam located between them, and utilising an
essential ad vantage in the use of gas furnaces, an
intense jet is directed upon the scarfed edges to
bring them to proper welding temperature, while a
diffusive flame is applied to the parts adjacent to
the edges, in order that the heat may properly
graduate t o the cold parts, so as to prevent any
injury to t he structure of the metal, as would
occur by a too distinct line between the heated
edges and the cold parts. Having brought the
scarfed edges to the d esired temperature, the
outer welding roll is moved under suitable pressure
to contact with the seam or cylinder, which is
forced against the anvil roll : the cylinder table is
then reciprocated vertically, and the heated parts
passed between the rolls two or three times, and a
weld completed of 6 in . to 8 in. in length. The
welding roll is then rel~ased from contact, the
cylinder moved so that the portion of the scarf or
seam next the weld is brought between the furnaces for heating, and so on, until the seam is
finished. \Vith such apparatus a weld is produced
that has been subjected in every part to an equally
distributed pressure.
" A great number of welded boilers of various
sizes, known as ' digesters,' and used for reducing wood to pulp for the manufacture of paper,
have been made at these works, and are now successfully operated. Many of them are 7ft. in internal
diameter and 30 ft. all over in length. The limit
of width and length in which steel plates can be
made at the plate-rolling mills ne~essitates making
these vessels from several pieces. In describing
these boilers, the welds in the circumferential
seams are known by the shop technically as ' cross
welds. ' These boilers in the cylindrical parts are
made up of three courses, the plates being ! in.
1
t hick. The heads are ~ in. thick, 'bumped in a
hydraulic press to a depth of 15 in., and are Banged
6 in. deep on the periphery. Before rolling the
plates to form the cylindrical portion of the
digester, they are bevelled in a planer, thus form ing the scarfs. The heads when flanged are
bevelled on a table lathe or boring mill. After

welding the cylinders in t.he vertical welding

machine before described, they are clamped together and the cross weld made by hand. These
digesters when in use at t he paper-mills are set
vertically, and have heavy rings weld ed in the top
head to form the hole through which the wood is
passed to the interior of the boiler, and the lower
heads also have rings welded in t o form an outlet
for the pulp after treatment. The operation of
producing the pulp is carried on for about four
hours, during which time the pr~ssure maintained
is 125 lb. to the inch. Of course, while blowing
out the product and r efilling the boiler with wood
chips the temperature is greatly reduced. These
repeated operations cause great strains on the
vessels by the action of expansion and contraction,
which would soon cause a riveted boiler to leak at
the rivets and caulking. These boilers, after the
completion of welding, are annealed in a proper
annealing furnace, and afterward are subjechd to
a hydraulic pressure of l 90 lb. to the square inch.,
The author then described the process of making
corrugated furnaces. "The plate from which a furnace is made is scarfed at its edges, then r olled and
welded into a cylinder whose diameter is equal to
the mean diameter of the furnace after corrugating.
The welded cylinder is then put in a vertical gas
furnace, and submitted to an even heat, from
which it is transferred to a vertical corrugating
machine, the corrugating spools of the outer roll of
which mesh with, and are fed horizontally into, those
of the inner corrugating roll. After the cylinder
has been submitted to the action of these rolls for
two or three minutes, the corrugations in the
cylinder are completely formed, and, by the law
governing the flow of metals, the corrugations, notwithstanding the apparent stretching and upsetting
of the metal, have an even thicknees. After thua
corrugating the plain cylinder, the circumference of
the outer corrugations is 4 ~ in. greater than wa&
that of the pl~Lin cylinder, w bile the inner corrugations are of a circumference correspondingly less ;
in other words, the material has been stretched
outwardly this distance and compressed or upset
the same distance inwardly, making a. total rang&
of elongation and compression of 9l in. During.

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

[Nov. 3, I 893

such operation of corrugating, the weld is severely land and Kafer, Colonel Stevens, Messrs. J ames scat tered throughout the ship, the auxiliary steam
worked and tested- in fact, by such a test as a Howden of Glasgow, H. B. Roelker, and Dr. EJgar. and exhaust pipes would all be dispensed with.
''The converting of the water pressure into
smith would put to the weld in a bar by bending it This paper is certainly one of the most valuable
backward and forward to test its perfection. Al- that has been presented to the Congress, and con- mechanical motion being accomplished almost withthough these furnaces are all, after completion, tains, in short space, the practical rules which have out mechanism, no skilled attention is r equired at
subjected to an internal hydrostatic pressure test of been deduced from the extended experiments of any of them.
''The flooding of any compartment would not
250 lb. to the square inch, not one in fifty ever Isherwood, Froude, Thornycroft, Yarrow, and
affect the transmitting of power through the fioo:led
others.
shows a pinhole. "
''The R esistance of Ships, " by Professor compartment.
The author presented a. t1ble of tests made in
"Repair would be reduced to a fraction of what
o~tober, 1891, by the ~.,air banks Company, showing Riehn, of Hanover, Germany, was a subject
that, although subjected to tension 56, 000 lb. to bristling with mathematics, but containing much it now is.
"Less lubricating material would be required.
57,000 lb., no piece broke at the weld, the elastic valuable and interesting matter and information.
"Auxiliary steam engines that work interlimit being from 36,000 lb. to 39,000 lb. He stated The general opinion was that, as the paper had,
that the limit of t he diameter of an iron pipe was unfortunately, been circulated but very recently in mittently use a good deal of cylinder l ubrication,
for many years 12 in., but now the Continental advance, a very valuable discussion could not be which is carried to the auxiliary condenser, and
must either he filtered out or get i nto the boilers.
Iron Works frequently made b oilers and other expected, and therefore n one was made.
"The saving of weight, on a very moderate estiThe next two papers may be considered together;
vessels 7 ft. or 8 ft. in diameter and 30 ft. to 33 ft.
mate, would be 69,850 lb.
in length, and that the only limits were the ability they were:
"But most important of all is the fact that the
'' Rules for Boiler Construction of Various
of the rail ways to transport, the size of the apparat us producing the weld, and the ovens in which Governments and Registration Societies," written action of the water on t he wheels we propose to
t he vessels were annealed. He closed with the by Nelson F oley, the manager of the Hawthorn- use is absolu tely certain, and never failf:;, while the
prediction that before long all the boiler shells in Cuppy Company of Naples, Italy, and the '' Go- absence of reciprocating parts renders a breakdown
ocean steamers would be made by this process, and vernment Inspection of Merchant Vessels and the hardly within the possibilities.
Infi uence thereon of Registration Societies,, by E.
" What we propose, while new . on board warriveting dispensed with.
Following this came '' The Screw Propeller," by Platt Stratton, chief engineer-s urveyor to the ships, has been developed through a long series of
S. W . Barnaby. This dealt exclusively with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping. These exhaustive experiments into a very extended use
investigations made in England, and laid down the two papers are of entirely different character, that in the Pacific coast States, where t he principles inof Mr. Foley being strictly technical, and discuss- volved are thoroughly understood, and where the
following conditions :
1. Each screw must be tried at a. number of slip ing the various rules for strength. It is a most results to be obtained
ar e matters of fact and not

valuable paper, and will be of the greatest of experiment.

ratios.
2. The velocity of feed must be capable of accu- \'alue to marine engineers in the designing of
'' When we consider the ponderous machines
boilers. Mr. Stratton,s paper was less technical, hitherto used for converting the power in highrate measurement.
3. The power expended in driving the screw must but brought out an animated discussion, which was pressure water into mechanical movements, it is
be measured, and it must be the power given out par ticipated in by some fifteen or twenty of the not surprising that it is a revelation to many wellby the shaft, and not complicated with engine fric- gentlemen present. The fact was pretty thoroughly informed engineers, and that they find it difficult
tion, which is an unknown quantity.
established that there is great dissatisfaction with to comprehend the marvellous results obtained
He then discussed various forms of screws and the rules of the steamboat inspection service in this from mechanism so simple as compared with the
under varied circumstances, dra.wing in concl-usion country, largely on account of the fact t hat they older method. "
.
the following results :
are not sufficiently elastic to provide for progress in
This paper was accompanied by a full set of
'' (a) That there is a definite amount of real slip marine engineering and shipbuilding. The form of illustrations, and received marked and t houghtful
at which, and at which only, maximum efficiency can test-piece for boiler material was pretty well dis- attention and discussion.
be obtained with a screw of any given type, and cussed, and the present form condemned. The
(To be continued. )
that this amount varies with t he pitch ratio. The question of the factor of safety for steam boilers
slip ratio proper to a given ratio of pitch to diameter was also discussed, and several eminent gentlemen
BOILER-END TURNING, BORING, AND
has been discovered and tabulated for a screw of a expressed the idea that the proposition in the Frye
DRILLING MACHINE.
standard type.
Bill, of about a year ago, to have a factor of 6, was
THE illustration on page 531 represents a special
"(b) That screws of large pitch ratio, besides not desirable, as a lower factor would be entirel'Y tool
constructed by Messrs. Rushworth and Co.
being less efficient in themselves, add to the resist- satisfactory. This idea, h owever, was combated 'owerby Bridge, for Messrs. Da,ey, Paxman, and Co.:
ance of the hull by an amount bearing some propor- very strongly by other gentlemen who had given Colchester, fer turning, boring, and drilling. The
tion to their distance from it, and to the amount the matter great attention.
m~chine will admit a job 8 ft. 2 iu . in height, while the
of rotation left in the race.
A very interesting paper succeeded the fore- he1ght from the top of chuck to the underside of
" (c) That the best pitch ratio lies probably be- going, entitled : "Auxiliary Machinery of Naval ~he spind~es when the.crossslide is in the top position,
11
tween 1.1 and 1.5.
Vessels, by Geo. Vv. Dickie, manager of the 1s 6ft. 4 w. The mam bed and the two uprights or
" (d) That the fuller the lines of the vessel, the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, from which stan.dards a~e very strong and massive, beil1g of pox
less the pitch ratio should be.
works the United States Government has just sect10n, w1th box bars, &c. The cross-slide is
"(e) That coarse-pitched screws should be placed received five additions to the warships. He clas- arranged t o. rise and fall by worm gearing worked
from belt-~rtven p~lleys at. the top of the right band
further from the stern than fine-pitched ones.
sified the subject under two heads :
" (f) That apparent negative slip is a natural
''First, those that perform duties dependent upon standard m the 1llustrat10n. On this cross-slide
result of abnormal proportions of propellers ; that it the running of the main engines, and which have are two heads for drilling, arranged to rise and
can probably be p roduced in any vessel by a suitable become detached machines, through a process of fall .by power by worm gear, as shown on the illustration,
to
move
by
rack
and
pinion
and
by
handselection of diameter, pitch, and revolutions, but evolution in design to meet some of the difficulties wheel, &c. The spindles are of steel, 3 in. diameter
will always be accompanied by waste of power. of high er pressures and higher speed.
and 10 in. range, ~nd are perfectly balanced, so that
That it is brought about by two conditions in com''Under the second head we would place all t he when the nuts, whlCh are. of gun -metal in two parts,
bination, neither of which would be sufficient of auxiliaries whose functions are in no way depen- are released by the lever m front, the spindles return
itself to produce it : first, the existence of a fric- dent on the operation of the main propelling quickly. The minimum distance from centre to centre
tional wake ; second, the fact that a screw blade engines. ,,
of holes which can be bored is 10! in. The drills can
d ismisses the water at a higher speed than its own
Under the first head he considered cond ensere, be run separately or together, a steel clutch being
as measured by pitch and revolutions ; that, in air pumps, circulating pumps, auxiliary condensers, arranged ou each head carrying the drills, and worked
short, the slip of the water is greater than the slip and t he feed syst.em. Under the head of auxiliaries by levers, as shown. On the same cross-slide is arof the screw, so that there may be sufficient real notd.ependent on t~e running of the main engines, he ranged a tool box or turning rest for turning the edge
slip in the r 11.ce to enable its backward momentum constdered the dratnage system, fire ser vice, and the of the fl.anged flue or the top. There is also a turning
t o be equated to the forward momentum of the blower engines. He then considered the auxiliaries rest at the bottom, so that the top and bottom can be
vessel, and yet the apparent slip of the screw may n ot driven by steam, and recommended hyd raulic turned at the same time. The chuck which grips the
fil~es is 5 ft. in diameter, with five jaws, all connected
have a negative value.
pressure, obtained from Pelton water -wheels w1th .s teel bevel _wheels, so that the flue ring always
"(g) That t hree blades are to be preferred for operated by jets of water at 600 1b. pressure pe; rel?a~ns conce~tnc. The largest diameter the jaws will
high-speed vessels, but, when the diameter is square inch, for operating the t urr ets, t he blower gnp 1s 4 ft. 9 10., the smallest 2ft. On the underside
unduly restricted, four, or even more, may be engines, the reversing gear, dynamos, anchor gear of this c.huck is a wormwheel for driving the chuck
advantageously employed.
windlass, winches, boat cranes, ca.pstans, and steer~ for turnmg, and for dividing or pitching out the holes
"(h) That an efficient fo:-m of blade is an ellipse ing gear. He next dealt with the hydraulic power from .20 to 140 b~ ~h.e dividing arrangement shown on
having
a
min
or
axis
equal
to
four-tenths
the
major
the
s1de.
The
dtv1dmg
handle,
the
handle
for
moving
necessary
for
t
his,
and
fixed
it
at
two
sets
of
pump
axts.
ing engines delivering 386 cubic feet of water per the chuck longitudinally, and the handle for the turn
"(i) That the pib h vf wide -bladed screws should minute, and concluded this admirable paper as ing rest are close together, so that the workman has
not to move. The strong slide which carri~s the
increase from forward to aft, but a uniform pitch follows :
chuck
is
a:rranged
to
move
through
the
uprights
by
a
gives satisfactory r esults when the blades are
' To sum up, what have we gained by t his screw havmg a range of 6 ft. , 3 ft. on each side of
narrow, a-:1d that the amount of the pitch variation method of converting the steam into water pressure
drills, so that tube holes in the portable boiler fire
should be a function of the width of the blade.
and distributing it to the various auxiliarie~ boxes can be bored in any part. The mitre and beYel
'' (j) That a considerable inclination of screw shaft throughout the vessel ?
gear are all of steel. The driving mechanism is all at
.produces vibra tion, and that with right-handed twin
"We have concen trated the production of this the back on the right-hand side of the machine out
screws turning outwards, if the shafts are inclined power, placed it in <t central position directly under of the way of the working. The weight is 17 ton s.
at all, it should be upwards and outwards from the t he c~1.re :l.nd supervision of the engineer officers.
propellers .
., In tho central compartment would also he
300-TON EMBOSSING PRESS AT THE
l{e ga,e in an appendix various examples for placed the auxiliary condenser with its circulating
W0RLD,S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
finding diameter, pitch, number of revolutions, and air pump, where it would condense the steam
TlfE 300.ton embossin~ press illustrated on page 534
and other matters in screws.
from the engines operating t he hydraulic pumps.
was
built
by
the
E.
'\.
Bliss
Company,
Brooklyn,
This paper was ably discussed by Messrs. Me Far" There being no auxiliary s team engines N. Y., and forms part of a la rge exhibit of preEses
1

11

ENGINEERING,

3, 189:t

NOVEMBER

12-WH EELED LOCOMOTIVE AT THE WORLD'S COLU MBI AN EXPOSITIO N.

CONSTRUCTED AT

THE BROOKS LOCOMOTIYE

WORKS,

DUNKI RK,

N En

10RK,

U. . A.

(Fo1 !l'ofice, see Page 537.)

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E N G I N E E R I N G.
shown by them at the Columbian Exposition. It is
designed for embossing silver, gold, bronze, ~nd
similar metals for the ~anufactur~ of ~eda.ls, coms,
silverware, &c. The mam frame, w. wluch the working slides and toggles are arra~ ged, 1s .a new feature.
It is made of a solid wrought-Iron forg10~ slotted o~t
to receive the working parts. A ca~t- 1ron fra~~ 1s
bolted to the back of this for ca.rrym~ t~e dnyw g
shaft and clutch connections. The shde 1tself, and
the adjustable punch-bolder, are made ?f steel c~st
ings, with tool-steel surfaces to bear agam~t the d1_es.
The toggle links have hardened steel beanngs, .wh~ch
are so set that they can be easily removed for gnn~lDg
or repairing. The cylindrical seats between t~e hnks
are 1! in. in diameter and 7 in. long. The mam shaft,
fr om which the motion is transmitted to the toggles
by means of a heavy lever a.nd a. power f u 1 cc p~' t man,
is 4-! in. in diameter, and runs at lOO revolutions p~r
minute. It is turned and slotted out of. a ~o~td
forging. Another special featu~e of ~he machme .1s 1~s
direct action, and the manner m whiCh the mot10n 1s
communicated to the driving s~a.ft f~om a. very .he~vy
flywheel, 66 in. in diameter by. 9 ~n. w1de, and we1ghmg
2500 lb. This is done by a fnct10n clutch actuated by
a cam. When the foot is pressed upon the treadle
shown a.t the base of the machine, a spring is released,
which causes the friction clutch to t ake hold of !he
rim bolted to the flywheel.
As soon as one wo~k10g
stroke has been completed, the cam J:>efore ment10~ed
releases the friction clutch, thus stoppmg th~ operatiOn
of the press a.utomatic~lly.. By .means of th1s a.rra.ng~
ment all internal gearmg 1s avoided, and a '!ery raptd
action obtained. The handwheel at the stde of t~e
press moves a wedge fo~ adjusting the. punch in Its
vertical relation to the dtes, thus regula.tmg the pressure upon the metal between .the two. . In ~ig. 1 a.
brake is shown which operates m connect10n with the
releasing cam, so a.s t o ~to.P the working parts of the
machine as soon as the fnct10n clutch has been thrown
out of contact with the rim. A dash pot is used to
ease the action of the brake.
)I

LOCOMOTIVE AT THE COLUMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
ON our two-page plate we commence the publica~ion
of detail engravings of a twelve- wheeled locomotive,
constructed at the Brooks Locomotive ' Vorks, Dunkirk,
New York, U.S.A., for t he Great Northern Railway,
and exhibited at the Chicago E xposition. It has 20-in.
cylinders, 26 in. stroke, and ~5-in. dri':'ii?g wheels. It
will be noticed that two pairs of dnvmg wheels are
flangeless thus reducing the rigid wheel base to
9.8 ft. I~ working order, the weight on the drivers is
136,000 lb. , and on the truck 20,000 lb., or 156,000 lb.
in all. The tender carries 4000 gallons of water an'l
8 tons of bituminous coal. In a future issue "ve shall
complete the illustrations and give further particulars.

N APIER'S STEAM STEERING GEAR.

W.E illustrate on page 535 the steam steering gear
constructed by Messrs. N a pier Brothers, Limited, of
the vVindlass Engine \ orks, Glasgow, for the new
steamers Nile and Danube, of the Royal :M ail :steam
Packet Company's South American fleet, described in
a recent issue (page 370 ante). The gear is arranged to
work direct with a double-threaded screw, or, if expediency demands, it may be worked with chain and
barrel, operated by quadrant. The change is easily
and quickly made, and either of the arrangements can
be worked by steam or hand. By a simple arrangement
of clutches, the mechanism is shifted from screw to
chain barrel gear, or disconnected from steam to work
by hand. The cylinders are 10 in. in diameter, and
the stroke is 10 in., the st eam pressure being 160 lb.
to the square inch. On trial on board the N ile, the
gear worked from hard over to hard over in 28 seconds.
E verything is made to stand heavy strains, all working
parts being of steel, the wheels being machine cut.
The operating of the valves of the steering engine from
the bridge may, of course, be done in many ways ; in
the Nile and Danube, Brown's telemotor system is
introduced.

EARLY AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AT THE

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
L~ a recent issue (see page 467 ante) we gave several

examples of early American practice in locomotives,

culled from the Transportation Building of the World's
e now publislt illustrations
Columbian Exposition.
(see page 542) of two more celebrated engines, varying
in date from 1831 to 1834. The "Mississippi" (Fig. 1)
was built in England in 1834, and was in use on the
N ancbez and Hamburg Railroad in 1836-38. No record
seems t o be obtainable as to the work done by this
engine, but in 1868 it was removed from Nanchez to
Vicksburg. It was then put aside, and gradually
became buried in sand, until 1878, when it was exhumed and put to work again on the :Meridian, Brookhaven, and Nanchez road. On this seven-miles branch
train up to 1891. The " :M ississippi" weighed 14,000 lh.,

'iV

and had driving wheels 43 in. in ~iameter; the

cylinders were 9~ in. in d iameter by 16 m. stroke. .
'fhe "De vVitt Clinton " (Fig. 2) was th~ tlurd
locomotive buil~ in America for actual serviCe. It
had two cylinders 5} in. in diameter by 16 in. stroke.
The two axles were coupled, th e ~heels being 4ft. ~in.
in d iameter, with turned and fimshed spokes, let mto
cast-iron bosses and rimn. The boiler was tubular,
with a drop furnace and two firedoors, one abo,e the
other. The tubes were of copper, 2! in. in diameter
by about 6ft. in length. The cylinders were inclined,
and the pumps vertical, the latter being work~d by
bell crank . The engine weighed about 3} tons without
water and would run 30 miles an hour on the level
with three to five cars and anthracite coal.
The "De Witt Clinton " was contracted for at the
\Vest Point Foundry by John B. J ervis, shortly after
the completion of the "Best Friend " an~ th~ '' ' V ~st
Point '' in the spring of 1831. Expenmental tnps
were made on the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, and
on August 9, 1831, the locomotive started for the first
trip before the public. The journey to Sche11ectady
and back was accomplished successfully, and with?ut
other incident than frightening horses and bunung
most of the umbrellas of the party by sparks from the
funnel. These must have been outside passengers, we
presume, for those in the interior. of the coaches
would be well protected from such m1sha.ps.

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.

PHILADELPHIA, October 24.
U NFAYOURABLE conditions still continue in all t he
iron markets of the United States. At New York,
small lots of foundry iron are being taken at about
14.50 dols. Finished iron is moving in small lot s ;
but there is uo general disposition to buy beyond daily
wa.~ts.
Correspondence with railmakers shows that
there is no desire to cut prices until the opening of demand. In Eastern Pennsylvania mills are running as
usual, and buyers are permitting stocks to decline to a.
very low point. At Pitts.burg there are some symp~oms
of improvement, resultmg from shaded quotatiOns,
which buyers have thought it advisable to take ad vantage of. Steel billets have been reduced to 18 clols.,
and muck bars to 20.50 dols. Structural material up
to 15 in. is quoted there at 1. 50; plates, 1.40 to
1.50; merchant iron, 1.35 at Valley points. There
are 12,000 coke ovens idle out of 17,000 in the
Connellsville region. At Ohio Valley points there
has been very little business in pig iron. There are no
present prospects of an early improvement in the iron
or steel trade. In the Y oungstown district the millowners have refused to sign the amalgamated scale;
but negotiations are still being maintained, with a view
to a settlement. In Chicago there is nothing to report;
in St. Louis business has fallen off.

THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

AT the meeting of the Physical Society held on October
27, 1893, Professor J . Perry, F.R.S., vice-president, in
the chair, Mr. E. C. Rimington read a paper "On the
Behaviour of an Air-Co1e T ransformer when the Frequency
is Below a certain Cri tical Value." Taking the ordinary
differential equations for two circuits having self and
mutual induction, and assuming sinusoidal electromotive
forces and constant coefficients, the author shows that
although the difference of phase between the primary
P. D . and primary current is always diminished on closing
the secondary ctrcuit, yet under certain circumstances
this closing increases the impedance of the primary.
With constant P. D. this means that dosing the.seconda.ry
decreases the primary current, a phenomenon not usually
observed. The critical conditions necessary for increased
impedance are fully worked out in the paper, as well as
those under which this increase becomes a maximum. In
the case of two identical coils with no magnetic leakage, the
critical value of a (a = P L ""here p = 2 1r times the fre?'

quency, L the inductanc; of the primary, and r its resistance)

is ..J2, whilst that to give maximum imped
ance ts
1

J2

The maximum increase possible is 15! per cent. The

corresponding values are given for various amounts of
magnetic leakage in tabular form, and curves were
exhibited at the meeting showing how the impedance,
currenb, power, and magnetising effect vary for different
values of a.
To test his conclusions, the author made experiments
on two coils close together, the observed increase in
impedance amounting to 3.2 per cent.
In addition to the analytical investigation, the subject
is treated geometrically at considerable length.
Professor Minchin showed that the impedances might
be represented by two hyperbolas, having p 2 as a.bsciss~,
and the squares of the impedances as ordinates. These
could be readily constructed from the data given. A line
representing the primary inductance drawn on the same
diagram intersects one hyperbola, showing that the impedance has always a maximum value. By a. sim ple
construction the phase angle between the primary and
secondary currents could be determined for any given
conditions.
Dr. Sumpner observed that increased impedance on

537
closing the secondary necessanl.Y meant a. decrease m the
Jag of the primary current behiDd the pr1mary P a. .
Mr. Blakesley was pleased to see . the geom~trtca1
method of such service, and thought Jt D?uch s1m~ler
than the analytical ooe. The reason why l.ncr~aEed tmpedance on closi ng the secondary of ordu~ary transformers bad not been noticed, was .because thetr lag angles
were very large. In a figu re publtshed some years ago to
represent the actions of transformers, t~ e ang~es be had
chosen were such as would make the p~tma.ry 1mpedat;1ce
increase on closing the secondary. Gtvtng an express1on
connecting the primary currents on open and clos.ed
secondary respectively, he now showed that. to g:et mcreased impedance the sum 0f the lag angles m pnmary
and secondary must t=~xceed. 90 deg. To get large
power in the seoonda.ry tbe pnmary Jag should be nearly
90 deg., and th e secondary about 45 deg.
.
He also point~d o~t that s.ome of the figures m the
paper might be s1mph6.ed conslderably.
.
.
Professor Perry said be bad long bad the 1mprese10n
that if a sufficiently small current were taken fro~ the
secondary, increased impedance would be obser.vabl~ m all
cases, and he quoted some numbers he b~d gt ven m. the
Philosophical M~ azilne for 1891, showmg a dectdd

m crease.
Mr. Rimington, in reply, Ea.id he was not aware that
the effect he had now brought forward bad been observed
previously. The result was completely worked out analytically before using geometrical methods.
Mr. W. B. Croft, M. A., showed. "Two Lectu'reR oo:n
Experifments." One, on " The Rmgs and Brushes m
Crystals, " was performed by very simple apparatus in
two ways. In the firs t a bundle of glass plates was used
as polariser, and a Nicol prism as a!lalyser. When a
Nicol could not be convemently obtamed, a glass plate
could be used as a. reflecting analyser. For a con;ergent
system two glasscard-cunnters were used, the crystal being
placed between them. Very good results were produced
by this simple apparatus.
In the second arrangement the crystal was placed on
the eyepiece of a microscope (whose objective was removed), and covered by a tourmaline. On reflecting light
up the tube by means of a piece of glass held at the
proper angle, excellent results were obtained.
Another exp&riment on "Electric Radiation in Copper
Filings " was similar to those described by Dr. Dawson
Turner at the Edinburgh meetings of the British As~o<?ia.
tion. A battery, galvanometer, and glass tube contammg
copper filings, were joined in series. Under ordinary
circumstances no current passed, but immediately an
electric spark was produced by an electric machine many
feet away, the galvanometer was violently defl ected, and
remained eo until th e tube was tapped. On trying
different material~, aluminium and copper seemed about
equal, but iron not so good ; carbon allowed the current
to pass always.
Professor Minchin said the fchenomena were strikingly
like those exhibited by his 'impulsion cells," for, the
moment a spark passed, even at a distance of 130ft., they
became s~nsitive to light. Very minute sparks were
capable of producing the change, but by adding capacity
to the sparking circuit the effect could be ~rea,tly modi
fied. Replying to a question from Mr. Rtmington, he
said the change was due to electro-magnetic vibrations,
and not to light emitted by the sparks.
Mr. Blakesley inquired if lengthening the sparks produced greater effect on the copper filings.
Mr. Lucas asked if the resistance of a tube ever became
infinite again if left for a long time.
In reply, Mr. Croft said the current sometimes passed
before the spark actually occurred between the knobs.
He had not left tubes for very long, and had nob found
the resista.nce reappear without tapping.
THE UNITED STATES NAVY.-The U nited States line-ofbattle ship Oregon, built at the U nion Iron Works, ~an
Francisco, was launched on Thursday, October 26.
A NEw SYSTE;\I OF WHEEL CONSTRUCTION.-A novel
system of constructing wheels has recently been patented
by ~fr. Archibald Sharp, AJH.I.C.E., of the City Guilds'
Oentra.l Institution, South K ensington which, whilst applicable to bicycle carriage wheels and ~It pulleys, would
seem to have special a.d va.ntages in the construction of
heavy flywheels. Such wheels, as usually built, require
a. considerable amount of expensive machinery, which is
avoided in Sharp's system of construction. The ordinary
wheel arms are replaced by wroughtiron rods, which are
U-shaped, and lap round the hub of the wheel, the ends
of the U being secured to the rim by nuts. The driving
power is transmitted to the spokes entirely by friction,
and as the arc of contact of the ~poke on the rim is
fairly large, the principle of band friction comes
into play1 so that very great torques can be transmitted w1thoub any risk of slipping taking place.
For a. 29-to? w~eel Mr. Sharpe proposes .to use 32 spokes,
ea.c? 2 10. m d1azr.eter, ~ecured to the nm by split nuts,
w~tch makes a very.nea.t J?b. Such a. flywheel, as usually
bui~t, would have s1x o~ e1ght arms, and when running at
a. htgh speed the centnfugal force tends to bend the rim
between, ,9uch bending being a serious addition to the
direct circumferential tension due to the same force. The
numerous ~pokes of the new construction greatly reduce
this bending, whilst at the same time the wrought-iron
spokes are considerably strong~r than the ordinary castiron arms, and consequently it is claimed that the spoke
wheels can be run at a much higher ~peed . In fact the
inventor claims the rims of his wheels may be run 'at a
speed of 300 line~l feet per second .. Thus lighter wheels
can be ~sed, wh1ch W?uld be spema.lly advantageous in
gas ~ng1~e wor~, pa.rt1~ula.rly where. ~rea.t regularity of
runmng 1s reqmred, a.s m dynamo dnvmg.

REFRIGERATOR CAR AT THE

COL Ul\1BIAN EXPOSITION.

WORLD'S

CON&TRUCTED BY THE ' VICKES REFRIGERATOR CAR CO~IPANY,

"

Ul
(.;.,)

CHICAGO.

00

(Fo''t' Desc>iption, see opposite Page.)

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539

E N G I N E E RI N G.

REFRIGERATOR CAR AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE

WICKES

REFRIGERATOR CAR COl\lPANY,

CHICAGO.

Fig.6.
Fig.5.

Side Wall
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--...:I
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ICE 1

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front

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E ""-1783

I x a 'Vickes car the cooling is done by means of ice,

, .'
held in galvanised iron receptacles , commonly called
ice tanks ; there being two such tanks loca_ted at each
Fig 8 .
end of a car (Fig. 2), the two tanks occupymg the full
.,
..,
width of a car. These tanks consist of an oak frame~ ~------~
work to which are nailed strips of No. 20 galvanised
..~
lia~;sw.ood .~
iron, '2 in. wide. These strips run vertically and horizontally, and are interwoven i!l the manner of basket!' '~...
work, with spaces betwe~n (F1gs. ~ and ~) . At en:ch
. .,. ..
-- ...

front crossing of the. honzontal_str1ps, 2 m. by 6 u~.

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strips of galvanised u on are shpped under the h~n

zontal strips, and the ends bent outward, thus ma.kmg ~

....
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leaves of metal projecting 2 iu. from the outer surface
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of the metal basketwork.

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~Com
er
Post
These tanks are supported by oak grate bars (Fig.. 5)
Pme ,
I
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I
running crosswise of the car, these grate bars bemg
I
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supported by arms bolted to the sides of the car. BeD
:
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r l n e,
.....neath these arms are what are called wire boards, being
:
1
; Sheot hiflg
piec~ of 2-in. plank, 14 in. wide and 12 in. high,

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bolted securely t o the walls of the car, and having fas4
:

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tened into them, at regular intervals, rows of screw
~ ----- -- 7

hooks. No. 12 galvanised wire is then s trung from

the hooks of one board to those of the opposite board, re-enters the ice compartment. In this way a constant
making a. comparatively close meshing of gal vaniaed circulation is maintained, and the air is cooled only in
wire. Beneath the wire, and on the floor of the car, the ice compartment, thus insuring a uniform temperais the drip-pan, constructed of ga~vani~ed iron. ~his ture in the storage compartment and a dry atmosphere.
pan is properly trapped and supplied w1th waste p1pes, As the moisture is condensed only where the air is
to carry off the drip water from the ice. The ice cooled, and as this cooling process t akes place only in
tanks are separated from one another, and from the the ice compartment, it is in this compartment alone
walls at the side and back of the car, by a.ir spaces of that condensation of moisture will occur, and in this
about 5 in.
compartment it can do no h arm. All th e drip water
The cooling compartments a.re separated from the from the ice, which is practically as cold as the ice
storage compartments by partitions, common1y called itself, falls upon the wires beneath the tanks, and is
jackets, of dressed and matched lumber (Fig. 4). there broken into a fine spray. The air in its circulaThese jackets extend t o within 2 ft. of the ceiling and tion through the ice compartment comes in contact
floor of the car. Galvanised wire netting is stretched with the galvanised iron surface of the tank, largely
from the top of the jackets to the ceiling of the car. increased by the projecting leaves, before mentioned,
Below the jacket, and underneath the arms and in with the ice itself, through the interstices, the openings
front of the wire boards, are sheets of galvanised iron, between the strips, with the spray of ice-cold water,
or aprons, ex tending to within 10 in. of the floor of the and with the wires. In this way the greatest amount
car.
of service is obtained from every pound of ice melted,
Ea.ch tank is iced through an opening in the roof of and th e drip water is not allowed to run to waste, but
the ca.r (Fig. 2), which opening is protected by an is utilised for the further cooling of the air and for its
inner ice cover or plug door, and by an outer ice cover, purification, it being a well-known fact that water
hinged to the roof of the car. A galvanised wire readily absorbs nearly all gases.
screen is made for each ice opening. When the ca.r is
This car is not a new experiment, but is the outcome
used for a ventilator car the hinged ice cover is fas- of many years of careful and scientific in vestigation,
tened back on the roof of the car ; the plug doors are together with practical experience on the part of the
removed and placed in racks inside of the car, and builders, the 'Vickes Refrigerator Car Com pany, of
these wire screens are placed in the ice openingFt. 1401, Monadnock Building, Chicago. The car, as
This insures a free circulation of air through the now constructed, has been in use for a. number of
openings at the front end of the car, into the body of years. About 8000 of these ca.rs are now owned and
the car, and out through the openings at the back end. operated by the leading railroa.ds, transportation comWhen the tanks are filled with ice, the air in the panies, and shippers.
spa.ces about the tanks is cooled, and descends towards
the floor, and passes into the storage compartment
NO'fES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.
through the opening at the bottom of the jacket; the
SHEFFIELD, W ednesday.
warm n.ir, which has risen to the top of the ca.r, passing
Stavcley Coal and Irm Company, Limited. - The annual
through the wire meshing to take the place of the cold
air. As the cold air enters the storage compartment, report of this company shows that the neb profits of the
it comes in contact with the goods stored therein, year from various business operations a.nd investments
to 66, 765l. Gs. lOd., which, added to the balance
absorbing from them the heat and moisture ; and, amount
brought forward from the last account, shows a total
becoming heated, it rises to the ceiling of the car, and ba.la.nce of 91,279l. An interim dividend was paid in
4 "' ,

1-~ - -

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February last of 2l. 10s. per share on the A and C

shares and Ss. 4d. per share on the B and D shares. I b
is noV: proposed to pay a. similar di vidend, lea ving a
balance of 26,112l., which the directors reco!Dmend
should be carried to a. reserve fund towards meetmg the
losses incurred in connection with the present disastrous
strike.
Brown Bayley'1 Steel Work&.-The directors of Brown
Bayley's Steel Works, Limited, have paid an interim
dividend of 53. per share.
Railway Development in Yorkskire.- Particulars are now
forthcoming as to the purpose of the promoters of the new
line from Sheffield to Bradford. lb is intended to construct a first-class railway line, almost a straight one
through the coa.l district, west of the presenb Midland
main line, ab a. cost of 3,000,000l. The effect of this
would be to reduce the distance between Bradford and
Sheffield from 51 miles to 34 miles, and thus shorten the
distance between L ondon and Scotland to such an extenb
that from London to Bradford the route would be two miles
less than the Great Northern route, which is ab present
the shortest. The new line will also correspondingly
shorten the distance between Bradford and Birmingham
and all places to the eouth and west reached tbrou~h
Sheffield. The co3t of the line is estima.ted at 70,000l.
per mile. The line will branch in two directions, one
section passin~ down the Spen Valley, going through
Cleckheaton, Heckmond wike. and Li versedge ; the other
passing through Birstall, Gomersal, and Batley, the two
uniting on the north side of the Calder Valley. The proposal is being solidly backed by the districts interested.
Coal and Iron.-The iron and steel trades are in a complete state of stagnation. The majority of the leading
firms have suspended operations tempor&.rily. Supplies
of coal suitable for local requirements are cut off, that
offering on the market being poor in quality, and in price
out of a.ll proportion to what can be afforded. Manufacturers and merchants a.re alike affected, a.nd no progress
in business can be reported until reasonable supplies of
coal are forthcoming to remedy the paralysis to trade.
Thousands of men in th e steel, iron, and engineering
trades a.re thrown out of work, and the distress in the
ranks of the working olasses is very great. Prospects for
the winter are poor, for the reason that orders usually
placed in this dis~ricb a.re pa~sing elsewhere-to the
Continenti mostly, and Staffordshire.

==================

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
Wednesday.
The Clevela'nd I ron Trade.-Yesterday the weekly
market here was very thinly attended, the tone wa.s most
chet\rless, and next to no business was transacted. Nearly
everybody on 'Change spoke most discouragingly of the
future, and producers of pig iron were rather anxious to
sell. One or two makers intimated that as trade was so
bad, and prospects so wretched, they might take the
opportunity of blowing a furnace or two out for repairs.
The Tees Bridge \Vorks are blowing out a furnace for relining. Yesterda.y at the opening of the market some
sellers asked 34s. 9d. for prompt f.o. b. delivery
of No. 3 g.m. b. Cleveland pig iron, but they had
to reduce their price, and though an odd lot or two
were disposed of at 34s. 7!d., buyera were nob inc1ined
to give any more than 34s. 6d., aad they reported
that they_ were able to purchase at the last-mentioned
figure. No. 1 was quoted 36s. 9d., and was said to be in
MIDDLESBROUGH,

540

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

fair request. The lower qualities were pretty steady, being completed at! Keyham, will be ready for her steam idle on Monday forenoon. One lot of Cleveland sold at
sellers not being at all disposed to reduce their priceR. trials by the end of this month. Her condensers, cylinders, 34s. 10d. per ton one month, and 2500 tons of S cotch were
No. 4 foundry was 33s. 6d., and grey forge 32s. 6d. and boilers have u.ll been tested, with satisfactory results. disposed of at various prices and for varying periods.
Middlesbrough warrants, after touching 34a. 7d., closed The contractors for the machinery, M essrs. Yarrow and As oom pared with F riday's prices, s ~o tch iron was up
weak at 34s. 5 ~ d. cash buyers. A fairly satisfactory ac- Co., Poplar, were unable to adhere to the original pro- ~d. per t on. The afternoon market was somewhat firmer,
count was given of the hematite pig iron trade, and few gramme that the vessel should be ready for her trials in with more doing. About 8000 t ons of Scotch changed
sellers would quote below 43s. 3d. for early delivery of the course of October, hub they have reason to believe hands at 42s. 4d. and 42s. 4~d . per ton, being an ad vance
Nos. 1, 2, and 3 east coast brands.
In consequence of a that the delay will be fully j ust ified by the results. The of ~d. per ton from the forenoon. One lot of 500 tons
little rise in freights, Spanish ore is som e wh ~t st iffer. estimated speed of 19. 25 knots is expected t o be easily was done at 42s. 4~d. one month, with a "plant " for a
Rubio is between 12:~. 3d. and 12s. 6d. ex-ship T ees. To- attained.
month ; and a similar quantity of Cleveland was disposed
of
day there wa:~ practically no change in t.he market. L ittle
at 34s. 9!d . one month. The settlement prices at the
1 he " S ultam.. "-Messrs. J . and G. Thomson have
business indeed was record ed, and quotations were weak. secured a contract for supplyin~ triple-expansion engines close were- Scotch iron, 42s. 4 ~d. per ton ; Cleveland,
Middlesbrough warrants closed 34s. 6d . cash buyers.
7 ~d. ; Cumberland and M iddlesbrough hema tite iron,
for the Sultan, line-of-battle ship. The engines are to be Ms.
Manufactu red Iron a nd Steel. - A more unsatisfact ory designed to develop 6500 horseJ?Ower with the natural respectively, 44s. 6d . and 43s. 4~d. per ton. Tuesday's
and discouraging state of affairs than exists in the manu- draught, and 8000 horse-power with the forced draught. market was quite stagnan t in the forenoon. Only 1500
factured iron and steel trades it would be difficult to The compound engines previously fitted t o the Sultan ton~ of Scotch iron were dealt in, 500 tons at 423. 4 ~d .
imagine. ShortneR3 of work is complained of, and new were of 7720 horoe-power, but latterly the speed of the prompt cash, 500 t ons at 423. 4 ~d . cash on Friday, and
orders are most difficult to obtain. It is not easy to say ship had sunk to 12 knots per hour. The new engines 500 tons at 42.s. 5d . one month fixed, with 1s. forfeit in
what price a fair contract could be placed at, but the fol- will probably cost 70,000l., so that altogether, including ~eller's option. There was rather more doing in the
afternoon, but prices were a turn easier. Aboub
lowing figu res are generally quoted : Common iron bars, the great expense incurred in raising the ship, the refit 6000
tons of Scotch were disposed of, and 1000 tons
4l. 15s. ; best bars, 5l. ; iron ship-plates, 4l. 13s. 9d. ; iron of the Sultan is likely t o cost fully 200,000l.
of Cleveland, the cash price of each dropping 1d,
ship angles, 4l . 12s. 6d. ; st eel ship-plates, 5l. ; and steel
T he E lect?ic L ight in the W est.- At a special meeting of per ton. Tbe closing settl~ment prices were-Scotch
ship angles, 4l. 15s. - all less the customany 2~ per cent. the Taunton T own Council on Thursday, the seal of the iron, 42s. 3d. per t on; Cleveland, 34s. 6d. ; Cumber land
discount for cash, H eavy sections of steel rails might be borough was affi xed t o an agreement for the taking over and Middlesbrough hematite iron, 44s. 6d. and 43s. 4~d.
bought at 3l. 12s. 6d. n et at works, but a slightly higher by the town of the whole of the plant of the local electric p~r ton respectively. About 4000 tons of Scotch were
price has been asked.
sold this forenoon- 1000 tons ab 42s. 5d. one month, and
lighting company.
Iron and Steel Shipments. -The Customs returns of the
T he "Oentu1ion. ''- The Centurion is advancing to- the remainder at other prices. A few lots changed hands
shipments of pig and manufactured iron and steel from wards completion. Her four 10-in. guns have been in the afternoon, and the close was 42.s. ~ d. per ton cash
Middlesbrough during the month of October are ex- mounted, hub the whole of the fittings have not yet been and 42a. 5d. one month. The following are some of the
tremely satisfactory, in view of the depression pre valent delivered. The guns are mounted in turret s made in quotations for No. 1 special brands of makers' iron :
in other branches of industry. The t otal clearance of three parts, and the upper parts have not been deli vered Gartsherrie, Summerlee, and Calder, 493. per ton ;
pig iron for last m onth amounted to 95,673 t ons, which at present. The ship is expected to be ready for service Langloan and Coltness, 55s. 6d.- the foregoing all
shipped at Glasgow; Glengarnock (shipped at Ardrossan),
is an increase of 5600 tons in this direction alone as early next year.
493. ; S hotts (shipped at L eith), 5ls. 6d. ; Carron
compared with the previous month of September, when
Station Improvements on the Great W estern.- Th e High- (shipped at Grangemouth), 53.s. 6d. per ton. A few
the total clearance of pig iron was 89,963 t ons. The
figures were 5000 tons less in October, 1891. In October, bridge st ation of the Great W est ern Railway has been days ago there were only 45 blast furnaces in actual
1892, the total was only 66,417 t ono. 39,254 tons of pig greatly improved. By the removal of the broad gauge it operation, fi ve having been damped do wn at Govan Iron
went coastwise, which was 5000 tons over last has been found possible t o widen and extend the luggage W orks for repair~ but they are now going again. One
month and October, 1891, and 17,000 tons above the and passenger platform fully 2 fb. The length of the basic furnace at u-lents'arnock has been put on t o make
ordinary iron. At this time last year there were 76 furquantity shipped coastwise in the corresponding month platform has also been considerably increased.
last year. The Tyne took double quantity compared with
Welsh Coalj01Egypt.- M essrs. Watts, W ard, and C~ , naces in blast. Last week's shipments of pig iron from
last month, but 500 tons less than October, 1892; 6170 colliery proprietors, of Cardiff and Newport, have ag~m all Scot ch ports amounted t o 6~68 t ons, against 7541 tons
tons of manufactured iron went coastwise, 500 t ons above secured a contract for the supply of coal to the Egyptian in the corresponding week of last year. They included
last month and October, 1802; 5580 tons of st eel went Government railways. The quantity to be delivered 1100 t ons for Canada. 168 tons for India, 530 tons for
coastwise, 1500 tons above the pre vious month, and 500 next year is 110,000 tons, and the prices obtained are Italy, 420 tons for Germany, 530 t ons for Rust~ia., 750
tons less than October, 1802. The total shipments coast - 16s. lld. per t on for double screened, and 16s. 3d. per t ons for H olland, 140 t ons for Spain and P ortugal,
wise amounted to 5t,OOO tons, 7000 tons over last month, t on for colliery screen~d . These figures show an ad vance smaller quantities for other countries, and 2415 tons
coastwise. The stock of pig iron in Messrs. Connal and
18,000 t.on ~ above October, 1892, a.nd 5000 t ons more than of about 3s. per t on upon the contract p rices of 1892.
Co.'s public warrant stores stood at 3~9, 328 tons yesterOctober, 1891. The t otal exports of pig and manufacA B reakwater for T orbay.-On W ednesday a meeting, day afternoon, as compared with 329,551 t ons yesterday
tured iron and steel amounted to 72,632 t on s, which is a
decrease of 2000 tons as compared with last month, convened by the late mayor (Mr. W. F . Splatt), was held week, thus showing a reduction for the week amounting
and GOOO t ons above the return of Oct ober, 1891. The at Torquay to consider th ~ question of a propo~ed bre~k to 223 tons.
foreign shipments of all classes in October, 1892, were water for Torbay. Dr. P ttt P almer moved a resolutton
Glasgow Copper M arket.-The resolution of the iron
approving
the
appointment
of
a
special
committee
by.tbe
14,000 t ons less than for the month of October, 1893, when
brokers t o deal regularly in copper, which was put in
Chamber
of
Commerce
to
collect
data
upon
the
question.
the t ot al of 72,632 tons was reached; 1000 t ons more of
execution for the firRt time last Thursday, has awakE-ned
The
resolution
was
adopted
after
some
discussion.
pig went a broad compared with last month, the
considerable interest in the metal on 'Change. Hitherto
quantity being 56,419 tons, 13;..000 tons above October,
T he F lin tshire Coalfields.-A L ondon syndicate has transactions in this metal hav~ taken place privately out1892, and 7000 tons above u ctober, 1891 ; 2500 tons purchased several large coal fields .in F lintshire, and side the ring, and in times of risi ng or falling values these
less of m anufactured iron went abroad, and 1000 tons intend s shortly t o comm ence operations near L eeswood have frequently been considerable. At present copper is
less of manufactured l:lteel. The chief customers were and N erquis, where cannel and main coalfields are known low in price, and within the last few days an impression
Germany, which t ook 18,530 t ons ; Russia, 12, 399 to be abundant.
has been spreading that it may improve. Copper shares
tons; and H olland, 656 1 tons. The quantity of manu The '' .Astrcea."-The Astr~a has had steam raised in have risen in consequence to even a ,;reater extent than the
factured iron shipped, both foreign and coastwise, was all her boilers, and the vessel will now be pr~pared for a metal itself. Whether the conditi ons exist for establishing
7730 t ons, a decrease of 2000 tons on the previous month, series of machinery trials. The machinery of the Astr ~.\ a regular daily market in Chili bars here remains t o be
and of 3000 tons 0n th e figures for the corresponding has been manufactured at Key ham, and is the largest set shown, but it seems t o be pretty generally agreed that the
p eri od of last year. S teel exports showed an increase of yet constructed in t he W est of E ngland.
effort is worth being made. The iron m uket has, per1000 tons, the total being 20,229 t ons for the past month,
haps, been conduct ed on the whole in rather a conser\ra
and 10, 161 tons for September, 1893, whereas they were
tive way. A little more go and enterprise would do it no
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.
only 11,37G tons in October, 1891, and 16,403 tons in
harm. Its method of collecting and giving out its
GLASGow, W ednesday.
October, 1892. The t otal shipments of all kinds amounted
statistics, for example, is both antiquated and unsatisGlasgow P ig-Iron M ar_kct. - A . v~ry small amount of factory, and a little more publicity given t o its business
to 12~, 636 tons, as against 118,693 tons, being 5000 tons
more than last month, and an increase of 11,000 t ons businfSS was transacted m the ptg-tron wA.rrant market would be certain to increase its pop ularity, and probably
as compared with the shipments of October, 1891. The last Thursday forenoon. Ooly some 3000 or 4000 tons of put a little more money into the pockets of the brokers.
Scotch were dealt in, and the operations were largely of a Two lot s of 25 tons were bough t--one at 43l., and the
figures for October, 1892, were 91,907 t ons.
The F uel T rade.- Fuel continues dear, but is hardly jobbing character . T.he price was . unchanged from the other a t 43l. 2d. 6d. three months. Nothing in the way
so firm . For good blast -furnace coke, however, 12s. 6d. is precP.ding day. N othmg was done m Cleveland or hem& of actual business was done on Friday, Monday, Tuestite irons, and the former was quot ably 1d. per ton dearer day, or \Vednesday, and the prices at the close to-day
asked for deli very here.
for cash. Cleveland was offered at 35s. per ton. three were-buyers 42l. ls. 3d. per t on, and 42l. 103. three
months without takers. The market was firm m the months, sellers wanting 5s. more per ton in each case.
afternoon, with a fair amount of business doing in Scotch
F inished Iron and Steel T rade.- Th e malleable iron
NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.
ab 42s. 3d. to 42s. 3~d. per ton cash,, th.e firmness
Ca'rdtff. -Th e contin uance of the great lock-out in Lan being due to the bel.ief that the ?oal .str1ke m England trade is again r~ther quieter, the demand wh ich arose in
cash ire and Y orkshire has improved t he. demand .for was showing some stgns of termmatmg soon. About consequence of the stoppage of certain works in England,
South vVales coal large quanttti es of whtch a re bemg 10 000 tons of Scotch warrants changed hands, and at the owing to the coal strike, having eased off, and prices are
forwarded t o oth~r parts of the country. The foreign la.~t the quotations ~('re unchanged f.rom those of the therefore rather drooping. The trade in st eel plat es condemand has also increased. The best st eam coal h as morning. The closmg- settlement prtces were- Scotch tinues to be very quiet. Makers of sheets in the west of
been makin g 14s. 9d . t o 15s., while secondary qualities iron, 42s. 3d. per ton; Clev~lan.d, 34s. n d. ;, Cumberland Scotland are busy with thin sheets, of which considerhave brought 14s. Gd. per t on. As regards household and M iddlesbrough hematite u on, resp~ctl vel:y, 44s . 6d. able quantit ies have b~en wan ted for shiprr:tent to Canada.
coal, No. 3 Rhondda _l arge has made 14s. ~o 1~s. 3d. per and 43s. 4~d. per t on. There was a qUlet busmess ~one Thicker sorts are less ID demand, but prtces are firm on
t on. An a verage busmess has been passmg m coke ~t in Scotch iron on F riday forenoon, but at fi rm p :-Ices. the basis of 7l. 7s. 6d. per t on for iron singles. The tube
recent ra tes. A slight improvemen t has been noted. m Warrants at first seemed rather more p lentiful, but to- trade is active Stewart and Clydesdale being particularly
the ma nufactured iron and steel trad es, . som~ ~ore~gn wards the close sellers became scarce, the cash pr~ce at th e busy with the;e. This company has given orders for SC?me
orders for steel rails having been placed m the dtstr.tet. last showing a ga in of ! d. per ton from. the pr~vtous ~~Y new plant which will be erected with the least posstble
Foundry coke has ma de 20s. t o 21s. , and furnace dttto Between 6000 and 7000 tons were dealt m, and m addit10n delay and it is said that it is to be paid for out of current
t o the official q uotations " option , business took place at reven~e, which is sufficient to allow this to be done, and
18s. t o 19s. 6d. per ton.
42s. 3~d. per ton this week with a ' plant," 42s 2~d. yet lea "e a good return to the shareholders.
Taff Vale and R hymney Railways.-On Friday the Monday with.a .' ' planb ",for ~ month, 42s. 6d. one month,
P i pe- Fuundin.g Trade.- It is reported that the la~ge
directors of the T aff Vale ~ailway Compa!ly engaged a with 1s. forfeit m buyera optwn, and 42s .. 4d. one mont~,
saloon carri age and, st artmg . from Card.ff, made an with l s. forfeit in sellers' option. Nothmg was done m pi pe- foundi?~ wor~s are busy, and that they are meltmg
inspection of the Rhymney R ailway. It w.'ll be. remem- Cleveland or hema tite iron, bub the formor was quoted large quant1t1es of IrOn.
Clyde Shipbuilding Trade: L aunches during A ugust. bered that a fusion of the two under t akmgs I S under 1d. and Cumberland hematite iron ! d. per ~on de~rer.
consideration.
The afternoon market was .firm, at .aho?t prev1ous pnces, There was a considerable amount of ~ctivi~y in the l?cal
Drainage of Monmov.th.-At a special meeting of the with a fair amount of busmess domg I~ Scotch.. About shi pbuilding trade last month, but chtefiy m the fittmgdepartments. Other work has been dull, and
Monruouth Town Council, on J.!"riday, the Mayor (Mr. 5000 tonq changed bands, the ca-s~ pnce sho ~~ng ~ de,~ out
many workmen have been paid off in some of
Honeyfield) presiding, plans for a. comp~ete new . sy~tem cline of ~d. per ton from t_!le mormng. .Some opt10n the big yards. The outpub of new .shipp!ng on the
of drainage for the borough, combmed wtth elect~tc light- business also t ook place, 2o00 tons changmg hands. O!le Clyde during October was very large, m cludmg twentying for p ublic and pri vate use, were finally exammed and lot of Cleveland changed hands at 34s. one month, whtle two vessels of a total of 41,896 t ons, being an increase of
approved. The plans are t o be f<?rwarded to .the. L ocal the cash price showed a drop of 2d. p er to!l from the 24,931 tons over the output in October last yea~, an~ 6~45
Go vernment B~ard for approval, With an a pphcatyon for forenoon . At t he close the settlement pnces were- tons over t hat of October, 1883-the best shtpbUtldmg
p ower t o borrow 18,000l. for the purpose of ca.rrymg out Scotch iron, 42s. 3d. per t on ; Clev~lan~, 31s. Gd. ; 9nm year on t he Clyde. For t he t en mon ths of the year the
berland and JY! iddlesbrough hemattte 1ron, respectLvely,
the scheme.
4!s. 6d. and 43s. 4~d. p er ton. Business was ex tremely output, howe' er, falls short of that in ~ number of correT he" .Antelope."-The Antelope, torpedo gunboat, now

Nov. 3, r893.j
sponding periods of past years. It amounted to 2~4
vessels, aggregating . 247,079 tons, where~ in the same
period of last year 1t was 291,546 tons, m 1890, 291,472
t ons and in 1883, 326,561 t ons. The m on th's launches
incl~ded eighteen steamers, of a. total of 33,456 tons, and
four sailing vessels of a total of 8840 t ons. One of the
steamers was the Kensington, 9000 t ons, built by M essrs.
J. and G. Tbomson, Clydebank, for tbe International
Navigation Company of Philadelphia..
New Shipbuildi11{} Contracts.- M essrs. Flemiog and
F erguson. l'aisley, have received an order from the Govern
ment of Canada t o build an armed service s team~r for
use on the Pacific coast . She is to be somewhat similar
t o the Quadra, which they built for the same Govfrn
ment ab,mt two years ago, and is to have, a.s in the case
of that steamer, a set of the builders' patent quadrupleexpansion engines. -Messrs. John A. Walker and
Co., Glasgow, have contracted with Messrs. Russell and
Co., Port-Gla.sguw, f?r th e supply of a four-roasted s~eel
ship of 2200 tons regt.ster and ~600 tons cargo capa01ty.
In model and specification she is t o be a duplicate of the
ship King George, now nearlY completed for the same
owners. -Me~srs. Anderson, R odger, and Co., Port-Glasgow, have contracted to build two large steamers, aggregating about 9000 tons r egister, for Mr. Hugh Hogarth,
for the "B:u on " Line. The engines for one of them are t o
be supplied by M essrs. Kincaid and Co., Greenook. -It is
reported that an order for a. " Hansa. " liner of 3000 tons has
been placed with a. \Vhiteinch fi rm, and that an order for
another new vessel, a small one, has been placed with a
Govan firm. It is furth er reported that a contract for a
small plssenger s teamer for B elfast L ough has gone to the
Clydebank shipyard, and that the Fairfield Company
have secured a contract for another fas t s teamer for the
I sle of Man traffic.

MISCELLANEA.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
are about 16! ft. and 12 ft. in diamet er r espectively. The
water-bearing Rtrata through which they are to pass is
300 ft. d eep. The work is being done by the Societe d es
Anciens Etablissements Ca.il, who have provid ed ammonia
freezing plant, capable of producing 4 tons of ice per
hou r. The brine from these r efrigerators will be circulated through .36 in. wroug-ht-iron tubes s unk around
the site of the shafts, and mto the firm ground 300 ft.
below.
On the initiative of, and in co-operation with, the
Copenhagen Patent Office, the Industrial Society of
Copenhagen is arranging for a special exhibition of such
new inventions as may be peculiarly s uited for use in
Sca.ndinavian countries, d uring January next. The
Cop enhagen Patent Office is, we gather, a pri va.te con
cern, but the Industrial Society had charge over the
Danish exhibits at C hicago. Further information as to
th e proposed exhibition can be obtained on applica tion t o
the Kjoben-havn's Patent Burea.u, 48, Vimmelskaftet,
Copenhagen, K.
The traffic r eceipts for the week endi!lg October 22 on
thirty-three of the principal lines of the United Kingdom
amounted to 1,404,70ll., which, having been earned on
18,388 miles, gave an average of 76l. Ss. per mile. For
the corresponding week in 1892, the rec~ipts of the same
l i?~ amounted to 1,498,5-!Sl., with 18,199 mile~ open,
gtvmg an average of 82l. 7s. There was thus a. decrease
of 93,847l. in the receipts, an increase of 189 in the
mileage, and a. d ecr ea se of 5l. 19s. in the weekly receipts
per mile. The aggregate r eceipts for sixteen weeks
to date amounted on the same thirty-three lines to
24.261,490[. , in comparison with 2G, 145,837l. for the corresponding period last year; decrease, 1,884,347l.
?vir. D onald Murray, a journalis t of Sydney, N.S.\V.,
ha.s devised a. form of writing t elegraph based on the
typewriter. The m essage is printed by type keys both
at the transmitting and recei ving ends. Ooe lin e
only is used bet?.een the instrument, in spite of the fact
that so many different charact ers can be transmitted and
printed at the far end of the wire. Clockwork and synchronising devices are not used ; but the d epression of a.
key at the sending end transmits along the wire five
short positive and nega.ti ve currents. At the reoei ving
end of the line is an interpretAr, which, accord ing to the
particular combina.tion of signals sent, releases one or
other of a. number of contact keys, which operate relays
working the type keys.

54 I
necessary to have not only area. inclosed by the dia~ram,
but volume; this was clearly shown by a. plaster model
which ser ved to illus trate the uselessness of attempting to
deal ad equately with three variables of unlike kind by
grap hical methods upon plane surfaces. A discussion
followed the r earling of the paper.
In a. paper on "Cover ed Service R eservoirs, " r ecently
r ead before the A met io~n Water Works A ssociation by
Mr Samuel T omlinson, M. Inst. C.E., an interesting
account is given of the r eser voirs for the city of N a.ples,
constructed ins ide the Capedimonte Hill. The r eservoirs,
in fact, are 150ft. below the surface of the ground. Th1s
admirable situation was adopted because the hill bad
already been honeycombed for building stone, an d the
galleries left by the old miners could be enlarged
without great expense. The low-service r eeervoir con
sists of five ovoid galleries, excavated parallel to each
other. They m easure 35.4 ft. high and 30.3 ft . wide.
The depth of water is 26 ft. Three of the galleries are
830 ft. long, whilst the other two are 666 ft. long, and
the t otal capacity of the r eservoir is 211,000,000 gallona.
U p to 5 in. above the t op water-line the aides of the
excavation were plastered with cement, varying in thickness from 2 in. at the bottom to 1~ in. at the t op. The
plaster consists of two layers, the under one of which is
composed of two 'Earts of puzzuolana. and one part ea.cb of
sand and lime. The finishing coat is of sand and cement
in equal proportions. The basins are ventilated by shafts
sunk from the surface, the entrances to which are covered
and secured . The g r eat d epth below ground level at
which these reser voirs a re situated insures that the
water supply is maintained at an equable t E.- mpera.ture of
about 55 d eg. Fa.hr. the year round.
It appeara from tbe official r eport of Her Maj esty's
Inspector of 1-Iines for the Midland district that the
t otal quantity of all kinds of mineral raised in 1892 was
21,726, 122 tons. This was an increase of 12,431 tons as
compared with the year 1891. The average number of
days worked in the four counties included within the district in 1892 was a s follows: D erbyshire, 248! ; Notting
hamshire, 238! ; Warwickshire, 259 ; and L eicestershire,
226!. The number of person s employed in the district
was 74!657, as against 71,540 in the previous year, and
66,468 ID Us90. '"he quantity of mineral raised last year
was about 1~,000 tons in excess of that raised in 1891.
The number of lives lost in 1892 was 7~ the tons of
mineral raised per death being 297,618. These figur~s
contr asted unfavourably with thtl previous year, when
th~re were only 60 deaths, and the tonnage of mineral
ratsed per death was 361,894. But the proportion of
deaths to tont;tage throughout the United Kingdom is
much worse still, for the tonnage of mineral raised per
d eath in 1892 was only 195,473, and in 1891, 201 934. The
colliery accidents in the M idland districts in 1892 were G9
in number-including 40 falls of roof 6 shafts and 23
miscellaneous. I~ 1891 there were o~ly 60 a.~idents.
The non-fatal acCidents r eported under the Coal Mines
Regulatiot;t Act dur~ng 1892 were as.follo?JS: Derbyshire,
385; Nottmghamshtre, 180; \Varwwksh1re 49 and L ei
cestershire, 49 ; total, GG3.
'
'

M.n. H. P ERCY Bo ur.NOIS, M. I . C. E., has been elected

PreRident of the Liverpool Engineermg Society fo r the
ensumg year, and delivered his inaugural address at the
opening meeting of the session, held on the 25th ult.
It has been d ecided to seek Parliamentary powers for
the projected Birmingham, N orth Warwickshire, and
S~ratford o n -Avon Railway. M r. Winby is the eng m eer,
and Mr. Waiter L . Ludlow is preparing the Parliamentary plans.
A scheme has b~en prepared by Mr. Pritcha.rd,
M.I. C.E. , of W estminster and Birmingham, and ac
~paper by Dr. A. B. Reynolds, H ealth Commission of
cepted by the sanitary authoriLy, for disposal of the Chtcago, r ecently read before the Public H ealth Consewage of Alcester upon the international system of g-ress at that ci ty, is interesting as affording a. fresh
msta:nce of the influence of the water supply on the
ferrozone and polar it.
Th e exporb of gold from Cape Colony during the month pubho health. The supply for Chicago is taken from
of October amounted in value to 48G,047l., a s against Lake Mi chigan, the intake being situated at the end of a
378,980l. for the corresponding month last year. If this tunn el driven below th~ bed of the lake. This tunnel
output continues, and it shows signs of increasing, the was recently ex tended much further out, and since then
demand in Sou th Africa for machinery and other BritiRh the d ecrease in the d eath-rate from typhoid has been
manufaoturef' should develop greatly within the next 60 per cent. In spite of this decrease, however the
death-rate there from this cause is still high er tha~ it is
few years.
in L ondon and Berlin, owing t o the fact that the water
The first general meeting of the present term of the for these latter ci ties is filter ed before use, whilst that of
King's College En~ineering Society was held on October Chicago is not.
~ MERIC.~N. R~ILROAD C?NSTRt:CTION .-The length o f new
23, when the Prestdent delivered his inaugural address,
According to Mr. Rudolph H enry, M.I.C.E., the well- ra.tlroad butlt m th e U mted States in the first nine months
in which he described the methods adopted in clearing the
Thames fairway of wrecks. The second meeting of the kno wn Am erican sanitary engineer, the least slope for of this r.ea.r was 2041 miles. Among the States which
Society was held on the 23rd ult., when a. paper on "Sub- sewers should be such as will cause a. velocity sufficient t o have butlb th e largest extent of n ew lines this Y ar are
prevent the accumulation of deposits when the sewer runs }"'lorida., 103~ miles; Missouri, 140 miles Nortb Dakota.
aqueous Foundations" was read by Mr. 1' rill.
at least half full. A 6 -in. pipe should have a. hydraulic 194~ miles ; Ohio, J :34~ miles; Pennsyl v~nia 364 miles~
The fireproof brick industry in Sweden has, of r ecent slope of at least 0.7 per ~ent., an 8 in. 0.4 per cent., a and T exas, 141 miles.
'
'
years, bccoDle a very important one, and both the output 10 m. 0.3 per cent., a 12 m. 0.2 p er centJ., a H> in. 0.15 per
and the qualities of the good s have materially advanced. cen.t ., an_d at;t 18 in. 0.12.per cent.-in other words, a. slope
THE ScoTCH AND FnENCTI OIL TRA DES. -Som e time
H oga.nos is the oldest es tablishment, and there the out- whto~ wlll g1ve a. velootty ~f a.bou.t 2ft. a. minute when ago the }"r~nch Minister of Commerce commissioned a.
put has been more than doubled during the last year whilst runnmg half full. In v1trtfied ptpe sewers the velocity French engmeer t o ~a.ke a. careful inspection of the
at the other works it is now t en tim es greater than it may be as great as 8 ft. to 10 ft. per second, if hub little Scotch ~nd French otl works, to ascertain how it was
was fifteen years ago. Along with this industry goes in sand or gravel can enter them. In d etermining the grade that an mdustry so precarious in }"ranee had made conmosb places a fair production of coal, which now averages of sewers, a careful distinction is to be drawn betw~en the s iderable advance in this country without the advantage
about 200,000 tons per annum.
hydraulic slope and that of the sewer bottom a s even on o~ pro.teotion. Th~ engineer in his report states that the
The sale. of electric current from the Copenhagen light slopes the latter can generally be great~r than the bttummous shales m the Scotch fields are much richer in
centr~l statiOn, through meters, amounted during the former.
oil. than those of the pr_incipal fields in France, the yield
last stx months of 1892 to 16~,9071 300 watt-hours and
Russian engineers are much exercised at the d enudati on bemg 21 gallons of 011 per ton, as against 11 gallons
during the first six m onths of tne present ye~r to of the country about the Tra.ns-Ca.spia.n Ra.ilwa.y of while Franc~ crude oil contains only 2 to 3 per cent. of
~44,828,600 watt-hours, On J a.nuary 1, 1893, there wer e saxaoul (Haloxylon ammodendron), the plant which was p~raffin, aga.mst 12 per cent. in the case of Scotch crude
mstalled a~out 14,800 lamps o f 16 candle-power, which mainly r elied upon to check the encroachments of the otl. . Moreover, S co.t ch shale, when distilled, provides a
number dunng the first half of the present year had risen sand upon the permanent way. When the line was being considera.bl_e qua.nt1ty of amm on ia., which, subsequently
to about 16,000 lamps. The consumption during the constructed saxaoul was planted freely, and facsines of the converted mto sulphate, constitutes two-thirds of the
firsb half of 1893 was not so large as calculated.
b~a.nches were also used to guard the rail s. It is now value o_f the commercial prodncts of the @hale. This
The U nion Steamshi p Company, Limited, have dtsco vered that tracts of country extending for 15 20 ~atter IS urged as the reason w by the industry
ordered from M essrs. Harland and W olff of B elfast a. and, in some places, 40 vers ts on either side of the rai!'way m Scotland ~as not co~pletely collapsed in the
new steamer f~r their mail service bet~een .Engla.'nd have been. swep_t clear of this valuable plant. It appears fa~e of ~me!toa.n . compet1t10n. Of this competition
and South Afnca. The leading dimensions of this that the mhabttants cf the n ew settlements which b::we ev td~noe 1s given m the fall of prices to a half, a. third,
vessel, ~ be named N orma.n, will be : Length between sprung up do not care to llSe petroleum or coal but trust and m some cases a. fourth of what they were twenty
perpen~teulars, 490ft.; breadth moulded, 53ft.; depth, to saxaoul for their fuel. It is also out d own and exported years ago. Imp_rovements, it is s tated, have reduced the
37ft. 6 m. He~ gross tonnage will be about 7500 tons. to the P ersian fronti~r. M easu.res will probably be taken cost of productiOn of a gallon of oil in twenty years
The Norman will c!i'rry large nun:'bers of passengers in to .Put a. stop to this denudatiOn of the plant which is fro~ 12. ~33d. t? 4.~4d., but even this is above the
each c~as~. S?e w1l1 be fitted w1th two sets of triple- re~1ed upon to keep the sand from shifti ng, otherwise the selhng pr1ce, whtoh IS. only possible in oonsideration of
In regard to mining m ethods,
e~ panston engmes expected t o develop great p ower and ra.1lway must s uffer, and large expenditure be incurred in the r ecovery of a..m moma.
the French engmeer regards a coml?a.ri_son as entirely
clearing the track after the desert storm&.
htgh speed.
fa vourable to F~ance, the cost of wmmng shale being
The
first
ordinary
m
eeting
of
this
session
of
the
Y
orkshire
~be Association of Birmingham Students of the Insti5s. 6d. per ton 1n S cotland, and 2s. 9~d. to 3s. 2!d. p er
C,ollege
Engineering
Society,
L
eeds,
was
held
on
Monday
tutt~n of Civil Engineers held their first meeting of the
ton, ~ccot:ding to dens ity, in France. He counsels the
se~s10n on Thursday, October 26, at the Midland Insti mgh t, last, when Professor Hele-Sha.w gave an address adoption m .Jfra.nce of ~he S9otoh method of using super
tute! wh~n Mr. Charles Hunt, M. Inst. C E , r ead his on " The Methods of Graphical Calculation. " The heated steam 1.n the .recti~ca.tton .Pr~cess, which is a.l ways
prestdentta.l address on the'' Birmingham Gas Works " lecturer showed that the chief uses of graphical workings a.~ va!l t~geou~ m _the..fractlOna.l distillation of oils not very
The addre~~ was illustrated by several models and ca~ were, firs tly, the interpolation of u nknown values from r10h m lllumma.tmg properties. He approves thoroughly
toon drawmgs. The attendance, it may be noted was kno wn valu.es of a like kind, and, secondly, the graphic of the process of sha.le distribution for crude oil which is
the second l~rge~t o~ record, and it is hoped that students r epresentatiOn of the l'ate of changes of two variable oha.ra.<?teristio of the S~tch _in?ustry, and advocates the
of .t he. Inst~tutton m the Midlands will endeavour to quantities. The elaboration of these two statements a~opt10n of the progres~1 ve distillation, finishing at a very
ma~ntam thts, as the Association is organised entirely for form ~he groundwork for the th eory and application of all h1gh temper_ature. Thts be coneiders would greatly in
tbetr benefit.
graphtca.l m ethods. It w_a.s also pointed out that the
the yteld from F!ench ~hale. He furth er suggests
!imtt of usefulness of graphical work was reached in dea.l- crease
. T~e P oetsch freezing process h~s been adopted for ~n~ with two .variable q~antities of unlike kind, and that th.a.t the _French shale 01ls, which are highly sulphuretted
stnk!ng ~wo shafts through water-bearing strata at the 1f It was requtred to. dep10t gra.phi.cally ~he rate of change m1ght wtth advantage be _freed fro~ sulphur by the oxid~
Anzm mmes. The shafts in question are circular, and between three vanables of unhke k tnd, it would be of c~ppe.r method used m Amenoa. in the treatment of
certam otls.

---

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

542

EARLY AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

(For Description, see Page 537.)

...

.,

'

l'

'

.,

"" ~

F ra. 1. T:UE ''

Mrssrs:::>IPPI ; " l LLI NOI ::l CENTRAL R AILROAD,

1834.

..

......

. .. ...
'

Fra. 2. THE "DE WrTT

CLt NTON ;"

NEw YoRK

CENTRAL RAILWAY,

1831.

ENGINEERING.
AGENTS FOR

11

ENGINEERING."

AusTRIA, Vienna: Lehmann and Went zel, Karntnerst rasse.

CAPE TOWN : Gordon an.d Gotch.
EDINBURGU: J ohn Menztes and Co., ~2, Han.ove~-~treet.
F.R.ANCB, Paris: Boyveau and Chevillet, Ltbrame Etrangere, 22,
Rue d&la Banque; M. Em. Terquem, 31bl.a Boulevard Haussmann.
Also for Advertisemen ts, Agence HaYas, 8, Place de la Bourse.
(See below.)
.
GBRlU.NY, Berli~: Messrs. A. Ash er and Co., 6, Unter den Lmden.
Leipz1g : F. A. Brookha.us.
Mulhouse : II. Stuckelberger.
GLASGOW: Willia m Love,
!NDLA Calcutta. : Thacker, Spink, and Co.
' Bombay : Thn.cker and Co., Limited.
ITALY: U. Hoepli, Milan, and ~ny post office.
LJVKRPOOL : 1\lrs. Taylor, Landtng Stage.
MANCIIESTER: John Heywood, 14:3, Deansgat e.
NBWSOVTII WALBS, Sydney : Turner a nd Henderson, 16 and 18,
Hunter sLreet. G01don and Gotch , George-street.
QuE.BNSLAND (SouTu), Btisbane : G01don a nd Gotch.
'
(NORTD), Townsville : T. Willmett and Co.
ROTTERDAM : H. A. Kran~e r and Son ..
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide : W. C. Jl:Igby.
UNtT&D STATES New York : W. H. Wiley, 53, East 10th-street.
'
' Chicago: H . V . H olmes, 44, Lakeside Building .
VICTORIA, .M8LBOURN&: Melville,. M.u llen and Slade, 261/264, Colliesstreet. Gordon and Gotch, L1m1ted, Queen -street.

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and .Mr. H. 'v. Holmes, 44, Lakeside Building , Chicago. The
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TELEGRAPIIIC ADDR.KSS- ENGINEERING, LONDON.
TELEPllONE NUMBBR- 3668.
ENGINEERING is registered for transmission abroad.

CONTENTS.

PAGB
PAGE
Ball Bea~ing.s (nlust rated). 527 The. Loss of th~ "Victoria" 644
The Inst1tut10n of Meoham.Marme Industr1es .......... 544
calEngioeers .. . ......... 528 The Weather of October,
The British A880oiation . . . . 532
1893 ... .. _. . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
The Engineering Congress
The New Torpedo - Boat
at Cbkago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Destroyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Boiler End Turning, Boring,
Literature . ... ... ..... .. .. 546
and Drilling Machine (llBooks Received. . . . . . . . . . . 547
lmtrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
SOOTon Embossing Press at
Ball Bearings for Thrust
the World's <Jolum bian
Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
Exposition ( IlltStrated) . . 5~6 Economical Speed of SteamLocornothe at the World's
sbi ps . ... _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Columbian Exposition ( Jl.
Mechanical Flight ...... . 548
lmtra led} . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 Balancing Eng ines . . . . . . . 549
Na.pier's Steam Steering
The Patent Laws ....... .. 649
Gear (lllmtrau.cl) . . .... .. 537 The Loss of H.M.S. 11 VieEarly American Locomotoria" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 9
Railway Travelling .. . .. . .. 549
tivesa.ttbeWorld'sColum1Launches and Trial Trips . . 650
bian Exposition (lllttstrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 Diagrams of Three Mont hs'
Notes from the United
Fluctuations in PricE's of
States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
Tbe Physical Society ... . .. 637 Paddle Steamer for the Dosphorus liUmtrated).. . . . . 651
Refrigerator Car at the
Industrial Notes .... .. .... 551
World's Columbian Exposition (I llustrated) .. .... 639 On t he Modifications of OarNotes from South Yorkshire 639
boo in Iron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
Notes from Cleveland and
On the Ar tificial Lightmg of
Workshops (Illustrated ).. 554
the Northern Counties . . 539
Notes from the NorLb . . . . . . 540 The Cleveland Mining Dis~?tes from the South-West 040
t r ict . . ........ . ... . .. . . 566
1scellanea ............. . . . 641 " Engineering" Patent Re
Th6 World's Columbia.n Exoord (IUustrated) ...... 657
position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
With a Two-Page Engraving of a 1~ WHEELED LOCOMOTIVE AT THE WORLD'S OOLUJJBI.AN EXPOSlTION.

NOTICE.
The New Cunarders ., CAMPANIA" and "LUCANIA ;" and the WORLD'S COLUMBIAN
EXPOSITION OF 1893.
The Publtsher begs to announce that a Reprt.Dt is
now ready of the Descriptive Matter and Illustra-tions contained 1D the issue of ENGINEERING of
AprU 21st, comprising over 180 pages, with ntne
two -page and four slngle page Plates, printed
throughout on special Plate paper, bound in cloth.
gUt lettered. Price 6s. Post free, 68. 6d. The ordl
nary edltion of the issue of AprU 21st is out of print.

NOTICES OF MEETINGS.

Tn E INSTITOTJON OF Ct\'IL ENGIKBERS-NBWCASTLJ!>.UPON- T~"E

ASSOCIATION o ~ STl'DEN'fS.-The first ordinary meeting Will be
h eld on Wednesday, November 8, at 8 p.m. , at the Durham
College of Science, when the President, Mr. J . Watt Sandema.n,
M. Inst. C. E. , will delive r an address upon cc Concrete and Portland Cement."
LO?\'l>ON ASSOOlATlON OF FOR!Ull~N ENGINEBRS AN D DRAUGHTSMEN.
-Meeti n~ in Cannon-s treet Hotel, on Saturday , November 4, at
7 p. m. Paper at 8 p. m. on '' Tin from the Mine t o the Ma rket,"
by Past-Pr esident Mr. William Powrie.
SocmTY OF EN'GINEERB.-Monda.y, No,ember 6, at the Town
Hall, Westminster , a paper will be r ead on cc Collieries and Colliery Engineering," by Mr. R. Nelson Boyd , M. Inst. C.E. The
chair will be taken at 7.30 p. m. precisely.
T!m INBTITOTJON OF ELECTRICAL ~NGJNEBRB.-Thursday, November 9, t he following paper will be r ead : cc The Electrical
Transmission of Power from Niagara Falls," by Pr ofessor Oeorge
Forbes, F.R.S., Member.
Cmt ~tr CA L SocrETY. - Thursday, November 2, at 8 p.m.
cc Hydrocarbon from Phenyl P ropionic Acid," by Mr. S. Kipping, D. So.
cc Action of Chlorine on Quicklime," by Mr. V. H . Veley , M.A..
" Note on Hyponitrites," by Mr. D. H . J ackson, B.Sc. cc The Reaction between Hydrochloric Acid and Potassium Cblorate," by
Mr. W. H. Pendlebury , M. A. , and M. MoKillop. ''Formation
of Indoxazole Der ivatives," by Mr. W. A. Bone, P n.D. "Synthesis
of Piazine Derivatives," by Mr. A. P. Mason, Pb.D., and Mr. G. R.
Winder , Ph. D. Interaction of Quimones and Benzenoid A mines,"
by Mr. J . Leicester, Ph. D.
PHYSICAL SOCIETY. -November 10. 1. cc On the Separation of
Three Liquids by F1actional Distillation," by Professor S. Young,
F. R.S., P rofessor Barrett, and Mr. Thomas. 2. "On the Critical
Constant s of Various Etbers," by P rofessor S . Young, F.R.S.
3. "An Instrument for Drawing Conic Sect ions," by Mr. J. Gillett,
B. A.
N ORTBB~BT COA.ST INSTITOTlON OF ENGINEERS AND SHIPBU1LDBR8.
- Tu esday, November 7, at 8 p.m., in the Physical Lect ure
Hall of the Du rham College of Science, Newca.stle-upon-Ty ne.
The Pre ident will add re s the memuers. P aper On a. Method of
Comparing Steam hip Perfo rmanres and of Estima ting Powers and
Speeds of Ships," bJ' .Mr. W. H<Jk.

ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, NOVE111BER 3, 1893.

================::::-:=---==-- -========:::-:THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
ON Monday last, October 30, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 officially closed its doors
and is passing into the region of history. During
its brief span of life, it achieved great t hings, and
it has come to a termination with an unexpected
and undoubted triumph. More t han 21 millions
of visitors passed its turnstiles, each paying a
price for admission unk nown at European Exhibitions. This enormous aggregate falls far short of
the sanguine anticipations many of its supporters
confidently held to, six months ago, but, on the other
ha.nd, it vastly exceeds what was expected after
the Exposition has been opened ninety days to the
public. With the gate money and returns from
concessions, the executive finds itself in a far better
financial position than might have been expected,
and though the deficit must undoubtedly be very
heavy, it had been from the first anticipated that
many of t he subscribers would lose their money,
so that no disappointment should be felt on that
account. It is too early to review the financial
situation accurately, and, indeed, t he valedictory
oration to a departing Exhibition should be confined
to generalities and flattering retrospect ; criticism
and, if need be, strictures, may come hereafter, but
for the moment the towers and palaces of the White
city should be seen only through t he golden haze of
success. If record-breaking be a weakness of the
people of Chicago, they should, indeed, be well
content. They have held the largest Exhibition the
world has seen (or is likely to see for many years) ;
they reared the most beautiful buildings on an ideal
site ; they have expended (and perhaps lost) more
money than has hitherto been devoted to any Exhibition; they can claim to have met the hardest time
and darkest prospects, worse relatively than those of
Vienna in 1873, when cholera and panic were hardly
such foes as the crashing of banks and t he sudden
disappearance of colossal fortunes ; t hey can boast
of by far the greatest attendance ever realised on
any single day; and if their total number of visitors
fails short of that of the Paris Exposition of 1889,
they will remember that the price of admission was

543
50 cents instead of 50 centimes. The record has
been broken, too, in a less satisfactory way by fire
and accident the destruction of the cold storage
building, and t he great loss of life atte~~i~g it, finds
no parallel in the history of Exh1b1t1?n~ ; the
ambulance service was kept b usy within the
grounds of J ackson Park, and a deplor~ble loss
of life from railway accidents must be laid to the
account of the World's Fair. This, indeed, was to
be expected, for the many lines cantering i~
Chicago are overburdened with traffic under ordinary conditions, and the extra burden thrown upon
them during the past three months could not be
borne without many disasters.
Probably the fact that the Exposition is over,
and over with so much glory, brings a general feeling of satisfaction to Chicago. From the commencement of the great fight with eastern cities to
gain the privilege of holding ~he World's Fair, the
people of Chicago have been I.n . ~ state of al~ost
unbearable tension. The ExhibitiOn "they paid to
get and prayed to be delivered from" . involved
vast responsibilities and great sacrifices ; It was no
unmixed blessing for which they struggled, b~t
when the victory was won, they faced the responsibilities and undertook the sacrifices. The manner
in which the stupendous task has been accomplished
has astounded all the world, except that part of
it which has maintained an attitude of stolid
indifference. At the close of May, the most
hopeful friend of the Fair could not but take a
gloomy view of the chances; the visitors were
ominously scanty, and t he hostile criticisms of the
eastern press damaging and unceasing. The monumental rail way station, erected on the grounds with
a reckless outlay, remained a desert, and the apparent indifference of the railway companies indicated the probable absence of those crowds of visitors
from all parts of the United States whose attendance
was relied upon. Then came the panic, with all its
disastrous consequences, so that on August 1 it
see1ned almost impossible that disaster \vould be
escaped. But late in the day the t ide turned, and
the triumph of the World's Fair came on the crest
of a. flowing wave of good fortune. Through August
and September the crowds increased, the excursion traffic grew, and on October 9 the marvellous
record of uchica.go Day, " with 716,881 paid admissions, was obtained. During the first week of
October no less than 2,101,000 people paid for
admission ; this was raised to about 3, 500,000 for
the two weeks ending the 15th, and it now appears
certain that the total has exceeded 21 millions,
Of course, with the influx of visitors, the treasury
resources grew, not only from the half-dollars of
entrance charge, but from the profit on concessions. And to such a degree was this welcome
change effected, t hat all liabilities, except t o stockholders, can now be discharged ; the remainir.g
liabilities are very large, but nothing like what was
expected, and the stockh olders may well be content, if need be, to lose their money in view of t he
substantial and permanent benefit that must accrue
to the city of Chicago. Nothing succeeds like success, and the unexpected turn of events has broken
down the hostile feelings that prevailed so long.
Instead of criticism comes laudation, well-deserved,
though somewhat tardy ; t he New York papers are
now almost as proud of the success as Chicago herself ; the annexed extract shows the tone that now
prevails:
"Thus has Chi cago gloriously redeemed the obligations incurred when she assumed the task of building a.
World's Fair. Chicago's business men started out to
prepare for a. finer, bigger, and more successful enterprise than the world had ever seen in this line. The
verdict of the jury of the nations of the earth, who have
seen i t, is that it is unquestionably bigger and un
doubtedly finer, and now it is assuredly more successful.
Great is Chicago, and we are p rouder than ever of her.,,

N ot only has the World's Fair been a "finer,

bigger, and more successful enterprise than the
world had ever seen in this line ;" it will, in our
opinion, have more important rt>sults than have
attended any International Exhibition since 1851.
The consequences to Chicago can be imagined,
though their extent is n ot to be gauged. Her
greatness will increase, her commercial power will
ext end, and her relations with t he old world will
grow larger every year. The refining and educ:l.ting influences of the Exposition will be permanently
felt, not only in Chicago, but throughout the
United States, and the whole nation cannot fail to
be richer, better, and wiser for the work done by
t he great centra.! metropolis of the Union. The

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

544
consequences to foreign nations will, in our opinion,
be hardly less _fateful. The large crowds expected
from Europe did n ot come, but visitors from this side
of the Atlantic partly made up in importance what
they lacked in numbers. To-day the power proor ess
.
'
0
'
d
an Impor tance of the U nited States are understood
abroad better than they were ever known before
the possibilities of future foreign trade with th~
R ep_ublic- tariff or no tariff- are mor e completely
reahsed. Once mor e, so it seems t o us we have
b een worsted in t he fierce commercial struggle of
the world, by neglecting a golden opportunity, of
which our most formidable t rade opponent, Germany, w~s n ot slow t? ~ake advantage. Never, at any
Internatwnal ExpositiOn, has any foreign country
b een so completely represented. The r eason was an
obvious on e-though German manufacturers were,
for a very long time, slow to grasp i t. Germany
has t rade to mak e, and we have trade t o lose, with
the U nited States; it cannot be disputed t hat the
display made by Germany will hereafter be t h e chief
memory associated with the exhibits at the World's
F air, and it is scarcely doubtful t hat the conseq uences will be promptly seen in t he r eturns of our
export trade with America. Germany, however ,
was n ot the only count ry making a splendid r ecord
at Chicago ; France was n obly represented, w bile
Sweden, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland were
prominent among European nations. Great B ritain
may well be proud of those among h er colonies who,
wholly at their own cost, took part in the Exposition.
New South Wales made a display worthy of a
first-class nation, and Canada came very close
b ehind; Ceylon was r epr esented in a way never
before attempted, and several others h elped to
make good the deficiencies of the mother country.
One of the most outspoken utterances on this subj ect
was recently made by Mr. H enniker H eaton,
M.P. , when visiting Chicago a few weeks since :
" You may say that I am disgusted with Great
Britain's exhibit and attendance. The former is puny
and in no degree representative. England and Englanders will never have another such a glorious opportunity for an international exhibit of their resources and
capabilities. I do not in the slightest degree hold Sir
Richard Webster responsible for the situation, and Parliament supplied a plenteous fund, but the extent and
importa.nce of the Exposition have been wholly misconstrued and unappreciated in England.
" As for t he lack of European attendance or patronage,
they have no conception of what they have missed seeing
and enjoying. On the other hand, Australia has surpassed herself, and I am proud of her as an English subject. H er exhibit in the Agricultural Hall is mar vellously
ne and creditable, and in a large measure redeems
England)s indifference or cupidity. "
We imagine there are but few unprej udiced
people competent of judging who will n ot thoroughly
indor se Mr. H enniker Heaton's criticisms, and we
sincerely hope t hat this gentleman will not fail, on
his r eturn t o England, to repeat and emphasise
his well-grounded strictures.
For good or ill t he opportunity has passed away,
but we may yet learn useful lessons, if we
choose t o do so, from the Colum bian Exposition. Such celebrations, in one country or another,
aud at sh ort intervals, appear inevitable, and the
experience at Chicago ought to be useful on futur e
occasions, especially to exhibitors, who ar e t he most
important elements of an exhibition. We think it
will be generally admitted h ereafter that t he
World's Fair was on too large a scale ; t hat the
exterior of the buildings was t oo beautiful, and
the s urroundings too attraptive for the well-being
of exhibitors, and in this connection we should
like to h ear from British exhibitors whether they
have been satisfied with their venture, and, if
not for what reasons. We t hink more attentio~ must be paid in future t o ventilation ; that
it will be ad mitted it is not always the biggest
buildings that are b est adapted for exhibitions
-at Chicago t h e Tr~nsportation Building was
far more more convenient than the one devoted
to Manufactures and Liberal Arts ; that, unless
for exceptional purposes, overhead gallerie~ s!wuld
be abolished as almost useless for exhibitors ;
that m or e care should be devoted to the preparation of catalooues (New South Wales gave an
admirable model); and many oth er things. In
n1atter of classification the Columbian E xposition left n othing to be desired. ; in organisation it displayed many weaknesses. We ar e
bound to say though we say i t with fear and
trembling, th~t
omen's Buildings shou~d be
avoided in the future, and t hat the M1dway
Plaisance, though it was full of deligh~s, established a dangerous precedent. We consider t hat

"r

the public had little, if any, ground for complaint,

and the fullest cause for satisfaction, both as
regards t he means provided for their transport
to and from t he . Exposition, and their comfort
(except for bad restaurants) and amusement during
their visits ; t his is said witho ut allowing for th e
fact that t he American crowd is the most longsuffering and most self-r especting crowd in the
world. Of those in whose hands the vast responsibility was vested, no words of praise can be too
loud, and this is the proper place to express our
deep r egret t hat on e so useful and energetic in promoting the welfare of the Expositior., should have
been shot down by the hand of an assassin at the
moment when t he fulness of its glory had come.
The unlooked -for financial results achieved by the
Exposition must be a source of lively eatisfaction
to these gentlemen who have laboured so well for
the success of the Exposition; t he latest informat ion to hand, as we write t hose lines, leads to the
h ope t hat even the stockholders will n ot lose more
t han 50 per cent. of their investments. With
hearty congratulations we echo the words of the
New York journalist, "Great is Chicago, and we
are prouder than ever of her. "

THE LOSS OF THE " VIOTORIA. "

THE loss of H. M. S. Victoria is the most important naval event of modern times, and t he papers
which have j ust been issued by t he Admiralty are,
perhaps, the most weighty documents that have
ever been put before the public by their lordships
of t he Admiralty. These papers have only reached
us shor tly befor e going to press. In order t hat
t he subject might be properly understood, it is
n ecessary t hat t he diagrams accompanying the
r eport should be seen, and these we shall reproduce n ext week. The papers in question consist
of two Admiralty minutes and a report by the
Director of Naval Construction and Assistant
Controller, Mr. W. H. V\7 hite, C.B. The latter is
by far the most important part of t he issue, and
doubtless the first t hing that will occur to the
majority of persons will be whether Mr. W hite is
the right person to prepare, single-handed, such a
repor t. It is t rue t he Victoria was designed before
t he present D. N. C. was appointed to that position,
but Mr. Whit9 is too staunch a man not to support his former chief, with whose work, during the
later years of S ir N athaniel Barnaby's ten ure of
office, Mr. White was so intimately associated.
In addition to this there is the universal tr adition
- and a very h on ourable tradition it is-of all
Government officials to '' support the department "
outside ; however much they may bicker at home.
Any objection to Mr. White as an inter ested
person is, however, merged in the fact t hat
all warship designers are very much in the same
boat-or at any rate in a very similar kind of
boat ; and in this r espect there is one sentence
in the r eport which appears to bear more significance t han all t he rest. Speaking of the
Victoria, it is said : '' The number of watertight doors is made as s mall as possible, consistently with the essential conditions for working
and fighting the ship. " We have not time now to
compar e, in detail, the subdivision of t he Victoria
with that of other battleships, but, speaking generally, we may say t hat she shows no defect in this
element of design. If the Victoria's water-tight bulkh eads and water-tight doors could not be expected
to prevent her sinking, neither could those of any
other vessel in H er Majesty's Navy, and, we
venture to state, in any other navy. I t is for t hat
reason t hat this q uestion of design is n ot personal
to any single constructor, or any gr oup of designers;
it is common to all. The question here may arise
whether the p oint is one that affects the n aval
architect at all. The general and popular opinion
is, we believe, that Mr. White works out all t he
design of a warship from his inner consciousn ess:
t hat the vessel springs r eady armed from his
brain. Tho3e more intimately associated with
these matters k now that such is very far from
being t he case. The fun ctions of t he Constructive Department - which is a branch of t he
Controller of the Navy's department - are to
ad vise on professional matters, and, according to
strict official procedure, the Director of Naval Construction would simply have to state what would
be t he effect on the trim and stability of a ship if
certain compartments were flooded. I t is for the
naval officers on the .Board to say wh ether these
spaces are likely to be flooded during action : and

[N ov. J,

893

here it may be well to leave the consideration of t his

special mishap which has occurred to one of our foremost battleships, disastrous as it has proved. The
impor tance of an accidental ramming during peace
time is small compared to the magnitude of the ques tion as applied to actual warfare. The r am is not the
chief weapon of attack; that position is held by th e
gun, and if subdivision has to be abandoned as a
method of keeping a ship afloat during action - which seems to be a fair conclusion from the passage we have quoted- the whole art and mystery of
warship design has to be remodelled. It does not
follow from t his, as some persons seem to think,
t hat every one who has differed from accepted
designs in the past is right, and the authorities
have been wrong all along t he line.
It will n ot he forgotten t hat t he injury to the
Victoria was largely below water line, whilst t he
damage from gun-fire would be chiefly above that
somewhat vaguely defined level. This aspect of
t he q uestion is well illustrated in the excellent diagrams which accompany the r epor t. It would much
simplify the design of warships if arrangements
could be made that they should al ways engage in
still water and at a given load draught, but so long as
there ar e wa\'es- and t he speed of the ship is no
unimportant element in their production - the water
" line,, wiJl always r esolve itself into an area,
often one of considerable magnitude.
We shall r eturn to this subject in our next issue,
when we have had more time to digest the matter
contained in the official publications. In the
meantime the broad r esult stands out prominently
that "subdivision " is not what has been claimed
for it, and there is not one of our warships
that could n ot be disabled or sunk by welldirected gun-fire, or by blow of r am or torpedo,
supposing she were r etained in ' ' the essent ial conditions for working and fighting t he ship. " At the
best it takes three minutes to close water-tight
doors, and it is obvious that t he manreuvre could
not be gon e through d uring action every time the
enemy t hreaten ed by gunfire, r amming, or torpedo.
If we have a consolation, it is that our friends,
t h e enemy, are in t he same parlous state.
Perhaps the t rue moral to be drawn from this
sad national calamity is the very old one, that
the ship which can strike the hardest blows in t he
shortest time will win, and that not only 1nate1iel
but men have to be considered.

MARINE I N DUSTRIES.
MR. J onN I NGLIS, t he well-known Clyde shipbuilder , is the new President of the I nstitution of
E ngineers and Shipbuilder s in Scotland, and he has
j ust delivered his presidential address. The difficulty of attaining success in such an address is a
common experience, for there is no positive standard
by which to judge t he r esult. The usual practice is
to adopt t he historical or reminiscent, but, unless
t he narrator can deal with personal reminiscences
of a date n ow anci ent, t he result is usually unsatisfactory; while) as Mr. Inglis further pointed out, a
summg,ry of the engineering works of t h e year is
apt to savour strongly of extracts from the technical
journals. We cannot quite appreciate the value set
upon the objections to dealing with a particular subject of which a special study has been made. Few
members would r egard such an address from a master
mind as " invading the territory of the members
who contribute papers at the regular meetffigs. "
The fear of weaknesses and fallacies going unchallenged because, by courtesy, presidential ad'd resses
are not debated, would surely be met by criticisms
from without, if not in subsequent papers. If
personal r eminiscences of value not hit herto
divulged cannot be presented, we think t he time has
come for a departure from the rule of dealing with
history already r ecorded. As personal reminiscences
of any special value are exceptional rather than the
rule, it is fully time some new depar ture was made
in t he way of dealing exclusively with a technical
subject of which a special study had been made,
and probably Mr. Inglis was as well able as any
marine constructor to make such a departure, for,
recalling his few contributions to the technical
institutions, and their permanent value to the
whole profession, we doubt not t hat in t he archives
at Pointhouse there is a store of experience, a
little of which would have made an ideal address.
Withal the address by Mr. Inglis was a distinct
success. N ext to reminiscences or the treatment
of a subject by an expert, comes what might be
tenned a philosophic estimate of the i nfluen~e

Nov. 3, 1893.]
of passing events, and a careful consideration by a
competent judge of their value as steps towards progress. He is endowed with that philosophic calm
which is necessary to hold the balance between t he
optimism consequent, say, on the addition of half a
knot to the speed of the modern Atlantic steamer,
and the pessimi.s~ so largely obtaining owing to the
unsettled cond1t10n of labour. Both topics are of
moment, but the President seemed content in the
case of these and other subjects to drop a suggestion
starting a long train of thought. In the one case
he felt satisfied, in r eviewing the discontent of
labour from ancient times, that disputes on
wages questions have always been, and probably
will be, so long as the sole uextt~ between
man and man is cash payment . Some artificial
regulation of wages is, he considers, necessary, and
he suggested, as a suitable pursuit for the members
the determining how such regulation could be intel~
ligently applied, and how waste of energy in stri ving for the unattainable should be avoided . The
idea is good, ~nd ;\ ~o.mmittee with such a. president,
who has studted pohttcal economy from the practical
as well as. theoretical. point of view, might produce
some basts for a sattsfactory scheme. 'l'her e is no
doubt that such strikes as that which has con tinued
for three months in the coal t rade h ave most disastrous results, and in marine industries, where they
are not infrequent, ben efit would accrue from a
method of regulating wages intelligently applied.
As to the futu re of the marine industries from
the technical standpoint, little was said, and t he
explanation is satisfactory. The first essential to
progress in this respect, he rightly considers, is
finance.
He believes that if the obstacles to com
mercial success can be got over, the r equisite skill
for the production of still faster vessels will not be
wanting. He therefore enter ed at some length
into the question as to whether, with our larger
steamers, we have reached any higher financial
succe3s, and the result of his investigation led him
to the conclusion t hat, notwithstanding the continuous efforts of engineerd towards mechanical
improvements, and the attaining of ever-incr easing
speeds at sea, the margin of profits t o the owner of
fast steamships is so dangerously n ear to zero, that
to preserve him in existence it would seem as i f
the State aid which was obviously necessary in the
infancy of steam navigation, cannot yet be dispensed with. British mail services ar e performed
more cheaply than those of any other nation. The
mail subsidies paid by this country amoun t to
G37,000l. per annum, while the other three principal European countries-France, Germany , and
Russis-pay in the aggregate over 2. 7 millions, or
more than four times the British total. In other
words, the four countries pay in all 3. 33 millions, of
wh ich Great Britain contr ibutes 20 per cent., while
the foreign trade of t h e four count ries is 1646 millions sterling, of which our proportion is 45 per
cent., or 74.0 millions. The four countries q uoted
pay ll. of subsidies to every 336l. wor t h of
imports and exports ; the r atio for Britain is
1 to 1161. Taking the case of t h e French companies first, Mr. Inglis found t hat t he mail
subsidy amounted to one million, while t he p remium or bounty for navigation, under the n ew
laws, amoun ts to 360, OOOl. T he French Transatlantic, with l.G millions of capital and 167,000
tons of shipping, absorbs subsidies amounting to
446,320l., and yet only distributes about 80,000l.
annually in dividends- less than one-fifth of the
t.'\te aid. The Messageries Mar itimes has 2.4
millions of capital for 202,000 tons of shipping.
They absorb 554,000l. as subsidies, and only pay
120,000Z. as dividend. Steam navigation in France,
as ?.1r. Inglis points out, is still the tender nursling
of 1 36, for were it not for t he subsidies there
would be a yearly loss of fully a quar ter of a million
in the case of two companies with f our millions of
capital. In Ger many the condition is equally unsatisfactory, for the principal compan y- the N or th
German Lloyd's-would last year have drop ped
190,000l. had it n ot been for the subsidy of
220,000l. The year's balance was only 30,000l.equal to 1t per cent. on t h e capital of t wo milliontt.
An examination of the British companies' accounts
f~ r the past yea r does n ot indicate any impr ovement. Taking four of the leading companies which
made profits last year- the P. and 0., the Cunard,
the R oyal Mail, and the ShawSavillandAlbion Comp:mies-it is found that they earn a subsidy totalling
482,3031., while the profit on the year's oper ations
was only lfi9,08Gl., so that but for this subsidy the
loss on the year would hav~ been 323,000l. Of

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

s45

course the subsidy is r eally for work done while as weather of October has shown that
r egards freights, last year was n ot by ~ny me~ns
Autumn comes with the mi~bt of floods,
a. favourable one. I t is nevertheless surprising to
The glow of moonlit sktes,
And the glory flung on fading woods
note t hat but for this State aid the companies
Of thousand mingled dyes.
named .h aving high- speed steamers would have
been w1thout a profit. The details are instructive : Of course the wettest month of the year is always
expected to be wet, but not always to have so fair
Mail
Per JOOl.
Capital.
Profit.
Rubsidy.
Ce.pital. duration of sunshine as the past month. The rains
,

were welcomed all over England, making conditions

P . and 0.
2,320,000
340,000
6l.
139,800 favourable for roots aud pastures, as well as for
Cunard
l,GOO,OOO

60,00J
6,9t4 = 6s. 9d.

Itoyo.l Mail ..
SOWlngs.
900,000
1>0,000
302 -- Sd.
Sba. w Sn.vi 11 .
460,120
12,070 = 2l. 108.
The mean p ressure and temperature of the atmosphere at extreme positions of the British
6,2!6,420
480,000
169,0 6 = Sl.
Islands t o which the Isle of Man is central, were as
The P. and 0. have an Admiralty s ub vention of follows :
12,394l. lls. 9d., and the Cunard Company of about
13,500l. per ann um in addition to mail subsidy.
Dift'erE:nce
Mean
Difference
Mean
Four other companies are cited by Mr. Inglis as PositioLs.
from Normal.
Pressure. from Normn.l Tempera
turt>.
sub_sidy-earning, ye~ working without profit. The
.

Unt~n Company, wtth a capital of 698,410l., had a

tn.
deg.
deg.
ID.
I
below 0.14
48
above 1
29.55
d ebtt balanc~ equa~ to 10 per cent. of capital, and North

above .06
54
1
29.97

the Castle L tne, wtth a capital of 504, OOOl., a loss South

"
.01
6s
2
We&t
29.8 L

"
"
of 40, OOOl. The Orient d ropped 43, OOOl. , nearly East
below
.01
61
1
29.82

" 1
.01
61
29.81
equal to ~0 per .cent. o~ the_capital , n otwithstanding Central
"
that the1r ma1l subs1dy 1s 85,000l. The Pacific
Company h~ve a mail subsidy of 20,000l., and yet
The distribution of rain in frequency and quan
lost 57, 238l. , so that the capital of n early 1! millions tity may be r oughly inferred from the following
earned no return. These eight companies, there- results:
fore, representing 8! millions of capital, while receiving from the Government 665,200l. as mail s ubJ Difference
Places.
Rainy Days.
Amount.
from Normal.
sidy, or Admiralty subvention, show on balance a
-----

loss on t he year's working of over 50,000l. The

ID.
10.
more 1.80
28
6 07
President had no means of determining if the com- Sum burgh ..

.
.
23
2.26
less 1.44

panies had any considerable cash r eser ve, but if Scilly

Valentia
..
26
4.11
"
1. 77

they have, these, he thinks, are probably over- Yarmouth ..

19
1.63

"
1.29
balanced by the sum of 650,000l., which one of the
older Atlantic companies has written off as irreThe daily general directions of the winds over
coverable loss. The operations of the companies t hese islands give a resultant from \V. ; from 'V.
named, it is pointed out, are probably less affected by S. when the estimated force is taken into the
by the fluctuations in cargo freights than those of computation ; and from , V, as indicated by the
t he maj ority of shipowners, and Mr. I nglis thinks mean distribution of atmospherical pressure. This
it difficult to avoid t he conclusion t hat much of the is so near to t he normal resultant, \V. S . \V., t hat a
disastrous r esults may be due t o more rapid ad- mean temperature 1 deg. above the n ormal is not
vance in speed than the conditions of the employ- surprising. Atmospherical pressure differed only
ment of the vessels war1 ant, or t o some other slightly from the n ormal ; but at the north of Scotdefect in the adaptation of them to the intended land, wher e the difference was gr eatest, the rainpurpose.
fall was most frequent and abundant ; the other
The point is one of gr eat interest, and Mr. Inglis's parts had a deficiency in the q uantity of rain. On
demonstration is so satisfactory, so far as it goes, t hat the lOth, 1.1 in. of rain was measured in L ondon ;
one cannot but the mor e r egret that he depar ted on t he 12th, 1. 28 in. atJ ersey, 1.12 in. at Dungeness ;
from t he topic t o satisfy the ordinary idea of a pre- on t he 18th, 1.57 in . at HuratCastle. Thunderstorms
sidential add ress to which we have already made re occurred in south-west England on t he 5th ; in
ference. I t would have been interesting to know pre- central England on the 7th ; in south-east England
cisely if the very unsatisfactory results of last year's on the 9th; on the south coast on t he 17th. The
working were experienced in preceding years. It highest temperature, 70 deg., was r eported at
is well known that we have been passing through Llandudno on the 21st.; t he lowest, 27 deg., at
a period of great depression, and that freights have Markree on t he 8t.h. The mean temperature of
been very lo w, and while the companies quoted the air at 8 A. M . for the entire area of these islands,
may n ot hq,ve suffered as m uch as ordinary freight a.t sea level, was 51. 5 deg. on t he 1st, 48.5 deg. on
carriers, still there is t he possibility that the the 4th, 51 d eg. on the 8th, 48 deg. on the 13th,
figures of last year are worse than those of preced- 57 deg. on t he 16th, 51 deg. on the 19th, 57
ing years. The point to be d etermined before any deg. on the 21st, 48.5 deg. on the 23rd, 51.5 deg.
conclusion can be arrived at is whether the losses on the 24th, 46.5 deg. on the 26th, 53 deg. on the
have grown with the addition of ships of incr eased 27th, 39 deg. on the 31st, showing the capricious
speed, and have n ot fluctuated with t he prosperous fluct uations of the descending curve of t emperature,
or depr essed state of t he freight market, as in the due to changes of wind, which were chiefly between
case of companies where speed is not the first S. W . and N. W.
Atmospherical pressure was
essential. Moreover, incidental influences in trade greatest, 30.6 in ., on the 23rd; least, 29.0 in., on the
must be taken into consideration. There is room 4t h. The heavy falls of rain t o be expected in this
for d oubt as to whether our high-speed steamers month were alternated by intervals of sunshine, a
make for commercial success, and if t hey do not, fair amount of day warmth q ualified by cold at
then we are advancing either too quick ly or night. "The cold groweth stronger, and paler th~
on false lines.
The history of progress in sun. " At 8 A . M. on t he 22nd, while t he temperature
all departments of science encourages develop- at Dungeness was 58 d eg., at Parsons town it was
ment in anticipation of r eward, and we d o n ot only 37 deg. The n otations of the weather indicate
know that we have r eached that stage in marine clear fine days to have ranged between 12 in t he
construction when the prospects warn against east and 4 in the west ; overcast, between 17 in
;\d vance. As to whether the line of progress is the north and 6 in t he south district. During the
right or wrong, there can be no defini teness ; so four weeks ending t he 28th, the duration of bright
that there is the gr eater n eed for frequent and sunshine, estimated in percentage of its possible
careful investigation. Mr. Inglis, in his address, amount, was for the U nited Kingdom 32, Channel
which as we have indicated, is pregnant with I sles 41, north-east England 40, east England 39,
thought~ul hin~, the~efore .ope~s up fo~ considera- sout h England 37, central England 36, east Scottion a w1de subJect of tnvesttgatlOn , and 1t should be land 33, south-west England 31, west Scotland and
to the interests of Rhipping companies to supply t h e south Ireland 30, n orth Ireland and n orth-west
information requisite for a thorough investigation England 26, north Scotland 13.
W eek by week the proportion of sunshine has
as t o whet her or not the present type of fast
vessels have d efects which militate against com- been steadily decreasing.
mercial success.

..

THE WEATHER OF OCTOBER, 1893.

THE NEW TORPEDO-BOAT

DESTROYERS.

ON Saturday last a trial took place which has

has been mello w to the core. After
been
looked
forward
to
for
some
t
ime
with
inthe brilliant summer, autumn has b een r esplendent in hues and tints over the landscapP, and the terest, perhaps n ot quite without a tinge of
APTU)IN'

E N G I N E E R I N G.
chapters is very varia.~le ;. in m.ost parts so little is this condition, however, is n ot only not essential,
required that we th1nk 1t a ptty that the whole but violates the "principle of least resistan ce,"
book has not been adapted for non-mathematical whioh shows that it must lie as hjgh up as is conreaders. On page 7 wo are reminded of the mean- sistent with the condition of strength of the arch
in as of sine and cosine ; also the position s and values ring, say at the upper third of the ring.
the maxima of several (by n o means simple)
Even with all these faults (wh ich could be easily
functions are found by purely tentative processes cured in a new edition), the book is a. distinctly
of arithmetical calculation : whilst, on the other good one in its teaching the practical working of
hand several pages bristle with integrals, a nd examples without much mathematics.
ca.nn~t b e understood without a fair knowledge of
integration.
BOOKS RECEI VED.
In the first six chapters (111 pages) elementary A New Chapter in the H istory of Labour.
London:
mechanics and resistance of materials are treated
U nwin Brothere. [Price 1s. ]
i M ercati Coperti. Di MARC AURELIO BOLDI. Rome :
Of in some detail and with considerable skill by Per
Tipogra.fia. Fra.telli Centena.ri.
quite elementary methods, so as to lead up to the A n Elementar.v Treatise on the Geometry of Conics. By
Theory of Structures.
The chapter on Roof
A UTO ' H M t.:KHOP.\.DHYAY, M. A., F.R.S.E. L ondon
Trusses (62 pages) is good ; space might have
a.nd New York: Macmillan and Co. [Price 4s. 6d.]
been saved h erein by discard ing altogether the old Evc,ybody's L etter Writer. By P ENHOLDER. London:

th
t
f
f
1
Saxon and Co. [Price 6d.)
f
process o computmg
e s resses roru ormu re, Experimente mit Stromen hohe1 W echsel:.ahl und F1eand using instead the stress- d iagram method
quenz. Zusa.mmengestellt von ETrRNNE DE FoooR.
throughout (as has been done for the mor e complex
Revidirt und mit Anmerkungen versehen von NJKOLA
trusses). The chapters on Arches (81 pages) and
TESLA. Mit 94 Abbildungen. Vienna., Pestb, and
on Domes (41 pages) are excellent; they contain
Leipzic : A. Ha.rtleben.
worked examples of most of the different k inds of Amber: A U about I t. Liverpool: Office of Cope's T obacco
Plant.
arches and domes worked out in a way that would Principles of P olitical E conomy . By J . SarELDNicHOLSON,
be easy to follow in similar cases. A great simpliM. A., D. c. Vol. I. L ondon: Ada.m and Charles
fication has been introduced into the practical calBlack. [Price 15s. )
culation of the stability of the haunches and abut- The T heory and Practice of b-foder n Fra;mcd Structures.
ments by the constant use of t h e prin ciple that
ByJ. B. J oHNSON, C. \V. BRYAN, and F . E. T uRNEAURE.
N ~w York : John Wiley and Sons ; L ondon : Kega.n
sin?e the horizontal thrust at t h e cro~~ and t h e
Pa.ul, Trench, TrUbner, a.nd Co., Limited.
we1aht of the arch and load above the J01nt of rup- Obj ects of I nterest to Engineers and others in and about
tur; balance about some point in t hat joint, they
P hiladelphia. Philadelphia : The E ngineer's Club.
may, in treating of the parts below that joint, be T he Ore Deposits of the Uni ted States. By J A~~ES .F.
treated of as if applied at that point. This greatly
KEM~ ~.B., E.l\1. New York : The SCientific
l' fi
1 1 th
t
Th h t
Pubhshmg Company.
stmp 1 es ea cu ahng eu momen. S:
e c ap er Die Drahtseilbah'n,en der Schweiz. V on K. W ALLOTH.
on domes appears to be largely or1gmal, and taken
Mit 10 Lithographirten Ta.feln. Wiesbaden : C. W.
from the author's own papers read b efore the Royal
Kreidel. [Price 11 mark.)
Society. The articles on Rakina h oring ar e also Addresses Delivered before the World's Railway Commerce
excellent

Congress, held in Chicago, I ll., June 19 to 23, 1893.

f h
k t.
t' 1 t
t
Official Report. Chicago : Office of T he Railroad A ge
b
The est part o t e wor 1s lLS prac 1~ rea and N orth- Western Railroader.
ment of worked-~mt examples. ; but there 1s much Theory rtnd P ractice of Na11igation. By W rLLIAM H.
in the mathematiCal explanatiOns and phraseology
BARHAM, Lieut. R.N.R.
W ith 60 illustrations.
that would bear improvemen t, of which some
Londo~ ~nd Glasgow : Willia.w Collins, ons, and
instances will now be 0uiven .
Co., Lmuted.
.

.
a
]
f
R
I n Search of a Cltmate. By CHARLES G. NOTTAGE,
On page 6. 1t lS stated 1n euect t 1at a ~rce may
LL.B., F.R.G.S. London : Sa.mpson Low Ma.rston
be resolved mto two compon ents P, Q 1n any two
and Co., Limited.
'
'
directions AB, A C, so long as AB, A C are not T he Rules and Usages of the Stock Exchange. By G.
in the same straight line; but t hat, if A B, A C be
HERBERT STUTb'rELD, B. A. Oxon. Second Edition.
in the same s traight line, then H one comr-onent
By the Auth~r and H ENI_tY STROTH~R CAUTLEY, B.A.
\anishes, while the other becomes infinite, and the
London: Effingha.m Wtlson. [Pnce 5s.]
resultant R coincides with t he greater force, "
whereas, of course, both components become
N 0 T E S.
infinite, but always in ratio P : Q = sin R A C :
THE COALFIELD!; IN vVEST SwEDEN.
sin R .A B ; the usual geometrical construction
THE first researches for coal in the province of
(parallelogram of forces) is of course nugatory.
Again, in the description (page 11) of the stresses Sconia date from the year 1737, at Vallakra, some
in a crane A C B, whereof B C is t he jib and C the six miles from the town of Helsingbor g ; in the
apex from wh ich t he weight W hangs, it is stated year 17 44 the ex:perimen tal boring was resumed
that '' the force acting in B C to b alance the str ess at Bosarp, n ot very far distant. Here the underproduced by \V must act from C towards B, " and taking was continued under private initiative
the arrow-head in Fig. 8 also shows this force in until 1796, when it was formed into a comdirection C B, whereas, in fact, t h e stress iu B C pany, which began work at H oganos t he fol(resisting the stress caused by ' V) acts in direction lowing year. For more than twenty years this
company continued work, until it, in the year 1825,
BC.
The n ext three p oints to be n oticed are pre- was transformed into the still existing H oganos
Coal Company. In addition to coalmining, the
sumably only accidental slips.
Firstly, Figs. 9 and 10 a re not corr ectly placed company has also gone in for other industries, in
together ; t hey should be placed so t hat corre- order t o make good t h e nat ural materials at its dissponding lines are parallel (as described in th e text). posal, such as earthenware, firebricks, &c. The
Next, on page 22, two couples are queerly company employs about 1000 hands. In the year
printed as '' P x A C x P ., and Q x B C x Q.,." 1760 extensive coal measures were secured by a
Again, in several places (see-page 23, line 16 ; page private firm at Vallokra, and after a lapse of about
24, line 13 ; page 27, line 6 ; page 28, line 7) the a century work was r esumed there, two pits being
phrase "stress " is used where "moment of stress" sunk. In 1866 the V all okra Coal Company was
formed, with a capital of 1,500,000 k r. (about
should have been used.
The free use of the old t erms " colla.r-boam, " 82,500l.) ; it subsequently removed t o Billes"tie-beam," "king-post, " " queen-post, " wit h out h olm, wher e it is still working, and with good rethe explanation t hat the two former are rarely load ed sults. The Kropp Company was formed in 1871,
as beams, and that the two latter are rarely loaded and worked for a number of years a pit at Bjuf;
as posts, is not judicious. Again , on pages 120 to a new pit has n ow, with g reat trouble, been brought
123 it is stated that a collar -beam (in a plain into workin g order, and the manufacture of firecollar-roof) may act either as tie or stru t ; but it bricks has also been adopted on a large scale.
is not clear how the framing can be don e so that it The Skromberga. Coal and Clay Company is the
should ever (in a plain collar -roof) act as a tie. In youngest of th e Sconian coal eompanies; it employs
treating of the arch very little use has been made about 500 h ands, and was formed in 1886. In
of the important " line of resistance ;" only th ree addition to these there are several small mines,
pages are devoted to it (pages 203 to 205), and t h en which are not of much importance.
TECHNICAL INDICES.
under the misnomer of '' line of pressures" (really
Quite a large amount of scientific work ia done
q.uite a different line) ; t he fact t hat its actual posit10n can only be definitely a ssigned by aid of twice over , owing to the difficulty investigators
Moseley's '' Principle of Least Resistance" has been experience in findin g out what has been effected by
overlooked ; indeed , on page 204 it is stated that oth ers before. An immense amount of valuable
" when the arch is in a condition of stability the matter is buried in the proceedings of obscure
horizontal pressure N will act at the centre n of the scientific societies, a nd in the columns of j ournals
joint AB " (i.e., at the centre of the keystone) ; of small circulation. Much may b e d one to remedy

ot

547
this state of affairs by t he periodical p ublication of
scientific indices, and it h as been suggested t hat
the Royal S ociety sh ould undertake this work.
The Association of Engineer ing S ocieties of the
United States has, for some time past, published
pretty complete indices to the English and Ameri?an
engineering journals, in which not only is the. t~tle
of t h e paper indexed given, but a note explammg
more fully its contents is frequently added, thus
greatly increasing the value of the p ublication.
The most complete technical index yet published
is, however, without doubt that compiled on behalf
of the German Imperial Patent Office by Dr. R.
Reith, and published in London by Messrs. B.
Williams and Norgate, of Henrietta-street, Covent
Garden, as well as by other firms in Berlin, P aris,
and New York. The bulk of the index deals with

publications in the German, French, or English languages, but oth er nations of E urop e are also r epre
sented, their leading technical publications being
also indexed . The index is divided into two parts,
in the first of which all matter referring to a par ticular subj ect is grouped together, whilst the
second part of the volume consists of an alphabetical index, which sh ows under what group any
particular article sought for is to be found. In all,
the volume contains 502 large pages, and should
prove a valuable addition to our p ublic libraries.
RAILwAy BRAKES ON BRITISH TRAIN .
It is gratifying to note, from an official r eturn j ust
issued, that 98! per cent. of the locomotives on railways in the U nited Kingdom are fitted with automatic brakes which meet, entirely or partial1y, the
conditions of the Board of Trade, and that 99 per
cen t. of t h e carriages and other vehicles attached
to passenger trains ar e similarly equipped . Only
two systems comply in all respects with the official
requirements - the automatic vacuum and the
'Vestinghouse automatic- and it is interesting to
n ote h ow these systems tend to predominate with th e
lapse of years. Eight years ago they were used only
on half t h e locomotives and carriages, several
systems being applied to other 26 per cent. of the
vehicles. Now, however, only 1. 5 per cent. of the
locomotives, a nd 2 per cent. of the carriages, are
fitted wit h brakes which only comply with some
of the B oard of Trade r equirements. Of these the
most largely used is the Smith vacuum, which is
not automatic. It is adopted on t h e Metropolitan
and some Irish lines. 1'h e oth er brakes are also
vacuum, alth ough not automatic. The number of
brakes complying with every condition, of course,
is most numerous. Of engines there are 11,161,
or 97 per cent. of the total, and of these 8539
have the automatic vacuum brake and 2622 the
\Vestinghouse automatic ; 38,776 carriages have t h e
automatic vacuum, and 19,049 t h e " ' estinghouse
automatic, the total -57,825- ma.king 96 per cent.
of all carriages in t h e kingdom. Only 172 locomotives are not fitted with the continuous brake,
1.5 per cent. of the whole, as against 6.3 per cent.
five, and 25 per cent. eight years ago ; whilst of
carriages there are only 2 per cent. without continuous brakes, against 21 per cent. eight years
ago.
THE UNITED STATES NAVY'.
There can be no doubt that Brother J onathan is
determined to build up a. powerful n avy. The
current circumstances of t he United States are not
calculated to encourage the Federal Government t o
increase the nation al expenditure ; but n otwithstanding this there are n ow n o fewer than fifteen
A merican ships of war in course of construction,
viz. : The M ontgomery, cruiser, 2000 tons; the
Marbleh ead, cruiser, 2000 tons ; the Cincinnati,
cruiser, 3183 tons ; the Raleigh, cruiser, 3183 tons;
t h e Columbia, cruiser, 7350 tons ; t h e Olympia,
cruiser, 5500 tons ; the M aine, armoured cruiser,
6648 tons; the T exas, line-of-battle ship, 6648 tons;
t he Katahdin, ram, 2183 tons ; the Massachusetts,
line-of -battle ship, 10,200 tons ; the Inuian a,
line-of-battle ship, 10,200 tons ; the Oregon,
line-of-battle ship, 10,200 tons ; ~he Iowa, line-ofbattle ship, 11,296 tons ; t h e Brooklyn, a rmoured
cruiser, 9150 tons; and t he Minneapolis, cruiser,
7350 tons. The Montgomery, t he Marblehead, the
Cincinnati, the Raleigh, the Columbia, the Olympia,
the M aine, the T exas, and the Kata.hdin will be
completed t his year or in the course of 1894; but
the Massachusetts, the Indiana, and the Minnea polis will n ot be ready for sea before 1895, while
t h e Oregon, the Iowa, and the Brooklyn will
n ot follow before 1896. The M onterey, t he N ew
York, and the Detroit, which have been recently

'

E N G I N E E R 1 N G.
placed in commission, are almost ready for service. The Puritan, the Amphitrite, the Terror,
and the Monadnock, which have been in hand since
1888, are approaching completion. D esigns are
being prepared for three gun b oats of 1200 tons
each, and plans are als0 in preparation f or four
second-class torpedo-boats to be carried by the
Maine and the Texas.
THE

R us

IAN

PETROLEUM IND UsTRY

AND ITS

CoNT.EMPLA.TED Al\I.ALGAM.ATION.

The negotiations for an amalgamation of all

the Russian petroleum establishments are still progressing at St. Petersburg, with what seems fair
prospects of ultimate s uccess. I t would be considered sufficient if 80 per cent. o f t he petroleum
w orks entered the amalgamation, and the projected
union will arrange with th e American petroleum
works how the world's trade is to be divided
between the Russian and the American petroleum
producers. In 1892 there were going at Baku 104
petroleum works, with an aggregate production of
78,521,927 p oods of p e troleum (about 1,283,800
tons), of which total as much as 60,344,112 poods
(about 986,500 tons) cune from 17 large works, representing 76.8 per cent. of the total. It does not
seem unlik ely that at least these may agree upon
output and price, and also arrive at some arrangements with the American petroleum syndicate.
Against a coalition of this magnitude the small
works, which were outside the arrangement, could
carry no weight. The consumption per individ.ual
varies very considerably in the different countnes,
as will be seen from the following Table :
Kilogrammes.
Russia. .. .
.. .
.. .
. ..
...
. ..
6
::;weden and Norway
...
...
...
10
Great Britain
...
...
...
.. .
13.4
Denmark
. ..
.. .
. ..
...
. ..
13.8
Switzerland .. .
...
...
. ..
. ..
14 8
Germany
. ..
.. .
.. .
. ..
.. .
16
Holland
.. .
...
.. .
...
...
26
Bel~ urn
. ..
.. .
. ..
.. .
. ..
38. 5
Umted States
...
...
...
...
75
(One kilogramme is equal to 2.2 lb.)
The sale o f Russian petroleum has increased from
50.2 million poods (about 820,000 tons) in 1888 to
78.5 million p oods (about 1,283, 000 tons) in 1892.
THE

p ANIR

TUNN EL .

The headings on the Panir Tunnel on the Mushkaf-Bolan Railway met on August 31la.st. This
tunnel is 3050 ft. long, and is for a double line of
rail way of 5 ft. 6 in. gauge. The Belgian system
has b een adopted in this work, a top heading being
first driven; this is enlar ged for the arch, which is
finally carried down to the foundation by underpinning. In the present instance the arch is semicircular, and is of 29 ft. 6 in. span, the height
above rail level being 20 ft. 9 in. The excavation
has been through limestone r ock. Power drills
(4-in. Climax) were used, which were worked by
natives. Two of them were mounted on one stretcher
bar, and using air at 60 lb. pressure, 25 holes,
45 in. deep, could be driven in 5 h ours. The drill
bits were 1 ~ in. and lAin. in diameter. The explosives used were dynamite and gelignite. The
compressing plant was situated on the north side
of the tunnel, and the air was conveyed to the
drills on the south heading by an air main of
in.
wrought-iron pipe 6000 ft. long, which was laid
over the hill. 'fhe average rate of progress was
13 ft. per day at the two working faces. The best
month's work was, however, 455ft. The temperature both inside and out of the tunnel was very
high, average about 100 deg. Fahr. at the working
faces. 0 11tside it was still higher, 117 deg. Fahr.
in the shade being registered on one occasion.
This high normal temperature made it necessary
to adopt special means for cooling the air- compressors, as the water available had a temperature
of 112 deg. Fahr., and was almost usel ess for the
purpose. The cylinde~s were therefor~ lagged w_ith
old rope and grass, w htch was kept m01at by addmg
water at intervals. Mr. C. J. Cole, A.M.I.C.E.,
was the execu Live engineer in charge, and Mr. J.
Woodside, A. M. I. C.E., was assistant engineer.

4t

CATALOGUES - W e have received from M essrs. Whitmore and Binyon, of 64, M~r~la.ne, L o.ndon,.E. C.,. a copy
of their ne w catalogue of ~~l~mg machmes, m ~vht.ch are
included illustrated descr1pt10ns. of a~l the p~mClpal of
modern roller mills. Tables of dtmenstOns, wetgbts, &c.,
a.ccomp:\ny th~ descriptions of the various .mao~ines, but
prices a.re omttted.-The new catalogue JUSt Issued by
Mr. John J. Jardine, Nottingham, . deals ma.i~ly with
millwrights' work, contains illustrattOnR and prtcerl. desoriptions of the vari 1u~ sh: ~s of phtmmer-blocks, couplmgs,
shafting, &c.

BALL BEARINGS FOR THRUST BLOCKS.

To THE EuiTOR o~ E~G INEF.RIXG
SIR,-Owing to pressure of busin ess and. absence fr?m
town, we have only just ha.d an opport~ntty of .readmg
the correspondence that has been gomg on 10 your
valuable paper on the subject of ball or roller thrust
bearings.
.
Being much interested in th.e subject, and. ha.v~ng
given the matter some consideratiOn, we should hke, wtth
yonr permission, to make a. few remarks with reference to
what - has been written, and to say a few words as t ? the
results obtained in tests made by ourselves on the Wtlkes
and Edwards roller thrust bearing. In the first place, we
take it that what Mr. Ramage r~quires is a roller .thrust
bearing that will carry a heavy lo~d, as ~e spect fically
mentions the thrust-block of a manne engme. Now, as
has been stated by some of your correspondents, balls
h ave not been found to give general satisfaction when
used to take end thrust, and when the reason is given th e
fact is very clear.
The reason is that when balls are used to transmit the
strain in a bearing that has to take any considerable load,
and therefore require a. certain length of lineal contact
with the ball path proportional to the load, . the
only condition ~hen true ro~ling motion is obtame_d
is when the axts about wbtch each ball rotates 1s
pa.rallel with the axis of the shaft or part which
the balls are carrying.
Now in an end thrust
b earing the position of these two axes may range from an
angle of 45 deg. to 90 deg. of one another, according to
circumstances, the position of 90 deg. bei ng that in which
the most rubbing takes place between the ball and its path,
owing to the differentiation of velocities at varying radii.
Your correspondent Mr. Wingtield, in your issue of
September 29, suggests an arrangement to solve the diffi
culty which is th 9oretically, a nd would be practically,
correct if the conditions remained the same throughout
the life of the bearing, as 3hown in the diagram, but they
do not. In th e first place, each ball only has contact with
the ball races at four points ; this, it will be seen, is not permi~sible under any reasonable load ; firstly, beC'ause of the
tendency to crush the ball or the race, and, secondly, if
neither actually crushed, the race would soon wear down
till a line of contact of sufficient length had been obtained,
in which ca-se rubbing must take place between the ball
and its race, as it no longer rolls on two paths each composed of a narrow line, but of one of considerable breadth
according to the load, which breadth is always increasing
by wear. Thirdly, there will be two zones in the ball
that will take all the wear, the ball consequently becoming deformed, when it will be very liable to jam in the
races, cutting them up, and, further, the likelihood of
uniform distribution of load over the whole of the balls iR
renrlered very remote.
Mr. Tyler, in your issue of October 20, suggests another
a rrangement which has the same drawback as Mr. Wingfield's, viz., that, a.s the races wear the rubbing increases.
In the diagram the rolling axis of the ball is placed at
about 45 dag. to that of the shaft, but as the races wear
this angle gradually becomes less and less, and the bearing is little different from Mr. Wingfield's, with the exception of two points in which it is much inferior, viz., it has
only one path of conta-ct, against two in Mr. Wing6eld's
arrangement, and the tendency to crush the balls is twice
as great, owing to the angular direction of transmission of
the thrust strain to the bearing. There is no doubt that
for lighb loads these two arrangements would be satisfactory, but they would be absolutely useless where the load
is reckoned by tons instead of pounds, as in the case of
the thrust-block of a marine engine; for instance, the
thrust strain in some of the large liners will range from
70 to 100 tons on the block.
Coming now to the arrangement shown by Messrs.
Purdon and Waiters, there is good evidence in this design
that these gentbmen have fully appreciated the necessity
of providing sufficient lineal contact between the paths
and the rollers; they have discarded the spherical form of
roller, and adopted that in which true rolling motion only
obtains. There are, however, serious J?ractical defects
aboub this arrangement, which we Will summarise as
follows: (1) The adjustability of the surfaces and the
rollers is difficulb to effect in order to obta.inuniform distribution of load; (2) the putting together and taking
to pieces of such a bearing on a horizontal shaft appears
to be extremely di fficult, especially in the confined space
usual on board ship; (3) when the shaft vibrates, and the
axis of it moves out of the line of axis of the roller paths,
the load will not be uniformly disbributed along the
len~th of the cone roll~rs, but upon one end or other of
the1r pt:~ripheral surface; (4) the whole construction of the
bearing must be carried out with great mechanical accuracy, in order that the devir,e, as a whole, shall be efficient;
(5) with conical thrust rollers there is, of course, a reaction in a radial direction due to the obliquity of the
roller su rface to the direction of thrust strain, and unless
the means for taking this outward thrust are capable of
nice adju~;tmentl, it seems difficulb to insure each roller
taking its propor tion of load; (6) when t he go-ahead
rollers are being used it is difficult to see what keeps the
go-astern rollers in proper position should there be any
play in the bearing.
Coming now to the Wilkes and Ed wards bearing, you
have a device which is very readily adjustable, easily put
together, simple to make, requires only one adjustment,
viz., in the direction of stram, the rollers are entirely
free to take their own bearing, and as they are only loosely
journalled on their pivots, they permit the usual movement of the shaft in relation to the thrust-block without
interfering with the distribution of the load on the thrust
collars.
W e have found by actual experiment that the energy
absorbed in friction by thi1:1 bearing is only one-seventh
that of any ordinary collar thrust bearing, which, as

Captain Ed wards stated i.n your issu~ of Oct?ber ~0, has

resulted in 12 per cent. mcrease of revolutiOns 10 the
engines of a. tug upon which the \Vilkes and Edwards
roll~r thrust -block ha.s lately been fitted, as compared
with the number of revolutions obtained with the ordinary
thrust-block fitted before. Perhaps the most important
feature of this in vention is the specific form of cu rved
roller periphery used, which is such that it not only takes
the outward thrust, but the peripheri~s of t~e rollers wear
down uniformly, and never alter their sect10n. In other
words, if you started with rollers having p~rivheries o.f a.
different form, they would wear down un t1l t bey arrt ve
at the specifi(; form which they would r etain until worn
out. Apologismg for occupying so much of your valuable
sp~ce,

We

a~e,

Sir, yours truly,

] fELL AND J A:MKS.
1, Queen Victoria-street, L ondon, E. C.,
November 1, 1893.
Tt) THE EDTTOR OF ENGINEERING.
SrR -?Yir. \ V. C. Carter is very ready to accuse me of
misapprehending the problem u~der dis~ussion, but if he
will carefully read my letter agam he wtll see that he has
quite misunderstood it.
.
.
I did not state that a ball bearmg was unsuttable for
heavy pressures, nor do I think so, or I should not have
recommended Mr. R~mage to try one. The question of
suitability or other~ise of such a bearing depends, I ta~e
it, upon whether It shows a.ny advantage over a. plam
bearing under similar circumstances. Thereforehwhen I
say that a ball bearing is most suitable for big speeds
and light loads, I mean that the greatest advantage will
be found under those conditione. vVhether it will show
any ad vantage whe n used as a thrust block remains to be
seen, and I trust Mr. Ramage will let us know the result
of his most interesting experiment. If Mr. Carter will
a.leo carefully ~xamine the sketch a.ccomanying my letter,
he will perceive that the line of thrust through the balls
forms an angle of 45 deg. with the axis of the shaft ; and,
therefore, the form of bearing shown is quite suitable for
an axial load. I also think that the experience obtained
with cycle bearings will be a much safer guide than the
mere theorising of the inexperienced, as whab answers on
a. small scale must also answer upon a large scale provided
the proper proportion of I?a.rts is observed.
I should like to take thts opportunity of pointing out
that to ca.rry a greater load the diameter of the balls
should be increased, and not n ecessarily their number,
for the crushing strength of a ball depends upon its
diameter rather than upon the area of its bearing surface. As with a locomotiv e wheel upon a rail, the poinb
of contact appears to be capable of carrying practteally
any amount of load provided the metal is thoroughly
bard, the only effect being to slightly increase the area of
contact. I have myself had as much as 1000 tons bearing
upon an area of contact not more than a square inch,
although the surfac6s were not dead hard. It is, therefore, clear that, provided the balls are able to have a. true
rolling motion, and th eir diameter is grea.b enough to
prevent their being crushed or distorted, there is every
possibility of their answering satisfactorily in the present
case.
Yours faithfully,

A. H.

TYLER.

5, Crown-court, Cheapside, November 1, 1893.

ECONOMICAL SPEED OF STEAMSHIPS.
To THE EDITOU OI<' ENOINEERINO.
SIR,-" J. T. B. 's, letter is amusing in more senses
than one. Putting aside the pun .and the poem,'' J. T. B."
must surely be joking when he first asserts that a certain
statement of mine cannot be correct, and then goes on to
quote from Rankine the steps which I myself used
towards the proof of that statement.
If "J. T. B." will kindly refer to my letter, he will find
that in the second equation Pis replaced by m V 3, which
is exactly equivalent to his deduction from Rankine thab
"the effective horse-power expended in propelling a
vessel varies as V 3."
"J. T. B." will then see that his quotation is the foundation-stone of my argument, and is of no use as a. missile
to knock it to pieces.
Partick, October 30, 1893.

B. Se.

MECHANICAL FLIGHT.
To 'IRE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-ln my letter of the 20th inst. I stated that Mr.
Hiram S. Maxim is "the principal exponent of the large
wide a.eropl~ne, " a.nd as Mr. Maxim objects to be so d escribed, I think it only fair that I should give my reasons
for making the statemenn complained of. In Mr. :l\1axim's
patent specification (if my memory serves me) narrow
aeroplanes to be used in conjunction with the large wide
aeroJ?la.ne are not mentioned. Again, in one of Mr.
Maxtm's magazine articles the aeroplane is spoken of as
the main supporting surface. Again, in Mr. Maxim 1s
large machine 1t is very evident that the large aeroplane
was in tended to do nearly the whole of the lifting, because the narrow aeroplanes were fixed underneath the
main aeroplane and about 15 ft. behind its leading front
edge. In this position the narrow aeroplanes would do
more harm than good, working as they do in a downward
C'Urrent of a.ir caused by the large aeroplane above and
forward of them.
It would be interesting if ~Ir. ~1axim would state wha.b
are the relative areas of the wide and narrow planes.
l\i!r. 1vlaxim truly says that a. large surface will lifb
something, but it is equa.Uy true that it will absorb a.n
enormous amount of power to drive it, and there certainly is no power to spare in any flying ma.ohine yet or

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

Nov. 3, 1893.]
ever likely to be, constructed. Mr. Maxim admits that
extremely narrow surfaces, such as I employ and such as
were described in your journal in 1885, are highly
efticient; but he does not care to dispense with the large
wide aeroplane for fear the future aerial enginedriver
should by mistake "gi\'e h er a splash astern," and by
such means come down in too gt'eat a hurry. In this
matter, as in many others, we shall have to some extent
to follow nature, and I need sc~rcely say that large birds
never forget themselYes l'O far a~ t o attempt t o stop or go
astern.
An arrangement has been devised by which it would be
im.P.ossible for a flying machine t o l?se way, ~nd to insure
it (m tbe event of a breakdown) takmg a slopmg course to
the earth.
In conclusion, I would strongly advise everyone who
contemplates taking up this b ranoh of science noo to begin
at the beginning as I did, and waste time and money on
large wide aeroplanes, but t o take as thei r starting point
the only flying machine which has ever raised its weigh t
from the ground by mechanical means, and which you
recently illus tratt~d and described ; and if any fur ther
inform~tion is required, I shall be pleased to give it.
Y ours truly.
H ORATIO P BILLIPS.
\Vealdstone, Octob3r 31, 1893.

BALANCING ENGINES.
To THE E DITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Sra,-I a.m sure every one of lour readers will hail
with much pleasure M . Normand s important contribution to the solution of the problem of balancing engines.
As we now have actual results from practice confi rming
the theoretical reasonins-, tbe method indicated deserves
the most careful attent1 on. Without wishing to detract
from tbe valuable researches of Mr. Yarrow, it does not
ap~ar likely that his oure for the evil-viz. ' bobweights," will ever be used except for the very lightest
machinery, and even then these weig hts ought to have
a. much stronger connection t o the shafting than appears
to be contemplated l>y the majority of engineers, or we
may find them flying about the engine-room in the case
of heavy racing, or even when breaking a. propeller or a
shaft. These weights necessarily contribute t o the t otal
weight of machinery and to the upkeep, besides adding a
mosb undesirable and clumsy complication. The "bobweights" for an engine of any size are pracbically prohibitive, so that another solution of the difficulty, as proposed
by M. Normand, would appear to be more practical. It
. is therefore that I venture to ask why this system should
not be applied to h~a.vier machinery in the 3amc 'Way.
Surely1 if it is necessary to hold the engines by horizontal
stays, 1t can hardly be desirable that the attachment of
these sta.ys should not be as strong a.s possible; why they
should damage the engine more in a. hea vier ship is to me
not quite clear.
I remai n, yours truly,

M.

THE PATENT LAWS.

T o TRE EDITOR OF ENOINEERING.
Srn,-As an inventor, I cra.ve ,Permission to say that I
despair of any beneficial alterations of the patent laws,
and much as I value Mr. Wise's experience, still I would
deprecate a.ny further modifications save that of cost . I
thmk if inventors were t o address themselves to this part
of the question until we were at least on a level with our
American cousi ns, they would be most usefully enga~ed.
To my mind the taxes ex torted from in ventors are httle
better than a species of blackmail; and to those who must
needs keep several inventions in force in order to reap
the benefit from one, they are most wearing of spirit.
An inventot has plenty of expense without this, and
if he have also t o p1otect himself in expensive
litigation, there is ruin (more often than not) staring him
in the face. The patent guaranteed t o him is so much
waste paper, a.nd the money paid in taxes is irrecoverable.
There is no class of the community which has done more
than inventors to build up our industries, or on whom
we are more d ~pend ent for maintaining supremacy in
these; yet the Government releases its hand most grudgingly, and does its best to throttle inventors by the taxes
exacted from them. How different are the taxes on
literature, and what a blessing it is they are so few ; yet it
puzzles many fair-minded men t o explain "by sueh a difference should exist between the copyright of a. book, and
a patent specification. Since practically all the ad van
tages a patentee acquires from Government are those of
registration of his patent, a simple registration fee should
be sufficient, if the Government have any fosterin~ care
for the nation's industries. Our system of taxing m vention is essentially tying the bands of the very men who
are the main helps to prosperity.
Yours respectfully,
R EAL REl'ORM.
October 23, 1893.

THE LOSS OF H.M.S. " VICTORIA."

To THE E mTon oF ENGINEERING.
Sm,-Mr. O'Neill says: "It may be urged that that
unfortunate occurrence can have no effect on future
designs. Nor can anything new be adduced." L et us
venture to hope that it will have a. great deal of effect on
f uture designs, and that we s hall never adduce anything
new of the same sort.
Again, " the recent disaster comes with no surpria~,
from a naval architecture point of view., Then the sooner
naval architects are s urprised the better. Are we to
calmly await the certain sinking of men and millions in
t!le event of war ? Are the naval architects of the world

to quietly expect this exeunt omnes and say : "I told

y_ou ~?. !" ~s the l~~rst L ord of the Admiralty always t o
rtse m htA place and say: "You will not be surprised
to hear," &c. I tb ink not.
Again, ''it may be shown that bad the fore compartments forward of the machinery spaces been filled the
veesel would still have survived. " It doeR not look' l ike
it, p;actically. It mighb pay to try my suggestion in you r
last Issue.
A~ai n, " Under the force of the blow received it may be
confidE\ntly stated that no vessel could do other than the
Vict~ria." This may ~e true as a.t present constructed.
But 1f the 6 or 6 knots 1mpact und er peaceful conditions
only allowed 16 minutes in which to save the crew what
time would a 15 or 16 knot impact under war conditions
give?
. Again, "Can he, (Sir E . J. Reed) " sho w any vessels
10 any navy that would survive'!" Then why put many
hundreds of men into ships costing a million each? Why
put t oo many very valuable eggs into one very costly but
very doubtful basket ?
" Trirem.e" says, "it is practically iropossible t o carry
on. duty wtth the doo~s clo~ed ! '' Then why not admit
thlR, and let future des1gns be modelled a ccord ingly ?
You are .aware that I have long called attention, in your
e~teemed JOurnal and its contemporaries, to the irresisttble power of the ram, even when {properly) fitted on far
smaller ships than the Camperdown. Why not build (say)
three smaller Magn ificentA instead of one very large one ?
comprising (as Mr. O'Neill says) "increased strength of
the ram str ucture," shorter and far more h andy ships,
and with every facility for instant and direct ma.ni
pulation ? This would give our s~amen a far better chance
of protecting themselves; the risk would be di vi ded, both
in men and money; the largest vessel of a.n ~nemy could
not keep " end on " t o two such vessels (attacking by
ramming) at once; and they could carry one or more
sufficiently heavy guns, with the usual q uick-fi rers, &c.
In short (as L ord A rmstrong- says), we must not have
" too many eggs in one basket " in this connection. If
we could make our "Terribles" inv ulnerabk it would be
a. different matter ; but we cannot.
But there is nothing t o prevent our doing the very best
we can, under the circumstances, with those already
built ; and I think an experiment such as that suggested
by me in your last issue would help in putting us on the
right t rack . For instance, it might also be desirable to
experiment as to whether long heavy guns can be effectively worked when the ship has a severe permanent
"Hso " or "cant," &c.
When will all civilised nations join forces in laying the
keel of t he good ship A rbitration ? U ntil th en, no more
lives must be lost m a similar manner t o thab we all
deplore, if ENGINEERING and naval architecture can prevent it; and this is the best tribute we can pay to the
glorious memory of those we mourn.
Your obedient servant,
R oBERT M cGLASSON.
Selhursb, S. E , October 30, 1893.

RAILWAY TRAVELLING.
T o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIB,-! am very glad to see you championing the cause
of the secondclass passenger.
Have you ever considered the matter in this light ?
The average fares per mile per class in England are,
approximately, ld. third class, 1! d. second class, and
2d. first class.
The third-class passenger is entitled to one-fifth of a
bench ; the second class t o only the same, yet he pays 50
per cent. more than the third; whiJ e the first -class passen ger, who has a third of a. seat by right, with s pecial
upholstery and a wider carriage from partition t o partition, pays only 33 per cent. more than the second-class.
So that what the rail way companies do is to treat the
second class Yery badly, and when this resultd, a-s it
necessarily must, in empty running, they say "This
prov~s that the second class is not wanted, and that it
should be abolished. " In sh ort, give a dog a bad name
and hang him.
Now I contend that there are many cultivated and
re fined peoplewho would like to travel second class to avoid
the bad manners and tbe dirty clothes which they must
now and then encounter in the third class, but who, at
present prices, cann ot afford to do this.
If they were treated fairly, I venture to say they would
travel second class, and it is the object of railway companies
to treat them fairly in order to save empty

runmng.
The suggestion I would make is that! fares should be
in invArse ratio to the number of passengers on a bench,
and that the numbers on a. bench for the three classes
ehould be, respectively, fi ve, four, and three.
T aking 1d. per mile as the thirdclass unit, the secondclass fare per mile would, on this principle, be five-fourths
of a. penny, or one penny farthing, and the first-class fivethirds of a. penny, or one penny and two-thirds.
An experience of twenty-five years in connection
with railway management con vinces me that a very
slight difference of fare will secure segregation of classes
of the population, and tend to prevent the empty
running of carriages, which leads to so much unproducti ve haulage. I am quite aware that I may
bs told that railway ma.na~ers are highly intelligent
men and know their own busmess, and so on, and so on.
I can only reply, Do they ?
These highly intelligAnt persons condemned the late Sir
W. Allport strongly when he decided to encourage third class travelling by having thirdcla.ss carriages on every
train.
.

In the view of these expert8, that policy was suicidal,

whereas it really resulted in revealing the gold mine at

549
their feet, which for fif ty years they bad not discovered ;
and, reluctantly, but lucratively, they followed S ir W.
All port's lead.
Yours obediently,
October 30, 1893.
R. E.
To THE Enrron OF ENCJN&ERINO.
Sm,-On October 25 a curious decision was arrived at
in the Court of Appeal by th e Master of th e R olls a.nd
L ords Justices L opes and Kay.
In August, 1892, a. lawyer's clerk of Basingstoke named
Thatcher was standing on the platform near the door of
a carriage in which a relative was leaving by a Great
W est ern Railway train. The guard whistled, the train
started ; Thatcher failed to step back far enough, and
the open door of the guard's van struck and injured him.
H e subsequently claimed lOOOl. damages, and was
awarded l OOt. and expenses by a. s pecial jury at Winchest er, direct ed by Mr. Justice G rantham.
The railway appealed, but a new trial was refused, and
the appeal dismissed with costs. During the argument
of the case L ord ,Justice L opes said '' tha t th~ plaintiff
bad no reason to expect that the door of the guard's van
would be left open when the train started."
In this view, however, few people who travel on
English railways will be likely to agree with his lordship.
P assengers on railways should expect the recurrence of
that wl:iic:h is customary, and thtue is not a railway in the
British I sles on which the guards do not habitually start
the trains before entering their own compartments. Not
only is time saved by this universal custom, but the
guards could not efficiently perform one of their most
Impor tant duties except by doing so, vi?. , to see that the
train from end to end is ready to start. It is difficult for
a. man poking his bead out of a. window to do this properly, even on a. perfectly straight platform, and when the
platform is con vexly curved it is quite impossible.
L ord Justice L opE's must evidently have missed this
important point, for a. guard cannot obviously enter the
train without opening the door of the van. The decision,
lo~ically taken to its ending, therefore, prohibits trains
bemg started until the guard has entered his compart
ment and closed the door.
Should this become the cnst om, a large increase of
time will be occupied in the journey of each train, and
the public, who are always asking for acceleration, will
have to put np with a. considerable retardation. Surely,
before this decision, it would have been but reasonable
t o supose that the portion of a. pl.1tform which can be
CO\'ered by a swinging door belongs to a ruovj ng train,
and that those who deliberately stand there do so at their
own p eril.
J. T. B.
M EXICAN CoRN FOR EuROPE. -The first consignment of
corn ever sent from Mexico to Europe has been shipped
from land adjoining the M onterey and M exican Gulf
Railroad.
A N A u. TRt\.LIAN BRIDG &.- A bridge just thrown over
the Lacblan at Cowra is a composite one, of iron, steel, and
timber. I ts cost has been 26, 538l. This peculiar type
of bridge is the outcome of consultations between the
engineer-in-chief for roads and bridges and the engineer
for bridges, with a. view t o economy in future bridge construction. The principle followed is that where portions
of the bridge are in tension, steel is used, but where in
compression, ironba.rk is utilised. It is considered that
the maximum of strength is obtained by this means at the
minimum of cost.
FRENCH CAPITAL IN ARGKNTINA.-French capitalists,
like their British neighbours, have burnt their fi ngers in
Argentina. The F ranco-Argentina Railway Company
has just held its annual meeting at Paris, and the out
look for the proprietors, as repor ted by the directors, is
certainly gloomy. Even the position of the obligation
holders is far from satisfactory. It is proposed that the
existing obligations shall be exchanged for new 5 per
cent. income bonds ; that is, the company is to pay 5
per cent. as far as it can out of its disposable resources.
Obligation holders who do nob agree to these shadowy
terme are t o have 80 per cent. of their claims written off,
and are t o be paid the remaining 20 per cent. in fifty
annual instalments ! Of course there is absolutely nothing
for the ~h arehold ers.
Bnrrisii IRON P nooucTION.-The production of pig
iron during the first six months of this year was
7,490,000 tons, which is C'Onsiderably greater than the
total for the corresponding months of 1892; but then the
trade on the north-east' coast was paralysed for three
months, owing t o the Durham coal strike. When com
parisoa is made with years prior t o 1892, it is found that
the make thia year is very considerably below the a."erage.
The production of steel in Great Britain, which for a
number of years preceding 18 >9 advanced with great
Btrides, has since then made very halting :r.rogress, so far
as B essemer qualities are concerned.
The year 1889
witne&sed a total output of 2,140,000 tons of Bessemer
Rteel ingots. Since then the output has largely fallen,
until, in 1892, it amounted to not more than 1! million
t ons, and the returns, just issued, show that the outJ?Utl
for 1803 to June 30 was only at the rate of 1 ~ milhon
tons per annum. There has been a steady and considerable mcrease in the production of open-hearth steel, both
at home and abroad. The quantity of steel of this
description-mainly used in the production of ship-plates,
an~les, tin bars, tyres, and axles-now produced 10 G reat
Bnta.in, is almost as large as the quantity of Bessemer
steel made for rails and similar purposes, although at one
time it almost looked as if the B essemer steel industry
were t o ha.,e th e fidld entirely to itself.

sso

E N G I N E E RI N G.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

TH~ French battleship J aureguiberry was launehed

on Fr1day, October 27, from the yard of the Forges et

Chanti~rs. d e la M editerranee at La Seyne, near Toulon.
The ship I S 356 ft. long by 72 ft. 6 in. broad, and from
the keel to the upper deck m easures 47 ft. 10 in. The
draugh~ aft wi~l be 2~ ~b. 8 i~. There are two tripleex pansiOn engu~ es dn~mg twm-screws of manganese
bronze. S team I S supphed by 24 groups of boilers of the
Allest and Lagrafel type. W ith natural drauaht a total
of 13,000 horse-power is contracted for. Thi; will give
a speed of about 17 knots. With forced draught and a
d evelopment of 14,200 horse-power the speed should
somewhat e~weed 17.5 .k nots. The guns a re 8-rra.nged
exactly as m the Ca.p1tano rra.t, though they are of
course, of m uch heavier calibre. The main arma.m~nt
consist s of four big g uns, disposed lozengewise, each in a
separate covered turret, Those on the qua.terdeck and
forecastle are each 11. 8-in. 44-ton guns. Those on the
beams are on sponsons, a~d are. each 10.8-in. 34-ton guns.
All. the other guns are qUick -firmg ones. On either sid e,
a httle ast ern of the forwa~d turret and again a little
forw.a.rd of th~ after turret, 1s a small turret containing
a patr of 5.4-m. 3-ton guns. In addition there are on
th e upp~r deck and superstr~1cture and in the tops on t he
two. mihtary mast s four 2.5 m ., twelve 1.8-in., and eight
1.4.m. guns. There are also six torpedo ejectors, of
whw? two are submerged .
The armour includes a
17.7-m. end-to end belt at and below the water-lin e. This
is brought down forward t o the level of th e point of the
ram, and is surmounted by a belt of 3. 9in. armour,
which protects the slope and edges of the armoured deck .
Th is deck, which is of stael, is 2. 75 in. thick, and the
armour. of . the la rge turrets is carried right down to it.
The prmctpal turret armour has a thickness of 15.7 in.
The 5.4-in. guns are behind 3. 9-in. armour. All the
eight turrets are construct ed upon M. Lagane's balanced
system, and, no m atter the direction in which they may
be trained, the trim of the $hip is not appreciably
altered. The entire armour of the J aureguiberry will
weigh nearly 4000 t ons, and will cost about 320,0001.
The normal coal capacity is 800 t ons, but it can be, if
n ecessary, considerably increased. The complement will
be 650 officers and men. A remarkable feature of the
J aureguiberry is the ex. ten si ve use of electricity as a
motive power. Ib will move the turret s, raise the
ammunition, and do much other work, which, in the
majority of m odern ironclads, is done by st eam or by
pneumatic or hydraulic p ower. It will also, of course,
light the vessel. The sh1~ will contain 550 incandescent
lig hts, and there will be SIX very powerful Man gin search
lights. The t otal cost will, it is estimated, be about
920,000l.
The new t or pedo- boat destroyer Havock went on steam
trial on Saturday, October 28, when satisfact ory results
were attained, t h e mean speed of three hours' r un being
26. 18 kn ots, with the engines working at from 360 to 370
revolutions per min ute, th e two locomoti ve boilers being
subjected t o a.n air pressure of a bout 3 in. The Havock
and the Hornet were constructed by M essrs. Y arrow and
Co., Poplar, a.nd their leading features were d e~cribed in
ENGINEERING, vol. lv. , page 848, while the result of the
trial s are given in another column in this issue.
The Ramillies, Captain Bridgman Simp3on, left Spith ead on Saturday morning, the 28bh ult., to become the
fl agship of Admiral Sir M . Culme-Seymour, commanding
the Mediterranean Squadron, in place of the Vict oria,
which sank after being in collision with Her 1\Ia.jesty's
ship Camperdown. During the run down t o Portland, a
three hours' commissioned full-power trial of her engines
was made under natural draught. The trial was most
satisfactory, equal t o those got on the official contract
trials (see ENGINEERING, vol. lv., page 716). A lthough she
encountered a strong head wind all th e way, the B:a.millies
realised a. mean speed of 14 knot s. The power developed
varied from 8887 during t he fi rst half-hour t o 9900 in the
third, the mean indicated horse-power being 9400. Before
leaving P ortsmouth the battleship's new complement
of Nordenfelt .45-in. machine guns was replaced by six
M axim automatic-firing guns of the same calibre.

[Nov. 3, I 893

DIAGRAMS OF THREE MONTHS' FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES OF METALS

(Speci<dly compiled from Officiol R eports of L ondon M etal and Scotch Pig-Iron W arrant M arkets.)
A UGUST,

1893.

ef

O cTOBBR,

1893.

86

84

,,

aa

'"

r" ....

1 n.

80

18

i"o.

17

L
46
'14
A

42

40

38

~......_.

ill"'

ii;;

"

36

"""'

a~

"f

~\

"

,.

!!!I

Z8

E6
24

2E

20

OQO

18

OG 0

~
.:l

.t.

IZrrTiirii-r,-iT,-rT-r~-rTI~rr~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'of1i1i~-t-mr~~H--~~~~~~

,!I,

.,

.,
-,

,(p,

-.ADI
....,

46J

__ ,

" "

.. -

-.-.,.

....

0 1ID

4lf

AN

~..,.

aBJ

...

6,

11/ J~ jqj
9

rv.

po riiP;
D

~ ....
IT

10

14-

IG

18

rz

t),

~.Y:

I
24

24

31

IZ

14

I I

I
I~

ZO

Z2

Z6

Z8

10 IZ

:t

if

16 18 ZO 24 Z6 30

NOTE .-Each vertical line representB a market day, and each horizontal line represents ls. in the
case of hemati\e, Scotch, and Cleveland iron, and ll. in all other cases. The price of quicksilver is
per bottle, the contenta of which vary in weight from 70 lb. to 80 lb. The metal prices are per ton.
Heavy steel rails are to Middlesbrough quotations.

- --

ward Tyler and Co., of L ondon. The engines and

boilers are placed aft, and these will be fitt ed by the
North-Eastern Marine Engineering Company, Limited,
of Sunderland. The cylinders are 24 in., 39 in., and 64in,
in diameter by 42 in. stroke, with two large steel boilers
working at 160 lb. pressure.

~ir Ra.ylton Dixon and Co., Middlesbrough, launched,

on.._.October 26, a steel screw oil s teamer named Hot ham
N ewton, built for Mes.srs: J. ~ L e:onard and Sons,
Middlesbrough. The prmctpal dlmenstons are: .L eng th,
322 fb. ; beam, 41 ft. ; . depth moulded, 26 fb. 6 m. The
v ssel is fitted with th1rteen transverse bulkheads, and a
c:ntre line bulkhead running right for~ and ~ft, th~s
dividing the ship into tanks forth~ carry mg of otl. Thts
is the first oil-carrying st eamer built on Kend~ll's paten:t
system of expansion trunk ways for regulatmg the .ml
cargoes under va.ryine- te~perat~res. Inst ead of bemg
fitted on eS~ch side of the rotddle hne bulkhead, as ~ereto
fore, these expansion trunks are placed. at the ~1des of
the vessel, and thus allow a. clear space m the m1ddle of
the ship for t he stow~ge of coal or general cargo. The
oil pumping installatton has been fitted by Messrs. Hay-

M essrs. David J . Dunlop and Co., Port-Glasgow,

launched on October 26 the s.s. Lacka.wanna, ~built for
the A ngloAmerican Oil Company, Limited, L ondon, for
carrying petroleum oil in bulk. The vessel is divided by
strong thwartships bulkheads into ten oil-tight com partments, which are again subdivided by a. longitudinal
bulkhead in the mi ddle line of the vessel; these compartments have all been seP.a.ra.tely test ed in the presence of
the owner's and Lloyd s sur veyors, and under the mcst
severe pressure t o which the bulkheads will ever be subjected, each ompartmenb proved itself thoroughly satisfactory. At th e forward a.nd after end of the oil com
partments is a. 4-ft. welJ, extending the full breadth of
the vessel, and carried up to the height of the s par deck ;
the well also satisfactorily stood the same test as applied
to each oil compar tment. Tho dimensions of tho Lackawanna. are as follows : L ength, 345 ft.; breadth , 44 ft.;
depth moulded to spar deck, 31 ft . 6 in.; gross tonnage,
about 4000 t ons. Tha machiner;v consists of a set of
tri~le expa.nsion single-screw engmes, having cylinders
'J/7 m ., 43t in., and 70 in. in diam eter by 51 in. stroke, fitted
with Brown's patent steam and hydraulic steam starting
gear, &c. There a re two large double-ended boilers constructed for a working pressure of 160 lb. per square
inch. The oil-pumping engines, having cylinders 14 in.
and 14 in. in diameter by 12 in. stroke, con~ st of two
" S now" duplex pump~ placed in a pump-room amidships.
These pumps are capable of a combined maximum output

The s teel sorew tug Cardiff, built by Messrs. E. Finch

and Co. , Chepst ow, to th~ order of .the ;Brazilian C<;>al
Company Limited, Cardiff, for thetr R10 de Janetro
d epOt ra.~ a speed trial in the British Channel on the
25th 'ult.
Her principal dimensions are : . L ength
b etween perpendiculars, 90 ft. ; breadth, 17ft. 3 m. ; depth
(top of keelto top of beam ), ~ ft. 7 in:
he }s fitte~ with
comPOund surface- condensmg e~gtnes, w1th cyhnders
16 iti. and 30 in . in diameter by 22 ID. stroke, mad.e by the
builders. The boiler is lO.fb. in dia~eter, 9ft. 9 ID. lo~g,
with two furn aces of 3 ft. IDte!na.l dtameter. The workmg
pressure is 100 lb. p er square 1nch.

1893.

SEPTE'MBER,

---

of 1000 tons per hour. In the same pum p-room there is

pla-ced a "Snow " pump, size 8 in . by 7 in. by 10 in.,
arranged t o fill o.nd empty the well(and for ward ballast
tA.nks.

--M essrs. J ames and Ueorge Thomson, L imited, Clyde

bank, launched on the 26th ult. a. twin-Etcrew steamer of

9000 t ons, named K ensington, for the International
Navigation Uompa.ny. The dimensions a re: L ength
between perpendiculars, 480ft. ; breadth (moulded), 57 ft.;
and depth (moulded ), 40ft. The vessel is to carry 8000
t ons at a draught of 28 ft. There are ten powerful ste'l.m
winches near th e hatches on the upper deck , and worked
in conjunction with strong derricks, of which there are
no fewer than 16, of lengths varying from 40 to GO ft.
There is an extensive installation of refrigeratingmachinery
in separate sections-one for perishable cargo and the
other for the ship's requirements. A lthough intended as
a cargo-carrying steamer, the Kensington has accommodation in large state-rooms amidships on the upper deck
for about 120 passengers. The engines are of the d irectacting, s urface-condensing, quadrupleexpansion ty~e,
with four cylinders working on four cranks. Th~ cyhn
ders are 25~ in., 37~ in., 52~ in., and 74 in. in diameter,
and the stroke 4 ft. 6 in. 'fh e boilers are designed for
a working pressure of 200 lb. per square inch, and are
fitted with M essrs Brown's induced draught and Ser ve
tubes.
B RE~fEN.-Tb e number of ves els whi ch entered the port
of Br~men in the rst eight months of th is year was 2348,

of an aggragate burden of 934,509 tons. The corresponding entrances in the correspond ing period of 1 92
were 2025 vessels, of an aggregate burden of 906,303 tone,

551

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

Nov.

a a

; a

PADDLE STEAMER FOR THE BOSPHORUS.

CONSTRUCfED

BY THE THAMES IRON'

WORKS

AND

SHIPBUILDING

COMPANY,

LI~IITED, BLACKWALL, LONDON.

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

---=

----_..

-----. --- -

--

--

----

------

-- -

--

TnE illustration given above represents one of four

paddle-wheel st eamers, built for the Bospborus team
Naviua.tion Company, known by the name of the
C'hirl~et Hairie. This company was established in
1851 a few years before the Crimean War, under the
patr~nage of His Imperial Majesty the ultan, and its
steamers conduct a day light service between the city
and suburbs of Cons tantinople, and the many villages
ou both sides of the Bosphorus. The number of passengers carried is fully nine millions per annum. The
early boats of the company were built at Cowes, I sle
of \Yight, but since 1 65 the construction has been
entirely on the Thames. Four vessels were built a
year or two ago, two at 1Iessrs. Green's and two at
the Thames Iron \Vorks, Blackwall, and i t is one of
these latter we illustrate. The vessels built by Messr3.
Green were 165ft. long, 2 1ft. beam, and 5 ft. dr aught
of water, with eng ines by 1\ifessrs. John Penn and Sons,
of 5 0 indicated horse-power. The engines are of the
ordinary oscilla.ting ty pe, with jet condensers. The
vessels built by the Thames Iron Works were 170 ft.
long, 21 ft. beam, and 5 ft. 6 in. draught of water,
having a large saloon on deck, carried right aft from
the paddle-boxes, with a promenade deck above, having
seats all round, and permanent awnings to protect the
pa-ssengers from sun in summer and rain in winter.
The necessities also of the Turkish customs have not
been neglected, provision being made for the separation of the sexes, and several elegantly- fi t ted
saloons have been provided for the special use of
the pashas and their harems. The engines, in the case
of the vessels by the Thames Iron Company, are compound diagonal surface-condensing, of 580 horse-power,
constructed by :Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field,
and give a speed of l:H k nots, which is amply sufficient
for the purpose, the stoppages being so frequent. As
there are no rail ways on the shores of the l3osphorus,
the necessity of having good accommodation on board
these steamers will be seen, and Mr. I skender, who
has spent nearly a lifetime in the service of the
Cbirket Hairie, superintended the construction.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

was placing his lordship's collieries at a disad vantage by

securing his customers. Several other collieries ha.v~
been opened at the old rates, some on one plea, some
on another, but the fact is the same, whatever the
cause or the mothe, that the old rates are being conceded in various districts. A large section of the p ublic
side with the men, and support their cause. This is
obvious from the tone of a considerable section of the
press, from platform speeches and pulpit references, and
from the large subscriptions which have poured in from
all parts of the couBtry. On the other hand, many
take the side of the coalowners, and condemn the
action of the men and the obstinacy displayed on
both sides. This condemnation is not confined to
the employing class, but finds expression even in
the ranks of labour. The cause is not far to seekthe high price of fuel, and the lack of employment in
consequenc~ of its dearness and scarcity, combine t o
influence opinion in this direction. A few look at the
question from an economical and statistical standpoint,
and estimate the losses to t rade and industry, and
contemplate the d ire r esults.
A proposal has been made ' ' for a more corn bined and
effective attempt than has yet been made, to bring to
an end the disastrous struggle and the intense sufferings
in the coal districts." For this purpose a conference
of Liberal members and others was held on Wednesday in order to see what can be done. Mr. J oh n
Hutton, chairman of the London County Council,
presided. The scheme originated with the editor of a
London paper, and wa-s attended by se~eral members
of Parliament. A resolution was passed expre!sing
sympathy with the miners "in their struggle to maintain for themselves and their families the minimum
standard of living consistent with a decent existence,"
a.nd pledg ing support to their cause in P aPliament and
in the country.
Many references have been made of late to Government intervention , and in connection therewith t o the
Arbitrat ion B ill of the President of the Board of Trade.
That Bill would ha,e been of little use in the present
d ispute. It requires the consent of the parties to the
dispute before action can be taken. If one party
consent, an inquiry can be instituted, but that is
very little more than has been done, and is being
done by the Labour Department at the present time.
The fact is the Bill provides no sort of machinery for
arranging a dispute. It g ives power merely to promote a meeting of the t wo parties, and to act as
mediator, but nothing beyond. It may be described
M
a thin-end-of-a-wedge kind of a Bill, conferrin g
certain powers capable of being developed and enlarged
in the future. But there is not even the germ of any
syst em of conciliation or arbitration in the Bill itself.
If tak en in connection with the A rbitration Act of
1872, it might be so worked as to draw within the pale
of legal arbitration labour disputes that may in future
occur. But the Bill requires t o be r ed rawn and recast to be of any r eal value.

representatives of the coal miners and the deputies, it

was agreed to advance the wages by 3d. per shift for
the nex t three months. The whole matter is therefore
settled for the present as between the men and the
coalowners in the Durham districts.
The Northumberland men have also applied for an
advance, and the coalowners met to consider the question on Saturday last at Newcastle. The employers
decided to meet the representatives of the men tomorrow (Saturday, November 4), to consider the
question. It is probable that an amicable arrangement will be come to in this case.
The Lothian miners have made further demands for
an increase in their wages, whi: h t he coalowners are
slow to grant. On Saturday last the men held a mass
meeting, and decided to cease work at all the collieries
if the increase d emanded were not conceded. With the
present large demand for Scotch coal, the coalowners
will hesitate to incur the risk of a. strikE>.
In the Scottish districts gener ally peaceful arrangements have been made, and still prevail. Rut there is
a. feeling of uneasiness over the question of full time or
short time, the men in this case being in favour of a.
week of five days rather than the ordinary week of
six days. So acute has this feeling become, tha t in one
district the coalowners have intimated that they will
close the pits if the men resolve only to work short
t ime. In the federation districts one of the complaints
has been the short time worked, with short wages.

---

The serious distress in the districts where t he dispute is most severe has been most deplorable, but
efforts have been made to alleviate it as far
as possible. The difficulty is the large number of
hungry people to be provided for. Moreover, the
period of the distress is exceptionally long. But the
men who have returned to work are in mo~t cases
loyally paying their levies. Every t en men who pay
levies will help to keep two families tolerably well.
The great complaint in the engineering branches of
trade in the Lancashire districts is the scarcity and
dearness of fuel, and the impossibility of working at a
profit while coal is so high in price. Operations are
interfered with, and establishments are on short time
which otherwise might be fully employed. It is also
said tha;t new orders are not being placed owing to the
unc~rtam state of trade caused by the coal dispute.
Engmeers say that any attempt to p ut up their prices
so as to cover the increased cost of fuel, would stop
business being placed, and some say that orders are
goiog to other districts not so badly off in this respect.
Fortunately there are no labour disputes in any of the
eng ineering branches of trade. The whole of th e trade
in raw and fi nished material is in something like
disorder owing to the coal dispute, though there is a
gleam of sunshin e over the district.

TrrE coal dispute continues to be the one great factor

in all matters pertaining to industry and trade. It
overshadows all other questions, affects and colours
e,ery aspect of labour, but happily there is this
week a. real sign of a possible settlement.
The
Associated Coalowners have intimated to the secretary of the Miners' Federation t o th e effect that th ey
are wi1ling to meet the representatives of the men
&n 1 discuss the whole question, without prejudice,
a~d. this meeting with miners is to be held t o-d ay
(l1ula.y ). There are not wanting indications of weakn ~ss on both sides. The letter of Lord Vernon in justification of his lordship's action in opening his collieries
a.~ ~he old ~ate~, "pending ft. settlement , '' shows that
In the Sheffield and Rotherham district the state of
dl.Stntegratton 1s t aking place in the r anks of the coaltrade is deplorably bad owing to the coal strike. The
owners. The submission was rather humiliat ing, for it
The dispute as to the wages of the Durham miners price of fuel is such that the production of steel is
was pleaded th~t the competition of other coalowners has been amicably arranged. At a meetin g of the carried on at a loss. Besscmer has advancd lO.i. per

552
ton, but existing contracts are worked at a loss, as
also is the crucible steel which is produced. But there
is an anticipa.tion of general activity as soon as the
coal strike is over, owing to the large accumulation of
orders during the past three months.
In many
branches it is said thaL the workmen will be very
busy for many weeks as soon as they recommence work.
The season trades will be active also, so that the
general conditions will be changed for the better in all
the staple industries of this distri ct. There is a
general absence of labour disputes all round.
In the Birmingham district, the expectation of a fall
in the prices of raw material has not been realised and
prices rema in firm.
The continued scarcity' and
dearness of fuel lead to the supposition that no alteration will take place yet awhile. There has been a fair
inquiry for common and medium bars at fair prices,
but marked bars are not in urgent demand.
Steel
bars have realised good prices for ~mall lots as required.
The local trades are hampered by the coal dispute, hut
the state of trade is not otherwise so depressed as
was anticipated. There are no serious local disputes
in any branches of indus try.
In the vVol verhampton district trade is fairly up to the
level, steady in tone, though the business done has been
rather more limited in extent. There are, howe \rer,
numerous inquiries by export agents, which will doubtless result in a n accession of new orders. Consumers'
stocks are low, so that an extended demand will still
further harden prices in this district. Producers of
pig iron have sufficient orders on hand for the whole
of the current month, the yield of the furnaces being
about equal to the demand. Boiler and t ank plates
are in request, and also strip tube iron for home consumption. There is also a brisk demand for steel
plates and for billets, both by local and outside competitors. Common sheet m a nufacturers are doing a.
fairly good business with galvanisers. Generally the
district is f:tirly well employerl, labour disputes nit.
The allegation that a large number of dockyard men,
and others in the employ of the Government, were about
to be discharged has turn ed out to be quite untrue. It
appears that about sixty men employed temporarily on
the Howe were discharged on the completion of the
work in which they were engaged. But it appears tht
work has been found for forty of these, and efforts
are being made to find employment for the other
twenty.
Generally work at Chatham is going on
steadily, if not so briskly as it is sometimes. A
number of vessels are in doc k being overhauled,
cleaned, repaired, and refitted where required. The
framework is being prepared of another very l arge
battleship, one of the largest in the navy.
In the building of any new ships for the navy care
ought to be taken to insure better accommodation for
the engine-room artificers, a class of men who hold a
most responsible position, and who are entered as
petty officers, but whose treatment is little better
than that of stokers or the sailors on board.
The
engine-room artificers in the Royal Navy are a. superior
class of men. They enter the service after a Reven
years' apprenticeship, fully trained for the service, at
no expense to the public. Besides which, they have to
pass an examination. They have the full responsibility for the safety of the ship in actual practice. ln
ma.ny cases they actually take charge of a torpedo
vessel, with all the responsibility of what is designated
in the service the "engineer. "
The engine-rCJom
artificers are competent practical engineers, but are
not designated such. They have not the same authority and power as the engineer, nor as a warrant
officer nor have they the chance of promotion to such
rank ~r to the advantages attaching thereto. The
engi~eering br~t;lches of . trade are dissa.tisfi~d
with the cond1t10n of their naval eo-workers m
these and other respects, and there has been
some hesitancy in qualifying for the service by competent engineers. On board Her Majesty's ships the
men have wre tched mess-rooms, sleeping accommodation and bathing places. Tile mess-room is simply
boa;ded off breast- high, the stokers being next, not
only in clo~e proximity! but i.n . actual conta.ct.
So with sleeping and washmg. Thts IS not conduetve
to that discipline which is said to be the ~lory of
the Navy.
The "artificers" think that they are
entitled to better accom modation and to greater privacy. Then, as regaxds promotion, it is possible for a
l ad taken from a training ship, with all its unsavoury
associations, to be promoted o\er the heads of th e
engine-room artificers, the latter to be actually under
the command of such. The door of promotion is closed
in the latter case, but is open in the ?ther. . qn the
other band, a stoker, without the practteal t~ammg of
apprenticeship, may be promoted to the engme:room.
The whole arrangement is so bad that surely 1t only
needs for the facts to be known to make the cha.ng~s
required . It . will.not. involve much cost, and w1ll
givP. great sat1sfactlon tf the changes can be made.

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

LNov. 3, 1893.

It is agreed upon all hands that the unemployed

question is a grave and important one. It cannot be
solved by loud talking, by denunciations of everybody
in general, and the capitalists, the Governmeut, a nd
the local authorities in partic ular. The present condition of trade is the result of many causes- the

reliable than that of hydrochloric acid. The graphite

is formed when the iron passes from the molten to the
solid state, when the molten m etal has taken up or
dissolved more carbon than the solidified metal is able to
retain in solution. It places itself as a. separate sub&tance
in hexagonal tabular scales between the crystals of the
mtal, and, in the case of the same iron, these tabular
shrinkage of our foreign trade, the state of o.gricul- crystals are both of larger size and occur in greater
ture, the reaction of b oth on our own trade, lessening abundance the more slowly did the cooling of the metal
consumption, and thereby decreasing production, and proceed. If the graphitic iron is again hE'ated t o fusion,
the unsettled state of the labour mark et, which in its the graphite once more passes into solu tion, but as the
turn is the outcome of all the other causes. But main mass of the iron from which the graphite formed
whatever the cause or the causes, the fact that ?Ontains the less c~r~on th.e n~ore grap.hit~ was pro~~ced ,
there are thousands of competent, able-bodied, will- It follows that. a p~g ~ron rtch I.n grapht.te JS more difficult
ing workers out of employment is enough to ghe to fuse than Is ptg .tr~m poor tn gr~pbtte, t~e percentage
concern to any Government. London is not alone in I of tot~l carbon r~m.ammg the same m ~oth .mstanCE's. If
th 1
t
I
t f
f
. 1 d
1 grey Iron by chilhng has become whtte, tt melts more
11
. s respec
n mos , 1 not a ' o our great n us- readily than it would had it been slowly cooled with the
tnal centres th ere a re thron~s of men ou~ ?f formation of much graphite.
'
work.
\ Vhat .can be d~ne wtth them?. This ts
In the still p erfectly molten iron the formation of
the one practiCal questton.
That neLther the graphite may take place if the iron in its highly overGovernment nor the local authorities can start heated condttion has dissolved more carbon than it is
works which shall employ the men at their own I abl~ to h ?ld in solution when .at a lower. temperature,
trades, is obvious.
Can we su ppose that works or tf the Iron V:'ben ~at.u~ate4 With carbon dt~s~lves other
can be started to employ jewellers, silversmiths, cigar- ~nbstan~es whtch dtmt~tsh Its po~~r of retan~mg ~arb~n
makers, and men of other delicate or exceptional trad es '! 10 sol~twn. The graph~te cry~talhstng o~t of Iron m t~td
Some have advocated the employment of tailors shoe- way .rlBes t o the su~face In consequ~nceof Its lo.wer specific
.
.
'
grav tty, and formmg a. scum on Its surface, lB known as
k
ma ers, and the hke to m~ke clothmg and shoes for kish. A lthough the true cause for the formation of
the army, the ~avy, the pohce, and. the pauper~ of the graphite must be deemed to be the power possessed by
country.
Th1s however, would mterfere w1th the molten iron of dissolvin~ more carbon than the solid
general run of employment, a nd would be resented by metal can retain in s0lut1on, yet this difference in the
the organised tra.des. Rut whatever can b e done degree of solubility does not always exist in exactly the
locally or by Government to give employment just sam~ ratio. It is de.termin~4 by the percentage of other
now, will help to turn the tii e. Idleness is t.he most foretgn ~ubsta~ces, m additt<;>n to the car.b~m, that are
costly thing of all; it is dangerous also in more senses p~es~nt m the Iron, a~~ espec1a.lly ~Y th~ ~thcon present.
than one. That reproductive works can, at a pinch, P:~ tron free .from s1hcon! when 1t sohdtfies, shows no
be started in some cases is certain L~rge tracks on VIsible forf:Dat~on of g.raph.tt~, even when the percentage
'

.
of carbon 1s htgh (whtte p1g tron). A percentage content
v~e banks of the :M ed ~ay have been reclalme~ by con- of silicon diminishes in a larger degree this power of
vtct labour. The land 1s now valuable, and Will be for solidifying iron to dissol ve carbon than is the case with
ever. But to be of any use the work should be geueral the molten metal. This results in an iron which in its
in all localities having surplus labour, or the r a nks of fluid state is approximately Eaturated with carbon, and
the unemployed will be swelled in certain centres, at the same time contains silicon, giving up a portion
mostly in great and already overcrowded towns, eape- of its carbon as graphite when it solidifies (grey pig iron).
The hi~her the percentage of silicon, the more complete is
cially the metropolis

this separation of the dissolved carbon. In ferrosilicon

with ,\0lfths or more of silicon, the carbon present usually
0~ THE MODIFICATIONS OF CARBON IN passes completely into the graphitic form when the metal
IRON.*
solidifies, although its percentage is less than that which
occurs in the less siliceous pig iron.
By Professor A. L EDEDUR, Royal Mining Academy,
Silicon forms, th ereforE', a. necessary constituent of
Freiberg in Saxony.
grey pig iron, but only a brief period of time has elapsed
As far back as the end of the last century the observa- since this important part played by the silicon in grey
tion was recorded that iron which had been produced by pig iron has been recognised, a. recognition due to observafusion with charcoal contai ned carbon. It was soon after- tions made partly by myself and partly by others. I was
wards recognised that this carbon in the iron was able in 1879 to remark on -pa&'es 10 and 11 of the second
not always present in the same form, and that it conse edition of my treatise on ptg tron :*
"The presence of sih con in pig iron consequently
quently affected the behaviour of tha iron in different
ways. Karsten, in his early time, distinguished between diminishes its capacity for taking up carbon, and, on the
graphite and combined carbon, and he was of the opinion other band, it is necessary for the formation of grey pig
that this combined carbon must be a constituent of a. true iron. Pi~ iron free from silicon remains white even after
chemical compound with iron in atomic proportjons- slow coohng, and grey pig iron changes into white if its
that is, of a. carbide. He was unsuccessful, however, in contents of silicon is abstracted. . . . From this the
his attempts either to produce or to separate this carbide. deduction follows directly, that if molten white pig iron
This classification of Karsten's of the total carbon in has the opportunity afforded it of taking up silicon, it
iron into two main modifi cations, graphite and combined will change into grey pig iron."
I think that this was the fir3t express statement as to
carbon, formed, until comparatively recently, the basis
adopted in all t ext-books relating t o the metallurgy of the true role of silicon in grey pi~ iron, and as to the relairon, for the consideration of the mod e of occurrence of tions which exist between the Silicon and carbon in thab
the carbon, and of the influences which this element metal. Seven years later these observations of mine were
exerts on the properties of that metal. All analyses pub- completely confirmed by the experiments of W oodt and
lished in the first nine decades of this century, in which of Turner.:::
It has recently been found that aluminium, when added
the analysts did not re~ t eatisfied with determining
simply the total percentage of carbon, give, even then, to molten pig iron, leads, like silicon, to the formation of
graphite in the metal, but that, for equal percentages,
only the two above-mentioned forms of carbon.
This method of division is, however, of only limited aluminium exerts a. stronger action than silicon. In the
value. In grey pig iron, in which the percentage of blast furnace, however, aluminium is never reduced in
graphite greatly exceeds that of the combined carbou, such quantity as to lead t o its exerting any action on
the determination of that graphite, together with the the iron. Indeed, I feel that I am justified in being of
combined carbon, may indeed permit of certain deduc- the opinion that the percentage of aluminium which has
tions being made as t o its mechanical properties, because been ocC'asionally stated to have been found in pig iron
in thi s case it is the graphite which is present in the was in reali ty only observed in consequence of inaccurate
Ja rJest quantity. This division is, however, com,Pletely analysis, and that in the blast furnace no aluminium
valueless in the case of true steel-of metal, that ts, that whatever is taken up by the iron.
It is a matter of common knowledge that manganese
may be hardened-whose behaviour, as is well known, is
entirely different, according to whether it has been per- exerts an influence diametrically the opposite to that of
mitted to cool slowly or has been cooled rapidly by plung- silicon and aluminium. Highly manganiferous spiegeling in water. Its percentage of carbon remains in both eisen and ferro-manga.nuse can consequently contain a
cases unchanged. An examination made in the manner somewhat large percentage of silicon with ou t auy separaformerly in vogue only shows the percentage of the ~o tion of graphite being observable. It need only be briefly
called combined carbon, and yet the behaviours of the point(d out here, thab, in nddition to the chemical comhardened and unhardened or annealed steels sho w greater position of the iron, the conditions under which the coolmg of the metal occurs exert some influence on the dejlree
differences than do those of many different metals.
It seems to me that a clearer idea. than that hitherto in which the graphite formation takes place. The view
obtaining, of the variations in th e influence whi ch the which was formerly so widely held, that the separation of
same total percentage of carbon can exert on the pro graphite from pig iron was mainly a function of exCE'ssive
parties of iron, may be obtained when these variations overheating, is inaccurate. This error would have been
are held to be due to the presence of four different modi- recognised had the other com position of the metal been
fications of c~rbon--modifications which may be readily ascertained both before and after the overheating. If
distinguished from each other. It is not impossible that, highly carboniferous iron is heated in vessels whose walls
in addition t o these, other forms of carbon may also are rich in silica, silicon is reduced; and if the iron conexist. As yet, however, we are not acquainted with tains manganese, this also acts as a powerful reducing
agent. Manganese leaves the iron, and silicon passes
them.
The first of these four m odifications of carbon is into it. In this way spiegeleisen is converted into grey
graphite. It is a..tta.cked neither by b_oil_ing ~ydrocbloric pig iron. This change in the chemical composition is the
acid, nor by fa.trly COD;centrated mtrtc. 3:cui (of .1.20 more pronounced the more strongly the metal is heated
specific gravtty), ~nd, ~s IS so well known, 1t Is de~ermm~d
by dissolving the tron ~n ~n.e or other ?f these actda, botl* "Das R oheisen. " Leip~ig : A. Felix, 1879.
ing continuously, and tgmtmg the res1due. I have found
t J ourna.l of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1885, No. I I.,
the use of nitrio acid for this purpose to be better and more page 464. ENGJNEERINC, vol. xl. page 263.
! Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1886 No. I.
page 163. E~GINEiRINO, vol. xli., page 51D.
'
* Pa.per read before the Iron and Steel Institute.

Nov. 3, 1893.]
and the longer the duration of this period; and, similarly the more m!l.rked is then the separa.tion of graphite.
A ~econd modification of carbon, resembling graphite,
is the t emper.carbon. rr:he n~me is chosen fo~ the reason
that this form of carbon IS ma.mly form ed d unng the pro
longE-d beating of white pig iron during the t empering
process. In st~l that h as been heated to re~ness, and
contains upwards of 1 per cent. of carbon, th ts form of
oa.rbon may also ~e obser ve9. ~f .thi~ ~emper-carbon is
present in apprectable quanttty, 1t ts vtstble to the eye on
the fractured surface of th e iron in the form of small
black spots, which frequently join together t o form spots
of larger size, causing the surface of the metal . t o ~oss~ss
a kind of sprinkled appearancA. When the tron 1s ~1ssolved in acids, the temper-carbon behaves exactly ltke
graphite-that is to say, it is not attacked by boiling hydrocbloric or nitri c acids. It ba.s therefore been frequently
confused with graphite, and as yet we possess no mea\1s
of separately determining both these modifications of
oa.rbon when they occur together. The tempercarbon
differs however, from graphite by its amorphous condi
tion ~nd still more in that when the iron is heated under
oxid'ising conditions- for instance, in cont~ot w~th iron
ore as in the manufacture of ma.lleable castmga- 1t somewh~t rapidly disappears, even when it occurs not on the
surface but in the in teri or of th e iron mass, whilst
graphite remai_ns. unaffected b~ this trea:tment. }~orquignon who, 1t 1s true, calls thts form of u on graphtte,
found that even when the iron was simply heated t o red
ness in a. current of hydrogen, this temper-carbon might
be got rid of, and he further drew the conclusion from his
numerous experiments that this form of carbon is always
the first t o form from the so-called combined carbon when
white pig iron is heated t o redness in contact with iron
ores or other substances.
On plunging into water red-hot iron containing tempercarbon, this remains unchanged. Any percentage of
manganese in th e iron renders its formation more
difficult.
A third modi6ca.tion of carbon which ha~ been known
to meta.llur~ical chemists for a som~what long period,
without bavmg been properly apprectated, may be best
named carbide carbon. Karsten observed in 1824 that
when steel which bad been heated to redness was dissolved
in dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acids, there remained as
a. residue a highly carboniferous iron compound; whilst
when hardened steel was dissolved the carbon for the
greater part escaped as gas or formed an oleagi nous
liquid.* Similar or identical obser vations were made by
Ca.ront and by Rinman,! which latter ~ave to this undissolved resid ual carbon the somewhat tU-chosen name of
cement carbon. In 1885 Sir F . A bel, by a n ew method of
examination, con firmed Karsten's original ob3ervation
th at this form of carbon always remains undissolved io
combination with a. certain quantity of iron, in the foim,
that is, of a. carbide, if the piece of iron is dissolved,
certain precautions being taken. Experi ments which
were afterwards made by M Uller 11 and myself gave the
same re3ult.
F or the decomposition of the iron or steel A Lel used a
l:lolution of potassium b ichromate and sulphuric acid,
while M Uller and myself employed sulphuric acid strongly
diluted. This was allowed t o act at the ordinary tempe
rature of the room during a period of several days' d ura
tion on the iron in the form of turnings, a current of
coa.l gM being maintainf:ld to prevent contact with the
air. The residual iron carbon alloy, the carbide, remaining undissolved in these experimen ts, contain ed on the
average about 7.2 per cent. of carbon and 92.8 per cent. of
iron. By treat ing the carbide with hot acid ib is decomposed, with the evolution of hydrocarbons. In the carbide
which is separated from iron rich in manganese, such a.s
spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese, a portion of the iron is
uhua.ll{ repla.ctd by fah~a.hlesh Thd carb~de ~frms d~ring
t e sow coo mg o
tg y- eate car om erous Iron,
according to 03mond'su investigations, at a temperature
which lies between 660 deg. and 708 deg. Cent., its forma 'tion being accompanied by an evolution of heat. If iron
containing the carbide is heated, the carbide decomposes
witha:nabsorbption obfbeatatbatempderatuh~ebwhi chbOsmhond't~
ex penments ave 1:1 own to e 40 eg. tg er t an t at at
which it forms. The carbon percentage of the carbide is
distribu ted equally in this case throughout the whole mass
of the iron-it is dissolved. The formation of the carbide
on cooling consequently takes place sooner, and its decomposition when tpe metal is heated later, than the
formation and re-solution of the graphite.
As in the case of the formation of graphite, the formation of the carbide is also influenced by the nature and
method of the cooling. Slow cooling aids the for mation
of tbe carbide, and rapid cooling renders it more difficult.
If iron cont.aining the carbid e is dissolved in cold
dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, the carbide remains
in the form of a grey-black pow~er, t ogether with the
other insoluble substances, such as graphite and silica..
According to M Uller, this powder consist s of separate
1\nd somewhat bard grains of very small size, which
under the microscope possess a silvery lustre, and whi ch
readily take fire on being dried at an elevated t ernperature. On the other hand, if the iron is dissoh ed in
4

Archiv fur Bergbau und H iittenwesen, vol. viii.,

page 3.
.t Comptes Rendus de l'A cademie des Science~, vol. i.,
v1., page 43.
t Erdmann's J ournal fti> Pra ktische (-'?l,ern.ie, vol. c.,
page 33; DiTl{ller'a Polytechniaches J ournal, vol. clxxx v.,
page 134.
ENGINEF:RING, vol. xxxix., pages 150 and 200.
11 Stahl und E isen, 1888, page 291.
, Ibid., page 742.

**

"Transfbrmations du F er et du Carbone da.ns lea

Fers, le3 Aciers, et les F ontes Blanches., Paris, 1888.

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

553

cold nitric acid of from 1.18 to 1.2 specific gra vity, there must be well proportioned with the th.ickness of tha metal
remains in the fi rst instance a brown flocculent residue, of the cae ting, if good wearable castmgs are to be m.ade.
which, according to Osmond and W erth, *contains 44, 59 The surface of the casti ng must, it is true, cool ra1_>1dly,
per cent. of carbon, 8. 05 of iron, 2.25 of water, and 24.86 but it must afterwards cool do wn slowly to the ordmary
of oxygen and nitrogen. On heating, this dissolves t emperature.
.
.
readily, imparting a brown colour to the iron solution.
The influence of hardenmg and t empermg on the state
This coloration is used in the l~ggertz colour test for the of the carbon is very marked, t oo, in the case of t~e to~l
determination of carbon, and the reliability of this method steel. It is seen, however, that e\'en after cool~ng m
of determination is de'(>endent on the fact that in malleable water the whole of the carbo~ do~s not exist m ~he
iron cooled in the ordmary m!l.nner, neither annealed nor ' hardening f~rm, but that even 10 thts case .a not ununhardened, tbe ra tio borne by th e carbide carbon t o the portanb portton of the carbon has been used m the formatotal carbon is approximately constant (0. 70 to 0. 75).
tion of carbide. In soft metal, on the other hand, barThe carbide may be recognised with the aid of a m icro- dening is seen to exert absolutely no influence on the
scope on the fractured surface of the iron, if this surface state of the carbon, a nd the behaviour of the metal conis polished and treat ed with some weak etching solution. firms the statement that it does not harden.
As it is less readily attacked by this solution th an is the
The micro~copic in vestigations of Martens, Sorby,
mass of the iron, it becomes visible by bein~ raised, and W edding, and other me tallurgists, have yielded the proof
is seen to be disseminated in various directions through that cooled iron is never a perfectly homogeneous mass,
the iron.
but that it consists of a number of subs tances occurring
The fourth of the modifications of carbon now kno wn side by side. In th e first place, as to quantity, there is
is termed hardening carbon. It is evenly divid ed or the mother-metal- that is, th e ground-mass of the iron
dissolved throughout the whole mass of the iron, the from which the other substances separated out. Its total
mother metal, and escapes as an unpleasant smelling carbon contents consist s of hardening carbon, and, further,
hydrocarbon gas, even ab the ordinary t emperature, i f hardenin g carbon can only occur in this ground-mass. In
the iron is dissol ved in dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric very graphitic iron, or in iron which has been subj ected to a.
acid. When it is dissol ved in cold nitric acid, the hard ening long-continued beating, theamountof carbon in the groundcarbon remains a.s a black residue, which on gentle heat- mass may be nothing; the iron in that case is soft, and
ing rapidly dissolves, and on stronger heating, t o 100 deg. easily worked by cutting t ools. In the groundmass
escapes a s a gas, as was originally shown by Osmond occurs th e whole, or almost the whole, of the silicon,
and \Ver th. As the carbide carbon, t ogether wtth the phosphorus, s ulphur, manganese, chromium,- and other
graph ite and the temper-carbon, pass into solution when substances contained in the iron. In the case of an iron
the iron is heated, molten iron contains only hardening which is not very rich in manganese or chromium, the
carbon. On solidification and cooling, the graphite, the ground-mass of the me tal possesses a granular t exture,
t emper-carbon, and the iron car bidE? separate from the and the t endency to crystallise in regular octahedra reiron in the manner that has been sketched out, and sembling a little fir tree. In pig iron containing much
this mother metal in its cooled stat e then retains for an manganese or chromium, the t ext ure is laminated, a.nd
equal t otal percentage of carbon in the iron, the less the crystals formed have a.n acicular 0r columnar shape.
hardening carbon the more of th e other forms of carbon The composition of the groundmass of one and the same
are present. Slow cooling, however, assists, and rapid piec~ of iron is !lot always exa.ctly alik~ thr~mghout.
cooling hind ers the formation of these form!il of carbon Durmg slow coohng, alloys whiCh are riCher m phosother than th e hardening carbon, M has been already phorus or sulphur, and, in this case, generally poorer in
pointed out. ~lowly cooled iron consequently contains carbon, separate out from alloys which a re poorer in phosless hardening car bon than does the rapidly cooled metal. phorus or sulphur, but richer in carbon. Chemical analysis,
A percenta ge of hardening carbon in the iron affects its accompanied by the consideration of suitably-arrangd
properties in a. manner similar to th e influence of tin on mioroscopic t ests, permits this action to be readily undert he properties of bronze. The hardness a nd the brittle stood.
nets are increased, and the tenaci ty also at fi rst largAly
Af! the second constituent of the solidified iron, the
increases, with a rise in the percentage of the harden ing carbide becomes visible on the polished and etched fraccarbon, but dim inishes again when the percentage passes ture of the metal. This carbide, as was pointed out
a limit which undoubtedly is not a high one, though it above, contains on the average 7.2 per cent. of carbon,
has not yet been accurately determined . This explains consequently th e quantity of carbide containd in a piece
the ha.rdenine- of steel. The perc~ntage of the hardening o! iron may ~e approximately calculate~ from the quancarbon remamin~ in th e st eel iA raised by the sudden t1ty of carbtde carbon found by cbem tcal analysis. In
cooling, and the steel becomes hard a nd brittle. If the ingot metal very low in carbon this d oes not exceed
hardened steel is now heated to as low a t emperature as 2.5 per cent. , whil e in ferro-manganese it may excEed 50
200 deg., there commences a partial decomposition of the per cent. of the t otal quantity of iron. E xamination
iron carbon alloy, with the formati on of the iron carbide with th e microscope contirms in general the truth of this
with the carbide carbon. 'fbe higher the t emperature is calculation. The influence which the carbide contents
raised, the more marked does this action become. Like exerts on the behaviour of th e iron is less of a direct than
the carbide formation in cooling iron, this is accompanied of an indirect nature. The higher th e percentage of carby an evolution of heat. Use is made of this in the tern- bide carbon contained in a. piece of iron with a definite
p~ring of steel.
perce_ntage of t otal carbon, the poorer in hardening carThe following analyses, which are taken from my t ext- bon I S the ground-mass of the iron, and it is proporbook on th e metallurgy of iron (second edition, page 280), tionately less hard and brittle. But the tenacity too
may serve t o elucidate the ratio in which the various diminishP.s if the percentage of the hardening carbon' fall;
modifi cations of carbon that have been described occur in belo w a certai n minimum. Doubtless the carbide interthe different kinds of iron :
spersed as it is throughout the iron, may also in a. ~ertain
manner affect directly the behaviour of the metal, much
~ t
~ .
in the same way, indeed, as veins of quartz in a block of
:.Q g
c c ::: - c marble.
Description.
~8~ ~~ -E~ ~,e
Fi~ally, i!l g~ey pig iro~, when . subjected to micro... ~ 0 ~~ .o 010 o 10 scop10 exammat10n, the thtrd constituent graphite bec
t.>
~
E-1
comes visible, and i~ long heated white i;on the te~perDeep grey pig iron, with 2. 77 per cent. p. c. p. c. p. c. p. c. ~arboni blTh; ~aphtte crosses the mother metal in the
Si, 1. 30 Mo, and o.so p
..
. . 3.33 0.44
o.to 3.77 orm o ac 1m es without coming- into contact with the
Light gorey pig iron, with 1. 2 Si, 0.28
carbide, which, in graphitic pig n on, is surrounded by
Mn, and 0.69 P..
..
..
.. 2. 40 0.73 0. 17 3.30
~he mctb e.rmetal. The t emper carbon occurs as spots
Wh ite pig iron, with 0.72 Si and
m the mam mass. Both forms of carbon exert in the
1
88
54 2 58

Sp~~~e~~e~; with 0.30 ..Si a~d n .i i. 0 16

C\.
fir~t place an in.direct actio~ on the properties of the iron,
1\Io..
..
..
..
..
.. o.oo 3. 09 1. 41 4 . 60
as 1s. thebca.se w1th the carbide carbon, since by their forChilled casting (white portion), with
matto~ t e .percentage of hardening carbon is diminished.
0.83 Si and 0.15 .Mo ..
..
.. 0.19
2.43 0.58
3.20
The .dtrect mfiuence of t.he graphite is, however, not inTool steel, cooled in the ordinary 1
considerable. It places 1tself as a. separate definite subway

0.00 0. 71 0.22 0. 93 stance between the crystals of the iron, preventing their
Thfieres:~J t~~~lh~:;!~~dirn ~v~~:~co~~ 0 00 0 38 o.as
mutual connection, and diminishing the tenacity of the
3

The same steel blue tempered arter

l. 0
metal. A very graphitic pig iron consequently never
h~rdening
..
..
..
. . o oo 0.67 0.36 1.03 P?S~esses ~uc:h strength. If, in spite of this, a grey
Soft basic Bessemer metal with o.ss
p1g 1ron wtth a moderate. percentage of graphite possesses,
.Mo, cooled in the ordinary manner 1 0.00
0 17
O.O!i
0.22
as a rule, greA.ter t enaCi ty than a whtte pig iron this is
The s1me steel hudeoed in water .. 0.00 0.17 0.04 1 0.21 in part explained by the fact that the percentage of
hardening carb?n . in the white.iron has very frequently
In white pig iron poor in manganese, and in hard steel, exceeded that ltmtt beyond wb10h the hardening carbon
if the cooling has been effected in the ordinary manner, ceases to favourably influence the t enacitv of the metal
the p ercentage of carbide carbon is consequently about
Any ~nfavou rable influence exe~ted by the tempe~
75 per cent., and the hardening carbon about 25 per cent., carbon 1s much less mark ed. Th1s form of carbon is
of the total percentage of carbon present. In mangani- more finely disseminate? through the iron, and does not
ferous pig iron, such as spiegeleisen, the ratio borne by so greatly separate the mterCOD'Jlection of the iron parth e hardenin g carbon t o the carbide carbon is higher, ticles. White pi~ iron which has been heat ed to redness
while in soft ingot metal it is lower than it is in the other f?r about a. week 10 charcoal or other non oxidising matevarieties of iron referred to. In the deep grey pig iron r1al proves n~t only to be easy to fil e, but it usually posthe hardening carbon may oompletely disappear.
se~ses a considerable d egree of toughness, and is also,
TLe chilled casting examined is comparatively rich in w1th due care, even malleable at a. red beat.
carbide carbon. This is readily explained by the circumstance that the sam~le was taken from a heavy roll,
which, after having been cast in the mould, solidiHed, it
BRAZILIAN R AI LWAYS.-The State of Bahia has in vited
is true, rapidly, but only cooled down very ~lowly from a. t~nders for the ?Onstruction of about 1875 miles of new
red heat. It may be accepted that good chilled castings hnes, and promtses a guarantee of interest at the rate of
should never contain any much larger p ercentage of 7 p~r cent. ~er annum fo.r a t erm of ~hirty years upon the
hardening carbon than is present in this instance, as cap1~al reqmred for tbetr construct10n and equipment
th eir bri btleness would otherwise become t oo great. For pr~vtded always th~t this capital does not exceed a cer~
this reason also, the thickness of wall of the iron mould tam a~o';lnt.. Brazil, howe'\'er, reguires peace and order
before 1t ~s. hkely t o t er;npt much European capital into
* A nnalea des Mines, Eeries VIII., vol. viti., page 5.
new Brazihan undertakmgs.

Q)

=~5~
54~~~~====~~~==~~~E~N~G~I~
N~E~
E~R~I~N~G~~~~~~~~~~
[N~o~v~~
3,~I~89~3~

ON THE ARTIFICIAIJ LIGHTING OF

WORKSHOPS. *
By !vir. BENJAMIN A . D onsoN, of Bolton.
IN m!lnufacturing dis~ricts the use of artificial light is
of cons1derably greater Importance for work of all d escription s than it can be elsewhere. Whether the work be
fine or coarse, dalicate or bold, a better light is needed
than for work which does nob come under the head
of manufacture. In L ancashire the staple industries
of en~ineering, m~cbine ma~ing, spinning, weaving,
bleachmg, and dyem g, are mamly established in certain
centres; and with them is invariably associated in the
surroun~ing district the great coal industry. Although
Lancashire e;oa.l has a number of excellent qualities yet
i~ is one that makes the ~os~ smoke of any. A large'portton of the manufacturmg mdustries, great and small,
date from a. number of years back, when smoke-consumi~g and smoke-preventing a.pp~ratus had not yet been devtsed; and many of the factones are workin~ at the present day under pretty much the same conditions as when
they started. Hence the atmosphere in all manufacturing towns in Lancashire is heavily charged with uncon su~ed ca~bo~, pro~ucing an excess o~ cloud and fog,
which, whtle mducmg an excess of ram, acts also as a
screen against the rays of the sun, and thus does a double
injury to the neighbouring agriculturist, the producer of
the country's native wealth. A circle of 30 miles radius
around Manchester is eaid t o include a larger population
than an equal circle around any other place in the world
and within this circle, about 12 mi1es north-west of Man~
cheater, lies Bolton, the town with which the author is
best acquainted, where all winds, except the west and
north-west, bring the surcharged atmosphere from other
manufacturing districts, producing at any season of the
year, if the wind happens to be slight, a sky ranging from
dull lead t o dark brown. F or four years in succession it
has occurred at the writer 't:~ works, that on June 21, the
longest day. the gas in every room, amounting to nearly
7500 jets, has had to be lighted by 11 o'clock in the
morning, and has remain ed lighted until work ceased
and this has occurred also in other towns, and in weathe:
that ought to have secured abundant sunshine. T o such
an extent does gloom prevail that in clear weather the
effect of bright sunlight becomes even distressing to the
eyesight, simply from the rarity of the contrast.
R equirernent3 for a Well- L igh6ed W orkshop.- 1. The
light, if artificial, should be sufficiently intense to give
the power of clear and natural Right over any portion of
the work. For enablins- the work to be performed with
ease the light should evtdently be arranged t o produce as
nearly as can be the effect of natural sunlight. The light
of the sun is diffused by the atmosphere; and unless its
entrance is limited in extent, such shadows as it may pro
duce are only natural shadows, so natural that the eye
has no difficulty in following detail in any visible put.
In this respect. therefore, artificialligb t should as far as
practicable imitate th e best natural conditions.
2. The light should be so diffused as to a void casting
shadows, or placing any one portion of the work in t oo
great relief, as compared with the general tone of th e
whole. If the work were being done in front of a wi ndow
which faced the sun, a certain portion of it would receive
an undue amount of light, and give a false idea alike of
size and distance, owing to the contrast of the overlighted
and underlighted parts. This might be a. natural light,
but would n evertheless be improper.
3. The light should be of such a character as to have no
tendency to in jure the sight by a blinding glare. This
remark applies either to a good gas flam e or to the electric
glow lamp, from both of which the light is fairly well
diffused ; the rays, being all comparatively weak, are
ea~iJy di \'erted and thus distributed. But the effect of
having either a bright gas flame or the still brighter coil
of glowing wire before the eyes is exceedingly fatiguing
and destructive to the sight, and in combination with the
dust of workshops makes it a wond er that ocular diseases
are not more common than they are.
4. The light should be of such a charact er as to leave
the atmosphere free from noxious emanations. Any kind
of natural or electric light will fulfil this condition. The
artificial light that most infringes it is gas, which varies
much from town to town, and even in the same town from
time to time ; but it is genera~ly so impure as to.be dele
t erious to health and comfort m the products of 1ts com
bustion which is always more or less incomplete.
5. The light should not unduly raise the t emperature of
the room in which it is employed. If, on a bot day, a gas
burner has to be lit for every person in a crowded workshop, as has to be done in certam manufactories, the combustion of so much gas affects the temperature greatly,
and thereby produces lassitude among the workJ>eople, t o
gather with various ailments which are almost m proportion to the amount of gas consumed.
6. The light should be simple. and capable of ~asy control. The whole arrangement should be so contr~ved that
n othing but the . simples~ knowledge and expe!u~nce _a re
required for t urmng th e hght on and off. Tbts Imphes,
of course, both a central control and also various points
of sub-central control.
1. The cost should be kept within such limits as will
r ender the light prac~ca:ble. at th~ pres~nb day for tho~e
who have t o make their hvehhood m tbetr speCial trade m
open competition with the rest of the world.
Electric Lighting by Inv_er:t~d .Arc Lamps.~~ome yea!s
at7o while engaged in V1Sltmg and exammmg cert~m
~ilia on the Continent, the writer was much struck ~v1th
a mode of lighting whi ch he th en ~MV for the first ttme.
This consi~ted in the use of eleotr1 c arc lamps of from
1600 to 2000 candle-power, suspended in a white enamelled

reflector ab a certain distance below the whitewashed

ceiling of the mill. The first he saw was of 2000 candle
power, and thoroughly lighted a large room of about
40ft. square with light sufficient t o see to pick
up a pin off the floor. The walls of the room,
as well as the ceiling, wsre whitewash ed. The
lig:ht had a . sort of blui.sb tinge, and looked like
br1ght moonhght, but w1th much greater illuminatio~,. and entirely without shadows. This appeared so
stnkmg that he made a few experiments at once and
found that it was possible to see into the interior ~f the
machines and even underneath them in a way that up to
then would have seemed incredible ; and further that it
was not possible to make a shadow of any desc~iption
even when holding a hat only 2 in. above the floor ali
that could be seen in the centre of the covered part 'was
a comparatively slight deepening of the shade. In other
departments of th e factory he found the sa me plan
equally effective, and the diffusion of light so complete as
t o be astonishing.
I ncandc3cent Glow Lamp.~.-At that time the author's
firm were engage~ in replacing gas by incandescent ~low
lamps on the Ed1son-Swan syst em in a large machining
room at their own works, which is 345ft. long by 76ft.
broad and only 12 ft. high, containing 239 ma<.:hines
tended by 200 workpeople in the area of 26,220 square
feet. The exigencies of trade had required that annexes
should be constructed almost all round the bnilding, th us

soon as the workpeopJ e in that room had becomeacclima.

tised.
Nevertheless, with the result of this lighting the author
was not satisfied. The shop was as dark a.nd gloomy as
with the previous gaslights. The number of lamps
broken by accident and by carelessness was so srea.t as to
become a serious consideration, their price bemg out of
proportion to their actual cost, and no allowance being
made in regard to royalty in replacing broken lamps which
had already paid royalty. The writer then made two
furth er journ~ys to the Continent, in order again to
examine the plan of the in verted arc lamp, and on the
first occasion returned more favourably impressed than
before. The second journey was therefore made with th e
view of going more thoroughly into th e details, and of
concluding arrangements for conducting a trial of the
plan in his firm 's establish ment. On this occasion he had
the opportunity of examining a large weaving shed at
Ruysbroek, near Brussels, on a dark win tP.r night. The
dynamo was driven from the main engine of the mill, and
was a fine piece of work. Corridors lighted by incandescent lamps led thence to the vast weaving shed, which bad
the usual roof containing glass panels almost upright
facing north, with a plastered ceiling sloping southwards
from the t op of each glazed panel, and lighted from an
in verted arc lamp in each bay between the pillars. The
impression upon entering the doorway was that the large
room was brilliantly lighted by the midd ay sun : no
4

teJe A

Fiy. 2.

Fig. 1.

further diminishing the amount of natural light that

could gain admission. A long th e whole of the cen tre of
the shop, for a breadth of some 50 ft., gas was burning day
and night; and in the close muggy weather of autumn
and the fog laden days of bot summer, the atmosphere of
the room became most oppressive, in spite of the best
ventilation by Blackma.n propellers; even at six o'clook
in the morning, on entering the room, the smell was most
objectionable. It was noticeable, too, that an undue proportion of tae men suffered from diarrhooa, which was in
fact a standard complaint, and furnished the constant explanation for absence from work. Although sometimes
this was simply an excuse, there can be no doubt that the
exhalations caused by the imperfect combustion of a ~as
not absolutely pure will suffice t o explain the possibility
of a large number of men being affected thereby.
The incandescent glow-lamps, each with its own switch,
and covered with a wire guard, were attached to the gas
brackets, which for this purpose were left just as t hey
had been. Within a week of the application of these
lamps, the importance of the third requirement, with
regard t o glare, ~as amply proved, fo.r nearly every
workman had devtsed a shade of one lnnd or another,
some of white or brown p~per, some .opaque, and 3ome
~ranslucenb. No better de.vJCe ~ban this has bee~ found ;
1t does nob look neat, bemg stm ply a makeshtft; but
it answers the purpose, costs nothing. and is applied
in a moment. The results of th e alteration were curious;
the atmosphere was improved. the hea:t considerably
diminished, diarrhrea as a general complamt ceased, and
- *Paper r ead before the Institution of M echanical was a t fi rst succeeded by bronchitis, which, however, was
found t o be of a temporary nature, and dis~ppeared as
Engineers.

glarP, no flam es to be seen, but a golden light p er vading

the whule of the vast inclosure ; the colou r of the hair,
c<;>mplexion, and costumes of the workwomen perfectly
dtstmct, und er the looms not the slightest trace of
shadow. In fact, the result attained was an absolutely
perfect ideal light for textile work. The bluish tinge of
the arc light itself, when lighting direct, is more apparent
than real, because it does not prevent the most delicate
shades of colour from being appreciated. If, howev er,
ib is considered disagreeable or undesirable it can be
altered, ad it was in this particular weaving factory, by
mixin~ a trace of yellow with the ordinary whitewash;
the cE>iling is then still white, but the apparently bluiah
binge is eliminated.
The result of this visit was the application of four inverted arc lamps in the large low machining room at the
writer's works. Over 50 tons of castings are daily taken
in and out of this room; and there must be at least 300
t ons of castings of various sizes and descripti ons, in progress of treatment, stacked and piled in different places
on the floor; there is, therefore, all the more necessity
for good lighting in ord er to avoid accidents. The darkest
portion of the shop was chosen, and the four arc lam ps
~ere place~ in approximately.the best po~itions for lighta oer~am area. . The cethng. not bemg plastered, it
was constdered advtsable t o natl up to the joists light
soantlin gs, which were afterwards whitewashed. These
lights have now been running almost day and night for
about two years, and with unqualified success. The four
arc lamps have replaced twenty-six glow lamps but
whereas each glow lamp lighted up its own work' only
a.nd ~few inchee arO\~nd, the whole of the area lighted by

lmg

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

555

the four inverted arc lamps is bathed in a gentle tern- part~cularly .grea.t, the cotton used being of the poorest workmen. The only glow lamps used are those in the
perate li~ht, absol utely equal in a.ll parts. This WM quahty. D1rectly over the card ing engmes was a.n aro attic or pattern store, most of which are portable for
encouragmg, as an arrangement of this description in- lamp of more than 1200 candle-\>ower; and during four the purpose of finding patterns on the various shelves ;
vol ves a. heavy expenditure; and it was therefore <:on hours spent in watching and notmg the effect of the lamp and also, stra.ngA though it may seen, two glow lamps in
sidered adv isable to have hrther experience before !{oing upon t~e . fly, on ~ot one single occasion was the slightest the bottom room, for the examination and repair of
more largely into it. ~Ioreover, this plan of lighting spark vtslble outs1de the reflector . Sometimes when the slightly defective flutes. The latter lamps bad to be
would not always be applica ble. If the ceiling were very fly ~as u~usually thick in the .air, O\ving to a. carding applied because the reflected light from the arc lamps
low it would scarcely be practicable, because the arc eng m~ bemg brushed out, a. shgbb coruscation could be g1 ves no shadow ; but in order to perceive the minute
lamp must bang a certain distance below the ceiling and perce1ved near the centre of the reflector, like the twink defects in the flute it is necessary to have a. light that
still leave bead-room. Also t here are places where the ling of a. star; but this would only occur once now and will give a prolonged shadow, for the purpose of exaggeratamount of light required is so small that it would be then. U ndoubtedly a. certain amounb of fly was con- ing what is to be seen. The writer quite thought it
injudicious to go to the expense of applying these lamps, sumed, because when the lamp wa-s lowered for examina would be possible to accomplish the same object by the
which are capable of so much more duty. It was det~r- tion a residue was found in the bottom of the cone corn- use of a reflector ; but the prejudices of the workpeople
mined, howev~r, to make an experiment on a. practical po~ed of the very ligh test. tinder of cotton, but ~tterly were too strong.
scale at the author's worksl a nd with this object to apply unmflammable under any ctr~umstances. In this country
\Vhen first this mode of lighting the rooms was seb
in verted arc lamps for the hghtin g of a. threestorey build- the i~sura.nce companies deolined t~ countenance any going, and the ga-s turned off at the mains, there was
ing with la.rgea.ttic floor above, the latter being used as an expenments, on the ground that mtllowners bad been much grumbl ing of the workmen, who protested it was
iron and woo:l pattern room.
satisfied u p to that time with the ordinary gas light and impo~ible to perform their work by the new light. This
Fi1e I nsurance.- 'Vith the object of avoiding any diffi- with their msurance regulations, and therefore they could difficulty, however, had been foreseen, and they were
cultyin the future, it would seem advisable, before proceed see no good reason for a revolution of ideas. Further informed that as the light had been put in at a large ex
ing with the fu rther developmE1ot of the plan of inverted more the definite allegation was made tbal.l on two occa- pense for their comfort and health, they must at least
arcli~htin~, to consult the insurance companies in each sions fires had been caused in cotton mills abroad which give it a. fair trial. Within six weeks of starting its
indivtdualmstance. 'rho old style of insurance, where were li~hted with arc lamps. Feeling the importance of as- regular working something occurred which prevented
heavy risks were taken by one or two companies only, certainmgwha tamount oftruththerewas intbis statement, the requisite steam power from being furnished to the
has now been altered, so that in large works such as those the author wrote to the proprietor, manager, and others dynamo; and the ga.s had therefore to be turned on
here considered, where the amount of insurance may be interested in each instance. In the tirst it transpired that again, exactly as it had been in the former time. The
near 3001000t. , the risks are di vided among a brge num- not a cotton mill but a cotton store bad been burnt, which result was a. d eputation to the manager on the part of
ber of dtfferent compa.nies, who in their t urn sub-insure was lighted not by arc lampd, but by glow lamps only; the workmen to know what they were to do, a.s they could
their risks in other companies not primarily engaged. and the theory to account for the conflagration wa.s thab not see bow to perform their work by gaslight; and on
There is a t acit understanding between the companies of spontaneous combustion, which is by no means rare one or two occasiona sinoo then, when the light has failed
that one surveyor may act for the whole of them in any when cotton is stored in bulk. In the second instance bhe through one cause or another, the workpeople have de
one particular case, thus judiciously securing uniformity lightin g was not by the open a.rc lamp inside an inverted clined to work with the gas, stating that they preferred
of action. But ib unfortunately happened that the four conical retlector, Lut by an ordinary arc lamp surrounded to wait until the electric light was on again, and that they
lamps in question, which bad been tried for some months with a. glass globe. There was an aperture in the bottom could pull up the time lost.
.Dynamo and Larn.ps.- The dynamo is of Belgian conat the works of the writer's firm, were lent by them, of the lamp ; and owing to some diParrangement of the
along with a dynamo and qri ving powe~, for ~he purpose clockwork regulat ing the carbons, a. portion of a.n incan struction, and known as the four pole dynamo. It runs at
of ascertaining how a certam cotton mtll, wb1ch bad the descent carbon bad been split off, and falling through the 600 revolutions per minute, and gives a. voltage of 115. lb
disad vantage that one corner of the bottom room was aperture upon a mass of cotton beneath bad set it on fire. is driven by a countersba.ft from the main engine driving
darkened by buildings outside, could be li~hted so as to When cotton in a. loose condition does get on fire it is the machinery in the building, a.nd with 60 arc lamps and
replace the missing daylight. The four lamps were much like a train of gunpowder; and this mill, which was 66 inca.ndesceno lamps it absorbs 70 horse-power. The
placed in position a.nd tested. The r esult wa~ fa.r beyond kept in a. condition far from clean, being covered with a. lights are steady and free from fticker; if ever a. lamp is
expectation. Ib was found tha~ the cle~nhness of t.he thickness of fly steeped in oil over the floor, walls, and seen to flicker it may be certainly concluded that it has
work, which is an essential reqmrement. m cotton sp~n - ceiling, became so suddenly a mass of flame that the not been thoroughly cleaned, and that the carbon slides
ning {'Ould be supervised to a. d egree h1therto u~attam- workpeople bad considerable difficulty in making their are sticking in the magnetic brake. Photographs are
ex hibited of ea.cb room a.t 10 o'clock at ni~ht in the
able' by artificial light. .The. owners of ~he mtl~ were exit from the burning building.
Arc Lamp.-The complete absence of danger from the winter; they were taken, of course, from the reHeated
then anxious to adopt th1s kmd of la.mf 1mmed1ately;
but they met with an absolute refusa from t he 1!1 arc lamp used by the author will be more thoroughly ap- light itself, and the exposure was in each case rather less
surance companies to allow any open arc lamp to work m precia.ted from a description of its construction. lb con- th an 10 minutes. Upon examination it will be seen that
a cotton mill. This led to th e question of its further use sists of two carbons of different diameters, the upper or the detail is wonderfully distinct, even at the distance of
in the iron works of the writer>s firm, and at fi~st a. ~la.nk negative carbon being solid, and the lower or positive 120 ft. ; this is particularly noticeable in the photograph
refusa l wa.s received, without a.ny reason bet?g gt ve~; carbon being annular and rather larger in diameter. of the bottom room. Attention must be called to the
but correspondence of some month~ resu~ted m permts Their areas are 0.200 and 0.4 Gsquare inch respectively; absence of shadows. It can be seen that thf\re are no
sion being at length granted t o contmue tts.employment which proportion insures their both consuming at the dark places on the floor, and that underneath the lathes
under certain rigid conditions . . These mdeed ~ere same speed, thereby avoiding the ~eceseit~ of any corn and other machines, although directly below the reflected
reasonable as regards the conductmg a.rea. of the wtres, plicated {'lock work arrangement to d1fferent1ate the apeed light, there i~; no such thing as a detine~ shadow.
Horw-ich L ocomotive Works.-Four mverted arc lamps
he
voltage,
safety
fuses,
and
other
necessary
precauof
the
feed.
In
this
lamp
indeed
there
is
no
clockwork,
t
but the carbons are drawn together by a pulley, string, were tried by Mr. J ~bn A.~ Aspina.ll in one of the ~an
and Yorkshtre Ratlwa.y workshops at Horw1ch,
tiln:~rder to see whether there could be a.ny valid ob- and counterweight, their distanc~ apart being regulated ca.shire
u
th
th
d
in the usual way by a magne~1 c b~a.ke. ~he .Pulley, where, however, owing to the great height at which they
e a.u or ma. e. a weighb and brake are all con tamed m a cyhndrJCal box had to be fixed tb~y were nob successful. They have
jection to its use i.n cotton m~ s,
fairly complete ~Jertes of expertments. The danger m a.ttacb~d to the underside of the cone of the reflector; and since been pla.c~d in the l~rge drawing o.ffices, and the
cotton mills is supposed to be that the. fi~est fibres or the only interruption t.o the ligh~ abov~ is that occasioned light for drawing purposes 1s a~ perfect a hght as can be.
filaments are liable in the process of spmmng to escape by the thin arm forrnmg the chp whtch holds the upper Failing, on acc~>Unt of the he1g~t of the workshop, to
in a certain proportion, under the action of the draught carbon. The ora.ter carbon is here the lower one, in order arrive at a. sa.t1sfactory result wtth: th~ so~ely reBect~d
caused by the mo vin~ parts ; and being .of muc~ the same that the larKer number of rays produced may be thrown light, Mr. Aspin.a ll has. succeeded tn hghtmg the mam
specific gravity as the air, they are ea.~nl.Y earned b~ up upwards. The cone reflector is 25 in. wide a.t the ~op machine-shop wtth ord~na.ry open a!c lamps, each proward draught. When they reaoh any tronwork, ettber and 7 in. a.t the bottom, the ~ngle . of the ~one betng truding through a whitewashed d1.sc formed. of . hg~t
columns beams shafting, or gaspipes, they have a ten 88 d eg. The interior surface ts ordmary whlte enamel hoardings framed together. A curtous combma.tAon ts
dency, o'wiog to' the latant electri city a.lway~ developed upon the sheet-iron exterior. The external a.pl?~a.ra.nce thereby produced of lighting by th<' reflected and the
in textile fabrics, to attach themselves rad.ta.lly t o t~e of the lamp is shown in Fig. 1, and a.l.so the posttu:~n. the direct rays. It has not the whole of the advantages of
electric or magnetic centre; and as the cardmg-~oom atr lamp occupies in relation to the .w.httewashe<! ceiJmg ; the reflected ligbb, because the &ye has a tendency to
in a. cotton mill is a.lwa.ys more or less cbar~ed wtth these and in Fig. 2 a portion of the detatlts .shown separately. glance upward towards the da.zzhng ~res, ~nd sba~ows
fioatin~ filament~, the insurance. compames feared the Each la.mp is balanced by a. counterwetght ~ver pulleys are projected. Nevertheless, the .w nter 1~ convmced
result of combustion by contact wttb the open arc would (Fig. 1); and the counter.weight hangs.convemen tly ~long that by this combination of reftect10n a. ga1.n has ?een
be thab the fire would be conducted. to a d~ngerous side either a wall or a. p 1llar, so that 1t may not he m the achieved of a.t least 25 per cent. over the ordmary dtrect
quarter by the loose filaments a.dbermg to Wlres, &c. way of traffi c. Thus it is easy to lowe~ the lamp for th e arc lighting without reflection; and a.ll concerned are
. . .
.
'!'his fear ts found to be nbsolutely groundless. R eJ?ea.ted purpose of renewi ng spent carbon~, wb10h has to be done satisfied with the result.
Cost.- The question of c~st of electr1~ hghtmg, wht.ch,
and ex tended experiments have in every ca.se fa.tled to about every eight hours, and reqmres not more than one
after all, is of the gre~tesb 1mp?rta.nce. ~~somewhat diffi.
show any indication of danger ~ro,m s.uoh. a. t:aus~. Thd minute pel~ lamp.
P ractical R e3 utts of Wo1king.-:-Tbe plan ~f mverted cult and the writer 1s hardly m a pos1~1on at present to
fallacy of the insurance compames obJect~on 18 rendere
apparent by the fact tb-a.t at the .preaent ttme they allow arc lighting has now been in use '.n some porttons of the sive'data sufficient to be of much practlCa.l value. HaY
open gas jets in all cotton mtlle. If there were any writer 's works for twelve and thtrtee~ hours a. da.y ~ur mg regard to th.e number of . workpeople who could be
danger in an open arc lamp, there would surely be more ing th e last twel ve months, an~ somet~es almost mgbt served with the hght, the cost 1s less than that of gas, and
in open gas jets, which, of course, are more numerous and day; and. the results of lt~ workmg he has e very of course the light is stronger ~nd more general i. so that
than arc lamps would be. Furthermore the arc lamps reason to beheve may be constdered successful. The in respect of candle power 1b would be . co.nstderably
have to be lowered every ei~ht hours of work. for the building, as already mentioned, consists of three storey~, cheaper than gas. In the tbree-stor~y bu1ldmg at ~he
purpose of changing th e carbons. The .gas Jets a~o each room 123 ft. by 55 ft. ; the bottom r~OIJ_l of all ~s author's works there were 502. gas Jets, each burnm.g
turned off when not required, and hghted . aga.m surrounded to such an extent by ot~er buildmgs tba.t lt 4 cubic feet per hour. Gas costmg 2s: 8d . .Per 1000 cub10
when wanted; this may occur t~o or thr~e ttmes a was necessary to keep the gas bu~mng the w.hole of .the feet would therefore come to somethmg hk~ 5s. 4d. per
day. But every time the electrw l_a.mp. lS low~red da.y. In this room the work consists of turmng, flutmg, hour for this consumption. In the 60 electnc la~ps the
it is thoroughly well c~ea.ne~, . whtch ~~ especta.lly poli~hing, and r~pairing ~bat are known as fluted. bottom only consumption is that of the carbon~, wh1ch are
easy, a.s it consists simply In wtpmg the wtre and the r ollers for spinmng ma.cbmes. These rollers requ~re .to ba reckoned a.b ~d. per lamp per hour. Th1~ has. subs~
inside of an enamelled reflector. T o yrove that the arc finished with mathematical accuracy, and the ma)Ortty of quently been reduced considerably, but takmg thts bas1s
60 lamps would together cost 2s. G.d. per h.our for ca.rlamps cannot convey fire by contaot Wlth the cotton fi.b~e, them ha.ve to be channelled or flute~ to the closeness of the
The 66 incandescent lamps wh1ch are mcluded m
the author has let fall in the inverted reflector quantlttes from sixteen to nineteen flutes per mch, the sba.pe of the bons.
of what is termed cotton fly, being the lightest and most flutes b~ing of the greatest importance. In the room a.bov~ the 70 horse-power absorbed by the dynamo would of
add to this cost, as the~ a:re OJ?lY 1000-.hou~ lamps.
inflammable part of cotton fibre; a.nd as soon ~s ~b e level ar e manufactured top rollers to work ~n the fluted rollersd, course
The greatest cost after the or1~ma1msta.lla.~10n 1s del'reof the arc was reached a.nd the top fibres were tgntted, the these also have to be mathematlcally correct, an cia.tion
horse-power. Ta.kmg the whole m~o c~:>nsJ?e
fire spread rapidly round the cone of the reflector ~nd their surface finished to a. high d egree of accuracy. ration, and
is probable that the cost of electr1~ hg~tmg
burnt downwards towards the bottom. ~hen k~epmg In the third room a.re manufactured what are .known would beit more
than that of gas; but as the hg~t ts so
the eye level with the top of the refie~tor, tt was tmpos a.s fl ers having one hollow _leg, tbr~ugh whlo~. the much more satisfactory,
it
may
pro~e . economy m most
sible to see anything escape over thts. level except the
tt!n m~st pass down in a shghtly twisted condtt10n. cases to a.dopb ib. Tbus in the present msta.nce the total
black tinder resulting from the combustiOn o~ the fibr~ or
t the affinity of cotton fibre for metal affected candle wer of the 500 gas jets would be ro';lghly 8500,
fly. With the true cotton itself, smou~derm~ .particles el:~fcally however little, it is evident that any roug~ while
arc and incandescent lamps co?lbmed would
might be seen to the extent of from 4 m. to 6 m. a.b~ve ness of th~ interior surface of t.h ~ hollow leg must e have 73,000 candle power, much of wh1cb, however,
this level; but it was pro\ed that these sm~uldermg re' udicial to the working; a.nd Jt l S therefore n~cessa.ry is of course useless except for the general effect of the
embers had no beat beyond that necessary to giVe th.em fba! the smoothness of finish should be unquestiOnable.
.
.
their colour, for they were not even capable of ex plodmg The attic or roof room is u~ed for the storage of patterns, light.
Conctusion. - Tbe hght
now d escn'b ed h as proved JD
t'
f
ously mentioned In the bottom room there are ractice to fulfil the requirements enumer~ted ~t the
gunpowder .
. .
F or the purpose of further eluc~da.~m~ th~ q ues tonfo ;~ ~:~hines consisting .of lathes and fiutin~.:oachmed
innin~ of this paper as the necessary qua.hficat10ns of
fire risk the author visited a mtll m BelgiUm, not ar and others, 'and employi~g 60 work~enn.13n w~r~e~~~. a. iood artificial light, and for any class of manufacture
from Ghent where very coarse numbers were spun, the room contains 164 machmes, employt gb'"
d 11Z for which ib is applicable. For bleach and dye works,
cotton being of short fibre; and the amount of eva.pora- and in the third room there are 69 ma.o mes an
tjon, as it is termed, of fly from the lower filaments was .

0.

t'he

be

556
where it is necessary to dis tinguish minute differen ces in
sha~es of colour, it must be invaluablle, permitting this
del~cat~ work ~ b e ca~ried ~m in ~he d ull winter days,
wh1oh Is no w difficult, If n ot Impossible. If the ins urance
companies ca.n be persuaded that not only is th~re no
danger from this light, but that it is perhaps safer than
a.ny other mode of lighting, there seems every p ossibility
that the use of the arc lamp will undergo a rapid development.

TEIE CLEVELAND MINING DISTRICT.

T he L ast T wenty Y ears i n the Clevelancl Mini11g District.*
By A DDISON L ANG ITORNE STEAVENSON, M. Ins t. C.E.
H AVING b een requested by the Council t o prepare som e
n ot es upon the Lum psey Mines, which you are about to
visit, the writer thought it would be well to expand the
subject a little, recal1in g the fact that twenty years ago
h e contributed a paper to your Proceedingst on ironstone
mining in Cleveland.
At that time, as a reference to the Annual Reports of
the Government Inspector of M ines shows, th e annual
out,t>ut of ironstone wa.s for the year 1873, 5,435,233 tons;
whils t for the year 1891 it was 5,128,303 t ons. This is
undoubtedly a falling off, the cause of which is h ardly
within the province of the engineer to determine, but he
may with som e satisfaction point t o the fact, that n ot withstanding mines becoming more difficul b t o work as
they becom e older, the number of p ers')ns employed to
produce the sam e quantity of ironstone, ehows very remarkable diminution : Thus for the year 1873 there were
employed 9350, whereas in 1891 there were only 6080;
and a s a result, the t ons got p er annum per person Employed were, in 1873, 581 t ons ; and in 18911 843 t ons; and
the t on s of mineral wrought per life lost were in 1873,
217,409; and in 1891, 394,485.:1: That from the engineer's
p oint of view is very satisfactory, and undoubtedly
shows an economy in the use of m anual labour, and a very
considerable increase in the safet y of those employed,
b eing (wi th the except ion of South Durham distric;t,
when~ the mineraLq raiSed per life lost are practically the
same) far in excess of any other mining dis trict in Great
Britain, the average of G reat Britain and Ireland being
onl~ 1!>5,473 ton s per life lost, or jus t one-half.
'I bat there has not been an increase in the production,
is n o doubt owing t o the fact that efforts were being made
in the earlier p eriod to utilise the st on e from t he poor
d istricts to the south, where it has since been recognised
that to spend money in making r ail ways, op ening mines,
and building furnaces was simply wasting it.
On many occasions before Committees of. both H ouses
of Parliament, the wri ter gave evidence of thit:~, in O,PPO
sition to railway schemes, but without any effect-tron stone had been proved t o be there, a nd it ought to be won
and smelted; but the result, as we see, has been another
exemplification of the truth of the proverb, that " A ll is
not gold tba.t glittePB," a s a visit t o the valley of the Esk,
with its closed mi nes and deserted furnaces, amply
t est ifies.
Still, although there has been no increase in the mining
industry of the dis trict, the original a nd better mines
continue to make large outputs, and some add itional ones
ha. ve been opened.
Amon gst the most noticeable additions are th e Lumpsey
Minea, about two miles to the south-east of Saltburn.
Here two shafts 15 ft. in diam et er were commenced in
April, 1880, and reached the seam, 9! ft. in thickness, at
a. depth of 94 fathoms, in November, 1881. During the
sinking, 1700 gall ons of water per minute were met with;
owing to faults in the s trata, much difficulty was experi
enced in makin g a crib bed for the tubbing or lini!lg, but
this water was eventually successfully t ubbed off m what
is known as the t op seam of Cleveland. This seam is at
the b ottom of the Inferior Oolite m easures, in what is
knowp as the Blea Wyke beds, from their development
at a point on the coast about nine miles south of Wbitby
h aving that n ame.
A full and interesting account of these beds may be
found in the Proceedings of the International Geological
Congress for 1888, p~ge 378.
.
.
.
But for this Inst1tut e, the greatest mterest whiCh t his
t op se~m possesses will probably be found in the various
attempts made to utilise it, n otably those at Glaisdale,
where it :proved too silicious.
.
The wmding engines at these Lumpsey Mmes were
bui]t by J oh n Fowler and Co. , of L eeds; they are a P.air
of 42-in. cylinders, with a O-ft . stroke, a J?-d b ~ve a com cal
d rum increasing from 17 ft. t o 21 ft. m diam eter, and
with it 241 t ons hav e been ra ised in one hour, the g ross
load upon the rope being 8 t ons .12. cwt. The engi ne rests
upon a pillar of concrete, cons1stmg of 12 parte of freeatone t o 1 of cement.
The water shut off by the tubbin~ has b een utilised to
some ext ent, first, for supplying t he boile~s, next for .a
small hydraulic :J?Ump, and lastly, for !'orktng _hydrauhc
machinery to dnll the h <:'les for get~mg . the u onst one.
As these drills are only smted to certam cucums tances, a
s hort description of th em will suffice.
The water carri ed down the shaft in pipes has the pressure of 250 l b. at the bottom, and is t hen con veyed to the
face and actuat es a turbine. The drilling part. of the
machi nery is sim ilar to that of t he petroleum drill, and
may be seen by tbos~ who wish. to d o so. I t has gi ven
much satisfaction d urmg about eight years .
.
But as th ese driJls ca n only be used wh ere the rtse

- * J'a.per roa.d before the I ron and Steel l osLi tn te.

t J ournal of t he Iron and Steel Insti tute, 1874, p. 329.

:t The year 1892 has been omitt ed, on account of the

strike in Durham.
See also " The Yorksh ire Lias, " by T ate and Blake,
pa.ge 18.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
of the seam permits of th e water r unning back to the
shaft bottom and to the pumps, the writer has sought, by
means of the well-known petroleum engine of M essrs.
P riestman Brothers. Limited, to s till furth er ex tend the
valuable a ssistance rend ered by machine drillin g.
In t his case the engine and drill are placed on a suitable
bogey or tram. On th e main shaft of t he engine is a.
V -s haped belt sheave, gi vinli' motion t othe drill by a leather
or gut belt. Further d escnption will be found on page
242 of vol. l v. of ENGINEERING , where the engine is Illustrated, but the following account of the petroleum
engine by Professor R obi nson may be useful. H e says,
"Probably the mos t ingenious part of the engin e is the
vaporiser
for breaking up the oil and mixing it with the

m commg atr.
"The air-pump worked from the main shaft forees air
into th e reservoir, and sends a stream of oil and compressed
air along separate tubes to th e spray-maker; the oil injected through this inverted nozzle is thoroughly broken
up, and intima t ely mixed with the incoming air playing
upon it.
"This mixture of fi ne spray and air is heated and completely vaporised by the bot products of combustion led
round the vapor ising chamber, before being a llowed to
escape by the exhaust . This vapour, thus thoroughly
mixed with air, is drawn throug h an a utomatic suction
val ve into the engine cylinder by the piston in its forward
stroke. After the c;harge of oil vapour a nd air is drawn
into the engine cylinder, it is compressed by th e piston
during the return stroke. H ere a certain small fraction
of the heavier constituents of the oil und oubtedly are
condensed in the cold part of the cylind er wa11s, and go
to keep the cylinder moist a nd well l ubr i~ated , whilst a
larger proportion is evaporated and burned during t he
explosion or working stroke.
"The compressed charge is fi red at the proper momen t
by th e side shaft closing t he battery circuit of an induction coil, and thereby causing a spark to play between the
p oints of the two platinum wires, insulated by the porcelain in the igniting t ubes screwed into the end of the
engin e cylinder.
" The measu red oil consumption com es out, 0.85 pint
of Royal Daylight per brake h orse-power p er hour; taking
the price of this oil deliYered in bulk, as t he American
Oil Company are now doing, 5td. per gallon, th e cost of an
actual brake horse-power by this small engine is less than
! d . p er hour. L arger engines give still greater economy."
These machines have don~ excellent work, d rilling between 60 and 70 holes per shift of about seven hours, and,
as will be seen, requinng no machinery on the surface,
and no p ipes to con vey the power. Nevertheless, w ith
the object of trying- all things, electric ddlls have since
been employe1 a.b the adjoining mines, and drills actuat ed
by compressed air are also in operation at the Skelton
P ark and other mines in the district .
V entilation.-Another feature in the mining of Cleveland has been the ext ensive introduction of powerful
ventilators, by which volumes of air, far in excess of a ny
other district, in proportion to the p ersons em ployed, a re
circulated; thus, taking fi ve large mine~, the ventilation
amounts t o 355 c;ubic feet of air per min ute per person
employed, some of our best ventilated coal mines nob
much exceed ing 200 oub :c feet.
In 1864 there wa.s a Royal Commi ssion appointed to
inquire into the condition of all mines in Great B ritain,
t o which the A ct 23rd a nd 24th of Victoria, cap . 15, d id
not apply, and before this the writ&r bad the honour of
appearing. In the report of this Commission it is taken
a s a reliable estimat e, mad e Ly Professor Liebig, that a
man in twenty-four hours requires 380 cubic feet of air,
so that in Clevelan d in one minute there is as much air
circulated in its mines as would ser ve each p erson employed twenty-four hours.
No doubt the quantity of powder consumed, wh ich
amounts to about 3lb. per miner per day, and the thick ness of the seam, accounts for this large excess of ventilat ion over oth er di striC'I t s. It may fairly be claimed that
the same conditions which prevail in the coal mines of
this country, in which, as was shown by Dr. Ogle,
F.R.C.P., superintendent of statistics in the general
regist er office, a t t he Hygienic Con ~ress in 1891, " t he
death-rate of coal-miners was surpnsingly low, a nd in
spite of their t errible liab ility to accident and their con stant exposure to a tmosphere vitiated by coal dust, foul
air and high temperature, t he mor tali t y figures of these
lab'ourers were considerably below that of all males, "
prevail also in Cleveland. Dr. Ogle fur ther says, "indeed the l ongevi t y of coal min ers appears to be on a par
almo'st with that of agricultural labourers ;" and the
writer feels justified in maintainin g that the idea of an
at mosphere Yitiated by. foul air has no existe~ce in either
our coal or ironstone mmes, but he agrees wtth Dr. Ogle
wh en he says, '' th~ low death-rate of coal miners, as CO!l1
pared with th<;>se m almost every. ot~er branch o~ m
dustry is certamly well worth constdermg by the m m ers
thems~l ves for that in fact, in every district, with one
exception, in which he had examined it, the death rate of
coal miners was lower than that of males of the same age
in th e same country. " He a lso found that coal min ers
suffered less from pht hisis than other members of the
community.
.
The W citer of the Dist1ict. -'l'h~ rooks of the qohte,
overlying th e Lias shalfls and the 1rons~on~, contam, as
we have seen in some parts of the distnct very large
bodies of wat~r, amounting at Lumps~y t_o about 8 to.n s
per minute, and at North Skelton, wh1 ch Is a?out 8: mtl e
to th e wes t of it a.nd at t he c;entre of t he baam, tw1ce a.R
mu<: h. U nder th ese circ;umstances, bofo~e tb ~ re~ov~l
of the pillars some centra] scheme for dealmg w!tb It will
have to be considered, and no doubt that wnter, who,
twenty years hence, records, fo ~ your benefi~, the progress
of th e district, will be able to g1ve you p artteulars of bow
the d ifficulty has been met.

Underground Cct,r riage of the Iron.stone. - The removal

of the stone from the face t o the shaft bottom is effect ed,
firs t, by large horEes, which bring t he wagons t o the
station. This work is at t imes very heavy, and the writer,
by m eans of a d ynamometer, has ascertained that in some
ins tances, for a short d istance, a horse has worked to the
ex tent of five tim es what is considered a nominal horsepower.
From the stations the wagons are brought by rope on
different syst ems, that which the writer ~most gen erally
prefers being the slo w-moving endless rop e.
This will be seen a t the L um psey Mines, the rope being
pai:Ssed underneath the tub on account of the load of ironstone preventing any attachment on the t op.
It may be well here t o "note that experience shows it to
be very des irable, in almost all cases, t o have the hauling
engine on the surface, where its working cond ition can be
seen, and repairs easily affected. M oreover, the hours of
workmen on the surface are longer than th ose below, and
at the week end, where such engines are often used for
pumpin g, this is of particular importance. Fires frequently occur in underground engine houses, either from
the lights of the men, or from spontaneons combust ion of
g reasy waste, and som etimes from the heat generat ed by
t.he brake. The machine on the surface obviates all this,
the hauling ropes bein~ carried down t he shaft.
'l.'he Support of the &of.-The con9umption of timber
in the Cleveland district is very high, especially in the
removal of the pillars) the weight of 200 ft. of L ias shale
above, pressing d own as a solid mass, without any sup
port from intermediate stronger rocks, as in the coal dis
trict. This, however, is unavoidable; but for the main
roads s teel girders have been found efficient, and are now
largely employed, the usual section being 5 in. deep by
4 in. wide and 50 lb. per yard.
P revious to applying them, the writer made some t ests
of t he strength of these gird ers compared with the large
balks of timber commonly used, the girders being supported at each end with 11 ft. between the supports. The
followin g results were obtained :
L oads. D efieotion
T ons.
in Inches.
Girder, 50 lb. per yard .. .
9.36
7. 75 ben t.
7. 37 ,
"
66 "
"
... 12.62
Riga, balk circumference,
25! in.
.. .
...
...
4.60
5. 75 broken.
Larch, balk circum fer
ence, 22i in.
.. .
. ..
4.16
8. 25
"
Norway, balk, 7 in. broad
by 7! in. deep . ..
.. .
4. 58
2.50

"
prove,

These test s were m ad e by the writ er to

by
actual dead load on the centre, what each class would
support ; for although there are many yublisbed tests,
especially of timber, they are all on smal samples, from
which it seem ed unsafe to argue as to their performance
in bulk; and in case of any accident occurring throug h a
broken steel girder, it seemed desirable t o ha ve a record
of t estg actualJy made t o prove their safety.
One important feature was found in the t endency of
girders t o bend. In fact. after several years' practice with
large quantiti es, the writer has only beard of one girder
broken short, whereas in these t ests, the timber, with few
exceptions, broke.
The t est s were made in a selected place underground,
boles being cut in the side near the roof t o receive the
E:nds. From t he cGntre was hung a. lever 12 fb. long, th e
girder or balk ser ving as a fulcr um ; and at the end of
the lever was the body of an old mine tub, whi<:h was
slowly filled by water until the girder or baulk gave
way.
In conclusion, the writer is desirous that your valuable
Ins titute may deri ve m uch ben efit from its visit t o the
d istrict, upon which it has conferred the signal honour of
again meeting with in its borders.
FRENCH M ECHANIOAL l NDUSTRY.-The netprofit realisEd
in 1892-3 by the French Naval and Railway Forges ar.d
Steel Works Company was 204,15ll. Of this sum, however, 10,207l. was carried to t he special r eser ve fundr,
and 103,656l. was applied to balancing off the cost of
sundry new works. The balance available for interest
a nd dividend was a ccordin gly 90,288l., in creased t o
96,078l. by a reliquat of 5790L. brought forward from
1891-2. A di vidend at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum
absorbed G2,222l., 5805l. was paid to the council of administration a nd the adminis trative s taff, 20,000l. was
applied to writing off the cost of the equipment of th e
Adour forges, and 8037l. was carried forward. The
dividend for 1891-2 was at the rat e of 6 per cent. per
annum .
NxwSour n vVALESRAILWAYS - TheTemoraandCoota.mundra Railway (New South \Vales) has been opened for
traffic. The railway is a. light one; it leaves the Great
Southern Railway on the S ydney side of Cootamundra
station, a nd passing in a nor th -westerly direction for
12~ miles, a s far as Yeo Y ea, goes from that point due
west, through S tockinbin gal to T em ora, a. t otal distance
of 37 miles 58 chains 14 links. T he country through which
the line passes is undulating, but a route has been chosen
which does not present any engineering difficulty. The
sharpest g rade is not more than 1 in 75. The contract
for the line was let to M essrs. Baxt er and Sadler, at
84,839l. ; but station and other buiJ<lings have to be
add ed, whi ch, it is thought, will bring t he co~Jt up to
138,000l. The sum spent upon the line at presen b iR
124.:575l. The chief stat ion buildings are at Stocki nbinga1
a na T emora.. Contracts for these have been let, and it is
expected that they will be fin ished by the end of the year.
The coun t ry which will be ser ved by the railway is
chiefly s gricul tural.

Nov. 3, 1893.]
=

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.
W. LLOYD WISE.

CoMPILED BY

557

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

SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
T
mbtr of vilws given in the Specification Dratoi.ngs is stated
~~n~h ctUJC; where none are mentioned, the Specification 18
not tltmtrafed.

f ro_m ~ broad , th e ~,.ames,

ll7
Where
Inventions are communu:~ted
& of the Communicators are gwen ~,n ttaltcs.
~ of Specifications rnoy be obtatned at the P atent O.ffiu
cog~~ Branch, 38, Cun-itor-street, Chancery-'tane, E. C. , at the
<form price of 8d.
l
un. att of th.., advertisement flf the acce'J}tance of a comp ete
The ~ifiC4tion is, in each ca,.,e, given ofter the a.bstr_act,_ unlus the
8f' tent haH been sealed, when tlv date of sealtng \8 gwen .
Pa rso 1~ m<Ly at any time tutlhin two month.~ .from th~ da~ of
~ ;: r:dvertisement of the acceptance of a C?1!"'plete speci}Watton,
.e otice at the Patent O.Olce of oppoSttton to the grant of a
$~~e~t on any of the grounds mentioned in the A ct.

GUNS, &c.
11121. T. Perkes, London. Firearms. [7 FiJB.) June

l893 - This in\'eo t\on consists of me.a&s wher eby the aco1dental
6'
ture falling of the hammer IS prevented, and wher eby
or P~E'!Da er only is required for oper ating both locks of o.. double
b~;re~;!~ gun. The tri_gger , trigger plate, or lor.k p late IS fit~ed
.. b
ivoted "scea.r check," the top en~ of wbtcb en~ages w.t t h
'~t a p and the bottom end with the trfl'ger plate, mto wh1ch
\ ~~~~~tically locks. On raising tb~ t rigger with the .finger,
~h
ear check is carried out of the tnggH pl!Lte by the cu oular
m:tr~n of Lhe t rigger UJ?On its pivot~ thus allowmg the sc_ear to ~e
d When th e gun 1s cooked (Ftg. 1), t h e hammer A IS h eld .n
~~~:position by the scear B engaging in its bent. Th e scear Js

oth er . As tbe ktys C r evohe " ith the s haft A their. beads~~~~
in the groove of the sh eave E, and t he k('yS are h eld 1n or o.t'
MINING AND METALLURGY.
gear with t h e key-ways in the wh eel B according t~ thte P~ 8 l ~o;
16 592. R. B. Grey, Acton, Middlesex. (F. W. Grey of the sheave E'. The thrust blocks F a re made ID. wo a 'e
and 'w. Marsh, On1,aum, Southern bt1ia). Conce~tratiDJ with a ver tical di viding lin e. Th.(' two halves of bth~ tr~ust~~l~~~
Gold Ores. (2 Figs J Sep tember 16, 189 l.-;The obJect of th1s are bolted down between two JOgg les on t.he e P a e
i nvention is to p rovide m~a11s fo.r conc~ntrat1og gold or.es, &c,
in which the con cen t rator 1s prov1ded wtth a n outlet adJusta~le
.1.
relativ('ly to the inlet, a nd also with m eans whereby th~ capac1ty
of t h e passage through which t h e ore passes can be \'<ln .ed. -:t:be
concentrator consists of a cooical inverte~ \'ess.e~ A, prov~de.d w1t.b
W1th1n th1s
911 ppor ts a by which it can be secured. m p osttton.
vessel is placed a box B, of co rr espon~1ng form, so a~ to lel\ve .a
space C between itst>lf and the i!lter_1or of the vessel A. Thts
space C is made adjustable to su1t d1fferent classes ol ore to be
t reated, by securing to tbe or ossbar b fixed to the box a screw D,
wh ich rotates in the ba.r a nd pasaea thr ou~ h a screw nut sup
ported by a saddle-piece a~ b ridgin g the v~sel A, so t hat ~y
mc\\ns of the screw and nut the box can b e r atsed and l owered m
the vessel to enlarge o r co~tract t h e. spacE'. d is a band wh eel for
operating the screw, .a,nd gutdes ar~ p~ voted on the veasel A a.nd.b~x
B r es pecthely to gUlde the latter 1n 1ts m ovement and retam 1t m
p osition. The ore to b e treat('d and mixed with t h e n ecessary
amount of wa~er is introduced a t one en i o f the space C, and

Ftfj . 1.

Fl{J. Z

Fie.Z.
0

Fig .1.

~16310

paeses down through i t and up towards the outlet, which is made

adjustable relatively t o tbe i nlet. T his adjustment is effect ed by
makin~ the upper par t of the vessel A capable of sliding u p a nd
d own 111 guides a-t upon the vessel A, and operating- it by means
of a screw E acre wed to it, so t hat it can r evol ve in it and
pass through a screw nut carried by a saddl e-p iece secur ed to
the vessel A. Water under pressur e is admitted to the s p ace C
from the bottom through a ptpe F, which has a hinged outlet F 2
and val ve .f for the concen t rated material. Th e material to bA
l
co n~entrated is mixed with wa ter and is fed into t bt s pace C, and
is th,re met by an upward curr('nt of water supplied by the pipe
F, the heavier par ticles descending and being disch a rged t hroug h
~ . 8.
tbe pipe F F2 and valve f. whilst t he light particles pass over
the adjustable outl et.
By means of the adjustable space
a nd ou tlet t h e apparatus can be se t to con cen t rate every
c lass of or e, as with a constan t h ead of water t h e rapidity of the
current through t h e space C can be in cr eased by loweriog the box
B, and tbe quality o f the tailings determined by means of the
ad justable outlet a t tbe upper pa. t o f t he vessel A, and t h e qualit.v
eeourely held in tbe b2nt by the scear check E pivoted on the of the concen t rates deter mined by the outlet F2. (~ ccepted Sep
tng 2er c the top end El eogagingo with the s cear and the bottom tember 20, 1893).
end EZ b~ng looked into the proj ect~on Dl. Il t h e scear. B. h as a
14,946. A. Raky, Durrenba.ch, Elsass, Germany.
tendency to move out of the ben t 10 the h ammtr A, 1t JS pre
ve n ~ed from doing so by the scea~ c heck. E, as t~ e g reat er t h e Apparatus for Deep Borings. t5 F igs.) August 4, 1893.
preFsure of the scea.r on El, E ~et!Jg. a p tv<;>ted ll ~b , the !Dore - This invention relates to apparatus for d eep borings in which
rigid rods are employed , actuated from a crank. The bor ing tool,
1 ecurely is E2 locked into Dl , o.nd 1t 1s 1mposs1bl e ~tll the t n {rger
at a g radually in creasing speed, r each es its highest p oint at
c is r3ised (Fig. 2) to release t he ~ce ar B f~om 1~s ~ent. The lifted
scear oheok E. being carried by the t.n gger C, ~Jse~ w1th 1t, and t h e a slowly d ecreasing rate, and drops afterwards at a oonstantly
bottom end El is withdra\\ n from the proJectiOn Dl, and the iocr easin g speed until t he blow tak es place. As soon ae t he segecear B allowed to be tak en from its bent. (A ccepted September 20,
1893).

engine, and t h e T"ertical joint is h eld together by bolts I passi ng

thr ough lugs at the top. Eith er half can then be r emo,e~ .for
exami nation while the engine is r unnin~, the oth er half r emammg
in place in t h e m eantime and transmittmg tb(' thrust to the vessel
or boat. ( Accepted September 20, 1893).

15,501. J. P. Ball, Sydenham, Kent. Steam Gene

rators.

[6 Figs.]

August 15, 1893.-Tbis invention r ela t es to

boilers wher e r apid generat ion of steam is requir ed . The water
tubes c a r e set in the tubeplate b. Around tbe fi regrate a fi re
br ick ring f is s et upon t h e plate b in order to keep the fire togeth er . g is the upper water chamber , and h the tubeplate
for ming the bottom of i t. The cover g 1 o f the chamber g is re
movable to give a ccess to t h e ends of the tubes c. A coatina- i of

rf1J.t.

Flg .1

MACHINE TOOLS, SBAFTING, &o.

12 289. J. R. Denison, Grand Rapids, Kent, Michi
gan, u.s.A. Bench ytce . (2 Figs.J J!-lne 22, 1893.-Th!s

io,'ention relates to q u1ck-actJDg bench ' :tees.. The meta~hc

corner piece J Jl has two upwardly proseeh ng s1des J, co~e rm g
the entire thickness of the wooden top of the bench, standmg "t
right angles longitudinaJly , each wing bein g of the exac t length
of the movable jaw G of tbe vice, and forming the inner jaw.
Both are suppor ~ed upon the bed ~ , wbi~h is se ~u rely attached to
the underside of t he bench , and 1s proVld ed wtth a countersunk
bearing for the rec.eption of a corresponding_ projection on the
up~er side of t he swl,el-plate 0, to fo rm a p1votal cen t re u p on
wh1ch tbe '' ice may be turned from the end to t h e side of t h e
bench. By means of the swi vel-plate 0 the outer jaw o f the vice
is pivotally attached to the bed J' upon the lower surface of the
bench, t hrough the medium of t h e pivo t screw E. The lower
surface of this plate is p rovided with a series of backwardly

. .1 .

fi reclay is used to prevent the parts above the water line from
becoming unduly h eated . k is the fi rebox, and l the entrance to
t he chimney. m are large p i p es p ro' ided f o aid circulation, and
containing within them smaller pipes. The heat of the fir e
actin~ on t he exterior of the pipes m main tai ns an upward cur
rent 1D the annular S{>ace between m a nd n; t h e latt er pipe not
being exposed to th1s influence, carr) ing a counter current.
(~ ccepted Septembe1 20, 1893).

20,824. W. M'G. Greaves, Manchester. Furnaces

and BoUers. [2 F igs.] No\'ember 17, 1892. -In this inYention

the beatand ft a.me of the furnace is a pplied directly to metallic

surfaces, whic h heat the boilEr plates by induction. A m etal
casting A is fu rnished with corrug-ations, and is attacb ('d t o boiler
plates in a longitudinal part of the flu e. B a r e t h e r ings on the

. 1.

Ftj .2

ment has preBSed the tightening pulley P down, t h e belt b is

slackened, so t hat it slips on the p u lley a, t h e rod m tbu<J p u lling
tbe rods o, and being unchecked in its descent, t u r ning the c ran k
and p ulley T quick er. The pulley T is f ree to revol ve at an
increased s p eed, owing to the belO b riding loose. The boring
chisel arri ving at its working p osition, operates at its hig h est
Ppeed . ( Accepted Stptember 20, 1893).

FirJ .1.

.
__......... --
.._ ---- -------- __ ,.,
...

,----~-.,'

ll283 ('. _ __ ::_:$t~:.?;.~

_.. - ..

. ... ,.r------

...-------

, ,.-

----........

STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.

16,910. B. A. and B. A. House, Teddington, and
R. R. Symon, London. Steam, &c., Engines. [2 F igs. )

"-.o:--

.:r:

inclined teeth OJ, engaging with the dog to sustai n the strain
of the vice when it is d tsired to bold an article firmly between the
j ~""s. The do6' is pivoally suppor ted i n the nut block K by h ea,y
lugs ( liip-. 1), 8? t hat the teeth can be raised o r lowered to
enga{e "'ith, or disengage from, the teeth 0 1 on the su rface of the
6wivel bed 0. When the vice i3 closed, the dog is thrown out o f
contact "itb the t eeth b~ turning the ~crew D unti l the pin A
a\ one side near its bl.Ck end come~ in coo tact with the body of
the dog at the ba.rk of its piVotal centre, and, thowing the back
end up, throws the fron t end down and out ot contact, so that t h e
vice is opened without turning the screw, although this pin d oes
not operate the d o~ when t h e jaw of t h e ,ice is par tially open.
The bench screw D is operated by means of the handle I. Th e
b wer portion of t he vice L forms a guide-way fo r t he nut K, as
well as a support tor the back end of the screw D (Fig. 2). ( Ac
:epted S?ptemb ~t 20, 1893).

Sept ember 22, 1892.-Tbisinvention re lates to steam, &c., engines

employed for propelling vessels. The crankshafts A , A1 are connected together by toothed geari n g B, Bl, B2, 8 3, so t hat the two
engines run together a t the same s p etd . The "heel 8 3 is secured
perma.n entl:Y to the c rankshaft Al, and t he wheel B fitted to t h e
s haft A, so that it can either run loosely or be c~ nnected with it
by means of four keys C, adapted to slide io correspond ing g rooves
formed in t he s h aft A. The wh eels 8 1, B2are carrier wheels tu rn in g on stud s 1)1, D2 secured to the framing. The h eads o f t h e
four k eys take into a g roove E in a sh eave El , which can be moved
to and fro longitudinally on t he shaft A. The wh eel B has keyways formed in it co rresp ondin~ t o the keys C, and when these
four ke.}'S a re p ushed into the k ey-ways in the wheel by means
or the s h eave E (Fig. 2), t h e wheel B is connec ted to t h e s haft A
and revolves with it. When , however, the keys Care d rawn back
by the sheave E fre e of the ke~- ways in the w h eel B, the latter is
free to revolveon the shaft A. The four keys C and key-ways in
the wheel B being placed 90 deg. apart r ound t he circumference
of the shaft, admits of t h e w h eel B being fixed to the shaft A in
any one of the fou r positilln tl, so that the two c ranks A2, A3 may
b~ placed in eith er of fou r p ositions with reference to each

water tubes C. Beyond the b ridge H t he whol e of the skin of

t he boiler is covered with the metal casting. In Fig. 2, D is t he
corrugatrd casting fitting in t h e upper part of the flue, E a rP.
cuned side pieces, and F t be wedge-shaped k ('y to hold D and E
i n positio n. G a re strips of angle iron riveted to t h e interior a nd
exter ior of the boiler skin so as to p roject into and absorb t h e hot
gases of t h e flue. (Accepted September 20, 1893).

IIISCELLANEOVS.
20.75<1. B. B. Bates, Yonkers, Westchester, New
York. Spool and Bobbin Holders, &c. [4 lt itJb.]
Novemher 1ts, 1 92.- T his imentio n relates to m eans for h olding
sp ools o r bobbins and supplying t he thread under the proper ten sion to sewing machines, and is especially adapted to booksewing
m achi n es, in which a n umber of s p ools a re u sed simultaneously i n
the machin e. A plate is used i n the form o f a semicir cle with
openings in it into wh ich are in ser ted holder s for t h e bobbins.
Each holder is p r ovidt>d with a stem adapted to the kind of bobbin
used, ar.d t here a r e also tour proj ect ing feet, two of which rest

sss

[Nov. 3, I 893

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

upon the surface of the plate, and two pass t hrough notches and
interlock beneath the plate by a partial r otary movement given
to the bobbin. The bobbins are large, so a.s to bold a sufficient
quantity of thread fo r r apid use in sewing a rticles such as
books. Ea.ob spool h as a flyer having an eye through which the
threa<i passes, as it is drawn along this flyer describing a circle
larger in diameter than the spool, so that the thread is drawn off

provided "ith a h andlE', may be keyed. When the two toothed

wheels are in gear, the latter can be t urned with the former, and
the crankpin ther eby raised or lower ed. U pon the shaft of a
nrank u a. third toothed wheel l is keyed, which g-ears with another
one arranged to turn freely on a fi xed pin, and gearing with a

:f.s

Fig
Fig .1

Fig .Z.

.,

lOJJq _

_,

Fig .Z.

without the risk of t wo or more coils slipping off simultatJeously.

Above t he plate and supported by rods is a st>cond plate, provided
with holes which a re a xially over the respective spools through
which tbe threads pass, and are b rought do\\' n through adjacent
n otches in the plate, a tension spring re~ulated in its action by a
set S.:!rew b eing applied to each thre ad, this tension spr ing bearing
upon the thread and p ressing it down with force upon t h e plate.
(A ccepted September 20, 1893).

&c.

0, D, E are p laced one above the other and mou n ted in bearings
F carried i!l standards G. Pressure is put upon and taken off the
rolls by handwheels Hand screws J, which a re fastened to the

Carriages for Ra.tslng, &c., Loads. [6 Figs. ] November

Er .1.

w.

MUner, L eeds. Rolling Metal Bars,

[2 F igs. ] July 25, 1893.-ln this invention three rolls

14,325. J.

2 1,170. J. T emperley, R elgate, Surrey. Travelling

2 l, 11:s92.- This io vent.ion relates to carriages arranged to

travel along beam s, and having mounted on them pullE-ys o ver
which pass ropes for the purpose of raising or loweri ng loads,
the object being to effect not only the raising and lowering of the
load, but also the tra\'el of the carriage along t h e beam, by the
action of a aingle r ope workl d by a single winch . The beam is
inclintd in one d irect ion , so tbat the ca.'rriage, when free, tends
to run to the one end. The carriage is prodded with two side
cheeks hav in~ wheels \Ybich run on the be!lm, and to tbe~e ch eeks
the body of the carriage is join ted by trunnions, so that it is free
to swing laterally. On the ceutra.l boss through which passes the
spi ndle of the sheave a lever is mounted, the lower arm of which
i:J forked, so that on raising the rope which carries the load a ball
upon it engages in this fork, and moves the lever partly round, so

18, and which a re lined with brass. Each lower bearing block 23
is set by means of a screw spindle 25, working in an internally
screwed block 26, secured to t he side f rame 18, hut removable
from it when requir ed. Each upper bearing 24 is pressEd downwards by springs 27, adjustable by means of a spindle 28, scr ewed
throug h a cover-plate. The upper shaft 16 is d ri ven at a less
speed than the lower abaft 17, and to diminish the tendency to its
being dragged round by the latter at a g r eater speed than its
proper one, it is driven by two belts a cting on pulleys fixed
one on each end of it. The shredding rolls 12, 13 a re built up
each with a series of steel rings of a double bevel o r angular form,
with the bevelled surfaces serrated. As tbe projecting angles of
one roll extend in between those of the other, two half-rings
are put at the ends of one roll, the upper one, 12, to make the
total len~tbs of the two equal.
The serrations of the steel
cutting rings 12, 13 are rounded instead of being angular and
consequen tly d eeper, and t hose of the upper roll are made doublP.
the number and h alf the pitch of those of t he lower ; so t hat the
upper one, which turns the more slowly , ob tains a firm ~rip of
the canes as they g radually pass t hrough, and resists the drag of
the sh redding a ction of the lower r oll. The steel cu tting rings 12,
13 a re fixed on d rums, secu red on the shafts 16, 17 by p inching
screws, the rings b eing made oo fit tightly on the drums by strips
of b rass. Tbe steel cutting r ings at the ends of the rolls a re .fixed
on the bosses of end discs, secured on the shafts 16 , 17, two at
one end by key s, and the others bf slightly tapered bush es, those
at one end b eing tightened by scr ews on the completion of the ad
justment and fi x ing of the parts. I n putting the p a r ts togeth er
the steel cutter rings 12, 13 and end discs ar e strung on the abaft
16, 17, and then the end discs are connected by rods on which
nuts a re screwed so as to draw the parts together tightly.
(.A ccepted Septem be' 20, 1893).

. .I

. 1 , _ K

,.,--rr-'l-r-rr~,-....,o-i--,..ro.rh

(; 'i

'

I<

c:
'

.
c

fifth tooth ed wheel i so that the lattE'r can be connected or discon

nected to or from it by the aid of :l. lever . To retain the harrow
in a raised position (Fig. 1), th e pawl vl is caused to eng age the
ratchet wheel 'V, and t hus bold the cr ank u a.nc\ the crankpin in
the r equired position. (Accepted September 20, 1893).

15,297. W. Smith , Glasgow. ( H . Kidd , S ydney, N ew blocks K by nu ts. The piece of metal is first pa.ased between the
South Wales), . Sug~r Cane Macbl~ery. (9Figs.] August r olls C and D, and after wa rds between the rolls D and E, so that it

11, 189~. -Thtsmventt<?~ r elates to macbm_ery for shr~ddin g sugarcanes m order to famhtate the extra ctton of thetr saccharine
matt er . The canes are deli vered from the upper end of an inclined conveyor 10, down a shoot 11 to the shredding r olls 12
13, after pa~eing through which thty are deliver ed down a shoot
H to the crushing mill 16. T he rolls 12, 13 are on parallel
shaft8 16, 17, h eld in bearings in side frames 18. The bearing of

11,650. B. H. Lake, London. (A. H eine, S ilver Creek,

Chau tau.qua, New .rork, U.S.~.) Combined Gratn

Scourers and Dust Collectors. [5 l''i gs.J June 13, 1893.

- This in vention relates to combined g rain-scouriog m achines

a nd dust collec tors, constructed so that th e ai r cu rretJts a re confined within the ma.rh ioe. The beaters operate at the same time
as part of the scouring mechanism, and as the fan blades by
which the air current is set in motion which circulates in the
machine. The grain which is deliver ed int6 the scouring case at
ooe end is scoured in its passage through it, and the liberated d m t
is driven t hrough the p erforated portions, to~etber wHh the air
set in motion by the beaters, into the upper portions of the dust
SE>parat.ing c hamber oo the outer sid es of :.be p erforated rortions
of the scouring case. Tbe dust and air d e~ce nd in the separatin~
chamber, and the air is compelled by the d efie::ti ng boa rds P to

Rj; .1.

---<

can be fed from either or both sides of the mill, and the necessity
of taking it back a~ain to the side from which it sta.1ted is thus
ob\iated. (.A"eptedSeptember 13, 1893).

--

.1

Fcg .Z

J.

.........o , .

/. ... ...

,~;; 0

.'

that i ts upper arm passes a detent and c omes against a atop; the
~auling of the operating rope pulling the carria~e to the one end
of the beam. When t h e carriag e reaches a stop near this end,
the detent is mo,ect so as to release the lever, but at the same
time the carriage is engaged by a pawl which prevents it from
moving, and then the load can be lowered. On again hauling up
the rope, the ball, again enga~ing with tbe fork, causes the lever
to be again held by the detent, but at the same time releases the
pawl, when the carriage runs to the other end of t he beam.
Here it meets another stop which r eleases the lever, allowing the
load to be lowered or h auled up, and which moves a catch to bold
the carriage in position until the ball again en gages t he lever
releasing the carriage, which can then be hauled along th e beam.
The lower a rm of the fork lever is made in the form of a segment,
so that the fork can be adjusted to various positions on it, to suit
various inclinations of the beam. (Accepted September 20, 1893).

Fig .2.

....

Fig .J.

10,449. H. Jaeniscb, Tscbirnau, Prussla. Revolv

lng Barrow. [6 Figs.] May 27, 1893.-This invention r elates

to revolving harrows. The toothed wheels a and J, the shaft g,
and the b evel wheels m and n set the barrow e in rotation as
soon as t h e rear wheel wl, which is firmly connected to the toothed
wheel d, revol ves. The wbeelj can be thrown out of gear by the
lever z, S\) that whe n the apparatus is.t ravelling from place to place
t he harrow is not oaused to r otate. The vertical rotary axle q is fur
nished with a spring, which moves in a ~roove p of the hub of the
wheel n. This hub turns in a collar bearing o formed in one with
the axle b. The h a rrow can thus be raised in a vert ical direction
while rotating, whenever an obstruction, such as a large stone,
interferes with the action, or when being transpor ted, &c. The
axle q is provided with a g roo \e at its upper part, co.rry ing a collar
q', connected with the link t by a fork, so as to form a joint, this
link consistin~ of t wo flat iron bars, between which is fitted a left.
hand screw by which a nut z can be moved up and down . This
nut is connected with a pin so ~uranged upon its crank that it
can be adjusted by a right-band threaded screw. The upper end
of a spindle is fitted with a tooth ed wheel. The screw spindle
has a quadrangular end, upon which another toothed wheel s',

tra vel nearly to the lower parts of it, where it takes an up Yard
turn and passes through the opening p, and ascends through the
space between the boards to the air outlet opening m , through
which i t passes to the air chamber M. From here it passes into
the upper part of the g rain-receiving hopper J, where it passes
upwardly a round the lower edge of the inclined shelf j , over which
the g rain escapes. The air then takes an ascending course, and
ca rries off the d ust and then tlows upwardly throu~h the airleg
K to the eye h of tbe scouring case, depositing on its way the
heavier ~rad e of the material in the chess hopper Kl. A slight
air cu rrent is drawn upwardly throug h the inner air-leg I , and
passes to the ey e of the scouring case. This current carries with
i\ t he lig h t dust which it has separated fr om the g ra in escaping
through t h e discharge opening of the scouring case, the rela tive
force of th e \'Olume of the air c u rrents p assing upwardly through
the outer and inn er legs K and I being r egulated by a. \al ve il.
(.A ccepted Septembe, 13, 1893).

'
'
'

the b ottom shaft 17 is form ed partly in the frame casting and

part.Jy in a cast-iron cover , bolted on, both cover and bottom
part of the bearing bei ng lined with b rass. The bottom shaft 17
is d rhen by means of a. pulley 20, secured on it outside of one of
th e side fram es 18, and an outer b ea ring is provided to gi\e
steadiness, whilst the bearing nearest the pulley 20 in the frame
18 is made of extra. length, and a space 22 is formed in the casting
round the lower part for tbe passage tbroull'h of water to keep
t he bearing- cool. The upper shaft 16 is h eld in bearing blocks
23, 24, which are adjustable in guide openings in the side frames

UNITED STATES PATNTS AND PATENT PRACTIOE.

Descriptions with illustrations of in ventions patented in t h e
United States of America from 1847 to the present time, and
repor ts of trials of patent law cases in the United States, may be
consulted, gratis, at the offices oi ENGINEERING, 35 and 36, Bedford
street, Strand.

NEw YoRK.-To im
prove the water front in New York for commercial purposes, it is proposed to girdle the city with a four-track
elevated railroad, contiguous to the line of warehouses,
and to compensate for the land thus taktm by extending
the piers 100 ft. further into the water.
MORE ELEVATED R aiLWAYS I-"OR