593

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

----

_..

EXPOSITION.
THE SEVERANCE NAILMAKING MACHINE: WORLD'S COLUMBIAN
CQN, TRUCTED BY THE SEVERANCE

rAIL ~IACHINE 0 01\IPANY, DULUTH,

l\liNNESOTA,

U .S.A.

(For Description, see Page 602.)

F~ . 2.

,,
-~

"~ C

'
I(

I,

11
I'

)I

0
a

I
I

I
I

II I' a
I

y-,.

')

.r!!} .U

the numbers of the various claEsts may be summarised as follows :

England.

Franre.

Russia.

..

1!)

17

..

21

7
8

-Battleships.

Earlier types
Modocn types :
.. .
Built
Building .. .

II

12
34
'--

Total

Fast A 1rnoured
Crui sers.

Built
Building

Fig. 1.

THE NATIONAL DANGER.

WE may regard it as universally admitted that

the maintenance of the British fleet in a condition

of superiority t o the combined fleets of any two
other Powers, is essential to the national security
and well-being, and this being so, it is essential
that a careful watch should be at all times kept of
the doings of other nations. F or it is evident we
ought to consider not merely the present state of
the navies of other P owers, but also the rate at
which those navies will develop relatively t o our
own under the conditions now existing and likely
to exist during the next few years in the various
countries concerned. Thus at the present time
France and Russia are engaged in developing
extensive shipbuilding programmes, and their concerted action has naturally attracted considerable
attention, although not probably so much as it
deserved.
The shipbuilding policy of these
Powers is now pretty well known, and our present
purpose is to endeavour, by the aid of such trustworthy statistical information as can be obtained,
to inquire how far, in view of t hese facts, our own
naval policy meets the national requirement. vVe
may say at once that we are not concerned with
the present position of affairs. The mere fact that
the programme of 1889 will be practically completed
by the close of this year, whilst the p rogrammes of
Russia and France are of later date, may secure us
against immediate disadvantage, but it is of great
importance that it should be rightly understood
how we shall stand when all the programmes in
hand have been carried into effect.
A common method of comparison between fleets
is "aggregate displacement, " but so many other
elements must necessarily be considered in determining the relative value of a ship- such , for
example, as speed. armour, armament, and system
of construction- that we prefer for the present to
place before our readers bare statistics, and, subject
to certain general comments, to leave them to draw

...

...

...

...

--

-,--r

17
_.,

51

45

9
2

11

- ---

--

These numbers are exclusive of two powerful

their own inferences. A tabular statement of the armoured, so-called, coast defence ships, building
effective armoured fleets of the three Powers will by Russia, the Admiral Ortschakoff and the Adbe found on pages 594 and 595. No apology is miral Senjavin, each of 4000 t ons, and carrying two
necessary for prejudging the position, because, if, 9-in. guns, which cannot b e classified as battleafter careful investigation, it should be proved that ships.
A glance through the list of English ship s is far
our fleet must b e strengthened, immediate action
is necessary, considering t h e length of time which from reassuring. Many undoubtedly afford eviis necessarily occupied in the construction of the dence of faulty design- faulty, that is, in the light
of modern experience- or armament; mistakes the
larger warships and of their armaments .
The progress of invention is so rapid that war- gr avity of which we are now forced to recognif.: e,
ships soon become u outclassed," so to speak, and when at last we are compelled to reckon them, ship
it t hus b ecomes a problem to devise some well- by ship, a!) against those of other Powers. The
understood measure of the value of a ship as a armaments of the English ships are the weakest
fighting machine, with a view of determining the point. Long after it became obvious that the
age at which she must be r elegated to an inferior breechloading gun had superseded the muzzl eor obsolete classification. Nothing is more delusive loader, the latter was forced upon the navy, and we
or dangerous than t.o include in a s uperior classifi- must now rea1ise that, to our serious disadvantage,
cation ahips which d o not come up t o that standard, ships of such importance as the Inflexible, Neptune,
and, by way of illustration, it may be asked, by Dreadnought, Ajax, ~nd Agamemnon are still
what process of reasoning can the H~ctor or armed in this way. It would certainly be but
Minotaur be included in the same category of first- common prudence to proceed immediately with
class cruisers with the Imperieuse, Rurik, or Dupuy the re-arming of all these ships whilst they
de Lome 1 F or the present purpose, a classification can be spared. Such ships as are armed with
is preferred which excludes all ships which are breechloading guns are also g iving trouble, if those
obviously obsolete, and which draws a definite line on board the Colossus, the breakdown of which
of demarcation between t he modern fighting ship bas recently been reported, are typical of the
and the ship which, by reason of the age of her hull whole. It seems, too, that we are still far from
and machinery, faulty design, or armament, can having perfected our newer heavy ordnance. The
merely be of service as an auxiliary or reserve. French have definitely settled their established
And rather than that the strength of other Powers type, which has been proved after exhaustive trials
should be underestimated, we have, in our Tables, to possess superior penetrative power to any in use,
included in the list of fighting ships new armour- whilst we are still to a large extent in the experi
clads, which, although modestly described by their mental stage, and are consequently seriously
own era as coast defence ships, or armoured cruisers, behind hand.
are, to all intents and purposes, battleships.
It would be inconsistent with the immediate
Carrying this principle into effect, the line must object of the present article to enter here into a
be so drawn as to place the Conqueror and the detailed discussion of the merits and d emerits of
Marceau classes in the category of '' m od ern ships, " the various systems of n4 val construction. Much
and the Ajax and Caiman clasees, and their might, no doubt, be said as to the relative advanpredecessors, in that of the ''earlier types. ' ' It tages of unarmoured ends and complete armoured
will t hen be seen from our tabular statement that belts, &c., but the point which we want to specially

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

594

[Nov. I J, I 893

LISTS OF THE BATTLESHIPS AND FAST ARMOURED CRUISER3 OF THE ENGLISH AND OF THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN
FLEETS, vVITH TONNAGE, APPROXIMATE SPEED, AND ARMAMENTS (OVER 3 IN. ).
FRENCH AND RUSSIAN (R) SHIPS .

El\OLIS EI SHIPS.

AR~JA)l &~TS.

Year wben
Completed.

N A)IK

..,..

Ot' Sllll'.

On Trial
and
Estimated.

CJ
,..

cQ)

'0
d
0

.....

1366
1868

Bd l~ophon

llercules

7,550

'

>4
4

1869
1870
1870
1s ;o

lf 72
1S73

~l o o arch

I ron Duke . .
Iodncible

1873

De\ as 'at' on

1877
1

iS

l SH
l 88i)
1830
1883
1881

Alexandra. . .
Te:n~raira

..

Th tnd ner ..
Dr<?adnoug h t;
Nept une
Super b
l nflt xible

Ajax

Agamemno:1

-"0>.
ea..
oCII
u C
c:..C

(i,!)l 0

..

G,6 t0

I'

::se
-

~~

<1.1~

9,290

!) ,3: 0

8,5!0

..

I
I

l 8

U .25

( 4
. 4

t ..

{2

5,000

1868

Ocean (wood) ..

...

....cc

1869

Marengo (wood)*

7 000

as

1870

Sufiren (wood,

s:

..."""'
-

1872

.Peter Lbe Orea t

9, 340

8, i 08

'0
Q

1&72

Friedland*

0
0

1873

Ricbelieu (wo' d)

p.

8,200

10

12. fi

!>,310

11.25

4
2

9,170

13.5

pe

{.~
' 4

16

..

12.5
9
10 )

1875

Colbert (wood) "

8,320

1873

Trident (wood)*

8,060

12 10

1876

Redoutable

8,860

S}

g.
Q)

1&70

Amiral Duperre

10,325

15

ll

&

1879

Devastation

9,500

15

1(

t 4 11

1881

Courbet ..

18S ~

Terrible ..

9,500
7,050

t2

1883

Ami ral Ba.ud'n ..

.. 11,330

t2

1883

I ndomptable

..

) I

7,070

18S5

Formidable

}c
}c

t8 t

1885

c.. 'ima.n

..

L8t

18S5

Requin

..

..

11,260

2
4

{!
\!

16

> 8

..

7,120

U .25

7,060

14 25

ID .

lD.

JD.

8; 7

24t

tJ

U .75

.....

!)

15

15.25

...

o'!i:~
.......,

} I

1
>14
4
4
6
4
4

14.5

(h

{~

~ 10

} I

12 5
6
12.5
6

l2

..

- -

10 8
5.5
10 8

t2

s::

"""'

l~

...

_.

12

{i
l~

s:
Ql

...a;

...A

{~

.,

ness

~ ~'-"

10 8
9.45
55
10.8
9.45
5.5
10.8
9 45
5. 5

{i

.....

7, 600

I Th ick

....,O Q)

Q)

{~

tD

8
6

4
4

I>.

7,500

'

H
10
4

11.25

'-

't:l

!)

J ..

B,660

Koniaz Pojarski

s:

11.75

13.25

1837

Nf),

knots

9.2
10

8,660

13.25

tons

10

13. 75

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

10 .

!)

} I

J..

Q)

CD

11,&80

!)

10,820

13.75

9,3'30

.0c
Q.l

} I

!)

10

13.75

n o,..
0
-

as

Q)

Und er reconst n ct.io!l

9,490

..

'I
..

I ..

..

10

'0 0

7
12
9
7

..

'0

(f)

10

10

c. d

1:
::
Q)

10

oo

8
6

10

\~

'

I\

6,010

14.75

6,010

Sult.1n

1877

Swif tsure

1871

1S76

6, '1 10

Audacious ..

Triumph

8,320

8
--d .....--o
'"'..._, c 2
-

10.

.....

_,

(';:..

No.

, ..

-o<~~

0(/)

~ 1~

14.4

...
A

...

No.

.: s.. '-'

cu

Ql
Ql

::3

k nots
Depends upon
condition of
machinery

bO

0 n Trial
and
Es timated.

(f)

.c
0

N
N

8,6 50

.....0

Q)

CIS

t ons

'0

tS

Ot' Stlii'.

NAMB

~o

CIS

c.
CD

-0

s peed.

Year when
Th ick- Launched.
~ =
r. o ...-:. oess

bO

W A'fY.B.

LtXK

.....Cll-'

bo

AR~I .Uil~:STS.

Speed.

AR)!OOR AT

ARMOUR AT
WAU R
Ll:SE.

4
2

9.45

5.5
10 8
9. 45 } I
5.5
10.8
9 45
I
5.5
10.8
t I
5.6
I
13.4
6.5 } I

21! 10

10.8

} I

16 10

13.4
ll.8 } I
5.5
16.54

15 15

S! 7

55
13 4

3.9

8 .~

3.9

}c

20 13

14.57
6.5

}s

21!

3.5
16.54
3.9
14. 57
6.5
5.5
16.54
3.~

14

'1 c I 2o

13

'- c 22
J
} c I 20

16 54
3.9

}c

13. 4
10.8

18

5.6

} 0

I 18

}c
}c
}c

' 4

14

14

12

S li I P S 0 F .M 0 D E R N T Y P E.

1886
1887
188)
18SG
1386
1 8~8

1887
1987

Conq ueror ..
Ilero
Colossus

Edinburgh ..
Colliog wood
An son
Benb:>w
Rodo ey

Camperd">wn
Ho we
1890

15 5

{;

6,200

15.5

9,420

15.5

0,420

1;:;, 5

0,500

16.5

10 6CO

. . 10,600

16 75
16. 75

. . 10,300

16.75

.. 10,600

1 ~.75

. . 10,3CO

Nile ..

10,470

16.75
16.76

11,940

16.5

11,940

16.fi

Empre3S of India .. 14,150

17.5

14,150

l7.5

Trta f<Alg u

1892

..

..

..

1ao3

Itam illies ..

..

14,150

18934

Repule

..

14,150

17.5

11,150

17.5

ResoluLion ..

1893

- ..

14,150

1803 4

Royal O"k ..

..

1-1,150

17.5
17.5

1892

Jtoya.l Sovereign .. 11,150

. . 10,500

18.5

..

18.5

Re,enge

1893
1803

Barfleur

{)en Lurion . .

10,500

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

{~

{~
2

If} c

1i
6
H
6
13 5
6
16 25

10

13.5
6

't2t

1886

Hoche

R l 10,150

} C

L8t

1836

{B.S. ) Tch,smc ..

R 10,150

16

}c

t8t

1887

( B.S.) Sioope

R 10,150

16

ff 6~

} c

t8 t

1887

Marceau . .

..

10,400

16

} C

t8 t

1887

Nep tun e ..

..

10,400

16

f 4

16

2
4

1887

l Et

..

Alexander 11. . .

Nicolas I.

} 0

L~t

1890

Afagenta. ..

13.5

I C

t8 t

1SOO

(B.S. ) Dvenadsat

1391

Na.varin ..

1893

Breonus . .

1~5
1

~5

~5

{~

10

1888

~5
1 5
~
1 5
~

17

(B.S.) Caterina II.

t8t

10
6
13 5
4.7
13 5
4. 7

10,4.00

18S6

} c

13

12t

17.5

1S934

Ic

12
6
12
6
12

17.5

~J i

1893

6, 2oo

S ::~.ns Pa.rei1.

1890
1889

lEt

} 0

20

~ c

20 16

} c

18 14

} c

18 14

} c

18

14 1

} c

18

14 1

} c

18 14

} c

t8 14

} c

18

} C

LS U

10
} C I t2
47
10
I} C
4.7 I
_.:...

8,440

1~

l17

8,44 0

16

10,400

16

HI

8,100

16.5

9.500

16

..

1 10,810

Ap:>s~ol?fl ..

I 7

17.5

16 1

2
4

1~
4
4

8
3
10

12
6
12
6

12
6
13.4

5.5
13.4
5.5
12
9
6
12
9
6
13.4
5.5
1i
9
12
6
13.4
1 6.5

H
16

16

16

' c

18 14

18 14

14

14

} c

18 14

} c

16

} ()

17

}c

17!

141

_____ - - - - - -

112

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

1
t Ships with less than 50 per cent. of water-line armoured.
.
11
* One prope elr t.~n y. f tbe French and Russian ships may be taken at from three to four years after launr b1ng.
The dates of comp e ton o

~ ------

Nov. 17, 1893.]

LI TS OF THE

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

595

BATrLESHIPS AND FA T ARl\10 RED CR UISERS OF THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH
AND R USSIAN
FLEETS, WITH TONNAGE, SPEED ' AND ARMAMENTS (0\ TER 3 IN)
rY
t
.1
. . - v O?t l?t HC?Ct.
ENGLISH SHIPS.

FRENCH AND RUSSIA N (R) SB I PS.

li

A RM Ot'R. AT

A R~lAMENTS .

W ATl\R

11
11

l iNK.

Ye11.r when
Completed

NA ~I R O:t

Swr.

On Tril\1
a nd
EstireatecI.

cQl:

8
Ql

()

1893

Reno" n

knots

Mngniflc: r.t
Majrs tic

15,000

18

..

15,000

18

N0.

l:;
d

Ql
Ql

Thi<'k
~ SS

~ ... '-'1
Cl) : ...... o ..

Ql

()

No.

c: "'<no- oE

Or,n

.
10

'-

Yfa.r when
Launched.

NA liE

0 1-' SJIJl'.

...

::

On Trial
and
Eitimated.

Ql

u~
;;:
:n'
-

..

c:

00 0...:.

:0
~
-~

""' .. ._.

Ql

l:;
;.::
cs

1 tons

knots

No.

in.

f!

10
0

1890

Bouvines

6,650

17

12

1890

Je mwapcs

6,450

17

12

1890

Valmy

6,450

17

1890

Trcho u :~.rt

6,650

17

1801

Ja.ur~guiber . y (1.1unchcd 1893)

..

11,600

] 7. 5

180 L

Charles Martt:l . .

11,800

17

1S:I9 1

LazarcCarr.ot . .

1892

M ass ~ na.

1893

..

Bouvct

..

r2
l 4

{:
l!
r2

H
\~

r. 22

17.5

11,800
11,000

}~

17

12,000

2
8
2
2
8

1'j .5

New sh ip ..

..

12,000

..

12,000

..

12,000

(B.S) Tri Svyatitelya ..

12,500

16

(B.S.) Oeorgiy Pobedonscetz .

R 10,280

16

Petropaulovsk . .

O r~ r ed

1893

..

Commenc('d
a bout
l~S!)

1891
1891

Poltava.

189 1

Sevastopol

1889

R 11,000

R 11,000

R 11,00:>

16

Sizoi Velikij
..
(B.S.) New ship ..

1892

1892

8,440

Il. 10,000
It 10,000

{ &4c.
4
&c.
4

&c.

{ !4
4
4:

8
4

8
4

{:

Thick
n:SS

ui

()
...

W A'I' ~R
L l~E.

....

....,. o -~
C ~IDO

~en ~

. .10 ---- - - - ------- - - - -1-o___ ------ -~- _o_ .........

tn.
BU I LDING AND COMPLETI NG AND ORDERED.
Commenced
about

-bO

Speed .
SQI

~ .._, P. ~ ~

18

..

Ordered
1893

12,350

(J}

='

lons

N
N

-0
Commenced

"i:

Ql

CD

....'0

-- I ..
CIS
0

Q,

t.o
c

'0

CIS

e
~

.....c

AR~I.\ME N fS .

--- 1

Speetl.

A R"Ol R AT

---

c
0-

...

I ~ ~

I in .

13.4
3.9
13.4
3.9
13.4
3.9 }
13.4 l
3. 9 f
11.81
10 8 }
5.5
11.81
10.8
I.

18

18

11.81
10.8

18

}s
}s
s
s

5.5

5.5

11.81
10.8

5.5

11. 91
10.8

in.

18 H
18 14
18 14
18 14

'r s

18 14

15! 8

5.5

39

11.81
1181

11.81

12
9
12
9
12

}c
\ c
c
c
c
}c

8
12

8
12
8
12

16
16
16

IG
16
16

AU \:O URED CRUISERS OF 15 KNOrS AND UPWARDS.

C >Ill pleltd
1S86
1887
1887

En(Jli~J lt.

I mpcrieuse ..
Warspite
Australia

1887

Orla ndo

1887

Oalatea.

1887

Nar cissus

..
..

8,400
8,400
5,600

5,600

5,eoo

..

6, 600

17.

16.75

18.5
18.5
18. 5
18. 6

..

..

..

1887

Undaunted . .

6,600

18.5

..

1888

Aurora

..

6,600

18.5

..

1888

Immort.a.lit ~
Powerful
Terrible

5, 600

. . H,COO

18. 5

..

' { 10
4
i 4
I 10
2
. 10
I
2
10
I '~ 2
10

0. 2

9.2
6
9. 2
6

1~

1~

9. 2
6
9.2
6

1~
{ t~

c
c

I
Comple ted -

urge at present is that, quite apart from any question as to the particular type of construction
adopted, it is absolutely essential that early provision should be made for most materially
strengthening our navy in th e near future.
Referring to the French fleet, it is noticeable that
the more important of the completed ship~, and
some of those building, have been several years in
hand, with the r esult that their main structures
possess some of the defectc;, including low freeboard
forward, inherent to the period when they were
designed. But they are all fully armoured on the
water-line, and their fittings are of recent date.

Bruix

4,665

19

Cho.rncr ..

..

4,6G5

19

lOt

Potbuall ..

..

5,238

20

l Ot

Latouchc Trcville

4,635

19

Cbanzy ..

4,665

19

lOt

D'Entrecasteau . .

8,Cl00

19

l Ot

New ditto

8,000

19

Vladimir :Monom ach ..

5,796

17

Dimitri Donskoi

5,893

15.5

1889

Admiral Naoh 'mc.ff

..

7, 782

16.76

1889

Pamyat Azova ..

6,000

17.5

Oangoot ..

6,502

16.6

It 10,923

18. 5

Building

'

Ru s6ian.
Com
pleted 18884

1S03

Rurik
..
..
Nevr Rurik (larger)
,
,
(larger)

R
R

.. I

20

lOt

. . 14-,000

t Ships with less than 50 per cent. of water -line a rmoured.

..1 6, 130

lOt

9.2

French.
Dupuy de LOme

1892 93

l Ot

lOt
lOt

9.2
6
9.2
6

9.2

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Natu ral
{ draught

2
6
2

6
2

1~
{~
{

{~
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{~
f

4
12

2
14

7. 64 }
6. 6
7.64 1 1
6.5 f
7.6. l
6. 5 J
7.6~ '
5.5 f
7.64 '
6.E f
7.64 l
6.5 f

95
6.5

9.5
6.5

8
6
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6

2
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6
6

r ~:

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7 6
7 6
10

6 4
l Gt

751

The dates of completion of t he F ren ch and Russian ships may be taken at from three to lour yee.rs after launching.

The French have aimed at high platforms for their

main armaments, to secure which protection to the
guns has been somewhat sacrificed. The advantage
of the high platform is, however, considerable.
In the case of the Russian battleships of the
Caterina II. class, the arrangement of the armaments
is somewhat remarkable. These ships carry six of
the h eaviest guns (12-in.) in three barbettes placed
triangularly, the base being forward. The advantage is an all-round fire from four guns, and , in
certain positions, bow fire from all six.
It will be obser\ed that the average displacement
of the modern English ships is appreciably greater

than that of the French and Russian ships, but

that the armaments of all are about equal. Without
doubting ~hat the inc:eased displacement may b 3
accompa_nied by cert~1n ge!leral advantages, it is
a q~estlOI_l for cons1de_ratwn ""!het~ er our eight
heaVIer shtps are as serVIceable 1n actwn as nine of
the lighter ships, the armament of all beina the
same; an~ unless this q~estion can .be satisfactorily
answered In the affirmative, numerical comparison
is the safest standard, especially when the defects
in some of our ships, before alluded to, are allowed
for. Moreover it must be remembered that our
ships are generally subject to greater wear and tear

597

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

WORLD'S

REFRIGERATOR CAR AT THE

COL UMBIAN EXPOSITION.

CON TRUCTEl> BY THE A~1ERICAN REFRIGERATOR TRANSIT CO.MPANY, ST.

LOUI S,

U.S.A.

(For Description, see Page 603.)

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than those of the French and Russians. F or

example, the Colossus is now returning from t he
Mediterranean, after three commissions, no doubt
more or less in need of extensive repair, and reduced in general efficiency.
For the sake of clearness and brevity we have,
in our statement, avoided reference to armoured
coast defence ships. \Ve possess several of this
class, some being turret ships. They are, however,
so slow- they were failures from their inceptionand so badly armed that, with the exception of the
Rupert, which has recently been re-engined and
re-armed with breechloading guns, they are practically obsolete. The Russians po sess a large
number of vessels of this class of early date, and
t he French a small number, which, however, includes t he Tonnerre, Fulminant, and Furieux, of
about 5500 tons and 13 knots speed, and each armed
with t wo heavy guns. In this conn ection it is
necessary to note t hat t he French h:we recently
completed eight armoured gun-vessels which have
been in hand during the last ten years. They are
of 13 knots speed, aggregating about 11,000 tons
between them, and are each armed with a 10 ~-in.
gun. The Russians have also recently constructed
thr~e of these 'essels.
J>erhaps the most serious aspect of the question,
because it is of momentous importance to our own
mercantile marine, is the growing deficiency of
armoured cruisers. The latest additions of this
class of ship to the fleet wer e completed in 1888.
On the other hand, Russia has introduced a novel
t}T)d powerful type in the shape of the Rurik class,

denominated et commerce destroyer." In this type

of ship coal endurance is an especial fe9.ture, coupled
with substantial armour and heavy ordnance. It
is remarkable that the nine first-class cruisers built
under t he Naval D efence Act, as we11 as the
Blake and Blenheim, have no side armour. We
are now contemplating the construction of two
great vessels which are to " lick cr eation, " but in
the meantime other Ruriks and Dupuy de L 8mes
are in hand. Unless steps are speedily taken to
construct commerce protectors which can meet this
new type of ship on equal terms, the effect upon
our mercantile marine in time of war may be as
disastrous as that produced by the Alabama.
'\Ve leave it to politicians to divine the aim of
France and Russia in so rapidly pushing forward
the1r new programmes and in establishing a powerful fleet of no less than seven first-class battleships
in the Black Sea, but it is curious t hat the construction of our ten battleships as an act of naval
defence on our part should have been so speedily
followed by the laying down of a larger number by
t he t wo Powers.
The only conclusion that can be arrived at, after
critically examining t he list of ships, is that t he
naval defence question has in no wise been set
at rest by the Act of 1889, but that the concerted
action of France and Russia and the comparative
weakness of our armoured fleet alone is a source
of national danger, and a subj ect which demands
the immediate and most earnest consideration of
the Government and of Parliament. '\Ye are too near
danger point for inquiry to be any longer deferred,

if, as has been stated on the highest authority, it

is accepted that our fleet should equal that of any
two foreign Powers.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH

AFRICAN RAILWAYS.
(Continued from page 503.)
FRoM the engineering p oint of view, the entry
into the Karoo over the B ex I-tiver range of mountains (in the Cape) is specially worthy of n otice.
From the town of Worcester (780 ft. above sea
level) the n1ain line of the western system proceeds
up the beautiful Hex River valley, climbing the
range with curves and zigzags, piercing some of the
spurs with tunnels, and spanning the gulleys with
lofty viaducts, and in 36 miles it attains an altitude of 3193 ft.
Looking from the top, there is a magnificent view
of the valley, some 2000 ft. below. For upwards
of 20 miles the line here is 1 in 40 to 1 in 45, with
8-chain curves, deep rock cuttings, and steep ban ks.
The highest point is r eached at Pieter Meintjes
Fontein, 77 miles from the W Qrceater, at 3588 ft.
above the sea, a little higher than the top of Table
Mountain. Thence the line descends t o 2717 ft.
at Buffel's River, and 1537 ft. (lowest point beyond
\Vorcester) at the Dwyka River; between Prince
Albert and Fraserburg Road it again ascends to
2379 ft., and at Beaufort W est to 2778 ft. The
gradients thence on the main lino of the Western
system t o Kimberley and Vryburg are very easy.
The high est point on the l\:Iidland Pystem (51 ~5 f t.)

-in the colony is at

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

[Nov. 17, 1893.

B ..,sworth, near N aau wpoort, wooden ones, both in difficulty of putiting the road security asked for by Government should be depo164 miles from Porb Elizabeth, whence the high together, and in keeping a good running top, as sited in hard cash. It is rather surprising that the
plateau of the Karoo is followed till it merges into well as in renetvals, where all rails have to be Governments concerned should not have realised
the Kalakari. Gradients are all easy on the balance removed. Their cost was fr01n 7s. to Ss. Bince that this condition would have prevented most
of this system, with the exception of two hilly 1887 an improved class of ircn sleeper has been British contractors from tenderjng. This want of
portions in the Orange Free State of no great eupplied, and they are gradually superseding competition, and the knowledge derivable therel ength.
The eastern system attains its summit wooden sleepers for all extensions and renewals.
from, accounts for the high rates at which certain
(5185 ft. ) on the Stormberg, 207 miles from East
As to special fastenings, the rule on Cape rail- contracts were obtained on the earlier portions of
London.
ways has been to omit them on construction and t he Midland system, and the exceesi ve cost of the
Owing t o the nature of the country traversed add them on maintenance in all curves of 10 chains work carried out thereunder. I t is also not surby this system, a large amount of waterways or sharper, and on all gradients of 1 in 40 or prising that Government should have been dishave had to be provided, and there are eleven steeper, and for 10 chains beyond foot of such couraged by the results obtained under contract
bridges of 100 ft. opening and upwards, with a gradients. These special fastenings are double without sufficient competition, and should have
total waterway of 1798 ft., exclusive of the Orange dogs on the outside of the high rail on the curves, almost entirely discarded this system in favour of
River bridge at Bethulie, which is 1350 ft. long and on the outside of both rails on the gradients. departmental construction, supplemented by small
and cost 78,874l. On the Midland there are within On gradients of 1 in 50 and steeper it is usual also sub-contracts. The high cost of South African
the colony fourteen brid ges with a waterway of to dog in the slot at the lower end of each rail Government Railways-at least, pr evious to 18874229 ft., exclusive of N oval's Point bridge over t h e where the joint is supported on a sleeper. Fang seems to have been the price paid for turning a
Orange River described in the first section , and bolts and clips were at first largely ordered for new Government department; into a rlrm of contractors,
which is the longest of the Orange River bridges, works, but were n ever used much on t he mainte- and probably, on the older lines, this has amounted
to some 3000l. per mile. The above remarks,
costing about 40,000l. On the Western system are nance.
twenty-one such bridges, with a waterway of
The width of formation on single lines has been however, apply more strictly to the Cape than to
5743 ft. south of Kimberley, the largest being the generally 16 ft. 6 in., t he depth of ballast under Natal, as departmental work, plus sub-contracts,
" Good Hope " bridge over the Orange River, the sleepers 10 in., with between slopes 12 ft., has been far more prevalent in the former than the
the t otal length of which is 1230 ft., with amount of ballast
cubic yards peT yard forward. latter.
Considerable adverse colonial criticism was from
nine spans of 130 ft. each ; h eight above
A few of the leading prices for work in the
time to time aroused at what was termed "Governlow - water level 56 ft. ; weight 95 tons per period 1881 to 1887 ar e the following :
ment railway extravagance in building costly
span, or 855 tons for the whole bridge. '!,he
E arth1vork per Cube Yard.
stone buildings in the desert for the accommodafoundations of this bridge were laid in July, 1884,
s. d.
tion of officials in caps with gold bands and porters
the erection of the girders was completed in
Earth, ! rock
. . . 4 5 to bank or spoil,
in blue frock-coats, without a passenger frequentJune, 1885, and the bridge was opened for traffic
average load
ing them from one week's end to another, and
... 2 8
on N ovember 28, 1885, at a total cost of about
1
"
"" TO"I "
"
... 1 10~
,,"
without an ounce of goods being received or
60,000l.
"
,,
average
...
2
8
deepatched,
"
but
though
probably
the
criticism
conOn the Natal railways gradients and curves are
"
Hard rock ...
.. . 7 6 to bank
or "spoil,
tained more than one grain of wheat, the major
exceptionally severe. Out of the first 189 miles
per cubic yard
proportion was simply chaff. The Railway Departthere are 43 miles of 1 in 40, 42 miles of gradients
Soft ,
... 5 3
,
"
ment had to provide for the future, and did not do
Ballast
. ..
. .. 2 0 on line
between 1 in 39 and 1 in 35, 25 miles with curves
Masonry
. ..
. .. 35 0 Culverts all found
so at all unduly, platforms being at all intermediate
of 450 ft. radius, 9 miles with curves of 300 ft., and
,
...
. .. 40 0 Bridges
,
stations of the simplest description, often with13 miles of 1 in 60 combined with 450 ft. radius
White labour
.. . 5s. to Sa. per diem
out any buildings. Platelayers' cottages, every five
curves. At 58 miles from Durban t he main line
Black
,
. . . 2s. 6d.
,
miles,
were
built
and
used
as
engineers'
quarters
reaches 3054 ft. above sea level, deRcends to
T unnels per lineal yard: Departmental 40l., and conduring construction, of rough rubble stone set in
1000 ft. before reaching Pietermaritzburg, and rises tract 30l.
clay with cement pointing, and iron roofs painted
again 12 miles beyond to 3700 ft. The summit
Cement, per cask of six to the ton, 18s. to 25s.
Laying t rack, 3s. per yard forward ; permanent way per with red mineral paint from East L ondon. The
before La.dysmith at 132 miles from Durban is at
5153 ft. Vve have previously given some details as mile of the light sectiOn (4G! lb. steel) laid complete, only costly but necessary adj uncts to these simple,
d ouble-frontad eight-roomed cottages were the
t o the Transvaal Rail way system and the Beira, so about 1752l.
The cost of the rail ways in South Africa belonging 7000-gallon underground and 400 gallon abovewe will not r evert to them now.
At first t.he permanent way on the Colonial to t he Colonial Governments has on the whole been gro und tanks to collect the rare and precious rainGovernment lines was s upplied entirely with high (see Table, page 325 a1de) considering the cha- water. Passing places (10 chains in length) have
creosoted Baltic fir sleepers (7 ft. by 9 in. by 4~ in. r acter of t he location (see above), which has been been provided every 10 miles (at least) in the
for lig ht rails, and 7 ft. by 10 in . by 5 in. for undoubtedly economical, and the reasons are not far neighbourhood of a platelayer's cottage, but for
heavy rails), at an average cost varying from 4s. 6d. t o seek . The chief reason why the cost of these rail- some years their utility was very circumscribed,
to 5s. 6d., but attention was early t urned to utilis- ways has ranged so high when compared with rail- owing t o lack of telgraphic communication.
Previous to 1883 native wood telegraph posts
ing some of the many varieties of excellent colonial ways of the sam e class built at the same time in other
timber. As early as 1877 twenty-four colonial countries, appears to have been the fact that Govern- were almost exclusively used, but subsequently on
sleeperd were experimentally cr eosoted in England ment railways in South Africa have been con- extension they were entirely given up, on account
and laid in the Western main line. Five of these structed d epartmentally, and not under contiract. of the difficulty of obtaining them and their high
were taken up for examination in 1883, and were Railway companies in Great Britain consider the cost. Iron stands, holding one or two wires, and
found to be sound, and the remainder (half " up- keenest competition for tenders necessary t o insure costing ll. 10s. to 2l. 10s. d elivered, were then used
right" and half "outeinqua") in 1887 were still in the work being done for the least possible amount, with great success.
Previous to 1881, nearly all the r olling stock for the
the ground. In 1883 some exhausive experiments and, although they possess, or could easily engage,
with "yellow wood" were carried out by Bland and a staff of any desired degree of excellence to Cape railways was iroported from Great Britain, and
Co., of Cardiff, and their success induced t he Cape carry out their works, they rarely do so depart- was all at first of ordinary British type, but sharp
Government to purchase sawmills at Goura, near mentally if t hey can help it. .A.. fo,.tiori, it would curves soon corn pelled the adoption of the bogie,
Knyska., where they erected a creosoting plant, and have been necessary for the railway d epartment of the four-wheeled truck at one end of the engines
contracts were entered into for a constant supply, a Colonial Government to invitie keen competition being preceded by the two-wheeled "Bissel " bogie,
beginning with 50,000 in 1885. The average cost of for its works, especially when the fact of so few first at one, and then at both ends of the engines.
these sleepers is 53. 5d. to 5s. lOd. The idea of railways having previously been built, and the real Rail way erecting and repairing shops were erected
utilising home-grown timber, and keeping t he cost prices of work being so little known or experienced, at Uitenhage and Salt River, for d epartmental
of that item of maintenance in the colony, was a is taken into consideration, even though, as has service, of t he most; complete description. These,
laudable one, b ut, on the whole, it has encountered been doubtless the case, they possessed well-quali- for the work t hat they were called upon to do
but a small measure of success. Where these fied and capable staffs. It should have been their previous to 1887, were certainly rather extravagantly
sleepers without creosoting have been laid on t he du ty to have invited as much competition as pos- planned, and fiUed up with every kind of labo urMidland system in large 'quantities, they have in- sible in Great Britain and elsewhere, and got saving machinery. The cost of these shops and
variably stood badly. Several miles originally laid people t.o construct t heir railways who made con- fittings was charged to t he various railway estimates
for
the
several
systems,
as
well
as
the
cost
of
struction
t
heir
entir
e
businessthat
is,
con
tractors,
with yellow and stink wood sleepers had to be t aken
maintaining
and
working
them,
so
theil'
economical
and
n
ot
engineers.
But
how
was
it
that
contractors
up within six m onths of laying, owing to dry rot.
results
are difficult to ascertain, but the general
in
this
country
did
not
readily
compete
for
t
he
It was found impossible to spike without previous
use of an auger, increasing cost of laying and often construction of these lines, when tenders were asked impression is that they have been worked at a loss.
Repairs have been from time to time undertaken
for
throug
h
the
Crown
agents
and
the
agent-general
damaging the sleeper. Many of the sleepers cut
in
t
hese
shops
for
mail
steamers
and
private
man
ufor
the
respective
colonies
7
The
reason
seems
to
under the Government F orester's supervision,
facturers, but these have been as much as possible
stacked under cover and seasoned for 18 months, have been that a condition was imposed with which discouraged by the officials, as, although 25 per
British
contractors
did
not
some
years
back
conh ad t o be hastily put into the road to avoid being
cen t. above cost price has been charged, they are
sider
they
could
profitably
complye.g.,
that;
the
co ndemned before uso, and the contract for their
not considered to pay. The only explanation of this
supply had to be cancelled and tho contrador com- jaws fixed to gauge), resulting in substitution of wooden curious statement seems to be that, in the case of
sleepers and break of road; (c) difficulty of properly and outside work, t he actual cost of working t he underpensated.
Iron sleepers came g radually into use from .1881 speedily filling void with soft ballast, causing sleepers to taking becomes clearly apparent, whereas in the
in an experimental way. Two types were cried- ride badly and injury to sides of trough in packing. And ordinary Governmen t work it is hiddPn in a
those
of the second pattern: (a) Multiplicity of parts;
first. the 1nverted trough (Livesey's p~tent); second, (e) transverse
weakness, cottered connecting-rod between labyrinth of confused accounts, and is never
the double po ~ or terrapin. In. prac.tiCe, both ~hese pots nob stiff enough to communicate extra or any pro- realised.
sleepers were considered to be 1nfen or* to ordinary portion of load or motion froru one to the other ; (f)
Among the improvements and r olling stock demability to equally pack both pots, also defects a and c; vised and carried out at these shops may be men* A11ege:f defects of fi rs~ p:1.ttern: (a) Shortnf.SJ o~ ~ra.na (g) inability to stand slewing; but these do not presant tioned a very comfortable adaptation of the Pullman
verse bea.rin~ (5 ft. 6 in., instead of 7ft.) ; (b) mab1llty to defect b, as the keys can be shifted from outside to inside
car (in the direction of the Mann car system), and
alter gauge round curves (keys being always inside and of the pots, and the gauge thus altered round curves.

It

Nov. 17, 1893l

=

specially long fireboxes and ashpan~, with ~n

arrangement of movable bars, for burnmg colomal
coal with a high percentage of ash. .
The ordinary chain b rake gear, with drums, endless screw or tooth ed rack appliances, were found
t o be uns~tisfactory in their action because of th~ir
uncertainty after the wear and t ear of very brief
use but Smith's vacuum brake, first adopted on the
W e's tern system, h as given good results. The b est
results with rigid wheel-base stock have b een obtained with t he Cleminson (six-wheeled carriage)
stock which were longer than the usual pattern,
but ride very nearly as easily as the long b ogie carriage round the sharp curves.
The evidence of the Cape Rail way R ates Commission (1883) was strongly in favour of colonial
built as aaainst imported carriages, f or the following reaso~s : a, lower cost; b, superior workmanship and design ; c, lon~er life ; and the following
figures as to cost were gt ven ;

s.
d.
Actual cost of first-class short oarriage, colonial built
...
...
368 15 1
Actual cost of first-class short car...
...
494 0 0
riage, imported . ..
Difference in favour of colonial
...
...
...
...
125 4 11
built ..
Actual cost of first, second, and
third-class bogie carriago, colonial built ...
...
.. .
...
792 3 0
Actual cost of first, second, and
third-class bogie carriage, im.. .
.. .
:.. 1000 0 0
ported . .. .
Difference m favour of oolomal
built...
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
207 17 0
But notwithstanding this apparent saving in cost,
the major proportion of the stock has always been
imported, and the colonial-built carriages hav~ b een
limited to what the shops could turn out without
interfering with main te nance of stock in use, or extensions and enlargements of the sh ops t hemselves.
And this, no doubt, has been a wise policy, if on o
considers, first, that no proport ionate amount of
interest on cost of buildings, machinery, and of
maintenance and renewals of these is included in
the statement of cost of colonial-built stock ; and,
second, that n o charge for a due proportion of
superintendence and clerical and official staff is made.
Were these charged, the comparative result would
probahly be reversed , and this is the only r eason able conclusion, as pr actically all the material used
in carriage construction has to b e imported; even
colonial wood is little u sed . Thus t he b en efit t o
be derived from constructing in t he colony is
limited to the difference in freight b etween the raw
material and t he p or tions of t he finish ed carriage,
against which has to be set the extra cost of
colonial labour.
In one respect the keen competition which has
existed throughout between t he various colonial
systems has led to wasteful results in respect to
their equipment ; m ore r olling stock of every kind
than was from time to time required to work traffic
actually in sight was p rovided to meet the local
clamour of those specially interested in the speedy
development of each system ; and in the period
before 1887, the amount of surplus locomotives,
wagons, and carriages (especially on the Eastern
system) laid up in ordinary on open sidings, and
rapidly perishing under the action of the heat, was
really quite mournful to see. Wit h the opening
of cross lines of communication between the three
systems this was largely done away with in the
Cllpe, but Natal has yet to wait for similar relief.
American engin es have been imported and regularly worked on th e Cape railways, bu t they have
not been found to be so economical in respect to
boilers or coal consumpt ion as British-built engines
of t he same class and d oing t he same work, so that
the competitive r esults have n ot b een favourable to
an increase in their numbers. The original light
type of permanent way in b oth colonies, limiting
the weight of t he engines to from 20 to 30 tons, has
b een also an unfavourable condition for the cheap
and efficient equipment of these lines, as a large
stock of engines suitable f or the light type of permanent way were accumulated, mostly in excess of
current requirements, b efore the change t o a h eavier
type was definitely d ecid ed upon, and a large prop ~rt ion of these engines have subsequently had to
b ~ discarded before they had been worn out, as
their service became unsatisfactory owin(Y to t h e
altered conditions in respect t o train loabds which
the change in permanent. way from 45i lb. to 60 lb.
rails i~troduced. In addition, the attempt to
deal w1th these altered conditions of traffic with
the lighter type of engine has resulted in rapid de-

599

E N G I N E E RI N G.

In
ename
stock Itself

r esemble very much

an ordinary
1
t erwratwn
from wh 'tch und ue f ew except'ons
ll f
'
.
1
work has been ~xacted . The ~bsence of reliable ; injector, the oil and steam t ubes 1n near_ Y a t~
water supply up country in the Cape also forced on them being _con cen tric. In so~e pulverls;rs .t i~
1
the adoption of enaines provided with tenders steam tube 1s at the centre, wh1le 1n oth e_s. 1
which on h eavy gradi~nts and sharp cur ves cannot outside. Of course, th e passage t hroug_h th e 1bnn~r
Clrcu
1a r, wh I' le t h a t 0 f the outside
tu e ' th
IS
give such econ omical r esult s as t he tank type, where tu b e IS
.
the proportion of useful adhesive weight is so much annular. But there are n ozzle pulverise~~ w_I
high er. The m ore r ecen t type of goods engine is r ound pa s_sages bo~h for the steam and the 01 ' Vl Z.,
six-wh eeled, coupled with four -wh eeled b ogie truck th_ose havmg th~ 01l an~ steam tubes, not c;,ncenand tender, weight complete 50 to 55 ton~, and useful tnc, but fitted si~e by ~I~e, .one to t~e other.
d
weight for t raction about 30 to 32 t one. Electt ic
On accoun~ ~f Impurities I~ the 011_, h e pre~erre
lightina on Cape trains was t entatively i~troduced those of the InJector type, with the 01l tube tn tho
on th: vVynberg service in 1888-89 w1th good centre.
.
.
results, th e cost being on th e whole less than f or
The gen_eral arrangeme?-t ~s With a fee~ tank,_ so
the oil illuminat ion. In 1889-90 electric lighting that the 01l flows b:r grav1ty Into a feed pipe, whtch
was extended to t he mail trains over the various suppli_e s _the pulver1sers ~y mean~ of branches.
systems. The general r esults of working under
Similarly, a steam Pl_Pe havmg_ a branch ap~h:
t he special conditions of equipment that have been st~am valve on each b oi_ler. run s 1n front o
achieved will be dealt with in a subsequent article. bOilers, p~rallel to the 011 pipe, and by mea?s of
With reference to mainten ance, the light type cf bra~lCh p1pes leads the steam t o the pulvensers.
permanent way, wit h which three-fourths o_f t h e Ma1n_sto_p -val ves a re fitted both on the s_team and
lines built previous to 1887 were laid, has seriously the 011 pipes to stop all the fires at once In caEe of
and unduly increased t he cost all r ound, as it has nee~ ; but stopcocks a_re also fitted on each branch
b een found exceedingly d ifficult to k eep the road leadmg to the pulvensera. .In some ,~ases these
in good running order, especially subsequ_ent to the stopcocks are_ also the r egulat_mg cocks. .
.
increase in weight of t rains which began In 1881.
The pu_lvensers a re fitt~d, I~ front of the b01lers,
The average unit length for maintenance u~de r to the b o1ler_d oors, and hi_ngen so that the d oors can
one 0aang is four miles and these aanas, on hnes b e opened without r emovmg them.
with full and limited se~vice of trai~s r:spect ively,
"~he firebri~k bridge . is r_el!lov~d altogether,
ordinarily consist of the following :
and, mstead of It, a firebnck lmmg 1s fitted on the

Per Day.
back plate of the combustion chamber to protect
F ll S
u e vtce.
s. d.
this plate from the impinging flam e. Or, be~ter
One ganger (white), at ...
...
.. .
8 0
still, the usual bridge is replaced by a vertical
,, second
,
...
...
. ..
6 0
grating of loose firebricks, through which the
Tbree labourers (black), at
.. .
..
2 6
flame is b ound t o pass. With thi's arrangement,
while the back plate is well protected, the air and
21 6
Total, \'e men at
.. .
.. .
the unburned gases, by getting well h eat ed and
=84l. 2s. 4~d. per mile per year.
mi xed in their passage through the perforated brick
P
er
D
ay.
L imited Ser1:ice.
screen, are put in condition to burn comple tely
s. d.
in the combustion chamber and to produce a
8 0
.. .
One ganger (white), ab ...
...
2 6
...
Two labourers (black), at
...
perfect corn bustion. Moreover, the brick screen
prevents currents of cold air rushing inside the
13 0
Total, three men at . ..
. ..
furnaces to damage the tubes and tube-plates."
= 50l. 17s. 3d. per mile per year.
When used in locomotive b oilers, the pulverisers
The gen eral cost of maintenance at first starting the author examined, were fitted ou tside the boiler
has b een also largely increased by the almost in front of the ashpit d oor, the firegrate b eing
univer aal practice of turning over n ew lines from entirely removed, and a massive brickwork,
construction to maintenancA in an unfinished con- forming a reversing h ood bridge, replaced it; the
dition, which has had the effect of charging to the latter r eversed the pulverised ignited fu el proj ected
latter or the revenue account much that should against it into a powerful fan of white smokeless
h ave been charged against construction or loan flame. The brickwork lining, the bottom of the
account-the latte r appearing smaller than it ought, ashpit and sides of the furnace up to the t t; p of the
at the expense of the former.
bridge was raised to a white heat, and vaporised
In 1891 a return was published by the Cap e all t he globules of oil n ot perfectly pulverised. He
Government Railway Department of the relative summed up with the following conclusions on the
cost of labour and materials in the Cape and in use of liquid fuel in Russia :
England, which is interes ting as showing h ow dif"1. The petroleum refuse, d erived from the
ferent the conditions of railway working in t he two petroleum industry in the Caucasus, although used
countries are :
there for a ll kinds of industrial and domestic
E ngland.
Cape Colony.
purposes, is far in excess of t he l ocal wants, and
7s. per day.
.. . l Os . per day
Enginemen
the price is comparatively low-say about 3 fr. per
Mechanics and
t on.
5s. 6d. per day.
labourers
.. . 10s. per day
"The output is, however, comparatively small
J oiners and labourers
.. . 10s. per day
5s. 6d. per day.
and limited.
Cost of coal
.. . 4ls. 4.~5d. p. tn. 7s. 4.80d. per ton
"2. T he petroleum refuse has a high calorific
Materials
... 125 per cent.
100 per cent.
power, which practically amounts to 1.6 times tha.t
(To be continued.)
of good coal. The steam-generating capacity, with
boilers as at present in use, appears to be at least
THE ENGINEERING CONGRESS AT equal t o that of coal.
'' 3. The p etroleum refuse, if pure, i.e. , n ot
OHICAGO.
mixed with lighter oils, has a high burning p oint,
(BY OUR NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT.)
which exceeds 200 deg. Cent. , therefore there is
(Continued f rom page 568. )
no danger whatever in its use, whether on land
TnE n ext p aper was on "Liquid Fuel for Ma rine or on board ship. But it is r arely so pure, aud
Purposes, " by Col. N abor S oliani, of the R oyal contains more or less of the lighter oils, which may
Italian Navy. He stated that the present output impair its safety.
of the Russian wells was 6,000,000 t on s p er
"However, as a temperature above 100 deg.
annum, and then proceeded to describe t he pul- Cent. is never reached, even on board s hips, it
verisers as follows :
may be admitted that the refuse can be used
" These s team pul verisers are all fram ed on with confidence, provided the temperature of comthe same leading idea, of a. j et of steam issuing bustion is above that limit.
from a hole or opening on the side of a small
'' 4. Owing t o its liquid state, petroleum refuse
steam box, or at the end of a small steam tube or can be easily and quickly delivered on board ship,
n ozzle and impinging on the oil issuing from with pumps or with other mechanical means, and it
another op ening on a similar b ox or tube. They can be stowed in any part of the ship, wheth er
differ one from the oth er principally in the form close to the boilers or n ot, and even in such conand arrangement of the said apertures, and in fined spaces as would be inaccessible or useless for
tha means of modifying t hese apertures to r egulate coal.
the flow of t he fl uids for p erfect combustion, and
"5. With petroleum r efuse, the action of the
to su it the intensity of the fire required.
fires b eing automatic, t h e work of the firemen is
"The b ox type pulverisers are cylindrical or reduced to mere watching.
circular, and have the apertures, which are generally
'' At the same time the fires are under p erfect
rectang ular, long, and very narrow, one ab ove the control and easily k ep t regular and uniform, while
oth er, the oil aperture b eing at the top.
a perfect combustion is obtained.
'' The pulverisers of the n ozzle type, with very
"6. '-!'he above advantages make possible a

CONSTRUCTED BY

THE M.

C.

BULLOCK

~lANUFACTURING

COi\IPANY,

"

EX P 0 SI 'r I 0 N.

T HE WILL AN S ENGINE AT THE W 0 R L D'S C 0 L U M B I A N

II
. 0\

0
0

CHICAGO, U. S.A.

( Fm Description, see Page 603.)

tr1

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considerable economy of weigh t and space on board

ship, and also of manual labour in the working of
the ships.
" 7. With petroleum refuse there are no ashes,
c linkers, or dust, so that the work of cleaning fires

and dumpiiTlg ashes overboard is dispensed with,

and the boiler rooms are easily kept clean and dry.
" 8. The steam pulverisers are simple instruments, both as regards construction and working.
, They appear to be better the simpler they are.

The consumption of steam for their working may tion of the steam pulverisers has been facilitated
be as high as 6 per cent. of the steam produced, by there being little difficulty in supplying the
but with proper arrangements and care it may be steamers with fresh water.
reduced to t he very low figure of 1 per cent.
" 10. For the efficiency of the system of corn bus" 9. In the Caspian and Volga. region the adop- 1 tion with petroleum refuse, it is essential that

"-t
""
~

00
\()

6o r

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

N ov. 17, 1893.]

L OCOMOTIVE.

12-WHEELED

TENDER OF

CONSTRUCTED AT THE BROOKS LOCOMOTIVE

WORKS, DUNKIRK,

N.Y.

(For Dcsc1iption, see Page 603.)

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other forms of boiler be Eought, better auapted

t o the use of this kind of fue1.."
.
.
The author then detailed certa1n expEnments
with different boats in t he I talian Navy, and gave
the following c0nclusions :
"The opinion I have formed from t he_ fac.ts now
set forth on the subj ect of t he use of o1l fuel for
marine purposes is as follows :
,
.
" 1. P etroleum refuse appears to bo the manne
fuel ' pwr excellence.
"Other kinds of liquid fuel do not appear so
suitable for ordinary use, although they ma.y be
used in case of need in lieu of the petroleum fuel,
should t he supply of this fail.
'' 2. At present, ~n acco~nt of t he high price and
of the limited quanhty available, petroleum-refuse
fuel notwithstanding the many advantages that
could be derived from it, cannot be adopted for
general use on board ships, at l east in the mercantile navy. In warships its _military_ advantages
may lead even now to its partial adopt10n:
"3. In future, with the gradual exhaustion of the
coalfields and the opening of new sources of petroleum, th~ scale may turn in favour of petroleum
refuse and should t he sources of petroleum turn
out to be so abundant and so widely distributed in all
parts of t he world as to insure a supply everywhere,
t he oil fuel would gradually supersede coal.
' 4. The corn bustion of co~l and p etr oleum
r efuse combined in t he same furnaces gives an easy
and simple means of securing, to a certain extent,
the advantages of power that can be derived from
oil fuel, without endangering the supply of fuel to
the ships, as the coal arrangements on board are
left unalter ed.
" The combined combustion will ther efor e probably be t he form in w:hich the_ oil fue_l will ~t first
be applied to warshtps durmg t hts pertod of
transition from coal to liquid fuel.
' ' 5. F or torpedo - boats, which r equire only a
limited quantity of fuel and have a limited range of
operation, the petroleum fu_el alone may b~,adopted
with advantage, even now, Instead of coal.
Then followed the reading of a portion of Mr.
Charles Ward's paper on "Coil and Tubulous
Boilers," which was accompanied by s upplemental data from Mr. McFarland, from th e standpoint of the experience of t he United States Navy
in adopting t his type of boiler in the Monterey.
There is no doubt that t he navy is highly pleased
with its experience in this rE>gard. In concluding
his remarks Mr. McFarland (one of the most
promising of our Government engineers) eaid t hat
the great question with the tubulous type of
boiler is in the life of the tubes, making the general
claim t hat this is but about t hree years. The
following data were presented as the result of tests
made by the navy :

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proper firebrick structures be erected (inside or 1 In this way t he combustion becomes smokeless and
outside the boilers), within which the flame issuing perfect, and can be kept so at all speeds.
from the pulverisers be projected, so that a thorough
'' 11. The petroleum refuse appears really so
mixing of the air and petroleum vapours be pro- , efficient, both in ordinary marine boilers and in
moted, and a high temperature be maintained in the locomotive boilers, that, in my opinion at least,
apace where the combustion begins to take place. 1 no improvement need be made in them, nor need

"The Problems Confronting t h e Naval Engin eer " was t he title of t h e paper by Ira N. Hollis,
United States Navy. He divided t hem t hus :
"1. All the machinery and boilers in warships
must be protected from shot, and must therefore
be entirely below t he water-line, or low enough to
r equire only a small amount of armour protection .
"2. The weight of machinery and boilers must be
low, in order t o leave sufficient displacement for
coal and armour.
'' 3. The space occupied must be small, in order
to leave room below for stowage of coal, ammunition, and provisions.
"4. The ship must have very high speed and
great manceuvring power, especially if the armour
is thin or takes the form of a protective deck.
'' 5. The machinery and boilers must be very
economical in coal at crui~ing speeds, in order that
the ship may k eep the sea for long periods.
'' 6. The machinery and boilers must be entirelY.

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

502

reliable for emergencies and sudden changes of 1\iachinery," by Edwin S. Cramp. This described
speed, and all parts must be well proportioned and their u~e, the necessary characteristics, methods of
constructed to reduce the possibility of bre:1.kdown testing, and specifications. It was fully illustra.ted,
t) a minimum.
but cannot be condensed without injury to its
"7. The design must be adapted to ready over- subject.
hauling and repairs on bO.l.rd ship by the engineer's
'The Form and Treatment of Tensile Specimens,
force.
with reference to the Tests of Iron and Steel, " was
'' 8. The parts mu8t be interchangeable, wherever presented by James E. Howard, of the United
possible, so that the ship need not carry many S tates Arsenal, Watertown , Mass. He stated :
duplicate pieces.
''Those properties generally regarded as impor"9. Many emergency connections must be made tant to observe may be enumerated as follows :
to minimise the chance of disablement in action.
'' Elastic limit.
"10. The pumping arrangements must be far in
n 'l'ensile strength.
excess of that required for the bilges alone, and any
'' T otal elongation.
compartment must be r eadily drained by any pump.
'' Contraction of area at place of rupture.

"11. The transportation of coal and the means of

" Character of the ruptured surface."
communication between different compartments
He then considered these in detail, and recommust ha\'e ca.reful attention."

mended a careful study of the material and a record

The author then proceeded to discuss these of its subsequent behaviour in service.
problems separately, and to show how they had
"Marine Engine Valve Motions, " by N. P.
b een met in the new warships r acently added to Towne, consulting engineer to William Cramp's
the American Navy. The di~grams accompanying Sons, was next considered. After considering various
the paper sh owed the progress of marine architec- valves under various conditions, the author sugture in the last forty years, and indicated how the gested that for triple-expansion mgines it would be
marine engineer had solved some of the problems well to use a single or double p orted plug piston
presented.
valve on the high-pressure, and on the intermediate
"The Strength of V e3sels, " by Herr Fred. L. pressure a piston valve whose rings are in one piece,
Middendorf, was a treatise on strains and the divided at one point in the circumference, and
methods of r esisting them. The author compared secured by bolts as it wears. A liner can be inthe construction of a ship to that of a bridge, claim- serted in the joint sufficient to make the valve
ing this difference : in a bridge the points of sup- tight, forming an adjustable plug; while on the
ports are stationary, and the load movable, while low-pressure cylinder he would use either a doublein a ship the reverse is usually the cass. He then parted slide or a Thorn piston valve.
proceeded to discn ~s and analyse these strains,
If an eccentric is used, he would line the eccenshowing his posi tions by diagrams and formula. tric strap with white metal, and not be chary in the
He preferred a ship made of the best material, and width of the eccentric. Mr. Towne's position and
well built, with moderate engine power.
experience certainly gave his views great weight,
The next paper ca.n be b est shown by a short ex- and the paper was well received.
tract from the introduction. The title was, " Prac'' The Construction of Steam boats Navigating
tical S tability Information, " by Mr. Arthur R. Lid- the Western \Vaters of the United State~, " by J ohn
dell, Langfuhr bei Dc1.n zig, Germany.
"Stability M 'Sweeny, of Wheeling, \Vest Virginia, was a
curves are graphic representations of the gl;'eater novel subject to the foreign members, although a
or smaller tendency of a ve3sel with various quan- similar class of boats is coming into use for extit.ies and stowage of cargo to return to the upright plorers in Africa. This paper gave descriptions
after b aing careened by the action of wind or waves. and illustrations of the various boats on our western
They belong to the province of the naval architect, watere, showing the cel~brafied wheelbarrow b oa ts
and ought n ot to be put into the hands of seamen. of the Ohio and Mississippi, and the fleet packet
''To show how by their aid the essential points steamers runnin g to New Orleans. The former
of a vessel's probable behaviour at sea may be pre- class draw sometimes but a few inches, and the
dicted, and h ow these again may be expressed in writer was shipwrecked in one on the Ohio, and
terms with which seamen are familiar, are the only escaped drowning by rolling up his pantaloons
and wading ashore. These boats are sometimes
objects of this paper.
'' To these ends, and taking the case of a sailing 350 ft. long. Various types were shown and their
vessel a~ that most requiring illustration , the dimensions given, also dra. wings of their engines.
"Shipbuilding and Engineering on the Great
principal means are the following :
'' 1. A ready method of measuring 'initial stiff- Ll.kes, " by Waiter Miller, of Cleveland, 0., described the commerce of these inland sea~, and the
ness,' or stiffness at small angles of heel.
"2. A table giving the gr~atest and least amounts following, extracted from the official report, may
of inifiial stiffness (or greatest and least angles of prove a surprise to many :
inclination due to a standard inclining moment)
Summ,ary of Lake Tra.ffic for 1890.
wi th which she may safely go to sea when loaded to
Tons.
Freight carried in the United
various water-lines.
28,295,959
States coastwise trade . ..
...
"3. Another table of the greatest angles of
Freight carried in the United
steady heel at which she may safely sail, when
2,003,047
States foreign trade
.. .
. ..
loaded to different water lines and with different
- --Total freight carried to or from
United States ports ...
...
30,299,006
amounts of initial stiffness."
The author showed mathematically and graphi...
4,271,346
.. .
. ..
Flour and grain
cally his vie11s on the subjects, and concluded as
9,132,761
...
Iron ore
.. .
...
. ..
follows :
5, 735,299
...
Coal ...
...
...
...
"In discussing problems of this kind, there are
6,860,660
Lumber and lumber products
...
2,286,893
three classes of the community who are generally
...
All other merchandise
...
appealed to, vi_z., the shipo_wners, . the sailors, and
... .. . ... 28,295,950
Total
...
the naval archttects, but IS 1t n ot t1me that a fourth
United States T1affi,c on Detroit R iver.
party, viz , the underwriters, awoke. t_o its interest
Tons.
and inquired whether or not the capsi:nng of a vessel
Coastwise down
...
...
...
15,344,433
at sea is due to preventible causes. So long as the
,
up ...
. ..
.. .
...
5, 771,164
insurance companies remain content with the
Foreign down ...
...
...
...
463,282
dictum of so-called 'practical experience' that
,
up ...
...
.. .
.. .
30U,593
theory is n01nen se, and blindly make good_ the
Total
.. .
...
...
...
21,888,472
l osses of missing vessels, so long must ~e wait for
Another part of the report makes some very
the dissemination of knowledge of the kmd treated
in thii paper, and !or the ~nstitut.ion of ~easonable interesting comparisons with the commerce of the
and simple precautwns agamst a hitherto Immeasur- prominent p orts of the U nited States and for eign
countries ; and a still better knowledge will ~e
able danger. ''
'~The Diagram of Stability for any Draught and obtained of the magnitude and importance of the
Stowaae" was by Pablo Perez Seoane, of the traffic of the Great Lakes. The total tonnage of
Spani;h Navy. This gave a simple drawing by entrances and clearances, foreign and coastwise
which all the geometrical data !nfiuencing the trade, of Chicago and Buffalo, for the season of
stability of vessels could be ~etermtned . . .
, 1890, are thus compared :
TonE~.

" The C oastin~ Sailing Ships of the_A~nabc Sea,

...
10,288,868
...
.
..
Chicago

by Signor Rodolf_o P?li, ga:re a descrtptw.n of these

9,560,590
...
.. .
.. .
. ..
Buffalo ...
vessels with the1r d1menswns, and was Illustrated
20,962,534
...
..
...
...
London ...
16,621,421
by dra~i~gs showing th?ir general appearance and
...
Liverpool
.. . ...

5,977,860
...
... ... ...
Glasgow
their details of constructwn.
5,061,882
...
... ...
Hull ...

.Next came '~Steel Castings as Used in Marine

The entrances and clearances in the foreign commerce of the following prominent foreign and h ome
ports will appear in the following Table :
Tons
Havre ...
4,418,8i6
... ... ... ...
Maroeilles
7,~92,556
...
...
... ...
Antwerp
8,203,990
... ... ...
...
Hamburg
10,417,006
...
...
...

3,481, 769
Bremen
...
... ..

12,646,555
New York ...
...
...
...
2,676,3~7
Boston ...
...
...
...
...
Ph iladel ph ia ...
2,585.866
...
...

San Francisco
1, 986, 4~3
...


Mr. Mlller then described the construction of
the boats used in the trc1.ffic, their engines, anl
gave the dimensions of the various part3. He
alluded to the wh~lebacks, and showed by drawings
their peculiarities, and closed with a full account of
the twin-screw car ferryboat which is u: ed to
transfer a whole train cargo across the Straits of
Mackinaw, where in winter the ice is from 3 ft. to
5 ft. thick. Their construction is of oJ.k, and they
are very heovy. Their speed is ab Jut 15 miles an
hour. 'he details cannot be given here, but th ey
were full of intere~t.
The last paper t o be considered was a '' Cvmparison of the Types of Steamers on the Great
Lakes, " by J. R. Oldham, of Cleveland, Ohi .
He described at length the various types, and
weighed the advantages of one against another.
The paper was illustrat~d, and he gave, a'! a
sample, the following account of the operations of
an ore steamer :
Operati<ms of Steamer " M anola, " 292 Ft. by 40 Ft.
by 21~ Ft.

(One of the Minnesota. Fleet of Cleveland, Ohio.)

Per cent. uf opera-tions to earnings
58.79
Earnings per ton per mile ...
...
.00u78
Operating- expense per ton per mile
.00016
Net earnmgs per ton per mile
...
.00032
Earnings pAr mile travelled...
...
1. 853
Operating expense per mile travelled
1. 090
Net earnings per mile travelled ...
.763
Total miles travelled ...
...
...
50,58!
Average miles travelled per day .. .
227!
Tons freight carried ...
...
...
71,170.69
one mile
... 3,600,078,861
,
,
.. .
12.72
Average speed per hour light
,
,
,
loaded .. .
11.85
Gene al average speed per hour ...
12.25
Total tons fuel used . ..
.. .
. ..
5528
Average tons fuel used per trip ...
18t.553
,
amount fuel per mile light
209 lb.
,
,,
,
loaded
226 ,
General average amount fuel per
218 ,
mile ...
...
...
...
...
. ..
1! oz.
Average fuel per ton per mile
Number of trips
...
...
...
30
Average size cargo . . .
. ..
. . . 2295. 82 tons
,
draught water Sa.ult Canal { 14ft. 7 in. to
14 Jt 9 ,
,
time loading ...
...
...
7! hours
,
, unloading
. ..
.. . 12
,
. .. 19! ,
,
, handling cargo
tons loaded per hour
...
306.214
,
,
, unloaded per hour ...
191.712
, handled
,
...
235.105
.,
Actual time sailing .. .
. ..
.. .
175 days
,
in port .. .
.. .
. ..
47 ,
,,
, , commmission
...
222 , ,
!>er cent. of time sailing
...
.. .
. 7fl8:S
,
,
in port
. ..
.2117
Average number crew each trip ...
23
,
wages
,
,
.. .
334. 05
,
length of trip
.. . .. . 7.396 days
.. .
1686
,
mileage per trip .. .
Coa.l, short tons ; cargo, long tons.
(To be continued.)

THE SEVERANCE CUT NAIL MACHINE.

THE machine which we illustrate on page 593 was
exhibited at the \Vorld 's Fair, Chicago, by the
everance Nail Machine Company, of Duluth, :Minnesota. It is intended for producing nails from metal
strips, and is entirely automatic in action. Its con
struction is due to the keen commercial rivalry existing in the States between the makers of cut nails and
wire nails, which has at length led to a series of competitive trials of the holding powers of each type carried
out at 'Vatertown Arsenal. The cut nail makers use
a cheap raw material, but a considerable amount of
hand labour is employed to fe~d the machines. In
fact, it is said that the mere handling of the plate and
placing the nails in the kegs costs about 2:J. 8d . per
100 lb. of eightpenny nails. The wire nail makers, ou
the other hand, use an automatic machine which greatly
reduces the cost of production, but the raw material,
being wire, is expensive. If, therefore, an automatic
machine could be devised which would use the cheaper
material of the cut nails, a great advant.age would be
gained. This it is claimed has been successfully done
by :.Mr. ,V, N. Severance, whose machine we are
now about to describe. The general appearance of

ENGINEERING, NOVEMBER 17, 1893.

EXPOSITION.
COLUMBI
AN
WORLD'S
THE
AT
LOCOMOTIVE
GREAT N ORTHERN (U.S.) R A ILWAY TWELVE-WHaED

OF

D ETA ILS

WORKS, DUNKIRK,

CONSTRUCTED AT TH E BROOKS

NEW YORK, U.S.A.

.,.....

(For Descripti01tt Pat.~t 603.)

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Nov. 17, 1893.]

the machine is shown in Fig. I, whilst t~e ?ross secti?n,
Fig. 2, will make clear the genert~.l prt.hctple ~n ~h1Ch
it works. The metal plate to be cut m to natls ts fed
iu through the rolls shown in Fi~. 2 till i~ comes between one pair of four sets of .kmves, whtch operate
on the materia.l alternately, wtth the result tha t. the
st rip is cut a.s shown in F ig. 3. These sets of kmve~
arc marked E E and E 1 E 1 in Fig. 2, and are
ca.rried in pairs on the cutter stocks, B a~d C. Of t~es c
th~ lower cutter stock is fixed, save tha t 1t can be gt_ven
an Oicilla.tory motion, by whic_h either the ~et of k.n~ves
E orE' is brought alternately 1nto ~he c~1t~mg posttton.
The upper stock, C, is also fitted w1th stmtla.r _ge~;., but
io addtti on is ca.rried on toggles, as shown m ~ tg. 1,
by means of which it is caused to make the st;oke
which cuts the material placed between the kmves.
The cutter stocks are subjected to heavy stresses, but
h we t o be made very rigid, or imperfect nc:tils would be
produced. This is do~e by ca.stiog braci?g ribs round
th em, M shown in F1g. 1. The matenal ea~ be cut
either hot or cold, as arrangement~ a.re prov1ded for
heatina it in its progress to the cutters by gas jets or
oil fla~es. By chan gin~ the knives ~nd the rat~ of
feed different sizes of natls can be cut m one machme.
The 'cn~ters, if well t empered and kept well oiled, are
s1.id to ~ast a l?ng time. For s~ar~,~ning them a n ~mery
wheel IS pro vtded , -~s shown ~n F 1g. ~. The nails, ~s
will be seen from ] Ig. 2, are dtfferent 10 shape to ordtnary cut nails the head being symmetrica l. The new
form was how'ever , shown at competitive tests at the
\V aterto~n Arsenal to have greater holding power than
either the ordinary cut nail or the w ire na\1. The
output of the mach_ines ~s claimed. to be f\normous.
03e skilled mechamc, With the ass1s t ance of three or
four common labourers, can, it is said, look after six
to ten machines, and produce the nails at the rate of
ne1.rly 5000 per wi aute. Of the third size each machine
will cut sixteen per stroke, and makes l OO strokes
per minute. Of the letrger sizes fewer are cut at each
stroke, and the production is correspond ingly reduced.

REFRIGERATOR CAR AT THE WORLD'S

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
OuR recent issues have shown the g reat care
exercised by shippers . and rail way ?o.mpa:nies in
America to carry p en shable commodtt1es 10 good
Cars bringing fruits anj vegetables in
condition.
winter from the warm south to the freezing climate of
the north are fitted with stoves which automatically
maintain a moderate temperature, while in the a lmost
tropical summer weather which p~evails all over t~e
States in summer, thousands of refngera.tor cars are m
use, carrying meat, fish, poultry, and other foods ~h ~t
rapidly spoil in a heat~d atmosphere. . N atura~ly 1t 1s
a difficult matter to bt11ld a car that Will carry 1ts load
safely with the small amount of attention that it ?ar'
receive on a rail way, and at a moderate cost. It IS a
matter that every large firm of car-builders pays great
attention to, and each has its own pattern, differing in
detail, though not. usually in principle, from those of
other mll.kers. Thts week, on pages 596 a nd 597, we
illustrate a car of the American Refrigerator Transit
Company, of t. Louis, which was shown at the
" rorld's Columbian Exposition. The ice is carried in
two compartments, one at each end of the car, and is
inserted through a trap door in the roof {Fig. 2). It is
supported on a grate of bars {Fig . 3, 4 and 10), and is
contained within a crat e of galvanised iron. The water
from the melting ice drips into a basin {Fig. 11), from
which it flows into a narrow perforated tank with a
trapped delivery beneath the ca,r (Fig. 12). The air
which passed over the p rovisions, and so becomes
heated, rises int o a trunk in the double roof of the car
{Fig. 3), and finds its way into the ice receptacle.
Here it passes over and around the ice and its metal
container, parting with its heat and moisture, and
gradually sinks, until it passes, with the drip, into and
through the bottom vessel, and finally enters the car
again at the bottom, ready to absorb more heat and
carry it round to the ice.
Great care is spent in rendering the walls and roof of
the car as nearly non-conductingas possible. Evidently,
if the heat of the sun could find admittance with any
facility, it would ra pidly use up the most liberal
supply of ice that could be carried. The insulation
adopted on the sides and floor is shown in Fig. 7, and
that of the roof in Fig. 8. A very liberal use is made
of asbestos paper. ' Vherever two sets of planking
cross each other, paper is placed between them, and
diaphragms of paper, separated by distance pieces, are
used in all the walls. This is well shown in the
section of the door ( Fig. 13), in which there are six
partitions of paper, between two sets of pla.nking.
The floor (Fig. 7) consists of the following layers : ~ in.
boards, paper, i in. boards, paper, i in. air space,
paper, i in. air space, paper, i in. air space, p aper,
j in. board, 1 in. air space, paper, and ! in. board.
The roof (Fig. 8) is very similarl y constructed.
Below the roof come a number of racks (Fig. 14), on
which carcases can be hung by means of h ooks
{Fig. 15). The engravings give the dimen sions of the
principal parts of the car.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
is 20 in., and the stroke 28 in. The valves are of the
Richardson balanced type (Figs. 21 and 25), the steam
port being I 8i in. by I g i~., a nd the ex_haust ports
18 ~ in. by 3 in. The eccentr1~ and ecce~tnc straps are
shown by F igs. 36 to 38, the hnks by F1gs. ~9 and ~0,
and the reversing lever by Fig. 41.. Metalhc packmg
is used for piston and valve rods (Ftgs. 30 to 32). The
moving parts of the engine are of wroug.ht s teel. The
crose head and crosshead pin, shown on Figs. 27 and 28,
are the former of cast steel and the other of forged
ste~l, and the guides {Fig. 29) of wrought iron ca:sehardened. The details of the connecting and couplin g
rods and brasses are shown by Figs. 33 to 35. The
connecting-rod journals a re 3! in. and 6 in. lo~g, the
diameters being 4! in. and 6 in., while t~e c~mp~1Dg-rod
journa ls are 4! in., 5 in., 7 in., and 4i m. lD diam~ter
by 4! in., 5 in., 5 in., and 4i in. long. These vanous
rods are of wrought iron. The_driv_ing 'Yheels, shown
on Figs. 44 and 45, are 55 m. In d iamet er, and
they are constructed of cast iron. The tyres are of
Krupp crucible steeJ, and the axles are of wrought steel.
The driving axle journals are 7 ~ in. in diameter. . The
main framing of the locom~tive is of wro_ugh~ tron,
forged solid, and is shown m two parts m F1g. 19.
The lengths of wheel base are a,s fo1low :
Ft. In.
Totallength of wheel base
.. .
52 0

,,
rigid base
.. .
...
9 R
,
driving wheel base ...
15
6

25 3
,
engme
...
. ..
. ..

THE WILLANS ENGINE AT THE WORLD'S

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
TuE engines which we illustrate on pa:ge 600 will
have a familiar appea rance to our E oghsh readers,
though they may be puzzled by the namep~ate.
In fact the engines are 'Villans central valve engmes,
built by the M. C. Bullock :M anufacturing Comp any, of Chicago, and exhibited by them at .the
Cbicaao Exhibition. 'Ye have long been surpnsed
that the manufacture of the 'Villa ns engine had not
been taken up in the United States ere this, but,
judging from some remarks in an. Am~rica~ co.ntempor<Lry it appears that the automatic expansiOn Idea has
beco~e a perfect fad there, and the belief ha~ arisen
that no engine without such gear can possibly be
economical. In actual fact, however, so far as we can
learn, no automatic expansion high -speed engine has
approached the Willans engine.in economy, and i~ w?uld
certainly seem that the worsh1p of the automat1c 1~ea
h:ts retarded the development of the compound engme
iu th e United States, where even at th e present day
th ey seem to build simple automatic engines whe~e
British engineers would put in a compoun~. No doubt, ~f
initial condensation could be doue away With, automatiC
gear would be economical, and it is still in those cases
in which this condensation can be reduced to a small
amount. E xperiments made by .M r .. D . K. Clark o_n
one of the Scotch rail ways showed, If our memory IS
correct, no ad vantage in a locomotive in working the
sten.m ex pansively by the li~k motio~, r?-ther than by
throttling. Of course the ltnk mot10n IS but a c~ude
form of expansion gear, and better results are obt~I.ned
with more perfect apparatus,. but under. conditiOns
peculiarly favourable to the vanable expans10n system ,
Mr. \iVillans found that in a compound high speed
engine this system might have an advantage over the
throttling system of 7 per cent. at three-quarter load
as a m aximum, dimiuishing as the power was furt her
reduced, so that at half power it became \'ery
small and in most engines of the automatic expansion
type 'would probably have become a loss, as in very
few of them is the initial condensation solo" as in the
Willans type. One of the engines represented is, we
understand, a compound engine of 120 horse-power,
and was shown driving direct a 125 arc-light dynamo,
built by the Brush E lectric Company, of Cleveland,
Ohio. The other engine is r epresented driving an
incandescent lighting dynamo, built by the General
Electric Company.
The two views give a goo?
idea of the compac tness of the plant. In addit ion to this exhibit, the builders of the engine
had a fine display of underground haulage plant,
and a very large variety of rock drills, specially
designed for the use of prospectors for the precious
metals. Air-compressing plant was also shown by the
firm.

The bogie is of the ordinary four-wheeled swivelling

type (Fig. 46. ), 96 ft. long over all. The wheels are
30 in. in diameter, the axle journal being 5 in. in diameter. The weights of the engine are as follows:
'otal weight in working order
.,
on driving wheels
,
on front; truck ...

Before departing from the subject of the engine, it

may be said that the cab is, as is usual in American
locomotives, of large size, as will be seen from the
perspective view {F1g. 4 on the two-page plate in the
issue of October 20, page 479 ante). The throttle valve
or regulator is of the cast-iron balance type {Figs. 42
and 43), with a 7-in. dry pipe of wrought iron, the
steam gauge is of 6i in. back, and there are two
safety valves. The brake for driver, tender, and train
is by the New York Air Brake Company, and the
arrangement will be appreciated on reference to
Fig. 20.
The tender is illustrated in detail on page 601. It
is carried on two centre bearing trucks of the diamond
pattern, with floating bolster (Fig. 51). The wheels
are 33 in. in diameter, and the axles, the journals of
which are 5 in. in diameter, are of wrought iron. The
frame is of 10-in. channels. The tank, which is
19 ft. 6 in. long, has a capacity of 4000 gallons. Eight
t ons of coal may be carried. The tender in working
order weighs 82,000 lb.

BROOKS LOCOMOTIVE AT THE WORLD'S

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
WE conclude this week our illustrations of the
d etails of a r~presentative simple locomotive constructed at the Brooks ' Vorks, of whose engines there
was an interesting collection at the Exposition at
Chicago. P erspective views of the principal engines
were g i\en in previous issues. On th e twopage plate
which accompanied our issue of the 3rd inst. , there
were g iven sections of the locomoth-e and details of
the boiler, and on this week's two-page plate there
are further details of the framing, working parts of
the engine, a nd of th e axles and wheels. The tender
is illustrated on page 601. The engine was constructed
for the Great Northern Railway of the United States.
Dealing first with the boiler, as illustrated on Figs. I
to 7, it may be stated that it is of the Belpaire type,
and is constructed of steel throughout, for a working
pressure of 180 lb. to the square inch. The length
over all is 28 ft. 9 in., and between tubeplates 13 ft.
10 t1~r in., and the inside diameter is 68 in.
The barrel
plates are of %-in. steel, and lagged with wood covered
with planished iron. The tubes are of No. 11 B. W.G.,
and of 2i in. outside diameter. Of these there are
250 in all, the length being 13 ft. 10 in. The tubes
are spaced at a pitch of 3r\ in. in a. i-in. tubeplate at
the firebox end, and a !-in. plate at the smoke-box
end . The firebox, which is of 1\-in. sheets, is 9 ft.
6 in . long by 2ft. 8 in. w ide, braced with g- in. and
1-in. stay bolts of " Brown iron. " The grate (Figs.
10 to 16) is of cast-iron rocking bars, and the ashpan
has front and back dampers. 'fhe water space around
the firebox varies from 3i in. to 4 in. The smok ebox
is 62 in. long by 69 in. in diameter, and is fitted with
adjustable diaphragm and with netting constructed
by the Tyler V\' ire Works Company. The surfaces are
as follows:
Square Feet.
Grate surface
.. .
.. .
...

25.3
Firebox heating surface .. .
.. .

~~~
Tube
,
,
.. .
...
.. .
Total
2227

...

Pounds.
156,000
136,000
20,000

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.

PHILADELPHIA, November 7, 1893.

STEEL rails have been offered at 27 dols., but this
figure does not bring much business. The Pennsyl
vania Steel Company started up this week with two or
three good orders. Business is of small proportions,
because of the expected reduction in steel rail duties.
A large amount of business could be transacted at this
time, if confidence existed ; but there is uncertainty as
to what steel rails will be worth in January, when
large orders are usually placed. Large orders for
girder rails are being given out, and work of this
character will be quite abundant during the winter.
All kinds of crude iron are st i ll pointin g downward in
price. No. l foundry at tide-water has been freely
offered at 14 dols. ; No. 2, 13 dols. ; and forge a t
12 dols.
Large lots of steel billets are offered at
20 dols. ; bridge iron, 32 dols. ; beams and channels are
quoted at l. 75 cents per lb. While there is a general
satisfaction over t h e vote on the Repeal Bill, no imp rovement in business is observable. Manufacturers
are concerned over the coming reduction of tariff
duties.
Railroad traffic continues rather ligh t . Merchants
are unwilling to order goods for spring delivery.
Manufacturers have not yet begun to book orders for
winter requirements. The banks are in better condition tban for many months ; but this is owing to the
fact that commercial requirements do not call for as
much assistance as u su al.
I n a general way, the t endency of prices is still in
the wrong direction. Throughout the west, business
men are afraid to purchase beyond immediate necessities. Stocks of merchandise and material of all
kinds are very low.
The coal trade is exceptionall y active. The anthra.cite production this year is 1,000,000 tons ahead of
the production for the same time last year. All the
The cylinders, illustrated by Figs. 21 and 21, are coaloelds of the Allegheny Mountain region, exceptreversible and interchangeable. The diameter of each ' ing ont-, are ahead of last year in productiOn.

"

" ...

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

[Nov. 17, 1893.

MILL FOR THE ORlON GOLD-MINING COMPANY.

Fiy S.

Roi/IT)(1d
.-

TuE Orion Company's gold m ine is the firs t of the

Transvaal mines w hich the t raveller passes on his
~ay up from the c~ast to J ohannesburg. The mine is
s1t ua ted on w hat 1s known as the Black Reef and is
a~ou_t eight miles south of Johannesburg. Th~ formatlOn 1s very flat, ancl the workings will nowhere be more
than about lOO ft. in dep th. The company, having
~horo~ghly proved th~ir property by h iring an adjoinmg mlll, r ecen t ly dec1ded to put u p a firs t-class mill
of their own.
Sever al d ifficulties presented themselves
one
amongst t hem being t he flatness of t he gr ound, an d
anoth~r the Cape Railway line, which cuts t he prop~rty ID t wo. The first was overcome by raising the
m1ll by means of mason ry foundations for t he piles
instead of set ting them in the g round as usual, thus
securin g sufficien t fall for the t ailings for some t ime
without using any elevating appliances. T he second
was met by the const ruction of an inclined bridge over
the r ailway and wagon r oad, u p wh ich the trucks ar e
hauled by a n automatic r ope haulage. This haulag~
will he extended along t he whole length of the prop er ty, and power will also be t aken from i t at various
points fo r winding and pumping, so that t her e will
only b e one engine and boiler st ation on the pr operty.
1,he mill consists of 40 heads of stamps, and an
inter esting feature is that 20 of t hem will be of
En glish (Sandycroft) and 20 of A merican (Fraser and
Chalmer s) manufactur e. One half of t he mill will
be fitted wit h a utomatic feeds, and the remaind er will
be, for t he present , fed by hand. There a re two Blake
s tonebreakers, 15 in. by 10 in. , and the ore bin capacity is abo ut 600 tons. The engine is equal t o giving
off abou t 120 actual horse-power, and there will be
t wo Babcock and \Vilcox boilers. P rovision has been
made for the addit ion of a condenser, and also fo r a fuel
economiser, and t he whole will be lighted by electric
lig h t . The crush ing capacit y of t he mill will be about
160 t ons of ore per 24 hours. T he total cost of the
mill will be about 16,000l. This mill was erected from
t he desig ns of 1Ir. C. T. R ober ts, Commercial Buildings, Joha nnesburg, S. A. R.

If.P. 8ff.&vt.'~

oD

-- --

Fig . 1 . l.IJn.giH Sec/Ion thro' B~iler !louseSi iflyine Hoom.

-.-

Fig Z .
~=ll=~~t==flf-

fv rr ...,cllrr

THE PASSENGER SCREW STEAMER

"FAIRY QUEEN."
T n E illustrat ion on p age 605 r epresents the s. s. Fairy
Queen, a little passenger vessel buil t by Mr. John H.
Gilmour, of I r vine, for passenger service on t he Forth
a nd Clyde Canal. The vessel is 63 ft. long between
perpend iculars, with a beam of 14 ft ., and draws 4 ft.
with a full complement of passengers. The machinery,
wh ich is placed a midships, only occupies 11 ft. in. of
the length of t he vessel, the remainder being occupied
by t wo cabins of good proportion. The passenger
accommodation is t herefore very extensi ve for t he size
of the vessel, the Board of Trade having g iven a cer tificate for 231 passengers. W i th this complement on
deck the litt le vessel is perfectly steady, and glides
smoothly through the wat er.
The engines, illustrated on page 608, have been
d esigned and constructed by Messrs. Hall - Brown,
B uttery, and Co., Helen-street Engine Works, Govan,
G lasgow. They are diago nal engines of the compound
surface-condensing ty pe; the cylinders are 8 in. and
16 in. in d iameter , with a stroke of 12 in. ; the diagonal
type was adopted because of the saving in fore and
aft space, and t he low centre of gravity obtainable.
All t he bear ings through out the eng ines a re of ample
proportions. The . cranksh aft is of t he buil~ t ype,
having balance we1ghts forged a nd slotted w1th the
crank checks. .Both connecting-rods are upon the
same crankpin, t he conne:ting-ro? bushes being of
solid g un-metal. The mam beanng bus hes a re of
cast iron lined with tone's N a\y bronze, and are
adjustable both horizontally and vertically.
A
separa te thrust-block of the horseshoe type is _provided, and, as is s hown on one of the engr~w m ga,
is bolt ed to the a ft end of the soleplate, thus
causinCY
the thrus t of t he screw to be distributed
()

.I

..

-.

Fig .J . Sec" t11ro' n!J eRoom.

Fig . 4 . Sec':' thro' Battery House

14'8 8

over the whole of the seat. The surface condenser is

of the usual mercantile t ype, with the water circulating t hrough solid drawn brass tubes packed at the
ends by means of screwed ferrules and cotton
packing. 1'he arrangement of th e engine allows
of t he condenser being placed u nder the low-pressure guide, so that a very short copper exhaust
pipe serves to con vey the steam from the cylinder
to t he condenser. The air, circulating, feed, and
bilge pumps are placed at the back of the condenser,
and are worked on a. rocking shaft and levers, operated,
as shown on the engraving, by a link from a pin in
the forward eccentric pulley. From the illustration
it will be noted tba.t the engine does not take up any
more space than would be occupied by a non-condensing engine of the same type, aud very much less fore
and aft soace than would be occupied by a. vertical
compound engine. The reversing gear is of the ordinary link motion type, one pair of eccentrics serving
for both cylinders. A large donkey engine is provided
for pumping out the bilge, washing decks, and feeding

the boiler . The boiler, which works at a pressure of

l OO lb. per square inch, is of the vertical type, with
Field tubes suspending from the crown of the com bustion chamber.
It is inter esting to add that the time occupied in
the construction of the bull aod engines of t his vessel,
from t he date of the order t ill the trial trip, was only
7 ~ weeks, and the engines were fitted on board and
th e vessel steamed out for trial wit hin five days of
the time she went und er the crane to receive her
machinery. On trial, the vessel steamed 40 nautical
miles against wind and tid e, the average speed slightly
exceeding 8 knots.
T R.tH'FIC.- The age-regate revenue of
the six great French railway compames for the fi rst six
months of this year shows an increase of 654,600/., as
compared with the corresponding period of 1892. T he
largest pr~portion a.te increase noted this year occurred
upon the Southern of France system. All th e other fi. ve
companies have also, however, done more or less well.
F BENCII R AILWAY

6o5

ENGINEERING.

Nov. r7, 1893.]

L

zw

a z

&S

QUEEN.''
"FAIRY
THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL PASSENGER STEAMER
CON TRUCTED BY MR.

JOHN H.

GIL1-10UR, IRYINE,

N.B.

(For Description, see opposite Page.)

---

-- --- -- -
-- --- -=__........
.

---

- --

THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

AT the meeting of the Phyeical Society, November 10,

1893, Professor A. W. Rticker, M.A., F.R.S., President,
in the chair, Mr. R. S. Cola was elected a member of the
society.
A paper " On the Separation of Thlrce Liquicls by
Fractional Distillation,"by Professor F. R. Barrett, M. A.,
B.Sc., Mr. G. L. Thomas, B.Sc., and Professor ~ydney
Young, D.Sc., F.R.S., was read by Professor Youn~.
Aooepting the results obtained by Mr. F. D. Brown in bts
experiments on the variation in the composition of the
distillate from a mixture of two liquids- viz., that the
relative quantities of the two substances in the vapour
at any instant are proportional to the weights of the
substances in the still, multiplied by the ratio of thei r
vapour pressures, the authors write Brown's equation in
the form : ~ = c J, where l: and 'l't are the weiahts of the
'11

'11

c; ..,

.,

-- ...
--

,..

'L-

senting the progress of distillation could be constructed

from the very complete experiments made, and so test
the assumed law.
Professor Young thought this not possible from the
numbers obtained. To test the law in this way would he
very laborious.
A" Note on the Ge?leralisations of Van der Waals rega'rding 'Corresponding' Temperatures, P ressures, and
Volumes," was read by Professor S. Young. In Novemher, 1891, the author read a. paper on the same subject
(Phil. Mag., February, 1892), and gave the critical molecular volumes of some twelve substances, as calculated
by !vi. Mathias. Since then a few small errors had been
found in the calculation, and the author's corrected
values are now given. The vapour pressures, molecular
volumes, and critical constants of ten esters (methyl
formate, acetate, propionate, butyrate and isobutyrate;
ethyl formate, acetate and propionate; and propyl formate and acetate), have recently been determined
(Trans. Cbem. Soc.i lxiii., page 1191). In the present paper the a.bso ute temperatures and volumes of
the tw~lve substances are given in terms of their critical
constants, and tables given showing respectivsly the
ratios of boiling points (absolute temperatures), at corresponding pressures, to absolute critical temperatures, the
ratios of volumes of liquid at corresponding pressures to
the critical volumes, and ratios of volumes of saturated
vapour at corresponding pressures to critical volumes, for
the halogen derivatives of benzene, carbon tetrachloridP.,
stannic chloridE', and ether; methyl, ethyl, and propyl
alcobols, and acetic acid; and the extreme values for the
ten esters previously mentioned. Whilst showing fair
agreement with each other, the differences between them
exceed errors of experiment. The ratios also indicate that
the substances can be arranged in four groups, thus
tending to show that molecular weight and chemical constitution have some influence on the results. The differences found would probably result from the pre~ence of
complex molecules such as are known to exist in acetic
acid.
If Van der Waals' generalisations were strictly true,
p V
the ratios - T- at the critical point should be constant

two liquids in the still, and c the ratio of their vapour

pressures. Taking c as confitant, the above equation is
mtegrated, and from the resulting expressions curves are
plotted, showing the changes in composition that take
place during the distillation. Assuming that a similar
1d ~
law holds for three liquids, A, B, and C-viz.,
=
a ~
1 d '11 = 1 d <". the composition of the distillate at any
b 1J
c .<"
instant is calculated.
Taking a= 4, b =: 2, and c = 1 (numbers nearly proportional to the vapour pressures of methyl, ethyl, and
propyl acetates), numerous curves are plotted showing
the progress of the separation at various stages of fractionation. These curves show distinctly that although
fraction A containing large proportions of the liquids A and
C, of lowest and highest boiling points respectively, can
be easily separated, the middle substance, B, is much
more difficult to obtain in a state of purity. Consider&
tion of these curves led the authors to see that by carrying out the fractiona.tion in a particular way, it was possible
to sep:~.ute the mixture into two portions, one containing
only A and B, and the other B and C. These mixtur~s
of two liquids could then be fractiona.ted in the usual
manner. This process was carried out on a mixture of
methyl, bthyl, and propyl acetates, tb~ results of which for all substances, as also the ratio ~ of the actual to the
are given in considerable detail in the paper. The reD1
markable agreement between the densities of th e ethyl theoretical density (for a perfect gas) at the critical point.
acetates obtained respectively from th~ mixtures (A and On comparing these quantities, only a rough a.pproxima
B) and (Band C), as well as the facb that the densities tion is found, but the grouping of the compounds is again
of the separated liquids were the same as before the well marked.
mixin~, shows conclusively that the method employed
Professor Ramsa.y was not sure that the existence of
was h1ghly successful. .
complexes would alter the molecular volume in the liquid
Professor Ra.msay satd the paper was a most valuable state, for liquids seem very compact. Experiments on
one, and would b~ a. great aid to chemists. Distillations the surface energy of liquids bad proved that complex
were usually carr1ed out by mere." r':lle of thumb," with molecules do exist in the alcobols and acetic acid. Dr.
the ~esult that abso.lutely_ pu~e ltqUtds could rarely be Young's conclusions were, therefore, confirmed by experiobta.med, The Pres1dent IDqutred whether curves repre- 1 ments of an entirely different nature.

Professor Herscbell was gratified to see Van der Waals'

theory so well borne out in liquids, and bopE'd to see it
exteoded to solids. The rec3nt researches of Professor
Roberts-Austen on alloys seem to point in this direction.
1\'Ir. Rogers said molecular complexes do exert an influence on the properties of substances, as ba.d been
shown by Profesor Tborpe's viscosity experiments, Van
der W aals' generalisations r:~hould therefore be looked at
from a. chemical as well as a. physical point of view.
The P resident thought the numbers brought forward
showed fair agreement. especially when it was remembered that Van der W aals took no account of complex molecules. Contrary to Professor Ra.msay, be
would rather ex:pect aggregation to affecb the molecular
volumes in the hquid state, for only about one-fifth the
space was supposed to be occupied by matter. On the
other band, the relatively small contraction of liquids on
cooling did not support this view.
"An I nstrument for Drawing Conic Secf;i,(yns, was exhibited and described by Mr. J. Gillett, B.Sc. This consists of a spindle inclined to a plane board, and a tube
fixed to the spindle at an angle. A pencil which passes
through the tube traces out a cone in space as the spindle
is turned, and on sliding the pencil through the tube so
as to keep its point against the plane, the point traces
out a conic, the section of the cone made by the plane of
the board. A circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola. can
be drawn, according to the inc:lination of the spindle to
the board.
Professor Henrici faid a similar instrument bad been
described in an Arabian manuscript one thousand years
old, and had been independently re-invented by a German
and an Italian mathematician. H e thought the fact of
the angle between the spindle and the tube in Mr.
Gillett's instrument not being adjustable was a dieadvan tagE'.
Mr. In wards and Professor Herscbell also took part in
the discussion, to which Mr. Gillett replied.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MIDDLESBROUGH, Wednesday.
Th_e Cleveland Iron Trade.- Yesterday there was only
a. tbm attendance on 'Change, and little business was
transacted. No. 3 g.m.b. Cleveland pig iron was sold
at 34s. 4~d. for prompt f.o .b. d elivery, and that was
regarded as the general quotation, though aome of the
makers mentione~ ~4s. 6d. for the ruling quality. The
lower classes of p1g 1ron were steady, No. 4 foundry being
quoted 33s. Gd. and grey forge 32s. 6d., both for prompt
delivery. Hema.tite pig iron was in fair request, and few
sellers were prepared to accept less than 43s. for early
deliv~ry of Nos. 1, 2, and 3 makers' east coast brands.
Spamsh ore was steady, and was unaltered in price
Middlesbrough warrants were 34s. 4~d. cash buyers but
the quotation wa~:J almo13t nomin~l. To-day the m~rket

6o6

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

wa.s rather stronger, hub buyers reported that they were

still able to purchase No. 3 Cleveland pig at 34s. 4~d.
Middlesbrough warrants at one time of the day realised
3!3. 6d., and they closed 3ts. 5~d. cash buyers. It is
likely that a. few more furnaces will go out of operation
shortly, as some firms consider the present unprofitable
time a. suitable occ"-sion f~>r effecting repairs, and, in
addition to thi&, coke is SQ dear that one or two makers,
whose contracts on old terms are about run out, may
damp down, as they say they cannot afford to pn.y present
quotations for coke.
J.l fanujactured bon and Steel.-In these two important
industries there is very little alteration. Some firms are
1\ little better employed than they were, but most establish ments are only badly off for work, and new orders
are by no means easily secured. Quotations are low.
Common iron bars are 4l. 15s. ; iron ship plates,
4l. 12s. 6d. ; steel ship-plates, 41. 17s. 6d. ; iron shipangles, 41. 12s. 6d. ; and stee1 shi p -a.ngles, 4l. 15s., all less
the usual discount.
Engineering and Shipbuilding.-Engineers and shipbuilders are slack, but in the latter industry affairs are
not so gloomy a.s they were, one or two firms whose
establishments might have been closed over the winter,
having secured a few orders.
The F uel Trade.-There is a large dmand for fuel, but
it is one for immediate delivery only. On Newcastle
Exchange best Northumbrian steam coal is quoted 18s.
f. o b, and second qualities la. 6d. per ton lower. Small
st~am is somewhat irregular in price, and from 7a. 6d. to
Ss. 6d. is quoted. Gas coal is very difficult to {>rocure, so
much being d elivered on 0ld contracts. As h1gh as 14s.
f.o. b. at Newcastle has been quoted. Bunker coal is
fairly steady. Coke is firm in price, the output having
been considerably reduced of late, as producers prefer
selling their coal to making coke of it. At Middlesbrough
15s. is mentioned for blast-furnace qualities delivered.

1.'he Palmer Shipbuilding and I ron Company, Limited.The committee of consultation, appointed at the ordinary
general meeting of this company, advise to the shareh old ers that the resignation of his seat on the board
t endered by Sir Charles M ark Palmar, Bart., M.P., be
accepted, and that he be invited to hold the podition of h onorary president of the company, and that
for such special services as he may from time to time
render, he should be remunerated in such manner as may
be arranged between himself and the directors. The committee advise that the board should be strengthened by
the appointment of three gentlemen living on Tyneside,
and that consultation meetings should be held in Newcastle or J arrow, if it be found nece!?sary to bold the meeting.s of the board in L ondon. They also advise that the
financial operations of the company be separat ed from
the industr!e.l. They think the charges for management
in the p3.st have been, as a whole, excessive, and that in
some cases they require curtailment, and add that, while
certain departments of the company's bu~iness leave a fair
profit, other departments have been carried on at a loss.
'fhe committee recommend a thorough investigation into
the departments where they think the loss may have arisen,
and they also suggest an inquiry into the value of the assets
of the company, with the view of ascertaining whether
the amount that stands in the books is not in excess of
their value to the company for its purposes as a going
concern.

NO'fES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

Wednesday.
Boring E xperiments in the Unstone Valley.- For some
some months past a committee has been busy obtaining
sub3criptiona for the pur pose of conducting boring operations with a. view to ascertaining whether there are any
work~ble seams beneath the ~ilkstone, which in this
district is nearly exhausted. The working classes have
been considerable subscribera, and are very enthusiastic
in the matter. Operations have been commenced at the
bottom of a shaft which reaches to the Silkstone bed, and,
in the opinion of those con versant with the district, undeveloped seams of coal will be found at no great distance.
If successful, prosperity would return to this part of the
country from which trade has gradually drifted during
the past ten years. The large landholders of the locality
are also a ssisting the project.
Dore and Chinley Railway.-The running on this line,
now open for goods traffic, i~ described as very smooth
and satisfactory, and the engmeers are so_far thoroughly
satisfied with the success of the underta.kmg. The completion of the variou~ station~ and other works is be~ng
r apidly proceeded wtth, and I~ a few months the lme
will be ready for passenger serviCe.
Iron, Steel, and Engineering Trades.- The effects ?f
the fuel famine are n owhere more marked than m
this distric t. On all sides the iro:n a~d steel mil!s
and large establishments . are s tat?-dmg_ Idle, and thts
week owing to the contmuous rtses m the value of
stea~ coal and engine slack, a large number of those
engaged in the lighter bran?he~ have had ~o suspend
o,Perations. Prices of Y orkshtre Irons are nom mal quotat10ns, a.g the output is so res tricted that they cannot be
called market rates of staple products. Very large ? rders
for bar and sheet that would have been placed m the
district and have kept the mills fairly busy this y~a~, have
been lost and it is feared that the permanent mJury to
local business will be very great. The large steel works
are doing next t o nothing, a.s, t~ough ther~ are some g9od
orders on the books for man ne and ratl wa.y_ m~tertal,
scarcely any coke is obtai'?a.ble. What there. IS, 1s poor
in quality and commandmg outrageously high prtces.
B essemer houses a. re delivering mos~ly fro~ st?ck at
5t. 17s. 6d. t o 6l. for billets, but the busmess domg IS very
SHEFFIELD,

restricted. All the engineering establishments are ~;uffer

ing severely, and there can be no improvement in trade
here until fuel is in full supply at reasonable prices.
..4. Concession to Ironworkers.-It is stated that the
Butterley Iron Company, a.t the solicitation of the local
relief committee, have consented to reopen their great
iron works at Codnor Park to those men who are willing
to return at a reduction of 10 per cent. until the lock-out
of colliers is ended. Thei r own pits being idle, the company will purchase coal in the market, and they will
themselves bear the increased cost, less the temporary
10 per cent. reduction which th e men have conceded. A
majority of the men had decided not to accept the terms,
but the company consented, on a pressing request being
made, to reopen to the minority, which is composed of
the oldest workmen. During the prolonged stoppage, the
company have lent to their ironworkers lOOOl., have given
them coal, and have not charged house-rent. The coal
which the company will have to purchase will cost 50 per
cent. above ordi nary prices.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

.,. Barry R1ilu:ay.-The directors of the Barry Dock and
Railways Company have decided to commence the construction of a second dock at Barry towards the close of
this year. The new dock will, of course, comprise several
new tips, and will afford generally increased shipping
facilities at Ba.rry. The plans will be prepared by the
chief engineer of the company, Mr. J . Wolfe-Barry.
The" Eclipse. "-The second-class cru iser E clipse has
just been laid down at Portsmouth. She is to be a cruiser
of the improved Fox typA, of 5500 tons displacement,
and she will be fitted with engin es working up to 9600
horse-power. She will be 1140 tons larger than the Fox.
She will carry five 6-in., six 4.7-in., and nine smaller
qnick-fi ring guns.
The "Hermione."- T his second -class cruiser, just
launched at Devonport, was laid down in December,
1891, from designs by Mr. W . H. White, C.B. She
is expected to be ready for sea within twelve month s.
Her principal dimensions are: L ength, 320ft. ;-breadth,
49 ft. 6 in.; mean load draught, 19ft. The weight of her
hull, armour, and backing will be 2460 tons, and of her
engines and machin ery 780 tons; her displacement will
be 4360 t ons. Her coal cap3.city, alth ough stated at 400
tons, can be increased on an emergency to 1000 tons by
utilising the space between the main and protective
decks. Iler armament, which will cost 50,429l. , will
consist of two G-in. and eight 4.7-in. quick-firing guns,
eight 6-pounder and one 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, a nd
four :M axim machine guns. She will be fitted in addition
with four 18-in. Whitehead torpedo tubes -viz , one
stem, one stern, and two broadside tubes, all above water.
The total cost of the Hermione, including her armament, is estimated ab 244,625[. The engines and other
machinery are being supplied by Messrs .J . and G.
Thomson, of Glasgow. The proi_>elling machinery will
consist of two sets of triple-expa.ns10n surface-condensing
vertical engines, capable of developing a. collective force
of 9000 horse-power with the forced draught, and 7000
horse-power with th e natural draught. The propellers
are of the three-bladed type, and will make 140 revolutions per minute. This will give a speed of 19 ~ knots per
hour with the forced draught, and 18:f knots per hour with
the natural draught. The boilers, which are eight in
number, are of the single-ended return-tube t ype ; they
are constructed entirely of steel, and they will work at a
pressure of 150 lb. per square inch.
Card(O:-There has been an active demand for all
descriptions of steam coal ; the best descriptions have
made 14s. 9d. to 15s. per t on, while secondary qualiti es
have brought 14s. to 14s. 6d. per ton. The demand for
household coal has also been extremely brisk, and the
local pits are in full work; No. 3Rhondda large has been
making 14s. per ton. Patent fuel has continued in good
request. Foundry coke has been making 20d. 6d. t o 2J s.,
and furnace ditto 18:1. to 19s. per ton. Iron ore has
shown little chang-e. In the iron and steel trades prices
have also remained stationary.
Boilers for the " Spanker. "- The Spanker. torpE>do gunboat, is to be fitted at Devon port with a set of tubulous
boilers similar in character to those in course of construction for the Sharpshooter. The uoilers are being made
by the Societe Anonyme du Temple, of Cherbourg, and
they are to be in readiness for placing on board in
February, 1894. They will be subjected to a forced
draught trial at the works of the contractors in the
presence of a. representati ve of the Admiralty.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Glasgow P ig-Iron Market.-La.st ThurRday's _pig Iron
warrant market was inacti\' e in the forenoon. The tone
was firm for Scotch iron, 5000 tons of which were sold,
including 2000 tons at 42$. 6~d. one month, with 1s. forfelt in buyer's option ; one lot at 42s. 3~d. cash same
day, with a ' 'plant;" and a lot a.t 42s. 3!d. cash on
the following day, also with a "plant " One or two
lots of Cleveland and hemati te iron changed hands.
In the afternoon the market was quiet, but steady,
at about 42s. 4d. cash for Scotch iron. S omewhere
about 8000 tons of Scotch were done.
At the
close the settlement prices wAre-Scot ch iron, 42~. 4~d.
per ton; Cleveland, 34s. 4~d .; Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite iron, respectively, 44s. 3d. and 43s. 3d.
per ton.
On Friday forenoon the market was very
idle. Nob more than 3000 tons of Scotch warrants
were dealt in, one portion at 42s. 5d. per ton cash. In
the afternoon business was still idle, nob a single transac-

tion having been record ed up till within a short time of

the close. Sellers were offering Scotch iron at 42~. 4~d.
ca.sh on Monday. Just bofore the close two lots changed
hands at that price. One lot was also done at 42e. 3d.
Monday, with a "plant" for a month.
Of C!t;,veland iron 150() tons were sold a.t 34s. 4~d. per ton
cash, with sellers at 34s. 5d., or ld. back from the
morning. The closing settlement prices were-Scotch
iron, 42s. 4! d. per ton ; Cleveland, 34s. 4~d.; Cumberland
and ~[iddlesbrou~h bematite iron, respectively, 44s. 3d.
and 43s. 3d. Busmess was very inactive on Monday forenoon. Not more than 2000 tons of Scotch iron were dealt
in, at various prices. The market in th e afternoon was
steady for Scotch iron at 42s. 4~d. per ton cash, but there
was little business doing, only 2000 tons of out-and out
business being done at that price. Some forfeit business
was also done, some 3000 t ons of Scotch changing bands.
The cash _price was up ~d. per ton from the torenoon
market. Two lots of Cumberla.nd bematite iron also
changed hands-one of them at 44s. 4d. per ton cash, and
one at 44s. 6d. seventeen days. At the close the settlement prices were Scotch iron, 42s. 4~d. per ton;
Cleveland, 34s. 4!d.; Cumberland and Middlesbrough
hema.tite iron respectively, 44s. 4~d. and 43s. 3d. per
ton. There was no dealing in Cleveland iron. Ratter
more activity was shown in the market on TuPsda.y forenoon. About 8000 tons of Scotch iron changed
hands, including some lots at 42s. 7~d. per ton one month,
with 1s. forfeit in buyer's option. The market was fi rm
in the afternoon, and the cash price closed ~d. up from
the morning. Not a. single out-and-out transa-ction was
recorded, but 1000 tons of Scotch warrants were done ab
42~ . 4d. one month, with l s. power to t ake it back, and
500 tons at 42s. 7~d. a month, with 1s. forfeit in buyer's
option. The settlement prices at the close of the market
were-Scotch iron, 42s. 4~d. per ton; Cleveland, 34 ... 4!d.;
Cumberlsnd and 1-Iiddleabrougb hema.tite iron, 4~s. 4!d.
and 43s. 3d. per ton respecti\'ely. The market was firm
this forenoon, when business was done in Scotch warrants
at !d. to ld. per ton advance. Cleveland warrants
were l~d . dea.rer. In the afternoon business was done in
Scotch warrants at former prices, t he tone being quite
steady. Cleveland was also done at the improved rates
of the forenoon. The following a!'e a few quotations for
No. 1 special brands of makers' iron : Gartsherrie and
Summerlee, 403. per ton; Calder, 50s. ; Coltness, 55s. 6d. ;
L1.ngloan, 56s.-the foregoing all shipped at Glasgow;
Glengarnock (shipped at Ardro san), 493.; Shotts (shipped
at L eith), 5l s ; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth),
53s. Gd. per ton. There are still 53 blast f urnaC<.s in
actual operation, as compared with 77 at this time last
year. Last week's shipments of pig iron from all
Scotch ports amounted to 3028 tons, agains t 5363
tons in the corresponding week of last year. They
in cluded 140 t ons for South America, 100 t ons for
India, 388 tons for Australia, 255 tons for FrancP, l OO
tons for Italy, 850 tons for Germany, 410 t ons for H olland, smaller quantities for other countries, and 1205 tons
coastwise. The stock of pig iron in M essrs. Connal and
Co.'s public warrant stores yesterday afternoon stood at
328,032 tons, as compared with 328,611 tons yesterday
week, thus showing a decrease for the week amounting to
579 tons.
Fin ished Iron and Steel Trades.-Tbe demand for
finished iron has slackened considerably, and on that
account makers have hesitated to follow the example of
the steel makers in advancing prices, a.l though it is
thought that they may soon have to do so on account of
the high prices of fuel. There is a good demand for
sheets and tubes a.t steady prices . The demand for steel
for shipbuilding purposes is only moderate, but a large
amount of steel will shortly be required at some of the
shipyards. In the meantime prices are steady on the
basis of 5/. 7s. 6d. per tQn for ship-plates, less 5 per cent.
discount.
Glasgow Copper Market.-Prices of copper fluctuated a
little in the latter part of last week, but no business was
done till ~1onday of this WPek, wh~n 42l. 17s. 6d. per ton
three months was done, thus showing an improvement of
2s. Gd. on the buyers' closing price for last week; and in
the afternoon the metal was 1s. 3d. per ton dearer. Prices
made a decided decline on Tuesday, but no business was reported. There was a. fur ther decline of price3 this afternoon to the extent of 2s. 6d. per ton, of which one-half,
however, was an advance in the forenoon.
Coal Trade.-The we~ t of Scotland coal trade has
been very erratic during the past week, and the trade
done, as for some time past now, is almost entirely
of a day-to-day order. Nearly the whole of the fresh
business effected outside of local requirements has still
been on E nglish account, and the activity, excitement,
and inflated prices going are due solely to this exceptional demand. Those who have had any coal to sell have
not scrupled to exact the utmost penny obtainable, as
they know too well that probably never again will they
be dealing with the same customers. At least they have
no fear of losing future trade in this connection, as purchasing in this market can only be brought about by the
.English buyers being forced to deal here under similar
circumstances to the present, should they ever unfortunately again exist, and pay practically what is demanded
for supplies. With regard to the question of wages in
Lanarkshire, it has now been definitely announced that at
the conference of miners' representati vcs on Friday, a
motion a sking for an advance of another ls. per day will
be made. Wh ethe~ there is any chance of their getting it
or not depends entirely on the result of the negotiations
going on towards an arrangement of the dispute in the
south ; but in any case the Scotch miners had better act
cautiously.
Shipbuilding Contracts.-Tbe orders which were men
tioned last week as ha.vinv been placed with a Clyde fi rm

E N G I N E E R I N G.
and a P aisley firm for three and two t orped o-destroyers
have been taken by Messrs. J ames and George Tho~son,
Clydebank, and M e3srs. H anna, Donald, and '\Vtlson
re 3peotively.-M essrs. Bla<'kwood and Gordon, P ort
Glasgow. ha ve contracted t o bnild a steel screw stea.~er
for the City of D ublin Steam Packet Compa ny, of Dubh?,
for ser vice in their cross-Channel trade between Dubhn
and L iverpool. The builders will supply her with tri ~le
exl?aosion engines of about 3000 horse-power .-The Atlsa
S htpbuilding Company, Troon. have booked a:n order for
M essra Bro wne and Watson, Glasgow, for an uon barque
of similar dimensions to those of the Dalrympl~, recently
built at Troon. -The Fairfield Shipbuild_ing and Eng:ineering Companv have contracted to build for Capta.m
},f'C..lmont, of L ondon, a twin - ~crew s team yacht of
about 400 tons, and about 250ft. long. They have
al!to ~ecured an order for a second paddle steamer
for Belfast service. - M essrs. M'Knight and Co. ,
Ayr have booked an order t o build for Messrs.
J . ~nd P. Hutchison, of G lasgow, a screw s teamer of
about 1000 ton~, of high speed, for their French trad~.
The machinery is to be supplied by M essrs. Muir and
H ouston Gla.sgow. -M essrs. John Scott and Co., Kingborn ha~e contracted to build for a Spanish firm a scre w
stea.~er of 1650 tons for ser vice in the wine trade ; and a
ferry s teamer for the M ersey, t o ply bet ween Birkenhea.d
and L iverpool, and carry up t o about 1200 passengers.
Recon$truction of Brvom iela?o Bridge, Glaspow. -At an
extraordinary meeting of the Glasgow P olice Commissioner.:~ held on M onday, the proposal to re-erect G lasgo w
Bridg~ in accordance with the plan sketched by Mr.
Mason' a t a cost of 80, OOOl. was unanimously agreed t o,
and the Statute Labour Committee were authorised to
apt>lY t o. ~arliament for the necass~ry powers. . The
practicabthty of. the proposal has, wtth so!lle modtfi~a
t ions, approved 1t~elf t o Mr. Blyth, the engmeer. yYtth
the view of securmg that the proposal t o erect a br1dge
at Govan-street should not be lost sight of, it was proposed that Parliamentary p owers should b e a-sked for that
purpose. Mr. L~ng ruled, however, that bhis was unnecessary, a.s the commissioners could erect a bridge under
the provisions of the Roads a.nrl Bridges A ct .
Scientific Society Meeti~s. -Last Friday e vening ~Ir.
E. J. Duff, Wh it. Sch. , A ssoc. M. Ins t. C.E.).. read a.
papt"r on ' ' Electric W elding " t o the West of ~cotland
Iron and S teel Ins titute, in the course of which
he gave m~ch interesting ~~formation 'Yhich he ob tained durmg a. recent VISlt to A mertc-.a.. On the
following evening, at a meeting of the T echnical Colle~e Scientific Society, a very valuable paper was read by
Mr. J ,>hn Anderson, A ssociate of the T eohni<'.a.l College,
on "Some Steam En~ine ~rob_lems. " He dealt chie~y
with the results of the mvest1gat10ns of Mr. James W e1r,
whom be has for some time served as assistant.

SftreetExplosions.-Two sub-pavement explosions of gas

have t aken place in Glasgow within the pa.st few days,
caused by escapes of gas from the mains in vicinity or
electric hghting cond uctors. They have excited a considerable amount of scientific and practical interest, but
have done very little damage, and no injury to life of
peraon.

MISCELLANEA.
TD E November meeting of the Birmingham Association
of Engineers was held on Saturday, November 4, at the
Grand Hotel, Birmingham, when a. paper on ' ' Aluminium " was read by the president (Mr. A. Driver ). The
chair was t aken by Mr. J. Floyd (vice-president).
The first ordinary meeting of the present session of the
N ewcastle-upon-Tyne A ssociation of Students of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, was held at the Durham
College of Science on the 8th inst., when the president,
Mr. J. Watt S andema.n, M. Inst. C.E., delivered an
add ress upon u Concrete and Portland Cement." A vote
of thanks to the president concluded the meeting, and
th e members afterwards held a. reunion at the G rand
H otel.
The contract for the 5000 horse-power dynamos for the
Cataract Construction Company, Niagara., has been
awarded to the Westinghouse Electric Uompany. The
dynamos in question wiJl provide a two-phase alternating
curr~nt, having a frequency of 25 alternations per second,
and the voltage is to be 2000. We understand that there
was difficulty in finding an American firm prepared to
undertake the building of dynamos to give a higher
voltage, and hence the voltage is lower than was desired,
necessitating step-up and s tep-down tra.nsformera to
o~ta~n the pressure required for the long-distance transmtssion of the current.
We note that the owners of Winby's express locomotiv~,
the "James T oleman," which was described in our issue
?f April 28 last, and ha.s been ex~ibited ~t Chicago, have
u~sued a. challenge to run th1s engme against the
American type of locomotives. They wish to make a
match for 1000[. a side, t o go to the owners of the engine
that does the best work at high speeds, with heavy loads
and which proves the most economical. They suggest ~
train load of 200 tons, exclusive of engine and tender, and
that this load ehould be hauled 200 miles, making ten
stops. The same tender should be used for both engines.
It is further suggested that the 1000l. won should be
devoted to some charitable or public jns titution.
:r'he traffic receipts for the week ending Oct ober 29 on
thuty-three of the principal lines of the U nited Kingdom
amounte~ to 1,396,655l., which, having been earned on
18,388 mtles, ga ve an average of 75l. 19a. per mile. For
t~e corresponding week in 1892, the recdipts of the same
It~~ amounted to 1,474,98Sl., with 18,199 miled open,
gw10g an average of 81l. la. There was thus a decrease

of 78,333l. in the receipts, an increase of 189 in _the

mileage, and a. decrease of 5l. 2s. in the weekly re<'etpts
per mile. The aggregate receipts for seventeen weeks
to date amounted on the same thirty-three lines to
25,658,145l. , in comparison with 27,620,825l. for the corresponding period last year; decrease, 1,962,680l.
M essrs. Ernest S cotb and Mountain, Limited, Newcas tle have received an order from the Coltness Iron
Company, N ewmains, Lanarkshire, for an electric installat ion which will be one of the most complet e plants
of the kind in exist ence. The plant consist s of a. com plet e electri c light installation for the colliery, consistmg of dynamo to run 200 16 candle- power lamps, and
about 180 lamp!i throughout the pit, both above ground
and under ground. The second is an installation for
the lighting of 34 workmen's cottages, which are about
700 yards from the colliery, th ere being three lights
placed in each cottage, or a total of 102 lamps in al_L
The third installation con sists of a complete electrtc
pumping plant, capable of d el iverin g 100 gallons of water
per minute from the river to the colliery. The dynamos
for the lighting of the pit and workmen's cottages are
bei~g specially constructed so tha t either. dyna~o can be
utiltsed for e1ther purpose, both machmes bemg overcompounded so that the electromotive force will remain
constant at the cottaieS under variations of load. This
installation is probably one of the first in which complete
plant for pumping, lighting Ci>f a colliery, and the lighting
of workman's cottages has been adopted .
In a reporl' on " Power House Ene-ines," read before
the American Street Railway A ssociation by Mr. E. G .
Con nett~, it is stated that a suitable subdivision of p ower
units in suoh cases is as follows :
Maximum
Number of
H orse-P ower
Horae-P ower
Engines
of each Engine.
R equired to
R
equired.
Operate Ro:l.d.
200
2
200
200
400
3
300
3
600
500
1000
3
500
1500
4
750
2000
4
If arranged thus, there will always be one engine in
reserve. '!~he maximum horse-power required t o op erate
the road is not, however, the same thing a s the sum of
the power required by each car, unless the plant is small.
Thus in a 10-ca.r plant cases may occasionally arise where
all the oar~ will require their full power at one and the
same time, but in a. 100-ca.r plant the maximum power
provided need only be from 60 to 75 per cent. of the total
horse-power of the cars.

At the recent meeting of the West'rn Foundrymen's

Ass0ciation at Chicago, Mr. Thomas D. West read a paper
in which a new form of cupola is described, which is
deemed to have pro ved very successful in reducing the
amount of fuel used p er hundredweight of m etal melted.
The principal feature of the cupola in question is the
central blast, which is arranged for by cutting a. hole in
the drop bottom of th e cupola, and p lssing a. tuyere
through. Inside the cupola the tuyere is protect ed by
surrounding it with firecla.y, and a. clay cap is supported
a short distance above the open to~ of the tuyere, and
serves to prevent m asses falling mto the blast pi pe,
whils t the air escapes through the annular spac~ left
between the cap and the end of the tuyere. A great
reduction of the fuel required to melt a given weight of
iron was fonnd to result from the new arrangement, and
the wear of the cupola lining is also said to have been
greatly reduced. The latter point, if confirmed, seems
very important, as previous attempts to greatly reduce
the amount of fuel used have too often resulted in the
saving in coke being swallowed up by an increased outlav in repairs. Incidentally, it would ap~ear from Mr.
W est 's paper that the practice of employmg a foundry
chemist is becoming fairly common in the United States,
and has led to greatly improved practice.
The SC)nd meeting of the Liverl?ool Engineering
S cciety was held on Wednesday e venmg, N ovember 8,
when a paper entitled, "Some English '\Vater ways, " was
read by Mr. J. A . Sauer, A .M. I .C.E., who is engineer to
the River Weaver Trustees. The author, after giving a
short historical account of the formatiotl of canals and
canalisation of ri vers in the United Kingdom, gave the
following a s being the essential p oints for the considerati on of an engineer when called upon to exec Jte such
works: 1. What watersheds hls the proposed canal to
pass through, and where can he obtain water m ost
economically ? 2. What route, having regard to existing
towns, will give the leas t number of changes of levAl, and
minimum cost of cutting tunnels, &c. ? 3. What is the
most convenient size of boat to be provided for ? 4.
What size the locks or lifts should be made, and what
sectional area the waterway should be. 5. What method,
wheth ~r locks, lifts, or inclines, he will adopt to overcome
the changes of level. 6. What system of towage should
be provided for. 7. The cost of cons truction and the cos t
of maintenance. 8. Floods. He also laid down that
any s tandard dimensi ons of future canals in England
should not be less than 36ft. bottom width, 60ft. top
width, and depth of 8 ft., with locks 150ft. long, 18 ft.
wide, and 7 ft. water on the sills. Such a canal should
have the slo~e paved with stone, to enable steam and
other m echamcal traction t o be used, a.nd while ordinary
locks might be used in places, every opportunity should
be taken of increasing the height passed through a.t each
change of level by the adoption of lifts similar to those a.t
Anderton on the Weaver, and L ea Fontinettes, in France.
On Tu'3~day, November 7, the tenth seseion of the

N orth-E ast Coas t Ins titution of Engineers a nd Shipbuilders was inaugurated in the L ecture Theatre of the
Durham College of Science, Newcas tle. Mr. _Ro~ert
Thompson, of Sunder] and, presid ent of the Ins tytutlon,
was in the chair. The secretary, Mr. J ohn Duck~tt, presen ted the report of the counc il of the ninth sess10n. It
stated th at the gold meda ls for the eig hth session had
been awarded as follows: The engineering medaJ to Mr.
J. J enning!J Ca mpbell for his paper on "Engmes for
Ships of War;" the shi pbuilding m edal t o Mr. ~ C.
J ames for his pal?er on 11 Tonnage M easurement. In
the graduate sectton a still further improvement bad
taken p1ace, and the meetings had been ~etter . attend~d.
The prizes for the best papers read m thts section
during the eighth session we; e awarde~ as follows:
First award to Mr. J . Kmg for his paper on
" S ome Notes on the Propulsion of Paddle Steamers ;''
the second awa rd was divided between M essrs. E.
T owers and R. L . G aine, the form er for his paper,
"Hs d raulics and Hydraulic Machinery, " and the
latter for his paper on " S teamship Trials." During the
p ast year the following a dditions ,_have ~een made t~
the list of members: 67 members, 1 assoctates, and 3o
gradua tes; and 18 graduates had been raised to the rank
of members. The t otal number of m embers was now 894.
The balance-sheet was also presented, showing that the
receipts, including a balance of 730l. 2s. 8d. from the
previous session, had been 2394l. 15s. 1d. ; and the expenditure 1455l. 7s. 2d ., leaving a credit balance of
949l. 7s. lld. It was intimated th a t 27 new members,
13 associates, a.nd 12 graduates, had just been elected.
The twentieth annual repo.rt of the Cambridge U Diversity E xtension L ectures, covering the work d one
during the session 1892-3, has just been published. About
220 courses of lectures and classe~, on the well known
University E x tension _Plan, have been given a.t ~early
200 places, varying in s1ze from large towns like L eteester
and Newcastle-on -Tyne, to small;villages of a few hundred
inhabitants in Cambridgeshire or K ent. The aggregae
of the average number of students attending the courses
was n early 16,000, of whom nearly half attended, in addition to the conversational class held before or after the
lecture, and intended for the more earnest s tudents. The
average number of weekly papers written by students
was about 2600 and moro than 1700 passed the examination held at the end of the various coursel. The lectures
covered a wide range of subject s of general interest in
various d epartments of science, history, literature, and
art. The most important event of the year has been the
foundation of the U niversity E x tem;ion and 'l'ecbnical
College at Exet er, organised by th e co-op eration of the
t own coun cil, the local University E x tension Committee, and the Cambridge authoriti es. The collf'ge
has a. t echnical d ep artment and a literary and hist orical
side, the former subsidised by the t echnical instruction
funds of the city. 'hree courseR of regular University
E xtension lectures, as well as a. large number of science
and other classes, are already in activity. The city of
N orwich has, during the year, adopted the sch eme of
affiliation to the U niversity, wh ereby stud ents who go
through a. certain course of lectures at Norwich can
obtain a. degree at Cambridge after two year~' residence
instead of the usual three y~ars. Another notable feature
of the year's work was the summer meeting, held during
the month of August, and attended by about 650 s tudents,
all qualified by some prev ious study m their own centres
for the more ad vanced work provided at Cambridge. It
is evident that the students who attended thoroughly
enjoyed their month at Cambridge, and the Uni versity
authorities speak highly of the serious nature of the work
done.
On Friday, N ovember 10, a.t the Westminster Palace
Hotel, the inaugural m eeting of the thirteenth session of
the Junior Engineering S ociety t ook place, and was
largely attend ed. The retiring president, Dr. John Hopkinson. F.R.S ., t ook the chair at the commencem ent of
the proceedings, and after some formal business had t een
disposed of, presented the Society's premium t o Mr.
R . W. Newman for his papor on "The Sanitary Engineer~ng of Dwellings." A yote of th~nks ~aving been
cordtally passed to Dr. Hopkmson for hts servtces as pre~i
dent: the new president ~fr. J. W olfe- Barry, Vi ccPrAstdent Inst. C.E.. was then introduced and proceeded to deliver his presidential addre~s.
In it
1\[r. B a.rry cl_a~med f_or the engineering profession
an equal p os1t10n Wlth that of other professional
bodies, and suggest ed means whereby its status
might be improved, He referred t o the r emarkable
progress of en~neering during the past forty or fifty
years, and to 1ts ben eficent influence on the condition
of mankind, concluding with a review of the directions in which it would doubtless achieve fresh
triumphs. The tha.nks_of the Socie~y having been heartily
expr~ssed to _the pres1dent for his address, the meeting
~ermmated w1th the_announcement of the ensuing meetmg, when a. paper wtll be read by Mr. S . Cutler jun . on
"Coal Gas Manufacture, and Recent Improve~ent~ in
the Plant Employed therein. '' Other pa.Pers in the
session's programme are "Boiler Incrus tat10ns and Deposi~~.,:' by Professor V. B. Lewes; "The Construction
and working of Electro-MotorCJ," by Mr. A. H. Dykes
"T~e Design and Construction of B oilers for Locomotiv~
Engmes," by Mr. G. F. Burtt; "Lubricants their U se
Testing, a.nd Analysis," by Mr. W. F. E~ Seymour ~
"The In1,ustri~s of D evon and Cornwall," by Mr. F. R~
Taylor;
M9:r1_ne Engineering Repairs," by Mr. T. P.
;Hosegood. VIs tts to works t ak e place b etween the meetm~s, th~ papers ~ea~ and accounts of the visits being
prmted m tb~ So01ety_s record of transactions. We may
add, for the mformat10n of any of our readers desiring
particulars of membership, that the address of the secretary is 47, Fentima.n-roa.d, S. W, .

6o8

[Nov. 17, 1893.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
C0~1 POUN D

DIAGONAL

SURFACE-CONDENSING ENGINES OF S.S. "FAIRY QUEEN."

CONSTRUCTED BY 11ESSRS.

HALL-BRO\VN,

BUTTERY,

AND CO., EN<HNEERS,

GOVAN,

GLASGOW.

(For Desc'ription, see Page 604. )

., I

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- ---- --

---...

1no C

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-=

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609

E N G I N E E R I N G.
AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."
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Also for Advertisem.ent.s, Agence Ha.vas, 8, Place de la Bourse.
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st~r..::.ee.:..:t_.-========NOTICE TO AMERICAN SUBSCRIBERS.
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Oftlce for Publication and Advertisements, Nos.
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T&LEORAPmc AoDRKss-ENGINEERING, LONDON.
TBLEPIIONE NUMBBR- 3663.

--- -- ---

ENGINEERING is registered for t ro.nsmission abroad.

CONTENTS.
PAGE '

The National Danger . . . . . .

The Development of South
Alrica.n Rail ways . . . . . . . .
The Engineering Congress
at Chicago .. . . . . . . .. . . . .
7 he Severance Cut Nail
Machine (Illustrated) .. . .
Rt-frigerator Car at tbe
World's Columbian Expo~ition

693
597
599
602

(Illustrated) ... . .. 603

The Willans Eo,eine at the

Wo :ld's Columbian Expc si.tion llUmtrated) ....
Brooks Locomoti ve a.t the
World's Columbian Exposition (l llmtrated) . . .. .
Notes from the United States
Mill for the Orion Ot>ldMining Company (lllustrated) .. ................
The
Pas:enger
Screw
Steamer " Fairy Que en"

C0.3
603
6()3
604

(lllustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . GO~

The Ph rE ical Society . . . . . .

~otes from Ol!!veland at.d
the Northern Counti('s ..
Notes from South Yorkshire
Notes from tbe South-West
Notes from the North.. .. ..
Miscellanea .... ...... . .....
Presideo tial Add re ses at
the Institution of Chil
Eo~ioeers ..............
The Torpedt> Gunboats ....
Technical Education .. . ...

t05
605
606
t('6

PAGE
The Attendance at the
Columbian Exposition ( l llust rated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Literature ...... ....... 614
Books Received .. .... .... 614
Notes ... . .............. .. 614
The Late Mr. Anlhony
Reckenzaun . . . . . . . . . . 615
Royal Meteorological So
ciety .. .. .. . .. . . .. . . . . . 615
The Institution of Ci" il Engineus ...... .... ........ 615
The Loss of H.M.S. cc Vietoria" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Tbe Stability of ArmourClads ......... . ........ 616
The
Atlantic
Record :
Qurenstown v. South
a.mpton ............ .... 616
Ball Bearings for Thrust
Block-J .......... .... .. .. 616
Twin Screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Lathe Centre Grinder (Illustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Edwards' Automatic Sprinkler (l llust,ated) ... ..... 617
Indudtrial Notes .... . . .. . 617
Transition Cur ves (lllus

606
trated) .. . . ... . ....... . .. 618
607 Ports on Sand y Coasts (n.
lmtrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

609
610
611

Boiler Explosions at Congleton and Netherton ...... 623

Launchts and Trial Trips . . 624
" E ngineering" Patent Re
cord (Jllugtra&ed) . . . . . . . . 625
of D ET A I LS 0 F G RE A. 'l'

Jrith a Two-Page F.ng1aving

.NORTIIBRN (U.S.) R.dlLW.dl ~ TWELVE-WHEELED
LOCOiJfOTll"E .dT THE WORLD'S COLUMBI.dN EXPOSITI ON.

better
opportunity
is
afforded
.
of
emphasisin~
NOTICE.
the points to which the altentwn ?f the aud~
The New Cunarders "CAMPANIA" and "LU- ence is directed. Year by year this ground IS
CANIA ;" and the WORLD'S COLUMBIAN trodden in numerous societies until it becomes
EXPOSITION OF 1893.
bare as the desert., obliging each successive p~esi
The Publtsher begs to announce that a Reprint is dent to explore diligently in search of some httle
now ready of the Descriptive Matter and Illustra- patch of verdure from which he may gather a ft3w
tions contained ID the issue of ENGINEERING of 11reen leaves to deck the specimens he borrows
Aprll 21st, comprising over 130 pages, wtth ntne from the lt ort~ls sicc1cs of encyclopredias and yeartwo -page and four single- page Plates, printed books.
throughout on special Plate paper. bound ID cloth.
Occasionally a strong man arises who, out of the
gUt lettered. Price 6&. Post free, 6s. 6d. The ord.l fulness of personal experience, ''speaks with ~uth ~~
nary edition of the issue of AprU 21st ls out of print. rity of what he knows, and not as one of the sc_nbes.
-=:-=====-==- -His facts have not seen t he light before, and Instead
of being strung together like beads, or thrown out ~11
N 0 TIC E.
The attention of Readers and Advertisers is disconnected, like marbles, they are arrang~d In
drawn to the a lteratlon Jn the name of the symmettical courses to serve as the foundatwn of
weighty opinions, the result of a life's experience.
Publisher.
Owlng to the retirement of Mr. Cha r les Gilbert, To listen to such an address is no longer an act of
communications for the Publishfng Department courtesy- a wearisome episode in an . otherw~se
should now be addre.ssed to Mr. C. R. JOBNSON, hearty greeting to a new leader-~ut a ~11gh g!ahfiPublisher and Manager.
cation. There are many moot p01nts In engmecring practice upon which diverge!lt v i~ws are h~ld
by men of eminence, each of whiCh mtght furntsh
NOTICES OF MEETINGS.
the theme of a presidential address. W hat we
TnE l xSTITUTIO~ OF Ct\'lL EN'OlX&ERS.-0 dinary meelinga :
November 2 L, papers to be read with a. d ew to discussion: mean is an explanation of, or-to use an ol~
1. " Tile Tansa Work ~ for the Water S upply o r Dombay," by Mr. fashioned word which has dropped out of vogue 1n
William J. B. Clerke, B.A., U.I.E., M. l ost. U.E. 2. "Tne Baroda
apology" for, the leading
Water Works, " by Mr. Ja.ga.nn:lth ~adasewjee, Assoc. M. Inst. t his particular sense - an
C. E. 3. ''The Wate r :supply of Jeypo r ~ , R!ljputana," by features of the speaker's practice. I t is often quite
Colonel S. S. J Mob. C. I. E., Assoc. Inst. ().E. 4. " Ou the Design possible, upon viewing a piece of engineering
of Mason ry Dams," by Mr. Franz l{reuter (Professor of Civil
work, to name the author from mere inspection .
Engine erin~ a.t the .Royal Technical Acad emy of Munich).
November 28, di'luuesion on Lhe above paper~. At a subsequent It displays certain characteristics, either of principle
meeting the following paper will be takeu: "The M.a.nur~~.cture or detail, that ar e peculiar to some individual
of Casks and Ba.rr('ls by Machinery, " by Mr. Lewis H . H.~nsome,
Asaoc. M. I ~..st. C.E. - Stud ent s' meeting, Fnday, November 17, engine er. These have been adopted by him for
at 7.30 p.m. Paper to be r ead: "The Filtration c f PotalJle certain r easons, which apparent1y do not carry the
Water, " by Messr8. J .unes and Richard Goodma.n, Students Inst.
C.E. Mr. M. W. Iler vey, M. Inst. C. E., in the cbair.-Students' same weight with his contemporaries, since they
visit, Thursday, !'lo,ember 23, at, 2.20 p.m., to tbe Kent Water follow other methodP.
A presidential addre~ s
Works, Deptford. (Train leaves Cbating Uross at 1. 50, Water loo offers a capital opportunity, sometimes- but, abs !
Junction at 1. 52, and Loo don Bridge at 1. 58. Book for St.
very seldom--taken advantage of, to enlighten the
John's).
SoctRTY OF ARTS.-John-street, Adelphi, London W .C. We ines- world as to the causes that led to the adoption oi
day, No\'ember 22. at 8 p.m . Second ordinary meeting. " Con
fo rmation of the Horse from th ' Artislic Point of Vi ew," by certain views. The growth of engineering science
Captain M. H. llayes.
in the mind of one of its leading exponents must
PBYSIOAL SOClETY. -November 24. 1. " r be Mag net.ic Shield always present a fascinating picture, whether the
ing of Concentric Spherical Shells," by P rofessor A. W. RUcke r ,
M. A. F. R.S., President
2. " The Action of ~lect ro- }tagoetic audience accept the conclusions in their entirety
R~di~tion on FJ!ms contai ning Metallic Powders," by Profe~sor or not.
Q. M. Minchin, .M.A.
Unfortunately it falls to the lot of few men to
TOE SOUTH STAFFOIU>SlllR.E INSTITUTE OF IRON AND STEEL WORKS
MANAOER.S.-Saturday, November 25, at the Institute, Dndley. discourse in an interesting manner on any one
Paper to be read: "The C .1lorific Effi ciency of the Rever beratory branch of the vast range of Rcience t hat finds its
Furnace," by Major L. Cubillo (Prubia).
THE l NSTI't UTION OF ELECTRlCAL ~NOINBERS. -Meeting at the home in the Institution. Many have not had the
I nstitution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great Georgestreet West- opportunities of becoming specialists, and more
minster, S. W. Thurs::iay, November 23, ordinary general meet
ing a~ 8 p. m. Discussion on the paper : "The Elec trical T rans- have not the art of translating the r esultant of the
mission of Power from .Niagara Falls," by Professor Oeorge thousand h&.lf-forgotten impressions in their minds
Forbes, F.R.S., Member .
into a connected chain of reasoning and illustration.
THE LtvF.n.POOL ENOINRE>RINO Soo1FJrY.-On Wednesday evening,
NoYem ber 22, 1893. at the Royal Institution, Colquitt-street, They cannot display their know ledge to their friends.
l,i\erpool, at 8 o'clock , when a. paper will be r ead by .M r. l van Like Cassim, they are surrounded by piles of wealth,
C. Barling, Assoc. M. lost. C. E., en t i!led '' Tbe Ad justment of
but it is in a ca\e, and they know not the "Open,
Surveying Instruments. "
Sesame," which would enable them to bring it into
t he light. They are, therefore, confined as to
material to the historical retrospect that ranges
from China to Peru, finding nothing but dry
bones. Some day, we hope, courage- or will
it be despair ?- will nerve a presid ent to
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1893.
break t he fetters of custom, and to regulate the
length of his address by t h e amount he has
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AT TfiE in his h eart to say. Thanks for his election, worcs
of appreciation of t h e work and objects of the InINSTITUTION OF CI VIL ENGINEERS. stitution, a tribute of admiration to the council
T HE opening meeting of the session at t he Insti- and secretary, with possibly a paesing r eference
Lution of Civil Engineers is always an important to some one or two notable events-if such ther e
occasion from a cer emonial point of view. The new were- would often fulfil the r equirements of the
prP.sident takes the ch!l.ir for the first time, and after occasion. Not unfrequently th e rest is but'' leather
thanking the members for t he honour of his elec- or prunello. "
tion, delivers his inaugural address. Probab1y the
We would not advocate any r evolutionary policy
pleasure and just pride inspired by holding such in relation to so dignified, and withal so appropriate,
a distinguished post are m uch marred, in nine a ceremony as a presidential address. It is befitcases out of ten , by the impossibility of saying ting that the year's leader s hould address his conanything worthy of so dignified an occasion. The stituents, and it is natur al that t hey should gath er
room is crowded with the leaders of the pro- to hear him. But it is a distinct disadvantage that
fession- men whose names are known all over the t he length of his remarks should be determined by
world- who have gathered to do honour to their reasons outside his subj ect. Whether he have to
temporary chief, and to lis ten to what he has to compress th em or to extend t h em to fit a convensay on attaining t he summit of an engineer's pro- tional standard, the result must be aloEs of inter est.
fessional ambition. Custom- too strong to be dis- All that is absolutely necessary can be said in ten
obeyed- requires him to speak for a considerable minutes, while an hour may be all too short both
t ime, and almost prescribes his subject. The pro- for speak~r a~d listener.s. The initial gath ering
gress of engineering is the text th~t is laid down of a sesswn Is not subJect to the ~ame limit s
for him, and- theoretical1y, at lea<lt-it is the last of convenience as those that occur later . Members
year's progress t hat he should review. B ut there encounter each other for the first time for month~
ar e limits to human capacity, even in the case of a and can occ~py leisur~ time. in making acquain t~
President of the Institution, and to discour.:~e for ances, r en ewmg old fnendshtps, comparing notes
an hour in an interesting mann er upon the ad- about summer tours, and discussing t he prospects
vances achieved during one twelvemonth often of the future. The chats t hat occur over t he coffee
exceeds those limits. Hence it has at isen that a in the rooms of the Institution are by no means the
longer period is U3ually selected- ten years, fifty least valuable part of the proceedinO's and the
years, or the speaker's lifetime - and thus a . opportunity of extending them for h:lf an hour
~--

'

ENGINEERING.

'

610

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

[Nov. 17, 1893 .

In c~nseq uence of the brevity of the official proceedmgs, would not be felt to ba a. arieva.nce.
. The subject o.f in1ugura.l a.ddress~s was brought
Into . st~ong rehef last Tuesday evening at the
Inshtu~wn. Mr. ~lfred Giles, the new president,
was ~Ievented by Ill-he1lth from being present,
and hts speech had to ~e read by proxy. lt was of
the usual pattern, neither strikingly better nor
worse than many that have preceded it as will be
seen by reference to the official a.bstra.dt published
on pag~ 615.. But it suffered from the absence of
the wnter ; It ~a.cked the ,warm glow of p ersonality
that a.ccompantes a mans words from his own
~outh ; a~d it prov~~e.d, instead of curiosity and
In~ulgent Inte~est, criticism as to its substance and
ObJ~ct: ~ m1scellane?us. collection of incomplete
sta.ttsttes lS very unsatisfying fare, and we believe
w~ are approaching the time when men of eminence
w1ll cease to inflict them upon the Institution.
Those who have but little t o say will h onestly
~cknowledge the fact, and will gain in popularity,
hke the clergymen who preach short sermons while
th.o3e with abundant stores of unwritten kno~ledge
w1ll .d~aw upon them freely, untrammelled by the
trad1t10n that they are to compile an account of the
progress of engineering science throuah its entire
range.
o

duly utilised by those responsible for the newer

vessels, the consequence being that the Sharp- - Forced Draught Trials of T en Torpedo G'unloots. *
sh ooter design was got ouL, and twenty-five vessel~
Sreed
.
Name of Ship.
have been Luilt from it. To enable emaller vessels
Engined
l
y
Ho
re
eBuilt at
ll1
l
PO\\ er .
Krots.
to steam with th~ fleet requires that they shall be
- --- -------able to do somethmg more than merely live through Jason
Barrow


J:arrow
3552
19
Jaseur
.
.
bad weather ; they must be capable of being forced

371 1
19
',
Nig er
"

3786
19.3
at speed through heavy seas, so as not to check Ci rce
"
"
Sheernees


relJn

3508
19k
their larger sisters directly they meet a bit of Alarm
.
.

3886
19. 2
Led
a.
"
"

3597
a popple. The sunken well of the Rattlesnake
J8 a
He be
",,
" ard 3566
Docky

19
wa~ against this, so the Sharpshooter was aiven a Ooyx
Birke oh ead
Laird

35 18
19
high forecastle, the whole of the rest of the boat RetJa.rd
..
3962
19. 4
Spe
edy
..
. . (hiswkk IThornycroft 4674 1
~0
being of less freeboard and having n') bulwarks
to hold water shipped ; deck-houses, with a foreand-aft bridge a~ove, were placed inboard for contractors for this vessel, Messrs. Laird, are t o te
access to machinery spaces, &c. The size was also congratulated upon their success. We believe the
increise?:-the inevitable fate of all new types- power recorded for one half-hour was as much as
4228. It may be noted that this trial v. as made
anti addibonal power was g iven.
.The Sharpshooten are 230 ft. long and 27 ft. without the tubes being fitted with the Admiralty
w.Ide ; they draw 8 ft. to 8 ft. 6 in. , and the ferrule, and that there were n o leaky tubes. Orders
displa~ement at designed load drauaht is 735 have been given that the tubes shall now be
tons.
They have two 4. 7 -in. gun:, and four ferruled, so it is not probable the ship will do the
3-pounder.3. ?-'here are .four torped o dischargers. In same power again. These boilers are of the locothe latest sh1ps, the dtsplacement was increased to motive wet-bottom type, with two furnaces. In the
810 tons, the length ~nd ~readth being the same, case of the Hebe-the ship was built and engined
b~t the draught b emg mcreased about 6 in. at Sheerness Dockyard- the tubes were ferruled
Elghteen of these vessels were built under the and so eomething was taken from the steaming
Naval Defe!lce Act, two being for India, and t wo capacity of the boiler. Whether the Hebe would
THE TORPEDO GUNBOATS.
for Austraha. The contract power for the enoines have done as well as the Renard without ferrules
. THE smaller classes of war vessels are very often, in. the newest ships was 2500 indicated horse p~wer is a matter that has not been subjected to proof
'
1f not generallr, more interesting than those of wtth natural draught, and 3500 indicated horse- but there is every reason to suppose she would .
!he Hebe, as already pointed out, is a dockyard
la~g~r prop ortt?ns. . Pr.lbably there is more power. with forced draught. The Speedy was an
origmahty and Inventt? n required in the desig n of exceptwn, her contract power being 4500 indicated sh1p throughout, the hull, engines, and fittinas
a torpedo-.boat of the highest speed, than in that of h orse-power with forced drauoht or a thousand being all constructed at Sheerness. Whatever m;y
a battleshtp or cruiser ; certainly there are areater indicated horse-power more tha~ a~y of her sisters. be ~ne's views as to the policy of dockyard-built
risks to be run by the contractor and the v entur~ This is due to the fact that she has water-tube engnes, there can be no question that the Hebe's
generc~.lly is of a more sporting 'character. Th e boilers. ~he additional power required with the machinery is an excellent job, both in design and
t orpedo g.1nboats are not such flyer3 as the torpedo- newer shtps naturally tutailed more weioht of workmanship; furthermore, the general arranaebolts prop er, still le3s than the new "destroyers; '' machinery. The estimated weia ht of the Sharp ment shows that the designer had a thorouah a r:sp
the first of a new .type. of the latter cla~s having shooter's machinery was at firs~ 170 tons for 4500 of w~a~ was r equ.ired in the working of th~ v:ssel,
recently run her trtal with the most satisfactory indicated horse-power, but it was found that in and ~t IS surprtsmg how much space there is for
results, as already narrated in these columns.* some ..of ~he . later vessels 210 tons were required movmg about, considering the quantity of machinery
Almo.)t simultaneously the final trial of one of for 3o00 mdiCated horse-power. In regard to this that has to be pack~d between the engine-room
the present series of torpedo cruisers was run as que3tion, it may be p ointed out that, roughly, the bulkheads. The cylmders of the H ebe's engines
s ~ate l in our issue of la~ t week in a brief ' note " de3troyer Havock- ship and m!l.chinery-is not are the same sizes as those of other vessels of hf r
wh erein we simply recorded the fact of the Speedy\; very much heavier than the machinery of the tor- class, namely, 22 in., 34 in., and 51 in. in diameter
trial havi.ng t1.ke.n pl<1ce, and of a very successful pedo. g unboats, but the power developed is ap- the stroke b~in~ 21 i~. The weight of engines and
r~sult be111g achleved.
There are altoaeth er in proximately the same. There are of course spare gear, with m engme-r oom bulkheads, is betwefn
the Navy List thirty of these torp:do gun- reasons for this, many of them una~oidable but ?4 and 55 tons, the engines being of the ordinary
boats, a~d as the majority of them cost about somG whic'h need not exist. vVithou t referri~ a to Inverted. three- stage compound 1ype. On <nte1 in!T
fifty to sixty thousand pounls each - without these more explicitly, we may express a \vish that the engme-r oom, one finds all auxiliaries placed
guns, ammunition, &c.--it will b a seen that a a vessel of this class should ha built and engined together on a flat at the after part, so that there is
'?Y con trac~, the contractor having as free a hand good access all round tho main engines. The
good deal of money has been spent on the class.
The torp~ 1 > gt;~nboJ.t3 are designed to keep the m the destgn of the machinery as was formerly arrangement undoubtedly lends itself to ase of
working in a sea-way, and might be inya.Juable in
sea and crutse Wlth the fl eet in h ome watera and usual in the case of torpedo. boats.
The majority of these Sharpsh ooters have each case of damage or breakdown in action at
the M editerranean. Their function in war time
will be to fight the smaller craft of a hostile fleet, four locomotive-type marine boilers and these the sa~e time it do~s not appear that ~ore
or to pop in and pick off the cripples when chance boilers, as stated, have never done the work t hat space 1s ta.~en up In the ship. When ona
arises during the progress of an engaaement. They was expected from them. A first-class torpedo- compare~ th1s comfortable arrangement in the
will als J prove valuable as scouts ~nd despatch- ? oa.t's machinery with one boiler will d evelop 1500 Hebe with the plan followed with vessels of
b oats. The R'l.ttlesnake was the parent boat of the Indicated horse-power, whereas it takes four boilers t he Med ea ~nd M eduea type, one realises that.
the
clas 3. She was built at Lai rd's, and doubtless of ab~ut .the same size in a torpedo gunboat t o get the naval eng meer has made some gain durina
0
many of our readera will remember seeing her at 4000 Indicated horse-power. Of course there is a last fe.w y~a1s. . Th e engines of the R e be are yery
the Birkenhead yard when the Institution of Naval g~eat diff~rence in t)le conditions of running. The accessibl~ 1n their own design-irres~ective of their
Architects held their summer meeting in Liverpool atr pressure for draught in a t orpedo-boat is not surroundmg~-the n~w general steel columns being
in 1886. The Rattlesnake and her five sister ships r estrictAd to the same extent as in the larger craft, used, but w1t.hout di~gonal bracing fore and aft.
had raised poops and forecastles, with a sunken and, above all, the t orpedo-boat's trials are run In place of th1s. there IS a h ori zontal crot!Sstay near
well between, the rail being made continuous, with with the co~tractor '.s own stoker~, who are picked the bottom. The weigh shafts are at the back of
bu l warki in the midship part. The Rattlesnake is men, and highly skilled experts m their work. Th e the en~ines-that is, on the inside as they stand in
200 ft. long, 23 ft. wide, and 8ft. draught of water. ordinary navy stokers d o the firin g in the torpedo th~ sh1p. ~here are four wet-bottcm locomotive
The design was for a displacement of 550 tons, and gunboat trials. It has, however, always been boiler~, havmg a total tube surface of 5518 square
the h or3e-power of 2700 indicated was estimated to found impossible to get such high results with feet, and a total heating surface of 6163 Equare
drive the vessel 18.5 knots. The armament con- g roups of boilers as with single boilers. The one fe.et. There are two fireboxes to each boiler,
sisted of one 4-in. gun and six 3-pounder quick-firing boiler, one man system will always answer best wtth a water space between t hem. The t otal grate
The propellers
guns. For torpedoes there were two fixed tubes where possible. We were able through the courtesy surface is 163 square foot.
and two launching carriages. On her trial with of the Sheerness Dockyard officials and the con- a~e each 8 ft. 3 in .. in diameter by 9 ft. 4 in.
136 lb. steam, 311 revolutions with the starboard tractors to have an opportunity of being in the pitch. ~he t otal we1ght. of the H e be's machinery,
and 308 revolutions with the port engines, the stokehold through the greater part of one of t he all told, Is 210 t ons, whiCh, we believe, is below
collective indicated horse-power was 2718, and the forced draught trials of the Speedy, and we have th~t of ot her vessels of the class. The boilers
weigh
96
tone,
and
contain
ahout
30
t
ons
of
water
nu
hesitation
in
saying
that
with
a
moderate
amo
unt
mean of six runs gave a speed of 18.779 knots
The trials of the H ebe were ccmmencrd with a.
On a consumption tria.l at 11 knots, 373 indicated of practice-drill it might be called- cor~ siderably
horse-power was required, the coal burnt being more power could have been got from the machi- preliminary run on October 13, when the engines
2 lb. per indicated horse-power p er hour. This nery of this vessel. In saying this it is but fair were worked. up t? 2700 indi?ated horse-power,
would give a radius of action of 2800 miles. In that we should bear testimony to the zeal of the and after h~vmg gtven every thmg a good grind in
for
about
SIX
hours,
the.
ship
re~urned to prepare
navy
stokers
and
the
engine-room
staffperhaps
the course of the naval manreuvres the Rattlefor her natural-draught tr1al. This was carried out
more
especially
to
an
engineer
officer,
who
showed
snake class was put to something like a practical
test, and though they were found safe, provided the coolness and pluck characteristic of his class in on October 17, and the for ced draught t rial took
place. on ~ctoter !4. Th e <hief results obtain< d
they were handled with care, they shipped a good a very trying moment. The Table in the next are
g1ven m the Table on the next page.
column
gives
the
results
of
trials
of
t
en
of
the
most
~eal of water, and their light draught made them
The ~eb e, though d ockyard .b~ilt and engincd ,
recent
t
orpedo
gunboats.
thQicult t o steer. The Rattlesnake subsequently
was subJected to the same con dthons of trial as the
The
Speedy's
trial
waa
run
in
a
heavy
seafor
snaut through ve ry heavy weather in a satisfactory
trial purposes-otherwi~e a much higher speed contract built or engined ships, and the engineertest mer
.
.
would have been register ed.
the,'he exper1ence ga1ned was valuable, and was
* Th~ engines of the three Barrow boats were iJJusN ext to the Speedy it will be seen that the tra.t.ed
1~ ENGINEERING, vol. lv., page 132, and the P enn
Renard got the highest result in power ; and the engmes m vol. 1v., page 280.
de;* S ee trial of the Ha vock, page 545 ante.
r
0

t t

Nov. 17, 1893.]

=
ina

staff were determined t h 1t if ~ossible the tr~als

sh~uld go thro'Jgh without a h1tch.
The at m,
therefore was that the contract power , and n o
more sh~ uld be reached, so as n ot to run unne.::essary ~isks. I t will be seen by the. records h ow
nearly those in charge of the ma?hmery on the
forced-draught trial were able t o ~1t off t_he ex~ct.
power r equired ; in fact, the ser~es of tnals w1t_h
these vessels sh ow one or two 1nst_ances of ~h1s
nature, the Circe, it will be seen, be1ng only e1~ht
units over the r equired 3500. The H eb e havmg
duly fulfilled her contr~ct, it ~as ~otermined t o try
her higher, and with t~1s end 1n v1ew the vessel was
brought into the basm at Sheerneas t o open out,
Trials of H.JJI.S. " H ebe 11
F .Jrced
Draught.

Na.t ur.ll
Dra.ug ht.
Date
..

forward . .
Dra.ugbt of wa t er { aft
. .1
s ~am in bo' lers
..
..
..

..
Ai r pressurt
Vacuum ..
Revolutions

Mean pressures . .

..

Indicltcd borS2 p:>wer

Ol t )b~r

0 .1tober 24
7 ft. 10 in.
11 .. 7i ,
148.7 lb.
2. 0 io .
S.
P.

17

7 f t. 10 in.
11 l t t! ,
144 lb.
. 77 in.

S.

28. 4
22L.3

R. 46.8
20.7
I.
{ (...
10. 3
H. 417.4
I. I 4H .2
{ l.. 492. 8

P.

28.0
244.9
59. 9
24.2
11.3
593. 4
578.2
6.>5. 6

28.4
221.9
48 8
20.7
9.8
437.0
4l3.6
470. 5

Total iodil.}ated horse-) 1351.4 1351.1

2702.1)
power
..
..
(
17.8
Speed . .
..
.
knots

27.9
2 t6 3
61 5
25.0
11 0
607.G
690.9
685. 5

178 2.2 11784.0

3566. 2

19

and above all, to fill h er boiler-3 wit h distilled

wd.t~r as, for some reason which has hitherto
baffi~d' the philosophies of both engineer and
chemi3t Sheerness natural water is the most
primina'
water that t hese islands produca. I t is the
0
custom of all engineer contractors who are old
to brina
down River Lea water by barge
ata.aers
0
0
when trials are frum Sheerness. vVhether bargee
fills up on the ebb in Northfteet Hope- as has been
augaested - is n ot to the point. I t is an undisputed
fl\ct~ that Sheerness water is n ot usable when
hiahest results have to be obtained.
flavin(/ been duly tuned up to concert pitch, the
Hebe wa~ sent out a~ain on November 1, when the
following result was obtained:
O.lt e

..

..

Draught of wa ter
~team in boilers
Air pre!ssure
..
Vacuum ..
Revolutions

)[ea'"l pressures . .

61I

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

JndicatPd h orae p"ver . .

Total

To t~l of starboard and por t . .

Maximum indicated horse-power

November 1, 1893
Forward, 8 ft.
{ Aft, 11 ft. 7 in .
..
H2 lb.
..
3 7 in.
S tarbo \rd.
Port.
..

..

27.8

..

252.2

27.6
250. 1
66. 6
27.3
12.1
668.6
658. 5
e59.5

H. 62.4
I. 26.1
{
L . 12.3
H. 635. 5
I. 640 9
{ L. 673.2

..

..
..

19 19.6

1986.6
3936.2
42l4. 7

P erhaps the most instructive part of t his latter

triill is the great additional air pressure for draught
required to give anoth er 400 indicated h orse-power.
On the official trial, it will be seen, the air pressure
was but 2 in., but on the later trial no le3s than a
mean of 3. 7 in. was required. The r eason is
instructive. The tubes of the Hebe's boilers were,
as already mentioned, fitted with the Admiral ty
ferrule . This, as our readers well know, is a
device in which the joint of t he tube end with t he
tubeplate is protected by a trumpet mouth, which
projects out of the tube and turns back on the
plate. As t here is an air space between the tubeplate and the turned-over end of the ferrule, the
ld.tter naturally must get red-hot, at anyratewhenthe
boiler is forced to any extent. However this may be,
there is no doubt that ferrules of this type conduce
to that very unpleasl.nt b oiler disease known as
"bird's-nesting. " A" bird's nest, 11 it may be stated
for the benefit of those who have n ot had experience
in this direction, consists of a built-up obstruction
of small particles of coke or coal. 'fhe first thing
that happens is that a ring of these particles forms
round the crown of the trumpet-mouthed ferrule.
This annulu3 grad ual1y grow-3 inwards across until,
ia extreme cd.ses, the ferrule m outh becomes
entirely closed by a disc of coke-like substance.
~he mass does n ot grow up inside the tube, but
a1mply extends across it, forming, not a lining, but
a lid. In the case of t he Hebe, after her extra.
forced-draught trial, in one boiler 10 per cent. of
h er tubes were, we believe, prc~.ctically entirely
closed. The bird's nest is of so firm a texture that

it may be r emoved bodily., and t~e various ~tages of

formation are extremely 1nterestmg. J udgmg fro m
examples of bird's nests taken from the Hebe, we
doubt very much if she could have continued running at the power she did fo~ ~uch longer. T.hat,
ho wever is a m'l.tter of opmwn, but the botlers
were w~rking with 6 in. air pressure at the. finish..
Of course bird's-nesting is no new t h mg, 1t
havina been a m~tter with which t orpedo-boat
build;rs have lona been acquainted. The forma.tion of the founlation ring of the nest in bellmouthed ferruled boilers, is generally attributed
to the fact tha.t the ferrule gets r ed-hot, and it i~ a
curious speculation h ow near the tubepla.tes and
tube-ends of t orpedo-boats' boilers-on which bird's
ne3ts have formed- may have arrived to that state.
Doubtless a tubepla.te cannot get red-hot when ~ne
side of it is in contact with water, but the q uestwn
is, act ually, h ow near is the water 7
In r egard to the Hebe's trial, it should be stated
that a bit of bad luck occurred in the second hc~.lf
h our when one of the fa n-engine crankpins heated
up, ~nd necessitated stopping th.e fan and slacking
out bearina3.
This rather sp01lt the programme
0
laid down, which was t o get the maximum power
whilst the tubes were clean. For the first h alfhour this was done, but when the one fa.n was
stopped the figures dropped back t o 377 4 indicated
horse-power. In the third h alf-hour the fan was
put right aaain, and 4012 indicated horae-power
was reached. Of course the ship must stand by
her mishaps-j ust as t h e Valkyrie had _to put up
with her t orn spinnaker- but the fan engmes of the
H ebe are of more than ordinary propor tions, and
the crankpin j ournal is Cbrtainly of ample length.
The H e be, during her trials, was in charge of Commander A. D,mgla~ , of the D ockyard R eserve, Mr.
W. W . Ch ilcott, H . N., chi~f e ngineer of the dockyard, being in ch1.rge of the machin~ry, assisted by
lVIr. A. R. Pattison, the second eng1neer at S heerness.
The trials of the Speedy possess even more
interest t han those of the H ebe, as in this vessel
the attempt ha3 been first made, on any _c onb!derable
scale, to introduce the water tube bo1ler 1nto the
N avy. Considering the vast amount of anxiety and
labour that ha~ fallen on the engineering brc~.n ch of
the Navy during the last few years-to say nothing
of the d d.nger to life and property- one can h ardly
help wondering why the authorities did n ot earlier
have recourse to so very promising a way out of
their difficulties. Rash haste in adopting new ideas
has, h owever, never been a besetting sin at Whitehall probably we are not sufficiently thankful we
have' a steam navy at all. M ovement is, h owever,
now being made, and the d estroyers are largely
fitted with water-tube boilers, whilst, as already
annvunced by Mr. \Vhite at Cardiff, two other
vessels are to have respectively Belleville and
Du Temple boilers. Probably the success of the
Speedy's trials will lead t o the tide setting still
more strongly this way, so that in the course of four
or five years we may r each the position occupied
by the French at the present time.
We ful ly descri bed the Speedy at the time of her
lau nch at Chiswick, * so that we need not repeat the
aeneral particulars here . She is liko the other ships
~f h er class in all main features ; her boilers, and
those d etails governed by them, constituting the
only difference. There are eight of these watertube boilers, each h aving 1840 square feet of
h eating surface and 25! square feet of grate area.
The t ubes are of steel, and are from l k in. to
1! in . in diameter, the largest being nearest the
fire. The eight boilers of the Speedy probably
weigh about 20 tons less than the four boilers
of each of the other ships, water and fittings included, and yet the Speedy gave steam for 700 indicated~ horse-power more than t he best of the other
ships, whilst it was over 1000 indicated h orsepower more than the lowest, and that with an unorganised staff working on a new system. On the
other hand, the Speedy's engines are naturally
h eavier than those of the other ships. \Ve have
s 1.id the He be's engines, with spare gear, weigh
about 54: to 55 tons ; whilst the correspon d ing
fiaures
for the Speedy would be from 72 to 73 tons.
0
The records of the two official trials of the
Speedy are given in the next column.
The forced draught trial was run on a day when
it was blowing hard from the N.E., and Captain
D ouglas, who took charge of the ship, very wisely
determined not to go out into deep water b eyond

* See ENGINEERING, vol. lv., pages 709, 872, and 881.

Trials of H . M.S. "Speed y. "

Date of tri~l
..
Duration of trial
Draugh t forward
,, aft ..
Steam in boiler
Air pressure

..
..

..
..

Revolutions per m inute

Vacuum . .
..
..
Mean dfective pressure

N.4tural
Draught.

Forced
Draught.

October 3
8 bouts
7 ft. 9 in.

November 7
:3 h ours
7 ft. 6 in.

I- - - -

H.

1.

L.

fl .
I.

Iudicated h ors e-power { L.

Total indicated h orse-po A"H .

Ditto p ort and starb:>ard
.
Speed in knots . .
..
..

11 " g ..
18 S. 6 lb.
. 57 in.

S.
209 7
27 ~

6l 5
26.3

12.1
521.7

532.9
55<'. 6

P.
203.2
27.1
o7.7
26
10.4
4 ;2.6
609 6
6o8 6

1605.2
14-10 8
3046
18.5

11 9 "
193.6 lb.
1 .7 in .

S.

t47
27!
75. 6
33 4
15.6
74S.5
795. 1
846.7

P.

243
27
76.9
32. 5
14. 4
759 2
762.7
762.5

2390. 3
2284.4
4074.7
20

the Goodwins. The run was, therefore, made

amongst the shoals off the N orth K entish coast,
running from the Nore d own t o the North F oreland, through the Black Deep and Edinburgh
Channel. As it was, the sea was rougher than
beseems tt ial trip condit ions, alth ough nothing to
serious]y test the true seaworthiness of the ship's
d esign. The sh~llow water in which the run was
made naturally combined with the rough weather
to detract from the speed of the vessel, and not
only t hat, but reduced the indicatPd horse-power
also, for engines can never get away so well when
the screws are n ear the bottom . At one part of the .,
run- near the West Oaze, wher e there is about ten
fathoms-the Speedy brought up a wave that we
estimated to be 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in. h igher than the
deck, the crest being about 15 f t. to 20ft. as tern,
which shows that t he wave wa.s pretty steep and
must have been absorbing an enormous amount
of power.
\Ve are glad to hear that the
Admiralty have decided to run a series of progressive trials with this vessel. They will be r emarkably interesting, and we have little d oubt i hat
when the stokera have had more t raining a.
speed of 21 knots will be got in deep water and fine
w e~ther.
During the forced -draught trial, the
boilers worked better even than on the natural
draught trial. During the latter, on e of the boilers
got filled up so that the port engines had to be
eased for a time, but the mishap is one t hat
would not be like1y t o occur with a trained engineroom staff, and with n ot t oo many people to gi ,.-e
orders or t urn valves. One thing is certain, that
th ese boilers please the stokers, wh o appear to appreciate the absence of danger and anxiety ; and
they also say they find the work of firing much
l ighter than with the more ordinary types of
boiler. The water level in the boilers was constant, and there was n o unusual fluctuation in
ateam pressure, two troubles characteristic of some
types of water-tube boile r; in fact, throughout the
trials the boilers of the Speedy were an undoubted
success.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.
THE address of Mr. W. H. \Vhite, C.B., F.R.S ,
at the annual meeting of the Sheffield Technical
School, raises again the question of the comparati\e
advantages of the old English system and of t he
Continental systems of training engineers and factory
managers. There is, perhaps, no more consptcuous
example of the value of a. sound technical education
than Mr. \Vhite himself, but the advan tage of a
scientific training in the case of designers and chiefs
of departments is n ow fully recognised, and,
indeed, a word of caution seems needed as to what
technical education can and cannot do. At the
present moment t here appears to be a danger of it
becoming a mere fad. Technical institutions and
classes are being organised over the wh ole coun try,
often, we fear, with less j udgment than might be
desired. With the exception of such work as plumbing, and possibly two or three other trades, the
possession of an elementary scientific training will
not improve the work turned out by the average
workman . A knowledge of the parallelogram of
for ces will not, for instancP, make a man a. better
fi tter, n or enable a machinist to t urn or plane a
casting more accurately. Nevertheless, as scholarship3 are in many cases provided, by which a. clever
y oung workman can obtain an adequate scientific
training at the larger institutions, the~o elementary
t echnical classes are, on the whole, advantageous. In
short, t hescholarshipsystem provides a way by means
of which any youth of the artisan class of good abilities

612

may acquire a sound technical t raining, fitting him,

when combined with an adequate knowledge of
workshop methods, and of the materials of construction, for the post of foreman, under-manager or
manager of works, or to take charge of a drawing
office. As for the vast maj ority who are without
exceptional ability, it is doubtful whether such a
smattering of scientific knowledge as they acquire at
the ordinary evening cla.gses does not do them as
much harm as good. A half-educated individual
is very likely to think he ''knows it all, , and is
thus led to illustrate anew the tr uth of Pope's
adage, ''A little learning is a dangerous thing. "
Experience shows that, to be r eally useful to a
man in a responsible position, a thorough training
is n ecess uy. In many technical schools attention seems to be concentrated too tnuch on the
mathematical side of engineering, without sufficiently insisting on the precautions necessary in
carrying out a design, t o insure that the assumptions necessarily made in the mathematical treatm ent shall agree reasonably well with the conditions actually obtaining in practice. The r esult of
this is such failures as those of th e bridge over the
Morawa in Servia (ENGINEERING, vol. lv., page
134), or that over the Cannich in Scotland (ENGINEERING, vol. liv., page 329). In both these cases
the nominal stresses on the material were well within
reasonable limits, but errors were made in working
ou c the design~ which should be impossible to a
properly trained engineer.
Our view as to the gr eat importance of the
thorough training of a few men, as oppos~d to a
general and incomplete training of a larger number,
seems to be borne out by some facts mentioned at
the r ecent m eeting of the Society of Chemical
Industry at Ml:l.nchester. F or years it h as been
the practice at our chemical works to employ imperfectly trained. chemists, manufacturers, if anything,
fi~hting shy of those who had :t<3 students showed
signs of originality. In Germany the opposite
policy was purdued, with only too successful results
so far as the British chemical trade was concerned.
Within the last few years, however, our own works
have begun to appreciate the folly of the former
policy, with the r esult that last year, t hough the
tonnage of our chemical exports had diminished,
their value had been enormously increased.
Another question which arises in this connection
is as to h ow a lad should commence his engineering
training. In the case of a lad of the artisan class
who wishes to become an engin eer, as opposed to a
mere mechanic, there is usually no option. He
must attend the works during the day, and evening
classes at night, putting a strain on his constitution
which it may prove unable t o stand. If, however,
the eiaht-hours system becomes general, there will
be les~ difficulty in his doing so, as he will be
able to get a fair amount of sle?p at that period of
life when it is most essential, and will n ot have to
turn out athalf-past five in the morning, and, brea.kfastless, trudge down t o a cold and draughty shop,
after having worked at his books to a ~a~e hour ~n the
previous niaht. Many employers, 1t 1t t rue, 1n the
past have b~d th e good feeling to allow prom_ising
lads trying for \Vhitworth o~ other scholarships to
come in after breakfast, but 1n such cases the foreman naturally does not put t hese youths on the
best work and other employers are less considerate and i~deed, can hardly be blamed, as privileges
of this kind must be bad for the discipline of the
shop. Mr. White, we observe, is a strong advocate
of the workshop and theoretical training being
carried on toaeth er and his opinion will necessarily
have much w~ight ~ttach~d to i_t.. Pro~ably in t~e
earlier s tages of a youth s t ratnmg tlu~ system IS
the best and is provided for by the evemng classes,
but, as ~lready mentioned, it entails a sever? physical strain to which many parents would obJect to
expose their sons. The question then remains as
to whether the lad should be sent into the workshops first, and to college afterwards, or v i~e versa.
Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. If a lad completes an engineering co~rae at
one of the technical schools, and then goes tnto a
shop, h e is likely to. create .a bad impression by
bumptiousness and In certain cases may take a
disgust to the' manual wo~k involved, th_ou~h, if
r eally worth anything, he will go through with 1t. . It
must be admitted, too, that students may pass wit~
credit through college, and fail afterwards a~ engineers from a lack of that common sen se ~htch, as
appli~d to construction, is said to constttute t~e
whole art of the engineer. Instances. c?uld e~~1Jy
b~ provided of distinguished mathemat.1c1ans fathng

E N G I N E E R I N G.
in this way. With such it is of small importance
whether the college or the shop training comes
first, as they are bound to be failures any way.
With others, however, the plan of making the
college training precede the workshop has the
advantage of continuity-to our mind a very great
one. Otherwise a youth spends some five years,
say, in the sh ops, then goes to a college for two
years, and at the end of that time finds that he has
lost touch with the workshop, finds difficulty in
getting work, and finally takes up the profession of
teaching, or some similar occupation, and ceases to
be an engineer. I t has been proposed to found
continuatic.tn scholarships for such cases, which
would be held subject to the scholar engaging in
practical work. This plan, if carried out, would
do away with the objection to t he workshop course
coming first, as it would give the holder time to
make a new niche for himself in the practice of
engin eering . As Mr. White points out, the possession of workshop experience certainly enables a
student to make better use of a good technical
course than h e oth erwise could. He states that
his experience as professor at t he Royal School
of Naval Architecture was decidedlv
.. favourable
to t he students having had a previous workshop trJ.ining. At this school, in addition to
students from the dockyards, there wer e many
from abroad, who, although well trained in
mathematics and physics, were totally ignorant
of workshop practice, and proved, accordingly,
to benefit less than the others from the course
of instruction.

THE YARROW WATER-TUBE BOILER.

ON \Vednesday last a short trial was made at the
works of Messrs. Yarrow and Co., with a boiler of
the Yarrow water-tube type. This, as our rtaders
ar e aware, consists of two lower wing chambers and.
a cylinder above, each of the former being con nected to the latter by a number of straight tubes,
which supply the heating surface of the boiler. In
cross-section the boiler is, therefore, triangular, the
base being formed by the grate bars, there being,
of course, an ashpit below. The whole is inclosed
in a smoke-jacket of sheet iron, surmounted by an
uptake and chimney. The Yarrow boiler differs
from some other steam generators of a somewhat
similar type in the fact that the whole boiler is
inclosed by the smoke-jacket; there being nowalthough there were originally- no pipes outside
for water to flow down in order to promote circulation. It will be understood that each of the
two groups of t ubes, connecting the wing and the
top cylinder, consists of several row. . The inside
r ow of each group will, therefore, be directly exposed to t he radiant h eat of the furnace, whilst the
other rows will be heated by the circulation of ga2es
amongst them. On page 79 of our fifty-first volume
will be found illustrations of the Yarrow boiler
aca originally designed. This arrangement comprises two special down -flow pipes for circulation.
These were thought to be necessary at the time,
but practical experience has shown them to be
redundant.
It will he obvious that the inner r ows of tubes
will be the hottest, whilst the outer rows will be
coldest.. It should be further noted that the whole
of t he tubes are what is known as ''drowned"that is to say, the water-level in the upper cylinder
is carried higher than the top orifices of the tubes
where they are expanded into the top cylinder. It
is hardly necessary for us to point out that a watertube boiler, to work successfully, must have adequate
circulation, and it would appear that this is secured
in the Yarrow boiler by reason of the higher
temperaturd imparted to the inner rows of tubes.
Thus we may imagine these inner row~ to be filled
with a mixture of steam and water, whtlst the outer
rows will contain solid water. It will be evident
that the mix ture of steam and water in the inner
rows will be lighter than the solid water at the back.
There would, therefore, be ascending currents in
the inner rows (next to the fire), and a descending
Bow in the outer r ows.
How nearly these actual
conditions are r eached in practice, it is not possible
to say, but from the experiment we a:e about to
describe- and from the fact that the b01ler answers
well in practice- it would seem that th? circulation
is sufficient. \Ve have not yet dealt w1th the conditions of the intermediate rows. Those adjacent
to tho inner and outer rows would partake, more
or less, of the nature of their neighbours, but in
the centre row, or rather t hat row where the tern-

perature of the gases is mid way between the temperatures of the inner and outer rows, there might
be supposed to be an equilibrium, or static condition, so that the circulation would be destroyed.
Supposing that such a condition were reached,
what would be the r esult ? The water in these tubes,
being stationary, would have more time to take up
heat, and would thus be evaporated, so that a large
part would be turned to steam, and an ascending current would be set up. It would: therefore, seem
that the water must pass, in the cooler rows,
downwards so quickly as not to be changed to
steam to any large extent, or else it must become
evaporated in sufficient quantity to be more than
balanced by the descending water in the still cooler
rows. Probably some steam is generated in all
rows when a boiler is being forced in the manner
we witn essed last Wednesday. Possibly, also,
some r ows may be subjected to a pulsating, or
r eciprocating flow, sometimes upwards and sometimes do wnwards, as changes take place in the fire
or from other local causes. I t is further possible that
there may be a downward flow of water in some of
the pipes, whilst the bubbles of steam struggle
upwards against the water current .
These points, however, are largely matters of
speculation, but the fact r emains- whatever may
be the philosophy of the apparatus- that there is a
circulation of water in all t hese tubes, for we know
that without circulation s uch a boiler could not
work for any considerable space of time. The
boiler which we saw at work- which is one
of the group of eight to be placed in the new
torpedo-boat destroyer Hornet, now under construction at Poplar- has copper tubes 1 in. in diameter, and the effect of lack of circulation for any
considerable time may well be imagined upon any
tubes subj ect to a considerable degree of heat. So
long as there is an upward current in some tubes,
there must be a corresponding downward current
in others, and a downward current means a waterprotected tube. The hrisker the evaporation, the
more rapid the circulation, may be taken as an
axiom. From the foregoing it will be seen that
good fresh water is required for feeding this boiler,
but that may be taken as applying to all advanced
boiler practice in the present day, whether the
boiler be of the " shell " or water-tube type.
The fact that the tubes are straight may be
looked on a a disadvantage, and, indeed, it P'tiv1i
- or, as some persons say, " theoretically "-it is
a disadvantage. Expansion and contraction of the
tubes, due to difference in temperature between
individual tubes, exists. The conditions, however,
would appear not to be such that the whole struct ure cannot accommodate itself to them without
damage.
There are, however, some advantages attending the use of straight tubes. In the
arrangement adopted by Mr. Yarrow, the wing
chambers are made in two parts, being joined
longitudinally by bolts and nuts passing through
flanges. In cross-section the wing chambers are
approximately semi-cylindrical, the flat part being
upwards, in a plane which makes them mor e
conYeniently placed for getting the tubes normal
to the fiat part (or tu beplate), and at the proper
angle for reaching the top cylinder. Now if the
bottom part of either of the wing chambers
be removed, the tube ends are exposed, and offer
facilities for cleaning, &c., on the inside. The
upper cylinder is also made in two parts and
joined by bolts through flanges, so that the top
ends of the tubes can also be exposed. The difficulty in making a steam-tight joint of such a Eize
must not be overlooked.
The boiler tried on \Vednesday last was fitted up
in the yard, a. feed pump being attached. The
steam as generatd was blown oft~ the outlet being
controlled by a stop-valve. The boiler and water
were quite cold . At 2. 20 P.l\I. a match was put
to the fire. About 5 minutes after lighting up the
wing chambers were quite warm, top and bottom,
on the outside; the lower part of the upper cylinder
being, perhaps, a trifle hotter. The steam space
in the upper cylinder was quite cold. At 2.30
the guage n eedle had com e away from the pin to
the extent equal to about 5 lb. pressure. At 2. 32
the first coal was put on since lighting. At 2. 33thirteen minutes after lighting- the steam gauge
registered 25 lb. pressure ; at 2.36 there was 60 lb.
pressure ; at 2.38, 80 lb ; and at 2.40, 100 lb.
The steam blast in the chimney was then turned
on. The pr essure then rapidly increased, until at
22 minutes 20 seconds after lighting up, the working
pressure of 180 lb. was reached. The stop valve

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

was now op ened an:d the ste~m allowed to escape.
Coaling was contmued at Intervals of 2i t o 3
minutes, and the steam was maintained steadily at
about 180 l b. for half an . hour. The gaug.e for
draught registered an equtvalent of from 3 1n. t o
3! in .
.
.
The pressure having b een mamta1ned for half an
hour at 180 1b., it was prop osed that the fire should
b e suddenly wit hdra wn. This was commenced to
be done a t 3.12, the grate being almost clea r at
3.18 P . M. The fire-door was lef~ ~pen, an~ a. good
opportunity was given of exammmg the .1ns1de of
tho boiler. The result was most satisfactory,
there being n ot the sign of a leak at any par t .
The stop valve was closed when t h e fire was
drawn and pressure naturally fell~ the fire door
being 'kept open. At 3. 22 it was a little under
H>Olb. ; at 3. 27, 120 lb. ; and at 3. 50, when our
last obser vat ion was made, the pressure h ad fallen
to 70 lb .
The weigh t of this boiler, with wat er and all
fittincrs is 5 tons 7 cwt. , and the ma kers have
found ' by previous t ests, that it will evap orat e
12,500 lb. of water per hour. With 16 lb. ?f water
per indicated horse-power per h our, whiCh Mr.
Y arrow takes as ordinary t orpedo-b oat practice,*
the power obtained by means of such a b.oiler would
be 781 indicated horse-power. The h eatmg surface
is 1027 ft. , and the bar surface 20.6 square feet.
The bars are 6 ft. 6 in. long. In the sister destroyer
to the Hornet (the Bavock) there are two locomotive boilers, the weight of which, with water
and fittings, is 54 t ons, and the Havock's machi~ery
developed 3400 indicated h orse-power on trial. t
The H ornet's eight water-tube boilers will weigh
with water and fittings, 43 t ons.

week closely approximated 2! millions.

The sum
taken as en tra nce fee~ was about 410, OOOl. It is in teresting to note that the paid admissions exceeded
100,000 on 92 days, and that the number was over
200,000 on 24 days- once in July, once in A ug ust,
four times in September, and eigh teen times in
Oct ober; while 300,000 was exceed ed on four occasions- on the first three days of Chicago week,
October 9, 10, and 11, and on Thursday, the 19th
of the same month.
The steady improvement may b e indicat ed in a
short Table, which shows that the daily average
increased from 54,714 in May and 119,271 in June,
to 264, 849 in October, which was the best month of
the half year. Towards the close, indeed, there was,
as is usually the case, quite a rush of visitors, pnblic

in which the t otal is exceeded is that of the Paris

Ewrposition of 1889. I t must, h owever, be remembered that that E xhibition was open for two days
longer, a nd that on . Sunday the visitors wer.e
usually as numerous, If n ot more so, than on or~I
nary week-days. The differ en ce of 620,000 ~s,
t herefor e far more than accounted for by these Circumstanc~s. Instead of t he closing day at Chicago
b eing marked by r~j oicing, a sp~ci!l'l progra mme,
and the great enthusiasm charac.ter1stlc of s_uch occasions, ther e was sorrow and an Idle day owmg to the
great calamity that ended the useful career .o~ one
of t he most vigor ous projectors of the ExpositionMayor Harrison. Anoth~r, and prob~?ly a more
impor t ant consideration, IS that the visitors to the
Paris E xhibition paid n ominally only a franc each,
~

~ . c::

~~ ~

~~'~

~- ~

. ~,g~
~J~

:HO, "

l1l

Ill
I
Ill

THE ATTENDANCE AT THE

COLUlVI:BIAN EXPOSITION.
THE complete record of attendance at theWorld's
Columbian E xposition is now available, and a glance
at the figures clearly shows that in spite of all the
fates that combined against the W orld's F air, the
results are as satisfact ory as they are ast onishina. The steady improvement will be seen at
a glance from the ann exed ~iagram whic~ we ~ave
specially prepared from offiCial returns. The hnes
show the attendance on each successive day, the
heavy line indicating the total and the thin line
t he number of paying visitors, including children.
The difference between the two represents the
number of free admissions, exhibit attendants, &c.
The nu mher present on the opening day was 137,557,
but following this there was a drop t o 19,524. From
this point there was a steady increase, and by the
30th of the month the state of affairs induced
about 140,000 t o attend. Meanwhile the number
of free admissions was increasing, and had advanced
from 8000 to over 20,000 daily, indicating a
temporary abuse of passes t hat was checked.
But it was not really until the middle of June that
the reports which went forth from Chicago justified
a visit with full expectation of finding the great
'\Vorld's F air in a state worthy of that city. It is
interesting to n ot e from our diagram that, although
there were fluctuations from this point, the general
trend was upwards. Even the fl uctuations indicate
some regularity. There was a steady rise usually
from the Monday until Friday, which showed a drop
as a prelude to the largely augmented total of
Saturday, followed by a collapse on Sunday. The
F ourth of July breaks the line in a pronounced way,
the total mounting to 330,542 ; but the most remarkable total is that of Chicago D ay, when 761,942
passed the turnstiles; and of this number 683,742
were paying adults, and 33,139 children, so that
only 45, 061 were admitted free, the money taken
being on this day not far short of 75, OOOl. This
total is far before the highest hitherto reached
at any E xhibition. The best day at the great Paris
Exposition of 1889 waR little more than half397,000 ; while at the Philadelphia Centennial Celebration Exhibition the total was just under 275,000.
In the L ondon show of 1862 we were satisfied with
62,000 for a day record. Moreover, Chicago did
not exhaust the resources in one day, for they
made about a week of it. On each of the two
following days the t otal was about 350,000, and on
the Thursday 315,000.
The t otal for Chicago

' I

IJ

20

MAY.

ss4-

Z7

10

17

JUNE

15

JULY.

22

12

19

AUGUST.

2G

16

30

SEPTEMBER

14

21

2tJ Jr.

OCTOBER,

Asterisks on Datum Line. i'ndi'ccrt,e 11 ' dtxy of' ecrch month.

,
The Diamonds in the Graphs inri/cate Sunriays on which -Exposition was dosed.

appreciation of the great merits of the Exposition and 2 francs in the evening. But practically the
having grown with t h e lapse of time.
entrance did not cost on an average more than 5d.
in the daytime, or 10d. in the evening ; for owing
Total
P ay Grand Total.
to the lottery system adopted, and the great supply

Per Day.
m g.
of tickets, they were sold by the people for a
M ay
],060,037
1 ,531,084

54,714
very
small&mount,
dropping
on
one
occasion
as
low
June ..
2,675,113
3,677,834

119,271

as 2id. An eaormous attendance was thus assured.

J uly
2,760,263

3,977,502
132,583

Aug ust
l$,515, 493
At Chicago, on the other hand, each of the 20,1

4,687,708
151,216
Sep tem ber
4,659,871

5,808,942

! 93,631
millions of adult paying visitors had to pay
October
.. .. .. 6,816,435 7,945,430 264,849 50
cents or 2s., while the 1! million children
Total

27, 529,400
21,477,212
153,800
paid 25 cents.
The only concession made
-- was that during the week ending October 21,
It would n ot be of much use t o speculate on when the Chicago school-children were given
what might have b een. For instance, one could a h oliday, the charge for admission for '' all children
almost assume t hat, had the Exhibition been under eighteen y ears of age " was reduced to
free from difficulties, the attendance in the first 10 cents. As might b e supposed, the attendance
three months would have more closely approxi- of children was during these days unusually large,
ma ted that of the latter three months, and that the record for the week being 316,066. The
the aggregate might have been 36 millions ; or, weekly average for children was 90,000. The
again, had the attendancd throughout been as large following Table gives the attendance at some of the
as that during October, the t otal might have been leading International Exhibitions as compared with
47 or 48 millions. It was on the assumption that that at Chicago :
all would be ready, and that the enthusiasm of
Paris, 1855 ...
...
...
...
5,162,000
October would have commenced in May, that the
London, 1862 .. .
.. .
. ..
.. .
6,250,000
Paris, 1867 .. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
10,200,000
sanguine estimate of 40 million visitors was based .
Philadelphia., 1876 ...
. ..
...
9,911,000
The aggregate recorded is eminently satisfactory,
Parifl, 1876 ...
...
... over
16,000,000
and the average daily total- 153,800- is very high,
"
1889 .. .
...
.. .
.. .
28,149,353
especially as it includes the Sundays, when, as we
Chicago, 1893.. .
.. .
...
. ..
27,529,400
have shown on the diagram, the attendance was
But, as we have incidentally p ointed out the
* The evaporation of the H a.vock1s boilers was Mr. very small. Curiously en ough) too, the percentage number of concessions t o visitors was few i~ the
P erhaps
Y arrow informs us, 7 lb. of water per pound of coal of children on Sunday was very low.
burnt, the coal per indicated horae-power per hour being the measure of success, in the aggregat e, is more case of Chicago, so that the money actually paid
for admittance was probably three times areater
about 2~ lb.
appreciable when comparison is made with the
than tha t at Paris. At Chicago 20! million adults
t For trial of the Havock, see page 545 ante.
record of some other Exhibitions, and the only case
each paid 60 cents, representing 2,314,924l. ; I}

E N G I N E E R I N G.
million of children each paid 25 cents, totalling and whatever may be the advantages accruing
6~,681l.; while the 316,066 children who attended from the former, y et the difficulties of mainduring the week ending October 21 only p'lid tainiog proper supervision, and of preventing an
10 cents each, equal t o 6585l., so that the three insuffrlrable nuisan ce, b acome so great, even in
sums combined show the entrance receipts to have towns of small siza, that water carri~ge has to be
been 2,391,190l. Of cour.3e this does not by any adopted, even though it is everywhere recognised
m~ans r epresent the total income. Added to this tha t sewage ought to go back at once to the land.
sum is the va1.u e of the concessions, which are Water carriage is far from being a perfect system,
1
estim~ted a~ ovdr 800,000l., as compared with and the w<1rste of useful manurial matter is to be
abou t 160,000l. at Pclris in 1889. The total receipt3 r egretted, and should be prevented wherever posare put at present at 51 millions, while the ex- l sible. Such waste is one of th e cheques that has had
penditure to October 3 1 is put at nearly 6! mil- to be given, so far, for the immunity from epidemics,
lions. The Exhibition is still kept open for the and for the diminished death-rate that has attended
aimission of visitors, and many availed themselves the use of the E~ystem in large towns.
Some
of the privilege for a few days, but now J ackson cases-of which the author very jus tly complainsPark is almost deserted, save for exhibitors and show t hat it can be abused, for in isolated districts
workmen clearing away.
and in hamlets such a system is quite out of place ;
but against this must be set the gr-1ve dangers that
can exist in the system advocated by the author,
where earth sh ould happen to b e used over and
over again in different dwellings in the way menRu,al H ygiene. By G. V . Po::>RE, M.D., F .R. C.P. Lon- tioned on page 216 of his book.
don a.nd New York : L ongm3.ns, Green, and Co. 1893.
Throughout the work valuable matter is to b e
TBIS is a volume of very readable essays, several of found that sh ould prove of the u tmost value to
which have already been printed, but which are now those residing in rural districts, and much of it is
published as a whole in book form. They are written , given from the author's own experience. He has a
from the medical point of view, as would be ex- number of suggestions also as to the course that
pected from the author, and t h e key to the subject- should be adopted in L 1ndon, which are excellent
matter of the book, and of the author 's views upon except for the fact that they clash with vested
it, is to be found on the first page, where he interests.
explains that '' the title ' Rural Hygiene ' has been
chosen .because it is only in p~ac~s havi.ng a rural
BOOKS RECEIVED.
or. semi-rura:l c~~ract~r ~hat ~t IS possible to be D igest of Cases and Decisions und'-r the Employers' Liability
guided by sCientific principles In our measures for
A ft, 1880. L ondon : T. J. W. B ocKLEY, Post M agathe preservation of health and the prevention of
zine Office.
disease. In cities the hygienic arrangements are E ngi,ecr ing, Drau.ing, and Design ( A Text-book ?f). By
the products of expediency rather than principle
SIDNEY H. WELLS, Wh: Se. Part I: -Pract'll~al Geo d
d fi
f,
mctry. Part II. - Mach11ne and Engtne Drawtng amd
1
and are n?t unfrequent Y ?:1.rr1e out In e a~ce C!
Design. L ondon : Oha.rles Griffin and Co, Limited.
the teachings of p~re SClence.
Overcr owding B
[Price: Vol i., 33.; vol. ii., 4~. Gd. ]
encouraged, and n vers or other sources of water Re~istanrc of Ships and Screw P ropulsion. By D. W.
are recklessly fouled, b ecause such condit ions are,
'FaYLOR. L ondon : . Wbitta.ker a~d Co.
or are supposed to be 'good f or trade. ' Our Diamonds and <?old tn South Afnca. . By THEODORE

h'
1
1
d f
REUNERT. Wttb Maps and IllustratiOns. London :
munlcipa~ governors, w o are ma1n .Y ~e ecte
rom
Edward Sta.nford. [Price 7s. 6d.]
the trading classes, and the maJOrity C!f whom T he I ncandescent Lamp and i ts Manu,factu1'e. By GrLBli:RT
have had no scientific training of any kind, are
S. RAM. L ondon : "The Electrician " Printing and
rarely c~pable of looking beyond the que9tion of
Publishing Compa.n~, Limited. [ Price 7~.. 6d.J.
immediate profit which to them s eems all- R efe1endum des lnJerneurs.-En q_uate sur l Ensetrt nement

'
Th h
f
de la M ecanique. Par M. V. DWEL HAU\'F.R -D RRY et
0
I ~~ortant.
e
ygienic measures .
M. JuLIEN WEIL'ER. Liege: Marcel Nierstra~z.
cities have, for the most part, been ~astily T he Jlfechanical World P ocket Diary and Year B ook, 1894.
adopted in order to escape the dang.ers whiCh are
Manchester : Emmott and Co., Limited. [Price 6d.]
insepar able from an undue concentratiOn of population. They may be compared to the herculean
NOTES.
method which was practised upon the stables of
N .EW S)!OKELE. s P OWDER.
King Augeas ; and although we may admire the
'' PLASTOMENITE " is the name given to a new kind
prowess of Hercules, we can feel nothing but conof smokeless powder invented by a German , Herr
tempt for Augeas, who ~ould ~ave be.en happie;, W. Gtittler. The solution is poured into forms,
and richer had he kept h1s oxen In a rational way.
where it becomes a fairly hard substance, capable
It will be seen that the a uthor has but little symof being pressed, rolled, &c. The substance can be
pathy with the " sanitary .engine~r, " and h e makes
colour ed at will, and is, like celluloid, serviceable
it clear that he rather views him as t h e man who
for numerous purposes. Plastomenite is used for
has made m odern overcrowding possible by renderblasting powder, p owder for cannons and rifles,
in()' it p ossible for water to be delivered to the tops
signal rockets, &c. The greatest ad vantage claimed
ofbthe loftiest buildings, and the refuse removedfor it is complete durability, whils t all oth er smokeall by means of pipes. In a fine vein of sarcas m he less powders, manufactured by the means of ether
tells us : ''This is indeed a civilising and wonderful and ni tro-glycerine, invariably deteriorate. The
age. Let us build a temple, and place in it. a ~te~~ combus tion of pla.stomenite is also, it is claimed,
engine an iron water-pipe, and an hydrauhc hft..
so well b:\lanced that it leaves no residue in barrel
He 'looks, indeed, to our moder~ methods of or cartridO'e, although the striking velocity of the
communication as a means by which dangerous projectile 0 is unusually great. The initial velocity
cr owdinO' of the p opulation may be averted, and from a 6! -mm. calibre is 715 m., with a gas presconsider~ that sanitation is a matter that concerns th.e sure of considerably below 3000 atmospheres. It
agriculturis t chemist, and biologist, and not the engi- is said that neither cold nor hot weath er h as any
neer at all. 'He overlooks, however, in h is excellent effect upon the plastomenite cartridges, whereas
book the grave danger that always exists whenever all powders containing nitro-glyce~ine suffer from
the welfare of the community is at t h e mercy of changes in the temperature. Hitherto plastoone or two careless individuals. The system that m enite has principally been manufactured for sporthe advocates with much ability consists of the w~ll ing purposes, but its good qualit.i~s have attr~c.ted
known method of t reating excremental matter w1th the attention of the German mihtary author1hes,
fresh dry earth, and daily r emoving it to the and it will n ow be extensively tested in the army.
ground ; but this plan, though thorou.ghly successTHE BRowN SEGMENTAL WIRE Gu N.
ful when adopted by the owners of pr1vate country
Several attempts have been made in the United
villas, who h ave servants, and who are capable of
taking the trouble to see that such matters are States to construct satisfactory wire guns, but up
regularly attended to, is neverthe~ess troublesome till recently t he guns produced have n ot proved
A new gun, known as the
in practice as soon as the. communi~Y exceeds the very successful.
limits of a village. Practically, ~s .Is well known, Brown segmental wire gun, has, h owever, been
privies and cesspits a:e adopted 1n Its place by the recently tested, in which more ca.reful study has
average villager as bemg leas trouble~ome, an~ very been given to the problem than. I? former. guns.
soon the business instincts that are !nherent In the Mr. L ongridge's principle of obtammg the Circumminds of a nation of shopkeepers brmg about over- ferential and longitudinal strengths by separate
crowding, and it is necessary to have som~ re- elements has been adopted, though in detail
sponsible authority :who can. attend to sanitary the construction of the gun is very different. Mr.
matters. There are In these Circumstances practi- L onO'ridCYe advocated the use of a h eavy outer
cally but two systems available, eithe'r some .form jack~t of cast iron as a means of getting longitudinal
of a pail system, or one involving water carrtage; strength. The Brown gun has also ~n outer jacket,

LITERA'rURE.

but this is of steel, and extends from the breechb lock t o the trunnion ring. The trunnion ring is
a sliding fit only on the body of the gun, and
hence the whole of the pressure on the breechblock must pass through the outer jacket, and n ot
thr ough the body of the gun. The necessary resistance against bending is obtained by winding
the wire on a stout steel core. This core has, however, no circumferential strength, as it is built up
like a barrel out of anum ber of staves. A thin liner
is, h owever, fitted inside it to take the rifling. Owing
tothisstaveconstruction, crucible steel having a very
high elastic l imit can be conveniently employed,
as the large masses n ecessary for the formation of a
tu be of a single piece in the ordin:uy sy6tem of construction are not required. A high elastic limit, or
rather a high elastic range, is a great advantage in
the inner tube of a gun, as the range of stress is
gr eatest in this tube, which is accordingly the
most severely tried. The wire is wound on t he
staves tube under such a tension that the staves are
always in compression, even under the highest
powder pressures used. Hence there is never any
tendency for them to separate from each other, and
t he thinner liner can possibly be dispensed with.
This liner, it should be added, is only put in place
after the rest of the gun is finished. The stave
core is then bored out, and the liner inserted by
hydraulic pressure. Hence the initial compression
in this liner is not as high as in the staves, and a
material with a smaller elastic range can be ust d.
A MoNSTE R ELECTRIC LocoMOTIVE.
An electric locomotive of 1000 h orse-power is
now being constructed in America to the designs
of M essrs. Sprague, Duncan, and Hutchinson, and
is describe-d in a recent issue of the Ne w Y orJ;,
Elect1'ical E ngineer. The engine is intended for
switching pur poses and slow speed freight traftic.
It is carried on a steel frame supported by eight
coupled wheels, each 56 in. in diameter. Each
axle carries t h e armature of a 250 horse-power
motor, whilst the field magnets are supported
by the axle-boxes. The armatures in question
are 31 in. in diameter, and have 237 coils. 1'hPy
are compound wound, and are designed to take
a current of 250 amperes at 800 volts, their
normal speed being 225 revolutions per minute.
The four motors, when working at their maximum
power, are expected to exert an effective pull
of 30,000 lb. on the drawbar, and h ence the
engine will be able to start a very heavy t rain.
The connections to the motors are made through a
contact cylinder, which permits them to be arranged
eith er a.ll in paralleJ, all in series, or partly in series
a nd partly in parallel. In changing over from one
arrangement of contacts to another, resi5tances
a re first thrown in, the change is then made,
and the resistance finally switched out again.
This contact cylinder being of large dimensions, is
operated by air pressure, though hand gear is also
fitted. The air is taken from the br"ke tanks,
which are kept charged by an automatic electric
pump. The reversing switch is separate from but
interlock ed with the contact cylinder, in s uch a
way that it can only be operated when the c urrent
is cut off from the motors. Provision is made for
two trolleys above the car, to collect the current
from the line. The total weight of the motor will
be 120,000 lb., so that if a drawbar pull of
30,000 lb. is expected, an adh esion of one-fourth
will be required. To insure as high an ad hesion as
possible, the cou pling-rods between the wheels are
double.jointed, and equalising beams are used
between the springs supporting the frame of the
car. The total wheel base, we should add, is 15 ft.
only, leaving only 4 in. clearance between the
wheels. The outer wheels only a.re flanged.
PROPO ED E x HIBITION IN TA MA~IA IN 1894.
An International Exhibition is to be held in the
city of H obart, on the island of Tasmania, next
autumn, to be open for six m onths from November
15. The Government of the colony is associated with
the scheme, and have granted a site for the buildings, covering about 11 acres, in a central situation.
It is scarcely necessary to state that all the principal inhabitants of the island colony are working
for the success of the undertaking, while an influential London committee has been formed to
arrange for exhibitions from the United Kingdom.
The chairman is t he Agent-General for Tasmania,
ir R . G. W. Herb6rt, and his offices a.re at 5, Victoriastreet, L ondon. There is practically n o restriction in
the class of exhibits, and the enormous importance
of the Australasian colonies as markets for our pro

Nov. 17, r893.]

6I5

E N G I N E E RI N G.

ductions should influence nnny manufacturers t o THE LATE Mi t. ANTHONY RECKENZAUN.

send exhibits to the Exhibition in the seagirt colony.
MANY of our r eaders will learn with regret that
The imports into T asmania. last year amounted to Mr. Anthony Reckenzaun died last Saturday morning.
nearly 1! millions sterling, of w hich one-half was The news came as a shock to his friends, in spite of its
t he production of thi~ .country, ~bile the. exports being common knowledge that he was suffering from
were valued at 1} m1lhons, a th1rd of wh teh came consumption, and could only attend to business in a
to this country. These proportions are gratifying; fitful way. On Friday he was not not.iceably worse
but Ex.hibitions have far -reaching effects, and the than he had been, but in the early hours of the followvery fact that we stand so advantageously will induce ing morning he passed. away without pain or ~truggl~.
other manufacturing nations - p ar ticularly the His lo~s leaves ":void m the colon~ of elect~1cal e~gl
United States and German y-to ma.ke a.n effort to nee.rs m \Yestmmste~; all knew hllll:, and hked hl.m ,
force comparison with the goods imported from this while ma~y ente;rtam ed s~rong. feel mgs of affect10_n
t
Eft t is therefore necessary on the part towards .hlm. Hts unvarymg. kmdness of heart, h1s
coun ry.
or
.
. h .
d
1_\.I
unassummg demeanour, and h1s constant cheerfulness
ore- I rende~ed hin~ very_ easy _of access, and acquaintance
of our produc~rs to _mamtaln t elr ~r~>U n
over, H.obart 1s a fatrly cen tral po~1t10n for all tl~e soon n pened mto fnendslup.
Australian and N~w Zealand col?n1es, and ther e lS
Mr. Reckenzaun was born in 1850 in Gratz, Styria.
every p rospect of tm~orters, anxwus to k_n?~ about H is father was a mechanical engineer, and in his
the latest advances 1n m:J.nufactures, Vlsttmg the works his son had an excellent t raining in the desig ning
E t hibition. We s tand well with our colonies, for ou t and constr uction of a wide range of machinery. He
of a total of about 60 millions sterling of imports, d id not, however, stay long at home, but in 1872
one-half is sen t from t his country.
The same ca.me to_England~ and found ~mployme?t w_ith. Messr~.
necessity for conserving our markets therefore Ravenh1ll and Miller. . On t~1s firm rehnquish1og buslholds. Ther e is a business-like exactitud e in r.he r egu- ness, he tran~ferred h1s serVIces to Messr~. Easton_a.nd
la.tions framed by:the Exhibition authorities. "Space Anderson, Wlth whom he stayed until . electnc1ty
' i d within fourteen days previous to t h e open~d a ~reatly extended field for engmeers. I n
t
no o_c ... up c
. . .
. b
h .
ll 0 tt d entenng th1s new department he commenced by obopenmg of t h e ExhlbltlO~ Wl11 e ot er Wlse a
e ' t aining a t horough theoretical training in electrical
and ~11 payments made 1n r~spect ~hereo_f absolut~ly science, just as he had previously done in mechanical enforfelt~d. " . Clearly t here l S the 1ntent10~ o_f bem g gineering. His first position was with thP. Faure Cornready m t1me. The char ge for . space ~n~1de the pany, and when t hat concern was merged in the
building is 23. per square foot, w1th a. m1n1mum of E lectrical Power Company, he became engineer to the
50s., while large bays of 225 f t . of floo r space a nd amalgamated undertakings. Immediately he turned
225 ft. of wall space cost 2ll.
his attention to electric traction and propulsion, and
ever since he has been associated with these systems.
WooD P u LP SYNDICATE IN GERMANY.
A tria.l was made of an electric car in 1881, and again
The example set by the wood pulp manufacturers in 1883, * and several electric launches were built and
of Wesb Germany, Saxony, and S ilesia h as n ow been tried. The " Electricity " was constructed in 1882, t and
followed by t hose of South Germany, who h ave re- was followed the next year by a larger and more succently formed a union, with a. sales office at Munich ; cessful boat .::: 'I'he '' Volta," however, is the best known
the central union of German wood pulp manufac- of th ese boats, as it crossed t he Channel and back
t urers now comprises the whole of Germany. At again with one charge in the cells, on September 13,
the first meeting it was stated that a. bout 75 per cent. 1886.
About this time Mr. Reck enzaun left the E lectric
of the whole production of white pulp, or a-bou t Power
Storage Company, and commenced practice on
58,000 tons dry, would be available for buyers for his own account. He was a prolific inventor , one of
1894, provided the water in the river s increased. Of the earliest and best known of his inventions being
the 25 per cent. of the production which is still his worm gear for electric cars. This he t ook t o
outside the union, about half comes fr om factories America in 1886, and applied to a set of battery cars
lying i n out-of-the-way places. The oth er half in Philadelphia. He also fitted i t to some expericomprises a few large works which, through certain me ntal cars that were sent t o Australia. I t was,
circumstances, are tied to paper mills, or the pro- however, very uphill work trying to introduce battery
duction of which consists of brown pulp. The tract ion, and of late years Mr. R eckenza.un has a pplied
immediate object of th e cent ral union is t o r egulate himself more to general questions. He acted as con the prices, so that the works shall n ot lose money sulting electrical engineer to several important firms,
when there is a. lack of water, and shall h ave a and found constant employment , al though he did not
fignre
so
prominently
before
the
public
as
formerly.
r easonable profit when t h ere is a sufficie ncy of Many scientific societies applied to him to r ead papers,
water. This price will serve as ,a basis for the both in this country and America, and t he tit les alone of
private unions for contracts for 1894, and, with his communications would r un to considerable length.
the smallest possible deviations, apply to the whole He also delivered lectures at the City and Guilds
of Germany. The calculated dry production of T echnical Schools on electric traction, and published
Scandinavia of white pulp for 1894 a mo unts to a book on the same subject. During the present year
42,783 tons for Sweden, and 90,462 tons fo r Nor- he made a voyage to America, partly for heal th and
way, or 133,245 tons, r ed uced to t h e dry condit ion. partl y for business, but the latter proved so engrossing
that on his r eturn it was evident that he had lost,
This can again be divided as follows :
Dry 50 per Cent rather than gained, g round. H e leaves a widow and
t hree children to share his loss with his very numerous
Pulp. lVIoisture.
friends.
p. o.
p.o.
Sweden
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
41
49
Nor way . . .
. ..
.. .
.. .
18
82
ROYAL METEOROLOG ICAL SOCIETY.
Both...
. ..
. ..
...
...
26
74
THE first meeting of this Society for the present session
Of t he above the following q uantities wer e already was held on Wednesday evening, the 15th instant, at the
sold for delivery during 1894, a.s early as July 1 In~ titution of Civil E ngineers, Great George-street,
Westminster; Dr. C. Theodore Willia.ms, president, in
this year :
the chair. Twenty-three new fellows were elected.
Per Cent.
Mr. F . J . Brodie, F .R. :Met. Soc., read a paper on
In Sweden 17,850 tons reduced to dry, or 38.7
"The Grert.t Drought of 1893, and I ts Attendant M eteoro,, Norway 43,950
,
,
48.7
logical Phcnomenct." The author confined his in vestiga--tions
to
the
weather
of
the
four
months
March
to
June,
Together 61,800
,
,
46.4
d uring w hieh period the absence of rain was phenomenal ;
or about half of the total production of Scandinavia. barometric pressure was greatly in excess of the average,
Further important sales have taken place since temperature was high, with a large diurnal range, and the
of sunshine was in many places the longest on
J uly 1, both for England, France, and Belgium; also duration
record. The mean temperature over England was about
German firms have appeared as b uyer s, an d abou t 4 deg. above the average. Along the south and south75 per cent. of the Scandinavian wood pulp produc- west coasts the sunshine was between 50 and 60 per cent.
tion for 1894 has n ow been disposed of. 'he same of the possible duration. The rainfall was less than half
remark applies to Finland, whose expor t may be put the average amount over the southern and eastern parts
England, the extreme south of Ireland, and a. portion
at 18,000 to 20,000 tons. The Scandina.via.n wood of
of Durham and Northumberland; while over the southern
pulp union had considerably r educed t h e prod uc- counties of England generally the fall amounted to less
tion during the first half of the present year. The than one-third of the average. The smallest nuwber of
reduction in th e ou tpu t has been aband oned for the days with rain was at the North Foreland, where there
second half of the year, so as t o derive some benefit were only 18.
Mr. W. Marriott, F .R. Met. Soc. , ga.ve an account of
from the present good d e mand. The Sca.ndinavia.n
the "Th!under and H ail Storms" which occurred over
white pulp for 189! delivery has been sold at England and the south of Scotland on July 8, 1893.
5l. 15s. t o 6l. 23. 6d. per ton, free to r ails in Thunderstorms were very numerous on that day, and in
English por ts. The German union will, n o d oubt, many instances were accompanied by terrific hailstorms
fix its prices so that t hey can compete with the and squalls of wind. It was during one of these squalls
Scandina.vian q uotation s, and, if p ossible, place the
* See ENGINEERING, vol. xxxv., page 83.
German paper industry in s uch a. position that ext I bid. , vol. xxxiv., page 339.
port is not out of the question.
::: Ibid., vol. xxx vi., page 66.

that a pldasure boat was capsized off Skegness, twentynine persons b3ing drowned. A?ont noon. a thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy bad and a. violent squall
of wind, passed over Dumfries and along the valley ?f the
Nith; many of the hailstones measured ~ro!D 1m. to
1~ in. in length. At the same hour a slmtla.r storm
occurred at Peterborough. F rom about 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.
there was a succession of thunderstorms over the northea..<;t of E ngland and south-east of Scotland, and at
many places it was reported that the t hunderstorms
were continuous for nine hours. Two storms were remarkable for the immense hailstones which fell during
their prevalence over Harrogate .and Rich~on~, in _Yorkshire. The hailstones were 4 m. and 5 m. In Circumference and some as much as 3 in. in diameter. Great
damag~ was done by these storms, all windows and gl~ss
facing the direction from which the storm came bemg
broken. ltl is computed that within a. rad ius of five miles
of Harrogate not less t han 100,000 panes of glass were
broken, the extent of the damage being estimated at about
3000l.
The thunderstorms in the northern pa-rt of th e country
travelled generally in a north-nortB.-westerly direction at
the rate of 20 miles an hour. They appear to have taken
the path of least resistance, and consequently passed
over low ground and along river valleys and the sea
coast. Several storms seem to have followed each other
along the same track.
THE INSTITU TION OF CIVIL ENG INEERS.
THE inaugural meeting of the seventy-sixth session
of this society was held on Tuesday evening, the 14th
inst., Sir Robert Rawlinson, K.C. B., Vice-President,
in the chair. Owing to the absence, from ill-health, of
the la.telyelected P resident , Mr. Alfred Giles, the address
prepared by him for delivery on this cccasion was
read by the secretary. Claiming the indul~ence of
his audience on t he score t hat he was the semor of all
previous presidents of the Institution at the time of their
election, Mr. Gilee proceeded to recall some circumstances
connected with locomotion sixty years ago, contrasting
the cheapness, safety, and luxury of the modern railway,
with the danger, discomfort, and expense of even the
best lines of stage coaches. Not less striking was the
development of t he Post Office. In 1831 two mail coaches
daily (one going through Newcastle to E dinburgh, and
the other through Carlisle to Glasgow) were sufhcient to
carry the whole of the mails from L ondon to Scotland.
A letter from L ondon to Mortlake in Surrey cost 4d., and
if it contained anything but t he folded sheet on which it
was written, even the smallest cutting from a newspaper,
it was charg~d double. Referring to the virtual completion of the English railway system, the President opined
that the work of providing like accommodation in the
immense possessions of the empire would yet provide
employment for the rail way engineer for many yeara.
Turning to steam navigat ion, it was stated that in 1819
the first steamer crossing the Irish Channel accomplished
the d istance of 63 miles, from Holyhead to Dublin, in 7~
hours. The same trip is now frequently made in less
than 3~ hours. Ocean transport was next considered,
special reference being made to the advisability of adopting twin screws for all fast passenger steamers. Highspeed navigation involved special appliances for quickly
load in ~ and unloading at the docks, and also considel'able
extensiOn and onlargement of the docks th ems~l ves. It
was stated that the new Empress Dock at Southampton
had been designed in the shape of a diamond, so as to
allow of greater speed in getting vessels to their berths,
thus also avoiding the necessity of swinging round at
right angles when pas~5ing through the gates. The importance of these improved facilities was illustrated in
the programme proposed for a new cargo steamer just
launched from Messrs. Harland and W olff 's yard at
Belfast. This vessel could carry 14,100 tons outward and
would bring home 9400 tons of cargo and 1200 bullocks.
She would leave L iverpool on a Friday, arri ve at New
York in ten days, discharge cargo, load again, and leave
New York in seven days more, so as to be ready t o return
t o New York with a. fresh cargo on the thirty-fifth day
from her first departure from Liverpool. The President
then made some remarks on the advantages which would
accrue from a simpler procedure in passing private Bills
through Parliament, and concluded with a reference to
the progress and prospects of the Institution, especially
in co~mection with the contemplated r ebuilding of the
premises.
After the r eading of the address, the premiums and
prizes awarded last session were formally presented to
the recipients.
TRIESTE.- Tho foreign commerce of Trieste is declining.
The imports of September showed a decrease of 12,500
tons as compared with September, h582. A more or less
similar decrease has been noted for several months past.
CATALOGUE!:>. -We have received from M essrs. Tannett,
Walker, and Co, engineers, Leeds, a eopy of their new
ca.t~logue. containing . illustrated _descnptions of the
vanous olasses of machmery for whiCh this firm has so
long been famous. A great variety of hydraulic cranes
are included amongst the illustrations, and th~ hydraulic
sheari!lg and plate-bending machines are also worthy
of notlCe.- Mr. Peter Brotherhood's catalogue, which we
have also recei ved1 contains fine illustrations of the
well-known specialities produced at the Lambeth works.
Several forms of the three-cylinder engine are described and
illustrated, a.s well as different sizes of the air-compressing plant, of which so many sets have been supphed to
va.riouli navies of the world, for charging the air-chambers
of torpedoes.

616

...

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

E N G I N E E R I N G.
It can only be said that their lordships' want of infor-

mation as to the internal stability of sh1ps as designed is

To THE EDITOR OF EXGINEERING.
not much in advance even than the earlier constructed
~IB, -Ha.d there been no watertight doors in the bulk- vessels of this type.
b eads of H .M .S. Victoria, she would have been afloat now
I am, Sir, your obedient ser vant,
and hundreds of lives saved; so would also the Vanguard
L ondon, S E., November, 1893.
W. A.
have been and many other ships.
A bulkhead with a. door in it is no watertight bulkhead
at all, do what you will. To save a little trouble in pass- THE ATLANTIC RECORD : QUEENSTOWN
ing over the upper deck a bulkhead is pierced, and laziness
verstls SOUTHAMPTON.
finds its reward.
SIRJ-Your article on the above subject in last week's
Permit me to direct public attention through your issue says: "The Paris and Ne w York are quite able, if
esteemed journal to another cause of the loss of the above worked at their best, to arrive at Quarantine beforA sun
shi~-a cause not sufficiently insisted on.
set on Friday." Now I do not know whether these two
'I he Victoria. had sunk so low forward that h er upper or steamers have recently been \VOrked at their best or not,
forecastle deck was awash, or even under. It was decided but I do know that it is the rarest possible thing for them
by some one to try and beach her. The plainest common to reach Quarantine at New York before sunset on
sense would have suggested that under those circumstances Friday. In proof of this statPment I append a list of the
to go ahead with the engines would drive the vessel arrivals of the Paris and New York at Sandy Hook
under water. Had she been put full speed astern, the during the past four months. Sandy Hook, it should be
reverse would have been the case, and the rush of water remembered, is about 25 mil~s east of Quarantine.
would have helped to raise the forepart.
Arrivals of the "Paru" a;nd "New York '' at Sandy
"\Vhat was done was t o go ahead, thus piling up more
H ook, July-November, 1893.
water forward, and filling more compartments through
New York ... July 8 (Friday), midnight.
the open dours of the superstructure. Was it not natural
Paris.. .
.. . July 21 (Friday), 4 p.m.
that the weight of water piled up on the starboard eide,
New York ... August 4 (1f riday), 11 p.m.
which was lowest, would cause the vessel t o heel further
Paris...
... August 11 (Friday), no hour given.
and capsize ?
New York ... August 26 (Saturday), noon.
The moral of this terrible calamity seems to be :
Paris..
... September 2 (Saturd~y), 6 a.ru.
Abandon watertight doors in toto, and if your ship is
New York ... September 16 (Saturday), 10 a.m.
sinking by the bead, do not move the engines ahead, but
Paris ..
... September 23 (Saturdayj, 2.40 a. m.
astern, or not at all.
New York ... October 7 (Saturday), 5 a..m.
Any twin-screw steamer will go astern and steer astern
Paris...
. .. October 14 (Saturday), 5 a. m.
almost as well as ahead.
New York ... October 28 (Saturday), 4 a.m.
Yours faithfully,
Paris.. .
... November 3 (Friday), 6 p.m.
CORONA.
Yours truly,
N OllTH WESTERN.
Liverpool, November 13, 1893.
THE STABILITY OF ARMOUR-CLADS.
["North-Western" says, "I do not know whether
To THE EDITOR o~ ENGINEERING.
these two steamers have recently been worked at their
SIR,-The L ords Commissioners of the Admiralty in best or not." "\Ve know, otherwise we would not have
their report on the loss of the Victoria appear evidently made the statement.-En . E.]
to be unaware of recent improvements for the construction of ships and vessels for prevention from si nking;
and their lordships' report confirms the opinion that other BALL BEARINGS FOR THRUST BLOCKS.
vessels of a. similar construction to the Victoria are
To THR EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
equally likely to founder upon any small injury to their
SIR,-I have now to thank you for your good nature
hull.
in giving publicity to my letter of August 31, and, if I
Now it is possible so to construct the bull that a posi- may again appropriate e:ome of your valuablt' space, those
ti ve internal reserve of buoyancy and stability can be gentlemen also who have responded so readily to my
given, which, upon injury to the hull, and water entering queries, and thrown light on an interesting subject.
any of the holds, shall buoy up and float the vessel; in th e
Although perhaps prematurely, I think we may now
existing vessels it is generally admitted that there is a want " sum up " as regards ball bearings for thrust blocks.
of reserve of buoyancy and stability, for upon the vessel
They have been applied on a small scale by Mr. Volk
receiving injury and the holds becoming filled with water, for this purpose. They were found unsatisfactory by
the vessel sinks deeper in the water in proportion to the t1tat gentleman, from the following causes, viz. : The
volume d estroyed, and the stability or shoulder is also apparent impossibility of getting the hardened steel
destroyed. The height of metacentre becomes reduced surfaces true in themselves and in relation to each other,
and brought proportionate]y nearer to the centre of thus causing unequal distribution of load and consequent
gravity of the vessel. The overturning moment of bottom crushing of the balls.
buoyancy is increased by the addition of the volume of
These objections, arising as they do from imperf~ctions
double bottom, acting as bottom floats, tending to the in manufacture, if we may trust the article in your issue
capsize or foundering of the vessel.
of the 3rd inst., are not insurmountable.
In armour-clads the metacentric height is in the initial
Mr. lVIcGla.sson suggested a possible difficulty in the
state none too high for perfect stability, but upon injury friction arising from the surfaces in contact moving in
to the hull and the water entering the holds in even opposite directions. Even if it has any real importance,
small amounts, this measure is quickly reduced, and we may accept the remedy he himself suggests, and pass
becomes entirely different ; the whole state of flotati0n it over.
is changed, and would nob be allowed in an original
Mr. Wingfield points out that friction will arise from
design. The whole of the armour-clads are deficient in the inability of balls to roll naturally in a circular groove
this want of stability and flotation even with a small as usually designed, but as he shows bow the ~roove
volume of their original buoyancy or flotation destroyed. should be made to obviate the friction, we may 1gnore
This subject has now been under investigation for some this objection.
years past, but the Admiralty constructors confine
Messrs. Purdon and Waiters, in addition to the above
themselves to a state of stability at different angles of objections add that of want of bearing surface for heavy
1
inclination, vanishing points, &c., but the question of balls, at tne
same time admitting that they are not aware
maintaining internal stability should also be considered, that balls have been tried for this purpose, but I cannot
and the elements of flotation differently treat~d under the see that bearing surface is a desideratum if the materials
condition of the h~lds becoming filled with water, before they used are of such a nature as t o preclude abrasion within
can come to a better appreciation of what is required in a reasonable period of time.
the internal construction of armour-clads to prevent
Mr. H. Binsse summarises his objections in the stat esimilar disasters.
ment that the balls must nob wear, and with that would
Again, their lordships state that the watertight doors put them out of court. He means, I presume, that they
were not closed at the time of collision. Poor watertight must n ot wear sufficiently to stop their motions. How
doors are always to blame, but watertight doors do not much this wear might be must be determined by experigive stability to a. vessel, if what is meant is that the ment, and it becomes a question of suitable material and
water finds its way to different parts of the vessel if these renewal.
doors are open. But the vessel should be so internally
Captain Ed wards has heard of the application of balls
constructed as to be entirely independent of the doors to thrust blocks, and declares that they were a failure;
being open O?' shut. The structural weakness of athwart- he may possibly have reached the WilkefiEdwards form
ship bulkhead a is also another element of da.ng~r to ~he of block over the apparently dead body of ball bearings,
vessel without sorue other method of constructiOn (1-. c., but it is also possible be may have abandoned them preinternal construction to prevent sinking, other than maturely from such difficulties a s Mr. Yolk encountered.
bulkheads). For bulkheads at the least can only be
It will be only just, therefore, I think, to discount the
treated as partial divisions of the vessel, and with any assertions of gentlemen who have patented other forms of
great pressure or heig-ht of water on them are bound to bearing, as they may not take a perfectly impartial view
''bulge" and open their seams, if not absolutely t o give of the case.
way under the pressure and strain induced upon them.
"Clyde's" letter, though it speaks of a somewhat antique
Again we have to consider the blame to be attached application, declares that balls were used successfully ;
to doubl~ bottoms in the capsize of the vessel. These while Mr. Tyler, who has evidently had practical experidouble bottoms only add t o the capsizing or overturning ence of balls in bearings, takes a hopeful and encouraging
volume of the bottom buoyancy. Better be without them view of the case.
entirely than have them acting up as a powerful volume
It would appear, therefore, that ball bearings for thrust
of overturning buoyancy, this ~verturning buoyan,cy blocks are possible, providt>.d true balls of good material
coming into action when the vesselts least able to res1st and of sufficient diameter, and in sufficient numbers, be
its overturn ing influence, viz., when the shou~~er or placed in suitably formed paths.
This statement, in the present state of manufacture,
volume of stability is destroyed ; upon a. cond1t10n of
injury and the holds becoming tilled with water, and any may amount to condemnation. I cannot say.
In conclusion, I may add that, in addition to the letters
tendency of the vessel to shift to either side, this buoyancy of double bottom will be forcin~ up with a moment in E~GINEERING, I have bad private communications
equal to its volume, by t~e di~tance 1ts centre of volume from different parts of the country, and it is satisfactory
is shifted from the vertiCal hne through the centre of to observe, from the interest shown in the matter, tha~ it
is receiving consideration.
gravity of the bull, &c.

Whether or no the screw represents finality in propellers, for the present, at least, it must be made the
most of, and I think we may hope that at no late date
SOILbthing feasible and capable of general application
will be forthcoming to meet the difficulty, and lay low
one of the many m onsters that gape to swallow up the
power so laboriously produced by the marine engineer, of
which so much is lost.
Whether the remedy is found in ball bearings, conical
rollers, or oil films, or any other form, it will be welcome
alike to owners and makers.
With apologies to you, Mr. Editor, for the length of
this, and also to those gentlemen whose letters I have so
briefly criticised,
I am, yours truly,

A. G.

R AMAOE.

Lei tb, November 11, 1893.

To THE E orroR o~;~ ENGINEERING.
Sin,- In reply to the courteous letter from lvir . Renouf,
may I, in concluding my share in th~ present discussion,
assure him that I fully appreciate the value of his, and of
all, researches which are conducted upon scientific m~thods
commanding respect ?
My first letter was- as it professed to be-merely intend ed to suggest a theory to account for the peculiar
form of the roller which Captain Ed wards appears to find
very satisfactory. Any difference between Mr. Henouf
and myself arises principally from a want of definition of
terms. What he-as a cycle-maker-terms a heaty pressure, I-a.s a marine engineer-consider a very l'i!Jht one.
Where Mr. R enouf speak s of hundredweights I speak
of tons, and I must adhere to my opinion that, under the
heavy pressures met with in a marine thrust beariog, balls
would be found unworkable, unless of a prohibitive si ze.
It is amusing to note that Mr. Renouf follows the
neat construction given by Mr. Wingfield, which has
already been denounced as radically wrong by Mr. Ty ler.
As Mr. Renouf has, however, practical experience of end
thrusts (chiefly not in cycles, by the way), he may be
able to wean Mr. Tyler from his misplaced confidence in
the form of bearing he has recommended to us.
Yours faithfully,
w. c. CARTER.
Mansion House Chambers, E . C., November 13, 1893.

TWIN SCREWS.
To 'l' HE E DITOR Oil' ENGINEERING.
SrR,-Could you, or any of your readers, kindly give
me any information respecting the correct direction in
which the scre ws of twin-screw passenger st eamer s should
run? I may mention that th e engines of the steamers
with which I am concerned can be run in either way, as
the guides are equally S"ood on both sides.
Thanking you in anticipation,
I remain, yonrs truly,
November 13, 1803.
J . B.
COAL IN THE HAINAUT.-The production of coal in the
Belgian province of the Hainaut last year amounted to
14,253,750 tons, or 3140 tons more than in 1891. Last
year's output was, however, 514,770 tons less than the
corresponding total attained in 1890, which witnessed the
heaviest output on record. The value of the coal raised
in the Haina.ut in 1892 was computed at 5,812,124l. , or
1,286,908l., or 22 per cent., less than in 1891. It follows
that the average price of the coal raised in the Hainaut
last year was l s. 10d. per ton less than the corresponding
average for 1891. The Haina.ut is the most important
coalmining distri ct in B el~ium, its output of 14,253,750
tons last year comparing w1th a corresponding output of
5l298,050 tons in the Charleroi district, 4,715,060 tons in
tne Centre district, and 4,249,640 tons in the ~Ions district. The number of workpeople employed in coalmining in the Hainaut last year was 86,914, or 114 more
than in 1891. The amount paid in wages to the coalminers
of the Hainaut last year was 3,282,850l., or 446,396l. less
than the corresponding wa~e payments made in 1891. The
average annual wage paid last year was 31l. 15s. 2d. per
head, or 5l. 4s., or 1~! per cent., less than in 1891. The
contemporaneous decline in the selling price last year
was 22 per cent. The average annual wage of each
working miner in the Hainaut for the last ten years comes
out as follows : 1892, 37l. 15s. 2d. ; 1891, 42l. 19s. 2d. ;
1890, 44l. 5s. 7d. ; 1889, 36l. lls. 2d. ; 1 88~, 33l. 17s. 7d. ;
1887, 31l. 9a. 7d. ; 1886, 30l. Ss. 9d. ; 1885, 31l. 16s. 9d. ;
1884, 36l. Ss. 9d. ; and 1883, 401. 5s. 7d. Of the 86,914
workpeople employed in coalmining in the Ha.inaut Jast
year, 2716 were women working below ground. This
total of 2716 showed a reduction of 752 a~ compared with
1891. The reduction occurred wholly in young ~irls,
whose employment below ground is now prohibited by
BeJgian law. The profit realised last year from working
was only 5d. per ton, as compared with l s. 5d. per ton in
1891. Of the mines in the province, 42 were worked last
year at a profit of 450,276l., or 604, 453l., or 60 per cent., less
than in 1891. On the other hand, 27 mines were worked
at a loss of 112,822l., or 84, 7V4l., or 160 per cent., more than
in 1891. The final profit for 1R92 was according]y
299,846l., or 689,247l., or 75 per cent., less than the corresponding profit for 1801. 'Vhen the comparison is ex
tended to 1890, the relative falling off in profits last year
is carried to no less than 1,252, 466l. The stock of coal
remaining on hand in the Hainaut at the close of 1892
was 687,962 tons, as compared with 381,486 tons at the
close of 1891. It follows that stocks increased in the
Ha.inaut last year to the extent of 306,476 tons. The corresponding increase in stocks last year in the Char]eroi
district was 196,410 tons; in the Centre district, 65,694
tons; and in the Mons district, 44,372 tons. ThP. average
depth of the pits worked last year in the Hainaut was
1836 ft., or 20 ft. more than in 1801.

617

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

LATHE CENTRE GRINDER.

CONSTRUCTED BY MR.

~~~-

CHARLE.

----- -

TAYLOR,

------

-~~-

ENGINEER, BIR~IINGHA~L

--

I!EN.VETT

annexed illustration shows a handy device for

grinding lathe centres, constructed by Mr. Charles
'f aylor, Bartholomew-street , Fazeley-street, J?irmingham. It is fixed to the tool-holder of the shde rest,
either by aid of a piece of square iron, or bJ: 3: plate,
according to the type of tool-holder. For dn vrng the
emery wheel a. belt i.s ~assed round the cone pu~ley of
the headstock, and 1s ttghtened by means of a Jockey
pulley the arrangement allowing one belt to ser ve for
differe~t lathes. To better resist the pull of t he belt,
an adjustable strut is provided to take a bearing on
the headstock. The grinding spindle is carried in
adj ustable bearings wit h dust guards, and with a steel
back pin for end thrust.
THE

EDWARDS' AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER.

\YE illustrate below a. type o~ automatic sprinkler

now being put on the market by Mr. Leoline A.

Edwards, of 19, Laurence Pountney-lane, London,
E. C., and which possesses some novel features. The
sprinkler consists essentially of a straight t ube with a
spherical pocket near its upper end, which forms
the ''alve seat of the ingenious valve with which this
sprinkler is fitted. This valve consist s of a rubber

IS)I

b3.ll m':> unted upon a hollow stem sealed at the upper

end by a. screwed plug. \V hen undistended by pressure,
the ball is of such a diameter that it can be passed
freely through the straight part of t he main t ube upwards into the pocket; when water is forced into the
ball through the hollow stem aforementioned, it expands out against the sides of the pocket. The open
end of the stem is then sealed by a. fusible metal, and
the sprinkler is ready for fixing. In case of a fire t he
fusible plug is melted, relieving the pressure inside the
ball, which is then forced down, stem and all, into
~he lower part of tpe tube, allowing the water from

the sprinkling mains to escape through the perforations

in the arms shown in the engraving. These arms revolve
under the pressure of the water escaping from them,
and insure a good distribution of the spray. The surface of the pocket against which the rubber ball seats
is t inned, and as the ball is likewise filled with water,
the rubber is claimed to be a.bsobtely free from deterioration with age.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

threaten to revert to a. general strike and call out t he

men now at work.
. .
At the N eston Colliery t he company have, 1t 1s
stated, advanced the wages of the men 10 per cent. 4t
some other pits there is a rumour that the men ~1ll
seek an ad \'&nee on the old rates, owing to t he scarc1ty
and high price of coal. In some districts it is rumoured
that the men threaten a strike because of the refusal to
pay the heavy le,ies. In one district the wiv?s of t~e
miners at work have taken charge of the ch1ldren. m
other districts adjoining, so as to help th~ ~en t o t ide
over the difficulty. Some fresh negotiations have
been entered into of a non-official character for the
resumption of work. In Leicestershire, it is said, the
men are demanding an advance of 30 per cent. on
the old rates, but this may only be a threat.
The condition of trade in the engineering branches
is such a.s to cause some anxiety for the winter. The
number of unemployed has not largely increased
during the past month, but many of those at work are
on short time, or are occasionally suspended for a portion of the week. The total membership of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers is 73,335, of whom 6865
were on donation benefit, 1725 on the sick list, and
2331 on superannuation allowance. This well-managed
union is, therefore, maintaining 10,921 members on the
funds, besides the help it is giving from the benevolent fund. The cost of this assistance amounts to
4619l. lOa., or l s. 6f d. per member per week. The
benevolent levy of 6d. per member has been carried
by an overwhelming majority, only 143 voting against
it. The societ y has also voted a levy of 3d. per member for the miners. There is also due, it appears,
l s. 4d. per member for accident levy, but one-half only
is to be charged at present. Over 4000l. has been
spent on accidents since the last levy, which is much
more than u su~l. Two members of the union have
been returned at the municipal elections, one for
Brighton and one for Manchester. It appears that the
Registrar of Friendly Societies objected to the word
''direct, " as applied to labour representatives, in the
new rules, and the society or delegates accept the correction. The state of trade in Canada and the United
St at es has not materially improved, though there a re
116 fewer members out of work than at the date of the
last report. The Australian Council reports that trade
is still bad, there being a slight increase in the number of unemployed. The Colchester School Board
have adopted resolutions in favour of trade union rates
of wages, no subletting of contracts, and a bond from
all contractors to pay compensation for injuries under
the Employers' Liability Act.

little change took place in t he coal dispute

during t he past week. There were rumours of ne~o
tiations taking place, but no facts had leaked out w1th
respect thereto up t o the close of last week. :Members
of the House of ommons had been canvassed as
regards moving the adjournment of the House in order
to call attention to the matter, but, for reasons unexplained, no such motion was made, though two different rumours were afloat as to the cause of the alleged
postponement of the motion. One was that the
labour members deprecated it. Who t hey were who
intervened is not stated, but nothing was heard of it
in the lobby. Another rumour was that negotiations
were pending, but this scarcely agreed with Mr. Ashton 's
statement that no meeting of t he Miners' Federation
would take place till the coalowners proposed terms
acceptable to the miners. Early this week, however,
the condition of affairs changed rapidly. On Monday
a meeting of the Miners' Federation was hastily
summoned by telegraph for the following day, and on
the same evening Mr. ~ ladstone announced in the
House of Commons that the Government had addressed
a letter to both parties in the dispute, asking them to
hold another conference under the presidency of
Lord Roseber y. "\Ye take it this conference, which
has been accepted on both sides, will close the
matt er ; t he fact of its being held at the instigation of
the Government will lend sufficient importance to both
par ties to enable them t o make the necessary concessions to secure a working agreement without loss of
dignity- real or supposed. Both are suffering terribly,
and will be glad to avail themselves of the opportunity
of ta.king advantage of the altered conditions of the
coal market.
The officers of the :Miners' Federat ion had stated that
they were rather led by the men in the matter of resistance, t han that they bad used any pressure to cont inue t he stru ggle. But in the circular accompanying
the ballot, after the recent conference, t hey stated t hat
they could not advise the men to accept the terms
offered by the employers. Under the circumstances it
might have been better to leave the facts to speak for
t hemselves. As it is, the advice was, though in a nega tive form , to continue the resistance. The whole contest
is now over the old rates, re1. tu the proposed reduction
of 15 per cent., in lieu of 25 per cent. The men are then
willing to join a conciliation board to regulate future
wages, with the proviso of a. minimum wage, presumably the old wage which is now contended for.
It is reported that several pits are on the point
of being reopened at the old rates. Two large companies opened their pits at the old rates on Monday
last , employing some 3000 men. The employers, it
is said, are raising a fund to continue the fight. The
proposal is to raise 200,000!. to help the weaker coal owners in the stru ggle. On the other hand, the mep
VERY

The monthly report of the Ironfounders states that

' ' the decline in trade is daily becoming more percept ible, and in the iron and steel industries no signs of
improvement are visible. " The report adds : '' The
iron market is in a very unsatisfactory state. The
demand for pig iron has recently fallen off considerably,
and the fluctuations in prices have shown that t he
slightest advan ce cannot be maintained, the tendency
being towards reduced prices. " The report rightly
states that the coal dispute has intensified the depression. The total nu m her of members on the funds was
3085, of whom 1804 were on donation, 389 on the sick
list, 659 on superannuation allowance, 16 on dispute,
and 217 on the trade fund. The increase on the
previous month is only 97, and the proportion is fairly
even on all the benefits, those out of work being only
39. The increased calls upon the funds have reduced
the balance by 1177l. 16s. 7d ., the total balance in
hand being 37 ,509l. Ss. lOd. As regards the state of
trade in t he several districts, one only reports trade
to be good, three not so good. In 38 places, employing 4555 members, trade was from good to slack
and dull. Last month the figures were 46 places,
employing 5130 members. On the other hand, trade
was \'"ery slack to very bad in 84 places, employing
10,460 members, as against 76 places, employing
9911 , last month. These figures indicate a deepening
depression, although much of it is due to the coal
dispute. The members have voted a 6d. levy for the
miners by a majority of 4225. A vote is now being
taken for a temporary relief fund for the members out
of work. The outlook for the winter appears to be as
bad in this union as in the Engineers, though the total
cost per member a.t present is less, the amount being
la. 4!d. per member per week. On the whole, this
union is not suffering so much as in some previous
years, notably in the disastrous year 1879.
The monthly report of the Associated Blacksmiths
shows a decrease in the number of unemployed members, but it appears that this must not be taken as an
indication of any real revival in trade. On the contrary, the figures just show the fluctuating character
of the labour market from week to week to meet present emergencies. The amount paid as out-of-work
benefit in the month was the largest paid in any
month of this year except the first two months which
are a.lwa?s t~e hea viest. The si?k .pa.ywas ~lso'heavy,
l\nd a. htnt 1s thrown out that 1t 's e.xcessl\e owing,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
~erhaps,

to lack of energy while trade is so d epressed.

The figures a1e also issued for the last quarter, which
show increased expenditure, and a slight decrease in
the fund s. Some friction has arisen over the Barrow
dispute last summer between the members of the
Smiths' Society and another trade union. So far it is
only a paper warfare, and it is to be hoped that it will
end at that, for disputes between two organisations
are disastrous alike to the men and to the employers,
while the latter have no power, no responsibility, and
no blame in the matter. They only suffer the loss.
Members are urged to be on the look-out for situations
for unemployed members, so as to minimise the effects
of the depression.
The Shipwrights' quarterly report states that the
members are not so well employed as they were. In
some d istricts this is owing to trade disputes, and it is
suggested that some system of arbitrament by reason,
instead of by industrial conflict, would be conducive to the welfare of the workers, the prosperity
of trade, a nd the good of the community. The
returns show that orders are on hand for increasing tonnage, as compared wi th the previous three
months. The total, according to this report, is double
as regards the number of Yessels, and treble as regards
tonnage, of that of the same period last year. 'Vages
have been steady at all the shipbuilding and repairing
ports, but it is urged that the work shall be m ore
equally shared, so that all may have some employment,
instead of some working overtime, while others are
idle or on short time, as th e case may be. On the
whole, the r eport is rather sanguine as to the future,
after the coal dispute is settled.
The monthly report of the Carpenters and Joiners
sta tes that the society is making progress in th e
number of branches and of members; the latter now
stands at 41,256. The report refers to the dispute on
the Clyde between the members of the society and the
shipwrights, which had just been settled, and work
h ad been resumed, when a. further dispute arose over
the proposed overtime rules, which eventually led to a
lock-out. The report stat es that the carpenters were
required to work overtime without extra pay when all
the other branches were on short time. This was
resisted.
Reference is also made to the strike at
Belfast against the employment of two cabinetmakers
to do certain work, but the d eputation sent by the
union to the employers arranged the difficulty. The
dispute at Blackburn is also settled after thirty weeks'
duration by some slight concessions on both side~.
The condi tion of trade is shown by the fact that only
1453 members are out of work out of a total of 41,256.
There are also 85 1 on the sick list, and 410 in receipt of
superannuation allowance-Ss., 7s. , and 5s. p er week.
The state of trade in the cotton textile industries is
not so bad, considering the general condition of trade
in all other brc~.nches. The percentage out of work is
only 3. 78 per cent. of the total members, in so far as
the cotton spinners are concerned, the aggregate
m embership being 16,285. The members are still on
double contribution, in consequence mainly of the
cotton operatives' strike last year. The report states
that there were 35 disputes in the month, but these
were mostly of a t echnical character, the matters in
dispute being deaU with mutually by the different
firms and the association. No fewer than 39 minor
accidents were reported during the month, n one
b eing of a serious chara.ct er. The injured are provided for.
The ship carpen._ers and joiners' strike at Southampton which commenced in June last, has come to
an end,' the executive of the uuion having counselled
the men to resume work at the old rates of wages.
Shipbuild ing is,. howe_ve~, verr dull at the port, many
of the jobs havmg, 1t IS satd, been transferred to
other places owing to the strike. Many men are
still ont of work, and the outlook for th e winter is far
from good in the shipyards.

--

The discussion on the report stage of th e Employers'

Liability Bill was exceedingly sharp on both si~les.
The chief amendment was on Clause 2, and was ratsed
by :M r. McLaren, the member for Crewe. The debate
turned mainly on the insurance scheme of the London
and North. \Veatern Railway, but the L ondon,
Brighton, and South Coast was represente~ i_n the
debate while th e Great Eastern found a vo1ce m one
of the iater speakers. T~1e moti?n was to p ermit c~n
tracting out of the Act m certam cases, where an m
surance scheme was in operation. The heat of the
debate was intensified from the first by the statement
t hat if the amendment were not accepted the bo~rd of
directors of the London and ~orth- \Veste~n Ra.1lwa y
would withdraw their contributiOn to the acCident fund.
I t was also stated in the discussion that the Great
Eastern would do likewise, and it was hinted that t~e
L ondon, Brighton, and South Coast would follow sUlt,
and also th e South Metropolitan Gas Comp~~Y. T~e
mover of the amendmen t was mild and pohtlC 1n h1s

speech, but some of the succeeding speakers evoked , shown as to which particul1:1.r type of transition c urve
opposition, rather than conciliated opponents. It is is the best.
to be regretted that so much h eat was generated in the
The ideal transition curve must possess the followdebate, for after all the question is one for judicial ing qualities, viz. :
d iscussion rather tha n for wild accusation on both
1. At the point of curve the rad ius sh ould be in
sides. In the result, the amendment was lost by a. fioity.
majority of 19, the figures being for the amendment
2. The radius of curvature should vary inversely, as
217, against 236. All the labour members who were the distance from the p oint of curve, measured along
present voted with the Government. On the other the curve.
hand, 15 supporters of the GoYernment voted against
3. The field work should be simple, rapid, and
their party, while some four or five Conservatives accurate.
voted against the amendment. Although this was the
4. The curve should be such that, taken in connecreal test division on the Bill, there are a number of tion with the circular curve with which it is used, it
other points which sharply didde the H ouse, one will render the whole curve flexible and of easy adbeing the omission of shipowners from liability justment to suit the configuration of the ground.
in certain cases, and another rela ting to sub-conThe majority of transition curves now in use fail in
tractors. The feeling exhibited on Mr. McLaren's the third and fourth requirement. Among these may
amendment will cause further friction as the debate be m entioned some of the eo-called railway spirals
proceeds, and will help to delay the passing of the Bill. and the cubic p1:1.rabola.
The following solution of the " tra.nsitivn curve"
The con dition of the engineering trades and cognate problem was made by ~Ir. E. \V. Crellin while an
indus tries in Lancashire is no more satisfactory than it undergradua te in the En~ineering Department, State
has been for some ~ime past. Indeed, if anything, the University of Iowa, and the general principles were
outlook is even darker : the coal d ispute is gradually published in the "Transit" of April, 1o90.
tending to intensify the depression. It is quite
Since that time it has been used by a nu m her of
exceptional to find establishments more than engineers in the field, and has always given satisfacmoderately supplied with orders, and work generally tion.
is coming forward but indifferently. Engine builders
One ad vantage that this curve has over any others
are getting decidedly worse off for work, boilermakers that are kn own to the author is that no t ables are rehave fewer orders, and machine tool makers are quired in using it, and that t he field calculations a1e
by no means well engaged as a. rule, the work that is all simple.
coming forward being irregular and in small quantities.
The curve is represented by the equation
The iron trade is very dull and depressed, but as the
8 2 =eO
supplies were limited, th e prices have hardened rather
S = d istance of any point in the curve from the
than otherwise. But business being quiet at the old
rates, little can be done at any advance, howeYer small origin, measured along the curve.
8 = the angle included between the initial line and
that advance may be. In the finished iron trade business is very slow, but prices remain unchanged. In the radius vect or c = t o a constant.
To draw the curve, set off the angle a o l (Fig. 1), and
the steel trade all branches a re very quiet, but prices
are t olerably firm.
Gtnerally, trad e in all those then in succession the a ngles bot, c o t, cl o t, &c., 4, 9,
branches is u nsettled, and no appreciable change for 16, &c., times as large as a o t.
"With the distance o a between the points of the
the better can be expected until the coal strike is
over, and the market s are well supplied with fuel dividers, start from o and step from one radius vector
at reasonable rates.
The prospect of this is not to another, loca.ting the points a, b, c, d, &c., which
reassuring, though pits are being reopened. A s will be on the curve.
The radius of curvature of this curve is given by
regards disputes in all other industries, there is an
almost total absence of them, fortunately for all con- the equation
s
cerned. Peace reigns in the engineering trades.
8
--R = - - -----,,..--- (1)

In the Cleveland district the ironstone miners are

4
2r
still busy ; this time they are endeu.vouring to advance
+ (s2-4 r2 82)f
the wages of fillers, which are at the rate of under 3! d.
R = radius of curvature at any point.
per ton. 'l'he content ion is that 4d. per ton is low
r = length 0f radius vector.
enough. This would mean filling 15! tons per day
To obtain R in terms of s and 8 we must eliminate,.
for 5s., clear of candles.
from equation ( l ).
r = s (1 - i 82 - ~ 8"' -y~ 815 , &c.).
In the 'Volverhampton district the condition of the
iron and steel industries would be fairly good were it
By taking several ternn of this series for the value
not for the coal question. The p ressure of want of of r and substituting in equation ( 1) we have:
fuel has not beP.n felt so severely here as in most other
districts, but the pinch is felt, nevertheless. Orders
(2)
R = ~ (1 - .56 8-1.3 8"}.
.
Ge
appear to b e fairly plentiful for most classes of finished
iron, and the specifications for the completion of old
ince the angle 8 is expressed in terms of the rad ius,
contracts come in pretty regularly. Inquiries are also that portion of equation (2) ilacluded within the parenmade for the renewal of cr>ntracts, and old customers theses will always be very nearly equal to unity, and
are generously dealt with. But new buyers cannot
R = G~ (apvrox. ).
get their wants supplied, or, if they can, not on the
same liberal terms. Steel is in active request, espe
Substituting
cially for bars, plates, and billets. Makers of pig iron
~2
are heavily booked forward, owing t o the difficulty of
8= c '
getting material from other d istricts. Orders have
been booked for marked bars at good rates, but the we have
chief demand is for common bars, sheets, and tubes,
R = ~ (approx.).
6s
and also tank plates. On the whole, the district has
Therefore the radius varies inversely as s on the disless to complain of than others.
In the Birmingham d istrict business is dull; orders tance from the p oint of origin measured along the curve,
for all kinds of raw material are for merely the most thus conforming with requirements 1 and 2. From
pressing requirements. Very little is doing in th e the characteristics of the curYe it can be laid out in
export trade, except. in gc~.l vauised sheets, nail rod, and the field with the same ease and facility as a circular
hoop iron. The local industries are for the most part curve, the method of work being the same, excepting
that the angles turned off vary as the square of the
quiet; there is not the usual seasonal spurt.
number of sta tions, and not directly as the number of
At Crewe the steel works have re-st arted, employ- stations, as in circular cur vos.
ing a bout 600 men. These have been idle since July.
Thus in a circular cun'e the angles would be 1, 2,
But the coal strike has operated badly for the railways 3, 4, &c., while in th e transition curve they would be
generally.
even of the principal trunk lines con- 1, 4, 9, 16, &c.
nected with the coal districts have lost in r evenue
ome idea of the flexibility of this curve may be ob1 847,466/. as compared with the same p eriod covered t ained by an examination of Fig. 2.
~seventeen weeks- last year. This is serious not only
Any number of curves as a and c joining the two
for the companies, but for general trade, as such a t angents may be made to pass through any intermediate
decrease in revenue will affect the industries which point p, while only one circula r curYe would fulfil
obtain large orders front railway companies.
this condition. In fact, by the use of this transition
curve, a curve joining any two tangents may be made
to pass through several intermediate points, situated
'l'RANSlTION CURVE .
within certain limits.
By CnARLE D. J AMIEso~, Professor of Engineering,
This proper ty of flexibility is of the greatest posState University of Iowa.
sible ad vantage in fitting a line to the ground in detail.
TuE advantages attending the use of transition 'Vhen a. line has once been run in with only circular
curves are n ow so well understood, and their use is curves connecting the tangents, no change can be
becoming so general, that nothing need be said upon made in the location of 1:1.ny part of it without necessitating the changing of a considerable portion of the
this point.
There can be but one opinion as to the use of tran- line on each side of the affected point, and involving
sition curves p er t~e, but great diversity of opinion is so much work that often th.-se small changes, wh ich

619

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

m= ~ a. (1 + .000171 a 2 + .00000028 a. 4)

would ei&her improve tho alignments or reduce the

cost of construction, are not made. By the use of this
transition curve, however, any desired changes in t he
alignment, within certain lim~ts, can be .made, . and
none of the line changed exceptmg the port10u dcs1red.
In the use of this tra nsition curve the following

(7)

m = lOO 0 (1 + .000012 o2 + .0000000024 o")

(8)
D
d = m D (1-.0000000022 m2 D 2).
(9)

300
s == ( 137,520 ~) ~ (1 + .0000035 d D-. 0000000036
.

. (10)

m = ( 3!,380 ~ )' (1 + .0000104 d D) .

. (11)

d2 D2) .

Fig. 7.

(12)
= s (1 + .000122 a.2)
I n these formulre the factor inclosed in parentheses is
in ordinary cases nearly unity, and usually a sufficiently
accurate result may be obtained by dropping this
factor entirely. When o is less than 6 deg. the error
wou ld be no greater than 1 in 1000. The method of
using the transition curve in the field will be. gove~ed
by circumstances and by the analogy wh1ch ex1sts
between it and the circular curve.
Suppose it is desired to introduce a curve at the
point a (Fig. 3). The topographical features of the
ground and other circumstances will decide what defiection unit to use, the same as in the use of the circ:.1lar
curve,
1'

.,, ......

----- ---

- ......... _

.......

.......

..., ........

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

-... .............. ...... __ ..... __

... ...

........

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

...... ..

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

'..,.~V
... .........
......... ..... ~
... ........' . .
...... _ ... ..

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

........ ,:- .......

...

....
.
.
----------------------.-- - . ------ ------------ ... -.---- . . -. - ..
-::-:~

lf30. A .

I
I

Pig. Z.

1+30 8

0~-.

I ',

l~

PLJ.3.

Pig. 6.

'

:
I
I

'

,,
'

'

::

PORTS ON SANDY COASTS.*

"'

Pig. 7.

' (L

I
I

I
I

Ag.4.

,;

,,

,;

1430 D

Fig.S.

1/1.90..

formulro (see Fig. 3) will be found useful in connection

with the various field problems :
s = a d the distance in feet of any point in the curve
from the origin measured along the curve.
M= ab abscissa of centre of curvature in feet.
r =ad length of radius vect or in feet.
D = degree of curvature at any given point a.s d.
a. = deflection angle of cl a c in degrees.
o= do b = d g c central angle in degrees.
d = off-set be between the tangent ab and a parallel
tangent to the circular curve e i . The curve e i
coi nciding at cl in direction and degree of curvature with the transition curve.

s=

~a

(1 + .000168 a2

+ .000000093 a")

3 a (1 + .000049 a 2 + .000000046 a4)

a = ~ o(1- .0000054 lfl- .ooooooo0057 o"')

2
= 00 ~(I + oooon6 o1 + .oooooooo13 ~) .

o=

})

sixth station necessary to move trans~t. The s ucceeding deflection angles from the new pomt would be:
90' X 1 + 12 X 5 == 951
90' X 2 + 22 X 5 = 200'

90' X 3 + 32 X 5 = 315', &c.

Equation (13) is only approKimate but sufficiently
accurate for most cases. When possible it is best to
locate the entire transition curve from the point of
curve.
Many problems occnrring iu the use of cir~u.lar
curves are much simplified by the use of trans1t10n
curves.
E xample.-Ghren two tangent s whose point of intersection is inaccessible to be connected by a curve.
If a circular curve is used it is necessary to know
t h e central angle and the tangent distances. ~Vith
this transition cunre it is not necessary to know e1ther
of these q uantities (Fig. 6) .
In introducing transition curves on a road already
laid with circular curves, it is desirable to disturb the
existing tangents and curves as little as possible. The
change can generally be effecte.d most econol!lically
by decreasing the degree of the c1rcular .curve sh~htly ,
so as to allow a sufficient offset fo r the mtroduct10n of
the transition curve. The change can usually be made
in such a manner as to necessitate the moving of the
track only a few feet. Fig. 7 shows how this can be
done, the middle portion of the new c~rv.c cl being
outside of the old curve and the ends ms1de; by a
simple calculation, this curve can be so adjusted that
the length of track will remain unal tered.
In conclusion, we will summarise the merits of this
transition curve. It conforms with the first and
second requirements, as stated in the beginning ; so
also do the majority of the transition curves in use.
But in addition to this, however, it conforms more
nearly with the third and fourth requirements than any
transition known to the author. It is flexible, can be
made to fit the ground, can be run in with as much
ease as a circular curve, and no bulky tables are
needed for making the necessary calculations .
The few formula:; needed can be copied into the back
of the note-book and always b e ready for use.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Take five minutes as this unit. It will be found

best to use chords of 50 ft. for curves of more than
5 deg. The cur Ye is then run in the same man?er as the
circular arc. The angles turned off snccess1 vely are :
!2 X 51 =51, 22 X 51 = 201, 3 2 X 5 1 =451, 4 2 X 51 = 801, &c.
Suppose the sixth de~ectio~ 180 min.= 3 d~g. reac~es
t he point d. Insertmg th1s value for a. m equat10n
(5) a nd we get o = 9 deg. 0 min. 15 sec. =cl r; c. If
the parenthetical factor had been dropped the result
would have been 9 deg.
In the case of a circular arc, t he angle d g c would
be twice d a c instead of three times as with the transition curves.
The transit can now be movei to the point cl and
turned on the tangent by setting off the angle et d g =
o- a. = 9 deg. - 3 deg. = 6 deg. The circular arc can
then be run in as usual.
There are several methods of locating the second
transition curve or the one joining the circular arc to
the su cceeding tangent. The most convenient a nd
most accurate method, however, is to locate the transition curve from the tangent end, eYen if it does require a little more walking on the part of the transit
man. In some cases the transition curves are run in
by a special field party after the generd.l location has
been completed.
It is only n ecessary to leave an offset b e (Fig. 3) of
any desired length at the beginning and end of the
circular curve. The tra nsition curves can then be run
in at any time by the aid of equations (9) and (11).
The problem of joining two tangents by two transition cur ves meeting at a point cl (Fig . 4), a. given distance from vhe p oint of intersection E, is solved by
equations (5) and (8).
In case of an obstacle to direct measurement, as o
(Fig. 5), the long chord a b may be measured, its
leng th being found by equation (12). If a n obstacle
prevents the location of the entire transition curve
with the transit at the point of curve, the instrument
may be moved to any convenient station, set on the
tangent of the curve at t hat station, and the deflection angles for the succeeding portion of the curve
found as follows :
s1 number of station from new transit po1nt.
m= number of stations from point of curve to new
transit point.
fJ =deflection angle for any succeeeding station.
Then
(13)

Example :

On the Mode of Establishment and Maitntenance of P orts

on Sandy Ooasts L iable to Deposits of Silt.
By P. DE MEY, Chief Engineer of Ponts et Chaussees.
l nt1-oduction.- The low and open coasts of Belgium
are essentially alluvial. The bottom of the sea is there
covered with deposits of sand comprising numerous and
important banks, as well as deposits of mud. The sandbanks are often sbelly, and in certain places, gravelly.
The mud is chiefly met with in the depressions which
separate these banks.
It may be admitted, in a general way, that the sands
of submarine deposits under the action alone of tidal
currents, and contrary to what takes place with regard
to mud, are not put in suspension and taken along with
the mass of the water in circulation. They are rather
rolled along the bottom by small successive movements.
The alluvial deposits cons tituting the bottom of the
sea on the coast of Flanders are the result of accumulated
effects during a long series of ages, and the conformation
of the banks which \they compose goes back, doubtless,
to the quaternary age previous to the most recent transformation of our shores. Taken as a whole, this sea
bottom, with the numerous banks that characterise it,
shows a great degree of permanence. The contour line
of 20 metres depth which limits it on the sea side, has
preserved approximately the same position from the commencement of the century. The shoals and channels are
almost in the same sites, and we cannot discover the formation of any new banks or any new channels.
What is .neceRsary to consider in the first place is the
tidal currents, whose effect is preponderating because of
th eir uniform, periodic character. Now, these currents
before the coast of Flanderst.. ...alternate in the open sea
towards the N. E . and S. W. ~ear the shores they exhibit
a r otative inverse movement; that is to say, they are
constantly variable in direC'tion, and successively traverse
all the points of the compass, from right to left. But the
flood and the ebb during the greater part of their duration, comprising the period in which these currents have
the greatest intensity, are still directly opposed, and
their directions are about N. E. and S. W.
The ebb has a duration greater by 1 to 1~ hours than
that of the flood, but the ratio of its velooity to that of
the flood is on the average comprised between ~and
The effects of these currents, then, acting in opposite
directions, tend to neutralise each other.
As re~ards the action of the waves, it d ecreases very
rapidly m descending from the surfat'e of the water, and
at a considerable depth it has no l onger sufficient p ower,
even in violent storms, to cause important movements of
sand. Tbe waves only act with energy on h igh banks,
above all on those which are bare at low water. On striking these shoals they rise and break, throwing forward
the sand in the direction of their propagation, and this
with the more violence as the depth of water is smaller.
Nevertheless the movements of sand which these conditions give rise to, are confined to narrow limits, and often
to simple displacements taking place on the surface of
the raised plateaus. It is thus that on the whole the

e.

* Paper read before the International Maritime Con-

T~ke unit of deflection angle five minutes and at gre,c;s, London M eeting.

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

620
sea bottom on the coast of Flanders shows great relative
stability, and this appears even in the estuary of the
Scheldtl.
As to the deposits of mud and muddy sand which
occupy such considerable extents of surface ab the entrance of the North Sea., greater or less amounts of these
alluvia. are put in suspension and int~rmingled with the
mass of the water, travelling with it under the incessant
action of the ebb and th e flood. The degree of saturatien of the water evidently depends on the velocity of the
currents, and still more on the state of agitation of the

[NOV. I 7, I 893.

I .-CONDITIONS OF A CCESSffiiLITY OF HARBOURS.

Whilst certain sandy shores, like those of the Netherlands, are connected directly with the deep sea by means
of unbroken slopes more or less stee~, the existence of the
banks that encumber the shores of Flanders creates there
a special situation, varying from one point to the other of
this CO::\St (Fig. 1).
Only a few years ago the idea would not have been
entertained of improving the oonditions of accessibility of
a harbour by modifying at certain points the configuraIS I

bank only offers 3 metres of water at low water, th~y can

only cross this bank at high tide. *
In 1801, at which t ime the celebrated hydrographer, M.
Beautemps-Beaupre, drew up th e chart of the banks of
the coast of Flanders, the Stroom-bank, in the part
limited by the con tour lines of 4 metres below low water,
only extended on the east side 18, 000 met res beyond the
port of Ostend. It had, at a minimum distance of
12,000 metres, soundings of 4 metres extending to the
shore, thus leaving on this side a wide channel of approach
into the small r oadstead of Ostend. In the whole extent

J D'

(<:)

MIDDLfBOURC
41

42

Z5

20'

o CLMSX!Ritl

Fi&. 7.
C OAST oF BELGIUM

10

'The soundings{m meLre.s) ~how mean levels

below low water at .sprin.J tides
m

. . 2. 50
-- - -- - ----------- Sm~es
I I

11

,,

14

CJFVRN~

..

tl

..

'?$J DlllfKI RI(

J..

0 0

--------8
- - - - - - - - _/0

11

.,

- -- - -- .. - 20 ,,

.-

30

11

intlicales lloalinJ f,!hl ship

5

Sovndtng.s at dead

()

uw Water

FifJ . 2.

Fig 7.

1133

Sullt ?JQODD
I

11100J.J(C/IK

Fig . 8.
H"Jh Waltr 0 S T _ _

_ _lo_w Wattr

- -- - Scolt o 0015

pm

But the mud although it circulates constantlY an d

~eba.u.ndantly along t'he whole coast of :F landers, does not
""
d
d t
givA rise either in the channels or roa stea s, o any eo~siderabl~ deposit, so Ion~, of course, as t?hdea bo~tom I S
not, by any abnormal crrcumstance, w~t rawn m fl~~a
degree from the regular alternate actiOn of the
_
and ebb.
h 1
The mud in vades, on the contrary, ~11 t e p ach~~~e
tected transversely t o t~e shore, and dwlth ~h muc ce in
activity a.s the depth ts gr~a.ter an d a\
dpa s
question have greater e~tenslOP tow~r s t e a.n ,

q.s:.. . r_
:. .

--

of this roadstead mean soundings of 7 metres to 8 metres

at low water spring tides were obtained (Fig. 2. ).
In 1886, as the cb art of Lieutenant Stessels shows us,
the Stroom-bank had lost in width, and had gained more
than 4000 metres in length towards the east, following a
direction slightly inclined ~ith reference to the s~ore,. and
only leaving on th e right stde a pass 550 metres.m w~dth,
with 5.30 metres of water below low water sprmg tides.
At the same time, all that part of the small roadstend
situated to the east of the meridian of Mariakerke was
much silted up in 1886. There were only soundings there
at low water of 5.20 metres to 6.20 metres, and immed iately t o the west of Os tend 7 metres.
These modifications have been more and more accentuated since that time, to such a point that the Stroombank in the end baR closed in with the shore, whilst the
smaller roadstead has continued to silt up; the depth at
the east end only now measures 4 metres to 4~ me~es
below low water.
The progressive ~xtensi~n. of the f3troo~-ban!' is explained by the spe.ctal cond1t1~ns und~r wh10h th1s s~nd
bank exists. It 1s comparatively h1gh, and comprtsed
between two deeps-the .great and smal~ roadsteads .of
Ostend. I ts inward slope 1s very steep, whilst the oppostte
slope has a somewhat gentle inclination, and as the bank
on the whole shows an oblique direction with reference to

of the. shore. Tod~y

tl.on of th e sea bottom inh front
k t th
t
thin gs are not the same, t ~n . s o e tmproveme~ s hln
dredging machinery. SuctiOn dredgers can act m t e
open sea either to excavate a cha:m~el across a bank of
sand or to deepen or improve an extsttng one.
Excavation of the Channels of the St.-oom-bank.-The
Stroom-ba.nk, opposite the coast of Ostend, extends from
Middlekerke up to the village of Breedene, and separates
the reat from the small roa.dstl'!a.d of Ostend. The gr~at
* The range of the tide at Ostend is 4.Ci0 metres
roafstea.d of Ostend being in no way protected, sbtps
cannot lie there in rough weather 1 and ~ tQ~ Stroom- springs, and 3. 70 metres at nea~s .
.

a~

Nov. 17, 1893.]

the shore differing little from that of thE' tidal ourrf3nts
at the moment of their greatest force,* these, and especially the flood current, impinge on this last slope, which at
the same time receives t he shook of the waves from the
open sea. There are. thus produced al~ng the s~oa.l
breakers and eddies wh1ch throw the sand m suspensiOn,
and permit the currents t o carry, little by little, a part
of these materials towards the east or in the direction of
the prevailing winds, and deposit them at the end of the
bank wher~ the intersection of the ftood tides, coming
resp;cti vely from the ~reat and the small roadsteads of
Os tend, gives rise to the formation of a. large pool, such
as to cause the precipitation of the sand conveyed.
In proportion as the Stroom-bank extended itself across
the formt>r channel, the waters that enter the small roadstead during the flood, find ing on this side a continuously
diminishing section, have been more a.n~ more obstr~oted
in their progress, and therefore, entermg comparat1 vely
still water, they deposit on the bottom a. part of the
matter in suspension. Further, the erosive force of the
ebb currents at the moment of their greatest speed has
diminished at the same time, so that their action was not
sufficiently powerful t o counterbalance the effect of these
deposits.
It must be added that in any violent winds the waters
brought up t o the surface of the sea carry with them solid
matters in a way that some hydraulicians consider to be
of great importance.
The considerations which precede show clearly that the
silting up of the small roadstead is only a natural consequence of the extension of the Stroom-bank. We have
thus been led to propose, as the only means of improving
the condition of t his roadstead, the excavation of a wide
channel at the east end of the bank, or, in other words,
to rem'.)ve on this side the end of the bank for a distance
great enough to reproduce the hydrographic state of things
shown on the chart of Ostend drawn up in 1801 by M.
Beautemps-Beaupre.
Now it may be foreseen that when the cause of the
silting up has disappeared, the silting itself will cease,
and th at the depth now existing in front of Ostend,
which is about 6 metres below low water, will be maint ained, and that is the result that it is above all import ant to arrive at.
When the eastern channel is opened it will be doubtless
exposed to fresh deposit, for the condition of the S troombank itself not being modified, the movements of sand that
t ake plaoe along the shoal a nd which cause deposit at its
end, will continue to go on, to the detriment of the channel
that is made; but it must be notE."d that the movements
of sand of the Stroom-bank are not, after all, of excessive
amount, for the Axtension of the plateau is the result of
effects accumulated during about a. cen tury, and if we
make an approximate estimate we obtain about 13,000,000
cubic metres, or a mean of 150,000 cubic metres per
annum, and it may bA asserted that the deposits in the
new channel will not eocceed that figure.
\Ve have also proposed t o open a second ch annel across
the Stroom-bank to the west of Ostend, !5pecially designed
for navigation, and it is this channel that has just been
excavated. It is 600 metres in width, and its depth was
provisionally fixed at 5 metres below low water spring
tides. The works were commenced on M arch 15, 1890,
with two suction hopper dredgers ; each of these vessels
has a length of 43.40 metres, and is 8.50 metres wide and
4 metres deep. The draught aft is 2.45 metres light and
3.25 metres loaded. The capacity of the hoppers is ~50
cubic metres ; t he engines a.re vertical, compound surface-condensing, 220 indicated horse-power, giving a
speed of 6 knots loaded and 6 knots light. In the month
of January, 1891, the work was commenced by removing
343 cubic metres at a cost of 0.58 fr. per metre, carried a
distance of 4 kilometres. The sand dredged was almost
pure, of average size, and in certain spots more or less
shelly. Each dredger filled itself on an average in less
than fifty minutes. They have done as much as 3700
cubic metres in a day. There is no example within our
knowledge of dredgers of this kind having given so good
a result. F rom the very commencement of this work the
soundings showed very satisfactory results. In the month
of November the minimum depth in the channel was
already 4.27 metres; from March 9 t o October 21 following, 250,000 cubic metres were dredged in the channel at
a. cost of 0.40 fr. per cubic metre, including transport.
At the conclusion of the work the depth obtained everywhere reached the minimum of 5 metres, which had been
specified.
Without entering into more details on this subject, we
will say that from October 21, 1891, t o Sept ember 7. 1892,
no dredging has been done in the new channel, and that
the depth has remained praotioally the same.
From the month of June, 1892, the dredging t o be
done in the west pass of the Stroom-bank has been included in the general estimate of dredging works for the
Belgian coast. The amount provided for this channel
for a period of five years is a maximum of 150,000 cubic
metres and a minimum of 100,000 cubic metres per annum.
This dredging is expected not only t o maintain the
channel, but to gradually deepen it t o 6 metres at least,
i.e., to the existing depth in the small roa.dstead before
the port of Ostend. Fig. 5 represents the state of the
channel in 1893, and also tha1l of the bank abreast of the
channel before any dredging had been done there.
Artificial .Roadsteads and Breakwaters.- The idea has
b~en sometim~s :put forward of creating along the Belgtan C?ast arti:ficta.l roa.dstea.ds by means of breakwaters
esta.bhshed parallel t o the coast, that is to say, in the

. * Along the coast

-------------------------of B~lgium the speed of 1lbe ftood

ttde ab the moment of 1ts greatest force varies from

1.10 metres per second to 1.50 metres per second; that of
the ebb from 0. 90 metre per second to 1.40 metres per

aecond.

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

621

harbours on sandy coasts were very difficult to contend

with.
The only m ethod applied with any success was the Amployment of sluicing. Originally t he ports of the coast
of }"landers, Dunkirk, N ieuportl, and Osten d, were formed
at the mouths of old creeks, where the sea en tered freely,
and which occupied vast areas. Ab the reflex the ~ow of
the tidal waters together with the waters of land dram age,
formed more or'less powerful natural sluicfls.
But it was always at the entrance of the ~hannel _tha.b
these natural sluices had least effect, that bemg precisely
the point where the gr eatest depth is wanted in order to
compensate for the loss o~ water in the trough ? f waves,
and to a void the forma tiOn of breakers. Bes1des, they
could scarcely increase the depth already exiatiJ?g, for t~e
bottom was generally formed of sand not eas1ly put m
motion, and bein~ well consolidated and mixed with shells,
offered much res1stancE.".
A fter the lagoons and creeks had been emba nked in the
interest of agriculture and of public health, and after finally
the inroads of the sea. were completely st opped by lo.oks
established at th3 bead of the harbour, the natural sluices
were replaced by artificial ; but the same difficulties c~>n
tinued. As soon as the depth of water at low bde
attained t o 2 or 3 metres, the sluices bad only a feeble
a<.'tion on the sands of the bottom, especially outside the
piers, where the sluioing currents were rapidly lost in the
ml\ss of t he water. Thus it was adruitted as a principle
that the sluice gates were to be placed as n ear t? the
entrance as possible, and that the greatest head a vailable
was to be given. On the other hand, many methods have
been attempted or proposed in view of stirring up the
sand in the approach channel to a harbour, and so famlitate
its being earned away under the action of sluioing or
tidal currents.
The application of dredgers has proved that the deposit
of sand before the pier heads is, in most cases, much less
rapid than had been supposed. Therefore, in removing
the deposits by this means and transporting them t o places
where they cause no inconvenience, a. r ational and final
solution is obtained. The results that can be obtained by
dredging in the improvement and maintenance of the
entrance of harbours on sandy coasts essentially depend
on the cond itions of those ports, A.nd, in the first place, on
!I.--TH E E sTABLI H MENT AND M AI NTENANCE 0.1<'
their width.
HARBOUR .
So it is that at Dunkirk, where the beach is very wideGenerat Considerations.-Tidai ports on the coast of 1200 metres to 1600 metres--and includes an upper zone of
Flanders include generally a channel formed between two great extent, J?ra.otically level, and only covered by the
piers and a n outer harbour, at the end of which are the sea a t spring tide, the amount of dredging to maintain in
locks of wet docks. The :{>iers are of open work, that is the outer channel of the harbour a depth of 2! metres
to say, they a re formed wtth a low embankment, in ad- below low-water spring tides is no less than 500,000 cubic
vance of which, on the side of the channel, is a high pier metres per annum. The beaches a t the north end of the coast
of timber framework. The low embankments are in- of }"'landers, notably those about Heyst, are, on the other
tended to stop the sands of the shore, and to confine in hand, very scanty; they have only a. width of about 200
the channel the tidal currents as well as those coming metres from the foot of th e sand-hill to the line of low water
from the artificial sluices and from land drainage. The spring tides, and they are protected against the erosive
axis of such channel on our coast is directed almost N. W., action of the sea by frequent h erbage. W e may assert
this being the best direction, as the prevailing sea winds that on this parb of the coast, where a n ew harbour is conblow from the \V. to N . N. \V., and those from the N. '\V. templated, no difficulty will arise from silting, and that a
very moderate amount of annual dredging will enable the
cause the most violent storms.
The tidal 'ports of the coast of Flanders, constructed in depth necessary for large merchant ships to enter a1l all
parts through a long series of years, and oft en badly states of the tide to be maintained.
W e have proof of this in the results obtained at Ostend,
arranged, do not, in general, possess the qualities now
desirable from a nautical point of view, especially in where the beach in this respect has a. much less favourable
respect of the insufficient dimensions of the channel and r~gime than that at H eyst .
of the out er harbour. But th is system, nevertheless,
T o the east of the channel the beach shows a mean width
suits better than any other the conditions of a shore of 375 metres, with a slope of about 1.3 p er cent. in the
essentially allu vial, and there is nothing to prevent its belt bounded by the line of higb-wa.ter s:ering tides; the
bei ng applied to the n eeds of large ships, as we will try to higher belt up to the foot of the sand-hills has a. width
show.
of 20 metres t o 40 metres. On the west side, in front of
Sand Deposits.--The movement of sand that is ob- Ostend, is a. masonry wall and reclamation 650 metres
served on beaches is due, as we know, to the action of in width, which adva nces 160 metres beyond the S'enera.l
tidal currents combined with that of waves, and to the line of the sand-bills. Immediately beyond th1s wall
direct action of the wind. The effect of tidal currents is the beach sh ows a width of about 300 metres, with
in this respect of comparati vely small importance; never- a slope of between 1. 3 and 1. 6 p er cent. Now the
theless these currents, when they are deviated by piers interesting point to observe, and which I have already
projecting on the coast, give rise along these works to pointed out to the Congress at P aris, is that the projecting
eddies and erosions, and they carry the sand so raised wall, which is now of considerable age, has had no effect
beyond the pier heads. There the currents so di ~erted upon the low-water line ; that remai ns unaltered up to the
intersect those travelling past the harbour, a nd thus give entrance channel of the harbour. This is owing to the
rise to dead water and deposits a t the entrance of the small wi_dth of the be~oh on the west, whose upper portion
channel. Waves a re the most active agency in the trans- t o half-tide has been pitched so that the mo vements of sand
~ort of beach sands. In calm weather, as they are propa- are comparatively limited. We thus see how the extengated over great depths, the movement decreases from sion of the piers of the harbour, carried out in 1804, has
the surface downwards, but when they a.p~roach the caused no extension of the beach.
beach, traversing depths of water uniformly d1minishing,
The first efforts at dredgin g were made in 1880. Begin the displacement produced carries with it the sands from ning in the following year, the works were pushed forthe bottom, which are thus dri ven gradually towards the ward actively, and in June, 1884, as much as 615,000
beach. The waves in breaking throw a part of the cubic metres were removed. At this time the outer channel
materials raised beyond their own range of action, and had acquired on the line of entrance a depth of 6 metres
add to the effect of the rising of t he water on the beach. below low water spri ng tid es , while that previously ob Th us there are formed in the exterior angles, between the tained by means of sluices only reached 1~ metres to
p iers of a harbour and the beach, more or less important 2 m etres.
deposits, which are more pronounced along the pier exThe width of the cha nnel has been r,ontinuously inp osed to the prevailing winds. Besides, the winds in creased up t o June, 1888, the total excavation amounting
dri vin~ before them the sand of the part of the beach to 11200,000 cubic metres.
which l S left bare by the tide, as also sand from the sandSmoe tha1l time the work has been confined to the
hills, serve t o increase these deposits largely. \Vhilst dredging necessary to maintain th e situation established.
the beach is raised in calm wea.ther, it is, on tb e other The annual amount on the average reaches about
hand, eaten away in storm s, especially when these are 100!000. cubic metres, including in this whs.t is done to
accompanied by high tides. The water then accumulates mamtam t he channel between the open-work J?iers. We
on the shore and produces powerful downward currents, may, then, say that by means of a nomparattvely small
whilst the waves in breaking on the beach give rise to an:tount of dredging great depths can be created and mainreturn waves of very great strength, which act chiefly on tame~ at tb~ entrance of ports on sandy coasts, except in
the bottom and stir up the sand on the whole exten t of oertam spectal oases, such a.s that at Dunkirk.
the beach violently. It is thus that a greater or less
In such a case the best way to overcome the difficulty
quantity of the sands, which have been carried up, are re- in our opinion! is t o rl ea~ with the beach, and embank th~
moved towards th e regions outsidE:' low-water line, and in ?Pper part of It. There ~se~en an advanta~e in construotfront of the pier heads. Under the action of the continual mg embankmen~s pro)eottng beyond htgh-water line,
movements of sand that we have just described, the beach such as that wh10h extsts at Ostend. In this way we
on each side of the piers of the harbour tends, after a should suppress, in the neighbourhood of the harbour
certain period, to a position of comparative equilibrium. that part of bhe beach on which in ordinary weather th~
Only a fe w yea':'s ago the deposits a.t the entrance of sand gets accumulated, and from wbioh ib is brough t bacJt

direction of the tidal currents during the period of their

greatest intensity.
U nless breakwaters were eRta.blished at a. great distance
from the shore, such works would not overcome the difficulties of approach created by the shoa.ls on the coast of
Belgium. Besides, on a OO~iSt devoid of shelter we should
have t o give a. great length to the breakwaters, without
which the space that they protect would not offer sufficient calm to allow ships t o remain there with safety in
heavy weather. This bein~ the case, it is cer tainly
better, a nd much more practical, to confine ourselves to
the improvement of the channels of approach to the
port by dredging, and to give it a depth of water a nd
such a design as t o adm it large shipe at all times, or, a t
any rate, during as many hours of each t ide as possible.
We shall examine this question later.
The usefulness of a breakwater on an open a nd alluvial
shore may be fairly a rgued, in our opinion, when the
beach in quAstion leads directly to deep wa ter without
the interposition of any shore, as, for inst ance, at
Y muiden. The coast is, then, specially exposed to the
waves of storms, and the breakwater, which should be
placed at a distance of at least 2500 metres t o 3000 metres
from the shore, would have the result, not only nf creating in front of the shore relatively calm water, where
ships could, if necessary, cast a nchor, but also of protecting the coast itself.
'fhere can be no question of constructi ng, as some engineers have proposed. artificial roadsteads or vast outer
harbours on the coast of .F landers by means of works
st arting from the shore. and forming an inclosure whose
entrance would be ou~ide the shoals parallel to the coast~
such as the Stroom-bank before Ostend, or the Zana
before Heyst. These works would intercept completely
the ftow of the littoral currents, and would infallibly
give rise to disturbances in the sea bottom of the neighbourhood.
Still less can it be advisable to create outer harbours by
mean s of a.singlecurved breakwater starting from the shore,
and turning its convexity t owards the prevailing winds.
This arrangement would not sa.ve us from silting even if
openings were left in the breakwater, and thus a partial
passage gi vec to the tidal currents.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
by the first storm, in greater or less quantity, towards the
entrance of the h arbour. B efore a. projecting embankment the direct transport of alluvium t owards the piers,
especially the transport by wind, is in a. great measure
interrupted, while, on the other hand, the descending
currents and the return waves which arise along the embankment have the result, whenever the sea is rough, of
eating away the b each, and maintaining it in a compa.ra.ti vely attenuated form. Thus at Dunkirk the great
development of the beach on the webt dates from a distant p eriod. It is due to the uniting c f the shore with a
high shoal situated seaward of the coast, and from which
it was ~eparated by the d eep of Mardyck, which has gradually been filled up. At oth~r placas these wide beaches
have been produced by the gradual fillinR up of the mouth
of an old arm of the sea., suc h as the Zwyn, situated on
the Dutch frontier. But in those cases the changes were
of limited duration, and when the beach has acquired its
condition of r elative equilibrium, there is n othing to
prevent our emba.nking the upper part, without fear of
further extension by encroachment on the sea. The
exam ph of Os tend is absolute proof of this.
L et us say, to summarise, that in order to improve the
approach channel of harbours establish ed on a sandy
coast, artificial sluices with sea water are no longer advisable; dredging gives better and more certain results,
and, at the price at which it can be done to-day, it is a
more economical process than artificial sluicing. \Vhere
the sluices already exist they may, nevertheless, be
u sefully employed to maintain the entrance by carrying
off recent deposits at the entrance and against the piers,
especially when the submarine slope outside the harbour
is st eep; for in that case there is little fear that the sand
carried away would create a bar in front of the entran ce,
the action of the waves and currents being there generally
sufficiently powerful to carry away the fine sand a nd
spread it in the deep parts of the sea.*
Mud Deposits.- We find silt on m ost shores, even those
that are rocky. In most cases, however, it is n ot found on
these shores except in comparatively small quantiti6s, a nd
comes from the disintegration of the clayey rocks which
enter into the composition of cliffs, and from the discharge
of rivers emptying into n eighbouring bays.
But on the shores of Flanders, where muddy deposits
occupy very vast areas, this alluvium occurs in great
quantity, and invades all shel tered places freely opened
to the sea.. For ports established on such a shore, internal
silting con stitut es a con siderable difficulty in the maint enance of their de pth, and cannot be left out of view in
studying the design t o be adopted.
The simplest design consist s in forming the outer
harbour of two converging piers, like those of the port of
Kingatown in the Bay of Dublin-a port which continues
in excellent condition almost without dredging. But the
nei~hbourhood of Kingstown cannot be regarded as being
muddy in the character of its shores. The coast in the
interior of the bay is formed of granite rock s to the south,
and of calcareous rocks in the r emaining parts.
The conditions that characterise neighbourhoods essentially alluvial are quite different. The porb of Ymuiden
is a rare example of one constructed on the system
adopted at Kingstown, and having alluvial conditions.
The inclosure betwean the breakwaters has an area. of
120 h ectares. Now the d eposits of mud are so abundant in
this enclosure, which was destined to serve as a harbour
of r efuge, that from the very outset the idea of giving ib
deep waters had to be abandoned, a nd no more is
attempted than t o maintain a. cent ral passage of 250
metres in width with a. depth of 7~ metres below low
water, and still the maintenance of this passage, whose
surface up to the locks of the maritime canal of. Amsterdam only m easures 320,000 ~quare m etres, req m res every
y ear a dredging of 500,000 cubic metres of silty matter
mea.sured in the hoppers. The importance of this dredging,
undoubtedly considerable, is neverthele~s n ot excessive,
and although it is objec~ion~ble by reason of the e~tensi.ve
plant it necessitates, .t his kmd o~ outer harbour IS qu.Ite
admissible for Y mUiden.
B esides, the range of tide
being only 1.60 m etres, ib would be difficult to p rovide a
system of tidal sluices.
But on the coast of Flanders the situation is different.
It must be noted, first, that the movem ents of mud are
there much m ore abundant than at Ymuiden. The sea.
b ottom found at considerably less depths, is consequently
much ~ore subject t o disturbances by storm waves.
Further the tidal currents have there much more force.
Their v~locity is almost doubl~ .t hat at -: ~uiden, so ~hat
the water carries great quantities of silt m suspe!ls10n.
The m ean quantity of ~olid ~a.tter in a calf:D or ehghtly
disturbed sea is 0.9 cub10 cent1metre for one htre of water
taken at the surface, and 2.8 cubic centimetres for a litre
of water t aken 1 metre at l~ast from the b~ttom. ,V_h en
the sea is rough, the quant1ty of matter m suspens~on,
especially that which circulates_ n ear the bottom, gt ves
rise t o deposits ten or fifteen t.1mes great er than those
obtained in calm weather. It Is unders~oo~ that wa ters
so saturated, in entering freely at every t1de m to ~n outer
harbour or inner channel, must cause v~ry considerable
silting when no natura~ or a.rtific~al flow exists to hinder
th e formation of d eposits ; espeCially as, along the coast
of Flanders, the range of the tid.e, on which depends the
volume with which the harbour 1s filled, measures on the
average 4 metres, or double what ~ s found ab Ymuiden.
This effect is observed on the shps at Ostend a nd at
Blankenber~he ; the silting th~re reaches a t least 0.8
metre of thiCkness per year, while they are excavat ed to
hardly 1 m etre b elow low-water. A s S<?On ~s we pass that
depth, the importance of the deposits m creases very

[Nov. I 7, I 89~

rapidly. As we have already said, it must of n ecessity be tains any great quantity of mud, we must, besides, pay
so, for all protect ed inclosures in which there is no attention t o the difficulty of maintaining an equal depth
strong outward current. Thus it would be impossible to in the interior, and of counterac ting successfully the deestablish on the coast of Flanders outer harbours l ike posit of silt. The only way of doing this is to use tidal
those of Kingstown or Madras, and to maintain their sluices, combined with those of land water, where circum
depth. Even if we wish ed, following the example of stances allow of it. From this point of view, the arrangeYmuiden, to confine ourselves to providing a central ment of the harbour that it is best to adopt. should
passage, the Jabour this would require would still be ex- include mainly a channel bordered through t he beach and
cessive, and would give rise in practice to great diffi- out t o the entrance by pi~rs of open work with low
embankments; an ou ter harbour of limited extent, at the
culties.
It results from what has b een said that, on an open and end of which are established locks for access to th e tidal
muddy coast, the best system t o adopt for the establish- basins on the maritime can al to be served, as also the
ment of a harbour musb comprise in the main a channel tidal quays for the use of ships of regular lines. These
bound ed by open piers, an outer harbour of limited constituent parts of the port ruust be arranged in a way
surface, as well a s an installation of tidal sluices, com- to suit the needs of the largest ships, a nd t o enable the
pleted, when the site allows, by sluices from the land best advantage to be taken of the sluice@.
drainage water.
A PPENDIX.
The end t o be obtained from the sluices, in the way in
which we propose to make use of them, is very diff6rent
On the I njluence E xerted by the L owering the SiU of a
from their original purpose, in which they m ore especiSluice-Gate on the Useful Effect of the Sluice.
ally aerved t o attack the sandy d eposits at the entrance
The sill of sluice-gates is gen eralJy placed a few inche!
of the harbour, while these d eposits, by the nature and at least above the level of low water spring tides, to enable
cohesion of their constituent parts, do nob lend them - the work to be examined, and repairs, if necessary, to be
selves to an attack by artificial sluices. The muddy silt, made.
on the contrary, is easily carried off by currents of suffiBut for the purpose of obtaining the best effect from
cient intensity. When they a re recent they are only the sluices there is an evid ent ad~antage in placing the
floating, so to speak, near the bottom, in the form of sill a s nearly as possible at the level at which it is desired
liquid mud, and it is beyond d oubt that sluicing currents to m aintain the bottom of the entrance channel.
of a mean velocity of 0. 80 m etre to 1 metre per second
In order to get at t he floor and apron of the sluice, it is
will successfull y clear away deposits in course of forma- only necessary to construct it with grooves in the walls
t ion . It is even more important t o consider the mass of above and below t he gates, in which cofferdams can be
flowing water rather tha n its speed, and t o regulate the placed if n ecessary. Further, with the methods now
opening of the sluice paddles and t he water level of the available for putting in deep foundations, they may be so
sluicing basin so that the force of the currents does not constructed as not t o be liable to any serious injury.
exceed a. comparatively moderate limit. *
The flow of water from a sluice-gate is a Yery compli
Whenever the sluices operate they simply restore to cated case of varying motion. W e may, however, with~be sea a relatively small quantity of mud brought by it out serious error, suppose the period of flow divid ed into
mto the harbour; and as this fine matter is mixed with a intervals, during each of which the flow is uniform, if
con siderable volume of water, it is carried off at once by these intervals are sufficiently short. This is what we
the ebb tide to meet later on the flood tide which carri es haTe done in order t o investigate h ow the useful effecb of
it in the opposite direction.
sluices varies with the depth of the sill of the gate.
. T o fix the ideas, we have repreRented in Fig. 7 a
The differential equation of_the hydraulic axis of a curkmd of a rran gem ent it would be well, in our opinion, rent of uniform flow is
t o adopt for ports t o be established on a sandy shore
2
where mud abounds. In each case it is clearly n ecessary
b1 (
dh t o accommodate oursel ves to local circumstances. The
ds
project that is shown in full lines is especially suited to
2 - -1 ( !I . l
,J
1
i
the new port which is contemplated at Heyst, at the
g w w
n orthern el!d of the Belgian coast. The entrance channel
following th e direction of the prevailing winds would be
We allow for the sake of simplicity :
included b etween open piers, with low embankments, con1. A horizontal floor, so that i
0 and ~1 - -z,2 1.
structed like the new wasb pier of Ostend (Fig. 8).
2. The transverse section to be rectangular, and equal
It would have 150 metres of w1dth, and would extend as to the actual section of the channel.
nearly as possible to the dept h which it is prop osed to
3. The pe!imeter X = n l wher~ n > 12 n being con stant
maintain in the harbour, or 7 metres under low water. and dependmg on the wetted penmeter of the section of
Being oarried t o the inside of the sand-hills, it would t er- the channel at low water.
minate in a n outer harbour of dimensions large enough to
We also n eglect the t erm
allow large ships to turn without difficulty. The outer
harbour would include a branch t o the west of its axis,
.!
where would be placed the locks for enterin~ the marig w w
t ime canal t o be made between Heyst and Bruges. It
would also communicate directl3' with a wet dock, having ?<'mpared with .unity; for the ordinary velociti es of sluic
quays founded at a gr eat depth to be used by regalar lines mg currents thts terr~ h:as a compara tively .small value :
of steamships. The distance between the entran ce of the for v = 1.60 m otres 1t 1s less than ~;. Thts amounts to
ch annel and the further end of the outer harbour would the assumption that the whole slope of the surface is re- measure about 2500 metres. We may regard this distance quired to overcome the resistances t o motion.
as sufficiently great that ships would lose their speed
It is also to be not ed that we are only concerned with
and t o avoid any trouble from the swell in rough weather: co~pa.ratiye !esults., and, tber~fore, th ese hypotheses are
D esigned as shown on th e plan, a channel of 150 metres qmte adm1ss1ble w1tbout senstbly affecting the correctwide would be cer tainly practically safe for the &'reatest ness of the conclusions .
ships. It would even afford, in regard to famlity of
The formula fer uniform motion becomes then :
entrance, being included between pier-heads of op en
dh
l b -q2 , and as w l h dh = - b1 qz
framework, undoubted adva.ntages over p orts like
1
d s
w
w2
' d 3
l2 h3
Y muiden or Madras, form ed with solid breakwaters. A s
to the greater or le.ss disturbance which these O.J?en works
Integrating for a. length of channel s, beg inning at the
allow to exist in the interior of the channel, it 1s not of a sluice-gate, we have :
nature to hinder navigation. In support of what has
h4 - h4o -- 4bl
been said, we may quote the example of the port of
- q'!. s.
l?.
Ostend. The channel of this port was widened in 1889,
And for the total ~ength L :
and now has 110 metres of width between the piers, and
4b1 .,
150 m etres between the pier-heads. The depth at the
h"' o -h"'1 =
Z2 q L

(I.)
entrance is 5 to 6 metres below the level of low water in
the outer pass, and 4 metres in the interior of the channel.
ApJ?ly in g t o the flow through a sluice-gate the formula
Now the port of Ostend, since the completion of these
works, is practicable at high water to sailing ships in any for o~1fices, th e flow per second will be given by the expressiOn:
weather, and no case of damage has arisen .
The system of sluices would com.J?rise a large basin,
q = 8'A J'l.g(H- ho)
(H- h 0 )+{h 0 - h")} , (II.)
whose upper sluice would be spaced m the centre line of
the channel, but which would ser ve also to produce sluic- 'A being the linear opening of the sluice and 8 a coefficient
'
ing currents at other pa.rts by m eans of cul verts at a of contraction.
The corn bi~ation of I. and II. will give q and h 0 for
great depth.
Conclusions.-J.i'rom the considerations that have been each .value g1 ven t o H . . In: maki?g ~diminish through
a sertes of valu~s, begmnmg wttb Its maximum we
developed, the following conclusions may be drawn :
1. On an alluvial coast, having sand y shores, like that. may draw up a table containin g the different v~lues
of Flanders, it is impossible to create artificial roadsteads, of ho, q, and .6t, which characterise the motion of water
or large out er harbours, by means of breakwaters start- in the channel during t he whole period of the flow and
by giving different determinate va lues to h" we can ~scer
ing from the shore and carried out into deep water.
2. All th at could be done in this way would be t o tain the effect on the motion of alterations in the level of
make breakwaters on certain sh ores favourably situated the sill.
T o det ermine the work of friction , or the useful effect
as regards tidal currents and waves, t o improve an existing roadstead whi ch might offer con venient channels of of the sluice, we have the formula
approach. In such cases it would remain matter for conX b1
d s,
Sideration whether the considerable cost of the works to be
w
wexecuted for that purpose was in proportion t o th e beneexpressing the resistance of the banks and floor for an
fits to be gained.
3. It is generally more practical t o improve t o the de- elementary length d s of the channel. Its integral
sired ext ent the conditions of approach of a harbour by
L
dredging, a nd to create in the sam e way, at the entrance
2
of the harbour itself, the n ecessary depth for la rge merX b1 !!.. d s
w
w
* In this memoir we do not consider outer har bours chant ships t o approach it at all stat es of ths tide.
0
4. B ut when the n eighbourhood of the harbour consituated at the mouth of tidal ri ve!s such as ~he T y ne and

expresses the r es1stance

T ees in which the tidal waters filh ng those n vers produce
for the whole length of the
* See Appendix.
channel.
on the ebb n atural sluices of great value.

i-:

~)

)f)

(!!. )!_l

- =-

{i

q:

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

el em~nt

The work of resist ance, for an

expressed by

rL

w bl ( )

q ;; d s,

1r q d t

of timed t, is

and according to the simplified differential equation of

motion given above,

~)

fbl (

d s, = - d h.

The expre~s:on of the work, for time d t, becomes then :

r h1
1r qd t
- d h= 1rq (ho - h 1) d t,
.,)

ho

and for the whole flow of time T ,

= 1r

rT

q (h 0

h 1) d

t.

To calculate the whole work done by a sluice, we must

calculate for each elementary section of t he water in the
sl uicing basin the product q (h 0 - h1 ) t:. t, e,um the results,
and multiply by 1r.
.
Application.- L et us apply the precedmg formulre to a
sluicing basing of 120 h ectares (296.5 acres) a:rea, the
bottom of wh ich is excavated to+ 2.00 ~etre~ w1th refe;ence to the datum of mean low water sprmg tides, and 1s
connected by an easy slope w_ith the sil~ of the gate. T _his
is taken to be formed of eigh t openmgs,_ each . hanng
4 50 metres of clear width, t he range of t1de bemg 4.50
~etres. W e suppose the channel t o have a width of
150 metres at low wat er, 7.00 metres of depth below low
water, and 1850 metres of length with slop es of 3 t<;> 1.
As the formula. I. supposes a rectangul ar section, we
shall replace the true section by a rectangle of equal area
and depth. I ts width would be 129 metres or, say,
1 ~0 metres.
.
Taking the wetted perimeter X = n l , n be~ng supposed
constant, n x 130 = 130 + 2 x 7, from whtch n
1.11
metres.
T he error committed in supposing n const ant throughout the flow is very small, as we shall see by t~e table
below; the greatest value of h 0 , _near the sluice-gat e,
which is 7. 28 metres, would only glVe n the value 1.112
metres.
"vVe have supposed L = 1850 metres, A. = 8 x 4.50 = 36
metres (the tota.l width of op ening), b1 = 0.0004 metre,
h1 = 7.00 metres, 8 (the coe_fficient of c~nt~action) = ~
The level of water in the basm at the begmmng of flow 1s
+ 4.50 metres.
AJ?plying these data to the formul re I. and II., we
obtam:
h40 = 2401 + 0.0001944 q2
q = 7. 5 ,J2g (l::f. - h 0 ){2 H + h 0 -3 h'' ).
If we successively suppose the sill placed at the levels
0. 00 metre, - 2. 00 metres, and - 4. 00 metres, h" be~omes
7.00 metres, 5.00 metres, and 3.00 metres, and makmg H
diminish from 7.00 metres + 4.50 metres, or 11.50 metres,
by steps of 0.25 metre each, to 7.00 metres+ 2.00 metres,
or 9. 00 metres, we obtain the following Table :

..
--

....
Ql

QJ

>

a>

metres

""
a> bo

...
QJ

c:$ . ...

~ 0<

~ -~
'0 -a
;:s

H.

ho.

"Cj

~ g

..... UJ -

~Q ~
~--~

O (J
,.... GI

I'Z1(/)

- 0

~
0

QJ

;:s~

t>I'Z1

<1.1

-...
0

- o
o-

A..

metres metres met. cubic cu bic sec-.

met. 10etres

0.00

+ 4.50

11.50

-I'...Z1

<1

(.)

.c:

I
..,c-=:::..

..!:d

0~
~

0
....

0'

1.:::

7. 055 1 0 .634 300,000 1 473 1r X 16,494

Taking for 1r (the specific weight of the water in the

sluioing basin), the value 1r = 1000 kilos., the work of
friction on t he bottom and sides of the canal will be:
metres.
r1
82,63!> t on-metres when the sill
is at
...
..
.. .
0.00
r 2 = 265,424 ton-metres when the sill
...
...
...
-2.00
is at
r.1 = 537,631 ton-metres when the sill
is at
...
...
.. .
-4.00
T hus, representing by 1 the useful work of friction produced during one veriod of sluicing with the sill at 0. 00
metre, that produced in the same conditions with the
sill at - 2.00 metres would be represented by 3.21, and
with the sill at - 4.00 metres it would be represented
by 6.51.
If we calculate the velocity of t he current by the
formula

= wT'

V representing the volume of water flowing in time T,

and w the mean section of the channel, we obtain for the
maximum, mean, and minimum velocity, respectively:
Maximum
Mean Minimum
V elocity. Velocity. V elocity.
metres
metres
m etres
metres
0.41
0.25
S ill at 0.00
... 0.6!>
0.80
0.57
,
- 2.00
... 1.13
,,
-4 00
1.53
1.17
0.88
...
ELECTRICITY AND THE GRAVE.-An

electric hearse is the

latest
innovation in trolley transportation at San Fran
ClBCO.

BOILER EXPLOSI ONS AT CONGLETON

AND NETHERTON.

T wo " formal investigat ions" by th~ Board of Trade

have recently beE\n held respectin g boiler explosions, the
following particulars of which may be of interesb to our
readers.
The first was conducted at the Town Hall, Congleton,
and d~alt wit h an explosion which occurred at the iron
foundry of M r. J on a than Booth, Victoria Mills, in tbab
t own on Thursday, August 24. The Commissioners were
Mr. Howard Smith, barrist er-at-law, and Mr. J. H.
Hallett, consulting engineer. Mr. K. E. K. Gougb
ap-peared for the Board of Trade, and Mr. Andrew,
solicitor, for Mr. Booth.
In opening the proceedings Mr. Gough stated that the
boiler was originally made for an engineer of the name of
Scragg, of Congleton, whot in 1860, fi tted it t o an engine
which he himself had built, and supplied it t o a Mr.
Benjamin Barber, a. farmer at Goostrey, Cheshire. Mr.
Scragg had been dead some time, and Mr. Barber died
shortly before the explosion took place. The boiler was
of the vertical type, with an internal firebox, the uptake
from which passed horizontally through the back of the
shell. It wa3 about 4ft. in diamet er by 6 ft. 8 in. in
height, made of iron plates originally about i in. thick,
and was sin~le-ri veted throughout, t he rivets being
pitched about 2 in. apart. The shell was composed of
five plates i n the circumference, each plate extendin g the
full height of the boiler. The crown was fla t, made of
two plates a ttached to the shell by an angle iron, a nd supported by three gudset s. The firebox was 3 ft. 4 in. in
diameter by 3 ft. 10 in. in height, the plates being, like
the shell, originally ! in. thick. A manhole was cut in
the boiler crown, and a vertical engine, with the crankshaft carried across the boiler top, was attached to the
side of the shell. The mountings consist ed of an
open eafety val ve loaded by a lever and weight, supposed
to be set to blow off at a pressure of about 50 lb. per
square inch, a glass water gauge, a. pressure gauge, a. blowoff tap, and a check valve. The boiler appeared to have
been used by Mr. Barber for threshing pur,Poses, and was
then worked, so far as could be ascertamed, at aboub
60 lb. pressure. In 1890 Mr. Barber seem ed to have had
no further use for it, and it was sent t o Mr. Booth, with
a view to its being sold, the Erice wanted for the boiler
and engin0 bein~ 25l. Mr. Booth carried out some repairs to the engme at an estimated cost of 10l., but no
sale was effected, and in the month of M ay, 1892, he
decided t o use the boiler himself. H e appeared t o have
considered thab he was entitled t o do this, having regard to the repairs he had made, and he used the boiler
without any permission from Mr. Barber, and practically without his knowledge. Mr. Booth at this time
examined the boiler by tapping the fi rebox, and be then,
so far as he was able to form an opinion, found it in fairly
good condition. H e knew that Mr. Scragg had had other
boilers and engines made for a working pressure of aboub
50 lb., and appeared to have concluded therefrom that
that was the proper pressure at which t o work this one.
At any rate, he aq justed the weight on the safety val ve
lever so that the valve would blow off at about 50 lb.
by the gauge. This gaus-e, which bad been obtained from
a neighbour named BerrlSford, the owner of Mr. Booth 's
premises, had been found slightly inaccurate by an
inspector in the employ of an insurance company, who
had ad vised its removal from Mr. B errisford's boiler.
Mr. Gough went on to say that the boiler was used about
twice every three weeks to supply st eam to the blast
engine, and no examination was made of it after ~1ay,
1892. On August 24, when the boiler was full of water,
the fire was lighted in t he morning, but went out. It was
lighted again between three and four in the a.ftarnoon,
and at the latter hour the pressure by the gauge appeared
t o have been 40 lb . Shortly afterwards the boiler exploded, badly scalding Mr. William Booth, and also
causing injuries to a labourer. Portions of the boiler
were thrown through the roof of the building, and fell near
some cottages about 20 yards away.
Mr. Thomas Robinson, farmer, Goostrey, said his late
uncle, Mr. Barber, purchased the boiler thirty-three or
thirty-four years ago from Mr. Scragg. It was used for
various farm purposes, and was worked at 20 lb. to 30 lb.,
the valve being set t o blow at 50 lb. When Mr. Barber's
stock was sold, two years ago last spring, the boiler, not
being disposed of, was sent to Mr. Booth's foundry.
During the seventeen or eighteen years during which time
his uncle used it, he had never known it t o be repaired.
Mr. ,Jona tban Booth deposed t o the boiler being sent
to him with the request that he should find a customer for
it. He repaired the engine at a cost of 10l. , and thinking
it might sell better if it could be seen under steam, he put
it t o work about eighteen months ago. Before doing so
he looked the boiler over, and t apped it round with a
hammer. H e saw no leakage, and found it all right. H e
fixed the working pressure at 50 lb. because he knew
this bad been done before, ha ving, manr. years since,
worked with Mr. Scragg, for whom the bo1ler was made.
The pressure gauge was nob more than a pound or two
out. After starting to work the boiler, he did not examine
it again or get any one else to examine it. H e knew
it was an old one, but there were plenty in the neighbourhood older. In order to feed the boiler it was n ecessary
to remove the weight from the safety-val ve lever, and
there was no mark on the lever t o show where ib was to
be put when replaced.
Mr. H. BerrlSford, smallware manufacturer, gave evidence as to supplying the pressure gauge, which he should
have had no hesitation in using again if n ecessary.
Willi9.m Dutton, fitter and turner, said be worked the
boiler for Mr. Booth. The valve would blow off a.t 45 lb.,
and very hard at 50 lb.
Henry Barton, moulder, deposed to having lighted the

re in t he afternoon, when the boiler was f ull of watE\r.

Having got steam up to about 20 lb. or 30 lb. , h e banded
the en~ine over to the care of other people. .
.
Mr. William B ooth, son of the owner, sa1d be was lD
charge at the time of t he explosion. The pressure w~uld
not exceed 40 lb. H e was struck on ~he b ead. by a. p1ece
of the boiler and was also scalded, bemg deta.med m the
hospital for three weeks in consequence.
Mr. Wm. Thomas Seaton, engineer surve~or to the
B oard of Trade, gave a report of an e?'amina.tton he had
made of the boiler soon after the explosiOn. Tb~ plates of
the firebox were considerably wasted by corros10n, ~ore
especially on the fite aide. He could not say defimtely
whether the firebox had been out of shape before the
ex plosion. It was not safe to work the boiler at a hi gher
pressure than 8 lb. to the squa~e. inch . . The thickn~ss of
the plates varied from the ortgmal th1ckness of ~ m. to
"J"-rr i n .
-Replying to Mr. A ndrew o~ behalf of Mr. Bo~th,
witness stated that as the corros10n was general the boiler
would give pretty much the same sound ~ll 9ver,_ and
therefore it would be easy for any one tapp1Dg Ib w1th a
hammer t o fail t o detect its det erioration.
Mr. Gough an~ r. Andr~w havin~ add~essed the
court the Com m1sstoners deliberated m pri vate, and
subsequently the P resident, Mr. Howard S mith, delivered judgment.
The Court found, he said, that the explosion was due
to the wasting_of the plates of the firebox by corrosion,
and that Mr. Booth, the owner, was to blame, inasmuch
as, although knowmg that the boiler was. upward~ of
thirty years old, he made only a very superfiOJal exannnation. If be bad gone carefully over the plates of the firebox, as h e ought to have done, he would have had an
indication of the dangerous defects existing, and then it
would have been his imperative duty t o hav e drilled the
plate&, a process which would at once have shown him that
the boiler was not fit to be used. It was in J\IIr. Booth's
favour, however, that he did make som e examination,
perhaps to the best of his ability, and that be had given
his e vidence straightforwardly. Nevertheless, th e Court
found him to blame, and must order him to pay a portion
of the costs of the investigation.
Mr. Andrew pointed out that Mr. Booth was seventythree years of age, and was only a working man.
Mr. Gough stated that the costs would amount to a t
least 30l. or 40Z.
Mr. Howard Smith said the Court was disposed to
make the order as lenient as p('lssible, and the j ustice of
t he case would perhaps be m et if Mr. Booth paid to
the solicitor to the Board of Trade the sum of 5l. as
his share of the expenses of the investigation.
The SE'cond formal investigation was held ab Dudley,
and referred to an explosion which took place on M onday, August 14, at the boot and shoe manufact ory of Mr.
John Harrison, Halesowen-road.z.. N etherton. The Commissioners were Mr. Howard ~mith and Mr. Hallett.
Mr. Gou ~h conducted the case for the Board of Trad0.
The boiler Mr. Gough said, was purchased secondband by a Mr. Hughes some ten or eleven years ago. It
was of plain cylindrical construction, 6 fb. long by 2 ft.
in diameter, and wa-s equipped with the usual and necessary fittings. About eight or nine years since, Mr. Bridges
purchased the boiler and a small engine from Mr. Hughes
for the sum of 9l . 10s., apparently as a speculation, and
a. short t ime after this transaction the boiler was seen
by a boilermaker who advised the fitting of a new bottom
t o it, which was done at a cost of 4l . About five years
ago the boiler was sold by Mr. Bridges t o Mr. Harrison
for 5l. , and it was then set up in brickwork by some engineers who had now left the district. Thev inform~d Mr.
Harrison that the boiler was safe to work up t o 30 l b.,
and the safety valve was ad j usted to blow at that point.
The boiler was fitted up in a sh ed on Mr. Harrison 's
prem ises, which was not watertigh t, and in wet weather
the water leaked through, and found its way on to the
top of the boiler. Actin~ on som e information he received from an engine-dr1 ver, Mr. Harrison cleaned out
the boiler and examined it about e very six months, but
never found any thing th e matter with ib, and never employed any one else to examine it for him. It waa used
for four or five days a week at a pressure of about 15 lb.
for supplying st eam to a small engine which drove~
cutting press. On the morning of A ugust 14 the fire was
lit, and at one o'clock Mr. HarriEon put on some slack
and lefb for dinner, the gauge th en indicating a pressure
of _7 lb. . T en minutes afte~wards the boiler exploded,
bem g hterally blown t o pieces, the t op portion being
hurled _throu~h tw? br~ck walls, w h!le other parts were
blown m var10us d1rect10ns. The bnckwork seating was
scattered, and the boiler shed demolished, but fortunately
no personal injury resulted.
After various witnesses had been examined Mr.
H arrison deposed t o buyin~ the boiler five ~ears ~go for
5Z. H e never had a pract10al man to examme it but he
cleaned it out and examined it himself twice a ye~r. He
had never tried it with a. hammer, but looked at the plat es
with a candle to see if any of the rivets were loose. He
bad seen 40 lb. on the boiler, and the safety valve was
then blowing hard.
Mr. J ames S hanks, engineer surveyor to the B oard of
Trade, ~tated that he had made an examination of the
boiler after the explosion. He found very serious external corrosio?, 'Yhioh had reduced the plates, for 2 ft.
along the lon gltudmal seams, from n in. to a thickness
not exceeding that of a thin piece of paper. This he
attributed to the continual wetting of the t op of the
boiler by . water draining in_from the roof of the sh ed.
If the boiler had been exammed by a competent p erson
ther.e would n?t h~ve been t?e slightest diffi culty in de~
tectm~ th~ m1sch1ef. The s1mple cause of the explosion
was thmnmg of the plates from corrosion.

'

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Mr. Gough then submitted certain questions to the
Court as follows : Did Mr. Harrison cause the boiler to
to be e.."<amined by a competent person when he purchased
it, or at any other time ? Did be take proper measures
whereby the boiler could be safely worked '! What was
the c~use of the explosion, and did blame rest upon Mr.
Harnson ? Mr. Go?gh pointed out that the b oiler plates,
as .shown by the ev1d~nce of Mr. Shanks, were only 16u in.
th1ck when the bo1ler was purchased, and the boiler
was worked on the m orning of the explosion at the high
pressure of 35 lb.
Mr. Harrison in reJ?lY stated that the boiler did not
leak and he thought 1t was safe.
Mr. lloward Smith referred to the dangerously thin
plates, and asked Mr. Harrison what he had to say with
regard thereto. ~fr. Harrison replied that he could say
nothing at all except that he was ignorant of danger.
~Ir. Howard Smith said ignorance was no excuse
and p ersons who used steam boilers and other applianc~
for their own use should take care to see that they were
worked under safe conditions. The present case was a
very bad one, and might have been attended with very
serio~s results. The corrosion was external, and could
readily have been found, had an examination been made.
Mr. Harrison was decidedly to blame for neglecting
this simple precaution. The case was of a flagrant
character, and the Court was very much inclined t o make
an order for the payment of the costs in full, which would
amount to between 60l. and 70l. They had decided,
however, to order Mr. Harrison to contribute to the
Board of Trade the sum of 30l. towards the costs and
expenses of the investigation.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

s.s. Chickahominy went on her trial trip off the
Hartlepool coast on the 4th inst. She is the second of a
group of three steamers built at the Middleton 8hipyard,
West Hartlepool, by Messrs. Furness, Withy, and Co.,
Limited, for the Chesapeake and Ohio Steamship
Company, and is fit not only for general carg_oJ but
especially for the carriage of live cattle from the United
States to this country. Two whole decks, almost from
stem to stern, are given up to the accommodation of live
cattle, and numerous improvements are provided for their
safety and comparative comfort whilst on the voyage, the
arrangements for ventilation and for the rapid sup{>lY of
fresh water deserving especial mention. The vessel 1s pro
vided with main engines and boilers from the Central
Marine Engine Works, West Hartle:J?ool, the cylinders
being 28 in., 43! in., and 72 in. in diameter, by 48 in.
stroke. The boilers are two large doubleended boilers
working at 160 lb. per square inch made on the plan
universally adopted at the Central En~ne Works, with
welded and f\anged shellplates. The tnal trip took place
on a most unfavourable day, there being a heavy sea
running and much wind, which prevented anything like
a test being made of the speed of the vessel.
THE

The first-clas9 battleship Revenge, which was built and

engined at ,Jarrow by Messrs. Palmar and Co., made a
contractors' eight hours' trial in the Channel on Tuesday,
the 7th inst., under natural draught. The average boiler
pressur e was 149.8 lb., the r evolutions 96.3 and 96.8, and
the mean vacuum as high as 28~ in. and 28.3 in. U nder
these conditions, and with a mean air-pressure of .19 in.,
the starboard engine developed 4614 and the port engine
4563 horses, representing a collective horse-power of 9177,
or 177 beyond the contract. The average speed of the ship
as r egistered by log was 17.375 knots; the estimated speed
is 16 knots. It r emaino, however, to be said that the
trim of th e vessel was 24ft. 2i in. forward and 25ft. 9 in.
aft, ~iving a mean immersion of 24 ft. ll.y in., whereas
her d esign ed mean load draught is 27 ft. 6 in. The coal
consumption per unit of power per hour amounted to
1. 95 lb. of Harris's deep sea navigation coal. The vessel
went out on the 9th inst. on forced draught trials. The
sea was very rough, and swept the vessel from end to
end, and caused the engines to race. But in spite of the
sever e test, the trial was r emarkably successful, the P<?W~r
having exceeded the forced draught contract by 524 mdt
cated horse-power, with an air pressure of only .46, or less
than the allowance for natural draught trials. The details
of the trials are as follows:

Steam pressure ..

---

On Wednesday, the 8th inst., there was launched from

the Cleveland dockyard of Sir Raylton Dixon and Co.,
Middlesbrough, a steel screw steamer of the spar deck
~ype, which has been built to the order of the Hansa
Steamship Company, of Bremen, and is nam ed the Lin
denfels. The principal dimensions are : L ength, 327 ft. ;
beam, 41 ft. 9 in. ; depth moulded, 28 ft. G in. The
vessel has a deadwe1ght carrying capacity of about 4500
to?s. The engines will be fitted by Messrs. Thomas
R10hardson and Sons, of Hartlepool, the cylinders being
24 in. 1 38 in. and 64 in. in diameter by 42 in. stroke, and
supphed with steam by two large steel boilers working at
160 lb. pressure.
The second-class battleship BarftfJUr, of 10,500 tons,
built at Cha.tham Dockyard, made her full-power natural
draught trials under steam between theNore and Dunge.
ness on the 9th inst. The run occupied seven hours,
the regulation eight hours not having been run on account
of the darkness of the weather. The contractors for the
machinery, the Greenock Foundry Company, were represented by Mr. J ohn Scott, C.B. The draught of water
of the Barfleur was, forward, 21ft. 6 in., and aft, 25ft. 6 in.
The .load on the safety valves was 155 lb. per square inch;
average pressure of steam, 149 lb.; vacuum, 27.4 in. to
27.8 in. The revolutions of both engines k ept steadily
at 95.3 to 95.9 revolutions per minute. The total indicated
horsepower of each set of engines was 4970 on the starboard and_ 4950 on the port engines. The wind was very
strong, bemg force 8, and the sea was rough. The engines
worked splendidly throughout the trial, without any hot
bearings, and with the use of only the ordinary water
service, and indicated 900 horse-power above the contract
stipulation. The boilers generated a plentiful supply
of steam, without the aid of fans, and there was no
priming. The r esults were in all re~peots satisfactory.
The trial was conducted with open s tokeholds, and the
fan engines were not used once during the day. The
maximum horse-power developed during one hour was
10,615, while 10,070 horse-power was indicated for two
consecutive hours. The ship was in charge of Captain
L ord Charles Beresford, C. B., of the Medway Dockyard
Reserve, the Admiralty being represented ab the trial by
Mr. R. J. Butler, R.N. Tbe Greenock Foundry Company was r epr esented by Mr. John Scott, C.B., senior
partner in the firm, and also by Messrs. C. C. Scott and
Mr. Edward Mackay. The engines were in charge of
Mr. W. Cairns, who superintended the work of fitting
the machinery at Chatham D ockyard. Th e forceddraught trial of the vessel on Saturday, the 11th inst.,
was highly satisfactory in every respect. The mean
results were as follows: Steam pressure, 142.4 lb. ; air
pressure, 1.4 in. ; vacuum, starboard, 27.7 in. ; port,
27.4 in. i revolutions per minute, starboard, 104.8; port,
105.6 ; mdicated horse-power. starbo~rd, 6580.4; port,
6582.7; aggregate, 13,163.1. The contract was for 13,000
horse-power. The speed by the patent log was 17. 537
knots. The Barfleur is now to be completed for active
ser vice. Either the Barfleur or the battleship of the
same design, the Centurion-whichever is completed for
sea first- will be despat ched to the China St~tion to
relieve the first-class cruiser Imperieuse, which will complete her second period of service as flagship early in the
new year.

Messrs. Scott and Co., Greenock, launched on the 9th

Nat ural Draught. IForced Draught. inst. a steel screw st eamer, called the Glen Park1 for
Messrs. J. and J. Den holm, Greenock. Dimensions:
146.8
149.8
Length, 212ft.; breadth, 31ft.; depth moulded, 14ft.

StarStar10 in. ; and with a deadw~ight carrymg capacity of 1250
Port.
Port.
board.
board.
tons. The builders will supply triple-expansion engines
28.3
28
28!
. . 28.6
of 800 horse-power indicated.
96.83 101.62 102.3
96.3

Vacuum . .
..
..
Revolutions
..
..
..
?rtean High pressure ..
..
P res Intermediate pressure
sure. Low pressure . .
..
.
JHigh pressure ..
Indtcated I n t e r m e d i ate
Horsepressure . .
..
Power.
Low pressure ..
Total
..
..
..
..
Collectively
..
..
..

Mean air pressure

..
10.
Speed of vessel by log . . knots
Coal per indicated horse-power
lb.
per hour, approximate

built in Devonport Dockyard, was successfully launched

on the 7th inst. The llermione, which is one of the
vessels built under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, was
laid down at D evonport in December, 1891, and was d esigned by Mr. W. H. White, Assistant Controller and
Director of Naval Construction at the Admiralty. Her
principal dimensions are: L ength, 320 ft. ; breadth,
49ft. 6 in.; mean load draught. 19 ft. She will be power
fully armed with quick-firing Maxim and Hotchkiss guns
of the newest type, and will be fitted in addition with
several Whitehead torpedo tubes. H er en~gines and
machinery have been supplied by Messrs. J. and G.
Thomson, of Glasgow, and the total cost of th e ship
when completed, and including her armament. will be
244,625l. She is expected to develop 9000 and 7000 horse
power respectively with forced and natural draughts, and
to accomplish a speed of 19.5 knots with forced and 18.25
knots with natural draught.

4b.5
21.15
ll.66
1419

4,.7
22.73
~ 0. 61
1402

1433
1551
1762
1610
4614
4563
9177
.19
17.375
1.95

54.20
28.12
12.63
1795

52.70
25.03
18.62
1783

1792
2026
2169
2009
669i
6830
11,624

.46
17.5
2.24

--

On both occasions the vessel was under the command of

Captain McKms try, the Admiralty being r epresented by
Mr. Oram the Dockyard by Mr. Hodgson, and the con
tractors by Mr. J. W. Reid, engineering manager. At the
natural draught trial Mr. Colquhoun was present on behalf
of the Steam ReRerve Staff, and at the forced draught
trials Mr. W otton attended in a similar capacity.

--The new second-class cruiser Hermione, which has been

Messrs. R. N a pier and Sons, Go van, launched on the

lOth inst. an auxiliary screw steamer of about 700 tons for
the London Missionary's Society's South Sea Mission.
This vessel, named John Williams, has been Rpecially
desig ned by Mr. Gilbert S . Goodwin, Liverpool, to take
up the work of visiting the various islands m the South
Pacific, which work has been done by the society 's sailing
vessels for nearly a hundred years. T o attain the most
economical results on the long voyage of 18,000 miles,
she will be rigged as a barquentine, with about 12,500
square feet of canvas, and a Bevis feathering propeller
has been fluppli ed, which can easily- ha adapted when
steam power is required. The prinCipal dimensions are :
L ength over all, 204 ftl.; length on water line, 180 ft.;
breadth extreme, 31 ft. 8 in.; depth moulded, 16 ft. She
has a cellular double bottom for 130 tons of water ballast.
Accommodation has been provided for twelve buropean
missionaries in six state-rooms, with a dining-room, &c.
The machinery consists of a set of triple-expansion
engines, having cylinders 15 in., 24 in., and 39 in. in
diameter, and 27 in. stroke, with a single-ended boiler

[Nov. 17, 1893.

14 ft. 3 in. in diameter by 10 ft. 3 in. Ion~, for a working
pressure of 175 lb. per square inch.
The new Russian coast defence battleship Admiral
Oushakoff was launched from the Baltic shipbuilding
yard on the Neva, the C~r and Czarina being vresent on
the occasion, with other members of the ImperJal family.
The new ship, which is nam ed after a distinguished com.
mander of the Russian Black Sea fleet at the end of the
last century, was begun in the Baltic works in July of
last year, the Emperor and Empress having performed
the ceremony of laying down the keel on November 3,
1891, the day on which the great cruiser the Rurik was
launch ed from the same -~yard. The dimens ions of the
Admiral Ouehakoff are : L ength of bull, 278ft.; breadth
of beam, 52ft. ; draught, 17ft. ; and displacement, 4126
tons. The greatest thickness of her side armour will be
10 in. Her twin engines and four boilPrs have been
made by Maudsley and Field, in England ; the engines
are of the tripleexpansion type, representin~ together
5000 indicated horse-power, and capable o f giving the
ironclad a speed of 16 knots. The armament will consist
principally of four 10-in. guns glaced in two armoured
turrets, and 20 quickfiring guns, besides torpedoes. Her
normal supply of coal is calculated at 200 tons, although
she is considered capable of carrying double that quantity.
The Rurik, it may be added, is now being fitted ont for
sea, and it is, to sa_y the least, a remarkable circumstance
that the English Navy has not a single ship afloat capable
of overtaking and capturing this Russian vessel. The
Powerful and Terrible have been designed for that pur
pose, hub so far only one of them has been laid down.
THE COPENHAGEN FREE HABBOUR.- On November 1,
with much solemnity, the water was admitted to the
new Copenhagen free harbour, now in course of construe
tion, Prince Waldemar of Denmark O.J..>ening the syphon,
which, at a very moderate speed, will fill the basins
so slowly, in fact. that unless another syphon or two a re
employed as much as two months and a half will elapse
before they are filled. All the work in connection with
the Copenhagen free harbour has been pushed ahead with
much energy. The Bill was only introduced before the
Danish Parliament some three years ago, and became
law two years and seven months ago; the following day
the authorities begau to move in the matter. The
numerous contractors have also worked with a will,
large s taffs of men have been employed, and a. quantity
of special plant has been in operation. At times the
work has been proceeding through the whole of the
twenty-four hours. On the southern reservoir work has
been going on for about 420 days, and on the northern
about 340 days and 50 nights. The largest quantity of
earth removed per diem has been 3120 cubic yarde in
the southern and 5120 cubic yards in the northern
section, or an aggregate of over 8000 cubic yards
per twentyfour hours. There have been no serious
accidents to the works, but there have been eeveral
casualties among the m en, who, however, so far as
it has been possible to control it, have been insured
against accid ents. The total amount of earth dug out
and used for filling-up purposes is about 1,200,000 cubic
yards. The area of water mside the dams was origin
ally about 120 acres, and of these about 60 acres have at
prer3ent been transformed into land, and the balance will
constitute the water area of the southern and middle
basins.
GRAND THUNK E cONOMIOS.-The length of line in
operation upon the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada at
the close of June, 1893, was ~509 miles, of which 404
miles were double track. The length of steel rails upon
the system at the close of June, 1893, was 3812 miles,
while only 101 miles were laid with iron rails. The com
pany also owned at the close of June, 18~3, 699 miles of
sidings, of which 404 miles were laid with steel rails and
295 mile~ wit~ iron ~ails. A branch or siding, one mhe in
length, IS bemg bUilt t o COte St. Paul, a manufacturing
subwb of Montreal. Th e expenditure made in the
permanent way department in the first half of this
year was 184,942l., as compared with 184,974l. in the
corr esponding period of 1892. A number of wooden
bridges and culverts have either been replaced or are
in course of reconstruction with more permanent
ma~erials. In addition to the ordinary maintenance of
way and works, an embankment crossmg a long swamp
between Hamburg and Hamburg Junction on the
Michigan Air Line, which had settled below the level of
high water, was overflowed during a. spring freshet, and
had t o be raised 2~ ft. The number of locomotives upon
the sys tem at the close of June, 18~3, was 798 ; of pas~enger cars, 903; of freight cars, 22,486; of aux iliary and
1ce scraper cars, 96; and snow ploughs, 59. In the first half
of this year 4445l. was expended m furthor double tracking the system, ::l0,400l. for other new works, and 5::l22l.
for addit10nal rolling st0ck. The 30,400l. expended under
the heading of " new works" was made up as follows:
Sundry new sidings and works, 93n8l. ; n ew s tations and
buildings, . 9582l. ;_ replacem ent of wo~de~ bridges by
stone and uon br1dges, and strengthenmg Jron bridges,
6830l. ; Kingscourt and G lencoe line, 10,630l.
The
aggregate~ cost of locomotive power (in cluding repairs of
engines) in the first half of this year was 516,213!., as corn
pared with 515, 196l. in the corresponding period of
1892. The aggregate dis tance run by trains in the first
half of this year was 9,277,018 miles, as compared with
9, 1G0,625 m~les in the corresponding period of 1892. The
9,277,018 miles representing the distance run by trains in
the first half of this year, was made up as follows: Pas
senger trains, 3,168,586 miles; freight trains, 4,888,435
miles; and mixed trains, 1,219,997 miles.

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

Nov. 17, 1893.]

I vided in the periphery of the r ecess, and a p rojection on the seg- upp er part of the r eservoir is used to carry off the vapour to the

of similar shape to the groove. When the segment is

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED p ATENT I me.nt
expanded, the projection D.on it is wedged into its grooves C, and
RECORD.
CoMPILED BY

W. LLOYD WISE.

SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT Pu:BLISHED SPECIFIOATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
The nu:rnb~r of views given in the SpecifwatWn. I>rawings is stated
in each case ; where none are mentioned, the Specification is
not iltmtrated.
Where l nventioM are commt~nicated from abroad, the Nam~,
etc. of the Communicators are given in italics.
CoP'i~ of Specifications may be obtained at the P atent Offtee
Sale Branch, 38, Cur8itor-street, Chamcery-lalne, E. C. , at the
ttn;form price of 8d.
The date of the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete
IJ"(Jecijication is, in each ca8e, given after the a_bstract, unless the
Patent haR been sealed, when the date of sealim.g is given.
Any person m,ay at any time within two months from th_e dat~ of
the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete speciji.catton,
give notice at the Patent O.fltee of opposition to the grant of a
Patent on any of the grounds mentioned in the .d.ct.

GAS, &c., ENGINES.

20 803. B. B. Andrew and A. R. Bellamy, Stockpori, Chester. Gas, &c., Engines. (1 Pig.) ~ovember

17 1892.-This invention relates to means for gas finng, &c.,

cn'gines, either at star ting or subsequently, and the object is to
enable the ignition tt~b~ to be removed and r~ plaoe~ by an~th~r
tube without displa.cmg t he vahes or connecttons w1th t he Jgmtion tu be. The igni tion valve is arranged to open at the proper
time to allow the explosive fluid mixture to flow u nder the valve
into a abort tube inolosed in the heated ignition tube ; the exp!o-

conder.sers. Cocks, valves, and gauge~ are also. attached to the

reser voir for discharging any accumulatiOn of bnne, and also for

PU:l7.

mu.
t h e friotional contact is incr eas<d. To allow th e introduction of
th e clutch piece, the sh ell A forming the cylindrical recess is regulating the flow of water and vapour . (.Accepted Ocwbtr
made in two parts secured t ogether . (A ccepted October 4, 1893).
1893).
21588.
B. Bailey, Salford, ~anos. Relief
RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
for Steam Cyl1nders. [2 F tgs.] Nov~m~er 26,
21,884. J. N. Braun, Roslyn, Klttitass, Washing- Val~es
-This invention relates to r elief val ves for preveotmg mjury
ton, U.S.A. Couplings for Ra.Uway Vehicles. [3 Figs.] 1&92
to steam cylinders caused by a n accumulation of water , and the
November 30, 1892.-In t bis invention t he drawbars C a re pro- object
is to enable both valv('S t o be held open. for a f~w moments
vided with dra.wheads B in the form of a t rough o pen at the after star
an en~ine, and to dispense wtth sprmgs. ~hese
top, and having a bottom wall a, side walls b, and a narrow valves are tiog
mounted in a casing c, secured to. the stta.m cylind er
t ransverse top wall c at t heir inner ends, the bottom and top near its centre,
eac h is composed of a d1ac and ste~ fr~e Lo
walls being provid ed with alignfd ver tical apertures to receive slide, and havingand
a seating in the casine- a nd a flan ge on 1s mner
t he link pin d for connecting a Jiok D to each drawhead. Rising
from t he bottom wall of each drawhead at the for ward end is a
hook E slopin&" back, the ba..ckward end being ben t down so as to

w.

Fig.1

side. Between these flanges is an eccentric mounted upon a

spi ndle g' which passes t.hroug~ the oas~ng a and has a handl_e h
secured to it. When one valve e 1s closed, 11.8 rear end abuts agamst
the end of t.he ot.her f a nd holds it open, so that as the pressure of
steam admitted alternately at each end of the cylind er closes one
valve, the other is opened . On s~arti ng t he engine both va1ves. are
opened s im ultaotously by turnmg the h andle and ecoentr1c a.
quarter turn, and when all the water h as escaped from the
cylinder the handle is turned back. (A ccepted October 4, 1893).

2DIOJ

21,676. J. M. Austin, London. Automatic Variable

Expansion Gear for Steam Engines. [6 Figs.]

sive fl uid mixture flows t~ rough the short tube and ~h en betw~en
t he two tubes and passes mtoasmall chamber, the ex1t fr o~ wb1ch
into the atmosphere is cont rolled by a mushroom valve; tb1s valve
is opened at the same time as t he ignition valve by means of a
washer carried by the spindle of the ignition _va_lve acting upon a
tumbler catch pi voted to t he. end of the s ntftmg valv~ sp1~dl e.
When t he ignition valve is agam opened, the wash er _on l~S spmdle
opens the snifting valve, a nd a llows some of the flu1d m1xture to
escap~ Lbrough it into the atmospher e. (.Accepted October 4, 1893).

GUNS, &c.
Jones, London. Machine Guns, &c.

21651. o.
~1 5
Pigs: ) November 26, U92.-This invention relates to mach10e
guns and means for feeding c~rtridge~ to t~em . The ~u n
frame A is provided with a. hmged hd ; C 1s the ?a.rtnd~e
belt; D, Dl , the breech bolts; E, ~h e transverse]~ movmg fee_dslide. The cartridge belt C cons1sts of ~wo str1ps C?f mater~~l
such as canvas ri veted together , t he car tridges be10g mserted 1_n
openings in the belt between the rivets. A grooved support R ts
e.rranged behind_t he fe~d-slide E and between t he pl';lngers J?, D1,
which are prov1ded wtth hooks wber~by the cartndges w1ll be
drawn successively from the belt C mto the space above the
t rough R. A plate is a rran g-ed in the ~un-fram~ beneath. the
slot t hrough which the belt C travels. Thts plate lS made w1tb a
l'ear ward extension A9 in which is form ed a taper slot. A 10 , so that
a car tridge drawn out of the belt C by either )?lunger IS supporte~
upon the edges of the slotted extension A9 unt1l t he plunger termt

Nov~m

ber 28 1892.-This inven tion r elates to automatic expans1on

gear for steam eni'ines. The h or izontal lever B is worked by the
eccentric throug h the arm, and engages with the bellorank at
A 1, t her eby raising t he \'alve spindle 0 Cl until t he toe of the

0
8
f

form a. projection to prevent. t he lin k from becomi ~g d isen ~aged

by the jolting of t he oa.rrages. A frame work10g verttcally
t hrough the bottom of t he drawheads engages and raises the links
when it is desired t o u ncouple the carriages. The frame is in <:onnection with a bellcrank lever mounted oo the top of the carriage,
from which it may be operated, so that a person standing at the
side or top of t he carriage may raise both links above t he books
and t heret'ty uncouple the oarriagl's, Ol' so that he may raise the
link of one drawhead so that it will take into another r esting at
a higher elevati on. (.iccepted October 4, 1893).
20,185. T. A. Ainscough, Manchester. Brake
Blocks for Railway Carriages. (4 Pigs.] November 9,
1892.-This invention relates to the brake-blocks a~plied to
the wheels of railway carriages, the object ot the m vention
being to p revent unneoasary wear d ue to the rising and falling
of the body of the carriage upon the springs drawing the
lower or upper ed~es of t he brake-block against the periphery
of t he wheel. Eaeh brake-block is supported by a hanger suspended from t he body of the carriage, and is connected by a
radius arm to the axle box, so t hat as the br ake-block rises and
falls with the carriage, instead of movin~ in a perpendicular
direction, it rises and falls in a curved direction corresponding

t=
....

Fig 2
~

...

...

L:;.;;

I
L

/1616

\
\
I

bellorank A' trips otf the horizontalle,er B by the stop D. The

positions of D a.re regulated by t he governor by levers. For
working a single-expansion vo.lve sim ilar gear is introduced on
t he other side of the valve spindle C 01, whereby two beats of the
val ve for one revolution can be obtained. (A ccepted October 4,
1893).

18,254. J. Gwynne, London, and M. P. Chepournoft:

Timashevo. Samara, Russia. Burning Liquid I uel
in Boiler, &c., Furnaces. (12 Figs.) October 12, 1892.This invention relates to means for burning liquid fuel in steam
boiler, &c. , furnaces, and comprises two separate pipes connected
together at an angle oo one another, with their discharge apertures
near each other, one of these pipes 1 serviog for the passage of

Fig .1.

.-.

o)

Frj.4

' oI

--

..... --.

Jtg.2.

Fig .:b.

.3 .

R
ZIGSI

with t he circumference of the wheel, so that no part of its surface is brought into conta.ct with the wheel by the ordinary spring
motion of t he carriage. This radius arm is made io two parts
sliding telescopically and provided with a coiled spring, so as to
allow of t he arm being shortened when the bra k es are applied,
and r eturn ing to it s original leng th when they are released .
One end of the radius arm is pivoted to the axle-box, and the
other is forked and connected by two studs to the brake-block,
one of t he studs b eing the same that connect s the hanQ;er t o the
brake-block, so that the latter cannot rock upon the conneotingpin, but is kept quite ~ rm an~ compelled to rise and fall in. a
cur ve corres ponding w1th the nm of tb e wheel, a nd at a defhnte
distance from it. (.iccepted October ' 1893).

nates its backward movement, when t he cartridge can fa11 through

t he slot AlO into the trough R. To facili tate the witbd.r awal ?f
the plungers, the plate is arranged to turn about t he bmge-pm
of the cover, so t hat, when the ~un-frame is opened, t he p late
can be turned back Ylithout detachmg it from t he gun. F or pushing down the cartridges into the trough R, a fter t hey are withdrawn
from t he belt 0, a lever q is provided, and is pivoted to a bracket q 1
attached to the cover of the gun-frame, and is operated by projections }{2 on the central diso K of the crankshaft, each
projection acting successively on two short arms of the lever
so as to rapidly depress and ra ise it. Each plunger D or Dl is
pro,ided with a p rojection u whereby, in its forwa rd movet:nent,
STEA.M: ENGINES AND
a cartridge previously drawn from t he belt and moved downwards
17,371. J. B. Irwln, Sunderland. Condensers,
into t he trough R by the lever q, is thr ust into the feed -slide E.
In the lonJZitudinal movement of the cartridge and of the other &c., for Steam Engines. (4 Figs.] September 29, 1892.plunger relatively to each other, the project ion u of the plunger This in,ention relates to a condenser and evaporator for
steam engines, whereby a quantity of waste heat can be utilised
pushes aside the cart ridge. (Accepted Oc!ober 4, 1893).
for the production of fresh water for boiler feed ing, &c. , and con sists in isolating a few tubes in the hotter part of the condenser,
MACHINE TOOLS, SBAFTING, &c.
and cau sing a. por tion of the c irculatinll' water already heated in
17,795. F. L. Croft and B. Christian, Bradford. its passage through the condenser t o flow to and fro in these
Friction Clutches. (5 Figs.] October 6, 1892.-Tbis inven- tubes, so that it may be raised to a temperatur e nearly equalling
tion relates to a friction clutch fo r conveyi o~ r otary motion , in th at of the exhaust steam itself hy absorbing h~at from the surwhich a clutch piece is expanded against the periphery of a rounding vapour. The water thus heated is conduc ted by a pipe
c,rlindrical recess. An "n nular groo' ~ of wed ~e eha.pe is pro- to a res'!r voir, in which it is heated by steam. A pipe from the

liquid fuel, and the other 2 for steam, and each being provided
with an independent, longitudinally adj ustable, reA'Ulating
spindle 3 for controlling its discharQ;e aperture. The forward
ends of t hese spindles pass through apertures 9 form ed in chambers in communication with the forward ends of the pipes. In
this chamber is arranged a. metal diaphragm 10, which prevents
communicat ion between the forward ends of the pipes. ( ~ ccepted. September 27, 1893).

M. Gehre, Rath, Dusseldorf, Germany.

Tubular Water BoUers. [9 F igs. ] November 18, 1892.20.966.

This in\'e ntion h as for its object to aftord steam space in the
water chamber into which the tubes open, and into which the
steam rises, the water chamber being fo r this purpoie divided
by c ross partitions into separate c hambers, each of which has a
de~erm_ined water level and ste~m space. The water from the upper
botler 1s under full pressure m the whole water chamber and
fills it and the cross-chambers completely before the form~tion
of steam commences. As soon as t his takes place the steam
ft ows from the water pipes A into the cross-cbamb~r (Fig. 1}.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
As its specific gravity is lighter, the steam then remains in the sufficient grain to form a sheaf, and the binding mechanism is
upper part of these separate croBB-chambers, and presses the started, the n eedle pin passin round the sheaf makes a division
water down until the lower ends of the connecting pipe& 0 are
above the level of the water. It then commences to Aow
through these tubes to the steam space, standing above each
Ftg 1
of the divisions until 1t can escape through the topmost

a guide-shoes fixed to the plough frame, when the plough is being

adjusted for transport or is first ploughing. The guideshoe s
carries a withdrawal e-top pin sl, which, when inserted over the
rearmost of the two jointed rods, limits the bending of the rods
when the plough is being adjusted for first ploughing, but which,
when withdrawn, renders the rods free to bend when t he plough
is being adjusted for ploughing. (.Accepted October 4, 1893).

20,595. F. W, and F. W. Scott, London, and E . G.

Scott, Liverpool.

Fig./.

(3 F igs. ] November 14, 1892.-This inventiOn r elates to apparatua

for evaporating or concent rating saccharine juice', &c., in vacuo.
In that part of the casing off the cock to whieh the t r oughs are
opposite, after they have discharged their contents, and before
they are again brought into communication with the interior of the

.Fig .3 .

. 2.

Evaporating, &c., Apparatus.

Fc:g .a.

Iig.Z.
------ ---''
I'
'I

l17ZG

.
\

between the latter and the unbouod grain, and into this division
the separating prongs are moved and press the unbound grain
and larger tube to the steam chamber of the boiler. In the upper- away from the back of the needle. (.Accepted October 4, 1893).
most crossobamber also the steam simultaneously presses back
21,408.
McKenzle, Edinburgh. Hydraulic
the water until it can escape from the connecting pipe m to the Valves. [5 Figs.] November 24, 1892.- This invention relates
steam c hamber of the upper boiler. As much water as is evaporatf'd to a" disc" valve for hydraulio cranes, &c. A shallow chamber
always ftows in through the openings 0 . (Accepted Septembe1 27, A is provided with means for connecting it with pressure pipes
1893).
which operate the ram, and with the exhaust pipes al, a2, a 3.
2DS9S
Inside
the
cylinder
A
is
a
disc
B
provided
with
a
spindle
C,
the
20.941. P. Browne and D. Crawford, Liverpool.
an opening is formed communicating by a pipe h with t he air
Boners. [2 Figs.) November 18, 1892.-This invention relates front end of which passes through a tight -fitting stuffing-box and pan,
t.o means for beating and regulating the supp1y of feed water gland D, in front of which it is provided with an operating handle pump working in conjunction with t he vacuum pal?, so that the
air can be exhausted from the troughs. A valv~ k.1s arrange~ In
for boilers. If the by-paBB valve 11 is closed and the valves 9, 10
''
the pipe which remains closed when a trough lB m commumcaFiA.J 1
tion with the atmosphere, and is opened at the r equir ed times
by a cam n rotated with the discharge valve. (..d ccepted Sep.
Ftg .1
tember 27, 1893).

c.

..

A G aJ
I
'

'

20,9tf. B. R. Alien, Croydon, Surrey. Cleaning

Roads &c.

[4 Figs.) No,ember 18, 1892.- This invention relates

to appar~tus for cleaning roads, &c., described in Patent No. 15,717

or 1891. A is a receptacle, B a rasing, 0 a passage between ~he
receptacle and casing, and Fa r evolvab)e b rush over an opemng
E in t he bottom of the casln~ B. IT, Hl! are r evoluble r ollen.

a~

E. The back end or the cylinder A is ground so as to form the

valve seat against which the ground face of the disc B works, the
disc B being formed of a less depth than the cylinder A so as to
form an annular cbamher a" around the back of the disc, and
between it and the stuffing-box, so as to permit of the pressure
pipe a 1 being led therein, and so cause a constant pressure to be
exerted on the disc B and keep the valve ti~ht. (.Accepted
October 4, 1898).

21,644. C. Kohlert, Berlin, Germany.

F~.~.

are open, the feed water passes through the pipe 7 and is heated
before being delivered to th~ boiler, and the s~ppl y is s.utom~ti
cally regu1ated, as the opemng of the regulatmg cock 12 vanes
in accordance \\'ith the rise and fall of the water level. (Accepted
September 27, 1893).

21,007. J. E. L. Tatham, Rochdale, Lancs. ~ec~a

nical Stokers. [3 F igs.] November 19, 1892.-Thls m vent1on

Ploughs.

[10 Jt~igs. ] November 26, 1892.- This invention relates to p1oughs

in which an arm on the furrow wheel axle is connected wi t b au
adjusting lever by means of two jointed rods, the arm being
caused, when the plough is in use, to abut against a rotatable
eccentric stop provided on the plough frame, and which, when
placed in one poRition, r etains the furrow wheel at the depth of
the bottom of the plou~h, but which, when placed ln the opposite position, a11ows of a further raising of the furrow wheel.
The front furrow wheel R is, by a single adjusting- lever C, set
forwards or backwards by means of the two jointed rods b connected to an arm a upon the cranked axle A, the laodwheel Rl
being at the same time set backwards or forwards by a single rod
bl connected to an arm al upon the a xle portion to which the
landwbeel is connected, and which is rotatably mounted on an
extension of the axle A. The shorter ann of the adjusting lever
0 is connected by means of a rod b2 and arm a,.2 to the axle stem
of a rear furrow wheel R2, so that the adjustment of the latter

Pig.1.

relates to mechanical stokerA for automat ically feeding fuel to

furnaces, and consists in constructing them so as to dispe~se
with hopper!. The travelling creeper consists of metallic cha1ns
c provided with c ross-bars d. The c hains pas& round pulleys e on
a frame, one end of which enters the mouth or the furnace,

In the casing B are bands J, on which are buckets K. P are

frames in the sides of the casing B having guides R and T,
blocks V eliding in the frames and eupporting a scraper M. N
are eccentric conoectingr ods between the wheels A' and the
scraper M, and W are tipping levers actuated by links X on the
rods N. (~ ccepted September 27, 1893).

12,131. B. A. Willlams, Boston, Massachusetts,

U.S.A. Wire Rolling Mlll. [16 F i gs.] June 20, 1893.Tbis invention relates to con tinuous t rain r olling mills, in
which the rolls are arranged altE'rnately in oppositely inclined
planes for being placed at right angles to each other successive1y.
A p1urality of triangu1ar ba e supports b are provided for the
b ousings, having one side extended beyond the other and set
upright on the bed frame a., with the extended sides in the
reverse inclinations alternately. The intermediate drhing shaft
is}lorated between the sides and benches, and line shafts are
placed along the lower side of eaoh range of rolls, the lower roll
having the step bearing and the water-circulating connection
at t he lower end. The r oll housing! a re on the upper parts of

Ft-g.2.

A~
~ ~~ ~,,,

~rj/1'

whilst the other le carried beneath the hopper g, b:low the level
of the cart t rack lt. The fuel le tipped direot in~ th~ hopper fro~
the cart. The hopper has a reciprocatln~ mot1on 1mparted to 1t
to insure regular deposition of the fuel on the creeper.. A plate
is carried by the frame, and on it the fuel rests, and IS mo~ed
along its surface to the furnace by the bars d. (Accepted ::Jep.
t ember 27, 1898).

IIISCZILAlO:OtJS.
21,726. J. Bornaby and J. Innocent, (!rantham,
LtncolD8. Sheaf-BlndlDJ Harvesters. [4 Jt'l{Js. ] November 28, 1892. -ln this InventiOn the end of the but~r c furthest

from the crank is supported on a c~ne-shaped bar p1voted to t~e

bracket j carrying the crank. Th1s bar can be turned about 1t
pivot so that when the buttor is at work, the end of the latter
against the sb~aves may be adjusted to suit t~e length of the crop,
this adjustment being effected by a rod p1voted to the upp~r
limb of the crane. Near its outer end the crane bar U JS
cranked downwards and is then again b~n.t horizontally, the
latter part carrying a sliding bracket h JOmted to a bracket
fixed to the buttor c. To separate the bound. and unbound portions of the crop a prong is fixed to a hor1zootal bar, caused
to oscillate as each sheaf is bound. The end ~f t~e ~ar is turned
u w~rds to form a crank, to th~ end of wh1ch lS p1voted a coon~cting-rod, whose otber end is p1\'0ted to a b~acket. The knotter
spindle makes one revolution, and the separatmg prongs therefore
oscillate once tor each sheaf that is bound. When the prongs
are in their normal position they are above the crop, and do n~t
intercept it as it passes forward to be bound, but wben there 1s

Fig.3
the base supports, and the rolls and line shaft being gear ed
through the friction clutch on the roll shaft, the line shafts along
the lower sides of the base supports being geared with the
intermediate shafts and r oBs. Pn.oking rings a:, y are p)aced
between the shaft and the step bearing. Pointed adjustable
studs are provided in the recesses of the housin~s, and the
pointed adjusting scrAws not against the points of the studs to
adjust the roBs for alignment of the passes. The rod guide
consists of the funnel-mouthed divided tube extending from one
to the other of the pairs of rolls in a direct line, one part of this
wheel is effected simultaneously with the adjustment of the front guide being fa stened in position, and the other hinged t o the
furrow and la.ndwheels Rand Rl respectively. An eccentric stop fixed part, means being provided for faet eniog the two pa~
n is a rranged on the plough , ~~ adj~sting ~hich the wheels are together when closed. (.Accepted September 27, 1898).
brought into the proper pGSltlons m .r elatiOn ~o the sol~ ?f t~e
plough. For first ploughing, t he stop IS turnecf: mto a pos1t1on m
which the arm a. strikes against it at a later per1od, so as to allow
UNITED STATES PAT.ENTB AND PATENT PRAOTIOB.
the furrow wheel R to a88ume Ita highest positio.n. For ploughi!lg,
Descriptions with illustrations of inventions patented in the
the stop is set backwards so that the wheel R.ts arrested earher,
thereby neceBBitatiog a corresponding shortemog of the rods b. In United States of America from 1847 to the present time, and
order to etfect this these rods are connected together by means of a repor ts of trials of patent law cases in the United States, may be
bolt x so that they can bend upwards ''' ben the arm strikes against consulted, gratis, at the offices of ENGIN~f:RING 1 35 and 361 Bed(ord
the st~p. The be~ Qf tbe bolt ~ slides in an undercut g roove in street, Strand,