J OLV

7, 1<93, VOL. LVI.]

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account we gave of t he 'Valtham watchmaking

machinery which was exhi bited at the Inventions
Exhibition. A well known English watchmaker,
in a prize essay on the horological exhibits at that
Exhibition, referred to this matt er, and we cannot
do better t han quote h.is remarks as a~ introdu?tion
to the present descript10n of works whlCh const1t~te
the mos t serious effort yet made to compete w1th
the American factories.
' ' Rntering the exhibition, , said Mr. C. J.

THE LANCASHIRE vVATCH 001\IPANY.

THE watchmaking industry is one of t hose which
has been more harassed by foreign competition than
any branch of manufacture for which English
\vorkmen have been n9ted. Years ago the cheap
labour of witzerland cut into t he EngliRh trade,
and int roduced a most undesirable element of cornpetition, from the manufacturers', if not from t he
users', point of view. The better classes of watches,

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however, were still of English manufacture; the

cheaper trade, as a rule, being left to thA Swiss
operatives. During later years a more serious
element of competition has arisen in the American
fact ory system of manufacturing watches. The
names of the Elgin and Waltham Watch Companies
will at once occur to our r eaders, whilst the 'Vaterbury Company introduced an entir ely new element,
in the shape of an extremely cheap watch. F or long,
British watchmakers sturdily held to the opinion
that their own work could never be competed with
by anything which was the product of machinery,
and judging by our own notions of mechanical
appliances, no doubt t his opinion was correct. But,
of late, the watchmaking machine tools have been
brought to such wonderful perfection in America,
that good timepieces have been produced at a
price with which the hand industry could not
compete. Our readers will remember the very full

Hewitt, in the essay referred to, "by the main

entrance, a. careful observer may see two cartoons,
bearing on t he subject on which we are specially
engaged. Side by side are placed representations
of the watchmaker plying his few crude tools, and
t he modern watch factory, with its apparently end~
less rows of machine tools and operatives. To the
watchmaker who has passed through the typical
E nglish training, t he sight of the former cartoon
recalls memories of the heartaches he has experienced in surmounting the difficulties with
which the path to excellence is strewn. A feeling
of mingled sorrow and reverence creeps over oner everence, as one pictures the familiar little room,
studiously set apart for the operations of a possible
.John Harrison; t he small curtained window, in
front of which is a narrow board, at which sits t he
artist in watchmaking, surrounded by all the carefully arranged tools he plies with such a sensitive

and highly-skilled touch.

\Vhat dispositi?n so
ignoble not to do rever ence to the m~n who, w1thout
other assistance than that got by h1s dearly-~ought
personal qualifications, is able t.o stamp Ius own
individuality on the unsympathetiC metals ? I s n ot
t his reverence naturally mingled with sorrow as one
turns to the factory cartoon, remembering that t he
principal object of the engineerjng watchmaker is to
dispense wit h m~n~a1 s~ill ? A:lthough we regret
this from an art1stlc p01nt of v1ew, and m.ay fear
t hat in adopting machinery we are r ed ucm~ the
probability of discovering other .John Harn_sons,
yet, as commerciaJ men, we .must needs adm1t th.e
superiority of a system by wluch (to take the esti mate of its s upporters) a watch can be produced
more accurately, and more economically, than by
hand labo ur. " These words wero penned by one
who had been himself t rained as an operative
watchmaker, and who is now a princip.al agen t. in
introducing into t his country lh e machmery wluch
we cannot doubt is to displace hand labour almost
entirely in the watchmaking industr~. The aut~or
is now the works manaCYer and clu ef mechantcal
designer to the Lancashir; Watch Factory, working
under his brother, l\1r . 1'. P. Hewitt, also a watch
maker bred to the English trade, and the managing
director of the company .
In the present article we propose t o give, as far
as space permits, a full description of t he methods
of operation in some of the principal branches of
the manufacture of a watch by machinery. In t he
works we deal wi th full advantage has been taken
of American experience. Man y American machine
tools have been introduced, and, happily, Messrs .
H ewitt are not too stiff-necked to profit by the
lessons t hat have been learned in the United States;
as they are, at t he same time, honest enough to
acknowledge t heir indebtedness to the splendid
mechanicians of New England. They have, however, gone fur ther, and in many respects have
improved on the Transatlantic designs. This is no
more than might b e expected ; for fresh minds, well
versed in the subject, seldom fail t o make some
ad\ance in dealing with mechanical appliances of so
corn plex a natu re as watchmaking machinery.
Prescot, as many of our readers are doubtlesR
ttware, has been for long a chief centre of the watch
making industry of England. Of late year s, however, the to wn has fallen u pon evil times, owing to
the competition r eferred to ; but it is hoped that
the splendid factory which ha~ been built in t he
town-and which is now in working order, turning
out a large number of watches weekly-will
inaugur;\te a new era of prosperity.
In Fig. 1,
on the present page, we give a plan of the factory
as it existed at the time of our visit, and in Fig .
2, on the next page, will be found a plan of t he
factory as it will exist whon the enlargements proposed have been completed. No d oubt our readers
will have noticed in the daily press accounts of an inaugural ceremony, or festival- for the function
extended over three days- which t ook place a short
time ago. Shortly after this festi\'al was over, we
r eceived an invitation from the Il)anagement to
visit t he works; taking advantage of which, we
spent several days in going through t he establish ment, and we may eay, in passing, that we
have seldom experienced a greater mechanical treat
than in examining minutely some of the most
beautiful machine t ools it has been our lot t o meet

2
with. Without further preface, we will proceed t o
give the results of our investigation.
It will be understood, of course, that we do not
propose giving a detailed description of the whole
mann9r in which the movement of a watch is made;
that would r equire a volume rather than an article
of the length our space allows. As before stated,
we shall only touch on salient points.
At the present time, the Lancashire 'Vatch Company makes three chief descriptions of watches, all
of the English lever type. There is, first, the keywinding, full-plate, fusee movemen ~; second, t he
full-plate, going-barrel movement, either key-winding or keyless; and third, ~-plate, going-barrel
movement, either key-winding or keyless. These
standard types are made in different sizes and
different qualities, but all, in gen eral principle
of design, are the samE', the price being regulated by the amount of fini h and number of
jewels, and, of course, the quality of the cases.
The company has carefully abstained from making
radical departures in the design of the watch ; in this
respect alterations have not been necessary, as the
management has not seen its way to improve, t o
any marked extent, on t he best design of watch
now in use. There are, indeed, some alterations in
detail, but the law of the survival of t he fittest has
stood good in this respect, and the modern English
lever watch is a selection, or survival, from a long
and varied experience. It will, therefore, be seen
that the great interest from a mechanical point of
view of the Lancashire Watch Company's works
does not lie in the watches themselves, but in the
method of manufacture. It may be said in passing
that the watches now made by the company are
founded on the type of watch manufactured by the
late firm of Messrs. Wycherley, Hewitt, and Co.,
which may be described as the parent firm of t he
present company; the latter being an amalgamation
of a number of firms established in Prescot on the
old lines. Machinery has been used in t he manufacture of parts of watches in England for some
years past ; but the complete factory system as
applied to the manufacture of the entire watch
has never been carried to its fullest extent., as in
the case of the big American works, and now in
the Lancashire factory we are describing.
As we can only take example parts of the watch ,
we will commence with the pinion-making machinery. Our illustrations on page 4, Figs. 3 and
4, give two general views of the pinion-making
department, the position of which may be seen
on the right-hand side of the big room in the
plan, Fig. 1. Our illustration, Fig. 5, annexed,
explains the various operations in the prod uction of a pinion. The blank is formed from
wire which runs from 0.050 in. to 0.14.0 in. in
diameter, the lenglihs t o form the blank being cut
off in a power press. This gives, of course, a cylindrical blank, and the first operation is r ough-turning, as illustrated in Fig. 5, and a small centre is
made, as shown. This operation is carried on by
means of a three-spindle lathe, which we illustrate
in Figs. 6 and 7, on page 5. Fig. 7 is a general
view of this pinion r oughing-out lathe, taken from
a photograph. Although the first operation in
machining the pinion is known in the trade as
"rough turning, , it is a very different thing t o
roughing out, as the engineer understands it, even
for the finer work that usually comes within his
province, for the operator has to work within a limit
of 2-~0 ~ in. (0.0008 in. ). This is the maximum
erro: admissible, and when it is stated that the
subsequent operations depend on the accuracy with
which the work is done in this stage, it will be
easily understood that great care has to be taken t o
avoid any discrepancies in workmanship. F or the
finishing cuts an automatic machine is used, and if
the blank is not accurate it would break or bend in
turning . In the r oughing-out operation the piece
is held in a spring eh uck by its larger- part, and so
a. heavy cut can be taken; but in t he subsequent
operation performed by the automatic staff lathe
(to which we shall refer later), the work is held by
its own centres, and in order to avoid damage to
these, extreme delicacy iu handling has to be observed.
The blank is placed in the roughing machine by
hand, and chucked by means of a treadle action,
which operates springs, and at the same time
starts the lathe. There is a double slide rest, and
one cutter r ough cuts the point, and then finishes
the point absolutely, t he angle being 60 deg. This
pointing operation is performed by a cu~ter, which
is placed in the tailstock spindle, the cutter being

E N G I N E E R I N G.
ground t o the r equisite angle of 60 deg ..by a \ spin~le be pressed .towards t he tailstock, it caus~s
special machine. As attendant there is one gul to the Jaws of th.e spl~t ch~ck t~ close. There ~re 1n
each of these lathes. The latter have been designed the chu~k sprmg d1sc s1x sprmgs not ~hown 1n ~he
especially for the work by Mr. C. J. Hewitt, the illustration, although they are shown 1n the sectwn
works manager, and are protected by a patent held of the ca~stan rest lath e, to b~ dealt with later on.
by the company. The lathe head is t he essential !hese sprmgs keep the push spm?le forward and the
part, which is new. It should be noted also that Jaws of the chuck closed .as req~ued, but when the
the second point t o the pinion is cut in this lathe operato~ puts th~ treadle 1n n1?t10n he draw~ back the
as a separate operation.
push spmdle aga1nst the react10n of the sprrngs, and
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Referring to our illustrations, Figs. 6 and 7, page

5, it will be seen by the former, which is a sectional
view, that the wire (not shown in this view)
is held by a split chuck. The lathe is known
as a three-spindle lathe. The distinguishing features are, first, its automatic action, and secondly,
the fact that the lathe itself provides for the pinion
being exact to length. In chucking the work t he
operator presses down on a foot lever, which is not
shown in the illustration, but which projects below
the work bench. This action, through the two
levers which are shown, disengages a friction cone,
which is seen inside the driving cone ; the latter
then runs loose. A further motion of the treadle
brings the frict ion cone into contact with the chuck
spring disc. This disc is connected to the push
spindle, which has a.t its end a t rumpet mouth, or
female cone, by which the jaws of the split chuck
are closed, so as to grip the wire. If the push

thus causes the spring jaws to open. It will, therefore, be seen that the split chuck itself does not
mo ve, and this is a very necessary feature in the
machine, so as to preserve an invariable length to
the wol'k. The split eh uck is held in its place by
being screwed to what is known as t he draw-up
spindle, which is the inner or third spindle of the
lathe as shown.
We now come to the staff lathe, which performs
all cuts except teeth-cutting from 1 to 8. This lathe
is. shown. by Figs. ,8, 9, and 10, on page 5, these
VIews bemg respect1vely an end view, a front elevation, and a perspective view. There is an automat ic fetd to this machine, so that while one piece is
being turned, the person who attends to the work can
put the next piece in a carrier. The main feature of
the staff lathe is that it turns the work from its own
centres, which experience has proved to be the only
ws.y to secure the necessary truth. A pulley

j ULY 7, I 89 3]

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

running loose on one of .t he spindles has a catch-pin means of a small lathe with a hand rest; a steel! how full of interest the ~xh~bit of the Hydrogra~hio
which engages with a carrier on the pinion, thus cutter is used, and a very light cut is taken. Great Office on board the Jl~I~Ois, must be.. ~here IS a
skill
is
required
on
the
part
of
the
operator
in
this
series
of
volumes
conta1nmg
charts
whtch
Illustrate
imparting motion to the pinion. A slide rest with
longitudinal aud t ransverse motions obtained from stage of the work and hy constant practice the the progress of the art from 1640 to the present
workmen
possess
s~
fine
a
touch
that
they
can
work
time
;
the
oldest
of
these
maps
were
made
by
the camshaft, carries the cutter, which pasRes along
the arbor and out along the face, and then returns with an accuracy th$\t is truly surprising. There Mercator, and ~h~re are~ number of examples of the
free of the work to its original position, where it are many of these under-cutting operations, on work of the Brthsh Mann? Su:vey Depart!llent, on
stops until another pinion is inserted, and the different parts of the watch, and we beli~ve that no the. coast of North Amenca, In colonial ~1mes ~nd
operating treadle is again depressed. The spindles automatic machinery has yet been devised to do durin~ the War of Independence. There Is, coming
holding tha work are automatically locked during away with the skilled workman. Most of the ~o qUit~ the pres~nt bme, a set of photogra~hs
the t urning operation, and are free when the work American watchmakers who have almost a super- Illustrating a United States survey party, With
is being inserted. Arrangements are also provided stitious aversion to the ~se of skilled operators, get their full equipment, and show~ng methods of work;
for taper turning and micrometer readings for over this difficulty by leaving out the under-cutting as a natural seque?ce, there Is a com_Plete set . of
operation altogether. The Lancas.h ire ~atch Com- record books,. plott~ng sheets, and the first draw~ng
setting the tools.
The next operation to which we make reference is pany, however, continue to do thts, as 1t prevents of th e chart, 111 whiCh only such a degre~ otfh finisbh
that of cutting leaves, or teeth, in the pinions. By the oil running away from the pivots. The other is attempted as will serve th~ engrav.ers In ~ su.reference to Fig. 5 it will be seen that after the parts of the pinion are next poli~hed, and the end sequent processes. Fro.m this drawm~ a traCing IS
made with a steel point upon gelatme (a good
fifth cut the cylindrical part has teeth cut in it, is rounded off by a file, and burnished.
(To be continued.)
example of t~is work is shown) ;dthehlines tht~s c~t
thus forming it into a pinion. The operation is
are filled with lamp black, an t e ge a 1ne IS
performed by a milling machine, carrying three
forc ed into close contact with a copper plate, the
cutters on one spindle. This is illustrated by three
THE
MODEL
BATTLESHIP
"
ILLINOIS."
surface of which has been covered with a film of
views in Figs. 11, 12, and 13, page 8, but no
beeswax ; by this means the outline of . the chart
(Concluded from p age 910, vol. lv.)
cutters are shown in place. The first of these
BE 'IDES the Bureaus of Construction and of is transferred to the copper. Some specimens of a
is a saw which puts a number of slits in the pinion
plate
are
shown
(
ro1J
in
.
complete
copper
engraved
have
referred,
the
followEquipment,
to
which
we
corresponding to the number of teeth required.
The second cutter trims up the slits to an approxi- ing sub-departments ha'e been assigned space in thick, and measuring 33 in. by 39 in.), and there
are also illustrations of t he method adopted for
mately correct shape, the third cutter giving them various portions of the ship :
1. Th e B mecc.n of M eclici?te ancl S ttraery. - This electrotyping the plates for reproducti~n : Besides
the exact shape. All the operations are automatic,
one girl having five machines under her care, she very important bureau has in its charge all relating to various completed charts, there are exh1b1ts of so~e
only having to put the pieces into the machines. naval hygiene and sanitation, thecontrolof naval hos- relief models, among others one of the AtlantiC
The three cutters are fed up by a spring governed pitals afloat and on shore, the furnishing of medi- Ocean, and another of great interest of the West
by a cam. When all the operations are performed, cines and medical supplies, the surgical instruments Indies and the Caribbean Sea. The horizontal scale
the headstock goes back, and t he machine stops. and apparatus, and in general the superintendence of this map is one inch to 33 miles, and the vertical
On the r eturn stroke the cutter lifts out of the of everything relating to the hospital work of the scale is 33 times as great. ''It shows the characcut, and there is a. quick return motion. The navy. Its exhibit on the IllintJis is a dispensary teristic features of the bottom of the ocean, and
dividing is done by a ratchet movement. F or and sick bay, and shows the complete medical and the surfaces of the surrounding shores and
this operation a new machine has just been intro- surgical equipment for a vessel of her class which islands. The highest land shown is the peak in
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Columbia,
duced, which is also used, as well as the machine has a total of 500 officers and crew.
2. Th e B meau of Navig((tion. - This "has cogni- 16,419 ft. high, and the greatest depth is in the
last described. This new machine we illustrate by
Figs. 14 and 15, on page 8. The intention in sance of all that r elates to the promulgation and depression north of Puerto Rico, where t he botdesigning this machine was to do away with the enforcement of the secretary's orders to the fleet and tom sinks to 4661 fath oms, or about 5-(6 miles
disadvantage that the older machine possessed, in to the officers of the navy; the education of officers deep." Among the instruments exhibited are a
so far that two of the cutters on the old machine and men, including the Naval Academy and tech- deep sea sounding device that has been used for
are always idle; th us, while the saw is putting the nical schools for officers (except the torpedo depths up to 4600 fathoms ; a transit with a solar
slits in the pinion, the second and finishing cuttera school), the apprentice establishment and scho 1ls attachment for finding the true meridian and deare revolving in space and doing no work. To for the technical education of enlisted men ; clination of t he magnetic needle. There are also a
overcome this difficulty, four spindles are placed in the enlistment and discharge of all enlisted collection of theodolite, plane table, sextant, telea revolving head in the new machine; t hese persons, including appointed petty ofticers for meter, &c. A complete set of the charts issued
They are 3500
spindles carry the pinions to be cut, and by a cam general and special service ; controls all rendezvous from the office is exhibited.
shaft a step-by-step rotary motion is given to the and receiving ships, and provides transportation for in number, and are divided into groups according
revolving head . Through a ratchet and pawl the all enlisted persons and appointed petty officers ; to the United States naval station for which they
revolving head is held in position long enough to establishes the complement of the crews of all are intended; each of these station groups is
allow each of the cutters to do its work. These vessels in commission ; keeps the record of ser vice divided into p ortfolios containing one hundred
three cutters are carried on a horizontal slide, as of all squadrons, ships and officers, and prepares charts, numbered consecutively. The exhibits of
shown. It will thus be seen that three of the the annual naval register for publication; has under the Marine Meteorology Office are too numerous to
pieces of work mounted on the revolving head are its direction the Hydrogra.phic Office ; the enforce- mention, but they are of very great interest ; they
being operated upon at once. The attendant is ment of t he laws and authorised regulations, comprise specimens of the "Current Weekly Bulfree to take out t he finished work and insert a new tactics, signal codes, and manuals of the service, letin ; , the ''Current Monthly Chart;" maps of
blank on the fourth spindle. After the leaves are and the uniform regulations ; the collection of famous storms, icefields, wreck charts, and a great
cut in the pinions they are taken again to the staff foreign surveys, publication of charts, sailing variety of other objects, all having the same purlathes, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth pivoting directions and nautical works, and the dis- pose of circulating information, that may add to
cuts are put on them, as shown in Fig. 5. Three semination of nautical and hydrographical infor- the safety of ships and to the know ledge of navipinions are in the machine all the time it is at work. mation to the navy and me roan tile marine. " The gators all over the world.
3. The United States Naval A cademy. - The
After the pinions have been formed in this Hydrographic Office, if not the most important, is at
manner, they are hardened. This is done by placing least the most interesting of the Navigation Bureau, exhibits from this bureau are sufficiently complete
about 5000 in an iron box with finely ground char- It is divided into a number of sub-offices, the chief to give the visitor a good idea of its scope and usecoal ; the whole is allowed to soak in a fire, and all of which is that of chart construction, this work fulness. The Naval Academy was founded at
the parts are then dropped into a deep pan of oil. including all stages, from the results of the survey- Annapolis, l\1ary land, in 1845, and with various
The pan is made deep, so that the pinions are cold ing parties to the engraving and printing of the modifications and extensions continued active until
before they get to the bottom, and thus the tendency finished charts. Everyone who knows how admir- the outbreak of the war in 1861, when it was
t owards distortion is reduced to a minimum. If a ably executed the United States Navy charts are, removed to Newport, Rhode Island. The term
shallow receptacle for t he oil were used, a larger can appreciate the great technical skill that is of the academic course is six years, and there is
proportion of the parts would become deformed. included in this division of the service. Another a special courie for cadet engineers. The minimum
Another good point in this process is that the parts important sub-office is that of Marine Meteorology, age at which candidates are received is 15 years,
come out perfectly clean, just as they go in, and the special duty of which is to collect and publish and the maximum 20 years. The exhibit of this
this is secured by taking off the lid of the box, all obtainable data relating to climate, "weather, bureau consists of the class- books employed,
under the surface of the oil, so that the work is storms, prevailing winds, currents, temperatures, examination papers, specimens of cadets' work in
never exposed to the air while hot, and therefore fogs, rains, ice, wrecks, floating derelicts, the use the various courses, &c.
does not blister nor turn black. These precautions of oil to smooth seas, and the best sailing and steam
4. Th e Ordnance BHreaH .- The function of the
are worth noting, as the methods are applicable to routes. " The remaining sub-offices of the Hydro- Ordnance Bureau of the United States is to manuother branches of mechanical industry in which graphic Office are those of "Issue and Supply," facture and purchase offensive and defensive arms of
hardening has often been found a difficulty.
"Sailing Directions," and the "Mailing Division. " all kinds, with their supplementary appliances and
The next operation is to polish the leaves of This most important branch of the American Navy apparatus; it recommends the nature of the armathe pinions. This is effected by a small bench D ~partment has established offices at Boston, New ment to be carried by vessels, and the materials,
machine, examples of which are shown in the York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Savannah, kind, and quality of ships' armour and dimension
view of the pinion-polishing room, Fig. 16, page New Orleans, San Francisco, P ortland (Oregon), of turrets; it decides the carrying power of vessels
12. The machine is simple in design, consisting of Port Townsend, and Chicago. The special business and the location of the armament, including t he disa reciprocating arm, worked by a crank, and having of these branches is to collect, compile, publish, tribution of armour; it mounts the guns on board
the polisher attached. A lead lap is used, in con- and distribute to mariners and others interested and prescribes the armament for all torpedo vessels:
junction with a material known to watchmakers in nautical matters, such information as they There is no necessity to enlarge on this part of the
as "glossing stuff." The finish is accomplished could not otherwise get, but which the Govern- exhibit ; we have already enumerated the armaby a wooden polisher, and a powder known as ment can easily obtain; all such information ment of the Illinois, and we have so recently de"diamantine." This i~ a special composition, is distributed gratuitously to persons of all voted a long series of articles to modern United
much used in the watch trade. After polishing, nationalities. The usefulness of this organisation States artillery, which include detailed descriptions
the pinion is '' turned under ;" this is done by cannot be overrated. It may readily be imagined of all the guns mounted on the model ; we may
:

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

[J ULY 7, I8gj.

THE LANCASHIRE WATCH COMP ANY'S WORKS, P RESCOT.

(For Description, see Pc(ge 1. )

Frr . 3.

Pr:no~- M.uaNG DEI~ ARTMENT

Fro. 4.

PrKI ON-MAKING D El!ARTMENT .

THE

LANCASHIRE WATCH COMPANY'S WORKS,

PRESCOT.
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(For Description, see Page 1.)

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LATHE FOR RouGHING ouT PINIONS.

FIGS.

8, 9,

AND

10.

A UTOMATIC STAFF L ATHE.

mention that the method of storing projectiles and ' penetration was 14 in., and the backing was unin- ' Howell automobile torpedo. The diameter of 1 sufficient to carry it 400 yards at 22 knots. By
ammunition of all natures is admirably illustrated, jured. The second shell was broken in two pieces, this torpedo is 14.2 in., and its extreme length means of gearing, the pitch of the screw can be
as a] so is the hydraulic hoisting machinery for rais- 1and there are no cracks visible in the plate. The 10 ft. 9t in. The weight with explosive charge is I altered as the speed of the fly-wheel decreases.
ing the charges from the store to the turret above. 1 second plate shown corresponds with the barbette 50() lb. ; the latter con~ists of 90 lb. of wet gun- The Hall automobile torpedo is also shown ; t he
We may here mention two armour-plates that are 1 armour of the coast defence ship Monterey; it is cotton. The fly-wheel, in which the propelling material is of bron ze, except the air-fia!t"k, which is
placed on shore close to the Illinois, and which Ill! in. thick, 15 ft. 4 in. long, and 4 ft. 6 in. energy of the weapon is stored, has a speed given of steel. Its diameter is 14.2 in. , the len gth is
attract considerable attention . The first of these I wide; the plate contains about 3 per cent. of nickel. to it of 10,000 revolutions per minute, and this is 113 ft. 6 in., the weight is 687 lb. ; the weight of ex1
is a test-plate of the 14-in. diagonal armour made The projectiles fired at it were all 8-in. shells geared down to a pair of screws to a rate of 6000 plosive charge is 130 lb. of wet gun-cotton. The
for the battleship Indiana; it is 10ft. long and 1 with 250 lb. powder charge ; the velocity was revolutions; the normal immersion is 10ft., but motive power is air compressed to 1400 lb ., actuat6 ft. 3 in. wide, and it weighs 36,353 lb. It was 1633 ft., and the striking energy 4073 foot -tons, this is controlled by a pendulum and hydrostatic I ing geared engines making 800 revolutions per
test.ed at the naval proving ground, Indian Head, These shell did not get through the plate, which, balance which actuate a servo-motor connected I minute, and driving two screws which are mounted
Maryland, by three 10-in. 500-lb. armour-piercing moreover, is quite free from cracks. Several forms with a horizontal rudder. The energy stored up in I on shafts one within the other; the normal speed
shells, fired with a velocity of !400ft. and developing of torpedoes are seen on board ; the most in- j t he fly-wheel by imparting to it the velocity of these is 1300 revolutions. The working presa striking energy of 6795 foot-tons. The depth of terestiug are the latest pattern of the (1892) mentioned, before the torpedo is launched, is sure of the air in the engines is 350 lb. The

l~

V\

engines have three cylinders 3~ in. by 3! in. ;

the speed is 22 knots for 500 yards, and the
range is 650 yards. 'l'he immersion, which is
10 ft., is cont rolled by ~ float ; steering is effected
by a p endulum; both ac~ by opening a. valve that
allows air t o escape at th e ta1l of the torpedo in such
a way as to bring the ~ndition to t he normal state.
The explosion of the charge is effected by contact.
There is also one of the L ay- Haight dirigible tor pedoes of the 1881 pattern. It is made of steel
and has a. diameter of 20 in. with a length of 20 ft. '.
t~e weight is 4000 lb. and the expl?sive charg~
2o0 l b. of wet gun-cotton. The mobve power is
liquefied carbon dioxide, expanded into a Brotherhood engine. I~ is controlled from the ship by means
of an electric cable, and a step-by-step relay, and it
c1n be fired either electrically or by contact the
range is a mile, and the speed 13 knots. This to;pedo
is r ather a curiosi~y than a standard weapon.
5. The B Hrean of Steam E ngineering. - This
a.ll-imp01tant department of the navy is under
the charge of Commodore Melville a.t Washington . Its duties are the designing, fitting out
r epairing, and engineering, the steam machinery
used for the propulsion of vessels, as well as the
steam pumps, heaters, and connections, and the
steam machinery employed in connection with the
apparatus for turning the turrets. This department sends various objects, either actual machinery
or models, or photographs and drawings. The
b oilers and engines of the Massachusetts, Oregon,
and Illinois are represented. The main boilers are
15 ft. outside diameter, and 18 ft. long, and the
auxiliary single-ended boilers are 10ft. 1~J in. outside diameter, and 8 ft. 6 in. long, all cons1ructed
or steel for a working pressure of 160 lb. The
main boilers are placed in four watertight compartments, and the auxiliary boilers are placed on the
protective deck. There are two thwartship fire r ooms in each of the m1.in boiler compart ments;
each of t h e double-ended boilers has eight corrugated furnace flues, 3 ft. in internal diameter. The
total heating surface of the main boilers is abo ut
17,460square fdet, and the grate surface is 552square
feet. Each of the two single-ended boilers has two
corrugated furnaces 2 ft. 9 in. in internal diameter.
T he total heating surface of the auxiliary boilers is
about 1837 square feet, and t he grate surface is 64
square feet. In each fire-ro om, in which check valves
ar e placed, t here is one main feed pump, and one
auxiliary feed pump ; the remaining pumps are
plac ~d in the engine-rooms. The forced draught
system i n use consists of one blower in each
fireroom for the main boilers and one in each
.fireroom for the auxili11.ry boilers, discharging into
t he airtight stokehold . Airtight bulkheads are
fitted so as to r educe the space to be maintained
under pressure. The propelling engines are made
right and left, placed in watertight compartments
and separated by a middle line bulkhead ; they are
of the \'ertical, inverted cylinder, direct-acting,
triple-expan sion type, each with a high-pressure
cylinder 34~ in., an intermediate cylinder 48 in.,
and a low-pr essure cylinder 75 in. in diameter, the
stroke being 42 in. The collective indicated horsepower of propellin~, air pump, and circulating
pump engines is 9000, whe~ the main _engines are
making about 128 revolutions per mmute. The
high -pressure cylinder of each engine is forward,
and the low-pressure cylinder aft. The main
valves are of the piston type, worked by Stephenson
l ink motion with double bar link. The valve gears of
the i ntermediate and t he low-pressure cylind ers are
interchangeable. There is one piston valve for
each high-pressure cylinder, two for each intermediate, and four for each low-pressure cylinder.
E 1eh main piston has one piston rod with a crosshead working on a slipper guide. The framing of
the engines cr>nsists of cast-steel inverted Y-frames
at the back of each cylinder, and cylindrical forged
steel columns at the front. The engine bedplates
are of cast steel, supported on steel keelson plates
built into the ve3sel. The crankshafts are made in
three interchangeable and reversible sections. All
crank line, and propelling shafting is hollow. The
shaft; piston r ods, connecting r ods, and working
parts 'generally are forged of mild open-hearth
steel. The condensers are made of brass; each
main condenser has a cooling surface of about
6353 square feet measur~d on the outside of the
tube3 the water passing through the tubes. F or
each 'propelling e_ngine. ther e is a geared dou_ble
vertical single-actmg a1r pump worked by vertical
simple engines. The main circulating pumps are
of the centrifugal type, one for each condenser,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
worked independently. The propellers are right
and left, of manganese bronze. Each engine-room
has an auxiliary condenser, of sufficient capacity for
one-half the auxiliary machinery, each condenser
being connected with all the auxiliary machinery.
Each of these condensers has a combined air and
circulating pump. The Steam Engineering Bureau
sends various types of fittings for b oiler and engine
rooms, launch boilers, and machinery.
5. Tlte Bnrea'~t of S~tpplies and .Accowds is
intrusted with the purchase, card, and distribution
of all supplies (other than medicines) for the Marine
Corps. It keeps the accounts of all appropriations,
and has to do with the pay of officers and men as
well as with clothing and subsistence allowances. If
space permitted, we should like to give in detail t he
weekly navy ration, specimens of which are exhibited, as well as of miscellaneous stores. It ia claimed
t hat t he American Navy rations are the best in
the world, although they are strictly on total abstinence lines. But we must pass on to a brief notice
of the last department which is represented on the
the model ship.
6. The B11rew' of Y ard.s and Docks. - This department has under its charge '' all that relates to
the planning, construction, and maintenance of all
docks, including dry docks, slips, wharves, piers,
quay walls, and buildings of all kinds, within the
limits of the navy yards, and of the Naval H ome,
but no~ of hospitals and magazines outside of those
limits, nor of buildings for which it does not estimate ; it repairs and furnishes all buildings.
stores, and offices in the several navy yards, and
is charged with the purchase, sale, and transfer
of all land and buildings connected with the Navy
Yard ; has under its sole control t he general
administration of the Navy Yard ; provides and has
sole control of all landings, derricks, shears, cranes,
sewers, dredging, railway tracks, cars and wheels,
trucks, grading, paving, walks, shade trees, inclosure
walls and fencing, ditching, reservoirs, cisterns, fire
engines and apparatus, all watchmen, and all t hings
necessary, including labour, the cleaning of the
yards, and the protection of the public property. "
The exhibits from this bureau consist of models,
plans, and publications connected with its special
duties.
The United States J\tiarine Corps has made a
small exhibit of a camp of the U nited States
Marines ; this is arranged in front of the Government Building, near t he Observatory and meteorological exhibits. Finally we may mention as of
considerable inter est, a. number of paintings and
relics connected wit h the naval history of the
U nited States. We must not omit to r efer to the
way in which the quarters for officers and men are
fitted up in order to give visitors a good idea of the
accommodation on these ships. The accommodation
is such as to enable t he officers in charge to remain
on board throughout the term of t he Exposition, if
their inclination or duty call them to do so.
We cannot conclude this long but very incomplete article without placing on record the names
of the various officers connected with the Illinois ;
t hey are as follows : Commodore R . Y..' . Meade,
in charge of the navy exhibits; Lieutenant Commander E. D. Taussig, assistant in charge ; Lieutenant A. G. Winterhalter, representing the
Bureau of Equipment; Ensign C. P. Blow, navigation ; Director F. C. Cosby, supplies and
accounts ; Surgeon A. C. H. Russell, medicine and
surgery; Assistant Engineer Bennett, steam engineering; Gunner J. J. Walsh, ordnance ; Mr. F .
W. Grogan, principal technical assistan t and architect of the naval exhibit. The admitable catalogue, t o which we are indebted for much of our
information, and from which we have quoted
sever al times in t he course of t he present article,
has been prepared by Lieutenant H. C. Poundston e, and we gladly tender to that officer our
thanks for the aid he has afforded us.

THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE

EXHIBIT AT CHICAGO.
As at the Centennial Exposition of 1876, the
Bald win Locomotive Works of Philadelphia occupy
the most important place as regards number of
engines shown, in t he annexe of the Transportation
Building ; t his important firm has sent no fewer
t han sixteen locomotives. The Brooks Company,
of Dunkirk, New York, however, make a good
second with nine engines ; these two firms, indeed,
occupy between them a very considerable part of
the space allotted to this class of exhibit. Nine of

the sixteen Bald win engines are compound, on the

system introduced by the firm some years ago, and
which has now been adopted on several hundred
locomotives, so that it may be considered as a
standard type. Before we refer in any detail to the
exhibit of the Baldwin Company, we propose to
devote the present article to a shot t review of the
history of t his fam ous firm, which has been closely
associated with the growth of American railways
since their earliest introduction. The story of the
company is, indeed, inseparable from that of t he
rail way in the United States, and during later
years from that of railroad development in many
foreign countries.
The first Bald win engine was built in 1830, and
was shown to the public t he following year, so that
for more than sixty years the Baldwin firm have
been exhibitors of locomotives. The circumstances
under which this first engine was built are interest ing. In 1819 Matthia s W. Baldwin commenced
business on his own account as a jeweller in the
city of Philadelphia; he was n ot successful in t his
venture, and six years later he took into partnership a machinist named David Mason, intending
to make bookbinders' tools and calico-printing
cylinders. This busin<'ss proved to be a very profitable one, and it soon became necessary to substitute
steam for hand power ; t he engine purchased,
however, was a failure, and Bald win undertook to
const ruct a. better one himself. The new engine,
being a success, attracted great attention, and
brought in many order s, thus changing the character of the business. It may be mentioned that
the original engine is still preserved as a. sacred
relic by the Bald win Company. It certainly initiated
the prosperity that has continued unbroken for
more than half a century. Curiously enough, when
the printing cylinder makers had become engine
build ers with a more than local r eputation, the
machinist Mason withdrew from the profitable
partnership, and the business was carried on by the
once unsuccesdul jeweller. About that time the
new mode of transportation was attracting attention in the U nited States, and the R ainhill experiments were much talked about. In 1830 several
locomotives had been sent over from England to
run on the few miles of track that had been laid
down, and one engine had been huilt at the West
P oint F oundry, New York ; this experiment, however, was a failure. Meanwhile public excitement
on the subject of steam-worked railroa.ds r an still
higher, and the propriet or of the Philadelphia
Museum applied to Bald win to construct a small
locomotive that could be used for exhibition. This
effort proved so successful that in April, 1830, it was
put on exhibition, and drew two cars holding each
four persons, upon a track of timber covered with
hoop iron . In this way was inaugurated the business which has n ow a capacity for building a
t housand locomotives a year. It was on a abort
line of six miles, running from Philadelphia to
Germantown, that the first Bald win locomotive was
run for tr affic. The order for this engine was
given in 1830, but it was not completed for two
years, on account of the almost entire absence of
machine tools, and t he want of skilled workmen ;
in fact, Bald win constructed the greater part of t he
engine with his own hands. So far as the design
was concerned, he gained much information from
an English locomotive that had been sent over for
t he Camden and Amboy Railroad Company, and to
which he had access before it was erected. The
t rial of this first engine was made on November 23,
1832, ~nd. the newspapers of t he time were very
enthusiastiC about Its performances, more Eo, it
appears, than were the purchasers, who declined to
pay the contract price of 4000 dols., or eay 800l.,
on account of defects in design. The boiler of this
first Bald win was 30 in . in diameter, and contained
72 copper tubes 1! in . in diameter and 7ft. long; a
steam dome was placed above the centre of the
firebox. In general features the engine was more or
less copied from the ''Planet , claes of English locomotive, of which several had been imported. The
cylinder s were 9i in. in diameter, and the stroke
18 in. ; they were placed horizon tally, ~nd were
housed ?utside the_ smokebox 39 in. apart. The
front pau of carrymg wheels, placed just at t he
back of the cylinders, were 45 in. in diameter ; the
rear or driving wheels were 54 in., and were
mounted on a cranked axle. All four wheels were
made with cast-iron centres, wooden spokes and
rims, and with wrought-iron tyr es; the main frame
was of wood, placed outside t he wheels. The valve
motion was obtained by a single fixed eccentric for

ENGINEERING

each cylinder ; rocking shafts placed under the wood was the fuel employed ; it was n ot till 1847 the record from 1883 to 1892 will be read with
footboard had arms above and below, and the that the Baltimore and hio Railroad Company interest.
557
1883
eccentric straps had each a forked r od with a hook asked for offers to build coal- burning ngines.
429
1884
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
at their ends to engage with the upper or lower arm Mr. Bald win constructed some locomotives for the
242
1885
...
' ..
...
. ..
.
of the r ock shaft. The eccentric rods were raised purpose, in which he introduced a rocking grate.
550
1886
. ..
..
. ..
. ..
...
..
or lowered by a double treadle, so as to connect with The demand for higher speeds and p ower to haul
653
1887
...
...
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
737
1888
...
.. .
...
...
the upper or lower arm of the rock shaft, for greater loads was oontinuous then as it is now, ~nd
827
1889
...
.. .
.. .
...
...
...
throwing into forwa rd or back gear. As at first in 1848 Mr. Bald win undertook the constructiOn
946
1890
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
built, the steam from each cylinder we:1.s made t o ex- of a engine to run 60 miles an h our. This was
899
1891
. ..
...
...
...
...
. ..
haust into a horizontal connecting pipe with an completed th e following year, and marked a .n ew
731
1892
.. .
...
...
...
...
. ..
opening in the centre below the chimney ; the d eparture in the locomotive practice of the t1me.
The follow ing figures will give s?me idea of the
cylinders, therefors, exhausted ag~inst each oth:r; I t had one pair of driving wheels placed at the back Bald win Works as at present organised :
this defect was afterwards remedied by employmg of the firebox and 6 ft. 6 1n. in diameter, a s maller
Number of men employed ...
...
...
5100
separate exhausts. The '' Old Ironsides " as a pair of wheels in front of t he firebox, and a fourH ours of labour per n1an per day
...
10
machine was, no doubt, a distinct failure, hub as an wheel truck forward. The cylinders, 17! in. by
,
work per day in principal deobject of public interest it was a great success, 20 in., were placed h orizontally outside, between
24
partments ...
...
...
. ..
. ..
5000
H orse-power employed . ..
.. .
...
and attracted much travel on the road when it ran the leading wheels and the truck. The weight ~f
24
. ..
Number of buildings in works . . .
in fine weather; nevertheless Mr. Baldwin was so the engine was about 23 tonlJ, and on test It
16
Acreage of works .. .
...
...
...
discouraged that he determined n e ver to build ran from a state of r est at a speed of on e mile in
Number of dynamos for furni &hing
another locomotive. But the subject was of t oo 43 seconds. After running for some years on the
power to drills, punching machines,
much intereJt fo~ him, and he completed a six- Vermont Central Railroad, the engine was re26
&c., and for lighting .. .
.. .
. ..
wheeled engipe for the Charleslon and Hamburg modelled and provided with four coupled wheels,
3000
Number of electric lamps in service .. .
per week (tons) .. .
1000
Consumption of coal
Railroad in 1834; this was a much more successful but its success led t he way to the building of other

1500
,
Iron
,
..
venture and embodied n ot only the improvements similar engines. It is stated, h owever, that "all
Consumption
of
other
materials
per
t hat we;e known about English practice, but also these engines were short-lived, and died young of
day (tons) ...
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
40
several n ovel features that Mr. Bald win had mean- insufficient adhesion. ''
The Baldwin Works, which, as we have already
time patented. Among others the ''half crank ''
\Ve h ave n o space here to follow the rapid dedevice wa~ adopted, in which the crank was placed velopment of the Bald win W orks during the twenty said, occupy the original. site, have, of course, been
at each end of the axle, the prolongation of the crank- years ending 1867, when the founder of t he firm extended steadily, and, 1n fact, have of late years
pin being fixed in the wheel boss. A simplified form died ; it is an unbroken story of successful advance- been practically reconstructed: T~e erect~ng s?op
of valve gear was also introduced. A third engine ment both in an engineering and a fin ancial point is 397 ft. long and 208 ft. w1de; 1t contams nineordered by t.he Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was of view. The Centennial Exposition of 1876 for teen tracks, each long enough for fou~ l?comoput in service in June, 1834; it weighed about the first time brought to the notice of all the world tives. Two galleries run do wn the butldmg. for
the
accommodation
of
100-ton
cranes.
The
engmes
8~ tons and during the next seven years it averaged the remarkable position that the company occupied
21,000 'miles a year with relatively heavr loadR. as locomotive builders. We may briefly refer to built vary from the small mining or plantation
This engine may be considered to have decided the the display made at Fairmount Park on that locomotives weighing 5000 lb. in working order, to
future of the firm, for orders poured in fast, and it occasion in order t o compare it with what the the heaviest type of nearly 100 tons. These latter
was necessary to move into new works, which, with firm has d one at Chicago seventeen years later. are well r epresented in the Exhibition by a comconstant extensions, are the present s ite. In The collection of Bald win locomotives con sisted of pound freight engine for the New York, l!;rie, and
September, 1834, Mr. Baldwin took a patent that a consolidation engine for burning anthracite coal; W estern R ailroad Company, which weighs in runcovered the leading features of his practice for a similar engine for burning bituminous coal, and ning order 195,000 lb. It has ten coupled wheels
several years. The inventions related to the half a passenger engine, b oth f or the Pennsylvania and a two-wheeled leading truck, the total wheel
crank above referred to ; to a mode of making cast- Railroad ; a Mogul freight locomotive for the D on base being 27ft. 3 in. ; the high-pressure cylinders
iron ~heel centres with t he spokes attached, the P edro Segundo Rail way of Brazil ; a passenger in this engine are 16 in. in diameter and the lowend of the latter b eing so formed as to r eceive authracite- burning locomotive for the Central R ail- pressure 27 in., the length of str oke b eing 28 in. The
wooden felloes that were held together by wrought- road of New Jersey ; two narrow-gauge (3 ft. ) total length of engine and tender is 63ft. 8 in., and
iron tyres secur ed by bolts. A third d etail was for engines that were used, among others, for working the tot.al wh eel base is 53ft. 4! in. Standing near
the use of ground joints for steam pipes instead of the rail way within the grounds- the precursor of the this, the latest production of the Bald win Loc(,mot he red lead packing previously employed ; a fourth D ecau ville passenger line in Paris in 1889, and of tive Works, is a full-sized m odel of the "Old Ironinvention was that of using a hollow guide bar for the electric Intramural at the present Exhibition. sides," built by Matthias Bald win in 1832, and
the piston crosshead, and making it serve as the A mining locomotive was also among M essrs. which weighed in running order less than 5 tons.
pump barrel. These patents were rapidly followed Ba1dwin's collection of engines in 1876. The Cen - It is difficult t o suppose that if the Bald win Works
by others during the nex~ few years ; these. chiefly tennial Exposition was the m eans of a very large continue to flourish f or another sixty years,
related to improvements In wheel construction and extension of foreign trade to t he Baldwin Works, they will at the end of that time b ) able to show
in the m ode of fixing the boiler tubes by ferrul es created, needless to say, at the expense of this such a contrast with their present practice.
instead of by solder. By the year 1840 over 150 country. The first orders for New South \Vales
locomotives had b een built by the firm, and thus and Queen sland were given in 1877, and the two THE NE\V ELECTRIC LIGHTHOUSE
early was inaugurated th at sys~em of classification following years saw considerable extensions of
OF LA HEVE (HAvRE).
and similarity of parts on whiCh so much of the such orders; New Z ealand and Victoria followed
By C. S. Du RICHE P RELLER, M. A., Ph. D.,
success of the great industry has depended. Th e the example. The same results in numerous direcA.~ f. I. C. E., M. I . E . :g,
design followed for each class built at that time was tions may be c~nfidently expected t o follow the
CoNSIDERING how rapid has been the progress of
similar, but the sizes varied according to the p ower Colum bian Exposition, where we are n ot so well practical electrical science of late years, it would seem
required as follows :
represented in general industry as we were in 1876, remarkable that, so far, the electric light should have
and where we shall have to suffer from r - - -- - -----.,--;-:--::n;-r;r,."iifiij;n----- - - - -----.
First-class, cylinders 12~ in. by 16 in. ; weight,
L A N 0
the competition n ot only of the United Fig 1
loaded, 26,000 lb.
E N G
Second-class, cylinders 12 in. by 16 in. ; weiJh t,
States, but also of Germany. But the
ELGI(JU
loaded, 23,000 lb.
forei~n trade of Messrs. Bald win was exThirdclass, cylinders 10~ in. by 16 in . ; weight,
t ended elsewhere than in our colonies;
loaded, 20,000 lb.
orders came in from Russia, and on a
It is interesting to n ote that in 1840 Mr. Bald win very large scale from South America.
received his first order for abroad ; i t was for Nevertheless, the total production of the
Austria, and was the first engine fitted by him with works in 1876 was small when compared
rt$
a link motion, Further patents taken out in 1840 with the present time, having been only
referred to forced draught, to metallic packing, 232 locomotives, and it was n ot until the
the arrangement of springs on the engine trucks, to year 1880 that any great increase in capairon frames, and several other important details. city was recorded. During that year more
In 1842 the Bald win engine had received the than 500 engines were built, and it was
general form it retain ed for a n~mber of year~, and in 1880 t hat the firm completed the reF RAN

in that year the use of couphng r ods was Intro- cord of 5000 locomotives, counting from
duced ; of course, this mode of utilising weight for the first effort in 1832.
OF
adhesion had long been adopted in England, but
The progress of the past thirteen years JJ z s c Ay
the very sharp curves of the early American lines is illustrated by the exhibit of M essrs.
rendered the practice inadmissible, till Mr. Bald win Bald win in the Transportation Building,
invented his flexible truck. It was in 1845 that where 17 engines of different types are
the method of designating the various types of exhibited. On May !last the company
engines was introduced into the Baldwin Works, a h ad completed 13,420 locomotives, the
method followed ever since. An engine with one g reater part, of course, for the United
pair of driving wheels was marked B, with two States, although a large number are
l'

0'
pairs C, with three D, and with four E. A figure distributed over the world. Now the Elutrit' LighlhoustJ
S P A I IV z
t681 A

preceding the letter indicated the weight of the works are so extended as to have
engine. "\Yith some modifications, this system is an annual capacity of 1000 locomotives, although
still employed at the works. All this time, when this number has not yet been reached, the record bee.n but scantily utilised for what is certainly one
locomotive building was rapidly increasing in the year having been 1890, when 946 engines were of ~ts most useful and beautiful applications-that
United States (for the Bald win Works, though the built. During the last ten years the output has of unproved lighthouse illumination for the better
most important, were by no means the only one), been equal t o that of the preceding fifty years, and guidance of the mariner. In the British Isles the
electric lighthouse stations (of which the first was
I

'

THE LANCASHIRE WATCH COMPANY'S WORKS,

PRESCOT.

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that. of Dun~eness, 1862) ar~ on]y s~x in number- 1from 1864) .will shor~ly have thi.rteen, of which no
to wtt, theLtzard, St. Cathern:1e's Point, Duu~eness, less than etght ~re Island statwn.s ; I taly has. so
South F oreland, Souter Pomt, and I sle of May; far only one (Tmo I sland, Spezta, 1885), wh1le,
the French coasts (where the first., La Have, dates marvellous to relate, the United States of America

~ave as yet none; so that, i!lcluding the fe~ reaso~ is not far ..to se~k. Al.though the electric arc,
1~olated ones of <.?dessa, Port Sud, and Macquane as a hghthouse tllumma.nt, gtves, roughly speaking,

(:::Sydney, Austraha.), the whole gl<Jbe so far boasts at least twenty times more lio-ht than vegea total of not more than twenty-three. But the table or mineral oil, and the co~t per standard

00
\0
w

JuLv i, t893.]

ENGINEERING.

candle 1epresents J'e,. ~e a mere infinitesimal

fraction, yet the first cost of installation , as well
aa the annual cost of maintenance, of an electric
lighthouse is more than double that of oil ; and as

The considerably larger percentage of electric

practically wasted, the application of electric light
has hitherto been restricted to comparatively lighthouse stations on the French coast!, as. comfew points where, for one reason or another, the pared with that of the British !sleP,.is .due, 1n the
additional expenditure appeared justified. The first instance, to a differenca In prmctple. The

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Trinity House and the Northern Lighthouse

Board, have adhered to the principle laid down
in the Report on the South Foreland Commission

of 1885, that. electric lighthouses should be limited

to salient headlands and important bndfalls. The
French lighthouse authorities, on the other hand,
started
with
the
programme
propounded
in
the
!LCrRtC
well-known Memoir (1881) of M. Allard, *the late
engineer-in-chief of the department, who founded
his proposal for a. complete belt of 46 electric lighthouses on the French coasts on the rule laid down

by the French Lighthouse Commission of 1 25, viz.,

11
that when a vessel, following the coast, is losing sight
of a. powerful light in its rear, it should at the

... . . -
~ame time pick up the next powerful light ahead ;
-- - ., . .... ..
tn other terms, that the circles of the nautical ranges

of the lights composing the belt should cut each

other. Seeing, however, that the electric light is
intended ef:sentially for the guidance, not of coasting, but of ocean-going vessels, this ideal programme
was considerably modified under M. 13ourdelles
M. Alla.rd's successor and present inbpector-generai
and engin~er-in-chief; and now the ruling principle
may be sa.td to be the same as that laid down in
the South Foreland Report, with this difference
however,. that in France it has been not only
more w1dely but more systematically applied .
Thus, the focal length of the Dungeness apparatus
(1862) was only 150 millimetres ; at Souter Point
(1871), South Foreland (1872), and the Lizard
...
,t!

(1878) it was increased to 600 millimetres and

during the last decade, lhe practice of Trinity H'ouse,
percentage of electric hghthouse stations in respect as exemphfied at St. Catherine's Pmnt (1888), and
of the total number of lighthousee in each of the also of Dr. John Hopkinson at ~Iacquarie (1884) and
countries named may be seen at a glance from the --------Table in the next column.
* "~~~moire ur lea Pha.res ElectriqueEt," 1 1.

!t

'

in nearly all co~ntries the lighthouse department

ha~, of necessity, to be conducted on linee of
strict ~c~nomy, and. as the expense incurred in
the ex1 hng large otl lights would, moreover, be

~.

'

10
Tino ( L885), as well as of Messrs. Stevenson in the
Is!e of May (1886),* has been to use still larger
carbons (35 up to 60 millimetres in diameter), 1nore
current (200 up to 470 amperes), and, therefore, increlsingly large and costly optical apparatus, that of
Macquarie being of the first, and that of the others
being of the second order, viz., 900 and 700 millimetres focal length respectively. The maximum
intensity thus obtained in the arc was 20,000 to
40,000 c~ndles, while that of the resulting beam,
or pencil of rays emitted by the optical apparatus,
was three to seven million candles, the St. Catherine's light being considered the most powerful.
The French Lighthouse Department, on the other
hand, has systematically adhered to its standard
(1882) third to fourth order apparatus of 300 millimetres focal length (0.6 metre diameter); but by
persistent optical and electro mechanical improvements, has gradually succeeded in producing socalled lightning-fialh lights (jeHX edrtirs) of the
unrivalled intensity of 23 million candles in the
resulting beam, without increasing either the ntlrmal diameter (maximum 23 millimetres) of the
carbons, the electrical energy (4.5 kilowatts), or
the cost of installation and maintenance.
'fhe gradual development of electric lighthouse
illumination in France may be divided into four
periods (see Fig. 1, page 7):
1. 186! to 1882, old fixed lights of La Heve, Grio
Nez, and Palmyre (Gironde).
2. 1882 to 1888, revolving multicoloured flash
lights of Dunkirk, Calais, Gris N ez (reconstructed),
L l. Canche, Baleines, and Planier (Rhon e).
3. 1888 to 1892, white group flash lights of
Ushant, Belle Isle, and Barfleur.
4. 1892 and following, lightning-flash (single or
grouped) lights of La H eve (reconstructed), Ile
d'Yeu, L~ Coubre (Gironde, to replace Palmyre),
and Pen march (Finistere).
The latest and most striking innovations, together with other improvements, may be said to be
embodied in the new lighthouse of La H eve, which
the writer, through the courtesy of M. Bourdelles,
had recently occasion to examine in detail.
Site and Builclings (Figs. 2 to 5 ). - The lighthouse
station at Cape de la H eve is conspicuously situated at
the north end of the mouth of the Seine, about three
miles from Havre, above the picturesque suburb of
St. Adresse, and 121 metres (407 ft.) above sea
level and owing to its beautiful and commanding position, the locality is a favourite res?rt
of excursionists. The two towers of the statiOn
are 82 metre~ (270 ft.) apart, and 20 metres (66 ft. )
in height, the fucal plane being, therefore, 141
metres (473ft.) above sea level, so that the range
of direct visibility of the lights is 30 nautical miles,
supposing the eye of the observer to be 16ft. above
se~ level. The old oil lights+ were as early as 1864
replaced by two small tixed elec~ric ligh~s of 1?0
millimetres focal length--the first tnstallat10n of 1ts
kind on the French coasts-which involved the
almoet total reconstruction of the establishment and
the addition of a machine-house, coal-shed, repairshop, two cisterns for storin~ rain wa~er, accommodation for the staff, and a s1ren stat10n, all placed
between the two towers, the total cost of the installation including two semi-fixed steam-engines,
four ~lectric (Alliance) machines, and optical apparatus, being about 8000l., or 4000l_. for eac~ light.
It is the northern of the two fixed hghts whtch has
now been converted into a lightning-flash revolving
lio-ht while the southern fixed light is being replac~d by a ~ubsidiary fifth .order P?troleum light.
The installatiOn was erected 1n the w1nter of 1892-3,
and was opened for service on June 18 la~t.
E ngines (Fig~. 6 and 7).-The two s.emt-portable
steam-engines, of 6 horse-power nommal, and 12
effective horse-power each, are of the Rouffet type,
generally employed by the French Lighthouse Department and being already on the spot, were
utilised ~t La H ave, although in other recent and
eRpecially in island installations with little or no
water or bad water, the Department has used Benier
Freres' hot-air engines with satisfactory results, t

The lighthouses of St. Catherine's, !\facquarie and

Tino, and I sle of May, are described respectively an Proc.
Inst. M. E., 1892, Part I I I.; Pro c. Inst. C. E ., 1886,
Part I . ; and Proc. Inst. M. E . A u~st, 18~7.
t The lighthouse station of La H eve Js one of the
oldest on the French coasts. A~ at the Cordoua.n ligh~
house the light was a. wood fire up to 1783, when 01l
with 'a parabolic reflector was introduced, the latter
bein~ later on replaced by Fre~nellenses.
.
+ The same cannot be sa1d of the .Brown hotatr
engines which at Tino, for instance, gave so much
trouble; and pro ved so costly that a semi-fixed 12 horse-

(juLY 7, 1893.

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

Oontint wus and Alte1nating Ou rrent. --Besides

the two De Meritens machines, there are at L1.
H eve two continuous current dynamos of the ordinary Gramme type, giving together, when put first
in series and then in parallel with additional resistances, 100 amperes, at 55 volts, viz., practically
the same output as the magneto-electric machines
at 450 revolutions. They were supplied by Messrs.
Sautter, Harle, and Co. for the purpose of comparison with the Dd Meritens alternating current.
It will be remembered that the efforts made more
especially by the Brush Company at the time of
the South Foreland experiments, and also in connection with the Isle of May insta.lLttion, with a
view to use the continuous current for purposes

especially where, in addition to dynamos, they also

actuate sirens. The semi-fixed steam engines at
la H e,e (pressure six atmospheres) call for no
special remark, except the overhead condensing
arrangement introduced by M. Monin, of Paris,
which consists of a system of meta11ic condensing
pipes surmounting the engines, and admits of at
least 76 per cent of the vaporised water being
recovered. The arrangement is very inexpensive,
the cost being only about 100l., and it has already
for some yeal's been in successful operation at the
Baleines and Gris N ez electric lighthouses. The
only available, but sufficient, water supply at La
H eve is rain water, stored in two cisterns of 360
tons capacity.

Fig. 9.

Pig. 8.
Flash

Light

f oC(r/

JOO

- JOO%,

P/a,.r

Fig.10.

Dynanws.-These are driven by the steam engines

through belts and countershaft, and are of the G,
or smaller type of De Meritens magneto-electric
machines. Each machine has five sets of eight
permanent magnets, 40 in all, each magnet being
made up of 12 steel plates. The armature is composed of five rings of 16 bobbins on each, arranged
in groups of eight bobbins in series. Each section
of five half-rings so formed is connected in parallel,
and each machine is thus split up into two sections,
of which each has five groups of bobbins in series.
This grouping, together with a corresponding arrangement of distribution, admits of obtaining in
the closed circuit currents of 25, 60, and 100
amperes, according as 10, 16, or 23 millimetre carbons are used in the lamp, and half a machine, a
whole one, or two machines respectively, are running
at the time at a constant pressure of 45 volts, and
460 revolutions per minute, equal to a frequency of
60 per second. For the purpose of running the
two machines together, they are not coupled
mechanically, but are run separately through a belt
which imparts the same speed to both. To this
end loose pulleys, with lubricatir1g bearings and
support, are fitted between the two dynamos to a
shaft which is a prolongation of the two main
shafts. In this way, either machine, or both, can
be instantly thrown into or out of gear without
the stopping necessitated by mechanical coupling.
The principle is the same as that applied by Dr.
John Hopkinson at Tino.
---- .

1&81. D

Horizon/a(

S~ction

throu.qh focal p lant.

of lighthouse illumination, were invariably wrecked

on the crater formed in the positive carbon, which
must be placed below so as to throw the maximum
intensity of light upwards for dis tribution. MessrP.
Sautter, Harle, and Co., after exhaustive trials at
the Depot des Phares in Paris, claim to have
overc.ome the difficulty by a special r egulator and
~y a solenoid which encircles the lower or positive carbon near the crater, and through which
passes a portion of the main current, whereby the
arc is maintained in focus. l\1oreover, an electromotor, with which the regulator is provided caus~s
the positive carbon to r otate round its o~n axis.
The experiments made in Paris having, so far,
given satisfactory r esults, the dynamos were added
provisionally to the La H eve installation but for
the regular service, the De Meritens alternating
machines are exclusively used, on account of the
eaving in el~ctr~cal energy., of the facility of running
e.ac~ .machme 10 s~bsect10ns, of their greater rehablhty and regulanty, of the better distribution of
light both in the apparatus and to the horizon and
above all, the great steadiness of the arc. I~ thi~

----------------------------power steam engine is now used instead.

The consumption of fuel of the hot-air engines increased in three years'

working from 85 to 120 tons of coke per annum, wbile the
power developed dropped to less than one-half, and did
not even suffice to produce four kilowatt in the dynamos.

ENGI NEERI NG,

7, 1893.

J ULY

TRIPL E -E XPANS ION

ENGINES

OF

DR. NA,lSEN'S

POLAR

EXPEDITION

BY THE .AKER~ :\lEJ ViERKSTED, CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY.

CONSTRUCTED

SHIP

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(}'(Jr llt...:rrptiJsee Paye 11.)

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7, 1893.]

last respect the difference between the carbons,

after being used for the alternating and the continuous current respectively, is very marked; in the
former they burn away equally and steadily, as shown
by the smooth surfaces, while in the latter case they
give, by their rough and fractured s urfaces, evidence
of occasional outbursts. Experiments have also
been made at the D epot des Phares with compound
wound alternators, but, pending the results, the
D e Meritens machines still hold t he field for
lighthouse purposes, in spite of their clumsiness
and great weight, th eir constructive defects, and
a.bove all, their high cost, which is more than
doulJle tln.t of an ordinary alternator, and four
times more than that of a. continuous current
dynamo of equal output.
Principle. of L ightning Fla~hes. -Before describing the optical apparatus, it will be convenient to
briefly refer to the theoretical and practical considerations which led to the innovation called
lightning flashes, or flashes of short duration. In
the older French (M. Allard's) type (Fig. 8) of
electro-optical apparatus (1882), in which a drum
composed of 24 vertical elements revolved r ound
the fixed inner dioptric and catadioptric apparatus
of 12 panels , a complete r evolution was effected in
90 to 120 seconds, the duration of the flashes being
one second. I n the improved 12-panel and single
apparatus of 1888, the time of one revolution was
reduced t) 60 seconds, and the duration of a flash
to i 1a second, there being six groups of two flashes
in one revolution. In this r espect, too, English
practice has proceeded on essentially different lines.
Thus, in the Tino light, which has eight groups of
three flashes every 30 seconds, the duration of a
flllsh is 1t second, and one r evolu tion of the apparatus takes 240 seconds. At S~. Catherine's,
where the duration of the half-minute flashes is no
less than five seconds, one revolution takes as much
as eight minutes; at Macquarie t he duration of the
minute single fhshes is even eight seconds, and the
time of one revolu~ion is 16 minutes; and only in
the I sle of May light, which gives two g roups of four
flashes every 30 seconds, the time occupied by
one r evolution of the cage round the inner fixed
apparatus is 60 seconds, and the duration of each
flash is red uced to half a second. The long duration of the flashes an d t h e consequently slow rotation
rested on the assumption that the mariner r equires
a certain time to fix the light for taking his obser vations. T hat time, as shown, was variably estimated from one to eight seconds; Fresnel endeavoured even to double the eight seconds artificially.
M ore recently, distinguished physicists and physiologists, such as Plateau in Belgium, Helmholtz
in Germany, ,7y-undt, Bloch, and Charpentier in
France, have, h owever, shown that the time
required to produce on the retina a complete impression of a light is in inverse r atio to the intensity
of the latter-viz., the gre~ter the intens ity of the
light, the shor ter is the t ime required for its complete perception. By experiments made at the
D epo t des Phar es of Paris, and subsequent ly confirmed in practice on a large scale at sea, M .
Charpentier succeeded in demonstrating t hat t h e
maximum time r equired for the complete perception of a light of minimum intensity- viz., 1 ~o-th
of a bee Oarcel, or one-tenth of a standard candle*
seen at a distance of 1000 metres in an absolutely
clear atmosphere, varies, according to the constitution of the eye and of surrounding conditions,
from one-eighth to one-twelfth of a second. Applying this demonstr ation to powerful flash lig hts
of lighthouses, it follows : (1) T hat the duration of
the flashes may be reduced t o a minimum, provided that the flashes s ucceed each other as r apidly
as p ossible, and at least every five seconds; and
(2) that when the duration of the flashes is prolonged
beyond the time strictly necessary for thei r compleLe
perception, which is that of their maximum impr }Ssion on the retina., the intensity of impression
simply remains cons tant, and the pr olonged p ower
of the light is t herefore wasted. t These consider a-

- - - - - --

* The exact equivalent of a bee Car ccl has, by recent

photometric measurements at the Depot des Phares, been
ascertained to be 10 standard candles, as against the
hitherto variably estimated value of 9.2, 9.5, and 9.8
candles.
t The writer has recently bad occa~ion to kpecially
obs~rve the tit. Catherine's light on a clear night during
the whole time of it~ direct visibility between Southampton and Havre, and has frequently observed also the Tino
(1 pezia) light in all weathers from various points of the
Carrara 11ountains and the coast near Leghorn, as well
as from the Mediterranean. The unnecessarily long
duration of the flashes and the consequent waste of

I I

E N G I N E E R I N G.
tions, confirmed by numer ous and exha~stive experiments in the Channel, under var ym g atmospheric conditions, led the French L ighthouse
Department to fix the duration of the flashe s at
the mean of 1\yth of a second and the interval
b etween them at five seconds (being ,l0 th of the
duration, and ~ th of the jnter val of the flashes at
St. Catherin e's) ; and owing alike t o t heir short
duration and t o t heir g reat lum inous power, they
were termed jettx-eclai1s, or lightning flashes.
The intensity of these nth-second flashes was first
of all photometrically tested on the Eiffel Tower,
viz., at a distance of 600 metres from the focus at
the D 6pot des Phares, and they were then tried in
the new electric lighthouses of U shant ( Figs. 9 and
10), Belle-Ile, and Barfleur (1888 to 1892), with
10, 16, and 23 millimetre carbons, according to
the varying transparency of the atmosphere, and
alternately with the one-third of a second flas h es
for which the optical apparatus is made. It was
found that the captains of vessels did not perceiv~,
and even when previously informed, could not perceive the difference of duration, and n o complaints
of any kind were made. The system having thus
been t ested in practice, tho next step was to
further increase the intensity of the r esulting
beam without increasing the focal length of the
apparatus or t he diameter of the carbons.
This
could evidently be obtain ed only by considerably increasing th e rotary speed of t he apparatus,
and by reducing the number of panels so as to
insure the maximum of condensation. Thus an
apparatus of four, or two panels, or one panel
only, in order to give one flash every five seconds,
or a group of flashes during th at time, has to
make one complete r evol ution i n 20, 10, or 5
seconds r espectively, the one-panel apparatus comprising half a circumference with a spher ical r eflector on the other half. Under these conditions,
and given the same intensity of the electric arc
and the same focal length, it follows t hat, while
the four-panel appar atus trebles t he intensity of the
12-panelled type of 1888, apart from other improvements which quadruple it, the two-panel apparatus will double the intensity of the four-panelled
type, the duration of the flashes being in that case
:foth of a second; and the one-pan elled apparatus,
which in practice is, h owever, suitable only for third
order and less, will be the m ost powerful of all.
For such unprecedented r otary speeds as 5 to 20
seconds per revolution, the old travelling carriage
with conical or spherical friction r ollers could n ot
ha.ve been used without danger to the apparatus,
and the novel rotary ILechanis m introduced by M.
B ourdelles, which we shall describe later on, has
been adopted, together with oth er improYements.
(To be continued.)

ENGINES FOR DR. NANSEN'S P0LAR

EXPEDITION SHIP " FRAM. "
'YE illustrate on our two-page plate this week the
engines constructed by the Akers Mek. V rerksted,
Christiania, Norway, for the ship F ram, to which is
attached a special interest, as the vessel and the
machinery have been specially designed to suit the
conditions likely to be met with during the expedition
on which Dr. Frithjof Nansen has quite recently set
out to the polar regions. The engines are of the
triple - expansion condensing type, having t hree
cylinders, with the high-pressure cylinder placed
between the intermediate and the low - pressure
cylinders. The high-pressure cylinder, as shown iu
Fig. 3, is fitted with a piston valve, and the medium
and low-pressure cylinders are each fitted with a Trick
val ve. The movable parts, as well as the columns
and the bracing stays, are of mild steel. The pistons
a nd the bedplate are of cast steel. The crankshaft is
built up of mild steel with hardened crankpins.
The general dimensions are as follows : Highpressure cylinder, 9 in . in diameter; intermediate
pressure cylinder, 15 in. in dia meter; low-pressure
cylinder, 24 in. in diameter, each with a piston stroke
of 18 in. The air pump is 10 in. in diameter; the
cir~ula:ting. pump, 10 in. in di~meter ; the ~eed. pump,
2~ m. m dtametcr ; and the bilge pump, 3 m. m dialuminous power in both these otherwisE7 magnificent lights
is very striking, for after the fi rst, instantaneous, and
com~lete impression on the retina., the rest of the flash
has stmply the effect of a fixed light. Especially in the
transparent atmosphere of the 1\!editerranean, where
roughly speaking, a flash-beam of 10,000 candle-powe;
equals one of 2 millions in th e Channel, long and powerful flashes, if not the electric light altogether, may be
described as an ex pensive luxury ; so much so that for the
recent lighting of the Algerian coast, the French department has adopted petroleum (flashing point 50 deg. Cent.
= 122 Fahr.) exclusively.

meter each with a stroke of 5 in. The surface condense; is placed separate from the engine, on. the port
side. It is cylindrical, made of steel pla~es wtth met~l
end castings and tubeplates; the coohng surface 1s
.
.
.
256 square feet.
The boiler is of the ordmary cy h ndncal returntubular type, construct ed for a working pressure of
160 l b. the diameter is 8 ft. l in., and the length,
7 ft. 4 in. There are two cylindrical furna ces ~f
2 ft. 4~ in. internal diameter. The heating surface 1s
506 square feet, and the grate area 17.4 ~quare feet ..
To provide against possible contingencies, the engme
is construct ed so that it may be used not only as a.
triple-expansion, but also as a compound high and
low pressure, a low-pressure, or a high-pressure engine.
\Vhen used as a compound high and low pressure
engine, the high-pressure cylinder may be disconnect ed,
and the intermediate pressure cylinder used as the
high-pressure cylinder. The s team is let in through t he
valve A, and the valve B closed; the exhaust is passed
right through the three-way cock C t o th e low-pressure cylinder, and afterwards to the condenser.
'V hen using the high and low pressure cylinders as a.
pair, the steam may be let in through t he valve E,
and a. cover fitted over the steam-ports i n the mediumpressure valve-box, leaving the exhaust port open,
thus allowing the exhaust from the high-pressure
cylinder t o pass through the valve B, through the
medium-pressure valve-box and exhaust pol't, thence
through the cock C to the low-pressure cylinder, and
further on to the condenser.
Using t he high-pressure and the medium-pressure
cylinders as a pair, the ex haust may either pass
through the cock C to the low-pressure val ve-box and
the condenser, or the cock C may be turned so as to
let the exhaust pass through a pipe from the flange
D to the waste pipe, thus making in this latter case a
compound non-condensing engine.
If the low-pressure cylinder is used alone, the steam
may be let in through the valve A, and pass direct
t hrough the medium-pressure exhaust port to the lowpressur e cylinder, and further on to the condenser.
To use the engine as a non-condensing engine, the
steam may be let in through the valve A, the mediumpressure cylinder used, t he valve B closed, aud the
cock C t urned so as to let the exhaust pass through a.
pipe from D to the wast e. The high- pressure cylinder
may also be used alone, letting the exhaust go t o the
waste pipe.
The engines are capable of indicating 169 horse
power, with a coal consumption of 2.8 t ons per 24
hours, the speed being about 6 kn ot s, but with sail
set and under favourable conditions it may reach 8 or
9 knots. The coal su pply will be sufficient for t hree
or four months of un interrupted st eaming. The Fram, *
it may be stated, was built at Archer's yard at Laurain, Norway, and is 3L metres long on keel (101 ft.
8~ in.), the length on water-line being 34i metres
(11 5 ft. ); t he beam is 11 metres (36 ft. 1 in.); a nd the
draught, with light cargo, 12 ft. , the displacement
being 530 tons ; but when loaded to 17 ft. t he displacement is 800 tons. The vessel is built largel y of
wood, the keel, in two pieces, being of American timber, while the plankin g of the hull is of pitch and oak,
with an outer "ice cover " of ~reenheart, the sides
varying in thickness from 27 in. to 30~ in., while the
bow, built of oak, has a thickn ess of 4 ft. Aft the
Fram is as pointed as the bow, and the rudder and propeller can be hoist ed clear of the water. The Yessel is
rigged as a. three-roasted schooner, the crow's nest, or
look-out, being 102 ft. aboYe water. level. There is an
electric installation.
A:\IRRICAN NATURAL GAs.-The Wheeling Natural Gas
Company has issued its report for the financial year end
ing March 31, 1893. The earnings of the company for
the year .from the sale of gas and oil were 4G,033l. , while
the workmg expenses of the twelve months were 11 5101.
It will be seen that the ratio of the workiJ:! g expen;es to
the rough receipts was about 25 per cent. The company
ow~s 10~ miles of pipe, 26 producing gas wells, 26 producmg 01l wells, and one gas-pumping plant.

- --

THE l XCORPORATED ASSOCIATION m MUNICIPAL AND

q ou_NTY. ENGINEERS.-The annual meeting of this AssoCiatiOn 1~ to be held at West Bromwich during the three
last days of next week. Amongst the papers to be read
are the following: "The Local Government Bill 1893
(Parish .Councils BH1), " by ~ Godfrey ; " Notes on
Hydrauhc Formul ~P-, by S. Crtmp "Mains for Electrical Distribution, " by C. H. W.' Btggs "Munici~al
Electricity Works," by R. Hammond ,,'Sewage Difficulties at N unea.ton, " by J. S. Pickeri'ng "The Selection and Cultivation of Trees for Roads " by F Smythe
"The Private" Streets Works Acts, '1892, " by G.
La!fa~; ~?d Portland Cem(nt, the Value of Fine
Grmdmg, by H. J. ;I{. Ba.mber. The programme includes several excursiOns to works in the district and to
the South Staffordshire ~lectric Tramway\~orks'; while
the Mayor and CorporatiOn of 'Nest Bromw10h entertain
th.e m~mbers to luncheon, and the Mayor of Birmir.gham
w11l g1 ve a garden party.

B:

*See ENGINEERING, vol. liv., page 642.

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

12

THE LANCASHIRE WATCH COMPANY'S

WORKS,

PRESCOT.

(Fo'r Description, see Page 1.)

.
Fw. 16.

LONGRIDGE'S AXLEBOX.
THE noYel form of axlebox which we illustrate on
the next page is now being manufactured by the Patent
Axlebox Foundry Company, Limited , to the designs
of Captain C. C. Longnd ge, the managing director of
the company. The woollen pad lubricat01 e employed
in the widely known Austin's axlebox es, which ha.Ye
long been a sp eciality of this firm, leave nothing t o be
desired with lubricants of suitable viscosity. Their
action is, however, in1paired by thick or impure oils,
which have no detrimental effect on the working of
the mechanical lubricator of the box under notice.
This lubricator consists of a metal disc, clearly shown
in Fig. 1, mounted freel y on a spindle, and maintained
in frictional contact with the end of the journal by
means of a spiral spring. A t riangular-shaped scraper
rests freely on the rim of the disc and directs a. stream
of oil on to the surface of the packing plate, whence it
is led by suitable channels t o the journal; the oil
thrown into the upper part of the box by the action
of centrifugal force also gravitates in the same direction, and the suppl y of lubricant is thus augmented
as the speed increases. The s tud upon which the disc
rotates is fixed to a crossbar, as shown in .Fig . 2, which
may be adjusted as the journal wears up into the
brass. The practical tria ls to which the device has
been subjected showed, however, that no inconvenien ce
resulted when the stud was upwards of i in. below
the centre of the journal. The drip from the axle
is received upon a lining of felt (Fig. 1 }, through
which it percolates, and, free from solid impurities, returns to the lubricator well. The design
also includes a new form of dust shield, consisting of a plate with a conical recess bored to fit
the axle, and provided with packing which is pressed
upon the projection of a second plate by means of a
horizontally acting pair of springs (see Fig. 3), the
l'eaction also providing for the closure of t he joint
between the shield plate and face of casting. 'Vhen
the latter is machined n. practically perfect obturation
results, and experiments are in progress with a Yiew
to determining th e capability of this shield to maintain
an oil bath around the journal for a lengthened p eriod.

1\IANCHESTER STEAl\I USERS'

ASSOCIATION.
Tall: annual general meeting of the subscribers to this
Association was held on Tuesday, June 27, Mr. ,John
'Ramsbottom, C, E , vice-president, in the chair. The

PINION -Pous HIKG D EPARTMENT.

but perfect immunity from serious explosions. This was

shown once more by the fact that the Association had no
loss of life to deplore from the bursting of any boiler
under its care during the past year, while outside its
ranks there had been m ore lives lost than the committee
liked to hear of.
R eferring to the memorandum by the chief engineer
contained in the report, with regard to th~ importance of
testing the quality of plates, be thought the observations
therein made were exceedingly valuable, especially as to
the behaviour of steel when used as the material for
boilers. There was an impression that steel waRrather
fickle and brittle, and ticklish to deal with, but there
was steel and steel. They knew that a steel file, which
was very sharp, snapped, and on a test of such material
they would not expect to find much elongation. But, on
the other hand, they had steel almost as mild as copper,
and which would bear punishment in any dirf'ction. And
it was to give to the Association's subscribers an assurance that the material used in th e construction of their
boilers was thoroughly reliable, that the searching
examinations and tests which the Association conducted
of steel plates were made. As be had already said, they
were apt to look upon steel as a fickle material, but so
were many other olements with which they had to deal.
Gunpowder, for instance, was a fickle material, and,
carelessly handled, might do a great deal of mischief ;
and so wit h various classes of steel. But it was very
easy to determine beforehand wh~t were the proper
ties of the steel Eubmitted to be operated upon, and
he thought it was the subscribers' own fault if they
found that they bad adopted a material that was
unsafe for use in the construction of their boilers. 'fo
hie (the Chairman's) mind it was all- important that
the inspection of new boilers during construction should
start at the very begmning, from the manufacture of the
plates till the work was fi nished. An archit~ct, before he
erected a building, satisfied himself that the material
general1y was of the right sort, and surely that was
equally desirable with regard to the construction of a.
boiler, or any other piece of machinery. Where life was
concerned it was especially necessary that the inspection
should be thorough. and that j t should be carried throngh,
from the very ~roduction of the material itself to the
application of 1t for the purpose for which it was
required.
After the reappointmen t of the c:>mmittee for the
ensuing yeM, the proceedings closed with a vote of thanks
to the Chairman. Subsequently several ef those present
adjourned to the Association's museum, to examme the
various fractures there, and among them a 26-in. steel
water pipe, which should have stood a pressure of 1200 lb.
on the square inch, but burst at a pressure of 70 lb.
* A part of this memorandum will be found in another on the Equare inch, as referred to in the chief en
gineer's memorandum, which we deal with elsewhere.
column.

report stat ed that there had been an increase in the

number of works and boilers under inspection as well as
in the revenue, and that as regarded works, boilers, and
revenue the figures at the close of 1892 were ~reater than
those recorded on any previous occasion. 'I he demand
for the assistance of the chit engineer and starf for ad vice
and service in the matter of laying down new boilers, &o.,
had been very considerable during the year, and the
amount of special fees received was higher than bad been
ever before attained. A large number- viz., 5567 -of
" entire " examinations had been made during the year.
The service involved in this work was the principal
source of expenditure. The Association made a point of
securing an annual " entire '' examination of each boiler
enrolled, and from year to year its experience proved
than this annual "entire " examination was the efficient
remedy for the occurrence of boiler explosions.
Durmg the year there had not been an explosion of a
boiler under the Association's care; but of boilers not
under its inspection, records had been made of 31 explosions, killing 13 persons and injuring 27 others.
There bad also been recorded 18 miscellaneous explosions,
such as those arising from the bursting of kiers, steam
pipes, &c, killing 7 per~;ons and injuring 17 others as
well as 12 explosione arising from the bursting of circuiat
ing boilers m kitchens, k illing 3 persons and injuring
24 others, and 15 explosions arising from the bursting
of circulating boilers m churches, chapels, schools, warehouses, &c., killing 2 persons and inj uring 4 others.
The BoilAr Explosions Acts, 1882 and 1890, it was
stated, continue to be usefully worked ; during th e year
58 preliminary inquiries and 28 formal investigations \\ere
held, and costs amounting to 870l. 15s. were ordered to
be paid.
Appended t o the report was a memorandum by the
chief engineer referring to a few points to which he thought
it desirable to call the attention of the members of the
Association.*
'ihe Chairman, in proposing that the report be adopted,
said that it afforded additional confirm ation of the soundnesg of the princi ple on which the Association was
founded-vir. , that proper inspection meant immunity
from danger. The Association was in a. highly satisfactory and flouriehing condition, standing higher than ever
with regard to the number of members and number of
boilers enrolled, as well as with regard to the amount
paid for spe<:ial services and the extent of the reser ve
fund . 'fhe committee were thus encouraged in every
way to go forward on the lines laid down by the founders
of the Association. He believed those lines were perfectly
sound, and that t he result would be in the future as it
bad been in the past, that careful inspection meant all

13

E N G I N E E R I N G,
0

ii

~~-

-- -

--

LONGRIDGE ' S
CONSTRUCTED BY

UJ'

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l!!

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;::;c:z

_=:

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rm

AXLE BOX.

THE PATENT AXLEBOX AND FOUNDRY COMPANY,

LIMITED,

BIRMINGHAM.

( Fo? DescriptiO?'II, see opposite Page.)

Fig 7.

Fig. 2.

.
I

__Q .

,.

.,, -

'' I

..,
' I

'I

'

I
0

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I

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F IG. 4.

COMPANION LADDER WITH SELF-ADJlTSTING STEPS.

CONSTRUCTED BY ~1ESSR, , JOHN CAMPBELL AND SON, \V ALLSEND-ON.TYNE.

accompanying illustration shows a companion

ladder constructed by Messrs. John Camp bell and
Son, \Vallsend -on-Ty ne, and now fitted to a large
number of passenger st eamers, notably the new
Cunard steamers Ca.mpania and Lucania. The feature
of the ladder is the arrangement whereby the steps
are at all t imes horizontal, irrespective of the position
or inclination of the lad<.ler, and thus, wit h a strong
handrail, it is as easy to ascend or descend as on
a.n ordinary stair. The steps of the ladder rest on
brack ets fixed to parallel side-frames. T he brack ets
take the form of bellcrank levers~ the one end being
pivoted to t he upper side-frame, and the oth er end t o
the lower side-frame. The raisiag or lowering of the
ladder affects the relation of the parallel frames, so
that t he angle brackets move sufficiently to adjust
the level of the steps. The arrangement, which will
be easily appreciated from our engraving, is simple
a.nd effective, and results in a very comfortable com panion ladder.
T HE

t ion. The expansion of capacity is going on in all

directions, as though stimu lated by wide margins.
Stocks are light, and an unex pect ed demand or unusual
ru n would in a short time leave the market bare. S teel
billet s are q uoted at 23.50 dols. September delivery.
The advance in pig iron has wiped out margins on bars
at 1. 60 dols., and some mills will not be started up
after midsummer repairing season unless good orders
are booked. P late and structural iron orders are
promised soon, and in sufficient volu me to k eep capacity
fully employecr. The order for the Philadelphia
Bourse building, 3000 tons, will be placed next week.
The mills will be generally idle for the n ext two
weeks. The wages scale question will be settled in a
few d ays.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, W ednesda.y.
Glasgow P ig -Iron Ma.rket.- The market was very fiat
on Thursday forenoon. Scotch warrants receded in price
2id. per ton, and Cleveland was nominally 5d. cheaper.
Cumberland hematite iron declined ld. per ton, and
NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
Middlesbrough made an advance of i d . per ton. There
P HILADELPH1A, June 30.
was a compa.ratively large business done in Scotch pig
THE volume of business for the half-year closed iron in the afternoon, and at the close the price was l~d.
today has been exceptionally large. Prices exhibit per ton lower, making a fall of 4d. on the day. Cleveland
unexpected strength in the f~ce of enormous produc- receded ld ., making the day's fall 6d., and Cumberla.nd

hematite iron was down ld., making a fall of 3d. on the

day. The market was adversely affected by the severe
depression on the Stock Exchange. At tbe close the
settlement prices were-Scotch iron, 4ls. 4~d. per ton ;
Cleveland, 34s. 9d. ; Cumberland and Middlesb~ough
hematite iron, 44s. 7!d. and 43s. per. t on. respect1vely.
There was a continuance of the depressiOn m the warrant
market on F riday, and prices . suffered a furth~r
decline. A fair amount of busmess was done m
ordinary pig iron, but in hemat~te. iron business was
very limited in amount. Scotch p1g uon closed l~d. per
ton down making 5~d. of a decline in two days. Cleveland and hematite iron were about steady. The settlement prices at the close were-Scotch iron, 41s. 3d. per
ton ; Cleveland, 34s. 9d. ; Cumberland and Middlesbrough h~matite iron, respectively, 44s. 7!d. and 43s. per
ton. Monday's market was very quiet in the forenoon,
and for nearly an hour no business was transacted.
Just before the finish 3000 tons of Scotch iron and
1000 tons of Cleveland were sold, the forruer advancing 2d. and the latter 3d. per ton. In the
afternoon there was rather more business doing.
Scotch iron changed bands at 41s. 6~d. and 4ls. 7d. cash
next Monday, and 41s. 8~d. one month. Some 5000 or
6000 tons changed hands. There were offers of CleYe
land at ~d . under the forenoon's close, without any business res ultin~. The closing settlement prices wereScotch iron, 41s. 6d. per ton ; Cleveland, 35s. ; Cumberland and M iddlesbrough hematite iron, 44s. 7~d. and
43s. per ton respectively. There was but little business
done in Tuesday's forenoon market. Only 4000 tons of
Scotch iron were sold-2000 tons cash and 2000 tons
one month open - and the cash price declined ld.
per ton. The market was very quiet, but steady,
in the afternoon, Scotch iron being done at 4ls. 5id.
cash and 41s. 7d. seventeen days. Only about 3000
tons were dealt in. Cleveland was easier, 500 tons
ch anging bands at 3!5~. one month, being a drop of ld.
per ton from t he morning. At the cloEe the settlement
prices were-Scotch iron, 41s. 4~d . per t on; Cleveland,
!l5s. ; Cumberland and M iddlesbrough hematite iron,
44s. 7~d. and 43s. per ton, re~pectively. T he market
firmed up this forenoon in consequence of the favourable returns reported from Middlesbrough, and also
because business bad to be clo3ed up at 1 p.m.
t ill Friday, over the holiday caused by the R oyal
wedding. Scotch warrants sold at 41s. 6!d. to 4ls. 7~d.
per ton cash, being a rise of 2 ~ d. per ton. Cleveland
warrants advanced ld., and Cumberland and Middlesbrough hematite iron, respectively, ld. and i d. per ton.
There was no afternoon meeting of the "ring," nor will
there be any to-morrow. The following are the quotations for several special brands of makers' iron: Clyde,
Oalder, and Gartsherrie, 47s. 6d. per ton; Summerlee,
48s. ; L angloan and Colt ness, 53s. 6d. - the foregoing all shipped at Glasgow; Glengarnock (sh ipped
at Ardrossan), 48s.; Sbot ts (shipped at L eith ), 51s. ;
Carron (shipped at Grangemouth ), 52s. 6d. per ton.
There are still 71 blast furnaces in actual operation,
as compared with 76 at this time last year. Two
are making basic iron, 45 are making ordinary iron,
and 24 are working on hematite ironston e. Last week's
shipments of pig iron from all Scotch ports amounted to
5603 tons, against 4872 toos in the corresponding week of
last year. They included 220 tons for Canada, 103 tons
for South America, 225 tons for India, 325 tons for Australia, 110 tons for France, 566 tons for Italy, 305
tons for Germany, 255 tons for Russia, 375 tons for
H olland, smaller quantities for other countries, and 2972
tons coastwise. The stock of pig iron in Messrs. Connal
and Co.'s public warrant stores stood at 336, 262 tons yest erday afternoon, as compared with 336,730 tons yesterday week, thus showing a reduction for the week amounting to 468 tons.
F i.lnished I ron and Steel Prades.-Most of the works
engaged in making finished iron and steel con tinue to be
fairly well employed, and in some cases one or two good
orders have lately been secured. Prices, however, are still
very low, and the firmer coal market has been against
masters who bad been calculating on easier rates.
Coal T rade.-The near approach of the holidays is
making shippers and others anxious to close their engagements, and co~ls of all sorts are accordingly scarce for

14
prompt delivery. Prices are generally about 3d. per ton
better than those of last week, but it is thought the
advance will prove merely temporary. The d emand for
steam coal has improved very materially in the last few
days, and the prices of this quality moved up a. little for
the rat time this season. The following are to-day's
quotations a.t Glasgow Harbour :
F.o.b. per T on.
Splint
...
...
...
...
7s. to 7s. 3d.
Main coal . ..
.. .
...
.. .
6s. , 6s. 3d.
Steam
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
Ss. , 83. 3d.
Ell .. .
. ..
. ..
...
. ..
7s. , 7s. 6d.
The followin~ Table showa the amount of coal shipped
at the prinCipal p orts in Scotland during the first six
months of the pre'3ent year, compared with the shipments
in the corresponding period of la.st year:
1893.
1892.
Increase.
Port.
Tons.
Tons.
T ons.
Ardrossa.n
... 148,98.'l
110,830
38,153
Methil .. .
... 380,514
368,513
12,001
Troon .. .
... 170,172
1G7 ,8~1
2,341
Ta.yport .. .
. .. 13, 84 1
12,807
1,034
Bowling .. .
...
2,504
2,129
375
Decrease.
Gla~gow .. .
942,097
... 804,887
137,210
Leith
.. .
... 205,197 278,437
73,240
Burntisland
286.2t!4
342,300
56,056

Ayr
...
240,274
292,035
5l, 76l

Bo'ness ..
... 2l6,497
248,379
31,882
Grangemouth
515.146
541,745
26,599
Granton .. .
GG,513
86,497
19,984

Irvine .. .
... 111,239 118,745
7,50G
Charles town 20,943
31,832
4,889
Greenock
... 00,688
6!'i, 467
4,77!>
Alloa.
...
34,976
37,210
2,234

EN G I N E E RI N G.
the Gill's Bay and Lybster Railway as a. whole was supported. A circular to be sent to those interested in the
county asking them to subscribe to a. preliminary guarantee fund was approved of, and several subscriptions
were intimated.
Glas.qow Water Works Extension.-TheGlasgow Water
Commissioners last Friday opened a. stretch of between
six and se\en miles of the new aq ueducts from L och
Katrine, the result of which will be a very decided
increase in the amount of water delivered daily t o th e
service reservoir at Mugdock.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

Ebbw Vale &eel, Iron, and Coal Company, L imited.Ohanges have been made in the management of this cornpan y w hieh are expected t o secure a. saving of 16,OOOl. per
annum.
Cardiff. - Steam coal has ruled firm; the best qualities
have made 10s. to lOa. Gd. , while secondary descriptions
hava brought 9~. to 9a. 6d. p er ton. Household coal has
been in moderate request; No. 3 Rhondda large has
made ns. 9d. to 10~. per ton. Foundry coke has been
quoted at 17s. 3d. to 17s. Gd., and furnaC'e ditto at 16s. Gd.
to 17s. per ton. There has been about an average demand
for iron ore. Steel rails have been inactive.
Milford Haven.-Mr. L. Bellona, a gentleman largely
interested in the Atlantic shipping trad e, has this week
...
visited Milford Haven for the purpose of ascertaining
the capabilities of the port, in view of the running of a
fresh line of freight steamers between E ngland and New
York. The. directors of the Great Western Railway an d
the Milford Dock Companies have offered all possi ble
facilities.
- -B ri&on Ferry.-New steel works are about to be erected
3,284,618 3, 646, 83-t
362,236
Net decrease. at Briton Ferry. The site selected is on the west side of
Raglan Bay Tmplate Works. It is in direct communicaTons.
tion with the Rhondda and Swan sea Bay and the Great
Decrease at West coast ports
160,387

Western Railways, Briton Ferry D ock, and the Neath.

,,
East
,
201,84!)

Staffordshire Men at Cardiff.-About 260 iron and Rteel

ClydeShipbuilding Trade: L aunches duriny J t l/YI e.-This works
managers conn ected with the South Staffordshire
branch of local trade continues to be rath er dull, for cer- Institute, arrived at Cardiff on Friday with the view of
tainly a. number of shipyards are badly off for work, or inspecting the local iron and steel works. After breakhave but poor prospects. On the other hand, several fast, the party were conveyed to the Dowlais Iron
yards are very well pro' ided with orders. The vessE'ls Works, and thence to the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper
launched during the month of June, large and small, Works. Subsequently the party made a tour of the
totalled up to thirty, of an aggregate of about 20,000 docks, and visited the Card iff Tin-stamping Works, a nd
tons. The largest vessel included in the month's output Mes3rs. Tucker's new mills.
was a steamer built for Spanish owners by Messr1:1.
Dock Matters at Barry.-TheBarry Railway Company's
C harles Connel and Co., rated at 4950 tons ; and there
was only one oth er steamer that reached 3000 t ons. Six: B ill, which has already pasaed through the House of
of the vessels launched during the month were sailing Commons, came on Friday before an unopposed Committee of the House of L ords, the Earl of Morley presidships, ranging from 2600 tons downwards.
ing. The object of the Bill is to enable the Ba.rry RailNew Shi)Jbu1'lding Cvntracts.-Messrs. Flemin~ and way Company t o construct a new dock, n e w railway,
F erguson, Paisley, have received an order from the Govern- and tram ways, and other works. Mr. Downing_, solicitor,
ment of India for the Rupply of a powerful dredger for having formally proved the preamble of the Bill, it was
the port of Calcutta. She is to measure 155ft. in length allowed to pass the Committee stage.
by 35ft. in breadth and 11ft. in depth; and it is intended
Bristol and New Y ork.- The Manhanset Steamthat she shall be capable of dredging 800 t ,>ns per hour
from a depth of 35 ft. Messrs. Mackie and Thomson, ship Company has been running steamers irregularly
shipbuilders, Gova.n, have j ust booked a. contract to build from Bristol to New York for something like a year
a large sailing vessel for a L iverpool fi rm. She is to have and a half. The result has been satisfactory, and the
C'arrying capacity for upwards of 2000 tons. Messrs. company is now about t o try regular sailings. As an
D. J. Dunlop and Co., Port.Glasgow, have contracted to experiment, four steamers will run between Bristol and
build a passenger steamer for Spanish-Havana owners, the United States every ten days during July and
similar to the Julia, which they built for the same firm AugW:It. In September two more steamers will be added,
and weekly voyages will then be attempted.
two years ago.
B1 istol Docks.-Several mem bers of the docks committee
Glasgow Sewage Works.-It is expected that the sewa~e
precipitation works which are now being constructed m of the Bristol Town Council have sent in their resignathe east end of Gl~s~:row, for dealing with about onefifth tions, in consequence of the t own council rejecting their
of the sewagA of the city, will be complet ed and started scheme for d ock extension at Avonmouth, at an estiin three or four months. The cost of the works is esti- mated cost of 1,000,000l.
mated at about lOO,OOOl., in add ition to a sum of about
Railway P.rojects.-The Severn and Wye and Severn
200,000l. which has been expended by the Cd.ledonian Bridge Railway Company is said to contemplate a short
Railway Company for the diversion of the sewage, so as connection, vie~ Nailsworth, with the Midland and Southt o allow of the construction of the (underground) Central Western Junction Railway at Cirencester. This would
Railway from the east end to the western suburbs of the give a connection with the Midland at two points. and a
city.
doubleconnection with the London and South-Western
Glasgow H ydraulic Power Supply W' rks: Contracts for a.t Andover (for Waterloo), and the Salisbury, Exeter, and
Pipes, ~c.-The contra.cts for the supply of piping", &c., Plymouth line, also at Southampton for Southsea, Bournefor the new hydraulic-power system of the Glasgow Cor- mouth, Dorchester, and Weymouth. Nothing, of course,
poration Water Commissioners were placed by the com- can be done in the matter until next session.
mittee as follow: 3395 tons of cast-iron pipes, various
sizes, Messrs. R. Laidlaw and Son ; hydraul ic valves,
Messrs. Bl&.keborough and Sons, Brighouse, Yorkshire;
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHffiE.
bolts, Messrs. P. and W. MacLellan, Liu:ited.
SHEFFIELD, Wednesday.
I ron and Steel.-The pig-iron market has not been
Rival Railway &utes in Caithness.-Since th e Royal
\Vest Coast Commissioners recommended the formatton quite so cheerful during the past week, probably owing
of a harbour a.t Gill's Bay, on the north coast of Caith- to the fact that de1i veries for clearances on last quarter
n ess, for the convenienue of th e inhabitants of Orkney have now been effected, and buyers are hesitating before
and S hetland, there has been consid erable agitation as t o entering into new contracts, as there appears to be some unthe direction of the line which should connect this har- certainty as t o the future of prices, owing to a n anticipat~d
bour with th e Highland Railway. The three routes pro fur ther reduction in the price of coal. l!"orge-pig comPQSed go respectively by way of Thurso, George~as, and mands 41s. to 433., and foundry 42s. to 44s. In manuWick. Mr. Paterson, C.E. , Inverness, the Htghland factured irons best and medium quality bar are selling
.Railway's engineer. went over all the three, and esti- most" freely on East Indian, South African, and Australian
mated the cost of the Thurso route at lOO,OOOl., a nd the account, with the call for sheets depressed, whether for
other two at 90,000l. each, and said that the line to home or export. RollerB of best boilerplates are doing
Georgema.s could be more ea.sily and cheaply constructed, well, both in iron and steel, as boilermakers are busy on
and that the line to Bilbster (for Wick) would be the marine boilers and other descriptions. Steel tube manuworst of the three. The Wick committee who are in facturers are consequently fairly well engaged, a.s also are
charge of the scheme are dissatisfied with M r. P~terson's makers of patent flues. No freRh orders are to hand for
estimate, and ha.\a now engaged Messrs. Cunnmgham, armour-plates, but there are inquiries for all-steel for
Blyth, and Westla.nd. C. E ... Edinbu~gh, to make a.n both home and abroad, that may lead to further business
independent survey. The W1ek oomm1ttee met the pro- at t.n early date. Manufacturers of railway material have
moters of che line from Lybster t o Wick at the form er fair orders on their books, but the 3il ver diffi culty is
place on Saturday afternoon. and addres.sed a J)Ublic chee;king an extension of trade with India and South
meeting in the Temperance Hall. A mot1on by Coun- America. particularly. Best engine tyres are fetching
cillor A. Bruce to the effect that the meeting approved of J 2l. 10s. per ton upwards ; carriage and wagon tyres, lOL;

(JuLY 7, 1893.

springs, lOZ. ; tyres, 6l. lOa. Guaranteed Bessemer billets

sell freely on home and Continental orders at 5l. 7s. 6d.
to 5l. 12s. 6d. p er t on, and Siemens at 5l. 17s. 6d. up
wards.
Davy Brothers, L irnitcd.-Tbia firm of engineers has
issued its twentyfirRt annual report. The directors
regret that, owing to the severe competition in all
departments during the year, and the continued high
rate of wages, the results have not been satisfactory.
The profits for the year, aftP.r writing off 1400l. for
depreciation, amount to 1639l. ; the balance brought forward from last year is 734l., making a total of 2373l.,
less interest on mortgages and loans 1599l., leaving for
d isposal 774l., which the directors propose to carry forward to next year. The outlay on new works during the
financial year amounts to 7913l., and this sum has been
charged to capital account.
Meeting of West Y orkshire Colliery Owners.-A large
and influential meeting of West Yorkshire pit-owners
was held at the Great Northern Hotel, L eeds, yesterday.
The proceedings were private, but it was afterwards
stated officially that the resolutions adopted by the
masters' federation in London had been unanimously
confirmed. It was further stated that numerous masters
unconnected with the body are signifyin~ their inten tion
of acting with them, and the associatiOn will at the
present juncture ca.rry with it the sympathies of the bulk
of the trade. The principal exporters were quite certain
that nothing short of ruin could result from their continuing t o ship fuel a.t present prices. Oae remarked,
"Handicapped by high wages and competition, we have
lost our shipping trade, and shall have to bny it back
again. " A hope was expressed that an amicable settlement might be arri ved a.t by arbitration before either side
began to lose money. The men's federation was reminded
that, influential as it is, it has been unable to rule the
coal markets of the world. As a matter of fact, a considerable weight of coal is being d elivered from Yorkshire into foreign countries at rates as low as prevailed
before the 40 per cen t. increase in wages .
Y orksh-ire Miners and the R eduction.- The officials of
the Yorkshire Miners' Association have ordered special
meetings of the men to be called a.nd a ballot taken of
the members as to wheth er the proposed reduction in
wages shall be accepted. The result is a foregone cone} usion, as the bulk of the men have already held meetin~s
in anticipation of the notice, and have gi ven an emphatic
refusal to the owners' demand.
Chesterfield a;nd Midland I nstitutiott of Eri{Jineers.The a nnual meeting of this body was held on Saturday at
the Stephenson M emorial Hall, Chesterfield, under the
presidency of Mr. Hy. L ewis. The t otal number of
members on the roll as for the year commenced March 26
last was 282. The income of the past year was 72l. 8s. 7d.
more, and the expenditure 105l. 10s. 4d. more than in the
previous year, the ex penditure being 56l. 19s. lOd. in excess
of the year's income. Because of its increased membership the Institution has become entitled to have an
additional representative on the Council of the Federated
Institution. The newly-elected president, Mr. A. Barnes,
was appointed as the additional deputy. In the course
of his presidential address Mr. Barnes closely reviewed
the his tory of the coal trade for a hundred years pMt, and
strongly condemned the proposed new legislation in
regard to mines. Two papers by Mr. A. H. Stokes,
"Description of an Improved Water Gauge," and
"Description of a. Safety Lamp, with Standard Alcoholic
Flame Adjustment for the Detection of Small P ercentages
of Inflammable Gas," were taken as read. Discussion on
the papers was adjourned.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MJ:DDLESBROUGH, Wednesday.
The Cleveland Iron Trade.-Y estlerday the market was
not very numerously. attended, and a.ffa.i~s altogether were
somewhat flat, particularly at the openmg, buyers being
very backward, and whereas a few days ago there was a
good deal of disposition to do bu.sin~ss for delivery ahead,
yesterday consumers were not mchned to buy more iron
than they needed for immediate requir~ments. Makers
however, were firm in their quotations; and being
fairly well supplied with contracts, were not very e'ager to
sell. Few of them would mention le~s than 35s.
f~r p~ompt f.o.b. delivery of No. 3 g.m.b. Cleveland
p1g Iron, but there were plenty of merchants selling
at 34s. 9d. and a fair number of parcels changed
hands at the latter figure. Towards the close of the
market matters improved a l ittle, and sellers at the lastmentioned price were difficult to find. No. 4 foundry
was rather scarce, and was quoted 3~s. Gd., bub grey forge
was weak at 32s. 6d. L ocal hematite pig iron was pretty
steady, and w~s not ea~ily obtained under 43s. od. for
early f.o.b. dehvery. Middlesbrough warrants opened at
34s. lOd. and closed 34s. 1 t~d. cash buyers. T o-day there
was not much doing on 'Change, and prices were little
altered. Informa~ion. from Glasgow reported a rather
better state of affairs m the Scotch centre, and this somewhat s~rengthened the Cleveland market. The general
quotat10n for prompt No. 3 was 35s., but some buyers
endeavoured to purchase at rather less. Middlesbrou~h
warrants 35s. O~d. cash buyers.
Blast F u1nacemen's Woges.- The ascertained price of
No. 3 g.m. b. Cleveland pig iron for the past three months
was made known this afternoon as 34s. 2.54d. per ton.
This is 11. 77d. per ~n below the price for the first quarter
of tlile year, and, m accordance with the sliding scale
arrangements, the men employed at the blast furnaces in
the north of England will, for the en~uing three months,

}ULY

7, 1893.)

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

suffer a reduction. The fall in wages, however, will only the Wimbledon sewers is filtered before it is passed into
be to the extent of 1 per cent.
the vVandle, and these filters have been increased by 2893
square yards. At the same time a second filter, 5300
M
The Make and Disposal of P ig Iron.- Yesterday r. square yards in area, has been laid down for treatin~ at
J ohn Dennington, secretary to the Cleveland Iron masters' times the ~tfluent from the settling tanks, and thu~ rehevAssooiation, issued the monthly returns showing the
T
fil
d'
b th
make and disp'lsal of pig iron for June. They show that ing the irrigation plots.
he terJng me mm 1D o
cases is burnt hallast, but io the case of the effluent filter
at the end of the month there were 87 furnaces blowing, with 9 in. of burnt ballast siftings with a top layer of soil.
as compared with 76 at the end of .June last year. There Both filters are underdrained. Con~iderable additions
are eight fewer furnaces existing than was the case at the have aho been made to the sludge-treating plant at these
end of .June last year-viz., 143, as against 151. The works. The whole of the works have been carried out t o
number of furnaces on Cleveland pig iron at the end of the designs of the engineer to the Wimbledon Local
last month was 50, or one more than at the end of May,
C
I CE
R
I
and 12 more than at the end of June, 1893. The number Board, Mr. C. H. ooper, A. M. ., A.
of furnaces on hematite at the end of June was 37, the
At the recent convention of the American Railway
same as at the end of the preceding month, and one less Master 1-Iechanics, eome interesting points were brought
than in June, 1892. The make of Cleveland pig iron in forward as to the use of cast steel in locomotive fireboxes.
the port of 1\!Iiddlesbrough durin{f June was 101,616 tons, One speaker stated that on his line steel fireboxes often
as compared with 105,174 tons 1D May, a decrease of cracked within the first six months of their life, whilst
3558 tons. Outside the port the make was 15,474 tons, another stated that on his road the average life wa.s only
a.s against 15,342 tons in May, an incre1se of 132 tons. two years. Other ~peakers, however, stated that they
The total make of Cleveland for the whole district during had been able to get steelmakers to guarantee the boxes
J unA was 117,090 tons, as aga.inst 120,516 in May, a decrea~e made with their sheets for five years, which is, according
of 3426 t ons. The total for .rune last year was 16,964 tons. to Mr. Vauclain, a fair average life for such parts of a
The make of other kinds of pig (including bematite, locomotive, under the trying conditions in which they
spiegel, and basic pi~ iron) for .rune was 108,06! tons, as are now worked. The chief defects are cracking of the
against 113,532 tons m May, a decrease of 54S8 tons. The plates and lamination. The risk of the former is reduced
m3.ke of these classes of pig in June last year amounted by washing out the boilers with hot water only, whilst
to 40,801 tons. The total make of all kinds of pig during careful inspection is some guarantee, though an inade.June was 225,134 tons, as compa:ed with 2~4, 048 tons quate one, against the latter.
in 1\Iay, a decrease -Jf 8914 tons. In June last year
the amount was 57,765 t ons. l\Iakt>rs' stooks of
About 2,400,000 adults and children ha.ve paid for adCleveland pig iron in the port of :1\tiiddlesbrough at the mission to the vVorld 's Fair grounds during June. The
end of June were 112,331 t ons, as against 115,357 tons at receipts, while admittedly good, are not regarded as satistbe end of May, a decrease of 3026 tons. Outside the factory by the management, which is desirous not only
port the amount at the end of ,June was 5473, and at the to pay all running expAnses, but also to liquidate some
end of :1\tiay GG70 tons, a decrease of 4223 t ons. ~Iake 1 s' of the outstanding debts. The running expenses have
stocks for the whole district amounted to 117,804 tons, as been met, but not much money is left to apply aga.iru~t
compared with 122,027 tons at the end of May, and 7518 the debts incurred in May, and a standing debt of
tons at the end of ,June, 1892. Makers' ~tores reached 2782 6~ million dollars atill hanging over the enterprise.
tons at the end of last month, as compared with 1587 tons 'rhe present daily running expeoses are 20,000 dols.,
at the end of May, and 650 tons at the end of June last but the management hopes soon to be able to reduce
yea.r. The pig iron in public stores at the end of June was them to 13,000 dols. France now shows a desire to enter
8.9 follows: North }:astern Railway Company's Stores, 2715 its E'xhibits for competition for the pri zes.
The French
t ons ; Connal's store9, 69.485 tons. At the end of May the commissioner has asked the Committee of Awards to
quantities were 2765 and 67,200 tons. At the end of J una, permit him to name a certain number of judges, and be
1892, the amounts were 295 and 40,009 tons. The total also proposed the adoption of the grade system of prizes.
stooks of pig iron a.t the end of June amounted to 192,786 The committea has agreed that France should have as
tons, as against 193,579 tons at the end of May, and much to say as any foreign country in the appointing of
48,472 tons at the end of June last year.
judges, but it is unwilling to consent to the second proposal. In any case, it is safe to say that French e>.bibits
Manufactured Iron and Steel.- Very little new can be will be re-entered for competition.
said of the manufactured iron and steel industries. With
regard to the former most discouraging accounts ara
Mr. Willism Forsyth, :1\tiechanical Engineer of the
given. Establishments are very slack and orders most Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, m an article
difficult to secure, notwithstanding the exceedingly low on t.he growing use of steel in railroad work, remarks
rates mentioned.
Common iron bars are quoted that : ''For locomotive driving axles O{>en-hearth steel of
4/. 17e. 6d. ; best bars, 5l. 2d. 6d. ; ship plates, 4l. 12e. 6d.; proper gra.?e is ~up~rior to iron, and 1e now extensively
and ship angles, 4l. 12s. Gd.-all less 2! per cent. dis- used. It ts entirely free from seams, and the journal
count for cash. There is hardly any change in the steel surface takes a fine polish and runs with a low coefficient
trade, but if anything prices are a shade weaker. l'ro- . of friction. The other large use of steel on locomotives
ducers, however, keep pretty busy, and will not reduce is for crankpin~, piston-rods, and main and side rods. A
their quotations. Ship plates are at 5l. 2~. 6d., and ship suitable steel for such purpos~ has the following
angles at 4l. 15s.-botb less discount. Heavy steel rails chemical composition : Carbon,_ _.50 to .60; manga~ese,
are said to be obtainablA at 3l. 15s. net at works, but 60 to .80; phosphorus, . 04 ; sthcon, .10. For dn ving
3l. 17s. 6d. is often mentionad.
axles the carbon is made as low as .40. There are very
few of the wrought partts of a locomotive which cannot
P roposed Restarting of an I?on Works.-A new company be made of steel to advantage. The tubes and rivets are
has been registered, with a capital of 15,000l., under the the principal exceptions, and though excellent tubes are
title of the Skerne Steel and \Vire Company, to take made of steel, the severe service they got in a locomotive
over the Skerne Works at Darlington, and carry them is such that &o far manufacturers have not learned how
on as manufacturers of steel hoops, strips, nuts, bolts, to make such a perfect weld with steel tubes a.s to render
rivets, bars, wires, rods, &c., and all kinds of iron and them satisfact()ry for locomotive purposes. It is quite
steel for engineering purpo~es.
probable that the objections to steel tubes and rivets will
soon be O'\'ercome and they will be generally used. "
In a recent note M. H enri Moissan describes the preMISCELLANEA.
paration of tungsten and the carbides of molybdenum
LAST winter dynamite was used at the Port of Hangoe and vanad~um in the electri.c fu~nace. To prepare tungFinland, for clearing awa.y the ice at the entrance. T~ ~ten a mixture of tungst10 aCid and carbon is placed
be successful, it is necessary that the ice shall be removed m the hearth of the furnace, and with a current of 350
ag fast ag it is broken up by means of the explosive.
amp~res at 70 volts, about 120 grammes of the metal are
In reference to our notice of the new disinfectant Jzal ob~ained in 10 minut~s. If ~here _is a large excess of the
in these columns last week, we should have stated that o~tde, pure. tu~gsten 1.s obtati_led 10 one operation, otherthis material is being introduced by the proprietors of wise a carbide Is obtamed which can be purified by meltthe Tborncliffe Collieries, Messrs. Newton, Chambers, ing i~ ag~in in the furnace with a fresh supply of
tu~gsttc aCid. Thus prepared, tungsten is found to be a
and Co., Limited.
bngh_t metal, verr. bard, and having a density of 18. 7.
The gross receipts of the twenty-three principal rail- Carbides can easily be obtained containing as much as
ways of the U nited Kingdom for the week ended Jnne 25 18.81 per cent. of carbon. A carbide of molybdenum
amounted, on 16,46 1 miles, to 1,426,100!., and for the can also be obtained by beating together in the furnace
corresponding period of 1892, on 16,~3 miles, to molybdic oxide and carbon, but the pure metal has not
1,470,843l. , an increase of 78 miles, or 0.4 per cent., and as yet been reduced in this way. V a.nadium is still more
a decrease of 44,743l., or 3.0 per cent.
difficult to prepare, though by using a current of 1000
The Iron and Steel Institute h1.vinR this year presented amp~res and 70 volts, a carbide of the metal containing
their Bessemer medal to Mr. John Fntz, of the Bethlehem 17 ~o 23 per cent. of carbon has been obtained. M.
Iron Co~pany, t?e Council of the Ame.r ioan Society of M01ss~n ~onclude~ fr?m his experiments that pure
Me?ha.mcal .E ~gtneers have pas:'ed a mt~ute expressing ohromlUm ts more mfusible than platinum molybdenum
their appre01at10n of the comphment pa1d to America than chromium, uranium than molybdenux'n and finally
'
'
and to the mechanical branch of the profession to which vanadium is the most infusible of all.
Mr. Fritz belongs.
The important harbour works recently completed at
The last obstacle of any moment in connection with the rr:unis should ma_ke that city a port of the first cla~s. The
M.a nchester Ship Canal undertaking has now been re- City has 130,000 mhabitants, but when it fell into French
moved, Sir J. J. Harwood being able to announce last bands its approa<:hes from the tJea were so bad that
Wednesday the receipt of a t elPgram. t o the effect that steamers had to anchor about three-quarters of a mile
the London and North-Western and Great \Vestern Rail- from the shore. The city is situated on the Lake of
way. Compani~s will g~ve the Ship Canal Company pos- ~ahira, which is separated from the sea by a sandy
session of the1! old hnes near W arrington on Monday tst.bmus, and has a. mean depth of less than 1 metre. Into
next. These bn ~s have to be cut through and tht>re is this lake was poured the sewage of the town which
about five months' work to be done in con~eotion there- finally SCaJ?ed to ~he sea through a channel thro~gh the
with. The possibility of the Ship Ca.nal being completed above-mentiOned Isthmus about 30 yards wide by 3ft.
deep. The n ew works consist of a channel dredged
next January no\v becomes almost a cartainty.
through this lake from the sea to Tunis. At the sea end
The filter beds at the Wimbledon sewage works have of the channel there is an outer harbour, consisting of a
recently bten exten~d in area. All st orm water from channel 23 h. aeep, 328 ft. wide a.t the bottom, and about

sc

4000 ft. long, which is protected by jetties on either side.

Through the sandy isthruus, behyeen tb~ sea. a~d the lake,
the channel is cur ved and of tapermg sectiOn, be10g reduced
from the width at the outer harbour at the one end to
one of about 73ft. wide at the bottom at the other. From
this point the channel is continued i~ a straig~ t line to
Tunit~ a distance of nearly seven mtles, a pa<Jsmg place
about'r;oo ft. long and H6 ft. wide at th e bottom, being
provided midway. The excavation of this channel
through the silty bottom of the lake was a matter of some
delicacy, as there was. a tendency for th~ stuff to _fl? w
back into th e excavatiOn. To prevent this, sheet pllmfr
was driven on either side of the channel at a distance of
270 ft. from the centre line, the excavated material
being deposited behind the piles. ~he sid ~s of the
channel are sloped at 3 to 1. At Tunis a basm, nearly
30 acres in area, has been formed.
A committee appointed by the American Railway
Master Mechanics' Association to report on the compound
locomo(ive as used in America, after carefully investigating the l'etnrns from different railroadEI, <Jtfer tentati vely the following opinions and suggestions : 1. The
compound is suitable for a variaule class of freight ser vice. 2. Its range of economy in such ser vice is fully aA
wide as that of the simple. 3. Its increased coal economy
over the simple in the &\'erage freight service of th e
country will be found to lie between 10 per cent. and
15 per cent. when in good running condition, and
handled with intelligence. 4. A w&ll -designed compound should not be more difficult to keep in a. serviceable
condition than a simple; that is, its regularity of performance should not be less than the simplt>. 5. 'he
four - <:ylinder compound will cost more for valve
oil than a simplE'. 6. The running repairs of a four .:!ylinder compound will be rather more than for a simple;
for a two-cylinder compou nd they should not be more.
The final comparison for repai rs is undetermined. 7. Tba
net running cost of a compound will be less on many
roads than of a simple, the figure depending on the
design, cost of fuel, and other local conditions. 8. ln
passenger service the availability of the compound is
undetermined. 9. Complicated designs of compounds
are not likely to prove successful nor economical. The
prevailing forms of starting valves in America are
especially noted as being too ~.;'Omplicated-certain valves
used elsewhere seem to have more commendable points.
10. Attention is called. to the necessity of long time test~,
and averages of a considerable number of exactly similar
engines of both types, to properly establish the status of
the question. In such t ests the influence of higher
pressure for either type should not be allowed to complicate the results, as the effect of the highest modern
s tea~ pressures on the economy of the simple is undetermmed.
The available information as t o the Russian platinum industry has bee~ in.creased.by a v_isit made. by Mr. George F.
Kun? to the distnct, and ~ escr1~ed by ~nn .in the recen tly
~ubltshed report of the mtneralmdustnes m the U nited
States at the. eleventh census. The two d~posits in the
Ural M;ountams ar~ the Goro-Blagodat or I sa region, in
the b_asm of. th_e River I sa. ac~ th~ Ni~jne Tagibk or
Demtdoff dlStnct. on the Martm River. The former is
under Government control, whibt the latter is worked by
private en~erprise. In the latter field there were three
l~rge wa~hlDg plants, and a fourth is being erected. BeSides these the peasants have many small workino-s for
which the~ pay two-thirds of the produce as a royalty.
T~e depo~1ts are placer~ composed of serpentine boulders
mtxed wt~b chrome uon ~re, the pl_atin~m- ~ea.ring
sand formmg a layer of 6 m. to 10 m. m th10kness
on the bedrock at a depth of 30 ft. to 40 ft. The sand
is mined. by driv_ing levels from a. shaft, and is only
worked 1? the WlDter, when . the washing plants have
to stand 1dle, as the water IB all frozen. For washing
the material, it is hauled in ca.rtloads of about 1500 lb
a~d E'mptie~ into a revolving screen. The small stuff i~
stured up ID water by two women and the heavier
materials settle in riffles in the trough~. Both the tailings
and the heavy sand are r&-washed. In two shifts of
twelve hours-each shift, however, including four hours'
rest-~bout ~40 tons of e~nd ar'"' wttshed, yielding 2. 7 lb.
of platmum m each ma.chme. The average daily yield of
the whole of this district is about 9 lb., worth about 2l.
per oun?9, and the yearly production is about 1620 lb.
No details of the cost of mining are available but the
cost of la?our f<;>r washing in the three plants fo~ the 180
days dunng wb10h the work could be done is about 7000l.
Wages are not extr.avagantly high, as a driver gets 1.3
rouble~ a day for ht~self, horse, and cart, and h e has to
ha~l sixty loads datly. For each machine 40 drivers,
besides 16 workmen at 70 kopeks each and four women
at 40 kopeks each, are employed.
G~RMAN R An .s FOR Ro~~IANu-Krupp, of l~ssen, has

obtamed a. contract for rails on Roumanian account.

--WehavereceivedfromMessrs. G. Wilkin-

CATALOGUES.son and Sons, ?f the Bradford-road Tool Works Keighley

a C?P~ of their new _catalogue, containing ill~stra.ted de~
scnpt10ns of the vanous classes of machine tools built by
them. AIJ?o~gst thes.e are included lathes, planers,
shapers, mtlhn~ ma.chme.s, ste~m hammers, and many
others. Full prices are given m every oase.-Tbe new
catalogue, No. 18, ~f the Gr~ntbam Crank and Iron Compa!ly, Grantham, gives p~rt10ulars of the various forms of
b01ler.s constructed by t'?-ts c~mpany. Very full details
ar~ g1ven as to t?e dimensiOns and weights, and the
pn_ces. are affixed ID every case.-Messrs. Thornton and
Cr1bbm, of Br~ford, Yorkshire, describe in their new
cat~logue, sectiO~s A a.nd B, various forms of steam
engmes, hydr~uhc too.ls and presses, and mill earing.
The catalogue 1s fully Illustrated, and is of a. ban~y si~e.

(JULY 7, 1893.

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

16

THE ROBB-ARMSTRONG AUTOMATIC

C ON S TRU C TED

BY

THE

ROBB

ENGINEERIN G

U OMPANY,

ENGINE.
A ~1HE RS T,

NOVA

SC OTI A.

(For Description, see Page 25.)

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JULY

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

7, I 89 3]

skill
and
ability
of
t
he
workmen
t
hat
make
the_m;
NOTICE.
second, t hey wish to impress up_on the labourmg
AGENTS FOR ''ENGINEERING."
The New Cunarders "CA MPANIA " and "LU- classes t he fact that our conlmerclal .supre~ac~ deAusT&tA, Vienna: L ehmann and Wentzel, Ka rntnerstrasse.
CANIA ;" and th e WORLD'S COLUMBIAN pends on the quality of our goods bemg n::ta1nunned
CAPB TOWN : Qordon and Gotoh.
E DINBURGH: John Menzies and Co., 12, Ha.!lov~r:street.
EXPOSITION OF 1893.
at a high standard. The wonders of mach1nery have
FIUNOB, Paris: Boyveau and Chevillet, L1brame Etrang~re, 22,
Rue de la Banque; M. Em. Terquem, 3lbl.a Boulevard Haussmann. The PubUsher begs to announce that a Reprint is been so per sistently preached for ye~rs pa~t, t hat
Also tor Advertisements, Agenue Havas, 8, Plaoe de la Bourse. now ready of the Descriptive Matter and Illustra we have almost got to believe t hat It 1s omnipotent.
(See below.)
GBBlU.NY, Berlin: Mess rs. A. Asher and Oo., 6, Un terden Llnden. tions contained in the issue of ENGINEERING of Yet a walk through t he shops in the West End
April 21st, comprtaing over 130 pages, with nine of London shows t hat t he most wonderful
L eipzig : F. A. Brockhaus.
Mulhouse : H . Stuokelberger.
two -page and four single page Plates, printed manipulative ability exists among us ; and further,
GLASGOW : William Love.
throughout on special Plate paper, bound in cloth, that the finer and more beautiful the art icle, .t he
I NDIA, Calcutta : Thacker , Spink, and Oo.
gUt lettered. Price 6a. Post free, 68. 6d. The ordi less it is indebted to machinery for its constructiOn.
Bowbay : Thaoker and Co., Limited.
ITALY: U . Hoepli , Milan , and any post office.
nary edition of the issue of AprU 21st Is out of print. As examples of hand work we may quote ~n~
LtVBR.POOL: Mrs. T aylor, Landing Stage.
MANCHBSTB& : John Heywood , 143, Deansgate.
bronzes, goldsmiths' work, high-class cutlery, r1c~
NOTICES OF MEETINGS.
Nsw SOUTH WALES, Sydney : Turner and Henderson, 16 and 18,
ilks
delicate
enamels
and
the
best
class
of
furnlS
I
NSTITUTION
OF
NAYAL
A&OIHTECTS.-Summer
meet~ng
at
T
own
Hunter-street. Gordon and Gotch, George-street.
. on t h_e sur f ace_;
H all, Cardiff. Tuesday, July 11th, at 10.30 a. m . : ~eception of t~e ture.' These are only a' few that li~
QUBBNSLAND (SOUTH), Brisbane : Gordon and Gotch.
(No&TH), Towns,ille : T. Willmett and Oo.
members by the Ma.yor of Cardiff. _T he followmg ~apers W Lll t here is probably no manufacture 1~ wln~h handithen be r ead a.nd discussed : "On Pomts of Interettt 10 the ConRoo'TBRDAll : H . A. Kramer and Son.
struction and Repair of Vessels carry ing Oil in Bulk," by Mr. B. craft skill is not r equired, and 1~ wh1Ch th~se
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide: W. C. Rigby.
UNITBD STATES New York : W . H . Wiley, 63, East loth-street.
Martell. ''On Fe.st Ocean Steamships," by Dr. F. Elg:ar. "On features which are regarded as the ch1ef excellen cies
' Chica.go : H . V. Holmes, 44, Lakeside Buildin~.
Wear and T ear in Ballast Ta.uks," by Mr. A. K. H~m1lton. _At
VICTORIA, !hLBOUB.NB : Melville, Mullen and Slade, 262/264, Collins- 2.45 p .m. : The members will lea.ve the Rhymney Ra.1lway Stat10n to be aimed at, are n ot principally due to the workstreet. Gordon and Gotoh, Limited, Queen-street.
for a tour of the Bute Docks. On Wednesday, July 12.th , meet man.
.
ing at 10 a.. m . The following papers will be r ead a nd d1scu ssed :
Unfortunately
the
maTket
for
th.e
best
goods
1s
''Some E x periments on the . Comb!nation of In_duced Draught
NOTICE TO AMERICAN SUBSCRIBERS.
a nd Hot Air, applied to Manne Bo1lers fitted w1th Ser v.e ~ubes extr emely limited, and the proportiOn of workmen
We beg to announce that American Subscriptions to ENGINBlllUNG and .Retarders ,'' by Mr. J . D. Ellis. "On the Tra.nsmlSSlOn of who find the opportuni ty of doing t he highe3t class
may now be addressed eith er direct t(i) the publish er, M&. CHA&LBS Hea.t through Boiler Plates, by Mr. A. Blechynden, Member .
The gr eater part_ o! th~m m?st
GILBERT e.t the Offices of this Journe.l, Nos. 35 and 36, Bedford At 1 p . m. : Excursion to Caerphilly Castle. Thursday , J uly 13t h, of work is small.
street, Strand, London, W.C. , or to our e.ccredited A~ents for the meeting at 10 a . m . The followi~g p~pe r will then be. r ead a nd spend their time on goods f0r the _milhon, .111: wh1_ch
United States Mr. W . H . WILBY, 63, East lOth-street, New York, discussed: "On Water T ube Bo1lers, by Mr. J. T . M1lton. At a large and rapid output is essent 1al. Th1s 1mphes
and Mr. H . V. H olmes, 44. Lakeside Buildi ng, Chicago. The I ?. l 5 p. m . : Excursion to Pena.rth Dock and Barry Dock.
that the aid of machinery must be sought, and that
prices of Subscription (payable in advance) for one ~ear are.: For
thin (forei~ro) paper edition, ll. ~6s. Od. ; for th10k (ordinary)
hand labour must be minimised. But it does n ot
pap er edition, 2l. Os. 6d., or i1 r emltted to Agents, 9 d ollars for
mean that bad work must be done. The machine,
thin e.nd 10 dollars for thiok.

although made of metal, is n ot insensitive t o t he

ADVERTISEMENTS.
influence of its human attendant ; under t he comFRIDAY,
JULY
7,
1893.
The che.rge for adver tisements is t hree shillings for the first four
mand of one man it will t urn out work that is per
lines or under, e.nd eigh tpence for each additional line. The line
feet of its kind, wbile in t h e hands of another its
averages seven words. Paymen~ must .aco_?mpa~y all ordera for
single ad verti::~ements, other w1se t h etr msert10n cann ot be
product will be very inferior ; one article will be
WORKMEN
'S
EXHIBITIONS.
guaranteed. Terms for displayed advertisemen ts ~n t_he wrap~er
EvERY exhibition is, in a sense, a workman's an honest producti9n , a credit to all concerned,
and on the inside pages may be obtained on. e.pphcat10n .. Ser1al
advertisements will be inser ted with all pr&ctlca.ble regulan ty, but exhibition, since almost every article that it is while another will be a fraud on the purchaser
a bsolute re't'ularity cannot be guaranteed.
and a disgrace to t he manufacturer. The machine
possible
to
show
owes
something
to
handicra
ft
Advertisements intended for insertion 1D the cur
rent week's issue must be delivered not later than skill. But it is seldom that the labourer is t hought tender is undoubtedly on a lower grade t han the
5 p.m. on Thursday. In consequence of the nec~ssity of by the spectators. The artist, the designer, and skilled craftsman, since his calling is more easily
for g oing to press early with a portion of the edition, t he manufacturer receive a fair share of recogni- learned, and makes less demand upon him, but t he
alterations for standing Advertisements should be
received not later than 1 p.m. on Wednesday after tion, but the man who carried out the work is same obligation lies on him to carry out his work
noon in each week.
usually overlooked. It can scarcely be otherwise, in t he best way possible. He may be conscious
The sole Agents for Advertisements from the Con seeing that very few objects are t he result of one that his life is being spent in helping to turn out
tlnent of Europe and the French Colonies are the
pair of hands, or even of one class of workmen ; third-rate articles, and it may be a source of deep
AGENCE BAV AS, 8, Place de la Bourse, Paris.
and hence the average exhibit does not bear that annoyance to him, but the remedy does not lie in
SUBSCRIPTIONS, HOME AND FOREIGN.
evidence of personality which is r equisite to excite making t hem four th -rate by carelessn ess or
F urther , it is not the wilful malice. Ther e is much in the world
E NGI NEERING can be supplied, direct from the publish er, enthusiasm in the onlooker.
post free for T welve Months at the following rates1 payable in interest of manufacturers to call attention to the t hat we should all like to alter, and which we
advance : individual excellencies of t heir servants, even of hope may, in t ime, be amended. But we are
For t he Un ited Kingd om ..
1 9 2
those that are r esponsible for the artistic and so environed by circumstances whi eh laugh at
all places abroad :scientific merits of their wares ; after incurring t he our
efforts that the best outlet for the r eform
Thin paper copies . 1 16 0
heavy expenses of exhibiting, they are justified in ing zeal of most of us is to concentrate it on t he
Thick
,.
.. . . .. . .. 2 0 6
All accounts are p ayable to the. p ublisher, MR.. CHARLBS GILBB&~; taking to themselves full credit for everything good work under our hands. It may appear a grand
Ch eques should be crossed "Umon Bank, Channg Cross Branoh.
t
hat
is
don
e
in
t
heir
esta.blishments,
just
as
they
thing
to
the
man
who
works
in
a
boot
factory
to
P ost Office Ordera payabl e at Bedford-street, Strand, W.C.
It is a abolish poverty, but if while musing over this imWhen forei't'n Subscriptions a re sent by Post Office Orders must bear all the discredit of what is bad.
e.dvice should be sent to the Publisher.
pity that it should be so, for the chance of earning possible problem h e t urns out leaky boots to be
Foreign and Colonial Subscribers receivtng public appr eciation would be an immense stimulus worn by poor workwomen, he adds an un necessa1y
Incomplete Copies through News-Agents are re- to t he workman to do his best. In the days
sting to the evil he deplores.

quested to communicate the fact to the Publisher,

together with the Agent's Name and Address.
of the old guilds the young journeyman had
We are glad t o see that L ondon Trades Council
o.mce for Publication and Advertisements, Nos. to show specimens of his skill before he could gain proclaim their obj ect in institut ing t he exhibition
S5 and 36, Bedfordstreet, Strand, London, W.C.
admittance, while the leading craftsmen were to be to encourage the workman to '' put conscience
TBLKGB..A.PHIO A.DDUB&-ENGINEERING, LONDON.
looked up to and admired by their compeers. The into his work. " Our manufacturing supremacy
TBLBPHONB NUM:BB&-3663.
factory system has, however, destroyed t he feeling run s more risk from lack of con science in
of individual r esponsibility which flourished under our work t han from any other cause. This is
ENGINEERING is registered for transmission abroad.
the guild, and the t rade union has hitherto done by no means altogether d ue to the artisan READING CA8Il8.- Reading cases for con taining t went y-six little to combat t he evil influence t hat division he can only use the materials provided for him,
numbers of ENGrNBB&ING may be had of the publisher or of any
of labour has had on the workman. Nominally it and spend on t hem the time h e is permitted.
n ews-agent. Price 68. e&eh .
exacts a cer tain standard of excellence from candi- But when due allowance is made, there is much t hat
dates for admission , but in some way or other a he can do to aid in k eeping up the reputation of
CONTENTS.
good
many
men
become
members
who
would
reIf
his
employer
has
t
o
spend
a
large
our
exports.
PAG'B 1
. .
PA~B
main outside were the rules administered more sum on supervision and inspection, he must either
The L ancashire Watch Com
The Smkmg of the 'VlC
pa.ny (Illustrated) .. .. .
1
toria" .. .. . . .. .. . . . . . . . . 18 zealously . The attention of t he leaders is so fully increase his prices or let down t he quality of
The
Model
Battleship
I T he Weathe~ of June, 1893 19 occupied with wages questions that they have his goods. On t he other hand , if he can depend
" Illinois " . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 The Stran dmg of H.M.S.
Tbe Bald win Locomotive
"Howe" (Illustrated) .. 19 hitherto had little time t o spare for the improve- on the consciences of those h e employs, he can
Exhibit at Chicago .. .. .
6 Notes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 1 ment of the craft . Thus neither from t he public, meet competit ion with ease. The most appreciated
Th e New Electric Light'Ihe Robson-Brown Burner
nor from the smaller world in which he lives, quality in manufactures is uniformit y. If a cushouse of La H eve (Havr e)
for Miners' Safety Lamps
(Illustrated) .. . . . . .. . . ..
7
(Illustrated) .. .. .. . . . .. . 22 has t he workman t he chan ce of obtaining r ecog- t omer can r ely on every article being equal to
En ~ines for Dr . Nansen's
The Failure of e. Steel Wat er
Polar E x pedit ion Ship
Main (Illustrated) . . . . . 22 nition for good work . It is only the foreman sample, he will seldom be tempted t o try another
" F ram" (Illustrated) . . 11 The Metric System . . . . . . . . 22 and t he employer that recognise it , and both have firm.
The saving in trouble and temper is worth
Longridge's Axlebox (llP n eumatic Riveting Machine
usually excellent reasons for k eeping t heir know- mor e than a slight reduction in price. But this
l'Ubtrated) . . .. .. .. .. . . . . 12
( Illustrated) .. .. .. . . .. . . 23
ledge to themselves.
uniformity cannot be gained where scamped work
Ma.ochester Steam Users'
Ths Report of the Ad
Association .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
mira.lty Boiler Committee 23
At last, however , the union s are stirring t h em- obtains ; even rigor ous supervision will not always
Companion Ladder with
Steering lronclads . . . . . . . . 24
Self- Adjusting Steps (ll
Launches and Trial Trips .. 24 sel ves to remedy t his state of affairs. If a tithe secure it ; it depends on the consciences of th e worklustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Dia.~ rams of Three Months'
of what has been alleged against them in the past be men. A single careless or malicious man may almost
Notes from the United
Fluctuations in Prices of
true, t hey have done much to quench enthusiasm ruin the reputation of a house, for the r eason that
States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 I Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
in their members, and t o reduce them all to an the public always judges by the worst specimen.
Notes from the North . . . . . . 13 The RobbArmstrong AutoNotes from the South -West 14
matic Engine (Illustrated) 25 average of mediocrit y.
N ow, as a corrective, they
The exhibition at Islington shows clearly the imNotes from South York
Industrial Notes . .. .. .. 26
have inaugurated an exhibition of handicraft at the mense strides t hat division of labour has made, by the
shi re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Transmission and Distri buNotes from Cleveland and
tion of Power by CornAgricultural H all, I slington, N. , in whieh, as far as fact that the greater part of the ar ticles have been
t he Northern Counties 14
pressed Air (Illustrated) 27 possible, each article bears the name of the man who
lent by manufacturing firms and GovernmentdepartMiscellanea . . . . . . 15 " Engineering" Patent Re
Workmen's Exhibitions .. 17
cord (IUmtrated). ... . . 31 made it. Their object is twofold : first, t hey desire, ments. In some cases as many as on e hundred men
With a TwoPage Engraving of THE TRIPLE-EXPANSION and very rightly, to bring it home to the public that have collaborated to produce an object, n early everyENGINES OF DR. N.ANSEN'S POLAR EXPEDJTJON the beauty and efficiency of the numberless articles one having the assistance of a special machine. In
SHIP FR.A ~I. "
t hat make up our commerce are dependent on the such cases it is impossible that individual recogni-

ENGINEERING.

u-

L .........

11

18
tion should be obtained. The personal stimulus
is lost. Can the corporate pride of the union
supply its place 1 \Vill the men learn to put forth
their best efforts-will they put conscience into
their work-in order that the union may gain credit
with the world 1 If this exhibition result in such
an idea. gaining a hold on the minds of union
members, it will accomplish a great and noble
work. It is straining human nature to the uttermost to demand that the same job shall be performed hundreds-thousands-of times, each time
with the care, accuracy, and attention that a man
brings to a new task. It can only be done by
aid of an enthusiasm for some ideal that is outside
of the work. The individual worker is lost among
the crowd, and h\s portion is indistinguishable in
the whole. But he is part of a corporate being
that may gain the good or bad opinion of the world,
and if he can only realise this, it may supply him
with the stimulus he needs to help him through his
daily task. It is no slight matter to the working
men of this country how their unions are regarded.
\Vhen they have public sympathy behind them,
t hey are successful; when it is opposed to them,
they generally fail. If "trade unionist " and '' conscientious workman " ever grow to be regarded
as synonymous terms, t he power of the unions will
become enormoue, and they will have done a work
of inexpressible importance.
\Vhile the exhibition shows the working classes
that they have reason to be proud of their skill,
it also demonstrates that a great deal besides
handicraft is r equired to attain a successful
result in many branehes of industry. F or instance, in the hammered iron work shown there are
examples in which splendid executive talent is
wa~ted on poor designs ; the conception is not worth
the pains spent in carrying it out. In the machine
guns one is lost in wonder at the ingenuity of the
mechanism, and the speed at which it works,
as well as at the pains spent to prevent ignition
of the charge before the breech is closed.
It
is the ability of the designer that strikes
the spectator, and not that of the artisan.
It is only in old and hackneyed subj ects that the
workman is independent of extraneous aid, and it
is in these that competition, both home and foreign,
is the keenest. It is to the inventor and the man
of science that we have all to look for the production
of new designs and new processes, and there can
never be any real diversity of interest between the
various classes that co-operate in manufacture.
The sharing of the profit jointly earned is, of
courae, subject for discussion, and sometimes for
strife, but this is rapidly settling itself. The
profits of the capitalist are rapidly declining,
while wages are rising both in amount and
purchaRing power. At present there is very little
profit to dispute about. It, however, only needs
that the workmen accept the teaching of their
leaders, and put conscience into their work, to
revivify our trade, and give us a fresh start in our
struggle for the commerce of the world.

THE SINKING OF THE "VICTORIA."

IN our last issue we commented on the terrible
loss sustained by the country in the sinking of the
Victoria. and the sacrifice of so many lives. Since
then fuller particulars have come to hand in the
shape of Admiral Markham's despatches. There
is little doubt-in fact, it may be said there is no
doubt- that the catastrophe occurred through an
error on the part of the late Commander-in-Chief,
Sir George Tryon. Knowing the great ability of
the late Admiral, it is difficult to understand how he
could have given an order such as he did, which
must have resulted in the collision of the ships.
The reports state that he had only that morning
come oft' the sick list. What the nature of his
illness was we are not aware, but we are compelled
to think t hat he was in a state of weakness which
incapacitated the proper functions of the brain.
Most of us know that mental state in which physical weakness so reduces one that no effort of will
can compel the mind t o fix itself on one object;
when memory seems for the instant to fail, and facts
lose their proper significance. Fortunately, thiR
mental paralysis, which is the result of sudden
stress on a mind weakened from physical causes,
seldom happens t o ordinary men when they are in
a position to make the failure so terribly serious as
in the case of the late Sir George Tryon. No
doubt the late Admiral fell a victim to his own
excess of zeal ; and his desire not to spare himself

E N G I N E E R I N G.
has r esulted in the loss not only of his own lifE', but lockers, and burst in the bulkhead betwefn the fore
of that of 358 fellowsailors.
mess deck and the stokers 1 mees deck. RememAccording to Admiral Markham's despatch, the bering that the Camperdown v. as originally only
course of 6vents, briefly stated, appears to be as steaming about 8 knots, and that both engines
follows. The squadron consisted of the Victoria, were reversed at the time of the collision, it is diffiCamperdown, Nile, Dreadnought, Inflexible, cult to estimate what wou!d have been the effect had
Collingwood, Phaeton, Edinburgh, Sans Pareil, she struck the Victoria on her unarmoured forward
Edgar, Amphion, Fearlesfl, and Barham. The part at anything like full speed. It would almost
ships were formed in single column line abreast, seem as if she would have sheared the bow of the
and proceeding at a speed of about 8 knots. vVhen ship right off, in Ppite of the armoured deck.
within about five miles of the anchorage off Tripoli, Captain Bourke, in his report t o Rear-Admiral
the signal was made at 2.20 P.M. to form columns Markham, states that when collision was inevitable
of divisions 1n line ahead, disposed abeam to port; orders were given to close wate1 tight doors on the
the columns to be six cables apart; that is to say, Victoria. This order, Captain E ourke says, was
the ships were formed in two lines, each vessel carried out, and he left the deck, by the Commanderhaving another abeam of her; the distance between in-Chief's order, to see if all doors were closed,
the two being 1200 yards and the distance between and up to what bulkhead the ship had filled.
each of the ships in the lines 400 yards. Admiral Some of the doors, Captain Bourke says, were
Tryon then m8de the signal that the ships of closed ; but the whole sad business took 90 short a
the two lines should turn inwards towards each space of time that it is very doubtful whether the
other. This was at 3.25 P . M. ; the first division captain s statement would have been made if he
being directed to alter course 16 points to port and had been acquainted with the whole of the facts.
Possibly this mishap will lead to a revision of
the second division 16 points to starboard ; the
leaders together an<l the rest in succession. The the orders in regard to the closing of watertight
evolutions, as we have stated, with the ships only doors during steam tactics. Although the Victoria is
six. cables apart, could hardly fail to result in a the first ship that has Leen sunk in this way, we hear
collision. Admiral Markham recognised this, for of many close shaves on previous occasions that have
he kept the answering signal at the dip, indicating occurred during steam tactics, and on other occathat he did not understand, and had given orders sions, and it is certainly desirable that the closing
for a signal to be prepared which could only of the watertight doors should not be left until the
be looked on in the light of a remonstrance. last few seconds when collision is inevitable. One
Before, however, the 1atter was hoisted, the knows the objection all people- more especially
Commander in-Chief signall~d by semaphore to the sailors-have to taking precautions against acciCamperdown to proceed with the evolution, and dent, and nearly all men prefer to risk a posAdmiral Markham had no choice but to obey. The sible serious calamit y to the certainty of small
conduct of the second in command has been called present inconvenience. The closing of watertight
in question by some critics. who evidently are not doors is enjoined by the Admiralty regulations, but
acquainted with the implicit obedience required we believe nothing is said about their being kept
in the Royal Navy to an order deliberately made closed ; and, having been reported as closed, they
by a superior officer. N o doubt, had Admiral are immediately opened. There is some security
Markham refused to obey, it would have been even in this evolution, if properly carried out , for
better in this case ; but, on the other hand, the fact is ascertained that the doors are in workhad he done so he would undoubtedly have been ing order; but more security is required when
severely censured. Indeed, there are those who ships are about to perform intricate manoouvres,
appear desirous to fix the blame on Admiral Mark- where an error in judgment- as shown in the
ham for the hesitation he did show. Nothing but the preRent unhappy circumstance-or a failure in
fact t hat an officer has lost command of his senses machinery, may lead to the sacrifice of many valucan warrant a subordinate in refusing obedience. able lives and the loss of large sums of money to
Admiral Markham very properly took this view of the country.
the situation, and concluded that the CommanderThe injuries received by the Camperdown herin-Chief proposed some tactic which could have been self were not insignificant, and, although we have
safely carried out, and his refusal to obey the signal very bare accounts of them yet, it would seem that
might have resulted in the very thing he was the ship would almost have been put out of action
anxious to avoid-viz., the collision of the ships. ?Y her encounter with the Victoria, E:ven though
Both the Victoria and the Camperdown, t herefore, 1t was made under the most favourable circumturned towards each other, the flagship's helm stances for the ramming vessel. Admiral Markham
being put hard-a-starboard, and that of the Cam- states that it was two minuts before the Camperperdown hard-a-port. It should be noticed that in down was able, although going full speed astern
discussing the manreuvres beforehand, the late with both engins, to get clear of the Victoria
Commander-in Chief had stated that he intended to and it would seem that the danger sometime~
form the fleet in two divisions, the columns to be foreshadowed, of a rammed vessel causincr the
six cables apart; but the staff commander had destruction of her assailant by the latter being
suggested that eight cables would be a better dis- unable. to get clear, is by no means visionary. The
tance, to which the Admiral had assented. N ever- watertight doors on the Camperdown were shut it
theless, the signal was made by the Admiral's is stated, before the collision occurred; perhaps this
order for the distance to be six cables. This was statement will r eq uire revision, but, at any rate,
noticed by Commander H awkins Smith, of the the deck forward was only 1 ft. abovP water . She
Victoria, who sent down to inform the Admiral had a jagged hole in the port bow, extendinO' from
that six cables were flying, but the Admiral the stem to an extreme distance of 10 ft. abaft, and
determined t o leave matters as they were. The from 12 to 18 ft. below the upper deck the lower
fatal results that followed are but too well known. edge being just above the armoured 'deck. The
There seems to be no doubt but that the officers of stem was broken above the ram, and the stem piece
the Victoria were alive to the danger that would ~as separated from the plating on the starboard
follow, but the spirit of dtscipline prevented remon- s1de for a depth of 10ft. below the water line. The
strance, until the terrors of a collision were so immi- carpenters' store-room, the paint-r oom, fore ballastnent that Captain B ourke, of the Victoria, asked per- room, boatswain's store-room, submarine mining
mission t o reverse the port screw, and immediately room, tank-room, capstan engine flat, and also the
afterwards both engines were put full speed astern. patent fuel space on the port side of the chain
In the Camperdown. when Admiral Markham lockers, were all filled, but several of these comsaw that the Victoria was turning inwards partments were afterwards pumped out dry.
instead of going under his stern, as he anticiThe despatches that have come t o hand since
pated she would do in spite of the signals, the we last wrote, although adding, if possible to
order was given to go full speed astern with the the gloom of the situation, confirm our forest-arboard screw so as to decrease the circle of turn- cast in one happy feature. Putting aside the
ing, and, when collision was inevitable, both engines error made by the lat e Commander- in- Chief,
were put full speed astern, as in the case of the everyone concerned appears to have acted with
Victoria. This reversing of the engines in both perfect propriety under the great stress of circumships wafl, however, undertaken too late to do ~ta?ce~. Although t!1is may appear but faint praise,
much to check the way of the vessels, and the 1t 1S, perhaps, the highest that can be given. The
Camperdown struck the Victoria about 20 ft. before call that is made on eeamen in the presence of
her turret; the angle the two ships bore towards danger such as that which overtook the Victoria is
each other being about 80 deg. A chief petty of a mos~ exacting nature, and none but men of
officer, who was in his mess right forward, and who the highest calibre, both moral and physical, could
was saved, stated that the Camperdown's how came adequately meet the stress. Landsmen who have
tight through into the Victoria as far as the chain been below in a modern man-of-war and traversed
1

E N G I N E E R I N G.
some of the narrow and t ortuous passages, will
understand the awful feeling of those whose duty
takes them far down into the interior of a ship that
is known to be sinking. The fate of the engineerin()'
staff must, indeed, have been terrible. vVe
0
ha ve no wish to pile up horrors and add to the
O'rief of relatives and friends of those who were
lost, by painting the terrors of the l~st moments of
those in the neiohbourhood of the bo1lers. All who
perished, and who stuck to their post so manfully,
as everyone appears to have done, must have been
fully alive to what these terrors would be, an_d
g reater credit is therefore due to them for their
constancy up to the last minutes of th.ei: li~ es. I t
is an earnest of what may be don e by dtsc1phne, and
engendering a ha bit of self- denial, such as sailors_ a. re
bound to practise; so that if ever the Peace SoClety
get their way and armies and navies are abolished, we
shall have lost one influence which has tended much
t owards the elevation of mankind, however much
we may gain in other respects. Although no one
can deplore more than we the sacrifice of so many
valuable and gallant lives, yet all those who h~ve
lost a friend or a relative in this terrible calamity
may feel assured that those ~ho went down in.the
Victoria have not died in vam, and that the pride,
enthusiasm, and elevation of spirit raised throughout t he country is a rich equivalent for the loss we
have sustained.

THE 'YEATHER OF JU E, 1893.

.Tu.NE has been a month of small rainfall; the
drou O'ht of fifteen weeks' duration gave way reluctantly t o very small shower.3 at t he beginning, and
hardly more copious at t he end. Very fine weather,
with much bright sunshine, has been prevalent,
with local thunderstorms, and temperature above
the averaO'e. The mean pressure and temperature
of the atmosphere at extreme positions of the
British Islands, to which the Isle of Man is central,
were as follows :

Positions.

Mean

Pressure.

10.

North
South
West
East
Central

29. 94
30.01
30.01
29.99
29.98

.Mean
Difterence T emperaDifterence
from Normal.
from Normal.
ture.

m.
above 0.07
b1low .01
a bove .08
,
.03
,
.03

d eg .
53
61
61

deg.
1 above 1

57

nil
above 1

68

.,

The distribution of rain in frequency and quantity may be inferred from the following results :
Rainy Days.

Placee.

Amount.

lD.

Sumburgh

Scilly .
Valentia

Yarmouth ...

11

12
12

0.61
0.63
1.84
1.12

Difference
from NormaL
.
ID.
less 1.37
,
,
..

1.21
1.43
0.76

The daily general directions of the wind over

these islands, assuming uniform force, give a
r esultant from N. \V. by W., with estimated force
\V. N . \V. ; which is also indicated by the mean distribution of atmospherical pressure. The normal
reE.ultant being \V. S. ,V., the winds were more
northerly than usual. From t_he 7th to the 15th
the winds were easterly, very hght.
" The wind bad no more strength than this,
That leisurely it blew,
To make one leaf the next to kiss
That closely by it grew."
From the 16th to the 26th the winds were northwesterly very light until the 22ud, after which
date they became stronger and more variable. The
greatest barometrical pressure, 30.45 in. , occurred
on the 7th; the least, 2!1.25 in., on the 28th. The
highest temperature, 91 deg., was reported at
Southampton on the 19th ; the l owes~-, 36 deg. , at
Lairg on the 4th. The mean t emperature, at
8 A M. for the entire area of these islands, at sealevel, ~as 54 deg. on the 1st, and with slig~t fluctuations ascended to 64.5 deg. on the 16th ; It then
declined to 53 deg. on the 24th, and r ose to
59.5 deg. on the 28th. From the 14t.h to the 19th
the weather all over the kingdom was exceedingly
fine and bright, the heau being abnormally great.
According to the Greenwich observations, these six
days had a mean temperature 11.5 deg. above the
normal, the daily maxima ranging from 83 deg. to
!H deg., minima from 57 deg. to 50 deg., m&xima
in sunshine from 131 deg. to 146 deg. , sunshine

from 8 to 13.6 hours, wind E. to N.N. E., very

light, no ozone. The maximun: temperat~re of
June in some years does not attain 8~ deg.; In few
years does it reach 85 deg ; n.ot smce 1858, for
which ~4. 5 deg. is recorded, has It exceeded 90 deg.
till this year. But the variations are notable. The
maximum on the 19th was 91 deg., n ext day only
66.7 deg., and on the 24th 63 .deg., with rain and
fresh wind. Probably the ramfall was. a~>Out a
third of the usual quantity in Great Britam., and
about a half in Ireland . On the lOth 1.19 In. of
rain was measured at Parsonstown, where a thunderstorm had occurred ; 1.1 in. was also measured
at Roche's Point on the 27th. Thunderstorms
occurred on the east coast on t he 4th, 22nd, and
23rd in north Scotland on the 12th, in Wales on
the i3th, in England and in Ireland ?n the
14th and 19th in England on the 15th, 1n west
Ireland on the' 18th. Reckoning by the weath~r
notations, fine bright days varied between 12 1n
the south and 7 in the north ; overcast days between
3 in the south and 13 in the north district, in_dicating most sunshin e in south England. :J?urmg
the four weeks ending July 1 the duratwn _of
briO'ht sunshine, estimated in percentage of Its
pos~ible amoun t, was for the enited Kingdom,
45.5 ; Channel Isles, 69 ; south-west England, 60 ;
south England, 50; east England, 48; north-west
EnO'land
45 ' west Scotland and central England,
0
,
43; Ireland, 40 ; north-east England, 38 ; east
Scotland, 37 ; north Scotland, 33.
.
here and when thunderstorms occurred ram
was heavy for a short ti~_e .. The !ate of ra;infall is
important from a fertllts mg pomt of view. A
quantity which falJs in a short tim e may uo s~1all
good, though if disseminated d~ring a longer hme
it would have been more beneficial. However, the
rains thoue-h intermittent, were most welcome.
'
...
Through
''half
the circle of the h asty year 11 t h e
weather has been phenomenal for fineness, dryness, and quietness, to the ~etriment of agriculture,
which cannot succeed without water. The hay
crop is so far a failure as to send up prices even to
9l. a ton; turnips arE:' withered ; barley and oats
are backward; potatoes are thought to be growing
well ; wheat is the promising crop of t he year,
though thin and short in s traw.
The public health has been good. The rate of
mortality in the metropolis was about 19.
In the .American lJfeteorological J ountal for
February, F. E. Saunders, of Lowell, states that
''cotton fibres are very susceptible to any atmospheric change- that is to say, they will take on
or throw off dampness very readily ; consequently
any material change of temperature and humidity
will affect the successful working of the fibre. In
order for cotton to work well in the first processes
of manipulating, the dry bulb thermometer should
stand at 78 deg., and the wet bulb at GG deg. ,
which would make the dew point 58 deg. and the
relative humidity 52 per cent. "

'V

THE STRANDING OF H .l\1.S. "HOvVE."

AT the beginning of last N ovember, the Howe,
one of the Admiral class of line-of-battle ships, ran
on some rocks whilst entering Ferrol Harbour, in
Spain. Who was to blame, or whether any one was
to blame, is a vexed question which has caused
much heartburning in naval and official circles.
It is a question which, happily, we can neglect without reproach, it being sufticient for our purpose
that the Howe went hard on a jagged reef, and
stuck there for about five months. 'fhe rocks were
not marked in the chart, but there was a bank
known to be there, and the captain, very naturally
thinking h e was on the mud, gave the order for
full speed ahead, hoping to push over into deeper
water. It may be, also, that the fact that the
Howe was known not to be very handy in going
astern infiuenced Captain Hastings in his decision.
We have recently had a most brilliant objectlesson of the steadiness of a man-of-war's crew
in the face of death, by the dreadful loss of the
Victoria, and the more tragic calamity was but a
repeti tion of what occurred in the stranding of the
Howe, so far as every man on the ship faced the
prospect of death without flinching from duty.
Had the Howe rolled over into deep water-as
might easily have been the case--the tragedy would
have been as awful as was that of which we give a
further chronicle on another page.
The Ho we went on the Pereira Reef at a quarter
past eleven on the morning of November 2 of last
year. This was about high water, and the ship

19

listed over to port, the r ocks crushing through both

bottoms. The water first entered the port forward
~tokehold, which had to be abandoned about
11. 30 ; the watertight door between that and .the
port after stokehold b~ing closed. At the ~Ime
of the a.ccident seven bmlers out of a total of e1g~t
were in use, and the chief enginee~ of the . ship
gave orders for steam to be got up 1n the eig~th
boiler in order to keep ihe pumps at work, w1~h
the view of relieving the ship of water. Tlus,
however, was found to be quite im.practicable, and
as the tide fell the weight of the ship settled down
on to the r ocks, which crushed throug~ the bottom.
Our illustration on t he next page 1s taken from
an imperfect sketch intend< d to show the damage
done to the ship, as revealed now the false bottom,
fitted in the SpaniEh dockyard, has been remov~d.
The black parts show. the area _perforated, whi.lst
t.he parts incloscd by Irregular hnes show the Indentations. It is needless to say that any amount
of pumping would be insufficient to keep under. the
water that could pour in through such vast openings
as these.
.
During t he night the shiJ? was abando~ed, as It
was thought possible she might roll over_Into. deep
water, and there was evidently no obJeCt In !he
crew remaining on board, for they could do noth1.ng
to secure the safety of the vessel. The other s~1ps
of the sq uadron consisted of the Royal Sovere1g n,
Anson, Rodnc:y, Immortalite, and Bellona, an.d
these vessels all sent boats to the assistance of then
stranded consort. Practically th e only eft'orts
that could be made at the time were to lay
out anchors, in order that the vessel might be
secured in the position she had taken.
On the
afternoon of the 2nd, six anchors were laid
out by the boats ; two on the port bow, and
one on t he s tarboard bow; whilst two were
]aid out on the starboard q uarter, and one
right astern . As soon as the vessel grounded,
divers had been sent down to r eport on the damage
done, but owing to it being mostly on the bottom,
they were not able to form an estimate of the full
extent of the injury. About three o'clock the fires
were extinguished in all the boilers ; about three
hours later tho \easel took a sudden list to port ;
owing, evidently, to her bottom giving way. This
caused her to be abandoned for the time, but as she
went no further over, the men were put on board
again . During the night, or doubtless early on the
morning, of the 3rd, she listed over to starboard ;
the deck being at an inclinaticn of 14 deg. at
3.30 A. M. , and this the next morning had increased
to 20~ deg. The bow of the ship was then right
under water, and the water at high tide reached
the quick-firing guns on the starboard side of the
spar deck ; whilst the forward guns of the main
armament were also under water. The chief work
to be accomplished now was the relieving of the
ship of all possible weights ; and to effect this,
working parties from the other ships of the squadron
were sent on board the wreck ; the more valuable
of the stores and effects of t he officers and crew
were also taken out. All the quick-firing guns
were removed ; the spars, anchors, and cables, &c.,
were taken out and placed in launches and lighters.
The 6-in. guns were also transferred from the
ship. Th e following is a description given by a naval
officer who was on the spot of the manner in which
these guns were removed ; a very difficult operation, considering the heel of the ship.
"The t hree guns on the port side were got out
in the following manner: A wire strop was placed
around the middle of t he gun, and to it were hooked
the two lifting screws, which were fastened to plates
on the deck above, and to t hese two screws a
capstan head was made fast, which rove around the
screws, and thus lifted the gun; the screws were
prevented from bending by being kept at right
angles to the deck by means of tackles attached to
each screw ; this had to be done on account of the
list ; a large purchase was rigged and the gun was
moved to the main hatchway, above which a pair
of sheers were rigged. By the latter the gun was
hoisted up and then lowered into the lighter. The
mounting and carriage was got up in the same way.
To remove the guns on the starboard side was quite
another matter, as they were all under water ; they
were lifted in the same way by means of the liftinO'
screws, then two easing-down purchases were mad:
fast, and the gun was eased away out of the gun
port. A diver then went down and placed a strop
ar ound the gun, and to it hooked the single block
of the luff, which was made fast on the derrick
head ; it was then hauled up above water, and

placed in the lighter. The 6-in. guns were finally

returned home, "
A little over 600 tons weight was removed before
the arrival of the salvage company ; of these
weights the following is an approximate statement :
W et'glz ts R emot:ed before the Arrival of the Salvage
Company.
~I en

and effects . ..
. ..
...
.. .
Derrick, boats' davits, and otb~r davits
Paymaster's stores of all descriptions
Anchors and cables . . .
.. .
.. .
Net defence gear
.. .
.. .
. ..
Gune and mouldings .. .
.. .
.. .
MeEs stores and canteen stores
...
Boats
.. .
.. .
.. .
...
.. .
Coal

[}ULY 7, 1893.

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

20

...
. ..

...
...

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

...

...

...

...

. ..

Sundries . ..

...

...

...

. ..

Tons
70
30
60
110
''0
J
60
100
50
120
20

Total ...
...
. .. 650
It will be remembered that shortly after the
grounding of the Howe a contract was entered into
by the Admiralty with a foreign salvage company,
for the raising of the vessel within a period of six
months. Every credit is due to this company for
the energy and skill they showed in carrying out
the work; more especially to Ca.ptain Edlind, who
was in charge of the operations. W e cannot but
regret that work such as this, which is supposed to
call forth in an unusual d egree those characteristics
of which Englishmen pride themselves on the
possession, should not have been carried out undet
the superintendence of an English company. It is
a considerable reproach to us that the two large
warships which have been raised lately should
have been recovered by foreign enterprise. We
have the largest Navy and the largest mercantile
marine in the world. R esource, energy, seamanship,
and engineering skill are all required in a marked
degree for work such as we have been obliged to go
to foreigners to d o for us. It would seem as if the
mastery of the sea, on which Englishmen have
always prided themselves, is likely to depart, if we
allow ourselves to be cut out by other nationalities, which have less facilities than we for producing men capable of such a task as the raising
of a sunken or damaged vessel. These foreign
companies .e ven come on our own coast and do
work which Englishmen tacitly confess themselves
unable to perform.
The three salvage vessels
engaged in the rescue of the Howe were of f oreign
build, but the pumping plant, which is the crucial
point, was of English make (see page 294 of our
last volume). It is strange that. Englishmen should
not have t.he necessary qualifications for using it.
The prize to be gained by the salvage of the Howe
was a rich one, and the Neptune Company undoubtedly netted a very large sum as a reward for
their enterprise and courage in the undertaking.
Abcut a week after the vessel had met with her
mishap, viz., on November 9, the first of the salvage
steamers, the Belos, arrived on the scen e, and was
the next day moored on the port side of the Howe.
The Hermes arrived on November 12, and was
placed on the starboard side. A large pump was
placed on the fore part of the damaged ship, and
another on the deck aft. A smaller vessel, named the
Eve, arrived at Ferrol on N ovem her 29. According
to the arrangement made by the salvage company
with t he Admiralty, the services of a large number
of our men were put at the disposal of Captain
Edlind, who was in charge of the operations, t hese
men being under t he command of Commander
\Vindham and Lieut. Hodge. It is needless to
say that they were of the greatest assistance, for
the good qualities of our seamen are never more
apparent than on occasions such as these. The
salvage company had six divers on the spot,
and two English divers belonging to the fleet
were also engaged in the work. The plan of operation proposed by the salvage company was to
sheathe over the rents in the bottom of the Rhip;
but on examination it was found that the rocks
penetrated through the vessel's skin, and would
prevent such an operation being carried out. R ecourse had therefore to be had to the blasting
away of the rock, which had penetrated right into
the body of the ship, sometimes as far as 6 ft. As
the H owe now lies in the dry dock at Chatham,
one can appreciate the magnitude of the task that
the salvors had set before them.
L ooking upwards one can see right into the stokehold, the
boiler~ being plainly visible as one stands in the
dock bottom ; and if there is not a hole big enough
for the proverbial coach-and-four to pass through,
there are, at least, apertures any one of which would
be quite sufficient to admit more water than any

possible pumping power could hold in check. In

order to blast away the rock, divers had to go down
into the interior of the ship and drill holes in which to
place the dynamite charges. These were fired by
electricit.y, the pieces of rock detached being
removed and hauled away by chains which were
placed round them by the divers. The ship all this
time was lying on her starboard side, and the r ock
having been cleared away, the next operation was
to make the side of the ship sufficiently watertight
to bring the leakage within command of the powerful pumping machinery which had been brought to
the spot . In order to accomplish this, divers were
sent down on the outside, and templates were
made of the indentations in the skin of the vessel.
These templates were cut out of wood, and were
absolutely formed to the ship's bottom under water.
No doubt this was the only course open, although
it must have been extremely difficult work for the
men to accomplish.
The shape of the depressions being thus known,
it was possible to plan a timber structure which
would fill up the indentations and make a framework fair enough for planking to be attached.
Frames of pitch-pine timber were constructed
on deck, and were then lowered into the water.
They were then placed in position by the divers,
and in order to hold them to their stations
long screw bolts were used, these having been
ngtnes

to her original position. The following are the

records of the amount the ship righted herself : on
February 14 she came up to 13 deg. of heel ; on the
next day to 11 deg. ; on the 16th to 9! de g., and
on the 18th to 8 deg. As the ship assumed a more
upright position, blocks of wood were placed underneath for h er to rest upon, but theee were mostly
crushed.
.The effect of the operations last described was to
enable the di vera to get under the bottom at some
parts on the starboard side at high water. Attempts
were made to block these holes with pieces of wood,
bags of oakum, and bass mats, but these do n ot
appear to have been very successful, and finally
it was decided to have recourse to collision mats.
It was a difficult problem how to get these in position, as the damage extended right to the keel
plates and through them.
The bilge keel, too,
must have proved a formidable obstacle; and it
may be stated here that the ship had listed over so
far as to rest on her bilge keels, the port one especially being broken and crumpled up at the edge,
as may be seen as she n ow lies in the dry dock at
Chatham. We believe that our own naval officers
had more faith in the efficacy of collision mats than
the officials of the salvage company, and the mats were
placed by working parties of the fleet, under charge
of a warrant officer. In order to haul the mats into
position over the fissures in the ship, chains had to be
for" Botl'.s

PORT

I)

17:;)1

also prepared on deck. To fas ten the inner ends

of these bolts to the structure of the ship, metal
bars were placed longitudinally inside the frames
of the ship ; these bars had long slots cut in them,
and a T-head was made to the end of the bolts. In
this way the bolt was held inside, and, upon the nuts
on the outside being set up, the timber frames were
clamped to the vessel. In some cases the inner ends
of the bolts were simply turned over, so as to form
a hook, and this hook was hitched on to a frame
or the broken edge of the plating. The wooden
frame being thus attached- an operation, as will be
gathered, of no small difficulty- 4in. planking was
placed across it. To this planking strips of canvas,
with a. wide lap, were nailed, and over it, again, a
sheathing of 0-in. planking was placed. As the
caulking of this plauking would have been a very
difficult, if not impossible job, recourse was h ad to
a d evice used by wooden vatmakers for making it
watertight. The central part of the edge of the
pJanking where the butt joint would come, was compressed in a suitable manner, and the uncompressed
edges were then planed down until the whole
was level. When the planking was in place, the
compressed part would swell up, through the action
of the water, and in this way would press against
the butt of the adjoining p lank, thus making it
watertight. The smaller fissures in the plating
were stopped by wooden pads. When it was
thought that the port side had been made sufficiently watertight, an effort was made to pump out
the ship. These extended over a week, the pumps
being kept at work all the time, but the water did
not go down. As the temporary work for stopping
the h oles appeared to be good, the conclusion was
arrived at that the starboard side was also affected,
and it was concluded that the work would have to
be done on the other side of the ship as well. In
order to get at this, an effort was made to remove
the water from above the armoured deck, so as to
allow the ship to right herself at high water, and to
accomplish this a cofferdam was built round all the
patches of the openings.
In order to pump out the space between the
armoured deck and the deck above, hoses from the
pumps had to be led through the cofferdams, so that
as t h e tide r ose the water could not get t o the space
to be emptied. The ends of the 'tween-deck space
having been pumped out, and kept free from water
by means of the bulkheads-the watertight doors, of
course, being closed-the ship began to assume a
more upright position, rising at the forward end, and
from this time forward the Howe did not go back

passd under the bottom, and for this purpose an

ingenious plan was devised. A long iron rod, expressively described as a needle, had attached to it a line.
This was taken down into the sea on the starboard
side, and at high water, when the ship was in the
most favourable position, the divers descended and
pushed the end of the needle with the line attached
under the bottom of the ship, there being fissures
in the r ock which allowed the operation to be
carried out . In this way the line was passed under
the ship's bottom, and a diver had simply t o go
down on the port side to get the end of the line,
which could then be detached from the n eedle, the
other end being on the starboard side. It need
hardly be said that the whole operation was one of
extreme difficulty, and r equired the exercise of the
greatest patience, for the divers could only work
for a short period at high water, when the tide was
slack.
The collision mats were stopped along the starboard side of the Howe, and the chains which had
been passed under the bottom of the ship were
made fast to thA lower corners. The mats could
thus be hauled into position, the divers guiding
them in descent. Seven of these mats were thus
put in position.
The placing of t hese mats, in conjunction with
the work previously described on the port side,
practically decided the fate of the ship. On
March 20 a marked improvement was made, the
raising of the bow b eing considerable, and from
that time forward until the vessel floated, the forward part came further out of water each tide.
The water in the engine-room and stokeholds began
to go down, and a substantial gain was made.
Some. of the pumps were taken below, and a couple
o~ bo1le:s were plac~d on the spar deck, the ship's
cuculatmg pump bemg also brought into action. It
was thought that steam could have been raised in
~he ship's main boilers, the fact that the floor-plates
In one ~tokehold were above water leading t o this
conclusiOn. It was found, h owever, that this was
due rather to the elevated position of the floor-plates
than to the lowness of the water ; for the rock had
so far penetrated the inner bottom as to force up
the framing and the stokeh old plates above the
bottom of the ~oiler. When the temporary repairs
were executed m dock at F errol, the framing could
n ot a11 be brought d own to its original level and
the longitudinals of the inner bottom are still to
be ~een above the level of the boiler bottom. Supposing, however, steam could have been raised-a
condi~ion not absolutely necessary to the working

}ULY

7, 1893.]

E N G I N E E R I N G.
planned, and clearly prove how res~urceful an
Admiralty constructor can be when gtven a free
hand and put beyond the numbing influence of
red- tape and " responsibility. " We, of c.ourse, ? se
the latter term in its official sense, wh1ch, bemg
intepreted is "If you cannot produce written
aut hority f or 'everything done, you will be called
over t he coals when found out. , Fortunately for
those who planned the temporary work on the
Howe's bottom, there were no precedents and no
written instructions as to details.
It is seldom that anything untoward occurs to a
vessel of H er Majesty's Fleet that one does not nd
something to say in admiration of the ship's company. In the case of the H owe, if there were
blame t o be apportioned- a fact upon which we
have no opinion--as to getting her on to the rocks,
t here is nothing but praise in regard to getting her
off. For about four and a half months the machinery was under salt water, and five weeks after
she was floated she was ready to make the passage
to England. To enumerate the work that had to
be done would take far more space than we have at
our command. The forcing in of the bottom so far
disarranged matters that even the main steam pipe
above the boilers was broken, and it may here be
stated that the boilers themselves were disph.ced, so
that even now they are not fa irly back on their seatings whilst one, at least, has a bad bruise where the
rock ' came through and lifted it from its position.
In another case the pipes ha~ e been so disorganised
that even the positions they occupied have been
usurped by the tloors of the ship rising up ; and new
leads have had t o be devised in fresh places.
Perhaps, however, the most unpleasant job was
that due to the foul bilge water-if one can spe~k
of bilge water in the case where the whole ship
was full. The perishable stores and provisions
which could not be removed putrefied under water,
and the slime they engendered, mixing with the
oil that floated out of the tanks, painted the whole
interior with a foul coating. All this had to be
cleaned off, the etench at times being all but unbearable. Every journal, bearing, pin, link, or
rubbing surface in the whole of the machinery had
to be examined and made good, in many cases the
rust having eaten into the metal so that it had to be
scraped or led up to a fresh s urface ; yet after
ve weeks' work the ship was steamed home at ten
knots speed. It is such facts as these that give
us confidence in our Navy, for battles at sea are
mostly won by hard work done beforehand.
In compiling the above brief description of the salvage operations on the Howe, we have had the advantage of making a fairly complete examination of the
vessel as she lies in dry dock at Chatham. The
majority of our particulars have been obtained,
however, from those who were engaged upon the
operations, to whom our thanks are due for their
courtesy. We are also indebted to a very able
paper on the subject written by Mr. C. G.
Chichester, a midshipman of H .M.S. AnRon, who
prepared his essay in competition for a prize offered
by the Admiral of the squadron.

of the pumps--it would not ~ave bee? availab~e

at hiah tide as the water shll r ose In the ship
too m~ch for 'res to have been kept alight.
After several disappointments, on March . 29
the men began heaving on the anc~ors at h1gh
tide, and the Navy tug Seahorse, whlCh had been
sent out to Ferrol for the purpose, commenced to
tow. The gain was about 10 ft. which the ship
moved forward . As the tide fell, however, the
vessel fell over again and a bulge was made, the
plating being penetrated. The dynamos and h~
draulic engines were lifted up about a foot, and It
was found n ecessary to build a cofferdam over the
part.
On the following day, Thursday, March 30 of
this year, the labours of months were brought to a
successful issue by the towing of the vessel clear of
the r ocks upon which she had so long rested. By
1.30 P. M. the tide was at the top of the flood, and the
men stationed on board the H owe manned the
capst6n to heave on the anchor, the pumps, of
course, being in operation. There were two bower
hawsers which were made fast to tackles on the
deck of the ship, the falls being taken to st~am
winches on board the salvage steamers alongside.
'l,he hawsers which held the ship in position were
slacked away, and the Howe commenced gradually
to forge ahead. After a quarter of an hour fro~
the time the men began to heave on the anchor la1d
out ahead, the order was given to let go all the
hawsers that held the vessel in position, and
the Seahorse began to t ow, the two salvage
steamers alonaside also starting their engines
ahead. The r~sult was that the battleship was
moved from her rocky bed, and was shortly riding
to moorings fairly afloat, an anchor being afterwards let go astern. The mean draught was 30! ft.,
which was 2! ft. more than when she struck.
Before the ship was towed off, however, about 250
tons of water was admitted to the fore part, so as
to lift the stern and make sure she would clear the
rocks as she came off. This quantity of water
depressed the bow about 9 in. At this time the
Howe was naturally making a great deal of water.
The duty of the pumps employed was about 6000
tons per hour, but as steam was required for the
main engines of the salvage steamers, the full
capacity was not available. The water was 8 ft.
below the debris deck at the time the ship floated,
her comparativE\ly light draught under these circumstances being due to the weights that had been
removed during the salvage operations.
After the ship was afloat, divers were sent down
to further strengthen and make more efficient the
work that had been done in stopping the immense
fissures in the bottom of the ship, for the draught
had to be still further reduced in order to dock the
vessel. Pads consisting of thin planking and canvas
were constructed, and when these were put in position, so as to cover the other work, bass mats, rolled
up, were placed round the edges, and strips of
canvas were also used . There were nine of these
pads, the largest being 34 ft. by 23 ft. They were
most effective, for after they were placed the water
was brought to 1 ft. below t he engine-room platform, and ultimately the level of the stokehold
NOTES.
plates was reached. 'Vater was pumped from out
the double bottom wherever practicable, and
NEW BRIDGE ACROSS THE TYNE AT NE\\ BURN.
the drauaht of 25 ft. was reached, and the ship's
THE growing population on both sides of the
pumps brought into play, steam being raised in Tyne above Redheugh Bridge has long made inthree boilers, until finally the Howe was safely creased means of communication between the two
docked by three o'clock on Monday, April17.
banks desirable, and t his long-felt want was filled
After the Ho we was safely placed in dry dock, t he on Whit-Monday last by the formal opening of a
Spanish authorities carried out the work necessary new steel bridge at New burn. Thi-s bridge has
to make the ship seaworthy for the voyage to Eng- been built for a public company to the designs of
land. For the purpose of superintending these Messrs. J. Watt Sandeman and J. M. Moncreiff,
operations, Mr. Logan, of the Admiralty, who holds civil engineers, of the St. Nicholas- buildings,
the position of examiner of dockyard work, went out Newcastle-on-Tyne. The bridge is of the riveted
to Ferrol, accompanied by Mr. Palmer, foreman of truss type, having parallel booms and a single
Chatham yard. Great ingenuity has been displayed system of triangulation counter-braced on the
in making good the ship's bottom for the voyage. centre panels. 'l,he spans are four in ~!lumber,
Where the plating had been forced up, formin g the distance between the centres of the river
dished cavities often as deep as 6 ft., and extending piers being 103 ft. 6 in., and the trusses are
over a wide area, temporary floors of steel were con- spaced 18 ft. apart. The river piers are simple
structed and fitted in the depressions, the attach- cylinders of t -in. wrought-iron plates 5 ft. in diament being made to the original framing of the meter, built up in lengths of 4ft. and filled with
ship, where it was exposed by the rupture of the concrete. Two of these cylinder s are braced Loplating, or to the skin of the vessel itself. In parts gether to form a pier. These cylinders were sunk to
where the contour was so irregular as to put it rock by the plenum pneumatic process, the greatest
beyond the possibility of metal scantling being used, depth attained being 71 ft. below high-water
t he spaces have been filled by timber packing mark, and the greatest air pressure used was 36 lb.
firmly bolted bet ween the original structure of the p~r square inch. l\1ost of the sinking was through
ship and the temporary work. The ingenuity and silty sand, but towards the end of the mnking a
boldness of some of the arrangements speak well stratum 'Of loose stones and boulders was enfor the engineering ability of those by whom it was countered mixed with sand. 'l'he abutments of

21
:

the bridge arc of Portl~nd cement concrete, with

Whitburn limestone string courses and cap stones.
They are founded upon pitchpine piling, the up~er
surface of the platform capping the pil~s bemg
15 ft. b elow high-water mark. ~h ~ requiremen~s
of the Tyne Improvement CommlSsiOner s made It
necessary to make t he bridge upwards of 100 ft.
lonaer than the present width of the river. T~e
headway between the girders and high water ts
21ft.
I NTERNATIONAL MARITIME CoNFERENCE IN
L oNDON.

The International Maritime Conference which

meets in the Institution of Civil Engineers ~n the
18th inst. and three succeeding days, promises to
be of great interest. The ~embership i.s n ow 420,
of which more t han one-third are fore1gners, and
includes many of the most eminent engineers in
all branches of maritime engineering. A bout forty
papers will be read at the four sections of the
congress. The first section is to be presided over
by the President of the Boar~ of Trad~, Mr. MundelJa and at it the papers will deal with harbours,
breakwater~ and the protection of coasts. The
works to be' described by the various speakers are
in all parts of the world- Crimea, Copenhagen,
Denmark, Venezuela, the Mersey, and on sandy
coasts-and the practice exemplified wi~l pro
bably be most varied, so that the comparison of
data aiven will be interesting and valuable .
The s:cond section will be presided over by the
President of the Institut ion of Civil Engineers,
Mr. A. Giles, and is devoted to the consideration
of docks and their equipment. Here also there
will be the same opportunities of comparison, for
in addition to the L ondon and N ewport Docks,
those of Antwerp, some entrance works at Venice,
as well as some of the principal docks in France,
will be described. In the section which deals with
shipbuilding and marine engineering, and which is
to be presided over by Sir Thomas Sutherland, of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, there is,
perhaps, less of the foreig!l element, but the same
variety of topics and the same fitness in the choice
of authors to deal with the subj ects. Mr. A.
Denny has a subject of particular interest, "Shipowners and Shipbuilders in their Technical Relationships. " It opens immense possibilities of treatment and discussion. Mr. C. E. Stromeyer has
two papers, one on "Ship Resistance, , and the
other on '' Frictional Resistance of Steam in the
Steam Engine." Mr. A. E. Seaton has for his
subject, "Steam Communication with the Continent, Past and Present," a record of progress which
has not hitherto been placed in permanent form.
Profeseor J. H. Biles has a topic of wide range,
~'Ocean Passenger Steamships;" while Mr. J.
Fortescue Flannery will r ead a paper on '' Transport of Oil in Bulk." The fourth section deals
with lighthouses and their illumination, connection
with the shore, and fog signals. Vice-Admiral P.
H. Colomb will be the president, and some especially valuable papers have been contributed.
BARGE WITH MECHANICAL APPLIANCE FOR
COALING STEAMERS.

Although the mechanism for loading coal into

ships from a wharf has attained a high degree of
efficiency, alike as regards rapidity and cost, the
method of coaling a steamer-filling her bunkers
with fu el-is still very primitive. Hand labour is
usually employed, and in many cases, especially
with pa3senger steamers calling at intermediate
stations, time is wasted and inconvenience and discomfort from coal dust involved. There was shown
at work in the Clyde D ock at Rotherhithe, 0n Tuesday, in presence of representatives of the Admiralty,
Lloyd's, shipping companies, and ports, an invention which promises to accomplish the work expeditiously, cheaply, and in a manner involving
little inconvenience. This system of mechanical
coaling, inventtld by Mr. M. J. Paul, combines in
a coal barge a conveyor anrl an elevator formed in
one. The hold of the barge is divided in the line
of keel by two fore-and-aft bulkheads, about 2 ft.
6 in. apart, forming a central well, with doors at
the sides. The botto1n of the hold has an inclination at each side towards the doors, so that when
they arc opened the coal drops through them into
the central well, along the bottom of which a series
of troughs, forming a conveyor, travel on an endless steel chain. 1\Iotion is imparted to the
edless traveller through a driving drum geared
direct to a horizontal single-cylinder 4 horsepower engine in the stern of the barge. From

 N G I N E E R I N G.
this drmn the conveyor, or chain of troughs,
passes along the central well over another drum
and thence up the incline formed by a derrick,
the arrangem e nt corresponding to the ladder in
a dredger. While the troughs are passing round
a third drum at the top, the coal is delivered into
a covered-in shoot, which may be arranged t1)
deliver at either side, or in front, as d esired. Each
link of the endless chain has attached to it a steel
plate with the sides turned up, and every third
plate is an angle, thus forming the continuous s e ries
of troughs between 3 ft. and 4 ft. long and 2! ft.
wide, in which the coal is carried along.
To
prevent it falling back while the chain is ascending
the incline of the derrick, the top of the angle
forming the trough is slightly curved. The troughs
are fitted with loose r ollers which travel between
guide rails. At the ordinary speed of the engine
the chain travelled at the rate of about fifty
troughs or buckets per minute, and transferred the
barge load of about 120 t ons to an ordinary barge
in 75 minutes. This performance might have been
exceeded if the four attendants had been famil iar
with their work of attending the bulkhead doors,
which are operated by worm gear, and of assisting
the coal into the troughs.

THE ROBSON-BROWN BURNER FOR

MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS.
THE burner for safety lamps which we illustrate
herewith has been specially designed for burning
safety mineral oils. A s will b e seen, this burner is
~ imilar to those ordinarily employed in safety lamps,
with the exception that a p ortion of t h e top is r emoved, so as to leave two cur ved projecting pieces, as
shown at a and b; and a safety tube or pipe c is used

c:
I

l.t_

for passing the volatilised oil or vapour from tbe

reservoir, so that it may burn as a. gas in the vicinity
of the flame. It is claimed that, under ordinary circu mstances, a miner's safety lamp, fitted with one of
the Robson-Brown burners, yields n early twice as
much light as the same lamp burning colza, a nd the
following experiments by ~Ir. R. A. S. Redmayne go
to confirm this:
---:----THE MIN.ERAL WEJ..LTH OF THE UNITED STATES. - ---- The value of the mineral production of the
Cl\odle Ratio.
Description
Oil
Used.
Burner
Used.
Power.
of Lamp.
United States last year was equal to about 2l. per
annum per head of the population; ten years ago -1 M:usaut
Flat ordinary
.242
Unity
Colza.
. 425
1.75
Petroleum Robson-Brown
it was considerably less. In other words, the total 2
.414
1. 71
11
value for 1892 was 136 million s sterling, about 34
.426
1. 75
11
11
11
lOO,OOOl. greater than in the previous year, which
I
---increase, although satisfactory, is rather less than
No special care is required in using the burner, the
the average, for in twelve years the t otal has
wick being adjusted by a prick er in the ordinary way,
almost doubled, having in 1880 been only 74t so as to secure the best light without production of
millions sterling.
Non-metallic minerals h ave smoke. There is no doubt a. strong prejudice against
more than doubled in value, aggregating n )W 70 the use of mineral oils for lighting purpoEes in fiery
millions sterling. This is largely accounted for by mines, but such oils are now easily obtainable with
the increase in th e mining of coal, of wh ich 153! very high flashing point~, and with these there is no
million t ons were produced last year, instead of danger, whilst the hewer benefits greatly by the better
65! million tons twelve years ago. Of lime 70 mil- light afforded him. The Lurner, we may add, is the
lion 200-lb. barrels hav e been produced, against joint invention of Mr. \V. ' Valton Brown, of 'Vest28 millions ; of petroleum, 54 million 42-gallon morela nds, Low Fell, and of Mr. Robson.
barrels, instead of 26 millions; and similarly with
other products. Indeed, were the prices the same
THE FAILURE OF A STEEL WATER
as in 18~0, the result would be an en ormously
MAIN.
greater increase in aggregate value. The metallic
THE annual report of the Committee of :M anage
products are valued at 64 millions sterling, against
40 millions in 1880 ; but here the reduction in prices ment of the Manchester ~ 'tell.m Users' Associat ion conoperates more pronouncedly. The output of copper tains a very interesting account of the failure of a
steel water main, and of an investigation into its
has incl'eased m ore than fivefold, to 335 million cause carried out by Mr. Lavington E. Fletcher, chief
pounds, pig iron from 3. 8 million tons to over engineer t o th e association. The main had been laid
9 millions, while tbe m ore refined metals h ave down in duplicate from the pump at the bottom of a
also increased at a great rate, excepting perhaps well to an elevated r eservoir . Its bursting pressure
gold, which stands at about an average, slightly was calculated a t 1200 lb. per square inch, but several
over lt million ounces.
Silver has d oubled , of the lengths gave way at a pressure of 70 lb. and
to 64.9 million ounces.
The reductions in prices less. The pipes were in 10-ft. lengths, connected
are made possible by the reduction in freights together by wrought-steel flanges; each length was
due to competition, and in the cost of pro- made of one plate, so that there was but one longiduction, which cheaper supplies, larger output, a nd tudin al joint running from end to end, this joint
being
butted
and
made
with
an
external
strap.
The
greater experience, skill, a~d knowledge of t~e diam eter of th e pipe was 26 in., the thickness in the
business have rende red possible.
When coal Is body, as well as in t he butt strap, lrr in., the pitch of
carried by rail at h alf a farthin g per ton-mile, and the rivets 2! in., and the diameter of the rivets 1~ in.
many other articles pay less than a farthing per ton- When the fractures took place the rent started at the
mile, the great distances of America become l ess
important elemen ts in the development of an industry.
So r emarkable is this development of
indus~ries and of economical tran!iport, that coal
can b e mined a nd sold on the railroad at the
mines fo r 2s. 9d. per ton, or on sh ipboard at 400
miles from the mine at Ss. to 9s. per ton.
Hard free milling gold ores are mined and milled rivet hol es on one side, then sprang across to t he rivet
at 5s. a ton, and 95 p er cent. of the g old is ex- holes on the other side, and so on, running from side to
tracte d from sulphide ores at a treatment cost of side till it exten ded throughout the entire l ength of
!Os. a ton. Copper or es are mined, milled, con- the pipe, as shown by the annexed illustration.
centrated, smelted, and refined at 6::;. a ton, while
It happened that the boilers at the water works
62 per cent. high.-grad e Bessem~r iron ore can be where this failure occurred were und er the inspection
delivered 1000 mtles from the mines at 14s. These of the Manchester Steam Users' A~socia.tion, and that
results indicate that although the rate of wages be other boilers-of steel - were about to be constructed.
high, the actual cos t of pr~duct~on and.transpor~ation The failure of the steel pipe rendered the engineer
he proposed that
is relatively low; and th1s pmnt, whiCh we tried to apprehensive about the boilers, and
they should be made of iron. " 7 e will give the reenforce in our articles on American industries as mainder of lhe history as it appears in .l\Ir. Fletcher 1s
affecting British commerce, has an impor~ant ~earing report :
on the future relations of the two countnes with the
engineer to the com pany, in wdting to the
markets of t he world. The subject is as attractive as M."The
S. U . A. with regard to the fractures, stated that ' the
it is important, and much Ride-light is cast upon i~ in plates were Siemens-Martin open-hearth steel, and the
a recently published supp~eme~t to t he En:gi~teeriug workmanship throughout most excellent,' adding that
and ]fininy J oH rnal, dealmg w1th the statis tiCs and 'he had had other trouble with steel plates, and was
technology of mineral industry. This publication, much of opinion that th e material, as at present made,
so treacherous as not to warrant the confidence that
issued from the London offices, 20, Bucklersbury, was
was placed in it.'
E .C., gratis to all subscribers to the j~urnal, c?n"To get to the root of the ma.tterl the engineer made
tains within its 600 pages a wealth of 1nformat10n some investigations, and subsequently wrote as follows:
" ' I took a piece of the steel that broke off like a
on the mineral production of all countries.
I I

11

11

carrot, heated it in the for~e, and let it cool, well covered

with ashes. This mornlDg I bent that over with a.
hammer, and it was as ductile as an ordinary piece of
soft iron. I then took another piece of the strip that bad
broken, and actually broke that by striking it on the
edge of the anvil. I put a drift into one of the rivet
boles, and a gentle tap broke it off like a. piece of pot.
One of the pieces that broke off like pot was then heated
to redness and dipped in cold water. This changed the
whole nature of the metal, making it perfectly soft and
tough again. In addition to thi~, I had a spare cover
strip that had not been drilled or touched in any way,
but had been bent t o the curvature of the pipes, and this
was bent over fiat to a radius of only the thickness of
the plate. I then had it drilled and a. drift put in, and
the metal behaved perfectly.
" 'All this seems to show that steel ia absolutely unreliable.
"'Would it n ot be wise to cancel the order for the
three steel boilers now making for us, and have them
made of beat best Snedshill plates throughout, instead
of using any steel whatever in their composition?'
"Writing again on this subject, the engineer said : 'I
have tried further experiments with the strips and
materials left, and am more than ever disturbed in my
mind a.s to the causes of the disasters. I have ordered all
the pipes to be pulled out of the well, and all the strips to
be removed, and replaced with L owmoor iron. This
morning I examined three of the p1pes carefully. The
workmanship and material appear perfect. The stripS~,
however, will be cut off, and n ew ones substituted.'
"Although the pumps and the delivery pipes in question were not under the inspection of the M.S. U.A., and
the M.S. U . A. had no cognisance of them in any way, it
appeared desirable to in vestiga.te the cause of the fractures
in the interest of its members generally, so that the chief
engineer might be in a. better position to a.d vise them
as to the quality of steel to be used, and a.s to the mode of
testing to be adopted when having n ew boilers laid down,
and a.s this course accorded with the wishes of the company's engineer, th e in vestiga.tion was made.
" With this view one of the senior inspectors, whose
special department it is to examine boilers when under
construction, and visit the steel works to test the quality of
the plates, was sent to London to examine the fractures on
the ground, and also to visit the works at which the ripes
were made to ascertain the mode in which the stee bad
been treated, and, further, to track out where the butt
straps bad been rolled, and the character of the stEel of
which they had been made.
"After maki ng these examinations and inquirie~, and
making a. number of pulling and bending test of strips cut
from the butt-strap plates, and also making Eome drift
tests, the following conclusions were arrived at:
"That the body of the pipes was made of SiemeneMa.rtin steel, but that the butt straps were made of flat
steel rolled bars 4t in. wide by lrr in. thick, delivered to
the makers of the pipes cu t to lengths and correct to
width. As the butt straps were longitudinal, the strain
tendi!lg to split the pipe open was across the grain. The
M.S. U .A. has always strongly objected to rolled bars for
butt straps or even strips of plate cut so that the strain
would run across the grain, and to guard against this it
prescribes in its specifications that the butt straps sbnll
not be supplied to the boilermaker already cut to size,
but that they shall be supplied in a. plate, a nd that the
plate shall be cut into strips by the boilermaker; while,
before this is donE>, the plate shall be examined by the
M.S. U.A., the butt Ptraps set out, and every one branded
for the purpose of subsequent identification, so as to
insure the grain in th e butt strap running circumferentially.
"That theri vet boles were punched, whereas they should
have been drilled. Punching is especially objectionable
with bard plates, and it is clear, from some expeliments
that were made, that punobing had a. very injurious effect
upon the butt straps. Several little insidious flaws were
detected springing from the ri vet holes which were no
doubt due to punching. Such flaws are most treacherous.
They lurk in ambush for a time, and, on the occurrenca
of a. shock or other disturbing cause, suddenly spring
into large fractures.
'' I'ba.t in annea.lin~ the butt straps they bad bt:len heated
piecemeal in a. smiths fire. It would have been better to
h3.ve heated them in a furnace, so that they might have
been heated more equally throughout.
" That the butt straps differed from each other in
quality, some being hard and brittle, and, in all probability, of basic steel.
" Had the fractures described above, instead of occurring in ~ water pipe, occurred in a steam pipe or in a
steam botler, the results would have been most di~astrous.
One of the fractured pipes is in the museum, and open to
the inspection of the members. It is a. very instructi,e
specimen, and shows the necessity before using steel in
the construction of steam pipes or steam boilers of making
a searching test of the plates.''
THE METRIC S YSTEM:.
To THE EDITOR OJ.I' ENGINEERING.
S IR,-The British system contains a.n agglomeration
of complicated ratios between its various multiples and
sub -multiples, with no attempt at uniformity in the
measures of length, capacity, and weight ; for the denominations-each, n o douut, convenient originally in
their special range-have been borrowfd froru many
sources; the relations they present to each other, there
fore, can be expressed only by the most exasperating
figures.
To prove this in detail is not necessary, and would take
up too much of your valuable space, but the awkwardness
is patent enough to any one who will turn to the tables
say in Whi taker's Almanac, pages 423 to 425, and mak~

E N G I N E E R I N G.
I inclose you a sketch of a. portable riveter with t oggle
out for each a list of the multipliers or divisors r equired the L ondon district) is measured by the rod; pounds
to con \iert from a n y one denomination to another ; if he a r e good for the grocer, but a column of exten sion s gear, designed t wenty years ago (Tweddell, Wilson, a nd
wish something m ore tech nic~}, let him ask off-hand in cwts. qrs. lbs. at varying prices is a weari- Ashber, Patent No. 2145, 1873); this design was, howe~er,
for the ratio between, say, pounds per square inch and n ess ; the chemist sells by one ounce, and buys by put as ide, owing to the advantages of direct-actmg
another ; a fluid oun ce of water weighs an avoirdupois hydraulic machines, chiefly for the following reasons :
t ons per square foot.
G irder work is n ot so accurately put together as t o
The clumsiness means in every case loss of time, un- ounce, but a fluid drachm has no r elation to the apotheneces~ary mental exertion, and is no help to greater cary's drachm, and is twice the weight of the imaginary insure the snap always being required to travel through
accuracy ; indeed, it is an incentive to vagueness ; one is (although legal) avoirdupois drachm; the farmer deals the eame distance, even when closing the same diamet~rs
conten t with an approximation to avoid the trouble of in the bushel, but he gen erally weighs his goods, t he of rivets in the same thicknesses of plates, hence some
bushel weight varying with the produce gold and margin mudt be allowed in th e range of stroke o f dies
reduction.
It is absurd f0r Mr. Hum a to writ9 in your issue of the locality. All these were convenient enough when for longer or shorter rivets, due eith er t o the ri vets n ot
J une 16, "our old English inch is purely scientific, " appa- each traded solely with his nex t door neighbour, but are being of equal length or the difference due to having to
fill fair or unfair holes, or the ri vet<.~ being t oo h ot or allowed
r ently becaU3e there happens to b a a certain number of a. hiudra.nce to world-wide business.
The latter is the r eal importance of Me3srs. Birch and to become too cool, non~ of which defects, h owever, d o
such inches in the earth's polar diameter. If he will
consult "Familiar L Actures on s ~ienti fic Subjects," by Co.'s letter, a n d is what affects us most. There is no doubt away with the n ecessity of t he same final pressure being
Sir John Hersch~ll, edition 1868, he will find the r atio about the gener al pr eference of our customers for the m etric appli ed to close the plates and the ri vets.
is 500,500,000 very nearly, and not 500,000,000 as he gives system outside British possessions; to send a p lan to a
It will be adm itted that l in. is n ot an unusual difit, and also that Sir John proposes t o make '' the ounce man who works with the metre marked, say, "Scale! in. ference requir ed in the travel of the snap in closing ri vets
and the cubic fo :>t the links of connection between weights equals 1ft. " is simply to aggravate him, and he is n ot of nominall y the same size.
much better pleased if the scale be marked 7!14 th, though
and measures. "
This, however, is all besid e the mark. If the i nch were this is much clearer to h im.
Mr. Hett's practice of d rawing all plans to decimal
lost, no one would attempt to roproduce it by applying a n
imaginary pair of callipers to the earth's minor axis; nor scales is commenda ble, but it is not everything to the intelif the metre were lost would the length of a quad rant of a ligent foreigner, for British dimensions when translated
into metric, result in all sor ts of odd millimetres, which
meridian be recalculated from a 500-miles base line.
It cannot be t oo much i nsisted on that the metre a nd appear r idiculous. Of course, as engineers, we do not
kilogram me are as conven tion al as the yard and the p ound, want t o work to two set s of t emplates and to keep t.wo
e.nd the only way to p erpetuate either with exactness is sets of drills, for we must h ave the old ones for repairs
by preserving the actual standards and their copies; at and duplicate parts, but the longer the ch ange is delayed
present there is no satisfactory natural standard.
the greater wi11 be the expen se a nd trouble.
Mr. Hume quotes a remark of the late Astronomer
Gas threads are convention al now ; t hey can remain so,
R 'Jyal for S cotland, from whom he has evidently drawn and so could \ Vhitworth threads under 50 millimetres
h is inspiration on the English inch, as to the absurdity of diameter, but above this size there would not be much
comparing weights in vacup, but be overlooks the fact difficulty in adopting at on ce metrical threads ; fox aJl
that; our own standard p ound P.S . is only standard n on-metrical threads the studs would be turned to th e
under this condition, aud that when making comparison neareE~ t millimetre in excess.
of weights having varying specific gravities, a vacuum
It is useless to expect our Government to mO\'e, as sugchamber obviates temperature difficulties, and the ca.lcu- gested by ~Ir. Twigg, without a steady determined push;
lation of air di~placement!'J.
Sir vVilham Harcourt. replying to the de~utati on on the
As to accuracy, the writer was last week in the tool subject on January 25, said as much; hts reply would
department of works using American machines, where have been more appropriate thirty years ago tha n now ;
sp ecial di es were cons~ructed; the foreman spoke confi- t here is sufficient education in the country to make the '
dently of fitting them up to "half a thousandth of an change easy.
inch ; " is the 100tb part of a millimetre any less precise?
If the metric system were concurrently legalised-that
The International M etric Bure:~.u at St. Cloud, esta- is, made optional for all trad e pul'poses, as it is Canada
blished by the co-operation of twenty-nine countries, Great and the United States-it would be of ser vice, a nd would
~f the. above is correct, and the fi nishing or closing
B ritain being the only important nation whic h preferred s imply r equire the supply of mE\tric standards to the
pomt bemg, a:s M;essrs. De Bergue say, bet ween points 9
to stand out, hS~.s the mo3t perfect establishment in the inspect ors of weights and m easures.
world for scientific measuring and weighing (Report of
Our authorities a re slow in this respect. Committees a~d 10 on the.u d1agr.a m, then the rivet s might be closed
B 'Ja.rd of Trade, August 11, 1833). It constructed up to sat from l 758 to 1824 before our weights a n d measures with, tbeoretiO;ally, either 26 tons or 42 tons, on e of which
18!)0 42 standard kilogrammes a nd 30 standard metres for were put on their present footing; our national st andard must be t oo httle or the other too much. '.fhis jump
distribution amongst; the associated countries, and has pound was made in platinum fifty years aft er this metal from one power to the oth er takes place with a movement
supplied our own Standards D epartment.
bad been adopted for the French standard , and nearly of ~he snap of only .05 in. but if we take the fi nishing
'The metric system has existed for 100 years ; wherever 100 years after t he prototype metre was made in that r>omt of tb~ str?ke of the snap t o be .a.t point 8 on Messrs.
adopted it is still in use ; without claiming for i t perfec metal; our Standards D~artment suggest its use as better De Bergue ~ d1agram, we only obta.m 17.5 t on s theoretition, it stand s unrivalled in the following particula rs :
for our standard yard (Report of the Board of Trade, cally, or a difference b etween the maximum and minimum
1. It is throughout convenient, and a careful investiga- " Weights and Measures, " 1886, page 10), " wh en ever pr~s~ures fi_nally. applied on the .rivet of 24.5 t ons, and
tion will show how admirably ib compromises between legislation m ay a rise," which has not happened yet. We this m closmg r1 vets of equal diam;ter under certainly
conflicting interests. The me~re, as a. unit, may be con- are a droll people, too; we legalise a cen tal of 100 lb., and not exceptional conditions.
I wo~ld also point out that, unless in skilled a nd careful
sidered long compared with our foot. but the centimetre will not allow its natural submultipl es of 10 lb., 20 lb.,
is most suitable for general engineers' dimensions, whilst a.nd 50 lb. (" W eights and Measures, Model Regulation s," hands, 1~ the frequent even t of changing from, say, two to
ther e is n o comparison b etween r eck oning in millimetres 1890).
t~ree thJOknesses of plates ~r v1:ce versd, there is always a
aga,insb 16tbs a nd 32nds of an inch. The k ilogramme apThe adoption of the metric system i n this coun try risk of the workma~ _not a~Justmg the m achin e to meet
p ears heavy for retail trade, but the hectogramme, or ~th without doubt would be followed immediately by our t~ese altered conditiOn s, m which case he will either
kilo. , approl.ches nearly to our t lb., whilst the apfroxi- dependencies throughout the world, and would leave but s!mP~Y. fo~m a bead without properly filling the h ole or
'
ma.te equality of 1000 kilos. and our ton is i n valuable. one-.s~venth part of ou~ export trade with countries n ot r1sk lDJUrtng the plates.
The litr e is sm all against our _quart, but it is r ather larger fam1har more or less With It, and most of this would be
It seems to me tba~ anyone .~ho acc3pts r iveted work
than the quart u sed in the U nited States and Canada, with the U n ited States. There are growin~ signs in that don e UD:d~~ such varymg cond1t1~ns takes a very eerious
and more u seful as a unit than our pint or p:allon alone.
country, however, of the intention to mtroduce the respon s1b1hty, as he cannot poss1bly be certain t hat the
2. It is entirely decimal. This is, perhaps, its most c ha ngez and it is not improbable the American s may be full pressure has been put on the r ivets, or what injury
important advantage; the ratios between the various de- first with it among our cust omers, a.s the m ovement ap- mal:' have been d on e to the plates by their having been
n ominations are seen at a glance, a nd all ord inary r eckon- pears t o have more official and technical support there subJected to too g reat a pressure or stress.
ings simplified considerably. What sur veyor would than here.
Yours very truly,
exchange chains and links for p oles, yards feet, and
Cannot t h is correspondence have a practical result?
RALPH HART T WEDDEL L
inches ? Slide rule manipulation for &.11 cal cuiation s is at Will n ot our institutes make a n effor t? Manufacturers
14, Delahay-street, Westminster '8 W
on ce facilitated.
J uly 5, 1893.
'
d o n ot wish to move alone ; they want information as to
3. It possesses the most simple r elations between the use of the system abroad a nd its advantages. From
the u n its of length, weight, and capacity ; the identity a long connection with a large engin eer ing business I do
for practical purposes of the litre and cubic decimetre, and n ot anticipate much indisposition among heads of d~pa.rt THE REPORT OF THE .ADMIRALTY BOILER
of their volume in water with the kilogramme, is of special m ents or amongst workmen to ad opt the metre the conCOMMITTEE.
ad vantage for engineers' computations.
fusion which may at fi rst occur can be obviated by manageT o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
4. It is readily learnt, l?robably in one-tenth the time ment. Some outlay will be n ecessary, but in the long run
Sm,-Under the above heading Mr. J. Jenningsrequired t o master the Bntish tables.
there will be the r eturn, and if a comm encement be made Cat;npb~ll r,efers (on page 870 of your last volume) to an
5. I ts adoption progresses. 'l'he International Bur eau with n ew designR and series of machines, the incon venience art~cle ~n The E ngineer for January 30, 1891 (page 81),
mentioned above has not existed twenty years, but is, no will be slight.
Y our s faithfully,
whi~h ~ves an ac?O~nt of a paper r ead before the F r en ch
doubt, exercisin g con sid erable influence. In a paper
F. HowARU LIVENS, Assoc. :M. Ins t. C.E.
Ins t1tut10n of C 1v1l.E~gineers describing the (:oal trials
read before the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in
L incoln, July 3, 1893.
of a torpedo-~oat bUilt m F rance.
1865, M r Jt,ernie gives the following figures :
After quotmg som e very startling figures. your con.
1860. :Metric system in whole or partial use by populatemp<;>rary ,Proceeds to say that none of the speakers in
To
THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
ti on of 148 millions.
the du~cu~s10n seem ed t o be able to detect the locality of
Sm,-I
r
eply
to
Mr.
Ben
net
t
.
I
cannot
agree
with
The latest computation is:
h,im
t~a.t the on us. of the retention of our present atro- the error 1f there was one. This statem ent has probably
1892. ~Ietric system in use by population of 440 mous JUmble of weights and measures lies with the British t~rown ~our correspondent.off ~is guard; for the figures
millions.
g1 ven wtll not bear exammat10n. Possibly they are
manufacturE:r.
Mr. Fernie puts our export s thus :
I have not found for eig n agents to be so tenderly d is- wrong~y translated, but as they stand they lead to a
1853. Value of produce exported

posed towards my pocket as Mr. Bennett suggests a nd reductto ad absurdum .

to p opulations u sing the metre
32,000,000
Lines 1, 2, 3. a nd ,4 of ~he following T able are extracted
have frequently carried out their req uirements-gen~rally
1861. Value of produce exported
fad s which have only e nded in a loss. Yet I have n ever from Tke Engtneer s article. I have deduced t he others
to p opulations using the metre
43,000,000
been .ask.ed by. an agent to construc t a ny specialities to from the same sour ce.
The latest figures are:
metr1c dimen siOns, or to use metric weights in consignin g . The fi rst thing that s trikes on e on looking ab the Table
1891. Value of produce exported
them.
1s the remar.kab~e coincid en ce of the water evap or ated
to populations using the metre
154,000,000
If Englis h ~erchants abr~ad ~ill only ask for mach in ery p er h our, wh10h IS the same to an ounce on two separate
or one-half our whole expor t trade, and nearly th1ec- made to metnc measures, Enghsh manufacturers will not days . I say "to a n .ounce, " for I am dealing with a
fourtks of the 216,000,000l. exported to countries outside be so indifferent to their own interests as to r efuse.
report so exact as to g1ve the power to within .J th of a
the British possession s, t he r emainder being 62,000, OOOl.
h orse-power out of n early 120 indicat ed horse-p~:er !
I r emain, yours faithfully,
As the United States t ake of this 41,000,000{., but little
L.
H ETT.
Re~ults-~low Speed,
First
Second
being machinery, for engineers' work the figures will
Turbine Foundry, Brigg, July 4, 1893.
1. ConsumptiOn of coal p er
Day.
Day.
probably be still more favourable on the metric sid e.
hour
.. .
.. .
. ..
127 lb.
110 lb.
T he British system ca n by no stret ch of imagination
2. W ater p er h our . . .
. ..
1988
1988
be said to possess the above advantages; it is only conPNEUMATIC RIVETING MACHINE.
3. Indicate~ h~rse-power ...
119.95
112.33
venient within small limits. Inches are bandy for the
T o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
4. Coal per mdJCated horsetailor when measuring his customer, but h e buys by th e . SIR,-I h ave r ead M essrs. De Bergue's letter in your
xr;ower per hour ...
. .. 1.054 lb. . 979 lb.
yard, and his tape p robably is marked also in nails; 1ssue of the 23rd ulti., and also the one signed" Alpha " of
5 , y ater per pound of coal
the bricklayer uses a 2-ft. rule, but his work (in May 26 las t, to which the form er is a r eply.
'
' (line 2 -7- line 1)...
.. .
15.65
18.07

c.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
6. W ater
per indicat ed
horse power per hour
...
(line 2 7 line 3)
16.58
17.7
7. Water per indicated
horse-power if line 4 is
correct* .. .
...
.. .
11.75
12.65
8. Coal
per
indicated
horse power if line 2 is
correct* .. .
.. .
.. .
1. 38
1.47
* Assuming, a.s stated in the article, that the boiler
evaporated twelve times the weight of fuel.
The theoretical evaporati ve va.lue of the fuel is given as
sixteen times its own weight. The boiler efficiency,
therefore, works out to 100 15 65
97.8 per cent. the first
16
day-a sufficiently remarkable result.
On the second day, howt'ver, this record is broken, the
efficiency being 100 !~G07 = 112.9 per cent., or nearly 13

per cent. better than perfection!

L ower down, however, the article gives twelve tiwes the
weight of fuel as the rate of evaporation.
Since either the coal or water (perhaps both) must be
wrong, I have calculated lines 7 and 8, the former giving
the water per indicated horse-power if the coal is stated
correctly, and the latter the coal per hour if the mistake
lies in the coal record.
As with such a low ratio of cylinder volumes (2.48 to
1) the expansions could not be much more than 4, it is
very improbable that either the coal or water are so low
a.s stated. Wh en some of the figu res show a result better
than perfection, one may fairly doubt the accuracy of the
whole record.
It would be interesting to know the result if one of your
readers who has the opportunity would compare T he
Engineer's figures with the F rench originals.
At the end of the a rticle, after saying "the boiler
actually made 12lb. per pound of fuel, '' the writer says
"we may take the evaporation as more nearly 13 lb. than
12 lb., " because the feed-water was heated and the heating
surface large. I fail to see why this should alter the
measu red results.
INC'BEDULOt;S.

DIAGRAMS OF THREE MONTHS' FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES OF METALS.

(Specially compiled from Officiol Reports of L ondon M etal a111d Scotch Pig-Iron Warrant Markets.)

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

Ox the 4th inst. M essrs. R. Napier and Sons launched
from their yard at Govan a. steel cargo and passenger
screw st eamer named the Rameses, and built for the
M oes Steamship Company, L iver pool. This new steamer
has been specially designed by Messrs. William E splen
and Son, Liverpool, for the corepany's Mediterranean
ser vice, and is of the following dimensions : L ength
between p erpendiculars, 320 ft. ; breadth moulded, 38ft. ;
depth moulded, 24ft. 7 in. The machinery consists of a.
set of triple-ex pansion engines, and two single-ended
boilers designed for a working pressure of 200 lb. per
square inch.

J UNE,

1893.

8
5

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,~

STEERING IRONCLADS.
To THB EDITOR 01' ENGINEERING.
Sm,-I think it was Admiral Paris who found that by
backing his sails while the screw was going ahead, the
vessel could be turned on her own centre; the current
from the screw making the rudder as effective in steering
as when going full speed ahead .
Now, as our ironclads are not rigged, and there is no
foretopsail to back, we need an equivalent power for
rapid manreuvring. For this purpose we need four
screws, two at the stern and two at the bows, just abaft
the ram. With the two forward screws turning astern,
and the two stern screws turning ahead, all at full speed,
the rudder will be thoroughly effective, and the vessel may
be turned on her own centre.
It seems to be overlooked that t he power of the rudder
varies as the square of the speed. This fact justifies the
remark in y0ur leader of last week, that steering requires
power.
Yours truly.
THO)IAs MoY.
8, Quality court, \V. C., July 3, 1893.

MAY, 1893.

1893 .

APRIL,

ltR.

lt

111

~,,

~-

6
f.
i

If

l I

11

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11

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19

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77

,""'9

NoTE.-Each vertical line r epresents a market day, and each horizontal line represents 1s. in t he
case of hematite, Scotch, and Cleveland iron, and ll. in all other cases. The price of quicksilver is
per bottle, the contents of which vary in weight from 70 lb. to 80 lb. The metal prices are per ton.
Heavy steel rails are to Middlesbrough quotations.

consecutive steaming. The " Snow" pumps, with which dimensions are 175 ft. br. 26 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., and she ie
the <Jt~amer is fitted, for discharging either water ballast fitt~d with ~et ~of the bUilders' patent quad ruple-expansion
~Iessrs. G ray and Co., of \V est Hartlepool, launched on or petroleum cargo, were tried, and discharged part of the engtnes to md10ate 850 horse power.
the 15th ult. the s.s. Volute, for Messrs. M . Samuel and water ballast cargo at a speed of about 800 tons per hour.
Co., of L ondon. The vessel is intend ed for trading to
--At Renfrew, on July 5, Messrs. Wm. Simons and Co.
the East with cargoes of petroleum in bulk and bringing
The new steam yacht Cleopatra, of 660 t ons, the pro launched complete from their yard a large hopper steamer
general cargo homeward, and has been designed and party of Mr. John Lysaght, of Bristol, went full-speed for the Clyde Trustees. The leading dimensions of th is
built under the superintendence of Messrs. F lannery, and progressive trials on the 15th ult., in presence of Mr. b<?at are: L ength. 205ft.; b~eadth, 35 ft .; depth, 15ft.
Baggallay, a nd J ohnson, L ondon. She is 347ft. in length, G. L . \Va.tson, the designer, when a mean speed of 12~ 6 m. The hopper has a capa01ty for 1200 tons of mater ial.
45 ft. 6 in. beam, and 28 ft. 6 in. deep, and is dri ven by knots was easily attained. This is the fourth yacht builtJ Th~ vessel is l?ropelled by two ets of triple-expansion
engines taking steam from three boilers of extra large by M essrs. R amage and Ferguson, L imited, for Mr. enfmes and twm screws capable of steaming at a speed of
Lysaght.
power.
10 knots oer hour when loaded.

The s.s. Delaware, built by Messrs. David J. Dunlop

and Co., engineers and shipbuilders, Port-Gla~gow, to
the order of the Anglo-American Oil Company, Limited,
of London, for carrying petroleum in bulk between the
United States and Great Britain, successfulJ y underwent
her different trials on the 16th and 17th ult., when the
conditions required by the owners were fully carried out.
The principal dimensions of the Delaware are : L ength
between perpendiculars, S-!5 ft. ; b readth moulded, 44 ft. ;
and depth moulded to spar deck, 31ft. 6 in. The gross
dea.dweight on board at t he time of the trials was 5400
tons. The engines a re triple-expansion, and have cylinders
27 in., 43~ in ., and 70 in. 1n diamet er by 51 in. stroke. with
two Jarge donble-ended boilers, the working pressure being
160 lb. per square inch. The highest mean speed attained
on the progressive trials which t ook place on t he Friday was
fully 12.i knots, while this speed was easily sustained and
a full command of steam upheld during the six hours'

On Saturday, the 1st inst., there was launched from

the shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Edwards' Shipbuilding
Company, Limited, Howden-on-Tyne, a steel screw
steamer named P elotas, built for the Hambur~-South American Steamship Company. of Hamburg. The following are
the dimensions of hull : L ength, 280 ft.; breadth, 31 ft.;
depth moulded spar deck, 26ft. The bows are strengthened
to resist ice. The vessel is arranged to carry 500 emigrants. The engines and boilers are being built by Messrs.
George Clark, L imited, of Sunderland, and are of the
t ripleexpansion type, having cylinders 21 in., 34 in., and
56 in. by 39 in. stroke, steam being supplied by two steel
boilers of a working pressure of 160 lb. per square inch.
~.s. Archibald ~'"'innie. recen tly bullL by 1\I essrs.
~"'leming and Ferguson, Paisley, for Messrs. A rch ibald

The

Finnie and Son Kilmarnock, for their coasting trade, has

completed her loaded trial with satisfactory results. Her

==============~
QuERNSTO\VN 11. SoUTBA~tPTON M AIL R ouTE To NEw

Y oRK.-Mr. Chamberlayne, in the H ouse of Col1lmons

on Tuesday, asked the Postmast er-General which was the
more expeditious route for the deli\ery of mails between
London and X ew York, -vid QueeDf;town or vid Southampton, if the st eamers were of equal speed. Mr. A.
Morley answered, with st eamers of the same speed there
would be a slight advantage in favour of the Queenst own
route; b?t the advantage.diminishes as the speed of the
steamer In crease~. Allow10g 17 hours for the conveyance
of t he mails from the General Post Office, L ondon, to the
2acket at Queenstown, and four hours from the General
Posb Office, London, to the packet at Southampton the
adva.ntage in favour of Queenstown would be as foliows:
st eall:ling 16 kn~ts, 5 b. 41 min.; steaming 18 knots, 3 b.
50 mm.; stea~mg 20 kn.ot~, 2 h. 21 min.; steaming 22
knots, 1 h. 9 mm.; steammg 23 k nots, 36 min.

..

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

c0 N

THE ROBB-ARMSTRC)NG AUT01VIATIC ENGI NE.

T R u c T E D B y 1' H E R 0 B B E N c: I N E E R I N u c 0 M p A N y' A l\1 H E R T ' N 0

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engine which we illustrate on page 16, and on

this and the following pages, has been built by the
Robb E ngineering Company, of Amherst, Nova Scotia,
to the designs of Mr. E. J . Armstrong, and is a good
example of modern American p ractice in high -speed
steam engines. The general appearance of this motor
is well shown in Fig. 1, whilst the r emainder of our
engravings permit of the details of its construction to
be thoroughly appreciated. The frame, as shown in
lfigs. 2, 3, and 4, is of the Porter type, the metal
being arranged so as to take up the thrust and pull
between the crank and the cylinder as directly as
possible. The crank is of the double disc type, the
discs being of cast steel, and the pin and shafts of
forged steel. The main bearings, a s shown on F ig. 4,
are very long and are ground true. The bearing
material is Babbit metal fitted in cast-iron sheJls.
No provision is made for adjustment. The crank is

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shown. The valve gear is of the automatic expansion

type, worked direct from the governor. Details of the
valve and its connections ar e shown in Figs. 5 to 15.
The most interesting point is perhaps the method by
which the various joints between the valve-rod and
the governor are l ubricated. The pin by which the
eccentric-rod drives the vibrating beam between it
and the valve-rod is hollow, and is r eally a portion of
a sphere, as shown in Fig. 7. The interior of this pin
forms an oil cup, and lubricates the brasses of the
eccentric-rod t hrough a couple of holes in its sides.
'l'bese brasses being closed at the bottom, the oil can not escape from the bearing there, but does so through
the hollow eccent ric-rod , thus reaching finally the bearings of the governor. The connecting-rod has one marine
stub end, as shown in Fig. 21. Its brasses a.re shown in
Figs. 16 and 17. The crosshead (Fig. 22) is of cast
steel, of the slipper type, and is gripped to the pistonrod by !Deans of f~ur bolts. The piston (F ig. 15) is
of ca~t 1rou. Details of the stop valve are shown in
Figs. 14, 18, 19, and 20.

completely cased in, the cover being hinged at the

cylinder end, and access to the crankpin is easily
attained when required by raising this cover. The
crank is oiled by the oil which escapes from t he inner
ends of the main bearings; this is caught in recesses
formed in the crank discs, and passes to the cran kpin
through two inclined boles! in. in diameter, as shown.
It will be also noticed that each of t he main bearings
has t wo distinct bear ing bushes separated a small
distance at their centre. In this space is placed a loose
ring wh~ch dips into the oil ba.th ~elow, and running
round w1th the &haft returns th1s 011 to the bearing.
The bath aforementioned catches all the oil which eacapes from the main bearing, at any point save at it s
inner edge, and hence all t he oil ~oing on to the bearings
P ETROLEUM IN E CUADOR. -Ecua.dor is stated to be rich
must finallr reach ~he cra~kpm. On escaping from in petroleum. At present a good deal of the oil runs
~he crankp1n, the oil falls mto_ the crankpit, whence to waste in the sea, but a. syndicate has recently been
1t can be drawn off for fil tratiOn through the pipe formed for the purpose of turning it to better account .

[JULV 7,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
conditions of the labour market are not
such as to give general satisfaction. Depression is
more general than buoyancy in most industries.
Several circums tances hase been operating to t his end.
Failures in Australia, in par ts of America , and
currency troubles in connection with silver, are all
tending towards a crisis unfavourable to trade. In
the midst of all the prognostications of evil in the
present and the near future, some figures of a rea,ssuring kind have, however, been published- na.mely,
the dividends of some of the large steel firms in
the Sheffield district. Out of thirteen great firms
only one paid no dividend for 1892, the other twelve
paying from 20 to 4 per cent. One firm paid 4 per
cent., one 4~ p er cent., and one 5 per cent., all the
other.:~ r anging from 6 p er cent. to 20 p er cent. The
a.Yerage was not so high as in the two preceding years,
1890 and 1891, but, on the whole, the average last year
was good, especially considering the complaints which
were heard in the Sheffield dist rict. The one hopeful
circumstance in connection with these dividends is
that the outlook for the present year is not bad, in so
far as the present juncture is concerned. The work men scan these figures more closely than they did some
years ago, and when reductions are proposed they
naturally compare t he rates of wages with the div idends declared.

(For Description, see P crgc 25.)

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In the Sheffield and Rotherham district the iron and

steel t rades ma.nifeet a better tone. A new use of
the manganese steel invented by Mr. R. A. Hadfield
h reported. It is extremely tough and durable,
a.nd a. Sheffield firm ha.ve acquired the right of
manufacturing sp~des, .shovels, forks, &c., of i.t .
The prices of van ous klDds of steel mostly used m
the local trades are maintained at recent rates, so
that a material decline in orders is not expect ed .
There do not appear to be any serious disputes ia
any of the local ~rades, no~ a.r~ there any indications of matenal reduct10ns tn wages. T he
two things about wh ich the Sheffield workman
appears to be keen a.t the present time are t he marking
of goods especially whether hand made or machine
made, a.~d the question of a.pprcmticeships. On ~be
latter question some of the workmen are spea.kmg
rather severely, because of t he large supply o! boy
labour in several of th e local ataple trades. F tve or
six boys are often pu~ into a room wit? one work_ma.n,
who is supposed to mstruct them a.llm the detatls of
the trade, and earn his wages at the same time, without any advantage from the boys. Some adYoca.te the
r evival of the apprenticeship system under indenture,
for a. term of years. But this is scarcely possible,
in consequence of t he altered conditions of manufac
tur e. If the syst em is invok ed for prot ective purposes it will fail; but if intended to impro,e the taste
and skill of the workman, many will sympathise with
the movement. The days of close monopoly a.re over,
and the days of close tra~es a.re also over.. A r~turn
to the system is not poss1ble, but some mochfica.t10n of
it might be tried in many trades.

893

THE ROBB-ARMSTRONG ENGINE.

Tu ~::

The condition of the engineering industries of

Lancashire maintains the improvement recently noticed
in those important branches of trade. In the heavier
departments rather more act ivity is manifest, chiefly
on account of foreign orders, but hqme orders have in
no way declined. Boilermakers generally continue
to be well employed, but machine t ool -makers are
short of work. The general run of engineer ing
work is also quiet, as it has been of late. Though
there is nothing to report as to any great incr ease of
activity in the engineering industries, yet there does
not appear to be any further slackening off, the
t endency, indeed, being the other way. 1'he almost
total absence of labour disputes i n a.ll those branches
of industry is the one encouraging sign at the present
time, and leads to the hope of better trade i n the nea.r
future. The iron t r ade, also, has fair ly well maintained
the r ecent advance in pr ices, and there is generally a.
firmer tone, but the purchases have not kept up to the
recent increase, as present requirements seem to have
been satisfied. District makers of forge and foundry
iron appear to have well sold over the current three
months, so that they are firm as to the rates quoted.
Finished iron is still very quiet, no material improvemeut being observable . ln the steel trade a firmer
tone prevails, but prices are, or have been, rather
irregular. Steel boiler plates are still in demand, and
makers bold firm to recent prices. On the whole, the
state of the iron and steel trades, including the
' ' metal trades, " is better, and t he prospects seem to
be more favourable. If the coal crisis does not interfere with the engineering industries, the slight improvement recently manif~sted may still go ?n ; but
if the pits come to a sta.ndsttll, the whole of the 1ron and
steel trades of Lancashire will be adversely affected.
, 'o, also, with the great staple t rades of Lancashire,
the t extile industries, all of which just now are in a.
rather critical state, possibly more in anticipation of
evil than from any actual ca.usP..

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T he one disquieting fact in connection with the

northern iron and steel trades is that the employers
have given three months' notice to the secret ary of t he
Iron and Steel workers' Association for the termination
of the existing sliding scale for the regulation of ironworkers' wages. The employers in giving t his notice
state that it is their wish to be understood t hat it is
done mainly to give them the power of dealing with
various special matters in r ates and practice which
t hey consider require attention. Th e notice may not
mean very much, but it is ominous at the p resent
time.
If change! are to be ml.de in the North of England
scale, a fitting opportunity may present itself for some
amalgamation of the Northern and Midland scales, so
that the long series of disputes which have arisen or
threatened iu consequence of the divergence may be
set at rest. The greatest difficulty appears to be with
the men, but the employers are not quite at one on the
matter. In any case, if some real working compromise
could be agreed upon, the bone of contention would be
removed, and perhaps the sliding scale system might
all the better satisfy the demands of the men and the
requirements of the ironmasters in all the districts.
I n the Wolverhampton district the recent revival of
activity is well maintained, both on home and foreig n
account. Orders are coming in at a. good rate, and
specifications are r eceived for t he complet ion of old
orders. Prices generally are firm, with an upward
t endency. Steel manufacturers are pressed with orders
for sheets, bars, and billets. In the gal vanised branch
also there is activity, increased by demands from
America and Australia.

---

There is a. report to the effect that the iron and steel

mills of Pittsburg, United States, are to be closed,
35,000 men being t hrown idle thereby. T he employers
have demanded from 10 to 15 per cent. reduction,
which the men refuse t o concede. It is to be hoped
that the scenes of the Homestead strike will not be
re-enacted, a.nd that peaceable n ~gotiations will be
able to avert the calamity of so large a. cessation of
labour as is involved in the discharge of 35,000 men.
Labour in the States is rather in a state of unrest at
the present time.
The National Workmen's Exhibition, at the Royal
Agricultural Hall, was opened on Saturday last under
circumstances of an exceptionally favourable character.
It was thought that the consent of the Prince of
Wales to attend and open the exhibition was a great
piece of good fortune, but it wa.s scarcely expected
that the Princess of Wales, and the Princesses Victoria
and Maud, and also the Duke of York, would attend,
as was the case on the opening day. Their Royal
Highnesses were well received by a large and brilliant
audience, and a.ll appeared to be gratified with the
arrangements made, a.nd with the way in which they

' '

--- ..

--

were carried out. To the credit of the Blitish " ork

men and their friend s be it said that there was no
undue crowding, no extreme pressure on the R oyal
party in their progress through the hall. 1'he people
were as well-behaved as at a Royal le vee or Royal
gar den-party. The address of welcome by the London
Trades Council was a. model address, and H.R. H.
the Prince of '\Vales took up the points admirably.
The welcome accorded was by a verse of the
" Old Hundredth, " and the " Ode to Labour" was
splendidly r endered by the choir, conducted by Dr.
Wesley, who composed the music. I t v..as noticeable t hat the Princess of ' Vales expressed her
appreciation of the music, and of the performance
generally, while H.R.H. the Prince of Wales showed
his sense of humour by a genuine laugh when some
little hitch occurred in the formal procedure during
the ceremony. The exhibits were not all arranged,
but t he arrangement s were quite a.s forward as is
general on such occasions. In most respects the
exhibits are worthy of the design of the promoters,
some of the specimens of workmanship and handicra.fts
being t he best of the kind produced in the several
trades. There is a beautiful model of the ill-fated
Victoria.
In the discussion on the Estimates, which constituted
a. break and a r elief in the debates upon the Home
Rule Bill, the case of the underpaid workers in the
R oyal Arsen tt.l, the Royal Small Arms factories at
Enfield and '\Valthamstow, and in t he dockyards, was
brought before the House, with the resuH that the
Government was able to announce that some conces
sions had been made o.nd others were under considera
tion, especially a.s regards the wages of the unskilled
labourers, some of whose earnings are under 20s. per
week. The principle laid down by t he 'ecretary of
State for \Va.r was that greater efficiency must accom
pa.ny increased wages, and if th e experiment which
was being made led to greater efficiency, the advance
would be made a.ll along the line. Much will, there
fore, depend upon t he reports of the foremen and
superintendents a.s to the increased efficiency of the
men whose wages are advanced ; if the r esults are
satisfactory all will be well, and further concessions
are awaiting the experiment. If it be true that
greater efficiency has attended similar experiments
in private firms, as those who have tried it assert,
then there can be little doubt but that t he Go,,.ern ment workmen will equally succeed. The question
of shorter hours is still under consideration, but the
question of overtime is so far advanced that only under
grea.t pressure will overt ime be worked in the fu ture.
The men are impatient for an eight-hours day in some
of the departments, and a. movement is on foot to press
the question home. In the H ouse of Commons this
pressure from departments is r ather resented, for
members generally feel that they represent the
general public, and &ot sections ot Government
workmen merely. The representatives of dockyard

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

constituencies are bombarded by the agents of the

men, but the re presentatives of other constituencies
stand aloof from the pressure. A ny ~easonable co~
cession will be supported, but preferent1al treatment 1s
deprecated generally.

---

TRANSMISSI ON AND DISTRIBUTION OF

POWER BY COMPRESSED AIR.*
By

B .Sc., Member of Canadian

Society of Civil E ngineers.
THE paper commenced with a general review of the
subject. The author then made the. statement, on the
authority of Riedler, that compress~on by stagea a~d
the use of a. prehea.ter bef~r~ expan~1on had resulted ~n
obtaining 50 per cent. effimency ~1th ~otors used m
small industries, and 80 per cent. w1th. engt~es of a larger
power is devel~ped in the motor, whtle w1th th~ l~te~t
improvements m compressors and motors, and an ~nstgm
ficant amount of fuel in the preheater, he beh aved a
practical working efficiency of 100 per cent. ~uld b.e
obtained. P rofessor N iobolson then proceeded to m vesttgate the theory of this result.
The system of co~pressor air mai? p~eheater and
mot or is diagrammatically represented m F1g. 1, where a
is the compressor driven either by steam or water power;
b is the air main lead ing from t he central power generat
ing station to the distributi ng mains; c represents a
branch main taken off t o run a. motor d, and whteh. bef!Jre
supplying air t o the motor, passes through a small heatmg
stove or preheater e.
Compressors.-Considering the action of the compressors
first: Fig. 2 is a diagram supposed to have been taken
from air-compressor a and given for the purpose of comparing the a.monnts of work done when 1lb. of air is
compressed adiabatically and also i~other.mally.
.
If no heat be removed from the atr durmg compress10n,
it expands along the cur ve 1 2, whose equation is p v 'Y =
cons tant, and the work done is
JoHN

T.

NroHOLSON,

The oft-ex p ected but long-delayed crisis in ~h~ coal

trade is nearing t he acute s tage. The pre~1mmary
meet ing of a fortnig ht ago was followed on ~nday last
by a more formal meeting of the repres~ntat1ves of t.he
mineowuers an d of the miners, after whtch both parttes
reported to larger gatherings of their r espective bod ies
the result of t he interview. The coal owners met a nd
passed the following reslutions, which present the
whole asp ect of the case in a nutshell : "( 1) .That the
condition of the coal trade demand a reduction of 25
p er cen t. in wages, and that notices to t erminate contracts be given, with t he v~ew of obt~ining such reduction ; (2) that the comm1ttee a ppo10ted to meet
the miners' representatives having reported the result
of their conference, it is resolved tbat to ena.ble the
men's representatives to obtain in~ tructi ~ns ';I POll t he
application of the employers for a reduct10n ~ wages
of :l5 per cent., and the offer t o refer the d1spute to
arbitration the notices to terminate contracts be not
given befo~e July 8, a nd that they be given on that
date, t o terminate not later than July 28; (3) that the
committee already appointed be empowered to m eet
the men's representatives at any t ime, if necessary,
wi t hout calling a further meeting of coalowners." It
will be seen from the foregoing that the Llat e of the
p va - 'PIJ t '
notices, July 8, and the dat e of their termination,
'Y-1
,
July 28, afford ample tim e for an adjustment of the
dispute if t he men so agree. ' Vith t his view, arbitra- this is spent in increasing the intrinsic energy of the
t ion is proposed by the employers. Whether the men air; the t emperature rises from T o to
will accept or refuse arbit1ation remains to be seen.
-y- 1
Hitherto they have been somewhat aYerse to this
(1)

T
=To
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'Y

method, having repudiated it in outh ' Vales an d

elsewhere. The Minera' Federation have called a conference at Birmingham on July 19 to discuss the whole where p va T and po Vo T o are the pressures, volumes, and
situation, and agree upon t erms if they can, or a line absolute temperatures of t he air at the points 1 and 2
respecti vely.
of policy in the event of a struggle. Much depen ds
When the exhaust opens, the temperature of the air
upon the temper a nd judgment of t hat importan t falls to that of t he reservoir, which is T o ; the air gives u p
conference.
heat of the amount Kp (T - T o ). while the piston does
T he threatened reduction in miners' wages is a large the work p (va - Vi ) t o keep up the pressurE\; the state
one, 25 per cent. R ut the net result would only of the gas is then represented by point 3. Dnring stage
about equalise the federation dis tricts with t he 3, 4, the piston deh vers the pound of air at constant
other p arts of the r.ountry. The decision was not un- pressure and temperature, work of amount p Vi being
expected; the only q uestion was w het her the r educ- done. Part of the work done by the piston was, howtion should be 20 per cent. or 25 per cent. The ever, effected by the atmospheric pressure on the other
so that the whole work supplied through the pistonfederat ion appear to have m ade a rather singular side;
rod of the compressor is
offer to the mineo wners, namely, that the 40 p er cent.
'Y
advance should n ot be touched, that it sh ould form the p Va- Po Vo
+ p Vu - Po Vo ::::; )' _ 1 (p Vu - r o Vo ) (2)
'Y _ 1
basis of prices, and t hat the men would n o t seek any
advance on that rate, however the prices of coal might This m ay be p ut in the form
a dvance. There were too m a ny problematical circu m'Y
stances a bout the offer for it to be accepted. Beside~,
-y _ 1 c (T - T o ) .
.
.
{3)
the wa.ges had gone down in Durham, Nor thumberC'Y
.
land, South '\ales, and in Scotland, and until there and as Kp = 'Y:
, we see that the whole work done m
1
was a r eturn of prosperity, the lower rated d istr icts
would be able t o compete with th e h igher r ated clis- the adiabatic compression and delivery of 1lb. of air iR
tricts, and t a ke all the cust om and cont ract s. The equa.l to the heat generated during stages 1 2 and 2 3,
abstracted during stage 2 3, and lost in the reservoir
conditions would be unequal, and most likely disastrous when, as is usually the case, this is of large dimensions.
to all concer ned, coalowners and miners a like, for if Inserting the value of T from expression (1) in (3) we
the former could not sell t heir coal, the latter would obtain for the work of adiabatic compression and deli very
uot be called upon t o p roduce it. Mineowners would in t he compressor
not be a ble t o sell, and the miners would be idle, the
.( p ) 'Y - 1 .
pits beiug a t a standstill. Several proposals are being
-y - 1
(4)

s uggested wit h the view of checkmating the coalPo

owners, one of which is to get the Durham and Northumberland men to strike for 15 p er cent. advance in
vVhen, on the other band, compression takes ~lace at
w ages, and t hat t he outh Wales men should also give constant t emperature the work done by the ptst on is
notice of a de mand for an increase in wages. .But
these are rat her wild proposals. 'l'he latter ar e b ound po vo logc ~- During delivery a. further arr.ount p Vi is
by a sliding scale, and they cannot t hrow it on one done ; and subtract ing the work Po Vo d ue t o the back
side. The Durham a nd Northumberland men will
not care to enter into the conflict, in order t o pressure, as in the last case, we obta.in p o Vo logc !!._ for
relieve the federation districts. Some of the more the work of isothermal compression and delivery oli lb. ;
pronoun ced men advocate a general strike, in which the or
c )al p orters would join. But the more pnldent men see
vVc i = c T o log~: P
(5)
gleams of hope in the offer of arbitration, and pro

Po
bably many will support the reference as the best way
out of a terrible difficulty, even if doubtful of its final
Referring again to Fig. 2, the cycle is now 1345 instead
of 12345, and the work done is seen t o be much less, owing
resulta.
There is one aspect of the case w hich w ill probably to the fact tha t t he pressure of the air is kept down by
d <c de the matter, in so far as the decision of the abstracting heat as fast as it is generat ed, so that the state
miners is concerned. At the present time many thou- of the working substance is represented by the curve
sands of minera are idle, and many thousands mor e p v = a constant. It is obvious then that, i f the air is t o
be transferred t o some distant point before doing work in
are only partially employed .
Those idle get no the motors, the most economical way of compressing it is
wages, and no support from the unions ; those partially t he isothermal mode ; and th is has long been acted on in
employed only get wages for t he work put in, and practice by the use of cooling jackets round the cylind er
of ten this is less in amount tha n strike p ay. Their and even in the piston. }f or the purposes of a central
position is consequently worse in reality than it would compressing station, however, this is far from an efficient
be if t he men were on strike, a nd were receiving full plan ; and is only to be recommended for mining plants
strik e pay. If, therefore, they were m erely r eckless where the injection of a spray of cold water is impossil::le
in t heir opposition to a ny reduction, they may vote owing to its impurity or to great undesirability of any adfor a strike. On t he other hand, the general run of the d itional mechan ism.
Even with the very best forms of spray injectors now in
men a re more thoughtful and prudent, and would,
use, the equation t o the cur ve of compression is altered
perhaps, prefer the chance of more work at even less only from p vu to p v 1. 2 inst ead of p v = a. constant.
pay t o the doubtful issue of a. long contest. The
leaders will influence the decision on t hose points, and
* Abstract of paper read before the Canadian Society
it is to be hoped t hat they w ill do so wisely and well.
of Civil En gineers.

'*

This is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 7, the latter of whio~

shows a combined high-pressure and low-~res.sure car
taken from an air cchnprersor by Messrs . .Rtf'dtnger and
Co. in Augsburg, Germany, w ho are no~ m the foremost
rank of constr uct ors of this class of ma~hmery.
The most successful way of preventmg the acc~mu 1a.tion of heat in the compressors is to do the work m two
(or more) stages by allowing the air, a ft er its .pressured.has
risen a certain amount, to flow throue-h an mterme tate
receiver of sufficient capacity to cool 1t almost down to
the temperature of t he atmosphere, so tha~ when drdwn
into and compressed to the fin~l am?unt m a secon or
high-pressure cylinder, its state 1s aga~n represented by a.
point on the i~otherma~ of atm?sphen~ tempera.t ure.. A
theoretical dtagram , lllustratm g th1s case, 1S gt ven
(Fig. 4).
.
.
h
1'
b .
H ere the cur ve 1 2 is adtabltJC, t e .coo mg etng. sup
posed ve~y slight,. from 2 to 3 he~t ts abstract ed. m an
intermediate rece1ver, called an mtercooler, unt1l the
t emperature fallJ t o T 0 ; L ine 331 ~r 3'3 repre~ents the de
livery of the air at a pressure -p, m~o the h1gh:pressure
cylinder, in which a further ad1abat1c compression Uf to
the pressure p takes place, as shown by .curve ~ 4. The
part 4 5 and 5 6 needs no further explanat10n, be1~g of ~h~
same nature as already explain ed in connection Wtth
}fig. 2.
k'
. h
11
If the efficiency of a compressor wor . mg 1sot erma . y,
and which, therefore, wastes no e?ergy m ~seless beatmg
of the air to be afterwards lost m the mams, be denoted
by 100, then the efficiency of what. we shall ca11 Case I.,
a simple adiabatic co~pressor, ~ 11 be found to be 74~.
This is obtained by fi ndmg the rat1o of the. areas 13~5 a nd
12345 in F ig. 2, whi ch represents the c~se m qu~t10n, or
we may fi nd it a nalytically by evalua.t10~

-y-1
WC i
Wc a

= loge '1'/

--y--1

- 1

(6)

Where r = p/po

In this case r being 7

1.9459
= 0. 744.
111 =
3.5 [7286 - 1]
Case !I.- For a simple compressor with !pray in jection,
thEI efficiency is (see Fig. 3) 84! per cent., or
2 _ W ci _
- W Cp -

logc r
n- n

n
u - 1

1.0459
6 (7166 - 1]

= 0.85 (7)

ll

- 1

if n = 1.2.
Case III. - Si:nilarly in the case of two-st age adiabatic
compression the efficiency obtained from F ig. 4 is 86.2 per
cent. The pressure (p1 ) in the intercooler is t o be chosen
so as to make the work done in the two cylinders a
minimum. This work is expressed by

w ... = c T .

1'

~1 [

c:: )

1'

~ 1 + U.f ~ 1

(8)

which being differentiated and equated to nothing gives for

the value of the receiver pressure Pt = ,Jpo p .
In that case (8) becomes
'Y2-y
j)
2 1- 1
(9)

W 2 a c = C T o '}' _ 1 [ ( j )o )
'Y

Hence 'Yl:1 =0.862 as above.

Case IV.-La.stly, taking the case of three-stage corn
pression with spray injection, which would only be
resorted to for the largest plants, we can obtain an efficiency as per Fig. 5, o~ 95. 5. ~r cent.
A nalytically determmed 1t ts
11-l

'7.1= logc 1'

3n [
( n-:-1 r

3"

1. 946
- 1 = i8[7056- 1]= 0. 95 (10)

That these efficiencies are not mere figures deduced

by analytical special pleading, and which are utterly
distant from practical results, is evinced by examination of cards taken from actual compressore~. The first,
Fig. 6, is from Riedler's first twostage compressor, made
on trial for tha Paris installation by altering a Cockerill
machine. It gives a. ratio of actual work t o isothermal
work of 0.9.
The other, Fig. 7, is taken from an experimental twostage compressor built by M essrfl. Riedinger to the designs
of Mr. Lorenz. Its fi~re is 0.91.
These results show how nearly the cycle of a welldesigned compressor, with corrt'ctly proportioned valves,
first-class valve gear, and good jet inject ion, will ap=
proach to the theoretically predicted card.
Figs. 8 and 9, taken from Riedler's '' Kraftversogung, "
~bow diagrams from the older machines of Paxman and
Cockerill. The inefficient cooling and illproportioned
vaJ ve gear are the causes of the large amounts of lost
work shown. Their efficiencies are 0.68 and 0.728 respectively.
F igs. 10 and 11 are diagrams from one of the 2000
h orse-power compressors, which ha.Ye been working at
the new Central Station at Quai dl::} la Gare, Paris, sin ce
the spring of 1891.
As t o losses in transmis~ion, experiments on pipes 1ft.
in diameter showed a loss of 2330 cu bio feet of air at
atmospheric pressure per mile p er hour, or 8 per cent.
This was reduced to 4 per cent. when the velocity of the
air was increased t o 30ft. per second. The pipes were of
cast iron with plain ends~ and better results could un
doubtedly be obtained witn different pipes.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
The further results on this loss are shown in the figure
-y- 1
on the ?pposi te page.
W ma = c T o 'Y
( ~) 'Y
(18)
. In F1g. 1~, curv~s hav~ been drawn co-ordinating the
'Y- 1
PI
sizes of mam reqUired w1th various initial velocities for
If the motor were a.s good as J?OSsible, so that the air
1000, 2000, 5000, and 10,000 horse-power.
The lower curves show the loss of pressure per mile in expanded isothermally, heat bemg added from the store
perc~ntage of the original pressure for all the cases. in the atmosphere, it would do the work
T~kmg, . e._g:, the 101000 horse-power curves, we find that
W Ill = c T 0 1oge P~

(19)
w1th an .m1t1al velomtv of 45 ft. per second, and a conse}Jo
g~e~t dtameter _of 2ft. for the main, the percentage loss of
mtttal pressure ts 3.3 per cent. per mile.
The efficiency of the simple adiabatic motor is therefore:
Motors.-The air having now artived at the motors
'Y - 1
ma.~ .be allowed to .expand adiaba.ticalJy, i .e., without
addttton of. ~eat! or 1t may ~e warmed during expansion
'Y 12!.. ) 'Y
by a spray IDJectlo~ ; or . aga.m it may be worked in two
'Y] = Vfm
_ll 'Y - 1
\ Ps
. (20)
stage~ and warmed m an mterruedia.te recei ver of sufficient
\V rl i.
logc '!!..
capa~1ty. The best m~de of using the air, however, is to
Po
pass 1t _thro.ugh a heatmg st?ve ~r preheater, and begin
expans10~ m the .motors wtth atr at as high a temperaIn this case P and Po are 6. 5 and 1 respecti \'ely, I!O that
ture as ts oonvement, the expansion afterward taking
- 3.5 ( 1 - .154- ~81; )
place along the adiabatic curve. If the motor be large
?7i :8718 - = 77 per cent.

J,

[1-

[1 - (

the simple adiabatic compressor (Case I. ) is then

0. 77 X 0. 964 X 0. 744 = .554,
Allowing 0.85 for the mechanical efficiency of this prime
mover driving the compressor, and 0. 9 for that of the
motor, we have 0.85 x .5n4 x .9 = .423 for the total
efficiency of the system. Or 42 per cent. of the work
indicated in the steam engine is delivered on the brake a.t
the motor.
Case II.- vVith spray injection, but otherwise as in last
case, the work would be
n-1

('Po) "J

Wm, =cTo

n [ 1- n-1
r.
whertj n ma.y be from 1.25 to 1.4.

. (23)

Case III.- In a compound motor the air is exhausted

out of the first cylinder into a la.rge receiver a.t atmospheric
temperature, and is thus, or by mixing with a jet of spray,
raised in temperature (nearly ) to that at which it entered
from the mains; which, if no preheater be used, will aleo
be that of the atmosphere.

Va- ..

J:.ig. 1.

,.,

Vi

0
0

'

'

t::u

..

. .~

0
0

et
'+ - ..

V;
4
: Va: . 4

Vcr...

- ....

. .

V';

......

"..l

F ig . 2.

7
0

~--------------------------------------------~1 7 :

I
I

I
I
I

'

~ I

L--'- ----- --- -- -- _

t

-- -

--- -- -

,6,r-o-----------------
'

.. - - - - -

--- -- -

v -- -- -

-- ---

-- -

---

Vo . .... .......... ... ................ . . ................

-L -~
-~
I

0
0
0

__t

-
.

lfj; D ...... .. . - . . ........... . .

-

..... ..

..

... -

Va

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

- .. .

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

I
I

0
0

I..,,

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

''

' '

I
I

Fig. 5.

,,

, '

'

'

,
,
,

Fig . 3.

,
,
,

, ,'

'--~~~~--------------------------

'--~-=~~~:~:_~~~------------------------- 5
. .,,..
.. -

'

~ L6J! ~- . - _ _ .

..

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

'Y (p,
- -y-1
'Y

-y - 1

VJ -

j)o 1'c

c (T, - Tc )

(15)

(1G)

As bE'fore

In this case thE\ work done in the high-pressure C'Y

This is illustrated by Fig. 1~, where the white card
is that expected from the motor ; the shaded areas linder is
-y -1
show the losses in compressor, mains, and motor respecI
-tively.
'Y
P
1'Y P t, - p' v' c ) = c Tu 'Y

If there were no fall of pressure in the mains, expres

-y - 1
"! - 1
p,
sion (18) would be changed to
'Y - 1
That done in the low-presEure cylinder is
(21 )

W ma=c T 0
'Y
'}'
1- Po
'Y (p' v' ~ - j)o Vo )
C To
'Y- 1
p'
so that the air ~ains in volume by its fall in pressure, the 'Y - 1
effect due to p1pe friction being to make the rate of ~x
The work done by both is
pa.nsion in the motor less. The ratio of the works done
in two perfect motors working one with and the other
W mta =
without loss by pip~ friction is
'Y -1
'Y-1
p'
'}'
p'
'}'
eT
2'Y
(24)
'Y -1
)Je
P
(22)

[1- (J:o-)

J,

-y -1

Te =To

po )
P /

"Y

(17)

If p

= 7 and p

= 6.5 this ratio is 1.9459

~87~

= 0.964.

The total thermodynamic efficiency of the system or the

so that expressed in terms of P~ }>o. and To, the work done
ratio of the indicated work of the motor to that done on
during 'abiabatic expansion in the motor ie

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

enough to warrant the necessary primary outlay, it should

indeed be heated twice ; being deliv~red by the high
pressure cylinder at a pressure of two or three atmospheres,
again passed through a beater and expanded in a large cylinder until its pressure falls to that of the atmosphere.
Consider then, Case I., Fig. 13, a. simple motor with no
preheater, no injected spray-i.e., adiabatic expansion.
The a.ir enterB the motor from the mains at pressure,
volume, and t emperature denoted by p , v, To . It does
work of amount
..l P v, Po V r - p J V e
,.
-y- 1

If p~ be taken equal to 'p, Po , which gives maximum

wo~k m the motor a.nd equal power developed in each
cyhnder; t.hen
j' -1

1-

2 'Y

(25)

jULY

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

7, 1893.]

If this t wo-stage motor ba supposed supplied from a

three-stage compressor working with spray inj ectio_n
(Case IV. of compressors) the total thermodynam10
efficiency

= 0 T,. - 'Y - 1 -

2-y

1_

'Y - 1

2 ')'

Pn

'Y - 1
'Y

po
lh

engine was found to give 0.64 horse-power on the motor

brake. With preheating to 400 deg. Fahr. we getd1d..~
horse-power. H ence we get 0.39 horse-power by an a 1
tional expenditure of 0.3lb. of coal, or

"Y
-y -1

~- 1

w e

a a

~ = 0.78lb. of coal per horse-power per hour.

.39
1 = ,..,fp,p-;is
p,
'Y-1
and
the
total
work
when
p
It will be remembered that it was found advantageous
7_(1 - .1114 .H2 J
796
t=
in the compressor to keep down the te~p~ratur~ by abs18 [7056- 1]
n1
2
3n
~'
1}Jo
. (26)
tracting beat during compression, wh1<:h 1s dehvered t_o
W m 2r-- aT 1'
r
3
n
-1
n- 1
I'- 1
P
natural reservoirs such as water or a~r at atmospher1c
temperatur e. Similarly we ~ee that 1~ the motor the
So that the work done increases pro12ortionately to the most economical mode of dmng wor_k 1s to kee.p up to
and the total working efficiency- . 765 x 796 = 0. 61.
Case IV. -Let 1lb. mass of air arriving from the m.a ins rise of absolute temperature. Fig. 16 Illustrates a three- the isothermal curve as much as p ossible by addmg beat
in the state JJs v, T o be heated at constant pressure m a stage motor.
d uring expansion from these sam.e ~at':'ral sources, water
and the atmosphere, either by m~ ectmg a spray or by
using an interwarmer at atmosi?heric tem{>erature.
,- -'7
6
The following is the practiCally reah.sed data for a
Fig. 1().
I
motor of one brake horse-power : The. air can be heat ed
I
I
from 60 deg. up to 400 d eg. :fah~., With a etov~ wh?se
I
I
I
s
4S Revs. per mtn
external dimensions are 8 m. m dtameter a:nd 12 1n. h1gh
I
'
at an expenditure of 0.44 lb. of coke screenmgs per hour ;
838 Cub. F.t per H. P. per h:
/H. P. Ciyl.
while for a motor of 40 horse-power .the J?reheat er n e~d
I
4
I
only be 16 in. in diameter and 28 m . high, and w1ll
''I=
(11
' trequire only 0.22lb. of fu el per horse-po~~r per hour.
'V/
ill=
'X)fi/
':\./1
'l'he possibility of the sub~equent a~d1t10n of en~r~y at
Fig . 6
.
3
. Cl
~~~
such an insignificant cost 1s. a. speCial cbaractenst1c of
h- \)0.
t,'f\qf/ /
this system of energy transmiSSIOn . . S_ucb a supplement
""''""
ing charge can indeed _only b~ admimstere~ when corn
f~J'"' , "\ ~'?. / L . P. Cyl.
2
pressed air is the workmg flUid ; and by th1s means J?Ot
,,*"' ~'""'
~only can the he9:t uselessl.Y produced at the generatmg
IAtm
station and lost m the mama be made good, but, as has
r1
j ust been shown, more heat may be added than was
11
originally lost, and the motor. t;nay at a very .small
I
0
expense, and without any add1tlonal trouble or mcon'
venience, give out more power than was spent on the
compressor.
.
With regard. to the amount o~ prebeating to be
I
'
resorted t o, th1s depends on the s1ze of moto~ and the
I'
'
desired t emperature of exhaust . If the motor I S a large
Fig . 11.
and powerful one it may be advisable to use two heaterfl,
Fig. 7.
I
6
both a preheater' and an interheat er. For motors of
I
,
10 horse-power and under, how~ver, one will .usu9:lly l?e
,
62 Revs. per m1n
sufficient. If the air enters wtthout preheatmg 1t w11l
I
Jl Cub. F.tper If. P. per h:
be exhausted at t emperatu res from 10 deg. to 25 deg.
/ lf.P. Cyl. s
I
Fahr. in which stat e it ruay be used for cold storage or
I
other ~imilar purposes. This is largel~ the case in. Paris,
I
.....
where in many r estaurants and cafes .au motor s. d~t ve the
dynamos for Jightin.g, and the escapmg cold a.u 1s after
wards led into refrigerators for obvi?US purposes. C~m
<>~~ ~/
J
fectioners, again, use the m?tor d':'rmg th.e day to.drive
1617
~ a:'Q . q~P
~ \,
~ ...
the mixing and other machmes, hght _the1~ shops m the
I-1
..: ls9, /
L P. 0'
evening, and use the exh~us~ for makmg ICe.. The ex
z
. 4: ;Jt"'
, ,
bausting of clean cold a1r mto a workshop 1s a great
., .. ~ ""'

ad vantage in a bot cli~ate. If, on the other h~nd,
.
~

- --- -recourse is had to a cons1derable amount of preheatmg,

I l
the air will be exhausted at or even above atmospheric
i

=.

I
I

~~/

"'

--

~ ~

_1

I
I

~~

Fig. 8 .

I I

ill
1617 H

11

iI

I Ii

'\

'

25

'

' '

''

''

' '

""'

~~

'''

15

'()~

Fig. 3.

..........

....

'

' '...........

'

.. ...

'

...

'.

...... /oa
........... <::]0
...._ ..~ ~ .

'

~. ,

tl.' .p

~Q

..

...

,,..

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

..

- ... ------.

~ -

--- -.....

H . p

i- ..

-.. - - 20

. ;0
......: r..

-~

.... . . . _

K . ..

15

~--.

, 2000
_.. "
10
"

'
-- -- --... :/....
-..... --

7 _,.
- "'"'
--- ....-- .:::-. - _
-
-
... , ...

/./

f--

-......c:_qoo
- ..

!'---

...._

r--......... .

........,sooo

,0

ma1ns .

F0 f2.

-........;:

''

lfl

f"--.... .:....

I
/

r--...

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

~~

'

',

' ,

- I

CJ!

'

""".

percentaQe- I os.s 0 F f)ressure

Curves 0

~
V
,

....
_____........,. ..... ,..
..
..... - -. - -- . __.. .--

- r r tll pt iiiU.IIIn llf f

. ------

I:S;~611 I
.,..,

c:::) t~. In Feet

10

...

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

....

~-

.--- --

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

-------

IS

20

small stove t o a temperature T,., so that its volume

T he ratio of the work indicated here by the motor to
increases t o
that indicated in the oompressing cylinder is
T ,.
"Y - 1
Vr = Vs 2
To
c T r y :!_
(~ ) 2y
If the expansion be adiabatic the work done in the high.
1'/t =
. (27)

pressure cylind er is
n -I
3
To
2 n- 1
n - 1
if T,. = 400 + 461 and To = 60 + 461, then
1'}
861 X 7 (1 - .154.142 )
1. 306
521 X 18 [70:>6 - 1)
and the total efficiency of the system is,
L et the air then exhaust into the l )W pressure cylind er
1'/t = .765 X 1 306 = .999 j
pa.sbing through a second small heating stove on its way, against this must be set a. quantity of coal, which by exand thereby being raised in t emperature again to Tr .
periment has been fou nd to be about 0.3 lb. per horse
The work done in the low-pressure cylinder with power hour.
t d iabatic expansion down to t he atmosphere will be
Without prehea.ting, 1 horse-power in the distant steam

[1 n[r --

...

25

--

30

35

~~

~-~

".--- .-

. ,... .

___ _........ .

.
.- -

........

... ..

sooo
5
10000

45

temperature, and with a large motor, enough warm fresh

air may be obtained t o serve in winter for heating and
ventilation.
In concluding this part of the paper it will be well to
recapitulate in brief the several efficiencies of the different
parts and the combined efficiency of the whole system for
one or two of the cases most likely to occur.
The mechanical efficiency of the compressing machine
may be safely taken to be 0.86 ; the Paris installation
compressors gave this r esult, and with the new 2000
horse compressors Riedler has obtained 0.9. A turbine
will give from 0. 75 to 0.8 for the sam e ratio.
~be thermodynamic efficiency of the compressors is for
a. smgle-st age compressor with spray injection 0.85, and
for a twostage compressor 0. 92.
The loss in the mains, due t o leakage and fall of pressure for a five-mile transmission, may be put at 3.8 per
cent., so that the efficiency of the mains is 0. 962.
The t~ermodynamic e!ficiency of a simple adiabatic
motor w1thout preheat er 1s 0. 77 ; of a. two-stage adiabatic

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

30

The schedule of annual charges will run somewhat

The mechanical efficiency of th e turbine or steam engine
is h ere left out, a.s it will be allowed for in the estimated like this :
cost of a. horse-power delivered to the compressor.
,
Fixed
Expenses
:
T he author then proceeded to contrast the cost of
dole.
oompressed air ,and power derived from other means.
3.50
Boilers...
.
..
..
.
.
..
.
..

For small consumers he determined it to be 33.33 dols.

1.20
o.iler
and
en~ine-house a.n~ chimney ...
B
per annum for air required to deliver one brake horse... 2.23
Trrple-expans10n steam engmes ...
power. This assumes the cost of compression by waur
1.10
...
Corn
pressors
..
.
..
.
..
.
.
..
t o be 25 dols. per horse-power, and the cost of plant
...
0.56
M ai ns (12 in . in diameter)...
. ..
90 dols. per barse-PQwer.
Running Expenses :
... 8.28
...
. ... .
Coal ...
1.00
.. .
...
...
0 il wast e, &c.
2.46
...
Attendance ...

motor, 0.9; of a. simple prehea.ted motor, 0.8 to 0.9; and

of a two-stage prehea.ted motor, 1.1 to 1.3.
The total efficiency or ratios of the brake horse of the
motor to the horse-power used in the compressors for the
two cases which we have to consider in estimating t he
tinancia.l possibilities of a. pneumatic power supply are
therefore as follows :
Case I. -Turbines driving best compressors, power
transmitted through ti ve miles of main, largest air motor
for faotory, with two-stage heater,

..

..

...

'

4')

Fi.g.17.

Fig .13.

20.33
The total cost to the Central Station Company of one
compressor horse-power is thus 20.33 dols., which includes
5 per cen b. interest on t heir expended ca.pi tal of 71. 37 dols
per horse-power.
This outlay is made up as follows :
dols .
... 25.00
High-pressure boilers and setting
11.00
...
H ouses and chimney
. ..
.. .
... 18.75
Triple engines and setting
.. .
... 10.00
Corn pressors. ..
. ..
. ..
.. .
6.62
...
Mains. . .
...
...
...
. ..

Cl~

.
'

I
'

'

' I'

'

I
I

'

I~------------~------~

'

.
I

'

I : ,'

~ -------

t.. -"1..1.

~-----

----

....... 0

..

Q:
'
.i .... - --- ------------------------- ;

..

- - - - - -- -

/6n K

Total

''

Fig . 14-.

JH . P.MoroR

1~

".... . 1------v____:.
e '" '""
:

V' ~

'

'

-~

/617 0

.. .of "--,- - - ..... - - - - - - - - _)/--.. - --- ---------------.. ---- - - - - - ---- - ..--

- - .-- -- -">'
1/
.. . .
,.,

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

VO

:f'i.g. 1/J. 4IJ H. P.

MOTOR

Spr/ng,4'Smm .. , ng. Press ut'( '" ma,ns, GAtm.

l
'
'I 'I

' '

'

I
I

'I

''
I

''

' I
'

'

Fig . 16 .

.,

'
'

'

~ .

'

'

''
'

.
..

'

'

''

'
I

II

Fig. 20.
/
)

t'

' I'

' '

lo/ 1 P
Q'

t .

I '
.1.

'- ----------.. . - -.'11------. ------------------- - .......

I --- - - ..... ......... -- Vo - .. ..............

'

/ J /7 ,

.,-.

o
I

'
'
I

'

'

'o

) I

Cl:.
:
J- t.;.- --- - .. - - --- ______ i _- ----- ------ --- -- - - .. - - -- - -- -1(- - - Vo
-- - - - - A
0

:1:

1617

71.37

SouTH AERICAN FREE STATE- In connection with a. recent discussion in the Raa.d of the South Africa.nFreeSte.te,
on the subject of railway extension and the appointm ent
of a representative commission to deal with the matter
and report to the Raad, the Mayor of Kimberley has left
for Bloemfontein to advocate the extension from the point
of view of G riqua.land West. Mr. G. McFarland, chair
man, and one of the trustees of the Kroonstad Ooal
E state Company, is abo now in Bloemfontein for the
purpose of ad vocating the construction of a.link line t o
connect the Free S tate m ain trunk line "'ith the compA.ny's Vierfontein and other extensive coal measures.

--

...

: ~------------.-------------~
'I
Cl..o

'o

...

Allowing 5 per cent. more on this, or 3.57 dols., we

have a total of 2~ .!)0 dols. ; which is the pric~ at which
the Central StatiOn Company can supply a.tr for one
horse-power, and secure at the same time 10 per cent.
interest on th eir capital outlay.
The easy inference from this is that 500 consumers in
this city, of an average of four horse-power eacb, would,
by forming themselves into a Oentra.l Power Supply
Company, reduce their power bill by from 45 per cent. t o
75 per cent. It ought to be m entioned that the lower
limit of saving just mentioned, assumes that the con
sumers' steam engines, which, without alteration, will
serve equally as air motors, have a present value of
S~.00 dols. per horse-power. The author then concluded
this admirable paper with the prediction that compressed
a.ir would soon displace steam m the large citiel!.

- -)1

'

I
'
'

...

f(

Rasily possible :
0. 92 X 0. 96 X 1.25 = 1.1
Actually done :
0.90 X 0.9G X 1.16 =1.0
Case !I.-Turbines driving best compressors, power
transmitted and distributed by 7i miles of main, mediumsized simple air motor with preheater,
0.92 X 0. 94 X 0.87 = 0.75.
Case III.- Triple-expansion steam engines driving best
compressors a.t ce_ntral sta~ion in or near oi ~y, power distributed in five m1les of mam and consumed m an average
simple prehea.ted m otor,
0.92 X 0, 96 X 0. 87 = 0, 76.

The running expense of the above will be 1.10 dols. per

annum per horse-power, and the total 37. 73~dols. per onebrake horse-power; this assum es working for 10 hours per
day for 308 days. Of course if only half-power is used,
the price will be reduced almost proportionally, and the
same is true of intermittent work, for only the air passing
through the meter is charged for. As horse-power in
Montreal varies from GO dols. to 120 dols., the abo Vf~
shows a saving of from 22 dols. to 39 dols , according to
the amount used.
The author then considered the question of generating
power from a. central station near the city, by means of
first-class triple-expansion steam engines and first-class
compressors; and distributing the same to customers in
a main of a l~ngth of two miles for eaoh 2000 horse-power,

THF. LATE lYIR. H ENRY GILL.-A movement is now on

foot in Germany to erect a bronze bust (larger than life
size) of the late Mr. Henry Gill a.t the new B~rlin Water
Works at Mueggel-See which are being erected from his
designs. It was his great wish that be should see the.
completion of these works, a. wish which, unfortunately,
was not granted to him. An appeal is made to his
friends and professional brethren to contribute to this
fund, so that it may be p ossible t o erect a. monument
worthy of him. The banking firm of D elbrueok, L eo, and
Co., Mauerstrasse, 61-62, Berlin, is prepared to receive
con tri butions.
_,

__

T HE U SE OF THE WALLSEND P ONTOON AT CARDIFF.An interesting piece of work has recentlY been performed
on the Wallsend pontoon at Cardiff. The s.s. Borghese,
owned by Messrs. Raeburn and Verel, of Glasgow, and of
dimensions 289ft. 6 in. by 35ft. 4 in. by 25 ft. 9 in.,
carrying a. full cargo of 2400 tons, whilst coming up the
Bristol Channel on Thursday, June 8, collided with the
s. s. L. E. Charlewood, and the latter sank in a few
minutes. The bows of the Borghese were complet ely
smashed in, but, the fore collision bulkhead remaining
intact, the vessel was kept afloat, and she was able to
reach yardiff. In this condition she wao:~ drawing
20ft. 6 m. of water fore and aft- a. draught tha.t prevented
her enering any dry dook in that port. The Wa.llsend
Pontoon Cornpanr, L imited, offered to endeavour to
place her on the1r pontoon without di scharging any
cargo, and raise her t o such a. position that the whole
exten~ and nature of the damage might a.t least be ascertained, and possibly completely repaired. On M onday
morning, June 12, the pontoon was sunk to a sufficient
depth t o enable the damaged vessel t o be floated over the
blocks. The vessel was successfully placed in position by
10 a. m., when pumping commenced, and in a. f ew hours
the lifting of the vessel was successfully accomplished, the
stem being completely bared down to tho keel, and her
stern being immersed 14 ft. in the water. In this position
the vessel was practically half water -borne, and thus any
heavy strains on the ship, consequent on having a full
cargo, were avoided. For greater safety, a small cofferdam wa.s construct ed on the deck of the pontoon around
the bows of the vessel, and without difficulty her position
has been maintained , all the damaged plA.tes have been
cut a.wa.y, the old stem taken oub a.nd the new one put
in pla.ce, and the repairs completed. The n ecessity t o
remove the cargo,- with its consequent cost, loss of t1me,
and possible claims for breakage of bulk, w~s thu~
*'-voided.

31

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

with a brake for effecting the inetantaneou~ stoppage of ~he

driving gear i n portable engines, &o., and cons1sts of a ~ouph.ng
box a, a brake riog c, e.nd a slide box b, constantly lock1.ng w1t~
the buk e ring, and with a tendency to adopt the engag wg pos1
tion by connection with levers ,"1, k, ao that by a stop screw m
0 0MPIL1ID BY W. LLOYD WISE.
mount' d on the lever k, the coupling can be diseng~ged br the
BELBC'l'BD !BSTB.ACTB OP' RECJmT PU"BLI811BD SPEOIFIC.lTIOBB lever 11. The she.ft is stopped automatically and Immediately
the coupling is disen~aged by the eccentrics i~ and the connected
UNDER THE ACTS 1883-1888.
TM. number of tM!os given in the Specification I>ra:winqs (8 Bta.ted sprinJr d, spanning the parte e, f of the brake. (A ccepted !Jf ay
in tach c<Ue ; where none are 'IMntioned, the ~pecijica.tion il 24, 1893).

"ENGINEERING, ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.

not illustrated.
Where I nventions ar~ communicated from abroad, the Namu
etc., of the Communicators are given in italics.
Copies of Specifications '1n4Y be obtained at the Patent 0 8ct
Sale Branch, 38, Cursitorstreet, Chanurylam, E.O., at the
uniform price of Bd.
The date of the advertisement of the acceptance of a compleu
ipecification is, in tach cas~. given after the a~str~t, .unless the
Patent has been seaud, when the date of seah.ng 1.8 glven.
.Any person may at any ti'IM within two months from t~ dat~ nf
the advertisemmt of the ac~tance of a complete specijicatwn.,
pive ootice at the Patent 0 oe of oprottition to the orant of a
Patent on any of the groun 'IMntiomd in the Act.

coal cutting machines, and its object is to provide, in add1t1on

to the swive ling motion of the motor and cutter upon the carriar e, mt>ans which will permit of the working path of the cutter
being raised or lowered, or set on e.n incline so as to follow the
seam being cut. The motor is inclosed centrally within a metal

Fig. J-/.~
~-~
- -~
--~~
,. , ..,. - --- -......... .
,

. . . . .: . . .
'

board for effecting commuoicatio.n .between telephone, ose~s. T he

plugs, which tonn thP. extrem1t1es of each caller s w1re, are
always, after use, replaced in their res pective plug h oles in t h e
plu~ block a, so that each one may be able to ce.ll t~ e e.ttende.nt
and give the number or letter of any other one h e. w1shes ~o spea.k
to. If c wishes to speak to d, the attendant , hav1og rece1ved h1s
instructions from c, places the switch lever s l upon the contact d1
Ft.g_ 1 :-. = -.::::.---.:: =:_-=:;.:~.f~':::.:~~~,;;;.z.;;

<:

t he inlet valve E e.nd the outlet vahe F respectively ":ork, are also
vahes The valves have Circular seat
the
than
d
1onger or eeper

t the

d f which when closed a re h eld by t e spnng o

~l~cu~:;fac~s in e.ddition to a pi~ton packi~g. Th~ cent re of the
val ves tbrou h which the spindle G pafsee .ts sufflcJen.tly large to
allow of a ce~tain e.mount of clearance w1th the sp1odle, or to

MINING AND METALLURGY.

13,833. A. Greenwood, Leeds. Coal-CuttlDg Machines. [2 Figs.] July 29, 1892 -Tb~s in,ention rel at~s. to

ELEC'l'RICAL APP ARA'rUS.

13 338. Sir c. S. Forbes, Bart., London. Switch
Board. (3 F igs.) July 21,1892.-Tbisimention r c:fers to a switch

'

form e. ca\ ity gJl the pnSHage of the fluid through which from one
side of the ,alve to the other as it closes r egulate.e t~e speed at
which they are rlosed by the spring ; and the flu1d m. the 9pace
abo,e and below the valves respectiv<:ly, acts as a cusb1on to pre
vent any shock which would other wise be caused through the
valves closing too rapidly. (.Accepted May 24, 189a).
6366. A. Turnbull, Blshopbriggs, Lan~r~s, N .B .
Steam Traps. (a Figs. ] Ma rch 25, 1~93.-Thls uyvent~on
relate9 to a &team t rap fo r dischar(ting condensed water m wb1ch
a vahe is provided which is automatically open ed wh~n the con
densed water reaches a certain hei~Zbt in t he trap. A IS the t rap
for condensed we.ter and steam. B is the valve k ept closed by
the g ravity a nd the p ressure of steam. T~e condensed water
and steam are admitted to tbe t rap by the p1pe C. Attached to
the valve stem is a can D which ia kept full of w::t.ter, e.nd the con

.Jt?g. 2 : - - - - - - - -

...-- -.
-- -

> 11

.s
'

'

'~
'
I

'

I
I

----

'
I

d ensed water falls down into the space between the can and the
sides of the trap. The upper end of the val ve stem is connectEd
to a screwed r odE by means of a spring F. The rod E ~a.eses
through a tapped h ole in the cover of the t rap. T he tens10n on
the spring can thus be ad justed so as to coun teract part of the
weight of the ce.n D and contents, and the stum preesure on the
a rea of the valve. so that when the condensed we.ter !iEes to a.
certain height the can is floe.ted up ar.d the ,ahe hrted; the
condensed water then being blown out through the discharge pipe
G by the steam pressure. (.A ccepted blay24, 1593).

casing A, which also supports, on a different line, the cutter

L
spindle, the motor and the cutter C being geared together
- ---11I 1---
within the casing. This oasing, at a part wher e it is circule.r, is

embraced by a steel r ing D having trunnions upon it which rest

''--------------..
'
,,Xr------ --~'
in bearings carried by brackets upstanding from a swivelling bed2163.
F. Littlejohn, Brfdgeport, Fairfleld, Conplat~
suppor
ted
by
t
he
t
ra,elling
carriage
of
the
machine.
(Ac
and prefses the button P, thereby r inging the bell 61 o ver the
necticut, u .s .A. Valve Gears for Steam EDginea.
!Jfay
24,
189a~.
cepted
instrument d. He then places t he plugs c" and dll in the blocks
[6 Figs.] January 31, 1893.-Tbis inven~ion rela.tu to valv~ gee.rs
g, thereby breaking the main line circuit and placing t.he ge.l
tor steam engines. 'Ihe steam chest a IS mounted alongs1de the
RAILWAY
APPLIANCES.
' 'anometer G in series with the local battery L, and the tele
cylioder 2, and is connected. th e~ewitb. by means of steam port~.
phones c, d. c and d can now converse without i nterruption,
6948. J. Bradford and E. Lovelace, Marcelline A she.ft 6 is journall~d loog1~dmally 1.n the steam chfst, a~d ~8
ar d, the current} from the battery L <'ausing a deflection Ada.ms, llltnols, U.S.A. Car Couplings. [2 Figs.) circular in cross sect1on, havmg upon 1t a rocker 'a hf', wb1cb JS
upon the gal vanometer G, thA at.t.endant is advised that the April 4, 1893.- This invention r elates to car couplings. Tbe d raw. adapted a lternately to cover and thereby connect the steam ports
electr ical connection is complete. When either c or d r eplaces the bee.d 1 has a horizontal opening, in which is a rre.nged a s pring- 4 with the exh aust por t, which lifs between the steam porte.
ear t ube r' upon the hook, the circuit is broken, a nd the needle of actuated pinsupport 2, e.d a p ted to b old a pin in an elevated The piston , h aving pistonrod 10, is conne~ted through a .Pit~ an
the galve.nometer returns to zero.
(.Accepted !Jfay 24, 1893).
position p repe.ratory to coupling, a nd to be moved rearwardly by 11 with a dridn~ crank 12 upon the mam shaft 13, wh10h m a
the link of an approaching car to allow a couplingpin 3 to fall marine en gine canies the propeller wheel. T o the end of the
GAS, &c., ENGINES.
e.nd engage the link. T he coupling pin a is adapted to fall and is shaft 6. which p rojects out.. ide the steam . chest, is affixed the
14,317. W. von Oechelhauser a.o.d B . Junkers, arranged when coupled in a perforation, and ii main c rank 14 which has a slotted engagement \nth another crank 15,
Dessau, Germany. Gas Engines. 16 F igs.] August S, taioed in a vertical position preparatory to coupling by a n bome upon o. rock shaft 16, mounted in vertical bearings. The
1892. - T his invention relates to a gas engin e p rovided with two upwardly and forwardly extending suppor tingarm 5, which has lower end of this she.f t is fu rnished "itb a. later ally projecting
pistons B, 0 arranged to move in opposite directions in the
Fig .1.
cylinder A, and in thei r outer termtnal position uncover the
o ri 6cesl, 2 arre.nged at oppoflite ends o f the working space of the
cylinder for the inlet of compressed air and for the outlet of the
products of combustion, so that the working s pace of the cylinder,
z
after the complete combustion and expansion, ie traversed and
t t
t0 - - -

' , _... _ _ _ _ _ _.
- - - - - - , .I, _ .......
I

I
I

c.

.nt.

~;m """""'51 Fig .1.

......

,, ,

I~

. 2.

'

......

cleansed from one end to the other by fresh air, whereupon by tbe
approach of the pistons the 9:ir in~losed by th e~ is compressed, and
gas is forced at the proper time mto the worklDg space by pump
through a controlled valve, the icroition taking place a t the inner
most dead point. The pistons B, C are e.ctua.ted by a driving
shaft through the m edium of cranks pla cedJ e.t an angle of
180 deg. to each other, the aas and air pumps being arnmged
eo that the rods for operating the p iston 0, also carry the
pistons of the gas and air pump. (A ccepted Ma y 24, 1893).

MACHINE TOOLS, SBAFTING, &o.

6322. A. Fukenwtrth Poln, Peterwitz, Silesia,
Germany. EngaglDg and Disengaging Clutch

Fig. 1.

rl~ ;,....-.c.........

.,
Pig. a.

.' .
. '' '---'

1-

14 317

'""-\

its lower rear end 6 pivotal1y secured above the drawh ead, a.nd
which is provided in its upper outer end with a pin openinB: 7 to
receive the pio to bold it 1n an approximately vertical pos1tioo .
The pin support 2 is held forward by a spring 8 adapted to be
compressed to allow t h e coupling. pin to drop; but in shifting,
when it is not desired to couple a car, the p in is held against
d ropping by a pivoted plate 10 arranged on the upper face of the
drawhead. The ple.te 10 is pi voted near its ree.r end at one side
thereof, and is provided at its front end with a pin op ening 11
which is disposed in advance of t he coupling-pin perforation of
the d rawhead so that t h e latter forme a bottom for t h e opening rod 17, this be.r being bung in bearings on the lower end of the
11. (.Accepted May 24, 1893).
rod. T~e outer end_of t he r od 17 has h10ged to it a shoe 19. Upon
the me.m shaft 1a IS secured a hub 20, and around this hub is
placed a ring 21, having in its periphery a groo,e. This r ing Ss
STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.
to the hub 20 by means of gimbals 23. The shoe 19
17,049. J. C. Etchells, Reaton Chapel, Lancs. connected
the groove in this ring. H ung io bParings on the frame is
Valves. [1 F ig.] September 24, 1892.-This invemion relates aenters
ver tical rock shaft 24, carry ing on its lower end an outwardly
to a double-e.ctiug r egulating val ve fo r the admission and exhaust
of water, steam, &c. , to the working cylinders of h oists, presses, l>rojecting Of'ank 26. T he end of this crank carries a shoe 26
&c. The valve chest A is con structed with thr ee chambers B, C, (Fig. 2), which runs in a g r oove 27 in a hub 28. Through a conand D, each being p rovid ed with a passagE' to admit the actuating necting link the hub is connected with a ring 21, so that a slidfluid, the passage b being the inle~, et the outlet, and c commu ing movement of the hub along the shaft will rock the r ing upon
nicating with the cylinder for the purposes both of admission and its gimbal joints for the purpose of changing its plane of rote.tioo .
exhaust. In two of these chambers are fitted the valves, the inlet The upper end of the shaft 24 is pronded with a. lever 30, ha\'iFig
valve E in the rhllmber B, and the outlet valve Fin t he che.mber a screw stud or fastening a1, which runs in a slot in a. plate 3a
D. The valves E and Fare oylind rice.l, and are fitted upon and and this l ever is p rovid ed with a handle by which it ie operated:
connected together by a single spindle G, to which they ar e (.Accepted !Jlay 24, 1893).
loosely attached with a sprina H fitted between them, so that they
15,902. B. F . Cook, L. W. Bingham. C. L. Dou~las
are each moved in one direction only by the spindle G, and are C. B. Squire, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio ; J.
moved in the opposite direction by tbe spr ing H, the spindle G King, Paineavllle,Lake County,Ohto; C. N.Schmick
moving the valve E in one direction a nd the '' alve F in the re- and S. E. Welker, Leetonfa, Columblana County
verse on e. The spiudle G passes through the centre of the Ohio, U.S.A. Steam Boilers. [2 Figs.) September 5'
ve.l ves and is provided with two colla rs, one of whic-h abuts 1892.-T his invention relates to steam boilers. The furnace fire~
a~re.in st each valve. The travel of th e s pindle is g reater than t h at are a round the upper par~ of the chamber B and the lower ends
of the valve, to allow of one vahe cl osio~ before the other begins of t h e tubes D, an d a re directed into the midst of the latter by
to open , The inlet cbarober B ~~tnd outlet chamber D, in which tbe deftector b, from whence t bey paes upward and around tbe

u:

Fi-J.1.
CoupllDg wlth Safety Brake. [ll Figs.] March 24, 189a.

- Th1s invention rel~tes to the combination of a olutob coupling

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

32

upper chamber E. so that the steam becomes superheated therein. end of the pi voted plate K by springs, one end of which are
The circulation of the water is upward in the tubes D, and down- attached to arms on the shafts P, P', and the other ends to an exward in the centre tube D2, and is thus perfectly free and unob ten&ion of a pin k. The lever H which passes across the top of the
etructed; the water being the coolest in the central tube, h as a lever I is provided with a pin projecting from i ts under surface,
downward ftow, whilst that in the outer tubes, being the hottest, which passes through a bole in the centr e of the lower lever I. If
either of these levers be depressed they come in contact with the
pi\'oted lever K, and depress it below the edges of the pivoted
catch levers 0, 01, which are then drawn back by the springs p
throwing the catch E into operation against the runners D. The
levers F which carry the catch es E a re m ounted upon separate
shafts P, P 1, ao that t he working of one does not interfere with
the working of the other. T hese catches are h eld in normal
p osition by the plate K constituting the t rip or releasing gear, and
when released are drawn up against the guides D by springs.
(Accepted Jfay 24, 1893).

cutter is inserted, and fixed for temporary use by wedges. The

vertical wheels a are mounted upon the common axis h carried
by the adjustable bracket i secured to the ploug h frame. Tbe
bearing of the horizontal disc b is arranged so that the earth
thrown up and turned by the ploughshare cannot get between
the fri ction surfaces of the metal. The supporting rod is aecured
at its upper end to the plough beam, and its lower end carries a
fixed collar upon which the whole weight of the cylindrical diso

Fig.1.

Fig.2.

ll

2622. C. L. Rowland, Brooklyn, New York. Valve

~per~ting Mechanism. t4 Figs.] February 6, 1893.-Tbis

1nvent10n r elates to the operat1on of val ves of hydraulic and f:aS

mains, and its object is to provide a quick-acting valve, in wh1oh
the extent of motion of the valve is relatively considerably g reater
t han the extent of motion of the part to be manipulated to effect
the opening and closing of the valve. The ftanged halves A of
the casing are adapted to be bolted together, and each has a
tubular coupling projection AI adapted to recehe the pipe. B
are circular va.lve seats, one in each section of the casing, and
Bl the correspondingly shaped valves. Each valve is pivot
ally connected by shor t links C with the free ends of the end
r ises, and thereby the ci rculation is constantly maintained. All levers of the lazy tongs Cl, the ends of the upper end levers of
sediment in t h e water is deposited in the bottom of t he chamber which ar t> pi voted at a fixed point C2 on the casing section. The
B, and there the water below the level of the g rate bars is ooolest
,
and undisturbed, so that the sedimen t settles. (A ccepted .May
24, 1893).
Fig.
22,955. A. M. Clark, London. ( J. P arke1-. SturtJeon

Falls, Nipissing, Ontario, Uanada.) Balanced Slide Valve.

(4 Figs.)
December 13, 1892.-Tbls invention consists of a

balanced slide valve ha,in~ exhaust passa.ges opening through

vahe faces near either end of the valve, which oommunicata
alternately with por ls at the opposite end of the cylinder and
lead to a common aperture extending through a piston like disc
G seated in the bat-k of the valve and working steamtight as a
plide valve against the val ve chest cover, against which it is
pr.,ssed by springs between it and the val ve, and also by the ex
haust steam in the internning space. This balance disc G is
fitted steamtigbt by means of peripheral expansion packing rings

:.

Fig .Z.

2..

tOOl.

rests. The disc is made of wood, and is covered on both Bides

with iron plates, and on its periphery with an iron r ing. By
means of a disc secured to a sleeve, and connected to the disc b,
the bt-aring between the shaft k and another sleeve is secured
from immediate contaot with the earth turned over hy the
plough. Means are provided for preven ti nll any foreign sub
stances from entering. (Accept ed JJay 24, 1893).

13,940. W . Reintnghaus. Drieberhausen, Prussla,

Germany. Air Pumps. [6 Figs. ] August 2, 1892. -Tbis inven

oI

tion r elates to air pumps. When working the pump, the spaces on
both aides are filled with ftuid to equal h eights on both sides when
the piston stands in the middle of the cylinder, and so much that
there is just sufficient free space abo-re as corresponds to the volume
IO

Fig 1.

'
I
I

Fig .J .

I O

'A

lo

A'

casing, which is so shaped as to be closed at the bottom, is open

at the top, and has bolted t hereto a hook through which the
va.he-operating rod D extE:nds in to the casing. This rod is con
.
nected with thE: lazy tongs below the fixed pivot C2, and with the

fi rst central joint below the fixed pivot. The upper end of the rod
Fi.n
.2 .
passes up through a packing gland, and is screw-threaded. A
. '
-v
screw-threaded swivelling nut operated by a. bandwheel El en
'
,I
3 ,I
gages this thread and serves to run the rod D up and down to

."
operate the val ve. A series of boles e in the periphery of the nut
E are engaged by a thumb bolt passing through 1ts jacket to lock
the val ve-operating devices in any position. To give the lazy
1 within a ring shaped fta.nge D3 on the back of the vahe, and its tongs stiffness to prevent springing, they are also pinned together
area is about equal to that of the valve bees through which the at each joint. Means are pro,ided for insuring the firm closing
exh~ust p~~.eeages open, whilst between these valve faces the front of the valves against their seats. (.Accepted !Jfay 24, 1893).
of the valve is recessed to form a space extending to the sides of
2054. F. F. Molle. Paris. Manufacture of Spinning,
the val ve and open to the valve-chest to which the li ve steam has
access, so that its pressure against the front of the valve &c., Rollers. [3 Figs.] January 30, 1893.-Tbis imention
balancel that on the part of the back which is exposed to the r elates to a machine used in the manufacture of rollers, whatever
eteam pressure. The exhaust opening in the balance disc is of their shape and dimensions. The roller to be covered is placed
O\'O.l shape, its major axie being in the t ransverse direction of between the two heads A and B, and is connected to the spindle
the valve, and it is always in register with an apertur e in the of t h e driving bead A by a mandril a provided with a chuck
val ve-chest cover of si milar shape, but of a necessary bread th to which grips one end, whilst the other turns freely in the socket b
of the other bead B. This being done, the surface of this roller is
allow for the tu vel of the valve. (.Accepted May 24, 1893).
covered with cement, and the cottoD is then wound upon it, the
first turn being accomplished by hand ; after it has been comMISCELLANEOUS.
pletely cover ed with cotton, this latter is highly compressed by
17,051. J.C. Etohella,BeatonChapel,Lanoa. Safety means of cylinders G, Ql, the pressure of which is given by means
connecting-rods, levers I 1', links J, lever K, link L, and the
Catohea for Cages, &c., of Hoists (4 Figs. ] September pofedal
M. ThE> cotton being well felted, the oylinders G, Ql are
24, 1892.-Tbis invention relates to hoists i n which the cages are
suspended by ropes A, and its object is to cause a releasing gear to moved out of contact and the surface is again covered with the
r elease the automa1.ic catch es which engage with the guides if
the rope should break or stretch, so that the trip gear can be
r eleased from the inside if necessary. Beneath the platform I
two levers H and I are plaoed , extending the length of the cage,
and arranged diagonally across. To the end of each of the ropes
G the ends of the levers H and I are connect ed, the ropes pa.ssm~

'.

Fig .Z.

::

....

of the halt-piston stroke in the cylinder. The shape ofthe chambe1s

H, HI is such that the motion of the watt>r movEd to and fro by
the motion of the piston is uniform. The water in H or B 1 thus
forms the elastic prolongation of the piston, and it forms a
\'a cuum alternately in each chamber ; but it also insurell absolute
tightness of the piston in the cylinder and of the stuffing-box.
( ~ ccepted May 24, 1893).

6368. A. D. Ellis and W. B. Crlchton, Bradford,

Yorks. Centrifugal Pumps.

[6 F iJB.]

bfa rch 25,1893.

- This invention relates to centrifugal pumps, a nd has for its
object the construction of the parts forming the casing sur
rounding the impeller, so that the pump may be converted into a
right or left hand by t he interchanging of the m echanical parts.
The impeller A is secured upon the shaft B by a key B', a. second
keyway being provided in t he impeller to enable it to be secured
to the shaft B in the reversed position when re ~1uirect . The ~ide

,Fig.J.
8 .--.

Ftg 3
I

.Fe.2.
""" Fz!J.2.
tT

-~-- --,

-......._n-

~ 1_.-::,

'-

'

.. _

----

111J <I

-I

\ ( ' ) yr<>( ,

. 2.
..

I
I -

I'

0
\ -

0
--

cement. For this purpose the levers N carry at their ends a

reser voir 0, which is bung upon two small links P, and is loosely
mounted so that it maintains its vertical position notwithstandinrr the part ial rotary motion of the levers N . These levers being
drawn back above the vessel containing the cement, the little
rcsenoir is plunged into the cement so as to fill it, and if the
levers are loosened they will be raised by the action of a spring Q
so that the reservoir 0 is held above the cement, which allows
the excess of mat~rial to drain away. 'lhe reser voir ie then
b rought over the roller to be cemented by making a half turn CJf
the leYers N , and it is emptied upon the roller by means of a
little handle R. The roller is then r emoved and dried, after
which it is placed in the machine, where it is again made round
and smooth by great pressure by means of the C) linders G, Qt.
(Accepted !Jlay 24, 1893).

through eyes at the ends, so as to sustain the weight of the cage.

Interposed between the boti;om of the cage and the le,ers at
both ends are springs hand i, which tend to press them away
from the bottom of tbe cage if the tension of the ropes be
slackened. Under the levers 11 and I a~ran_ged at the ce!ltre o~ ~be
platform is placed a hinged lever K, wh}oh 1s supported 11? posttlon
6003. F . Bartels, Boheneggelsen , Germany.
by a pin k pasaing through the supportwg frame L, an~ 1s held up
in normal p osition by a spring M connected to an upng ht an~ N Ploughs. [4 Figs.) March 21, 1893.-This invention relates to
forming part of the lever. The end of the lever K engages w1th ploughs. In order that a second fore-cutter can he applied, the
p ivoted catches 0, 01. The catch levers 0, 01 are held against the beam of the plough is provided with an openingg into which this

J -,

.. f-.D

I 1-...
'

GJ(i~

_...I
\..

""'
'_f

~
!g,

----

rJ )l
f)

_. ._

casing C is a fixture, and forms part of the bedplate D, and is

pro,i ded with a faced flange DJ, a.od coupled to the middle por
tion E of the casintt, terminating in the discharge pipe F, the
opposite side casing Q being similar to C. By takine- off the
casing G the middle port ion E can also be removed and then
replaced in the reversed position, bringing the discharge pipe F
to tbe po~ition of dotted linee (Fig. 2); by re,er sing the impeller
on the shaft, and replacing t he casing 0, the pump is oon vertfd
from a right-band to a left-hand one, or tice verNd. (A ccepted M ay
24, 1893).

UNITED STATES PATEBTB !BD PATENT PRAm'ICB.

J?escriptions with il11;1strations of inventions patented in the
Uo1ted Stat~s of Amenca from 18~7 to the present time, and
r epor ts of tna.ls of patent law caeee w the United States may be
consulted. gratis, at the office of E.Nolb-.aamo, 86 and 36, Bedlord
street, Strand.