E N G I N E E RI N G.

everything into consideration, it seems that future

Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Zululand, as well
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH
extensions and feeders should be built for a sum not as the central protectorates, are not included in this
AFRICAN RAILWAYS.
exceeding 5000l . per mile, in all cases where neither Table, as they have no railway interests at present,
large ri vers nor importan t hills or mountains have and their imports and ex ports are more or less
(Continued f rom page 599. )
. WE haYe shown in a pr evious article t hat th e cost to be d ealt with, and in all four Government systems included in those of the older colonies. The Table
shows that progress has been on the whole conof construction in t he Cape Colony for single lines this will generally be the case in- the future.
The source of traffic on South African railways tinued, though gradual, in both the South African
has varied from a maximum of 15,334l. (Alicedale to
Grahamstown) to a minimum of 5993l. (Malmesbury has so far been principally connected with the colonies. The superiority of Natal, due to geograline), t he average cost between 8000l. and 9000l. per mineral wealth of the country. The vast majority phical position, as an outlet for the Transvaal, hHs
mile, and tha.t the ave rage cost in Natal has been of the passengers and goods transported have been been assisted by the relatively lower duties levied
11,153l., or very nearly the same amount (10,649l.) so far directly or indirect ly connected with the two 1 on imports through t hat colony (5l. to 10l. per cent.
1.126.,,249
.,/,
li. FCFI p-~

b.
~11 1 7 ~
2.-~~H . !. .
r1 786 608
I
4
1o
-..
r-: u.
._
I
1
~
7
:l l .,
Ill
1(. ~
PI'
'NA
C
i1, 0001000
HH~~
~~~
8
I~ ,::l. .
6
IN
2, 400,000 H-++++-HH-~++-H-Hf-tf-1+--Hi

Il

~ I,

mt
~

'll

"
900,000
'

rot

~
~

!Mfl ...

I I

I I

l!f'

tr. il 1

IT

..

~~~~~ptj~2,374,47S
Total

800100 0

'
4

_I

2
0

L'

J2J
lt:

'

"

/.( ~

I~

'

5001000
6

H-+++4~~~+++4-H~~
,/~Goooo

,.rr

'

I... I" ~'

4001000

'

r 2X~

4
2

?~

"ffl

Cil Ill

A~
- 0 .'1

M-

Jt

i '1:1

,.

:"-:

!/ ~/1

V
I li
~

~
_, - ;...

...

S..'"
~

i.i

NJ. ...

I /

. ..:

'

-
I

~. ~

11 V

'

..

?~

.,.. I

f"' A

'"

...

Million34

7,!i

7/lflN

U I N - 1/

I"!

11

6
5

2
I

i
I
Ii

-+-~~~++:
~++~~~tij~j~~
Ic I
ll
...,;
7tJ4. N.
"'

'

::

5,40~ 000

2
I

Mill~ I

'.,

s Loo--

3
2
I

~I

: ~'r-..

4&1.-~l
_,.

l.'
~11~
~~
r,.
~t::~
...
~
~

,,.

5 ~ 1 8 . fiV I Z 3 'I 6 6

1 1:1 ' CJ(I I

'

384
372

.-.
'\

,j

~-

'\~~.L+-1
1 f.-1150,00()
-
\

1.

11'

1.1

i~o

ooo

..

2,

I 1'\
I

!
!

w:

/1

1/
~

~,

I
~

.~

2,019,076

" r-:, /,488, 7i 8

IL

I , zoJ, &oJ

.."'I
.:
.:

[,

84

V
f

ctd valorem), and the traffic on its railway system

enhanced t hereby.
The profits derived from t he traffic (omitting

'

'
Rate p er Ton per
Mile up to

1- ~

(t

.......

Years ] Jlf 56 7 8 3.80'' <J 56 1 8

as that of lines belonging to the Cape eastern system

(exclusive of the t wo junction lines), which r esemble them closely in character. In criticising
the :past cost it must be remembered that the
ground covered by t he lines has included a large
proportion on all the systems of heavy work, both
1n surmounting
intervenincr
rancres
of hills and

0
0
mountams, as well as in crossing the larger rivers
of Sou th Africa. (Orange, Vaal, &c.), so that future
work need not be so h eavy. The causes of the
r elatively heavier cost of these lines have been
su fficiently pointed out in a previous article. The
Kl\roo and Kalakari por tions of the lines cost under
600~l . a mile (exclusive of rolling stock), and the
porhr:> ns most rece'"ltly buil ~ even hss
Taking

96

ofMilf 0

If i

I 1,'

11 ZOO,O00
I 08

rtp.sofZ 4
tJ:ous.12

I 32

3G

"

5'

H-H-1#-::~

I 44

600,00
4

168
I

72

-.

'I

408
396

1,8~

-,

204
IJ2

;#

3501 000

'

216

:
lo

I'

2 28

I Alillio11

.!

i
!~
2,400,000

1,'

r;

~~~~~~~~~~~~H-~
. ~4M4~

ssz

27G

t:'l,

286

8
7
G

I
la

.3 12
3,000,OOG

la

~ 11

J 48
336
3 24

. .,

3,600, ()(}0
\

'..

576
S&4

4,200. 0()()

'

OUJ)

t-t-++++r.a~ ~~-r~~~~
~ ~~

504
432
~eoq 000
4 GB
4 56
'I'14
'I32

I!

3
2

14CO, 000 t-t-t+++-H-+-I-++++444H-Jl~ 600. 000

ll

516

'5

Mill~

528

8
7

ri .

588

iJI

~n-++-+++-+.:....r-;
"',r-Hif+-fsoo, ooo
"r a
-,

1lltl "

,'

6/2
000
~ooq

'

1 2 3 45&789 j() 1 23

~600,000

.,

1600,000 H-++-H-HI-J'H-H-+4-HH-H--H '~ODO

I6.$3
8

684
67Z

636
624

648

a.

~~5.

'

,.r

636

3 ~ p, ~ .~ '-:IY r;F

(.

.'

732

~., sa6

1~7.

I/: '

"',

72W.

84(;1130

7,20QO()()
/
11

!i

70lJ
[IS~ -? F; J 4 5 G 1 8 ' 70 I 2 3 4 5 li 7 8 3 IJ() I Z 3 4 S G 7 8 3 90 I Z ;

r '

'2 !l04M.

or ton30
' .~
Yeo rs 'TS 45 G 7 6

1/

Tt:ns of 4
thous! 2

If lW

1/

100,000

~ ~)

'

H-H-++-1-l-++~-+-1~.... .;;
~:1~-+-! 6001000

I I
,.....

I ,\'-

12

18oo,ooo ~t++t+t::t:t=H~t:t::t:i:tt:tt'oo, ooo

12
I

2(JI,OOO
8

ti\f

I.

4
i

H-H-~++++++++-H-H-H-11..!1731, 938

'

8 N.

30Q,OOO
8

H-~~++++++++;;4H~~
1M~iand

~~~~++44~~~~

2000,000 H-+-+++-H-HH-+++-+-HH-~

000

'I

'

'

'n il!:

;
;

4
2

"

t+t:t:tt::t:ttijjtttlitjj'
VO..
-;

Goo,ooo
t'l

~,,,

'
I i-'

4
2

8
7

-a

....

"'

0<

V"'

:.1

c: --

...o

~o t/

23

Colony.

Class.

Description .

33(1
400
Be
Miles. Miles. yond.

great mining centres in the interior (Kimberley and

J ohannesberg). Apart from the above, the only Cape . . First Fancy and manufac tured d .
d.
d.
other important article of export affecting the railstuff ~oods, furniture,
&o.
.
.
..
6
6i
5..
way traffic has been wool. The South African
I
. . Second Manufactur ed
art icles
population, apart from mining, is chiefly engaged in
colonial and foreig~
produce, &c. . .
. . 0. 21 0.23
pastoral and agricultural pursuits, and, therefore,
0.20
materia ls, minerals
not given t o travelling, and relatively to the area " . . Third Raw
frui t for export, &o. . : 0,09 0.089 0.086
of the country, even including "the dusky elements Natal . . Third (Substantially sa.me a.s
Ca.pe first class)
. . 6! any distance
thereof, is small. T heir products and require.. Second
Do.
Do.
61
Do.
t
m ents are also limited, so that in no r espect would
" . . F irRt
Do.
Do.
5
Do.
t
"
they contribu te largely to railway traffic.
The general progr ess of the South African
* With rebate of 15, 20, and 83! p er cent. for Orange F ree State
colonies from 1854 to t he p resent t ime has been , and Transvaal traffic.
Ad ~a.n tag:e ha~ been~ taken ~r supelior geographical position
ho\vevcr , consid er~bl~, as will be seen from the .tn tframtng
t hiS tar1ft' ( =Cap e t.hlrd C'lass), but SU ujeot t o rebate
Tab}f~ wl ich we give on page 657.
or oO per cent. for throu~ h tra ffi c.
11

[DEc. r, 1893

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

beds in reducing the locomotive expenses on Cape this coal = 1 ton of South Wales steam coal. The
railways, and the eastern system providing acce&s results obtained from Tudwe coal are s uperior to
to them was eagerly pushed forward to completion the above, both in thickness of seams (4 ft. 6 in.),
for t his express purpose, but the result has been, on I and in quality (1f tons Tud we = 1 ton English), but
the whole, disappointing. The Cyphergit Mine, the want of rail way communication has so far, by

questions of position and management) depend

chiefly on, first, rate of tolls ; second, cost of fuel and
materials. The tolls on the South African colonial
railways are shown on the previous page.
The cost of fuel and materials has been already
ITEMS ~ EXPENDITVHl

Fig.10

1-+-+++-l-~-H-HH-H--t+fl 1-

T l

Bpc H-+++++-+++-t-iH-t++t- ~ .8 J
1-HI-I--f-Hf-Hr-H-H-H-t-tf i
1. n. s "'

o/- HH~~ ~~~~1H~~HH

~-+J -11-+-1-+-+-+ 1-P. k-+-+-;...~-1-1

TT

H-t-+--'ri++~-Hf-S~i+++++-H
8.7 G IA.l.IJr "
1'.
:.

L--

I':

frJ 7,t54.517 w.

p~., ? 'l.
20Mill~

~ rL~

If

24378,012

~ 7Mll .

r~

fi(L..

7pc

1fff-

18 Mil.
11-

1-1-l-+~+-+++-+-ll-l-1-++-hiH+-+-11f.lrraG:7

18Mil.

15 L. N.

1-1-1-+~+-+++-+-li-I-1-++A-.O+-Hr/81/122 M . W.

.. ,.

\I..

5~
818,898M.

1
~:.
,

820,419N.

14Mil.

I-Hf-Hrt-1H-t+++-H-~+fr-H-fl ll5, /GO L . E.

....

Gpc

GMil .

I
I

/2Mil.

11

11

'

8Mil.

1-+--

rr

4 pc ~1-HI-H-H++++-HrfHt--++-r.-t

4 !rlil.

H--H-++-H--+-1 -

.,'

GMi/.

o/

I-+-H-H-H-1-HH-1f-Hi-44-~H

;_
I

5pc

5 Mi/.

li

..;...+.,i ++++-H-H-H-HI-t-1-H

Jcf

r:

1-'-1 . .,

3, 633,85U.

2Mil.

-~ +ffi-++-++-.f--1-++HI-

li

H-+-t-tt+-++

,...

'I

--

2 pc 1-H-+-+~ ~+-H-+-1--H-~~-~

aMi l .

H H-'H -+-+-HIL HH 1-

t-+-+-+-t--1\ft t ~~~++H~-f-j..-H

,~

IJililr
" ;;.;.:
" v

,.

7IT

1770

160

I
Ill

~
1 -H-H...:+-1-H~

'

~~r+l~i-H~'~++~i~4-l "'

Il l

IMI//ion I pc

!11
H--'Ht-Hiill l~i

1\
I

ISO H-1-H-#-t+-+++++++-+-+++-HH

H-+-++H,-j -+++-1-..J+--1-1--.J-l-1-+4~

Partials

, c

I~

r 5 f

73

I
I

76J

80 I t

I<'.calefor

Ill

11

3 4 ,/i 6 7

so /

ZJ

;
I

~~ ~,++ *r+4+4~~HH~

130

H-~-Hr++.

++~1 44~H4~~~~

120

pc

1- 1-t-H+I-.,._Ht-H-1-+-H-H-++H

(I'~ L)

100

Hl~,~~-~~~
ii ~
i ;

80

J -

l
;

o l

70

- I~

; _ 1I +-+-

~ I

H-il i;.#-11-H+-.._!
: ~;.~HA~I-+-H-H-H
-1,', 1-l-+-lc- H
H-~

90 6.

~ ~ ~~
~ ~~
I: H~
i
,..

H-+ ,: ~0-+'
..

if

'

,_,

- ~ ~~~~

'~

60

50
IJO

( .,; )

alluded to in t h e p receding section, but a few

m ore words on this vital question will be of
inter est. N o coal b elonging to th e true coal
m easures is found in Cape Colony. The Stormbcrg
and T udwe beds belong to the Triassic f0rmations,
and t heir prod ucts ar e by no means equivalent to
those of th ~ Carboniferou3. Gr eat t hings wer e,
h owever, ant icipated from the wor king of these

adj acent to th e main line through t he Stormberg,

is worked on the open gallery system above railway
level, and possesses seams 4 in., 6 in., and 16 in.
thick ( = 26 in. of coal to 28 io. of shale) in a
4ft. 6 in. working. T he consumption per t rainmile of this coal has varied from 68.32 Jb. to
6Z.7lb., and the pr ice from 17s. to 12:t. per ton
at t he mine. In h13ating power about 1~ tons of

--s-

Hi.~
..;,
, . .,..

21\; s 6 r o 9sot e

'4il'
Jet:J

tiO

r endering t he price much closer to t hat of impor ted

coal, limited its employment. F or the last five
years about 10 per cent. of t he total value of
coal consumed on the Cape rail ways has been
colonial coal, and more would have certainly been
used had more care in selecting and picking the
colonial coal at the mines been exercised, as the
pric3 of imported coal, which has varied from 65s.
to 25s. a ton at the various colonial ports, necessarily afforded it a considerable premium. Coal of
a quality superior to t hat of either of the above
fields is raised in t he neighbourhood of K roonstad,
Viljoen's Drift,* and H eilbron in the Orange Free
State on t he Vaal R iver extension, and this is
now beginning to be largely used on t he Cape
railways as a competitor with English and Natal
coal.
Natal has been also placed in a r elatively superior
position to t he Cape in respect to coal, its coal
belonging to t he Carboniferous formation, and
occurring in t hicker seams of more uniform quality,
and costing only 10s. at t he pit's mouth. Now
that t heir rail way 1:4ystem has attained the cen t re of
their coalfield at Dundee, the output last year
amounted to 150,000 tons, and 60, OOOl. worth was
sold t o steamers calling at P or t Natal. The impor tance of t his coalfield in respect to t he carrying
trade of the United ICingclom along the world ' 15
* See

ENGINEERI NG,

page 580 ante.

D Ec. r, I 893. J

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

ret paid the interest on capital. Th e average

1nteres~ on capit~l yielded by the Cape Western
and Mtdland durmg the whole period of working
\' e ~ I s Eo teri ng
has been 3! per cent., on the Cape Eastern
anrl Clea.ri oy.
ono-third per cent. , and on the Natal system 2! per

van ous ports

cent. The present average interest produced by
tons
the four systems is about 4! per cent. on the
capital expenditure, or rather'' less than the rate at
299,596
which the capital has been raised .
926,907
The obdoua deduction from this is that without
direct Government intervention and the aid of the
2,150,000
colonial credit and purse, the building of theo
2,671, 111
South African Government railways muat have
9,9!10,000
l>een necessarily indefinitely postponed to a date
long subsequent t o that which has actually been
autti ~ient to bring them so far on the way to completiOn.

TADLE IN DICATING PROG RE.: S 01<' SOUTH AFRIO.lN COLONIES.

I Yro.r.

I
Area.

Population.

sq. miles

Ex pc.r te.

Imports.

Revenu E>.

J;

I
I

118,256

f w.

1so ' 1 128,931

{ w.

18N

200,610

{ w.

138-!

2H,<i:J6

{wb.

1501

22 1,111

1854

Cape . .

t b.

b.

b.

{ w.
b.

109,92 1 }
138,704
122,740}
129,167
236,783}
48 4,201
3-:10,000
9 12,947
376,9&7}
1, 750, 297

1 51

Na' at ..

1 61

12,561

1374

20,212

188 1

20,461

w.
b.
\\ ,

b.

w.
' b.

1891

20,461

{ w.
b.

Debt.

U ,vernment and
cotporate bodi t>.

.e

663,936

1,453, 728

20G,COO

none

9,59 j,501

2,471,9S9

687.713

1, 009,660

4,693,66 1

6,558,216

1,660,000

2, 320,000

9,170,447

8.894,630

3,918,162

21,671,162

8,672,766

4,149,876

2-1 ,839,161

11,116.231

Still attached to the Oape Oolony.

16,369 }
175,220
18,646 ~
28S,n84
31,912}
386.819
42 769}
5 12,8 17

220,267

691,686

162,241

100,000

92,080

770,094

1,121,94S

26-:1 ,402

331,600

63, U 2

891,747

1, 761,1(\7

620,4 96

2 554,000

231,200

1,18 1,118

3,690,794

1,422,688

5,060.354

564,300
I

great easterly trade route round the Cape cannot part ~ shown the counterpart relative expending
well be overestimated, and it will probably to a necess1ty of each system. It will be at once
great extent once more incline the scale in favour perceived that the inherent earning capacity of the
of t he somewhat discarded open-sea route against Natal system is superior to either of the Cape
the favourite modern Suez Canal route.
systems, and though subject t o precisely the same
'Ve will now consider the diagrams on pages 655 periods of depression, it has evinced more buoyancy
and 656 illustrating the working of the South African than the others. The system approaching the
colonial railways. Fig. 2 shows the relative and closest t o the average of the four is the Cape Midabsolute rate of extension of the various systems. land ; while the worst in every r espect, inherent
1881 to 1883 were years of comparative quiescence, earning capacity, buoyancy, benefit from extension,
as were also 1886 to 1888, chiefly due to the tempo- &c. , has been the Cape Eastern. The expenditure
rary depression of the mining industries of the has been, on the whole, fairly parallel to the earninterior . The years of greatest constructive activity ings, the Cape Midland being again the nearest to
were 1878 to 1880, 1884, and 1891-2. Diagrams the average, while the most extravagant in working
Figs. 3 and 4 show the passengers and t onnage have been the Cape Eastern and the Natal systems ;
carried. These fairly follow the same general in the latter case the earnings being, however, on
feat ures as the construction record (Diagram Fig. 2). the whole the best, and in the former the worst of
It will be noticed, ho wever , that during the first any system, and the causes of the extravagance in
period of constructive q uiescence (1881 to 1884) a the on e being due to the character of the line
first maximum in both classes of t raffic was reached worked, and in t he other to the inherent inferiority
with a total of over 3 million passengers and in earning capacity. The maximum earning per
700,000 t ons of goods. The succeeding minimum mile has been on the N ata.I system (2378l. in
was reached at the end of 1886 with 2! millions of 1890). and the minimum on the Eastern (1886-87),
passengers and 440,000 tons of goods ; since then of 345l. The maximum expenditure has also been
progress in both branches of traffic has been pari on the Natal system (1883-84), of 1710l. per mile,
passH with extension and on a parallel grade. A t and the minimum on the Eastern ( 1888-89), of
the end of 1892 the t otals were about 5! millions for 62l. !Os.
passengers and l l milJions for goods.
Diagram Fig. 10, "Earnings and Expenditure per
Diagram Fig. 5 shows t he t rain-miles run, and Train-Mile," shows the same results, more especially
this also has been fairly parallel to the constructive from the point of view of management, and here
development and the passenger and goods traffic the best in b oth respects has been t he Cape Midexpansion of the various systems. On the whole, land.
however , it would have been more beneficial t o the
Di1gra.m Fig. 11, '~Expenses per Cent. of Earn
earnings had the fluctuations in the traffic been ings. "-This shows the relative working economy of
more closely followed in the working arrangements the various systems. The one which has been the
during the period of depression culminating in most uniformly economical is the Cape Western,
188u-7, as t he train-mileage was proportionately in which has been worked from a maximum of 76.85
excess of what was st rictly indispensable. Start ing per cent. in 1878 to a minimum of 65.3 per cent. in
from a modest total of some 15, 000 miles in 1873, 1888, its average having been about 65 per cent.
the train-mileage reached a first maximum of 3k The least economical has been the Cape Eastern,
millions of miles in 1882-3, then r eceded in 1884-5 which has varied from a. maximum of 175.03 per
t o a. minimum of 2! millions of mile3, and advanced cent. in 1877 t o a minimum of 75.9 per cent. in
progressively to a total of nearly 8! millions in 1889, its average being about 130 per cent., or
double t he Cape Western. The Cape !Yiidland bids
1892.
Diagrams F igs. 6, 7, and 8 show the receipts and fair to be the most economical, as it alone has
the total and detail expenditure on the various reached a minimum of 41.9 per cent. in 1888, and
systems. It is t o be r emarked that the goods r eceipts is likely to remain b elow 50 per cent. for the
on the Cape Midland have been strictly parallel to future. The extensions in the Natal system having
t he general total for all the four systems, which has now reached the coalfields, the economy of workbeen evenly and progressively expanding, with an ing seems to have become equal to the Cape
insignificant maximum in 1882-83 and minimum Western, n otwithstanding its r elative inferiority
in 1883-84, from a t otal of 60, OOOl. in 1873 to in gradients, curves, and length, and may even
2,468,672l. in 1891. This proves that t he rates become lower, though in 1885 it touched a maxihave been subject to temporary adjustment to mum of 105.19 per cent. , and only reached a minicompensate for the falling-off in traffic, culminating mum of 56.90 per cent. in 1889. The present
in 1886-7, which produced no corresponding mi!li- general average of t he four systems is 65 per cent.
Diagram Fig. 12, "Capital Invested ."-The inmum in the receipts. The most even progresstve
expansion in the passenger earnings is noticeable on crease of capital invested on these lines is, as would
the Cape W estern, and in goods on the Cap~ Mid- be i maoined, progressive, and a pretty accurate reland, but in both r espects the Natal system 1s o.nly fie ctio; of the number of miles opened in each year.
Diagram Fig. 13 shows the net earnings in per
slightly inferior. The expenditure has been fatrly
parallel to the receipts throughout, and has be.e n cent. of capital invested on t he various s~ste:ms, that
subject to relative reduction to further neutralise is, their merit as investments. The capttal m vested
the effects of the depression of t raffic which ensued in these systems was raised by Government loans,
with interest ranging from a maximum of 5 per
between 1883 and 1888.
Diagram Fig. 9, '' Earnings and Expend~ture per CEnt. (for small loans) to a minimum of 3! per
Mile Open, " in its upper part shows the relattve ea.~n cEnt., t he average having been 4 per cent. all
this in mind, it appears that none
ing capacity inherent in each system, due to (1) 1ts r ound. Bearino
0
particular position with reference to the sources of of the eystems began to pay interest on capital
traffic, and (2) the effect of extensions. In its lower before 1886-88, and one (the Cape Eastern) has never

(To be continued.)

TURRET LATHES AT THE COLUMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
~HE turret lat he is very extensively used in the

Untted States for the economical production of

t urned work, especially where a large number of
articles of one kind is required, and has come to be
considered a very necessary tool by all engineen
who pride themselves on keeping their establishments up to t he times, and on turning out work at
the least possible cost. The rapidity with which
pins can be made in what is called the "screw
machine '' is simply marvellous, and English engineers will do well to carefully study these machines,
a.nd use them more than t hey do at the present
t1me.
Within the last few years another form of this
machine has come into general favour, and it is
such a radical departure, and has so much wider a
range of uses, that it may well take first place in
this description. It will do all the work that can
be done on the old form of tool, and as well as this
a great deal that is usually only considered possible
on an engine lathe, and now we have a machine
that will turn out work more economically than the
ordinary lathe, even when only one piece of a kind
is required. A bar f in. in diameter and 24 in.
long can be turned as true as in a centre-lathe without a centre being used at all.
The machine referred to is made under the
patents of Mr. J ames Hartness by the J ones and .
L~mson Machine Company, Springfield, Vermont.
I t is called a 2 by 24 flat turret lathe, and is shown
in detail by the illustrations on pages 658 and 659.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the machine, showing the
tools in place ; Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, showing
the general construction of the head and automatic
feed and clutch ; Fig. 3 a cross section, on lines z z
(in Fig. 2) ; Figs. 4 and 5 top and bottom views
of the turret ; Fig. 6 a sectional view of the
turret, showing the operating mechanism and
feed stops in position ; Fig. 8 a sectional view of
the slide bed on line y y (F~ . 8) ; Fig. 9 a crosssection on line x x (Fig. 2) ; and Fig. 7 a plan of
the t urret showing the numbered stop-bars in position. The principal dimensions of the machine are
as follows : Spindle hole, 2! in. in diameter, with
a working length of 24 in. (hence the number of
the machine, 2 by 24). Steel spindle, 3 in. in diameter, with front bearing 4 in. long and back 3 in. ,
carrying a three-speed cone pulley, with steps
r espectively 10! in., 8! in . , and 7 in. in diameter
for a 3!-in. belt ; the back gear is below the spindle,
with a proportion of 4 to 1. The length of bed is
6 ft. 8 in., and it carries a fiat turret plate 16 in. in
diameter by 2 in. thick. The net weight of t he
machine is 2600 lb., with tools and countershaft
3600 lb.
The h eadstock of the machine, shown in Fig. 2,
is very much the same as that used in the ordinary
engine lathe, being made somewhat stiffer, with
cone and back gear proportions of less range, and
equipped with automatic chuck and stock feed,
consisting of feed r olls and gears for driving the
same. The rolls are held against the bar by a
spring pressure, and only revolve when the clutch
is open. When it is closed the r olls act as a carrier
for the bar, and since the roller feed revolves with
the spindle, any shaped bar can be fed. It will
take a bar the full size of the hole, and as the
the power is taken from the machine, it works
equally well wit h light or heavy bars. The back
gear is thrown in and out of operation by a short
lever shown on the front of the head , and another
lever operates the au toma.tic a.nd r oller stock feed.
A tooth clutch ie employed to connect the large

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

[DEc. 1, 1893 .

FLAT TURRET LATHE AT THE

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPO ITION.

CO~STRUCTED BY THE JONE~ AND LA~1SON MACHINE COl\1PANY, SPRINGFIELD, YER~IONT, U.S.A.

Fiy. 1.

Fig.2

'ZOJD 8

gear to the spindle, and a friction clutch , the cone to

the same. The operating lever is connected to the
sliding sleeve of these clutches by a drum that
passes completely through the gear on the spindle.
The back gear shaft is located beneath the spindle
instead of at the back, as is the common practice ;
it is not moved to and from the spindle, buL is continually in gear, and will revolve as long as the
cone is in motion. The bearings of this head are
made of phosphor bronze; the end section of the
rear spindle box and the cap are shown in section
in Fio-. 3. I t will be noticed that the cap is held
in pl:ce by two hollow posts driven tightly into the
main casting. The cap bolts pass loosely through
the posts, and hold th.e box down in its P.r~per
position. The post b~mg well fitted and rtg~dly
held in the matn castmg secures the cap aga1nst
thrusts in every direction, and makes the cap as
firm as the main casting.
The turret and its carriage, being of very different form from that commonly used, are shown
very completely by Figs. 2, 4, 5, G, 7, 8, and 9.
I t will be noticed that the turret is held down
against its carriage by a circular.gib t~at takes be.aring at its outer edge, the c:1rnage 1n turn bemg

Fig3.

gibbed to the outside of the bed. From its peculiar

construction and mounting it will readily be seen
that the cutting tools that are mounted on the
turret are always within the gibbing, and can never
depart a greater amount from true alignment than
that allowed by the slight necessary looseness of
the gibbing. To further secure perfection of control, the index locking-pin of the turret is located
close to its outer edge, directly under the working

tool ; for this reason the side thrust of the work is

never greater on the controlling surface than it is
o~ t~e tool. ~he ~echanism for withdrawing this
p1n 1s shown 1n Ftgs. 2 and 6 ; after it has been
withdrawn it is held out of engagement with the
turret by a latch shown by A in Fig. 9. This latch
is removed from the lever by the point of screw B
when the turret has moved a sufficient distance to
bring the index bushing in the turret in alignment
with the pins in the carriage saddle. By the use
of this latch and screws for disengagino- same 1t
will be readily seen that if we desire t~ havo the
turret pass one of the positions, all that is necessary is to withdraw the scr ew a sufficient distance
to allow it to pass over the latch. One of these
screws is provided for each position of the turret.
Th.e index pin is hardened, ground, and lapped,
an~ 1s closely fitt.e d to. the hardened steel bushing
(F~g. 5), ~rmly drtven mto the saddle casting and
finlShed 1n the same manner. The point of the
index pin enters the steel bushing inserted in the
under side of the turret.
The turret carriage is provided with a power
feed, the power being received from a worm mounted
on a rod that lies along the front of the bed ; this

DEc.

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

1893.]

1,

FLAT TURRET LATHE AT THE WORLD'S

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE JONES AND LAMSON 1\;lACHINE COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, YER~lONT, U.S.A.

Pig.8.

Fig. 5.

Fig 6.

'L030 F

'J.QJO E

Fig.7.

Fig.9.

..

OQO

20JO . H .

worm is thrown in and out of engagement with the

wormwheel by the vertical lever shown on the
face of the apron of the carriage. This feed may
be thrown out automatically at any point for any
position of the turret-in other words, a separate
feed stop is provided for each tool on the turret.
These feed stops (Figs. 2 and 7) consist of long
flat bars which lie on the top of the bed. They
are notched at one end to form a receptacle for
the end of the six pawls located directly over the
stop bars, each being provided with a finger that
takes a bearing on the periphery of the turret. This
outer edge of the turret is grooved at intervals in
such a manner that one of these fingers only will
permit its pawl to drag along the face of the stop
bar, and enter the notch which arrests the motion
of the pawl. The pawls are all mounted on a
single stud carried by the flat bar C, Fig. 6,
having a slight longitudinal travel, and being connected to stud 0 in such a manner as to transmit
a rotary motion to it. The end of the stud forms
a knife-edge that holds the feed lever in a working
position; the instant the stud is revolved the feed
lever is released.
The turret is caused to revolv~ by a rack bar
which engages with a ratchet pinion. The rack
bar carries a swinging cam that depresses the index
pin lever, as previously mentioned. When the
carriage has nearly completed its travel away from
the chuck, the motion of the rack bar is arrested
by the stop g (Fig. 2) ; this causes the index-pin to
be withdrawn, and as soon as this takes place the
ratchet begins to turn the turret, the ratchet-pin
on the turret being some distance from the ratchet
tooth on the gear at the beginning of the travel of
the rack bar.
The bed rests on a framework consisting of
a cabinet leg and drainage pan, and long and
short legs at the outer end of the pan. The
connection of the bed to this framework is
such that any deflection or twisting of the frame
by an uneven or unsteady foundation, cannot be
communicated to the bed. This is obtained by a

three-point bearing scheme, two points being at the

sides of the bed, in the middle of the cabinet leg,
the third at the back end of the bed. It is provided
with two Vs on its upper surface ; on these Vs the
shoes on which the carriage rides take bearing.
It will be noticed that the carriage, instead of
being fitted directly to the Vs, rides on steel shoes,
making _a much better wearing surface, and the
front V (that one which is nearest the driving
mechanism) is the only one that effects the lateral
position of the turret. The shoes on the back V can
thus be left loose laterally, and only serve as a rest
to meet the vertical strains and carry the load of
the carriage. A carriage is provided for screw dies,
and mounted on a slide-bar, shown in Fig. 2. It
swings in and out of working position, and offers
little resistance to the travel of the die ; it is also
provided with a. tool for pointing the end of the
work.
The turning tools are an important item in this class
of machine, and have to be so designed that they can
be given a great range of adjustment, and set in the
shortest J>Ossible time, as in this machine a. variety
of work 1s done, arid the tools altered to suit the
work. They are adjustable for all diameters of
2 in. and under, and are provided with o. cam for
quickly moving the tool into the work to any
desired diameter, and also for withdrawing the
tool. Each turner is provided also with an adjustable back rest, so arranged that it may be made to
precede or to follow the cutter ; it is adjustable to
diameters for the range of the machine, and is held
in position by a latch that may be quickly displaced
to permit t.he withdrawal of the back rest. By the
use of this latch and the lever that operates the
cutting tool, it will be readily seen that the tool
may be opened to pass over a large diameter in
order t.o give it a position at a certain point on the
bar to turn a smaller diameter. The importance
of this feature cannot be overestimated, for it is
that which enables a cut to be begun on a long
slender piece of work at a point near the chuck.
By commencing at this point a true cut may be

started that will travel t oward the end of t.he

work. As soon as the cutting tool has produced a
sufficient surface to give the back rest a suitable
bearing, it is slipped in place. After the latch is
placed back of the work, firmly holding it in position, the machine is ready to turn to its full length
capacity. The lever on the cutting tool is also used
for withdrawing the tool after a cut has been started
towards the chuck for the purpose of preventing
the tool marking the work in running off. The
turret la.the of the old type has only a short working length, because it is necessary in using turret
tools to begin at the outer end of the work. For
this reason true work cannot be produced where
the diameter is small compared with the length,
for it is necessary to have the work rigidly held
against the action of the tool when the cut is
started, otherwise a tool will spring the work out
of truth and the finished bar will not be straight.
The accuracy with which small work can be
turned is entirely due to the tying of the tool and
the rest together, and the starting of the work close
to the chuck. The accuracy of the product of this
method is attested by the fact that users of this
machine are turning running shafts that re
quire true work. All the parts of this lathe itself
that come within the capacity of the machine are
made by the manufacturers on a regular machine of
this kind. An oil pump for supplying a continuous
stream of oil is fixed to the machine, and the general
design and workmanship are up to the usual first
rate work done by makers of high-class machine
tools in the United States.

HISTORICAL ELECTRICAL APP ARATUS AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.

IT is a natural feeling to wish to see men who
have attained eminence in any of the Yarious walks
of life ; and, for the students of science, there is
little doubt that the discoverer, the successful
inv~stig~tor, the authoritative writer, have special
fasc1natlon. Many of the casual visitors at the

660
Royal Institution '' Friday evenings," at the
meetings of the Physical Society, the Civil or
Electrical Engineers, are often quite as curious
about tohom as about what they are to see ; and we
know that scores of men attended the sessions of
the Electrical Congress, r ecently held at Chicago,
chiefly to see such leaders of scientific thought as
Helmholtz, Mascart, Rowland, Preece, Ayrton,
Hospitallier, Nikola Tesla, Elihu Thomson, &c.
Next to meeting those, whose names are identified with the progress of science, one likes t o see
the tools with which they worked, the apparatus
with which they succeeded in inducing Nature to
disclose to them some of her secrets. Surely the
sight of Torricelli's tube, of Galileo's telescope, or
an element of Volta's "pile," would awaken some
enthusiasm even in the most professedly phlegmatic.
This thought was often in our mind as we went
on our daily stroll through the buildings of the
World's Fair. While admiring the triumphs of
invention and the achievements of mechanical
skill, we often sought, with eager eye, for some
of the handiwork of the masters of our own craft.
N 0r was our quest wholly unrewarded, for, with
patience and diligence, we succeeded in finding a
number of objects specially dear to the student of
physical science.
As is well known, s~me of the earliest work in
electrostatic induction was done by Professor
J oseph Henry in 1832 and the following years.
For fourteen years he held the chair of Natural
Philosophy in Prince ton College, New Jersey ; and
when, in 1846, he accepted the secretaryship of the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, with appropriate feeling and characteristic generosity he
donated his apparatus to the laboratory of the New
Jersey college he was le1ving. Knowing the value
of this bequest, the fa~ulty of Princeton were well
advised when they decided upon making it the
nucleus of t he extensive exhibit which they were
sending to the World's Fair. There, in the Liberal
Arts Building, we had the advantage of finding (1)
:he ribbon spirals from which Henry obtained a
J umervus progeny of induced currents of various
Orders ; (2) the L'- yden jar with which he discovered
}he oscillatory character of condenser discharges ;
and (3) the Galvanic magnet from which, independently of our own Faraday, he elicited the first
electro-magnetic spark.
It was indeed a pleasure to see and a privilege to
handle these and other pieces of home-made apparatus with which so many and such pregnant discoveries were made. It thus happened that while
some of the leading electricians of Europe and
America, assembl~d in the Hall of Columbus,
Chicago, were deciding finally to call the unit of
self-induction the hemy, scores of humble students
were seeking out the Princeton exhibit to honour
Henry's genius.
In another building - -the Electrical- we were
fortunate enough to discover a most interesting and
valuable relic of Henry's illustrious contemporary,
Samuel B . Morae, the code-giver of electric telegraphy. It was protected from the touch of the
profannm vulgus by a glass case, and jealously
guarded by a fine marble bust of the great inventor
himself. In the large wooden model we soon
r ecoCYnised the original of the ubiquitous "Morae
receiver. " Though made of common deal, it was
the concrete solution which the American "Professor " offered in 1836 of the problem of rapid and
accurate telegraphy. More than fifty years have
gone by, and still the Morae continues t<;> ~e t~e
recipient of our despatches. Doubtless It 1s th1s
long-lived utility and success that the descendants
of Professor Morse wished to emphasise by placing
a small and elegant every-day receiver side by side
with its roughly made prototype.
A few paces from this telegraphic group we
found a noble bust of Oyrus W. Field, looking ~ig
nificantly-we would say complacently-a~ a tmy
piece of the cable of 1858; and well he might, for
that little fragment speaks no less eloquently than
the chiselled marble of his energy and perseverance,
which so largely contributed to the final success
of ocean teleCYraphy. His first Atlantic venture
deservedly holds the position of honour amidst
its numerous lineal descendants here represented,
viz., the Direct United States Cable, the AngloAmerican, the Jay Gould, the Mackay-Benne~t,
the French Atlantic, and several others made m
the busy workshops of Messrs. S iemens Brothers.
In a gallery of thi3 same building w~ found a
sm~ll collection of apparc1tus that obv10usly be-

E N G I N E E R 1N G.
longed to t he historical class. It was profusely
decorated with black velvet hangings, each streamer
being relieved by a long flash of most angular
lightning traced in broad silvery braid. The group
was further ornamented with busts of those
energetic pionet'rs, Samuel von Sommering, Philip
Reis, and the indefatigable W erner von Siemens,
whilst Karl Gauss and Wilhelm Weber looked
smilingly down from their artistic medallions. It
was evident that we were in Germany, and that
we had before us a few of the solid products of the
fertile German mind.
Yes ; there we found the selfsame magnetoelectric telegraph made and worked hy Gauss and
Weber at Gottingen in 1833, and also the first
machine built in Germany involving the dynamoelectric principle-viz., the exalting of the infinitesimal residual " field" to an intense degree
by the mutual action of the field-magnets and the
rotating armature. It is not a little curious to
note that the discovery of this fundamental principle should have occurred to three investigators
almost at the same time in 1866- viz., Cromwell
Varley, Dr. 'Verner von Siemens, and Sir Charles
Wheatstone, and also that each should have constructed for himself a dynamo embodying it. The
electrician is now as well off as his brother
astronomer or mathematician, for in this triple
event he has a parallel for the independent discovery of Neptune by Adams and Leverrier, and
the simultaneous origination of the Calculus by
Newton and Leibnitz.
Of no small interest, although it has been so often
exhibited, was the collection of our own Postal
Telegraph Department. It was naturally assigned to
the Electricity Building, where it was well displayed
in the middle aisle. It was, indeed, fortunate t hat
this collection was sent to Chicago, for it was the
only thing in the British section of the Electrical
Building worthy of notice. Though surrounded by
humming motors, revolving lighthouse lenses, and
many attractive applications of the alternating
current, it eff~ctively differentiated itself, and constantly drew its groups of active inspectors. On
that long table, it is not too much to say, there lay
an abridged history of English telegraphy. Needle
instruments multiple and single, resietance coils,
relays, universal switches, glass and porceb.in insulators, and a great variety of other appliances
testified to the vigorous way in which English
inventors and men of science grapple:! with the
difficulties that successively arose in telegraphic
communication. Wheatstone's famous instrument
of 1837 was conspicuous by its large lozenge-shaped
dial-plate and its five magnetic needles. It was
inte-resting to turn from this telegraph, which
required five distinct lines, to Delany's multiplex
transmitter, which allows six messages to be
sent on one line at the same time.* Great as is
this achievement of the New York electrician,
we seem not to be fully satisfied, for we find people
eagerly seeking to abolish even this single line
itself, hoping to discover a means of sending our
messages through free space on the crest of fleet
electric waves. Some future International Exhibition will, doubtless, have among its special attractions the electric-r adiation apparatus with which an
Edison or a Tesla will have solved this tempting
problem of contemporary telegraphy. In the meantime, we must learn to be content with our quadruplex Delanies, aided as they will soon be by telautoWhile musing over the possible
graphic Grays. t
complete disappearance of our multitudinous airline~, we took increased interest in examining the
2-ft. specimen shown of the earliest of our English
lines, viz., that laid down in 1837 between L ondon
and Camden Town by Cooke and 'Vheatstone.
The copper wire was inserted bare in a deep gr~ove
made in a piece of wood, and then buried in the
ground. The circuit was completely metallic, the
earth not being used for '' the return. " As has been
remark~d, Wheatstone and Cooke had to invent
not only their instruments, but the very line itself.
One of the vicissitudes to which telegraph poles
are exposed was very aptly illustrated. It appears
that there are various explanations current of the
musical note emitted by these long poles. The common wayfar er notices it! and, witho.ut. any superfluous reflection, feels quite sure that It IS due to the
messages chasing one another along the wire ; the

[DEc.

r, r8gj.

more thoughtful pedestrian, on the other hand,

looks upon it as a case of vibrations, the taut wire
quivering in the wind, and the wooden post
responding sympathetically. But some members
of the feathered race entertain quite a different
opinion. They seem to be persuaded that the
shrill sound comes from an insect housed within
the wood ; and forth with they proceed to the
attack in order to get a.t the savoury morsel. The
woodpecker is notorious for these depredations ;
he does not cease nibbling until he has pecked his
way to the very core, and discovered th at his whirring insect is still as far away from his sharp horny
beak as ever. But the mischief is then done; the
pole is weakenei, and at the first blast will snap in
two. This episode in the life of our telegraph
timber is illustrated by a stout piece of larch, with
one of these deluded birds wasting its energy in completing a deep conical perforation. The illustration
is decidedly happy and realistic.
Resting up against this post is a frame which
contains a printed notice that appeared to us of no
inconsiderable interest. It sets forth, in the sty le
of the day, the capabilities of the telegraph working between Paddington and Slough, soliciting at
the same time the support of the public for an
enterprise as important as novel. It reads thus :
UNDER THE PATRONAGE 01<' HER MAJESTY
AND H.R H. PRINCE ALBERT.

GALVANIC AND MAGNETIC

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

The Public are respectfully informed that this interesting and most extraordinary apparatus, by which upwards
of fifty eignals can be transmitted to a distance of 280,000
miles in one minute, may be seen in operation daily (Sun
day excepted) from 9 till 8 at the
TELEGRAPH 0J:o' J.' ICR, PADDINGTON,
AND

TELEGRAPH

CCTTAGE,

SLOUG H.

Admission, ls.
Despatches instantaneously sent to and fro with the
most confidin~ secrecy. Post horses and conveyances of
every desoript10n may be ordered by the electric tele~aph
to be in readiness on the arrival of a train at either Paddington or Slough Station.
The terms for sending a despatch ordering post horses,
&c., only one shilling.
N.B.-Messengers in constant attendance, so that com
munications received by telegraph would be forwarded, if
required, to any pa.rtl of London, Windsor, Eton, &c.
THOMAS H ORNE,

L icensee.

This rare document shows that, in those early

days of the electric telegraph, an operator could
attain a speed of fifty signals per minute, a performance not a little creditable when we consider
the novelty of the work, the complexity of the
code, and the imperfection of the instruments
themselves. To-day it is not uncommon for telegraphists to send out of our principal stations messages at the rate of 500 or 600 words per minute.
Great as is this feat, we have no assurance, however, that it is final ; it may be greatly surpassed
in t he expected wireless system of the future.
We may here observe t hat the unwary readers
of the Paddington notice would be likely to
infer that the electric current travelled along to
Slough- a distance of 20 miles- at the rate
of 280,000 miles per minute. This, however,
was not quite the information intended to be
conveyed by its framers. The minute had reference
to t he signals, and as fifty of thent could be
despatched in that brief period, the av~rage was
nearly one per second. As all the signals travelled
with equal speed, one second would be the time
occupied by the current in flashing over the stated
distance of 280,000 miles. This extraordinary
number was the value deduced by Wheatstone
from the famous experiments which he made in
1834 at King's College, L ondon, with Leyden jars
and a small rotating mirror. We know to-day that
Wheatstone's number is excessive, for the speed
with which an electric disturbance is propagated
through free space is the same as the velocity of
light-viz., 186,000 miles per second. In air-lines,
and especially in submarine cables, this speed is
considerably reduced by their resistance and impedance.
Submarine telegraphy we found illustrated by
specimens of a few of the early cables placed side
by side with some of the many n erve-threads that
quiver every day with the intelligence of two worlds.
* This fine instrument was introduced into our Postal First among these is the gutta-percha-covered wire
Telegraph Service in 1884 by Mr. W. H . Preece, F.R.S. , laid in 1850 by the enterprising Mr. Brett between
the distinguished Engineer-in-Chief of the General Post Dover and Calais.
It was the first conductor ever
Office, L ondon.
submerged ; and, being insufficiently protected
t See ENGINEERING, October 27, 1893.

Dtc.

1,

r893.]

against the friction of the r ocks, it survived only a

day- j ust long ~nou gh, however, ~ sav~ the co?cession. The piece sho wn at Chicago Is 1 ft. 1n
lenath, and is inclosed in a glass tube for the sake
of protection. It was picked up in 1875, after
lying ingloriously at the bottom of t he Channel
for a quarter of a century.
The first Atlantic cable (1858) finds fitting representation in this collection. True, it is not served
with the best insulating compound, nor protected
with t he most effective sheathing, but for all that
it is the cable primeval, its seven-wire core having
conveyed the first cong ratulations from the Old
\Vorld to theNew. Its life was short, but brilliantly useful. Its first lispings were greeted on
August 5, and its last words heard on September 4.
On the same table on which this fragment lies, and
close to it, is the instrument which, most probably,
was the cause of its premature death. This grimlooking apparatus is an induct ion coil of unusual construction. In 1858 it was thought that an ordinary
battery would be unable to force its current through
the long conductor lying on the ocean floor between
Valencia and St. John's, Newfoundland. Accordingly, a soft-iron cylinder, about 4 in. in diameter
and 3 ft. in length, was procured, and round it was
wrapped a numbar of t urns of thin, well-insulated
copper wire. This constituted the "secondary"
coil ; the " primary " consisted of a few convolutions of thick wire wound over the secondary. By
this arrangement, a converter was formed which,
in the opinion of the times, was necessary to exalt
the battery electromotive force so as to enable it
t o overcome the impedance of the submerged cable.
In this case, practice was in advance of theory; and
the repeated applicat ion of the high-pressure
currents probably p erforated the slender dielectric,
and destroyed the great and expensive achievement
of Sir Charles Bright, Mr. Whitehouse, and Cyrus
W. Field.
Besides the apparatus to which we have briefly
referred, our Postal Telegraph collection contains
such other historical instruments as B ain's electrochemical telegraph, Varley's globular lightningprotector of 1861, a small Peltier electrometer for
estimating the potential at any point in t he air,
vVheatstone's resistance coils of 1838, and Edwin
Clarke's block-signalling apparatus.
In additon to these older forms, the Department
shows some of the typical instruments used in
every-day service, such as sounders, fast-speed
repeaters, quadruplex transmitters, condensers,
pneumatic-tube signalling instruments, telephonic
switchboards, &c.
Nothing has been omitted to make the collection
worthy of the subject and creditable to the Department.

LITERATURE.
Public Health Problems. By JoHN F. J . SYKES, B.Sc.,
M. B. London: Waiter Scott, Limited. [Price 3s. 6d.]

WE have in the volume before us the result of

an attempt to bring to a focus some of the essential
points connected wit h the spread of disease, and
with the preservation of t he health of t he community at large, as viewed by a public officer of
health. It is thus,a volume of very considerable
interest to t he engineer, notwithstanding the fact
that it is written from an almost exclusively m edical
standpoint, whilst to those who have the r esponsibility of the administration of the law relating to
public health the book will be simply invaluable.
It is, indeed, much to be regretted that ins truction
in these matters is so greatly needed, particularly
in rural districts, where sanitation is s~illlargely in
the hands of the local well-to-do grocer or draper,
men of the best intention, but, nevertheless, neither
competent to decide upon the grave matters connected with hygiene, nor to appoint the proper
officers to do the necessary work. These latter are
too often much underpaid and overworked, and
although their precise duties are not the burden of
the book under review, yet its study must lead t o
a better appreciation of them.
Public health, as the a uthor points out, requires
the consensus of the opinions of all, before t he best
means to secure it can be successfully adopted and
h.ence is largely dependent upon the state of educa~ton. _The_ exact condition of the public health
Itself 1s dtfficult to estimate, for it is mainly
measured by negatives, such as a low rate of mortality, and, ~I though statistics are kept of the health
of the men 1n theAnnyand Navy, yet such positive

E N C 1 N E E R l N G.
information cannob possibly be obtained as r egards
civilians. The author lays further stress also upon
a fact that amateur politicians would do well to
recognise more-the fact t hat ''State r emedies
cannot be applied in advance of public opinion,
and this is slow to m ove. " But in discussing the
remedies for the morbid social conditions set up by
an abn ormal concentration of the population in
large towns, he, himself, seems inclined to fall into
the very error of narrow views he would save others
from, and puts forwal'd the opinions of a rather
advanced section of the medical profession as the
only ones worthy of r espect, all others in opposition
being viewed as simply due to the inertia of ignorance. Of course this may be true, but, only t o
take the cases quoted by the author, many educated
people have serious objections to the practice of
cremation caused by the state of public knowledge
alone, and the indiscriminate muzzling of d ogs did
not m eet with universal approval from even the
medical profession. Remedies for any abnormal
condition involve details which often prove troublesome to carry out, and many excellent social designs
have fallen to the ground owing to some d etail of
this kind being involved in them. The rest raint,
too, upon the individual for the general good, is a
matter of public policy, and where such a question
of policy can be solved in several ways, then that
solution which will interfere the least with t he
liberty and conscience of the subject will be the on e
to oommand the readiest support; in any case mere
departmental convenience should sink into a
secondary place whenever public morals ar e concerned, and even efficiency from a medical point of
view cannot be allowed the first place in such cases.
The book displays admirable method. It is divided
into !jeveral distinct parts, and these again into
chapters, but each chapter leads well up to the
next.
Naturally, since public health has very
la rgely to d o with the prevention of disease, and
with the average of the separate states of individuals,
it is most appropriate to first consider the factor s of
life common to all individuals. Amongst these
factors, the influence of heredity has the first pla~e,
and is very ably dealt with. In the course of the
chapter the well-being of the nation is clearly
shown to be ultimately d ependent upon the adoption
of good habits by i ndividuals.
Education can
assist very greatly in this, but in reading the b ook
one much regrets that the moral element in individuals is so much ignored. The teaching that
"The first r equisite of life is to be a good animal,
and to be a nation of good animals is the first condition of national prosperity, " is admittedly good
as far as it goes, but surely can be pushed too far.
All, however, will agree with the author that if
there is one subject that should be compulsory in
all schools without exce{'tion, it is the science and
art of living in accordance with the rules of health.
The influence of the home, however, must in the
great maj ority of cases far outweigh any school
teaching, and is the cause of t he gr eat difficulty of
effecting much good in this respect am ongst the
masses.
The surroundings of the individual form the next
object of attention, and physical, chemical, and
biological influences a re success ively dealt with.
The author rightly treats t.hem separately, for they
widely diffar in the mode of their action, though
each involves the operation of the other two. The
ohapter upon physical influences is accompanied by
some very instructive tables and charts, by means
of which many facts, already well known, are m ade
to appeal with fresh force to the mind. Incidentally,
to show the effect of cold upon the young, the
author refers to the different ratio of area to contents exhibited by models whose dimensions differ,
and is betrayed into a little error j nevertheless, he
calls attention to facts often overlooked.
Venti_lation is dealt, with under the heading of
'' Chem1cal Influences, ' and here the author gives
a good many useful figures. H e holds to the excellent rule, that each adult should have 1000
cubic feet of air space, and that the air should be
renewed three times every hour, hut at the same
time . points ou_t t~at t h e word '' overcrowding "
has httle meaning 1f the rate of renewal of the air
is ignored, for th e air in a sailor's narrow '' bunk "
in a ship at sea may be, and often is, preferable to
that in a fair-sized bedroom, although the former
may only g ive 72 cubic feet of space, and the latter
1000, for each occupant.
The serious results
brought about by fogs are well exhibited by the
graphic meteorological records of the winter
1879-80, presumably for London, where the mor-

661
---

tality curve r eached a maximum double its normal

value immediately after the periods of ~ensest f?g.
The third class of influences to whiCh the Individual is subject are those of a biologica~ n!ltu_re,
and a short chapter is devoted to the co_ns1d~rat10n
of them, a detailed discussion under varwus aspects
of the question being continued m ore or lass
throughout the greater parb of the r emainder of the
book.
The chapte1 s dealing with the communicability ?f
disease are full of interest, although they form, In
places, somewhat heavy reading. Ample I'eference
will be here found t o the latest research, and carefully tabulated d etails are given of the manner in
which each of the more impmtant diseases is disseminated, as well as maps of the r egions subject
to certain epidemics. 'l'he author in a most interesting manner furth er enlarges upon t his branch
of t he subj ect under t he heading " Modification~,"
and in this manner revie ws the m emorable work of
P asteur upon anthrax and similar diseases. The
review would, ind<'ed, still bear much further elabor ation, but unfortunately m edical science is not competent yet to give us very definite quantitative information upon the question of the virulence of
any disease ; still, there can be n o reasonable
d oubt that epidemics d o, from some cause, vary
very much in their intensity at different times, and
the resulting death rate is but a rough measure of
the modification.
Having traced the modes of communication of
disease, the author proceeds to ccnsider the defensive measures that have been taken against them.
The first public course adopted was that of quarantine, and the many modifications of the system are
very graphically described, from the revolting p est
house to the most elaborate refinement of French
prc1ctice. It is also clearly shown that the great
scourges of the human race- cholera, yellow fever,
and plague-have been steadily fought, and that
t he primary importance of local sanitation, rather
than quarantine, has gr~dualJ y been more and
more recognised, and in this way the compulsory
notification of disease has become a necessity. The
author discusses the somewhat delicate question at
considerable length, and, it must be r ecognised, with
great ability and wide range of thought. In this, as
in other t opics of the same kind, so many problems
have to be studied together, with moral, physical,
and legal considerations in connection with each,
that it is no wonder different opinions should often
exist. In this country it has been for some time
compulsory t o notify most of the known diseases;
nevertheless, the author carries conviction that our
practice is still deficient. The isolation, in a.
suitable manner, of the infectious sick is manifestly one of the objects of compulsory notification, and it is not at all reassuring to read h ow
many weaknesses exist in our present system.
Much has still to be done before t he provision of
suitable hospitals at a distance from other human
habitations is completed, and often there is necessity in making a hospital of the patient's own house,
and providing p roper sh elter for t he other members
of his household elsewhere, and so isolating them
for a time.
The equipment of hospitals is briefly conaidered,
only the important points being noted. Much of
the chapter r efers to the excellent practice of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, a nd the author goes
so far as to give us a plan of L or,don showing the
system of telephone lines and ambulance service
for use in that district. In connection with the
question of isolation, the author instances the case
of Leicester, where smallpox has been s uccessfully
kept down by the enforcement of immediate n otification a nd isolation of the disease, and the disinfection of all surroundings. The persons who have
c<;>me into c?nta.ct with the disease are, in that city, ~
either vaocmated or else detained under observation until the expir~tion <?f the incubation period of
the malady. He gnres his own and orth odox view
of vaccination elsewhere in t he book. The author
is able to give us a description of a disinfection
plant, with many notes collected from actual practice, besides a n!smnt of the more or less exact researc~es that have been ma~e as to the efficiency of
hot au, steam, or of chenucal agencies for use in
~isinfection. The utter fallacy of much of what
1s k nown by that name is manifest indeed it seems
advisable to burn all infected arti~les that can be
burnt, and, after "disinfecting " the remainder to
treat them with the greatest caution.
'
The extension of protective methods to diseases
other than smallpox is evidently gaining good

t:t:l

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662

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663

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

893. J

TEN-WHEELED PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE: WORLD'S

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY,

1\lONTREAL.

(For Description, see Page 664.)

ground, though success has been more marked in

the treatment of animals than in man. Animal
diseases are not recognised by the public to the
extent that t heir seriousness demands, and the
difficulty of deciding what meat is dangerous for
food is often great. Much depends upon the
thoroughness of the cooking, and the danger to the
public is greatest when the food is consumed without cooking, as is too often the case with milk. On
reading what the author has to tell us upon the
subject, we again become painfully conscious of the
extent to which we are dependent upon the cooperation, with the inspectors, of more or less
interested dealers, and of the desirability of extending the power of the former in the public
interest.
The fourth part of the b ook deals with the conditions of life peculiar t o t owns, with the essentials
connected with healthy dwelling-rooms, and with
healthy houses. All the larger questions of sanitation are purposely avoided, and the remarks themselves are to a great extent confined to the conditions of life of the industrial classes, consequently
there is only a small amount of matter of direct
engineering interest. The extended use of concrete
under houses advocated by the author, though
expensive, is a. practice much t o be desired, but it
would be well in fut ure editions to wage war against
' the use of the only partially dry timber in houses
that is responsible for so very much indirect
mischief. A number of details are given of the
etceteras belonging to houses, and there are some
capital remarks upon h ouse planning and draining.
\Ve must congratulate the writer on having been
able to bring together so much matter of importance and interest to the whole community in such
a handy form. The style is necessarily very condensed, but technicalities have to a great extent
been avoided. A few, however, remain, and it
would be an improvement t o expunge them for the
benefit of the general reader, whose hands such an
important book as this ls should reach.
Pola-r-isation Rotatoir c, R~flexion et R efraction Vitreuses,
Rfjlexion Metallique. Par G. Fou.-sEREAU (Ma1tre de

Conferences a la .Faculte des Sciences de Paris). Paris :

Georges Carre.
The volume of M. F ou ssereau, consisting of a collection of lectures deliver8d at t he Sorbonne in
Paris, is designed more particularly as a text-book
for candidates to the "agregation, " t hat i~, the admission to t he teaching staff of the universities and
higher schools. Accordingly the aim of the author
has been to prepare a t hor oughly efficient and upto-date treatise on polarisation which may serve
as an introduction to the special works on the
various branch es of the subject. More than onethird of the book , which contains 343 pages, is
occupied with the discussion under various s ubdivisions of simple rotary polarisation, and the
remaining part of the book is taken up in almost
equal proportions with the questions of magnetic
rotary polarisation, vitreous reflection and re-

fraction, and metallic reflection. Little previous

acquaintance with other branches of optics is
assumed, and the mathe matical apparatus u sed
has been made as elementary as possible, the
calculus bein g seldom resorted t o, and then only
in easy applications. We must congratulate M.
Foussereau on havin g combined that sort of
thoroughness for which the Germans have in gen eral
the best reputation, with all the lucidity of exprespression and argument of the French. The book,
h owever, contains nothing absolutely n ew, though
the results of late researches by Gouy, Lord Rayleigh, Wiener, and others, are embodied. As an
example of detail, there is a considerable section of
a chapter on elliptic reflection devoted to the consideration of the influence of the purity of the surfaces : "Investigators were t oo little concerned, in
the experiments of which we have just spoken,
with t he research of a reflecting surface not soiled
from the surrounding atmosphere, and of which the
physical condition was the same as that of the
underlying layers. That precaution we shall see to
have been necessary.
"M. Drude was the first who was able to show, in
1889, the influence of the alteration of the surface
upon the nature of the phen omena.. If we take a
crystal of rock salt, and observe immediately the
light reflected upon the surface of cleavage, the
observation confirms the ideas of Fresn el - the
ellipticity is insensible. After a little time the
ellipticity appears, and increases up to a certain
limit.
"Lord Rayleigh has quite recently extended these
results t o the case of liquids, and has d emonstrated
that the formul re of Fresnel are verified if a new
and p erfectly clean surface be taken, whereas one
is brought back to the concl~sions of Jam in if
there be d eposited on the surface of the water a
layer of grease, of which the thickness is less than
~ millimetre.
That thickness it is which prevents the gyration of camphor. . . . "
An idea of the sty le of the book may be gained
by a brief quotation from the chapter on metallic
reflection in reference to some r ecent experiments
by M. Otto Wiener on interference of incident and
reflected rays : ' ' An incident ray and a reflected
ray which corresponds to it present a difference of
phase equal to the route traversed augmented by
the r e tardation due to the reflection. If A is t he
length of the wave near the reflecting surface, z the
distance of the point considered from the surface, i
the angle of incidence, a the retarda tion due to reflection, the difference of phase of the incident ray
and t he reflected ray is
2z
a +A
..
oos 1.

The minima will be given by the relation

ct + - 2 z

A cos i

=2n + l.
2

"If the light is polarised in the second azimuth,

the vibrations t o be composed form an angle equal
t o 2 i. The inten sity of the r esultant vibration is
equal to
2
2
l + a + 2 a cos 2 i cos
+ A cos 1'' The maxima and minima are d etermined as
before. In the last case, however, they may disappear. This occurs when the incidence is such
that the last term is 0, or

(a

z .).

Cos 2 i = 0,
or

''If now we know a, the preceding formuJ re will

give us the distance of the first max imum or the
first minimum from the r e fl ecting surface. Take
th e simplest case- that of glass. F or light polarised
in t he first azimuth,
a-7r
- ,

the reflecting surface is a minimum.

' ' If the light is polarised in the second azimuth,
a= 0,

and con sequently a maximum on the surface for

incidences more feeble t han the principal incidence.
F?r . larger incidences the reflect ing surface is a
m1n1mum.
''M. Otto Wien er has given the name 'stationary
waves ' t o the maxi ma and minima which we have
just defined. .He has experimentally verified the
results just obtained. That verification is of great
interest, f or the rea~ on that the theories of N ewman
and MacCullagb, supposing the vibration is
situated in the plane of the wave, lead us to assia n
to the maxima the place which we have obtain:d
for the minima, and inversely. These experimenb,
then, should settle the question of the orientation
of the vibration with respect to the plane of p olarisation.
"It is difficult to demonstrate thAse interferences
because the successive planes which contain th~
maxima of intensity are at distances equal at
greatest to half the length of the wave. M. Wiener
produces the r eflect ion upon a. mirror of silver, and
places near t he surface a very thin film of photographic collodion. It is placed obliquely to the
surface, and consequently to the plan es of maxima
and minima, but the angle which it forms with
them is so small that the intersections with two
successive planes are at an appreciable distance.
If th~ s~stem so arranged be . illuminated by the
electnc hght, the photographic film receiv~s an
" Suppose, then, the ligh t polarised in the first impression. T~e maxima of light a.re represented
azimuth. The component vibrations are parallel. by the black frmges, perfectly clear and distinct
The maxima of inten sity will occur at distances when the n egative is developed. "
'
from the reflecting surface defined by the relation
The chapter is concluded with a brief but interesti~ g refere~10e to t~e experiments of M. Lippa + 2 z =Jn .
A cos i
2
mann 1n adaptmg the Interference of rays direct

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Centre of cylinder to centre
and r eflected t o solving a standard problem- the
driv ing axle
...
...
photographic reproduction of colours.
Altogether the book is well arranged, clear in B oiler:
Pressure per sq ua.re inch . . .
explanations, and within its scope comprehensive
L ength of barrel . . .
. ..
and workmanlike.

BOOKS RECEIVED.
The M echanics flj H oisting M achinery. By D r. J cuu
\VEl BACH and Professor GuSTAV H ERRMANN. Authori sed tran~lation from the second German edition by
KABL P . DAHL TRO~r, M. :K With 177 illu3trations.
L ondon and New York : Macmillan and Co. [Price
12~ . Gd.]
Concrete; Its Nature and Uses. By GEORGE L . SoTCLII<'l'E
' Vith illustration~. L ondon : Crosby L ockwood and
Son.
Th e Principles of W ater Works E nginetrinp. By J . H.
T unsn&RY T uRNER, B .Sc. , and A. W. BRIGBTMORE,
M .Sc.
L ondon : E. and F. N . Spon; New York :
Spon a.nd Chamberlain.
F irst Principles of Electrical Engineering. By C. H. \V.
BrGGS. New Edition-partly r ewritten and extended.
Illustrated. IJond ou : Biggs and Co. [Pti ce 2s. 6d.]
A Field B ook for Civil Engiruers. By D ANIEL CARHART,
C.E. Boston, U.S. A.: Ginn and Co.
Machinery for MctClliferous Mines. By E. H ENRY DAVIES,
F.G.S. With upwards of 300 illustrations. L ondon :
Crosbv L ockwood and Son.
The Daw n of Civilisation; orJ.. England i n the N i neteenth
Century. Edited by J. C. ~PENCF.. L ondon : Watts
and Co.
Die Dampfmaschinen unter hauptsiichlichster B crucksichtigung completer Dampjanlagen sowie Ma'rktfiihiger Maschintn. Bearbeitet von H ERl\f. H AET>F.lt.
Ftinftes
Ta.usend. Mit 174 1 Figuren, 242 Ta.bellen, und za.hlreichen Beispielen. Dusseldorf : L . Schwann. [ Price
10 matks,]

LOCOMOTIVE AT THE 'VORLD'S

COLOMBIAN EXPOSITION.

TnE Canadian Pacific R 'lilway sent to t he \Vorld'd

Col umb ian Expo3ition a. \ery handsome vestibule train
drawn by the locomoti ve which we illustrate on pages
662 and G63. It runs on six co upled wheels 5 ft. 9 in.
in diam et er, and a four-wheeled truck. The cylinders
are J9 in. in d iamet er by 24 in. s troke, and stand
7 f t. 2 in. aput, ct-ntre to centre. The driving wheel
base is 13ft. 3 in. and th e rig id wheel base 6 ft. 9 in,
th e lead ing pair of driving wheels being flangeless t o
r ender the passage of curves more easy. The truck
wh eel base is 5 ft. 3 in., and the to:al w heel base
22 ft. 10 in. The boiler is of large s i7.e, th e h eating
surface being- in the tube3, 1300.9 square feet ; in
the firebox, 144.4 square feet; or total, 1445.3 squarc
f eet. The weigh t i n work ing order is 125,000 lb.
This engine was designed and built under the
di rection of the late .Mr. D. P r eston, mechanical
superintendent of th e Canadian Pc1cific Railway Compan y . I t will be seen that the firebox is o'er the
rear axte, a nd between the frames. The forward end
of the g rate is s!oping, and the dump grate is at the
back end. The wa ter leg is 3 in. wide at the sides
and back , and 3! i n. in fr ont. \Ve give other particul ars in tabular form :
P rincip:1.l D imensions of Canadian Pacific
L ocomotive No. G25.
Cylinders and M otion :
Diameter by stroke.. .
...
.. . 19 in. by 24 in.
7 ft. 2 in.
Distance apa.rt of centres ...
.. .
Steam ports .. .
.. .
.. .
.. . lR in. by 1 ht in.
Exhaust ports
.. .
.. .
.. . 18 in. by 3! in.
3i in.
Diameter of piston-rod
...
.. .
9 ft. 4 in.
IJength of connecting-rod ...
...
J ourna.l of connecti ng-rod, lengt.h
by diameter
.. .
. ..
.. . 5~ in. by 4J in.
Valves...
.. .
. ..
.. .
.. . D elancAy balance
V a.lve travel .. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
6! in.
., l ap
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
~ in.
Throw of ecce-ntrics...
...
. ..
5~ in.
Wheels a11d F rames :
G
Driving wheels, in number
...
,
d iameter
over
5 ft. 9 in.
tyres...
. ..
.. .
..
.. .
D l iving wheel tyres, width by
thickness ..
. ..
. ..
.. . 5! in. by 3 in.
1 ri ving wheel tyres (bald), width
by thi ckness
. ..
. ..
.. . Gin. by 3 in.
Driving ax le jou1nals, diamett:r
by ltmgth ...
.. .
. ..
.. . 8 in. by 8~ in.
Truck wheels, number
...
.. .
4
diameter ...
...
~0 in.
,
type...
...
. .. Krupp wrought,
iron disc.
Truck tyreE~, w~dth by thickness .. . 5 in. by 2! in.
,
axle journaha, diameter by
length
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. . 5 in. by 8 in.
( L 1.tera.l moti<?n
... -lcontroll ~d by stde
...
...
Type of truck
Fixed wheel base ...

...
...
Driving
,
...
,
Truck

,,
of engine
T otal
,,
,
of engine
...
t ender
...
...
...
Thickness of frames
...
'Vidth over frames ...
...
id th between t.yres

'V

...
. ..
...

and
...

...

...

...

s prm~s.

G ft. 9 m.
1 ~ ft. 3 in.
5 ft. 3 in.
~2 ft. 10 in.

48 ft. 4i in.
3! in.
4 ft. 3 in.
4 ft. 5~ in.

of

. ..

13ft. 4 in.

. ..
180 lb.
. ..
12 ft. 6~ in.
Diameter of outside...
...
...
4ft. 10 in.
SI
'fbickness of plates .. .
.. .
. ..
nr ID.
,
tu beplates .. .
.. .
! in.

firebox shell sides .. .

,&' lD
.

,
,
back .. .
Tl ID.
.
firebox top .. .
,
. ..
l"tl 10.
,
,
inside crown
~ in.
,
, inside sides
.
and back .. .
.. .
.. .
...
r '6 tn.
L ength of inside firebox . . .
. ..
8 ft. 7 i /fi in.
Inside fi rebox width a.t bottom ...
2ft. 11 in.
,
,
top
...
4 ft. 6 in.
,
total depth .. .
.. .
5 ft. 111 in.
Outside firebox length
. ..
.. .
9 ft. 4 in.
,
,
width at bottom ...
3 ft. G; in.
Number of tubes
...
...
. ..
155
E xternal diam eter of t ubes
.. .
2! in.
Description of t ubes
.. .
.. . "Ser ve" ribbed
patent
L ength between tubepla.tes
... 12ft. 10! in .
H eating surface of tubes .. .
... 1300.9 sq. ft.
144.4 sq. ft.
,,
firebox .. .
...
",
14t5.3 eq. ft.
,
total
...
..
25. 39 sq. ft.
G rate area. . ..
.. .
.. .
.. .
W -ight in working order on truck
27,000 lb.
!)3,000 l b.
,
dri vera
,"
,
t otal ...
125,000 lb.
T ender :
Capacity water
... ... ... 3000 imp. gals.
10 tons
,
coal. ..
...
...
.. .
Weight empty
...
38,000 lb.
...
...
T t nder frame
...
Oak
...
, trucks
... ... .. . Wrought iron
... Krupp wrought, wheels
...
...
iron diec 40 in.
tyres ...
..
... SieruensMartin steel
~

"

THE .JULL CENTRIFUGAL SNOW EXCAVATOR AT THE \VORLD'S COLOMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
FoRT U ~ATELY

[DEc.

I, I 893 .

an h our. The exca.vator reached Baker City, Oregon,

on the mornin g of January 18, 1890. At this point
six trains h ad been imprisoned by the snow for a
period of nine days. 1'he block ade between Baker
City aud La Grande, a distance of 62 miles, had proved
to be absolutely im p regnable. The J ull excavator
began its attack upon this hitherto impregnable
blockade of snow at Baker City, Oregon, at noon of
January 18. Numerous drifts of hard snow, varying
in depth from 6 ft. t o 12 f t., and in length from a
quarter to a half-mile, were encountered. The excavator cleared these without d ifficulty. At T eloca.set,
Oregon, distant 43 miles from Bak er City, operations
w ere delayed for twelve hours by two derailed locomotives, which had been inaccessible, until the exca.\ator p loughed away the drifts which h emmed them
in. The h eaviest drifts which were en countered lay
between Tel ocaset and Un ion, a d istance of about six
miles. A t some points between these stations the
snow was 8 ft. deep on one track and 25 ft. deep on
the other, and so hard that it would support men
without any appreciable effect upon the surface of the
snow. This was steadily cleared wi thout serious
trouble. The snow shed just east of U nion was pack ed
nearly full of snow. This shed was cl eared by our
excavator by knocking off from the side of the shed
occasional boards, so as to afford an opening through
which the snow could be thrown. At Union, Oregon,
two more trains were snowed in, which were released.
From U nion to La G rand e, a distance of thirtee!l
miles, many l ong drifts of deep hard snow were cleared
by the excavator. I t r each ed L a Grand e at 4 30
o'clock in t h e afternoon of January 20, having cons um ed 52~ hours of ti me, including the twel ve hours'
del ay on accoun t of derailed locomotives, in raising
' this memorable snow blockade, unparalleled in the
history of r ailroads. At La Gran de two t rains had
been detained for several days, unable to proceed
eastward from t hat point, which were released by the
exca,ator ."
This deecription shows very forcibl y the difficulties
that railway managers have to contend with in
America, and the powerful instrument for clearing
snow drifts which has been put into t heir hands by
the Jull Manufacturing Company, of 189, Montagncstreet, Brooklyn, U.S. A.

we know but li ttle of "snow

blockades " in England. Occasionally a train gets
detained for a few hours, and the passengers suffer
from col d a.nd want of food, but the case is exceptional, and is soon forgotten. In some parts of the
S tates vast sums have to be spent each winter in r emoving snvw, and still larger sums are lost by the delay
of traffic. 1 ome branch li nes frank ly accept the
sit uation, and close for th e season when t h e snowstorms commence. Of course the main lines ca.nnot
act so philosophically, and have to clear their tracks
whatever t h e cost. For this purpose several appliance&,
other tha n the ordinary snow ploughs, have been devised to cut a way through drift by steam power. One
of the most successful of thE se is the Jull CE'ntrifugal
snow excavator, illustrated on page 666. This is a
very powerful appliance, capable of cutting its way
t hrough drifts of any depth, provided they do not tower
over its upper edge. It is pushed forward by a
locomoti ,-e, or in some cases by two. The edges of the
case cu t their way into the drift, directing a column of
snow into the interior. In this there re\olves a cone, resembling a g igantic auger. This does not r evohe axiall y
in t h e track, but somewhat across it, the point of the
con e being at the l eft- hand Lottom corner of the
casing, with the base d irected t owar ds the opposite
diagonal corner (Fig. 4). This is seen more chal'ly by
reference to a n illustration published on page 244 of
our forty eighth volume. Upon the cone are curved
helical vane3 of gradually increasing w idth. These
pass the snow backwards and outwards , im parting to
it a. very h igh ,elocity, by which it is finally ejected
through openings in the roof of the casing, either to
right or left, as required.
The cone is rotated t hrough bevel gearing by a pair
of engines (Figs. 2 t o 4), having cylinders (l!'igs. 5 and
6) 18 in . in d iameter by 24 in. stroke. These engines,
with the 800 horse-power boiler which supplies t h em
with steam, are contained in a covered car, running on
two twel ve-wheel ed trucks. They run at 320 revolutions per minute when at full speed. The total weight
is 55 tons.
The following account of a trip made by the first of
these machines is interesting:
''The firs t machine ever built by the company was
d elivered to t he Union Pacific Rail way for i ts Kansas
Division, but after the violent snowst orms upon its
0. R. and N. Division, the excavator was ordered west,
to open the b lockade upon that division, the rotary
ploughs of the company having proved inadequat e
to the purpose. The ,J ull excavator encountered the
first snow just west of Granger, Wyoming, on January
16, 1R9Q. From Granger, "\Vyoming , to Huntington,
Oregon, a d istance of 541 miles, hard drifted snow was
encountered, vary ing in depth from 4ft. to 5 ft. This
pro\ed no obstacle to the rapid progress of the excavator. From Huutinoton t o Baker City, Oregon, a
distance of 38 miles, heavy, hard drifts of snow were
encountered, averaging 6 ft. in depth. These were
passed through steadily at the rate ot about ei~ht miles

TRIPLE-EXPANSION ENGINES FOR

T U RKISH GUNBOATS.
\VE illustrate on the two -page plate accompanying
this issue, and on page 670, a set of triple expansion
engines which have sp~cial interest, for not only h ave
they been constr ucted in Turkey- in theN aval Arsenal
at Constantinople- but they were d esigned by a
Turkish engineer, Colonel Ahmed. They were constructed for gunboats for the Turkish Navy, and designed to develop 400 indicated horse-power when
working at a speed (Jf 140 revol utions p er minute.
The engines, which have open framing, admitting of a
supervision of all parts, as wi ll be seeu from the drawings, are of the ordinary triple-expansion inverted
three-crank type, although the cylinders are not
placed in the usual sequence, the high.pressure being
placed in the centre, between the intermediate and
low-pressure cylinders. Tbe diameters of the cylinders
a re 13! i n., 20;f in., and 3 1! in. r espectively, with n.
piston str oke of 21 in. Owing t o the fore-and-aft
space in the engine-room being limited, Joy's Yalve
gear has been arlopted. There are two vah es for the
low-pressure cylinder, construct ed from the same
pat terns as that for the h igh-pressu re cylinder ( Fig. 3).
All the clearance spaces have been reduced to the
minimum, and the passages have been arranged as
d irect as possi ble. The areas of the steam and exhaust
ports are as follows :
Steam.
Exhaust.
Rq. In.
Sq. In.
High-pressure cylinder
11.32
11.52
Intermedi ate pressure
cylinder
...
.. .
13.75
2G.48
L ow-pressure cylinder...
25
44.6!
The cut off of the high-pressure cylinder is fi xed at
. 55 per cent. of t he stroke; of the intermediate
cylind er, .60 per cent.; and of the lowpressure
cylinder, . 76 per cent. The d iameter of the pistonrod, which is of iron, is 2~ in. over thread, and 3 in. at
the stuffing- box. The connecting-rod is 42 in. long,
the area of guide-block surface being 59.125 square
inches. The crankshaft is 6 in. in d iameter, w ith
6i in. by 7 in. long crankpins, while the length of the
bearings is 10~ in. The condenser is placed, as usual,
at the back of the eng ines. Tbe tubes are of ~-in .
external diameter and 7 ft. long between plates. They
are packed with screwed gl:l.nds. The t otal cooling
surface is 694 square feet. The air and circulating
pumps are worked from the crossheads of the in ter mediate and low preesure eng ines respectively. The
circulating pump (Figs. 1, 3, and 6) is double-acting,
with a. cylinder 11 in. in diameter by 6 in. stroke, t he
area through the valves being 2(3 square inches. The
air-pump, which is singleactillg, has a cylinder 12~ in .
in diameter by 6 in. stroke, the area throu~h va.l v~~

ENGINEERING,

DECEMBER

1, 1893.

T R I P L E -EX P A N S I 0 N E N G I N E S F 0 R T U R I< I S H

G U N B 0 A T S.

CONSTRUCTED AT THE NAVAL ARSENAL, CONSTANTINOPLE.

(FM lJe&:riptioll, ue POt)e 664.)

Fi{/.2

::>

Fig.l.

[MC

c.

) jl

...

-- 7

....

,
J

Fig. 4.

.I

t---r~ F=

Ifg./J.

nu
I
I

I
F

1
"'

'trd ...1 ch c f

'

I"

DEc. r, r893l
being 22.758 square inches. The diameter of the discharge pipe is 41 ~n .
.
.
Steam is supphed from a double-ended cylmdn~a.l
boiler with two furnaces at each end. The external
diameter of the boiler is 9 ft. 4~ in., and the length
13 ft. 10~ in. The furnaces are 33 in. in diameter,
outside measurement, and the length of the g rate is
4ft. 6 in., the t otal heating surface being 40.58 square
feet. There are in all 34.-7 tubes, all of brass, the ext ernal diameter being 2~ in. and the length 4 ft. 9 in.
The ra.tio of the b eating surface of the tubes to the grate
area is 22.44, and th e ratio of grate area to th e sectional area. of the tubes 4.64. The feed pump has a
cylinder 3:1 in. in diameter by 6 in. stroke, and
th ere is a similar pump for bilge duty, but any or
both might be used for either purpose.
The screw propeller, which has three blades, is 7ft.
in diameter, the pitch being 9 ft. 6 in. The proj ec ted
area of all the blades is 12. 6 square feet, and t he de
Yeloped area. 16 sq uare feet.
THE LATE MR. JOHN BAILEY DENTON.
TuE death of :Mr. l:hiley Denton, which took place
on the 19 th ul t. at Orclurd Court, tevenage, r emoves
from our midst an eminent civil engineer, who had
occupied a prominent position in the country for very
many years. H e commenced life as a pupil of L ord
Dacre's agent at Barton, and though he soon turned to
civil engineering, yet his early connection w ith agricul
ture and the managelllent of P.3tat es gave a bias to his
life. L ike all th e eng ineers who commenced Jife in
the early part of th e century, he was engaged for a
time on railway work, bei ng associa ted with the late
Mr. Brassey and Mr. Locke in the construction
of the Great N orthern, the London and South\Ves tern , th e Midland, the Oxford and Cambridge,
a.nd the Hitch in and Royston R ail ways. But in 1842
he opened a new outlet for his energies by commencing
an ag ita tion to ena.ble owners of settled estates t o
drain and improve their properties by means of money
raised by mortgage, and to charge the land with the
cost of such permanent improvements. This quickly
bore fruit in an A ct of Parliament, and under its provisions Mr. Den ton was occupied, more or less, all his
life. Large numbers of landowners raised money,
amounting in the aggregate to sever al millions sterling, to be spent on th e improvement of their estate~,
and not a. few sought the ad vice and assistance of the
subj ec t of this memoir in carrying out their plans.
Another subject which 1Ir. Dclnton made peculiarly
his own wa.s the p urification of sewage by its application to land At a. p eriod when the subject was but
little understood, he ad vanced views which have since
stood the test of time, and he was consulted, not only
at home, b ut aho on the continents of Europe and
America. H e als:> t ook great interest in water storage
and supply, and in the sewage of towns, his book on
sanitation being a standard work. He also wrote
" toraga of \Ya.ter, " "Village Sanitary E conomy,"
"The Progress of L and Drainage in Great Britain, "
"The Farm Homesteads of England, , &c.
Mr. D enton, who was the senior part ner of the firm
th at bears his name in Palace-cha.mbers, Westminster,
was for more than fifty years a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Sanitary Institute from
i ts commen cement, and of many other sor.ieties. He
was an honorary member of the Royal Agricnltura.l
Societies of Ita.Jy, Norway, Sweden, and Hanover, and
a Chevalier of the Merite Ag ricole of France. His
funeral was attended by a large number of the county
families of Hertfordshire, and by Messrs. Critchett
and Urantham, r epresenting the Institution of Ci vil
Engineers.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
arrived in England was little better than a t oy, wanting
in all the mechanical perfections needful to success.
I t went a -begging all round the market, as no one
would look at an apparatus which in vol ,etl such unscientific conditions. A happy inspiration, ho.vever,
induced one of its present owners to tak e up the invention, and eighteen years of success ha.ve demonstrated
th e wisdom of the decisiCJn. 'l'he initial discourage
ments were very great, the casting of the body of the
pump invol viug difficulties, Ly r eason of its complexity
and the risks caused by un equal contraction, which
few foundri es would care to g rapple with. These,
ho wever, were overcome, and the pulsometer has tak en
a. place for itself as characteristic as the centrifugal
pump. The comparative want of economy in the
original machine was compensated by the au vantages
of eoctreme compactness and durability, and, in spite
of all its faults, thousands of users ha.ve still an affection fo r it. But it did not rea.ch the fin a.l stage of its
uevelopment for a. long time, and p ossibly has not
yet done so ; a great increase in its steam economy
has been made, until at las t the r eproach of its former
wast efulness can no longer be brought against it, and
it compares in efficiency with directacting steam
pumps, without the loss of aoy of its independent and
valuable characteristic3.
A r eference to the discussion which t ook place on
October 26 a t the meeting of the Institution of
Mechanica.l E ngineera will show that, in experiments made on a number of pumps on the South- \Vest
Railways of Russia, Mr. A. Borodin found the footpounds of work done in raising water, for each pound
of steam used , by various forms of direct .acting
steam pumps of similar horse-power to the pulsometer
experimented on, to vary from 10,760 to 16, H~O. A
" Grel " pulsometer has been recently tested in thiR
country by Professo r'. Hudson Bea.re under far from
favo urable conditions, a nd gave 13,420 foot-pounds.
We congratulate the makers upon a result which Pro
fesso r K ennedy and others r emarked they should
never have expected.
That our readers may understand the means by
which the latest success has been arriv ed at, we
a ppend a description of the cut-off gear :
In this new arrangement, the steam, instead of
being allowed t o follow the water the entire length
of th e stroke, is now cut off at about half.stroke, and
the r emainder of the stroke is performed by the expansion of the fluid. The means by which this is
effected are shown in the annexed view. In place of

the ordinary upper valve there is e. modified ball va.lve

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
A, and above this there is fitted a cut-off valve B; these
PULSOMETER.
valves A and B correspond with the main and cut-off
TnE pulsometer is the direct descendant of the first val ves used in a Meyer's expansion gear. The vahe
machin e in which steam was made to do the work B is so constructed t hat its lower portion forms a.
formerly accomplished almost entirely by the la bour piston working in the cylinder C, the piston and valve
of men and animals. \Vhat the Marquis of \Vorcester being actua.ted by the differences in pressure within
r ea.lly effected in this direction will probably remain and without the cylinder C; this latter is connected
for ever uncertain ; the first authenticated instance with the st eam n.nd pump chambers by means of suitof any practical use of th e force which has transformed able holes D, D. The action of th e arrangement is as
the world, is to be found in the records of Thomas follows: Steam being turned on, the differ ences of pre~
Savery 's life and work.
His "engine for raising sure are such that the val.ve B is op ened and the steam
water by fire" wa.s not only the first steam will flow through past the distributin g valve A into one
pump, but also the first steam eugine, yet it was a of the cha.mbers, partly driv ing out th e water; when
pulsometer to a.ll intents and purposes, and it cannot about half of the wa.ter in th e chamber has been disbut be regard ed as s trange that this notable invention charged, the pressure in the chamber C wiJl be suffishould have remained unheeded for over a century and cient to lift the valve B and close the steam opening,
a half, unimproved, sa.ve in some details by Desagu- ke eping it closed until the diitributing valve A has
Jiers. It was, of course, the higher steam economy of moved over to this side, thus allowing the remainder
the engines of Newcomen and 'Vatt, and the enor- of the stroke to be finished by the expansion of the
mously hr5er capacity made possible by the introduc- steam shut in the chamber . This action continues
tion of th e piston, which eclipsed the Sa.very engi ne, a.utomatica.lly, the cut-off valve B admitting and
and relegated it to th e limbo of lantern wh eels and cutting off steam only to the chamber left open by the
wooden water pipes, aud but for American enterprise distributing valve. It will be evident that this
it might have remained there still. But though an arrangement entir~ly precludes the possibility of live
a.dva~ce ~11s made on the other side of ~he w.ater in steam blowing straight into the rising main at the end
the d1rectton of compactness and automatic a.ctton, the of each stroke as occurs in some badly designed
p1achine- the "ma.gic pump " as it was ca.lled-as it , vacuum pumps.'

665
EXPLOSION OF A GAS CYLINDER AT
BRADFORD.
T uE coroner's inquiry into the fatal explosion of an
oxygen cylinder at Bradford sta.tion on November 10
was completed on November 15. The evidence went t o
show tha.t a. boy named John Williaru Fuller was sent
wi th two cylinders of gas to meet a train at Br&dfor.d
station. Oa arriving th ere he took one cylinder on hts
shoulder, and dragging the other with him, proceeded
down the subway leading to the station. H e then drop~ed
the cylinder from his should er to th e ground, on. w~JCh
it explod ed, killing the unfortunate Jad. The prtnCJpal
evidence was as follows :
H enry Dalby, 32, Kimberley-atreet, Bradford, optician'8 assistant, said be wa1 in the service of Messrs.
Riley Brothers. Last Wednesday week, a.bout twenty
minutes to six o'clock in the afternoon, he ordered tba
deceased to take two cylinders to the Exchange station
in time for the 6. 7 p.m. train for Queensbury. One
cylinder wa.s painted red and the other black. The one
painted red was charged with coal gas, and the black one
was charged with oxygen. The cylind ers were filled at
Manchester by the Manchester Oxygen Company. The
oxygen cylinder had only come in the eame morning. Ho
could not sa.y when the other came. The cylind t r containing oxygen belonged to Meesra. Riley Brothers. He
was not certain as to th e ownership of th e coa.l.ga.s
cylinder. H e gauged both the cylinders about four
o'clock the eame afternoon. He found that each cylinder
contained 120 atmosphere1:1, which was a. safe ga.uge. He
had k nocked th ese cylinders about for years and bad never
ha.d any accident with th em. He bad been accustomEd
to carry them by rail a.s personal luggage. Each cylinder
weighed about 25 lb., a.nd cost about 33s.
J ohn Good man, professor of engineering at the Yorkshire
College, sa.id that on th e p_revious Saturday, in company
with Mr. MorJey a.nd Mr. Ellis, he inspected the fourteen
pieces of metal in the possession of Superintendent Paul,
and a!so the sound coalgas cylinder . Every piece was
carefulJy examined. The fractures in every pa.t t we-re
crysta.Jline-coa.rseJy crystalline in the portions of the
bottom and t op of the cylinder, but of finer grain in the
centre. There was a. peculia.r fracture near the top of
the cylinder, which was different in shape from any other
fracture. This might or might not have been due to a
flaw in the material. The point was a doubtful one. and
opinions might differ. The fractured pieces showed bulging, which might have been done in the accident. The
thickness of th e metal varied very much over the cylinder.
It was impossible to avoid somelitt)e va.riation in making
such cylind ers, but he certainly thought the variation
much grea.ter th an it ought to have been. In a. wellmade cylinder th P va.ria.tions would not be so gr(at.
The Coroner: W ould not the varying thickness of the
metal be a source of weakness ?-Witness : Yes and no.
If the th innest portion was sufficiPnt to bear the pressurP,
the variation of the thickness would be no wea.kners, but
otherwise it would be. The ri~k of bulging, Mr.
Goodman went on to say, would certainly be greatest
where the metal was thinnest. He took a.wa.y to Leeds
two piece~ of the broken cylinder, whi ch he first bad photographed. The pieces were then cut up into test pieces
and subjected to a. series of experiments. A eound cylindPr, supplied by Messrs. Riley as a. duplicate, was a.leo
handed to him, and this he caused to be cu t into pieces,
and found it as varia.ble in thickness as the one which
was broken. These pieces were also subject(d to experiment, and the witness handed in a. detailed report of the
character of the tests infiicted a.nd the r esults obtained.
Steel ought not to be used of a. greater tensile strength
tha.n 32 tons per squa.re inch. Th~ steel of the cylinder in
ques tion was very high indeed in tensile strength. In sorue
cases it wa..s over 50 tons per square inch. This in itself
was not harmful, but it was always considered that
steel of very high tensile strength was very brittle, and
therefore unsuitabl~ for internal pressure, ef:\pecially when,
a.s in the case of a.n oxygen cylinder. it was likely to be
subjecb to much knocking about. The steel actually
used was, in his opinion, unsuitable for the purpose.
The maximum thickness of the body of the duplicate cylinder was found to be . 242 in., and the minimum
was .164 in. In the cylinder which burst he found that
the pieces varied from .172 in. to .205 in . . in thickness,
tho~gh be might, perhaps, find a thicker piece on examina.tlOn.
The Coroner: You have heard the evi dence that this
cylinder fell from the shoulder of th e deceased on to th e
concrete floor. D oes that expla.in its bursting ?-Yes;
after looking a.t the figures of my experiments, which
show bow very ha.rd and brittle th e material is. Although
the tensile strength is very great, it has very little
ductility. If the material used were good material, there
ought not to be the slightest danger of a.n explosion from
such a. fall on to the floor. This morniog, before coming
here, I took one of the cylinders which we are constantly
using a.t the Yorkshire Coll~ge, a.nd dropped it 22 ft. 6 in.
on to a cast iron block. There was no explosion, and the
cylinder received only a. small dent.
In reply t o further questions, witness said that tho
cylinder of which he bad just spokEn was charged with
oxygen at the tim e, and it was charged by the same firm
-the Manchester Oxygen Company-which filled th e
cylinder that burst. But it was a cylinder of different
make to that which burst. H e then took a. cylinder
similar to the one he dropped that morning- and cut it up,
a.nd found that the thickness was- ma.xrmum .232 in.
a.nd minimum .178 in. A third cylinder was burst by
hydraulic pressure, the bursting taking place a.t between
59 cwt. and 60 cwt. per square inch. These ex~;>eriments
c.onfirmed .his opinion that . the material used m the cyhnder, whwh burst and ktlled the deceased was improper. The apnealing of steel r educed the tensile

666

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

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::=:::::::;.::::::::::::::::~;:u::~.~:;:;~===~~;~:~:~

=-

::a:

:0::

[DEc.

1893.

I,

THE JULL CENTRIFUGAL SNOW EXCAVATOR: WORLD'S COLUMBIAN

EXPOSITION.
CONSTRUCTED BY THE J ULL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, BROOK LYN,

U.S.A.

(For D escription, see P age 664.)

~- --- - ----- - - 28 - - -- ---- ..

'4 -

Fig.5.

,'0
,
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.,.,

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--

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k ---- ..... ... .- Js

Fig. 1.
~e.- - -47 'i~-- ----. -- --- --- ).\

.Z031 C1

I
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____ _____ ___ _ .;tI __

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

.Fig.6.

'

...

Fig.B.

---2' --i---

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Fig.2

---1
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E N G I N E E R I N G.

WATER-TUBE BOILERS OF H .M.S.

C0 N S T R U CT E D

BY

~1

AND

T H ORNy c u.~:" o J;, T

I.

J0 HN

E S S R S.

" DARING."
C O,

EN G INEE RS,

C HI S \V I C K.

(For Desc1-iption, see Page 674.)

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strength somewhat, but increased its ductility a.nd made

it more capable of stretching wi thout breaking. . The
annealing process was indispensable, and no cylt nder
ought to be sent out until it had been t horoughly annealed. W ith regard to te~ts, he believed that cylinders
ought to be tested to a oonsidera.bly greater extent than
the working pressure, but he believed t ha t it should not
be as much as double t he working pressure, as it was
possible to permanently in jure a cylinder in the testing.
T he Coroner : Your opinion is tba tJ the cause of t he
bursting in this case was the defective material of which
the cylinder w as composed ?-Witness: YeR; but I would
hardly say " defective" material ; it was unsui table
material, and if it had been annealed the chances of accident would have been very much less.- , Vitness went on
to say t hat be d id not t hink it could be said thatJ th ere
was any danger at tending the use of a. properly constructed
and annealed cylinder. There were probably some hun dreds of thousands of these cylinders in oirculation in the
country, and this was the very first acoident which had
ever occurred from the breaking of an oxygen cylinder or
"bottle."

In reply to Mr. ?\!organ, witness said there would be

no outward a ppearance t o indicate that the cylinder in
question was of u nsuitable material and had not been
annealed, for the cylinder bad been painted. At the
Yorkshire College the cylinders used were not subjected
to any teat wh atever, t he makers being t rusted. He bad
himself never cut up and tested a. cylinder before this
accident . H is predecessor, howe ver, had on on e occasion
cu t up a cylinder and made tests, of which witness had
the result. There was a mark on the val ve of t he
cylinder which burst and killed the deceased, indicat ing
that it had been tested to li tons per square inch. H e
declined to commit himself to any op inion as to whether
this test was sufficien t for a work tng pressure of 1800 lb.
~Ir. Good ma n, resuming, mentioned that he had known
several instances where such cylinders had been dropped
wit hout exploding, and he produced a photogra ph of a
cylinder which was d amaged when deli vered, and which
had a very deep dent, evidently from a blow, but the
cylinder h&d not blown up.
H erberb William M orley, a member of the firm of
Messre. Cole, Ma.rcbent, and M orley, engineers, of Brad-

0
0

ford, said that, acting under the instructions of the

Coroner, be- took p arb in the inspection made by Mr.
Good man and Mr. E llis. His report, which was read at
length, agreed in its ma.in fi ndings and opinions with the
evidence of Mr. Goodman.
A fter the Coroner h ad summed up, the jury found a
verdiot th at t he d eceased met his d eath from t he acciden tal bursting of a cylinder made of unsuitable metal
and t hey s trongly recommended that in future th ea~
cylinders, when: sent out, should be protected, either by
cases or otherw1se.
BE.LO lA~ BRIQUETTES.-:-The exports of briquettes from.
Belgmm 10 the fi rst nme months of this year were
370,90~ t ons, ~ compared with 253.6-tO tons in the corresp ondtng per1od of 1892, and 261,563 tons in the corresponding v.eriod of. 1891. It w~ll be seen that the exports
have cons1derably mcreased th1s year. The deli veries t o
]france are steadily ad vanoing; larger quantities have
also been forwarded to Switzerland, Germany and Eng,land.
'

668

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

[DEc.

I, I

893.

its entire buoyancy was lost. I do not suggest that the away, replacing it by a protective deck, sloped at sides,
BALL BEARINGS FOR THRUST BLOCKS. loss
of the ship was solely, or even chiefly, due to her of a turtle shape fore and aft, with protection on the
To TRE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Sm.-It is p 3rhaps proper for me t o state that the forms
of grooves for the balls of thrust bearings, with the
method of constructing them, shown in the communi ~a
tion of 1\fr. C. H . Wing field in your issue of ~eptember 29,
were devised by me during an investigation of the
c:1.uses of friction in b .~oll bearings, the query having
arisen a s to why 1u bric~tion of such beatings was n ecessary.
It is, of course, quite evident that if the points of contact between the ball:J and the groove are of sensible
area, then there must be friction b t tween ball and groove,
the maximum amount of this frictbn probably occurring
in the case of grooves made semicircular in form to fit or
n early fit the balls. It is also clear that with grooes in
thrust bearing.s made with straight angular sides and with
the angles of sides equal, measured from the centre line of
shaft, th ere must be friction, because the outer side of
the groove has a. greater lineal velocity than the inner
side, se~ comes in c~ntacn with the ball at a. point, or
rather at a zone, rotating at the same speed a<J that zone
which comes into contact with the inner side of the
groove, which has a lower linear velocity. The plan
referred t o overcomes this difficulty, whether it be the
best possible arrangfment or not.
Mr. Ba.xter D. \Vhitney, o[ Winchendon, Mas3. , who,
it eeems, independently devised this form of groove about
a year before it occurred to me, found that at high
speeds the relati veJy flat outer angle gave the balls a
st rong tendt::ncy to fl y out of the groGve by centrifugal
force ; so much so, that in one case (of a vertical shaft} it
became necessary to weight the shaft in order to keep
the balls within the groove. Mr. J ohn J. Grant, of
Fitchburg, Mass., who has had considerable experience
with ball bearings, favours perfectly fiat, radial, hardened and ground surfaces for the balls t o run upon in
thrust b earings, and, whert'\ there are two or more rings
or sE-ries of balls, he separates them by thin rings of steel
which are not fastened to ei ther surface. Experience
shows th is to work well, and it is a construction which is
relati vely low in cost. I t seems almost needless to say
that ball bearings, like other bearings, must be pro
portioned to the work th.ey have. to d o, and as yet the~e
is hardly enough expen ence w1th them t o settle the1r
proportions in all classes of eer vice. Certain it is, however thl}.t very little analogy can be drawn between the
bearing~ of a. bicycle, which are not thru~t bearing.s, and
p erform very light service, and thrust bearings of propeller shafts, whic h mus t do very heavy dut~.
FRED. J. MILLER.
203, Broad way, New Y ork.

having been penetrated above th e protective deck, but I

do contend that such penetration was a very great contributory cause, and that the statement in the Admiralty
Minute that her loss is proved n ot to have been due to
injuries a bore the protective deck is hardly borne out by
the facts of the ca~e.
It may be asked why I have laid stress on this
apparently small matter. Suff~r me to explain that
upon this seemingly trivial question (of whether injury
above the protective deck does, or d oes n ot, fatally
affect ships) hangs th e safety of all our ships of
the Admiral class, and, in a lesser d egree, of
other battleships and cruisers having their protective
deck below the water line for any large proportion
of th eir length, and which (owing to the absence of
all-round belt armour) are subj ect to penetration about
the water line by quick -fi ring as well as by heavy
guns.
Another point is worthy of notice. The Adm iralty
Minute, Paragraph 3 (d) states that the "heel to starboard
very slowly increased, until a transverse inclination of
18 deg. to 20 deg. was attained before the lurch began. "
And, in Paragraph 7 of Mr. White's reporb, it is stated
tha.t "bad the ports in battery and turret and the armour
door b een closed, and water excluded from both battery
a.ad turret, the Victoria would not have capsized." This
conclusion appears very doubtful. To my mind the
"very slow " increase of heel up t o 20 deg., and then the
sudden change t o "the final lurch which led to the capsi~ing, " indicated not m erely an accession of inflow of
water through the turret ports and door, but that the
ship at that angle of about 20 deg. bad reached her then
vanishing_point of stability (due to her waterlogged condition). The calculated angle of va.ni~hing stability has
been stated to be 67! deg. , but practical seamen, who
ha ve carefully considered the great buoyancy of the lower
part of the ~ hip and the hea,y top weights, will be slow
t o believe that, even when free of water, the Victoria
could
have heeled anything like 67~ deg. without cap

Sl~ tng.

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

To THE EDITOR OF ENOINXERI~G.

Sta,-A correct. un?erstandins uf the causes of the
Victoria's foundermg l t! so essential for the safety of ou r
p~esent battleships of somewhat similar type, a:nd as
tt. guide for future designs, that I shall feel .glad If you
can fi nd space in. EN~INEERIKG for the follow.mg r~marhks
t o assist in eluc1datmg the truth. In dea.lmg ~I.th t e
subject, I do not propose here to express any opm~on _o n
the Admiralty Minute of October 28, apport10nmg
credit or blame t o the officers and others whose conduct
may h:\ve been in question. I will confiae myself t o the
more important Admiralty Minute of October 30, coverin the report of Mr. W. H. White, A ssistant Controller,
m:rely first observing thab the members of the Victoria
court -martial, in declaring themselves incompetent to
ex rf'ss an opinion as to the causes of the capsizing of the
Vi~toria. were, I think, too modest, and did themselves
injustice. If our highly-trained officers. a~e re~lly .not
competent t o express an opinion tbereon, 1t 1s qUlte time
t o substitute such subjects as mensuration of solids and
calcul ation of moments of stab:lity and trim for Latin
in the naval curric:llum. Naval officers wh~, for want. of
a. little kn owledge of scientific and. mecbar;ncal pursmts,
~ t 0 ha ve a blind faith 1n Admiralty expert&,
0 bl .

are
tge..Jh
n these days
are an anac ronism I

.
As the matter now rest s, a. valuable shtp and many
1.1ves b a ve b een 1os t ,. ..""' full report of the d epartment
.
has
res onsible for the ship's design and construction
bee~ made . and this report (although entirely ex p arte)
' ,.
t d by the press and the public as
appears to ue accep e
incontrovertible truth, and quite satisfact~ry. I s not
this eneral acceptance of the Admiralty Mmute rather
g
?
d d
t equire sc,mething m ore than
Pf remhaturel. at~
'J wboeunto .:a.tertight doors- regulations
res refu
a tons
a ffect ...ventilation and w 1.ll be very
1
b
bl
t h. at Wl pro a Y 8 )
'
dtffiTcul~
of obsM
ervaWncbe:t
' o the whole, admirable
and
urmngto
r.
1 es, n
.
.

t.1
t th e princi pal p~int t o wh1ch I des1re
m struc ve r ap?r ' . th t t ent 1n paragraphs nu mto draw
a. em of buoyancy " owing to
d 1 attent1on
d 2 b 18t the& s" loes
here
an
t a ts for~a.rd amounted t o about 1000
flooded com~artmen
t' d 1 and to less th an 110 t ons
0
~ons below t eJ~ ~tco~~e tb~ ~rotectiYe deck (up to the
m . compartme . ) U
thi statem ent the Ad miralty
ori.ginal 'Yater !~nf'r~ h f~n cat:gorically affirms it to be
Mmn~e,"mh pa hg 1 P of the ship was n ot due t o injuries
prov~
t at t e boss rot ecti ve deck. , Without for a.
SUl:itamed a.boye ~ e M \ Vh . ' fi urE: s I contend that
moment que~tiOnlng r.
tte s nog mea~s re resent th e
the 110 tons m compartm~nts blbe protecti\'e ~eck. The
total lo3s of buoyanc~ a ove d f h turret (if th e ship
r eal re3erve of J.>~oyadcybfo~w~he o r~t:cti ve deck ) would
bad not been ID Jure a O\ ~ tw !'n the protecti ve and
h ave been the t?tal space e le 1 t t be about 4 4 000
upp.er d tcks, w~t~b I ro.ughfnda ~b:sa se a~e-had it been
cubic feet! or 12:.>0 tons.
d th 16oo tons of water
intact- might ha.ve dsupkp0rteh
e b be' ng penetrated
below the protectiVe t!C ; w erea.s, Y I
,

The Minute at Paragraph 11 further states that the

r.,apsizing was not due to the exis tence of longitudinal
bulkheads, there being "only a few minor ones in the
fore part of the ship. " But, if there was no obstruction
t o the water finding its own level on both sides of the
ship, there remains nothing to expbin why she listed
to starboard. The fact thab the heel gradually increased until the capsizing angle was reached seems to be
con<.:lusi ve evidence that large and increasing bodies of
water (far in excess of the contents of No. 7 bunker) were
confined to the starboard side of the ship.
The above points require the investigation of naval
architects outside th e Admiralty, and when that distinguished member of that profession, Sir E dward Reed,
makes his promised statement auout the Victoria, I shall
be much mistaken if he does not ex press views in great
measure similar t o those I have here stated. H appily
his weight of authority safeguards his opinions on such
matters from being disregarded.
I am, Sir, your obf\dient servant,
ALGERNON DE H ORSEY, Admiral.
Cowes N ovember 26 1893.
'
,
_
.,.
T o Til E EmTOR O.b' l i..NGINEERHiG. .
Sm,- I a~ h.appy .t o be able . to agre~ w1th Mr.
M cGlasson m. b1s desu e for an mcrea~e m . our na val
stren~th. . This has been show~ t o be e~t1rely m~deq.uate
to mamtam our supr.ema.cy aga.mst possi~le comhii?atlO~S.
';l'h~ nature of the m crea se should be 10 the d1rect10n
md1?at ed by. L ord Charle~ Beresfor?. Every arm of the
servtce reqmres a ugmentmg, and 1t a.ppears to m~ the
method suggested by the noble lord will commend Itself
t o all.
.
.
I am not m favour of emi?loy1ng vessels for. any other
purpose ~bat the one for whlC~ they were de~1gned, and
do not th~ nk thathany .merchant 1dlebvesse1 fidtted mtandy way,
tem porar17 orot erwtse, s ~ u1 e ea11e upon o ? .a ny
other eerv1ce than transpo~t.mg troops, co~l? or mun1t10ns
of war to the scene of act10n. I am co~vmced that the

f f
h t .
1 d bl
1
h
a.rmmg o ast mere an ' eese s IS esua e o~ y w en
so emnloyed, and that when they po~sess sufficient coal
~-d h tg
h speed I?
or d er t o ~scape f rom a. h os t 1'l e
ca p~c 1ty an
crm~er. Car~o tramps m1ght effech vely be u~ed as coal
earners, attached to the fleet, but prot ected by 1t. But.to
1
r
fi ht'
ff
.
h'
em p oy o ce~nd .merts as g mg o ens1ve rua.c m es can
on 1Y resu 1 t 10 1sas er.
, .
.
It must appear t o every on e d Judgment th at crmsers,
built for special war purposes, must inevitably triumph
1ar 1Y. equ1ppe

d , an.d
over any m ere b an t vesse1 no t st.ml
this cannot, I am sure, be sat1s~actonly done, or,. 1f
po3&ible, would not be the most desu able way of spendmg
mom~y.
.
.
.
Again wben the position of our coalmg s tat10ns I S con
d , 't h e necessity
.o f emp1oymg

th ese vesse1!i, oth. er

stdere
th~n in the manner pomted ou t, seems ~nnecessar~- W1th
these stations well prot ected, our crUlsers, proVIded we
had sufficien~ of them, would be able to maintain the trade
routes clear 10 th e event of war.
Mr. l\1cGla.s~on ~sks.if I should, having ca.rte blanche,
repeab the Vwtona., ~c. , structurally, t o wh~ch I rep!y
emphati~all~, Yes. Wheth er I would duplicate her m
every pomt 18 another matter.
In ruy correspondence I have been simply defending
th e str uctural a rrangements and stability. of the vessel,
and, I venture to hope, succes~fully. Th lS by no .means
indicates I consider .she is a d~~nrable vessel othe!w.tse.
My idAa l battleship, supposmg I was merely hml ted by
tha cost and weight, would take th~ form of a vessel
similar in principle t o th e Italia:. Seemg that the olfensi ve powers are, and probably wtll always be, greater than
the defensive I would take the side armour completE-ly

slopes of nickel s teel, equal to 18 in. of side arm0ur. On

this d eck, at side, a cofferdam, running from end to end
of ship, filled with cellulose, with an additional raft
body over the midship p ortion, would be fitted. The
inner bottom would be carried up watertight, up to
the protective deck, the space from turn of bilge
between the two skins being in crea~ e d, and filled
with celluloee from bilge to deck. The central main
magazine in machinery spaces would be replaced by
a central longitudinal bulkhead, and the coal bunker
bulkheads ~ paced wider apart, in order th a t the full
supply of coal could bs carrid entirely below prot ective deck. The offensive material to be as great
as possible, distributed in the following manner : The
heaviest guns procurable mounted en barbette, one at each
end, placed high a bove the water-line, the turning
machinery being well protected, arrangements being
made for loading guns at any angle cf training, the
magazines for th e main and secondary battery being
placed underneath each station. The secondary battery
to be as large as the available weighb will permit, l OOpounder quick-firing guns probably being the mos t
tfficient. 'fhese should be d1stributed a.s widely as possible, each gun being in its own casement. Machine guns
to be placed on points of vantage on the superstructure
and in the t ops.
The efficiency of these machine guns in the t op should
not be impaired by the ::,moke issuin g from the stacks,
and hence it will b~ found desirable t o lower the military
t op in order to ~ecure the full ad vantage.
'fb e ram should be efficient, and not only have great er
protection, but a strong structure to support it. A speed
of 18 knots is desirable and possible under the conditions.
A variety of 0pinions undoubtedly exists as to the
most desirable way of utilising a given weight of
material. But the way outlined above seems to me to
combine the great est otfensi ,.e powers with a safety equal
to the illfated Victoria..
The success of any engagement will depend not alone
on the efficiency of the machine, and its capability of
striking powerful blows, but on th e genius of the com
mander, coupled with the proverbial cvurage of th e
British sailor. Under these <.:i rcumstances it may be
wiser t o employ weight offensively rather than defensively.
The human factor being up to th e standard of the
glorious past, success must result.
Y ours, &c.,
J. J. O'NEILL.
Sunderland, November 26, 1893.

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PATENTS:
ALTERATION IN THE LAW.
T o TBR E DITOR OF E NGINEERING.
Sm,-A ~reat many patentees will be interest ed to
know that 1t is practically certain that on and after
J anua.ry 1 next two separate and independent patents, one
for Austria. and one for Hungary, will be required in lien
of the com bined Austro-Hungarian patent hitherto issued.
A Bill to this effect, intended t o come into force on
that date, has ben filed by the Austrian and Hungarian
Minist ers of Commerce in their respectiv e Chambers of
Deputies, whi ch Bill, we are informed upon good autho
rity, is certain t o be agreed to.
Whilst by the proposed separated pa.tent practice of
the two States the granting and prolon gation of Austrian
and Hungarian patents will probably be more easily and
rapidly effected than hitherto, yet at the same time the
cost of procu ring and keeping the same in force will be
greatly increased, as two patents in tea.d of on e will hava
to be applied for and maintained.
It is, therefore, very advisable that inventors desirous
of securing patent rights in Austria and Hungary should
apply for their Austro-Hungarian patents before the
expiration of the present year.
We are, Sir, yours faithfully,
E. P. ALEXANDE R AND SoN,
F ellows of the Chartered Inst itute of Patent Agent!.
19, Southampton-buildings, L ondon, W. C. ,
November 27, 1893.

LIQUID FUEL FOR MARINE PURPOSES.

T o T Hn: EDITOR o~ ENc INEERING.

Sm,- Colonel Soliani's paper (see page 599 ante) on the
above subj ect does not, unfortunately, add much, if anything, t o what has already appeared in one journal or
another, and it appears tha t he has bad but qualified success with whatever plan ho bad adopted (or in vented), or
otherwise it is unaccountable that he should ad vocate
sueh a. crude arrangement a~ burning coal and oil fuel
simultane0usly.
For the conditions whi ch obtain wh en burning coal are
extremely disad vantageous to the obtainmenb of th e full
calorific value of oil fuel; and if in combination anything
near the heat obtainable- on the most approved syst emwere obtained, the fire-bars would be melted and collapse,
wh ereby a disaster or breakdown would result.
Now, oil fuel, when worked on the system approved by
Lloyd's and other experts, is more than equal to three
t imes its weight of coal (best vVelsh).
Consequently it would materially augment the st ea.m
endurance of a vessel, in the pro.l'ortion of 3 to 1, or, in
other words, if 1000 t ons of coal dr1ves a vessel1000 miles,
the like w~ight of oil fuel would dd ve her 3000 miles a t a
like speed, and further liberate a vast number of stokers
a nd triiLmors for more useful work ; and combustion
being perfect, th ere is a total avoidance of smoke, soot,
a.shas, &c., and labour.
It is very useful to ha ve laboratory test s of the constituents of, and, as far as can be obtained thereat, the

D Ec.

I,

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

1893.]

calorific value of liquid fuel, but it is quite anoth er thing

to employ oil fuel in conjunction wit.h steam of 50 lb.
pressure or more ; by which r esults are obtained in excess
of the accred ited calorific value of oil fu el alone.
It would be interesti ng if any of your r ead ers can show
reliable t e ts of the heat necessary to not only m elt, but
maintain in a. molten state (for weeks together ), Stourbridge
fireclay.
I am, &c ,

EuwiN N. H ENWOOD,

Naval A rchitect and Engineer.

22, Gr eat S t. llelen's, L ondon, November 22, 18!)3.

INDICATOR DIAGRAl\fS ON A" TIME BASE "

FOR STEAl\! AND GAS ENGINES, &c.
To THE E DITOR 01<' ENGINEERING.
Sm,-In taking indicator di agr ams, it is customary to
give the paper a r eciprocating m otio n correspond ing to
that of the piston of the engine. Thug the length of such
a. diagram is propor tional t o the leng th of the piston
s troke, and any fraction of the on e is proportional t o the
same fraction of the other. This is the ordinary W att
diagram on a base line of feet of piston, in which the
paper is travellin g at its m a:\. imum s peed in the middle of
the stroke, at the two ends g radually diminishing, then
stopping and revereing with the pis ton .
For many practical purposes, such diagrams are very
con venient a.nd quite sufficient, but for other scientific
in vesti~ation s, they are not altogether satisfactory.
For t.he m ore advanced steam engineer or s tuden t, who is
busied with the hidden mys teries of cylinder condensation,
they are unsatisfactor y, because the slow motion of the

" 1-Valt '' IJiagram.

and from the same maker, and having spr ings o f the sam e
scale.
Fig. 1 is an ordinary diagram with a. base line of feeb of
piston, on which each tenth of the length is proportional,
not t o equal tim es, but t o each tenth of the piston s troke.
H er e it is not seen ab once where compr ession ends and
a dmissions begins, nor the inorE\a.se of the pressur es in th e
cylinder in r atio of time. The admission of st eam befor e
the d ead point is also not shown.
l!'ig. 2 is a continuous "time-base " diagram on which
each twentiet h of the base l ine corresponds to a twentieth
of the time of one r evolution o f the en gine. This
diagram, like the fi rst, can be also used for calculating
the work d one in the cylinder, or obtai nin g the m ean
pounds preesure, but care must be taken t o divid e the b \Se
line unc~Jually and in propor tion t o the feet of piston.
The letters &bow t hese divisions. The two m ethods give
id entical r esults if prnper1 y worked out. The inclination
of the s team admission line on th e ' ' t imebase" diagram
is closely connected with th e amount of initial conden
sation; the hotter the m et al a nd the drier th e steam, the
m ore nearly will it approach the ver tical with the s~ me
area of ports and th~ sam e revolutions of engine. \Vith
steam j 4oket.s and suparh ea.t ed st eam, the writer has
found the angle between the two to be a. minimum. In
comparing this angle, the spee:i of p 1per mus t be kept
the same. The throttling of the steam tbrous:h th e val ves
and p or ts (of different ar eas and langths) w11l also affect
this an gle, as also the time per r evolution .
Any indicator can be used with the m ovi ng paper, and
the atmospheric line added without difficulty . \ V'ith the
ordinary indicator, a. fresh paper has t o be put on for each
diagram. In the case of a continuous b1nd, it lasts a

Fig. 1.

20 CfJual SfClCfS in untquaf timf'S a/ong

hast l/np or fnl or Piston a 6 c . On
I

RPciproc:aflng Paptr

20 r<{ual spaus ro un d CJ'rclt> for Pgual

t1mt>S s e't dots

Two

fi,agrarns lakM with two lndlc:utors from

bollom of Hrgh Pnss Cyl' of o Compd Ent)'nt
dunng thP somt nvohtlton ond w 1lh Spr"'1' of
so mt Scalt>
by 8 . Donkin Jn'".

Fig . 2.
o b ( d I< t unn( t.n~{ spaa'
prop ort,onol io fut of P1Jion
r/

Atm~p/,,nc

I!JGS

/tn,

...

fj

ponm

Exhaust .strolu

{
+~~

zo tlol$ rdu to rrual spaets

Paprr mo~tn g lhts way aU tht flm t

paper near the end s of the stroke makes m easurem ents at

such parts impossible. Yet it is just at these points that
accuracy is r eq uired, for it is immediately on the admission of steam that conden sation is m ost aoti ve, and the
area of the already cooled metallic s urfaces acting on the
steam var ies least . Here the s team is at its maximum
and the walls at their 1ninimum t emperature.
To obt~in a clear er delineation on paper of the changes
in pressur e occurring near the two ends of the strok e, it is
neceseary that the mot ion of the diagram paper should be
much more rapid th an is possible when it is connected to
the piston-rod. This increased speed can sometimes be
obtained in the case of compound en gines by driving thA
drum of the high-pressure indicator by the crosshead of
the larger cylinder coupled at right a n gles to the fi rs t.
The complication involved, however, in connecting any
particular part of the diagram with the corresponding
part of the piston stroke, and mark ing on it the corresponding time, so important a factor in investigations on
the transmission of heat from the steam to the walls, seems
to poin t to the use of paper moving uniformly as more suitable. It is to call the attention of professors of scientific
colleges and those who are studying this question, and
who may have the will and the opportunities for making
experiments, tha t this method is d escribed; it should
be more generally known and used, whether it is n ovel or
otherwise.
For want of a better t erm, such diagrams may b e called
"time base" diagrams, in contradist inction to the ordinary "Watb fig ures, " the base of which r epresents the
feet passed through by the piston. Th e s tudy of "timebase " diagrams has often been recommended by Mr. M.
Longrid ge, and others inter ested in the pract ical working
of st eam engines, and ther e can be l ittle d oubt that they
yield additional information, which the ordin ary closed
figures cannot furn ish. The n ecessary apparatus, though
perhaps a. little more complicated than the ordinary indicator, is nob difficult t o apply to any en gine. A band of
paper (non-metallic preferred ) 2 in. or 2' in. wide, dri ven
by clockwork at a constant speed, w1th provision for
starting and stopping, is all that is r equired .
As the subject may interest your r eaders, I inolose two
diagrams taken by two indicators during the same s troke
from the bottom of the hi~h-pressure jacketed cylinder of
a. compound engine, both mdicators being of the same type

"' '<flltll

fmts

Sttom Strok t

considerab] e time without r enewal. M. Gu inot te several

years ago d esigned a. somewha t s imilar a rrangem ent, but
be drove h is band of paper from the engine. Profo~sor
Dwelshauver a-Dery has also used this latter m ethod in
connection with r olling-mill en gi nes, taking a. series of
continuous diagrams to s how the gradual and quick
variations of power. E xact r esults coulrl not be obtained
in such a case with an ordinary indicator and s inglesheet d iagrams.
It would be instructive to take a continuous series of
diagrams on s tarting a non-jack eted en g ine until the
walls had acquired their normal t emper ature.
Professor Cotterill happened to be present when the
two diagrams given wer e obtained, but many others have
s ince been taken from 2 in. to 12 in. long.
Yours truly ,
BRYAN DoNKI~, J uN.

B ermondsey, November 24, 18!)3.

HYDRAULI C MOTORS.
To THE EDITOR 01<' ENGI NEEH I.t\G.
Snt,-May I be allowed to add a little rather in ext ension of your interesting article on hydraulic m otors
than as offering any crit icism ?
Very correctly you r efer to the chief source o f loss in
these motors being due t o th~ir t aki n g as much water
while running u nloaded as when performing full duty.
You then go on t o say tha t a ny t endency to run away
when the load has been removed is prac tica1ly eliminated
by the energy absorbed by fluid friction incr easing enormously as the velocity increases.
A ny on e con versant with h ydraulic machinery will
acknowledge the correctness of this view as far as it goes,
that some energy undoubtedly is lost in fluid friction, but
this d oes not seem t o m e the d ominant cause why r eciprocating hydraulic en gines never attain a high speed l ike
a s team engine would d o under corr esponding conditions.
My r evol ving engines (illustrated by you on .T anuary 20,
1888), to which the writer of your arti cle a1ludes, do run
away when unloaded at a very consid erable speed, so
there is evidently some reason connected with the engine
itself, and quite aparb from fluid friction, which prevents
all ordinary capstan engines from running away when
freed from r esis tance.

The d irection of flow in each of their cylind ers is r eversed twice in e\ery r evolution, aLd it seems t o me this
process absorb3 all except th e Lefore-named loss through
fri ction.
In my en gine ho wever th is r eversal is only r elati ve,
not ab3olu te J fo; the wat~r runs r ou nd with the cylinder,

turning as in a head, and has no true r eo1procat.ton ~mpressed upon it. Consequently no shook occurs at h1gh
speeds and this is proved by one of these engin es, worked
from 700 lb. water pressure, and runnin g at 200 re.v~lu
tions p er minute, ha vin g dri ven a dynamo prondmg
one hundred and twenty 16 candle-p::>w~r electric la mps,
as st eadil y a s a ny s t eam eng ine.
.
Superfic ially consid ered, it may seem that a ny hydraulLo
engin~ gains so01 ething by poase.:ising SE:Mchecking properties, but as these can only be secured by damaging the
engine, it would be far bet ter t o d escend to the level ~f a.
governor a nd throttle val ve, and was to th e power m a.
less injurious fashion.
B ut, after all, the only truly scientific m ethod for re~u
la t ing the speed and po wer of h ydraulic engines is to alter
t he s troke in p ropor t ion to the load, and when th is operation is p erformed b y a. governor, no thing furth er i$ l~ft t o
be d esired.
Very few eng ineers, r ail way or dock managers ever
seem t o r ealise what a n extr avagant waster of power is a.
capstan, so a. few fig ures become very instruoti ve.
rf akiog, for example, a 1ton Ca}Ht a n, h auling at t he
rate of 200 ft. p er minute, a nd performing a d uty of about
66 per cent., 1b is ne~esqary to provide 40 gall ons per
minute at a pressu re of 700 lb. p er squa re inch while the
engine is hauling a fullloa.d, a nd th is would increase to
a.bout SO gallons per minute while th e 03ops tan is runni og
twice the s pead unload ed.
The cos t of such a su pply, t aken at 23. Gd. per 1000
gallons (which is about half the m ean r a.t e c harged by th e
L ond on Power Supply Com pany ), calculates out a t the
r ate of 6s. per hour for 40 gallons per minute while hauling a load, and 12ti. p er hour while d oing n othing. In
any ordinary hydraulic oap3ta.n there a re two sources
of l OS3;
I. A s th e initial tension for s t arting a load is always in
excess of tha t r equired for maintaining it in motion, there
ought t o be some J Jrov ision for reducing the m ean supply
to about two-thir s of such initial pressure, and no provision of this k ind exists in ordin ary capstans.
I I. Pressure wat er flowing while the caps tan is r unning
unload ed is about four t imes what would be neoess2 ry for
overcoming friction while the machine r u ns empty .
It is difficult to arrive at any proportion between the
time occupied while runn ing fully loaded or unload ed,
but, for the purposes of oabulation, it may b e ass umed
tha t out of every hour 40 minutes m a.y be in full work,
and 20 running idl~, but these proportion s d o not
affect the g en eral argument; they give the follo wing
tabulated r esults, which would alter under d ifferent
cond iti ons :
Cost of P ressure W ater for 1-Ton Capstan.
Present ArV a.riable
\Vater per Hour.
rangem ent of
Strolce and
Caps tan.
Governor
I. Ilauling lo&d, 40
s.
e. d.
m inutes ...
.. .
4
2 {j
I I. Runn ing unload ed,
20 minutes
...
4
1 0

8
3 G
Wh ere these data a re applicable, the to tal loss on a,
1-ton capstan becom es 4s. Gd. per hour, and if the
m achine r uos for 300 hours p er annum the loss r each es
the r espectable figur e o f 66l. p er annum, and this is a
percentage upon the cost of govern or and varia.b!e s troke
that nothing but the most s pecula ti ve investm ents can
give, and which no company, h owever rich, need disdain.
Th e contrast between th e two m ethod s for regulating
speed may be r eadily seen by a simple experiment on one
of m y angines at Da.rtford, d oing work that is absolutely
r egular.
1. Wh en this engine is set at full s trok e, speed can b e
regulated by throttling the supply ; or,
2. The st op val ve may be opened wide and s peed r egulated by altering the s trok e.
By noticing th e exhaust ou tlet, it becomes conspicuously obvious that a g reater increase of flo w occurs when
the inlet is con tracted tha n when the s trnke is r educed
~nd this gain runs. p a.r a.llt l with th at pr oducE: d by work~
m g s t eam expanst vely, a s compared with a d mission
throughout an entire str oke.
Another evil in conn ecti on with h y draulic capstans is
that. they are generally ex peote~ to run wf:'ll without a ny
lubrwa.t10n; but no other machmes are so handicapped.
A small oil pump is not a cos tly addition, and a constant
supply of soap and water, as lubricant, is ch eap enough
for anything.
The addition of variable stroke, with a supplem entary
en~ine t o work it ~nder the control of a governor, necessarily adds somethmg to the oost of a plain capstan but
wh en a very s m all fraction of the sl.ving would re~oup
~h e entire wag~s of a man .sp~oia.lly. told.off ~ k eep them
m p roper workmg order, 1t lS obvious m th1~, as in so
many other things, the cheapest first cost is m ost wast eful
in the long run.
~Vith so mu.ch care t aken in. compounding engines and
domg everythmg t o save coal m the production of water
pressures, it d oes seem extraordinary that no pains whatever are exer cised in economi in g its use, a nd that even
railway or dock companie~, otherwise well governed, cont entedly make use of the m ost wast eful and ex travagant
form o f. motor in existence- namely, the ungoverned
hydrauhc capstan.
Yo'Jr8 t1uly,
ARTHUR RrGG,

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

D Ec. 1, 1893.]
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gra phic and mechanical engraving for h andwork. S pecimens of
the newest p rocesses of illustr ation.-Wednesd a,r, Decem ber 6,
at ~ p m. Fou rt h ordinary meeting. " An Ar tist's View of
Ch1cago and the World's Fair," by F r eder ic Villiers.

PAGK
PAOR
The De' elopment of South
I ndicator Diagrams on a
Ah ican Railways (l tltt8
" Time B~e" for Steam
t rated) . .. .. .. .. .... . . . . 655
and Gas E ngines, &c. (l l
T urret Lathes at the ColumltU~trated) .............. 669
bian Exposi tiou (l llus
Hydraulic Motors. . . . . . . . . . 669
traled) . . . ...... ... . . .... 657 New Railway and Tramway
Ilietorical El ~ctrical Appa
Schemes in Parliamen t . 671
ratus at tbe World's !<~a i r 669 The Capsizing of a Torpedo
Literature . . .. . . .. .. .. . . . . 661
Boat .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . 673
Books Recehed . . .. .. . . .... 664 The Distribution of Power
Locomothe at th e World's
from Niagara . .... .. . .... 673
FRIDA
Y,
DECEMBER
1,
1893.
11
Columbian Exposition (ll
The
Daring" and her
lmt rated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
Boilers (l llm t rattd) . . 674
The Jull Cen trifugal Snow
Not es ........... .. ...... 675
E xcavator at the World 's
Notes from the United
Sta.te8 . ......... .. ... . . . 676 NEW R AILWAY A ND TRAlVIWAY
Columbian Exposition (ll
lustraled ) . ... . . .. . .. . .. G64 1 Notes from t he Nor th . . .. 676
SOHE~1ES IN PARLIAMENT.
Triple Expansion Engines
Notes from Cleveland and
for Turk tbh Gunboats (I l
t he North ern Coun ties .. 677
As the details of all new rail way schemes for
lmtrated) ...... . .. ... . . 664 Notes ..om South Yorkshire 677 authorisation by t he Legislature during next session
Notes from t he South-West 677
Tbe Late .Mr. John Bailt>y
Den too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 Miscellanea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 must be deposited bef':>re the close of N ovember it
The Development of the l'ul
P unchi n~ and Shearing Ma
is ~1ow possible t o indicate i n a general way the
chine (IUmtrated) .... . 679
someher (lUmtrated) .... t65
The Explosion of a Gas Cy
Industrial Notes .... . ... . 679 ma~n features ~f tho.se schemes. The first point
lioder at Bradford .. .... 665 Bri tish Colonies at t he
whtch suggests ttself Is the fact t hat in few of the
Ball Bearings for Thrust
World's Columbian Ex
cases are the works of any special significance. It
Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
is true all the large lines are applying to P arliament
The Loss of H. M.S. cc Vie
The Recent Box T unn el Ac
ciden t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681 for new powers ; but for the most part they are
toria" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Austro-IIuogarian Patents:
Launches and Trial Trips .. 682
''omnibus " Bills, and deal in some cases with finan ces
Alteration in t he Law . ... 668 c E ngineering" Paten t Re
Liquid Fuel for Marine Pur
cord (IUustrated) . . .. 683 in others with the absorption of small dependent
poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C68
lines, while in nearly all cases small works are
With a Two-Page E1l(Jraving of TR I P LE-EXP-AN SION
invol v:ed, widening, straightening, or cutting off
ENGI N ES FOR TUilK l S B. GUNB0 .11'3.
undesuable loops. In comparatively fe w cases is

ENGINEERING.

new a round brok en. This is not surprising , for

whenb reference is made to a map of t he kingdom
showina the rail ways, it is p retty evid ent that in all
district~ where the traffic encourages lines, such have
already been laid out. In some districts, however,
extensions of independen t lines suggest the breaking up of territ ory hither to the exclusive ground of
one large company, for, as a r ule, th~se small
lines, especially when worked by oppo~Ing. large
companies, really come to be the beginning of
opposition. Many old frien ds are with us, n otably
the scheme for a rail way bridge across the silver
streak which divides our island k ingdom from the
continen t of Europe, while Sir E dward Wat kin,
with characteristic perseverance, again produces
his scheme for a subaq ueous connection between
the two shores of the Channel. The features of
t hese schemes are well known, so that they d o not
need further referen ce here.
The solution of the great transportation proble m
within the metropolis, and between IJondon and its
suburbs, ever increasing alike in numbers and in
population, has again invited the attention of
many authoritien, and several schemes are proposed. These, however, do not seem so numerous
as in some recent years, and one is almost forced to
the conclusion that t he apparen t difficulty of raising
capital militates against further progress. The
efforts indicated in the parliamentary n otices seem
rather to be direct ed t o the lessening of the strain
at the great stations when official London is daily
migrating to or from the suburbs. No deep
t unnel electric rail way schemes present themselves. The Cha ting Cross, Euston, and H ampstead line, authorised in this year's P arliamen t, but the construction of whieh has been delayed by the wan t of tha t very necessary capital,
again comes before P arliamen t, but this time the
only point is the compulsory purchase of property
on the route, which runs from Charing Cross in a
nor therly direction, in the Strand, Villiers-street,
Buckingham -street, Ad elaide - str eet, and Duncannon - street ; Soho, Tottenham Court - road,
Camden Town, and l{en tish Town-road. Probably
t he most impor t ant rail way scheme in the metropolis is t hat proposed by a company t o be formed
for the construction of a line which, starting at
South-place, Finsbury, just south of the square,
will pass, mostly under ground, in a n or t h-eastward
direction t o ~althamstow, and will link up
several of the hnes of the Great E astern R ail way
as well as connect with the H ampstead line. It
should, therefore, if carried ou t, be the means of
gre~tly relieving t~e t raffic at Liverpool-street
s~att~n .. The n~w hne ~o t only taps an in1portant
d1stn ct In the C1ty at F1nsbury, wher e it starts, but
passes through a densely populated area first to
De Beau voir-r oad in S t. J ohn's parish, H ackney,
thence to the n orth-west to Wal thamstow, branching on to the Cam bridge line of t he Great E astern
R ailway. From Walthamst ow there will be another
branch to t he t ownship of Waltham H oly Cross
and yet a third branch t o the Walthamstow and
Ch~ngford rail way of t he Great E astern .Rail way
while from S t . .John, Hackney, there will be a line
pas~ing t hrough Upper Clap ton t o Tottenham
par1sh~ ter~inati~g in a j unction with the R amp
stead J unctwn rail way. This line, it will at once be
seen, is not only of considerable length, but passes
through a great stretch of the metropolis which
will very considerably affect the cost of c~ns lruc
tion, though it wil~ ultimat~ly ser ve to bring about
a much n.eeded reheve at Ltverpool-street station.
The Midland Rail way, in addition t o lines in th 6
provinces, propose to widen their line at Camden
Town and I{entish Town.
A ~ompany is t? be incorporatad for t he constr':lctwn .of an Ealmg an~ Sou~h H~rrow railway,
w h1eh w~ll co~me~ce w ~th a Junctwn with t he
Me~ropol.1tan D1stn ct Railway, in the vicinity of
E almg, 1n th e n orth-west of London, passing
through Acton, R an well, Twyford Willesden
Alperton,.Perivale, G~een~ord, Sudbur;, t o Harrow~
on-t he-Htll, ~l~e:e It Will meanwhile t erminat e.
I_n the same VICm1ty a new company is promoting a
hne from the Great '\Vestern bran ch at Uxbridue
straigh t nor th, joining the L ondon and N ort'hW estern and the Metropolitan lines at R ickmansworth. A branch from t his n ew line will run also
to the H arefield Place Park. This line althouah
pro?ab~y und~r ten miles in length, pass~s through
a d1stnct whtc~ may yet have very large suburbs
of the metropolis.
V ery few schemes a~ect the metropolis south of
the Thames. The BrJghton Company intend t o

E N G I N E E R I N G.
make a junction line between two of their rg.il ways
in the southern suburban area, from near the Earlswood station, passing through Coulsdon, Reigate,
Galton, Merstham, Chipstead, and Sanderstead, to
the existing line at South Croydon station. Several
level crossings are to be closed upon the existing
lines. Here also it may be noted, although not
quite embraced in the title of our article, that the
:Brighton Rl-ilway Company desire power to provide, maintain, and work steamera t o carry on communication between Newhaven and the ports of
France and the Channel Islands. The Chatham
and D:>ver Company and the Central L ')ndon Railway Company seek an extension of time, the one
for the completion of widening works, and the
other for the compulsory purcha'le of land. The
Ci1atham and D over Company, moreover, seek
p ower to purchase the Albion Wharf at Blackfriars, which will gi\"e them a more advantageous
position in coping with traffic in barges from the
ships down the river. The South E astern Company, the only oth er in this district of England,
do n ot propose any new works, although they have
a Bill whereby they seek powers to purchase land
for widening and improving works, and to extend
th9 time for compulsory purchase of other lands.
A new company is to be formed for a line from the
Chatham and D over Railway at Sutton-at-Hone,
through DJ.rtford to Swanley, on the Kent coast,
where a pier to be made will project 400 ft. long
into the River Thames.
We have indicated that nearly all the important
lines have "omnibu~ " Bills. That of theL-:>ndon and
North-Western is very extensive in its de ~ail ; but
inv olves no new work of importance, the extent
b eing due to the enumeration of lands to be purchased, and of by-ways or footpaths to be closed.
Sever al short deviations of line, too, are proposed.
The Midland R ailway, amongst other schemes,
propose a line of a few miles length from Ecclesfield,
in the West Riding of Yorkshire, passing ea.CJtward
a few miles north of the town, but through the
parish of Sheffield, and thence through Brightside,
Bierlow, and Rotherham to Kimber,vorth. By
this line the Chapeltown branch is connected to the
Sheffield and R otherham branch of the company's
syatem. The Great North ern Company seek powers
to construct several short lengths of rail way in connection with their system at Finsbury Park, St.
Mary's, I slington, and St. Mary's, Hornsey, and in
addition to extensive purchases of land in various
counties, they propose to purchase the Hunslet Railway Company, to lease the Stamford and Essendine
Company, and to purcha~e, in conjunction with .the
L ancashire and Yorkshue Company, the Hahfax
High Level Rail way~ which is to be worked jointlr.
The " omnibus'' Bill of the North-Eastern Railway Company see~s power to made. a number of
lines and works to Improve the workwg of several
existing lines. A short line is proposed from the
Dunston Extension line, opened a few weeks ago,
to Gateshead; and including also a widening and
alteration of part of the present line in Gatesh ead.
Another junction line is proposed in the parish of
\Vhickham b etween the Tanfield branch and the
Dunston Extension line. Then there is a more
import:1nt line, which is the outcome of the independent l ine along the Durham coast proposed last
year and again this year.. The N orth-East~rn
proposal is for a line starting about three m1les
from Hartlepool, from the existing line, and passing
through Thorpe, Bulmer, H esledon, Shotton,
E1sington-with-Thorpe, Little Thorpe, Ha~t~o~n,
Dawden, and other townships, and finally JOining
the '' back branch of the L ondonderry, Seaham,
and Sunderland Railway" in Dawden township,
and to make such works as are needful to convert
part of the line in tho la.st township into a passenger
line, as well as to authorise agreements bet~een
the North-Eastern Rail way and the. Marquts. of
L ')ndonderry. There is. fur~her a shght .sub.stltutionall ine at Leeds ; a widenmg o.f the ma1n hne of
the North-Eastern between Shtpton and Aln.e ;
and joint lines with the Midland and Lancashire
and Yorkshire, at Whitwood, n ear Nor manton,
and at Altofts. Bridges and footpaths are proposed
at J arrow and Ryhope. It is also proposed to
transfer to the North-Eastern .the p_owers and
rights of the Wear Valley Extenswn Rad w.ay ; and
to allow the North-Eastern to sell and d1spose of
or abandon the B oroughbridge and Ripon Canal.
The Seaham and Hartlepool line, which _is for the
accommodation of the new coalfields In SouthEast Durham, will find oppositi.on in the Durham
Coast Rail way scheme, aga1n produced for

p1rliamentary sanction. A slight change has been

m:1de on th e route proposed last year. It will
commence at West Hartlepool, and pass through
Hart Warren, Castle Eden, E asing to n, Hawthorn ,
to Dalton-le-Dale, and then by a junction on to
Seaham, whilst a branch will run to Sunderland.
There will be a junction with the North-Eastern
Railway. A central station is to be formed at
Sheffield by the Manchester, Sheffield , and Lincolnshire Company, and various lines will be formed
from the station linking up the present suburban
and main lines of the company ; one will extend
from N eepsend through Eckington t::> Staveley in
Derbyshire, in connection with the new Ea.st and
West Cross-Country Railway.
Coming now to the main rail ways in the west,
we find that the Great Western desire extensive
powers. In the first place, they, in conjunction
with the Midland, purchase the important undertakinga of t he Severn and W ye and Severn Bridge
Rl-ilway Company, and a joint committee is to be
appointed to manage the Bristol P ort and Pier
Railway, the joint station there, and one or two
rail ways in the district. Such amalgamations
are in some respects very satisfactory, for
where opposing lines work in unison, advantages result, although a keen watch has
to be maintained against the consequences of
monopoly. The Great \Vestern, h owever, is imbued with the spirit of enterprise. In the first
place, they propose several very short lines in the
counties of D enbigh and Glamorgan, to connect
existing lines together, while connection is also
form ed with the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
at \Vrexham. In Wiltshire there is to be laid out
from U rchfont t o Westbury a new line, between
25 and 30 miles in length, across country, joining
with the Wiltshi,re, Somerset, and Weymouth line.
This line, branching off the main line before
Devizes is reached, will save a long curve round by
Holt Junction and Trowbridge on this route to
Cornwall, the exclusive region of the Great Yvestern.
Here reference may be made to the proposed scheme
of the North Cornwall Company, which, perhaps,
has the longest new line of any of those projected,
and one, indeed, which suggests possibilities of the
future division of traffic. This line is worked by
the L ondon and South-Western, but the proposals
directly conne:t the South-Western with the
extreme south-western stations of Cornwall, where
the Great Western, as we have said, have been in
sole possession. This connection, meantime, is
over the metals of the South-\ estern Company.
It was originally intended by the South Cornwall
Company to carry a line from Camelford and\adebridge along the side of the river which debauches
into Hayle Bay on the Bristol shore of Cornwall.
It is n ow intended, while carrying the line to Wadebridge, to strike from thence in a south-westerly
direction to the old city of Truro. At Truro, and
at Kenwyn, where the Edles Common is to be
acquired by the railway company, junctions will be
made with the various lines of the Great Western
-with the branch down to Falmouth on the
southern coast, and with the Newham branch of
the West Cornwall line right through to Penzance.
The little North Cornwall Company, with its
capital now of only 180,000l., may, therefore,
become a very important link for the London and
South-Western Company with the Bristol Channel
section of Cvrnwall, and also over the Great
Western metals to the southern shor es of the
extreme west. Meanwhile the Great ' Vestern
will improve its line in Cornwall by very extensive
widening works, necessitating the r econstruction of
seven large viaducts with approach embankments,
and the widening of twenty bridges in Berks,
Wilts, \Varwick, Stafford, Devon, and Cornwall,
besides other works incidental to widening operations. These operations, of course, necessitate
larger purchases of land. The company also
propose to have a short line near the Devon coast,
and to use part of the Plymouth and Dartmoor
Company's line, while an extension of time is
sought by the latter company. The Gr~a.t vV ~stern,
again find another threatened oppos1t10n 1n the
west 'of Wales, where the improved prospect of
Milford Haven, as a harbour for Atlantic liners,
has not only suggested improved port acc.ommo~a
tion to which we shall refer 1n deahng w1th
maritime schemes, but has prompted the incorporation of a company to promote an extension of
the Central \Vales line of the L ondon and North\Vestern Railway from Eglywys Cymmyn due west,
almost in parallel line with the main line of the

[DEc.

I,

1893.

Great Western, to Pembroke and Pwllcrochan on

t he southern shore of the Haven right opposite the
town of Mi1ford. Part of the way the existiPg
Pembroke and Tenby line is used, but for the great
part the line, for the distance of nearly fifty mils,
is new, and strikes almost a straight westerly
course for Peru broke.
The Scotch 1\nes are still at peace, and there
seems little p r ospect of a r epetition this session of
th ose old-time vigorously-fought contests in the
committee-rooms at Westminster. As a rule, the
great lines have in the past encouraged or put
up new companies a1 nominally responsible fo r
the tight, but this y ear no quasiindependent
scheme is promoted. The Caledonian and the
North British have each "omnibus " Bills. 'Jhe
former desire power to so alter the plans of the
underground rail way which runs from the east
t.o the west of Glasgow, that they may have a
much larger station in the centre of the city, the
idea now being to make the central station situated
in Argyle-street, with an island platform as well as
with those at the side as usual. Three short lines
to save detours are projectfd, one in L eith, another
in Forfar, and the third near N eilston. The
Forfar and Brechin Rail way, recently constiucted,
is to be purchased. The North British Company
have two similarly short lines, one at Bathgate
and the other at Dunfermline ; but in no case are
the works of importance or of any special significance. Presumably both companies have recently
done enough in the matter of extension, as witness
recent and prospective additions to capital account.
Amongst important district linea reference may
be made t o the programme of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire, which includes a short line at Wakefield, widening works at Bolton and Wigan, the
reconstruction of some bridges, and the purchase of
land for various purposes ; but none of these exten
sions call for special description. The Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company have quite a
number of n ew and substitutional lines in contemplation, but these are not of material importance.
So also with the new cross-country railway-the
Lancashire, D erbyshire, and East Coast Railway,
where five alterations are indicated, but as in each
case the deviation is confined within one parish,
the changes scarcely merit specifying. About a
dozen road diversions are indicated, but these, again,
are only of local interest. The Furness Company,
in their Bill, are mostly concerned about some new
outfall sewer to be constructed. The Cockermouth,
Keswick, and Penrith Company are going in for
a wid ening of th e works, which would indicate that
this line, which penetrates into the Lake District,
is meeting with increasing traffic, notwithstanding
the tirades which are not infrequently hurled
at the projector of rail ways into t he grandest of
nature's scenes. Much of this is due to the desire to conserve for t he few the riches of
nat.ure ; but so terribly democratic is the age,
that as soon as nature discovers a new wealth
there is more or less of a rush to participate in the
pleasure which results. The duty of the railway
constructor is to meet, if not create, this demand,
and t hus amongst the lines projected year by year
a few are for meeting the desire to visit pretty
spots and shrines. Thus one finds reason for the
necessity of the line projected from th e city of
Birmingham through North War Rickshire to
Stratford-upon-Avon. From this lin e a junction
line will be made from vVootton W a wen to As ton
Cantlow on the Great Western branch line to
Alcester. A company has been formed also to run
a line from the Great Western line at Truro, in
Cornwall, northwards for about 20 miles, to join at
N ewlyn with a mineral line running into Newquay, on \Vatergate Bay, on the Bristol Channel.
Another line to the beautiful shores of Devon is
proposed by a new company, whose projected railway leaves the existing Sidmouth line at Ottery
St. Mary, and runs south-west for a few miles
through Budleigh to Salterton, on the coast. In
the south-eastern part of the same county a new
line is to run from T otnes in an easterly direction
for six or seven miles to Paignton, on the shores of
Tor Bay, already connected with Torquay. This
scheme seems under the care of the Great \Vestern
Railway, in whose territory it is situated.
Several independent rail way lines have been
projected. The East Glamorgan Company propose
lines in a district which, because of its extensive
coal workings, has already a great n etwork of
railways. The idea is to join the Barry line at

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Llantrissant with several of the other lines of the line tram way with passing-places, and the B olton when turning sharply, every one may be thrown
district, the Rhymney and Merthyr Tyd villines, Corporation seek partly ra.tification for a. lease down to the lower side, and thus carry the heel to
but in no case are the rail ways of any great length. entered into for the working of the lines. At Hull the point of vanishing stability. The danger. or
The Ea~t Denbighshire Company is to be incorpo- part of the present system is to be transferred to inconvenience from excessive heeling when turnmg
rated to construct rail ways to connect the borough the DrypJol and Marfleet Steam Tramways Com- circles has been recognised, and torpedo-boats are
of Wrexham and Rhosllanerchrugog, and also with pany, and a new line from :b;ast to West Hull is to now designed to counteract this tendency. This is
the Pontcysyllte Railway of the Shropshire Union be formed. The South Staffordshire Company pro- effected by adjusting the centre of area of the rudder
R'ilways and Cd.nal Company, in the parish of pose lines in \V est Brom wich and Hands worth, so that t he reaction of the race deflected by the
\Vrexham. The Taff Vale Railway Company have while the Oxford and Aylesbury scheme is revived rudder has a righting effect. So far is the tendency
one or two short substitutional lines, and will and an extension of time for construction desired. to heel outward, when t urning, counterbalanced in
widen a short len~th of the lthondda Fach and In the case of practically all ne w lines, power is this way, that some torped o-bo~ts actually h eel
Fawr branches. In addition they propose the sought to work the lines not only by animal haulage, slightly inwards, which has a very curious effect to
construction of a tu nnel or subway under the River but by any tnechanical means.
the uninitiated. The older boats, of which the one
E ly between Penarth and Canton, where at present
sunk was a type, had not the arrangement of
a ferry plies. The Barry R~ilway propose a short
rudder giving this security, and the accident
THE CAPSIZING OF A TORPEDOline at Llantrissant to accommodate some collieries,
shows that some inquiry should be made as to their
BOAT.
and another from Barry to Sully. They purpose
stability, whilst regulations should be enforced that
THE news that a torpedo-boat of the Royal Navy they are n ot put to a test b eyond their powers.
constructing, in conn ection with this latter line, an
embankment or breakwater 154 yards long along had capsized at Gibraltar in smooth water was
Unhappily, one man was drowned in this accident.,
the foreshore, commencing at the western extremity somewhat di~quietiog, but further particulars but the other thirty-two escaped, which must be
of Barry I sland. Extensive lands are required for which have been received tend to lessen one's considered a most fortunate circumstance. The
these and other prospective improvements. The alarm, as showing that the accident was due to boat is reported to have stood remarkably well the
J\1ersey Railway Company have two Bills, one exception~! circumste.nces. It would appear that severe test of being sunk in 15 to 16 fathoms with
de1ling with the extremely complicated question 'of the vessel is one of the old type of second -class one compartment full of air, and also the rough
rates and charges, and in the other they abandon boats built some time between 1880 and 1882, of usgge of getting her hoisted to t he Rodney. The
short lines previously authorised, and seek running which there are, we believe, about thirty to thirty- bulkheads were deflected during lifting, and some
powers over the \Virral Rail way from Park-street, five in the Navy. The boat that turned over is rivets loosened in their neighbourhood ; but otherBirkenhead to Now Brighton and West I{irby, as 63 ft. long and 7ft. 6 in. wide on the water-line, and wise, we believe, no structural damage was done.
well as to the old Dock Station at Birkenhead. 8 ft. extreme width. The maximum draught was It will be remembered that some time ago we gave
The North Staffordshire Railway Company propose 4 ft. 3 in. The boat was detailed for gun praotice, particulars of the loss of a torpedo-boat belonging
the purchase of the L angton, Adderley Green, and and had a two-barrell-in. Nordenfelt gun mounted to the French Navy by capsizing. In that case,
Bucknall Company, which has a capital of 15,450l. on the conning-tower. Thore were thirty-three however, the boat was running in a short sea on
in preference and debenture 4 per cent. stock. At men on board, and of these nineteen were on deck, the beam, which is a condition of service that can
present the line is worked by the North tafford three being on the gun platform round the conning- hardly be avoided. \Ye can, however, prevent
Company, so that the change is nominal. The tower, which would be about 3 ft. above the deck. thirty-three men getting on to a little vessel of
, outh Yorkshire Junction Rail way propose short The sea was q uite smooth, and the boat had made a about 12 tons displacement, and thus chancing
lines to connect with the Great Northern and few runs, turning with helm to port and heeling about 2 tons of weight being thrown to leeward in
Great E3.stern joint rail vrays at two places.
outwards, when, whilst turning at full speed, case of a sudden lurch. In any event the accident
The only other rail way Bills which call for note she Ruddenly went over without any apparent calls for inquiry, and strict instructions should be
are those for extension of time, in which works reason- so suddenly, that one man who was given that they are not overloaded.
already authorised must be constructed, and for standing at the bottom of the engine-room ladder
financial arrangements. Amongst the former are was shot out into the sea. In turning previously
THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER
the Exeter, Teign Valley, and Chagford Railway, the boat had heeled 8 deg. to 10 deg., which appears
FROM NIAGARA.
Easton and Church Hope Railway to P ortland, a good deal, as the deck edge goes under water at
IN our lasL issue we gave an account of the elecHull and Barnsley extension lines, and the Lam- 12! deg. 'fhere was on board 1 ton of coal and the
bourn Valley Railway. The financial Bills comprise feed water. We believe the torpedo gear was in tric arrangements now being adopted by the Cataract
one by the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway, place, but did not contain the torpedoes. This Cons truction Company for the distribution of power
who desire the Tilbury and Southend Company to point is, of course, one of considerable importance. from Niagara. Three turbines, each of 5000 horsehave power to assist with capital ; the 'Vest Lan- The engine-room and after cabin hatches were open, power,* and three alternate-current generators, of
cashire Railway ; Cordoba Central R:1.il way ; the the rest closed. The boat, after turning clean over, corresponding power, are now in course of conCurn wall mineral lines ; and the Golden V alley up-ended her stern in the air. In this position she struction in America, the former from the designs
Railway in Wales. Several comp~nies, too, wish remained ten minutes or so before she sank in of Messrs. Faesch and Piccard, of Geneva, and
to abandon their schemes, and amongst these are 15 fathoms. Next day she was raised and hoisted the latter from the designs of Professor George
The electric arrangements, as dethe Hull and North- \VesternJunction Railway, the to the cat-head of the Rodney. Although the Forbes.
Worcester and Broom line, Shrop'3hire; South matter is serious enough as it stands, it is satisfac- scribed by their author to the Institution of
Yorkshire, and the East and West Yorkshire Com- tory to know that the more recent boats of the Electrical Engineers, contain many features that
pany's schemes, and the Brighton, R ottingdean, class are not likely to act in the same manner. depart from ordinary usage, and which, as we
and Newhaven line.
These early craft were designed when not quite so forecast in our previous article, have met wit h
There are several interesting tram way schemes much attention was paid to safety as n ow. The keen criticism. The first night of the discussion of
promoted. The L ondon Tram ways Company have torpedo was then looked on as a desperate weapon, the paper - November 23-was occupied entirely
decided to continue the cable tram way about and men were understood to take their lives in by speeches from thost:~ that sit at and immediately
2i miles further into t he country- from Streatham their hands when they essayed to use it. It around the council table, and another-po~sibJy
Bill to Strea.tham Common-and in view of the was alRo considered that the great speed r e- two more nights- will be r equired befor e the
success and popularity of the present line, which quired in torpedo-boats was only to be obtained matter is threshed out. Professor F orbes received
extends from Kennington to Streatham Hill, the on a low beam ratio. The best was done within quite a chorus of congratulations upon the position
proposal will be welcomed. There have been objec- the dimensions to secure stability, but it was pretty he holds, and upon his public spirit in puttina forth
t.ions raised to the use of the cable tramway by some- generally known that the little craft were not his plans, and his reasons for them, befo~e the
what captious people, who have carried their oppo- strong in this point, and were to be used with care work was finished, or, indeed, well under wa.y. Ho
sition to the Board of Trade, and at the termina- accordingly, and not as hack boats. The more was, h owever, very h otly attacked upon his choice
tion of one year's working examination is to be modern second-class t orpedo-boats have greater of a l ow frequE-ncy, and his reply will be eagerly
made into these objections, which are principally width on less length, being 9 ft. 3 in. wide and waited for on this point.
based on the n oise made by the running of the 60ft. long. They have also a foot more freeboard
Dr. J. A. Fleming was called upon by the Presic1ble. We should fancy, even admitting that there than the older craft. The metacentric height of these dent to open the discussion. After complimenting
is a noise, that the advantages outweigh this con- more powerful boats, fully equipped, is 14 in., which Pro~ess~r F orb.es on the value of his paper, and the
sideration. At Croydon, a mile or two further may be considered ample for all putposes the boat is Inst1tut1?n ~n tts g?od fortune in receiving such a
out, the Burgh system is being augmented by lines likely to be put to. What it is in the old boats we co~muntcatwn while t~e work was in progress, he
which, in the aggregate, extend to 1! milee, and in do n ot know, but it must be very mueh less. The satd he would confine h1s remarks to two pointsaddition p ower is sought to construct lines in to old boats are safe enough under ordinary conditions t?e effects due to cap~city and self-induction of long
Streatham Hill. The line is to be single, with of service, but they were not designed to carry a lines when worked wtth alternating currents. No
loops for passing cars. A contest, therefore, seems large number of people on deck. The torpedo doubt the type of lin.e chosen had been fixed upon
to be imminent beLween the corporation and the armament has also been entirely changed since to reduce the capac1ty effects. It was most imLondon Tramway Company for the roadway, as they were delivered. Nineteen persons was cer- portant to avoid sudden rises of pressure such as
both schemes overlap for 2! miles. It is to be tainly an excessive deck l oad, the effect of which no insulation could withstand.
If sudde~ connechoped that some agreement will be come tow hereby in influencing stability will be appreciated when it tion and disconnection were made between the mathe cable line shall be extended to Croydon at once. is stated that this load raises the centre of gravity chine and the line, dangerous electrical surainas
The West L ondon Company is to be reconstituted, about 5 in., which is clearly very serious in so small would be set up. These, however, could be avoided.
and it is proposed to have extensive line.s through a. craft, intentionally of considerable length rela- At D eptford a method of effecting this had been
Acton, Hammersmith, and Fulham. An extension tively to beam for the sake of securing high speed. devised by the engineer, Mr. D'Alton and himself
of time for the construction of the Paddington
c~rtainly thirty-three people ought not to be ":hich had perfectly succ.eeded in ita ~bject in rela~
and Harrow-road line is applied for. Extensive allowed on a second-class boat of this type, for twn to ~he large ~oneentnc cables there used, having
additions are proposed to the systems at Liverpool, though fourteen happened to be below, there was a capaetty o~ ~ m1crofarad per mile. The appliances
at Bootle, and \Valton-on-thcHill, at Bristol, at no reason why all but four or five should not have used comprised a transformer havina its secondary
Dudley and Wolverhampton, and between the latter been on deck. The greater danger that arises from capable of being closed through ~ variable nonplace and Bilston; while the Barrow-in-Furness a number of persons on deck is that if the boat
Corporation propose an extensive system of single- gives a quick and considerable lurch, such as occurs . * For description and drawings, see ENGINEERING, vol.
hv., page 782.

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

674
inductive resistance, the primary circuit being in
series with the main. This resistance was gradually
decreased, less and less of the energy being thus
diverted through the transformer, and more and
more sent on to the line. In breaking connection
the process was the inverse. All the bad effects
r.ccompanying alternating currents increased with
the frequency, hence it was advantageous to reduce
the frequency. The speaker highly appl'oved of
Professor Forbes's plan of introducing an artificial load when alternators were to be put in
circuit in parallel. This was done at Rome, where
they had a resistance that would absorb 300 horsepower, the power of one machine. It was not
done in any case in England, he believed. The
breaking of a main fuse was a source of danger.
'Vhat was wanted in place of a fuse was an
appliance to put impedance in the circuit, and n ot
to break it. He would like to know at what distance the main conductors would be apart, as at
20,000 volts there would be a great tendency to arc
across. R eturning again to the subject of frequency, the speaker said it was determined in each
case by the local conditions ; h e considered that the
wisdom of low frequency at Niags.ra was undoubted
-it offered an enormous ad vantage.
Mr. W. H. Mordey thought the paper was
a most important one, as it gave members
the opportunity of comparing experiences gathered
in different fields, and in this way of arriving at
the truth. Professor Forbes had thrown down the
gauntlet to the whole engineering profession on
several points, and it was then necessary for those
who advocated high frequency to justify their position and prove the inaccuracy of the views put forward in the paper. It was not necessary at this
date to argue in favour of the alternate current for
long-distance transmission, its necessity was universally admitted. Turning to the paper, he found
it stated, on page 4, '' Of course it is a matter of
common know ledge that parallel working is assisted
by lowering the frequency." This he denied
most emphatically. If a machine worked in
parallel perfectly at 100 alternations, it could
not do better at 25 alternations p er second.
Of course there were machines that would not
work at high frequencies, but they were imperfect machines. Mr. Mordey described t he use of
an artificial load in putting machines in and out of
circuit as an obsolete practice, and one that was
entirely unnecessary. His firm (the Brush Electrical Engineering Company) followed a far simpler
method devised by himself and Mr. J. S. Raworth.
The machine to be put into circuit was brought up
to its speed by admitting to the engine just sufficient steam for the purpose, and consequently it
gave no current to cause surging in the mains.
After it was in circuit more steam was turned on to
the engine until the machine took up its share of
the load. In taking it out of circuit the process
was reversed, and steam gradually turned off until
the current died away, although the machine was
still running at full speed. Even with machines
that had a large drop in the characteristic curve, no
artificial load was required. Most of the alternatecurrent plants on the Continent were erected by
Messrs. Ganz, who put in the artificial load as a
matter of routine.
Mr. Mordey next attacked low frequency from
another point of view. It was stated in the paper
that " the greatest advantage of low frequency is .in
connection with the conductors used for transmission." It was true that there was a tendency for
alternate currents to confine themselves to the
surface of a conductor, but this only attained any
noteworthy proportion in the case of low-tension
currents. Many years ago, before this particular
phenomenon had been investigated, he ha~ been
consulted in relation to an alternate current Installation working at 100 volts, in which the tension
fell off to 75 volts at 300 ft. distant from the
generator, and it was impossi~le to fe~d the glow
lamps on the circuit. ~ut with the hig~ voltage
which Professor Forbes Intended to use, thts phenoJnenon almost disappeared. With a current of 100
amperes and a pressure of 20,000 volts, '~orking at
a density of 350 amper~s per .square Inch, the
apparent increase of resistance In the co~ductors
was not more than 0.1 per cent. per mile run.
He asked if it were worth while going down to a
frequency of 16.6 per second to gain an advantage
of 0. 2 per cent. Even at 2000 volts the apparent
increase of resistance would be hardly felt. It '!as
a matter of far greater importance to put the ma1ns
close together in the tunnel.

[DEc.

I, I

893.

The speaker next referred to the effect of low in thA armat.ure. It was quiie possible to have
periodicity on losses in the transformer.
Pro- the former with very little of the latter; if there
fessor Forbes had said that by quadrupling the fre- were iron in the armature, it must be so disposed
quency the output was increased from 100 to 174, as not to distort the field.
Great armature
but Mr. Mordey would point out that the C2 R reaction was inimical to synchronisation, but
losses got greater as the periodicity decreased. If self- induction, without magnetic induction on
the losses, including the hysteresis losses, were kept the field magnet, had not the same disadvantage.
constant, while the output were decreased, it was The difficulties arising in stations from sudden
perfectly evident that the efficiency of the trans- rushes of current were seldom experienced now ;
former was reduced. In the case before the meet- all engineers slowed their machines before breaking
ing, the loss was increased sixfold in four trans- circuit, and main switches were practically n ot
formers by lowering the frequency, apparently to used. In r eference to the diagram on the wall,
gain a hypothetical 3 per cent. extra efficiency in showing that motors were more efficient at low
the generator. Criticising the generator, Mr. frequencies, the value of it depended on the design.
Mordey explained that he preferred the method Some machines worked better at high frequencies,
of stepping up by transformation on to the line, as and some at low frequencies.
was being adopted, to the proposed method of
Mr. Swinbourne would have liked to hear more
generating the current at 20,000 volts pressure. He on the commercial side of the subject. 'Vho was
was of opinion, however, that it would be better going t o employ all this electric energy when it
to start at 500 volts instead of 2000. Professor was produced 1 He supposed that the promoters of
Forbes looked forward to commuting or redressing the Niagara scheme had made arrangements with
the current to convert it into a direct current for regard to customers, and he should have liked to
certain purposes, but with the type of machine he learn something of them. Usually power was a
had adopted there would always be a flicker. small item in a factory, and the location could best
Further, multiphase machines were always diffi- be fixed by other considerations. In working out
cult to regulate; what was needed under the a scheme, in collaboration with Mr. Thwaites, for
circumstances was a machine with a straight bringing power to L ondon from the coalfields, he
characteristic. It was possible to restrict the had found that the interest on the fixed plant
fall of the curve of volts, between no load and was the principal expense, and the cost of fuel an
full load, to 4 per cent. In conclusion, he stated insignificant matter.
that he had confined himself to a few points
only in the paper, since were he to deal with
all that presented themselves to him, he should THE "DARING " AND HER BOILERS.
ON Saturday last wl\.s launched from t he yard of
occupy a large proportion of the time of the
Messrs. J. I. Thornycroft and Co., at Chiswick,
sitting.
Mr. Gisbert Kapp was the next speaker. He the first of two of the new class of torpedo- boat
referred to the statement on the paper that " the destroyers, orders for which have been placed with
three- phase system has no advantage over a two- the firm by the Admiralty. These boats, which
phase system with three wires, 11 in r elation to are intended to protect the fleet from the guerilla.
saving of copper in the line. But before such a attacks of the enemy's torpedo- boats, are in themstatement was accepted, it was necessary to have selves torpedo-boats of a larger growth, and would
some basis of comparison. Such a basis was found be always able to take a haud in the sport of
in the assumption that all the systems compared bagging ironclads should occasion arise. The
sh ould offer the same safety as to insulation. The "destroyers" are fine bold craft, and will form
constant current was evidently the best on this most valuable additions to the offensive and defenbasis, as it strained the insulation least. Under sive powers of the fieet at sea.
The chief point of interest about the Darin(r,
certain conditions a system of transmission, working with constant current, would require 100 tons and also of her sister vessel shortly to be launched,
of copper; if alternating current were used, 200 is her b oilers- as, indeed, it must n ecessarily be
tons of copper would be required; three-phase about any high-speed craft. But before dealing
current would require 150 tons ; two-phase current with these we will give the general particulars of
with four wires would require 200 tons, and two-phase the vessel, premising that we shall return to the
with three wires 290 tons of copper. Therefore the subj ect at a later date. The principal dimensions
system chosen by Professor Forbes was the most are : Length, J 85 ft. ; breadth, H> ft. At the
uneconomical, as r egards copper in the line, of those designed draught of 6 ft. the displacement would be
open to him. As regards t he efficiency of trans- 220 tons. The armament will consist of a 12formers working with low frequency) no money could pounder quick-firing gun, and three 6-pounller
make them equal to those working with high fre- quick-firing guns. There are three torpedo disquency, since the losses wer e constant for a dP.crea<Jed chargers for the large 18-in. t orpedoes.
The vessel is to be propelled by twin screws, and
output. Professor Forbes had laid great stress on
selecting such a frequency that ordinary dynamos, the engines will be of the three-stage compound
with two rings added to the commutator, could be type, each set having four cylinders a~ follows:
used as synchronising motors. But was this ap- High-pressure cylinder, 19 in. in diameter; interparent advantage a real one ~ Was it possible to mediate, 27 in. ; and two low-pressure cylinders,
make the required modifications to commercial each 27 in. in diameter. The stroke is 16 in.
dynamos 1 There was not room on the spindle for These engines have some novel points of interest,
the rings, and in any case they must be sent to an and we shall shortly illustrate and describe them
engineer to carry out the alterations. And when more fully. The contract is for 3500 indicated
the alterations were made, the motor would need horse-power, and the designed boiler pressure is
an auxiliary Tesla motor to start it. It would be 210 lb. The speed is to be 27 knots.
The Daring, as stated, was launched on Saturday
simpler to put in a motor of the latter kind to do
the full work. There were plenty of alternate- last, the special service appointed for the occasion
current motors to be had. Mr. Kapp had got being r ead by the Vicar of Chiswick, the R~v. W.
out designs for generators of 5000 horse-power, Lawford Dale, Mrs. Thornycroft naming the vessel
and he found that with 16 alternations per second and setting t he launching n1echanism in motion
the weight was 19 lb. per electrical horse-power, by means of the device arranged for the purpose.
and with 33 alternations it was 11.8 lb. There A pleasing feature associated with the ceremony of
was thus a clear saving in first cost in favour of a launching of this vessel, was the presentation, by
frequency twice as great as that selected by the Mrs. Thornycroft, of the medal of the Royal
Humane Society, which had been awarded to a
author.
Dr. Silvanus Thompson, after some complimen- fit ter in the employment of the firm, named Smith,
tary r emarks, quoted the following sentence from who had distinguished himself by jumping overProfessor Forbes's paper: "The rules which board from the Speedy at Sheerness and saving
aovern the construction of machines which shall the life of a marine.
We now pass to the boilers of the Daring, which,
~ork well in parallel are not clearly understood.
The only fact which has been perfectly established as we have f!aid, are of a new type, and which we
in practice is that the lower the frequency the more illustrate on page 667 of the present issue. Fjg. 1
efficient and sure is the parallel working." Re is a front elevation. Fig. 2 a longitudinal elevation
denied that this was all that was known ; for partly in section, Fig. 3 a cross-section, and Fig. 4
example, machines """ould not run well.if the arma- a plan, one half of which shows sections at diffeture were able to distort tho field, or 1f t hey gave rent planes, There are to be three of these boilers
curves of different types, one machine having a on the vessel. As will be seen by our illustrations,
pointed curve and the other a more re.ct~nguJar this design of boiler is a modification of the type of
Thornycroft boiler fitted in the Ariete, which we
form. Further' it was necessary t o .d1at mgmsh
.
between self- induction and magnet1c reaction described and illustrated in our issue of July 22,

DEc. r, 1893.]
1887. * The latter class

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

smoke casing, and the downcomers, which are now

several in number, are placed within the central
smoke-chan1ber connecting the top a.nd bottom
cylinders, as shown in the cross and longitudinal
sections. By the latter it will be seen that these
downcomers are curved in forn1. This is probably
done for the purpose of allowing for expansion
when heated. It may be found p ossible t o make
these pipes straight, if there b e no other reason for
bending them than the desire to allow for expansion and contraction.
An ad vantage claimed for this "flue-way " system
of acranging the tubes supplying the heating surface, is that the gases arising from the burning fu el
are inclosed in a close combustion chamber, and
in this way a nearer approach to complete combustion is obtained. In the present case the gases, as
liberated from the coal, rise t o the upper part of
the space above the grate, together with the air
blown through the fire by fans (wh en forced
draught is used). The air and the gases in this
way have a good opportunity of being thoroughly
mixed whilst at the temperature necessary for combustion. Supposing a sufficient s upply of air be
maintained, the gases will not therefore be cooled
down by contact with the surfaces of the tubes,
before combustion is complete. It is also claimed
that the "flue-way" system has the advantage of
keeping the heated gases longer in contact with the
heating surface of the tubes. It may be mentioned,
in connection with this point, that in the Lagrafeld' Allest boiler fire tiles were arranged so as to
secure this advantage. I t will be evident, however,
that on general principles it is desirable to keep the
heated gases in contact with the heating surface
for a sufficient length of time to allow the heat
to be transferred t o the water to be evaporated.
An advantage claimed for bent tubes, as in this type
of boiler, as compared with the straight tube arrangement is that greater heatingsurfaceis obtained within
given dimensions of space, and also that a lighter
boiler is produced, other things being equal. In
water-tube boilers of this type the tubes practically
supply all the heating surface. The large cylinders,
used, however, form a very appreciable addition to
the total weight, and it is evident that the smaller
the proportion of weight contained in the cylinders,
the more effective the boiler will be for its weight,
if other considerations are equal.
With this new design, which may be distinguished
as the Daring type of boiler, Messrs. Thornycroft
state they get a more compact arrangement, so far
as fitting the b oat is concerned, and the advantage
of the double furnace gives a boiler with a manageable size of grate and large heating surface. This
is shown by the fact that the Daring has but
three boilers, whilst it would have required six of
the older type, such as is used in the Speedy ;
which vessel, it will be remembered, had eight
boilers, her engines developing over 4600 indicated
horse-power. The total heating surface of each of
the Daring's boilers is 2064 square feet, and the
grate area of each boiler 63 square feet.
In regard to the circulation question, to which
reference has already been made, it is well to
r emem her that not only has the protection of the
tubes from the fire to be provided for by circulation, but also the question of deposit in the tubes
arises. In this respect the modern designer of
water-tube boilers stands on a very different footing
from his predecessors of ten or a dozen years ago.
The great improvement made in evaporators and
d.istillers, . a~d-more if!1portant still- the recognitiOn that It IS an essential feature of good practice
that these should be carried, makes the incrustation trouble very much lighter. The chief difficulty
appears t o be that which arises from grease which
comes over with the feed.
In the Daring we suppose no lubricant will be
used in the cylinders, as in the case of torpedoboats; but, in spite of this, a certain amount of
solid matter has been found to come over into the
boilers of such boats. This is, we are informed
always deposited in t he bottom or wing cylinders~
we are speaking n ow of the older design of
Thornycroft boiler- and takes the shape of a
somewhat plastic mass, the greater bulk of which
is combustible. It is possible that even this
trouble will be got over by the use of a greasearrester ; in the desig n of which there appears
a probability that success has been reached. At
*.~ee ENGINEEIU~c, vol. xliv., page 104. See also vol. times, h owever, salt water may be expected to
xlvtt., pa.ge 402, for further illustrations of the Thorny- find its way into the boiler. A leaky condenser
cr.lft boiler.
will speedily flood the boilers with salt water, as
t !::iee pages 579 and 610 ante.
was proved on a recent trial trip, or it may be

of boiler w~s placed in

the torpedo gunboat Speedy, the trials of which
In
vessel were referred to in recent issues. t
place, however, of there b eing two wing cylinders
at the bottom and a separator or steam collector
cylinder at the t op, this boiler has one large
lower cylinder, and two s mall supplementary wing
pipes at the sides. The grate area, as will he
seen: is disposed on each side of t he lower
cylinder, so that there are two furnaces to each
boiler, in place of one furnace, as in the older
design. The main part of the heating s urface is
supplied by the series of tubes that connect the top
and bottom cylindera. For the sake, chiefly, of
insulation, a series of curved tubes run from the top
cylinder to the two large pipes placed in the wings.
These tubes are placed close t ogether, excepting
where they are expanded into the top cylinder and
connected to the wing pipes respectively, where the
exigencies of construction compel them to be separated. Every alternate tube of this series has to be
bent outwards, as shown in the cross-sectional
illustration, and the spaces thus formed are stopped
by fire tiles as shown. It will be seen that these
two outer series of tubes, being placed close together,
form an insulating wall, by means of which the
extreme h eat of the furnace is prevented from
attacking the smoke jacket or outer casing of the
boiler, which is formed of sheet iron, and is placed
close up t o the insulating row of tubes, as shown.
It would appear at first sight that this row of small
tubes would afford but little protection, but it will
be evident on reflection that the temperature of
the tubes will not rise higher than that due to the
boiler pressure, unless steam be generated in the
tubes and become superheated. The excellent
circulation maintained in the Thornycroft boiler
is, however, relied upon as sufficient to prevent
any superheating. It will be seen by the sectional
plan, Fig. 4, that the wing pipes are carried
right r ound the back of the grate, and are
attached to the b ottom central cylinder by a flange.
The tubes, however, are n ot carried furth er than
indicated in the plan, so that the back end of the
boiler has to be ins ulated by fire tiles or other
means. The attachment of the tubes to the wing
pipes is made by union j oints, the ends of the
tubes being Banged, and being held, by means of
glands, into nipples tapped into the wing pipes, a
soft washer being used to make each joint steamtight. In the upper cylinder or steam separator, the
ends of the tubes are expanded in the usual way.
It will be r emembered that a leading principle
in the Thornycroft boiler is that the tubes which
form the heating surface are so arranged that
the spaces enclosed by them constitute flu es
for the passage of products of combustion to the
chimney. The same feature is retained in the
present type of boiler. Thus it will be seen, by
reference to the illustrations, that the main series
of tubes-which are placed on the inner side of
each furnace- have their extreme rows so arranged
that the tubes are t ouching, as in the single r ows
of insulating tubes. To effect this the tubes are
bent at the ends, where they are expanded in t o the
upper and lower cylinders. At the bottom and
top, where the tubes join the cylinders, there are,
therefore, triangular spaces. The products of combustion pass in through t he triangular spaces at the
bottom and ascend, circulating amongst the inner
rows of tubes (which do not touch each other), and
finally pass to the heart-shaped space in the middle
of the b oiler, which thus becomes a smoke-chamber
leading to the uptake at t he back end of the boiler.
In designing his water-tube boilers Mr. Thornycroft has always kept prominently in view the
necessity for ample circulation; a r ock upon which
most of the earlier designerJ of water-tube boilers
were shipwrecked. In order to obtain this in the
older design, the ends of the t op and bottom cylinders were carried beyond the casing of the boiler and
were then connected by large pipes, to which the
name of "downcomers " has been given. No
doubt in this way a very effectual means of circulation was set up, but a good deal of the structure
was given up for no useful purpose so far as evaporation w~s concerned; indeed,. it was cooling
surface, whtch was an excellent tlung from a circulation point of view, but not conducive to other
efticiencies. Mr. Thornycroft has made his new
boiler so that the whole is contained within the

necessary to use salt water for make-up thr:ough

failure of the evaporators. Such an acCJdent
occurred to some torpedo- boats, built for a South
A merican navy by Messrs. Thornycroft, and co~
taining the Thornycroft water-tube boiler. In t h1s
case the b oats were run for a considerable time on
salt water, but arrived at their destination appar ently in good order, and have b een in work since.
It is sometimes claimed that if the circulation
in a water-tube boiler be rapid, the scale from
the lime salts in salt water will not form. This
certainly is not our experience, and we are of
opinion that scale will form on the interior surface
at that part where the temperature of the feed becomes sufficiently high for the purpose of d epositing
tho lime salts, however rapid the circulation may
be. In some forms of water-tube boiler lime is
inserted in the feed, and care is taken to heat the
water to the point of ebullition before it is br ought
into contact with the heating surface of t he b oiler.
In this way the lime salts, t ogether with the g tease,
are said to combine with the added limE', which is
deposited in the form of mud and not as scale. By
using such precautions it is said salt water can be
used for make-up, care, of course, being taken that
the saturation is not too high. Messrs. Thornycroft,
however, state that the fairly extended experience
they have had with their boiler indicates that such
precautions are n ot necessary, hut at the same time
they do not advocate salt water being introduced
into the b oiler.
Many of our readers will, perhaps, remember
that about fifteen years a.go a pipe boiler was
introduced into this country from the United
States, and was said to be capable of running
with wholly salt-water feed. The somewhat h eroic
means of freeing the tube of the scale that formed
was to heat the generating coil to a dull r ed heat,
and then flood it with cold feed, so that the
sudden cooling and contraction of the metal
cracked off the adherent scale, which was swept out
at the same time by the rush of steam through the
blow-off. Thatsome scale could be removed in this
way we had proof, and also that some scale remained,
for mor e than one coil became all but choked up
from this cause. However, n one of the forms of
pipe boiler now hefore the engineering world are
capable of withstanding so drastic a remedy without ruin to their constitution, and the matter is
only recalled as an interesting instance of the
courage of American inventors. It may be addE:d
that the introducers of this coil boiler got over
another difficulty that besets the path of the user
of the water-tube b oiler, namely, the accumulation
soot and fine ash amongst the tubes, by the very
s1mple method known to a past generation of
washerw~m~n as "s~ying the copper; " the process cons1st1ng of placmg a parcel of gunpowder in
the fire and shutting the furnace door sharp.
The new type of Thornycroft boiler possesses to
a greater degree than the older design the ad vanta()'e
of a l ofty furnace. The difficulty in stoking lo~O'
grates consis ts largely of the fact that in cy lindricJ
furnaces of the ordinary boiler the coal cannot be
thrown up; to borrow a term from artillerists the
trajectory is too fiat, so that high velocity j~ required. In the trials of the Speedy the Sheerness
stokers expressed themselves deli()'hted with the
ease with which coal could be g~t all over the
furnace, and in the new design this ad van ta.O'e
0
will be still more apparent.
This new type of boiler is also extremely well
adapted to being grouped.
In such cases the
single r ows . of tu?es are naturally only required
on .the. outside b01le.rs. Ano.ther. point worthy of
notiCe Is that the des1g~1 of this boiler can be easily
accommodated so that It can be placed low down in
th~ . run of a. ves~el where the bottom fines. By
r a.tsing the w1ng p1pes a little the lower corners can
be cut otf practica1ly without sacrificing heatin()'
surface.
b
On. the w~ole, th~ .boilers of the Daring are a
mos~ 1nterestmg additiOn to the great marine engineermg feature of the hour, viz., the evolution of a
trustworthy water-tube boiler. The trials of the
vessel wi11 be watched with much interest.

o!

N 0 TES.
TnE "

ANTELOPE's " TRIAL.

THE failure of the Antelope's trials throu()'h the

priming of the boilers, will be a disappoint~ent to
a good many persons, whilst it will be looked on as
not entirely a calamity by others, notably the
many adherents of the water-tube system. When

E N G I N E E R I N G.
it was stated t h at Messrs. Yarrow and Co. were
the contractors for the machinery of this t orpedo
gunboat, it was felt that a good opportunity would
be afforded of testing the capability of the locomotive
type of marine boiler. It must be borne in mind,
h owever, that the so- called locomot ive boilers of
the Antelope are of very different design from that
of the t ruer locomotive class of steam generator,
generally placed in torpedo-bo~ts. The torpedo
gunboat b oilers are an Admiralty pattern, having
two furnaces and a wet-bottom firebox. An outline of these wet-bottom locomotive boilers will be
found on page 695 of our last volume. The damage
to t h e cylinder cover was, of cour3e, due t o the
presence of an excessive amount of water, owing to
the heavy priming. Supposing the 1nishap oecurred
through true priming, and n ot from flooding of one
boiler, we do not see h ow the matter affects the
important question of feed dist ribution , as h as been
stated. Priming may occur although each boiler
receives its own proper share of feed -water.
PROP ELLER SHAFT~.

negative plates for a storage bat tery ; but to obtain

positive plates it is necessary to set them up with
a clean lead plate, and pass a current through them
for several weeks, or until the whole of the spongy
crystalline lead is conver ted into the peroxide.
GAS CYL I NDERS.
The r ep ort which we publish elsewhere on the
explosion of a gas cylinder at Bradford raises the
question as to whether these ' bottles, " now so
commonly used in connection with lantern l ectures,
should be carried by t he railway companies as
personal luggage. For our own part, we have no
d oub t that, if properly made, th ese cylind ers are
perfectly safe, an opinion which is confirmed by the
fact t hat the accident referred to is the first recorded
as yet, although many thousands of these cylinders
must now be in daily use. The question then r emains
as t o what is the best way of manufact uring and
testing these bottles. We quite agree with Pro
fessor Goodman that a milder steel should be used
tha n was adopted in the case of the cylind er which
failed. These cylinders are liable to be knocked
about somewhat severely, and if of brittle
material may be highly tried, whilst a milder steel
would, by plastic yielding, prevent t he stresses thus
arising exceeding safe figures. It appears that the
brittleness of the metal in the present instance arose
partly from lack of annealing. This is supposed to
be d on e by the makers, but is also done every time
a cylinder is re- valved by the oxygen companies,
that is to say, about every four years. The thickness
should certainly be as uniform as possible, t hough
so long as the changes of section are g radual and
not sudden, the cylinder will be strong enough,
so long as the least thickness is sufficient for the
pressure. As regards the proper test pressure,
difference of opinion may arise. Profe~sor Goodman thinks that twice the working pressure is t oo
high, but we g reatly doubt if cylinders of such
dimensions as those used for bottling gas would be
overstl'ained by s uch a pressure. In fact, if it
were p ossible to apply this pressure by driving a
drift t hrough them, instead of by water, they would,
if of m ild steel, be s ubstantially strengthened by
the process. This is, of course, impracticable, and
it is necessary to have recourse to the water t est.
This we should be inclined to fiK at d ouble the
pressure, but the strain applied under tests sh ould
be well within the elastic limits of the material.
The variations in t hickness should also be measured
by callipering, and if large and sudden variations
ar e discovered, or if spots wher e the metal is too
thin for the pressure are found, the bottle should
be rejected.
THE T ESTIN\; OF

During the last few years considerable attention

has been devoted t o the prevention of the corrosion
and pitting which occur in the propeller shafts
of marine engines, arising mainly in consequence
of the galvanic action w hieh takes place at the ends
of the liners.
Members of the Institution of
M echanical Engineers who attended t he last
summer meeting and visited the Cen t ral Marine
Engine Works at West H~rtlepool, will r ecollect
h aving seen Mr. Mudd's plan carried into effect
there. It consists in drawing up a sleeve of indiarubber, or the like, over the shaft between the
liners, the t apered ends of whieh it overlaps ; the
sleeve may, however, be wrapped around t he shaft.
This is an exceedingly simple and cheap arrangem ent, and it is on e which affords g reat facilities for
inspecting the shaft ; i t is in use, but p:obably
sufficient experience has n ot yet been acq u1red to
enable definite assertions to be m::\.de as t o its
success. Mr. Dumlin, of L ondon, applies between
the liners and over t he ends of the latter a coating
of gutta-percha made to adhere by a composition,
t o apply which the shaft has to be heated. A guttap ercha, or other lining, forced .into a dovetailed
annular r ecess in the end of the lmer, and moulded
into a projecting no~ e, i3 the plan invented by Mr.
Jordan, of Cardiff; while, according to t he arrangem ent d evised by Mr. Taylor, of Barry, the shaft
adj acent to and. under t he liner is ~urrounded by
a casina of wh1te m etal, formed w1th a shoulder
abuttin~ on the end of the liner. Mr. Ellis, of the
Atlas Works Sheffield, protects the entire shaft
with an ele~tro-deposited coating of copper or
REGULATIONS FOR THE WORKING OF E LECTRI C
copper alloy. Other inventors have ~roposed the
T RAMWAYS.
application of simple and compound d1scs of good
It will be r em em bered t hat the Joint Committee
or had conductors of electricity, and the introduction of stuffing-boxes and glands between the pro- of the two Houses of Parliament, which considered
the r elative positions of the telephone and electric
pellers and the outer liner.
traction interests, recommended that the Board of
PLATES FOR SECOND.A ltY BA'l 'T ERIES.
Trade should draw up regulations to minimise, as
A n ovel method of preparing plates for secon~ary far as was r easonably practicable, the ill effects on
batteries was described by Mr. Herbert Lloyd In a the telephone service of the currents used in the
paper r ecent ly r ead before the Franklin Instit ute. tramway service.* A set of draft regulations has
In the first place, small tabl~ts made by fus~ng now been issued for the purpose of eliciting sugtogether a mixt ure of the chlondes of l~ad and zt~c gestions and criticism, pending the final settlement
are prepared, and r ound t hese a framm~ of anb- of the rules. The following are the points of chief
m onous lead is cast under pressure. Th1s meth?d inter est : An uninsulated conductor laid between
of casting insures that the framework shall consist the rails shall be electrically connected to the r ails
of dense metal, which will n ot be acted upon by the at distances apart n ot exceeding 100ft., by means
electr olyte of t he cell. The plate thus :produced of copper strips, having a sectional area of at least
still requires fur ther tr~atm.ent, as the m1~ture of -f6 square inch. An uninsulated return shall
the zinc and lead chlor1des 1s non-co~ductmg and always be connected to the n egative terminal of
inactive. By setting up t~e plat~ In a bath of the o-enerator, and, to d etermine t he leakage
zinc chloride toaether wtth a. z1nc plate, the curre~t, this terminal shall also be connected
tablets are de~omp osed, the zinc chloride dissolv~s through a current indicator to a water-pipe of 4 in.
out, and the lead chloride is .reduced to metalhc diameter or m ore, or to two separate earth conl ead, having a porous crystalhne structure . . T~e nections not less than 20 yards apart, and so
addition of thA zinc chloride to t he lead chlor1de In arranaed
t hat an electromotive force not exceeding
0
the first instance h as two advantages. .In t he fi~st 4 volts shall suffice to produce a current of at
place lead chloride, cast alone, falls to p1eces, wh1eh least 2 amper es from one to the other through the
is p;even ted by the additi~ n of the zinc salt. earth. The current passing from the earth ~on
Secondly, it allows the dens1ty of the poro.u~ lead n ections to the generator shall n ot at any ttme
finally obtained to be controlled by tl~e add1t1o ~ of exceed 10 amperes. Th.e c~rre~t fr?I? . t he ungreater or lesser percentages of the zmc chlonde. insulated r eturn to a p1pe In 1ts V1C1n1ty shall
The tablets are originally cast of sue~ a shape that be, if any, from t he return to the .pipe? bu~ it
they d ovetail into the frame of ant1monous lead shall always be p ossible to reverse Its dtrectwn
which supports them. After the plat.es have b.een by interposing a battery ?f thre~ Leclanch~ cells
r emoved from the reducing bath of ztnc chlonde, connected in series. The Insulation of the hne, or
in which they r etnain for from 12 to 24 hours, they outgoing conductor, and of all feeders, shall be so
are set up with a plain lead plate, and a heavy ?U~ maintained that t he leakage current shall n ot
The
r ent passed through t hem for some. ho~rs. ~h1s 1s exceed dnr ampere per mile of tramway.
said to show if any unreduced chlonde IS left 1n the
* See ENGINBERING1 page 85 q.nte,
plate. After this, the plates may be used at once as
0

leakage is be tested daily. When the line and

return are both overhead, the distance between
them shall n ot exceed 3 ft., and when both are
underg round it shall not exceed 18 in. ' h en a
metallic underground conduit is employed, it shall
be electrically continuous. If the conduit be n onmetallic, and n ot h ighly insulating and impervious
to moisture, and if it be within 6 ft. of any pipe, a
n on-conducting scr een shall be interposed between
t he conduit and the pipe, of such materials and
dimensions that no current can pass between them
without t raversing at l east 6 ft. of earth.
NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
PrriLADELPHIA, November 20, 1893.
TnE collapse in steel rail quotations continues to
agitate iron and steel circles. A fur ther drop is
imminent. Attempts are being made to patch up a.
peace with the Carnegie interests. The Pittsburgh
mills interests are on the warpath, and there will be
no p eace. Blooms have sold as low as 16 dols. in
'Vestern Pennsylvania, and when the cost of rolling
is added, it will be seen at about what figure rails can
be sold. A vigorous canvass is being made, but railway managers are slow to place orders. The tumble
in prices, even to as low a figure as 20 dols. , has
rather frightened buyers, and they are waiting to see
prices to uch bottom. The Ways and ~leans Commit tee
will announce an int ended reduction in steel rail duties
next :Monday to 8 dols. per ton . Adding this to tb~
f.o.b. ~ost abroad, it is easy to see that American
makers eau crowd out foreign rails without difficulty,
especially in the interior, where long freight hauls act
as a. protection . The iron trade remains in bad
condition. H is true that there is more inquiry being
made, but the volume of business shows very little
increase. H eavy municipal requirements are held
back. Money is easier, but there are too many
uncertainties in political and business channels to
warrant any general expansion of business at this time.
Car and locomoti\e builders are still without orders.
General manufacturing is dull.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Gla3gow P ig- I ron Market.-La.st Thursday forenoon the
market was strong and excited, and the price of Scotch
warrants went up 5d. per t on on the announcement that
a. large number of the colliers were idle, and that the
blast furnaces at Gova.n Iron Works had been damped
down. That st ep, it was under.stood, had been taken to
meet the threat of the~ colliers to strike, and it was then
thought that the furn aces would be kept out until the
prices of coal should recede to a. point at which iron could
more profitably be produced. It was also thought that if
the miners really decided to go on strike, other ironmasters would likewise damp down their furnaces. The
m ~rketwas strong again in the afternoon, Scotch iron being
done up t o 43s. 4d. per t on cash, closing with buyers at
tba.t price, and sellers asking l d. less. The advance on
the day was 5d. per ton, the largest that had takE:n place
in one day for a long time. Cl~veland iron was ~d. per
t on dearer, and Cumberla.nd hematite iron ld. dearer.
At the close in the afternoon the settlement prices were
- Scotch iron, 43s. 3d. per ton ; Cleveland, 34s. 9d. ;
Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite iron, respectively, 44s. 6d. and 43s. 3d. per ton. The market was
again very strong on Friday forenoon, Scotch warrants
rising 6~d. per ton further at 43s. 9~d. cash. About
15,000 tons of Scotch and 1000 tons of Cleveland iron
changed bands. Cleveland advanced 3d. per ton, and
Cumberland and Middlesbrough bematite iron, respotively, 2d. and 3d. per ton. There was likewise a.
strong market in the afternoon, when Scotch warrants
rose in price to 44s. per ton. Selling for the advance
then t ook place, and the price of Scotch warrants came
back 3d. per ton. A large business was done. Cleveland
iron rose 3d. per ton on the day. The closing settlement
prices were-Scotch iron, 4~s. 9d. per ton; Cleveland,
353. 4~d.; Cnmberland and lVIiddlesbrough hematite iron,
46s. 3d. and 43s. 7~d. per ton respectively. On Monday
forenoon the market was unsteady. Business took place
in Scotch warrants up to 43s. lO~d . per ton cash, being
~ rise of 1~d. from the close on F riday, and 44s. eleven
days was also paid, but at the close of the forencon
buyers were offering 43s. 5d. per ton cash, being a decline
of 4d. per t on on the day ; other kinds of iron were Jilractica.lly unchanged in price. There was very little done in
the warrant market on Tuesday forenoon. About 10,000
tons of Scotch warrants were sold, partly at 43s. 6d. and
43s. 4d. per ton caAh, and 43s. Gd. and 43s. 5d. one month.
Business was also done at 43s. 8d. one month. with ls.
forfeit in buyers' option. One or two lots of Cleveland
were sold, and tbe c!lsh price rose ~d. per ton. In the afternoon warrants appeared to be ra.tbt:r more plentiful, and tbe
tone of the market was fiat, business in Scotch iron being
dnne at from 43s. 3~ d. down to 43s. C&.'i h per ton, leaving
off at 43s. O~d. per ton sellers, or 4d. down from the fortlnoon. Only about 5000 tons of warrants were dealt in.
Cleveland was quoted 2d. per ton down, and hematite
iron ~d. per ton lower. The market was firmer this foreno:m, but only a small amount of business was done in
Scotch warrants, which were 3d. to 3~d. per ton dearer.
Some 5000 t ons of Cumberland bematite n on were sold,
the price advancing 2d. per ton. The market was a shade
firmer in t he afternoon, Scotch iron being l~d. up. ':fhe

DEc.

I, 1 893.]

following ar e a few of the current q uotation s for No. 1

special bra nds o f makers' iron : Calder, 50s. p er ton ;
Summerlee, 51s. ; L a ngloan and Coltne..qs, 56s. (th e foregoing shiJ?pe1 a t Glasgow) ; Glengarnock (ship ped at
A rdros:an), 49s. ; S bot ts (ship p ed at L eith), 5 l s. ; Carron
(shipped at Grangemout h), 54s. Gd. p Ar ton. In consequence of the miners' s trike it is difficult t o say bow man y
hla.st furnaces a re now in operation, as they h a ~e been
d amped d o wn in all d irect ions. L ast week 's shipments
of pig iron from all Scotch por ts amoun t ed t o 4489 t ons,
a s compar ed with 3412 t ons in the corres pond :ng
week of last year. T hPy incl uded 200 t ons for Sou th
A merica., :H5 t ons for India, 142 tons for France, 230
t ons for G ermany, 436 t ons for Belgium, 117 t ons for
Sp1in and P ortug al, s maller quantities for other coun tries,
and 2530 t ons coast wise. The s tock o f pig iron in M e..c;.srs.
C0nnal and Co.'s public warrant s tore11 yest erd i.Y afternoon stood a t 325,763 tons, again3t 326,220 t ons yesterday
week, thus s bowing a. r eduction for the week amounting
to 457 tons.
Glas:~ow Copper Mark~. -There seems t o have been no
business done d uring t he past week in copper in the open
m arket. A t the close last Thursd ay buyers were offering
42l. 7tJ. 6d. per ton cash, and sell erR wanted 2s. 6d. mor e.
Oo the following day prices remained unchanged. A
decline of 1s. 3d. per t on was made on M onday for enoon while in the a fternoon there was an ad vanet~ of 53.
per t~n. No ch ange t o::>k place on Tuesd ay. T bis forenoon there was an ad vance of 2s. 6d. per ton, a nd in the
afternoon the price d ecl ined 53. p er ton.
F in ished Iron an d Steel Trades.- Tb ese two branch es
of trad e are in a V'3ry unsa tiafactory s tate, owing mor e t o
the effects of the disp u te on the question of m iners'
wages than the wan t of orders. In most ca ses the order
b ooks ar e fairl y well fill ed, a nd there have lately been
somo l2.rge d eli vari es at former r a tes, bu t as makers can
n ot a fford t o keep their furnaces and r olling mills going
while s uch abnor mal prices a s th ose no w current have
t o be paid for c~al, they ~ ave in many ~ases brought
their manu facturmg operati ons t o a standstill.

DfJrk Extension W orks at L eith. -A special meeting of

the L eith D ock Commission was held last Friday afterno:>n, S ir Thom g,s Clark pre3iding.
On the R elative M erits and Prosp ects of Steam an d Gas
Eugines.- This was the su bject of a. communication made
last Saturday n ight to a meeting of the Glasgow a.nd
W es t of S cotland T echnical Colleg-e Scientific Society, by
Mr. W. H. \Vatk inson, \ Vhit. Scb ., the profe-ssor of
steam, s team engine, and other prime motors. Th~re
was a large att endance of members, and much attenti<?n
wa.s gi v~n t o the p rofessor 's a.ccoun t of progres~ m ad~ m
the way of incr easing the efficiency of gas engmes s~nce
they came into notice as ser viceable motors nearly thtrty
years ago. H e confidently predict ed that in the early
future s uch im pr0 vements w ill bEi effect ed on th ese
engi nes as .t o b~ing ~P their efficiency t o 50 per cent.
An in terestmg discussion followed.
R ?yat Scottish Socief.ll of A_rts.-An ordinary meetin~ of
t his society wa':t held m E dtnburgh on M onday. e' ~nmg,
when Mr. John L g,ing, F. I. C., made a. commu~tca;~Ion on
" Oil-Gas and By-Products fro m Mmeral Otls.
He
Rhowed that mineral oil could be d ecomposed by three
~etbods namely, by rep eated distillation into itself, by
radiant heat, a.nd by dis till a tion under p~essure ; and he
ex plained in d etail ho w t be system of oil-gas m~nuf~c
ture which he ba1 dev ised and patent~d w~ a combmat10n
of the three methods named, workmg m harm ony ~o
gether. Instead of starting wit~ an. e~ pty r e.d-hot ~tlll,
and r un n ing in oil, a nd flasbmg. 1t tm~edta.tely .u~to
vapour, and then producing an tmmedtate depostti<?n
of coke in the a pparat us, he p referred: t o use . a still
charged with a q uantity of oil c~ns1stent w1th the
n u mber of cubic feet of gas d est red t o be made.
T b is be vaporised b y m eans of the surplus beg,t from the
coal r et orts. Tbess vapours were p 1.ssed t~rough a cond An-;er, which liq uefied the heavier ~ort10n. an.d r e
turned it t o the still for r e-evaporatiOn; the hgbter
gases passed over into a. su perhe.l.ter, also heated f~om
the surpl us heat from coal r etorts, and by the radta.nb
heat there were r end ered permane~t. ~he back P.~es
sure fr om the gashold ers on the still ra.~sed t~e .boilmg
point o f the oil in tb~ still, and th?s asstste!l tn 1bs own
d ecom position. All darb was _left m the ~ttll, and th a
r esidue was pitch of good qualaty . . Mr. La.mg . s ugge3ted
t ha t all gas works should have an. o~l -~as plan~ m reserve,
if no~ in cons tant use, and so m1mm1se the rtsks of_leav~
ing t ::>wns in d :n kness for wan.t of ?oa.l throug h mmers
strike J, &c. Cons iderabl~ dts<?usston foll? wed, am ong
t ho 3e who t ook part in 1t bemg Coun.01llor Kmlocb
A nderson, con vener o f the Works Com~mtte~ o f tb eG~s
Com m i3 ion, who said that body had thts subJect of oilgas manufacture befor e them a t presen t .
A ssociation of Colli~ry bfanagers.-A meeting of this
a,csocia.tion was held in Edinburgh last S~turday, t?e
president Mr. William Ra.y, H olytown, m the ch~1r.
T he discu'ssion on Mr. W eir's pap 3r on "'-';he App~tca
tion of Electricity to the D evelopment of D1 p W orkmgs
and to other Purposes, " was resumed and closed.
T he Coal Traife D isp .tte (T o- Day) .- Tb e _coal trade
d is pu te h as for the past few d ays been a. t optc of much
c:>ncern. The men wanted an advance of l a. per da.y, an~
some of t he coalm ast ers conceded an ad vane~ t o t~a ~
extent, b ut others vowed tha t they W?uld no t yteld, w1th
the resul t tha t m any tbou~a.nr:ls of mmers have not been
at work t his week. T o d ay, h owever, ther e seems _t 0 be
som~ hope of th "' diffi culty being overcom e by the mtermedia.tion o f 1\II r. Natha.niel Du~l op between . the
mast ers and the leaders of the mmera. A basis of
arbitration has been prop osed by Mr. Dunlop, one
item of which is that the men shall resume work ~t

E N G I N E E R I N G.
once on being pr omised an a d vance of 6d. per d ay till
February 1, a conciliation board being established in the
interim. Th ings certainly look mor e hopeful this afternoon . Mr. Dunlop, it may be mention ed, is the leading
member of the firm of M essrs. A . and J. Allan, of th e
Allan L ine of s t eamers.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MIDDLESBROUGH, W ednesday.
T he Cleveland Iron T rade.- Y es terday there was a.
r a ther large at t endance on 'Change here, and the market
wa.s pretty cheerful in tone.
Inquiris wer e fairly
numerous, and a fair a mount of business was transact ed.
Sellers generally a sked 35s. for prompt f.o.b. d eli very of
No. 3 g. m. b. Cleveland pig iron, and stated t hat they bad
r ealised that figure, but transactions also occurred at
34s. lO~d. , and b uyers did not care about g iving mor e
than the latte r quot ation. A few inquiries for d eli very
ahead wer e r eported, but little forwa rd business wa s
d one, prospects being r egarded a.s uncertain. The lower
qualities of pig wer e fi rm, No. 4 foundry being 34s.
and g rey forge 333. Middlesbrough warrants opened
34s. 11d., and closed 34s. 9.1. cash buyers. H ematite pig
ir on was n ot m uch better, al though Sheffield consumers
are getting to work agaiu, and more is being sent t o Scotland. A slight improvement certainly was no ticeable,
but it was not so marked as was generally expect ed. }'or
early d elivery of Nos. 1, 2, and 3 makers' ea'it coast
bra.nds 43s. 3d. was asked, and business was done at that
price, but there were reports of parcels having been purchased a.t a. rather lo wer fig ure. S panish ore was quieti sb,
but st ead y. R ubio was about 12s. 1~d. ex-ship T ees. T oday the market was strong, and a modt:rat e amount of
business was rec:>rd ed. Q uotations for mak ers' iron were
practically the same as yest erday, but M iddlesbrough
warrants ad vanced to 35s. , which was the closing cash p rice
of buyers. F or prompt d eli very of No. 3 the general
quotat ion was 35s.
Man ufa ctu r ed I r on and Steel.- The state of affairs in
the manufactured iron a.nd s teel industries is much the
sam e as when we last r eported. What change has taken
place may be said t o be for the better, but it is very
trifl ing. W orks manage to keep going pretty well.
Common iron bars are 4l. 17s. 6d. ; best bars, 5l. 7s. Gd. ;
iron ship -plates, 4l. 153. ; steel ship-plat es, 5l. 2s. Gd. ;
iron ship a ngles, 4l. 123. 6d. ; and st eel ship angles, 41. 15s.
- all leas the usual 2~ per cent. diacount for caRh. H ea vy
sections of steel rails r emain at 3l. 12s. 6d. net at works.
W artes in the Manufactured I ron T rade. - Th e report of
1\[r. Wa.terhouse for the two months ended October shows
the average net selling price of manufactured iron t o ha.-ve
been 4l. 163. 10d. per t on, according to which the wages
will continue the same during the ensuing two mon ths.
The quantity p roduced reached 24,404 t one, or 1300 t ons
below the previous two months, and 14,775 t ons below
the corresponding period. Tbe d etails were- 632 t?ns
rails a veraging 41. 63. 5d.; 10,413 t ons plate3, averag mg
4l. lis. 9d.; lO,G ll tons bars, a.veraging 5l. 23. 10d. ; 3423
t ons angles, $\Veraging 4l. 16s. 1d. ?-'he av~rage price is
11s. 6:i. per t on below the correspond10g pen od.
T he F uel T rai e.- Fuel continues d ear, but quotations
a.re coming d o wn a. little. The fact that coal is being
sent to places wher e S cotch noal was sent is of course cal
culated to a-ssist in k eeping up rates. On Newcas tle
E xchange best Northumbrian s team coal is 13 3. f.o.b.,
and sm all st eam 5s. 6d. to 63. f.o.b. There is no alteration
in manufacturing coal, but ~ntract3 for next :year ~re
being negotiated. Gas coal1s scar ce, and firm m p n ce.
A large nu m her o deli varies ar~ bei_ng wade on old c~>n
tract.q. Coke varies somewhat tn prJCe. H er e sometbmg
lik e 13s. 6d. is mentioned for blas:-furnace qualiti~s d eliVE'r ed at Cleveland works.

NO'fES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

SHEFFIELD, W ednesday.
Yorkshire bfiners' .Association. - The first officiA.l meet
inga of this body, since the settlement of the strike, wer e
held tlis week a.t Barnsley, and lasted two days. The
executive were sorry to report ther e weye yet some
collieries that had not been reopened for vanous r easons,
and rather a la rge number of workmen were not yot able
to get back to their working places. It ~as . stated tha:t
Earl F itzwillia.m bad consented t o reopen hlB pits on condition that nona of the men were intimidated fo~ the purpose o f m a.k inv them join a union or fed eratiOn. The
bands ha.d agre~d t o th is. As usual, '~ grievances" were
reported from various ~laces. The offi~Ia_ls wer e r equested
t o attend with d ep u tatiOns a.t the colh<:ries na~ed to en d eavour t o settle the differences. The executive also d~
cided that the levy o f 2a. Gd. per member s~ould be paid
by the miners for th e n&x t two pay-days, m support of
the men who are still out of work.
I ron and Steel.- It is now evident tha t very sood ~uai
n ess may be expected for the n ext few mon.ths m th_e tr?n
and st eel trades. All the blast furnaces 1n . the dast~1ct
are bei ng pu t into work as rapidly as poss1ble. Prt<:es
a.re fi rm a t 423. for forge and 43:3. t o 44s. for foundry ptg.
M aker3 o f best q ualities of bar iron and sheet have plet;ltY
of orders in for both home and . exp ort, ~nd are pla.cm g
their mills and forges on full ttme. It ts thought that
prevailing rates will be upheld.. Steelmasters are a.s yet
short o f supplies of coke, a.nd. thts pr~vents many departm ents from working on full ttme. Farms a.r~ represen ~d
as having good orders on the. book s fo~ m~r~ne a.nd r~tl
wa.y material, and very satisfactory 1nqutr1es. Dur~ng
the week coal has gone down about Ss. per ton, ma.kmg
house coal in the market 16~. to 18s., seconds 12s. 6d.,
furnace coal 9s 1 and engine slack 6s. upwards.

La~rge

P rojits.- Th e direct ors of S kinn er an~ H olford,

L imited, proprietors of the Waleswood Colhery, h.a ve
d eclared a dividend at the r at e of ll. p er n. share, whtch,
with an interim d ivid end of the sam e amount in May
last, is equal to over 28 p~r cent. p er ~nnum. L ast year
a lar ge p or t ion of t he capital was r epa1d out of profits.
Government Orders, E ngineers, d:c.- W ork has been
resumed as rapidly as possible in t he various departments
in which work for G overn ment is undertaken. A rmourplat e rollers ar e put on ful! time, and in the gun ~nd
proj~cti le shops orders are bemg pressed forward . .~ a n ous
firms engaged in engi neering s tate that t hey ant10q~ate .a
busy per iod. The n umber of unem ployed mecha.ntcs ts
being g radually red uced.
T he Cost of R olliru; am,d F orgi7lg. -A meehng of rollingmill prop!ietors was held in She~eld yes terday to consider various m atters connected wttb the trad e. When
the coal famin e commenced i n August they put up the
cost of r oll ing fi per cent., and later in the m onth they
pu t on another 10 per cent., making 15 per cent. in a.ll.
It was now agreed that the 15 per cent. be knocked off
from Decem ber 1. The tilters and forgers also held a
meeting yeater.day. It was state~ that inasmuch as they
did not move ttll after the coal strtke bad been on seve.ral
weeks and th en d id not increa se their prices to a.nyth10g
like wbat the rolling mill people did, they wer e not called
upon to make any a.ltf.Jration a.t present.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

Card{ff. -Tbere has been a alight fa~ling off in the
inland d emand for st eam coal at Ca.rdtff; but, on th e
other hand t here has been an increased inquiry on Continental ac'count, a.nd last week's shipments of coal from
Cardiff exceed ed the a verage by as m uch as 40,000 tons.
Prices have shown an upward t end ency upon the whol~;
the best d escriptions have made 15s. t o 15s. 6d., while
second ary qualities have brought 14&. 6d. to 15s. per ton.
The house coal collieries a re generally a.cti ve ; No. 3
Rh0ndda large has made 14&. t o 14s. 6d. per t on. Only
a mod erate b usiness has been passing in iron ore.
L lanlwadach.- Additional machinery, in course of erection a t the Cardiff st eam coal collieries, Lla.n bradach,
will probably be in working order aboub th e cowmencement of the new year. At N o. 1 pit tl.e output continues
to increase, particularly from ~h~ bituminous seam . These
colli eries are lighted by electn01 ty : ~n tb~ Aber :Valley
the U niversal Ccal Company (L1m1ted ) 1s ca.rry~ng on
sinking _operations satisfactorily under the sllpermtendence of Mr. D. Thomas.
Th e " T albot. "- Tbe Talbot, cruiser , is not now expected t o be laid down at D tlvonport. until the close. of
the current financial year, as the Harrier, gunboat, which
now occupies the slip upon which t~e Talbot is to be
built will not be ready for la.unchmg before March.
Ther~ is no oth er slip available a.t D evonport for the construction of a cruiser of the d imensions of the 'l'albot, so
that th ere must necessarily be some d elay. Although the
Talbot has not yet b een laid d owll: at D evonp ~ rt, con siderable progress has been mad e wt th her machmery a.t
K eybam. Of eight boilers with which she is to be provided four have reached an ad vanced stage. Altogether,
13,000l. is to be expended upon the machinery of the
Talbot d uring the current fi nancial year.
P lymouth Sound.-Dr~dging operations will b~ COJ'!lmenced in a. few days m Plymouth Sound. ThlB will
interfere for some time with the t elegraph cable between
the Breakwater a.nd Bovisand F orts .
B ar ry (having Dock. -The fourth annual meeting of
th e Barry Graving D ock and Engineering Company,
L imited, wa.s held on Thursd ay a.t B arry D ock. The
r eport a.nd statement of account~ for the past y ea.~ ~a.s
submitted by the chairman, ~b o wmg that, after providmg
2491l. 5s. for payment of inter est on d ebentures, there
r emain ed (including 707t. 3s. 10d. brougb ~ forward ) a.
net profit of 16 603l. 3s. 3d., out of which an interim
di vidend amounting to lOOOl. was paid May 5, leaving a
balance of 12,310L. 7s. 1d . The directors, Mr. Handcock
sa.id, bad applied 3000l. to the payment of ~ebentu~es,
and ha.d carried 3000l. to a reserve workmg ca.pttal
account, and they now recomme~ded the d eclaration of a
dividend of 10s. per share, makmg 10 per cent. for the
year. This, the chairman added, would absorb 5000l.,
and leave 1310l. 7s. 1d. t o be carried forward to the next
account. The report a.nd accounts were adopted, and the
di vidend r ecomm ended was d eclared.
To.O' Vale and R h'J)mn ey Railwo ys.-Nego ti~ti ons for a
fusion of tb~ T aff Vale and Rbymney Ra.tlways are
s tated to be progr essing satisfactorily. ~o opposition is
anticipated from the Great West ern R a.llway Company.
The term s of fusion are not yet finally arranged, but the
basis upon which negotiations bav~ bee~ ca.rr i~d on thus
far provides that the Rhymney ordtnary.st ockholders shall
rec~1ve 8 per cent. for the first year, 8~ per cent. for the
second year 9 per cent. for the third year, 9 ~ per c~nt.
for the f ourth year, and 10 per cent. ther eafter.
Drainage at B arnstapte.-On Sat urday the Barnstaple
R ural Sanitary Authority adopted a. r ecommendation of
the sewers commi ttee to ext end a ne w 6 ft. by 3ft. drain,
in course of construct ion at T a w V ale Parade. Mr.
A'- hton explained that the estimate of the surv eyor for the
(i ft. 3 in. a nd 3 ft. drains was 1870l. ; but th e lowest
t ender was 2740Z. , exclusive of about 300L. for incidental
works. Mr. Smith, L ocal Governm ent B oard inspector,
had come to the conclusion that the work could not be
done for the money which the sanitary authority pro
po3ed to borrow, a.nd he advised them t o borrow 50Cll.
more a.nd extend the scheme. The plans bad been submitted to Mr. Smith, at Tavis tock, and tba.t g entleman
would see that the application for a. further loan would be

E N G I N E E R I N G.
a.t once attended to. The estimate was for an additional
expenditure of 1150l., but it was quite possible that there
might be some other necessary works, and the sewers
committee proposed to ask leave to borrow 1500l. It was
resolved to make immediate application for leave to
borrow 1500l.
More Welsh Coal.-On Monday a new seam wa.s won
at the Maesteg M erthyr Colliery. The seam is 5 ft. 9 in.
in thickness, and it is very clean coal. This seam has
not been proved before in the Llynavi Valley, and it
must underlie the whole coal area already proved in the
district. This is the third workable seam won at the
Ma.esteg Merthyr Colliery recently. Mr. Yockney, engineer to the Rhondda. and Swansea Bay Railway Company, has written to Mr. C. Evan-Thomas, the proprietor
o! the land on either side of the N eath, under which a
r10h seam of coal has been discovered, ad visiog him to
prepare to work the seam. Mr. Yockney has been instructed to draw up a report for Mr. Thomas.
CoAL IN I TALY.-The imports of coal into Italy in the
first nine months of this year amounted to 3,021,300 tons,
as compared with 2,713,000 tons in the corresponding
period of 1892. In the total of 3,021,300 tons representing
the imports of coal into Italy in the first nine months of
this year, Germany figured for 32,300 tons, and Great
Britain for 2,989,000 tons.
ENGINES OF THE BATTLESIIIPS "MAGNJll'ICENT " AND
"MA.JESTIC. ,-The tender of Messrs. J ohn Penn and
Sons, engineers, of Greenwich, for the construction and
fitting of the propelling machinery, &c. , of the new firstclass battleship the Magnificent, now being laid down at
Chatham Dockyard, has been accepted by the Admiralty.
The ship will be fitted by Messrs. Penn with two independent twin-engines of the inverted vertical threecylinder triple-expansion type, to develop 12,000 indicated
horse-power. They will be supplied with steam by eight
single-ended tubular four-furnaced boilers, fitted with
apparatus to work them on Martin's induced draught
principle. The Naval Construction and Armaments Company, Barrow, have received from the Admiralty an order
to construct the engines and machinery of the Majestic, a
large first-class line-of-battle ship, to be built at Portsmouth, similar in design to the Magnificent.
THE NRW vVEST IN DIA LINER 01!' 'rHE CoMPAGNIE
GENERA LE TRANSATLANTIQUE.-Following the d escription
of the West India Royal Mail Company's new 1iner
Nile. it may be interesting to see what is the kind of
opposition she has to encounter, and in that regard a
short d escription of the latest French boat La Navarre is
perhaps of interest. La Navarre ha-s been in hand a good
while, her construction having been delayed whilst
negotiations were proceeding between her owners-who,
by the way, are her builders t oo-as to the new mail
contract. She was launched from the yard at Penhoet
St. Nazaire, and is built of steel. She is divided into
fifteen compartmen ts by thirteen transverse bulkhead~,
and a longitudinal bulkhead in the engine-room. There
are four complete decks; the promenade deck extends
half the length of the vessel. The vessel is 494ft. in lE'ne'th
and 49ft. 3 in. beam, with a depth of about 37 ftJ. Her
displacement is 8922 tons at a. loaded dra.~gbt of 22ft.~ in.
The vessel is, of course, propelled by twm screws, dn ven
by triple-expansion engines. Each Reb develops 37!30
horse-power, showing a total .Power of 7500,,with 90.revolutions a minute. The cyhnders are 31~ m., 50! 10.,
and 82~ in. in diameter, with a strol~e of 52~.in. Each
engine has its own condenser, 14ft. 1m. long, 6ft. broa~,
and 10 ft. 10 in. high. The total length of the tubes IS
upwards of 27 miles. The boilers are double-ended, four
in number and having a total of twenty-four furnaces
of a diam~ter of 47 in. There are four ventilating
vans for forced draught. The propellers are of gunmetal and their diameter is 15 ft. 4 in. The funnels,
two in number, are elliptical, the great~r diamet~r
being 8 fb. 10 in., and the lesser 5 ft. 3 m. She IS
fUtnished with two masts, and these do not carry yards.
A ccommodation is afforded for 250 saloon, 54 second, and
74 third-class passengers. In addition to this, on the
lower deck no less than 600 emigrants can be bertbod.
For the purpose of the proper sepa~a~i?n of the se.xe~,
these are carried in three separate dtv1s1ons. The firstclass passengers are of course amidships. The dining
saloon on the upper d eck will seat 152. persons a~ one
time. There are small tables a.t ~he s1des. for pn vate
partie~, as well as the long tables m the mid~le of the
room. This room is 66 ft. long and 32 ft. 9 1.n. broa~.
The salon de conversation, or, as the Amencans ~1ll
d oubtless call it, "the social hall," is about 40 ft. lo~g,
and is lighted by a dome as well as by the usual s1de
port-holes. The decoration of this room has been p~r
ticularly attended to, and the walls are p~nelled with
ma.rqueterie. The usual smoke-rooms, bar.ber s shop, and
bath-rooms are not forgotten. On the mam deck are the
children's dining saloon forward, and the s~cond-class
passengers' dining-room saloon aft. The cabms de Vu.xe
and family cabins are on the prom~n~de deck. L a ~avarr~
is lighted throughout by electrlCtt~, th~re bemg 742
lights on board. There is also a. refngeratmg. apparatus
on the Fixary system for the manufa.c~ure of ICe ~nd for
the preservation of the fresh provtstons. As 1s well
known to our readers the French. h.ave ela.borat~d ~he
armed cruiser idea., which was or1gmated on thts s1de
of the Channel. and recently rathe~ neglect~d by the
British Admiralty, and. ?f co~rse. thts vessel IS c~pab~e
of being used as a.n auxtllary m t.Ime of ~ar. Brtefly 1t
will be seen that La Navar~e, whtch a.ttamed ~speed of
18 knots on trial without beiDg_forced, ts super1or to anything we have in the West Ind1a trade.

MISCELLA:N EA.

[DEc.

1,

1893.

of a special shovel. The practice was to dri \'e about one

third of a cubic yard of clay, then to raise the pipe 10ft.,
and drive another one-third of a yard, after which the
pipe was again raised 10 ft. and a.n additional one-third
of a cubic yard driven. The tube was then completely
withdrawn and sunk again !5 ft. further on. The ground
was gone over several times.

AT the last meeting of the M~son College Engineering

Society, held at Birmingham, Mr. Guy L. Till, Assoc. M.
Inst. C.E .. read a paper on "Sewer Ventilation and
Flushing. "
At a meeting of the Liverpool Engineering Society
held on Wednesday evening, November 22, a paper on
I.n a recent _issue of Engineerinp N ews, Mr. S. E. Coombs,
"The Adjustmenb of Surveying Instrum ents" W3.S read ass1sta~t engme~r of th~ Hanmbal and St..J oseph Railby Mr. !van C. Barling, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.
way, g1 ves an mterestmg account of a method adopted
On November 2:3 the members of the Junior Engineer- on that line of preparing burnt clay ballast. In locating
ing Society paid a. visit to the cable depot of the London a pit or kiln a good clay is sought, preferably a light one,
Tramway Company, Streatham-hill, and were shown as such is more easily handled. U nfortuna.tely, the
available clay is often in bottom lands, where it is diffiover the plant there by Mr. W. N. Colam, M.I.C.E.
cult to get good drainage, which is essential to the
The third annual general meeting of the Owens Col- economical working of the ki ln. A working track is laid
lege Engineering Society was held on Tuesday, November alongside the kiln. This latter is started by making a.
18, when a discussion took place on the stresses in man- triangular pile of old sleepers 3 fil. high and from 2000 ft.
holes and d omes of boilers.
to 4000 ft. long. This core is filled with coal and
Replying to a question in the House of Commons last covered 1ft. deep with clay and the fires lighted. The
Friday, Sir U. Kay-Shuttleworth stated that the cost of clay is ploughed up from a ditch between the working
a battleship during commission was estimated to amount track and the kilo. The track in qnestion is simply laid
to about 50,000l. annually. This included repairs on the surface, and is th en easi)y shifted when requi red.
maintenance, sea stores, coals, pay, victualling, &c.
' After the fires have burned down somewhat, another layer
of coal is added, which is also covered with clay to a depth
The opening meeting of the present session of the of 6 in. or 9 in. This is r epeated until the pile is rai"ed
graduates' section of theN orth-East Coast Institution of to such a height that the work can be done by machines.
Engineers and Shipbuilders was held on Tuesday, These consist of a. set of 10 horse-power and a. set of
November 28, at the Durham College of Science, New- 5 horse-power en~ines, mounted on flat cars. One of
ca.stle-on-Tyne, when a paper entitled "Some Notes on these does the hauhng and ploughing, whilst the other runs
Boiler Designing" was read by Mr. Ga.ine.
a conveyor, which takes up the ploughed clay and dis
M essrs. J. and H. Hall, Limited, of Dartford, Kent tributes it over the kiln. Previou~ to ploughing, coal is
have just completed a large carbonic anhydride refrige: sc~ttere~ over the ground, and thus gets thorou~hly
rator for the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produce mtxed w1th the clay. About 5GO lb. of coal are requtred
Company of New Zealand. The machine in question is per cubic yard of ballast!. The output from the kilns is
of 135 horse-power, and is intended for freezing 1500 about 1000 cubic yards per day for a kiln 4000 ft. long.
sheep per day, and for maintaining the temperature of a Fifty men are required to work a kiln of this si;-.e, and
store of 30,000 sheep. The plant consists of complete re- the final cost of the ballast is about 4s. 4~d. per cubic
f~igerato.rs coupled together and driven by triple-expan- yard in place.
SIOn engmes.
\Ve learn that at the last meeting of the committee of
T~e U nited States cruiser Columbia is reported to have the Association of Private Owners of Railway Rolling
at tamed a speed of 24.95 knots on a preliminary trial wibh Stook a. decision of great importance to all traders own22,000 horse-power. As the estimated speed of this boat in~ railway wag~ns was co~e to. As is well . known, the
with ?1,009 indicated horse-power was only 22 knots, ratlwa.y compames, by their standard sveetfication for
there 1s eVidently an error somewhere, as even if the boat private owners' wagons, issued in 1889, and their circular
were not a.t her full displacement, this would hardly ~s to t.he rec~mstruc~ion of p~vate ~wners' wagons,
account for such an extraordinary discrepancy between 1ssued m April last, m effect cla1m arbitrary powers in
the calculated results and those asserted to have been re~pect of all such wagonfl. This clai~ is believed by
prtvate owners to go beyond the compames' legal right~
actually obtained.
and to endanger the continued existence of private owner:
The traffic receipts for the week ending November 19 ship
railway wagons. The Private Owners' .Associaon thirty-three of the principal lines of the United King- tion, in
in the third ye:1.r of its existence, have by
dom amounted to 1,332,885l. , which was earned on 18,388 their now
committee decided that the time has come when
miles. For the corresponding week in 1892 the r eceipts it is e_ssential
the in~e rests of trade to get the vexr d
of the same lines amounted to 1,401,868l., with 18,199 questwns as in
to the r1ghts of private owners judicially
miles open. There was thus a decrease of 68, 983l. in decided, so that
the present state of uncertainty may be
the receipts, and an increase of 189 in the mileage. The put an end to, and
traders
may
know
under
what
conaggregate receipts for twenty weeks to date amounted ~itions they wil~ be e?titled to run wagons, before they
on the same thirty-three lines to 29,728, 736l., in com- m ve!?t furth er m this most useful but, under existing
parison with 31,909,595l. for the corresponding period circumstances, somewhat speculative kind of property.
last year; decrease, 2, 180,859l.
An application is to be made to the Railway ComThe LindeBritish Refrigeration Company, Limi ted of missioners immediately, and their decision will be awaited
35, Queen Victoria-street, London, E. C. , claim to have with much interest by all who are alive to the importsupplied to the s. s. Perthshire the largest refrigerating ance of the Cl, uestions to be d ecided. We much hope
plant yet fitted on board ship. The boat in question has that this decis10n, when given, will in no way cripple the
accommodation for nearly 2500 tons of frozen meat. The powers of the railway companies. As public bodies
refrigerating plant consists of two ammonia compressors responsible for th e safety of an enormous number of
of the compound type driven by compound steam engines. passengere~, it is most desirable that they should have
The condensers are arranged in the framing of the the fullest powere to refuse to run on their lines vehicles
machine. The refrigerator coils are placed on the deck which, in thei.r opinion~ ar~ not of prol?er construction,
above the insulated holds. A current of air is caused to or are not effimently ma.mtamed. The mrcular of April
travel over these coils by fans, and then passes into the last, to which the Association of Private Owners of
holds by air trunks in the usual way.
Railway Rolling S took appears to object, does not, so far
At a meeting of the Engineers' Club of Philadel phia, as we see, introduce any unreasonable restrictions.
on November 4, Mr. A. L ewis exhibited a section of a
7-in. stay-bolt from an hydraulic ri veter, which bad broken
THE L ATE Mn. ALFRED L ONGSDON.-\Ve regret to
in the nub at about 2~ m. from the end of the bolt. The
static load for which the bolt was designed was 450,000 lb., record the death at Denmark-hill, on the 27th inst., of
though at the time of th e failure the actual load was Mr. Alfred Longsdon, so well known as the representaprobably not greater than 600 lb. It had, be stated, tive in this country of thP firm of Krupp. Mr. Longsdon
been foumd by experiment, that when a nut was made to became associated with the great Essen firm as long ago
come to the end of the bolt, and it was desired to obtain as 1845, and from 1856 he held the procuration of
uniform stress across the bolt section, a thickness of nut the firm, and had practically the entire control of their
equal to half the diameter of the bolt was insufficient, as business in this country. In the early days of steel tyres
~nd axles. Mr. L ongsdon took a. very active part in the
it should be at least equal to the diameter.
mtr0duct10n of the new material, and much of the proIt is proposed to undertake further important irrigation gress
en made was due to the careful watch he keptl
works in Egypt. Messrs. Garstin and Willcocks have upon th
all sources of trouble arising from its use. No
inspected four sites proposed for reser voirs in which to member
of the steel trade in this country was more widely
store water for irrigation purposes during the summer, known than
Mr. Longsdon, and his decease will be sin
when the Nile is low, and their reports will shortly be cerely regretted
by a large circle of friends.
~resented.
The Government will then invite three
European hydraulic engineers of the highest reputation
TELEGRAPH~{ AT THE ANTIPODES.- In consequence of the
to come to Egypt and make a technical examination of ~reat
red.uction in cable rates, there has been a very large
the proposed schemes. This will probably be in Feb- mcrease
m the number of messages received in and forruary nex t. 1'hree of these schemes are for the construc- warded by
Zealand, as the following figu res show.
tion of dams across the ri ver at either Kalabsheh, In August, New
1892, the international messages forwarded
Assouan, or Silsileh; the fourth proposes to utilise the numbered 207,
of
the
value
of
796l.
7s.
6d
.
The
messages
natural depression of the Wady Raian, in the province of received numbered 213. The intercolonia.l messages for
Fayoum, by conducting into it the flood water of the warded numbered 1345, of the value of 1043l. 18s. 3d.,
Nile. This last pr.:>ject is the one associated with, and and the messages received numbered 1594. In August
advocated by, Mr. Cope Whitehouse.
1893, the international messages forwarded numbered
Stock ramming has been extensively adopted on the 503, .of the value of 1763l. 10~. 1d., and the messages
new St. Mary's Canal, Saulte S te. Marie. Michigan, recetved n umbered 456. The 10tercolonial messages for where about Gcubic yards of clay a day have been rammed warded numbered 2382, of the value of 1554l. 10s. 7d. and
for many months. The work was begun by sinking a the messages received numbered 2358.
For ~igh t
3-in. pipe to the bottom of the dam. The ra.mmer con- months-January to August, 1892- the messages forsisted of an iron rod 30 ft. Ion~ and 2~ in. in diameter, warded (i nternational and intercolonial) numbered
enlarged at its lower end to 2~ in. This ra.mmer was 13,134, of the value of 16. 233l. Os. 2d., and those redriven by an ordinary pile-driver having a hammer c;,f ceived numbered 15,230. For the same period this year
1900 lb. weight. The clay to be rammed was cut into the messages forwarded numbered 24,271, of the value of
cylinders about 3 in. in diameter and 1 ft. long by means 20,089l. 15s. Gd., and those received nnmbered 24,271.

'

DEc.

1,

1893.]

EN G I N E ER I NG.

c0 N '

T R u cT E D

ll y

punching and shearing machine illustrated

ab::l\re was constructed by the Britannia Company,
of Colchester, for the British ~"ernment. It is
designed to punch ~-in. holes through ~-in. plates,
and to shear angles 4! in. by 4 ~ in. by ~ in. The
engine drives on to a crankpin fixed in an arm of
one of the flywheels. Between the crankshaft and the
main eccentric shaft there is an intermediate shaft,
Cf\rrying a pair of intermediate wheels, both of which,
like the first pinion and the main wheel, arc shrouded
up to the pitch circle.
THE

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
Tuouon thP. great coal dispute has terminated, the
effects of the long stoppage have not passed away.
Indeed , it will be some time before they can cease to
operate to the disadvantage of trad P. and industry.
Mr. Picka.rd has been stating that some employers are
not carrying out the terms of the Foreign Office settlen.ent, by keeping idle parts of the pits, and somettmes the whole colliery, so that .50,000 or 60,000 men
were still out of work. But the pits in some cases cannot be worked till the " ways " are set in order. That
is one of the great dis~dva.ntages of a long stoppage.
Mr. Pickard's threat to call out the men employed, because all are not able to work, is, at least, a reckless
policy. It was to be expected that a. little friction would
continue to exist for a time, but there is no evidence to
show that it exists on the one side more than on the
other. Speaking generally, the resumption of work
was pretty general, and from the day when the pits
were reopened the men ha,e been getting to their
''stalls fa irly well. The distress has not p&8sed
away, and will not for some time, but relief is still
given to the families, in cases where it is most needed,
from contributions and levies.

T II E

ND SHEARING 1fACHI rE.

B RI 1' AN N I A c 0 M p A N y, E N 0 I N E E R I, c 0 L c H E

the Scotch colliers are now in the field. Last week

the Lanarkshire miners demanded l s. per day advance,
which the coa.lowners refused. The miners decided to
strike. At Airdrie about 2000 men ceased work. In
the Falkirk district about 3000 men struck. The men
at Callander accepted 6d. per day advance, and continued at work. The Fifeshire miners demanded 12~
per cent. ad,rance on their wages. In consequence of
these labour troubles in cotland, several furnaces have
been damped down, nine at two large iron works alone.
The Scottish oil companies threatened to close their
works if the strike continued. The result of the present movement has been to throw idle a. large number
of men as well as the miners, for coal is scarce and
dear. The men allege that they are willing to nego
tiate for the establishment of a. Board of Conciliation
to deal with wages and other matters, composed of
equal numbers on both sides, and an independent
chairman.

I T ER.

peace is not popular in some of the districts although

it was settled by a vote of the whole of' the men.
The contest is likely to be between the old leaders and
the new aspirants t o that position, but contests of this
kind injure men and masters more than the leaders
attacked. This was the case recently in outh 'Vales.

It is said that the congratulations which have poured

in upon Lord Rosebery have been most numerous, and
among them one from Her Majesty the Queen. Both
sides agree that his lord.ship's tact, good temper, a.nd
frankness helped to brmg about a solution of the
difficulty. Few men have the combination of qualities
of position, and of knowledge to enable them success~
fully to deal with so delicate a matter, and solve the
problem, and never were thP.y applied to better use
than in the coal dispute.

--

It appears that the Government propose to lay down

more ships of wa.r, and thus help to relieve the labour
market.
uch ships are really needed, and now is the
time to build them , when materials are reasonably
cheap all round. The Uovernment have not even
suffered much by the coal strike, for their supply is
by contracts made when coal was cheap. Labour is
plentiful-over-plentiful--and the pressure of the
unemployed wil.l Le le_ss~ned by this step. It may,
perhaps, also gtve a. tilhp to stagnant trade in the
shipping, engineering, and all cognate industries.

The effects of the resumption of work in the English

coalfields have been felt in the large increase of supplies, and large reductions in price.
The drop in
London has Leen about 9s. per ton since the setttlement,
and large consignments have been made to the London
merchants, both by sea and by rail. The poor people
have, however, had to pay exorbitant prices for the
very worst kinds of fuel, not much better than
waste. In these disputes the poor suffer the most in
--nearly all cases, for they pay higher prices for miserable
As incidental to the discussion of the "living wage "
stuff, and suffer want of employment a.nd privation at
and also of the coal dispute recently ended, the
the same time.
L a7I011t' Ga:tllt has published a table showing the
ome friction still exists between the federation variations in the wages of coalminers since 1886, in
and the Northumberland and the Durham men, but the the several chief districts. It should be borne in mind
latter sent 2000l. last week to the men in distress in tha.t the rates in 1886 were not the lowest, but were
the federated districts. The fear is that the discon- an advance upon the rates of 1879 and some subse.
tent with the aRqociations in these two counties will quent years. But taking the 1886 standard, the followThe strike in the English coalfields having ended, lead to trouble ia the near future. The patched-up ing is the net result from October in that year to the

68o

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

end of October in this year. The net increase on that

basis has been-(1) In the federation districts : Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands, 40 per cent. ; in
Cumberla.nd, measured from the altered standard in
1892, it was 40 per cent., and in the Forest of Dean,
55 per cent. (2) In the non-federated districts the
net increase was : Durham, 21! per cent. ; N orthumberland, 20 per cent. ; in South Staffordshire and West
Worcestershire, 40 per cent. In Scotland the increase
was: South Scotland, 60 per cent., 'and in Fifeshire
and Kinross, 25 per cent. In South Wales the net
increase was only 5 per cent. These rates have been
changed somewhat by more recent advances in Scotland, Wales, Durham, and Northumberland, and also
in the Forest of Dean and Cumberland; but in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands, including Stafford and Worcester, the old rates remain at the
respective increases over 1886. The greatest advance
took place in 1890, when the federation districts obtained 20 per cent. advance, Northumberland 21! per
cent., South Wales 27! per cent., Fife and Kinross
11~ per cent., South Stafford and Worcester 10 per
cent., and Durham 5 per cent. South Scotland obtained no rise in 1890, but in 1889 obtained 44; per
cent., and Fife and Kinross 32~ per cent., Stafford and
Worcester 20 per cent., South Wales 17! per cent.,
Durham 211 per cent., and North urn berland 17! per
cent. In the same year the federation districts secured
10 per cent. advance all round. South Scotland lost
severely in 1891 and 1892, but regained its position
this year. South Wales, on the contrary, lost over 44
per cent. in 1891 and 1892, and only regained z; per
cent. a few months ago, since the coal dispute began.
The "Jerusalem Conference," reconstituted, is about
to deal with the "living wage." The place of meeting is changed to the Westminster Town Hall, and the
chairman is Mr. George W. E. Russell, M.P., who was
to have taken the chair in the Jerusalem Chamber.
The object of the conference is to insure "such a
wage as shall enable the workers to maintain healthy
and human homes. " The maintenance and impro\ement of the standard, it is affirmed, is best calculated
to promote economical efficiency, while a third resolution proposes permanent boards of conciliation in each
trade. All these objects are excellent and most desirable, but there is only one man in the list of names
that can by auy stretch of the imagination be regarded
as any authority upon the questions discussed, and
that one is a well-known professor at Cambridge.
There is not a single employer of labour or any recognised labour leader named as taking part in the
conference, or as having been consulted in reference
thereto. Ministers of religion and barristers think
they know a good deal better than employers and employed as to the conditions of labour and the regulation of wages; but, somehow, these conferences always
end in smoke. Most of the economical doctrines that
are now denounced have ever found in ministers of religion and barristers the most energetic supporters and
advocates, and the sudden turn of their opinions may
be as great a danger as their former antagonism.
Great economical and industrial changes are as slow
in their growth as political changes, perhaps slower,
for the conditions of life and labour are more complex
than those pertaining to mere political readjustments,
which, after all, constitute but the means of expressing the changes in habits and thoughts which have
taken place. The discussion of the questions proposed
can, however, do little harm, and it may do some
good, especially if the resolutions are of a reasonable
character, and are not calculated to widen a contro'tersy, which is already wide enough in its nature and
consequences.

---

The Employers' Liability Bill passed its final stage,

the third reading, in the House of Commons, without
a division. :M r. Chamberlain, who was the putative
father of the Act now in force, made a long speech
adverse to the Bill, but he declared himself as
opposed to any division. The Bill has been sent to
the Lords, by whom its fate will be decided. The
principal clauses in the Bill enact: 1. Liability of
an employer for personal injury to a workman in his
service by reason of negligence, the doctrine of common
employment being abol~she~. The fact of a worki?an
having known of the rtsk IS no bar to compensatiOn.
2. Right of compensation is given in employments
injurious to health, if the workman is disabled by the
neglect of reasona~le precautions. 3. Sub-lett~n~ .the
work i3 not to reheve the employer of responsibility,
but he may be indemnified by the sub-contractor for
the compensation. 4. Contracting out of the law
beforehand does not relieve the employer of legal
responsibilty under the Act, and is void a.s a defence
to any action. 5. Contributions by an employer to
any common fund to be credited to him in case of
action :.tnd r ecovery before a court. 6. The ~et
applies to civil servants of the Crown. T?e foregomg
are the principal provision~, mo~t ~f wh1ch ar.e very
technica lly drawn. The c~1ef obJectiOn to the Btll w~s
the clause against contractmg out o~ the Act, and th;s
point is likely to give rise to cons1derable debate m
the House of Lords. Already a. very influential depu-

tation h&S waited upon Lord Salisbury, representing the

London and North-Western and the London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway Companies, the South
Metropolitan Gas Company, and some:other concerns,
askin g that a perrnisshe clause be inserted in the Bill.
Lord Salisbury expressed his sympathy with the object
the deputation had in view, and thought that the
Government had made a mistak e in not granting the
concession sought. But the matter required very
careful consideration, and therefore his lordship gave
no definite promise as to the action to be taken in the
House of Lords. The probability is that some clause
will be carried in the Upper House.

pu te gen&ally in all the mining districts. In all

branches of trade there is a general absence of la bour
disputes.

In the Birmingham district a better tone has prevailed, owing to the termination of the coal dispute,
but high prices still hamper the local staple trades.
There is no large increase in the volume of demand
generally, but more inquiries are on foot from India and
Australia for galvanised sheets and some other articles.
Orders for material are also more plentiful from large
consumers, whose works have long been idle, owing to
the scarcity and dearness of coal. Generally there is
a more hopeful feeling in the district, and there are no
--Mr..Ja.mes Keith, C.E., of London and Arbroath, local disputes of consequence to mar or darken those
has published "A New Chapter in the History of hopes.
Labour." He t ells us how his firm adopted the eight
It appears that Cornish metal markets are in a
hours' system. He says frankly that the experiment
is in too early a stage to be able to speak as to its deplorable condition, the prices for tin being lower
final effects, but apparently he is fully satisfied with than at any time since 1888. Shipments to America
the results so far. He claims that Mr. William Allan, have been very low of late, and fears are expressed
M. P., was the first to initiate the system in engineer- as to the future by the operations of the M'Kinley
It is also rumoured from America that
ing works ; Messrs. J ohnston, of London, followed, tariff.
tpen Mr. Keith, then Messrs. Mather and Platt, and M'Kinley is about to try his hand at further protecothers. So far it appears that all are satisfied with tive duties, to the injury of this country, and with
the change, and it is expected, as well as hoped, that no real and permanent benefit to his own country.
the example will be followed by other firms in th e
The notices for a reduction of 10 per cent. in the
great engineering industries of the country. The rearrangement of the hours seems t o have resulted in wages of the workers in the wrought nail trade have
some economies, inasmuch as the half-hour for break- been withdrawn by the employers, and a committee
fast is done away w ith, and there are therefore two has been appointed to revise the current price lists,
spells of four hours each, or in some cases an extra half- owing, it is alleged, to some of the members of the
hour in the afternoon, to make up for the short day on Employers' Association underselling in the market.
Saturday. It was always contended by the more
The employes in the Government factories are pressthoughtful of the working-class leaders that some such
rearrangement of time would reduce the actual loss to ing for a reduction of the working hours to eight per
the employers to a minimum. This appears to be the day, without any reduction in wages. The workers
in vVoolwich Arsenal sent a deputation to the Secreexperience of all who have tried the experiment.
tary of State for War asking for a shorter day and a
The close of the coal dispute has caused a more minimum rate of wages. An inquiry was promised
settled feeling among the engineering, iron and steel, into the matter.
and cognate trades in Lancas hire, and there are more
The firm of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son have
confident expect ations of improvement in those industries than have prevailed of late. There has not, promised lOO,OOOl. towards the establishment of a
as yet, been any appreciable increase in the weight of pension fund for all their employes. It is proposed
new orders, but there is more confidence. In most that those in their employ shall contribute a small
branches of the engineering t r ades at present things amount weekly to the fund. This is the most muniare quiet, but more inquiries are stirring. There is ficent gift of the kind ever made, and p erha ps few
no further increase in the number of skilled mechanics firms could make so handsome a contribution. It
out of work, but neither is it expected that there will appears that the pension is to be according to the
be any large decrease in the number of unemployed. years of servic~ in the firm. It is an old-age pension,
In the iron trade more business has been stirring, but regulated by years of service, rather than by the
the weight of buying going on has not as yet been actual age of the employe.
great, either in the raw or manufactured material.
Prices, however, have had a hardening tendency, if anyBRITISH COLONIES AT THE WORLD'S
thing, which is a good omen. In the finished iron
COLU MBIAN EXPOSITION. *
trade makers have scarcely been able as yet to quote
for quantities forward, but prices are firm for what is
By J A~fES DnEDGEJ.. Mem.be! of the British R oyal
uomm1Ss1on.
being sold. In the steel trade things are still quiet,
THE World's Columbian EKposition, which closed
but more work is stirring in the nut and bolt trad es.
In all these branches of industry there is a commend- its doors on October 31, will produce a. _great and perable absence of labour disputes. Indeed, on the whole, manent effect on the commerce of the United States
indeed of the whole world ; it will bring a.boub ~
this vast aggregate of busy industrial centres was and
displacement of certain industries, to the benefit of
never more free from strikes in all branches connected one country at t?e exper;tse of. others ; it has brought imwith the iron and steel industries, and th e trades de- P9rtant producmg nat10ns mto close touch with the
pendent upon them. But there appears to be an un- United States and wit):l one another; and .it ~as given an
easy feeling in the cotton trades again, this time more unparalleled o_pportumty to some of the prmClpal colonies
especially among the weavers, which points to a pos- of the British Empire todisplaytheirnaturalresources and
sible dispute. Indeed, it appears tha.t notices for an the fruit of their untiring energy, to the world. Cert~inly
ad vance have been issued in some cases, so that there is no .great Intert?ation~l ExJ?Osition has had to contend
a probability of some action being taken. For some time agamst such senous difficulties as the one just C'onoluded
past the cetton trades have been better employed, and and but few, if any, can lay claim to such a triumphant
The audacity of the peoJ?le of Chicago led them
prices have been somewhat higher, while the r ates of record.
to disregard the one, that they m1ght achieve the other.
exchange have been more fa vourable as regards the Although the number of visitors largely exceeded that
silver-using countries.
The operatives think that which was anticipated, it having reached the extrathey, too, should benefit to some extent by the altered ordinary t otal of 27i millions, the financial loss to the
conditions. Whether the movement will end in a treasury mus.t be consi~er~b~e, while the supplementary
strike, or the matter will be settled by mutual arrange- losses of bmlders- of md1v1dua.ls and syndicates-will
ment, remains to be seen. But another strike will be probably never be known. But these are small drawbacks
co~pared with the benefi t that will accrue to the oity of
disastrous.
ChiCago. She has attracted exhibitors and visitors from all
parts of the world, and has risen in the popular mind from
In the Wolverhampton district there have been beiog a vague locality chiefly associated with pork to
numerous inquiries during the past week for various her proper position as one of the leading citie; of
kinds of material- bars, sheets, hoops, &c. - for both the world, the centre of a vast producins- and purhome consumption and export trade. But with the chasing population, which must bring their products
close of the coal dispute, and the chances of supplies to her, and receive from her most of the necessaries
from other districts in competition, the prices were and all the luxuries they require. Great as was the
somewhat weaker, and purchasers were not disposed to city of Chicago before the gates of the Columbian
do business on the prices of a month ago. Stocks are, Exposition were opened, a new era has set in for her
now, and though her growth can scarcely be so rapid in
however, very low, both in the hands of makers and the
future as it has been in the pa.st. her influence, wealth,
merchants, so that there has been no great anxiety commercial power, and culture will beindefinitelyincreased
to reduce th e rates. Marked bars ha\'e had an in- by the stupendous and successful effort she has made.
creased demand. Common black sheets, best stamp- Compared to these permanent and certain advantages,
ing sheets, and tinplates have been in quiet request, the loss of money is scarcely appreciable, especially in a.
but there has been a good demand for medium and community full of wealth and energy and pride in the
common bars, hoops, and plates, and galvanisers con- unique city. Reference was made just now to the diffit in ue to order largely. Steel manufacturers havo culties Chicago has had to incur, and these, or some of
booked orders for plates, bars, and billets, sufficient to them, must be briefly referred to, that the results achieved
keep the works going to the end of the year. For may be better appreciated. They began with the inception
of
the
great
project
to
e:elebrate
the
400th
anni
verpig iron the demand is fully equal to the output in the sary of the discovery of America by Christopber
district. The price of fuel is still a difficulty, and it Co1umbus. It was only after a long and bitter struggle
is feared that high prices will rule for some time to
* Read in abstract before the Imperial Institute.
come, notwithstanding the settlement of the coal dis -

---

E N G I N E E R I N G.
that Cb1c~go wrested from other cities competing for thA would have been l ike so many gems without their settings.
prize, the honour of celebrating the a.nni versa.ry. The Mention should here be made of a very popular feature
defeated candidates, and the States they represent, seem of the Exposition. This was the Midway Plaisa.nce, a
never to have quite forgi ven Chicago for this triumph. strip of ground adjoini~g the Park, about a. nlile in
Indications of tbis were evident in the absence from the length and 800 ft. wide. Here were collected the Oriental
Exposition of many great American manufacturers; in and other foreign colonies, and shows that never ceased to
the unjust and damaging criticisms of the eastern press; attract, and which at least astonished the majority of
in the lack of hearty co-operation on the part of the rail- visitorfl. There was no Eiffel Tower at the Col~mbian
road companies. In Europe the ill-natured strictures of the Exposition, but as s-reat a novelty wa~ found in the
eastern newspapers were taken as serious truth El, and pre Ferris Wheel, 250 ft. 1n diameter, that carried, suspended
vented many probable exhibitors, and more visitors, from to it, cars sufficient to bold over 1000 person~, and who
attending the Exposition. The remoteness of Chicago pre were able to enjoy a bird's ey~ view of J a.ckson Park as
sented also a. great and verv damaging obstacle>, except to the wheel was slowly revolved. The cost of this struc
the more energetic and farseeing countries, amongst which ture was fully covered by the end of August, and the
New South Walesstandsconspicuous. Thedivided manage- financial success that has attended on the venture, much
ment of the Exhibition-on the one hand, Chicago for like that of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, will probably lea.d
the buildings and ~rounds; on the other, Government to its being imitated elsewhere.
officials for the exhtbits-created much difficulty, not a
Turning now to the exhibits for which the City of
little confusion, and St')me friction. The city of Chicago Palaces was reared, and judging from the best ava.ila.ble
was new to the work, and employed scarcely any one en- da.ta, the number of exhibitors was fewer by almost
joying a. previous eoxperience of Exhibitions; she deter- 10,000 than at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. As a. whole,
mlDed, with the energy that dominates her actions, ~be impression was given that American science, art, and
that the World 's ]fair of 1893 should be larger and more mdustry were not so full y represented as to do full
beautiful than any previous International Exhibition. T o justice to the U nit~d Statea. On the other band. several
carry out this determination meant the expenditure of foreign nations made unexpectedly splendid displays.
va.st sums of money, but the money has been found and England, unfortunately, ca.nnot be included in their
the result achieved. ' Vant of experience and lack of number, for, except in two departments, those of Fine
time involved much extra. outlay that would, under more Arts and Transporta.tion, the British Section, though
favourable circumstance , have been avoided. And when excellent as far as it went, cannot, either in respect of th~
the work wa done, and the E xhibition building3 were number or the variety of exhibitors, be said to thoroughly
ready for the installation of exhibits, delays occurred represent our position among nations. There were several
which ga,e further excuse for hostile criticism, and com- causes whi ch combined to prevent Great Britain from
bined with the cold and dreary weather of last May in taking a place in the front rank. Tberemotenetas of Cbicago
Chicago to restra.in vi si tors, a.nd to give to J ackson Park -more imaginary than real- the weariness of Exhibitions
the a.ir of a deserted city of palaces. And when these that is found amongst our manufacturers; the British feelevils had been lived down, when the weather grew plea- ing tha.t prevails towards the high tariff that checks our
sant, a.nd there was no further excuse for complaining of export trade with the United States; and a conviction that
incompleteness, the wa.ve of financial disaster that swept no pecu niary benefit could result from exhibiting-these
over the United States did not spare the Exposition. formed the principal reasons that led many British manuHappily, the concluding two month~ have brought better facturers to turn their faces from the Columbian Exposifortune; railways poured in excursionists at low rates; tion. That similar objections applied equally to foreign
a grea.t reaction set in both in the United States and manufacturer&, did not ~revent them from coming in
abroad, and anxiety not to miss seeing the Fair relatively large numbers, lR somewhat significant, as indireplaced the real or affected indifference concerning cating a greater belief in future trade possibilities with the
it, with the result that through September and October the United States, and the uncertain durability of excessive
average attendance has exceeded 200,000 per day. So tariff. Probably no country has ever made so brilliant a
much for the chief difficulties ; let us see how tLe people dispiay 1\t any foreign Exhibition, as Germany has done at
of Chicago a~uitted themselves of the trust imposed Chicago. She shone in all departments except in fishing
upon them. Upon a site unrivalled for exhibition pur- and horticulture, and there can be little doubt that her
poses, on the shore of Lake 1\-Iichigan, they reared a. city industrials will reap a large reward in the future, at our
of palaces to design which the highest talent of American expense. The display made by France was also brilliant,
architects and engineers was laid under contribution; and in their variouq degrees, Austria and Sweden, Spain,
they set these palaces in th~ midst of a great park laid Russia, ~witzerla.nd, and Italy, upheld their artistic and
out with the utmost skill of the landscape gardener, and commercial credit. The co-operation of foreign countries
converted from marsh land to brilliant gardens, and its was, indeed, far more thorough than could have been
beauty enhanced by lagoons and water courses connected anticipated, and proved tbat the United States are
with Lake Michi~an. They applied electricity to the generally regarded as full of possibilities for foreign
purpose of conveymg visitors over the extensive grounds trade.
by an overhead railway, to drive a. fleet of launches upon
But if Greab Britain did not occupy her accustomed
the waterways, and to illuminate the park and buildin~s rank in Expositions, many of the colonies of the British
at night on a. scale never before attempted. Without pre- Empire helJ>ed to make good her deficiencies, and two of
vious experience, but armed only with unusual skill, them, New South Wales and Canada, may be deservedly
energy, and pride in their great task, they COI!lpleted this accorded places in the foremost rank among the nations
Exhibition of unsurpassed beauty and unrivalled pro- exhibiting. No J.uch opportunity has been previously
portions, in an incredibly short space of time. It has afforded for British colonie3, rising rapidly into the imbeen urged against Chicago, and with some show of portance of rich and powerful nations, to show to the
reason, that the buildings and grounds were made too world the extent and varieties of their resources. As
attractive for the well-being of the exhibitors, a.nd that the object of this lecture is to give some idea of what our
visitors, never tired of the beautiful out-of-door surround- colonie~ have done at Chicago, we will turn at once to
ings, found it bard to exchange these attractions for the this part of our subject.
interiors of the various buildings. It is impossible by
(To be continued.)
means of pictures to do justice to the tri~phs of ~~ign
and construction that bavesur{>nsed and deltghted VlBttors
to Chicago during the past stx months. The best that
THE RECENT BOX TUNNEL ACCIDENT.
can be done is to throw on the screen a. series of photoAT a Ji ttle before noon on September 16 last, as the
graphic views that are ~t least correct as regards _form,
but which convey no tdea of col<?ur or propor.tiO~s. * 9 a .m. express train from Paddington to Exeter was
The chief f~ades of the most Important butldmgs running through the Box Tunnel, on the Great Western
-those devoted to Manufactures and Liberal Arts, Agri- main line, it left the rails and came to rest, fouling the
culture Mines and Mining, Electricity, Administration, up line, where ib was almost immediately run into by the
and M~chinery, inoloEe a Central Court, tn which is a gr~a.t slow passenger train from Bristol to Chippenham. No
basin, terminated at one end by a. monumental fountam, lives were lost, but some of the passengers and the dri ''er
aod at the other screened from the lake by a peristyle of and fireman of the up train were injured. The Board of
noble proportions. Behind these palaces are other ~m Trade inquirr_ was opened on the 20th by Major-General
portant buildingR, laid out so as to secure the most Im- Hutchinson, R.E., but bad to be adjourned on account of
posing effects of perspective. They are the Transporta- some of the witnesses being injured., and the reporti from
tion Buildin~, that contained the most complete a:nd which we extract the following, nas only recent y apvaried exhibtts illustrating methods of tra.nsportat10n peared.
The down train consisted of a six-wheeled single
that h~ ever been coJlected. the Horticultural Building,
tbe \Vomen's Building, the Fine Arts Building, the enJZine, running chimney first, a six-wheeled tender, and
Fisheries and the Government Buildings. Be!ides these a train of nine vehicles, the driving and trailing wheels
tbere were numbers of subordinate structures- the of the engine and all the wheels of the tender being fitted
cboral and featival halls, buildings devote~ ~o forP..st~y, with a steam brake, and the vehicles with the vacuum
to dairy exhibits, to ethnology, to exhtbtts of hve brake, both being applicable by the same tap on the
stock, a monumental railway station, and ruany others. engine, and both being automatic in case of severance in
rrhen followed buildings erected by the various States of the train. The engine was badly damaged, as also the
the Union and devoted to exhibits, to offices, and social tender, which fell over on its side, and the rest of the
purposeta. 'Some of these were very costly and beautiful, train was more or less so.
The up train consisted of a. six-wheeled engine with the
others less elaborate, but in all the ~ame spirit ~f. hospitality ruled. Finally must be ment10ned the pavthons of driving and trailing wheels coupled, a. six-wheeled tendar
various foreign countri~s; those of Germany, Sweden, and four other vehicles; the brake arrangements were
FranCE' and Brazil were especially beautiful. The similar to those on the down train. The engine and first
pavil io~s of Canada and N ew . South \Vales, ~bile two vehicles were badly da.magud, a.nd the third one
unpretentious were yet extens1ve and commod10us, slightly so.
Box Tunnel, which is 1 mile 6H chains in lensth, is
and the building erected by Ceylon was wo~thy of the
ephodid site on the Lake Front allotted to 1t. Nearly about 99 miles 12 chains from Paddington and 1s pertwo hundred buildings of a.lllcinds found room at .Ta.ck- fectly straight, on a gradi ent of l in 100. The tunnel is
eon Park, and it may readily be supposed. that large as approached from the east by a risin~ gradient of 1 in 660,
are its dimensions. there was barely suffic1ent room lPft which ceases about a quarter of a mtle east of the tunnel
for the ornamental grounds, lacking which the buildings mouth, this quarter being level ; the gradient then
changes to 1 in 100, falling westwardEl, and extending to
The lantern view~ were shown by Messrs. Steward n. short distance beyond the west mouth, and is succeeded
by other falling gradients not so steep. Having been
and Co., Strand.

681
originally constructed for a double broad-gauge line, the
tunnel is unu~ually wide (30 ft. ), and now that the gauge
is only 4ft. 8~ in., there is a 10-ft. space between the up
and down lines.
The down line for 57 chains west of the west end of the
tunnel, and in the tunnel itself for a distance of 1 mile
34 chains, bad been relaid with a cross-sleeper roa.d,
taking the place of the former longitudinal road, between
July 30 and September 3, the actual spot at which the
accident commenced, which is 1 mi1e 25 chains from the
east mouth of the tunnel, having been relaid on August
27; on August 21 a notice bad been issued restricting the
speed of down trains, on account of the relaying of the
down line, to 15 miles an hour between the east end of
the tunnel and Box station on the west, and this notice
was cancelled on September 7, since wheo, until the
accident, 294 down trains passed safely through the
tunnel.
The new permanent way consists of bull-headed steel
rails in 32 ft. lengths, wei~hing 86 lb. to the yard, of twoholed cast iron chairs we1ghing 46 lb., and of creosoted
sleepers, 9 ft. long by 10 in. by 5 in , at 2 ft. 9 in. central
intervals exc~pt at the joints, wh ere the central interval
is 2ft. 3 in. 'l"'be rails are fished at the joints and secured
in the chairs by outside wooden keys, the chairs being
fastened to the sleE~pers by two { ~ in. fang bolts in eacb
cha.ir. The ballast is of broken stone and gravel, 1 ft. in
depth below the underside of the sleepers, and when
complete should be flush with the tops of the sleepers,
but a.t and near the place where the engine left the rails
it was not nearly complete.
The engine which drew the down express is a six
wheeled single engine, the driving wheels being 7ft. 8 in.,
and the leading and trailing wheels 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter,
the weights on these wheels being 19, 1~, and 12 2 tons
respectively, and the wbeel-ba~e being 18 ft. 6 in., the
centres of th e lea.dins- and driving, and of the driving
and trailing wheels bemg 9ft. 6 in. and 9 ft. apart respectively ; the leading wheels have a lateral play of nearly
2 in. The engine has a double frame, and the wheels
have inside and outside bearings; the outside leading
springs are longitudinal, and hung under the axle-boxes,
while the top plate is attached at each end of the spring
to spring hangers secured to the framing above. The
lowest part of the spring hangers and of the buckles at
the centre of the outside leading spring are about 14 in.
and 7 in. respectively above rail level; the inside leading s_prings are spiral, each consisting of two coils about
5 in. m diameter, the centres being 7~ in. apart. The permanent way was broken up for a length of about 220 yards,
tb~ first mark being on the outer side of the top of the
inner rail some 80 ft. east of the lOO! mile post. Commencing at a point 157 ft. east of the milepost, however,
and extending to the above mark, the line was bent
inwards, the greatest deviation from the straight line
being 3 in. It is supposed that the engine left the rail
with all its wheels at the milepost, and after that point
n early all the rails were upset .
The lowest plate of the outside spring of the left leading wheel of the engine was, according to the evidence,
picked up on the morning of the next day but one, in the
6-ft. spa.ceo, about 35 ft. west of the first mark on the
inner ra.i1, other pieces of the springhincluding the top
plate with a piece of a broken spring anger attached to
1t, having been picked up further to the westward, but
the exact spot at wbich they were found could not be
stated.
There was a great deal of old permanent way material
lying in the space between the up and down lines, and
against this the engine, after it left the rails, must have
been continually knocking.
As the cause of the accidenb ia by no means clear, we
cannot do better than give General Hutchinson's con
clusion s in extenso, adding a few remarks a.t the end
thereof:
" The cause of the accident to the down express train,
which led to the collision between it and the up train, is
involved in a good deal of uncertainty. There is no doubt
that the leading spring banger of the left leading spring
of the engine of the down expret~s was broken through a
concealed flaw somewhere near the spot where an engine
wheel first left the rails, but whether this fracture was the
conseq,uence or cause of the accident is the difficult point
to de01de. It must have been a very heavy blow to have
produced the fracture, for although there was a flaw in the
banger there was plenty of sound metal left, and it is
difficult to understand what obstacle the spring can have
met with to have caused it to break before the first mark
of derailment. The first piece of a broken spring (the
lower plate, about 14 in. long) is said to have been picked
up in the 6-ft. space, 35 ft. west of the first mark, and it is
not easy to see how this piece of a left spring can have
gob into that position on the right of the line. It was not
picked up till two days after the accident, and I think it
may very probably ba,e been moved eastward by one of
the men engaged in repairi ng the road after the accident.
"The evidence of the driver of the down express train,
Charles Hayes, a man of twenty years' service as driver,
and of express trains for the last six yean, is to the effect
that he entered the Box Tunnel, having shut off stearn
just before doing so, at a speed not exceeding 44 miles an
huur, a. minute having been lost in running between
Swindon and Chippenham, owing to the engine priming ;
that neither steam nor the brake was applied in the tunnel,
and that he did not think the speed had increased, when,
without the least wa\rning, and without his ha\ing
noticed any previous oscillation of the enfrine, the ri~bt
leading wheel seemed to drop outside the nght rail with a
lurch and loud noise, followed by a second lurch, when
the driving wheels left the rails, and by a. third and tre
mendous lurch, when the trailing wheels lefb the rails,
the engine then beginning to jump about, and finallr.
stopping with the right leading wheel over the inside r"1l

682
of the up line, and with the tender turned completely
over on it~ left side, but still coupled to the engine, and
with the first vehicle close up to it; that he tried to apl>lY
the brake when he felt the leading wheels of the engtne
leave the rails, but missed the brake handle, and did not
get it on till the trailing wheels left the rails; that upon
the engine stopeing the fireman blew the brake whistle
three times, while he got down on to the ballasb, passed
between the engine and the tunnel wall, groping his way
along until he heard the up train approachm~, when he
stood against the wall and shouted to the dr1ver as the
engine passed, the collision occurring when the third
vehicle from the engine was opposite to him; that he
thinks there may have been three minutes, certainly not
more, between his engine stopping and the collision.
"The evidence of Gibbons, Ha.yes' fireman, and of
locomotive inspector G reena.way, who had ridden on the
engi ne from Swindon, is to much the same effect as
Ha.yes'. After the engine stopped, Gibbons whistled
three times, and he and G reenaway then got off the
engine on the left-hand side, tried ineffectually to relight
the gauge glass lamp, when hearing the up train a.p
proa.ching, they went forward to meet it, its engine pa.ssmg them thirty or forty yards from the engine of the
express, they shouting- to the driver as he passed. They
estimate the time which elapsed between the express
engine stopping and the collision at 2~ and two minutes
respectively.
' The guards of the train can throw no light on the
occurrence, the rear guard stating that the accident
occurred at 11.54 a..m., and the collision in about 1\
minutes afterwards. The front ~ua.rd was knocked down
twice after the train left the ra.Ils, and cannot estimate
the time which elapsed before the collision.
" After a. careful consideta.tion of the evidence of the
servants of the company in charge of the train, of the
marks left on the permanent way, of the state of the
ballast, and of the damage to, and nature of, the engine
drawing the exprPss, I am disposed to attribute the cause
of the accident to the engine of the express train when
descending the gradient of 1 in 100 in the Box Tunnel at
a high rate of speed, having first bent the line inwards
for a. distance of 78 ft. to the extent of 3 in., thereby
creating an irregular curve to the right and a consequent
tendency of the right wheels to mount the inner or right
rail, which they ab once proceeded to do, there being no
superelevation of the inner rail to resist this tendency.
0 wing to the lateral play of a.boub 1! in. on the leading
wheels of the engine, there would, on a straight line, such
as the Box Tunnel, and at high speed, be a tendency in
these wheels to continual lateral movement, and I presume it must have been some movement of this kind
which caused the bend in the line, the absence of full
ballasting a.t and near the spot not affording the requisite
amount of resistance to the effect of such lateral movement.
" The argument against this view of the cause of the
accident is derived from the position in which one of the
spring plates of the left leading spring of the engine was
picked up two days after the accident, viz., in the 6-ft.
space, about 35 ft. wesb of the first mark of a wheel being
off the rails, others of the spring plates having been picked
up further to the west, but their exact position not having
been noted. If the spring plate fell from the engine in
the place in which it was picked up, the blow which
caused the spring banger to break and the spring afterwards to come to pieces, must have occurred a~ some
short distance previously, but there is no indication from
the marks left in the permanent way that such a blow
could have been received before the right leading wheel
left the rails. I am therefore of opinion that, as I before
stated, the spring plate whet;t pioked up ~m tb~ 18t.h
ultimo can hardly have been m the place m whiCh It
originally fell from the engin~, and ~hat the fractur~ of
the spring hanger and the commg to pieces of the sprmg
was the consequence and not the cause of the accident.
"With regard to the circumstances attending the collision which occurred probably not more than two
minutes after the engi ne of the down express had come
to rest with its right leading wheel in the 4-ft. space of
the up' line, and its left leading wheel i~ the 6-ft. space,
the driver and fireman of the express engme and the locomotive inspector who was riding on it appear to have
done what was possible to warn the driver of the up
train who must have entered the tunnel about a. minute
after' the express bad stopped. In the confusion and
darkness there must have been unavoidably some little
time lost (after the fireman had given three. brake
whistles) in going forward t o meet the up tram, and
dri ver Hayes appears to have got forward from forty to
fifty yards, and the fireman. and inspector a ~omewhat
less distance when the engme of the up tram passed
them the driver of which train heard one of the shouts
.
these' men raised.
'' The evidence of Keeling, the driver of the up t ram,
is to the effect that he had etarted fr?m Bri.stol to 9h_i p
penbam with the 11.3 a. m. up st~ppmg tram, consistmg
of engine tender, and four vehicles, fitted throughout
with the ~team and vacuum brakes; that be h~d last
stopped at Box, and entered the Box Tunnel, wbtcb ':Vas
full of steam and smoke, at a speed of about 25 mtles
an hour that after having entered the tunnel about half
a mile be heard some one call out ''Stop !" from the
6.fb. side; that on bearing this b~ let ~o of .the regulator and
looked round, and just as he agam seize~ It be w~sknocked
up against the front of the firebox, not bemg ?8rta.~ wh~ther
or nob he had shut off steam and a.pphed his brake,
which it afterwards turned out he bad done. ~e was
jammed up against the firebox by .coal ~o~mg forward from the tender, and though seriously IDJured ~nd
scalded be managed to free himself, get off the engme,
and se~d his fireman back towards the tunnel mouth to
protect his train.

(DEC.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
"The evidence of Keeling's fireman is to much the
same effect as his own. On the collision occurring he was
thrown about on the footplate and was insensible for a
short time. Though badly hurt, he was able to go back as
far as the tunnel mouth to .Protect his train.
'' The guard of the tram, riding in the rear vehicle,
was taken comJ?letely unawares by the collision. He was
knocked down m his van, but not hurt.
"No blame is to be attached to the servants of the
company with regard to the collision. If, after the engine
of the express train had stopped, the whistle could have
been kept sounding, the driver of the up train might
have heard it sooner that the shoutin g, but to have done
this would have required soma one to remain on the footplate or the whistle to have been tied open, neither being
practicable under the circumstances.
"It was not, in my opinion, a. judicious act on the part
of the district inspector of permanent wa.y between Br1stol
and Thingley Junction [Mr. Baugham] to recommend
the removal of the restriction of speed (which ha.d been in
force during the relaying operations) before the down line
had been fully ballasted, which it certainly was not in the
locality of the a.ccident, where, when I saw the spot on
September 20, ma.ny of the sleepers were bare of ballast for
a. considerable portion of their -depth, both between the
rails a.nd to a less degree outside them. The necessity for
full balla.sting wa3 more particularly necessary in consideration of the long falling gradient of 1 in lOO, on which
very high speeds are sure to be attained, a.nd the fact that
the engine drawing the down express train was one of a
class which were known, when running a.t high spePds, to
exert a severe strain on the line."
After a. careful perusal of the evidence, we cannot but
agree with the conclusion come to by General Hutcbinson that the engine of the down t rain came off the road
before the breaking of the spring banger. From the
construction of the engine, with its play of fully 1! in.
on the leading axle, it is very evident that there is a strong
liability of at times putting a heavy side strain on the permanent way when running on the straight a.t high speeds,
and we are not surprised that this should have been remarked before, a~ stated at the end of the above report.
In the report on a derailment which occurred early last
year to a. L ondon, Tilbury. and Southend tank engine,
running bunker first, the Government inspector recommended that this class of engine should not be run thus,
as, owing to the radial axle-box under the bunker, there
was a. great likelihood of derailment ; in the same way we
cannot but think tha.t it is ina.d visa.ble to run any engine
with a. leading a.xle with so great a play as that now
under consideration, unless that play is adequately controlled by sprws. That such derailments are not common
on the Great astern Railway we attribute to the fact of
the immense strength of their old permanent way on its
longitudinal timbers, but as this is gradually replaced by
the ordinary sleeper road we shall not be surprised
to hear of more accidents of this kind unless the road is
strengtbtmed or the engines altered. No doubt some
means of attaining flexibility for a wheel-base of 18 ft. 6 in.
is absolutely necessary ; but this it is quite possible to
secure without incurring the risk above referred to.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

THE last of three large cattle steamers built by Messrs.
A lexander Stepben and Sons for the Chesa.peake and
Ohio Steamship Company, Limited, of London, was
launched at Linthouse on November 2~. These vessels
have already been fully described. The dimensions are
370 ft. by 44 ft. by 31! ft., the gross tonnage about 4000
tons, and they have tripleexpa.nsion engines with cylinders 28 in., 46 in., and 75 in. m diameter by 54 in. stroke.
Besides large measurement for deadweight cargoes, each
ship has arrangements for carrying 760 live cattle. The
new ship was named the Kanawha.
Messrs. F laming and Ferguson, Paisley, launched on
N ovem her 23 a steel screw hopper dredger for the Limerick Harbour Comruissioners. She has been constructed
for carryin g out ex. ten si ve improvements in the channel
of the River Shannon. The dimensions of the vessel are
150 ft. by 32 ft. by 13 ft. 7 in. She is capable of raising
300 tons per hour from a depth of 35 ft., and has a hopper
carrying capacity of 400 tons. The main engines are of
the builders' improved triple-expansion typP, to indicate
500 horse-power. The dredger and all her machinery
have been constructed under sur vey of the British Corporation for the Registry of Shipping. and built to their
highest class. The vessel was named Erin-go-Bragh.

I,

1893.

The first-class torpedo gunboat Dryad was floated out

of dook at Cba.tham D ockyard on Saturday, November 25. The Dryad, which is a.n enlarged a.nd improved type of the Sharpshooter class of gunboats, has a
length of 250ft. and width 30 ft. 6 in. The Fairfield
Engineering Company are the contr~tors for the engines,
which are to be of 3500 horse-power. The contract speed
is 19! knots under forced draught, and 17.5 with natural
draught. She has accommodation in her bunkers for 100
tons of coal. Her armament consists of four 4.7-in. guns
and four Gpounder quick-firing guns. The Dryad was
subsequently taken into basin to be completed during the
present financif\1 year.
The Campbeltown Shipbuilding Company's steamer
Corso, of 772 tons net register, and 1950 tons dead weight,
recently launched from their yard at Campbeltown
(Clyde), made her trial trip on November 24, when an
average speed of 11f knots was attained. The Corso is
a steel screw steamer of the part awning deck tyJ?e,
designed to carry 1950 tons deadweigbt on 16ft. 7 m.
draught, and has been supplied with a set of tripleexpansion engines by Messrs. Kincaid a.nd Co., Limited,
Engineers, Greenock. The owners are Messrs. G. H.
Wills and Co., Card iff, and the veseel is for trade on the
west coast of Africa.
The ba.htleship Royal Oak, having, as reported in last
week's issue, completed her natural draught trials, proceeded on Saturday, November 25, on full-power steam
trials. Though the propelling engines of the Royal Oak
are substantially of the same type as those of the seven
ships of the Royal Sovereign class, they differ in some
respects, and more especially as regards the framing,
from the machinery supplied by other makers. The
cylinder~ are entirely supported upon wrought steel
columns, strongly and substantially braced together, the
guides being attached by cross beams to the main
columns. The details of the engines were described in a
recent issue (page 511 ante). For the purposes of the trial
the R oyal Oak was under the command of Commander
the Hon. A. Bethell, and the engines were worked by
Mr. R. Bevis, jun., on behalf of the contractors, who
were represented by Messrs. Willia.m and John Laird,
and among the officers who were officially present ware
~1r. Durston, Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy, and Mr.
Butler, from the Admiralty; Chief Inspector of Machinery Wootton and Fleet Engineer Colquhoun, of the
Dockyard Reserve; and Mr. Corner and Mr. Carnt,
of the Dockyard Steam Department. The trim of the
ship was 24 ft. 4 in. forward and 25 ft. 5 in. aft, represen ting a mean d ra.ugh t of 2 ft. 7~ in. less than her
designed mean load immersion. The battleship got
under way from Spithead for a run up Channel, with a
stiffish breeze on the beam, and by nine o'clock the first
observations were taken, the eight forced-draught fans
making at the time about 300 revolutions a. minute; the
boiler pressure was 138 lb. As a matter of fact, with
the exception of the last half-hour, when the air pressure was high, the steam pressure was indifferent
throughout the trial, owing, doubtless, to the <:ircumstance that the stokers were not picked men, but ordinary stokers drawn from the harbour ships. The diagrams taken every half hour worked out as follows :

Boiler
Pressure.

Air

Revolutions.

Pressure.
Starboard.
10.

138

.99

144

J42
144
152

Port.

lb.
149
149
149

HorsePower.

.97
.92
.94
.91
.90
1.14
1.10

100.8
10!.1
104.2
103.6
102.3
104.9
103.6
104.8

100.7
105.2
10~.1

104.2
102.4
104.1
102.8
104.7

10,754
11,656
11,627
11,625
11,282
11,930
11,637
12,058

';l'be resulting means of the four hours were : Steam in

boilers, 145.8 lb. ; vacuum, 28.5 (starboard) and 28.4
(po~t); revolutions, 103.5 (starboard) and 103.4 {port);
mdi<;ated horse-power-starboard engine, high 1480, inter
med~ate 1773, low 243 6; port en~ne, high 1601, inter
medtate 1802, low 2479; total mdicated horsepower,
5689 (starboard) and 5882 (port); collective horse-P.Ower,
111571, the excess over the contract, which was easily obtamed, bein~ 571. Altho\lgb the air pressure was compar~tively b1gh .during the last hour, the average was
.98 m., the maximum pressure permitted by Admiralty
regulations being 2 in. The mean speed recorded by the
patent log was 18.27, or nearly a knot more than the esti
Messrs. R. N apier and Sons, Go van, launched on mated speed in smooth water.
November 23 the second of two steel twin-screw steamers
they are building for the Compa.nia Sud Americana
Vapores, of Valpara.iso. The principal dimensions are:
.T~E AZORES.- T~e Eastern T elegraph Company,
Length, 170 ft.; breadth, 32ft.; depth to awning deck, Limited, has established telegraJ?bic communication
17 fb. 6 in.; tonnage, about 750 tons. The machinery, between its Lisbon station and the Islands of San J orge
'
which has been constructed at the builders' Lancefield Pico. and Terceira.
works, consists of two sets of triple-expansion engines
and a single-ended steol boiler for a working pressure of
THE l\-1EssAGEBIE6 MARITUJEb.-According to a return
150 lb. The ship was named the Malleco.
'Rrepared for the Victorian Postmaster-General the
French ~Ieasag~ries Mariti~es have the best average for
the past year m the transit of mails from London to
Messrs. J. ~I'.Artbur and Co., Pai::,ley, launched on 1\:felbourne,.and from Melh?urne to London. The average
November 23 two fine new steamers, named the Doon time occupied by the Penmsular and Oriental steamers
Glen and Turtle, which have been built to the order of was 3~ days 8 hours 39 minutes on the voyage to MelMessrs. John G. Frew and Co., Paterson-street, Glasgow, bourne, and 32 days 4 hours 2 minutes on the voyage to
and Messrs. Paton and H endry, Oswald-street, Glasgow. ~ondon; the averages of the Orient line were, respec
Both steamers are of same dimensions, and are in every tivelr, 32 days 9 hours 11 n:tinutes, and 32 days 8 hours
respect similar. Compound sul'fa.ce-condensing engines 58 m mutes; of t.b e Ger~~n hne, 35 days and 36 days; and
are now being fitted to each of the steamers by Measr~. of the Messegenes Mant1mes, 30 days17 hours 41 minutet~
Bow, M'Lachlan, and Co., Paisley.
to Melbourne, and 31 days to L ondon.

DEc. r, r893.]

E N G I N E E RI N G.

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.
COMPILED BY

w.

LLOYD WISE.

SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
The number of views given in the Specification Drawings is staud
in each C48e ; where none are mentioned, the Specification is
not iltmtrated.
Whtre Inventions are communicated from abroa.d, the Na:mu ,
eke., of the Communicators are give'n in italics.
Copies of Specificatt~ may be obtained at tht Patent Office
Sale Branch, 38, Cur8itor-atreet, ChCIIncery-lame, E. C., at the
un;jO"f7n price of 8d.
The date of the advertisement (If tht acceptance of a complete
Sf)ecijica.tion il, in each case, given after tht aJ>stract, unless the
Patent has been sealed, when tM date of sealing is given.
.Any person may at any time within two months from the date of
the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification,
give notice at the Patent Ojfiu of opposition to the grant of a
Patent on any of the ground$ mentioned in the Act.

lng Gear. [1 Pig.] November 8, 1892.-Tbis invention consists

of a shaft H reciprocated by an eccentric G working an exhaust
valve together with the spindle F. A sliding weight C is connected to a collar D by a spring E, this collar being fixed on t be
shaft H by a sorew K. On the exhaust valve spindle F is fixed a

contained chamber of the shell taper in opposite directions from

near the t ransverse centre of the chamber, and afford the upper
gas-retorting section. A ob amber B surrounds the _shell near th_e
melting section and contains walls, ports q affordmg commumcation between t he melting section and ci rcumferential c hamber.
The passage connects the chamber B, an outlet B2 bein~ provided tor the gas from the circum ferent ial chamber. (.Accepted
October 18, 1893).

RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
23,012. J. Berkley, West Beaton, Newcaatle-on
Tyne. Railway Vehicles, &c. [8 Figa.] Decemb~r 14,

10088

1892.-Tbis in vention relatss to bearings for the axles of ratlway

vehicles, tbe sha fts of screw propellers, &c., and consists of a s~t

sleeve B having- a collar on it and being tree to slide on the shaft

H. A balanced hook A is secured on the exhaust vahe case M, so
that when it is str"ack by the weight C it engages with t he collar
on the sleeve B, which compresses the spring I and thus keeps the
exhaust valve open. (.Accepted October 18, 1893).

. J.

I

'

' ''-""'

GUNS, &c.
211703. G. G. di Glovannt, Turin, Italy. Fire-Arms.

--

'

the escape of gas. Th e electrodes e' , e" of the pile a are conn ected throug-h a switch to the filament of a small incandescent
electric lamp fi xed on the block immediately in front of the fores ight. The switch is u rged by a s pl'ing to hold the ci rcuit of the
lamp open, but can be mo ved so as to c:o3e it by acting on a press
button. (Accepted October 18, 1893).
18,805. T. Perkes, London. Small Arms. [12 F i.gs.)
October 20, 1892. -Tbis invention relates to the ejecting and
extracting mechanism of breechloading small a rms, whether
hammer or hammerless. A is the extractor leg , B the ejecting
wheel A, upon which are mounted insulated annular plates of cam, in Vl'lhioh is a bent B' ; B2 the recess into which the free
wrought iron to form t he a rmature core Al, these plates being ends of the spring take, B3 the point of contact tor extraction ;
form ed on their inner periphery with g rooves for the reception of
Fig.1.
the arms of the starwheel. This wheel is elongated and extends
beyond the sheet-mt>tal core, and at each end it carries a ring of
cast iron G t hrough which pass tie-bolts D. The armature core is
securely clamped between t he rings by tightening up these bolts.
The armature coils F , after being wound to a r ectangular form on
a core, are cur ved to conform to the outer peril'hery of Lhe
F
armature. (.Accepted Octobt>r 18, 1893).

'I

of roUe rs b having rounded or be\elled convex parts at t hti r

circumference and rounded ends. These rollers are a rranged in a
cylindrical box and parallel to and in conta r.t with each otber
round the axle. (.Accepted October 18, 1893).

STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.

22,597. R. Cockburn, Glasgow, Lanarks.

sure-reducing Valves.
J t?Os

(6 Figs.)

November 28, 1892.-This in vention relates to electric

ELECTRICAL APPARATuS.
apparatus for illuminating the sights of fi rearms. On the front
22,473. C. E. L. Brown, Baden, Switzerland. end of the barrel C is a block carrying under it a small pile held in
Dynamo Electric Machines. [6 Figs.) December 7, an impervious casing, which ii provided with a valve for allowing
1892.-Tbis imention has reference to d ynamo electric machines

ot the al te rnatin~ current type. Th e field magnet of t he machine

comprises a divided iron ring C, to which are fixed by bolts B t he
.Fig.1.
c
field magnet cores N, which are made cylindrical in order to
facilitate winding and to reduce the amount of wire. The inner
ends N' of these cores forming the pole pieces a re enlarged and
made of rectanular shape so that they aid also in keeping the
magnet windings in position. The armature comprises a starc

I
I

Pres

[2 Figs.) lJecember 9, 1892.-This

invention relates to pressure-reducing Yalves in which t he passage of steam is controlled by a disc valve B, t he s pindle Cot
which extends downwards through an elongated chambE'r D
fixed to the underside of the valve-box E, and is fixed to a fl ex ihle
diaphragm F, and below the diaphragm has adjusta.bJy fixed to
it a orossh ead 0 connected by a pair of helical springs H to the

Fi..g-2.

GAS, &c., ENGINES.

16,985. W. Maybach, Cannstatt, Wurtemberg.
Hydro-Carbon Engines. [6 Figs.] September 9, 1893.The ex plosive mixture is sucked through t he inlet valve a into
the cylinder b by the second upstroke of the piston c af ter the

../"

explosion , and the combustion gases are driYen out of tbe cylinder through a channel d and outlet valve e by the first downstroke of the piston after the explosion. These combustion

outside of the upper part of t he c hamber D. The chamber becomes fiUed with water condensed from the steam, and the water
pcev_eots the st~am acting directly on the flexible diaphra~ F .
T o msure suffic1ent coolness of the water iu cant&et "ith the
flexible diaphra~m without inconveniently increasing the length
of the chamber D, the external surface of t he metal of whi<'h the
chamber is formed is i.ncreased, so that the radiation of h eat from
the metal and water may be increased. (Accepted October 11
1893).

Ag.3.

H
!%

'

672. S. A. Ward, Sheffield. Metallic Packing for

1680 S

~tston,

C is t he deten t, having a projection on it tor engaging with the bent

in B. D is t he ejector spring, having a tang on its lower arm for
giving compression. An extension on the knuckle operates D.
F is a bearing surface on the knuckle for operating the cam B to
gases, on their way from the cylinder to the outlet valve, are extract the cartridge, H being the rod working in tb e body of the
compelled to flow through or around the ignition tube/, so as to action, and J the tumbler. (Accepted Octflber 18, 1893).
give off their heat to the latter. The pipe/ is arranged axially
MINING AND METALLURGY.
within the rear part of the channel d, and is provided near its
12,588. A. J. Boult, London. (W. A. Komman, C. G.
closed end with a Dumber of holes, so that the hot combustion
gases ftow around the pipe as well as through it. (.A ccepted Singer, an.d <If. Jl. B atch, Chicago, l lli noi8, U.S. ~ .) Purtflcatlon of Iron and Steel. [3 Pigs.) June 27, 1893.- This
October 18, 1893).
invention r elates to means tor the conversion of iron and steel
18,513. F. W. C. Cock, Bathwick, Somersets. Gas into a highly carbonised r efined metal. The material to be
Engines. [3 F igs. ) October 16, 1892.- This invention relates t reated is melted in continuous a nd successively completed step1,
to gas, &c. , engines, and consists in a method of controlling the and the molten mass percolates t hrough a column of highly inadmission of the gas and air into the cylinder B. The air and candescent carbonaceous fuel, and t hrough the protoxide of
gas are admitted through a port formed through the cylinder. carbon gas generated by the com buslion of the fuel, the carburi~
The inlet port communicates with the source of supply of the gas ing and reducing effect being assi9ted by introducing gas distilled

&c., Rods. [3

Figs. ) January 12, 1893.-Tbis inven-

hon relat~s t~ m etallic packing for glands of engine piston-rods.

:rhe_packlDg ts ~ade in s~gments forming a circle and having an
m chne ~pon theu convex s1des, these segments being held to11:ettler
and agatnst the r od C by a ring F having an internal conical part.
The ~p edges of t he s totions D flt against the outer plate ot th e
stuffimg-box and form a steam-tight joint, and a re held in this posi-

Fis.Z.

Ff3,- .

Ftg.1.

Fcs '

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t ion by_aspringact_ingbet_ween t~e bottom of the stuffing-box and the

unders1de of the rmg wh1ch en01rcles the sections. At the junction
o~ the sections ~ h<>re they _flt a~ainst the outer plate, stopping
p1~ces are used m ord er to u~sure_ a steam-tight joint. To effect
th1~ and to conduce to a eltght 1ncrease of fri ctional wearing
~ct10n upon the faces _of the stoppmg pieces, the latter are made
10 ~he form. of a trtangle, one side being thus made to flt
agamst the p1ston-rod C, and the two other con\'erging to a point.
(Accepted October 11, 1893).

23,872. S. B. Brooks and R. A. Doxey, West

Gorton, Lancs., and A. Davy, Sheffield. Steam
Boiler Furnaces. l4 F igs. ) December 27, 1892.-This in-

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I

Fr..g.J.

0000 0

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

12$88

~rom t~e upper pa! t of the bed ioto ~he incandescent part of it

lOlJ?edtately below 1t, a nd the fuel be10g blasted near its base,
wh1le the molten metal is so percolating with air in a sufficient
quantity only to main tain the temperature of the p ercolationcolumn of the fuel above the melti ng point of the m etal. The
shell has a passage leading from the gas-retorting par t in its
upper end downward into the shell immediately below the upper
part. Through this passage the gas pressure is maintained from
20,088. C. McK. Dowie and C. B. Bandyside, below on the top of the bed of fuel in the shell, an outlet for the vention r elates to a steam boiler furn ace provided with a number
Newton Heath, Me.nc~ester. Gas Engine Gov~rn- gas leading from t}le base of the upper part. Tbe walls of the of cross-plates II, placed a.t intenals in the flue behind the firE', to

and air, which passes into the cylinder B, this inle t port being so
disposed that it is uncovered by the piston A when the latter
approaches the limit of its r eturn stroke, the gas and air passinginto the non-ignition end of the cylinder, where it is compressed,
and from which it is conveyed to t he firing end of the cy linder
through a channel. (Accepted October 18, 1893).

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

- -
-deftect the products of combustion and form a storage for the
heat. The cr088-plates H are provided with holes through which
th~ prod~ots of combustion p~ss. The h ollow p er forated bridge
~ 1s provided with a perfora.ted support L hinged to it to admit
atr to t h e back of t he fu rnace, when tbe fire is low and the pre88ure
of draught red?c~d. A perforated plate 0 is attach ed to the door
N so as to admtt all to the fu rnace. (A ccepted October 11, 1893).

21,075. J. A. and S. Fletcher, Aahton-under-Lyne

Lancs. Safety Valves for Steam BoUera [4 Pigs j

November 19, 1892.-Tbis invention relates to safety vahes ~f

t~e "Bopkinson" typE', The valves a re constr uoted and combmed so t)lat the low-water val ve b oan be lifted ind epend ently
or the h1g b steam valve. The valve b is mounted on a c ross
abaft o resting in side bearing& c'. The central part of the s haft at

FitJ .1.

17.012. B. B. Lake, London. (F. F. Krupp, Jl agdeburgBuckau, Germany.) Llfta. [2 Figs.] September 9, 1893.-This in
vent ion has for its object to provide a hydroetatic lift for transfer ring navigable vessels between canals at different le\'e)s. The trough
~. which is made for the reception of the vessel, is arranJred to
r1se and fall between guides, and is provided with water tight
gates at its ends AI, standard s B, which rest upon floats 0, being
pro\'ided to support it. The floats are submerged in chambers D,

IIISCELLAN'BOUS.
22,507. J. E. Nuttall, Blacklnrn, Lancs. LoomShe~dtng _Mo.tiona. [2 Figs.] December 8, 1892. -This in -

,
:.

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-.. .

vention cons11ta m operatina- four h ealds by t wo ordinary heald

shafts, eo arranged that t he h ealds are oper ated in pairs. When
four healdt are employed, two ehafte are used the front and back
h ea.lds being connected by &traps to t h e uppe'r shaft and the two
inner ~eal~s similarly join ed to the lower shaft. ' One of the
~hafts Ul dr1ven from t he loom, and the other is loose in its bearmgs ; thus \\'ben t h e sha.fta rotate in t h e same d irection \be two
ba~k heald& will be down . a.nd t he two. front one& up,' and 1tice which communica te with each other. Both canals E F have
1Jt1sa. It the shafts move 1n a rever lle dtrection, alternate healds watertight gates, these gates, with those on the trough: controlling communication between t he oanals and trough
The depth
of the water in the chambers D is adjusted eo that the trough does
Pig .2.
not dip into it, e ven when the latter is in ita lowest position. Meane
are provided for controlling the trough in its ascen t and descent
so that it always maintains a. horizontal position. (~ccepted Oc~
tobe1 18, 1898).

t:
, .
'
....
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.....

vacuum. is thua formed in the condenser . Exhaust steam from

~he eng1~e passes. by t he pipe A into th e ch amber B, where the oil
1s dep?Stted; t bte .g~ease passes, with the water , through a
valve m_to the reoeiv1ng- chamber C, from which the g rease and
water mmg.led .are drawn o~ at the coclt T, after opening t h e vent
tap ~o admtt atr . The partially purified steam then pa.eses, after
leavmg the chamber B, a long the pipe D to the condenser E
wher e a jet of water from a pipe meets t h e stea m and furUae;
completes the condensation. The resulting hot water falls to the
l~wer part of the chamber E, from whence it is d rawn off by the
ptpe G. The ~u rta.ce condense r J completes the condensation of
any steam whtch escapes by the pipe H from the condenser E.
~he return pipe U conducts the water formed by condensation
to. the surface condenser J to t he other one E, where it mixes
wtth the hot water a lready condensed
(.A ccepted October 18
1898).
.
'

22,790. J. Marshall, J. Flemtng, and A. Jack,

Motherwell. Lanarks. Cranes. [2 fliga. J December 12,

1892.-This invention relates to an a rrangement of supports fo r

the upper enct of pillars employed upon steam, wharf, &c. , c ranes,
in whic~ a. r evolving motion is required. The upper end of the
post A 1s screwed to I"eoeive a nut C, which cudes the upper
22f07.

will be moving up aod d own. In order to drive the shafts in the

same or r everse direction, two small pulleys a re fixed on the
dri\'en shalt, correspondinJr pulleys being on the loose one, one
pair of pulleys being connected by an open strap and the other by
a c ross 3trap. The pullers on the loose abaft have between them
a. double clutch free to shde on a. k ey on the loose shaft. When
t h e clutch eogages with one of the pulleys on the loo~e s~aft,
--1~ :

..
the latter is driven in & direction according as t he pulley 1s dnven
.
by the open or cross strap. By moving a weighted lever to one
side or the other, the clutoh can be controlled, and thereby the
h ealds. (~cc zpted October 11, 1893).
girder D, and whicb, when turned, causes the side frame E and
22,508. D. Whtttaker, Witton, Lancs. Stop Motion all the par ts connected with it to be raised or lowered to take up
of Looms. (4 F igs.] December 8, 1892. -This in,ention relates any wear. The nut is pr eYented from turning by a key. T o reto the stop motion for stopping a loo~, when the weft br_eaks, &c., duce the friction of the upper bearing, a series of live r ollers
and consists in a ca.tch brnoket and means for operating 1t. A fork are employed, aod the upper end of the post is turned down to
lever 1 is employed, having a.n _inclined space 2 form ed o~ its in~er carry a cap for the exclusion of dust. ( .dccepted October 18, 1893).
edge. To the catch bracket 3 1s cast a. short finge r 5 havmg an 1D
20,289. J. Bolgate, Burnley Lancs. Takingclined under -surface 6, which r ests on the inclined space 2 formed up Motions for Looms. [2 Figs.) November 10, 1892. -This
invention relates to taking-up motions for looms. The r etaining
catch D is fixed on the bracket A working on a cast-iron bush,
and projects under the catch C, so that upon tbe weaver operating the lever B through the finger rod F, the oatobes C and D a re
released. Through the shackle P works the shaft L, on which is

Fig.2.

Pig.1.

. .z.
c2, which passes throu2h the \'a l ve b, is fo rmed eccentr iolllly to

~. / .

..

the part which r ests in the side bearings, so that by rotating

the shaft in the bearings c, the valve b can be lifted clea r of the
valve, the latter with its own load then being more easily raised.
In Fig. 2 the valves are 0\>nstructed with the lower water and high
steam valve independent of each other . (.A ccepted October 11,
1893).

Fr!J .2.

11506

22,644. W. R. Renshaw, Stoke-on-Trent, Staft'a. on the fork lever 1. The periphery of the brakewheel 7 is corru Steam Bollers. [2 Figs.] December 9, 1892. - Tbis invention gated. When the weft break& or the fork fails to act, at tbe beat

has reference to steam boilers. A is t h e upper part of the boiler and up of the slay, this lever is pushed back, and the inclined space
a the tubes. B is the lower par t, and b its internal furnace, the moves from under the finger or the catch bracket, the latter beinuparte A and B being connected by ve rtical pipes. The pipe moved on its stud, and the brake shoe applied to the oorrugated
surface of the brake wheel, the loom being thus stopped. (.Accepted
Octobe> 11, 1893).

.z .

12,824. W. A. Rife, Waynesborough, August& fixed a small pinion M, and the change wheel W capable of alidin~
County, Virginia, U.S.A. Bydraullc Rams. [15 Figs.) laterally to admit of being put in and out of gear with the sand-

June SO, 1893.-Thia imention relates to hydraulic rams for

pumping water. The apparatus is placed below the level of the
sourc e of water, which is free to run down through a pipe.
This pipe leads down from a source of water and delivers into
the water chamber B, provided with an opening beneath the
chamber inclosing the escape valve, which is attached to a
pivoted arm E provided with a. Aliding weight E 1 The delivering
end of the water cha.mber B he.s an opening beneath the de

beam wheel S. A small clip bangs on the shaft L to keep

the wheels in gear. The shackle P, with its parts L, M, W, le
secured along the radial groove by the nut 0, which, having a
direct pull, is firm and not liable t o shift. (~ccepted Octobu 18,
1893).

UNITED STATES PAT.ENTS AND PATENT PRAOTIOB.

Descriptions with illustrations of inventions patented in the
United States of America from 1847 to the present time, and
reports of t rials of patent law oases in the United States, ma.y be
consulted, g ratis, at the offices ot ENGINEERING, 35 and 36, Bedford
str eet, Strand.

C leads into the passage D in the lower part B. E is a casing

surrounding the boilers, Fa combustion chamber, separated from
the space around the boilers by the aroh G, and closed at the
bottom by the plate H. The opening to the ftue I is regulated
by the damper J. (.Accepted Octobu 18, 1898).
17,145. G. E. Hudson, Westborough, and ~ Sanderson Scarborough. Steam Engines. [_1 Fig.) September 12 1893.-This invention relatee to condensmg apparatus
for steam 'e ngines. The oil is r emoved from the exhaust steam of

and
Ma.rpent Iron W orks and F oundries Company reports a.
profit of 927Gl. for the finan cial year ending June 30,
1893. The dividend proposed for the year upon the share
capital of th e company is at the rate of 10 per cent. per
annum. The directors state that the financial year
1893-4 commences with orders in hand to the a.moun t of
160,000l.
BELGIAN MECHANICAL

E.

20219

li\ery vahe F which is mounted on its seat in the base of the

air c hamber
At the base of this par t of. the. water chamber,
if the devfce is double-acting, t he su~ply _p1pe_ 1s conn~cted by
an elbow.
It, however, the devtce 18 &mgle aotmg, the
aperture in the base of t he water chamber may be ?losed by a
plate KS bolted over the !1-perture. . A check valve 1s moun~d
on a valve seat in the p1pe couphng, and moves verti~lly ~n
11US
guides. An overflow pipe is connected to the supply p1pe 1n
order to insure a. steady supply of water through tbe l~tter. A
a non-condensing steam engine ; th~ purified ~team is t~en small air-hole is provided in the water chamber B near tts upper
condensed, and while the water resultmg from _th1s cond~neatlon put. (Accepted Ot:tober 18, 1893).
it still in a h eated s tate, it is employed for feedm g the bo1lers. A

o:

lNDUSTRY.-The Baume

GERMAN ELECTR IC TRAMWAYS.-Messrs. Siemens and

Halske, of B erlin, have concluded a. contract with the
looa.l authorities of Gelsenkirchen for the establishment!
of electric tramways in that neighbourhood. The com
munes interested are to establish the roads for laying the
lines; and in consideration of their doing this, they are
to receive 25 per cent. of the net profits and charge in
teresb at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum upon the capital
expended. The concession of the lines is only granted
for a. term of thirty years, and at the expiration of tha.b
period the lines will become the property of the communes. The concession will probably be vested in the
first instance in Messrs. ~iemens and Halske.