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22,
749
E N G I N E E R I N G.
1893.]
A NEW PERU.
:,
over-abundance of water, which alternate
....
a.t uneven periods, the drought being at
least ten times as prolonged as the floods ;
but, even under these difficult circumstances,
they are able to produce a. fair amount of
cotton, which commands a high price, as
.
it
is
very
white,
and
long
in
fibre.
.
The possibilities of the Chira and Piura
~~'"LfJ....- ...
Valleys are so very great, if the watershed
\
were controlled, and a thorough system of
'
irrigation practised, that the subject is now
- ...
under consideration by several prominent
engineers, who have been examinirg the
SCC H U RA
rivers from their sources to their mouths,
D CS CRT
Sco l tt I 56 mtfe...r.
with the view to the construction {)f such
__.. ...... ....
/,,
works as will render the great tracts of land
t
fit for culture at all seasons of the year. The
land is so light and friable that it would be
worse than useless to cut channels to lead
the CordilleraE~, the seasons are marked by a total the river water direct to the interior portions
absence of rain during periods varying between of the ground. If a channel of, say, 2 ft. be
fi ve and seven years. 'Vhen the period of rain cut, the action of the water soon wears away the
sets in, however, it makes up for lo~t time, and soil, and the property becomes either an island,
the quebradas, that for six years have been nothing because of the river dividing itself, or it is transbut valleys of burning sand, become in the space of ferred to the opposite bank by the stream deserting
a few days the channels of fearful torrents, that the old bed for the new. There is a striking
carry great masses of rock along as if they were instance of this near Sullana, where the cotton
pieces of driftwood. In a journey along the coast chacta is now in the centre of the river. Again, it
some startling effects of the power of the water are will be a very difficult matt r to take, as it is proto be seen. At the mouths of the q~tebradas, posed by some, the water from the river immerocks weighing many tons are piled up in a great diately north of Sullana, and lead it down by canal
barrier, and are cemented together by the clay and along the base of the tablazo, because the owners of
sand that have been deposited in the interstices by the property along the river between the canal
the receding water. To move such masses would inlet and the point where the water returns to the
require months of labour, yet when the rain com- river, strongly object to have their lands deprived
mences in the Cordilleras the wall of rocks is swept of the water that passes a.t present. Pumping by
into the sea as if it was built of cane and mud. steam power has been tried, and was found to be
The writer has seen in the vicinity of Cabo Blanco too costly, but a system of waterw heel is to be
(Department of Piura) r ocks, which would weigh introduced, and this, in places where there is
at least 30 tons, buried in the sand of the beach, sufficient current, will do a great deal to irrigate
and on going up the qHebrada discovered that they individual haciendas at small cost.
had been brought down as much as two leagues by
The map, Fig. 1, on this page, will indicate the
the water, as the same formation was not met with peculiar position of the watershed and its outlets.
within that distance. Nothing can be done to remedy From the mouth, which forms an extended delta to
the destructive influence of the wa.ter from the ce?Tos Arenal, the River Chira normally flows between two
without great E\xpense, but, as the tabla:o or table- low banks, and has an average width of about 250
land is high, it is possible to store sufficient water yards. At Arenal the land rises abruptly on the
in the interior of the province for use during the southern and eastern bank, while on the northern
dry period. This remark refers to the lands ly!ng and w~stern the change of level is very slight, except
between the Chira and Tumbe~ Rivers, which dis- where spurs of the elevated range jut out to the
trict has but a very small population, and that dis- water's edge. During the greater portion of the
tributed according to the positions of small streams dry season the stream is divided up by countless
that flow toward the sea, the greater portion of the sa~dbanks, so~e of which e~tend for upwards of a
territory being a desert.
miJe, but occas10nally-that Is, when there are mists
In the valleys of the Chira and Piura Rivers there in the mountains whi eh form the watershed of the
is the same uncertainty as regards water. During river-the volume of water increases sufficiently to
the rainy season the ri vera overflow their banks, cover these shoals, and the river then aesumes an
and sweep everything that is movable into the impo~ing aspec~, al~hough there is really not
Pacific. 'Vhen the dry season sets in, the people sufficient water In whiCh a hen, sufferioa from acute
hasten to plant cotton, corn, yucas, camotes, and, suicidal mania, could accomplish self-d~~truction.
in fact, all sorts of vegetables, on the ground from
Farther up, the river flows through a definits
which the water recedes, and for two years they channel even when the water is very low, ar.d in
harvest from two to four crops per year, after some places a de~th of four to seven feet can always
which the land becomes so parched that nothing be found. As will be seen by the chart the river
will grow on it .
is fed by three distin<t stnams - the Mac!.l~a, Quiros,
on business on the basis of the white metal. When
the news of the action of the Indian Government
arrived by cable, she suffered a great shock, but the
wise counsel of her Ministers was followed, and the
r ecovery in values was almost as rapid as the decline,
although the former standard was not, nor will it
be, reached. Peru has much to sell, and therefore,
if any scheme is put in operation whereby contracts
can be made for gold or for silver, she will be able
t o hold her own just as well as her neighbours.
The enormous territory that extends from the
latitude of Lima to the frontier of Ecuador and
Nueva Granada, and from the western Cordilleras
to the Brazilian boundary line, is still practically
unknown, and for the sole reason that it is almost
as inaccessible as the African lake regions, owing to
the absence of roads. Of this territory more will
be said later on, as the first object of this article is
to deal with a district but a short distance from the
Pacific coast.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the northern
coast of Peru is the absence of an adequate supply
of water. Throughout the territory lying between
the eighth parallel of south latitude and the Gulf
of Guayaquil, and as far back as the foot-hills of
,-- -
...
EXPOSITION.
OBSERVATION AND PRI\TATE SLEEPING CARS AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN
CONSTRUCTED BY THE PULLDIAN PALACE CAR COMPANY, PULL~IAN,
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and Somatc- " hich ha\'e numerous tributaries in earth, whi ch holds the major portion until it is This great work, which is but one instance of the
the mountains of Ayavaca and Frias. These moun- evaporated again next day by the action of the skill of the primitive inhabitants of Peru, was
accomplished under a. system of government truly
tains form a spur of, and are overshadowed by, the solar rays.
western range of the Cord ill eras, so that but little
The In cas had evidently studied this question of communistic, and it ehould be a guide to those who
of the moisture-la den air from the east reaches precipitation carefully before locating their wonder - are going to undertake the work of irrigation in the
them, it being cond ensed on the eastern slopes of ful canal between the head waters of the Chira and valley of the Chira., as tampering with the river
the range that marks the western boundary of the Colan on the Bay of Payta, because they selected south of where it is joined by t he Somate can only
Department of Cajamar ca. The supply of water for their inlets the two points Chocan and La result in failure to distribute the water equitably,
to the Rio Chir1. therefore depends solely upon the Solana, wher e they not only secured the fullest and that will mean dissatisfaction, which may be
clouds from the Pacific, borne by the south-west complement of supply, but also the elevation neces- followed by energetic measures of self-protection on
winds which prevail tow11.rd and after sunset, but, 1sary to utilise the force of gravitation. The Rio 1 the part of the various property-owners. A canal
a.s the precipitation rarely takes the form of rain, (they would call a. bucket of water a. lake in these properly located will do much to lessen, if not
the increase of the river volume is very gradual, as countries) Soma.te was ignored by them, and even prevent, the destructive floods that are now looked
the clouds are condensed by direct contact with the , now it contributes but little to the general supply. upon as a matter of course, and even expected,
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DEc.
1893.]
22,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
751
.Pig.n.
Partition
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752
E N G I N E E R I N G.
STEAM
BOILER
(DEc.
2 2, I
893.
EX PER I MEN T S.
I
1
Place:
Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
Type of Boilo1 :
Portable boiler, locomotive.
Beating Surface :
Heating surface of boiler
.. .
...
. ..
...
..
...
...
No brickwork. Straight
. .. {
through small tubes to
chimney.
...
PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
5.3 hours
Steam Pressure:
Mean steam pressure above atmosphere . . .
. ..
,
absolute steam pressure
.. .
...
. ..
Temperature Fahr. corresponding to this pressure
...
...
72lb.
86.7 "
. .. 317.7 deg. Fahr.
Feed Water:
Temperature of feed
.. .
...
...
Total feed water evaporated . ..
. ..
,
,
per hour ...
...
.. .
.. .
...
...
...
.. .
.. .
"
...
...
...
. ..
...
...
...
. ..
E x pe1iment N o.
. ..
...
104lb.
&c.
...
0. 912
.. .
. ..
114 lb.
.. . 261b. ash, 15lb. olinker
...
...
...
...
...
.. .
0.25 in .
...
Draught:
Chimney draught .. .
Fluea:
Temperature of Gases :
T~m~erature of furnace gases at base of chimney ...
.. .
. ..
575 deg. Fahr.
Rtse m temperature of ga~es from temperature of air on day, about 515
,
Flregrate:
Dimensions of firegrate . . .
. ..
. ..
Area. of grate
...
...
. ..
..
Ratio of ha~ing surfa-ce to grate surface
Time:
Duration .. .
PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS-cor.tinucd.
.. .
...
..
...
...
.. .
...
60 deg. Fahr.
4869 lb.
920
"
616 lb.
...
10
''
.. .
606 ,
.. 4.3 ash, 2.5 clinker
...
2
PRINCIPAL RESULTS.
Combustion:
Pounds of coal burnt per square foot of grate surface per hour ...
,
,
,
heating surface per hour
Transmission of Beat :
Thermal units per square foot of heating surface per hour
...
Evaporation:
Pounds of water evaporated per pound of coal from feed temperature . . .
...
. ..
...
. ..
...
...
. ..
. ..
E}~~h~~ent .~.vapo~~tion .~~r po~~d o~ .~oal ~~~m a~~ at .~~2 de~:
Equivalent evaporation per pound of coal pure and dry ...
. ..
,
,
,
square foot of grate per hour
.. .
,,
,
,
,
heating surface
.. .
Factor of evaporation ...
...
.. .
...
...
...
.. .
10.8 lb.
0.4 ,
3730 T. U .
8.03 lb.
9. !57 ,
10.5 ,
104.4 "
3.85 ,,
1.192
H eat Evolved.
Per Cent.
100
------ 1
Total
...
100
H eat Absorbed.
Per Cent.
65.2
------------------------------Total
.. .
...
3!. 8
100 0
Colonel English, Professor Dw~lshauvers. Dery, I ment, and 9 lb. in the first. L:1stly, the evapord.and one of the authors, were present.
The boiler tive efficiency in No. XI. Experiment was 70 per
was h oused, but not surrounded by brickwork of cent., and inN o. XVIII. 65 p er cent., or 5 per cent.
any kind, and the barrel only covered in the usual better efficiency with 11 per cent. more h eating
way with wood lagging and sheet iron. Stoking surface, all the oth er results being approximately
by hand was done by the ordinary fireman~; the the same.
The d etailed figures are given in
boiler was not forced, and there was no economiser. the Table annexed. A radiation trial in this case
The steam generated was employed to drive a steam unfortunately could not be arranged for.
engine. The boiler was in regular use at the
Arsenal, and was worked under ordinary conditions, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NAVAL
nothing being especially prepared for t he trial.
ARCHITECTS.
It is not considered necessary to g ive a drawing
(F .n.oM ouR NEw YORK CoRRESPONDENT.)
of this b oiler, as, though smaller, it is similar in
( Contilnued from page 722.)
all respects t o the one illustrated in ENGINEERING
INSPECTION oF MACHINERY AND BoiLERS.
on page 344, March 18, 1892, and was by the
THE " United States Treasury Rules for the
same maker. No time curves have b een ptepared.
The duration of the experiment, viz.,
hours, Inspection of Machinery and Boilers" was by
was rather short, but could not well be prolonged. James T. Boyd, and produced an active discussion.
Colonel English kindly gave the authors every Mr. Boyd demanded a revision. Among other
assistance possible to insure good reliable results. matters, he wished the clause requiring a chief
The gases from the fire went straight through the engineer thirty years of age, and whose service
tubes and up the chimney. Steam pressure was as first assistant had been for five years, in
cases where the engines exceeded 2000 horseabout 72 lb.
The temperature of the furnace gases leaving the power, struck out; likewise that which made
boiler, viz., 575 deg. Fahr., was too high for the most the law apply to b oilers now in service, the
economical working; however, 8 lb. of water were effect of this being to reduce the working presevaporated per pound of coal from the temperature sures 10 per cent. of existing boilers. He thought
of the cold feed. About 11 lb. of coal were burnt the laws and rules should be revised by engiper square foot of grate. As this experiment (No. neers of prominence, one from the navy, one
XVIII.) was made with a locomotive tubular boiler from the revenue marine, one from the merchant
of the same construction as that used in Experiment marine, and one captain from the merchant marine.
No. XI., and as the two boilers are very nearly the He illustrated the defects of the present laws by a
same size, it may be interesting to compare the letter from Mr. J. F. Pankhurst, general manager
chief results. The same coal was burnt, and both of the Globe Iron Works, of Cleveland, 0., to the
were fired by hand. The heating s urface was about Board of Supervising Inspectors, with reference to
11 per cent. less in Experiment N o. XVIII. than the safety valves on the new Belleville b oilers which
in Experiment XI. The grate areas, pressure of the Globe Works are building for t he Great
steam, feed temperatures, and the coal burnt per Northern twin-screw passenger steamers. The
hour differed very little. In the latter test the existing United States rules for calculating the size
of safety valves were adopted in the days when 30 lb.
water evaporated per hour was rather less.
The temperature of the gases and the chimney was considered a high pressure for a marine boiler,
draught did not differ much in the two cases. The and it takes no account of the steam pressure in
pounds of coal burnt per square foot of grate per the boiler. The absurdity of this rule is shown
hour were 10.8 and 12.5 respectively. The thermal by the fact that if the safety valves on these Belleunits transmitted per square f oot of heating surface villa boilers were made the full size called for, they
were very nearly the same ; 8 lb. of water were would have an area 2~ times as great as the crossevaporated per pound of coal in the last experi- section of the main steam pipe, and would empty
5t
DEc.
22,
1893.]
753
E N G I N E E RI N G.
...
Q) ...
Cl.
gS
Q)
'ii
w-~"'j ~ ...
0 C
CIS
<g~~p.
dangerous, and q uite likely in itself to cause the
......
....,
w ~A;; .... .
.
s:: C:l:l g.
~ z 8 w
explosion of a weak boiler.
::::>
Q) .... _. en
so~
.0
a>.....,
'0
........
....
In the discussion, which was extended, it ap
ea .. . ;; c
: oo A 'ag .d
Comparison of Three Steel Shafts.
..s::c ....... ~p.
~ .......
So CJ
c
peared that all present desired a great reform in
WOt- ,..(1) .
~cd
eno ....
...
~o~Q)
.a
Q)
....,
..s::
s:l
- (") tl
t he existing methods, although they differed as to
0
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=
.
.
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~
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~
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,.~~~g..c
the method to b e employed. The speakers thought
~
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_,... ... (")a'
o~a:l
~ --o a
Case I.
~
o
-AZ
~ p. < ril (/)
there was too much theory, and a number claimed
ea.. .. _..,..
..c. .....
that technical mechanical formuh:e should be ex
13.Z i 3
131.95
cluded, so as to make the rules conform to pro- Arus of ser tions .
..
.
..
..
..
..
..
. . sq. tn .
1354
1346
hts per yard . .
..
..
..
.. .
..
..
..
..
.1 b
gress. The spe:1.kers all scored the present methods Weig
Comp!l ra~he strengths under applied loads 10 flexur e, o r under appho:d
100
in unmeasured terms. Col. E. A. Stevens thought horse-powers in tor~ ion
307
..
..
.
..
..
.
.
t here should be an officer with the rank of a Cabinet Load, in p ounds, at middle of a span of 12ft. oo two suppo. tta, whtch stratns
276,200
89,900
to
one-halt
elastic
limit
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
officer to reprdsent the merchant marine at Wash- Lengt.h of beam on two supports, which is strc&ioed by its own wei~ ht to one
77 ft. 6 in .
121ft. 6 in.
ington. This view was favoured by Mr. Stratton,
half elastic limits
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
.
..
who also thought, and most agreed with him, that Horse-powers transmittEd at 60 revc lutioos per minute whc n strainEd to
15,780
6180
one ba' f elastio limits . .
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
the establishment of a Department of Commerce, of
equal importance with other departments, and including the Bureau of Navigation, the Life-Saving
.
,.... .......
cv:
Cl.
os Q) Q)
s:: ..~ '1j c ~ ..
Service, the Lighthouse Board, Hydrographic Office,
<tQ)P.
os A........ ~
<JS
....J~
...., .0.
.,. m
o Q) s:: ra;! er
Q).....
Revenue Marine Service, and Steamboat Inspection
.... "'j .... .,.., (/)
s () osQ)..
.
.
=
Service, would be productive of incalculable good
.s . -~Q). .
~Cl
:ooA
e-~ -9
Comparison of Three Steel Shafts.
.
,......
eo
~000
....
_p.
to t he merchant marine. Mr. Stratton said that if
....,
-d
.... 'li 0 ....... (/) .
_.,. ....
we...,
.0
QSQS
en
a Secretary of Commerce could, in his official report
Q)::>~..-4~-..s::e
. s:: . e
s~o,..sGIO
fl.) .... gS .... ~g$
to CJngress, give force to recommendations need~
.)dO_:
oc><Q)
o
~ ~::::...., c11 oo.,
;.:: 2 ... er
Case 11.
....s::
~ - - od
ful to a proper conservation and development of
cet.li:cAZ..r. ....
~ Cl.<
ra;! en
our marine, such as is given to the recommenda- - - - - - - - - - - - -
. I
tions of the Secretary of War with r egard to river Areas of sections . .
12(1. 28
120. 17
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
. sq . 10 .
1227
1226
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
lb
and harbour improvements, it would be of g reat Weights per yard . .
strengths under appliEd loads in flexure, or under applitd
value in taking away the appearance of lobbying, Comparative
100
293
horse powe1 s in torsion
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
now so necessary in putting through Congress even Load, which, at middle of a beam 12 ft . in span on t wo supports, cause~
77,500
227,2CO
strains equal to one-half e'a.stic limit
..
..
..
..
. . . .lb.
the smallest measure desired to benefit Americ.1n Len~th
of beam on two supports which is strained by its own wc..ight to one
shipping.
75 ft. 9 io.
115 ft. 6 in.
halC elastic ltmils
..
..
..
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..
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.~
G)_.,.
~m
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,-4
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ea, -
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FoRorncs.
The next paper was by Mr. R. W. Davenport,
and entitled : "Production in the United States
of Heavy Steel Engine, Gun, and Armour-J.Il~ite
Fvrgings. '' This paper should be printed in full,
but space does not permit, and the condensation
will of courae only present its salient points. The
author traced the development of forging plants,
stating that five ye:1rs ago the United States had
none. In 1885 the Bethlehem Company, of which
the author is vice-president, decided to establish
a. plant of the firat order. The contract was given
to Sir J oseph Whit worth and Co., and the principal items were : Two hydraulic forging presses
comp~ete. with engines and pumps, one of 1500
and one of 4500 tons capacity, together with two
\VhitwOJth hydraulic travelling forging cranes and
other necessary appliances for each press; a complete fluid compression plant, including a press of
7000 t ons capacity and a 125-ton hydraulic travell ing crane for serving it (the upper and lower
heads of this press, weighing respectively about
135 and 120 tons, were mllde at the Bethlehem
works); some large machine tools, such as lathes
and boring milh, typical of the best development
in their r espective classes ; a] so designs of openhearth furnaces and special tools. These machines
were guaranteed to represent the latest practice of
the Whitworth Company, and this was fulfilled,
although it was erected and put in operation by
the employe~ of the Bethlehem Company, who at
the s\me time constructed a fine plant of four
open-hearth furnaces of 110 to 120 tons, and a
machine shop of grand dimensions, partly equipped
with t ools exceeding in capacity and power any
ever in the country. Preparations were also made
for the production of armour-plate, the U nited
States Navy having decided on all-steel plates.
Although the contract made with theN avy Department did not specify forged heavy armour, yet the
company decided to make it by this process, and
made a. contract with the Creusot Company for
drawings of machinery and full information as to
m ~thods and shop practice, a.s well as the
right to manufacture armour-plates under their
patents. \Vhile the new plant was in general
modelled after that at Creusot, modifications were
introduced, Ruch a,, the increase of the weight of
the hammer from 100 tons to 125 tons, the length
of the forging dies from 6 ft. 6 in. to 10 ft., and
the steam pressure from 75 lb. to 125 lb. The
valve motion was also greatly improved, and
hydraulic travelling cranes used instead of power
swinging ones. Likewise improvements were made
in the bending press ani in the tern pering plant.
In two years and a half after ihe actual work on
the plant had been begun, the first armour-plate
was forged. The result of experiments on the
forging presses led to the construction of a doubleHEAVY STEEL
H orse powers transmitted at 50 revolu tions per minute \\hen strain<d t.o
one-half ebstic l.mits ..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
12,980
44 30
... Q) .
sP.-~-.a
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~~so.
CD ...
o .r1
Q) ~ gS('/)00
os
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c'!.
... ril
~
bi....J...
.a-
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!t
en
p.
280 65
2861
307
276,200
83 ft. iu.
15,780
Q,)
... Q.l
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8 ... .c
--a ... - os:
CD
Gl(1}
oaoO
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(/) Cl..,J ...
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p.
2i6.34
2513
29S
2'17,200
80 ft. 8 in.
12,930
75 5
E N G I N E E R I N G.
PECKHAM'S EXTENSI ON TRAl\IW AY TRUCK.
CONSTRUCTED BY THE PECKHA!\1 !\IOTOR T RUCK AND
WHEEL. C01IPANY,
KING STON,
N.Y.,
U. S.A.
Fig. 1.
F O
Fc.g.2.
6_ ~
0
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--
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.--
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10
(To be continued. )
'
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FIGS. 9 to 15, on pages 750 and 751, show the arrange'I r'\
C)
e
llf((
P ullman Company. Both are triumphs of luxury in
lo O(o
I
0
0
railroad accommodation, and, as will be seen from
..,
0
0
0
0
the plan, Fig. 10, there is no crowding possible in the
fi)
0 00
a>
'
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observation car. One half is arranged with fixed seat s,
t;::
G
)lJll:
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and the other is disposed as a drawing-room, the two
'
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b
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~
compartmen ts being separated by two private Eections,
~
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each with four seats. In the centre of the car is the
~a J
J
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V
ladies' retiring-room, divided into a vestibule, a bathl 9 0
l
9
0
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room , and a toilette; a second lavatory is provided at
~ ~~~:
11001
...
ltO
one end of the car. The seats in the drawing-room
1
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are arranged in the best manner for comfort and
r
~ 0 0
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0
0
0
0
0
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~ for seeing the country, and a t the end is a covered
~ ~~
platform
on
which
chairs
can
be
placed
;
in
~~
.
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....
,
,..,_..
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the centre of t,he drawing-room is a writing-table.
\
.
.Fig.4.
T he fittings throughout are of the most elaborate
Flf;.5.
- .... -J
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marble
is
replaced
by
onyx,
and
the
character;
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.
'tl~
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bath-room and lavatories are tiled throughout. The
.
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outer platforms at the ends of the car are protected by
<:
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----------t .. --.. y.
l6 ~ ---- - --railings and gates, and t he whole width of the plat....
0
0
0
0
0
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in t h e amidship line, h e would have a rectangular case the car body is carried upon a frame supported by
..
Baltimore
...
... 1145
60
trunk, at least 6ft. by 12ft. , from the protective up eight spiral springs resting upon the frames of the truck
San Francisco ...
...
... G28
33
Newark ...
. ..
...
... 800
28
t o the spar deck-this t o be used as a coaling hatch , proper, and by four ordinary carriage springs. The
and to be strong enough itself to h old coal when the springs, as will be seen, are placed so as t o reduce end
What was needed in future ships to coal r apidly bunkers are full. It should be divided fore and or side oscillation to a. minimum. The main truck
was:
aft by the longitudinal bulkhead between the pair frame is supported by spiral springs from the axle1. As few and as large bunkers as are consistent of bunkers carried up to within at least 10ft. of boxes, the construct~on of which is shown in Figs. 4
wi\h the r equirements of coal protection, water- the spar deck. The author then described in d etail and 5. To the axles 1s keyed a. spurwheel, into which
gears a pinion on the end of the motor shaft. The motor
tight subdivision, and considerations of stability.
the arrangements and the apparatus necessary, itself is ca.rried by a. frame, one end of which rests on
""\.
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'tY
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[DEc.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
the axle of the wheel it drives, and the other end on
the spring banger, shown in detail in Fig. 3. Two
motors can be fitted to each truck, as shown in Fig. 2,
from which also the general arrangement of the brake
gear will be apparent. The principal dimensions of
the truck are as follows :
L ength of car sill . . .
. ..
.. .
. ..
26ft.
,
truss support .. .
.. .
. ..
20ft.
,
truck frame .. .
.. .
. ..
16 ft.
,
spring base . ..
...
. .. 12ft. 8 in.
,
wheel ,
.. .
. ..
. .. 6 ft. 6 in.
Width of truck fra.me .. .
...
. .. 5 ft. 11 in.
Height of truck frame with empty car
hod y
. ..
. ..
...
...
. ..
25!- in.
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commiss1on
.
The low-pressure slide valves are fitted with Joy 's
assistant cylinders, this being their first application in
Italy. Each of these developed during the t rials 8 to
10 indicated horse-power. The slide valve and rod
weigh 326 kilogrammes ((718. 7 l b.) The low-pressure
eccentrics worked smoothly, and did not show any indication of heating at a speed of 270 r evolutions.
The boilers, fou r in number, of the open-bottom
locomotive type, are placed two forward and two aft
of the engines, the former supplying the port and the
latter the starboard engiuea. The total heating surface is 782 square metres (8417.68 square feet), and the
firegrate surface 17.28 square metres (about 1 85 ~ square
feet). The air blast is delivered under the grates
through a closed ashpit, each boiler having its own
funnel of 1.60 metres (62.99 in.) in diameter. The
boilers proved very satisfactory. No leakage, priming,
or other defect was noticed under natural or forced
draught steaming.
The propellers' bosses are of gun-metal, with blades
of Stone's patent bronze, the diameter being 2.400
metres(8 ft.), and the pitch 2.760metres (9ft. 0.66in. )
Under the contract two t rials were to be made,
one of ten hours' duration under natural draught,
tohe power developed to be not less than 2000
indicated horse-power, and a three hours' trial under
forced draught, with an indicated horse-power of
not less than 4000. A premium was t o he paid for
extra power developed in the forced draught trial.
The natural draught trial was made on September 22,
1892, with a commission of naval officers on board,
under the presidency of Comandante De Simone. The
ENGINEERING,
DECEMBER
22, 1893.
(For Descri7>ti<nt,
3U
Page 756 )
Fig.2
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IS44.e
'
E N G I N E E R I N G.
757
pm
/ . IS
zz
Minute ___ _______ __ 260
-....
p.m
Fig. 5 .
JOY's
INDICATOR DIAGRAMS.
Fig. 8 .
Pig.71.
(;)
V
Mtan
V)
Q..
~
Mtan prt'ssrJ.rt
Kg
5.01.1
HP 14Q. I8
Q,
c:
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.Fig.12.
Fig _:_.7:_.
. .------~
I .JI.P. 7. 22
Mta n prtHv.rt
Q..
K9
Mea:~v
0 94 4,/ HP 755 . 10
PrusurC/ Kg . 8, 90 .
I . H .P. 9, S8
-.1
Colleclt'vt
I HP 2253. 16
-Toto{ IHP for tht two Eng,nts 444 9 , 4 2 .
Frg.16.
r------------------------------------------------------------------ ~
.Fig.Jt!.
.Bn:dge
~--~------~~----------------~-----------------r.o g
..ct.
17.
. .-1-eme
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q
vvt.(A;VV' '-<J
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--
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1-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
, ~8'8
_, ____________________________________________________________
1::'9&
~
~~-------------------------- 1
E N G I N E E R I N G.
[DEc.
22,
1893.
Fig.3
PJ.1.
:H-+Cop.IC'" ~AI,
8luLSpr~9
Bf'tJ.4Sl4J19<U
ru'9 .
S ectwn, A . B
Fig.4.
I.
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A. B .
r~g.t.
--
Fig. ~.
Referring now to Fig. 2, we seo how the reoiprocating motion is ghen t o the wooden piston, and
this constitutes the novelty of the apparatus.
V\'ater at pressure flows into the cha~ber (a a.).
This is closed at the bottom by a d1aphragm of
indiarubber or other flexible material. A r od, the
top of which is shown in Fig. 2, connects the diaphragm to the rectangular ~vood~n piston, which
agitates the water, as shown 1n F1g. l. The upper
part of the chamber a terntinates in a va~ve case
into which fits a piston valve, the latter bemg controlled by means of the le,er
weight shown, ?r, if
necessary, a spring may be used 1n place. of t_he wetght,
the action being the same, ~owever, 1n e~ther case.
The chamber a a being filled w1th water havlDg a head,
its interior is subjected to a static presRure. Upon
the piston valve being raised, water flows from the
chamber by the ports (two of which ~re sho~ in the
illustration), and the static pressure belDg reheved, the
an?
(its premature opening being provided against by providing a suitable amount of lead), and the same cycle
of movements is repeated.
It would appear at first sight that after the machine
had been in work for a few strokes it would cease
to act, as an equilibrium of pressure would be set up
in the chamber a , so that the piston in the cylinder
above would be forced upwards sufficiently to
open the ports wide enough to give a balance
to the two opposing forces - namely, those of the
weight and le\er above, and of the water pressure
due to the head. Such, however, is not the
case, the action being somewhat similar to that of
the hydraulic ram, or water hammer, often experienced
in pipes. The apparatus will, we understand, work
with a head of from 10 ft. to 20 ft. or more. After
the water has passed through the motive part of the
machine, it is utilised for supplying the hutches, and
it is said that experience shows but little more water
THE
ITALIAN
TORPEDO
t)
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t-.)
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00
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::::
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---=-
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the sieve being of the same dimensions. The horsepower of the machine was 0.38. In coal-washing by
the ordinary process, it has been found that a
weight of water equal to one-half the weight of
coal washed was required, so that washing 30 tons
of coal would require 15 tons of water. The amount
of water used with one of these machines, to get the
same result in coal-washing, was 13.5 tons, thus showing a saving of water of 1.5 tons in ten hours, in addition
to the saving resulting from th e fact that no steam or
other motive power was made use of.
The advantages claimed are as follows: The machine
is entirely independent of all other plant, and ma y be
used in places where no motiv-e power is available. I t
is extremely simple; there are but few moving parts;
no shafting, with the necessary attention and lubrication, is required. There is no belting to perish. The
machines can be fitted in any position, and their speed
regulated without r egard to the other plant. This
is a matter of great importance, as, for the proper
and efficient performance of their work, jigging
machines requ ire a. steady and uniform speed, whereas
the speed of th e shafting in mining plant is subject to
variation due to the changing load in the ore-crushers
and other machines, and it is often necessary t o employ
coned pulleys or other gear to enable the speed of the
jigging machinery to be altered. This hydraulic
jigging machine, producing its own motive power and
V\
\0
760
E N G I N E E R I N G.
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.
.
G~soow, Wednesday.
Glasgow P tg-l?on M arket. - A fMrly large business was
done in the pigiron market last Thursday forenoon.
Scotch warrants were dealt in at 44d., 433. 11~d., and
~-!s. O~d. p er ton, the close .being sellers at the latter
tigure, and buye~s at ~4 3. , wh1ob was an advance of 1~d.
from the precedmg m ght. ClevE'land iron was in acttve
d~mand at 363. 2d. and 36s. 2~d. cash per t on closing
wtth buyers at the latter. 'l.' bis was a n in~rease of
2!d. on Wednesday's prices. H ematite iron was dealt
in at 46.;. 2~d . and 463. 3d. one month, buyers
over at the close at th e latter quotation. The
afternoon m arket was firm in tone. S ome 5000 or 6000
tons uf Scotch iro::t changed hands at 44s. cash, at which
there were sellers at the close, and buyers offering ! d. per
ton l ess. 'l' here was a. turnover of about 8000 tons of
Cleveland iron at ~6s. 2~d . to 26s. l~d. per t on cash also
at 36s. 5d. and 36s. 4d. one month. A slight decli'ne in
the prices of hematite iron was recorded. The settlement prices at the closA w-ere-Scotch iron, 44s. per ton;
Cleveland, 363. 1~d. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough
h emati te iron, respectively, 46s. 1~d. and 44s. per ton.
Th~ market was very idle <;m F riday forenoon. No cash
busm ess was d one, and m the case of Scot ch iron no
month busines.s either ; ~ut unofficially 500 tons were sold
at 43s. 10d . tbts week, w1th a plan t. Of Cleveland iron
2500 t ons were sold a.t 3Gs. 4;d. one month and 500 ton~
?f hematite iron changed bands at 46~. 3~d.' per ton cash
1n 21 days. In tb~ afternoon the market was active, and
the tone was very fi rm. Onl y some 5000 or 6000 t ons of
Scotch were dealt in, but about 8000 or 10, 000 tons of
Cleveland and 4000 or 5000 tons of Cumberland hem a.tite
iron we re operated in. Scotch and Cleveland were unchanged in price from the morning, but Cumberland hema.
ti te iron rose 1d. per ton and h--Iiddlesbrougb 2d. The closing
settlement prices were- Scotch iron, 44s. p er ton Cleve~and, 36s. 3tl. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite
n on, 463. ~d. and 44s. 3d. per t on re, pecti vely. The
market was active on Monday, and a large amount of
business was d on e at both m eetings of the "ring. " It
was mostly, however, of an inside character. P rices were
firm during the forenoon, but a pressure of sales in the
afternoon led to a sharp break in values. As compared
with ]'riday's prices, Scotch declined 2~d., Cleveland 4d.,
and bematite Irons 6d. to 3~d. per ton. The se ttlement
prices at the close were-Scotch iron, 43s. 9d. per t on
Cleveland, 35s. lO~ d.; Cumber land and Middlesbrough
h ematite iron, respecti vely, 453. 9d. and 43:3. 10~d. p er
ton. The m arket was very animated on Tuesday forenoon, the quantity of iron changing hands being the
largest recorded for any meeting of the "ring" for some
considerable time back. The market was well supported,
ho wever, one l ine of 20,000 tons of S cot ch iron being
taken at 43~ . 9~d. a month ; but at the close of the morning meeting the cash price marked a drop of 3d. per ton
from the previous day 's finish. It is probab!e that about
40,000 t on:3 of Seotch iron were dealt in, including 5000
tons at 4!8. per t on one month, with 1s. forfei t in buyers'
option. Some 10, 000 tons of Cleveland and 5000 tons
of hematite irons we!'e deal t in. In the afternoon
there was e vidently less disposition to sell, and the prices
recovered n early the whole of the previous loss, the final
quotation only showing a drop of ~d. per ton on the d ay.
Clevela nd and hem:l.tite irons were also acti ve, especially
the former, which gave way 2d. per t on. Cumberla.nd
hema.tite iron lost ld. p er t on, and Middlesbrough 4 ~d.
Ab the close the settlement pric~s were-Scotch iron,
43s. 9d. p er ton ; Cleveland, 353. 9d. ; bematite irons,
r especti vel y, 45s. 9d. and 43s. 6d. per ton.
Only
a. small amount of busi ness was done this forenoon.
S cotch warrants chan ged bands at 4 ~s. 9id. cash,
and some Cleveland iron was sold at 35s. ~d. cash.
In the afterno::m b usi ness was d one in Scotoh iron
at 43s. l Od. cash, but n o cash transactions were
reported in respect of any other irons. The following are the current quotat ions for several No. 1 brands
of ma.kerd' iron: Ga.r tsherrie, Calder, a nd S ummerlee.
52s. Gd. per ton ; L angloan and Coltness, 56s. 6d.-the
foregoing all shipped at Glasgow ; Glengarnock (bhipped
at A rd rossan ), 5l s. ; S botts (sh1pped at L eith), 54s. 6d. ;
Carron (shipped at Gra ngemouth ), 54s. Gd. per ton. A
n umber of bla~t furnaces are again blowing, including
Dixon 's at Govan and Calder, but it is d itticult t o say
h ow many are now actually blowing. A year ago there
were 76 furnaces in full blast.
L ast week's shipm ents of pig iron from all Scot ch ports amounted t o
5616 tons as compared with 5144 tons in the corresponding week 'of last year. 1' h ey included 217 t ons for India,
350 t ons for Italy, smaller quantities for other countries,
and 4599 t ons coastwise. The st ock of p ig iron in Messrs.
Connal and Co. 'd public warrant stores stood at 321,597
t ons yesterday afternoon, against 322,340 tons yest~rday
week, thus showing a decrease for th e week amountmg to
743 t on s.
Fini~hed I ron and Stecl.-Not much change falls to be
not ed in regard to the fi nished iro? and steel ~ra.~es.
Prices remain firm, but the demand ts somewb~t hm1~ed
just at this tin.e. Several of ~ht3 steel works m wh1ch
operations were suspen~ed du~mg the recent coal trade
strike a re this week agam makmg steel to meet the orders
book ed some time ago. '!'he~ can now ge~ coal at. mo~e
reasonable r ates, and not unlikely t he .holtday, which JS
customary a t the turn of tbe year, w1ll be much mo.e
limited than usual.
Cc,pptr Market. - L ast Thursday and Friday copper was
quoted by s~llers at 43/. 7s. 6d. per ton ca~h . On Monday
there was a. drop of 2s. 6d. to 43l. 5s. , which was also the
quota~ion of sellerd on Tuesday, and t o-day they have
r educed their quot ation to 43l. 2s. 6d.
New Shipbuilding Contracts.-It is ste.ted to-day tha.t
[DEc.
2 2,
1893.
DEc.
22,
r893.]
E N G I N E E R I N G.
MISCELLANEA.
THE CANADIAN
EXPOSITION.
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AGRICULTl'RAL SE CTIO~ .
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A CRICl;LTURAL l\1ACliiNERY.
00
FIG .
13.
~la cHINERY
ExnnnT.
DEc.
22,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
1893.]
riff'
SPECIAL
NOTICE.
The New Cunarders "CAMPANIA" and "LUCANIA ;" and the WORLD'S COLUMBIAN
EXPOSITION OF 1893.
The Publlsher begs to announce that a Reprint is
now ready of the Descriptive Matter and Dlustrations contained 1n the lasue of ENGINEERING of
AprU 21st, comprising over 130 pages, with nine
two -page and four single page Plates, printed
throughout on special Plate paper, bound 1n cloth,
gUt lettered. Price 6s. Post free. 68. 6cL The ordl
nary edition of the lasue of AprU 21st la out of print.
ENGINEERING.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PAGE
A New Peru (Illmtrated) . . 749 The Evol ution of the AtlanSteam Boiler Exp~riments.
tic Greyhound .. .. _ ... 766
No. x nr. . . ......... ... 762 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
'lhe American Society of
Shipbuilding and Marine
Naval Architects . ..... .. 752
Engineering in 1893 (I llusPullman Obser vation and
trated ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
8leeping Car (Illustrated) 756 H .vdra.ulic Power S upply in
Peckham Do11ble-Extension
London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
CantileverTram way Truck
The Stability of Armourat the World's Columbian
clads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
l!:xposition tlUuatrated) . . 755 Steam J ets ........ . ..... . 770
!''our - Cylinder Compound
The U nemployed ..... . ... . 770
Locomotive at the World's
Economical ~peed of SteamColumbia n Exposition (Il s hips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
lustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Patent Office Libra ry ...... 770
Eoginesof the Italian Cruiser
Method of Taking Out
" Aret usa" (Illustrated).. 766
Str esses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
N otes from the United
Vertical Engine and CentriStates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
fugal Pump (l llmtrated) 771
P iston a nd Piston Valve
Baxters' Lock Nut (Illu &
Pack i n~ (Illmtrated) .. .. 758
trated) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
0 re and Coal Wa.shing
Industrial Notes . ... . . . 771
Machine (l llmtrated) . . . . 758 British Colonies at the
Notes from t he North .. . . 760
World's Columbian ExNotes from Cleveland and
position (I llustrated) . . . . 772
the Northern Counties .. '760 Some Practica l Ex amples of
Notes from South Yorkshire 760
Blasting (IUmtrated) ... . 773
N otes from the South-West 761 Rail way uollision at DroitMiscellanea .......... . 761
wich . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . 774
The Debate on t heN avy . . 763 Launc hes and Trial Trips .. 774
Da ngerous Occupations . . 764 Eng ineering" Patent Re
The Distribution of Power
cord (Illustrated) . . . . 776
from Niagara .. . . . . '766
that it is almost impossible to separate t he administration of the Navy from party politics. The fact
although deplorable, is inevitable, unless some radi~
cal change be made, and it is useless to blame this
or that individual for a defect which is inherent to
the perniciou~ s~stem that has grown t o be a part
of our ConstitutiOn. Lord George Hamilton was
careful to say that his motion was of a non-partisan
character, and we are willing to give him credit for
all candour, but the task of lifting the administration of the Navy out of th e mire of party p olitics
was entirely beyond his powers ; as, indeed, it is
b_eyond the po~er of an~ state~man so to do by
s1mple declaratiOn of a v:1sh or Intention. Whatever may have been said, or might have been said
by the leaders on either side, had the Prim~
Minister accepted L ord George Hamilton's motion
it would have been looked on as a party victory for
the Opposition, and would have been made use of
at the polls.
It is n ot for this r eason that the course taken by
Mr. _Gladsto~e should meet with ap~roval, although
parhamentanans appear to cons1der it an allsufficient excuse. So degraded have we become
that political self-preservation is unblushinCTly
acknowledged the first law of nature for fr~nt
benches. ''Is it likely," say the supporters of the
Government, "that Mr. Gladstone should acknowledge his adversaries right and himself wrong 1 It
would be sin1ply political suicide ! " Such sentiments are n ot dishAd up raw and undisCTuised for
the consumption of the British public ; that is n ot
our modern British m_anne:. We cozen and gloze ;
we obscure counsel with wtndy rhetoric we ignore
facts which do not serve our purpose ' or unduly
emp.hasise others tha~ do; we attribute unworthy
mot1ves to others, posmg ourselves as the most disinterested of patriots : but p erish ordor arts
learning, national honour, and public security s~
long as we can sit tight in the sunshine of 'the
Treasury Bench, dooming our opponents t o the cool
shade of Opposition : and there is not a pin to
choose between either party.
H owever, the administration of the Navy is in
the grip of party politics, and it is the duty of
every non-political journal to make as good a fight
as l)ossible for the true interests of the country.
A few weeks ago* we published a simple statement
E N G I N E E RING.
the Navy. It was an easy and popular course,
but of late years the Press has done something to enlighten the public, and since
the great exposure of 1884, a new temper
has been engendered. The average citizen sees
how essential a strong Navy is to national existence ; not simply to national self-glorification, but
to the continuance of that commerce by which W9
all live. The present Government have been somewhat slow to recognise this salutary awakening,
but the course of affairs out of doors during the
last few weeks has apparently opened their eyes.
If we can read between the lines of Mr. Gladstone's
speech, therefore, we shall have a fair shipbuilding
programme when the Estimates are brought forward early next year. Doubtless it would have
pleased the Government well enough to have
acquiesced in that which Lord George Hamilton
asked, but it does not do for old parliamentary
hands to climb down. It exalts the wisdom of the
other side.
There is one circumstance in connection with the
provision for naval expenditure which seems as hopeless as ever. When the late Government brought
forward the Naval Defence Bill, it was attacked by
the Opposition for reasons which appeared to us, and
which we still believe, to have been purely partisan.
It is difiicult to see how business men, accustomed
to the conduct of large constructive works, could
seriously question the wisdom of providing something like a continuous programme. The opposition, fortunately unavailing, was, however, so
strong and so explicitly stated that even parliamentarians have not been able to eat their words,
and the Navy Estimates will still remain the
sport of public opinion, as it blows hot or cold
from year to year, whilst the prospect of a
poor Budget is likely to produce that state of
danger which unscrupulous Chancellors of the
Exchequer-and they are all unscrupulous-have
no hesitation in bringing about by curtailing the
Navy Estimates. One would have thought that
Governments would have been only too glad to
be protected against themselves, or against the
breath of unpopularity due to a rise in taxation ;
and so they would have been were it not that political tactics demand opposition to one of the wisest
measures ever brought before Parliament.
DANGEROUS OCCUPATIONS.
PuBLIC opinion is rapidly changing on the subject of dangerous occupations. Formerly the conditions of employment were regarded as a matter of
consideration for the workman only, and if he
accepted them it was assumed that he found ~he
risks were counterbalanced by the advantages. He
was free to follow or to leave a calling as he
chose, and the fact that he retained it was assumed
to be evidence that he found it more remunerative
than other and safer occupations. The Manchester
school of politicians, which preached the doctrine
that individuals and classes were quite able to safeguard their own interests, both personal and financial, without aid from the State, is now pretty
nearly extinct, for experience has clearly shown the
fallaciousness of its views. Freedom of contract
between an employer with capital, and a workman
without capital, either in the shape of money in his
pocket or of a share in the funds and protection of
a trade union, is a very one-sided affair. The claims
of an empty stomach cannot be deferred until better
times, like those of capital, but must be met day
by day, and, if possible, several times a. day.
Hence the isolated workman is not usually in a.
p osition to make an independen~ bargain with his
possible employers, and demand 1ncrea~ed payment
to cover the risks of a dangerous occupation. It is
only in times of great commercial prosperity, when
every possible hand is employed, that the less
skilled and unorganised workers are able to make
successful demands for increased remuneration. At
all other times the demand for employment keeps
waaes down to a. point at which t he risks to life
and limb are not provided for, and it further prevents any systematic agitation for improved means
and processes by which these risks may be mi!limised. The better class of workmen- those w1th
more than average ability-naturally avoid callings which threaten their lives, and hence it comes
that these are filled with the least able of the
labouring classes. Those with no education or
skill and those who from physical or mental reasons
are i'nept in fighting the battle of life, find themselves impelled by a force too powerful to be re
[DEc.
2 2, I
893.
DEc.
22 ,
1893.]
E N G I N E E RI N G.
~ealth of the workers, setting up inflammatory action that he had not been present at the r eading of various occasions, for different classes of work,
766
E N G I N E E R I N G.
nothing but sorrow at the failure of the various ~educed ~y the concentr~c system ; still he thought
speakers to take a comprehensive view of the sub- 1t more hkely to occur w1th it than with one of the
ject, though there was some excuse in the fact conductors in the subway. He had to thank Mr.
that but little time had been available for the study Evershed for his calculation of the ba.ck electromoof the paper before the discussion took place. ti.v~ force, showing the necessity of a low perioFor . a work of this kind months of study were diCity. Mr. Crompton complained that no details
requtred. One remarkable feature of the discus- had been gi~ en as to cost, but neither now nor at a
sion was, however, the fact that nearly every future date was it likely that this information would
adverse. criticism had been combated by some be published. In conclusion he would state that he
succeedmg speaker. He was astonished at the way had now not one particle less confidence in his
in which the. proposed adoptio~ of low frequency designs than he had before the discussion took
had been rece1 ved. He had claimed no credit for place.
it, as he had believed himself to be a mere plodder
but, judging from the discussion, he appeared to be'
in fact, a discoverer. In noting the varyin<Y opinion~ THE EVOLUTION OF THE ATLANTIC
GREYHOUND.
expressed from different parts of the h~h, he had
MR. CHARLES H. CRAMP'H paper, read at the
observed a sort of reflection of the course of r easoning he had himself gone through before draw- first meeting of the American Society of Naval
ing up his .final plans, and he had n o doubt that Architects and Marine Engineers, has already been
when the various speakers had had time for further ~eferred to .in these columns. We had a full report
cons~deration, their opinions would be greatly 1n our last ISsue, and we recommend its perusal to
mod1fi~d.. In 1890 every member of the Niagara those of our readers who are interested in the
Comm1ss1on was opposed to the adoption of the subject. Mr. Cramp was assuredly well advised in
alternating current, but since then all but one had his choice of a starting-point. For some reason
been converted. In his report, drawn up at that which we must confess we have never been able t~
time, the use of the alternate current, an electro- appreciate, the fashion has been to take the Arimotive force of 2000 volts, step-up transformers zona as the first of the distinguished family, and to
and Tesla motors, were all outlined. The only ignore her immediate predecessors, who were little
mistake he made at the time was to recommend inferi?r i~ speed, and .possibly were actually her
the Mordey alternator, which had, by further superwrs In results attamed for expenditure. Mr.
experiment, been found unsuitable for the con- Cramp's paper takes the famous City of Brussels as
ditions obtaining at Niagara. Mr. Mordey would the starting-point. There is some reason in doing
remember that in experiments made to teat this so. She was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic
in which it was attempted to run the machin e~ under eight days, and if a line must be drawn somein parallel with a high resistance, consistin(7 of where, as it obviously must, here is a convenient
glow lamps interpolated between the machines, place to rule it. In his description of this ship
the lamps went up and down with a perio- however, we at once fiud a divergence between hi~
dicity of several seconds. In his remarks, Mr. notes and our own. fie says her engines were
Mordey had entirely failed to grasp the fact that simple directacting, with two cylinders 90 in. in
this was a power plant, and not an electric lighting diameter and 54 in. stroke. We have thought
one. The machines used must run in step without a that they were horizontal trunk engines, with
waste current, and no risk of breakdowns could be cylinders 91~ in. in diameter and 48 in. stroke.
faced, such as had occasionally occurred with t he This discrepancy is n ot very important, but it serves
Mordey alternator, which, in short, did not work to show how difficult it is to arrive at absolute
well enough for his company. He had adopted the accuracy concerning things not a quarter of a
principle of the artificial load as an additional pre- cent~ry old. Le.av~ng her, he mentions the Oceanic,
caution against breakdown. He had anticipated Celhc, and Adnat1c. The former he surely gives
that manufacturing firms would raise difficulties as 100 t ons too much. For her gross tonnage was
to providing transformers to work on the plant, and 3707, not 3808 tons. The error in respect to the
had therefore himself prepared designs for every two ~ater ~hip~ is more important, but it is probably
special case required. He had given experimental a pnnter s m1stake. The length of the Adriatic
proofs of the advantages of low frequency, with should be 437 ft., not 417 ft., and the steam preswhich proofs no speaker had dealt. Mr. Mordey sure carried was never as high as 80lb. These points
wanted him to use 500 volts, but in that case 400 should be emphasised, for to the great length of the
square inches of copper would be required. It early White Star boats is largely attributable the
should be remembered that the space required for regularity and comfort which characterised them,
insulation in a 5000 horse-power machine was pro- whilst their economy in working with what nowaportionately less than in a smaller machine. Pro- days would be called low-pressure steam should n ot
fessor E. Thomson had objected to the design of the be minimised. So far, Mr. Cramp has been comdynamo on one point, and had the support of Mr. paring vessels by their length between perpendiKapp. But Professor Thomson 's criticism was based culars, but in speaking of the City of Berlin some
on the common American system of proportioning other measurement is taken, for we should call her
the parts, not by Kelvin's law, but by the drop of length 488 ft. 6 in., not 499ft.
In speaking of the Britannic and Germanic, the
electromotive force. The dynamos in question
could, no doubt, have been improved in efficiency vessels which competed so successfully with the City
by aiding more copper or more iron, but he had of Berlin for the Atlantic record, justice is again
stopped short at the point at which an expenditure inadvertently denied to the economy of the Belof 60 dols. would not increase the output by 1 horse- fast ships by putting their steam pressure and indipower. Mr. Ferranti had charged him with appr?- cated horse-power too high. The most important
priating the ideas of Mr. C. E. L . Brown, but 1n point of difference between ourselves and Mr.
answer it was only necessary to recall the fact that Cramp's history is in regard to the competition of
in the letter read by Mr. Kapp, Mr. Brown said the flyers of 1881. We agree t hat the Servia was
that the worst possible design had been adopted. "out of the hunt " as regards the blue riband, but
He had to thank Mr. Kapp for his study of the Mr. Cramp asserts that the City of Rome held it
dynamo, and his favo~rable . criticism of the with a passage of 6 days 18 hours, and beat the
same. Ris own calculatwns d1d not agree per- Alaska by some 37 minutes. We know that the
fectly with those of Mr. Kapp, but the difference City of Rome was claimed as a record boat, but
was not large, and Mr. Kapp could not be ex- we do not think the claim was sustained. Whilst
pected to go into the ~inutire of the desig~. R e- she was in Inman's hands she never got near the
turning to Mr. Ferrant1, he absolutely den1ed that record, and her subsequent passages were measured
that there was any plausible resemblance between in a provoking and confusing manner, some pubhis own machine and any of those submitted to the lished times being reckoned from Roche's P oint. to
Cataract Company. Though he had not intentionally Fire Island, and on other occasions the Fastnet
tried to make his machine of an original type, the was taken as the eastern end of the course.
The America was surely worth a fuller notice
fact nevertheless remained that the design differed
more from those submitted to t he company than than is given her, for she was a very remarkable
ship,
even
if
her
career
was
not
a
financial
success.
these latter did inte'r se. Mr. Ferranti had also
said that if one of his conductors were put to ground, Her rival, the Oregon, is credited with a steam
the electromotive force would be reduced to 10,000 pressure of 170 lb. This would be a good pressure
volts, and had advocated the claims of concentric for triple-expansion engines. The Oregon had
wiring in which one of the conductors was already only compound engines, and we think Mr. Cramp
to ground. What would happen, though, to the will find 100 lb. n earer her li1nit.
Mr. Cramp then goes into interesting details
electromotive force if the other conductor grounded ?
regarding
the
triple-expansion
vessels
built
for
the
He would have no electromotive force at the
further end at all ! Of course the risk of this was North German Lloyd Company at Fairficld, and
(DEC.
2 2, I
893 .
gives a tabl~ of allowance for Southampton passages at var1ous mean speeds to bring them into
the parity of Queenstown. Here he says that at
19! knots some fourteen hours must be allowed
for the extra distance to Southampton. In fourteen hours at that speed some 273 nautical miles
would be run. This s tatement by the builder of
~uture competitors with the present record-holders
1s of great value, and should be pigeon-holed for
future reference when controversies on records and
ports are to the fore.
Curiously .enough, whilst he gives full and
accurate particulars of the Colurn bia, N ormannia
and Furst Bismarck, he ignores the Hamburg
L~ne's Augusta Victoria, and speaks of the Fiirst
B1~marc~ a~ the first really important merchant
ship bmlt 1n Germany. Surely the difference
bet~een the ~wo ~hips is not enough to destroy the
e~rher ~easels cla1m. If ~nworthy of the distinctwn claimed for her later s1ster, she might at least
be deemed worthy of mention. The criticisms on
present British practice are brief, and the same
remark may be applied to those on future American
building. The theory is excellent. No one wishes
to carry unremunerative deadweight, but if it be
found that to do so promotes the objects for which
the ship was. b:uilt, viz., the c?mfort of passengers
and the rap1d1ty and regularity of transit, better
and more cheaply than other means could do the
diminution of cargo capacity earnin(7
no~inal
6
freights may be, and possibly is, a go od invest
ment.
NOTES.
THE wATER REQUIRED FOR FLUSHING CLOSETS
AND DRAINS.
A S"!'ECI~L committee of the Sanitary Institution
have_Just 1ssued ~ report on the quantity of water
required for flushmg water-closets, in which a very
subst~ntial increase in the amount now commonly
used 1s recommended. In the course of their work
the committee have carried out a series of over
800 experiments, and their recommendations are
therefore, of great weight. A number of drain~
were ~aid, consisting partly of pipes and partly of
half-p1pes and OJ?en ch~nnels. The gradients
adopt~d for t h e 4-u~. drains 50ft. long were 1 in
30, 11n 40, n:nd 1 1n 76, a~d for the 4in. pipes
26ft. long 11n 40. The 6-m. drains 50 ft. long
were laid at 1 in 30 and 1 in 40, and those 26ft.
long at 1 in 40. At the head of each drain a
sim:ple short hopper ?asin of good type was fitted,
havmg an S trap w1th a 2-in. sealleadin(7 with a
bend into the drain, the top of the clos~t basin
being 2 ft. 3 in. aboye the ~rain. A good syphon
waste-preventer, d1schargmg 2 gallons in five
second~, and 3 gallons in .ten seconds, was placed
4 ft. 3 1n. above the basin, with which it communicated with a 1!-in. pipe. Artificial excreta, made
out of. soft soap, cocoa fibre, and clay, together with
five pieces of newspaper, were placed in the basin
and the flushing cistern discharged, notin(7 in
each case how much material was left inb the
closet traps, in the drains, and in the disconnecting traps placed at the lower end of the
drains. The amount that passed through was
also noted. As regards the closet trap, it was
found that a 2-gallon flush left, on the averaCJe 5
per cent. of the m~teria.l in the trap, whiist a
3-gallon flush practiCally cleared, the retention
being 1 per cent. only. In the drains little difference was found between t he 4-in. and t he 6in.
When 50 ft. long, and laid at 1 in 40, with a
2-gallon flush 21 per cent. of the material was
r~tained, a.nd with a 3-gallon flush 3 per cent. In
d1sconnectmg traps 36 per cent. was retained with
a 2-gallon flush, and 26 per cent. with a 3-gallon
flush. 1? th~ case of t~e 26-ft. drains, 3 per cent .
~as reta1n~d 1n t he dr~1ns, and 26 per cent. in the
d1sconnectmg trap, with a 2-gallon flush whilst
with a 3-gallon flush these figures were reduced to
1 per cent.. and 19 p~r cent ..respectively. Taking
a general v1ew of the1r exper1ments the committee
consider that the minimum flush sh~uld be fixed at
3 gallons, and tbe maximum at not less than 3!
gallons.
CARRIAGE-WAY PAVEMENTS.
A very interesting paper on "Carriage-way
Pavements" was read before the Society of Arts on
December 13, by Mr. Lewis H. Isaacs, F.R.I.B:A.,
Assoc. Inst. C. E., surveyor to t he Board of Works
for the Holborn District. One of the difficulties
in . constructing a satisfactory pavement was, he
po1nted out, due to the extension of tramways,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
as it was exceedingly difficult to maintain the r oad
near the tram r ails. In theN orth of England, pavem ents were freq u ently made of gritstone sets,
which did n ot t ake a p olish and become slippery like
g ranite, and wer e cheaper t o lay, though less durable.
'fhe block s varied in width fro m 5 in. to 7 in., and
wer e from 7 in. to 10 in. long, and 8 in. to 10 in.
deep . \Vit h g ranite sets, block s 3 in . wide proved
in tho lon g run m or e econ om ical than t h ose 4 in.
wide. The first cost of laying 3 in. by n in. sets
of Aberdeen gr a nite in Gracechurch-strcet was
l 4s. 6d. a yard, and when tak en up at the end of
twenty - ti ve y ear s, the total o ut lay, including
r epairs, had been 18s. 9d. p er square yar d, from
which 2s. 3d. s h ould be taken for the value of the
old material. The n et cost per year was th us 74d.
p er squa re yard. A t p r esent prices this would be
increased to 9~d. p er yard. \Vood is more exp en sive,
costing about 1s. 4!d. per squar e yard per annum,
the initial cost being Ss. 6d. p er ya rd. This class
of pavem ent should n ot b e used on steeper grades
t han 1 in 30, or at n1ost 1 in 27. Asphalte was
the favourite pavement in Berlin, and was yearly
being extended. The h or ses did not slip on it
much, as it was kept very clean, being washed
d o wn every morning and after every good shower
of rain. Its total cost is about ls. 9d. per yard
per annum for laying and maintenance. As regards
street cleansing, m ost Cont inental cities were
b etter treated in this respect than London. The
p r oper method was to wash the streets with copious
supplies of water, and it would be a g r eat ad vantage if L ondon had a municipal supply of unfiltered
water laid on specially f or this purpose. The following Table shows t h e compar ative merits of
asphalte, g ranite, and wood under various heads :
Firsb.
Second.
Third.
Public hygiene .. . A~phalte G ranite
W ood
Noiselessness .. .
'Vood
Asphalte Granite
Safety for horses,
under existing
conditions
for
...
W ood
Asphalte Granite
cleansing
Cleansing . ..
. .. Aspbalte Granite
Wood
G ranite Asphalte
Durability
...
,
Asphalte
,
W ood
Economy ...
. ..
Facility of repairs Aspha.lte
,
Granite
for tram"
ways
...
,
Asphalte
... Granite
SHIPBUILDING AND MARINE
ENG INEERING I N 1893.
THE fact that the total production of new shipping
t hroughou t the kingdom in the year n ow closing is
3 5,000 tons, or nearly a fourth, less than the aggregate of last year, is not surprising, and, from some
points of Yiew, not altogether unsatisfactory. It is
true it indicates that w here four men found employment in 1892 only three men were required in 1893 ;
and t hat, therefore, there was but three-fourths the
money earned at shipbuilding. But activity in shipbuilding can only be satisfactory in the best sense
when the conditions warrant that prosperity. It has
been shown by official statistics compiled by Lloyd's
that the waste of s hipping does not much exceed
300,000 tons per annum. As a. ma tter of fact , if we
t ake the r emovals from that reg istry, owing to
all causes, for the past year given in the r eport
issued quite recently, we find that the vessels lost,
stranded, or r emoved from a ctive service made up a
t otal of 257,048 tons. This, of course, takes no
cognisance of vessels removed by sale to other countrit>s, and these are as active, if not more so, in their
competition and trade as when carrying the union
jack. Another point to be noted is that as Lloyd's
includes a. great preponderance of the tonnage of
nearly every maritime nation within its purview, the
257,048 tons indicated r epresent, within a comparatively few tons, the loss of ocean cargo-carrying
craft throughout the world. The loss in the British
merchant fleet in the twelve months was 144,746
tons, and with this latter figure we have probably
more to do. There is, it is tru e, some room for
excess to deal with the increase of merchandise to be
carried, due to natural expansion of trade; but this
is really a limited quantity, and as the production in
past years has been largely exceeding the legitimate
demands, the fact that there is d ecr eased output is
not without its advantages.
Even this year, as we shall presently show, the
total merchant tonnage for British owners exceeds
what we have termed the waste of shipping, although
not so largely as in some recent years, and this circum stance r eally g ives courage in the hope of future improvement. The extensive machinery now in use in the
shipyards a nd engine works tends to facilitate production at a. rapid pace, and this, combined with the
p opularity of enormous cargo-carrying vessels of 5000
to 8000 tons dead weight capacity, aggravates the situa-
1n
1892 and 1891. In th e latter years it bore a proport ion to the total merchant tonnage of ~4? a nd 20.2
p er cent. respectively. This year the rat1o ts ~ 5 .4 per
c ent. The merchant tonnage therefo~e added lS, coO?p aratively speaking, a trifle more ~:ffic1ent on the basiS
If we
0 f cargo-carrying than it at first stght aJ?pears.
a ssume that a ship is able to do but a thud of the work
0 f a steamer, and bring t he mercha.~t ~onnage for
t he year to the basis of steam tonnage, 1t. wil~ be found
t hat the production of the year now closmg 1s equal to
829 000 steam tons, wher eas in 1892 it was 948,000
t on~ and in 1891 about one million tons. The decrease,
t her~fore in production, although it represents a
f ourth so'far as wage-earning goes, is only equal to an
CROSS rONS'18SG 6
1.
aso. ooo,
I,JOO . OO
1, 250, 00
1.200. QO
1,150. 00'I
I, 100, 00
/, OSO,OO
' 000,00
!JSO. OO
900. 00
850. 00'/J
800, 000
750, 00
700, ooo
650. 00)I
600, 00, I
550,000
500. 000
450, 00
'100, 000
350,00 0
300. 00v
'"
250, 000 "'\
20(), 0071
'6 2
4 G 8 70 2 4- 6 8 80 1 4 G
(J
90 Z 4 & 8
~
...
,,
'"
',,"
"
'"
~ A
"
~f43)
' 'J
...
\I/ V
18S&.8 60 2 I G 8 70 2 4 6 8 80 2 4 G 8 90 Z ~ G 8
1860.
1870.
1880.
. 1890.
228,749
Sailing ships ..
275,136
141,929 Instead, however, of being matter for satisfaction, it
134,036
E N G I N E E R I N G.
[DEc.
22,
1893.
Total Production.
District.
1893.
Scotland.
1892.
- tons
tons
1S91.
1890.
tons
tons
1889.
1888.
tons
tons
1893.
99.48
100
1892.
98.87
95. 17
1891.
98.68
94.88
Eng~and.
1892.
1891.
04.8
96.9
52.3
52.2
68.00
54.79
1888.
1893.
96
90
1892.
1891.
1890.
1889. 1888
81.6
93
14.7
36 6
21.37
25.3
26.72
32.2
36.6
18.3
34.4
14
--
~2. 6
10.4
98.88
100
98.14
100
97.2
99.8
93.05
97.98
96.36
100
97.56
100
94 6
98.6
76.71
.1.00
98.28
98.19
98.18
100
96.31
90.3
95.15
100
98.94
79.18
95.42
100
99.34
100
96
I
100
26.4
10.95
35.3
17.1
26.85
10. 2
12.1
1.35
27.2
12.85
11.28
11.8
34
17 6
4.3
6.6
21.2 27.3
22.2
23
67 7.68
13. 23 8.9
99. 32
98.1
98.43
37
100
88.6
100
66
100
93.44
99.14
43.76
88.5
90.3
79 ij
43.8
75
97.6
57.5
100
75.75
67.7
100
100
86 33
50.65
99.14
98.~4
19
72
100
100
23.4
21.6
0
1.67
5.17
186
8
5.77
17.19
10.78
0
5.49
0
22.6
6.8
0
88.5 15.5
15 5
38
9.8
5.2
32.62
0
98.75
96
93.02
73
95.7
67.2
74.56
66
.87
7.65
15.29
17
25
17
87,256
99,827 103,466
77,376
1892.
1891.
1890.
Clyd e
Wea r
Tees
liartlepool
Ilum ber
Barr ow and district ..
..
Mersey..
Blyt hand Whitby
Tha mea and other
.Bn glish ports
Irela. nd ..
255,435
23,010
114,147
77,665
51,471
48,550
28,290
31,480
15,468
2,080
275,899
3l,405
36,300
34,850
10,942
332,906
39,090
185,741
98,070
73,480
57,990
67,923
26,975
17,075
6,894
374,324
41,671
206,311
97,000
60,000
57,000
H,380
62,720
28,403
8,830
189,048
55,720
98,006
48,390
70,112
45,950
69,432
38,285
Total
The Dockyards
892,354
27,000
1,003,529
3,500
1,022,206
1,078,256
228,00~
104,261
43,378
67,460
2~,643
917,354 11,007,029
87,265
40,308
100
100
100
93
94.1
85.05
87.7
3.6
3.6
5.7
'
I
I reland.
1893.
1888.
T yne
147,248 229,469 185,369 234,754 281,710 213,205
Wear
57,170
93,915
99,279 120,132 127,739 110,436
Tees
West Hartlepool
..
. . 66,641 90,924 96,993 99,847 84,109 73,909
Ba.rrow-in-Furness(including
Workington & Wbitebaven) 26,791 33,489 36,845 27,549 41,691 12,471
30,253
40,125
25,975
Mersey ..
9,071
35,773
22,538 I
16,059
20,202
Blyth and Whitby . .
..
5,010
21,277
11,754
24,118
7,474
9,624
Humber (Hull and Grimsby)
9,143 14,094 19,070
21,712
Thames and other English
37,388 10,3i6 14,785
and Welsh ports
13,625
33,123 37,795
78.4
Humphrys, Tennant, and Co., London, have completed engines for British and foreign vessels which
aggregate 83,600 indicated horse-power; but, of
course, these have not been exclusively built this
year. In like manner, Messrs. Ma.udsley, Son, and
Field completed engines of about 54,000 indicated
horse-power. Messrs. Penn have completed engines
of n early 30,000 indicat ed horse-power. The Fairfield Company top the list of firms in the provinces,
with a total of 48,300 tons, the aggregate of six
sets of engines, including those for the Lucania, the
new Cunard steamer. The five years' tota l of th is
firm is 208,300 indicated horse-power, with which
the engineering m anagement have reason to be
satisfied, in view, particularly, of the high speeds
got with the steamers. The majority of the vessels
were of 20 knots speed. Messrs. Thomson, of Clydebank, come second with 42, lOO indicated horsepower, also for high-speed craft, including three
paddle steamers, and a British cruiser built in one
of the Dockyards. Messrs. Harland and "'-.,.olff,
Belfast, come next with 41,640 indicated horsepower. These were mostly for cargo or "intermediate" steamers, many of them twin-screw. L ast
year this firm took second place amongst engineers,
th eir total being 37,550 indicated horse-power. The
Central Marine Works, West Hartlepool, completed
25 sets of engines, of 36,550 indicated horse-power, including three sets for old steamers. This is above
the average, and is in addition to twel ve ordinary
ma.rine engines built for a sugar refinery in China.
The total of this firm for five years has been 169,800
indicated horse-power for 135 vessels, so that the
mean is about 1260 indicated horse-power. All were
for the merchant service. The Naval Construction
Company, of Barrow, who were third last year with
26,975 indicated horse-power, have this year a total
of 30,800 indicated horse-power, the largest engines
being for an Indian troopship. Messrs. Denny and
Co., Dumbarton, take a creditable place with 30,060
indicated horse-power, all for merchant vessels. Very
few of the other firms exceed 25,000 indicated horsepower.
One of the most remarkable features is the decrease
in foreign-owned tonnage built in the kingdom. There
has been a steady decrease over a series of years from
293,093 tons in 1889 to 158,292 tons this year. This
latter is about half the former, but one must at the
same time consider the decrease in the aggregate.
Withal, however, foreign countries are taking a less
proportion of our tonnage. In 1 89 other nations took
22.37 per cent. of the tonnage produced, and this de creased to 15. 1 per cent. last year, consequent, as we
then conjectured, to a less inclination to risk money at
a time when the shipping trad e was depressed than
was displayed by the British shipowner. Even with the
aggregate output so low, the foreign proportion is now
only 17. 94 per cent. It can scarcely be said that this
is due t o any decrease in the activity in building
up merchant navies, for one might almost say that,
notwithstanding the condition of the shipping trade,
there is manifest on all hands a desire for a merchant
navy, and, as a consequence, we are taking a lessening
share in the carrying trade of other countries. Probably Norway indicates greatest vitality for her position amongst the nations. Her courage is worthy of
the Viking, and, to jndge from the figures given in
Table IV., she seems, while supporting her own
builders to patronise British firms, for in three years
nearly 100,000 tons have been sent thither. The time
was when they were satisfied with our old discarded
barks but now they are constructing a large fleet
of modern ships and steamers, which, with the daring
and hardihood of the Norwegian, are worked most
economically, and therefore most successfully, in competition with our. vessel~. It is sc.ar cely n?cessary to
indicate our vanous clients. S pam, Russia, France,
2 .96
13 7
Norway
S pam ..
Russia.
F ranee
Austr ia
er many
~outh
Amerioa
B elgium
1ta.ly . .
W est lndies .
urkey
bina . .
Greece
D en mark
A frica . .
0 t her nations and not classified
1892.
1891.
19,850
3,699
10,365
2,064
21800
25,964
19,623
9,182
1,782
50, 70~
3,637
7,690
7,597
1,179
39,894
31,392
14,148
1,087
2,399
27,737
17,17l
16,083
12,021
10,37d
9,718
8,379
7,65 l
7,538
5,060
3,921
2,329
1,830
1,817
614
110
26,935
1,855
7,073
11,812
63,968
53,790
158,292
1 188,312
227,462
3,218
-
- - - - --------- - - - - - - - - - * See
DEc.
22,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
1893.]
11
11
,.
4000
5000
Over 5000 tons "
"
e
ciS
-.....en
en
220
51
56
173
363
77
82
107
76
260
28
bO
..
c:S
Cl)
c:S
11
30
19
1
71
61
20
17
--
505
1891.
1892.
234
G)
-I
bO
-....-
ciS
c:S
Cl)
t:o
c
....
.....
-m
ciS
UJ
322
346
73
100
128
8
20
20
21
80
61
7
71
16
76
47
8
-Clyde ..
Other Scotch
por t~
Tyne
Wear ..
Tees
Hartlepool
Ireland
16.4
61.5
35.8
86.8
6.35
26.8
12 6
16.3
66.7
20 6
36.4
21.6
31.3
15.6
20.8
62.5
87.8
37,8
2d. 4
33.3
E N G I N E E R I N G.
770
THE STABILITY OF ARMOURCLADS.
To THE E DITOR OF ENGINEERING.
STEAM JETS.
To TRE EvrToR oF ENGINEERING.
N. A.
THE UNEMPLOYED.
To THE E DITOR m ENOINEERING.
[DEc.
1893.
2 2,
that '' the work done will vary as the producti of the
power exerted and space traversed."
If that is the actual wording, it must undoubtedly be a.
slip of the pen. "B. Se.," to prove the error, makes use
of the assumption that the power varies a3 the cube of the
velocity; and though I am perfectly aware that this is
stated on the authority of Rankine, I am afraid it is rwt
at all in accordance uith fact. No one has a. higher
respect for the writings of Rankine than I have, butl I
cannot accept them as infallible, and when his statements
do not agree with actual experiment, I, for one, part company with him on this road to knowledge.
If "B. Se." says he believes Rankine notwithstanding
-which is equivalent to "so much the worse for the facts "
-there is an end to the argument; but if he thinks my
statement is not correct, I hope he will give me a few
examples (one or two good ones will be sufficient) of ships
or torpedo-boats whose horse-power varies as the cube of
the velocity. I can give him dozens where it is either very
much less or very much more, whichever he pleases. Of
course there must be no nonsense about the examples.
They must embrace a wide range of speeds. " B. Se."
will find that at low speeds the power varies considerably
lower than V 3: at about 10 or 12 knots it is somewhere
about V 3 ; the power then increases much faster than V3
up t o about 17 knots, above which speeds it again increases
at a lower ratio than V 3.
The resistance does not vary a.s V 2, but as - kt, or
f:J
or Ey V, or l Oa, V, up to about 17 knots, where
t=time, V =velocity; k, {3, y, and a being constants.
Above 17 knots the law changes.
et,
R.
DE
V ILLA~liL.
DEc.
22,
1893.]
771
E N G I N E E R I N G.
INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
THE state of the skilled labour market, as disclosed
by the Board of T rade Jou'r nal and the Labou1
Gazette shows a decrease in the proportion of unemployed' for the first time this year. Indeed, the pro
portion is even slightly under that of 1892 at the same
date.
In the thirty-two societies which r eported
there was an aggregate of 338,689 members, the total
number of unemployed being 24,534, or 7.2 per cent.,
as against 7.3 per cent. in October. In October and
November of last year the proportions were 7. 9 and
7.8 per cent. respectively. Considering that the total
number of societies reporting is ten more this year,
with a largely increased membership in nearly all
cases, the returns are more favourable than was
expected. 'rhe percentage of unemployed members
in the thirty-two societies shows a larger proportion
out of work all through the year, as compared with
last year, but, whereas the number increased rapidly
from the end of August up to the end of November, in
1892, the variation this year in the same three months
has been very ttlight, and the curve is now towards a
lessened proportion, and this, too, in spite of the dislocation of trade by the coal crisis, lasting over four months.
In the shipping and iron and steel trades the proportion out of work was large, being equal to 12.2 per
cent. of the total, bn t, on the whole, the prospects are
brighter than for some time past. In the building
trades the proportion out of work was only 3. 7 per
cent., as compared with 3.6 in the previous month.
The furnishing trades show some improvement, the
ratio being 5.4 per cent. out of work, as against 6.1
in the previous month. The cotton trades are brisk,
but the woollen, silk, hosiery, and lace trades are
depressed. The clothing and boot and shoe trades have
been very f!lack, especially for this season of the year,
while the printing and allied trades have fallen from
5.2 per cent. to 3.8 per cent. of unemployed. The
classified percentages show that only 1 per cent. of
the engineering and shipbuilding industries report
trade as good, while 81 per cent. represent it as dull
to very bad. This is the worst case of all the detailed
trades. The number of fresh disputes is fewer, and
the numbers involved smaller than in any month of
this year. Of the 35,769 members affected by disputes,
32,000 belonged to the Scotch coalmining industry,
in which the dispute has, happily, ended. The engineering and co~nate trades appear to have no dis
pute worth recording.
e================
THE MEXICAN NAVY.-The establishment of a Government dockyard is being considered in connection with the
proposed improvement of the Mexican Navy. The port
of Guayma.s is said to be its probable site. 'Vera Cruz is
to have an arsenal and a floating dock. The latter is
being built in France.
tendency of nuts to slacken under vibration, without interfering with freedom of adjustment. There
are really two nuts. That touching the work has
as shown in the illustration , a fem ale cone, and th~
upper nut is shaped to fit into this. The upper nut
is split through, and is sprung on to the stud, so that
E N G I N E E R I N G.
~ociety for December shows a very bad state of trade, request.
m so far as employment is concerned in those industries. The total number on the funds was 8743, as
against 8486 last month. The number on donation
was 3889, as compared with 4060 last month, a decrease of 171 ; but there was an increase of 187 signing the vacant book, which more than counterbalances
the decrease. The number out of work was 6852, or 18
per cent. of the total members, exclusive of the sick
and superannuated. The cost of benefits was 7075l.
nearly. The report says : "All this does not look very
bright, but we are inclined to think that soon after the
New Y eo.r has commenced there will be an improvement. There are indica-tions in the right directions. "
\Vith all the depression, the number of members increases, which is a most unusual thing in the history
of trade unions. An increase of contributions is imposed upon all members who run out of benefit, so
that neglect to pay up imposes upon them ex tra pay,
with the loss of benefiL for a time. Efforts are also
being made to restrain the agents of some employers
touting for men out of the district. The report reminds such employers t hat the society often helps them
when trade is brisk and men scarce, so that there ought
to be some reciprocity. But, generally, the employers
and the union work harmoniously together, as the last
four years abundantly prove. The report contains an
item of 17l. lls. 4d. paid to a shipbuilding firm for
losses sustained by the bad workmanship of four memb ere. But the men named have to repay the amount
to the society before being entitled to benefit. The
bonus claims are rather heavy- 2125l. for accidents,
nine of which are for 100l. each, and 23 for 50l. each,
the other& being 25l. each. The outlook in the several
chief shipbuilding districts is not very promising, but
on the Clyde alone there are about 177,000 tons in
h and. On the Tyne things are quiet. On the Tees
there is an improvement. In the boiler and bridgemaking districts things look a little brighter, and
esp ecially in the Staffordshire districts. As the ship
joiners' strike is ended, things will be busier en the
Clyde for some time to come. There is mention of an
appeal to the Government rP.specting some recent contracts.
[DEc.
22,
1893.
boilermakers, and ironfounders report no improvement in trade, but the iron and tinplate workers are
fully employed. The iron trade is a lso reported good
in Gloucestershire. The miners in the Forest of Dean
are busy, but not over busy in the Bristol and
Somerset coalfields generally.
In the Birmingham district, engineers, toolmakers,
machinists, bedstead-makers, and cycle-makers are
more active, but a goodly number of men are out of
employment. Bra.ssworkers on electrical work are
busy, but not for cabinetwork or house furnishing.
Electro-plate workers, metal rollers, tubeworkers,
wireworkers, and the several branches of the iron
trade are tolerably well em ployed. The tinplate
trade is fairly good, but some are out of work.
\Vorkers in malleable iron are busy, and iron fencing
is in demand. Enamelled sign and advertising p~ ates
trades are so busy that some are working night and
day. Many of the miscellanous trades of the district
are fairly well employed, a nd several that were
depressed are feeling some improvement. The bed
stead.makers have secured an advance of 5 per cent.
by federating with the employers. This appears to
be one of the possible methods of industrial peace in
the future.
In the coal tra.des the first step has been taken in
the constitution of a Board of Conciliation, a. meeting
of the reprenta.tives of the coalowners and the federated
miners having been held to prepare a code of working
rules and elect a. chairman. 'fhe latter they were
not able to agree upon, so that the matter is referred
to the Speaker of the House of Commons to nominate
one. It is a matter of regret that the conference could
not agree upon a chairman, bu t the provision of a way
out of the difficulty in case of any want of agreement,
has been found to be most valuable. There seems
to be little doubt as to the successful launching of
the Conciliation Board a t the date originally fixed.
---
D Ec.
2 2,
E N G I N E E RI N G.
1893.]
.. j
FIG.
13.
H ORTICULTURAL SECTIOX.
773
of the works in which the bridge was situated were
Messrs. Lucas a nd Aird, whose engineer, Mr. Herbert
Ashley, consulted the author in the spring of 1891, a~ to
t he feasibility of removing the st~ucture by blastmg.
Having inspected the bridge and sa.t1sfied the contractors
on that point, and having submitted a. scheme for carrying out the operation, tho author was instructed to pro
ceed with the work.
The bridge consisted of three semi-elliptical brick spans
of 31ft. 6 in., and 28ft. 6 in. high from rail level to sof? t,
with brick abutments, parapets and w!ng walls, the cut~mg
here being 30 ft. deep. The two p1ers were 5 ft. th1ck,
and the bridge was 19ft. wide between the parapets. ~be
lines of rails passed under the centre sp~n, the two s~de
spana being over the slopes of the cuttmg. An outhne
of the bridge, with the parapet removed ready for blas~
ing, is seen at Fig. 5 (next page). T.he sc~eme of dem~h
tion propounded by the author conststed m first cuttmg
through the crown of each of the side arches by blasting,
and then through that of the centre arch. 'l'his would
leave the piers standing with a. half-span attached on
either side. Then by simultaneously firing charges on
the inside of the two piers at the springing of the centre
arch, it was conceived that the pier would be thrown outwards on to th e slopes of the cutting, the two halves of
the centre arch falling on to the rails. Thi:~ point was
important in view of clearing a. way the debris, as the time
during which the work of denaolition had t o be carried
out and the line cleared was very short. It wast moreover, ordered that no explosive was to be placed m position until a. given train, which marked the commencement
of the longest inter val, which was two hours, bad passed.
The bridge was prepared by removing the road metalling
and the _parapetsi and the holes were drilled as shown in
plan at Fig. 6.
b will be seen that there were five sets
of four holes, markoo respectively A, B, C, D, and E.
In deciding U{>On the quantity of explosive to be employed, while usmg sufficient to bring down the bridge,
great care had to be taken not to damage the telegraph
wires. nor to injure a cottage which was situate just ab
the end of the bridge. Carbo-dynamite was the explosive
selected by the author for the work, and ib was decided
to charge each of the boles in row A with 8 oz., those in
row C with 6 oz. , and those in row E with 6 oz. These
charges were for cutting through the crowns of the three
arches, the borebolee for which were 13 in. deep, just
passing throu~b th ree gut of the five rings of brickwork.
In the two sertes of boles Band D, which were 5 ft. 6 in.
deep, and were drilled in the haunches of the central
arch, the charges for the top and bottom boles were eaoh
16 oz. , and those for the two intermediate holes 14 oz.
each. The quantity of carbo-dynamite used was therefore 12lb. 8 oz. , plus twent_y 1-oz. primers, which brought
the total to 13 lb. 12 oz. The charges wera tamped with
dry loco sand.
'he method of exploding the charges simultanrously
in three sets of fours tn the crowns of tbe arches and one
set of eight in the two haun che~, was a.s follows : A
length of instantaneous or lightning fu:Ge, burning at the
rate of 150 ft. per second, Wad attached to the detonator
in ea~b priming charge, and was led ioto a coupling box.
H ere they were coupled up to a length of ordinary 30second safety fu ze, which, on being lighted, burned down
to the group of instantaneous fu zes, igniting them and
ex ploding the detonators, and through them the charges.
The arrangement of the fu zes for exploding the chargE's
in the crowns is seen at Figs. 7 and 9, and that for exploding the charges in the haunches at Fig. 8. The safety
fuze is marked S, and the instantaneous fuze I. The
simultaneous explosion of the various cbarge3 was necessary in order, firstly, to get the maximum effect out of
the combined charge ; secondly, to save time; and thirdly
to prev~nt the possibility of the ex_plosion of one charg~
separatmg an unexploded one from tts fu ze, or otherwise
dislodging it so that it might constitute a source of
danger to the workmen when clearing away the debris.
The day fixed fo.r the de~olition. was Sunday, April 19,
1891, and everythmg was 1n readmess for charging the
holes at 2 p.m., ab which hour the train which marked
the commencement of the longest interval was to pass.
As a. matter of facb, however, the train was 15 mintutes
late, but directly it bad passed the holes in row A were
cb~rged and simultaneously fired, the crown of the arch
bemg c:ut completely through. Rows C and E were then
success1vely charged and fired with similarly satisfactory
results. Then came the heavier charges in the haunches
which were likewise put in and fired. It was hoped that
t~ey would have ha.d the desired eff~t of throwing the
pters over on to the slopes of th e cuttmg, and permitting
the two halves of the centre span to fall inwards on to a
bed of straw below. U nfortunately this was not the case
for the piers moved slightly round upon themselves and
the two halves of the centre span jammed at the f~ont
the whole structure, however, being broken up int~
numerous partR, and ready to fall down directly the nip a.t
the front was ov~rcome. T o this end h eavy ropes were
thrown over the r1m of the brok~n arch, just at the bite,
and a.tta.ched to a goods locomot1ve which bad brought up
a tram of workmen and materials prior to the blast.
After. two breakages of. the ropes, the bridge and one of
t he p~ers came .down w1th a crash, sending clouds of red
du.st mto the atr. The want of success in bringing the
br1dge clean do~n by means of the explosive was doubtlea~ due to the 01rcums~a.nce that the final charge was j ust
a. httle too sm~ll . Thts was th e result of anxious carefulness not to mj ~re the telt'gra.ph wires or the adjacent
house .. On mountmg to the top of th e bridge, after the
explostons, to arrange the hauling tackle, the structure was seen to be rent ~nd fissured in all directions.
It was al~o clear that a trtfie stron~er chuge in each of
th~ boles. m. the baunche~ of the c:entre arch would have
re:,ulted m 1ts comp.lete, mstead of ltti partial, collapse.
As soon as the bndge was down, a gang of about 40 men
ENGINEERING.
774
set to work to clear the down line, which was more free
from d ebris than the up line. A large portion of one pier
had deposited itself over the latter, while the other pier
was only slightly shifted from its normal position. As
the larger masses of brickwork were broken up, the debris
was loaded into trucks and the trusses of straw finally
cleared off, the down line being opened for traffic in about
two hours from the collapse of the structure. This wa.s
some time after the period assigned, and consequently the
traffic was delayed. As soon a.s the wa.y had been cleared,
the waiting trains were passed through, and the traffic
both up and down was carried on over the down rails.
The removal of the wreckage was no easy matter, as
Brunei's brickwork held splendidly together, the pier on
the up line obstinately resisting demolition on a large
scale, and yielding only to piecemeal disintegration and
removal. It was a fine night, though rather cold, and a
liberal supply of refreshments being provided by the con tractors, the nav vies and labourers stuck to their work
throughout the night as only English navvies and labourers
can stick.
Nor is less to be said for the company's
sectional engineer and other officials, who, with the contractors' engmeer, remained by with the author and his
Fig.5.
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
1893.]
joi nted lever is depr essed. Within the cabin is a le,er ~ whio_h and the ashpit d oors 7. The products of combustion pass upthe signal wire is attached. By pulling this lever the stgnal1s wards t hrough the perforations in the arohes 16 and 17, and are
. . 1.
. 2 . ..
LLOYD WISE.
GUNS, &c.
20,215. A. Chapman, Wlgston, Leicestershire. R e
peattn g Fire-Arms. [11 F igs.] November 9, 1892.-This
tovention refers par ticula rly to repeating ft re-a.rms of the "Lee-Metford " type, and its object is to dispense with the present form of
ma~:razi n e, and to provide an a rrangement for feec:H ng the cartridges
to t he chamber of a g un by means of a belt h passing through an
opening in the under side of the fi re-arm. The mo'"ement of this
. .
19
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23,284. E. B arton and W. Seddon, Bolton, Lancs. utilised by passing_through the flues _of a boiler, and then
Railway Signals.
[2
i~ ven
(.Accepted
ven t ion has reference to railway stgoals, and cons1sts of a stg nal
wire compensator and multiplying wheel for facilitating t~e
68'10. J . W oods Boston Linooln~h~e. . Steam,
movements of signals and insuring their action. An eccen tn c
wheel G is attached to the operating handle A by a rod H, and is &c., Engines. (3 F'igs.] Aprif 1, 1893.- Thls mvent10o re~ates
provided with g rips L which come in con tact with a chain M to means for actuating the cut-off val ''es of steam, &c., engmes,
so that it is increased or diminished equally at each end of the
str oke of the valve as the load on the engine vari~s. A slotted
'.
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quadrant i is employed , with which t he valve spmdle en~ages1
P.f
one end of t he link being connected by a rod to a lever n p1votea
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o n the engine framt> , this lever being j oined by a rod o .to a_n
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eccentric q on t he eng ine shaft, while the othe r end of t he hnk JS
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T . B ergman n, Gaggenau, B aden , Germany. Small Ar m s . [13 Pigs. ) June 12, 1893.-This _inveJ?11,509.
Rg.2.
coupled to the signal wire N. As the full side of the wheel presses
down the chain during its operation, it increases t he speed of t.he
signal. The ohain passes beyond the eccen tric wheel and over
another pulley, its end being a ttached to a frame carrying weights
which comprises the compensator , a nd insures the signal droppin~
when the operating handle is r eleased by the poin tsman. ( Accepted
November ~. 1893).
Fi& .1 .
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larJ,re valve, and t o its balancing cylinder and piston. The diaphragm being released from the pressure of this steam on the top
of the small valYe, moves up further, and the latter , by coming
into contact with a bridge, permits steam to have acceBB to the
low-pressure side, till the pressure rises sufficiently to move the
diaphragm against its spring, and so close both small and lar~er
steam valves, and cut off steam supply to the low-preBSure s1de
until a further fall o~ours there. (.Accepted N ovember 8, 1893).
relates to means for r egulating and equalising the t ension of closing 1t. A horizontal lever works through the side of the drawspindle-driving bands. Th e band A d ri vt>s the spindle B from head, and has its inner end connected to the looking plate, this pressure in mains, at a reduced preBSure.
the power -driven cylinder C, and in d escending runs over the lever being capable of bE.'in g locked to hold the locking plate out of
operative posttioo. The drawhead has a ftanged mouth, and the
locking jaw is provided with a looking ann, the locking plate
normally bearing against the flang e round the mouth of the draw
Fig.2.
head. A vertical pin passes through ears on the end of the
locking plate oppos1te the jaw, the spriBg normally pressing the
c
locking plate forward. ( Accepted N ovem ber 8, 1893).
RAILWAY APPLIANCES.
22,903. T. Marsden and I. Thompson, Nelson,
Lan cs. Actuating RaUway Signals. [3 Figs. ) December
13, 1892.-This invention comprises a levt>r A j ointed to the rails
and inclined upwards, so that when an engine or carriage pa ses
over one end o r it, the other end raises a catch to cause the release
of a chain fi xed to a balance lever attached to the semaphore, and
thus r aise the signal automatically and retain it so long as the
the outlet side of the val ve c reach es a p ressure above the desired
one, this pressure within the apparatus a , acting upon its diaphragms !l-1, causes each two of the latter which are adjar.ent to
mo,e a httle way away from each other, the combined small
E N G I N E E R I N G.
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1893.
hinged to the first. The bow A of tbe clip is secured to tbe axle wheels. The horizontal rod carrying the star\\ heel S is rotated
b~ a.tieplate and nuts. Upon the forward arm of the bow of the hy means of a clutch H , arJd slotted Je,er riding over a flxed stud
chp ts formed the lower half of a square box made to receive the projecting from the lcom fra me, eo that as the stay moves back
forward pi r ot-pin carried by the forked inner end of the thill-iron
D. To the r ear upper part of the lower half A2 is hinged the upper
half. When the cover is down its front part is kept from longi
Fig.2.
tudinal or lateral displacement by two dowel pine entering holes
correspondingly located in the lower half on each side of a. screw
~
tapped perforation made to r eceive the bolt B. Within tbe cen
tro.l part of the lower and upper hah es, rectang ular bearing
blocks E a~e placed, these blocks consisting of vulcanised
rubber, and each ha,riog formed in it a semi-cylindrical g roove.
TrarJeversely each block is a narrow g roove of larger dia.met<'r
than the g roove e, to receive a cylindrical collar formed upon
Fig.1.
a pin centrally between the forks of the thil1-iron. (.Accepted
November 8, 1893).
20,460. J. Whitehead, Tottlngton. La.ncs. Supplying Fuel to Furnaces. [2 .Figs.] November 12, 18{:12.
- This invention relates to fuel supplying and distr ibuting appa
ratue described in Patent No. ll,082 of 1890, and consists in
meanA for conveJ iog tbe fuel along the distributing t r0ugh
and feeding it to the discharge funnels in front of the
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ward and for ward the rod is made to rock, and so givs the
necessu y movement to the etarwheel. ( i! ccepted N ovembe1 8,
1893).
23,679. J. Wild, Oldham, Lancs. Mortising and
Boring Boles. [3 F~gs. ] Oecember 23, 1892.-This in ,ention
consists in means for mortising and bor ing timber eo that it can
be worked by either hand or power. Oo a fram e A is mounted a
sliding head b which carries the chisels and bits c to which a
toothed r ack d is secured. Furthe r back on the same frame
another toothed rac k e is fitted, and so arran~ed that it can be
secured to the fram e A or elide up and down. Between these two
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lower arms of which are eo formed as to engage under lateral projections on the val ve spindle, and raise the spindle at ea.ch lift
of either of the triggers. The ltft of the valve and the time it
r emains open depend on the length of time during which one of
the tr iggers is actio~ on the under surface of the lateral proj ec
tioos of the v11l ve spmdle. To modify the shock due to the rapid
closing of the valve, the valve spindle is connected with an air
dashpot, the piston of which is provided with air passages
covered at the top by a sliding plate. When the valve S.Pindle
is raised the piston of the daehpot is depressed, and tbe a.u contained in it passes through the air passages by the sliding plate.
On the spindle falling, the piston rises, and drawing air through
a small orifice, its free motion is impeded, and thus a too rapid
descent of the vahre spindle is checked. (Accepted N ovembe) 8,
1893).
llriiSCELLANEOUS.
1109. J. M. Betherington, Manchester. Bearings
for Mules, ac. (1 F ig. ) January 18. 1893.-This in vention
relates to bear ings for mules. The shaft is fitted to revolve in
bearings, and an annular collar c is mounted upon it, and le
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the ques
tion o~ re-erecting a bridge over the Snowy, des troyed by
floods m 1891, was before the Orbost coun ci1, a suggestion
of ~ s uspension ~ridge, made by Mr. George Seymour,
e n gmeer to the shtre, was a ccepted. The bridge consists
of four bays of 27 ft. each on the east side of the river
a?d three of the same length on the w est s ide, a suspen~
s~on span of 165 ft . ~ and two spans o f 55ft., on e on either
s1de of the susp e n siOn. There are four 6-in. s te~l cablefl
capable o f a strain of 150 tons each. The suspe nde r s:
placed at a dis tance of 5 ft. apart, were t es te d to 10 tone
ea~h. Th e t o w er s are 26ft. above th e decking of the
bridge, and are fo rmed of four piles of 18 in. in dia
mete r, stayed by a. strut pile o n ea ch side, and let into
a foundation of fourteen heavy piles. The base o f the
foundation on which each t ower s ta:1 d s cover s an area
of 180 square fee b. The piles ba ve b een dri ven down to
the r ock, and are braced together and c lose b oarded to
prevent the lodgm ent o f timber. The cables are anchored
to the piers on the bank of the ri ver, a nd these, again, are
s tayed and braced. The d ecking is from 25 ft. t o 30 ft.
aboT"e summer level. The width varies from 17ft. to
55 ft. The su spen sion s pan is stiffen ed by lattice ~irders
6 ft. high, with 10 ft. apex, and the rigidity of th1s por
tion of the brid~e is satd t o be so perfec t that no more
vibration is not10ea.ble in walking or riding over it than
on many ordinary bridges of 25 ft . span.