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OcT. 25, rgor.

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

SLIP\ VAY AT LAS PALMAS, GRAND CANARY.


(Fo1 Desc1'iption, see Page 679.)

'

THE INSI'lTUTION OF MECHAN I CAL that t he experiments d efcl'ibed in the present


paper would only form the commencement of a
ENGINEERS.
first general meeting of this Institution for
the present season was h eld at the Institution
H ouse, St?rey's Gate, on Friday evening, October 18,
t he. President, Mr. W. H. Maw, occupying the
chair. After t he usual formal business had been
disposed of, the list of candidates who had just been
elected was read out. The Presiden t announced t hat
the number of additions to t he r oll of th e Institution
during th e presen t year amounted to 449. This
was very considerably above t he r ecord for any
previous y ear. Mr. Maw thought that the fact
woul~ be exceedingly gratifying to m em hers, as
showmg the popularity and continued prosperity of
the Instit ution.
T HE

GAs-ENGINE R ESEARCH.

The chief business of the meeting was t he reading and discussion of the Second Report to the GasEngine Research Committee, which bad been prepared by Professor F. W. Burstall, of Birmingham.
A~ our re~ders wil~ r emem her, the first r epor t of
th1s Committee, whiCh was read and discussed on
F ebruary 11 a nd April 27, 1898,* gave an
account of the apparat us and engine which were
used for the experiments, and of a small number of
preliminary experiments made in order to pave the
way for a more extended and complete series.
The present repor t we commence to print in full
?n page ~92 of _t his issue. The President, in openm g th e discussion, remarked that t he paper which
t hey had j ust heard r epr esented an enormous
amount of conscien t ious work on the part of th e
a ut hor. Not only had Professor B urstall carried
out with great care a large number of experiments,
but he had had to devise t he appliances which
rendered those experiments capable of affording
useful data. In designing and constructing the
experimental apparatus which he had employed,
Professor Burstall had displayed an originality and
an appreciation of the importance of points of detail which were wor thy of all {>raise. The paper
appeared to him (the President) to open out two
distinct lines for discussion, n amely, first, a crit icism of the methods and devices employed in
these experimen tal investigations; and, secondly, an
examination of the results which those investigations disclosed. He hoped th at t hey would have a
discussion which would d o justice to both th ese
branches of the subject. The first-named branch
was on e of much importan ce, because it was h oped
; . ~ee
53

ENGUi"EERING,

vol. lxv., pages 197, 351, 413, and

long series, and it was very desirable t hat in an


extended investigation of this kind the modes of
procedure should be very carefully considered so
that th ey might make n o false steps. Before' the
discussion open ed, he would ask t hem to accord the
author a h ear ty vote of thanks for t he great trouble
he had taken with the subject, and he would then ask
Professor Burstall to make a few additional remarks
on certain special points n ot dealt wit h in the paper
b~t wh!ch might aid in rendering the subsequent
discussion mor e useful.
In reply to the President's request, Professor
Burstall said that, in addition to the facts
put forwa rd in the repor t , the experiments
bad reyealed some matters of detail which were
imporhant from a practical point of view. The
first of these r elated to ignit ion. For quite
small engines the hot tube was most useful;
but for larger powers electrical ignition offered
great advantages.
With the h ot tube there
might be some delay ; but with electricity it
was hardly possible t o suppose t here would be
r etardation, which would be a serious matter with
engines developing high powers. He trusted
that English makers would follow Con tinental
practice in this respect, and adopt electrical ignition for engines developing over 60 horse-power.
He would dra w attention to Table VII. in the
Appendix to the report, which had been prepared
to show the effect of the change in compression ; the
relation between suction temperature and t he ratio
of air to gas, as shown by diagrams accompanying the
paper, were also of interest. These were the first
experiments which had been made to determine t he
suction temperature. H e considered that in determining the h eat balance it was advisable to have
an 0pen cycle. Many, perhaps, would n ot agree
wit h him in this respect., and might think there
should be a closed cycle. The temperature test
would sh ow what the indicator would not reveal.
The combustion appeared to be complete when t he
maximum temperature was r each ed, the charge
appearing to behave during expansion as a perfect
gas. He had always considered the temperature of
t he whole charge in the cylinder to be uniform, and
the results obtained , showing material differences
of temperat ure in different parts of the volume,
came somewhat as a surprise. It should be
remembered, however, that the cylinder was not
a symmetrical one. lie proposed to go into this
matter at a future time, and would hope to put the
results of his investigations before the Institution.
Dr. Kennedy said that as Chairman of the Gas-

Engine Research Committee he had occupied an


easy and pleasant position, h aving simply to sit by
and give advice, but not being required to do any
work. The plan of operat ions had been to endea vour first to find out the conditions of working
of gas engines, and then t o attempt to apply the
investigations to making improvemen ts. So far, t hey
had only proceed ed with the first part of their programme; but though the work was not completed,
he thought they had already gone further in inveshigating t he exact work ing conditions of gas engines
than had been don e on any previous occasion. The
application of th e information obtained to practical
work was yet t o come. One of the things they
WE're most anxious to do was to test an engine
much nearer to practice in regard to large sizes
than had yet been possible. He was glad to say
li~at an e ngin e of this kind would be shortly at the
dtsp?sal of the Oommittee. The Birmingham U niversity were about to acq uire a gas engine of 160
horse-po~ver, and t his would have a closer bearing
o~ pract iCal work than the 5 horse-power engine
hit herto used. There had been at the discussion of a
former report a. good deal of criticism, which he could
not help describing as" cheap," on th e small size of
the engine formerlv used. The remarks were
obvious, and need not ha ve been amplified in the
manner they were. He would only point out that
r.hose who should have been most interested in t he
work ~f the Oomm~ttee, and who would profit most
by_ theu labours, ~td n ot come forward with help in
thiS respect. W1th the small engine, th e experimen ts were n one the less true and accurate on
a.ccou~t of the size of the machine tested. In any
case, 1t was fortunate that the Committee would be
able t o carry out their investigat ions in fut ure on a
larger scale. Dl'. Kennedy had one fault to find
with t he report., and he would get t hat over first.
The author stated that "All volumes, both air
and ~as, have been reduced to sta.nda.t d conditions;
t ha t 1s, a temperature of 16 deg. Cent. and a press':lre o~ 760 milli~etres of mercury ; results are
given 1n t he metr1c system, but for convenience
of comparison a few leading figures have been given
in the English units also." H e t hought that if the
author had reversed his procedure, and had said
that he gave a few leading figures in the metric
system for the h elp of a few students at technical c~lleges, and had used instead pounds per
square Inch for the bulk of h is results, it would
h~ve been to t he advantage of the majority of
his readers. Those who were in the habit of
using t he ordinary unitt:J of pounds and inches
found a good deal of difficulty in transposing
them to metrical units. The author had been endeavouring to get two things-the complete analytical history of the gas during the cycle, and a complete temperature of history also. The latt er was
only complete as far as the Callender thermometer,
which was a delicate instrumen t, would allow th em
to go. In order to use t his t hermometer the
engine had to be running slowly, and only explodin g once in six times or so; as if fast run
ning were tried, it would smash t he instrument.
It was with the slow experiments only, therefore,
that th e temperatures were taken, and in others
they were arrived at by calculation. H e would
ask what was meant by suction temperature. Did
it mean the t emperature of the charge when the
cylinder was complet ely full 1 [Professor Burstall
assented.] The temperatures in trials A, B, C,
and D were calculated on suction temperatures. On
trials X, Y, and Z the corresponding temperatures,
correspondingly calculated, did n ot agree with the
measured temperatures, and that led to the experiments on non uniformity of temperature in the
burning mass. It was to be h oped that a met hod
of measuring a true mean temperature would be
found in the future. In connection with the statement made t hat in the gas engine only about onethird of t he temperature range was used, while in
the steam engine three-quarters of the range was
available, he would point out that in any hea t
engine, where the theoretical efficiency was high,
t here was always greater difficulty in reaching a com~
paratively good result than in cases where t he
t heor etical efficiency was low. In the gas engine,
ther efore, which had a high t heoretical efficiency,
it was more difficult to reach this efficiency than
in the steam engine. The author had r eferred to
t he trouble arising from moisture with wet asbestos,
which would destroy insulation. The speaker had
used the Ca.llender thermometer with n:ost satisfactory results for obtaining steam temperatures ; but
it was found necessary t o protect it by a t hin metal

E N G I N E E R I N G.
envelope. Th~s necessarily would give a slight lag, diagrams, but the records were shown in a very He suggested that this might be due to the gases
but not suffictent to be of importance in taking much more convenient form.
becoming hotter in the pass~ges of the admission
steam temperatures. In taking the temperatures
Professor R. Threlfall pointed out that on valves the faster the engine ran, and consequently
of the charge, however, of a gas engine as used by page 23 of the report it was stated that the finest having their viscosities increased. Calculating on
the author, the retardation would be of import- wire employed in the platinum resistance thermo- this basis, he concluded that, to make the explan~
ance, and the metal shield would therefore be meter had fused after a few explosions. Now the tion valid, the g3ses would have to be heated to
inadmissible. He would ask the author if he melting point of platinum can hardly lie below 140 deg. at the higher speeds. This calculation,
thought that the difference in temperature in 1700 deg. Cent.-a much higher temperature than referring to a larger engine, cannot, of course, b3
the explosive charge was due to the rapid suc- any recorded. It may be argued that t he platinum insisted upon, but it is at least curious that the
cession of explosions. This was a very important ~bsorbs carbon at the high temperature to which it present trials have given a practically identical
matter. Dr. Ke~n edy h~d made, 13 years ago, a IS exposed, and that this lowers the meltillg point; value. The relation of the viscous properties of
good many expertments 1n gas engines. In those but against this view it is to be remembered that gases to the working of the gas engine is a comdays the present appliances did not exist, and the the absorption of carbon by platinum is not instan- paratively open field, in which research could hardly
Callender thermometer had not t hen been intro- ta~eous, nor _is the:e ~ny evidence that the melting fail to yield results of interest.
duced. He had, however, arrived at the tempera- pmnt of plattnum 1s, 1n fact, ma~erially lowered by
At this point the President adjourned the distures by means of calculation, and it was with the carbon which it may take up. In addition to this, cussion until the evening of Friday, November 1,
considerable satisfaction that he compared the the temperatures measured were found to appear when a special general meeting will be held to conresults he then obtained on theoretical grounds higher the thinner t he wire. Everything seems to clude it.
with those that had been arrived at now by point, therefore, to .the probability of the measured
pr~ctice, for he found that they aareed very temperatures being too low. It is quite evident
DIE FORGING. No. IX.
well. Some of the experiments he made in 1888 that metals with higher melting points than plati(Society of Arts Trials) were made upon a Crossley num will have to be used. With regard to the
By J osEPH Ho:&NER.
engine, and he found that, comparing these results calculated temperatures, it appears from the calTms article will deal with a few selected examples
with the nearest corresponding results of the culations of Le Chatelier (~eits. fiir Physik. illustrative of the classes of work performed in the
author, they agreed very closely. Particulars of Chem. II., 782, 1888) that in the case of carbon- wagon and carriage stamping shop at Swindon. The
some of these experiments were given by the di.oxide, at all events, the high pressure prevents large and varied volume done in this department
speaker. He had formerly thought that combus- there being any serious amount of dissociation. may be inferred from the account given in the
tion was not always complete at the end of the The method of calculation adopted appears there- previous article on the machines ; but its magnitude
stroke; but the full information conveyed by the fore to be sound from this point of view. Return- must be seen to be fully appreciated . The photoCommittee's report throws further light on this ing to measurements of high temperatures, Pro- graph reproduced in the last article (page 470,
matter, and the assumption must be rectified. In fessor Threlfall pointed out that the thermo couple, Fig. 216), showing die blocks lying out in the yard,
regard to the effdct of change of compression, he though electrically less sensitive than the resistance will supply an object-lesson in numbers, while the
thought conclusions must not be drawn too hastily. pyrometer, has the great advantage that it can be drawings to follow are taken as representative of
Substituting other sets of tria]s for the particular much more easily repaired ; and it may be used many different classes of work.
set chosen in Appendix VII., they showed different exactly as the author has used the resistance instruSpring shoes (Fig. 217, page 569) for open goods
results, though no doubt equally correct. Details ment. To do this, all that is necessary is to close wagons are made at one heat. They are stamped
in connection with this matter were also given by the circuit of the couple through a potentiometer first to the shape in Fig. 218, in the die, Figs. 219
the speaker. There might, he said, be a special by means of the rocking key, just as was done to 221, by a punch, Figs. 222 and 223 of the same
explanation of the fact, but he thought that all for the resistance instrument.
In order to outline as Fig. 218. Then the stamping is laid in
circumstances should be taken into account. The obtain sensitiveness the wire can be used in a supplementary block A, bolted on at the back of
figures were, however, so clearly given that anyone the form of thin strip, this being, of course, pro- the die (Figs. 219 and 220), and t he horns are
could make the comparison for himself.
tected, except just where it is exposed to t he turned over by the die B on the horizontal ram.
The President here said that it would be convenient temperature in question. Mr. W. H. Steele, in a The die block is furnished with openings at the
if Mr. Bryan Donkin would at this point give some paper read before the Royal Society of Victoria in sides, through which the stamping is removed.
account of the Mathot continuous-pressure recorder, 1893, describes some experiments in which he had The face of the die is also formed with a steel
examples of which w~re shown at the meeting.
found large electromotive forces generated in wires plate screwed to the main cast-iron block, the hole
Mr. Bryan Donkin said that before proceeding (supposed to be homogeneous) when unequally in which (seen dotted in Fig. 220) gives clearance for
to speak of the continuous-pressure recorder, he heated . The speaker had not had an opportunity the stamping. The punch alone- apart from its
;vould like to point out, with regard to the work of of examining this effect, nor had he seen any corro- holder (seen in Figs. 222 and 223)- illustrates an
the Committee and the scale on which the experi- boration of Mr. Steele's results by other workers ; economy in manufacture. It is countersunk in
ments had been made, that what was true of a but it is a matter which shou]d be considered by both faces for the cheese-headed screws that secure
small engine might be used in deducing the action anyone using a couple of the kind described. With it to its block, so that when one face becomes worn
of the larger motors. They hoped, however, in the regard to the small size of the experimental engine, badly, the punch is turned over and the opposite face
fu ture to have a fair-sized engine at their disposal. no apology was needed. In order to thoroughly brought into ser vice. In addition, a cut can be taken
The advantage of compression was one of the elucidate the details of the action of a gas engine, it off the faces when they both become worn, and the
chief points in the paper, and in regard to gas- is important to investigate the effect of varying punch is then ready for a new lease of life. These
engine trials, misfires should be c!uefully avoided, the relation of the volume of the active gases to precautions are worth taking, because the correct
as they caused changes in the conditions. The the area of the cooling surfaces to which these shaping of the punches is rather an expensive job.
temperatures of the different parts of the charge gases are exposed, and this necessitates trials
An example of a rapid piece of forging is the
after the explosion was the main and most interest- with at least two engines-one large and one small. combined brake hanger bracket and safety hanger
ing part of the report. The maximum was about It is also necessary to establish the experimental (Figs. 224 and 225). This is made perfect to shape
2000 deg. Cent. That was a very high temperature, methods on a firm basis, and this can be done more and size from a piece of rough plate at one heat
and it was wonderful how well gas engines stood it. cheaply and quickly in a small engine than in a within a couple of minutes. The plate (Fig. 226)
The centre of the gas in the cylinders was found to large one. It was to be hoped that when the ex- is punched at one blow of the punch (Fig. 227) on
be hotter by some 200 deg. Cent. than the part near periment-s were extended to larger engines these the die, three views of which are given (Figs. 228
the wall. They m us~ remember, however, that that engines would be really larger, i. e , haYe larger to 230). On the rear face of the main die a supwas not ascertained on full load, but only when cylinders ; 150 horse-power was t he size mentioned, plementary bending die A is cast, and the stamping
working very light. It is hoped that some improve- and he hoped that this was to be got out of one is laid in a groove in this, and the horns or wings of
ment will be made in this respect, and that it would cylinder. The author expressed surprise at the the hanger bracket are turned over in pairs by a
be possible at some future time to give the tempera- variable temperatures observed in the cylinder. die B, attached to the horizontal ram of the forging
ture records at half load, or even more. The platinum The speaker could n ot see that this was a matter press. One pair of horns is done thus, and then the
round and the other pair bent over,
wire used was only about one-hundredth of a milli- for surprise: the influence of the cylinder walls bracket is turned
1
metre thick. He would like to have seen attached must of necessity be felt; but even setting this at one heat. '1 he value of the horizontal ram here
to the paper a few complete temperature diagrams aside, there was every reason to suppose that the is very apparent, for without it the work would have
for the whole cycle. Those shown gave only the tem- gases were in a state of violent motion during the to be transferred to another press, or done on the
peratures on the expansion curves. He would also explosion, anil this motion was turbulent. Conse- same press on another block at another heat.
In Figs. 228 to 230 the body of the die block
like to know the exact position of the thermometer quently, the pressures and temperatures would
in the clearance space. As to the entropy diagram, vary locally throughout the mass. Some very is of east iron, and the face is of steel, screwed
he was sorry that not even one had been given. It interesting high - speed photographs were ob- upon it. The dotted outline seen in plan in Fig. 230
would be noticed that the maximum heat efficiency tained by V on Oettingen and V on Gernet is the hole in the casting ; the full line is that in the
for horse-power was 23 per cent., whereas formerly (Wiedemann's Annalen, 1888) of the explosion of a steel face, giving, as in the previous example, a
it had been 21 per cent. Turning to Mathot's con- mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in a tube; the ex- clearance for the stamped plate to fall through. It
tinuous-pressure indicator, of which ~xam?les w~re plosion being rendered luminous by the addition of is removed through the openings seen in Fig. 229.
shown in the room, the speaker descr1bed 1ts actwn the dust of copper salts. rhese photographs illus- The punch in Fig. 227 is of mild steel secured in
by means of several wall diag~ams .copied from trated very well the complex nature of a gas explo- a h older with screws, and t he holder is bolted to
originals taken from. gas and o.ll engines. ~ene sion. Referring to the indicator diagrams and the T -groovee in the face of the top ram of the
rally, it may be satd to .cons1st. of an ordinary the re10ark made as to the desirability of obtaining press. The faces of punch and die are flat. In
pressure indicator, the pencil of whwh. ac~s on a con- entropy diagrams, the speaker pointed out that this some practice the punch face is curved lengthwise,
tinuously-moving band of paper unw1ndmg fr(i)m a would be difficult, seeing how arbitrary the selection with a view of giving a detailed or shearing cut,
but this does not seem to be necessary. There is
drum, and on a time base, and driven by a clock of the temperature would be.
During the discussion on Mr. Humphrey's paper no hardening of the faces dono, but the faces of
inside. In this way a constant record of all the
pressures are taken, viz , explosion, ?ompression, lastyear (Proceedingsof Mechanical Engineers, 1900, punch and die become so hot that they have to be
aspiration, &c., and this for ~ few mn~utes . ~o page 237) the speaker drew attention to the curious swabbed with water after each piece is stamped,
doubt the instrument did not gtve more 1nformatwn increase in the work required to pump the charges and that intensifies the hardness of the steel in
than could be deduced from many ordinary indicator as the velocity of rotation of the engine increased. some degree. The method of attachment of the

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

OcT. 25, 190 1.]

bottom die by the lugs with open slot-holes for bolts is the corners, and bent round, and welded. At Swin- cent re. The blocks used are shown in Figs. 232 to
adoJ?ted neal'ly universally, th~slotssaving some trou- don t hese are made in t hree welds in one heat, one 242. The main block A is bolted to t he table of t he
ble In at tachment by comparison with round holes. being that of th~ st em on a flat piece, the latter press, and is recessed at the top to receive t he

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bridle, the posit ion of which is indicated by the


dotted lines in F ig. 237. The welding is done by the
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pressure of the top block B, attached to the t op ram

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with t wo bolts, coming down on the forging in block

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A ; F ig. 240 is an inverted plan of t his showing t he

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recess. Block C carries thA drift D (Figs. 241 and
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242), which is inser ted in the hole d uring the opera\
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preventing
distort
ion,
so
that
the
t
ion
of
welding,
.
bridle is welded and finished at once t o shape. Then
the horizontal ram is drawn back, and a loose piece
0
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of block inser ted behind t he mandrel, and the hori'
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zontal rnm moved forward again, pushing the man,
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drel out, and leaving the hole smooth to shape.
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A neat litt le job of stamping is seen in making
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the draw-bar for an open goods wagon, as shown by
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F igs. 243 to 245. One way by which t o make this

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would be t hat described in previous art icles, namely,
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drawing
down
a
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welding
length
from
a
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by
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having an original section about equal to t hat of
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t he boss, and welding on t he shank, of plain
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round rod. At Swindon t he method adopted is t o
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take a length of square bar (seen dotted in
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F ig. 243 at A), and t he long bar B. Both pieces
.
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being
brought
to
a
welding
heat,
A
is
laid
on
the

floor, and the end of B dabbed upon it. The ends

are t hen bent over to the full lines, and flattened


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~
against B under the press. T he end is then put
"
back into the furnace, and a second welding heat
taken over it, and one squeeze in t he dies (Figs.
"
The spring buckle (F ig. 231, page 570) is made being j ust bent at the ends slightly, which piece is 244 and 245) finishes the end.
The shoes seen in Figs. 246 and 247, page 571, in
differently from t he usual practice, which is to form welded all over its flat face t o the bridle proper,
t he bridle in one thickness, drawl\ down, upset for bent round and welded underneat h at about the volve a number of operations, which are illustrated

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

570
in subsequent figures. The square socket is turned
round and welded at the corner (Fig. 248), and
welded to the shoe, and the entire forging is then
drifted and set in separate recesses in dies.
The first operation after cutting off is that of
bending the plats to the square form for the socket
(Fig. 248), which is done in the dies shown by Fig.
249. One half the work is done in the manner
shown in that figure. The plate A is bent in the
bottom die E by the pressure of the top die F. I t
is then taken out and placed in an angular recess
in the bottom die, the long end being uppermost,
0. A mandrel D is inserted and the top die bends
the free end over the mandrel, thus forming the
square.
The next operation is seen in Figs. 250 and 251,
in which the socket, after being brought to a. welding heat, is laid in the die A, the doubly tapered
~rift B inserted, and the top die 0 brought down upon
1t, closing the weld. The drift B is then pushed,

and crane hooks. Formerly both were made by


bending, when iron was used for both. Iron still
remains in use for the crane hooks, but the drawbar hooks are made of steel. The resulting difference
in manufacture is that the first must generally be
forged by drawing down and bending, while the
latter ca.n be stamped from a solid lump. The
latter are made at Swindon in two heats, under a
30-ton steam hammer, thus :
A lump is drawn down very roughly (Figs. 258
aud 259) thicker than the hook, but narrower, at
one heat. At another heat it is put between a
pair of top and bottom roughing dies under the
steam hammer, which spreads and thins the lump
to fill up the dies, but leaves a fin something like
! in. thick (Fig. 260) and of variable width all round.
At the same heat the forging is driven through a
stripping die (Figs. 261 and 262) which cuts off
the fin. Then the finish is imparted in a p1ir of
dies similar to those used for roughing out.
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so that the plate is dished gradually, to avoid distressing the fibres too much.
The dies consist of top A and bottom B. Lugs
are cast at the sides of each, with holes for the
insertion of bars for lifting and adjusting them by
on the table. The top die is bolted to the top
ram by the slot holes shown. The dies are of
cast iron, and necessarily very stout and massive. Such a piece of work as this manger,
if dished and flanged by the ordinary~ methods of
the plater, would be an expensive job; and if cast,
as they usually are, they are also expensive by
reason of the size of the moulding-box wanted, and
the large quantity of sand to be rammed, while the
metal cannot be run so thin as a. sheet metal plate,
and if it could, the manger.s would be liable to
fracture. This, therefore, affords an illustration,
among many others, of one of the economies of
the practice of die-forging in a shop, economies
that result from extensions of the practice into

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by the horizontal ram of the machine, through the


forging, making its interior straight and smooth.
'l'he shoe, bent from a. piece of plate, is now welded
to the socket in the pair of dies shown in Figs. 252
to 257. These are but a single pair of dies, each
being shown in plan and joint face views respectively. The bodies A B are made of Cc;'l.St iron
faced with steel, C D, screwed to form the joint
and working faces of the dies. These pieces \J D
are recessed out to take the rough forging. The
welding of the shoe to the socket is performed
while tha latter is retained in the socketed portion
E. Afterwards the entire forging is placed in the
recess F, and set to correct form between the dies,
and by the aid of a drift inserted and pressed down
by the top ram . This drift is fastened to the top
ram, which withdraws it after the setting is accomplished. The die A (Figs. 252, 263, and 266) is the
one which is bolted to the table of the press. The
other, B (Figs. 254-, 255, and 257) is bolted to the
horizontal ram of the press.
There is muoh similarity between draw-bar hooks

(7061, L

The draw-bar plates (Fig. 263) are made at one


heat in less than a minute. The plate is stamped
with a. punch in a die to the outer shape and
dimensions by the vertical ram of a press.
Then it is picked up and set in a plain
die at the rear of the main block, and the
hole punched by a single movement of the
horizon tal ram.
The manger (Figs. 264 and 265) 4ft. long, is an
example of a large piece of deep work stamped in
three helts in three separate sets of dies. A piece
of plate is first cut (Fig. 266), with radii struck as
shown, from three centres, for each end, and this
then goes through three successive pairs of dies, the
general form of which is shown in Figs. 267 to
269, these figures illustrating the finishing die only.
The difference in this and the preliminary forming
pair of dies is that the sides and ends of the latter
slope at a. greater angle, those of the ones illustrated
having comparatively little slope, and those of the
second pair have a degree of slope that is intermediate between that of the first and the third set,

1t1ill N)

spheres of utility that could not easily be contem


plated in its first inception. Similar extensions
follow in plate moulding and in the practice of
automatic machines.
Some other illustrations of deep work must be
deferred to another article.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.


( Oontiftoued, from page 547.)
THE E coNOMIC

BCTION.

The Section devoted to Economic Science and


Statistics was berthed in the Greek Lecture Theatre
of Glasgow University. The President was Sir
Robert GiHen, who read his address on the
Thursday morning of the Association week, in
accordance with custom. \Ye have already dealt
at some length (see page 451 ante) with this
address. There was, however, one passage upon
which we did not touch, and which may be
here quoted as a. fitting introduction to our
report of the proceedings in Section F. '' May

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

571

DIE FORGING AT SWINDON.


(For Desc1-iption, see Page 568.)

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I once more," said the President, in concluding


his address, ~' ex press the hope, a.s I have done
on former occasions, that as time goes on more
and more attention will be given to these common
statistics and the ideas derived from t hem 1 The
domination of the ideas suggested by these common
figures of population statistics, in international

politics and in social and economic relations, is


obvious; and although the decline in the rate of
growth of population in recent years suggests a
great many points which the statistics themselves
are as yet unfit to sol ve, still the facts of the
decline, as far as recorded, throw a great deal of
light on the social and economic history of the past

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cen tury, prepare the way for discussing the further


topics which require a. more elaborate treatment,
and enforce the necessity for more and better
records. We may emphasise the appeal, then, for
the better statistical and economic education of our
public men, and for the more careful study by all
concerned of such familiar publications as the
' Statistical Abstracts,' the 'Statesman's Year-Book,'
and the like. Tho material transformations which
are going on throughout the world can be substantially followed without any difficulty in such publications by those who have eyes to see; and to
follow such transformations, so as to be ready for
the practical questions constantly raised, is at least
one of the main uses of statistical knowledge."
A vote of thanks to the President of the Section

572

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

for his address was moved by Major Craigie, who


said that the Statistical Society was about to hold
an international meeting to discuss what could be
done in the way of ascertaining the population in
countries where the census was not taken. Enormous issues depended upon the right treatment
of population statistics, which have a material
influence on the advance of civilisation. The
motion was seconded by Dr. Dyer.
S coTTISH CoALFIELDs .

Three papers were read in Section F on the first


day of its meeting, Thursday, September 12, but
only one was of engineering interest. This was a
contribution by Mr. R. W. Dron, a mining expert
of Glasgow, the title being "Notes on the Output
of Coal from Scottish Coalfields., The paper stated
that in the year 1660 the output of coal in Great
Britain was about two 1nillion tons, of which
quantity Scotland contributed probably about oneeighth, or 250,000 tons. At the present time the
Scottish output amounts to over 33 million tons per
annum. The author estimated the total quantity
of coal produced in Scotland up to the present
time at 1600 million tons; but there was still
r emaining 10,000 million tons to be worked. There
has been of late years a growing uneasiness as to
the duration of our coal supply, but tha.t evidently
is not a new feeling, for t he author stated that for
400 years there have been many alarms regarding
the approaching exhaustion of coalfields, and laws
have been passed either prohibiting the exportation of coal, or imposing a heavy export tax on the
article. Of late years the proportion exported
had increased very largely.
In 1861 it was
only 6.4 per cent., whereas ]ast year it amounted
to over 20 per cent. In 1861 tho home consumption per head of the population was about
3 tons per annum, whereas it was now over
5 tons. Most of the Scottish coal exported went
to the Continent of Europe, and about 25 per
cent. of the whole export went to Germany. If
the export and home consumption were to continue
increasing at the present rate, then by the end of
this century the Scottish output would be 60 million tons p er annum, and the 10,000 million tons
available would be exhausted in about 180 years.
If all the coalfields were producing coal in the same
proportion to their t:trea as Lanarkshire, the output
of Scotland would be 60,000,000 tons per annum.
In t he author's opinion such an output would never
be required, because methods would be found to
use the coal much mora economically than at present. More than one-half of the Scottish output
came from the Lanarkshire coalfield, and at the
present rate all the coal in that county would be
exhausted in forty years ; but within twelve or
fifteen years all the thick and easily wrou~ht seams
of the Ulyde basin would be worked out. This was
not such a serious matter for the population of
Glasgow and the West of Scotland as at first sight
it might appear. The royalties payable on these
coals were from 9d. to 1s. 6d. per ton higher t han
were payable on similar coals in the outlying districts. As the Lanarkshire coals became exhausted
loss money would be paid to the landlords and more
to the railway companies, but the n et r esult would
n ot be any very serious increase in t he cost of fueL
The average r oyalty payable in Scotland in 1891
was 6.54d. per ton. The average profit earned by
the coalmasters under normal conditions was 8d.
per ton. Coal-cutting machines had been in use
in Scotland for over 30 years, and last year
529,791 tons were produced by that method. It
was the physical conditions under which most of
the seams were now being worked that prevented
the more extensive use of these labour-saving
appli&nces. In practically every case where coa~
cutting machinery could be used to advan tage 1t
had been adopted ; but in the future it might come
to be more largely used when thinner seams were
opened up. In comparing the work done in
different countries, t he paper stated that the production of coal in America was about 400 tons per
annum for every man employed ; in Scotland it
was 360 tons per man ; and in Germany 270 tons
per man. The production in America was easily
accounted for by the men working six, and sometimes seven, days per week.
The oth er two papers r ead in this Section were
on "The Postulates of t he Standard," by Mr.
W. vV. Carlile, a contribution t hat evoked some
unfavourable criticism; and on "The Growth and
Geographical Distribution of Lunacy in Scotland, "
by Mr. J. F. Sutherland.

SHIPPING SUBSIDIES.

[OcT. 25,

1901.

back on the Chinese or Australian service, where a


handsome subsidy is attainable. But these ships
have n ot only to be built and manned according to
Government 1equirements, but they must also be
constructed in national yards, and this restricts the
field of selection and corn petition for the shipowner. On the State rail ways preferential rates
are given to material for ships.* Dr. Ginsburg
had obtained some inter esting fi gures on this
point from Messrs. Harland and Wolff, and
from these he had drawn out an instructive
table calculated to show quantitatively the
effect of the preferential tariff and the saving
due to free Oustoms entry for ship material.
On account of the preferential railway tariff alone
the value would be about 19l. 2s. per mile for
the material carried for a fast Atlantic liner ; for
a cargo steamer about 11l. 14s. per mile.
The policy of building Yery fast liners is discussed, and the author questions the pretensions.
as to profits made put forward by some supporters of the high-speed principle. Comparing the
Deutschland and the I vernia, the former is the
larger by about 15 per cent., but the cost would be
nearer 50 per cent. than 15 per cent. The German
ship has a crew of 553 persons ; the Cunarder has
but 257. The indicated horse-power of the Deutschland is given as 35,000 ; that of the I vernia
is 10,500. The Ivernia carries a huge cargo, as
well as a fair number of passengers, and has been
running steadily ever since she came out ; the
Deutschland did not run between November and
April. Still, it must be r emembered that k'!.telos
counts for something. Taking these and other
points into consideration, the author concludes
that speed beyond a certain limit is not commercially desirable, and that therefore, if military considerations demand it, the State must give adequate
Inducements. At present the annual subvention
of 77,813l., divided amongst seven companies, is
really trifling ; and it may be agreed that '' the
subsidies are certainly not sought by the companies," as an Admir.alty witness said before a
House of Commons Committee. ''France, Germany, and Russia have been increasing the number
and improving the speed of their ships suitable for
the task of supplementing their force of naval
cruisers in war time. Great Britain is dropping
behind, few such ships being built at all, and her
latest ships being less speedy than the r ecent
German vessels, and, indeed, than the British
steamships previously constructed."
The British shipbuilder, the author continued,
has cheap labour, cheap steel, and cheap coal ; but
against these are to be set the following statutory
disabilities : The Merchandise Marks Act, light
dues, regulations as to manning, crew space, and
crew food, Life-Saving Appliances Act, and t he
Load-Line Act. The paper also deals 'vith the
encouragement given by the F rench and Italian
Governments to sailing ships. The total amount
of money distributed in bounty on the construction
of both sailing vessels and steamships in France
seems to have varied from a minimum of 80,735l.
in 1892 to a maximum of 205,833Z. in 1897, the
amount devoted i n 1900 being 196,000l. The navigation bounties now exceed 452,000 per annum,
and in 1898 were nearly 482, OOOl. Construction bounties have little p ermanent effect in
aiding the shipowner if the experience of
1\iessrs. Bordes, of Nantes, be taken as a fair
example. This firm calculated that under the
system prevailing they could afford to pay 20 to 25
per cent. more for French-built than for foreignbuilt vessels. They found, however, that in 1893
the tender of the French builders was 34 per cent.
higher than that of the British; whilst in 1896,
when the effect of the law of 1893 was more fully
felt in France, this extra cost had risen to no less
than 82 per cent. The author concludes that both
at home and abroad there is a nat ural tendency
towards concentr ating the trade of the world in the
hands of steamship companies, with the consequent
diminution of the numbers of sailing vessels and
tramp steamers. He did not think that any one in
this country would urge the adoption of construction bounties, nor of general mileage bounties.
The point in question seems to lie in the organised
opposition of subsidised foreign lines to our own.
At one time Britain was unassailable; serious opposition was not felt till the eighties, when the N orddeutscher Lloyd express service to New York

At the second day's sitting, Friday, September 13,


five papers were down for r eading in the Economic
Section. The first taken was an interesting and
instructi,e contribution from the pen of Dr. B. W.
Ginsburg, t he subject being "Shipping Subsidies."
The subj ect of Dr. Ginsburg's inquiry is one of
considerable importance, and as it includes many
subsidiary economic probleme, the paper was necessarily a very long one. It is to be regretted that in so
important a maritime centre as Glasgow there were
not some shipowners to come forward and give the
benefit of their views and practical experience. The
author divided his subject into two main portions;
the first dealing with the question of subsidies for
fast mail ships suitable to be auxiliaries to the
Navy, and the second with the inducements offered
to vessels which are "mere beasts of burden ''vessels, the aut hor says, whose individual qualities
matter little, but fulfil the most n ecessary function
of shifting the great bulk of our commerce. Dr.
Ginsburg takes the precaution of pointing out that
the line of distinction is not absolute, as one class
merges into another. We would also point out
that from a commercial point of view the individual
qualities of the beasts of burden- the expression is.
at any rate, preferable to the invidious title "oceantramp "-matter a good deal, for it is, in the present day, nearly impossible to make an ill-designed
cargo ship pay, as it is to earn a profit with an
obsolete liner.
The requirements for mercantile cruisers include,
shortly, duplication of machinery, considerable subdivision of hull, keeping low the tops of cylinders,
steering gear below water line, protection by
specially arranged coal bunkers, and the strengthening of decks to take armament. There are also
requirements as to the proportion of Royal
Naval Reserve officers and men. We have in this
country built five vessels which the author considers to be in the highest class in corn bining subdivision with high speed and duplication of machinery. Attached to the paper were Tables of
the reserved merchant cruisers of various powers,
and from this it would appear that while England
possesses two ships of 22 knots-the Campania and
Lucania, and three of 20 knots- the Teutonic, Majestic, and Oceanic-in Germany's list the five fastest
ships range between 23i and 21 knots ; the Deutschland, Kaiser Wilhelm II., and Kronprinz Wilbelm, all being put at 23i knots, the Kaiser
Wilhelm der Grosse at 22 knots, and the I{aiser
Frederick at 21 knots. France has four 22knot ships on her list built and building ; Russia
has six 20-knot ships ; and the United States two
21 and two 20-knot vesf)-els. The Japanese 12 ships
of the mercantile reserve are all13 knots, excepting
one of 14 knots and one of 13i knots. In regard to
size Great Britain has on the register of shipping 27
ships over 10,000 tons, Germany 24, the United
States 6, France 2, and Holland 3. In the lower
classes British preponderance is n1ore assured, for
between 7000 and 10,000 tons we have 78 ships, as
against 20 of Germany; and 243 between 5000 and
7000 tons, as against 80 for Germany. The numbers
possessed by any other country are not considerable.
The paper refers to the organisation of the Russian
Volunteer fleet. At first the vessels were old and
slow, but in 1890 a twin-screw ship named the
Orel was built by Haw thorn, Leslie, and Oo., ~nd
about 14 ships, each larger and better than her
predecessor, have followed. The Volunteer fleet
is, as far as is known, manned entirely by
naval officers and men, and some say it carries
a partial armament at all times. Although it
has certain burdens, it has also great privileges.
All Suez Canal dues are paid by the Government~
it has a constant supply of troops on its eastward
voyage, whilst homeward it brin~s invalids and
time-expired men, and has a most 1mportant monopoly in the carriage of tea. In regard to Ger~~ny,
it is impossible to discover the exact cond1t10~s
upon which the Government has a call on the btg
merchant vessels. The author's inquiry addressed
to the German Admiralty was met with the response
t hat the terms could not be disclosed. The owners
state that they have n o subsidy on the Atlantic from
the State ; but, like our own fast ships, they have
earnings from the Imperial post office for work
done; to them, as to our ships, certain inducements
to construct in accordance with Admiralty requirements are offer ed. Unlike our own vessels, when
not r equired for the Atlantic competition, or when,
* In an article on "German Shipping Bounties" this
perhaps, a little past that work, they can always fall question was discussed. See page 411 ante.

..

E N G I N E E R I N G.
began .to attract attention ; ~h.ough the Messageries
I mperia.les begl\n an oppos1t10n to the Peninsular
a~cl 01'iental Company some twenty years preVIOusly. In the New York t rade four countries are
in mail competition. All give some inducemen t
for armed-cruiser work. France gives a speed
bounty which has a possible maximum of 48,000l.
per annum, and also a s ubvention of 219,000l. per
annum. The Ger1nau Governmen t is said to give
no bounty on the Atlantic, but to pay a sum of
65,000Z. per annum for carr ying western mails.
The United States gives 4 dols. a naut ical mile for
carrying Trans-Atlantic mails. This works out about
2~00l . a trip. Th~re is also a monopoly of the carnage of parcels mto t he States. Great Britain
spends 101, 705l. on her New York mails, paying by
weight. Specially-addressed letters are sent by
German or American steamers. This privilege is
largely used, and accordingly the two Brit ish lines
do not get anything like 60, OOOl. a piece for the 104
voyages a year which t heir contracts with the P ost
Office entails. The P eninsular and Oriental service
to Japan was commen ced in the early 'sixties, and
was fi rmly established when the opposition of the
Messageries Maritimes arose. Though the cargo
traffic fell away somewhat, t he passenger traffic
was not seriously affected. In 1880 the P ost Office
made .Shanghai the terminus, instead of Yokohama,
and direct steamers were withdrawn by the British
company, which accordingly began to lose ground.
The Messageries have now some very fine vessels,
and receive a subsidy of 243,347l. per annum for
the Indo- China and Japan service. The Japanese
have a fleet of t welve n ew ships-one built at
Nagasaki, the others in Great Britain. Their
speed is not great. It is said their subsidy works
out at about 10,000l. per trip, whilst the whole
exp enses of the voyage, including canal dues, is
about 15,000l. In 1898 the expendit ure authorised
by the Japanese Government was 272,969l. The
German East Asian line was granted a subsidy of
85,000l. per annum in 1895. The amount was
r aised to 160,000l. in 1898 for a fortnightly service.
On the Australian service the P. and 0. and
the Orient lines each have alternate fortnightly
service, each company receiving 85,000l. per
annum. The competing French line, the Messageries Maritimes, r eceives 124, 317l. per annum for
a monthly service. The more r ecent N orddeutscher
Lloyd service has a subvention of 115,000l. for a
four-weekly service. .According to Sir Thomas
Sutherland, these figures work out for the P. and 0.
2s. 7d., for the Messageries 8s. 4d., and for the
N orddeutscher Lloyd 6s. 8d. per n autical mile.*
The Norddeutscher Lloyd have the further advantage in making th eir harvest in the Atlantic
between May and N ovember, and then taking up
the Australian passenger service, which begins in
November. The share of the Australian r oute subsidy earn ed in this way amuunts to 9560l. a
trip. The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd is said to
be making an attack on the trade of India.
There is a subvention of 1s. 2d. a mile for services performed at a speed of over 10 knots, but
the Post Office has a right to suit the i tinerary
to its convenience, and mails must be delivered to
the Post Office free. The Suez Canal dues are, at
least, in part r efunded. The company has a tenyear loan of a million and a half florins. I t has
crews of Austrian officers and men exclusively,
must use at least 20,000 tons of Austrian coal a
year, and must hold its ship~ at the State's d.isposal
in case of war. The mileage bounty In t he
Adriatic and Mediterranean is 4s. at 10 knots, and
5s. 11d. at 11! knots. On ocean voyages it is
4s. 8d. at 11 knots. The bounty is increased
10 per cent. for Austrian -built ships, and 25 p er
rent. if the vessels are one-half constructed of
home materialH. Though the Government assistance has increased over sixfold in 10 years, the
increase in tonnage shifted has barely increased
50 per cent.
The German East African line was inaugurated
in 1890 with a subvention of 45, OOOl. a year ; this
amount bein<Y fixed because it was that which the
British East India Company was said to have lost
in r unning the ser vice. The sailings were to b e
monthly; but the company, afte~ t wo years, ran
an eight-day service between Zanz1bar and Bombay,
extended its main line from Delagoa Bay to
Durban and finally introduced fortnightly sailings
on the ~a.in route. This was all done without any

increase of the subvention, but in 1900- the


prospect of trade increasing owing to events in the
Transvaal- the subsidy was increased to 67, 500l.,
and the ser vice was practically doubled.
In conclusion, the author said t hat, whatever
the future may produce in America, at present Germany is our most successful rival. The encouragement she gives to ships is devised wisely, but on
a liberal basis. Her development during the last
ten years is most r emarkable, b ut it should n ot be
forgotten that her percentages of increase are
calculated on a figure originally small. When it is
seen how her two great lines have come triumphan t out of serious difficulties, it would seem to
be suggested that amalgamation in shipping might
strengthen our hands. State aid in this country
cannot be expected for any industry; t he genius of
t he people is against it . Without attempting to teach
t heir business to shipping men, the author pointed
out that sometimes new adventures had to be carried
on at a temporary loss, and it sometimes pays to give
facilities which the actual trade does not warrant.
I t would almost seem that in certain branches of
the shipping trade, at least., there had been no
private cornpany which saw its way to risking the
initial loss to open up a n ew line, and so the S tateaided foreigner crept in. In other branches it is
possible too much reliance had been placed in an
old name and existing connections, whilst no attempt has been made to meet threatened opposit ion. It is certain that in any naval war we should
severely feel t he want of vessels like the Kaiser
Wilhelm II. and the Deutschland.
An animated discussion followed the r eading of
Dr. Ginsburg's paper, in the course of which the
idea of encouraging British shipping by bounties
was largely condemned. Professor Alleyne Ireland, of Boston, U .S.A., failed to understand
how, in the case of the East African route, the
transference of the trade could be attributed to t he
bounty r eceived by the German line. It was difficult to understand that the 45, OOOl. a year could
have created the trade, which was there for the
British company to secure if it had b een well
managed. His own experience in the West Indies,
and he spoke as an Englishman, had been that the
comparative decline of British shipping and of
British exports arose from the fact that the Briton
did not study the needs of his castomers. If he
had boots to sell, for instance, he would go to a
C~"~untry, and if the native foot did not fit his boot,
he would say, "What a foolish foot," and go away.
The Germ~n took a measure, and found the shape
of the foot, and then sent boots to fit it. In
America t here was in contemplatioa a Merchant
Shipping Bill which would put about 9 million
dollars into the pockets of four shipowners. Mrs.
.A.rchibald Little, who made an excellent speech,
had evidently had some experience of the condition of industry in the East. She s uggested
that , in place of s ubsidies, companies opening up
remote parts should receive the mon opoly of a
river or district for a certain number of years. A
nation that had no shipping, if it wanted to build
up a trade, granted subsidies, just as Russia had
subsidised railways for the sake of the trade they
would bring. E ngland was in exactly the opposite
condition , and s hipowners should not need subsidies. I t was difficult to understand, however,
how British companies could compete with foreign
organisations like the North German Lloyd, with
the German Emperor pushing up behind. The
English were the largest travellers, but in the East
they travelled by the German and Japanese subsidised lines, even the British minister went out in
a foreign steamer, and Mrs. Little herself would
shortly be going back to China by a J apanese
steamer, because, as she was told, it was the best ;
moreover, the fare happened to be 50l. instead of
the 75l. the P. and 0. Company charged. The
speaker gave an account of her husband's exp~ri
ence in starting a river service in the East, by wh1ch
he had lost through the Government seizing the
vessels for naval use directly a difficulty arose.
She also r eferred to the efforts made by Captain
Wjggins in trying to establish a new trade r oute.
Sir Robert Gifl'en also spoke at some length on
this paper, dwelling on the naval aspec~ of the
question. If these very fast vessels h.ke the
Deutschland were not n eeded for mercantile purposes, the Government could n ot be blamed for ~ot
supporting them . He doubted whether such slups
would be very useful in time of war, for though
* Mr. Buxton Forma.n has, however, questioned these undoubtedly very fast, their . range of action w~s
figureP. awarding ~be P. and 0 . Company about 5s. lOd. limited owing to the quant1ty of coal burnt 1n
per mile.

573
reaching the high speed. In commenting on this
point Dr. Ginsburg subsequently stated that the
Deutschland could carry enough coal to steam
across the Atlantic every fortnight at full speed,
and that some of our fast steamers could go to
South Africa and return without coaling. In r egard
to the utility of mercantile vessels as cruisers, we
may point out that the subject was discussed by
competent authorities at the spring meeting of the
Institution of Naval Architects,* although opinion
was divided. Captain Clover, U.S.N., who represented the only Power that has had actual experience with ocean liners in warfare, spoke highly of
their efficiency. The whole subject of bounties,
the President said, had been discussed for ages, and
the general conclusion of economists was that no
Government could distribute bounties so that they
would bring a profit to the whole nation. H e
questioned whether Germany had made any money
by the East African t rade t hey had acquired. It
was q uite easy to give 25s. to get a sovereign back.
It was the free-trade country which refused to give
bounties, and which eschewed protection, that made
the largest profits in the end. In r egard to the
legislative restrictions to which th~ author had
referred, these might be more or less justified on
philanthropic grounds, but it would be much better
if, instead of making all the elaborate regulations
about load-lines, life- belts, and a great deal more,
the Government would leave the industry unfettered, like any other industry. lie considered
that considerable t rade had been lost to England in
consequence of r estrictive shipping legislation.
Dr. Ginsburg, in his r eply, pointed out that it
was not considered ill that those who started a
railway should receive concessions from Government, and it was not easy to understand why the
promoters of a n ew branch of sh~pping industry
should not be similarly treated. In place of this shipowners were placed under special restrictive laws.
E XPORT TRADE.

A paper by Mr. B. Ellinger, on "Thirty Years'


Export Trade, British and Irish Produce, 1870-99,"
was n ext taken. We have n ot space to follow
the author in all his figures, interesting as they
are. He had, of course, no difficulty in showing the advance made in a comparison of the
last 10 years of the period as compared to
the first 10 years. P erhaps the most suggestive
part of the paper was that in which the author
pointed out the possibility of our export returns
being open to question in regard to values. It
was this that was touched upon chiefly in the
discussion, and it is, we need hardly say, a matter
of considerable national importance . The question,
of course, is not a new one ; but in spite of it
having been frequently raised, we are n ot aware
that any serious effort has been made to inquire
into the matter, and r emedy the evil, which
undoubtedly exists to a greater or lesser degree.
The making of the declarations which the law
demands from exporters, and on which t he
official statistics are founded, is considered quite
junior clerk's work in most offiees; in fact,
as one speaker said, it was the office boy who
made the best return he could so as to obtain
his clearing at the Custom H ouse. Sir R obert
Giffen spoke of a prominent member of a former
government who had been in business before he
became a politician. vVhen thi~ distinguished
merchant took office at the Board of Trade
all these ret urns and declarations of imports
and exports which shippers had to make came
before his n otice, and though he himself had been
a merchant, he had never heard of such a procedure. Mr. Bowley also spoke of the uncertainty
of stat istics, whilst Professor Smart thanked
H eaven he was an economist and not a statist; but
how one can be the former without the latter he
did not ex plain.
Three other papers were read this day: one on
"The Theory of ProgreAsive Taxation," by Dr.
Casei ; a second on '' Th~ Economic History of British ..A..griculture in t he Nineteenth Century,"
by Mr. R. Vvallace ; and the last on ''Food, and
Land Tenure," by Mr. E . Atkinson.
.After the week-end r est of a whole Saturday and
Sunday, the economists and stat isticians met, invigorated and r efreshed, as the event proved, on
Monday mornjng for the disposal of a long programme. The agenda included a joint discussion
with Section L on '' Econ omics and Commercial
*See ENGINEERING, vol. lxxi., page 417.

574

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

Educatioi_l ;" but did not include, or at any rate did


not mentwn, a much appreciated passage of arms
be~ween the President and Mr. C. S. Devas on a
potnb of religious discussion. There is always a
good deal of combustible about in Section F as
there necessarily must be where so many subjects
~re matters of ~pinion incapable of proof ; and to
1ntrod uc~ anyt hmg of a theological character int o
the SectiOn has the same effect as brinaina the
contents of the blue and white papers
S~idlitz
powders together in a glass of hot water.

ot'

SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

THE NEW YORK SUBWAY.


MR.

vVILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS, ENGINEER, NEW YORK.

(F01 Description, see Page 576.)

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The first paper taken was by Mr. T. S. Cree


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and bore the title ''A Business Man on Supply and
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~e~and., Mr. Cree. bases his opinions and conI
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vtctwns _on t~e teaching of the older economists,
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even Mill betng somewhat too modern for him
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The chief principle of all sound economics is th~
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From~ atrb t.o curb SO '0 law t~at supply an.d demand are always tending to
K------ -- -- 40.'~,~--------- -Pig.J7.
equahty at a. certa1n exact point of price. That the
author states, and he certainly made out a very
Fig. 39.
s~rong case, at a.n~ rate from the business point of
S'ttr/Q,,
1I
v1ew ; .but he pomts out that Mill allowed the SUhwalJ
.
IS'O'Md.et
cor trac1..'.4
correct10? that equality was established not at an
ex~ct p01nt, but t hat s.evera.l different prices might

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(1os1. ~l l TTU
e~t1sfy the law ; whiCh only brought it to a

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- kt~d of tableland wh.ere it ceased to be operative.
Mtll he~d- that nothing but a strong combination

... .

cou!d gtve woFkers a chance of holding their own

against the employers. Mr. Cree on the other hand


h olds that there is not an inch of ground wher~

the law of supply and demand cease to operate.


It may, perhaps, be worth while to point out here

that the supply of labour, as of other things, de


..

pends on demand holding out sufficient induce

ments for s~pply to be forthcoming. Workers may

.. -

.. .

ask more because they are combined but that


.
.

.
~ere~y shif~s the point of price, so long 'as neither

stde Is coerced. Mr. Cree also takes exception to


the well-known view set forth in Marshall's "Eco

n omics of Industry," that an employer being a

much larger unit than his men individually, and


because the workmen are poor, and are known to
..
have no reserve price, therefore union among the
.

men was necessary. The author could not accept


. ..

these propositions, but holds that wages are low


..
because ~here. are to? many competing for the job.
..
.
The dtscusswn wh10h followed was of an animated
nature. The Rev. Dr. Cunningham was of opinion

tha~ ~rade unions have exceedingly little respect for


poht10al economy-a statement that, we think, is
not so true of the present day as it was a few years
ago, at any rate, in the engineering societies. The
argument that trade unions must be good because
the condition of working men had advanced during
the last 75 years, whilst trade unions had been
legalised 75 years ago, was brought forward once
more, and provoked the regulation counter, that
the position of workmen has improved on account
of the more ready production and distribution of
commodities. A I'emark that fell from Dr. Cunningham is worthy of all remembrance. He would
be glad to see the economic question studied more
in connection with the law, with the constitution
of society, and matters of that sort, and less as an
abstract thing.
We hope the Section will remember thi~. There is no science that smells more
of the lamp than the modern economical. To this
cause may be attributed the undoubted fact-referred to in t he afternoon by Mr. L. L. Price-
that of late years the influence of the economist

Fro.
40.

over public opinion has waned.


The President, in closing the discussion on this
paper, said he thoroughly agreed with all the it provoked; and, indeed, the subject is one The individualistic spirit prevalent among Ameriof the first importance for all industries. The author cans, who promise to be the most formidable of our
author had said.
stated that the stir now arising on commercial commercial competitors, lends emphasis to the
MARRIAGE AND NATALITY.
education offers a fresh opportunity for asserting danger attaching to a trade union policy which, of
We cannot deal here with the two papers on the the claim of economics to a distinct place in the unconscious or deliberate intent, may possibJy offer
decline of the birth rate, and the long and lively education of the citizen ; economic guidance is real hindrance to the rapid use of new machinery or
discussion to which t hey gave rise. Whether the more urgently required in practical affairs ; for the speedy introduction of n ovel business methods.
falling off in the supply of infants is due to spiritual many questions coming to the front of popular dis- Restrictive legislation, for the same reason, must be
or physical causes is a question which might well cussion are economic in character. The pressure scrutinised, although in the early days of the factory
be left to the divines and the doctors to settle. of commercial rivalry is likely to re-awaken the system economists erred from shortness of sight,
The " Correlation of the Marriage Rate and Trade," controversy between free-traders and Protectionists. and "factory reformers " displayed more regard for
upon which Mr. R. H. Hooker read a paper, is The superficial appearance of things may easily the permanent welfare of the nation. Economic
also a subject, though extremely interesting, too mislead, and economists can render unique assist- study is specially calculated to induce the habit of
ance in disclosing the " unseen " below the " seen." mind~needed to discover and expose lurking fallacies.
recondite to be briefly treated.
On this ground, the author said, a place may be
Similarly, with regard to questions classed as
E c oNOMics AND CoMMERCIAL EnuoATION .
" socialistic," which are attracting increasing claimed for the abstract reasoning of the textIn the afternoon the Economic Section F, and notice, although economics is not entirely indivi- books in comn1ercial education. Business men deal
the new Educational Section L, met to discuss a dualistic, and its conclusions may be modified by with the concrete in their ordinary lives, and withpaper by Mr. L. L. Price, of Oxford, on "Econo- political considerations, its aid is nevertheless im- out some preliminary mental discipline they may
mics and Commercial Education." The paper portant. Both classes of questions are of special fall a prey to unsuspected fallacies. Some training
was worthy of a more suggestive discussion than interest for the merchant and the manufacturer. in logic is held by most men to be beneficial, and
\

----

ENGINEERING

575

BROTHER'S ELECTRIC CABLEWAY,

NEW YORK.

(For Desc1iption, see Page 576.)

..

.....

.'

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FlG.

41.

.
.

'

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FIG. 42.

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

an acquaintance with economic argument, as expounded in the theoretical reasonings of t he textb~oks, may impart this training in close connection
With t~ e phenomena of bus~ess .life. Although
the busi~es~ ma1~ may act by mst1nct rather than
reaso~, Instinct IS often . ~he slow product of large
expen el?-ce; and an ab1hty to see and trace the
connectwn bet_ween cause and effect cannot fail to
be u~e~~l. WI~~out s~me such me~tal training the
p~ssibthty of a plurality of causes and an "intermu~ture of effec~ ". m~y escape recognition; and, as
an Intellect?al diSCipline, the a~stract reasoning of
the e~onom1sts affords ~ m~re ngorous and hracing
e~erCise tha:n econon;tc history. . Regarded from
th1s standp01n.t, even '~a~hema.ttcal methods " of
study, w~1ch Induc.e prectsLOn, may find a place in
commerCial educat10n ; but the place cannot be
large, ~s t~ey foster t he harmful idea that economic
reasonmg Is too hard for average men. The use of
t heory as a mental training might be illustrated by
1nan~ examp~es; but the theory of money and of
banktng, w.htch has. undergone less change than
~ther theortes, and IS closely related to t he daily
hfe .of ~ankers and financiers, n1ay be taken as a
typiCal Instance.
. ~conomic. history D:1ust fill a very large place
I~ commerCial educatwn.
Too much time may
hitherto have been spent on questions of origin
which attract by the oppor tunity they offer for
i~ genio us hypothesis, but are from their nature
difficu~t to solve, and, by comparison, too little
attentwn may have been bestowed on later but
less misty periods. But it is impossible to gain
a real knowlege of the causes and conditions
of the commercial and industrial success of
England without a special study of econ01nic
history, as general histories have dealt but. scan tily
with economic matters. The maintenance of t hat
success is, to some extent, dependen t on the
knowledge and on the investigation of the rise and
fall of other nations which have been conspicuous
in trade.
L~stly, the paper said, statistics, which have
also progressed of late, supply economics with the
means of systematic observation, in default of the
more effective mode of experiment open to a
physical science like chemistry. An elemen tary
knowledge of statistical technique and methods is
a requirement of the times and a special need of
commercial education.
In the discussion on this paper the general tone
adopted was largely that of a warning against
specialisation. It is the usual cry of the schoolmaster when it is proposed to direct education
towards a definite end. It is undoubted that boys
and young men cannot be taught a trade or profession at school or college; but that does not
n1ean that there is no need for specialisation. In
r egard to the study of economics, however, there
is less fear of the student's mental horizon becoming narrowed, for the reason stated by the headmaster of University College School, that political
economy is essentially a part of a liberal education.
Equally to the point was the remark of Professor
S. Chapman, of Owens College, Manchester, who
pointed out that there has been a tenaency to make
commercial education mean merely book-keeping
and shorthand. ' Vhat was far more importan t, the
Professor said, than teaching details of a particular
trade, details of book-keeping, or even details of
banking, was to teach the people the principles
underlying trade and commerce. The principle
expressed by Professor Chapman is beyond question ; but unfortunately for the practice, it is so
much easier, and needs so much less capacity, to
teach details than to elucidate principles.
Professor H . L. Withers complained that there
was very little agreement among commercial men
as to what t hey wanted boys to know, and until
they made up their minds it would be useless for
teachers to take any considerable &teps in the
matter. Professor \-Vithers is right; but the commercial men are at a loss \vhat should be taugh t,
because they h9.ve not been taught themselves ;
t herefore, unless the professors and schoolmasters
help them, instead of saying it is useless to take
steps there is danger the whole business will come
to a ~top, and Mr. Price's paper, t ogeth?r with the
joint discussion of Sections F and L, be time wasted.
At the conclusion of the discussion the Section
adj ourned.
.
The sitting in this Section on the followmg day
- Tuesday, September 17-waslar~~ly devoted to
questions of poor law and the positiOn of women
as workers. There was a paper on G1asgow

wages, but it d ealt chiefly with past times.


contribution on

A the fo undations of the houses, a common occurrence


with t he older structures.
The sides of the trench are strutted with sheetiog
THE T&Al\IWAYS AcT OF 1870,
~lanks; and, when with t he progress of the excava.
by Mr. E . F. Vesey Knox, said this measure had t10n, the floor of the subway is reached, it is reduced
been~ disastrous legislative experiment. Its chief as much as possible to a horizon tal plane.
A
blot was the want of comp ulsory powers for the stratum of concrete is then laid on, not less than
taking of land. ' ith a population of about 8 in. in thickness, after which the waterproofing is
1,000,000, Glasgow and district had 88 miles spread over it as described for the first section.
of tramway track. The population of Dublin and Close to the sheeting planks a brick wall is built,
di?trict was about 350,000, and yet they had 102 4 in. thick, whose inner surface is covered with
miles of track. He took that as an example of waterproofing, which renders t he side walls imperwhat happened in a city which was the most p ro- vious to water. The waterproof covering of the
gressi ve of a11 their municipalities, and a city not foundation bed next receives an additional layer of
naturally progressive, but where the Tramway Act concrete, not less than 1 H. thick, into which are
was not in force, and where the matter was left to embedded the footing stones of the steel bents.
the Corporation. Though England ought, but for These footing atones are 2 ft. 3 in. by 2 ft. 3 in.
Parliament, to have led the world, as it did in by 12 in., and are made of blue stone, granite,
railway construction, it had been kept behind other or other hard resisting material. Holes are cored
countries, and had suffered social, economic, and in the footing blocks for the reception of t he pins
industrial loss. There was n o other country which of the columns of the steel bents.
had so great !1 need for electric tramways as EngThese bents are made of three central and two
land. P ract tcally no tramways were n ow made by lateral columns, the former being made up of four
companies on Tramways Act terms without modi- Bull angles, 4 in. by 3 in., rivetted to a. web-plate,
fications ; but the retention of the Ac~ on the 6 in. by t in., so as to off~r a cross-section of the
statute-book_ still did a great deal of injury to tram- form of the letter H. The foot of the central
way enterprise.
column consists of a steel plate, bent at right
The Economic Section was one of the few that angles and riveted to the column itself and to the
met on the Wednesday of the session, when four base-plate, the dimensions of the latter being 1ft .
papers were read ; but none of them were of especi- by 1 ft. 4t in. and {[ in. thick. The bedplate is
ally engineering interest.
provided with holes for anchoring the column to
the footing stone. At the top of t he column there
(To be continued.}
are two angles, 8 in. by 3~ in., 6 in. long, and ?7J in.
thick ; while near t he top holes are bored to
THE NEW SUBWAY IN NEW YORK receive the struts intended to strengthen the
girder. The lateral columns consist of 12-in.
CITY.
I -beams, wit h angles riveted at the edges of the
By CHARLES PJtELYNJ, C.E., New York.
web so as to form the top and bottom of the
(Continued j1om page 547).
column, another angle being riveted to the fl~nges
T HE second section of the work on the subway in order to increase t he footing. The base of the
extends from Chambers-street to Great J ones-street, lateral columns is formed by a plate similar to
and includes four stations for local trains, situated those of the central columns, but smaller in
at Worth-street, Canal-street, Spring-street, and dimensions. It is provided with two holes to
Blacker-street respectively. Starting at Cham- allow of its being anchored to the footing stones.
hers-street, it proceeds under Centre-street until
The columns support a ateel girder, whose
Reade-street is reached, after which it turns to t he dimensions vary with the traffic of t he streets above,
left under New Elm-street, and then to Old Elm- being increased wherever the depth of the structure
street up to Great J ones-street. This section of exceeds 5 ft. The bents are placed 5 ft. apart
the line was sublet to the Degnon McClean Con- between centres, and are kept in place by ~-in. iron
tracting Company.
rods bolted to the girders.
The soil encountered throughout is very loose,
Between the inner flanges of the lateral columns
consisting chiefly of loam with sand underneath, is placed a wooden centre, consisting of a segmental
with the exception of that part of the work which arch, while the space between it and the 4-in.
runs under E lm.street from Pearl-street to Broome- brick wall is covered with waterproofing. Wooden
street. Formerly there was a pond here, which centres are also placed between the girders and
was gradually filled in with rubbish, so that some under their flanges, the segmental or ''jack"
trouble is anticipated when this point is reached, arches being built of concrete, 1 ft . 3 in. thick at
especia1ly in laying the foundations. It will the springers and 9 in. at the crown. These arches
probably be necessary to reinforce the soil by are then covered with waterproofing, which layer
forms a continuation of that laid on the sides.
sinking piles.
In this second section several methods of con- Another layer of concrete, 6 in. thick at the centre
struction have been employed at different points. and 4 in. at the sides, completes the construction
In that portion of the subway which runs under of the road, so that when the wooden centres are
Centre-street, f1om Chambers-street to Duane- finally removed, the subway is found to be entirely
street, a wide trench has been dug on one side lined with concrete on the inside.
Where extra depth is needed on account of
of the road way and gradually extended across t he
~treet and under the tracks of the surface lines, pipes near t he roof of the structure, the concrete
which are left undisturbed, being strongly timbered segmental arch is replaced by a 11J in. buckle-plate,
underneath. (See Figs. 36 to 39, page 574.) As on the extrados of which waterproofing is laid, with
soon as half the width of the subway is excavated, a thin layer of concrete on top.
The concrete used in constructing the subway
the foundation is laid, the steel bents set up, and
the arches built. Then the space left between is made of sound, clean, screened gravel, or sound
the roof of the subway and the superimposed broken stone, mixed together with cement mortar
surface tracks is filled in with rammed earth, the consisting of Portland cement and sand. The
paving of the street is replaced, and the traffic stones are not to exceed 1 in. in their longer
confin ed to this half of the roadway, while the dimension for the finishing floor, nor must they be
other lhalf of the subway is built in a similar greater than 2 in. or less than ! in. for any other
part of the work.
manner.
The different components of the concrete are
At Reade-street the line curves round a. little
to the left in order to pass under New E lm-street, taken in the following proportions: For the foundaand as there is little traffic and few obstructions at tions in wet ground, where the thickness of the
this place, the work of construction proceeds apace. material is not to exceed 24 in., 1 part of Portland
A wide trench was here dug from house to house, cement, 2 of sand, and 4 of stone are used ;
and the four hacks of the subway built simul- but when the thickness exceeds 24 in., as also in
taneously. The work of excavation 'Yas ca~ried the case of dry ground or 1ock, the composition is
on by pick and shovel, the earth bemg hoisted to consist of 1 of cement, 2~ of sand, and 5 of stone.
by means of two Lidgerwood cableways and con- For the arches of the roof and side walls, where
veyed to elevated platforms for removal by the thickness does not exceed 18 in., the pro11ortion
is 1 of cement, 2 of sand, and 4 of stone. Finally,
t rucks.
Heavy strutting was found necessary in. order to for the side walls and tunnel arches, the compound
maintain in place the gas and water p1pes, and is to consist of P ortland cement 1, sand 2t, and
electric conduits, which were laid in great num- stone 5.
To prepare the concrete in the large quantities
ber under the new street, as also to sh ore the
adjoining h ouses. This was specially necessary needed for this section of the subway, the Degnon
when the floor of the subway was lower down than McOlean Contracting Company use the Ransome

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

concrete mixer, built by the Ransome and Smith


Company, of Brooklyn. The mixer consists of a
hollow, rotating iron and steel drum 6 ft. in dia.nleter and 3 ft. long, with openings in the h eads.
It contains kneading-wings for mixing, and hinaed
~helves for lifting and t hrowing the concrete ~ut
u~to sh~tes. The sh elves are set for mixing or for
dLSchargmg by means of a. lever that does its work
automatically, and wibhout interfering with the
operation of the machine. The drum is carried on
four chilled steel friction rollers, the bearings of
which are supported by the wooden frame. Power
is transmitted to the drum through a. pulley and
gears a ttached to countersha.fts. To operate the
mixer, the attendant first puts in.to it the required
quantity of water. A measure of ce ment, followed
by others of sand and gravel or broken stone, is
then wheeled up and dumped into the opening in
the drumh ead. These materials are t urned over
30 or 40 times in a minute, so as to form in that
brief space of time the desired intimate mixture.
The machine is operated by a. 10 horse-power vert ical engine driven by compressed air, and is capable
of supplying over 200 cubic yards of concrete per day.
The standard construction of the four-track subway has been somewhat modified in the portion of
the line included between Grand-street and Broomes treet, another intercepting track being here laid for
s witching purposes. Instead of using a nother central column, which would have obstructed the road,
he~vy s teel girders, 36 in. high, are used to span the
dis tance between the columns. At some points,
too, the columns are 22ft. apart, instead of 12.6 ft.,
as in the standard construction of the subway.
As already stated, there are four stations in this
section for local trains, all of which are situated
at the s maller of the two depths which h ave been
adopted for all s uch trains on the subway. They
are placed on each side of t h e road and close to
the walls, as the ou tside tracks are intended for
local trains, w bile the middle ones are reserved
for expresses. One of the features of t he local
sta.t ions is that the outside tracks are at a higher
level than the middle. As even the locals are
intended to run at a fairly high rate of speed, Mr.
Parsons has so arranged t he levels of the road
that in approaching a station the train runs up
grade ; while on leaving, it runs down grade. In
the first case, the grade helps the brakes in reducing speed ; while, in the other, g ravity helps the
engine in resuming its high rate of running.
The stations situated at the smaller depth from
the surface offer some peculiarities in their construction. The side columns of the bents, which consitst
of I -beams in t he standard construction of the
subway, are here replaced by cast-iron columns
suppor ting h eavy girders placed parallel to the axis
of the road and whose upper flanges form the curb
of the street. To these heavy longitudinal girders
are riveted the cross beams of the steel bents as
well as other beams needed for t he covering of t he
platform and station . The former is usually supported by !-beam columns; but where the space
available is small, ot,her beams resting on isolated
columns have been used. The side walls are made
of a thin brick wall, a layer of waterproofing, and
concrete arches. The roof is formed by concrete
vault-like slabs , which likewise form the side-walks
of the streets. The side walls are lined wit h white
enamelled bricks and wainscoted with slabs of
marble. The stations are provided wit h all requisites,
such as toilet-rooms, benches, and newspaper stands.
The entrances to the stations, located ou each sidewalk, consist of an iron framework covered over
with a glazed roof, which admits light to the descending stairways.
The plant which provides power for th e first two
sections of the subway is situated at the corner of
Centre-street and Reade-street. It consists of four
horizontal return tubular steam boilers, two of
which develop 200 horse-power each and two
others 225 horse-power each.
There are two
compressors of the Ingersoll type, 24 in. by
24 in. by 30 in. The compressed air is conveyed
along iron pipes laid in the ground to the various
working points along the line, where it is used for
blowing the furnaces, for riveting, hoisting, and
driving the engines of the concrete mixers. For
all these purposes compressed a ir has been found
a convenient substitute for steam.
In one section of the subway the excavation and
handling of material is being effected by a id of the
electric ropeway of theW. F. Brothers Company,
of Singer Building, New York. This is illustrated on pages 57 4 and 575, in which it will be

seen that the cable is stretched between two Aframes on shears which stand at an angle of about
45 deg. with the horizon. These frames have no
foundation, but the feet are merely put into the
ground. The pull of the cable is taken at each
end by a counterwe ight of any material that is
h andy, such as excavated rock, bricks, or the like.
The counterweight does not rest on t he ground,
but is s uspended so that it can rise and fall with
the tension on the cable.
On the cable t hen
travels a crab under the charge of a man, who rides
upon it, t he motive power being electric, derived
from trolley wires, which are indistinctly sh own in
the engraving. This crab is designed to deal with
1 cubic yard of material at a time. It lifts the
bucket, conveys it along the cable to the end ,
where it. dumps it into a cart (Fig. 42). The crab
then returns for a nother load, the whole operation
requiring only from two to three minutes. Two
crabs may, of course, be mounted on the same
cable, e~ch delivering at its own end. When the
crab raises a weight the counterweights a re raised ,
slackening the cable, and easing of part of the
strain. As the crab approaches the shears the
counterweight fall s, s traightening the c~ble and
rendering the gradient easier.
The whole arrangement is so exceedingly simple
that it can be understood from the illustrations.
Its special advantages for this kind of work are
t hat it occupies very little space in a street, and can
be worked from the electric supply mains without
the employment of engines and boilers.
The
power required for one-yard buckets is 10 horsepower. There are no hauling r opes or tail ropes.
We are informed t hat on the section of subway in
the h ands of M r. John S hields, the actual cost of
h andling material by t his h oist is .0205d. per
cubic yard. The length worked is 530 ft., and t he
plant is very ea~y to t ransport as the various sections of t h e work are completed. Mr. Warren C.
Bevan, of 58, L ombard str eet, London, h as th e
sole control of the patent rights for this machine
for the entire world, with the exception of the
United States and Can ada , which rights have been
disposed of.
(To be continued.)
WES'l'lNGHOUSE ELECTRO-PNH.UMATIO SIGNAL PLANT.The recent order given by the North-Ea.stern Railway
Company to Mes!lra. McKenzie and Holland, for a.n insh.llabion of the W estinghouse electro-pneumatic signalling eystem, is evidence that this system, which is in very
considerable use both in America. and on the Continent,
is growing in favour in this country. The NorthEastern plant is to be erected at Tyne Dock. lb will
consist of two cabins, one containing an electro pneumatic
locking frame of 71 levere, and the other a locking
frame of 35 levers, making a total of 106 levers. Had the
old style of mechanical locking been adopted for these
cabins, about 250 levers would have been required. The
installation at Tyne Dock cannot be regarded as in any
way an ex_periment, even so far as this country is concerned. The Great Eastern Railway have had this
~stem in use ab the Whitechapel Goods Yard since
January, 1899. It has worked perfectly since its installation. It has been in use continuously-weekdays and
Sundays alike- since the date of its installation, and
throughout its working has been perfectly satisfactory.
The Lanca.shire and Yorkshire Railway Company ordered,
some time ago, for their . new station at Bolton, a.
71-lever electro - pneumatic looking frame. It is expected that this will be placed in use very shortly.
In connection with this system, the followin g figures.
dealing with the installation ab the Boston (U.S.A.)
Railway station, are of interest. The figures are supplied
by the courtesy of Mr. Sanborn, of the Boston Terminal
Company. The whole of the points and signals ab this
station are operated on the Wesbinghouse electro-pneumatic system. 'be size of the installation wtll be
gathered from the fact that the total lever movements in
each week-day of 24 hours are 27,621, and each Sunday 8019
movements. This gives a total for the month of September
last of 730,620 movements. During September, however,
there were 25 extra trains to be dealt with on Labour
Day, by which about 801 additional lever movements were required. Consequently, for the month of
September, the total lever movements ~ached the high
figure of 731,511. During this month there were no
failures to cause delay. The trains were, however, delayed five minutes in all, due to a broken shoe falling in
front of a point, and preventing the point being moved
over. At this station the average daily train movements
are about 2500 on weekda.ys, and about 726 on Sundays;
meaning for the month of September (25 week-days and
five Sundays) a total of 66,130, or, including the extra.
trains, a. total of 66,200 train movements. These figures
require no commenfl, and speak for themselves as to the
capabilities of ~he Wes~inghouse elecbro-pneuma:ti~ syste~.
It is further mterestmg to note that the exhtbtt of this
system at the Pa.n-American Exposition, at Buffalo, by
the U nion Switch and Signal Company, who manufacture the apparatus in America, has just gained the gold
medal.

577
PROTECTED TWIN-SCREW TORPEDOBOATS u SIROCO" AND ''MISTRAL. "
MM. AuGUSTJN NoRMAND AND Co, of Havre, have
recently delivered to the F rench Govunme~t, at Cberbourg, two protected torpedo-boats, fitted w1th ~he same
machinery and boilers as the Cyclone. The tnals _offer
special interesb on account of the very heavy wetghts
carried. The dimensions are :
...
... 147 ft. 0 in.
Length on load line ...
Extreme breadths outside armour ... 16 , 10 ,
The nickel steel armour extends t o the machinery and
boiler compartments, and is distributed as follows :
Vertical sides from 8 in. b~low the waterline to the deck.
Fore.and-aft bulkl:.eads from 16 in. below
2-1. Millimetres
the water-line to the deck.
(1-in.) bare
V ertical sides of coveringd of all parts of
machinery and boilers and of the steering engine above deck.
9 - Millimetres{ All hori zontal parts of deck and hatchH~in. ) bare
ways.
The total extra weighb resulting from the addition of
armour-includin~ the strengthening of the hull amidships, and the a.ddttion of a. central hollow keel1 ft. high.
extending to about one-half the length of the boats, and
intended to stiffen the central parb of the structure, and
to check rolling- is nob less than 24 English tons.
The hulls are very strong. as was proved by an accident
which occurred to an exactly similar protected torpedoboat in a. trial outside Lorient. When steaming at about
23 knots, during foggy weather, she ran end-on against a
rock rising above water; and although several men were
injured by the shock, no material damage, beyond the
crushing of about 25 ft. of the fore part, occurred to the
boa.b, which was towed ba{}k to harbour.
The total other weights carried on trial, exclusive of
chains, anchors, masts, boats, &c., and comprising only
torpedo tubes and compressing pump, artillery and
ammunition, provision water for boilers and crew, coals
necessary for steaming 1020 nautical miles at 14 knots,
crew and effect!, provisions, including 5 tons for sundries
to complete dis placement ab sea.. amounted to 39 9
English tons in the Siroco and 43.2 tons in the Mistral.
Accordingly, the displacement on trial: 177.5 English
tons for the Sirooo and 178.7 tons for the Mistral, was that
of the boats on service.
It has very wisely been the general custom of the
Frenchl Admiralty to have the trials of ships ma.de ab
what was believed to be full load; but lately this rule
has been enhanced, as ib was ascertained tha.b these fullload trial displa.cements were ofben inferior to the real
displacement on service.
If the 24 tons due to armour are added to the above
weights, we see that the total weights oarriE'd on trial
amount to 63.9 and 67.2 tons respectively; that is to say, to
about 37 per cent. of the total displacement. This is far
from the 35 tone carried on board destroyers of much
larger displacement. The weight of coals pub on board
was determined by an eight hours' preliminary trial.
The full.speed trials, which took place after the ordinary prelimmary runs on the meas ured mile, were of
four hours' duration, one hour of which was to be run ab
22 knote, one hour ab maximum speed, and the next two
hourJ at 22 knottl'.
The onehour maximum speed was found to be 28 341
knots for the Siroco and 28.102 knots for the Mistral.
Only 26 knobs were due according to contract. The
maximum speed of the Cyclone (unprotected), with a
displacement of 141 English tons, was 30.7 knots.
.
lb is generally admitted that greab epeed c&n only be
abtained by reducing all weights to, and even beyond,
their extreme Jimi ~. This is, no doubt, true to a
great extent. However, from the above results, which
may be said to be extraordinary on account of the unusna.l importance of the dead weight carried, there seems
goOd reason to believe that nob only sufficient strength
bnt a very complete armament, and even some protection,
may be given to t.:>rpedo-boats and destroyers without an
abnormal reduction of speed.
MOTOR-CAR BOILERS.-S~eaking of motor-oar boilers,
Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, in hts memorandum presented to
the general meeting of the Manchester Steam Users'
Association, said it had been his duty to refuse guarantee to some, as being unfit for their intended working
pressures. Their margins of safety were much less than
is customary with even less dangerous objects. There
were, he added, many motor-car steam boiler~, of excellent design and workmanship, about whose safety there
should be no doubt, and some makers had arranged for
all their boilers to be certified by the Association.
GAs A'J' BmmNGHAM. - The gas committee of the Birmingham city council reports that contracts have been
entered into for the gas coal and oil required during the
year ending 30 June, 1902, at prices somewhat lower
than those of the previous year. The committee a.ho
reports a. considerable further falling off in the values of
coke and breeze. In March of tLis year the price of coke
was 183. per ton at the gas works. Tbis was reduced in
April to 153. 6d. per ton, and the committee, aHer carefully reviewing the position, has made a further reduction
to 12~. Gd. p er ton, dating from September 2. The committee also reports that it has arranged with the contractors the amount per ton to be paid to the council for
coal gas bar during the year ending June 30, 1902; but ab
a. price considerably below that of last year, owing to the
low market values of the by-products of tar, upon which
the contract price is determined

COMPOUND EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE EASTERN RAILWAY OF FRANCE.

(For Desct'iption, see Page 580.)


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SoUTH AI'RTCAN R AILWAYS.-It is prop osed to proceed
with the construction of the first section of tbe P orb
Elizaheth a.nd Avontown .Railway, a leng th of 33~ miles
from P ort Elizabeth. The line is on a 2-ft. gauge.
THE WEST AFRIOAN Y EAR-BOOK FOR 190L- Under
the above title the West African Publishing Syndicate,
Limited, of Moorga.te-strer-, E. C., have issued a volume
of nearly 500 pages dealing with political and industrial

status in British Wesb Afri ca. Very interesting particulars are given of some of th e more imporbant exports
from these regions. West Africa, it appears, holds the
record for large sticks of mahogany, one of which, imported in 1890, measured 31~ ft. long by 34 in. square.
The forest resources of Nigeria. are enormous, whilst West
African rubber has proved a practically indispensable
addition to the Brazilian supply, ani ~rob~bly will become
sbill more important when the nat1ves have learnt to

J~

0
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exercise greater care in its collection. At presenb it whether the precautions he advises are successful in diappea;ra th(>y oft en cut too d~ep in making ~ncis~ons in ~he !Dini~hing the morta.lity_ am~ngs11 .the engineers engaged
tree, 1n consequence of wh1ch the latex 1s JIUxed Wlth m railway constructiOn 10 th1s regton, who have up to the
other juices, which impair its quality. With gold de- present suffered severely. The new line to Kuma.saie is
posits the country seems marvellously well furnished, I now in construction for a. distance of 70 miles from the
and it is to be hoped that recent researches with respect coa..qtJ, whilst the Lagos-Ibadan line is already open to
to malaria will render these more r eadily accessible to traffic. This is 125 miles long, and has cost 8000l. per
Europeans. Maj or Ross, indeed, declares that malaria 1 mile. It includes one b ridge, 2500 ft. long, over the
is an avoidable disease, and a short time s hould show Lagos lagoon.

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579

E N G I N E E R I r\ G.

COMPOUND E PRESS LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE EASTERN RAILWAY OF FRANCE.


(For Desc1-iption, see Page 680.)

Fig.5.
t. -- - --- ----- -
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NEW SLIPWAY AT LAS PALMAS, GRAND


CANARY.

--

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

~........

THE port of La<J Palmas has for a long time required


a slip, or dock, for the steamers t rading around the
Cllnary I slands and on the West Coast of Africa.
uch a. slip, of 800 tons capacity, belonging to MessrP.
Bla.ndy Brothers and Co., is in full working order.
The lengt h of t he cradle is 220 ft., and the site gives
ample water at high tide. The slipway was entirely
constructed by Messrs. Hay, Summers, and Co., of
Southampton , and is of t heir well-known non-fleeting
type. Our illustration on page 567 shows the panish
ma il boat Viers. y Cla.vijo on the cradle. In connect ion wi t h the slipway t here is a. very well-equipped
repairing-shop, employing 150 h ands, under the direction of English engioeers. It is interestiog to note
that this is the only port in the direct route to the
Ca pe where large engineering repairs can be executed.

----

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TH E ARRANGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT 01!' SHIPBUILDING


W onKs-ADDENDUM.-In reproducing the paper on" The
Arrangement and Eq uipmentof Shipbuilding Works,, read
by Mr. J a.mes Dunn, at the summer meeting of the Institu
tion of ~!echanica.l Engineers, held a.t Barrow-in-Furnesa
(pages 168, 183, and 215 ante), it was omitted to be added
that "four or five of the diagrams have been prepared
from illustrations in a valuable paper. Moderne Werftanlagen und ihre vorausaichtliche Entwickelun~. ' by
Tja.rd Schwarz, published in the Ja.hrbuck der Schtffbautechnischen Gesellschaft (1901, page 55), an institution
which is prospering in Germany, while the author is also
iodebted to several firms, including the Duisburger Ma.schinenbau Aktien-Gesellschaft, the Brown HoiaLing Ma.
chinery Company, and the Wellman Sea.ver Engineering
Company, &c., for others of the engravings,,
T RADE AND P&RSONAL.- The system of car-lighting
from tbe axle, of the Consolidated Equipment Company
of America, the rights for the manufacture of which are
owned and being worked by Messrs. Vickers, Sons, and
Maxim, Limited, has been awarded the highest award by
the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.- We understand
that lV!essrs. J. and E. Hall's patent dry-air carbonic (C 0 2)
refrigerating machine received the highest award, a eilver
medal, a.t.J the Dairy Show, Agricultural Hall, of the
British Dairy Farmers' ABBociation. The machine was
exhibited by the Dairy Supply Company, Limited, of
Museum-streeb, London, and is ~imila.r to the one for
which Messrs. J. and E. Hall, Limited, received the
Special Prize at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show,
this award being for a small refrigerating machine suitable for dairy purposes. - Mr. W. S. 'Vorkman, of the
City Line, Glasgow, has been unanimously eleoted by the
Committee of the British Corporation for the Survey and
Registry of Shipping as a. member of the Board, in room
of Mr. George Smith, resigned. -We n.re asked to state
that the partnership hitherbo subsisting, und er the title
of ' ' ir J ohn W olfe Ba.rry and pn.rtners," between
Messrs. H. M. Brunei, 0. A. Brereton, A. J. Barry, B.
Leslie, K. A. Wolfe Ba.rry, and Sir John W olfe Ba.rry,
has been dissolved by mutual consent, and that the firm
of Sir John W olfe Ba.rry and partners will hereafter
consist of the above named, Messrs. H. M . Brunei, C. A.
Brerebon, K. A. 'Volfe Barry, and Sir John Wolfe Darry,
with the addition of Mr. E . Orutbwell, of 8, Queen Anne's
Gate, who has joined the partnership.

s8o

E N G I N E E R I N G.
:Volume of water, .10 m. (3.937in.))
above crown
. ..
.. .
.. . f
Volume of steam . . .
...
.. .

EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE, EASTERN OF


FRANCE RAILWAY.
locomotive, which we illustrate on pages 578
and .579, a nd on our ~Wopage plate, was desig ned for
serv10e on the most Important and most diffi cult line
of the F~ench Eastern Railway system, namely, that
from Par1s t o Belfort, on which fast and heavy trains
have to .be hauled up l on g gradients of 6 in 1000.
The d trams. ade!age ~? 0 tons in weight and the
s pee ~eq~ure I~ 90 1 ometres (56 miles} an hour.
In designtng th1s new type of eng ine, care had
to be taken to limit the load on the axles and
the extent of the vertical efforts, in order not to
~trainththe permanent way to a ny greater degree than
Wf1:S
e case. wit h th~ engines of the older t y pes,
bmlt to ha~l lighter trams. A t ractive power 20 to 25
p e r cent. h1ghor was required, the weights remaining
within t h e limits of previous types, na mely, 17 tons
per coupled a~le an~ 24 tons for the bogie. ~!oreover, .an adhe~10n w eight of 34 tons was d eemed q uite
suffi01e.nt, seemg that the &radiants exceed 8 in 1000
e:ccept10nally only, a nd a thud coupled axle (the prevtous .t~pes had t.wo) was not found n~cessary; while
a trathng ~xle m ~he r ear, though 1t would have
secured an .mcrease m the length .of the firebox, would
have also m crease:i t he de1d we1ght and t he degree
T HIS

T otal capacity of boiler ...

. ..

4 612 cub. m.
(162.5 cub. h.)
2.110 cub. m.
(74.2 cub. ft:.}
G. 722 cub. 01.
(236. 7 C.Jb. ft.)

Diameter of high-pre~sure aylinders ...


...
...
.. . .35 m. (13.779 in.)
Sbroke
...
...
...
... .6! , (23.197 , }
D~i:d~~~r of low-pressure oyDiameter of. ~heei~
..
.55 , (2l 653 }
l>istanoe between oe~t~e ~i 12 ! m. (4 ft. 1 in.}
front and middle axles
2 15
(7
Distance between centres ~i
'' , 1 " }
middle and rear axles...
... 1.85 , (6 ,, 1 , )
Weight of engine empty
...
53 tons
,
,
in
working
order
.. .
...
...
. ..
58 ,
W eight of tender empty
.. .
18 ,

,
in working
order


44 "
The axles ar~ of Siemens-Martin steel ; the wheel
centres are of wrought iron with steel t.yres.
The boile! is of steel, a~d the fi rebox of copper. The
grate con sists of cast-uon firebars 9 millimetres
(.35! in.) t hick, with 10-millimetre (.393 in.) spaces,
to burn small coal.
A .88-metre (34~ in.) brick

Fig.10.

l!o'lrzn

F(g .11.

'l'ram

N~ (?0 ) S1

19

M~ 1900 f rom P at'ia to Chaumo~t ~

--~

~ .D.irecll'an or ff'av el

ltO
100

90

ao
10

to:fl+

6ooolf
5000
~ 000

;;: ~ , 000

1- 2000

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Train

10

m (~0) 30

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20 May

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mo

H O \:0

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... Chaumont to PAris

170

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1000
O

---~EE: Dire ction of tr OYe.l

uo
I <HI

so

o,

,.,

6000)(g

;)~

5000

H\

. ooo
: ,000
;:: t ooo

101
10

'

111-

1000
0

0
0

lO

10

1 !0

1!0

l! IO

Y ,~

iiO

2 10

UO

.5974

c.

SROlfiON OF LINE, AND DIAGHAMS Ol!' 8PEEDS AND TRAIN RESISTANOES.

of resista.nce, and would have rendered t ravelling over


curves of small rad ius more difficult.
The boiler is on the Belpaire typ e, with ribbed
Serve t ubes ; the firebox is fi t ted wit h a brick arch
and with two tar-burners . The engine frame- plates
are inside the wheels, and those of t he bogie truck out
side. The engine is fitted with four steam cylinders,
and is provided with a starting device for the direct
admission of steam to the low-pressure cylind ers.
The steam dist ribut ion is on the Walschaert type,
a nd the engine is provided with a Westingbouse
compressed-air brake, and wi t h a steam and han dworked Gresham a nd Craven sand-box. A speedre aistering instrument is placed on the left of the
engine, inside the cab. The following are some of
the leading particulars :

arch is placed diractly beneath the tubes. The two


ta r-burners above referred to are placed on each side
of the firebox door, and do not interfere with the
ordinary working with coal ; th ey are not intended to
replace coal-firing, but to increase when n ecessary
the h eat developed and the power of the locomotive on the steeper gradients. The burners are
of the V etilJa rd and Scher d ing t y pe ; the tar is
contained in a receiver on the tender, whence it is
brought down to the ejector, a tap regu1ating the
flow. The tar is supplied to the firebox by a steam
jet. When necessary, live steam is d eliver ed inside a
erpentine pipe placed in the receiver to heat the tar
and give it the required fluidity. Each ejector allows
t he burning of 220 lb. of tar per hour under good conditions.
The intermediate steam chest between the high and
low-pressure cylinders has a capacity of 300 lit res
T otal length of engine outside
the buffers
...
...
. .. 9.932 m. (32 H. 7 in.) (10. 59 cubic feet), equal to 4.872 times the volume
Thickness ofsteel frame plates
27 mm. (lt\ in.)
of one of the high-pressure cylinders ; it is fitted with
D istance between frame-plates,
.
a f:afety valve, loaded for a pressure of 6 kilogrammes
inside
.. .
. ..
.. .
. .. 1 245 m. (4 ft. 1 1n.) (85.4 lb. p er Equa re inch). An air-inlet valve in front
Total width, ont~ide foot. plate 2.800 , (9 , 2 , ) of t he steam chest serves for t he working with closed
Distance between end axles ... 7.25 ,, (23 , 9 , ) regulator.
,,
,,
bogie truck
The valves and cylinders are lubricated by a
axles
.. .
.. .
...
.. . 2. 10 ', ( 6 , , 1 t , ' )
Diameter of driving wheels .. . 2.05, ( 6 fo. 9 in.) Bourdon mechanical lubricator of the t elescopump
.,
bogie t ruck wheeld 1 06 , ' ( 3 , , 6 , , ) type, containing four pistons driven by a ratch et off
the low-pressure cyli nder link.
Height of axis of boiler barrel
The tender is built to carry 20 cubic metres (20 tons}
above rails
.. .
.. .
. .. 2.58 , ( 8 , 5 , )
Number of Serve tubes ...
...
140
of water and 6 tons of fuel, including the t ar. The tar
Outside diameter of tubes
.. . 70 mm. (2! in.)
receiver is made to contain one ton of this sp eci!ll
L engbb of tubel3 ...
...
... 3.80 m. (12 fr. 6 in.) fuel.
Urate a rea . . .
. ..
.. .
.. .
2.52 sq. m.
(26. 9 sq. ft:.)
BALD WIN L ocobroTIVES.-Continued activity prevails at
12.60 sq. m.

H ~ating surface of fireb::>x


the Bald win L ocomotive Works, the aggregate number of
(135.6 sq. ft.)
men employed now reaching 9914. It is expected that
194.91 sq. m.
...
tubea
,
,
this number will shortly be increased to over 10,000. A
(2098 sq . ft.)
new cylinder finishing shol>, which will also be used for
207.51 sq. m.

To ~al beating surface



pattern storage purpos~, 1s rapidly approaching comple(2233.6 sq ft.)
... .. . 16 kgr. (227.5 lb. tion, and will provide additional facilities for an increase
of production,
per square inch)

[OcT. 25,

1901.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.


GLASGOW, W ednesday.
Glasgow P ig-bon 1J.fa1ket.- The prices were easier on
the pig-iron warrant market on Thursday of last week
and th e settlement prices were : Scotch iron, 53s. 9d. p e;
ton; Cleveland, 45s. 3d.; Cumberland hematite iron
59s. 9d. per ton. Cleveland did not get t he market all i~
own way, but business was done in Scotch iron, both in forenoon and afternoon; hematite, however, was a perfect
blank. The market was ag-ain modemtely active on Friday
forenoon, when the buSiness done amounted to about
12,000 tons. The tone was easy, and Scotch warrants
were 3d. per ton lower at 53s. 2d. buyers a mont h
and Cleveland l ! d. down at 45s. cash buyers. In th~
afternoon about 10,000 tons, entirely confined to Cleveland, . were done, the price being a shade steadier
than m the forenoon. The settlement prices were :
53s. 6d., 46s., and 69s. 7! d. per ton. The market was
quiet in the forenoon on Monday, but only 5000 tons
were dealt in. The dealing was almost entirely confined
to Cleveland iron, which, after being done at 45s. l~d.
per ton cash, left off unchanged at 45s. 1d. per ton
buyers. Scotch warrants were 2-!d. per ton down at
53s. 4d. cash sellers, and Cumberland hematite iron was
about 3d. p er ton easier at 59s. 6d. cash buyers. About
10,000 tons changed hands in the afternoon, and the finish ing quotations all round were the same as a t the forenoon
close. The set tlement prices were : 53s. 3d. , 45s. 1~ .,
and 69s. 7J. per ton. On Tuesday forenoon the
market was irregular, and Sootch warrants were
fiat at 52s. 1Ud. cash sellers, being a decline of 4d.
p er ton, and ~while that was the case Cleveland was
stead:y, being done at last price, 45s. cas h per ton, and
fi.nis~mg at 44s. ll~d. per ton buyer.:1 . Cumberland hemat1te 1ron wa..q quoted unaltered at 59s. Gd. p er ton cash
buyers. The turnover was reported to be about 8000 tons.
In the afternoon about 6000 tons were dealt in, and while
Scotch warrants closed 5d. per ton down on t he day a t
52s. 9d. per ton buyers, Cleveland left off a shade better
at 45s. O~d . p er ton cash buyers. The closing settlement
prices were : 52s. 10~ d. , 45s., and 59s. 6d. per ton. The
market was very idle this forenoon, only 2000 tons changing hands, Cleveland was again '' trumps," and after
business was done at 45s. O~d. per ton cash, left off at 45s.
per ton buyers. Scotch warrants were quoted 2d. down
at 52s. 9d. cash sellers. The settlement prices were :
52s. 7J., 45s., and 59s. 6d. p er ton. The following are
the quotations for No. 1 makers' iron. Clyde, 6Gs. 6d.
p er ton ; Gartsherrie, 67s. ; Langloan, 69s. Gd ; ummerlee, 71s.; Coltness, 72s.- the foregoing all shipped
at Glasgow ; Glengarnock (shipped at Ardros..qan), 6Gs. ;
Shotts (slllpped at L eith), 70s.; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth), 67s. 6d. per ton. A little moro life has been given
to the market this week by a very evident relaxation of
the tension on the part of the holders of warrants. The
'' backwardation " for one month has gradually sunk from
3d. per ton to about 1d. p er ton, and even less in some
cases. It is probably J?remature to say that all danger of
further mampulation l S over; but it seems certain t ha t
meanwhile no very large " bear " account exists. Transactions have been more numerous in Scotch warrants than
for months past. W est Coast hematitewarrants have hardly
been named, and prices have not varied very much. The
outstanding feature of the market at prooent is the sevel'e
competition from Germany, not only in pig iron, but in
almost all classes of manufactured iron and steel. At
present the h ome trade is excellent, but forwa,r d business
IS difficult, consumers again adopting a strictly hand to
mouth policy. R ep orts are still very strong from
America, but mea nwhile they have no influence upon
European markets. 'l"he number of furnaces in blast
is 83, as compared with 81 at this time last year.
The stook of pig iron in M essrs. Connul and Co.'s
public warrant stores stood a,t 58, 028 tons yesterday
afternoon, as compared with 58~ 169 tons yesterday week,
thus sh owing a decrease for tne past week amounting
to 141 tons.
T he Glasvow Subway F a:res.- vVith the view of meeting
the increasmg competition from the city and suburban
tramways, a reductiOn of the Glas&"ow Subway fares has
been announced. After a careful study of the whole
question, the directors of the company have now resolved
to in troduce a system of halfpenny fares between any two
stations on the circle, and the fares for the entire round
of the circle will be reduced from 2d . to Hd., while a
penny ticket will con vey a p assenger a distance of five
stA.tions insteu.d of four, as ttt present. These changes
will be much appreciated by patrons of the subway.
Coals j o1 Glasgow Gas Su,p ply.- Th e Glasgow C01pcration Gas Commissioners have accepted tenders for t l.e
supply of about 100,000 tons of coal, in addition to tl'. e
large quantity purchased in the summer. The purcha fS
include lots from Fifeshire and Ayr shire, but no L anarkshire splints have been purchased. Generally speal<inr ,
the pnces are more favourable than they were in Jun e.
W est of Scotlcvnd b on antd S teel Instit~l te. -The new
session of this institute was op ened last Friday ni ght, and
the intalla tion of a new president, ~Ir. William J acks.
LL.D. iron merchant, who delivered an excellent address
on the' n ew economics of the iron and allied industries.

NOTES FROM SOUTH YORI{SHIRE.


SHEFFIELD, W ednesday.
She:ffield Un,ive-rsity College ~tuilents. -0~ Th.ursday the
first meeting of the new sessiOn of the Umverstty College
t uden ts Engineering a.nd 1Yi etallurgical Societ y was held
under the presidency of Mr. A. M cvVilliam, A .R . . M.
~Ir. J . Bedford read an interesting paper on the " M anufacture of Files." H e described t he proces.c:;es involved
from sta rt to finish, and also exhibited several specime11s

OcT. 25, rgo1.]


o~ files. in various s tages of manufacture.

An animated
dt cu s1on ens ued, turnin g largely on the r elative value
and economy o f ha,nd and rn{\chine-cu t files.
I~on an:J- te.el.- In the iron trade n. fait amount o f
b usm e ts. betng. d one, 9:nd prices for some q uali tie ,
more es:R~ctn;lly L_m coln)ure, have moved up during the
week. P1g ~ron 1 availab~e, .but forge qua lities, owing
to. t he re tncted output, 1s m creasin gly scar ce. It i
pom ted out ~hat the busin~ now ~)ei ng done, alt hough
not h~rge, ts very &'en ume, buy1.n g only going on
to. m eet presen t. reqmremen ts. Fn' ms who have an ythm.g to. do. w1th the s upplyi!lg of rn.ilwn.y com.pames '~ th uon, teel, and fi~lS~ed goods, s uch a
files, sprmgs, tyres, axles, and simtln.r stor es complain
th!lt they ar e D;Ot being k ep t fully employed. The
railway C?mpam es ar e still buyin g ver y sparingly,
although 1t 1s known. that t heir stocks ~tre extremely
lo'~ One reason. ~tgned for this policy is the unsatt factory cond1 t10n of t heir bn.lan ce-.:: heets and
another, t he po~ibiliti of n. re~ uction in the prices of
~essemer and. temens steels, w1th a con equen t lowerm g of quotatwns for s tores. The m akers of t hese s teels,
however, ar e _s9 well e:f!lployed ~hat ther e is no probabili ty
of t hem r e,1 tsmg thetr quotations in t hat direction for
ome time to come.
South Y o1ksh i1c Coal T rade.- There is no m at erial
alteration to record in connection with the coal t rade in
this dis trict. The. collie~ies co~tinue to be regularly
wor~e~, and there }S a fau ly satis factor y market for all
qu.ahttes of coal, ~v1th the exception of engine fuel. F or
thiS the d em and l S ver~ poor, and s tocks are becoming
unplea~ntly large. . 'Ihe general inland d emand for
hards 1s .we11 s us tam ed,. and t he railway compan ie.i
a re d~wmg full supphes.
Export business, however, I S m uch below th e aver age. Values rem ain una ltered, B arnsley h ards ma.king from 10s. to 11s. p er
ton. Business m house qualities is of a fiu ctuatm acharacter. 1\I an y owners are well booked and sales ar~
not being pressed. The Lo~don trade ~a; b~en full y up
to the n..veta.ge, and a fan tonnage 1s gom g t o the
Eas tern coun tte . B est ilkstone house coal m ake from
13s. 6d, to 14s. per ton ; B arn ley house, 1ls. 6d. to
12s. Gd. per ton ; and nu ts, 11~. to lls. 6d. p er ton. There
is no alteration in the coal trade.
TnE AMll:RIOAN IRON TBADR. - A recrudesence o f acti vity
is reported in the Americll.n iron trad e. The number of
furnaces in blast in the United States at the commencement of October was 246, as compared with 250 at the
commencement of April, 2L3 at tbe commencement of
October, 1900, and 291 ab the commencement of April,
1900. The weekly productive capacity of the furnaces in
blas b w as as follows at th e dates named : October, 1901,
307,982 tons; April, 1901, 296,676 tons; October, 1900,
223,160 tons; and April. 1900, 289,482 tons. While production has rallied, stooks of pig, sold and unsold, in the
United States have de.olined; at the commencement of
1\IIay they stood at 438,288 tons, while at the commencement of October they bad fallen to 361,593 tons.
THE THORNYOROFTS CHULZ W ATERTUBE BOILER. Messss. John I . ThornyQroft and Co., Limited, C hiswick,
have issued a book which will be studied with great
interest by all interested in water-tube boilers; for
although ib refers primarily to the well-known steam
generator, patented and brought to such a high d egree of
perfection by Mr. Thornycroft, there is much, notably
the instructions for the care and management of boilers,
thab is suggestive and useful.
ltJ is noted that
the boiler of the company is to be known in future
as the Thornycroft - S chulz- this is in accordance
with an arra.ngemenb with Herr Krupp, of E ssen,
the owner of the Sohulz boiler, which will be known on
the Continenti as the SchulzThornyoroft. Ib seems a
union of forces. There is a record given of the number
of ships fitted with these boilers, aggregating 907 of
1,033,950 indicated horse-power, and in addition a furbher
51,000 indicated horse-power is in contemplation in the
German navy. Ibis also noted bhab in the German navy
where cylindrical boilers a.re fitted in combination with
Tbornycrofb or Schulz-Tbornyoroft boilers, the proportion of water-tube boilers to the bota.l has increased in
time from 35 to 69 per oenb. Much interesting data as
to boiler performances are included.

LRICRSTRR.- A quarterly meeting of the Leicester Town


Council was held on Thursday. Mr. Councillor Flint
moved tha b bhe common seal of the borough should be
affixed to an agreement between the L eicester Tramways
Company and the Council, for the sale of the undertaking
and property of the company to the Council for 110,210l.,
upon terms which include the liability of the Council to
pay off 23,900l. borrowed on debentures by the company.
The resolution wa.s agreed to. In submitting the halfyearly statement of the Gas s.nd Eleotrio Light Committee, Mr. Flinb showed thab the nab gas profits, after
paying interest on the capital of the undertaking, were
15,239l. Out of this, 5390l. has been paid to sinking fund,
leaving a balance of 9849l. to be applied to bhe reduction of the rates.
The neb profits of the electric lighting department, after paying interest on
capital, were 2065l., of which 1068l. had been paid to
sinking fund, and the remaining 997l. to a reserve fund.
The committee also reported that bhey bad reduced the
price of gas 2d. per 1000 cubic feet. The report was
agreed to. The half-yearly financial statement of the
water committee, submitted by Mr. Alderman Wood,
showed a neb profib of 9619l , of which 3 L94l. had been
paid to a sinking fund, a.nd the balance of 6424l. placed
t o the aocumulatd fund nnder the Derwent Valley Water
A.ob. The report wa~ adopted

s8r

E N G I N E E R I N G.
NOTES FBOM CLEVELAND AND THE
NORTHERN COUNTIES.
M IDDLESBROUGH, W ednesd ay.
T he Cleveland I 1on T r adc.- Y esterday ther e was only
a t hin attendn.nce on 'Change her e; t he market was
som ewhat dull, and very little business was transacted.
Buyers were not much en ~vidence, bu t on t he other hand
sellers were in no great hurry to do business. No. 3
Cleveland pig iron was ro.ther weak, b ut s uch was not
unexpected, for th!lt is t ho quaHty principallr wanted
f m exp ort, and slnpmen ts are not only smalhsh1 especially t o the Con tinent, but the end of the nav1gat10n
season is approaching.
ales were r ecorded at 45s.
f~r J?rompt f.o.b. d elivery of No. 3 g. m. b. Cleveland
p1g u on, but merchan ts, as a rule, asked 45s. Hd.,
n.nd producers, nearly all of whom have fairl y " ;ellfilled order books, put the price at 45 . 3d. The las t -men
tioned fig ure was r ealised for special brands, but fo;
ordinary No. 3 buyers hesita ted to pay 45s. The
lower qualities of Cleveland iron were rm, foundry No. 4
being 44s. 9d. ; grey forge, 44s. 6d. ; mottled , 44s. ; and
white, 43s. Gd. , so thn.t these kinds are nearer the price
o f No. 3 than for some considerable time. Eas t Co~tSt
hematite pig was a good d eal asked for, b ut inquiries as a
rule did not lead t o business, the d emand bemg almost
en tirely on early accoun t, and there was practically no iron
to be had before D ecember, this and next months' make
having been well di posed of. .:H'or d elivery of Nos. 1, 2,
and 3 over the last month of the year 60s. was quoted.
Span ish ore was st eady, and unchanged in price. T o-day
the market was very quiet, and few transactions were
recorded. Several sellers of No. 3 Oleveland pig s till put
the "'bice of that commodity at 45s. 3d., but t hey did not
find uyers at t he fig ure. From second hands t he ruling
q uali ty could be got at 45s., t hough a good few merchants
as ked 45s. 1~-d.
!Jlanufactwred I 1on wnd Stcel.- Th e manufactured iron
and steel trades are steady, but t here is not much new
business doing. Producers of most d escriptions, however, ar e fairly well off for orders, and are consequen tly
not necessitated to seek new work. The impor tation of
German steel is a good d eal talked about, but no alarm
has b een cr eated by the rum ours circulated. 'f h at
German s teel billets and ship -plates have been d elivered h ere lately is admitted, but t he quantity repar ted to have been brought to this dis trict is g reatly
exaggerated. The Ger mans are at J?resent selling th eir
production to English customers Slmply because they
are forced to dis pose of i t, even at a loss. At presen t
Germ an s teel ship-plates cannot be boug ht any cheaper
than the home-made ar t icle. Those that have been delid h
t
d f 111

h6

d
vere
ere wer e con rn.cte or
t
s prmg, an we
understand t hat they have given satisfaction. Common
iron bars are 6l . 5s.; iron ship-plat es, 6l. 17s. 6d.; steel
ship-plates, Gl . 5s.; and heavy steel rails 5l. 1os., bars and
plates being less% per cent. , and r ails net cash at works.
!Jf
Rh d
~ ,, tJ
~~ .:~ /'(
L d
ess'ls. w cvr son,
CSt{JCW 1~, wfw.IJ vo.,
Mntte The report of the directors for the year ending Aug ust
25, 1901, to be submitted at the firs t ordinary annual
goneral meeting on M onday nex t, n.t vV est H artlepool, s tates : " The directors beg t o submit to t he
sha reholders the a nnexed s ta tem ent of accounts for the
year ending Augus t 25, 1901, duly certified by the
auditors. The profits shown in these accounts, a fter
fully providing for maintena.nce of plant, amount to
84,475l. 9s., ou t of which the following has been appropriated : Directors' fees, 2054l. 15s. 10d. ; expenses at
Glasgow E xhibition, 853l. 17s. lOd. ; incom e tax,
1298l. 10s. lld. ; in terest on purchase m oney, paid to
vendors, 8927t. 19s. Gd. ; in ter est 0 11 4! per cent.
d ebenture s tock to June 30, 1001, 9190l. 16s. 2d. ;
dividend on prefer ence shares at 6 p er cen t . p er
F1 ,b
25 1 eo1 5009l 7
1

annum to
e ruary
, .) ,
s. ; eavm g a
balance unapproprutted of 57, 140l. 1s. 9d.
Your
directors r ecommend that this amount should be dealt
with as follows : Inter est on ~ per cent. deben ture
stock from July 1 to August 25, 1901, 2415l. 19s. 8d.;
dividend on preferen ce shares at 6 per cen t. p er annum,
from F ebruary 26 to Augus t 25, 1901, 10,304l. 7s. 1d. ;
dividend on ordinary shares at 6 per cent. per annum
from dates of p ayment of inst alments to August 25, 1901,
15, 278l.; amount carried to r eser ve accounts, 20,000t. ;
amou nt written off preliminar y_ expenses, 2000l.; amouut
carried forward, 7061l. 15s. The company's works- at
H ar t lepool, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland- have been
fully employed , and the directors consider t hat the r esults
of the year's working ar e very satis factor y. The transfer
of the varions prop er ties of the company has been duly
effected , and t he company is now in fu ll possession of
them.
Coal amd Coke.- Fual shows ver y li ttle change in price.
Bunker coal is lls. to lls. 41. f. o.b. for best Durham
kin ds. Coke is strong in price and in good request, especially for local use. Average blas t-furnace quali ties wer e
16s. 9d. d elivered here.

WATER SuPPLY Ol!' M Exrco.- A syndicate of N ew Y ork


capita list s has purchased a concession granted by the
Mexican G overnment for supply ing the city of M exico
with water, and also for the purpose of d eveloping elect rical energy equal to at least 30,000 horse-power.
C RANE VlEIGHTNG M AOHINE. - M essrs. am uel D enison
and Son, of Hunslet F oundry, L eeds, call our att ention
to the fact t ha t crane, or susp ended , weighing machines
wer e the pa tented invention of the late Mr. H enry D ean
D enison, a nd t hat, although they a re now made by other
manufacturers as the patent has expir ed, such apparatus
are not n e'iv in principle, and it is incorrect to apply the
w9rd " novelty' to t hem ns wn~ done on page 561 amtc.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.


Oard~ff:-The steam coal trade has shown rather a better

tone, and inquiries for prompb shipment have been fairly


numerous. It is remarked, however, that there has been no
great amount of "forward " business doing. The best
s team coal has made 16~. to 16s. 6d. per ton, while secondary
qualities have brought 15s. 6d. to 153. 9d. per t on. There
has been an average d emand for house coal; the best descriptions have made 16s. to 17s. per ton; No. 2 Rhondda
large has been quoted ab 15s. 6d. per t on . Pa.tenb fuel
has shown little change, hub there has nob been much
business doing. Coke has been firm. Foundry qualities
have been quoted ab 19s. to 203., and furnace ditto a.t
163. 3d. to 17s. 6d. per ton. As regards iron ore, the best
rubio has been quoted afl 14s. 3d. to 14s. 6d. per ton, while
Tafna has made loa. to 15s. 6d. per ton.

The Swam.sca Valley.- The steel trade is still active.


Bars continue in pressing demand. The tinpla.te mills
which have been running of late have continued in full
operation. The engineering works have been well emplayed.
T he Forest of Dea-1~.-Tha price of house coal a.t the
associated collieries has been advanced la. per ton.
Workmen's wages have also been pub up 5 per cenb. The
prjce of coal and the rate of wages will thus be the s ame
as in May.
Water Suppl y of Olevedon.-The work of consbructin

r C
d

g
a. ne w rlStng ma.m or leve on 1S now pracbico.lly finished.
The totallengbh of main from the new pumping s tation
at Tiokenham to flhe reservoir on D1al Hill is about
l i miles. In is laid ab depths varying from 4 fb. 6 in. to
7 fb. The work, which was commenced in the lasb week
of February, has occupied cons iderably more time than
was originally anticipated, principally on account of difficulbies at Coombe Hill. The contractors were Messrs.
Rowell and Sons, Chipping Norton, the resident representa.tive of the water company's engineer, Mr. J ames
Mansergh, of London, being Mr. H. Taylor, O.E. An
engine house, &c., ab Tickenham have yet to be erected,
and engines, pumps, &c., provided. The whole of the
works, when finished, will cost aboub 20,000l,
Ponty pridd. - The Ea.rl of Jersey, president of the
Light Rail way Commissioners, Colonel Boughey and Mr.
Alien Sbeward, sat ab Pontypridd on Friday to consider
an application of the British Electric Traction Company
for powers to construct a light railway in Pontypridd,
from Tabernacle Chapel to the company's present terminus in Rhonddaroad, and abo for powers to widen
roads between the Porth terminus of the tramway to
Tony pandy. After hearing evidence for and against the
sche me, the application for powers to construob the railway was refused, but the Commissioners granted an
order in respect of the widenings subjecb to confirmation
by the B oard of Trade.
Coal in Wales. - Tha out\)ub of coal in Wales lasb year
was 32,618,995 tons, of whtoh 27,686,758 tons were raised
in GJamorganshire, besides 9,818,829 tons in Monmouthshire. The total output for Wales showed a. decline of
342,769 tons, while the decline in Monmouthshire was
284,238tons. Thevalueswere19,649,968l.forWales, averagins- 123 0.58d. per ton. and 5,891,237l. for Monmouthshue. The approximate prices per ton ab bhe mines in
the various districts' were: Brecon, Eas~, 123. 2d. ;
Brecon, West (anthracite), 103. 8d. ; Carmarthen, 10s. 7d.;
(anbhraoite), lOa. 7d. ; Denbigh, lls. 6d. ; Flint, lls. 6d. ;
Glamorgan, Easb, 12~. 3d. ; Glamorgan, West, 123. 3d.
(anthracite), 10s. 8d. ; Pembroke, 123. 2d. ; 1\IIonmouth,
12a. 2d. The total output of anthracite was 2,203,468
tons. The average ~prices of coal ab the ports were:
Newport, 19a. 8d. ; C~rdiff, 18~. lOd. ; Swansea, 163. 5d.
The Greab Western Railway convey ed 5,592,791 t ons
from Monmouthsh ird. 1,306, 723 tons from N orth Wales,
and 8,497,269 tons fr m South Wales; the Taff Vale
Railway conveyed 15 355,597 tons; the London and
North-Wstern, 167,793 tons from North Wales a.nd
1,451.161 tons from South Wales; the Great Northern,
l06,627 tons from Soubh Wales; and the Midland,
!,470,538 tons from Wales.

ANOTHER TYNll: BRIDGE.-Another hi~b-level bridge


is to be erected by the Norbh-East~rn Rallway Company
across the Tyne between Gateshead and Newoa~tle. The
bridge is intended to relieve the heavy traffic passing over
Stephenson's high-level structure. The new bridge will
be 675 ft. in length, a.nd will be 110 fb. above the Tyne.
The oosb is estimated ab 470, OOOl.
OuR L ocoMOTIVE Ex PORTS.- The Talue of the locomotives exported from the United Kingdom in September
was 213,95ll., as compared wibh 96,815l. in September.
1900, a.nd 125,225l. in September, 1899. The prospect of
1901 provin~ accordingly a. good year in the history of the
British locomotive trade, so far as foreign ex~orbs are
concerned, appears likely accordingly to be mambained .
This is due especially to the greab demand which has
prevailed for British locomotives upon British colonial
account. Trade has, in fao~, emphatically followed the
flag, the value of the principal locomotive exports in
September comparing as follows with the corresponding
values in the corresponding months of 1900 and 1899 :
Country.

Sept. , 1901. Sept., 1900. Sept., 1899.

..
South America
British South Africa.
British India.
Australasia. . .

..
.

11,612
61,7SH
84.572

40J9;,2

20,660
1,833

25,291
3,757

13,469
2,6(19
66,337
6,107

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

COMPOUND EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE EASTERN RAI LWAY OF FRANCE.


(For Description, see Page 580.)

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Strand, London, W.O.
CONTENTS OF No. 7.
P.lO:&

1'.1.0

The Legal Responsibilities o( Elec


trlc Tram way Companies. By W.
Va lentine &11.......... . . . . . . . .
Electric Motors on Battles h ips. By
J. W. K eUilgg (Plates X VII. to
X X . tmd llluat.mtlons In Text)..
Economics of Stree t Railways.
By t.b e Hon. Robort P. Portor
(Plato XX I.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
M unl ol]XLI Tmd lng :
~g) By Dlxon H. Da.vles . . . . . .

Conrnd W . Cook e ( Illustrations


ln Text) ........... ... ........
66 Railways In Cub..'\ ....... .........
The GrenobleOhapnrellla n E lec
trto Railway (Plates .XX VIII. to
71
XXX.l. and Illustmt.lonsl n Text.)
Flextbhs TronRmlllslon . Dy Sldney
RuSllell (Tilustmtlous In rext) ..
SL Tm.cUon nnd Tnmsmlsslon Notes:
Tho Whi tehead Enclosed Go
90
vemor (l llustmted ) ........
Switch for 200-Volt
~~~~~r~~~..~~~: ..Ro~:: P. 100 I Automatic
Current (lllus tn\ted) ........
The Kubol 1'ur blne J ns tallat.lon.
I
'rhe Southt>Ort E leotr lo Tram
By P rof. Pruzil, Zurich (P lt\tes
car (Plato XXXJI.) ........
X..~ II. to XX.Vll. and Diwtru.
Tbe British Schuckert Com
tlona In Text) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
pnn y 's .Exhibits at Glasgow
Tb e Krleger Eleotromobllo. Dy
(Pinto XX.Xlli.) ...........

105
110
llli
120
126

127
127
128

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CONTENTS,
PAGE

PA9B

The I nstitution of 1\Iecha1 F rench Labour Troubles . . 686


nical Engineers .. .... .. 667 No~es . .. ... .. ............ 687
Die Forgin~. - No. IX. (nForeign Competition ...... 687
lwtrated) . ...... . .. . . .. 668 British Railway P ractice . . 688
Tbe British Aes O<' ia~.ion .. 570 Gyr oscopic Action and t he
T he New Subway in New
Loss of the " Cobra " ... . 688
York Oity ( Jllustrated) .. 676 Testinll Dowson Gas . . . . . . 689
Protect ed
Twin - Sorew
The Vibration of Eng ines
Torpedo-Boats " Siroco "
(nlmtrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
and "Mistral " . .... ..... 576 La.unohes and Trial Trips . 689
NPW Slipway at Laa Palmas,
TrQ.ns portinR a 75 -Ton OastGrand Canary (Jll11 8. ) .. 679
ing by Ratl . . . .. . . . .. .... 590
Exprees LocomotivE', EasNotes from the United
tern of F ran::e Railway
States ........ .. .. ... 690
(Jllustraud) .. .......... 680 Mil!oellanea ................ 690
Notes from the Nor th .. . 680 E leotrioallyDriven Pumps
Notes from Cleveland and
at the Glas~ow Exhibition
the Northern Counties . 681
(lllm tr ated) . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Notes from South YorkIndustrial Notes .... .... 691
shire .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. 681 Gas -Engine Researc h (llNotes from tbe South-West 581
lmtrated) .. . ... . .. ... .. 592
Deep-Tunnel Railways . ... 688 The Purification of FeedLoo< motivas for India . ... 5&4
Water (lllustrated) ...... 596
New Soutb Wales Railways
Engineering" Paten t Reand Trade .. . ....... .... 585
cord (lllustrated) . ....... 699
With a Two-Page Engraving of a COMPOUND EXPRESS

I"

LOCOJJfOTIVE FOR THB EASTERN RA I LWAY OF


FRA.NCB.

ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1901.
DEEP-TUNN EL RAILWAYS.
F Ew people, we imagine, realise that t here are
more than 60 miles of deep-tunnel railways built
or authorised in London, and that seven additional
companies are now seeking powers from Parliament
to add to that network. W e are at a critical point
in the history of the Metropolis, and on our
present action depends, to a great extent, the
convenience of many unborn generations. A
mistake now will be irreparable, for railways are
expensive undertakings. We know, only too
well, that there are many changes we should
like to make in the existing rail way systems ;
and we also know that t hey are quite imposAible. All that we can do is to accommodate
ourselves to the actual state of affairs ; the
tenour of our life has been determined for us
by the engineers of the 'fifties, and, in t he same
way, our actions will give colour and circumstance
to the conditions of living half a century hence.
This fact was realised by Parliament early in last
session, when it found itself confronted with seven
Bills deposited by p romoters of deep-tunnel lines,
each of whom was fighting for his own hand rather
than for the public good. Each was anxious to
appropriate a paying route, and had but little care
whether his scheme would fit into a well-considered
plan of locomotion serving the entire community.
Parliament, therefore, hung up the whole of the
Bills, while the matter was considered in a wide
aspect by a Joint Committee. Quite recently the
Committee has reported, after having h eard an
immense amount of evidence, together with endless speeches by counsel. We have not space to
give the report in extenso, but will summarise the
most important parts. These are : (1) That underground rail ways should run from well-recognised
centres of t raffic to other like centres, or from
centres of traffic to districts where large numbers
of persons have to proceed daily. (2) That county
councils and the Corporation of London should
have a locus standi before commit tees consider

ing such schemes. (3) That great care should be


exercised in authorising loops in the heart of
the City, on the ground that the space may be
wanted for other railways. (4) That confluent
junctions are to be avoided where the service is
very frequent, as they cause delay. (6) That wayleaves shvuld be granted under private properties
and streets. (6) That interchange stations should
be placed at all points where underground lines
cross each other. (7) That a clause should be inserted in every Bill binding the company to give
effect to the recommendations of Lord Rayleigh's
Committee for t he prevention of vibration. (8)
That clauses imposing an obligation to run workmen's trains should be imposed on all. (9) That
there should be more direct control over projects
for underground railways. (10) That the Board of
Trade should inquire into the system of subways or
shallow t unnels now being developed on t he Continent and in America .
There is certainly nothing here that could n ot
have been arrived at without hearing dozens of
witnesses and listening to numberless speeches.
But it is part of our Parliamentary system to
proceecl in this fashion, and as the recommendations
of the Committee will bind all future committees
dealing with private Bills of this class, we need
not grumble at the cumbrousness of the method
of arriving at them. More immediate interest,
however, attaches to t he way in which t he
Committee dealt with individual schemes before
them, which are enumerated in the annexed
Table. Already t he Central London Railway extends in a straight line from Shepherd's Bush to
the Bank, and fulfils the condition that it connects a centre of traffic with other centres of
traffic, and also with a populous residential district.
That avenue is therefore provided for. A similar
line is projected parallel to it from K ensington,
along Piccadilly and the Strand to the City.
Already there is a railway-the Brompton and
Piccadilly line- authorised on this route ; and two
others-the Charing Cross, Hammersmith, and
District, and the Piccadilly and City-are seeking
powers to cover a part of t he ground. Now the
Brompton and Piccadilly line is in friendly relat ion to the Metropolitan Dist rict, for it starts at
their Earl's Court station, and is intended to carry
its passengers forward to the West End. It was
asserted by opposing counsel that the object of
this line was to block a through road into the City,
for that would be in competition with the District
line. Certainly its promoters vigorously opposed
the idea that they should be joined on to the
Piccadilly and City line, and proposed instead
that they should prolong their line up to Oxfordstreet and Bloomsbury, and have there an
interchange station with the Central London.
The Piccadilly and City Company were willing to
connect either with the Brompton and- Piccadilly
line, or with the Charing Cross, Hammersmith,
and District line, either of which would give them a
through road to the western suburbs. The latter
line is laid out to star t from Hamn1ersmith Broadway, and to run through High-street, Kensington,
along Kensington Gardens, K nightsbridge, alongside Hyde Park, through the Green P ark and St.
J ames's Park to Charing Cross, where it would
join the Piccadilly and City line, and have interchange stations with the Baker-street and Waterloo
line, and the Charing Cross, Euston, and Hampstead
line. The Committee, however, did not approve
of a line through t he Green and St. James's Parks,
where there is little traffic, and said that there
ought to be one through line from Hammersmith,
along Piccadilly, to Piccadilly-circus and the City.
Failing that, they though t that the alternative
connection (which they called an end-on junction)
at Obaring-cross should be adopted. ~'urther,
they did n ot approve the extension of the
Brompton and Piccadilly line to Bloomsburysquare. As this line is already in possession of
Piccadilly, it looks as if the Hammersmith line
would have to come to an agreement to join them
at Sloane-street, the two companies despatching
trains to the City alternately every
or 3 minutes.
At any rate, one great thr ough route of 6 miles is
provided for.
Two other lines which urged their rival interests
before t he Committee were the City and NorthEast Suburban and the North-East London. Both
of these proposed to start in the heart of the City,
and to lay their tubes down Bishopsgate-street.
As the Central London Railway Company is also
proposing to lay one tube for the purpose of a

2t

'

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

terminal loop in Bishopsgate-street, there was the


prospect of a crowded condition of the subsoil
there. The route of the City and North -East
London line runs practically due north from
Liverpool - street, through Hoxton, Kingsland,
Stoke N ewington, and Stamford-hill. There was
also a branch projected from Stoke Newington, eastwards toWalthamstow, crossing theN orth-East L ondon line, but the Committee have vetoed this branch,
wbile approving the rest of the schetne. They also
approved generally the sche1ne of the City and
North-East Suburban Company, which is to turn
eastward at Hoxton to Victoria Park, and thence
over Hackney Marshes to Walt,hamstow and Waitham Abbey. Only four miles will be in tunnel,
and the City end is to be removed from Bishopsgate-street to Leadenhall-street. The Committee
gave no direction as to whether either of these r~il
ways should be connected with the Piccadilly and
City line, but presumably neither will be.
This accounts for the lines having their objective
in the City. We now turn to the others. The
Islington and Euston line is really a. prolongation
of the City and South London Rllil way from the
Angel a.t Islington to Euston Station, and a little
way beyond, whence it is connected by an exchange
station with the Cha.ring-cross, Euston, and Hampstead line. The Committee had no recommendation to tnake about this line. The King's-road line
is projected from Eelbrook Common, Fulham, and
runs up the King's-road, Chelsea. It turns a. little
south behind Chelsea. Hospital, and terminates near
Victoria Station, where an interchange station is
required by the Committee. The proposed West
and South Junction Railway is to start from
Bishop's-road, north of Paddington Station, and
run first south and then east until it strikes Edgwareroad. I t passes the Marble Arch and runs through
Hyde Park and G rosvenor-place, past Victoria
Station, down Vauxhall Bridge-road, beneath the
Thames, past Kennington Oval and Kennington Park
to Camberwell Green. The Charing Cross, Euston,
and Hampstead lin e is already authorised ; but
the company are applying for powers to enlarge
the diameter from 11 ft. 6 in. to 13 ft., and to extend both branches further into the country, that is,
from Kentish Town to Highgate, and from Hampstead to North End. Of course, all these schemes
will have to go before Committees of both Houses
next year, and be fought out in the usual way,
with this addition, that the recommendations of
the Joint Committee will guide the procedure and
the decisions.
It cannot be said that the Committee have done
very much. They have done something to defeat
the alleged scheme of the District Rail way to prevent the creation of a through route from Kensington to the City along the Strand, but it yet remains
to be seen what will be the effect of their recommendation. The Brompton and Piccadilly Company is in possession of a part of a route, and
unless they are obliged to come to Parliament for
an extension of time, or for some other urgent
reason they can disregard the ad vice to connect
their line with the City and Piccadilly project.
There is still the Charing Cross and Hammersmith
undertaking, which might furnish the connection,
but it will not serve the public as efficiently unless
its line is also laid in Piccadilly. It would be a
novel sight to see two lines being built side by side.
The Committee seem to have an exaggerated
fear of junctions ; doubtless they are a cause of
delay on ordinary lines, but ~uch of this can be
avoided by fly-over connect10ns. It must be
remembered that t hese deep-tunnel lines are laid
with ruling gradientstof 1 in 40, and that the tubes
are only 11 ft. 6 in. in diameter. It is therefore
an easy matter to l~ad one tu~e over .another, and
thus avoid the fouhng of the hoes whtch occurs on
an ordinary railway. An exchange station must
always be a source of delay for those t~at use it,
and it depends on the volume of traffic 1n the two
branches as to which device will be the most convenient. Before the traffic has had time to develop
one cannot be always certain what will be the best
method of working. It is always possible to
let a junction lie idle, as is done at Baker-street,
and to make passengers to afl:d fr?m the branch
change trains ; but once a. hne .ts c~nstructed,
it is very difficult to p~t tn a JUnction. The
objection to loops ~t the Ct~y e~d seems to be better
founded for it wlll be very dtfficult to find space
for four 'or five loops within 150 yards of the Bank,
unless some of them are put inconveniently lo~.
A tail siding is practically as good as a loop, but 1t

carries no passengers, and consequently earns no


revenue.
This subject of Oity terminals needs to be dealt
with in a far bolder manner than the Committee
has ventured upon. They make a mild suggestion
about way-leaves, but that will have no force until
incorporated in a law. \hat we want is to get rid
of our superstitious regard of freeholds, and, in certain cases, allow t he railways to run under private
property at a nominal cost, or at no cost at
all. We are used to many kinds of interference
with property, and take them as a matter of course,
but we raise our hands in horror if it is proposed
to burrow at a depth of 60ft. below a. man's land
without buying him out at a fancy figure. We make
him pay a heavy rent, in the form of rates; we
oblige him to build in a certain fashion, restricting
the height, and allowing so much space all round;
we call upcn him to construct drains and sewers,
and so on. All this is accepted as n. matter of
course. But no one may invade his freehold.
Yet it is an established legal principle that half
the roadway is the property of the frontagers,
subject to surface rights to the municipality
and the gas and water companies. These have
obtained command of a few feet downwards,
sufficient for sewers and pipes, but all below that
to the centre of the earth in the property of the
freeholders at the sides. Yet tube railways are laid
in t he streets without compensation. It ought also
to be possible, under due restrictions, to lay them
under the buildings. Then we could look forward
to an interchange station in the City, which would
connect all the five projected companies and any
others to follow. If we are to have two changes in
every journey of any length, with a walk of a hundred yards, either along the streets or in an underground passage, we shall miss a great deal of
the advantage we might gain from deep-tunnel railways. The Waterloo and City line was partly spoilt
by being kept to the public thoroughfares. This
involved an S curve at the bottom of the inclin e,
and the Board of Trade limits the speed at this
point far below what was intended, so that the
train has not the impetus to carry it up the opposite
incline at a good velocity. With an entirely new
system of transit new principles are req uired; it
looks as if an important movement would be spoilt
by a slavish adherence to last century ideas.
Deep- T~mnel

Railways A utho'rised in the Metropolis.


Length
Capital
Authorised. ?tt~~.

Company.

mts. fur. ob.


City & South London
Central London ..

6
6

7
6

Great Northern and


City
Baker . street and
Waterloo
Cbaring Cross, Eus
ton, & Hampstead

Water:oo and City .. 1


Brompton and Piccadilly Ci rcus
.. 2
Metropolitan
Dis 4
triot (Earl's Court
to Mansion House)
City and Brixton .
4
Great Northern and
Strand
..
.. 6
Nortb-WestLondon
4
Total length autho lrised
..
. . 51

Observations.

----

0. 76 319,709 Opened 1890.


3.10 559,862 OpenedFebruary,1900.
Total mileage oonstructed, 6 mites a
furlongs 4. 7 chains.
8. 10 698,661 To be finished in a } car
hence.
(I
605.623 ,Partly completed, but
works stopped.
8.15 388,196 It is proposed to in
crease diameter of
tunnel.
6.8 453,5J3 Opened August, 1898.

3 2.60 662,533
6 9. 71 328,205
0 0.85 300,0CO
2 7.H.I 501,930
1 0.9 48l,3S3

- - - 1- - 6 8.oa

Deep-Tunnel Rail'ways S eeking Authorisation or Fttrther


Powe'rs.
Cbaring Cross, Ham
mersmith, and District
..
..
City and NorthEastl
Suburban . .
..
Islington and Euston
King's Road..
..
NorthE-tst London
Piccadilly and City
West and South Loo
don Juootlon
..
Central London .
Charing Cross, Eus
ton, and Ramp
stead
..
..
Brompton and Pie
cadilty Circus . .

I
We bid fair to suffer again from the defects of our
qualities. The initiative and indiyidual effort of
the British race have served us well m the past, but
there are limitations to their usefulness. The
allied race across the Atlantic has recognised this.
After having reclaimed ~n. imm~nr3~ ~ontinent r:om
wood and swamp and pratne by tnd1v1dqal e~ert10n 1

they are now carrying the process to its completion


by joining themselves in vast companies under the
direction of a single board, and in some cases of a
single will. We need a single will to lay out our
deep-tunnel lines in London, so that instead of the
territory being scrambled for, it will be divided on
an ordered plan. If this cannot be done without
an American obtaining control of the subject, by
all means let us welcome the man, for our children
will reap the benefit to the third generation, long
after he is dead and his gains have gone to swell
the splendour of some n oble house. It may be, as
hinted by the Committee, that the American shallow
tunnel is better than the deep tunnel ; and if that
be so, we must adopt that also. The system, which
has been described in our last two issues, has
certain features to recommend it, although our
streets offer difficulties not found in America.
However that may be, the difficulties of transit in
London are so great that we need to make a clear
sweep not only of ant ique methods, but also of a
great many prejudices and old-time notions if we
are to meet them successfully.

LOCOMOTIVES FOR INDIA.


is no problem, or question, or subject
which is now of more vital importance to England
than foreign industrial competition. In expressing
this opinion we feel we are classing ourselves with
a minority, if the columns of the daily press are to
be accepted as reflecting the views of the majority.
In spite of this we hold that the retention of t rade
is as important a matter as, for instance, which
horse wius the next race, or even what may be the
state of the odds ; subjects to which the press
daily gives columns, whilst an occasional paragr~ph
- often of a frivolous or misleading nature-is
sufficient to satisfy the public as to the rate at
which British industry is being encroached upon.
No doubt the press knows best-as it often boasts
-what suits its customers ; and recognises that
the pennies or the halfpennies come tumbling in
much quicker when "tho latest betting" is
adequately treated than when more momentous
subjects receive attention. The moral is that
Board schools pave taught a vast number of people
to read, but have done little towards making them
think.
Naturally these remar~s do not apply to all sections of the daily press, and we are indebted to the
columns of some of our contemporaries for a
reminder upon a subject upon which we have
already written more than once-namely, the lack
of foresight shown by public departments in ordering engineering materiel. The matter was opened
by a letter addressed by Mr. J. Baird to Lord
George Hamilton, in which the m em her for Central Glasgow drew the attention of tho principal
Secretary of State for India to the unfortunate
diversion of Indian locomotive orders to foreign
countries. In his reply, Lord George Hamilton
said he was glad to be able to open up the subject,
as " the loss of these contracts might become permanent, unless strong measures were adopted by
the trade to adjust and expand their powers of production, so as to make them equal to the increasing
demands which have, and will be, made upon
them. " Exactly how the trade-i. e., the firms who
manufacture locomotives-are to adopt strong measures, Lord George Hamilton does not specify ; but
one would judge, from what follows, that some
manner of intimidation - say, a blunderbussshould be exercised upon boards of directors or the
engineers of rail way companies. " It has for years
past been the practice of the great rail way companies in this country to build the great bulk of
the locomotives in factories they themselves erect
and control."
The practice has, of course, its advantages and
disadvantages. They have often been canvassed,
but it may be worth while to repeat a few of
them now, as the question has been e,o prominently
brought forward by the recent purchases of locomotives abroad. In the first place we must remember that a railway company is a commercial
undertaking, not a philanthropic or patriotic institution, and the first duty of its directors is to earn
a dividend for the stockholders. There are many conveniences attached to the carrying out of its own work
of production of plant by a company. The mechanical engineering staff may be supposed to know best
what are the special needs of the line, and will devote their energies to producing engines that will
best meet their needs. ln its own wotkshops the
THERE

E N G I N E E R I N G.
management can make sure of getting work turned
out rogularly and punctually. T here is no fear
a~ ther e possibly might be if the supply were exclu~
si vely from without, that the firms would be so full
of orders for other companies that locomotives
could not be obtained when needed. Makers of
locomotives make profits. It is h eld that by making
its own engines the r ail way company saves t hese
amounts to add to its dividends. In any case a
railw~y company must necessarily do the areater
part of its own repairs, and the establi: hment
needed for this purpose may be utilised for making
new en gines without adding to the expense of the
staff to any dispr oportionate degree. These are
some of the claims adv~nced in favour of the system
generally in vogue in this country. In the United
States the r&ilroad companies depend chiefly on
outside shops, buying most of their locomotives
ready made. The great Pennsylvania Company
have, however, excellently organised and equipped
engineering works at Altoona.
The dis!ldvantages of the home-made system as
urged by its opponents are, that locomotives, like
other m1chines, must n ecessarily be more cheaply
made in a factory the proprietors of which have
the incentive of direct personal gain, even when
the profits earned are taken into account ; that
an engineering firm making for several companies
will collect instrucbion from a wider field of experience ; that i ts management will be more
energetic, and that competition with other firms
will force it to keep i ts machinery and its methods
more closely up to modern r equirements ; that
invention will be st imulated, and that the management will be more r eady to run the risk necessary in the introduction of new inventions ; that
it is the business of a rail way company to transport passengers and goods, the carrying out of
which functions is quite enough to monopolise
t he t ime and energies of the management without
entering into a complicated man ufacturing business.
There are, of course, other considerations, and
those that have been stated will be variously estimated ; p ossibly the most j udicious course for a railway company to follow is to make a certain number
of locomotives in its own shops and to satisfy. extra.
requirements by purchase from outside makers. In
this way the engineering staff of the rail way company
gets practical experience in manufacture, but can also
profit by t he experience of others; whilst an efficien t
check is kept on the contractors in case they are
inclined to take ad vantage of a full market.
These considerations are as between manufact urer
and purchaser, but there are wider aspects of a
n l\tional character. There is no doubt that in the
United States the far larger number of locomotives
made by engineering fir ms established for the purpose gives t he trade one great ad vantage over the
Brit ish manufacturers. Lord George Hamilton
refers to this when he says : ''Each rail way company has its own type of locomotive, and each
company const ructs the great majority of the en gines they so design. The outside firms get comparatively few orders from t he home r ail ways, and
there is no standardisation of pattern or type in
the limited orders they do receive. " The letter of
Lord George H amilton goes on to say that this
twofold uncertainty - first as to numbers and
secondly as to type-has had a cramping effect
upon the expansion of those engineering firms who
construct locomotives.
That is quite true in r egard to home rail ways
which are own ed by indep endent companies, but
it is also true of railways under the control of the
State in India. vVith regard to home rail ways, the
Government is powerless, excepting when a n ew
ra.ilway comes to Parliament for permission to construct, or an e3tablished line asks for additional
powers. Then, of course, it is p ermissible for the
Legisla~ure to bargain ; but it would, at least, be
a novel procedure to direct a rail way company to
purchase, in place of manufacture, its locomotives,
or any part of them. Whether s uch a comse
would be to the p ublic advantage is another
matter ; and it is only on the ground of public
advantaae that a railway company asks for the
arbitrary powers that must b e acquired to enable
construction to be carried on.
Apart from the inter ests of t he employes of the
various rail way companio~, and from the point of
view of the proprietors, it is worth considering
whether it would not be wise to give more
encouraaement to the locomotive firms. There is
nothingo more wholesome than competition, and if
there w e~e not the check of a more or less well-

defined outside price, the cost of railway shopmade engines might run up considerably.
The Secretary of State for India lectures the
home rail ways on what they should do without
much restraint; but he migh t, perhaps, consider
his O\vn depar tment with advantage. He tells us
that '' the demand for locomotives from India has
greatly increased, and will con tinue to increase ."
That is excellent news, and it is to be hoped the
demand will be filled by British firms. The call
for rail way stock for South Africa seems likely to
coincide with this; and Lord George Hamilton says
'' these orders in the aggregate are considerably
in excess of what the home factories can produce. ,
The Indian Government, we are further told,
"have had to postpone placing certain orders until
the Sout h African order.:J have been advanced ; "
and, further, that " the rolling stock in India upon
several of the great arterial lines is quite insufficient
to carry the goods waiting to be moved, and . these
companies cannot indefinitely await the execution
of t heir pressing wants. ,
We belie ve that the Indian Government are n ow
doing their best-whether prompted by L ord
George llamilton or not we cannot say-to remedy
this unsatisfactory state of affairs ; but we cannot
help saying it has been brought about by their own
cooduct. The locomotive stock was allowed to run
down to a very low ebb, and for years orders, for
which the locomotive makers in this country were
hungering, were held back. With no encouragement from the majority of home railways and little
from abroad, it was hardly to be wondered at that
many firms declined to spend money in keeping
their works up to date in order to execute orders
that appeared never likely to come, or at best at
an uncertain date ; whilst the star ting of n ew vent ures that would have brought a fresh impulse and
fresh energy into the competition was not to be
expected.
We believe that this holding back vf orders was
due to the, perhaps, well-intentioned, but certainly
short-sighted desire to reach a more perfect type of
engine than had been evolved. There always
appeared to be something better- a radical change,
perhaps, looming big close ahead. Those who wait
for epoch-making changes in engineering practice
generally get left ; to be abreast of the best existing practice-either one's own or that of others- is
as good as can be ask ed, and the man who waits for
what may never come is likely to find himself without necessary too]s when the work has to be done.
That is just the posit ion of the Indian railways.
As a consequence, when the Assam-Bengal Railway
invited tenders for 10 locomotives and the East
Indian Railway for 40 locomotives, the quotations
of an Hanover firm were found to be 25 per cent.
less than those of any British firm, and t he time
asked for delivery of the German locomotives is
stated to be about half that needed by our home
establishments. The difference in price and time is
accounted for by the fact that the British firms are
so full of work that they only tendered at prohibitive rates ; " and thus," moralises Lord George
Hamilton, " the country has lost these contracts,
and a trade with a foreign firm has been established
to its detriment."

In justice to the Secretary for India, it must be


said that he gives an excellent forecast of what
should be done in fut ure ; and if this p1ogramme
is carried out, we may hope that the mischief, the
foundation of which was laid when Lord George
Hamilton was First L ord of the Admiralty, will be,
as far as possible, counteracted in the future. "From
communications which have passed b etween me and
certain leading firms,, he says in his letter to
Mr. Baird, '~I am given to understand that
if in India a standardisation of locomotives, such
as exists in the United States and Canada,
could be adopted, one element of uncertainty
would be removed ; and if, at the same tim~, a. forecast in advance could be made of the number
of locomotives r equired for the next year on a
longer period, some of the obstacles now preventing
the expansion of locomotive factories would be
removed. " We are not only quite sure that this
view is perfectly correct., but also that if the programme suggested is carried out, that British locomotive makers will extend their works where
necessary and keep their plant up to all modern
requirements, so that there will be no further need
to go to Hanover for locomotives to be used in
Great Britain or her dependencies.
The question of the effect of "Great Georgestreet, on the locomotive t rade with abroad has

been raised in connection with the subject by a


correspondent, whose letter has been published in
the Times, and who claims to speak on behalf of
one of the largest locomotive firms in Glasgow.
He says that the greatest difficulty locomotive
builders in this country have to contend with a.t
the present is, not so much t he want of standardisation or uniformity in design, as the exacting and
unreasonable nature of the inspection to which
most of their export work is subjected, and by
which the outp ut of their workshops is most
seriously reduced. Quite a colony of consulting
engineers in Westminster derive their incomes
from the supervision of the contracts for bridges.
permanent way, and rolling stock for our Colonial
and Indian rail ways, while a perfect army of inspectors, spren.d all over the country, live absolutely upon these contracts.
It has been proposed by Lord Ge0rge Hamilton, in consultation with L ord Curzon, that a
conference of Indian rail way engineers should be
held in December next in Calcutta, with a view
to considering the be~:Jt way of carrying out
the reforms above suggested. The representative of the locomotive firm above r eferred to
points out, however, that the r olling stock on
every line in India has been restricted in weight,
&c., by the most stringent limitations ; there is
consequently at the present t ime not a single locomotive in all that vast country which could satisfy
modern ideas as regard~ dimensions and weight.
In this respect the Cape Government railways have
left India far behind, and their rolling stock manufactured in this country is quite up t0 modern
practice, even in America. The proposed conference will therefor e be much better employed in
abrogating the obsolete Government weight limits
now in force, or alternatively in standardizing up
the permanent way in India to modern requirements. In Germany and America manufacturer.:J
have not as yet t he Westminster engineers and
their inspectors. The output of our existing locomotive establishments could, the same authority
states, be at once doubled, without inj uriously
affecting the quality of the work produced, if t he
system of inspection were revised and brought more
into harmony with that in vogue in .America.
Without being over sanguine, we may perhaps
look forward to a better state of affairs in the future
in our locomotive trade. Whilst recognising the
necessary cramping effect of any cons ultati,re element
in engineering matters, we may bear in mind that
the Great George-street engineers are men of high
ability and wide experience and will doubtless take
an enlightened view of the situation.

NEW SOUTH WALES RAILWAYS


AND TRADE.
THE New South Wales 1ailwa.ys in the year
ending with June last earn ed a profit equal to
3. 94 per cent . on the capital invested ; the average
rate of interest on the State debt is only 3. 66 per
cent., and t here remains a surplus of 105, 638l. ,
and as a consequence reduction in freight rates are
being made equivalent to between 50,000l. and
60,000l. p er annum. The trade interests for which
these concessions are being made include wool,
woolpacks, grain sacks, fencing wire, agricultural
produce, and sugar. The r esult of the year's
r ailway management thus briefly expressed at once
establishes the economy and progressive develop
ment which characterise the administration.
In such a colony as New South Wales great discrimination is necessary in effecting economies, for
where, as in that colony, there is a monopoly, it is
comparatively easy to create large credit balances.
But not only is the work of r elaying the permanent way and reconstructing bridges charged to
revenue, but r olling stock is largely reconstructed
also from revenue, with the result that the t rack and
plant are improved. Ne w lines are projected wher e
there is reasonable prospect of a return at an early
date ; in five year.:J over 300 miles have been added,
and there are in course of construction 664 miles of
light pioneer railways ; sheds for the accumulating
of grain at inland stations to await transit are being
er ected ; incr eased siding accommodation is being
laid down at the export harbour of Darling, where
also large sheds and grain-shipping elevator ~ppli
ances are being installed. In addition to this the
Commissioners- Messrs. Charles Oliver, vV. M.
F E:'h on, and David Kirkcaldie-have had constructed
from capital account n ine goods locomotives, with
an average t ractive force of 28,800 lb. , to replace

586

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

fourbeen engines, the 1nean power of which was traffic accounts for 86 per cent. of the journeys
only 18,144lb. Thus we have here not only an made by rail, but the average rate is only !d. per
increased agricultural area served by the rail ways, mile, and they only account for one-fourth of the
but commendable facilities for gathering freight total receipts from passengers. The average distance
in anticipation of regular grain trains, more econo- of such suburban journeys is under 6 miles, so that
mical tractive power, and, finally, improved con the figures for all passenger traffic suggest a very
veniences for exportation. Such additional facilities considerable addition to the average length of
re-act on freight rates, because influencing the extra-mural traffic. The tonnage of all goods convolume of traffic, and the result is that in ten veyed shows an increase of 16 per cent., and the
years the quantity of grain and flour dealt with receipts of 12! per cent.; but here the monetary
has more than doubled, amounting for the year result is affected by the fact that, with the view of
under review to 504,8SO tons, while the average affording relief to the pastoral industry, which has
haul has increased, almost in the same proportion, suffered so severely from the effects of prolonged
to 195f miles, the average rate per ton-mile, ex- drought, tebates amounting to 38,5'77l. were allowed
cluding terminal charges, having been 0.49d. This in connection with the carriage of starving stock,
will appear the more satisfactory when it is noted and of fodder where the removal of stock was not
that the longest possible haul is 603 miles- from considered practicable. The total gross earnings
Bourke in the northern interior to Sydney; there amounted to 3,573, '779l. - an increase of 11! per
are three other through lines over 400 miles long. cent.; but, unfortunately, the expenses increased at
There is a similar increasing tendency in the the rate of 16! per cent., the ratio of expense to
volume of traffic and in the average haul in other revenue having gone up from 65.93 to 57.17 per
depart ments concurrent with reduced rates, although cent.; but this is still f~r short of the 62 per cent.
grain shows the greatest development. Thus with required for the British lines last year. The details
hay, straw, and chaff the mean rate, excluding ter- of the New South Wales expenditure given in the
minal char5es, has been reduced to 0. 39d. per ton- Commissioners' report are meagre, but we are told
mile, and in ten yeara the tonnage of the traffic has that this rise in expenditure is due to the increased
nearly trebled, amounting in 1900-1 to 154,403 traffic, the greater cost of coal and materials, &c.,
tons, the average miles per ton being now 197. additional relaying, repairs, and renewals of stock,
In wool there are fluctuations, and also with and the more liberal advances granted to the wages
live stock. With coal and shale the haul is not staff. These latter items are all commendable, and
at all long : the mines are in close proximity to tend ultimately to economy. As a matter of fact, the
the ports, and the preponderating portion of the earnings per train-mile were !d. less, and the exmineral dealt with is for export.
The rail- penses ! d. more, and thus the net revenue is ld.
ways carried 3, 956,003 tons in the year under less per train-mile, which, all things considered, is
review ; the foreign exports from Newcastle alone not unsatisfactory. The train mile is for the future
amounted to 1,352,476 tons, and inter-colonial to be computated on a new basis. Every train
shipments to 1,864,968 tons; together 3,207,444 drawn by two engines is to be calculated as two
tons. This is about 20 per cent. more than in the trains, an arrangement arrived at by all the States in
previous year, quite a third of the increased quan- the Commonwealth of Australia, so as to insure
tity going to Chili. The measure of the encourage- uniformity in mileage returns. This is commendment offered to this large export trade is indicated able, for the engine mileage is, after all, the true
by the fact that the freight rate is 0. 63d. per ton- test of the duty done for a given income, and it
mile, excluding terminal charges. In fact, fully carries a check upon the expensive practice of
84 per cent. of the goods traffic is carried at an double heading.
average of ~d. per ton-mile, and, as we have indicated, red-uctions are in contemplation, so that
FRENCH LABOUR TROUBLES.
the economy achieved, which is not at the cost of
(FR01\I AN OcCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT.)
maintenance, is conducive to the development of
THE economical situation now ruling in France
the internal resources and of the export trade. It
would have been interesting to have had further has, so far as can be seen, given rise almost excludetails, in the Government report now before us, of sively to personal polemics without much interest
the separate items of expenditure, and particularly for the outside world. A general strike is announced
as to the economy of powerful locomotives and for November 1st next ; if it does take place, it
will most probably lead to a very serious upheaval.
large wagons.
The year ending wit~ June last has undoubtedl.Y Owing to its gravity, the question needs to be
been exceptionally satisfactory so far as revenue IS grappled with in a business-like way, but this
concerned, the increase having been the largest in does not appear to be done. The Government
any one year since rail ways were first introduced in authorities seem to be playing a double game.
1855. The total receipts were 3,573, 779l., equal They appear, on the one hand, to be tacitly
to 1286l. per mile open : five years ago it was about encouraging Socialism, and on the other to be
llOOl., and generally. it may be said that .over a taking every precaution against any possible outperiod of a year the Income has grown pa/'rt_ passu, bursts on the part of Socialists. J n the meantime,
with the mileage open ; but. the 56.4 mile~ of the right-minded sections of local trade unionismpioneer lines now proJ~cted obvwu~lY. raise anxiety those which have been formed under the sole
in the minds of the Railway Commissioners. There initiative of the workmen-are completing their
are several lines in the colony which have not yet organisation with such a will that they may delay
reached a paying stage. These extend to .1~86 a cataclysm, or perhaps avert it altogether. These
miles and last year incurred a loss, after providing sections stand aloof from the mischievous canfor w~rking expenses and interest, of 324,230l.- vassers whose business is to deal in strikes, as
rather more than in the previous twel vemonths, the well as from all petty political and religious conslight increase in deficit being partly owin~ ~o the troversy; the object of their existence is solely for
higher price of coal, but, as the OommiSslOn~rs the benefit of the men in conjunction with full
point out, losses are to ~ome extent unavOid- justice due to masters. These sections are known
able in the case of new hnes through sparsely as the syndicats jatttnes, in opposition to the older
populated country ; they a~d, ".yet the heavy ones, the syndicctJts r O'Itges of Socialism, and, may
burdens that unremunerative hnes are upon be, of Anarchy.
Can it be that the French authorities are reckonthe system as a whole should no.t be. lo~~
sight of when ?ew line~ are u.nder cons1derat~o~. ing on the eventual action for good of these men,
Such warning lS not without .Its use :when politiCal and are taking ad vantage of it in a diplomatic way
influence is exerted to have hnes butlt apart alto- for party gain 1 If so, they are playing a very
gether f~o~. ~he probabilities of success ; but .wl1ere dangerous game. It is to be hoped, however, that
the possibilities are not altogether absent, ptoneer once the principle of a. general strike is acknowlines or feeders should be undertaken. ~ere loss ledged, voted and proclaimed by a turbulent mass
is incurred, it must be regarded as an Investment of men, in a minority owing to the "yellow syndito insure development ; and although the specula- cates " and law-abiding people, the strike itself will
tive spirit should ~ot be e~couraged, courage for be postponed to a later date, which will be
future extensions IS found In the fact that 15?9 appointed, but held secret, by the central, federal,
miles of prosperous railway made up the financtal and revolutionary committee. Such may be the
deficiencies of the 1286 miles of line not yet profit- case.
In the present labour troubles the miners would
able and yet left the large surplus referred to.
Ml classes of traffic contributed to the general be the leading spirit, and the Government- simply,
prosperity. There was an ~ncrease equal to abo~t no doubt, with a view to gain time and to appear to be
11 per cent. in passenger JOUrney~, an~ of 12! In moving in the ma~ter-recen~lY. asked thre.e qu~s
tions
from
the
various
coal-mining
compames
with
the receipts; The difference in ratio be1ng du~ to
longer journeys, and not to rates. The subu1 ban regard to the Bill for reducing the working day in

[OcT. 25, 1901.


mines to eight hours. These questions were as
follows:
1. What effect would an eight-hours' day have on
your output ?
2. Should you foresee a decrease in your output,
could you compensate for it by increasing the
number of your workings, by resorting to mechanical devices, or again by working double shifts 1
3. What time would you require to organise work
on these new bases ?
We believe all the mineowning companies gave
replies to the above queries. We have only seen,
however, a copy of the replies handed in by the
Loire Mining Companies' Association. Owing to
the importance of this Association, their opinion
should carry great weight; it may even be considered as representative of that of all other French
mining companies. It is briefly as follows :
The eight-hours' day would mean a decrease in
output of at least 20 per cent In most of the
mines of the Loire Coal Basin the working day is a
ten-hours' day from the surface back to the surface .
If we reckon two hours average for meals, descent,
ascent, and preparing for work, the eff~ctive working day is of eight hours only. It would be useless
to expect from the men an increase in their activity
proportionate to a reduction of two hours. In 1900
the working day was reduced by half an hour,
and the output gradually fell off by 5.8 per cent.
By reducing it to eight houra the increase in cost
price would be a very heavy one, even were it to
be accompanied by a proportional decrease in the
amount paid in wages.
It would be utterly impossible to make up for
reduced output by an increase in the number of
workings, in the Loire Coal Basin at all events.
In 1900 those companies who tried to meet the
increased demand for coal, and who made great
efforts to succeed, increased the number of their
men by 7. 2 per cent., and even then only secured
a limited increase in their output- merely 3. 6
per cent. The workings are concentrated to the
extreme limit, owing to the necessity of taking
a fresh cut immediately on leaving the preceding one, in order that the coal should not be left
long enough to take fire. The number of workings is, therefore, even now, a maximum number,
and all means and appliances are taken and calcula~ed for gett ing in a given time the whole
quantity which the engines are powerful enough
to raise to the surface in that same time. The
production being now an intensive one, and all
arrangements being made accordingly, it would
be impossible to obtain a tonnage equal to the
present one with two hours less work per day.
Mechanical tools for cutting the coal cannot be
used, as, owing to the sliding nature of the ground,
the distance between the face of the cutting and
the front of the banking-up must always be kept as
short as possible. Besides this, most of the coal is
soft coal, and there is no need to use mechanical
tools ; ~their use would not tend to increase the
output. With the present organisation in the
French mines, the day shift works the coal, the
night shift filling up ; and should it be possible to
institute double shifts for working the coal, it
would be impossible to carry out a satisfactory filling up. In some mines also, by reason
of the small thickness of the seams and width of
trolley-ways, the necessary double track for working
the coal and filling up simultaneously could not be
laid down. In supposing even that it were practicable to work the coal by double shifts, the reduction
in output, due to the reduction in the number of
working hours, would not be compensated for;
this has been proved by experience over and over

again.
The above replies are to the point, and coming
as they do from men who understand their business, they need no comments, and should certainly
convince outsiders.
That the Bill in question is one - sided is
evidenced throughout by the fact that it mentions n o reduction in wages to correspond with
the reduction in the number of working hours.
It is simply a Bill to pamper the greed of
the masses. In the labour dispute likely soon
to revolutionise France, the French authorities
take upon themselves the duties of arbitrators.
Now, the word "arbitrator" has always been, and
should ever be, suggestive of the most complete
impartiality. Were this quality to be banished
from every other domain, it should certainly form
the attribute of a;rbitration. We fail to see the
least shadow of imputiality in this Bill. It is tt ue

E N G I N E E R 1 N G.
that ~oth~g is.known as to what its framers may
have In their mtnds ; t here may Le no intention at
a~l of its becoming law. Should it pass, however,
e tthex the companies will not maintain the same
w~ges for a less amount of work, or the authorities
w1ll have to compel the companies by law to reduce
t he. working day to eight h ours, as well as to grant
theu men a mi.nimum wage, which is what the m en,
or, rather, thetr leaders, are driving at. Now, this
matt~r .see~s such ~ difficult one to legislate upon,
that It Is quite possible that nothing will be don e
at all, ai?-d the Government will go on temporising.
Know10g the customs which rule in French
private companies as we do, we are able to state
that they have ever been most mindful of the welThe intervention of State
fare of their men.
offic_ials into the inner working of private compantes can have no beneficial effect whatever in the
sense put forward, even were it proved that the
State is more desirous and better able than are the
cvmpanies to benefit t he men. We suppose the
Go'fernmeL t only wish to intervene, or to appear
to do so, and have no d esire to "nationalise "
the mines and works ; that bubble must have
b e~n pricked long ago, and the experience
ga.med by the ''nationalisation, of the mines at
~Ionthieux. and Ri ve-de-Giers, and of the glassworks at A lbi, must surely have shown the Government that whatever be their other qualities, they
are absolutely unfit t o t~k e up the position of company directors.
French companies, we maintain, have always
been i~ the ~an with regard to the paternal care
they gt ve their men, a nd t he ''yellow syndicates "
above referred to should fully meet the need- if
need there be- of arbitration between masters and
men on questions p ertaining to labour ; such questions would be arbitrated upon locally, apart from
aH political interference, as should be the case.
The miner's lot is a hard one h owever it may b e
improved. In France his hardships ha.ve been
tempered to him to a very high degree, and in many
ways by the companies, while until lately he was
sure to receive public sympathy.
But public
sympathy is now waning, and the fault lies with
the polit ical ad venturers by whom the miner allows
himseU to be guided. Who would care to get up
and d efend the miners- for defending them it
would be- in reply to the fallacious arguments put
forward by t he irresponsible men whom he puts
forward as mediators 1 The French miner has no
worse enemy than himself.

NOTES.
THE BREWERS' EXHIBITION.
THE annual exhibition of plant and produce con nected with brewing and its allied trades was
opened at the Agricultural Hall last Saturday. On
t he present occasion the display of plant is perhaps
rather less than usual, there being corn para.tively
liUle of interest from a mechanical point, if we
except the ingenious automatic machines with which
the enterprising publican reaps a harvest of coppers
from his customers. In previous yea rs we have
noted some fine specimens of coppersmiths' work,
but little of this kind is to be seen this year. The
great refrigerating industry is represented by a
single small carbon-dioxide plant, to be seen at the
stand of Messrs. H. J. West and Co., Limited, of
116, outhwark Bridge-road, S.E. Several gas
engines a re on view, but practice in this connection
has n ow become so standardised that the different
makes vary only in detail. In gas engines for
electric lighting purposes an exhibit by Messrs .
Crossley Brothers, Limited, of Openshaw, is noteworthy, in that the engine is direct-connected to a
7.kilowatt 6-pole dynamo.
This arrangement,
though not absolutely novel, has only been recently introd uced, and marks a distinct advance
in the regularity of running, which it is now
p ossible to attain with gas engines. The plant
shown is designed to run at 250 revolutions per
minute. One of the most interesting exhibits was
that of M essrs. Doulton, of Lambeth, who in addition to a commonplace display of beer bottles and
the like, showed also a stoneware chemical plant, of
large size, reproducing in pottery many of the
forms common in la boratory glasswork. The principal novelty this year is the apparatus for superaeration n ow b ecoming common in the larger
Bodegas and the like.
Ordinary soda water in
syphons is bottled under a pressure of 150 lb. per
square inch or so. The plan adopted by the London
Super-Aeration Company, Limited, of 4 to 6, Crinan-

street, L ondon, N., is to supply the soda water in


bulk. The receptacles are of steel lined with block
tin. Each receptacle holds several gallons of soda
water, and the pressure used is something like 800 lb.
per square inch. As the amount of gas dissolved in
a liquid varies directly as the pressure, the soda
water thus supplied is very much more highly
aerated than the ordinary, and as it is the practice
not to fill the receivers more than about half full of
water, the pressure at which the last portion of the
water is dispensed is not so very different from
what it was initially. A stand which attracted a
good deal of attention was that of the Renewable
Electric Lamp, Company, Limited, of Brunswick
Buildings, City-road, N. This company supply
high efficiency lamps, and undertake to renew the
filaments as the light falls off at a cost of about 7d.
a lamp. Tho lamps are claimed to give one candlepower per 2i watts. The method of renewing
filaments was shown in operation at the stand.
STEAM PIPES.
Steam pipes are, by Act of Parliament, embraced
in the term '' steam boilers," and an accident t o
t hem is liable to carry penalties, in the form of costs
of a Board of Trade inquiry, even if it does not involve injury to any person. It is therefore important to steam users to see that their pipes are
properly designed and erected . Many hints on this
matter will be found in the memorandum presented
to the annual meeting of the Manchester Steam
Users' Association by the engineer, Mr. C. E.
Stromeyer, M. Inst. C. E.
He has fo und that
many of the fittings sold as cast steel are of
less strength than cast iron, some of them having
a tensile strength of only 6 tons per square inch.
It is therefore important to specify that boiler
mount ings should be of '' mild cast steel., The
trouble with steel castings is that they are often
full of blowholes ; but as one or two steel works
turn out uniformly sound castings, it is evident
that these flaws are not inevitable. The stresses
which come on such mountings as junction valves
are generally due either to water in the pipes or
to expansion of the pipes. When, owing to bad
design, water lodges in some pocket, it is apt to be
set in violent motion by opening a steam valve or
a drain cock.
The peculiar action of waterhammer is illustrated by a case in which the
plug of water struck the brass valve of a junction valve, turned it inside out, and drove
it through its seat into the boiler, which at
that time had a full pressure of 150 lb. per square
inch. The valve casing was not fractured . Horizontal lengths of pipes with an upward bend at one
of the ends have proved extremely dangerous if
they can b ecome comple tely filled with water. If
the steam be turned on to be in contact with the
water in the vertical pipe, and if also the water in
the horizontal length be allowed to drain out until
it sinks below the inside top of this pipe, then the
steam rushes into the space above the water, sweeping up waves which set the entire mass into violent
motion, and causing it to oscillate backwards and
forward~, until it strikes the valve and shatters it.
Expansion bends axe of several forms. There is
consis ting of a semicircle
(1) the inverted
and two &traight pieces each joined to a short
quarter-bend; (2) the semicircle joined to two
quarter bends of the same radius as itself ; (3)
the bend consisting of one piece of two-thirds of a
circle, and two pieces of about one-third each; (4)
the complete circle ; (5) the complete circle set at
right angles to the axis of the steam pipe, and
s tressed in torsion. If the permissible springing of
No. 1 be represented by 2! , then that of Nos. 2,
3, and 4 would be 12, and that of No. 5 would be
21. The permissible amount of stretching of any
of those bends is directly proportional to the mean
height of the loop, a nd inversely proportional to
the square of the diameter of the pipe, and independent of the thickness of the metal, but the
force required to effect the stretching is proportional to the thickness of the meta l and to the
square of the diameter of the pipe. If, therefore, a
weak fitting has to be relieved, the bend should be
of the thinnest possible metal. Mr. Stromeyer
prefers steel bends to copper ones, because, having
a higher elastic limit, they gi \~e a greater range of
motion. If the pipes are arranged to be short,
when cold, by half the designed range of the
bend, then the value of this bend is practically doubled ; and if the straight line of pipes
can d~flect sideways, the range is again doubled.
A 4-ft. copper bend (Nos. 2, 3, and 4) is, under

n,

these circumstances, capable of relieving an expansion amounting to 1. 6 in.


Mr. Stromeyer
also referred at length to means of softening feed
water for boilers ; that portion of his memorandum
we print in another column.
FOREIGN COMPETITION.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Srn,-Since sending you my communico.tion which
appeared in your lasb issue, there hM been published a
letter from Lord George Hamilton, bhe Secretary of State
for India, which bag created wide2pread interest throughout the community. Lord George Hamilton's views are
well known to the locomotive builders in this country, and
be has stated them, as usual, with kindly consideration
and courtesy. His Lordship, however, is, ab ib were, only
broughb into temporary touob willh the locomotive industry; and thus, while ~iving- expression to his opinions
on its presenb J?OSition m th1s country, he errs simply
from his insuffiCient knowledge of the full circumstances.
Lord George Hamilton's main compla.inb is tha.b British
makers have not risen to bhe occa.gion, inasmuch a.s they
have failed to make the extensions on their establishments
which the necessities of the cage oall for. To answer thab
properly, one would have to go back beyond the present
boom. If a. survey be made 0f bhe locomotive trade for,
say, the pagb twenty years, it will be found bha.b during
this period there have been alternating booms and depresions; for example, the depression of 18813 was fol
lowed by the boom of 1884-5 ; then the depression which
began in 1886 continued during 1887-9, and practically
on, with slight temporary relief, till th ~ ye.u 1896, when
the present aoti vity set in. A glance at these figures will
show thab the fat years have besn easily eaten up by the
lean ; and, taking the whole twenty years together, bhe
normal sta.~e of the trade hag been that the manufactories
have nob been taxed within 25 to 50 per cent. of their
capacity. Because there is a temporary pressure, Lord
George Hamilton, and with him all the preos censona,
would have the locomotive makers launch out reckleEssly in extensions. When the present demand ha.s
subsided, whab would Lord George Hamilton be prepared to do for the makers whom he had induced to
mcrease their capacity to an extent more than double the
normal demand ? This is a test question, and might call
for a practical answer. Lord George states " The demand
for locomotives from India has ~reably increased, and will
continue to increase. " Would, or could, his lordship
guarantee thab this demand would in future, and regularly, be sufficient to take up the ca.paoity of, say, two of
bhe seven firms in this country who are usually invited to
tender for Indian requirements? If so, bhe locomotive
makers would rise to the occasion, and amply satisfy him
in the matter of extension~.
History repeat>s itself, and ib may be interesting to
recall, for the benefit of Lord George Hamilton and other
critics, what has happened tefore. 'l'he a-otiYity of
1884-5, and the fabulous profits which everyone outside
the trade knows to be normal in the locomotive industry,
induced the formation of a new company with extensive
capital, modernly-planned shops, and expert management.
This compa~ had its firsb locomotive on show in the
Edinburgh Exhibition of 1886. In the course of bhree
years ib had losb the third of ibs capital, was glad to sell
1tself to one of the old firms which was looking oub for a
new location; and, withoub making any mystery of bhe
matter, is now incorporated with Messrs. Sharp, Stewart,
and Co. 1 Limited, now of Glasgow, then of Manchester.
Mr. Edttor, will you kindly insert the enclosed extracts
from the annual reporb of the locomotive trade, and then
tell the public whab the India Office did to supporb the
new venture and to keep it in existence. Whab guarante
have the locomotive makers that what happened before
will nob happen again, and who will help them in the
struggle for existence when the inevitable depression
comes round again ? These extracb reports show that
the locomotive makers have been all along cognisant of what would happen when demand should
strengthen from other markets, and the India Office
and Indian officials have alone been blind bo the necessities
of the case. All interested, including the presenb
Secretary for India and his predecessors in office, had
these annual reports senb to bhem, but the warnings did
nob seem to affect them greatly. The present Secretary
means kindlr by the home makers, and bhese latter
appreciate h1s courtesies; therefore it will nob, perha~,
be baken amiss if we mildly call attention to his Lordship's own period of administration. I believe his
Lordship assumed office in July, 1895. The trade report
in December of thab year stated thab the total publio
demand (nob from India. only hub from the whole world)
could have been met by the output capacity of two of the
firms. Lord Geor~e's hand, however, could hardly have
been felb by bbat btme; hub perhaps by the end of 18~7,
after 2~ yeara of office, we might have looked for better
bhan "'he Indian State Railways seem still to be lag~ing
behind, being responRible fo(somewhere aboub 40 ,engmes
only : , a number equal to two to three monbbs oubpub
capacity of a Eingle shop.
From this ib will be seen that we have only the three
years 1888-990 to regard as years of aobivity, so far as the
India Office is concerned; and as Indian orders have during bhab time been freely placed abroad, the locomotive
trade does nob feel itself under an insupportable load of
gratitude to the Indian Government.
After all this has been said, ib may be news to his L ord
ship and the oritios, and it may even interest them to
know, bhat every locomotive shop in the country has
greatly enlarged its productive ca.paoiby within the last
few years, in mosb oases the capital has also been greatly
increased ; and these extensions will in the aggregate

s88

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

equal ab least bwo new s hops of large dimensions. If


locomotive maker3 are allowed to know th e elements of
their own business, they may be pardoned if they feel
somewhat doubtful whether the present temporary spurt
justifies this extra expenditure; and if they consider that
a. pause is desirable until reasonable evidence is forthcoming that the shareholders' money has not been re.shly
squandered. So far as the India Office is concerned,
there is nothing to compel them in the future to geb their
wants supplied in this coun~ry. If ib suited their book
{or the personal failings or crotchets of any of their
officials), they C)uld still go to America or Germany; and
British makers will onJy eecure the work wh en they can
compete s ucceEsfully in price and time of delivery, and
when they secure contracts on these terms only, they
need not feel greatly beholden to the India. Office.
Lord George Hamilton seems to imply that the recent
orders have been placed in Germany solely because of the
failure of the Brit.ish makers to increase their capacity.
The two have n o bearing on ea-ch other, or if they have
the obverse is the case. British makers, before investing
further capital in works and plant, have to consider all
possible contingenoies, and one of these contingencies is
the present state of trade in Germany. Ib is Germany's
policy just now, as ib may be Belgium's to-morrow, and
France, Austria, or even Italy's the next day, to cut
prices for British orders; and when these foreigners are
supported as they are by th eir fiscal policy, our firms are
helpless to prevent them cutting in. America's presence
in our markets represents competition (although on unfair linea), hub Germany's present advent i.1 temporary,
and due entirely to extraneous circumstances.
Both Germany and America protect themselves against
forei g n competition within their own borders by a. high
customs tariff.
They can thus secure a. splendid return from their own
hom9 requirements, and can afford to dispose of the
balance of their production to outsiders ab a low, if not
even unremunerative, rate. If by a long continuance of
this policy: they were to extinguish the industry in this
country, tb does nob require great perspicacity bo see
what a plight we would be in, and how we should ultimately have to pay through the nose for our locomoti ve
power.
Without waiting for the standardising of the rolling
stock, if L ord George Hamilton could only see his way
to deal direct with the makers, accepting their reasonable
guarantee for the work, the present total annual capa-city
of the shops in this cou ntry would, by that fact, be increased sufficiently to meet all his requirements, with a.
trifle over for the Cape and other quarterP,
I am, &c,
October 2L, 1901.
FAIR PLAY.
EXTRACTS FROM PUBLISHED .ANNUAL REPOR'l'S OF THE
LOCOMOTIVE TRADE.
1888.

The Indian market has this year been unusually dull, and manufacturers have consequl'ntly bad to busy themselves in finding
other markets to take its place. There have only been two or
three orders for Indian State Railways given out for a considerable
time. Such a state of matters is without parallel, and we think
thereoan be no question as to the unwiadom of a pause in the
railway development of our grPat Eastern dependency. India has
so far only been touched by railways, and both from a military
and commercial point of view there is the greatest desirability, and
even necessity, for a policy of progress in laying down lines. Mr.
Holt Hallett, in an admirable paper, demonstrates the profit to
Ind.ia itsell to be derived from the proper and extensive openi~g
up of India by railways, and the cause of the present standsttll
seems to us to be inex.Plir.able. Glasgow is now represented by
seven Membera of Parhament ; and in view of the importance. of
the Indian market to the West of.Scotland, the lack of enterpnse
in Indian railways might very well form the subject of a question
to the Secretary for India.
1889.

A most remarkable circumstance is that the Government of


India have failed to take ad vantage of their opportunity. L!!-st
year we drew attention to the fact that orders for the Indmn
State Railways bad been given out only in such very small quantities as would not keep their rolling stock up to a. pr?p~r state of
efficiency. This year tt has been even worse; and 1t JS safe to
predict that. the Indian Council will be forced into the market by
preBSure of circumstances when prices are greatly enhanced .
They have let slip their opportunity, and the longer they delay
the more they will have to suffer; as will be readily understood by
every one conversant e\en in a very ordinary degree with the
present great demand and increase in prices for all kinds of r~w
and manufactured materials. We can hardly contemJ?late wtth
equanimity the position this co':l nt~y wo~ld be pla~ed. m, were a
time of war-like emergency to anse 1n India, necess1tatmg a large
and speedy supply of rolling stock.
1890.

The Indian market has not shown the activity which was anticipated at this time a year ago. Year after year we have bad to
call attention to the lack of enercry OJ? the Pl;\rt of those. responsible for the State Railways in Ind1a. It JS so long Since the
Governm ent placed orders, t~~t their r~lling stook must now. be
in a most unsatisfactory oonditton, Dun n~;r the year the Indtan
companies have given out orders for 95 enjZmes, and of thee~ only
30 ordered within the last week have been for Government hoes.
1891.

India, which, with its enormous resources, ought of its~lf to


keep our locomotive shops fully employed, has b~en praotumlly
non-existent for years past ns a market. for engmes , and year
after year this report has had to chromole the enme state of
matters. The hopeful view to take ~s that since the demand for
locomotive power must come some time, every year that elapses
must bring us nearer to it.
1892.

India has bulked rather more largely than the home market,
and still the State Railwoys' requirements are remarkable by
tbei r absence. Year after year we h!Jove bad t? c~roniole the
same tbing, and have already prognost1ca~ed an }nevlt!Joble early
flooding of the market with orders to brmg theJr e.qutpment up
to normal efficiency ; but every time our prognostJoatJons bav.e
failed and we shall consequently now cease to prophesy unttl
the f~ct is realised.
1893.

As a market for locomotives, India has ag-ain been a failure;


d ed its importance in 1893 nas been put Jn the shade by the
Obi~es~ and Japanese markets, which until the past year or two

were practically non-existent. Time after time in this column


we have indicated a great spurt in the locomotive industry in
the following year, due to Indian officials awakening to a sense
of railway r~quirements ; but we cease henceforth to prophesy
on Indian ratlways. Probably, when the spurt come1.1, we may see
it, but meantime matters are getting worse from year to year.
Whill' in the case of India, long looking in that direction has
made the heart sick, makers are refreshed when they transfer
their vision to China and Japan
1894.

We ceased last year to coun t upon the return to life of the


Indian railwaJ s, etating that we had prophl'sied so long that we
would now haYe to watch a.nd see the event when it happened.
If the desired improveml'nt has not yet comt>, it seems to be
coming ; and the market in that great dependency shows indications of awakening from its slumbers of many years. Fully a t hird
of the public con t racts have come from India, and a gratifying
feature is that the progrl'BB has been regular and not spasmodic;
in any cas~:>, makers are looking to that market as their chief
anchor of hope.
1895.

The amount of work placed through the open market might


well have been undertaken by two of the leading establishments;
and while there was a considerable quantity of work privately
negotiated, still over all there was not anything like sutfloient
demand to take up half the productive cap1city of the country.
1896.

The Indian market has been specially active during the past
year, and has assumed the importance amongs~ markets for loco
motive work whioh has been conspicuously absent during recent
times. Its importance has almost equalled that of the home
market, and the pressure of traffic seems to have been fel t all
over the land.
1897.

all the markets which have helped to keep the locomotive


trade in full pressure, probably the most important this year has
been that of India. The State R'lilways seem still to be lagging
behind, being responsible for somewhere about forty l'n~ioes
only, whioh is a small proportion considering the mileage of line3
coming under that heading.
Of

BRITISH RAILWAY PRACTICE.

[OcT. 2 5,

1901.

to. be very near the ends .of the rails, leav ing only about
lm. of metal from the side of the hole to end of rail.
The nexb two bolts may be wider spaced and smaller in
diameter. The bolts near the middle of the fishplates
have much more strain to resist than tbe other two;
they should, therefore, be stronger, and be placed as near
as possible to their mark, which is at the end of the rail.
No other eng ineering structure depends so much for
security on bolts as rail joints, yeb bolts ~enerally put in
are much too weak for their work. 'Vtth good, short,
we11-fitting fishplates and large-sir.ed middle bolts a
strong and durable joint may be madA.
E xpamsion.- Rails lAid in summer time should be laid
close-butb to butt; if laid in winter 1\ l in. to a 30-fb. rail
is enough space to leave for expansion, which is nob such
an irresistible force as is generally imagined.
Sleeper s.- I ha. ve Lean surprised to find the rails of terminal s tations, shunting yards, and docks laid on sleepers,
as of old, when those places where there is nob great speed
of train could be laid with broad-Banged rails placed on to
solid concrete, and buried half their depth in this same material. When laid in this way they a.re done with ; there i J
no wood to rot or swelJ, or cbaira to trip over or become
loose. When concrete is a continuous bearing under the
rail, it does not make ba rd running like what the old
atone blocks made in the early days of rail ways. GJ~gow
tramway cars run sometimes very quickly, bub always
smoothly, and the rails are laid directly on concrete.
Intercou rse of Officers.- ! do not find that there is much
intercourae between the officers of the different rail waya.
They do nob meet ab abort intervals to exchange ideas
and discus3 proposed improvements, like the Mas ter
Mechanics and Car-Builders of the U nited States. Though
there are many railway companies in this country, the
island is so small that rail ways, as far as their rolling
stock is concerned, must be worked pretty much as one
concern. I therefore think that instead of working out
ne w ideas alone, the master mechanics ought to meet
with their fellows of all other rail ways, tJo reason together
and take counsel.
The present isolated system tenda to increase the
already many differences in rolling stock, instead of reducing patterns and standardising, which is the grea.b
want of the momenb.
J. K .

To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.


Sm,-In reading the addrel!a that L ord R ) sebery delivered the other day at Birmingham, I was impressed
with that part of it which treated of "the want of independent thought i n Great Britain."
I am an engineer who has lived over forty yeare abroad.
I came home a few months ago on a short visit, and
t imed my holiday so a-s to enable me to visit the Glasgow
Exhibition, which includes an admirable exhibit of new
machines and processes. There are, however, many things, GYROSCOPIC ACTION AND THE LOSS OF
both in tJhe Exhibition and oub of it in this country, th.ab
THE "COBRA. "
a little independent thought ou~ht to have altered and
T o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
improved before the end of the nine teenth centu ry.
SIR,-! am inclined to believe that there is no philoAs I am connected with a. railroad abroad, I will con- sophical instrument in existence which is so litble underfine my criticism bo railroad matters, and mention a. few stood as the g yroscope or gyrostat.. As far a.s I myself
thingd that I, being a stranger, see and consider de- am concerned, I certainly have never known anything
fects, which may not be noticed ab all by all engineers in which is so difficult to explain to others, and, curiously
this country.
enough, the practical engineer is the toughest customer
In the Glasgow Exhibition are several fine inside cylin- that one has to deal with.
der-coupled locomotives, and all of them-except oneU pan looking in the "Century Dictionary, " under the
have the outside cou pling-rod cranks shorter than the ma in beading "gyroscopic," I find these words: ' 'Appertain axle c rank. One of them that gives figures on the draw ing to the gyroscope, illustrating the dynamic Jaws of
ing exhibited illustrating the engine, shows the inside- rotation." 'hen follows an example of how this expres cranks to be 13 in. and the outside cranks 9 in. No w I sion may e employed: "The bearings are of great length
ask- because I do nob know-why is this difference made? and diameter to stand the gyroscopic action whi ch occurs
The only excuse that I find for the practice is that it was in a heavy sea on board ship.- TheEngineer, lxvi., 364."
common forty years ago, and it therefore continues almost
Here, ab the very start. in seeking the definition of
uni veraa.l to day. Yet it cauees much more strain on the ''gyroscopic " in a standard work, we find that the writer
crankpins, rods, and brasses. and a greater danger of quoted failed altogether to grasp the subjct. I s ib any
wonder, then, that the gyroscope is nob understood ?
heated brasses and waste of oil.
Again, coupling-rod cranks are put in the drivingIn a popular a rticle on the gyroscope by Mr. George
wheel opposite to the main crank on the axle; I presume M. Hopkin~, he commences as follows : " This ins truthat they were put orieina.lly on the opposite side to ment has always been a. puzzle to physicis ts. Its phenohelp to balance the w~tght.of the main crank ~nd con- mena. seems to be inclopable of explanation in a popular
necting-rod, and for this obJect are pub there still. But way. In view of the complicated nature of the calculaMr. Stroudley showed, more than thirty years ago, that it tions invol ved, no attempt will be made here to explain
was bebter to pub the outside cranks on the same side of the action of the gyroscope mathematically."
the wheel as the main crank, because the turning of the
In 1874-5 there \Vas a. heated discussion in the ecienbific
leading and trailing wheels was then a. direct push-and- press regarding a gyroscope-controlled cabin in a sbi p
pull from the crank in the driving wheel; whereas the which Sir Henry Bessemer was b uilding at the time. It
present practice requires that the force t<? burn round the was demonstrated by a well-known mathem~tician thab
leading and trailin~ wheels mus~ be c~rned through ~he if Sir Henry Bessemer had understood the gyroscopf',
driving n.xlebox gmdes and frall!mg gmde-blocks, causmg he never would have built the "Bessemer.,
Io ENGINEBIUNG, about two years ago, there was a. dea strain that decreases the haultng power of the locomocidedly lively controversy carried on by two engineers
tive considerably.
I have followed ~Ir. Stroudley's lead, and every new regarding the drift and gyroscopic action of proj eotile~.
set of engine wheel.s that I have required, I have had t he I read this discussion through the various numbers of
lengths of the outside cranks made equal to the crank on your publication, and finding that both parties were
the axle and placed on the same stde of the driving wrong, I wrote a. letter myself setting forbh plainly what
wheel ~ the mn.in crank. I have found the change a the facts ware. I concluded Ly saying that I k new what
positi ve benefi b. There is less wear on . the axle-box I had written would be criticised, but I advised contesguides and framing g~ide-block~, less heatmg of crank- tants before writing to obtain a. ~yroscope and make a
few exp eriments themselves. However, they r ushed
pins, and more power m the engme.
. ..
Rail Joints.-Fishplates and bolts for JOIDLng the ends into prin~ without doing so.
From the letter of "Ignoramus." in your publication
of rails were introduced some fifby years ago, and to-day
are used with little change in form, yet the rail joints are of the 4th ins t., it would appear tha.b, like a. good many
nob now satisfactory. The jolt ~nd clat~er of rail joints others, he imagined that the gyroscope offered some reon most railways in this cou ntry ~s very dtsagreeable, and sistance to having ibs plane of roba.tion disturbed. He
evidently believed, with the majority of engineers, that
if nob dangerou~, must be expenstve.
.
.
As weights of locomotives have become heavter, ratls the plane of rotation of a gyroscope had some fi x ity as
have been made deeper and heavier. fishplates broader regards space. It evidently appeared to him that th e
and thicker. But the bolts hol~ing the fishplates to the iDJmense mass of heavy machinery ro tating ab a very
rails are juab the same small-s1~ed bolts t~a.t were used high velocity in the stern of the ship must produce a
40 rears ago. I see every day first-class rat1s of from 7o certain degree of stiffness or resistanoe to the tilting or
to ao or more pounds to the yard, with good. fishpla~es pitching of the ship, and that this gyroscopic action wa.s
held on to the rails wilih four small b?lts of i ~ o.r g ~n. so strong that the stern was nob free to move and to
in diameter when they ahould be 1! 1n. to 1~ m. 10 dJa.- participate in the pitching action of the res b of the ship ;
consequently the stern being held as it were in a vice,
meter acco~ding as the raiJs are deeper or shallower.
J oi~ts fastened with small bolts very soon become and unable bo pitch, the ship broke in two. This is
loose the nuts do nob slack back, but the bolts stretch evidently what be had in his mind. and ib would also
perm'anenbly. The track repairers ti.g hten. the nuts. the appear to be what both Mr. Edw. W . Serrell. Jun., and
bolts again stretch; after repeated ttghtemngs the bolts Mr. E. F. Oasael have in their minds at the present
moment.
break.
.
However, if they will carefully re-read what I bad to
The bolts near the mtddle of a fishpla te should be
larger than the other two, and closer spaced ; they ough b say, they will find that, although my letter wa s short

s8g

E N G I N E E R I N G.
very shorb indeed-the whole subjecb was thrashed out.
Nothing was glo3sed over. But neither of these gentlemen appears to be sa.tisfi'3d. I will therefore make another
attem pt.
The engines and screws. and all the rotabing pa.rbs of
tbe machinery in the Cobra, were very beautifully
b:l.la.nced, as they are in all of Parsons' turbines. Both
syate~s were mount.ed in the same rigid frame secured to
the ahtp ab many pomts. The shafts had a. fixed position
as relates to eacb other, approximately parallel. The
weight of the two systems* was identical; they were
bobh su pplied with steam from the same source and
both discharged their steam into the same cond~nser.
V(e ~a.y therefore infer that they rotated in opp:>site
duecttons at very nearly the same velociti~, certainly
within 1 per cent. Suppose that the Cobra. had been
provided wibh trunnions passing transversely through her
centre of gravity, and tba.t she had been mounted on ball
bearings so as to be traiped freely in any direction like a.
gu.o, and tba.b the engines should be set in motion, the
shtp ~ccupying a horizontal -position. S uppose now that
we ratSed the bow of the sh1p and de-pressed the stern.
One syatem of turbines would ma.ke a. shght effort to move
the stern of the ship to the right, and the other
would make an effort with exactly equal force to
move it to the left, but as tbe fra me is absolutely
fixed, and as the stern bearings ca.n neither approach
n ')r recede from each other, this movement becomes
impossible.
In order to develop any gyroscopic
restsbance to bhe mo vement of the bow of the ship, either
up or down, ibis necessary for the shafts to throw themselves oub of a parallel po~ition, and a.s this is impossible,
the engines, a.s gyroscopes, becJmes completely impotent,
and offer no resistance ab all ; in fact, the ship could be
tilted in any direction or rotated on a. vertical axis with
perfect freedom whether the turbines wore rotating or
not. The rotation of the turbines has abJolutely no effect
upon the free movement of the ship in any direction. It
is true if we place one spinning gyroscope in a. box or
frame, and att9mpb t o tilt ib on a. horizontal axis, the
gyroscope will of itself turn on a. vertic1l axis-in fact,
the management of a gyroscope in a. box held loosely in
the hand is something like driving a. pig which has a.
will of its own, and it is this action which has deceived
superficial experimenters.
If a. single gyroscope is
mounted in a rigid frame, ib offers not one particle of
resistance to having its plane of rotation changed in
any direction. This is the poinb tha.b is not undersnood
by engineers. Mr. Cassel, however. is nob satisfied with
theory; he wants figures. To satisfy his burning desire
for figures to accurately express the force moments due
to gyroscopic action in the Oobra., I eupply the following
complete statement for the four shaft~, looking afb :
Resistance bo pi bching
. ..
Transverae couples due to
pitching
.. .
. ..
.. .

0 + 0 + 0 + 0

+A +

=0

B - B - A = 0

where A and Bare horizontal static couples applied by


the shafbs, balanced by equal and opposite - B -A when
the vessel is und e r way.
If Mr. Serrell, in his experiments which be s 1.ys are so
"extremely easy, " will use two bicycle wheels instead of
one, and rotate them in opposite directions ab equal velocities, ib will do infini tely more to enlighten him on this
subject than anything tha.b I could write.
I will admit tha.b this letter contains no new ideas, and
tha.b the whole principle of the gyroscopic action on
board the Cobra was fully shown and set forth in my
previous letter. My only excuse for the great length of
the present letter is that my first letter was not understo:>d.
Yours truly,
HIRA M STEVENS J\tlAXIM.
18, Queen's Gate-plac3, London, S . W., October 21, 1901.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Srn,-I have read with great interest the letters now
appearing in ENGINEERING, aud should like to say, with
reerence to S !r Hira.m S. Maxim's letter of October 9 on
tl:le above subject, that by actual experiment with two
gyrJscopes of equal weight and diameter, mounted in a
rectangular frame, both spinning in op.Posite directionEI,
on turning from the vertical to the honzontal, bhe re~ulb
is absolutely nil, as regards any gyroscopic effect transmitted to the frame.
On spinning the gyroscopes both in the same direction,
or either singly, the frame being held by a. strong man,
great difficulty was experienced in turning. In fa.cb, it
was found almost impossible, without the ends of the
frame moving laterally.
This would certainly pub an additional strain on any
framework of the ship. O n putting the rectangular frame
bebween lathe cenbres, the gyroscopes spinning with their
axe1 at right angles with the lathe centres, both turning
in the same direction, bhe frame burns on the centres as
easily as when they were no b spinning.
Thus showing there can be but little or no additional
s train on the framework of the structure, assuming it is
well secured.
I may mention the gyroscopes experimented with were
6 in. in diameter, and weighed 6 lb. each.
Yours faithful1y,
J Al\fES F. CARTER.
Experimental Works, Ba.thea.ston, Ootober 22, 1901.
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
Sm,-Mr. Serrell will find tha.b S ir Hiram Maxim's
atatemen b is " in accordance with fact, " if, instead of confining his attention to one wheel, he performs his experi-

* Ib is assumed here that the Cobra. had one system of


two screw shafts revolving bo the right, and another
~ysbem of bwo screw shans revolving to the left.

position of the lever. The mathematical proof of this


goes as follows, A a.nd A 1 representing the masses, which
oan be taken as concenbrtLted in the crosahea.d pins, and
which ma.y be t~ken as equal for the simplification of the
resulbsx
a + r sin a. -l cos q>
x 1 = t cos q> + r sin a. - a
, '. X-~ = a - l COB cp.
2
x- X1 represents the movement of bhe centre of gravity,
2
and it is evident that this value cannot be zero for all
positions of the lever.
Hence the design _is. not completely balanced. To fi~d
the siz9 of the remammg unbalanced forces would requll'e
'
.
.
d.1fferrepreaentat1on
of -X - Xl as a f unctton
o f t1me,
2
en tiabing this expression bwicl:', &c., and this would give
very complex expressions. Praobica.lly there seems to be
every probability thab the engine will give no trouble
from unbdanced forces of higher periods, but I have
coneidered the matter only from the theoretical point of
TESTING DOWSON GAS.
view. Hoping nob to have trespassed too much on your
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Sm,- I s hould be glad of the assistance of any of the space,
I am, yours respectfully,
readers of your paper in the following matter :
H. TEOHEL, N ava.l Architect.
I want a simple, but fairly reliabl~, method of testing
Kiel, October 9, 1001.
the quality of Dowron ~as.
I am concerned with a. plant for supplying this gas,
which is used for a variety of heating purposes. As a
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL T&IPS.
general rule, satisfactory re..c:mlts are obtained, but every
now and then complaints arise from the users of the gas
ON Tuesday, the 15th inst., the steel screw cargo
that ib i~ nob of good quality. Sometimes the cause of the steamer Saphir, builb by bhe Laxeva.a.g Engineering and
complaints can be tra.c:e j to carelessness on the part of the Shipbuilding Company, Bergen, Norway, wenb for her
stoker, ab other times no explanation ca.n be found, and no trial trip on t he measured mile, a. series of trials were
doubb complaints are frequently made when the ~as is run , and a main speed of 10i knobs a.bta.ined. The owner,
not ab fa.ulb ab all.
E rich LindaJ, cf Hangeaund, expressed entire s \bisfacIb occurred to me thab some si mple method of te3ting t ion. The Sa.phir is of the following dimensions : L ength
the ga...~ in the same way that boiler flue gases are tested extreme, 256 ft. ; breadth, 36 ft.; and depth moulded,
could be devised, whereby the inflammable and heat- 19 ft. ; and has a dead weight carrying capacity of 2200
giving constituents of the gas could be separated from the tons. The engine~:t, which have also been constructed by
non-inflammable constituents. I should nob objecb to a. the La.xevaag'8 Company, are of the triple.expa.nsion
method which necessitated the use of various chemicals bype, having cylinders 17 ~ in. by 20 in. by 48 in. in diafor absorbing the differenb constituents, and a graduated meter by 33 in. stroke. The working pressure is 175 lb.
glass vessel in which the amounts absorbed could be
measured.
'fbe new steamer Baron Balfour, builb by 1.\tlessrs.
If this is not pra cbica.ble, possibly some very simple A. Rodger and Co., Port Glasgow, for Mr. Hugh
calorimeter method could be suggested.
Hoga.rbh, of Glasgow and Ardrossan, went. down the
Firth yesterday on her official trial trip. The following

I remain yours faithfully,


are the particulars of the steamer, viz.: 359 ft. by 48 fo.
October 16, 1901.
A...'fTHRAOITE.
by 28 ft. 6 m. moulded depth, with a ca.rgo-carr,ving
capacity of about 6600 tons, and fibted with bnpleTHE VIBRATION OF ENGINES.
expansion engines. The steamer had bwo runs between
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINE.EBING.
the Cloch and Cumbrae Lights, the speed attained during
SIR,-! beg to make some remarks on the paper of bhe runs being satisfactory to all concerned. Both hull
Mr. Maca.lpine-" a complete solution of the vibration and machinery have been built under the speoia.l survey
problem " -published in numbers 1854 and 1855 of your and bo take the classification of the British Corpora tion
vs.lua.ble journal; but which, by chance, I have nob read for the Survey and Regisbry of Shipping.
until just now.
I ca.m;10t help b eing of the opposite opinion to Mr.
From the Newport Newa Works, V a., there has just
Maca.lpine wh en be claims his detailed design as being a been launched the twin.sorew steamer Siberia, which,
complete solution of the problem, the word "complete " with the Korea, recently floated, have been built for the
being taken in the mathematical sense tha.b all iner ~ia Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Both ship~ will be
forces, even of bhe highest periods, are balanced. To re~uired to make at least 18 knots, although the probaprove my proposition I make use of the fairly well-known, bility is that they will make 20 knots easily. -The dimenbu b, in the theory of balancing engines, seldom used sions of the ships are: Length, 572 fb. 4 in. ; beam,
theorem: " A body who.se parts are moving exercises a. 63 fb. ; depth, 40 ft. ; dra.ughb, 27 fb. ; displacement,
18,600 tons. The only America.n-builb ships which apA,
-:l - proach the Siberia. and Korea in size are the American
I
liners St. Louis and Sb. Paul, which were built ab Ora.mps,
I
I
Philadelphia.. Their dimensions a.re: Length, 535.5 fo. ;
I
.
beam, 63 fb. ; depth, 26.8 fb. In the construction of the
x,
I
Siberia. and Korea., accommodations have been provided for
I
I
200 first-class passengers, 30 white sbeera.ge passengers,
I
and 1200 Ohinese. Quarters for the Chinese are arranged
'l-- - - - - - - - -A__ L,_
so t hat the space may be utilised for other purposes if
I
I
unoccupied. There are four decks, extending the whole
...
I
I

I
I
length of the ships, known as the lower, main, upper, and
I
I
I
I
promenade decks. The main engines are bwo four-cylinder
I
X

quadruple engines of the vertical, inverted. direct-acting


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type, designed to develop 18,000 indicated horse-power
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running a.b the rate of 86 revolutions a minute.
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menb with two. I book two front bicycle wheels on their
bearings oub of two bicycles, and rigidly connected the
two axles together l>y screwing one end of one axle to the
end of the other axle with an ordinary bicycle wheel nub,
so that the bwo wheels were practically on one rigid axle.
I then held the two wheels by the outer ends of the now
rigid axle, and got a. friend to start the wheels revolving.
When one wheel only was revolving, I naturally experienced the " resistance to some deviations of the
axis," as mentioned by Mr. Serrell.
When both wheels were revol \'ing in the same direction, this resistance appeared to be aboub double; but
when the two wheels were revolving as near as p ossible
at the same speed in different directions, this resiRta.nce
was practica.lly nit. That this result would be attained
is qu1te clear from mathematics, as may be seen if one
compounds the angular momentum of bo~h wheels with
the couple which is applied to turn the system as a. whole.
Yours faithfull y ,
Norbh Kensington, October 23.
G. S. ODLING.

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reaotion in a. certain direction opposite to the motion of


the common centre of gravity of the moving ma.C3Ses and
equal in size bo the product :
moving masses x acceleration of common centre of
gravity."
This theorem implies, for an engine balanced in a. certain ditecbion, that the common centre of gravity of all
the moving masses should have no movemenb in this
direction. Before proving that this ca.nnob be the case
for the verti cal direction in Mr. Macalpine's design, I may
point out that, by virtue of symmetry, engine (Fig. 1) in
the a.bove-n~med article, and also the fan engines can be
exactly balanced, both v~rtically and horizontally! however short their connectmg-rods may be. But m bhe
detailed design this symmetry of movements is not obtaining, because the pistons are on the same side of the lever.
It thus follows that the small errors arising from the finite
length of the links do not compensate each other for every

On Wednesday, the 16th inst., bhe Flensburger Schiffsba.u Gesellscha.ft launched from their yard a cargo vessel
building for the D eutsch Ausbralische Da.mpfschiffs
Gesellscha.fb, and which is the twelfth vessel built by the
Flensburg firm for these owners. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 406 fb. 6 in. ; breadth, 47 fb. 8 in. ;
depth, 32 ft. ; with a deadweighb carrying capacity of
6700 tons. She will bs provided with quadruple-expansion engines capable of develo ping an indicated horsepower of 3400, by the engineering department of the
firm, with cylinders 26 in., 37! in., 55 in., and 80 in. in
diameter by 60 in. stroke. The vessel is named Ro.stock .
On Friday, the 18bh inst., the steel scre w sbea.mer
Beechley had her trial trip in Hartlepool Bay. The
Beechley has been builb by Me..~srs. W m. Gray and Co.,
Limited, for Mr. W. R. Rea., of Belfasb. She ta.kes
Lloyd's highesb class, is 352 ft. in lengbh over all,
49ft. 6 in. in breadth, and 28 ft. 3 in. deep. and is a.
good example of a. modern cargo steamer. Her engines
are of the triple-expansion typt-, supplied from the Central lYia.rine Engine Works of the builders, and have
cylinders 25! in., 40~ in., and 67 in. in dia.meber by 45 in.
stroke, supplied wibh s team by bwo large steel boilers
working ab a. ~ressure of 160 lb . per squt\re inch. A very
sa.tisfac~ry tnal was a ccomplished, the vessel averaging
a. speed of 10 knobs.
RosARIO.-'Port works are now being vigorously pushed
or ward.

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

590

TRANSPORTING

75-TON CASTING

BY RAIL.

I T is not always fully realised what are the mechanical diffi culties involved in the transport of heavy
machinery on our railways. A s an intt>rest ing example
of the rewurcefulness of railway companies when
called upon to deal wit h the transport of large weights
we reproduce herewith a photog raph of a 75 ton casting re~ently mad e by Messrs. 11oorwood, of Sheffield,
for the firm of Messrs. Armstrong, Wbitworth, and
C.>., of Manches~er. This casting is shown mounted
on a 50-ton well trolley.
The more interesting put of the arrangement shown
in the illustration is that by means of which a portion
of the total \Veight is distributed over additional trucks
at ca.ch end of the well trolley. From the fi g ure it
will bs seen that a large timber lever, about 50ft. long,
is mounted at each end of the casting on a separate
10-ton goods wagon. This wagon becomes the fulcrum
of the lever, one end of which supports a portion of
the weight on the well trolley, while the othEr end
carries about 3 tons of balance weight, the fulcrum
being so placed that there is a leverage of 2 to 1, thus
the 3-ton balance weight supports 6 tons of the cast
ing. This arrangement is repeated at the other end of
the casting, and in this way the total weight is distributed over a long wheel base. The balance weights
swing free and do not, of course, touch the trolleys
shown beneath them.
In order to insure its safe transit, it was arranged to
send the casting through from Sheffield to Gorton
Junction on S unday, and all traffic was stopped on
both up and down m ain lines for this purpose. The
arrangement does credit to the ingenuity of the loading d epartment of the Great Central Railway, to whose
Sheffield local goods manager, Mr. J. A. Hodkinson,
w e are indebted for the particulars here given.

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.


PHILADELPHIA, October 17.
THE entire steel market is perceptibly stronger, due
to t he placing of additional and unexpectedly large
orders for finished materials and for the heavy purchases of raw material by the United States Steel
Corporation and several of the large independent c~n
sumers. The most surprising feature of the en~1re
market is the extraordinary demand for steel ra~ls,
which demand is accompanied by a ru.mo?r t~ day
of a possible 2 dole. advance; but tbts lS stmply
a rumour and will not be followed by any change
in prices.' The production for 1902 will certainly
be sold before the close of this year, and might be
sold before thirty days. There is a EC~rcity of old
material for bar iron, structura.l materal, and for
forge and foundry. The demand for all kinds. of
material is being strengthened, ~nd the presentatiOn
of inquiries is indicative of a contmued rush of orders.
The e ntire situation is very strong. Another . advance in southern pig iron is probable. Tra.nsactt.ons
aggregatiog 50,000 tons have been heard of wtthin a week. The pig-fron furnaces are sold fully three
months ahead. Shipbuilders a.re again in the. market
for supplies, and car-builders will be forced to mcrease
their orders on account of having booked some large
orders for freigh t cars. The .mak?~s of pressed sleel
cars are now figuring upon t?e1r ab1~1ty to accommodate
urgent railroad buyers w1t.h rolhng stock for next
June.
The fin ancial situation is .quite strong.
The stook situation is q uiet. Industnals have been
severely rated, a nd this ha~ created an unsettled
feeling, but there is ~o r.elatt?n between the ~t~ck
ma rket and the industnalsttua.tiOn. Importa.nt mmmg
enterprises are booking orders for mac.lunery for
British Columbia, Mexico, and some secttons of the
United States.

MISCELLAL~EA.

DEIGRTON's Patent Flue and Tube Company, Limited,


Leeds, have recently constructed what is believed to be
the largest corrugated furn'l.ce ever made in this country
from a. sin~le plate of mild steel, the dimensions of the
cylinder hem~ 10ft. 3 in. long by 5 fb. 2 in. in diameter
and ! in. thick, while the weight is 5488 lb. L rmger
furnaces have been manufactured, but they have been
made up of two or more lengths oircumferent.i ally welded
togethe!'.
In a. paper read a.b a. meeting of the Canadian Electric
Association, Mr. J. R. Robertson stated that in oases in
which much electricity wag supplied for power purposes,
trouble had sometimes arisen from the day and night
loads overlapping. To avoid this Canadian electric
supply companies and manufacturers had in many cases
come to an arrangement by which the latter shutJ down in
the evening early enough to prt-venb an overlap. By a
rearrangement of hourd ib has been found p ossible to
maintain a sixty-hour week, and still cease work two
bout s earlier than was previously the custom.
A suggestion is made in the Electrical World and Engineer, of New York, tha.bsingle-phase motors may be used
for traction purposes provided that a. satisfactory friction
clutch is used to connect the motor to the axle. This
clutch would naturally be opera.bed magnetically. The
motor would be kept running when the car was stopped,
and the latter would be restarted by throwing in the
clutch. With the present rheostatic starting arrangement energy is wasted in heating the resistance coils when
getting the car under way. With the clutch energy would
also be dissipated as beat, and the problem is to construct
a. clutch which will dispose of a. large enough quantity of
energy in this way wit:Jhoub destroying itself too rapidly.
On June 30 last the advance galleries of the Simplon
tunnel had been driven for a distance of 5. 607 miles, out
of a total of 12.06 mileta. The tunnel proper has bsen
completed for a distance of 4.283 miles, of which over
59 per cent. is ab the northern end. The hi~hesb temperature reached as yet is88. 5 deg. Fa.hr. The ausupply to the
workings amounts to 56i millions. o~ cubic feet per d~em
on the north side and about 98 millions on the south s1de.
The water supply to the drills amounts to an average of
3. 5 gallons per second ab the northern works, and 2 4
~a.llons per second ab the south. The pres~ure ab which
Ib is distributed is 1400 lb. per square mob. So far,
39,430 cubic yards of work have ~een excavated ab the
expenditure of 49,300 lb. of dyna.m1te.
A very remarkable degree of efficiency has been reached
in the case of the electric plant of the New York l'Yiebropolitan Street Railway. The wa tts. entering the continuous-curr~nb busbars ab the substatiOns aggregate 90 to
91 per cent. of the watts sent into the high-tension. fee~ers
a.b the main power-house. Hence the total loss m h'g~
t ension feeder transformers and rotary converters IS
under 10 per cent. The generating station is the
largest yet builb. It contains a.b prese.nb eight 3500
kilowatt-units, and three more are m process of
erection. The generators are three-phase 6600-':olb machines working at 25 cycles per second. The engmes are
of th~ Corliss vertical type, and yield on the average
one indicated horae-power hour for be~wee~ 13 lb. ~nd
14 lb. of steam. The coal consumpblOD, 1n pract10~,
works oub to 2 65 lb. per kilowatt hour. Swttches m
which the "break " is made in oil are used, .and have
worked well, though ib is estimated that ab ttmes they
have been opened when a current of 2000 amperes a.t
6600 volts has been flowing through them.
During the years 1899-1900 observations of under
ground temperatures were made ab forty-four shafts of
the Ruhr colliery district. Germany. Tb.e J?la.n followed
was to drill a hole for a depth of 6 f.t. 6~ .m. m to the rock
at the side of the shaft, and place m th1s hol~ a thermometer suitably protected from the effects of the a.~r temperature of the shaft. The thermometers were left m place ~or
ab least two hours before being read. The depths a.b wh1ch
the observations were made ranged from 320ft. down to
2545 ft. In one oase a temperature o~ 1~2.2 d~g. Fahr. was
noted at a depth of 2223 U., hub thlB la behaved to have

been due to the neighbourhood of a. hob spring. The depth


a.b which seasonal variations of temperature become inappreciable appears to be about 80ft., and the temperature
at this depth IS constant at 48 deg. Fa.hr. throughou t the
year. As an average, the rate ab which the tempera.tura
mcreases with depth appears to be about 1 deg. F ahr.
for each 51ft. of depth, but the rate seems to diminish
somewh&b as the depth becomes greater.
A Local G.:>vernmenb Board inquiry was held on
October 4, by Co!onel A. E. Durnford, R. E., into an
application of the Meltha.m Urban District Council for
consent to deviate from the chemica.l pui6cation
scheme of sewage treatment for which a. loan waCJ
sanctioned in 1899. It wa.CJ stated by the council's
solicitor, Mr. F. A. Reed, that the scheme previously Panctioned consisted of chemical precipitation
followed by a rtificial filtration and subsequent land
filtration, hub the council now desi red to substitute
in place of tba.b the polarite bacterial oxidation system,
whic'l would be more suitable for the requirements
of the district than the scheme previously sanctioned, whilst the advanta~es to be obbained from it,
in addition to greater effiCLency. were that the use of
chemicals would be dispensed with, and the works would
be automatic. Mr. J. B. Abbey, of Messrs. Abbey
and Son, of Huddersfield, the engineers to the council,
produced the plans of the proposed work~, and described
the system, which, briefly, consists in passing the se ws gd
through a. screening bank and then 1nto three detritus
banks, where the organic solids will become split up, and
disint~rated by bhe liquefying action of the bacteria. present. From the detritus tank the fewsgeenter3 three anaerobic bacteria beds, the effluent from which will flow along
rera.bing channels, and then be sprinkled by means of
Ca.ndy-Caink automatic revolving sprinklers fed by automatic intermittera on to polarite bacterial oxidation beds.
These beds have a combined area of 504 square yards,
with a. working depth of 3 ft. 6 in., and will deal with
240,000 gallons of sewage per day. The advantage of
delive ring comparatively small quantities on the beds
with short intervals of rest is than a more com,Plete aeration of the effluent as well a.s filter bed is obta.med.
The report of the engineers appointed to examine into
the condition of the great Brooklyn Suspension Bridge,
after the recent accident!, discloses the fa.cb that the
system of insp ection of the struc ture hitherto adopted
has been little more than nominal. Of the nine suspending rods found broken on July 24 last, two had obviously
been broken a. long time, yet had escaped detection. The
hammer test appears nob to have been used; but a careful
visual inspection would, it is stated, ha.ve been sufficient
to disclose the presence of the broken rods. On American
railroads, bridges are usually inspected by the engineer
in peteon a.t stated intervals, in cases as often as once
a. month, and the results recorded on printed forms, which
make it impossible without wiHul fa.lsehoood to fake an
inspection. On the Brooklyn Bridge the wotk has been
entrusted entirely to ordinary mechanics, who made their
examinations ab no stated intervals, and filled np no pro
perly prepared record sheets. No exact record has been
kept of the condition of the structure, and no complete
and correct set of drawings is in existence. The moving
loads to which the bridge id now subject are considerably in excess 0 those allowed for in designing itJ,
and apart from this, certain defects in the design
have prevented the structure being a.s strong as it
was believed to bP. These defects oa.n, it is stated, be
made good fairly easily. Ab present there are excessive
stresses in the c~bles near the centre binge, where bending action increases the direct strE>ss on the wires from
4~ 800 lb. per equare inch up to 75,000 lb. per square inch.
This estimate is subject to a certain correction, from the
fact that a. porbion of the weight is carried by the inclined
stays; but making allowance for this. the stress still remains ab 71,000 lb. per square inch, exclusive of that which
may arise from wmd preesure. The masonry under the
saddles is loaded to 39.6 bona per Pquare foot, which is
considered excessive. In the main. floor beams stresses of
15,500 lb. p er equare inch are met with, and stresses of
27,000 lb. per square inch in the intermediate-floor beams
of the railroad tracks.

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

59 I

ELECTRICALLY-DRIVEN PUMPS; GLASGOW EXHIBITION.


CON TRUCTED BY MESSRS. GLENFIELD AND KENNEDY, LIMITED, KILMARNOCK .

t he relay cylinder, and the two rams are connected by


a rod as shown. On the stroke from right to left, the
water in front of the cataract piston escapes through
the port at C. On the retwn stroke, the water passes
through the valve shown in t he cataract piston.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES .

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As regards the various groups of industries, employment in coal-mining showed a decrease in the
average number of days worked in the month, but an
increase in the number employed. As compared with
the previous month, an improvement is shown in the
time worked. At collieries employing 473,007 persons
the pits worked on an average 5.36 days per week
d uring the month, as compared with 4. 91 in the
previous month, and 5. 65 days a year ago.

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In ironstone mining there was some improvement as


compared with t he month previous; as compared with
a year ago there was a slight decrease in the average
time worked, and a general decrease in -the number
employed. The average t ime worked at 127 mines
and open works, at which 14,798 persons were employed, was 5. 76 days per week ; in the previous
month 5. 6Z, and a year ago 5. 80 days.

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In the pig-iron industry a slight improvement is


shown, but the industry is much worse as regards employt;nent than it was a year ago. Returns relating to
113 uonmasters show that 321 furnaces were in blast,
employing about 22,300 workpeople, as compared with
317 a month previously, and 360 a year ago.

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WE illustrat~ on this page a set of three-throw three-way cock fi xeu close to the accumulator casing.

motor-driven hydraulic pumps and an accumulator


exhibited at the GlaPgow Exhibition by Messrs. Glenfield and K ennedy, Limited, Kilmarnock. The general
arrangement of the plant is well shown in Fig. 1. The
pumps have rams I! in. in diameter, the stroke being
6 in., and the designed workin g pressure 700 lb. per
square inch. They are driven through garing by an
electric motor of 15 brake horse-power, supplied by
.Messrs. R. E. Crompton and Co., Limited, of Chelmsford. The motor is of the two-pole continuous-current
type, and is designed to work ali 200 volts. The accumulator is of the ordinary weighted case type, with a
ram 4i in. in diameter by 4 ft. 2 in. stroke. The
pumps are stopped automatically when the ram reaches
the top of its stroke, and restart when it falls halfway down. This is effected by means of an hydraulic
relay, the supply of water to which is governed by a

state of employment, as indicated by the -Jhart


attached to t he monthly report of the Board of Trade,
has improved somewhat as compared with the previous
month, but it is not quite so good as a year ago, though
very nearly so. The downward curve gives hope of continued improvement, but the angle is too acute to be
quite satisfactory. The report, based on 2415 returnsviz., 1706 from employers, 585 from trade unions, and
124 from other sources-states that there was a slight
improvement in most of the important industries.
There were during the month decreases in wages
affecting large bodies of miners and iron and steelworkers. In the 142 t rade unions ~pecially reported
upon, there was a total membership of 54~,9 17, of
whom '20, 180, or 3. 7 per cent., were unemployed, a.g
compared with 3.9 in the previous month, and 3.6 per
cent. in the same month of last year .
THE

When the ram reaches the top of its stroke, a stop in


the casing moves the ccck lever, and rdeases pressure
water from one end of a small hydraulic cylinder by
the -piping shown in Fig. 1. This cuts off the current
to the motor. ''\Then the ram falls again, a second
stop moves this lever back. The end of the cylinder
is again connected to tbe pressure and t he piston
is mo,ed over and admits current to the motor
through a Eeries of resista.nces.
A cataract is
employed to prevent theee resistances being cut out
too rapidly, to the injury of the motor armature.
Details of this hydraulic relay and the rheostat are
shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
The hydraulic cylinder lies to the right in F igs. 2
and 3. When the ram moves to the right, the rheostat
arm A is swung over by stops on the piston-rod as
shown at B. The cataract cylinder is in line with

In the manufacture of iron and steel a further improvement is manifest as compared with the previous month,
but employment is not quite EO good as a year ago. At
202 works, included in the returns, 79,730 workpeople
were employed; the t otal volume of employment,
taking into account the number employed and the
number of shifts worked, shows an increase of 7. 8 per
cent. as compared with the previous month, and a decrease of only 0. 5 per cent. in the same month a year
ago.
In the tinpla te trade there was great improvement
in the month, employment being better also than a
year ago. There were 377 mills at work, including
those engaged in the manufacture of black sheets, as
compared with 349 mills in the month previous, and
359 a year ago. The number of persons employed at
the mills in operation was about 18,800.
Employment in the engineering and metal trades
group shows no change. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3. 5 per cent., as in t he previous month, and 2. 9 per cent. a year ago.
In the shipbuilding trades employment continues to
decline, though only slightly. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3.9 per cent., as compared with 3. 7 per cent. in the previous month and
2.4 per cent. in the same month a year ago.
Nevertheless, for this group of trades the proportion
is not an extremely large one.
Employment in ~be building trade is not quite so
good. The proportiOn of unemploj ed union members
in the branches reporting was 2. 9 per cent., as compared
wi ~h 2. 7 per cent. in the month previous, and 2.1 per
cent. a year ago.
In the furnishing and wood-working trades a slight
improvement is manifest. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3.2 per cent., as compared
with 3.5 per cent. in the month previous, and 4.0 per
cent. in the same month a year ago.
In most bra.nches of the printing and bookbinding
trades there has been, owing to seaeonal causes, some
improvement. The proportion of unemployed union
memb_e rs was 5.6_per cent ., as compared with 6.5 per
cent. 1n the prev1ous month, and 4.0 per cent.. in the
same month a year ago. Emplojment in the pap~r
trades has also improved; the proportion of out-ofwork members of unions was 2. 2 per cent., as compared with 2. 7 per cent. in the previous month, and
2.1 per cent. a year ago.
Employment in the boot and shoe trade is bad

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

592
generally, but there are indications of improvement in
some centres. In other leather-using trades it is fairly
good; the proportion of unemployed union members
was 3. 0 per cent., in the previous month 2. 9 p er
cent. , in the same mon th of last year it was 2.0 p er
cent.
Employment continues fair in the spinning branch,
and has improved in the weaving branch of the cotton
trades. In mills and factories employing 77,500
females, 88 p er cent. in the !pinning mills and 69 per
cent. in the weaving factories were in full employment. In the woollen trade employment is fair; in
the worsted trade it is slack ; in the hosiery branohes
there is impro,ement.
Agricultural labourers h:we been generally well
employed, but there is little demand for extra hands.
Do<!k and riverside labourers in London have b een
fairly employed. The average number employed at
t he docas and wharves was 16,335, as compued with
16,490 in the previous month, and 15,804 in t he same
month a year ago.

hl.rge increase under the last two heads. On sick


benefit, 1386; on superannuation benefit, 731. The
report calls attention to the fact that while there is an
increase of 178 in t he number of unemployed, men are
still wanted in some localities, and that fares are paid
to vacant situations. It is sad, indeed, that ablebodied, and presumably capable, workmen walk the
streets as ''out-of-works " while employment is to be
found for the seeking, and the union pays the fares
to such places as may require men. One point is urged
upon the younger members, namely, to try their hands
at other jobs recognised in the trade if repairing jobs
are scarce. Some might think that lines of demarcation come in here ; evidently the council do not so
regard the matter. Platers are advertised for at the
Avonside Engine Works, Bristol, and squads of
riveters at Newcastle. By a majority of 5225 a grant
to Mr. T. Alien, an old official of the union, has been
carried, 12,241 voting for the same. Accident claims
have been voted to three members, but not the full
a. mount.

The number of labour disputes recorded in the


month was 33, involving 8654 persons, of whom 5898
were direct ly, and 2756 indirectly, affected. In t he
previous month the number of disputes was 32, involving 10,129 persons, and in the same month last
year 29 disputes, involving 6032 workpeople. In the
33 fresh dis putes, 12 were in the mining and quarrying
industries, eight in the textile trades, four in the
engineering and shipbuilding groups, and three in the
building trades ; the other six were in various industries. The number of disputes reported as settled
was 46, involving 9922 persons ; of these, nine, involving 2621 persons, were decided in favour of the
workpeople; 20, involving 4889 persons, in favour of
employers, while the remaining 17, affecting 2417
persons, were compromised.
Changes in the rates of wages in the month affected
172,890 workpeople, the net effect being a. decrease
averaging 9~d. weekly p er head. Of the total number, 4438 received advances averaging ll!d. per biead
p er week, while 168,452 suffered decreases averaging
lOd. per week. In the previous month the decreases
averaged 2s. 2d. per head in the weekly wages of
103,419 workpeople; in the same month last year
there was an advance of 2s. l ~d. per head in the
weekly wages of 164,199 work people. The decreases
were chiefly in the coal, iron, and steel industries.
Most of the changes took place und~r sliding scales,
affecting 170,337 persons; one, affecting 112 workp eople, was decided by arbitration. Only 516 persons
were involved in strikes ; all the rest were settled by
direct negotiation between the parties or their representatives.

Manufacturers of finished iron in the Wolverhampton


district are reported to have booked a fair weight of
orders since the quarterly meetings. :Marked bars maintain their full standard rates ; but it is said that while
there is a good demand for unmarked bars, only few
of the leading makers can command the full advanced
rates, some being sold at from 2s. 6d. to 5s. per ton
below the standard. Black sheets are in good demand
for all gauges, both for working-up and galvanising
purposes, the rates for which have advanced. Heavj
bookings are reported for gas strip at t he enhanced
rates, and also for hoops. Steel is in good demand,
but prices are kept down by foreign competit ion. As
a general rule, the various sections of the engineering
and allied trades are fairly well employed, especially
those connected with railway work, boiler and tank
making, bridge and girder construction, and electrical
engineering. There are variations in the condition of
the hardware industries, but for the most part they
continue to be fairly well employed. Slackness prevails in a few branches, but it is surprising to find that
on the whole the men are well employed.

In t he Birmingham district the iron market has


been brisk, prices firm, and t ending upwards. Good
orders are reported for all kinds of railway carriage
and wagon iron. ~far ked-bar makers are well eupplied
with orders, and the quoted rates are well maintained.
Unmarked-bar makers are also busy, and are able to
maintain full rates. Black sheets, gas-strip, and hoops
are in good demand, and prices firm. l'inplate workers
are also busy. St>Bel is in demand, but prices are kept
down. The engineering and allied trades are fairly
well employed, if not pressed with orders. Most of
The J ou1-nal of the A malgarnated Society of Engi- the other iron, steel, and metal-using industries are
nee?s states that " trade remains about the same, a fully engaged.
slight falling-off in Liverpool, and one or t wo smaller
The position of the engineering industries throughplaces ; but, on the other hand, a picking-up at
Glasgow and on t he .Clyde generally." It repor~s a out Lancashire is indicative of gradually decreasing
strike at Leeds " agamst the one-break system, Wlth- activity generally in most ~istricts. . Some of the
out reduction of hours ;" this has lasted over a mon~h leading departments have still a sufficiency o~ work
and s~ill continues. A plea. is put in for two four in hand to keep them well employed for some t ime to
h ours' spells in each day. The advance of ls. per ~eek come, but the weight of new work coming forward
in the British Channel marine shops has come mto and in prospect is regarded as very unsatisfactory,
force ; and of l s. per week in a section of t.he Liver- and an uneasy feeling is manifest as to the future.
pool district. The Clyde members are movmg for an As regards electrical engineering, locomotive and railincrease also. The numbers on the funds were, way carriage building, boilermaking, and the manuout of a total of 90,247 members, 2509 on donation facture of machine tools, these, hitherto busiest
benefit- increase, 65 ; on sick benefit, 1828-decrease, branches, also show a tendency to slackening down.
103 ; on superannuation benefit, 3899-increas~, 14. The textile mfl.chine-making industry is described as
The net increase in members was 326. Referrmg to in a depressed condition, with no material signs of imthe loss of the Cobra, the report says that some goo,d provement. The iron market has been ~low in respect
members of the union from the Tyneside were among of business done as regards raw matenal, but as the
those who perished. Memb?rs are war~ed n?t to supply is restricted, makers have been able to obtain
accept work under the Ca.nad1an and Pac1fic Ra1l way some advance for prompt delivery. Finished iron
Company, which refuses to pay t~e. rates demand.ed makers have been doing a steady business at full rates.
by the American Union of Maclumsts, &c. Levies In the steel trade only a moderate amount of business
are required for the trade fund and benevolent fund- has been doing on home account, but fairly la.~ge
3d. for each. A schedule of wages, hours of labour, inquiries have been reported on the market for shipand conditions of employment in all districts is being ment. Generally the position in all these branches
prepared. There has been thre~ mo~e exclusions for of trade is regarded as unpromising.
indisposition to work and chrome lazmess. One man
The Black burn strike has developed a new feature
had drawn from the fun ds ll5l. ls. 7d. in seven years.
An old member, now in Australia, tells the story of the as regards picketing. A band of musicians was
startin g of the Amalgamation in 1850. He, John prosecuted for "besetting; " the case came before
Davies was one of those elected to draw up the ru.les, the Recorder of Blackburn on Thursday in last week,
which 'with modifications, were adopted by the unwn. the 17th inst., when it was decided that they were
guilty; and the Recorder fined each defendant 20s.
He still lives and thrives in Australia.
and costs. Counsel for the defendants asked for a case
The report of the Boilermakers and Iron Ship to be stated in order to appeal; but the Recorder reBuilders for the current mo~th s tates tha~ the ~etu~ns fused. He 'stated that the men had convicted themfr om various centres show that trade stllll!lamta!ns selves by their own evidence, given to screen themits flourishing condition," the only exceptiOn bemg selves. The case turned wholly upou the meaning
the port of Hull, so long disturbe~ by t he fis~ermen's and application of t he term " besetting."
dispute. I t is pointed out that I? ports chiefly enThe Ninth Annual National Free Labour Congress
gaged in repair-work employment 1s not so good, but
the men could readily fi~d work e.lsew,~ er~. . The held its meetings last week, in the Memorial Hall,
inland districts are descnbed as bemg still In a London. It is a little significant that this bod~-a
flourishing condition. " The total number on the funds union of non-unionists, if it really be an orgamsed
was 3855 ; of these, 25 were on travel,. 386 signing .the association-should continue to exist, and from time
vacant book, and 1327 on home donatwn. There 1s a to time issue its mandates on labour questions. It

represents discontent with trade unionism rather than


content with t he rates of wages and conditions of
labour as they are. The annual report stated that
"the association had registered 16,250 men, and of
that number 13,000 were sent to subscribing employers
during the year, embracing almost every department
of industrial labour. " Suitable men had been supplied
as needed to the Great Eastern, Great Western, Taff
Vale, London, Brighton, and South Coast, and Metropolitan District Railways. The conference expressed
satisfaction with the Lords' decision in the Taff Vale
case, with the conduct of Lord Penrhyn and his
manager in the quarry dispute, and with other
me1sures and matters condemned by trade unions.
Those utterances denote a revolt against t he highhandedness of trade unions in recent years, and ought
to teach a lesson to labour leaders and to officials of
such unions. There was an aggressiveness in the
speeches of the delegates which deserves to be noted.
'l'he unions would seem not only to have provoked
retaliation on the part of employers, but also a bitter
feeling among members of the working class, presumably because harsh treatment has been meted out
to them at one time or another. The Free Labour
men denounce alike trade unionism and socialism as
being antagonistic to the workers and not favourable
to labour. These sections may be left to fight the
matter out between themselves; but it is evident tha t
a coercive policy is not calculated to promote good
fellowship.
The strike of colliers in the Rhymney Valley continues. After seven weeks of idleness the matters in
dispute seem to be as far off from settlement as ever.
After several interviews, the question as to wa.ges
has been practically arranged, but the owners refuse
all other demands, it is said, therefore the strike
goes on.
A dispute as to timbering at Messrs. Brown's collieries at Rotherham has led to the cessation of work
by some 2000 or 3000 men, in order to force the firm to
comply with the Home Secretary's instructions.
In Northumberland the miners are so busy that only
one man was in receipt of out-of-work allowance at the
date a the last report of the association.
The miners and ironworkers in France are in a state
of unrest over the question of a general strike. Some
11,000 men voted for the strike out of the 17,000 who
voted. But there are about 160,000 miners in all, so that
only a small proportion responded to the referendum. It
is thought that the Government will try to arrange a
settlement on an eight-hours' basis. The report of a
riot at Month neon states that '' a mob of 5000 men set
upon two blacklegs;" the mayor and sub-prefect were
badly used, and the military had to oharge the mob.
In deciding some questions of wages in the Dorsetshire districts, Judge Raikes, K.C., commented
severely upon the yearly agreements of labourers, n..s
harsh in operation, and tending to depopulation.
Strikes in Spain continue. At Seville some 4000 men
are idle in connection with the large pottery works.
Other workmen joined, and riots ensued, so that a
state of siege was declared. Much damage has been
done, many persons have been injured, and many
arrests made. At Barcelona the masons and carpenters
have won the eight-hours' day, so that the strike is at
an end. It would appear that political agitation has
much to do with recent disputes in Spain.

GAS-ENGINE RESEARCH.
Second Repo1t to tho Gas-Engilne Research Oornmittee. *

By Professor FREDERIO W. BuRSTALL, Member, of


Birmingham University.
In the first reportt of the Gas Engine Research Comruittee an account was given of the apparatus and engine
which were used for the experiments, and of a small
number of preliminary experiments made in order to
E_ave the way for a more extended and complete series.
The engine used throughout the research was one specially
constructed by Messrs. Fielding and Platt, of Gloucester,
and was arranged so that the compression could be
altered from about 30 lb. per square inch to about 150 lb.
per square inch. The normal speed for the engine was
200 revolutions per minute, the diameter of the cylinder
was 6 in., and the stroke was 12 in.
The tests were all made with lighting ga-s, which was
supplied from a gasholder capable of holding about 100
cubic feet. This quantity would suffice to run the engine
at full power for about 60 minutes ; in general the tests
lasted half an hour. In most cases such short tests would
not be desirable, but it must be borne in mind that in a.
plant such as was used in the research it is possible to
obtain such steady conditions thab the length of a test can
be shortened wibhout in any way affecting its aocuracy.
In the first report a. full account! of the apparatus and
the methods employed for the calibration of all instru-

* Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical


Engineers.
t Proceedings 1898. page 209.
vol. lxv., pages 350 and 413.

Also ENGINEERING,

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

~en~ was g~ven; ~or the objects of the p resent report all
ab 1s requned will be. to state that in addition to such
measurements as quantt~y of gas, indicated and brake
power, nu~ber of. revoluttons and explosions. temperature
and qua.nttty of J~Wket water, the au supplied was measuhed by a. wet meter, and an analysis was made of the
bx ausb ga~es. Some alterations and additions have
aen made to the apparatus form erly descri bed A n
accou~t. of these changes is now added.

lgn~tton. -In the first report some account was g iven of


t?e failure to obtain a. satisfactory electric ignition. T he
time expended on these unsuccessful experiments was not
a. toget~er wasted, as the experience then ~a.ined led to
the ~estgn of .a. perfectl.Y satisfactory igmter . In the
pre VIous experiments a htgh. tension spark was employed
and thus grea.~ diffic~hies were encountered in order t~
keep up t~e lDSula.tton. The present electric igniter is
worke~ Wl.th ~ spark which is produced when a. low
P<?tentt~l cu cutb c~ntaining iron is broken. The difficulty
~1~h thts met~od 1s to produce the break of the circuit
1ns1de the cy hnd~r. Attempt~ were made to do this by
mea~ o! the. motton of the piston, but without success.
The tgmter 1s shown in Fige. 1 and 2. It consists of a

Ptg 1.

593

Indicator.-The method of driving the steel wires which accurate analysis of th e exhaust gases can be made it is
are attached to the indicator (Fig. 3) has been slightly P.o~ible to find t~e ra~io of air t o gas in a. som~whab
a.lte~ed from the form that was rsb used in order to s1mtlar manner as m boiler tests, wher~ the weight of air
obv1a.te the .ne?ess~ty for cor~e.c ting diagrams for the per pound of coal is found from the analyses of the fllle

uneqnal m'\llbiphca.t1on of t he dr1vmg gear. The swinging


sha.fn wa.s dn ven by the sector of a circle which was
keye~ on to the shaft. The seotor wn~::~ connected to
the ptston by. me~ns of steel tapes which were kepb at
constant tenston m order to prevent any less of motion
The sector is shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Ex~ust Gases.- The same form of appara.tua for the


c~Hect10n of exhaust gases was used as described in the
1rst Report. To remove any question of air being sucked
m from the small valve ab the back of the collecting tube
the valve was removed and the tube, connected ton. wate~
pump, was atta.Qhed inside.* During the tests the water
pump was kept working, which drew a consideraLle
vol ume of the exhaust gas past the collecting valve. The
gases were analysed in a. gas apparatus, w liioh was also
used for the analysis of the coal gas.
The Tests.- The sybtem which was followed in making
the experiments was to work on four compressions: these
are lettered: A compreesion about 55 lb. p er square inch,

gaaes and coal.


The following quantities can be determined from the
analysis of the coal gas :
K = the least number of volumes of air required to
burn completely one volume of coal g~.
l = num ber of volumes of carbon dioxide produced hy
the combustion.
k = the volume after combustion of K volumes of air
and one volume of gag.
. L eb N be the ratio of air to gas at the end of t he suctiOn stroke, y and z the percentages of carbon dioxide and
o~ygen in the exhaust gas. For one volume of gas there
wtll be an excess of air of N- K volumes which is not
required for the combustion of the gas, and which passes
out to exhaust unalt ered ; after bhe eo m bustion is finishE.d
the volume of the burnt products will be k volumes; bene~
one volume of coal gas and N volumes in the cylinder
~;n in the exhaust pipe have a. volume of N - K + k.
As the percentage of oxygen in air is 0.209, there are

Fi9. Z .

ELECTfl/C FIRINC GEAR

..
. .
@
/ '
rI
, '
, '' '

8cal,e; "fo.
,

..,.-r---------.,______ ___ -.
--

---- fI

, ..

:
I

\'

.... ...&

Mica-~

-J---l

'"\

"' 1

\..

I
1-

- - 4==~~==~

- ( ' -.----- ---. . . ... t__ ________ - -----------1


~
~t. - - - - - - ---------- ---- ----------- -J

----\

....

--

'

-- - -

(tJ.:uJ==~ ~-----"'-1

Wa.Bhers

F'-9 .4- .
SECTOR

--
FV.,1. G. E:xihcu.w&Ga..s Sampler.
E:xlum.st Va.lve.t

ToCusJ[ofiler

PiA] 5 .

--Lh

'

- --- J

)
10~. 11

B compression about 71lb. per square inch, 0 compres6ion about 93, and D compression 124lb. per square mcb,
the pressures being absolute. The speed was kept the
same for the whole of t he tests, that is, about 200 revolutions p er minut~ ; in all cases the load on the brake was
adjusted so as to make the number of explosions missed
as small as possible. Experiments on gas engines when
a. considerable number of explosions are miesed give rise
to such va rying ratios of air t o gas as to render them
useless from a research point of view; t his is due t o the
fact that when a blank charge of air is drawn in, the
residue in the clearance space is more than usually
dilu ted with air, and the indicat or diagram following the
blank ch&;rge is not the same shape as those wbiob follow
an explosion. The tests under any of the compressions
are denoted by numbers, and are given in the order of the
ratio of air to gas; a series starts with very nearly the t heoretical amount of air which is required to burn the ga-s, and
then the tests are separated by, roughly, changes of 1 per
csn t. in the carbonic acid as found in the exhaust gases.
A ll volumes, both air and gas, have been red uced t o
f\ta ndard condition~, that is, a. temperature of 15 deg.
Cent. and a pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury; results are given in the metric system, but for the convenience of comparison a fe w leading figures have been given
in the English units also ; limits of space prevent the
adnption of the dual system throughout.
The ratio of air to gas ba.s generally been found by
assuming that ab the end of the suction stroke the cylinder
is filled with only air and gas; if the temperature of the
mi xture be assumed, the volume of air can be calculated
frnm the ordina ry gaseous lawe.
1,his method is certainly n ob correct, as there is always
in the clearan ce space a volume of the products of combustion which have been left over from the previous ex
plosion stroke ; the temperature of t.he mixed air and gas
has been generally taken a~ not differing greatly from
the jacket temperature, an assumption which is not in
general borne out by the present experimente. If an

two equations for finding the value of N :


y=

l
N=-=--:l
=C~
+-::k

,.. _ 0.209 (N- K)

u--

N-K+k

threaded plug which screws into the cylinder in the posiIn this manner two values of N have been calculated,
tion where the ordinary i~nition tube is placed. From
and are given in T ables V II.; the results should sgreP,
the lower extremity of this plug project two steel rods
and such differencP.s as exist are due to the experim enta11y
about 3 in. in length, t he rods being connected together
determined constants K, k, and l, which have to be
by a short brid~e piece, in w hie~ is xed a.. pl~tinum tip.
obtained in a somewhat indirect manner, rendering
The di fficulty m the constructton of the tgntter was to
them liable to error.
insulate the movin..;' contact. This was effect ed by .in.suThe ratio of air to gas used in the calculations is the
lating the whole of the upper part of the plug conta.mmg
mean between the two.
the gland, through whic~ the slid in~ rod moves,, from ~he
The measurement of the air drawn in during the suction
lower pub which screws m to the cy hnder. The m sula.t10n
stroke renders it possible to calculate the temperat ure ab
is formed of mica disc~, which are placed both above a?d
the end of the suction stroke.
below a. ring forming part of the upper plug. These mtca.
Let V= volume of cylinder.
discs are forced down on the ring by means of a. nut threaded
V r
volume of clearance.
on to the lower piu~. The .moving conta.c~ consists of a
V a = volume of air drawn in per ~troke reduced to
steel rod tipped wt th p latmum and pasamg through a
stand ard condi tions of temperature and pressure, which
gland packing in order to prevent leakage of gas. The
are 15 deg. Cent. and 760 millimetres of mercury.
packing is a. mixture of asbestos. and pl?mbago. . The
V g = vol ume of gas drawn in per stroke under the
same conditions of pressure and temperature.
moving rod is forced d own by n spt ral sprmg and hfted
by a. bellcrank lever. Owing to the f~()t that the rod must
A fter the exhaust valve clos~, and a uew stroke is
about to commence, the clearence space is filled with air
be insulated from the body of the cyhnder, ~he lever has
and burnt products, the composition of which is known
also to be insulated ; it is therefore made 1~ t wo parts,
from t he analysis of t he exhaust gases, and if the volume
which are fll>Stened together by bolts passmg through
of this resid ue can be found, the temperature can be
ebonite washers. The lower end of the bellcrank lever
obtained by calculation.
has attAched t o it a roller which presses on t o the exhaust
The amount of ai r in the cylinder is N V g, this quanti ty
cam. The time of the passage of the spark is altered by
being made up of t wo parts : first, the air drawn in V a;
fixing the roller nt different distances from tpe cam. O~r
and, second, the air left in the clearance space, which is
rent was obtained from four storage cells havmg .a capa01ty
N V g- V a when reduced to standard conditions.
of 50 ampere-hours ; it was found that t? obtam regular
T he fraction of air in the exhaust is known from the
igniDion the spark must be short and th10~, ~n.Y smaller
a nalysis of the exhaust gases; let it be n. then the total
number of cells did nob in all cases produce 1gmt10n. The
volume of air and products of combusti on in the clearance
results have been most excellent; the igniter has been in
space, when the suction ~troke is about to commence, is
nse wi thout repair for more than two years, and has ne~er
been seen to fail to fire the charge. As compar~d w1tb
clearly N V fl + V a; during the suction stroke an addithe ho b tube, ib has man y advantages from an expertmen.tal
n
point of view, and ~y ~eans of the spark,, charges wb10h * See First R eport Fig. 19 Plate 65, and ENGINEERING, tion al volume of air and gas-V a + V g-is drawn in,
are so weak as to g1ve uregular r~ults w1th the hob tube
vol. lxv., page 351. '
'
, so t hat the t otal volume in the cylinder a.t the end of the
can be ignited witli absolute certamty.

594

E N G I N E E R I N G.
[g~ a+ a +g

when reduced to a is reas~n to ~uppose ~hat the temperature throughout


the cyhnder 18 not umform, but that the core may be
temperature of 15 deg. Cen~. and a pressure of 760 milli- hotter th~n the mean. The highest calculated mean temmetres of mercury.
perature ~s nearly 2000 deg. Cent., and it is possible that
If T be the absolute temperature of the mixture and the ?Ore 18 hotter even than this; most authorities have
P the pressure in millimetres of mercury which is found ?On8tde~e~ 1600 deg. as the upper limit, but the reporter
fro~ the pumping diagrams, T can be 'round from the 18 of opm10n that this temperature is too low.
ordmary gaseous laws, as the volume is known to be V
In finding the additions of heat both ab constant volume
{1+r), that is,
~nd constant pr.es~ure, and in finding the changes of
mternal ener~y, It ~ necessary ~0 know the sreoifio heat
760 V g
+ g + = P V ~ + r)
of the. bu~nmg mixture, wh10h consists o nitrogen,
ca.rbontc a01d, oxygen, and water vapour. The reporter
273 + 15
h~ con8~lted most of .the original memoirs dealing with
that is,
th1s subJect, a?d de01ded to adopt the values obtained
288 P (1 + r)
from the expenments of MM. Mallard and Le Chatelier
on ~he specific heat ab high temperatures ; their investiT = 760
+g+a
gatiOns show that the specific heat is not constant, as had
been supposed by the older savantp but increases with
. The t~mperatures obtained in this way are shown plotted the temperature according to the foll~wing formu1~e:
m ~be d1agram annexed, and from the nature of the calcuThe values* are for specific heat at constant volume ab
lat10n the values must be looked upon as only approxi- temperature t :

suction stroke is V

l :a

Then heat added from end of compression to end of


constant volumeT!l
= (w1 + 10~) (a + s T) oT

T,

=(w, + 1u2) [a (T!l -

1d

" iil'

1:1

""

100

""""

0
0

0
0

Ra./;W- Air

Gas

!'

1-

0
0

I:T

'-....

'
'
'

3~

v . v"
0

T22J]

A TrUil.s.
.

2- -{H- ~

...()

(T 32

D iagra;n-vs.

4 - H>3-'~
R.,
3 - - 02

(")

s-

R.,
0
0

T2
[b (Ta - T2 ) +

peri?d is, perhaps, the most interesting


pomt m connect10n w1tb the gas engine; if the constant
specific heat be adopted, it will be found that during expansion, instead of beat being lost to the walla, a-s would
have been expected, there is, as has been mentioned, an

7 -QS- t
6- -o+ \)

200

+ s T) oT

(b

~he. expansio~

Pwnping
'0

+ 1u2)

= (w1

'-

I'

+ w2)

= (w1

T. ~)].

T3

of SNtUm Te-mpercvtlNr e- and- Air to CQ;s


~ ,

+ ~ (T22 -

Heat added from end of constant volume to end of constant pressure-

aJ

[g

T,)

""

~
V

l _;l(

10

11

12

13

14

15

-0

7 . -05 -

5-

J,..

3 -Q2

'

<?

B Trwls

&

6- --Q4
4 ---Q3-~

~}<H-~

......
v , "'
v

'

00012
0001 1

3~

'

/-...

2-..,

<::.

,~,

J_.,llf

'
'
'

d'

'
I

(C

00010

Tr tfk ls

omr.,ltecl.)

I
I

'

00009

~~

I
1

...

5-~-r----~----~---.----.-----.-----~--~----

6-,
5- 4~~~r------r----~r-----4-----~------~----~------~---J,..

4- -ll3- ~ -r------t------+------t------~------1-----.frt-------t----

..- 32 -v"'2-~~~-------t------r----~------+------+-----h'~----~---.

17

~ 1: -ot- ~T---:t-------t---t-:::::~
"' "'
/
__.,.. ,.

Rat;W - Air fAJ Gas

1&:.

o V

'

1 5

10

11

12

13

lt

lS

0
J,..
Cl)

R,
(")

r.o
.......:)

R =Kp - K V

072

- 05-g

'\

\}

Tri~ls.

76- -o4

5- ~A3 - ~

43 -Q2

2- -ol- :::c::ti-.

-"

1-

'

l'lb62 1/)

02

08

10

07 ()069

5 (1~2 p;

' 10

li

mate, when the charge is rich; that is, when N V g- V a


is small, any error will greatly affect the value of T.
The valnes of the suction temperatures used in forrojng
a hea.b balance have been obtained by drawing a mean
line through the temperature points when plotted on a
base of the ratio air to ga~.
The indicated power has been derived from the net
mean pressure on tho piston, that is, subtracting from
the gross mean pressure, as mea-sured, the average mean
pressure during suction and exhaust. Although the
missed explosions were only a small fraction of nbe whole,
it was considered advisable to correct for the increased
ei7.e of diagram which follows after a missed explosion;
such diagrams were allowed that weight in the whole
num ber of diagrams which corresponded with the number
of missed explosions. The suction diagrams for tests A,
B, and D are shown in bbe diagram annexed.
The reporter would have preferred to derive the indicated power from the gross mean pressure, and to consider
s uction and back pressure as forming part of the mechanical losses; the case of a steam engine in which the
auxiliary pumps are driven from the main engine would
support this contention. Having the temperatures of
suction, it is a simple matter to calculate the temperatures at any other point from the known pressures
and volumes, such temperatures being the mean temperatures throughout the cylinder; in another portion of this report it will be shown that ther~

14

16

CuJJic

Racitt - Air wCa.s


-'
9

12

, ,

12

13

14

15

I ... Su ctl on.

* Cornptes Rendus, 1887, vol. civ., page 1780.

2 - E,r;luw.st after. :~:plosion.

Carbonic d ioxide
...
0.1477 + 0.000176 t
Water vapour ...
...
0.321l + 0.0002 L9 t
Nitrogen ...
...
. ..
0.170 + 0.0000872 t
Oxygen ...
...
...
0.1488 + 0.0000763 t
These results are nob in agreement with those obtained
a.t low temperatures, nor do they agree with Dr. J olly'd
researches by means of the steam calorimeter, but for temperatures such as are found in gas engines they form the
only available experiments. The values of the specific beat
for different mixtures of air and gas are given in Table VII.
(see appendices) and shown in the diagram above.
The variable specific heat considerably changes the formu1 ro employed, and as no English work, to the reporter's
knowledge, contains an account of the theory of the gas
engine with variable specic heat, the formu1re are given
here, the units being metric. Let T1 be the absolute
temperature at the end of compression, T2 the absolute
temperature at the end of constant volume, T 3 the absolute temperature at the end of constant pressure, and T 4
the absolute temperature at exhaust, w1 the known weight
of air and ga~, ~v-2 the weight of residual products lefb
from the previous stroke in the clearance space, this
latter quantity being obtained by calculation from the
known suction temperature.
Specific heat at constant volume = a + s T ;
Specific heat at constant pressure = b + s T.

6
I

'

-18

J~

s:

l ...;f

,.

07 I

""'- 1

X Y Z.

'

20

'""

7
I

8
i

22

28

so

apparent. gain of h~at by the ~barge after burning. If the


bypothes1s of a var1able spec1fic heab be adopted, it will
be found that in almost all oases there is heat lost to walls,
and that combustion is complete at the point of maximum
temperature. To determine this an adiabatic curve is
drawn through the point of m3.ximum temperature and
continued to the same volume as exhaust.
The equation to an adiabatic is not the same as with
the ordinary specific beat, and with the same notation a~
before is obtained thus:
If an amount of beat 8 q be added, we have

(d T) ap + Kv (da-vT) s v,

"

o q = K ,, d p
and

dT

d T_ p
a v - R'

-d p -

hence
0 q = Kv ~ 0 p

for an adiabatic
(a +

or

oq =

+ Kp

'P 5 V

0, and-

s T ) 'l' d p

a 1J ap + bp d V +

+ (b + s T) p d v = 0,
S

1
' (V

d p + p d 'l ) = (\.

The integral of this is-

'

OcT. 25, rgo1. ]


(b- a) logo u + a logo (p v) + s pv
-R =

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

or
4

8 Jll'

lt = constant.
where e is the N aperian base and R = KJJ - Ku = b - a.
p

u c

1'he adiabatic curves both on a. constant specific beat


assumption a.nd a variable specific hea t assumption are
shown in Test B.~.
From this equation the tempera.ture3 ab the end of
adiabatic expansion have been calculated, and are given
in Ta.bles ."'I. (see Appendices). A comparison with
Tables IV. will show that, except for the very wea.k
oha.rges, the exhaust temperatures are much the lower; in
C8 the condition is reversed, the exhaust tempera.bure being
45 deg. Cent. ab:>ve the temperature on the adiabatic; and
i b will be seen that the therma.l efficiency has fallen by
nearly 2 Qer cent. ; the sa.me is shown in D 0 and Dt0,
while in D 8 the tempera.bures are nearly the same, the
thermal efficiency being then a maximum. These experiments would tend to prove bha.t for maximum economy
the expansion should be nearly an a.diabatic. Tbermodyna.mtcs show that for maximum economy all the heat
should be add ed ab maximum temperature, and th9.t any
afber- burning is detrimental.
In finding the heat discharged to exhaust, it has been
general to estimate the heat as the change of internal
energy of the whole weight of the charge in cooling from
the temperature of exha.usb to the temperature ab the end
of the suction stroke; pa.rb of this energy only passes
out, the remainder being supposed to be given to the
jacket.
In the heat acoounb for these tests the heat rejected to
exhaus t ha~ been divided in to two parts : first, the heat
energy of the total weight of air and gas taken in, the
products of combustion being cooled down to atmospheric
t emperatu re ; second, that part of the charge which does
nob pas3 oub of the cylinder, but remains in the clearance
space to mix with the air and g~ of the nexb stroke.
Some of the heat eners-y, however, does pass out,
being converted into kinet1c energy of the exhaust. To
estimate this a.mnunt, the charge in the clearance space
has been s upposed to expand adiabatically from exhaust
pressure to the pressure of atmosphere; the oha.nge of
internal energy due bo this expansion has been taken as
the beat lost by the residue to exhaust.
The amount of hAa.t thus determined is not large, forming about 3 per cent. of the total heat; the amount of the
products of combustion in the clearance space varies, of
courae, with the compression and with the suction temperabure: for the A tests of the whole weight of charge
about 25 per cent. is residue ; for B tests, 16 per cent.;
for C tests, about 15 per cent. ; for the D tests, about 8.5
per cent.
.
In forming a. heat balance by the bwo methods, there
will nob be a great difference between the inberna.l energy
ab exhaust and heat energy of the incoming air and gas
when cooled from exhaust temperature to atmospheric
temperature, when the compression is high, a-s then the
influence of the clearance residue is small ; hub for
low compre~sions, such a.s i~ teat A, there is a ~a.rked
difference between the two; 1f any method of findmg the
hea.b rejected t o exhaust is correct a nd leads to a. fairly
accurate heat balance, it must apply to all oa~es. The
figures are given for thirty-eight testa under very varied
condi tiona, and the heat balances are as good as oa.n be
expected for such a. complex problem.
In Dr. Slaby's experiments a slightly larger engine was
used with a. slide valve and a. low compression; the best
thermal efficiency was abou t 16 per cent., and the loss to
exba.usb nearly the same as in the reporter's experiments.
T he loss to the jacket wa.s much larger than in the reporter's tests, a.nd modern gas engines owe their improved
efficiency mainly to a reduced wall loss.
The effect of a scavenger ohar~e may be inferred from
the relative weights of the inoommg charge and the clearance residue ; if the latter can be expelled, a larger total
volume of charge can be drawn without greatly increasing
the jacket loss, hub the gain diminishes as the compression is increased.
For many reasons very high compressions are not desirable, and the reporter wishes to draw attention to the
faob that at present gas engines are only utilising a.b~mb
one-third of their total temperature range when workmg
under best conditions, while in steam engines more than
three-quarters of the temperature range.is utilised.
The additions of heat of various p ort1ons of the s troke
have been worked out, and an example from each of the
four compressions is given in Appendix VI.; wanb of
apace has prevented the results being given in full.
The heat additions give a check on the hea.b balance,
and the results for the whole of the tests are in fair agreement. Had the specific beat of the charge been taken as
constant in the calculations, the resul ts would have been
about 15 per cent. smaller.
The values taken for the heating values of the ga~
in Tables I. and II., Appendix I ., are those of Dr.
Slaby, and in each case the latent heat of the wa.~er
formed by combustion has been deducted. As to wh1ch
of the two values are to be used for the calorific va.lue of
a gas, all authorities are n ob agr~ed .. If the h~abing value
of a gas be d etermined by .burmng m ~ oalortmeter such
aa the Jtinker the result w11l be the h1gher, becaube the
products of co~ bustion ha. ve been . cooled. to nea.rl.Y atmospheric temperature. From a log10al pomt of vtew,, the
heating value of a gas should be t~ken as the hen.t gtven
out when the products of combust10n are cooled down to
the original temperature of the incoming air and gas ;
this includes as part of the hea.ting value of the ~as the
latent heat of the water vapour which is produced by the
combustion of hydrocarbons ; in an a.verage coal gas the
patent heat of the water vapour amou nts to nearly 10 per
cenb. of the gross heat as measund in the calorimeter.

595

The justification for adopting the lower number for the


calorific value is that in all ~raotica.l applications of gas,
whether in a gas engine or m a furnace, it is a lmost imp ossible to conceive any arrangement by which the water
vapour could be rejected as water, and nob, as is always
the case, in the form of steam. It has generally been
the custom, ln th in this coun t ry and in Germany, to use
the lower value, and as it is most desirable that thera
should be a. uniform standard, the Gas Engine Research
Committee and the reporter would suggest the use of the
lower value as being a measure of the available heat of
the gas, wherea~ the higher value i~ not a practical standard of the beat which oan be utilised outside a. calorimet9r.
The additions of heat during the varioufi parts of the
cycle may be studied by means of the entropy diagram,
hub as fresh diagrams have to be drawn for each test, ibis
questionable if the result i~ worth the very considerable
labour that is invol ved . The general formuJre for constructing the entropy diagram are given, so that diagrams
ma.y be constructed if required .
L st ~be the change of entropy when 1 kilogramme of
the mixture changes its tempsrature from T 0 to T 1.
With the specific heats as before K u = a + s T, 1<1, = b

+ s T, and R = b - a; then cl' =a logc 'f~ + R logo Vo


+ S (r - T 0), where V and V 0 are the volumes ab tem-

peratures T and T 0 respectively. The diagrams are constructed by drawing a series of lines along which the
pressure is constant and a second series along which the
volume is constant.
The indicator diagram can then be plotted from the
known pressures, and by dividing the actual volume of
th e charge b7 its weight in kilogrammes.
The ~ero 1s best taken ab 0 deg. Cen b., that is, '1'0 =
273 deg. Cent. ; if the temperatures a re plotted vertically, and the en tropies hori zontally, ib is best to plot
constan t volume and constant pressures and constan t
volume linea ab intervals of every 60 deg. Cent., starting
from the line of zero entropy. To find the actual pressures and volumes for these lines, let a. line start from
t he line of zero entropy ab a. temperature T 1, pressure Pt,
volume V 1 Then

R loga 5
and

vl

= a

logo~ +
'l 'o

S (T1-To)

R logo!) = b logo~ + s (Tt-To),


Po
':eo

this fi xes Vt and P 1 in terms of Tt


The principal use of the entropy diag ram would be in
comparing an actual engine with a perfect gas-engine
working under the same conditions. In the case of steam
the Rankine cycle has been adopted, and for gas engines
several cycles have been proposed. The reporter has inves tigated the question, but 1s ab present una.ble to recommend any particular cycle as being best adapted for
actual engine comparison.
Coal Gas.- In the ordinary analysis of a. coal gas there
exists some diffi culty as t o the exact composition of the
compound which is absorbed by the fuming sulphuric acid.
It is a mixture of the higher hydrocarbons, and is generally taken as ha.vin~ a. composition of C 3 H 0 Although
the percentage of th1s hydro-carbon is s mall, being only
about 5 p er cent. by volume, yet owing to its high heating value it forms a considerable factor in the heating
value of the coal gas. A brief account of the method
employed to determine the composition of this hydrocarbon is all tbail is necessary. In addition to explodin~
the mars h gas and hydrogen alone, an explosion was made
of the coal gas mLxed with the air simply. From the data
thus obtained it was possible to find the values of 'In and
n1 if the hydro-carbon were taken a.s C m Hn . The values
ootained were not integral, which means that a number
of the higher hydrocarbons were mixed t ogether. The
analysis and da ta. of the average coal gas is shown io
Appendix I. Dr. Slaby has shown* that the heating
value of hydro-carbons can be represented by the
formula : H eating value = 1000 + 10,500 d, where d is
the density of the gas, the units being in calories and
cubic metres.
.Radiation.-The beat which is rejected into the
jacket water wilJ, of course, be slightly less than the
heat which is passed through a. cylinder wall, due to the
fact that some of the heat is radiated from the outer
surface of the cylinder into the air. Although this
amount wa-s comparatively s mall, it was deemed a.dvisable
to make a. special experiment in order to determine its
amount. After the jacket had been raised to the required temperature, the engine was stopped and a measured supply of hob water allowed to pass through the
jacket; the tsmperature of this water both at the inlet
and the outlet were measured. The radiation can then be
determined from the difference of these temperatures t ogether with the know~ weight of. water.
.
T est of Oarbonio Oxide.-A senes of exper1ments w ere
made in order to determine if ib were p ossible for carbonic
oxide to exist in the exhaust!, that is to say, whether
combustion ever took place in the exhaust pipe. With
the ordinary method of collecting gas samples, eyen if
carbonic oxide existed, it would not be found m the
analysis because it would recombine with the free
oxygen 'and form carbonic &;cid before being . ooll~cte~.
T o prevenb anv possible burnmg of the carbomc oxtde m
the exhaust pipe, a collecting tube was water-jacketed
through its entir~ lm~gth, and~ sbl'ea.m o~ cold water passed
rapidly through 1ts Jacket (F1g. 6). Thts would cool down
the exhaust gases so rapidly as to prevent burning of carbonic oxide to carbonic acid, if not entirely, at any rate to a
large exten t. The engine was run with a very late ignition

and wir:.h rich charges, so thab the condir:.ions for the formation of carbonic oxide in the exbansb were most favourable. In no case, however, could the smallest trace of
carbonic oxide be discovered, although had there been as
little as one-tenth part of 1 per cent. it would have been
detected.

(To be continual.)

THE PURIFICATION OF FEED WATER.


I N the " memorandum " prepared by !vir. C. E .
Stromeyer, the Ohief Engineer of the Manchester Steam
Users' Association, and presented to the members of the
Association at their last annual meeting, there is includ ed
a.n exceedingly interesting report dealing with the res~lts
of an examination into the results obtained in praot1cal
working with various types of purifiers for feed water.
By bhe kind permission of Mr. Stromeyer we reproduce
this report below, together with his remarks on the cleaning of boilers worked without purifiers.

Scale and Oorrosion.-As mentioned in my la-at year's


memorandum, we have now established a. chemical laboratory, and have during the last twelve months carried ou b
many analyses on feed waters, and are now in possession
of full information a,g to the mineral and corrosive con stituents of most of lihe water supplies to large towns.
Those of our members using these waters are receiving
revised instructions as to treatment. ~!any membera
whose works are situated in other districts have also bad
their waters analysed and reported upon by us.
A very general request is for information as to how
scale can be got rid of entireJy, and how the expense of
scaling can be obviated, to whi ch there is, of course, only
one reply, viz., tbn.t the water should be trea.ted before it
is fed into the boiler, and, nob unnaturally, further inquiries are then made as to the relative costs of working
feed-water purifiers. Information on the subject is rather
conflicting, and it was therefore decided to send ou r
chemist on a tour of inspection of works where various
purifiera could be seen in operation, and a. brief summary
of his report is contained in the following pages:
Cost of W orking Boilc1s without Purifiers.-In order
fully bo unders tand the nature of the inquiry, it has b een
thought desirable to make a. rough estimate a~ to the
annual co3t of installations with from one to seven boilers
of 8 fb. diameter, costing 800l. with setting, and using
in one case pure water, a.nd in the other cases sedimentary
water. The interest on the first outlay is taken at 3 per
cent., and the interest on the sums set aside for depreciation is also taken to be 3 per cent. O n account of the
assumed rapid wear of the hard-worked boilers, their
lives are s upposed to be rela.bi vely short. The best
worked boiler without scale is supposed to last 50 years,
requiring no scaling. The worat oases would be a boiler
Nature of Feed.

Pure.

Boilers at work . .
..
Spare boilers . .
..
Assumed life of boilers . .

Very Sedimentary Water.

1
0

1
0

50

16

1
1
40

i40 I 40i l 401

I
1
s

30

1
20

--I

..

..

working

35
1-

.. I

-1-

35

24
43

48

6
10

31
10

21

72
32

96 120 144 168


42 I 62 100 2l9

47

02

20

30

78
40

78
50

I 6078

83 110 101 23(l 290 :l72


515

s3"'

u0

180.6 76 7172.5 74.4 86.8

* NoTB.-The actual cost would be muob grea.ter, as the works

would be closed down for four weeks per annum.

worked, say, for stretches of three monbhs because there


is no spare boiler, and this is supposed to last only 15
yeara. E ven in six weeks the scale is supposed to have
g rown thicker than is desirable. This would red uoe the
life of six and one spare boiler to 20 years. In the nex t
bes t lot, having one spare boiler for every five, each gets
cleaned every five weeks, las ting, say, 30 years; while all
the others are scaled e ,ery four weeks, lasting, say, 40 years.
The probable ages which the boilers may attain are
based on the assumption that the g radual accumulation
of scale during the time that eaoh of these boilers will be
allowed to run will increase the wear and tear, and will
ha.ve the effect of shortening the life of a boiler, and also
tha.t those installations where the boilers get little resb
will nob be scaled so well as others. The cost of scaling
includes the operation of laying off the boiler.
It will be seen that the annual cost (chiefly interest) for
a. boiler using pure water, with only such chemicals as
prevent corrosion, would be about 35l., whereas boilers
using sedimentary waters would cost frow 37l. to 75l.
more. If, then, ib can be shown that the interest, depre
cia.tion, and working expenses of a. water-softening apparatus p er boiler amounts to less than these extra expenses,
its advanhge in connection with very sedimentary water
is demonstrated.
A charge of 30s. for cleaning boilers is fairly high, but!
even in works where it is less, the extra cost of boilers
using sedimentary water is nob much reduced. The
T able will be useful as showing that where the question
arises as to whether a. spare boiler or a. water-softener is
to be put down, the la.tter would seem to be the more
ad vanto.geous, and the information which our chemist
(Mr. Baron) collected will throw more light on the s ubject.

S uMMARY Ol!' REPOR'r ON FIFTEEN ' V..\TER-SO!'TENERS.


Except where the installations were practically new, or
* Calorimetriscbe U nterauch ungen iiber den K reie- where they were under the eye of a chemist, the manufacturers' instructious were rarely adhered to. In one case
progress der Gas !Yiachine, page 6.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
the quantity of added lime h&~d been doubled, making the
water harder than it was b efore treatment; in another
case t he settling tanks had never been empt1ed, with the
result that the sediment had filled the tanks, and was as
hard as a r ock. These experiences are to be regrett ed,
because t he water-softeners are designed so as to be
worked by the fireman, who, if he onl1 receives proper
m s trucbions, is quite capable of carrymg out the necessary manipulations.
The principle of water-softening is a simple one. To
remove the temporary hardnese., caused by dissolved carbonate of lime and magnesia, a certain quantity of burnt
lime has to be &~dded to the water, when precipitation
should occur. To remove perman en t hardness, carbonate
of soda. should be added, and further precipitation
should occur. In practice it is found that this precipita-

measured quantities are tipped into the feed by mechanical means. Probably the old arrangement of using adjustable pumps is the cheapest and most reliable.
Porter-ClO/rk Contitnuous Water-Softener.- This is the
oldest and best known for treating only t emporary hardness. Three installations (A, B, and C) were visited.
A.-This inst allation is capable of dealing with about
3000 gallons per day, but is only used for 2000. It consists of (a) a lime-mixer, in which two paddles are worked
by an engine, constantly stirring up milk of lime, which
is prepared by adding burnt lime to water. No definite
information could be obtained as to the quantity of
lime, except that 1 cwt. was used at a time. The milk of
lime is pumped into the water-supply pipe, and the
mixture is delivered into (b) two mixing cylinders 4 fb. in
diameter, which are also agitated by engine power so as

0 /V/Of#IC TANI(

."\

Pis.1.

been necessary for trade purposes ; but if it was intended


to remove any permanent hardness, it would have been
better and cheaper to add soda ash, nob caustic soda, to
the milk of lime. The cost of this installation was 400l.,
without the two large tanks which constitute the roof.
The total floor s pace covered is 1526 square feet. On the
next page are the analyses of two samples before and after
treatment; but they must have been taken on different
days, for the process could not diminish the amount of
sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid, which, as will be
seen, are much diluted.
As will be seen, in spite of the addition of lime, the
free carbonic acid ha.s nob been much reduced : this is
doubtless due to the large open tanks, the water being
thus in contact with the air, and absorbing almost a'3
much carbonic aoid as was taken out in the process.
B.- In t his installation there were no fil tere. Lime and
soda for 24 hours' t reatment were mixed in a cylinder
4 ft. in diameter, 15 ft. high, and kept agitated by
p a-ddles, driven by an engine which also worked the
pump which delivered the above mixture into the water
supply. This water entered the mixing tower ab the
top, and was drawn off at the bottom, and delivered into

I
SODA

----

. . .L-- --'------

~i~
. ...
.. -

WATA MAIN

"

.,.

..

.. ..

...:q:

-WATEJl
r- - - - - -

.. ' l'

..-.. ...

SO~rN0

"

'-.~; ~

l-

:"

_.-

..

:::

TANK

Pah!.nt
FiUer

-- -

--

-;

. - ....
. ...--:_. i -.
.

-~ '

.'

..
.

):

I .. .'-
..
. .' ;
I

.....

'

:,

_;.

. : b

:.:

;;t;

- .

+ .. .
-

1-. -

, ~

- ~~

-.
0

=;

. . .~~11

. .o.:

....~

.
.,. . ,
,,~ ~:~.

. , .,
I

11(~

i~~

~":"),

~--

.-

j
.. ,....

...

~ ':.

.t

;~)

.-,.,~~. ~.;:.. ,. (R~:~.~: .,_., ...


. '

....
. ..:.:
.',:,r,,.}:.:
''~ ~ - ...:; .
... ' .' ...

:,'~-::

'\

:_,, ____

, , .; ' ..A

: .

M'Uti .
' , . '
. '

:_

;_

( 7081. 8 .)

&
/ .Mi.xer
"'7\
\

v
LI M:t:ER

:. m;.:;n--- --

MIXIN

WR

a .lit~..----- !k .11!

CLARIFICATION
-

~-

j,
- ...

,- I

.r

,\

I
I

....:...!

TOWER

""'
""

I!
.._,

- - -- - -

- ~

FIG.

1.

FIG.

THE STANHOPE CoNTINuous WATER-SOFTENER.

tion is slow. so that the settling tanks have to be made


large, or filters have to be .used, which are, of c~mrse,
inconveniences, and the var1ous patentees have tned to
overcome them, as follows :
1. The treated waters are mixed with old sediment.
2. They are mechanically stirred.
3. They are stirred by air jets.
4. They are heated.
5. After having settled, the nearly clear fluid is treated
with carbonic acid, which dissolves tbe sediment.
The treatments under 1 and 2 are fairly satisfact~ry,
and, particularly if filters are also used, lead to a very ~m
portant reduction in the height and size of the settlmg
towers. These are generally fitted with ba~e-plates, &c.,
though by increasing the velocity and changmg the courses
they c'a.nnob be looked upon as tending to expedite clarification of the water.
.
The treatment under 3 is effectiYe as regards clearmg
the feed but as the water thereby gets impregnated with
air, the ~ater is made more corrosive than it would otherwise be.
.
. .
If, as in 4, the water is heated, t he c~em10a1 reactien IS
rapidly complet~d, and the sca~e deposited. If t?e heating takes place m an economiser, the tubes rap1dly get
choked with soft scale and have t o be cleaned frequent!~,
but little or no scale g'ets into the boiler. If the water .IS
passed through tubular ~~atera, these tak.e the depos1~,
and, unless special proviSions are made, Its removal IS
troublesome. T o heat newly-purified wate~ by live steam
from the engine ~s an 9bjectionable pr~c~Ice, for the cylinder grease combmes With the final prempttate, and fox:ms
a light pasty substance, which adheres to the h.eatmg
surfaces and causes bulges, or collapses. ~f, as m the
case of the Stanhope and t he W ollaston punfier, th~ feed
is heated by live steam before treatment, the cyhnder
rease and all the sedimen t appear to get removed.
~here m ust, however, b~ a considera~le loss of heat by
radiation which makes t b appear des1rable to cover the
tanks, or' o~herwiae keep them warm.
. .
T he treatment 5 is open to the same obJectiOn as that
of Some
3.

1y ~ ou"hera are
water-softeners work contmuous
so a'rrn,nged that a tankful is prepared ~t a t1~e. ~hen,
of course, the measuring of the cheJ?IOals 1s a Sl~ple
matter; whereas if the process is cont1~uous, the dev10es
for obtaining a s teady suppl~ of ch.em10als are num~rous
and ingenious. 1,he lime IS e1t~ er m the form of mllk of
lime or lime water, the latter bem~ very bulky. . In eome
softeners the flow depends on the stze of nozzles, ~n others
on the differen ce of density, and in others, agatn, small

2.

T HE ATKINS CoNTINuo us WATER-SOFTENER.

Pi.fJ.3.

Cl~

FifJ.4.

Tank

------------\___

;'

To

Feed

(1081. C~

3.

Fio .

THE T YACKE CoNTINuous 'YVATERSoFTENER.

to insure thorough mixing. From these cylinders the


water passes through (c) four 2-ft. filte~s, whose preparation entails much labour, and then mto t wo tanks (d ),
each occupying a floor space of 36 ft. by 20 ft. In the
second of these tanks caustic soda is added, which converts the clear water into a t urbid one. The object of
this last p roceeding was not very clear, and may have

FIG.

4. , THE W OLLASTON

CoNTINUo us WATER
SoFTENER AND liEATER.

the bottom of a settling tower, 13 ft. in diameter, 22 ft.


high. It then overflowed into a feed-well. No informa
tion a~ to cost or quantibf treated was obtained, and
no~ody seemed ~o take an mteresb in the working. The
boilers were sa1d to have more scale than when no
softener was used, which is quite possible if too much
lime were added.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
Defore
After
Softening. Softening.

Composition of Wnter.

--------Oaloium carbonate
,.
silicate . .
,
su'pba.te
Magnesium carbonate
Ferric oxide, &~.

..
..
..
..
..

Scale-forming minE'rals
Sod ium ohloride ..
,
sulphate
Total soluble salts

0.83 ~

Ohange.
grains
10.478 l08S
1.67l gain
0. 668 11
1.046 loss

1.656
6.876
0.472

0.199

20.262

10.695

9.657 1038

6. 662

O. l4lloss

4.831

6 703

10.600

16.203

:i6.455

1.0lH
2.407
2.124

D is c1-pable of treating 3000 gallons per h our and


covers a. floor space of 13 ft. by 11 fb. 6 in. The ~ater

Total mioer:>.l matter ..


Carbonio aoid gas
Oxygen gas
..

qratns
11.512

grains

8.440

H .002

6.98
0.66

0.66

2.201loss

----24.597
11.858 loss

--6.94

2.060 ,

- ().9

;6 10

o.o

597

"

Treatment required for 1000 gallons: Pure lime, 1.6 lb.; pure
soda. ash, 0.2 lb. The actual treatment oould not be determined.
C. - This in~talla.tion is oa~able of treating 13,000 gallons
per hour, a nd m oludes filtratton, which, of course, involves

Composition of Water.

Defore
Treatmen t .

After
Treat
ment.

Ohange.

supply enters a. distributing tank, the inflow bein g


regula~ed by a. ball valve actuated by the height of the
., _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
- gums

gralOS
J!ra
lflS
wa.ber m the feed tank. The distributing tank has three
26.057 gain
) ~ 863
38.920

o~tlets, wh9seareas are ~11 carefully adjusted, so that rela- Calcium ca~bonn~e
14.3CO
0.0
14 300 "

~1vely the r1ghb proportions shall flow into the lime tower,
,
o~o.de (hme)
2.062
3.591
1.529 "

lDtO the PC?da tank, a.nd into the mixing p ot, the overflow
"
sUr:~~
2.121
1.625
0.496 "


from th;e h me tower and .the ~oda. ta nk j_oining. L ime is Mng~esi:u. ~ a ~.
0 266
o.o
0.266 "

0.987
placed lD the tower, and IS a1nta.ted, bub 1n snob a ma nne r I Ferric oxide &c
0.447
0.540 "


--1-----tha t the t op o~ this ta?k is undisturbe~, and only cl ear lim e
'

60.185
17.997
42.188 "

water, nob mtlk of hme, overflows m to the mi xing pob. Scale-forming minerals . .
The .a.mounb of soda. also depends on the amount of water Oaloium chloride
0.783 g a in
..
2.114
1.331

flowmg into the tank. From the mix ing- p ot the mixed M a~n esium ohloride ..
0.672 loss
0.672
00

wa~er pass~ into t~ e firs t eet~ling ta nk, where m ost of the Sodium obloride. .
0.476
..
0. 4i9
0.003 "

sedtmen.t IS d e postted, and 1b tuen p asses into a to wer


2.482
2 590
0.108 gain
?tbed wtth baftles and a filter, from which ib overftowR Soluble salts
..


mto the feed tank.
20.479
62.776 42.297 gain

E.-The other installation was similar but larger and Total mineral matter
need nob b e described.
'
0.0
9. ?lloss
9.71

The Stanhope C ompany have also a combined feed Oarbonic acid gas
0.86
0.60
0.0

f
d
h
Oxygen
gas

so tener an
eater, bub no installation was visited. The
- --- com?ined action of chemicals and h eat ought to b e very - - _ ___;.__ _
effi01ent.
Treatment required: 1.8 lb.lime, 0. 2lb. soda. ash per 1000 gallons.
The Atkins Continuous Water-Softener is illustrated in
Apparently 6! lb. of lime were added, and no soda.

Fig. 5,
Ch emi calllznlt}.
a.n,d,Stirrer

lV"a.t::

~~~~~

Fig. 6 .

j....

Sei:U.iJrg Tower

Fi.l.te:r
-=-=
--

PeriOral:.ed P~

Io Food

.Setair
TanlclfJ

~
~

'

~~

"nl,J~

(7DIJ1. 0~

Fw. 5. TnE

BRUNN-LowENER C oNTIN uou


WATER-SOF TENER.

FIG.

6. THE

DEsRU i\IAux C oNTIN u o us


SoFTENER.

W A'l'ER- ...

7.

THE REISERT C ONTINUOUS WATER


SoFTENER.

3 fb. wide, and 5 ft. high, and then into the filter tank

'

Fig. 8.

T~lbr

Water

ToFel

'

Air S.tirru
0

FIG.

8.

THE ARCHBUTT-DEELEY WATER-SOFTENER.

a fair amount of labour. The tank for preparinB" the milk


of lime is 5 fb. 10 in. by 5 fb. 4 in. and 6ft. high. It is
provided with engine-driven J.>addles a.nd a pump. The
water a.nd milk of lime pass mto the top of the mixing
tower, 5 ft. in diameter and 23 ftJ. high, and from the
botbom they pass into the bottom of another tower of the
same 2ize, and overflow to four filters, 2ft. square. About
2 cwo. of lime are added per 80,000 gallons.
The Stamhope Conti-nuou.! Water-Softener is illustrated in
Fig. 1, for which the block has been kindly lent by the
company. Two installations (D and E) were visited, but
one was not a.t work, and the other had been adapted for
special purposes.

FIG.

Fig. 2. It only removes te mporary hardness. Two insba.lla.tions (F and G ) were visited, but in neither case
were the patent filters in use, their tanks being filled with
wood shavings.
It would appear thab the baffles in the settling tank
effectively prevent a settlement, and also, bhab in case of
the water supply bein~ checked, the lime water would
still flow on ab its origmal rate, and the r esult would b e
very irregular and unsatisfactory.
F .-This installa t ion t reats 500 gallons ~r hour. The
lime bower is 2 ft. in diameter and 6 ft. htgh. Th~ clear
lime water, as well as the supply, flow into the mixer,
and thence into the settling tank, which is 7 fb. long,

which measures 2 ft. 3 in. by 3 ft. 3 in., and 4 ft. hjgh:


The floor space covered 36 square feet. It was s tated tbab
the hardness was reduced from 15 to 7 grains p er gallon.
T en pounds of lime are used for 60,000 gallons per
week.
G.;-T~is installation was slight ly larger tlian the above,
and IS satd to have cost 116l.
It was founq choked with lime deposits, bot was
apparently go b mto workin~ order after the insp ection
and two samples were snbmttted for analysis (see above):
As will be seen, the hardness was nob d ecreased, but
increased from about 18 to 60, this being doubtless due to
the ball tap on the lime t ower being t oo full open, or the
tap ~m the settling tank too much closed, or perhaps
the hme water was nob clear.
The T yacke Continuous Water-Softener is illustrated in
Fig. 3_. . Only one ins~allation (H), and that a. sma.ll one,
was VISited. lb ocoupted a. floor space of 3 fb. 8 in. in dia.
meter, and treats about 200 gallons p er hour, but only for
temporary hardness.
H.-T~ere are two chemical tan~s, 2 ft. by 4 ft. by
2 ft., wh1oh are alternately filled With water and a. little
lime. This lime water is clear. A connection is opened
which allows a floating discharge pipe to d eliver this
wa ter into the regulating tank, in which the wate r
level is kept constant by a ball valve, and the outflow
through a. carefully-gauged nozzle is also constant. The
water supply enters the a<J joining regulating tank, and
also flows out through a gauged n ozzle. These wate rs
are then carried to the bottom of the settling tank,
3 ft. 6 in. in diame ter, 6 ft. high, and pass upwards and
through a bed of shavi nge, overflowing to the feed tank.
This apparatus could be used for t reating permanen t hardness by adding soda to the lime water.
.
The fireman attended t o the apparatus, which worked
all right, reducing the hardness down to 6 grains per
gallon.
WoUaston's Continuous Water-Sof tener anuJ, FeedHeater Combined. (S ee Fig. 4.)-I.-One installation was
visited. The water supply a.nd exhaust steam enter a.
vessel fitted with trays, and into the bottom of this a.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
small stream of chemicals is pumped from a regulating
tank and to the bottom of the mixing and settling
t ower, 3 ft. in diameter. H ere t he grE:'ase from the
steam and the sediment h om the water accumulate, the
thoroughness of the settlement being doubtless due to
the heat and to the fact that the ne w sediment comes in
contact with the old. The overflow is led to the bottom
o~ a larger settling tank,_ 10ft. by 5 ft., and 12 ft. 6 in.
h1gh, from the top of whtch the feed water is drawn off.
This settling tank contains baffles, which are believed t o
accelerate the precipitation, but heat is doubtless the
more important factor, and it would appear advisable to
r educe the radiating surfaces of the tanks and to keep
them warm.
- - - - -- - - --:----.----:--- - - - -Before After
Composition of Water. Treat Treat
ment. ment.
Oaloium carbonate
,
silicate ..
"
sulphate ..
Magnesium carbonate
~~e rri o oxide, &c. . .

grams
4.275
2.076
4.081
5.836
1.088

..

Scale-forming minerals . . 17.356


Sodium chlorid e . .
. . 5.598
,,
sulpba.te ..
3.901

.

Total mineral

m~tter

Oarbonio acid gas ..


V X) gen gas ..
..

9.499

26.855
11.98 ..
0.56

grams
1.422
1.241 Two samples were
3.830 analysed, but these
5.851 cannot be corn
0.024 pared, as they were
t aken at different
12.368 times, and as the
- - -1 nature of the feed
-l. 731)
varies considerably.
t 16l
For this reason also
could
10 894 the
not treatment
be properly
adapted. Tbe 0011
23 262 dition of the boiler
using this water was
1.79 good.
0. 66

-- -

Tceatment required: 0. 25 lb. lime, 0. 35 lb. caustic soda per


1000 gallons.
.,. This small amount of C02 is due to the water supplied being bot.

[OcT. 25,

The A1chbu tt-Deelay Water-Softener (see Fig. 8), unlike


any of the pr~vious ones, works intermittently, and there
~ore two setth~g tanks are necessary, unless the softening
IS d~ne overmght, or unless the WAter when purified is
run IDtJ~ a stora~e tank.
Four 1Dsballat10ns (M, N, 0, P) were visited.
. M .-This installation treated about 2500 gallons at a
time, or about 1000 gallons p er hour. There is a. small
tank into which weighed quantities of lime and soda
ash are place?, to which water is added, and steam is then
turned ~n till these chemicals are boiling. The water
supply IS turned on to the large mixing and settling
tank, 8ft. cubed, and when full the chemica,ls are run
in.. St~am is n ow turned into the air injector, which
drives at~ through the air-stirrer pipes in the bottom of
the setthng tanks, whereby a thorough mixing of the
water, chemicals, and old sediment is effected. The new
sediment adheres to the old, and during the following
period of rest is quickly precipitated. When the upper
layers of t~e wa~er are clear, ~bey are d.ra wn off by means
of t he fioatmg dtscharge. Thts stands ID connect10n with
a coke st ove, and in passing out the water absorbs some
carbonic acid, which, combining with the, as yet, unpre

d .
ctpltate 11me in the wat er, makes itJ permanently clear .
The water is now run into a storage tank of 5500 gallons
oapaoi~y, and is from there drawn off by the feed pump.
The cost of t his installation was stated t o be from
150t. to 200l. About 16 tanks are softened per week ;
of these only eight a re carbonated by contact with
the stove gases. The analysis of the water before and
a f_ter treatment is gi van in the following Table. A s
~ll be seen, ~he result compares favourably with the pre
vtously ment10ned processes, but, unfortunately, in n o
case except this can the obemica.l treatment b a.ve been a
correct one, and a comparison is therefore valueless. I t
s.hould~ however, _be n9ted , tb'at an intermittent process
hke thts one, wh10h w1ll nob work unless chemicals are
weighed out and boiled, and unless the apparatus is
attended to, is more likely to b a kept in working order
than one of the con tinuous softeners, wbicb, as the
attendant will soon find oub, delivers water, no m atter
what the qu ality, quibe independent of any abbention. la
careful hands, however, the continuous wurkerd sho:.tld
cost le3s for a ttenda.nce.

B runn-L owener Continuous W ater-Softener. (See Fig. 5. )


-One ins~allati~:m (J) was visited; ~lthoug~ no samples
were obtam ed, 1b seemed to be working sat1sfaotorily.
J. - The lime and soda ash, in proper proportions, to
gather with a certain quantity of water, are placed in
the chemical ta nk. It IS of semi-cylindrical shape, and
Before
After
ha:s a. blade which every now an? then ~tirs up the milky
Composition of Water.
Tceat
Change.
Treatn:nxture. . '!he water s~pply IS run mto a measu ring
ment
ment.
tip, cons1stmg of two triangular troughs ; when one is

grams
grams
f~U, ib_ tips over and a:llows the ot.her to fill; while tip.
grams
6.650
1.704
4.955 loss

p1Dg, 1b moves the stnrer and also momentarily opens Calcium carbonate
'
silicate ..
1.733
1.175
0.658

a liotle valve in the botto m of this tank, which allows a


", sulphate
..
2.639
0.0
2.639 ,

definite quantity of chemical t o be discharged. This and Magoesium


carbonate ..
5.418
0.073
6.345 ,

the water from the tip fa11s into the mixer, and from Ferric oxide, &c. .
0.330
0.148
0.182

there t hey flow iato the settling t ower, the sediment


. . 16.779
3.100 13.679 ,
remaining at the bottom, and the nearly clear water Scale-forming minerals ..
passes through the filter t o the feed bank. The arrangeMagnesium chloride
0. 251
0.261
0.0

ment would be an ideal one if the quantity of chemicals Sodium


"
chloride ..
2.675
3.211
0-636
~ain


discharged through the valve each time the tip moves
, carbonate
0.0
0.883
0.883 ,

could be made independent of the depth of the milky


, sulphate
..
0.0
5A02
6.402 ,

fluid. A spoon for measuring out the chemicals, either


Soluble salts
2.926
9.496
6.570 gain.
fluid or dry, would seem to be more suitable.

D esrwmaux Oontilnuous Water-Sojtene1. (See Fig. 6).


19.705
12.596
7.109 loss.

Two installat ions (K and L) were visited. Their main fea Total mineral matter
ture is that the motive power to be gob out of the water Oarbonic acid gas
l.OOlt
7.161
6.161loss.

SU{>ply is employed to turn a small water wheel which Oxygen gas


..
0.66
0.66
0.0

agitates the water in the lime tower, and in the n ewer


forms it also serves to measure out the desired quantities
Treatment required: Lime, 1.9 lb.; soda ash, 0.35 lb. per 1000
of soda solution.
gallons. Treatment adopted : Lime, 2.5 lb. ; soda ash, 0.60 lb.
K.-The water enters a small regulating tank with
Alumina ferric, 0.16 lb. per 1000 gallons.
two nozzles, one discharging through a hollow shaft t o
the bottom of the lime tower, which is 39 in. in
* This sample was not carbonated Carbonating increased the
diameter and 12 ft. hi gh, and th e other discharging over C0 2 t o 6.3 grains.
the water wheel into the mixing tank, which also
receives a steady stream of soda solution from a t ank.
The above treatment seems to be a correct one. The
The water passes from the mixer to the bottom of discrepancies between treatments required and adopted
the settling t ower and filter, which is 8 ft. 3 in. in diameter being due to impurities in the lime, and the addition of
and 22 f b. high. This installation treated n early 3000 &lumina ferric, which requires more soda and lime.
N .- This installation can treat about 8000 gallons at a
gallons per hour, and reduced the hardness from 38 grains
to about 2 grains, but no samples were taken.
time, or aboub 3000 gallons per hour. The mixing and
L .-Tbis installation had only just been erected, and settling tank measures 12 ft. 3 in. square by 10ft. deep.
was not working. The lime tower is 8 ft. 4 in. in dia The pure water is run into a large storage t ank. The
meter, and the settling t ower and filter is 18 ft. 6 in. in boiling and agitation in the large tank takes 10 minutes,
diameter and about 46 ft. high. This apparatus is in the settling about one hour, and the running-out about
t ended to treat 60,000 gallons p er hour.
another hour. At these works the oarbonater is used
The R eisert Contilnuou s Water-S oftener wnd F eed H eater only once a week, in the belief that this will keep the
was not seen at work, but as it contains several novel pipes free from scale. The reagents used are 6 lb. lime
features it is here mentioned. In one apparatus the t em and tl lb. soda ash per bank of 8000 gallons. Tbe water
porary hardness is removed by intense boiling, and t he is usually t ested once a week, or when there is a change of
p ermanent hardness is removed by the addition of oar weather. The cost of this apparatJus was 296l.
bonate of soda. The apparatus shown in Fig. 7 treats
0.- The mixing and settling bank of this installation
the water by the cold process. The water supply enters measures 10ft. square by 8 ft. deep. It cost 150l., and
the distribution tank, which has three accurately-bored treats about 3000 gallons per hour. Only lime is used as
n ozzles. One discharges into the soda tower, the other a chemical, and the hardness is reduced from 32 t o 16
into the lime tower, and the third into the bottom of 1 grains. The attendant's labour amounted to about four
the settling tank and filter. Every day the soda t ower hour per day. The clear water was not brought in conis emptied &;nd refi~led wit~ strong soda ~sh solution of t act wibh _oa.rbonio a_cid.. .
a 6'iven density; while workmg water runs m to the top of
P.- Thts 1Dstallat1on ts mne years old, and treats 24,000
thts t ower, and causes the dense soda solution t o overflow gallons at a time, the tank measuring 24 ft. square and
into a funnel and through a pipe to t he bottom of the 10ft. deep. The water is nob carbonated. Its hardness
settling tank, where it mixes with the water supply. is reduced from 13.3 to 7.1 grains.
Into the tower a given quantity of burnt lime is every
The opinion of Mr. Baron, our chemist, is that the
day in troduced, and a regulated supply of water, en ter Arohbutt-D eeley apparatus, and several of the more
ing a t the bott om, makes saturated lime water ; the clear refined continuous wat er - softeners,_ particularly if t he
overflowing lime water also entera ab the bottom of the treated waters are heated, should g1ve excellent results,
settling tank. H ere both chemical solutions mix with the provided correct instructions are given as regards quanremainder of the water supply, and the preoipitate formed tities of lime and soda to be added, and provided also that
lodges in the botbom. The partially-clarified water passes rough chemical tests are occasionally made to ascertain
to the top of this tank, which, as will be seen, has a iilter the hardness of the Wf.l-ter before and after treatment.
across ita middle, and the water then flows away to t he feed The idea of having to make such tests may deter some
tank. By an ingeniou.s arrangem~nt the current. throu~b from a:doptit?g water-.so~teners, bu~, as will be seen by t he
t he filter is momentarily reversed when the sediment m j fo1lowmg buef descriptiOn, the Etmple tests for hardness
the filter has grown too thick and requires washing out.
can be carried out by anybody.

..

..

1901.

CHEMIOAL 'r EsTs.


Soap T est f or Total H ard!ness.
A standard S?lutio~ of soap _(which can be boug_ht) is
prepared by diSsol vmg soap ID water and oheckmg it
against water of standard hardne9s.
A small quantity of water to be ti3Stedis measured and
poured into a glass-stoppered bottle ; a small quantity of
standard soap solution is added and the mixture then
shaken. At first the water contains too much hardness
to form a lather; but as more and more soap is added ib
gets softe~, and lather is fo~med which does not disappear
on standmg. The quant1ty of stn.nda.rd soap solution
added is the measure of theI. T otal hardness of the water.
II. The permanent hardness is d etermined cold by the
soap t est after first boiling the water for a Ion~ time so
as to remove all temporary hardness. The difference of
I. and II. is the temporary hardness, but this test is nob
very accurate. It is better to test for
I I I. Temporary hardness as follows : A standard acid
solution (which can be bought) is prepared by mixing a
given quantity of pure acid with water. A small quantity
of water to be t ested is measured into a white bowl, and
one drop of an aniline dye, called methyl orangP, is
added, and then small quantities of st andard acid arJ
poured in until the yellow colour of the dye changes into
a red one. The quantity of standard acid added is the
measure of the temporary 1hardness. and t he permanent
hardness is the difference of I. and III.
Roughly speaking, the degrees of temporary hardness
fi x: the amount of lime or oau 3tic soda to be used, and the
degrees of p ermanent hardness fix the amount of soda
Mli to be used.
From the preceding remarks on the fifteen water
softening installations visited, and from other inform9.
tion, it would appear that, roughly sp eaking, the oo3t of
the plant p sr 1000 gallons treated per hour would be
from 100l. to 150l. , and as 750 gallons per hour is about
as much a.s one 8-ft. L ancashire boiler oa.n evaporate, it
will be seen that it is cheaper t o adopt a water-softener
than to lay down a spare boiler, if only one boiler is in
u3e; a nd even if there are six boilers, tJhe ad vantage
would still b e wibh the softening plant on account of
lesser cost of the chemicals which could then be used,
and the ~aving in the cost of scaling.
Experiments on corrosion are now in progress, and it
is hoped soon to obtain definite res.ults on this very imp :>rtanb subject.
BRAZILIAN 1VIANGANESE,- Mangane3e Wd.S exported
from Brazil last! year to the extent of 100,000 tons.

--have received

CATALOGUES.-We
from the JohnsonLundell Electric Traction Company, Limited, of 16.1,
Soho-square, L ondon, W., a pamphlet describing the
company's traction motors, which are compound wound
and supplied with armatures having two windings and
two sets of commutators. The speed of the motor is
varied by altering the groupin~ of the armature windin~s,
and by modifying the respeot1ve strengths of the sen es
and shunt field coils. A second pamphlet, issued by the
same firm, describes the J ohnson-Lundell surface contact system of electric traction. -Messrs. R oyles,
Limited, of the D albam Engineering Works, Irlam,
Manchester, have sent us a copy of their abridged catalogue, which was issued in connection with their display
at the Glasgow Exhibition. The specialities of this firm
include heating and evaporating apparatus of various
kinds in which the "Row " indented tube is used.Messre. A . Haacke and Co., of Homerbon, L ondon,
N.E., have sent us a copy of a report, made last July.
on a range of steam piping protected by their fossil
meal non-conducting composition. The test showed
that the heat lost from the surfaces after cover
ing was hub 12.1 per cent of its amount on the unprotected condition of the piping.-Desrumaux's Automatic Water-Softener and Pnrifier Company, Limited,
of 5, Queen Victoria-street, E. C., have sent us a copy of
a pamphlet illustrating and describing their appara.tus.M essrs. Tangyes Limited, of the Cornwall Works, Bir
mingham, have issued a new catalogue of their "Speoial "
pump.-Messrs. J. and H . Gwynne,Limited, of 81, Cannonstreet, E.C., have issued a pamphlet describing their
"Invincible " centrifugal pumps as applied to ship's use.
Amongst the interesting plants illust rated in the pamphlet
are those supplied in 1867 as circulating pumps for the
steamers Tyoho, Brahe, and Pascal. These were the first
centrifugal pumps employed in this way. They were
direct-connected to horizontal single-cylindered engines.
Improvements followed rapidly, the present pattern, in
which the disc and spindle can be removed without disturbing either suction or discharge pipes, being introduced
in 1880. Messrs. Brown, Lennox, and Co. , of the Newbridge Works, Pontypridd, have issued a new catalogue
of the ohainEJ, cables, and accessories, of which they make
a speoiality.- Messre. B. and S. Massey, of Opensbaw,
Manchester, have sent us a copy of their new catalogue
of Bretts patent drop stamps. The construction of
these stamps is described in great detail, and they
are built in all sizes from 3 cwt. t o 40 owb. The liftJ.
ing apparatus can be supplied separately for adap
tation to existing drop hammers.-Tbe Riohards Machine T ool Oompany, of 5, Laurenoe Pountney-hilJ,
E.C., have issued a catalogue devoted exclusively
to describing different patterns of the Openscale planing
machine, which they have done so muoh to introduce.
The details given of the machines are unusually full, and
many illustrative examples showing different applications
of the machines are appended.-Messrs. W ebster and
Bennett, of Coventry, have sent us a copy of their new
catalogue of machine-tools, such as single and multiple
drilling machines, boring a nd turning mills. lathes, and
milling and r r .;filing machines.

OcT. 25, 1901.]

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

'ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT


RECORD.
COMPIL&D BY

w.

LLOYD WISE.

6RJ.JOTED ABBTB.AOTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPECIFIOATIONS


UNDER THE AOTS OF 1883- 1888.
T~e number oj views given in t/1.6 Specification Drat~i?l{JS is stated
<tn ea4h case ; where none are men tioned, the Specification is
11ot illm t1ated.
Where i11ventions are communicated f ?om abroad, the Narnes,
J-,o., of the Communicators are given. in italic8.
<Jopies of Speciftcatiorl.$ may be obtained, at the Patent OJJlce Sale
Bramch, S6, Sou,thannpton Buildings, Chancery-lame, W.C., at
the uniform f)rice of Bd.
The date of the adverUsement of the acceptance of a Complete
SJ>ecification. i8, in ea4h case, givet1 aJter the abstract, unless the
Patent has been sealed, when the date of seali?l{J is given.
d. ny person '!la'V, at any time t~ithin two months from th~ da~ of
the adverttaement of the acctJ>tance of a Complete S pecification,
give notice at the Patent Office of ow osition to the grant of a
Patent on any of the ground8 mentioned in the .Acts.

pegs are made tubular a t the bottom ende, aod have headed
metal pins inserted which when t he pega break, may be used to
pull the bot tom por tions from ou & of t he sockets. (.Accepted
A ugtut 7, 1901.)

GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES.


11,142. c. P. Sobneider, Le Creuzot, and J. B.
Canet. Parts. Tlm.e Foze Setter. [11 Figs.] May 30,

1901.- Tbis invention provides a machioe of siogle or double form


aotua.ted by a crank handle and for use in setting or adj usting
the time fuzes of shells. In one arr aogement the disc of t he

- - - - - - - - - --i
...

.. ----

~1.

599
indicated by the revolution of ~he graduated drum caused by the
pinion moving up and down w1tb the gun, and ~eing tur~ed by
the fi xed curved bar. The top of the curved s1gbt-bar 18 pro
vided wit.h a table on which the rear-sight can be move~ lateralJy
t o give adjustment for deflection ; this cable le cur ved m plan .eo
that when the rear-sight le moved la.t.erally, it always preserves 1te
alignment with the foresigbt in eucb a way that a telescope
d ropped into a. support on the rear-sight has always the same
alignment o.e the ordinary eighte1 and consequently the same
graduations for deflec tion and inclination ~re com~on for both
telescope and ordinary eights. The fore&lgbt is d1rectly above
the trunnion of t he gun, and consists of a curved blade m~e
wi t h the axis of tbe t runnion as a centre, so that the elg hthne
ie always a tangent to the curved blade of the foreelght. (.Ac
cepted .Attgust 14, 1901.)

LIFTING AND HAULING APPLIANCES.


13 580. B. Maiden, Pyrmont, and J. Coutts, Peter
sham, N.s. w. SheerlegR. [1 F ig.J July 8, 1901.- In

sbeerlege, according to this mvent ion, the lege proper a r e


pivoted at t heir lower ends towards the bac k end of a. frame

ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.
12,509. Siemens Brothers and Co. Limited,
London. ~~mens and Hahlke Comf)any, Berlin. ) Dertv
1nJt UD!
eotlonal from Alternating Current.
1(1 Ji'ig ] June 19, 1901.- Thie invention relates to apparatus of
the kind described in Patent Speci6catione Nos. 12,466 and 12,508
of 1901, and according thereto when polyphase alternatiog
.current le a vailable the magnet le energtsed by current other

FtfJ2

machine is set to the duration of burning desired, and the shell


being held by one man, the machine ie placed over t he fuze by
another, and two turns given to t he crank handle, wbioh result
in the desired oban(Ze of position in the time ring being brought
about. (.Accepted .August 14, 1901.)

17,176. Sir W. G. Armstrong and Co., Limited, Sl.r A.

which serves as a base for a. four or more legged euppor t-,


between the front legs of which the sbeerlega are free t o move
up and down, and from whose top the pulley cords pass to the
blocks on the sheer legs. (A ccepted .A ugmt 7, 1901.)

Noble, and A. T. Brankston. Field Gun Carriages.


[4 Figs] September 27, 1900.-Tbis invention relates to that

MINING, METALLURGY, AND METAL


WORKING.
class of field carriage in which the ~un when fired recoils axially,
14,355. The Edlson Ore-MUUng Syndicate, Limited.
and compresses an elastic substance which expands to return the
gun to the firing position, the carriage being prevented from London. (P. .A. Edison , L lewellyn Park, N.J., U.S.A.) Ore
recoiling by means of a epade at the end of the t rail. Accordio~ Concentrators. [2 Figs.] Au~ust 10, 1900.-In a. magnetic

to this invention, tbe trail is made in two lengths or pa.rts, of ore concentrator accordiog to this invention the magnets
wbiob the lower part can he folded back oo the top of the upper
by means of a bioge, and the two parte m~~oy be fixed rigidly
than and preferably of the pba~e previous to that of the phas e together to form a long trail by means of a pia engaging in holes
from which the discontinuous unidtreotional current is derived.
The phase relation between the actuating current and t he current
irom which the unidirectional current is derived is controlled by
an ad~ustable self-induction coil in t he magnet circuit. The
Ft[J.1.
invention is described as for use in obtaining current for charging
a storage battery from an alternating-current (polyphase) supply.
(Accepted .August 7, 1901.)

FYJ.3

14,086. R. J. Guloher, Charlottenburg, Germany.


Storage Battery-Plate Manufacture. [13 Figs.] July

10, 1901.- In this method of making storage battery-plates, strips


of lead are put together with alternating strips of paper, and the
<lomblned bundles are then placed in a mould and lead is cast

for med on the underside of the two parts. An eye is formed on


the upper part of the trail close to the hioge, and this eye hooka
on to the limber in the usual manner when t ravelling; thus the
leng t b of t he carriage is diminished when tra veiling by the length
of the lower part of the tra.il, which is fold ed up. A second
spade le provided on the upper half of the trait near the hinge,
and is for use when firin2' at higher angles of elevation than can
be obtained with the trail fully exteoded. To obtain compactness
the helical springs of t he buffer are made to act telescopically,
and a re arranged around the "recoil cylinder." (.A ccepted
.AUf)'U8t 14, 1900.)

Sir w. G. Armstrong and Co., I.tmited,


Sir A. Noble, and R. T. Brankston, Newoastleon
Tyne. Gun Sights. [6 F'ig1.] September 27, 1900.-This
17,177.

invention provides imprmements in the eightiog apparatus of


ordnance, whereby the elevation of the gun oan be altered without alteration to the line of si~ht. For this purpose the rear- have t heir poles shaped and disposed ae shown in the drawing.
siaht ie mounted on a bar aba.ped as an aro of a circle, t he centre the ore bein~ led to t he upper pole in such a manner that its
of which ie t he trunnion centre. The bar slides in guides on velonity ie minimised at the moment that it reaches the edge
of the upper pole. (Accepted .August 14, 1901.)

around them as a grid (somewhat tbioker than the strips are


wide) to make a plate. It le stated that t he paper between the
~tr ips is removed (it may be by the agency of strong sulphuric
acid) after the plates are "formed." An arrangement of moulds
for casting eucb plates is described a nd illustra ted. (Accepted
.Avgust H, 1901.)

Iig. 1.

14.856. The Edlson OreMiUtng Syndloate, Limited,


London. (T. .A. Edison, LleweUyn. Park, N.J., U.S.A.)
Brtquetttng Ore. August 10, 1900.-For briquetting iron ore

GAS ENGINES, PRODUCERS, HOLDERS, &o.


6364. S. Falk. London. (E. Hildebrandt, Berlin-Pankow. )
Mantle Pegs. [6 Figs.] March 26, 1901.-In order t hat the
I

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'

the bwdin~ substance used according to this invention ie a mixture


of an aqueous solution of a r esinate of an alkali with petroleum
refuse or other non-acid material insoluble in water and capable of
forming an emulsion with the resin soap solution. It is stated
that when such briquettes are once thor oughly dried, the re
sinate holds the particles together , and, being sufficiently waterproofed by the retroleum, the briquettes may be su bjected to rain
without fear o disintegration. If petroleum refuse is used for
the wa.terproofln~ substance, considerable heat may be emP.loyed
to dry the briquet tes. In t he claims the invention is limtted in
application to t he briquetting of ore, the briquettes of which
are dried by the agency of heat. (A ccepted AUfJuBt 14, 1901.)

PUMPS.
8408. M. Touptkof, St. Petersburg, and C. K.
Graham, London, Air Pumps. [1 Fig.] May 7, 1900.-

the breech of the gun, and oan be raised or lowered by means of


a pinion engaging teeth out in the bar and actuated by a. milled
head. which at the same time ac tuates a drum g raduated to
indicate the range corresponding to the position of the curved
sight-bar. Below the eooket on the gun is a second socket
__.
fixed to a standing part of the carriage in which the curved bar
can be clamped when desired, and the gun can then be ra.lsed
bottom ends of broken mantle pegs may easily be removed from or lowered without altering the line of eight. The alteration of
the sockets, in one arrangement according to this invention such the r ange which the raising or lowering of the gun involves is

.,..

This invention relates to pump barrel ends, valves, valve g uides a.nd
auctions, and is directed to the exclusion of cc slip " therein. In ordi
nary air and other pumps there is usually a small apace left between
t he valves a.nd the piston at the end of t he stroke, making it
difficult for them to produce an approximately perfect vacuum.
In order to overcome this difficulty, eo that the pump may produce a nearly p erfect vacuum, the bottom end of the pump barrtl
is made cone-shaped, with a. valve at ita apex, and connee~ with the vessel to be exhausted, this valve being opened
and abut f\t t he proper time by the positive action of a rod paesing
thr ough the centre of the cone to the outside, and a.dequately
protected to prevent leakage. The piston is made in the shape
of a hollow cone at ita lower aide, and closes accurately on to the
cone-shaped bott om of the pump. At the apex of the piston
cone a. va.lve ie placed, communicating with the open air, and

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

6oo

[OcT. 25,

1901.

&rranged in a bath of oil or other non-volatile liquid, so that at straight water-tubes whose ioter!ors are r eadily accessible from bar and knife, t he pushing or pulling catch being attached by a
~be extreme end of the stroke the valve is ra ised either by this junction vessels having- r emovable covers at the sides of the link to the jaok lever and t he cylinder turning an.:l sliding t he
boiler casing . (Accepted August 14, 1901.)

6551. A. Worthtngton. Brooklyn. N.Y., U.S.A.


Steam BoUers. [7 .Figs.] March 28, 1901.-In this water-

tube boiler there are several beadera and independent sections of


water tubes, the firebox being inclosed and the flues leading

. I.

I
\

~") 0

liquid or by contact wi th t he bottom cone point, and the expulsion of all air is thus insured. (Accepted August 14, 1901.)

RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS.


16,445. M. Campbell. Sbeftleld. Buffers.

,, ,_, ~;;. C.~) Q

MISCEI.LANEOUS
15,980. B. A. Oldersbaw, Leicester. Boot and
Shoe Machines. [S F igs.] September 8, 1900.- In order to

lessen the effects of vibration in edge-setting boot machines of


the kind described in Patent Specification No. 7523 of 1900, t he
bead of the machine is made divisible at the neck from the
column or standard, and each part is ftanged and may or may

September 15, 1900.-In railway ~offers having solid plungers,


according to this invention such plungers are held in place within
the buffer cylinders by a solid oollar or sleeve under the neck of

.~ -

~---J

t umblers in and out of gear as required. Oo the slide are affixed


two pegs for t he purpose of putting the pushing catches in and
out of gear wilb the card cylinder. (Accepted A ugmt 7, 1901.)

[3 F igs. 1

-.
I
I

'

.:<. .

'

''

Pifj. Z.

.....
...
'
'

"

'
If

'

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,,,,

"'

(.SS1>J

each plunger, secured to the shank or rod thereof by a cotter or


p in, held in place ( 1f not riveted) by a ring taking the pressure of
tbe buffer spring, and which may to some extent be recessed to
r eceive the bead of the cotter. (Accepted August 14, 1901.)

SHIPS AND NAUTICAL APPLIANCES.


4476. D. F. Macdonald. Calcutta. Ships' Derricks.

March 2, 1901.-Aocording to this invention, in order


to counteract the effect of u list" on a ship's derrick, list
usally causing the derrick arm to fall over m the direction
towards which the ship is leaning, the heel of the jib is mounted
(7 F igs. )

not be grooved to receive screwthreaded pins or bolts upon which


are placed pads or washers to fit tightly thereupon between the
two 6anges. The washers may be of fel t, rubber, asbestos, or
other material , but by preference felt washers with metal washers
between them are used, as they give, it is stated, the most
satisfactory results. (Accepted A ugmt 7, 1901.)

17,448.

J. A. Brod.ie, LiverpooL

Wood Paving.

therefrom first in a downward and t hen in an upward dir('otion. [5 F igs.] October 2, 1900.-According to this invention, for
Both the firebox and flues a re closely contained within the street paving especially in the vicinity of t ramway lines, wooden
boiler, their walls beiog formed with water tubes. ( A cctpted. blocks are laid with intervening " dogs" having reversely set
August 14, 1901.)

TEXTIIE MACHINERY.
19,314. J. L. and B. F. Byron and F. Winter
bottom, Delph, Yorks. Beadtng Motion. [2 F igs.]

Ftfj.1.

'

'.
"''

IJ

October 29, 1900. -This invention relates to a Jacqu~rd


loom for weaving shawls a nd the like goods, and is designed to
enable t he endleBS chain pulleys on the "beading motior.," and
which actuates the cc jacks " and cc jack levers," to be readily
shifted from one side to t he other on t he supporting rods or bars,
when required to weave either t he ground pattern or cross
borders or headings on such goods, and that withont the neces
sity of taking off and changing such chain pulleys, as has heretofore been the case. The pulleys, which a re strun~ loosely on the
crossbars forming such chains, are given more play than usual,

-.-. ~rq_~
1 ...~r1
.-..... -..
"""'t.

t .J

. .. .. ..

.. ..

.... ...

.. . . . . .

eo as to be capable of lateral movement, or means are provided for


altering the position of the attachment of the span or tie. Means
for providing movement of t he heel may comprise a rotable screw,
block, and guides, and means for shifting- the attachment of the
epan or tie may comprise a shackle attached to a block, a rotatable screw, and guides. (Accepted August 14, 1901.)

engaging portions adapted to penetrate t he adjacent faces of


contiguous blocks in order to prevent the blocks nea r the t ramway
from being shaken or wedged upwards and out of place. (Accepted
August 7, 1901.

'

STEAM ENGINES. BOIIERS. EVAPORATORS. &c.


8066. w. B. Dlxon and T. Scott, London. WaterTube BoUers. [2 F igs.) April 19, 1901.-This invention

20,976. c. F. Oetllng, Strekla-on-Elbe, Germany.


Excavator. [5 F igs.) No\"ember 20, 1900.-This shovelmotion digging or g rain-shifting machine is intended to be

so that t hey can be cau sed to slide tbereon, say, a few inches
towards ooe side or the other by means of a sliding forked
bracket hereinafter mentioned. For this purpose a bracket is
fixed to the frame of the loom just immediately above, and extending across the endless chain near to the cc jack le,ers." To this
fixed bracket is connected no adjustable forked crossbar, which
is capable of being moved endwise to and fro t ransversely, or
retained in position, by means of a thumbscrew or cross-handle
passing through a slot in the upper bracket. The forked ends of
t he adjustable crossbar or bracket are provided with fixed arms
extending on each side of a nd embracing t he chain pulleys and
r unning parallel therewith. The front ends of t hese arms o.re
slightly bent or curved outwards, so as to act as guides for the
pulleys on either side, as t he case may be, to keep or draw them
10to position on the supportin~ rods in readiness to act upon the
tilting " jacks" as requir ed. (A ccepted A ugust 14, 1901.)

17.091. M. Sowden, Sbipley, York. Loom Dobbles

[1 F ig.] September 26, 1900.-Tbia invention relates to dobbies


having extra or duplicate sets of levers, and provides means for
bringing the levers into position, and operatin~ them when the
pattern beinJr woven requires their use. Aocordmg to t his invention two duplir ate sets of levers are mounted on opposite ends of
the dobby, being carried on cross shafts, the ends of which ar e
received and are free to move cr:sllde in horizontal slots formed
in the end frames of the dobby, the duplicate levers or either set
of the same being operated or moved along t he slots referred to
by means of links and a lever connected with a j_ rocking lever
which is described and claimed in reference to the d rawings, in such manner as to bring the duplicate levers into proper posi
provides a tubulous boiler having a simple circulating system and tion for operatin ~. The change of lever is effected by the draw-

DO

/ .

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

,.

- - " -..-.

actuated by compr('Ssed air. The linked lever motion, with or


without a channel guide nnd block, is adapted, according to cir,
oum&tances, to give either a forward or over throw to the ebovelled
material. (Accepted August 14, 1901.)

UNITED STATES PATENTS AND PATENT PRAOTIOE.


Descriptions with illustrations of inventions patented in the
United States of America from 1847 to the present time, and
reports of t rials of patent law cases in the United States, may b&
consulted, gratis, at the offices of ENOINEHRING, 85 and 36, Bedford,
street, Strand.

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