Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
E N G I N E E R I N G.
'
GAs-ENGINE R ESEARCH.
The chief business of the meeting was t he reading and discussion of the Second Report to the GasEngine Research Committee, which bad been prepared by Professor F. W. Burstall, of Birmingham.
A~ our re~ders wil~ r emem her, the first r epor t of
th1s Committee, whiCh was read and discussed on
F ebruary 11 a nd April 27, 1898,* gave an
account of the apparat us and engine which were
used for the experiments, and of a small number of
preliminary experiments made in order to pave the
way for a more extended and complete series.
The present repor t we commence to print in full
?n page ~92 of _t his issue. The President, in openm g th e discussion, remarked that t he paper which
t hey had j ust heard r epr esented an enormous
amount of conscien t ious work on the part of th e
a ut hor. Not only had Professor B urstall carried
out with great care a large number of experiments,
but he had had to devise t he appliances which
rendered those experiments capable of affording
useful data. In designing and constructing the
experimental apparatus which he had employed,
Professor Burstall had displayed an originality and
an appreciation of the importance of points of detail which were wor thy of all {>raise. The paper
appeared to him (the President) to open out two
distinct lines for discussion, n amely, first, a crit icism of the methods and devices employed in
these experimen tal investigations; and, secondly, an
examination of the results which those investigations disclosed. He hoped th at t hey would have a
discussion which would d o justice to both th ese
branches of the subject. The first-named branch
was on e of much importan ce, because it was h oped
; . ~ee
53
ENGUi"EERING,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
envelope. Th~s necessarily would give a slight lag, diagrams, but the records were shown in a very He suggested that this might be due to the gases
but not suffictent to be of importance in taking much more convenient form.
becoming hotter in the pass~ges of the admission
steam temperatures. In taking the temperatures
Professor R. Threlfall pointed out that on valves the faster the engine ran, and consequently
of the charge, however, of a gas engine as used by page 23 of the report it was stated that the finest having their viscosities increased. Calculating on
the author, the retardation would be of import- wire employed in the platinum resistance thermo- this basis, he concluded that, to make the explan~
ance, and the metal shield would therefore be meter had fused after a few explosions. Now the tion valid, the g3ses would have to be heated to
inadmissible. He would ask the author if he melting point of platinum can hardly lie below 140 deg. at the higher speeds. This calculation,
thought that the difference in temperature in 1700 deg. Cent.-a much higher temperature than referring to a larger engine, cannot, of course, b3
the explosive charge was due to the rapid suc- any recorded. It may be argued that t he platinum insisted upon, but it is at least curious that the
cession of explosions. This was a very important ~bsorbs carbon at the high temperature to which it present trials have given a practically identical
matter. Dr. Ke~n edy h~d made, 13 years ago, a IS exposed, and that this lowers the meltillg point; value. The relation of the viscous properties of
good many expertments 1n gas engines. In those but against this view it is to be remembered that gases to the working of the gas engine is a comdays the present appliances did not exist, and the the absorption of carbon by platinum is not instan- paratively open field, in which research could hardly
Callender thermometer had not t hen been intro- ta~eous, nor _is the:e ~ny evidence that the melting fail to yield results of interest.
duced. He had, however, arrived at the tempera- pmnt of plattnum 1s, 1n fact, ma~erially lowered by
At this point the President adjourned the distures by means of calculation, and it was with the carbon which it may take up. In addition to this, cussion until the evening of Friday, November 1,
considerable satisfaction that he compared the the temperatures measured were found to appear when a special general meeting will be held to conresults he then obtained on theoretical grounds higher the thinner t he wire. Everything seems to clude it.
with those that had been arrived at now by point, therefore, to .the probability of the measured
pr~ctice, for he found that they aareed very temperatures being too low. It is quite evident
DIE FORGING. No. IX.
well. Some of the experiments he made in 1888 that metals with higher melting points than plati(Society of Arts Trials) were made upon a Crossley num will have to be used. With regard to the
By J osEPH Ho:&NER.
engine, and he found that, comparing these results calculated temperatures, it appears from the calTms article will deal with a few selected examples
with the nearest corresponding results of the culations of Le Chatelier (~eits. fiir Physik. illustrative of the classes of work performed in the
author, they agreed very closely. Particulars of Chem. II., 782, 1888) that in the case of carbon- wagon and carriage stamping shop at Swindon. The
some of these experiments were given by the di.oxide, at all events, the high pressure prevents large and varied volume done in this department
speaker. He had formerly thought that combus- there being any serious amount of dissociation. may be inferred from the account given in the
tion was not always complete at the end of the The method of calculation adopted appears there- previous article on the machines ; but its magnitude
stroke; but the full information conveyed by the fore to be sound from this point of view. Return- must be seen to be fully appreciated . The photoCommittee's report throws further light on this ing to measurements of high temperatures, Pro- graph reproduced in the last article (page 470,
matter, and the assumption must be rectified. In fessor Threlfall pointed out that the thermo couple, Fig. 216), showing die blocks lying out in the yard,
regard to the effdct of change of compression, he though electrically less sensitive than the resistance will supply an object-lesson in numbers, while the
thought conclusions must not be drawn too hastily. pyrometer, has the great advantage that it can be drawings to follow are taken as representative of
Substituting other sets of tria]s for the particular much more easily repaired ; and it may be used many different classes of work.
set chosen in Appendix VII., they showed different exactly as the author has used the resistance instruSpring shoes (Fig. 217, page 569) for open goods
results, though no doubt equally correct. Details ment. To do this, all that is necessary is to close wagons are made at one heat. They are stamped
in connection with this matter were also given by the circuit of the couple through a potentiometer first to the shape in Fig. 218, in the die, Figs. 219
the speaker. There might, he said, be a special by means of the rocking key, just as was done to 221, by a punch, Figs. 222 and 223 of the same
explanation of the fact, but he thought that all for the resistance instrument.
In order to outline as Fig. 218. Then the stamping is laid in
circumstances should be taken into account. The obtain sensitiveness the wire can be used in a supplementary block A, bolted on at the back of
figures were, however, so clearly given that anyone the form of thin strip, this being, of course, pro- the die (Figs. 219 and 220), and t he horns are
could make the comparison for himself.
tected, except just where it is exposed to t he turned over by the die B on the horizontal ram.
The President here said that it would be convenient temperature in question. Mr. W. H. Steele, in a The die block is furnished with openings at the
if Mr. Bryan Donkin would at this point give some paper read before the Royal Society of Victoria in sides, through which the stamping is removed.
account of the Mathot continuous-pressure recorder, 1893, describes some experiments in which he had The face of the die is also formed with a steel
examples of which w~re shown at the meeting.
found large electromotive forces generated in wires plate screwed to the main cast-iron block, the hole
Mr. Bryan Donkin said that before proceeding (supposed to be homogeneous) when unequally in which (seen dotted in Fig. 220) gives clearance for
to speak of the continuous-pressure recorder, he heated . The speaker had not had an opportunity the stamping. The punch alone- apart from its
;vould like to point out, with regard to the work of of examining this effect, nor had he seen any corro- holder (seen in Figs. 222 and 223)- illustrates an
the Committee and the scale on which the experi- boration of Mr. Steele's results by other workers ; economy in manufacture. It is countersunk in
ments had been made, that what was true of a but it is a matter which shou]d be considered by both faces for the cheese-headed screws that secure
small engine might be used in deducing the action anyone using a couple of the kind described. With it to its block, so that when one face becomes worn
of the larger motors. They hoped, however, in the regard to the small size of the experimental engine, badly, the punch is turned over and the opposite face
fu ture to have a fair-sized engine at their disposal. no apology was needed. In order to thoroughly brought into ser vice. In addition, a cut can be taken
The advantage of compression was one of the elucidate the details of the action of a gas engine, it off the faces when they both become worn, and the
chief points in the paper, and in regard to gas- is important to investigate the effect of varying punch is then ready for a new lease of life. These
engine trials, misfires should be c!uefully avoided, the relation of the volume of the active gases to precautions are worth taking, because the correct
as they caused changes in the conditions. The the area of the cooling surfaces to which these shaping of the punches is rather an expensive job.
temperatures of the different parts of the charge gases are exposed, and this necessitates trials
An example of a rapid piece of forging is the
after the explosion was the main and most interest- with at least two engines-one large and one small. combined brake hanger bracket and safety hanger
ing part of the report. The maximum was about It is also necessary to establish the experimental (Figs. 224 and 225). This is made perfect to shape
2000 deg. Cent. That was a very high temperature, methods on a firm basis, and this can be done more and size from a piece of rough plate at one heat
and it was wonderful how well gas engines stood it. cheaply and quickly in a small engine than in a within a couple of minutes. The plate (Fig. 226)
The centre of the gas in the cylinders was found to large one. It was to be hoped that when the ex- is punched at one blow of the punch (Fig. 227) on
be hotter by some 200 deg. Cent. than the part near periment-s were extended to larger engines these the die, three views of which are given (Figs. 228
the wall. They m us~ remember, however, that that engines would be really larger, i. e , haYe larger to 230). On the rear face of the main die a supwas not ascertained on full load, but only when cylinders ; 150 horse-power was t he size mentioned, plementary bending die A is cast, and the stamping
working very light. It is hoped that some improve- and he hoped that this was to be got out of one is laid in a groove in this, and the horns or wings of
ment will be made in this respect, and that it would cylinder. The author expressed surprise at the the hanger bracket are turned over in pairs by a
be possible at some future time to give the tempera- variable temperatures observed in the cylinder. die B, attached to the horizontal ram of the forging
ture records at half load, or even more. The platinum The speaker could n ot see that this was a matter press. One pair of horns is done thus, and then the
round and the other pair bent over,
wire used was only about one-hundredth of a milli- for surprise: the influence of the cylinder walls bracket is turned
1
metre thick. He would like to have seen attached must of necessity be felt; but even setting this at one heat. '1 he value of the horizontal ram here
to the paper a few complete temperature diagrams aside, there was every reason to suppose that the is very apparent, for without it the work would have
for the whole cycle. Those shown gave only the tem- gases were in a state of violent motion during the to be transferred to another press, or done on the
peratures on the expansion curves. He would also explosion, anil this motion was turbulent. Conse- same press on another block at another heat.
In Figs. 228 to 230 the body of the die block
like to know the exact position of the thermometer quently, the pressures and temperatures would
in the clearance space. As to the entropy diagram, vary locally throughout the mass. Some very is of east iron, and the face is of steel, screwed
he was sorry that not even one had been given. It interesting high - speed photographs were ob- upon it. The dotted outline seen in plan in Fig. 230
would be noticed that the maximum heat efficiency tained by V on Oettingen and V on Gernet is the hole in the casting ; the full line is that in the
for horse-power was 23 per cent., whereas formerly (Wiedemann's Annalen, 1888) of the explosion of a steel face, giving, as in the previous example, a
it had been 21 per cent. Turning to Mathot's con- mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in a tube; the ex- clearance for the stamped plate to fall through. It
tinuous-pressure indicator, of which ~xam?les w~re plosion being rendered luminous by the addition of is removed through the openings seen in Fig. 229.
shown in the room, the speaker descr1bed 1ts actwn the dust of copper salts. rhese photographs illus- The punch in Fig. 227 is of mild steel secured in
by means of several wall diag~ams .copied from trated very well the complex nature of a gas explo- a h older with screws, and t he holder is bolted to
originals taken from. gas and o.ll engines. ~ene sion. Referring to the indicator diagrams and the T -groovee in the face of the top ram of the
rally, it may be satd to .cons1st. of an ordinary the re10ark made as to the desirability of obtaining press. The faces of punch and die are flat. In
pressure indicator, the pencil of whwh. ac~s on a con- entropy diagrams, the speaker pointed out that this some practice the punch face is curved lengthwise,
tinuously-moving band of paper unw1ndmg fr(i)m a would be difficult, seeing how arbitrary the selection with a view of giving a detailed or shearing cut,
but this does not seem to be necessary. There is
drum, and on a time base, and driven by a clock of the temperature would be.
During the discussion on Mr. Humphrey's paper no hardening of the faces dono, but the faces of
inside. In this way a constant record of all the
pressures are taken, viz , explosion, ?ompression, lastyear (Proceedingsof Mechanical Engineers, 1900, punch and die become so hot that they have to be
aspiration, &c., and this for ~ few mn~utes . ~o page 237) the speaker drew attention to the curious swabbed with water after each piece is stamped,
doubt the instrument did not gtve more 1nformatwn increase in the work required to pump the charges and that intensifies the hardness of the steel in
than could be deduced from many ordinary indicator as the velocity of rotation of the engine increased. some degree. The method of attachment of the
E N G I N E E R I N G.
bottom die by the lugs with open slot-holes for bolts is the corners, and bent round, and welded. At Swin- cent re. The blocks used are shown in Figs. 232 to
adoJ?ted neal'ly universally, th~slotssaving some trou- don t hese are made in t hree welds in one heat, one 242. The main block A is bolted to t he table of t he
ble In at tachment by comparison with round holes. being that of th~ st em on a flat piece, the latter press, and is recessed at the top to receive t he
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
570
in subsequent figures. The square socket is turned
round and welded at the corner (Fig. 248), and
welded to the shoe, and the entire forging is then
drifted and set in separate recesses in dies.
The first operation after cutting off is that of
bending the plats to the square form for the socket
(Fig. 248), which is done in the dies shown by Fig.
249. One half the work is done in the manner
shown in that figure. The plate A is bent in the
bottom die E by the pressure of the top die F. I t
is then taken out and placed in an angular recess
in the bottom die, the long end being uppermost,
0. A mandrel D is inserted and the top die bends
the free end over the mandrel, thus forming the
square.
The next operation is seen in Figs. 250 and 251,
in which the socket, after being brought to a. welding heat, is laid in the die A, the doubly tapered
~rift B inserted, and the top die 0 brought down upon
1t, closing the weld. The drift B is then pushed,
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so that the plate is dished gradually, to avoid distressing the fibres too much.
The dies consist of top A and bottom B. Lugs
are cast at the sides of each, with holes for the
insertion of bars for lifting and adjusting them by
on the table. The top die is bolted to the top
ram by the slot holes shown. The dies are of
cast iron, and necessarily very stout and massive. Such a piece of work as this manger,
if dished and flanged by the ordinary~ methods of
the plater, would be an expensive job; and if cast,
as they usually are, they are also expensive by
reason of the size of the moulding-box wanted, and
the large quantity of sand to be rammed, while the
metal cannot be run so thin as a. sheet metal plate,
and if it could, the manger.s would be liable to
fracture. This, therefore, affords an illustration,
among many others, of one of the economies of
the practice of die-forging in a shop, economies
that result from extensions of the practice into
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
SHIPPING SUBSIDIES.
[OcT. 25,
1901.
..
E N G I N E E R I N G.
began .to attract attention ; ~h.ough the Messageries
I mperia.les begl\n an oppos1t10n to the Peninsular
a~cl 01'iental Company some twenty years preVIOusly. In the New York t rade four countries are
in mail competition. All give some inducemen t
for armed-cruiser work. France gives a speed
bounty which has a possible maximum of 48,000l.
per annum, and also a s ubvention of 219,000l. per
annum. The Ger1nau Governmen t is said to give
no bounty on the Atlantic, but to pay a sum of
65,000Z. per annum for carr ying western mails.
The United States gives 4 dols. a naut ical mile for
carrying Trans-Atlantic mails. This works out about
2~00l . a trip. Th~re is also a monopoly of the carnage of parcels mto t he States. Great Britain
spends 101, 705l. on her New York mails, paying by
weight. Specially-addressed letters are sent by
German or American steamers. This privilege is
largely used, and accordingly the two Brit ish lines
do not get anything like 60, OOOl. a piece for the 104
voyages a year which t heir contracts with the P ost
Office entails. The P eninsular and Oriental service
to Japan was commen ced in the early 'sixties, and
was fi rmly established when the opposition of the
Messageries Maritimes arose. Though the cargo
traffic fell away somewhat, t he passenger traffic
was not seriously affected. In 1880 the P ost Office
made .Shanghai the terminus, instead of Yokohama,
and direct steamers were withdrawn by the British
company, which accordingly began to lose ground.
The Messageries have now some very fine vessels,
and receive a subsidy of 243,347l. per annum for
the Indo- China and Japan service. The Japanese
have a fleet of t welve n ew ships-one built at
Nagasaki, the others in Great Britain. Their
speed is not great. It is said their subsidy works
out at about 10,000l. per trip, whilst the whole
exp enses of the voyage, including canal dues, is
about 15,000l. In 1898 the expendit ure authorised
by the Japanese Government was 272,969l. The
German East Asian line was granted a subsidy of
85,000l. per annum in 1895. The amount was
r aised to 160,000l. in 1898 for a fortnightly service.
On the Australian service the P. and 0. and
the Orient lines each have alternate fortnightly
service, each company receiving 85,000l. per
annum. The competing French line, the Messageries Maritimes, r eceives 124, 317l. per annum for
a monthly service. The more r ecent N orddeutscher
Lloyd service has a subvention of 115,000l. for a
four-weekly service. .According to Sir Thomas
Sutherland, these figures work out for the P. and 0.
2s. 7d., for the Messageries 8s. 4d., and for the
N orddeutscher Lloyd 6s. 8d. per n autical mile.*
The Norddeutscher Lloyd have the further advantage in making th eir harvest in the Atlantic
between May and N ovember, and then taking up
the Australian passenger service, which begins in
November. The share of the Australian r oute subsidy earn ed in this way amuunts to 9560l. a
trip. The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd is said to
be making an attack on the trade of India.
There is a subvention of 1s. 2d. a mile for services performed at a speed of over 10 knots, but
the Post Office has a right to suit the i tinerary
to its convenience, and mails must be delivered to
the Post Office free. The Suez Canal dues are, at
least, in part r efunded. The company has a tenyear loan of a million and a half florins. I t has
crews of Austrian officers and men exclusively,
must use at least 20,000 tons of Austrian coal a
year, and must hold its ship~ at the State's d.isposal
in case of war. The mileage bounty In t he
Adriatic and Mediterranean is 4s. at 10 knots, and
5s. 11d. at 11! knots. On ocean voyages it is
4s. 8d. at 11 knots. The bounty is increased
10 per cent. for Austrian -built ships, and 25 p er
rent. if the vessels are one-half constructed of
home materialH. Though the Government assistance has increased over sixfold in 10 years, the
increase in tonnage shifted has barely increased
50 per cent.
The German East African line was inaugurated
in 1890 with a subvention of 45, OOOl. a year ; this
amount bein<Y fixed because it was that which the
British East India Company was said to have lost
in r unning the ser vice. The sailings were to b e
monthly; but the company, afte~ t wo years, ran
an eight-day service between Zanz1bar and Bombay,
extended its main line from Delagoa Bay to
Durban and finally introduced fortnightly sailings
on the ~a.in route. This was all done without any
573
reaching the high speed. In commenting on this
point Dr. Ginsburg subsequently stated that the
Deutschland could carry enough coal to steam
across the Atlantic every fortnight at full speed,
and that some of our fast steamers could go to
South Africa and return without coaling. In r egard
to the utility of mercantile vessels as cruisers, we
may point out that the subject was discussed by
competent authorities at the spring meeting of the
Institution of Naval Architects,* although opinion
was divided. Captain Clover, U.S.N., who represented the only Power that has had actual experience with ocean liners in warfare, spoke highly of
their efficiency. The whole subject of bounties,
the President said, had been discussed for ages, and
the general conclusion of economists was that no
Government could distribute bounties so that they
would bring a profit to the whole nation. H e
questioned whether Germany had made any money
by the East African t rade t hey had acquired. It
was q uite easy to give 25s. to get a sovereign back.
It was the free-trade country which refused to give
bounties, and which eschewed protection, that made
the largest profits in the end. In r egard to the
legislative restrictions to which th~ author had
referred, these might be more or less justified on
philanthropic grounds, but it would be much better
if, instead of making all the elaborate regulations
about load-lines, life- belts, and a great deal more,
the Government would leave the industry unfettered, like any other industry. lie considered
that considerable t rade had been lost to England in
consequence of r estrictive shipping legislation.
Dr. Ginsburg, in his r eply, pointed out that it
was not considered ill that those who started a
railway should receive concessions from Government, and it was not easy to understand why the
promoters of a n ew branch of sh~pping industry
should not be similarly treated. In place of this shipowners were placed under special restrictive laws.
E XPORT TRADE.
574
E N G I N E E R I N G.
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The chief principle of all sound economics is th~
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equahty at a. certa1n exact point of price. That the
author states, and he certainly made out a very
Fig. 39.
s~rong case, at a.n~ rate from the business point of
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ENGINEERING
575
NEW YORK.
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E N G I N E E R I N G.
an acquaintance with economic argument, as expounded in the theoretical reasonings of t he textb~oks, may impart this training in close connection
With t~ e phenomena of bus~ess .life. Although
the busi~es~ ma1~ may act by mst1nct rather than
reaso~, Instinct IS often . ~he slow product of large
expen el?-ce; and an ab1hty to see and trace the
connectwn bet_ween cause and effect cannot fail to
be u~e~~l. WI~~out s~me such me~tal training the
p~ssibthty of a plurality of causes and an "intermu~ture of effec~ ". m~y escape recognition; and, as
an Intellect?al diSCipline, the a~stract reasoning of
the e~onom1sts affords ~ m~re ngorous and hracing
e~erCise tha:n econon;tc history. . Regarded from
th1s standp01n.t, even '~a~hema.ttcal methods " of
study, w~1ch Induc.e prectsLOn, may find a place in
commerCial educat10n ; but the place cannot be
large, ~s t~ey foster t he harmful idea that economic
reasonmg Is too hard for average men. The use of
t heory as a mental training might be illustrated by
1nan~ examp~es; but the theory of money and of
banktng, w.htch has. undergone less change than
~ther theortes, and IS closely related to t he daily
hfe .of ~ankers and financiers, n1ay be taken as a
typiCal Instance.
. ~conomic. history D:1ust fill a very large place
I~ commerCial educatwn.
Too much time may
hitherto have been spent on questions of origin
which attract by the oppor tunity they offer for
i~ genio us hypothesis, but are from their nature
difficu~t to solve, and, by comparison, too little
attentwn may have been bestowed on later but
less misty periods. But it is impossible to gain
a real knowlege of the causes and conditions
of the commercial and industrial success of
England without a special study of econ01nic
history, as general histories have dealt but. scan tily
with economic matters. The maintenance of t hat
success is, to some extent, dependen t on the
knowledge and on the investigation of the rise and
fall of other nations which have been conspicuous
in trade.
L~stly, the paper said, statistics, which have
also progressed of late, supply economics with the
means of systematic observation, in default of the
more effective mode of experiment open to a
physical science like chemistry. An elemen tary
knowledge of statistical technique and methods is
a requirement of the times and a special need of
commercial education.
In the discussion on this paper the general tone
adopted was largely that of a warning against
specialisation. It is the usual cry of the schoolmaster when it is proposed to direct education
towards a definite end. It is undoubted that boys
and young men cannot be taught a trade or profession at school or college; but that does not
n1ean that there is no need for specialisation. In
r egard to the study of economics, however, there
is less fear of the student's mental horizon becoming narrowed, for the reason stated by the headmaster of University College School, that political
economy is essentially a part of a liberal education.
Equally to the point was the remark of Professor
S. Chapman, of Owens College, Manchester, who
pointed out that there has been a tenaency to make
commercial education mean merely book-keeping
and shorthand. ' Vhat was far more importan t, the
Professor said, than teaching details of a particular
trade, details of book-keeping, or even details of
banking, was to teach the people the principles
underlying trade and commerce. The principle
expressed by Professor Chapman is beyond question ; but unfortunately for the practice, it is so
much easier, and needs so much less capacity, to
teach details than to elucidate principles.
Professor H . L. Withers complained that there
was very little agreement among commercial men
as to what t hey wanted boys to know, and until
they made up their minds it would be useless for
teachers to take any considerable &teps in the
matter. Professor \-Vithers is right; but the commercial men are at a loss \vhat should be taugh t,
because they h9.ve not been taught themselves ;
t herefore, unless the professors and schoolmasters
help them, instead of saying it is useless to take
steps there is danger the whole business will come
to a ~top, and Mr. Price's paper, t ogeth?r with the
joint discussion of Sections F and L, be time wasted.
At the conclusion of the discussion the Section
adj ourned.
.
The sitting in this Section on the followmg day
- Tuesday, September 17-waslar~~ly devoted to
questions of poor law and the positiOn of women
as workers. There was a paper on G1asgow
E N G I N E E R I N G.
seen that the cable is stretched between two Aframes on shears which stand at an angle of about
45 deg. with the horizon. These frames have no
foundation, but the feet are merely put into the
ground. The pull of the cable is taken at each
end by a counterwe ight of any material that is
h andy, such as excavated rock, bricks, or the like.
The counterweight does not rest on t he ground,
but is s uspended so that it can rise and fall with
the tension on the cable.
On the cable t hen
travels a crab under the charge of a man, who rides
upon it, t he motive power being electric, derived
from trolley wires, which are indistinctly sh own in
the engraving. This crab is designed to deal with
1 cubic yard of material at a time. It lifts the
bucket, conveys it along the cable to the end ,
where it. dumps it into a cart (Fig. 42). The crab
then returns for a nother load, the whole operation
requiring only from two to three minutes. Two
crabs may, of course, be mounted on the same
cable, e~ch delivering at its own end. When the
crab raises a weight the counterweights a re raised ,
slackening the cable, and easing of part of the
strain. As the crab approaches the shears the
counterweight fall s, s traightening the c~ble and
rendering the gradient easier.
The whole arrangement is so exceedingly simple
that it can be understood from the illustrations.
Its special advantages for this kind of work are
t hat it occupies very little space in a street, and can
be worked from the electric supply mains without
the employment of engines and boilers.
The
power required for one-yard buckets is 10 horsepower. There are no hauling r opes or tail ropes.
We are informed t hat on the section of subway in
the h ands of M r. John S hields, the actual cost of
h andling material by t his h oist is .0205d. per
cubic yard. The length worked is 530 ft., and t he
plant is very ea~y to t ransport as the various sections of t h e work are completed. Mr. Warren C.
Bevan, of 58, L ombard str eet, London, h as th e
sole control of the patent rights for this machine
for the entire world, with the exception of the
United States and Can ada , which rights have been
disposed of.
(To be continued.)
WES'l'lNGHOUSE ELECTRO-PNH.UMATIO SIGNAL PLANT.The recent order given by the North-Ea.stern Railway
Company to Mes!lra. McKenzie and Holland, for a.n insh.llabion of the W estinghouse electro-pneumatic signalling eystem, is evidence that this system, which is in very
considerable use both in America. and on the Continent,
is growing in favour in this country. The NorthEastern plant is to be erected at Tyne Dock. lb will
consist of two cabins, one containing an electro pneumatic
locking frame of 71 levere, and the other a locking
frame of 35 levers, making a total of 106 levers. Had the
old style of mechanical locking been adopted for these
cabins, about 250 levers would have been required. The
installation at Tyne Dock cannot be regarded as in any
way an ex_periment, even so far as this country is concerned. The Great Eastern Railway have had this
~stem in use ab the Whitechapel Goods Yard since
January, 1899. It has worked perfectly since its installation. It has been in use continuously-weekdays and
Sundays alike- since the date of its installation, and
throughout its working has been perfectly satisfactory.
The Lanca.shire and Yorkshire Railway Company ordered,
some time ago, for their . new station at Bolton, a.
71-lever electro - pneumatic looking frame. It is expected that this will be placed in use very shortly.
In connection with this system, the followin g figures.
dealing with the installation ab the Boston (U.S.A.)
Railway station, are of interest. The figures are supplied
by the courtesy of Mr. Sanborn, of the Boston Terminal
Company. The whole of the points and signals ab this
station are operated on the Wesbinghouse electro-pneumatic system. 'be size of the installation wtll be
gathered from the fact that the total lever movements in
each week-day of 24 hours are 27,621, and each Sunday 8019
movements. This gives a total for the month of September
last of 730,620 movements. During September, however,
there were 25 extra trains to be dealt with on Labour
Day, by which about 801 additional lever movements were required. Consequently, for the month of
September, the total lever movements ~ached the high
figure of 731,511. During this month there were no
failures to cause delay. The trains were, however, delayed five minutes in all, due to a broken shoe falling in
front of a point, and preventing the point being moved
over. At this station the average daily train movements
are about 2500 on weekda.ys, and about 726 on Sundays;
meaning for the month of September (25 week-days and
five Sundays) a total of 66,130, or, including the extra.
trains, a. total of 66,200 train movements. These figures
require no commenfl, and speak for themselves as to the
capabilities of ~he Wes~inghouse elecbro-pneuma:ti~ syste~.
It is further mterestmg to note that the exhtbtt of this
system at the Pa.n-American Exposition, at Buffalo, by
the U nion Switch and Signal Company, who manufacture the apparatus in America, has just gained the gold
medal.
577
PROTECTED TWIN-SCREW TORPEDOBOATS u SIROCO" AND ''MISTRAL. "
MM. AuGUSTJN NoRMAND AND Co, of Havre, have
recently delivered to the F rench Govunme~t, at Cberbourg, two protected torpedo-boats, fitted w1th ~he same
machinery and boilers as the Cyclone. The tnals _offer
special interesb on account of the very heavy wetghts
carried. The dimensions are :
...
... 147 ft. 0 in.
Length on load line ...
Extreme breadths outside armour ... 16 , 10 ,
The nickel steel armour extends t o the machinery and
boiler compartments, and is distributed as follows :
Vertical sides from 8 in. b~low the waterline to the deck.
Fore.and-aft bulkl:.eads from 16 in. below
2-1. Millimetres
the water-line to the deck.
(1-in.) bare
V ertical sides of coveringd of all parts of
machinery and boilers and of the steering engine above deck.
9 - Millimetres{ All hori zontal parts of deck and hatchH~in. ) bare
ways.
The total extra weighb resulting from the addition of
armour-includin~ the strengthening of the hull amidships, and the a.ddttion of a. central hollow keel1 ft. high.
extending to about one-half the length of the boats, and
intended to stiffen the central parb of the structure, and
to check rolling- is nob less than 24 English tons.
The hulls are very strong. as was proved by an accident
which occurred to an exactly similar protected torpedoboat in a. trial outside Lorient. When steaming at about
23 knots, during foggy weather, she ran end-on against a
rock rising above water; and although several men were
injured by the shock, no material damage, beyond the
crushing of about 25 ft. of the fore part, occurred to the
boa.b, which was towed ba{}k to harbour.
The total other weights carried on trial, exclusive of
chains, anchors, masts, boats, &c., and comprising only
torpedo tubes and compressing pump, artillery and
ammunition, provision water for boilers and crew, coals
necessary for steaming 1020 nautical miles at 14 knots,
crew and effect!, provisions, including 5 tons for sundries
to complete dis placement ab sea.. amounted to 39 9
English tons in the Siroco and 43.2 tons in the Mistral.
Accordingly, the displacement on trial: 177.5 English
tons for the Sirooo and 178.7 tons for the Mistral, was that
of the boats on service.
It has very wisely been the general custom of the
Frenchl Admiralty to have the trials of ships ma.de ab
what was believed to be full load; but lately this rule
has been enhanced, as ib was ascertained tha.b these fullload trial displa.cements were ofben inferior to the real
displacement on service.
If the 24 tons due to armour are added to the above
weights, we see that the total weights oarriE'd on trial
amount to 63.9 and 67.2 tons respectively; that is to say, to
about 37 per cent. of the total displacement. This is far
from the 35 tone carried on board destroyers of much
larger displacement. The weight of coals pub on board
was determined by an eight hours' preliminary trial.
The full.speed trials, which took place after the ordinary prelimmary runs on the meas ured mile, were of
four hours' duration, one hour of which was to be run ab
22 knote, one hour ab maximum speed, and the next two
hourJ at 22 knottl'.
The onehour maximum speed was found to be 28 341
knots for the Siroco and 28.102 knots for the Mistral.
Only 26 knobs were due according to contract. The
maximum speed of the Cyclone (unprotected), with a
displacement of 141 English tons, was 30.7 knots.
.
lb is generally admitted that greab epeed c&n only be
abtained by reducing all weights to, and even beyond,
their extreme Jimi ~. This is, no doubt, true to a
great extent. However, from the above results, which
may be said to be extraordinary on account of the unusna.l importance of the dead weight carried, there seems
goOd reason to believe that nob only sufficient strength
bnt a very complete armament, and even some protection,
may be given to t.:>rpedo-boats and destroyers without an
abnormal reduction of speed.
MOTOR-CAR BOILERS.-S~eaking of motor-oar boilers,
Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, in hts memorandum presented to
the general meeting of the Manchester Steam Users'
Association, said it had been his duty to refuse guarantee to some, as being unfit for their intended working
pressures. Their margins of safety were much less than
is customary with even less dangerous objects. There
were, he added, many motor-car steam boiler~, of excellent design and workmanship, about whose safety there
should be no doubt, and some makers had arranged for
all their boilers to be certified by the Association.
GAs A'J' BmmNGHAM. - The gas committee of the Birmingham city council reports that contracts have been
entered into for the gas coal and oil required during the
year ending 30 June, 1902, at prices somewhat lower
than those of the previous year. The committee a.ho
reports a. considerable further falling off in the values of
coke and breeze. In March of tLis year the price of coke
was 183. per ton at the gas works. Tbis was reduced in
April to 153. 6d. per ton, and the committee, aHer carefully reviewing the position, has made a further reduction
to 12~. Gd. p er ton, dating from September 2. The committee also reports that it has arranged with the contractors the amount per ton to be paid to the council for
coal gas bar during the year ending June 30, 1902; but ab
a. price considerably below that of last year, owing to the
low market values of the by-products of tar, upon which
the contract price is determined
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status in British Wesb Afri ca. Very interesting particulars are given of some of th e more imporbant exports
from these regions. West Africa, it appears, holds the
record for large sticks of mahogany, one of which, imported in 1890, measured 31~ ft. long by 34 in. square.
The forest resources of Nigeria. are enormous, whilst West
African rubber has proved a practically indispensable
addition to the Brazilian supply, ani ~rob~bly will become
sbill more important when the nat1ves have learnt to
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exercise greater care in its collection. At presenb it whether the precautions he advises are successful in diappea;ra th(>y oft en cut too d~ep in making ~ncis~ons in ~he !Dini~hing the morta.lity_ am~ngs11 .the engineers engaged
tree, 1n consequence of wh1ch the latex 1s JIUxed Wlth m railway constructiOn 10 th1s regton, who have up to the
other juices, which impair its quality. With gold de- present suffered severely. The new line to Kuma.saie is
posits the country seems marvellously well furnished, I now in construction for a. distance of 70 miles from the
and it is to be hoped that recent researches with respect coa..qtJ, whilst the Lagos-Ibadan line is already open to
to malaria will render these more r eadily accessible to traffic. This is 125 miles long, and has cost 8000l. per
Europeans. Maj or Ross, indeed, declares that malaria 1 mile. It includes one b ridge, 2500 ft. long, over the
is an avoidable disease, and a short time s hould show Lagos lagoon.
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above crown
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in working
order
44 "
The axles ar~ of Siemens-Martin steel ; the wheel
centres are of wrought iron with steel t.yres.
The boile! is of steel, a~d the fi rebox of copper. The
grate con sists of cast-uon firebars 9 millimetres
(.35! in.) t hick, with 10-millimetre (.393 in.) spaces,
to burn small coal.
A .88-metre (34~ in.) brick
Fig.10.
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[OcT. 25,
1901.
An animated
dt cu s1on ens ued, turnin g largely on the r elative value
and economy o f ha,nd and rn{\chine-cu t files.
I~on an:J- te.el.- In the iron trade n. fait amount o f
b usm e ts. betng. d one, 9:nd prices for some q uali tie ,
more es:R~ctn;lly L_m coln)ure, have moved up during the
week. P1g ~ron 1 availab~e, .but forge qua lities, owing
to. t he re tncted output, 1s m creasin gly scar ce. It i
pom ted out ~hat the busin~ now ~)ei ng done, alt hough
not h~rge, ts very &'en ume, buy1.n g only going on
to. m eet presen t. reqmremen ts. Fn' ms who have an ythm.g to. do. w1th the s upplyi!lg of rn.ilwn.y com.pames '~ th uon, teel, and fi~lS~ed goods, s uch a
files, sprmgs, tyres, axles, and simtln.r stor es complain
th!lt they ar e D;Ot being k ep t fully employed. The
railway C?mpam es ar e still buyin g ver y sparingly,
although 1t 1s known. that t heir stocks ~tre extremely
lo'~ One reason. ~tgned for this policy is the unsatt factory cond1 t10n of t heir bn.lan ce-.:: heets and
another, t he po~ibiliti of n. re~ uction in the prices of
~essemer and. temens steels, w1th a con equen t lowerm g of quotatwns for s tores. The m akers of t hese s teels,
however, ar e _s9 well e:f!lployed ~hat ther e is no probabili ty
of t hem r e,1 tsmg thetr quotations in t hat direction for
ome time to come.
South Y o1ksh i1c Coal T rade.- There is no m at erial
alteration to record in connection with the coal t rade in
this dis trict. The. collie~ies co~tinue to be regularly
wor~e~, and there }S a fau ly satis factor y market for all
qu.ahttes of coal, ~v1th the exception of engine fuel. F or
thiS the d em and l S ver~ poor, and s tocks are becoming
unplea~ntly large. . 'Ihe general inland d emand for
hards 1s .we11 s us tam ed,. and t he railway compan ie.i
a re d~wmg full supphes.
Export business, however, I S m uch below th e aver age. Values rem ain una ltered, B arnsley h ards ma.king from 10s. to 11s. p er
ton. Business m house qualities is of a fiu ctuatm acharacter. 1\I an y owners are well booked and sales ar~
not being pressed. The Lo~don trade ~a; b~en full y up
to the n..veta.ge, and a fan tonnage 1s gom g t o the
Eas tern coun tte . B est ilkstone house coal m ake from
13s. 6d, to 14s. per ton ; B arn ley house, 1ls. 6d. to
12s. Gd. per ton ; and nu ts, 11~. to lls. 6d. p er ton. There
is no alteration in the coal trade.
TnE AMll:RIOAN IRON TBADR. - A recrudesence o f acti vity
is reported in the Americll.n iron trad e. The number of
furnaces in blast in the United States at the commencement of October was 246, as compared with 250 at the
commencement of April, 2L3 at tbe commencement of
October, 1900, and 291 ab the commencement of April,
1900. The weekly productive capacity of the furnaces in
blas b w as as follows at th e dates named : October, 1901,
307,982 tons; April, 1901, 296,676 tons; October, 1900,
223,160 tons; and April. 1900, 289,482 tons. While production has rallied, stooks of pig, sold and unsold, in the
United States have de.olined; at the commencement of
1\IIay they stood at 438,288 tons, while at the commencement of October they bad fallen to 361,593 tons.
THE THORNYOROFTS CHULZ W ATERTUBE BOILER. Messss. John I . ThornyQroft and Co., Limited, C hiswick,
have issued a book which will be studied with great
interest by all interested in water-tube boilers; for
although ib refers primarily to the well-known steam
generator, patented and brought to such a high d egree of
perfection by Mr. Thornycroft, there is much, notably
the instructions for the care and management of boilers,
thab is suggestive and useful.
ltJ is noted that
the boiler of the company is to be known in future
as the Thornycroft - S chulz- this is in accordance
with an arra.ngemenb with Herr Krupp, of E ssen,
the owner of the Sohulz boiler, which will be known on
the Continenti as the SchulzThornyoroft. Ib seems a
union of forces. There is a record given of the number
of ships fitted with these boilers, aggregating 907 of
1,033,950 indicated horse-power, and in addition a furbher
51,000 indicated horse-power is in contemplation in the
German navy. Ibis also noted bhab in the German navy
where cylindrical boilers a.re fitted in combination with
Tbornycrofb or Schulz-Tbornyoroft boilers, the proportion of water-tube boilers to the bota.l has increased in
time from 35 to 69 per oenb. Much interesting data as
to boiler performances are included.
s8r
E N G I N E E R I N G.
NOTES FBOM CLEVELAND AND THE
NORTHERN COUNTIES.
M IDDLESBROUGH, W ednesd ay.
T he Cleveland I 1on T r adc.- Y esterday ther e was only
a t hin attendn.nce on 'Change her e; t he market was
som ewhat dull, and very little business was transacted.
Buyers were not much en ~vidence, bu t on t he other hand
sellers were in no great hurry to do business. No. 3
Cleveland pig iron was ro.ther weak, b ut s uch was not
unexpected, for th!lt is t ho quaHty principallr wanted
f m exp ort, and slnpmen ts are not only smalhsh1 especially t o the Con tinent, but the end of the nav1gat10n
season is approaching.
ales were r ecorded at 45s.
f~r J?rompt f.o.b. d elivery of No. 3 g. m. b. Cleveland
p1g u on, but merchan ts, as a rule, asked 45s. Hd.,
n.nd producers, nearly all of whom have fairl y " ;ellfilled order books, put the price at 45 . 3d. The las t -men
tioned fig ure was r ealised for special brands, but fo;
ordinary No. 3 buyers hesita ted to pay 45s. The
lower qualities of Cleveland iron were rm, foundry No. 4
being 44s. 9d. ; grey forge, 44s. 6d. ; mottled , 44s. ; and
white, 43s. Gd. , so thn.t these kinds are nearer the price
o f No. 3 than for some considerable time. Eas t Co~tSt
hematite pig was a good d eal asked for, b ut inquiries as a
rule did not lead t o business, the d emand bemg almost
en tirely on early accoun t, and there was practically no iron
to be had before D ecember, this and next months' make
having been well di posed of. .:H'or d elivery of Nos. 1, 2,
and 3 over the last month of the year 60s. was quoted.
Span ish ore was st eady, and unchanged in price. T o-day
the market was very quiet, and few transactions were
recorded. Several sellers of No. 3 Oleveland pig s till put
the "'bice of that commodity at 45s. 3d., but t hey did not
find uyers at t he fig ure. From second hands t he ruling
q uali ty could be got at 45s., t hough a good few merchants
as ked 45s. 1~-d.
!Jlanufactwred I 1on wnd Stcel.- Th e manufactured iron
and steel trades are steady, but t here is not much new
business doing. Producers of most d escriptions, however, ar e fairly well off for orders, and are consequen tly
not necessitated to seek new work. The impor tation of
German steel is a good d eal talked about, but no alarm
has b een cr eated by the rum ours circulated. 'f h at
German s teel billets and ship -plates have been d elivered h ere lately is admitted, but t he quantity repar ted to have been brought to this dis trict is g reatly
exaggerated. The Ger mans are at J?resent selling th eir
production to English customers Slmply because they
are forced to dis pose of i t, even at a loss. At presen t
Germ an s teel ship-plates cannot be boug ht any cheaper
than the home-made ar t icle. Those that have been delid h
t
d f 111
h6
d
vere
ere wer e con rn.cte or
t
s prmg, an we
understand t hat they have given satisfaction. Common
iron bars are 6l . 5s.; iron ship-plat es, 6l. 17s. 6d.; steel
ship-plates, Gl . 5s.; and heavy steel rails 5l. 1os., bars and
plates being less% per cent. , and r ails net cash at works.
!Jf
Rh d
~ ,, tJ
~~ .:~ /'(
L d
ess'ls. w cvr son,
CSt{JCW 1~, wfw.IJ vo.,
Mntte The report of the directors for the year ending Aug ust
25, 1901, to be submitted at the firs t ordinary annual
goneral meeting on M onday nex t, n.t vV est H artlepool, s tates : " The directors beg t o submit to t he
sha reholders the a nnexed s ta tem ent of accounts for the
year ending Augus t 25, 1901, duly certified by the
auditors. The profits shown in these accounts, a fter
fully providing for maintena.nce of plant, amount to
84,475l. 9s., ou t of which the following has been appropriated : Directors' fees, 2054l. 15s. 10d. ; expenses at
Glasgow E xhibition, 853l. 17s. lOd. ; incom e tax,
1298l. 10s. lld. ; in terest on purchase m oney, paid to
vendors, 8927t. 19s. Gd. ; in ter est 0 11 4! per cent.
d ebenture s tock to June 30, 1001, 9190l. 16s. 2d. ;
dividend on prefer ence shares at 6 p er cen t . p er
F1 ,b
25 1 eo1 5009l 7
1
annum to
e ruary
, .) ,
s. ; eavm g a
balance unapproprutted of 57, 140l. 1s. 9d.
Your
directors r ecommend that this amount should be dealt
with as follows : Inter est on ~ per cent. deben ture
stock from July 1 to August 25, 1901, 2415l. 19s. 8d.;
dividend on preferen ce shares at 6 per cen t. p er annum,
from F ebruary 26 to Augus t 25, 1901, 10,304l. 7s. 1d. ;
dividend on ordinary shares at 6 per cent. per annum
from dates of p ayment of inst alments to August 25, 1901,
15, 278l.; amount carried to r eser ve accounts, 20,000t. ;
amou nt written off preliminar y_ expenses, 2000l.; amouut
carried forward, 7061l. 15s. The company's works- at
H ar t lepool, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland- have been
fully employed , and the directors consider t hat the r esults
of the year's working ar e very satis factor y. The transfer
of the varions prop er ties of the company has been duly
effected , and t he company is now in fu ll possession of
them.
Coal amd Coke.- Fual shows ver y li ttle change in price.
Bunker coal is lls. to lls. 41. f. o.b. for best Durham
kin ds. Coke is strong in price and in good request, especially for local use. Average blas t-furnace quali ties wer e
16s. 9d. d elivered here.
g
a. ne w rlStng ma.m or leve on 1S now pracbico.lly finished.
The totallengbh of main from the new pumping s tation
at Tiokenham to flhe reservoir on D1al Hill is about
l i miles. In is laid ab depths varying from 4 fb. 6 in. to
7 fb. The work, which was commenced in the lasb week
of February, has occupied cons iderably more time than
was originally anticipated, principally on account of difficulbies at Coombe Hill. The contractors were Messrs.
Rowell and Sons, Chipping Norton, the resident representa.tive of the water company's engineer, Mr. J ames
Mansergh, of London, being Mr. H. Taylor, O.E. An
engine house, &c., ab Tickenham have yet to be erected,
and engines, pumps, &c., provided. The whole of the
works, when finished, will cost aboub 20,000l,
Ponty pridd. - The Ea.rl of Jersey, president of the
Light Rail way Commissioners, Colonel Boughey and Mr.
Alien Sbeward, sat ab Pontypridd on Friday to consider
an application of the British Electric Traction Company
for powers to construct a light railway in Pontypridd,
from Tabernacle Chapel to the company's present terminus in Rhonddaroad, and abo for powers to widen
roads between the Porth terminus of the tramway to
Tony pandy. After hearing evidence for and against the
sche me, the application for powers to construob the railway was refused, but the Commissioners granted an
order in respect of the widenings subjecb to confirmation
by the B oard of Trade.
Coal in Wales. - Tha out\)ub of coal in Wales lasb year
was 32,618,995 tons, of whtoh 27,686,758 tons were raised
in GJamorganshire, besides 9,818,829 tons in Monmouthshire. The total output for Wales showed a. decline of
342,769 tons, while the decline in Monmouthshire was
284,238tons. Thevalueswere19,649,968l.forWales, averagins- 123 0.58d. per ton. and 5,891,237l. for Monmouthshue. The approximate prices per ton ab bhe mines in
the various districts' were: Brecon, Eas~, 123. 2d. ;
Brecon, West (anthracite), 103. 8d. ; Carmarthen, 10s. 7d.;
(anbhraoite), lOa. 7d. ; Denbigh, lls. 6d. ; Flint, lls. 6d. ;
Glamorgan, Easb, 12~. 3d. ; Glamorgan, West, 123. 3d.
(anthracite), 10s. 8d. ; Pembroke, 123. 2d. ; 1\IIonmouth,
12a. 2d. The total output of anthracite was 2,203,468
tons. The average ~prices of coal ab the ports were:
Newport, 19a. 8d. ; C~rdiff, 18~. lOd. ; Swansea, 163. 5d.
The Greab Western Railway convey ed 5,592,791 t ons
from Monmouthsh ird. 1,306, 723 tons from N orth Wales,
and 8,497,269 tons fr m South Wales; the Taff Vale
Railway conveyed 15 355,597 tons; the London and
North-Wstern, 167,793 tons from North Wales a.nd
1,451.161 tons from South Wales; the Great Northern,
l06,627 tons from Soubh Wales; and the Midland,
!,470,538 tons from Wales.
..
South America
British South Africa.
British India.
Australasia. . .
..
.
11,612
61,7SH
84.572
40J9;,2
20,660
1,833
25,291
3,757
13,469
2,6(19
66,337
6,107
E N G I N E E R I N G.
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ENGINEERING
Publlabed
1'.1.0
105
110
llli
120
126
127
127
128
CONTENTS,
PAGE
PA9B
I"
ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1901.
DEEP-TUNN EL RAILWAYS.
F Ew people, we imagine, realise that t here are
more than 60 miles of deep-tunnel railways built
or authorised in London, and that seven additional
companies are now seeking powers from Parliament
to add to that network. W e are at a critical point
in the history of the Metropolis, and on our
present action depends, to a great extent, the
convenience of many unborn generations. A
mistake now will be irreparable, for railways are
expensive undertakings. We know, only too
well, that there are many changes we should
like to make in the existing rail way systems ;
and we also know that t hey are quite imposAible. All that we can do is to accommodate
ourselves to the actual state of affairs ; the
tenour of our life has been determined for us
by the engineers of the 'fifties, and, in t he same
way, our actions will give colour and circumstance
to the conditions of living half a century hence.
This fact was realised by Parliament early in last
session, when it found itself confronted with seven
Bills deposited by p romoters of deep-tunnel lines,
each of whom was fighting for his own hand rather
than for the public good. Each was anxious to
appropriate a paying route, and had but little care
whether his scheme would fit into a well-considered
plan of locomotion serving the entire community.
Parliament, therefore, hung up the whole of the
Bills, while the matter was considered in a wide
aspect by a Joint Committee. Quite recently the
Committee has reported, after having h eard an
immense amount of evidence, together with endless speeches by counsel. We have not space to
give the report in extenso, but will summarise the
most important parts. These are : (1) That underground rail ways should run from well-recognised
centres of t raffic to other like centres, or from
centres of traffic to districts where large numbers
of persons have to proceed daily. (2) That county
councils and the Corporation of London should
have a locus standi before commit tees consider
2t
'
E N G I N E E R I N G.
Company.
6
6
7
6
Observations.
----
3 2.60 662,533
6 9. 71 328,205
0 0.85 300,0CO
2 7.H.I 501,930
1 0.9 48l,3S3
- - - 1- - 6 8.oa
I
We bid fair to suffer again from the defects of our
qualities. The initiative and indiyidual effort of
the British race have served us well m the past, but
there are limitations to their usefulness. The
allied race across the Atlantic has recognised this.
After having reclaimed ~n. imm~nr3~ ~ontinent r:om
wood and swamp and pratne by tnd1v1dqal e~ert10n 1
E N G I N E E R I N G.
management can make sure of getting work turned
out rogularly and punctually. T here is no fear
a~ ther e possibly might be if the supply were exclu~
si vely from without, that the firms would be so full
of orders for other companies that locomotives
could not be obtained when needed. Makers of
locomotives make profits. It is h eld that by making
its own engines the r ail way company saves t hese
amounts to add to its dividends. In any case a
railw~y company must necessarily do the areater
part of its own repairs, and the establi: hment
needed for this purpose may be utilised for making
new en gines without adding to the expense of the
staff to any dispr oportionate degree. These are
some of the claims adv~nced in favour of the system
generally in vogue in this country. In the United
States the r&ilroad companies depend chiefly on
outside shops, buying most of their locomotives
ready made. The great Pennsylvania Company
have, however, excellently organised and equipped
engineering works at Altoona.
The dis!ldvantages of the home-made system as
urged by its opponents are, that locomotives, like
other m1chines, must n ecessarily be more cheaply
made in a factory the proprietors of which have
the incentive of direct personal gain, even when
the profits earned are taken into account ; that
an engineering firm making for several companies
will collect instrucbion from a wider field of experience ; that i ts management will be more
energetic, and that competition with other firms
will force it to keep i ts machinery and its methods
more closely up to modern r equirements ; that
invention will be st imulated, and that the management will be more r eady to run the risk necessary in the introduction of new inventions ; that
it is the business of a rail way company to transport passengers and goods, the carrying out of
which functions is quite enough to monopolise
t he t ime and energies of the management without
entering into a complicated man ufacturing business.
There are, of course, other considerations, and
those that have been stated will be variously estimated ; p ossibly the most j udicious course for a railway company to follow is to make a certain number
of locomotives in its own shops and to satisfy. extra.
requirements by purchase from outside makers. In
this way the engineering staff of the rail way company
gets practical experience in manufacture, but can also
profit by t he experience of others; whilst an efficien t
check is kept on the contractors in case they are
inclined to take ad vantage of a full market.
These considerations are as between manufact urer
and purchaser, but there are wider aspects of a
n l\tional character. There is no doubt that in the
United States the far larger number of locomotives
made by engineering fir ms established for the purpose gives t he trade one great ad vantage over the
Brit ish manufacturers. Lord George Hamilton
refers to this when he says : ''Each rail way company has its own type of locomotive, and each
company const ructs the great majority of the en gines they so design. The outside firms get comparatively few orders from t he home r ail ways, and
there is no standardisation of pattern or type in
the limited orders they do receive. " The letter of
Lord George H amilton goes on to say that this
twofold uncertainty - first as to numbers and
secondly as to type-has had a cramping effect
upon the expansion of those engineering firms who
construct locomotives.
That is quite true in r egard to home rail ways
which are own ed by indep endent companies, but
it is also true of railways under the control of the
State in India. vVith regard to home rail ways, the
Government is powerless, excepting when a n ew
ra.ilway comes to Parliament for permission to construct, or an e3tablished line asks for additional
powers. Then, of course, it is p ermissible for the
Legisla~ure to bargain ; but it would, at least, be
a novel procedure to direct a rail way company to
purchase, in place of manufacture, its locomotives,
or any part of them. Whether s uch a comse
would be to the p ublic advantage is another
matter ; and it is only on the ground of public
advantaae that a railway company asks for the
arbitrary powers that must b e acquired to enable
construction to be carried on.
Apart from the inter ests of t he employes of the
various rail way companio~, and from the point of
view of the proprietors, it is worth considering
whether it would not be wise to give more
encouraaement to the locomotive firms. There is
nothingo more wholesome than competition, and if
there w e~e not the check of a more or less well-
defined outside price, the cost of railway shopmade engines might run up considerably.
The Secretary of State for India lectures the
home rail ways on what they should do without
much restraint; but he migh t, perhaps, consider
his O\vn depar tment with advantage. He tells us
that '' the demand for locomotives from India has
greatly increased, and will con tinue to increase ."
That is excellent news, and it is to be hoped the
demand will be filled by British firms. The call
for rail way stock for South Africa seems likely to
coincide with this; and Lord George Hamilton says
'' these orders in the aggregate are considerably
in excess of what the home factories can produce. ,
The Indian Government, we are further told,
"have had to postpone placing certain orders until
the Sout h African order.:J have been advanced ; "
and, further, that " the rolling stock in India upon
several of the great arterial lines is quite insufficient
to carry the goods waiting to be moved, and . these
companies cannot indefinitely await the execution
of t heir pressing wants. ,
We belie ve that the Indian Government are n ow
doing their best-whether prompted by L ord
George llamilton or not we cannot say-to remedy
this unsatisfactory state of affairs ; but we cannot
help saying it has been brought about by their own
cooduct. The locomotive stock was allowed to run
down to a very low ebb, and for years orders, for
which the locomotive makers in this country were
hungering, were held back. With no encouragement from the majority of home railways and little
from abroad, it was hardly to be wondered at that
many firms declined to spend money in keeping
their works up to date in order to execute orders
that appeared never likely to come, or at best at
an uncertain date ; whilst the star ting of n ew vent ures that would have brought a fresh impulse and
fresh energy into the competition was not to be
expected.
We believe that this holding back vf orders was
due to the, perhaps, well-intentioned, but certainly
short-sighted desire to reach a more perfect type of
engine than had been evolved. There always
appeared to be something better- a radical change,
perhaps, looming big close ahead. Those who wait
for epoch-making changes in engineering practice
generally get left ; to be abreast of the best existing practice-either one's own or that of others- is
as good as can be ask ed, and the man who waits for
what may never come is likely to find himself without necessary too]s when the work has to be done.
That is just the posit ion of the Indian railways.
As a consequence, when the Assam-Bengal Railway
invited tenders for 10 locomotives and the East
Indian Railway for 40 locomotives, the quotations
of an Hanover firm were found to be 25 per cent.
less than those of any British firm, and t he time
asked for delivery of the German locomotives is
stated to be about half that needed by our home
establishments. The difference in price and time is
accounted for by the fact that the British firms are
so full of work that they only tendered at prohibitive rates ; " and thus," moralises Lord George
Hamilton, " the country has lost these contracts,
and a trade with a foreign firm has been established
to its detriment."
586
E N G I N E E R I N G.
fourbeen engines, the 1nean power of which was traffic accounts for 86 per cent. of the journeys
only 18,144lb. Thus we have here not only an made by rail, but the average rate is only !d. per
increased agricultural area served by the rail ways, mile, and they only account for one-fourth of the
but commendable facilities for gathering freight total receipts from passengers. The average distance
in anticipation of regular grain trains, more econo- of such suburban journeys is under 6 miles, so that
mical tractive power, and, finally, improved con the figures for all passenger traffic suggest a very
veniences for exportation. Such additional facilities considerable addition to the average length of
re-act on freight rates, because influencing the extra-mural traffic. The tonnage of all goods convolume of traffic, and the result is that in ten veyed shows an increase of 16 per cent., and the
years the quantity of grain and flour dealt with receipts of 12! per cent.; but here the monetary
has more than doubled, amounting for the year result is affected by the fact that, with the view of
under review to 504,8SO tons, while the average affording relief to the pastoral industry, which has
haul has increased, almost in the same proportion, suffered so severely from the effects of prolonged
to 195f miles, the average rate per ton-mile, ex- drought, tebates amounting to 38,5'77l. were allowed
cluding terminal charges, having been 0.49d. This in connection with the carriage of starving stock,
will appear the more satisfactory when it is noted and of fodder where the removal of stock was not
that the longest possible haul is 603 miles- from considered practicable. The total gross earnings
Bourke in the northern interior to Sydney; there amounted to 3,573, '779l. - an increase of 11! per
are three other through lines over 400 miles long. cent.; but, unfortunately, the expenses increased at
There is a similar increasing tendency in the the rate of 16! per cent., the ratio of expense to
volume of traffic and in the average haul in other revenue having gone up from 65.93 to 57.17 per
depart ments concurrent with reduced rates, although cent.; but this is still f~r short of the 62 per cent.
grain shows the greatest development. Thus with required for the British lines last year. The details
hay, straw, and chaff the mean rate, excluding ter- of the New South Wales expenditure given in the
minal char5es, has been reduced to 0. 39d. per ton- Commissioners' report are meagre, but we are told
mile, and in ten yeara the tonnage of the traffic has that this rise in expenditure is due to the increased
nearly trebled, amounting in 1900-1 to 154,403 traffic, the greater cost of coal and materials, &c.,
tons, the average miles per ton being now 197. additional relaying, repairs, and renewals of stock,
In wool there are fluctuations, and also with and the more liberal advances granted to the wages
live stock. With coal and shale the haul is not staff. These latter items are all commendable, and
at all long : the mines are in close proximity to tend ultimately to economy. As a matter of fact, the
the ports, and the preponderating portion of the earnings per train-mile were !d. less, and the exmineral dealt with is for export.
The rail- penses ! d. more, and thus the net revenue is ld.
ways carried 3, 956,003 tons in the year under less per train-mile, which, all things considered, is
review ; the foreign exports from Newcastle alone not unsatisfactory. The train mile is for the future
amounted to 1,352,476 tons, and inter-colonial to be computated on a new basis. Every train
shipments to 1,864,968 tons; together 3,207,444 drawn by two engines is to be calculated as two
tons. This is about 20 per cent. more than in the trains, an arrangement arrived at by all the States in
previous year, quite a third of the increased quan- the Commonwealth of Australia, so as to insure
tity going to Chili. The measure of the encourage- uniformity in mileage returns. This is commendment offered to this large export trade is indicated able, for the engine mileage is, after all, the true
by the fact that the freight rate is 0. 63d. per ton- test of the duty done for a given income, and it
mile, excluding terminal charges. In fact, fully carries a check upon the expensive practice of
84 per cent. of the goods traffic is carried at an double heading.
average of ~d. per ton-mile, and, as we have indicated, red-uctions are in contemplation, so that
FRENCH LABOUR TROUBLES.
the economy achieved, which is not at the cost of
(FR01\I AN OcCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT.)
maintenance, is conducive to the development of
THE economical situation now ruling in France
the internal resources and of the export trade. It
would have been interesting to have had further has, so far as can be seen, given rise almost excludetails, in the Government report now before us, of sively to personal polemics without much interest
the separate items of expenditure, and particularly for the outside world. A general strike is announced
as to the economy of powerful locomotives and for November 1st next ; if it does take place, it
will most probably lead to a very serious upheaval.
large wagons.
The year ending wit~ June last has undoubtedl.Y Owing to its gravity, the question needs to be
been exceptionally satisfactory so far as revenue IS grappled with in a business-like way, but this
concerned, the increase having been the largest in does not appear to be done. The Government
any one year since rail ways were first introduced in authorities seem to be playing a double game.
1855. The total receipts were 3,573, 779l., equal They appear, on the one hand, to be tacitly
to 1286l. per mile open : five years ago it was about encouraging Socialism, and on the other to be
llOOl., and generally. it may be said that .over a taking every precaution against any possible outperiod of a year the Income has grown pa/'rt_ passu, bursts on the part of Socialists. J n the meantime,
with the mileage open ; but. the 56.4 mile~ of the right-minded sections of local trade unionismpioneer lines now proJ~cted obvwu~lY. raise anxiety those which have been formed under the sole
in the minds of the Railway Commissioners. There initiative of the workmen-are completing their
are several lines in the colony which have not yet organisation with such a will that they may delay
reached a paying stage. These extend to .1~86 a cataclysm, or perhaps avert it altogether. These
miles and last year incurred a loss, after providing sections stand aloof from the mischievous canfor w~rking expenses and interest, of 324,230l.- vassers whose business is to deal in strikes, as
rather more than in the previous twel vemonths, the well as from all petty political and religious conslight increase in deficit being partly owin~ ~o the troversy; the object of their existence is solely for
higher price of coal, but, as the OommiSslOn~rs the benefit of the men in conjunction with full
point out, losses are to ~ome extent unavOid- justice due to masters. These sections are known
able in the case of new hnes through sparsely as the syndicats jatttnes, in opposition to the older
populated country ; they a~d, ".yet the heavy ones, the syndicctJts r O'Itges of Socialism, and, may
burdens that unremunerative hnes are upon be, of Anarchy.
Can it be that the French authorities are reckonthe system as a whole should no.t be. lo~~
sight of when ?ew line~ are u.nder cons1derat~o~. ing on the eventual action for good of these men,
Such warning lS not without .Its use :when politiCal and are taking ad vantage of it in a diplomatic way
influence is exerted to have hnes butlt apart alto- for party gain 1 If so, they are playing a very
gether f~o~. ~he probabilities of success ; but .wl1ere dangerous game. It is to be hoped, however, that
the possibilities are not altogether absent, ptoneer once the principle of a. general strike is acknowlines or feeders should be undertaken. ~ere loss ledged, voted and proclaimed by a turbulent mass
is incurred, it must be regarded as an Investment of men, in a minority owing to the "yellow syndito insure development ; and although the specula- cates " and law-abiding people, the strike itself will
tive spirit should ~ot be e~couraged, courage for be postponed to a later date, which will be
future extensions IS found In the fact that 15?9 appointed, but held secret, by the central, federal,
miles of prosperous railway made up the financtal and revolutionary committee. Such may be the
deficiencies of the 1286 miles of line not yet profit- case.
In the present labour troubles the miners would
able and yet left the large surplus referred to.
Ml classes of traffic contributed to the general be the leading spirit, and the Government- simply,
prosperity. There was an ~ncrease equal to abo~t no doubt, with a view to gain time and to appear to be
11 per cent. in passenger JOUrney~, an~ of 12! In moving in the ma~ter-recen~lY. asked thre.e qu~s
tions
from
the
various
coal-mining
compames
with
the receipts; The difference in ratio be1ng du~ to
longer journeys, and not to rates. The subu1 ban regard to the Bill for reducing the working day in
again.
The above replies are to the point, and coming
as they do from men who understand their business, they need no comments, and should certainly
convince outsiders.
That the Bill in question is one - sided is
evidenced throughout by the fact that it mentions n o reduction in wages to correspond with
the reduction in the number of working hours.
It is simply a Bill to pamper the greed of
the masses. In the labour dispute likely soon
to revolutionise France, the French authorities
take upon themselves the duties of arbitrators.
Now, the word "arbitrator" has always been, and
should ever be, suggestive of the most complete
impartiality. Were this quality to be banished
from every other domain, it should certainly form
the attribute of a;rbitration. We fail to see the
least shadow of imputiality in this Bill. It is tt ue
E N G I N E E R 1 N G.
that ~oth~g is.known as to what its framers may
have In their mtnds ; t here may Le no intention at
a~l of its becoming law. Should it pass, however,
e tthex the companies will not maintain the same
w~ges for a less amount of work, or the authorities
w1ll have to compel the companies by law to reduce
t he. working day to eight h ours, as well as to grant
theu men a mi.nimum wage, which is what the m en,
or, rather, thetr leaders, are driving at. Now, this
matt~r .see~s such ~ difficult one to legislate upon,
that It Is quite possible that nothing will be don e
at all, ai?-d the Government will go on temporising.
Know10g the customs which rule in French
private companies as we do, we are able to state
that they have ever been most mindful of the welThe intervention of State
fare of their men.
offic_ials into the inner working of private compantes can have no beneficial effect whatever in the
sense put forward, even were it proved that the
State is more desirous and better able than are the
cvmpanies to benefit t he men. We suppose the
Go'fernmeL t only wish to intervene, or to appear
to do so, and have no d esire to "nationalise "
the mines and works ; that bubble must have
b e~n pricked long ago, and the experience
ga.med by the ''nationalisation, of the mines at
~Ionthieux. and Ri ve-de-Giers, and of the glassworks at A lbi, must surely have shown the Government that whatever be their other qualities, they
are absolutely unfit t o t~k e up the position of company directors.
French companies, we maintain, have always
been i~ the ~an with regard to the paternal care
they gt ve their men, a nd t he ''yellow syndicates "
above referred to should fully meet the need- if
need there be- of arbitration between masters and
men on questions p ertaining to labour ; such questions would be arbitrated upon locally, apart from
aH political interference, as should be the case.
The miner's lot is a hard one h owever it may b e
improved. In France his hardships ha.ve been
tempered to him to a very high degree, and in many
ways by the companies, while until lately he was
sure to receive public sympathy.
But public
sympathy is now waning, and the fault lies with
the polit ical ad venturers by whom the miner allows
himseU to be guided. Who would care to get up
and d efend the miners- for defending them it
would be- in reply to the fallacious arguments put
forward by t he irresponsible men whom he puts
forward as mediators 1 The French miner has no
worse enemy than himself.
NOTES.
THE BREWERS' EXHIBITION.
THE annual exhibition of plant and produce con nected with brewing and its allied trades was
opened at the Agricultural Hall last Saturday. On
t he present occasion the display of plant is perhaps
rather less than usual, there being corn para.tively
liUle of interest from a mechanical point, if we
except the ingenious automatic machines with which
the enterprising publican reaps a harvest of coppers
from his customers. In previous yea rs we have
noted some fine specimens of coppersmiths' work,
but little of this kind is to be seen this year. The
great refrigerating industry is represented by a
single small carbon-dioxide plant, to be seen at the
stand of Messrs. H. J. West and Co., Limited, of
116, outhwark Bridge-road, S.E. Several gas
engines a re on view, but practice in this connection
has n ow become so standardised that the different
makes vary only in detail. In gas engines for
electric lighting purposes an exhibit by Messrs .
Crossley Brothers, Limited, of Openshaw, is noteworthy, in that the engine is direct-connected to a
7.kilowatt 6-pole dynamo.
This arrangement,
though not absolutely novel, has only been recently introd uced, and marks a distinct advance
in the regularity of running, which it is now
p ossible to attain with gas engines. The plant
shown is designed to run at 250 revolutions per
minute. One of the most interesting exhibits was
that of M essrs. Doulton, of Lambeth, who in addition to a commonplace display of beer bottles and
the like, showed also a stoneware chemical plant, of
large size, reproducing in pottery many of the
forms common in la boratory glasswork. The principal novelty this year is the apparatus for superaeration n ow b ecoming common in the larger
Bodegas and the like.
Ordinary soda water in
syphons is bottled under a pressure of 150 lb. per
square inch or so. The plan adopted by the London
Super-Aeration Company, Limited, of 4 to 6, Crinan-
n,
s88
E N G I N E E R I N G.
The Indian market has this year been unusually dull, and manufacturers have consequl'ntly bad to busy themselves in finding
other markets to take its place. There have only been two or
three orders for Indian State Railways given out for a considerable
time. Such a state of matters is without parallel, and we think
thereoan be no question as to the unwiadom of a pause in the
railway development of our grPat Eastern dependency. India has
so far only been touched by railways, and both from a military
and commercial point of view there is the greatest desirability, and
even necessity, for a policy of progress in laying down lines. Mr.
Holt Hallett, in an admirable paper, demonstrates the profit to
Ind.ia itsell to be derived from the proper and extensive openi~g
up of India by railways, and the cause of the present standsttll
seems to us to be inex.Plir.able. Glasgow is now represented by
seven Membera of Parhament ; and in view of the importance. of
the Indian market to the West of.Scotland, the lack of enterpnse
in Indian railways might very well form the subject of a question
to the Secretary for India.
1889.
The Indian market has not shown the activity which was anticipated at this time a year ago. Year after year we have bad to
call attention to the lack of enercry OJ? the Pl;\rt of those. responsible for the State Railways in Ind1a. It JS so long Since the
Governm ent placed orders, t~~t their r~lling stook must now. be
in a most unsatisfactory oonditton, Dun n~;r the year the Indtan
companies have given out orders for 95 enjZmes, and of thee~ only
30 ordered within the last week have been for Government hoes.
1891.
India has bulked rather more largely than the home market,
and still the State Railwoys' requirements are remarkable by
tbei r absence. Year after year we h!Jove bad t? c~roniole the
same tbing, and have already prognost1ca~ed an }nevlt!Joble early
flooding of the market with orders to brmg theJr e.qutpment up
to normal efficiency ; but every time our prognostJoatJons bav.e
failed and we shall consequently now cease to prophesy unttl
the f~ct is realised.
1893.
The Indian market has been specially active during the past
year, and has assumed the importance amongs~ markets for loco
motive work whioh has been conspicuously absent during recent
times. Its importance has almost equalled that of the home
market, and the pressure of traffic seems to have been fel t all
over the land.
1897.
[OcT. 2 5,
1901.
to. be very near the ends .of the rails, leav ing only about
lm. of metal from the side of the hole to end of rail.
The nexb two bolts may be wider spaced and smaller in
diameter. The bolts near the middle of the fishplates
have much more strain to resist than tbe other two;
they should, therefore, be stronger, and be placed as near
as possible to their mark, which is at the end of the rail.
No other eng ineering structure depends so much for
security on bolts as rail joints, yeb bolts ~enerally put in
are much too weak for their work. 'Vtth good, short,
we11-fitting fishplates and large-sir.ed middle bolts a
strong and durable joint may be madA.
E xpamsion.- Rails lAid in summer time should be laid
close-butb to butt; if laid in winter 1\ l in. to a 30-fb. rail
is enough space to leave for expansion, which is nob such
an irresistible force as is generally imagined.
Sleeper s.- I ha. ve Lean surprised to find the rails of terminal s tations, shunting yards, and docks laid on sleepers,
as of old, when those places where there is nob great speed
of train could be laid with broad-Banged rails placed on to
solid concrete, and buried half their depth in this same material. When laid in this way they a.re done with ; there i J
no wood to rot or swelJ, or cbaira to trip over or become
loose. When concrete is a continuous bearing under the
rail, it does not make ba rd running like what the old
atone blocks made in the early days of rail ways. GJ~gow
tramway cars run sometimes very quickly, bub always
smoothly, and the rails are laid directly on concrete.
Intercou rse of Officers.- ! do not find that there is much
intercourae between the officers of the different rail waya.
They do nob meet ab abort intervals to exchange ideas
and discus3 proposed improvements, like the Mas ter
Mechanics and Car-Builders of the U nited States. Though
there are many railway companies in this country, the
island is so small that rail ways, as far as their rolling
stock is concerned, must be worked pretty much as one
concern. I therefore think that instead of working out
ne w ideas alone, the master mechanics ought to meet
with their fellows of all other rail ways, tJo reason together
and take counsel.
The present isolated system tenda to increase the
already many differences in rolling stock, instead of reducing patterns and standardising, which is the grea.b
want of the momenb.
J. K .
s8g
E N G I N E E R I N G.
very shorb indeed-the whole subjecb was thrashed out.
Nothing was glo3sed over. But neither of these gentlemen appears to be sa.tisfi'3d. I will therefore make another
attem pt.
The engines and screws. and all the rotabing pa.rbs of
tbe machinery in the Cobra, were very beautifully
b:l.la.nced, as they are in all of Parsons' turbines. Both
syate~s were mount.ed in the same rigid frame secured to
the ahtp ab many pomts. The shafts had a. fixed position
as relates to eacb other, approximately parallel. The
weight of the two systems* was identical; they were
bobh su pplied with steam from the same source and
both discharged their steam into the same cond~nser.
V(e ~a.y therefore infer that they rotated in opp:>site
duecttons at very nearly the same velociti~, certainly
within 1 per cent. Suppose that the Cobra. had been
provided wibh trunnions passing transversely through her
centre of gravity, and tba.t she had been mounted on ball
bearings so as to be traiped freely in any direction like a.
gu.o, and tba.b the engines should be set in motion, the
shtp ~ccupying a horizontal -position. S uppose now that
we ratSed the bow of the sh1p and de-pressed the stern.
One syatem of turbines would ma.ke a. shght effort to move
the stern of the ship to the right, and the other
would make an effort with exactly equal force to
move it to the left, but as tbe fra me is absolutely
fixed, and as the stern bearings ca.n neither approach
n ')r recede from each other, this movement becomes
impossible.
In order to develop any gyroscopic
restsbance to bhe mo vement of the bow of the ship, either
up or down, ibis necessary for the shafts to throw themselves oub of a parallel po~ition, and a.s this is impossible,
the engines, a.s gyroscopes, becJmes completely impotent,
and offer no resistance ab all ; in fact, the ship could be
tilted in any direction or rotated on a. vertical axis with
perfect freedom whether the turbines wore rotating or
not. The rotation of the turbines has abJolutely no effect
upon the free movement of the ship in any direction. It
is true if we place one spinning gyroscope in a. box or
frame, and att9mpb t o tilt ib on a. horizontal axis, the
gyroscope will of itself turn on a. vertic1l axis-in fact,
the management of a gyroscope in a. box held loosely in
the hand is something like driving a. pig which has a.
will of its own, and it is this action which has deceived
superficial experimenters.
If a. single gyroscope is
mounted in a rigid frame, ib offers not one particle of
resistance to having its plane of rotation changed in
any direction. This is the poinb tha.b is not undersnood
by engineers. Mr. Cassel, however. is nob satisfied with
theory; he wants figures. To satisfy his burning desire
for figures to accurately express the force moments due
to gyroscopic action in the Oobra., I eupply the following
complete statement for the four shaft~, looking afb :
Resistance bo pi bching
. ..
Transverae couples due to
pitching
.. .
. ..
.. .
0 + 0 + 0 + 0
+A +
=0
B - B - A = 0
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length of the ships, known as the lower, main, upper, and
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promenade decks. The main engines are bwo four-cylinder
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running a.b the rate of 86 revolutions a minute.
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menb with two. I book two front bicycle wheels on their
bearings oub of two bicycles, and rigidly connected the
two axles together l>y screwing one end of one axle to the
end of the other axle with an ordinary bicycle wheel nub,
so that the bwo wheels were practically on one rigid axle.
I then held the two wheels by the outer ends of the now
rigid axle, and got a. friend to start the wheels revolving.
When one wheel only was revolving, I naturally experienced the " resistance to some deviations of the
axis," as mentioned by Mr. Serrell.
When both wheels were revol \'ing in the same direction, this resistance appeared to be aboub double; but
when the two wheels were revolving as near as p ossible
at the same speed in different directions, this resiRta.nce
was practica.lly nit. That this result would be attained
is qu1te clear from mathematics, as may be seen if one
compounds the angular momentum of bo~h wheels with
the couple which is applied to turn the system as a. whole.
Yours faithfull y ,
Norbh Kensington, October 23.
G. S. ODLING.
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1015
On Wednesday, the 16th inst., bhe Flensburger Schiffsba.u Gesellscha.ft launched from their yard a cargo vessel
building for the D eutsch Ausbralische Da.mpfschiffs
Gesellscha.fb, and which is the twelfth vessel built by the
Flensburg firm for these owners. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 406 fb. 6 in. ; breadth, 47 fb. 8 in. ;
depth, 32 ft. ; with a deadweighb carrying capacity of
6700 tons. She will bs provided with quadruple-expansion engines capable of develo ping an indicated horsepower of 3400, by the engineering department of the
firm, with cylinders 26 in., 37! in., 55 in., and 80 in. in
diameter by 60 in. stroke. The vessel is named Ro.stock .
On Friday, the 18bh inst., the steel scre w sbea.mer
Beechley had her trial trip in Hartlepool Bay. The
Beechley has been builb by Me..~srs. W m. Gray and Co.,
Limited, for Mr. W. R. Rea., of Belfasb. She ta.kes
Lloyd's highesb class, is 352 ft. in lengbh over all,
49ft. 6 in. in breadth, and 28 ft. 3 in. deep. and is a.
good example of a. modern cargo steamer. Her engines
are of the triple-expansion typt-, supplied from the Central lYia.rine Engine Works of the builders, and have
cylinders 25! in., 40~ in., and 67 in. in dia.meber by 45 in.
stroke, supplied wibh s team by bwo large steel boilers
working ab a. ~ressure of 160 lb . per squt\re inch. A very
sa.tisfac~ry tnal was a ccomplished, the vessel averaging
a. speed of 10 knobs.
RosARIO.-'Port works are now being vigorously pushed
or ward.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
590
TRANSPORTING
75-TON CASTING
BY RAIL.
I T is not always fully realised what are the mechanical diffi culties involved in the transport of heavy
machinery on our railways. A s an intt>rest ing example
of the rewurcefulness of railway companies when
called upon to deal wit h the transport of large weights
we reproduce herewith a photog raph of a 75 ton casting re~ently mad e by Messrs. 11oorwood, of Sheffield,
for the firm of Messrs. Armstrong, Wbitworth, and
C.>., of Manches~er. This casting is shown mounted
on a 50-ton well trolley.
The more interesting put of the arrangement shown
in the illustration is that by means of which a portion
of the total \Veight is distributed over additional trucks
at ca.ch end of the well trolley. From the fi g ure it
will bs seen that a large timber lever, about 50ft. long,
is mounted at each end of the casting on a separate
10-ton goods wagon. This wagon becomes the fulcrum
of the lever, one end of which supports a portion of
the weight on the well trolley, while the othEr end
carries about 3 tons of balance weight, the fulcrum
being so placed that there is a leverage of 2 to 1, thus
the 3-ton balance weight supports 6 tons of the cast
ing. This arrangement is repeated at the other end of
the casting, and in this way the total weight is distributed over a long wheel base. The balance weights
swing free and do not, of course, touch the trolleys
shown beneath them.
In order to insure its safe transit, it was arranged to
send the casting through from Sheffield to Gorton
Junction on S unday, and all traffic was stopped on
both up and down m ain lines for this purpose. The
arrangement does credit to the ingenuity of the loading d epartment of the Great Central Railway, to whose
Sheffield local goods manager, Mr. J. A. Hodkinson,
w e are indebted for the particulars here given.
MISCELLAL~EA.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
59 I
INDUSTRIAL NOTES .
I'
lllJ...___.In-v
I
'
DlftQAA
'
To' From r . ~
As regards the various groups of industries, employment in coal-mining showed a decrease in the
average number of days worked in the month, but an
increase in the number employed. As compared with
the previous month, an improvement is shown in the
time worked. At collieries employing 473,007 persons
the pits worked on an average 5.36 days per week
d uring the month, as compared with 4. 91 in the
previous month, and 5. 65 days a year ago.
...
11.
l;J
,.
/I
1r '/
11
I)
Re2 .
I
---61 -----..J.-------91
----~~~===
~~~--- 9}
I
.,
;
'l:j~
------i-----?i.. -------.1.
- -------- - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - ,, . 10,.-(; -r-- --- -----------------------
------------?!
. ,
~------------------------- 2" aj ----------------------------+l
......,.. p
----r
'
I
8~--.j
I
...,..
~
('
......
'
,,
..
\.
()
_.
u
~-----
------ ~
K-------------- 1. (1,
'
,.
0//
LlJ
1 1 1
- - - - - -- - - --
- - -------------
----------+-
2 . 10/
1 5 ~c
_________________--.. . ..
--------------------------+!
WE illustrat~ on this page a set of three-throw three-way cock fi xeu close to the accumulator casing.
In the manufacture of iron and steel a further improvement is manifest as compared with the previous month,
but employment is not quite EO good as a year ago. At
202 works, included in the returns, 79,730 workpeople
were employed; the t otal volume of employment,
taking into account the number employed and the
number of shifts worked, shows an increase of 7. 8 per
cent. as compared with the previous month, and a decrease of only 0. 5 per cent. in the same month a year
ago.
In the tinpla te trade there was great improvement
in the month, employment being better also than a
year ago. There were 377 mills at work, including
those engaged in the manufacture of black sheets, as
compared with 349 mills in the month previous, and
359 a year ago. The number of persons employed at
the mills in operation was about 18,800.
Employment in the engineering and metal trades
group shows no change. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3. 5 per cent., as in t he previous month, and 2. 9 per cent. a year ago.
In the shipbuilding trades employment continues to
decline, though only slightly. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3.9 per cent., as compared with 3. 7 per cent. in the previous month and
2.4 per cent. in the same month a year ago.
Nevertheless, for this group of trades the proportion
is not an extremely large one.
Employment in ~be building trade is not quite so
good. The proportiOn of unemploj ed union members
in the branches reporting was 2. 9 per cent., as compared
wi ~h 2. 7 per cent. in the month previous, and 2.1 per
cent. a year ago.
In the furnishing and wood-working trades a slight
improvement is manifest. The proportion of unemployed union members was 3.2 per cent., as compared
with 3.5 per cent. in the month previous, and 4.0 per
cent. in the same month a year ago.
In most bra.nches of the printing and bookbinding
trades there has been, owing to seaeonal causes, some
improvement. The proportion of unemployed union
memb_e rs was 5.6_per cent ., as compared with 6.5 per
cent. 1n the prev1ous month, and 4.0 per cent.. in the
same month a year ago. Emplojment in the pap~r
trades has also improved; the proportion of out-ofwork members of unions was 2. 2 per cent., as compared with 2. 7 per cent. in the previous month, and
2.1 per cent. a year ago.
Employment in the boot and shoe trade is bad
E N G I N E E R I N G.
592
generally, but there are indications of improvement in
some centres. In other leather-using trades it is fairly
good; the proportion of unemployed union members
was 3. 0 per cent., in the previous month 2. 9 p er
cent. , in the same mon th of last year it was 2.0 p er
cent.
Employment continues fair in the spinning branch,
and has improved in the weaving branch of the cotton
trades. In mills and factories employing 77,500
females, 88 p er cent. in the !pinning mills and 69 per
cent. in the weaving factories were in full employment. In the woollen trade employment is fair; in
the worsted trade it is slack ; in the hosiery branohes
there is impro,ement.
Agricultural labourers h:we been generally well
employed, but there is little demand for extra hands.
Do<!k and riverside labourers in London have b een
fairly employed. The average number employed at
t he docas and wharves was 16,335, as compued with
16,490 in the previous month, and 15,804 in t he same
month a year ago.
GAS-ENGINE RESEARCH.
Second Repo1t to tho Gas-Engilne Research Oornmittee. *
Also ENGINEERING,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
~en~ was g~ven; ~or the objects of the p resent report all
ab 1s requned will be. to state that in addition to such
measurements as quantt~y of gas, indicated and brake
power, nu~ber of. revoluttons and explosions. temperature
and qua.nttty of J~Wket water, the au supplied was measuhed by a. wet meter, and an analysis was made of the
bx ausb ga~es. Some alterations and additions have
aen made to the apparatus form erly descri bed A n
accou~t. of these changes is now added.
Ptg 1.
593
Indicator.-The method of driving the steel wires which accurate analysis of th e exhaust gases can be made it is
are attached to the indicator (Fig. 3) has been slightly P.o~ible to find t~e ra~io of air t o gas in a. som~whab
a.lte~ed from the form that was rsb used in order to s1mtlar manner as m boiler tests, wher~ the weight of air
obv1a.te the .ne?ess~ty for cor~e.c ting diagrams for the per pound of coal is found from the analyses of the fllle
Fi9. Z .
..
. .
@
/ '
rI
, '
, '' '
8cal,e; "fo.
,
..,.-r---------.,______ ___ -.
--
---- fI
, ..
:
I
\'
.... ...&
Mica-~
-J---l
'"\
"' 1
\..
I
1-
- - 4==~~==~
----\
....
--
'
-- - -
(tJ.:uJ==~ ~-----"'-1
Wa.Bhers
F'-9 .4- .
SECTOR
--
FV.,1. G. E:xihcu.w&Ga..s Sampler.
E:xlum.st Va.lve.t
ToCusJ[ofiler
PiA] 5 .
--Lh
'
- --- J
)
10~. 11
B compression about 71lb. per square inch, 0 compres6ion about 93, and D compression 124lb. per square mcb,
the pressures being absolute. The speed was kept the
same for the whole of t he tests, that is, about 200 revolutions p er minut~ ; in all cases the load on the brake was
adjusted so as to make the number of explosions missed
as small as possible. Experiments on gas engines when
a. considerable number of explosions are miesed give rise
to such va rying ratios of air t o gas as to render them
useless from a research point of view; t his is due t o the
fact that when a blank charge of air is drawn in, the
residue in the clearance space is more than usually
dilu ted with air, and the indicat or diagram following the
blank ch&;rge is not the same shape as those wbiob follow
an explosion. The tests under any of the compressions
are denoted by numbers, and are given in the order of the
ratio of air to gas; a series starts with very nearly the t heoretical amount of air which is required to burn the ga-s, and
then the tests are separated by, roughly, changes of 1 per
csn t. in the carbonic acid as found in the exhaust gases.
A ll volumes, both air and gas, have been red uced t o
f\ta ndard condition~, that is, a. temperature of 15 deg.
Cent. and a pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury; results are given in the metric system, but for the convenience of comparison a fe w leading figures have been given
in the English units also ; limits of space prevent the
adnption of the dual system throughout.
The ratio of air to gas ba.s generally been found by
assuming that ab the end of the suction stroke the cylinder
is filled with only air and gas; if the temperature of the
mi xture be assumed, the volume of air can be calculated
frnm the ordina ry gaseous lawe.
1,his method is certainly n ob correct, as there is always
in the clearan ce space a volume of the products of combustion which have been left over from the previous ex
plosion stroke ; the temperature of t.he mixed air and gas
has been generally taken a~ not differing greatly from
the jacket temperature, an assumption which is not in
general borne out by the present experimente. If an
l
N=-=--:l
=C~
+-::k
u--
N-K+k
threaded plug which screws into the cylinder in the posiIn this manner two values of N have been calculated,
tion where the ordinary i~nition tube is placed. From
and are given in T ables V II.; the results should sgreP,
the lower extremity of this plug project two steel rods
and such differencP.s as exist are due to the experim enta11y
about 3 in. in length, t he rods being connected together
determined constants K, k, and l, which have to be
by a short brid~e piece, in w hie~ is xed a.. pl~tinum tip.
obtained in a somewhat indirect manner, rendering
The di fficulty m the constructton of the tgntter was to
them liable to error.
insulate the movin..;' contact. This was effect ed by .in.suThe ratio of air to gas used in the calculations is the
lating the whole of the upper part of the plug conta.mmg
mean between the two.
the gland, through whic~ the slid in~ rod moves,, from ~he
The measurement of the air drawn in during the suction
lower pub which screws m to the cy hnder. The m sula.t10n
stroke renders it possible to calculate the temperat ure ab
is formed of mica disc~, which are placed both above a?d
the end of the suction stroke.
below a. ring forming part of the upper plug. These mtca.
Let V= volume of cylinder.
discs are forced down on the ring by means of a. nut threaded
V r
volume of clearance.
on to the lower piu~. The .moving conta.c~ consists of a
V a = volume of air drawn in per ~troke reduced to
steel rod tipped wt th p latmum and pasamg through a
stand ard condi tions of temperature and pressure, which
gland packing in order to prevent leakage of gas. The
are 15 deg. Cent. and 760 millimetres of mercury.
packing is a. mixture of asbestos. and pl?mbago. . The
V g = vol ume of gas drawn in per stroke under the
same conditions of pressure and temperature.
moving rod is forced d own by n spt ral sprmg and hfted
by a. bellcrank lever. Owing to the f~()t that the rod must
A fter the exhaust valve clos~, and a uew stroke is
about to commence, the clearence space is filled with air
be insulated from the body of the cyhnder, ~he lever has
and burnt products, the composition of which is known
also to be insulated ; it is therefore made 1~ t wo parts,
from t he analysis of t he exhaust gases, and if the volume
which are fll>Stened together by bolts passmg through
of this resid ue can be found, the temperature can be
ebonite washers. The lower end of the bellcrank lever
obtained by calculation.
has attAched t o it a roller which presses on t o the exhaust
The amount of ai r in the cylinder is N V g, this quanti ty
cam. The time of the passage of the spark is altered by
being made up of t wo parts : first, the air drawn in V a;
fixing the roller nt different distances from tpe cam. O~r
and, second, the air left in the clearance space, which is
rent was obtained from four storage cells havmg .a capa01ty
N V g- V a when reduced to standard conditions.
of 50 ampere-hours ; it was found that t? obtam regular
T he fraction of air in the exhaust is known from the
igniDion the spark must be short and th10~, ~n.Y smaller
a nalysis of the exhaust gases; let it be n. then the total
number of cells did nob in all cases produce 1gmt10n. The
volume of air and products of combusti on in the clearance
results have been most excellent; the igniter has been in
space, when the suction ~troke is about to commence, is
nse wi thout repair for more than two years, and has ne~er
been seen to fail to fire the charge. As compar~d w1tb
clearly N V fl + V a; during the suction stroke an addithe ho b tube, ib has man y advantages from an expertmen.tal
n
point of view, and ~y ~eans of the spark,, charges wb10h * See First R eport Fig. 19 Plate 65, and ENGINEERING, tion al volume of air and gas-V a + V g-is drawn in,
are so weak as to g1ve uregular r~ults w1th the hob tube
vol. lxv., page 351. '
'
, so t hat the t otal volume in the cylinder a.t the end of the
can be ignited witli absolute certamty.
594
E N G I N E E R I N G.
[g~ a+ a +g
suction stroke is V
l :a
T,
1d
" iil'
1:1
""
100
""""
0
0
0
0
Ra./;W- Air
Gas
!'
1-
0
0
I:T
'-....
'
'
'
3~
v . v"
0
T22J]
A TrUil.s.
.
2- -{H- ~
...()
(T 32
D iagra;n-vs.
4 - H>3-'~
R.,
3 - - 02
(")
s-
R.,
0
0
T2
[b (Ta - T2 ) +
7 -QS- t
6- -o+ \)
200
+ s T) oT
(b
~he. expansio~
Pwnping
'0
+ 1u2)
= (w1
'-
I'
+ w2)
= (w1
T. ~)].
T3
+ ~ (T22 -
aJ
[g
T,)
""
~
V
l _;l(
10
11
12
13
14
15
-0
7 . -05 -
5-
J,..
3 -Q2
'
<?
B Trwls
&
6- --Q4
4 ---Q3-~
~}<H-~
......
v , "'
v
'
00012
0001 1
3~
'
/-...
2-..,
<::.
,~,
J_.,llf
'
'
'
d'
'
I
(C
00010
Tr tfk ls
omr.,ltecl.)
I
I
'
00009
~~
I
1
...
5-~-r----~----~---.----.-----.-----~--~----
6-,
5- 4~~~r------r----~r-----4-----~------~----~------~---J,..
4- -ll3- ~ -r------t------+------t------~------1-----.frt-------t----
..- 32 -v"'2-~~~-------t------r----~------+------+-----h'~----~---.
17
~ 1: -ot- ~T---:t-------t---t-:::::~
"' "'
/
__.,.. ,.
1&:.
o V
'
1 5
10
11
12
13
lt
lS
0
J,..
Cl)
R,
(")
r.o
.......:)
R =Kp - K V
072
- 05-g
'\
\}
Tri~ls.
76- -o4
5- ~A3 - ~
43 -Q2
2- -ol- :::c::ti-.
-"
1-
'
l'lb62 1/)
02
08
10
07 ()069
5 (1~2 p;
' 10
li
14
16
CuJJic
12
, ,
12
13
14
15
Carbonic d ioxide
...
0.1477 + 0.000176 t
Water vapour ...
...
0.321l + 0.0002 L9 t
Nitrogen ...
...
. ..
0.170 + 0.0000872 t
Oxygen ...
...
...
0.1488 + 0.0000763 t
These results are nob in agreement with those obtained
a.t low temperatures, nor do they agree with Dr. J olly'd
researches by means of the steam calorimeter, but for temperatures such as are found in gas engines they form the
only available experiments. The values of the specific beat
for different mixtures of air and gas are given in Table VII.
(see appendices) and shown in the diagram above.
The variable specific heat considerably changes the formu1 ro employed, and as no English work, to the reporter's
knowledge, contains an account of the theory of the gas
engine with variable specic heat, the formu1re are given
here, the units being metric. Let T1 be the absolute
temperature at the end of compression, T2 the absolute
temperature at the end of constant volume, T 3 the absolute temperature at the end of constant pressure, and T 4
the absolute temperature at exhaust, w1 the known weight
of air and ga~, ~v-2 the weight of residual products lefb
from the previous stroke in the clearance space, this
latter quantity being obtained by calculation from the
known suction temperature.
Specific heat at constant volume = a + s T ;
Specific heat at constant pressure = b + s T.
6
I
'
-18
J~
s:
l ...;f
,.
07 I
""'- 1
X Y Z.
'
20
'""
7
I
8
i
22
28
so
(d T) ap + Kv (da-vT) s v,
"
o q = K ,, d p
and
dT
d T_ p
a v - R'
-d p -
hence
0 q = Kv ~ 0 p
for an adiabatic
(a +
or
oq =
+ Kp
'P 5 V
0, and-
s T ) 'l' d p
a 1J ap + bp d V +
+ (b + s T) p d v = 0,
S
1
' (V
d p + p d 'l ) = (\.
'
E N G I N E E R I N G.
constan~,
or
4
8 Jll'
lt = constant.
where e is the N aperian base and R = KJJ - Ku = b - a.
p
u c
595
peratures T and T 0 respectively. The diagrams are constructed by drawing a series of lines along which the
pressure is constant and a second series along which the
volume is constant.
The indicator diagram can then be plotted from the
known pressures, and by dividing the actual volume of
th e charge b7 its weight in kilogrammes.
The ~ero 1s best taken ab 0 deg. Cen b., that is, '1'0 =
273 deg. Cent. ; if the temperatures a re plotted vertically, and the en tropies hori zontally, ib is best to plot
constan t volume and constant pressures and constan t
volume linea ab intervals of every 60 deg. Cent., starting
from the line of zero entropy. To find the actual pressures and volumes for these lines, let a. line start from
t he line of zero entropy ab a. temperature T 1, pressure Pt,
volume V 1 Then
R loga 5
and
vl
= a
logo~ +
'l 'o
S (T1-To)
and wir:.h rich charges, so thab the condir:.ions for the formation of carbonic oxide in the exbansb were most favourable. In no case, however, could the smallest trace of
carbonic oxide be discovered, although had there been as
little as one-tenth part of 1 per cent. it would have been
detected.
(To be continual.)
Pure.
Boilers at work . .
..
Spare boilers . .
..
Assumed life of boilers . .
1
0
1
0
50
16
1
1
40
I
1
s
30
1
20
--I
..
..
working
35
1-
.. I
-1-
35
24
43
48
6
10
31
10
21
72
32
47
02
20
30
78
40
78
50
I 6078
s3"'
u0
E N G I N E E R I N G.
the quantity of added lime h&~d been doubled, making the
water harder than it was b efore treatment; in another
case t he settling tanks had never been empt1ed, with the
result that the sediment had filled the tanks, and was as
hard as a r ock. These experiences are to be regrett ed,
because t he water-softeners are designed so as to be
worked by the fireman, who, if he onl1 receives proper
m s trucbions, is quite capable of carrymg out the necessary manipulations.
The principle of water-softening is a simple one. To
remove the temporary hardnese., caused by dissolved carbonate of lime and magnesia, a certain quantity of burnt
lime has to be &~dded to the water, when precipitation
should occur. To remove perman en t hardness, carbonate
of soda. should be added, and further precipitation
should occur. In practice it is found that this precipita-
measured quantities are tipped into the feed by mechanical means. Probably the old arrangement of using adjustable pumps is the cheapest and most reliable.
Porter-ClO/rk Contitnuous Water-Softener.- This is the
oldest and best known for treating only t emporary hardness. Three installations (A, B, and C) were visited.
A.-This inst allation is capable of dealing with about
3000 gallons per day, but is only used for 2000. It consists of (a) a lime-mixer, in which two paddles are worked
by an engine, constantly stirring up milk of lime, which
is prepared by adding burnt lime to water. No definite
information could be obtained as to the quantity of
lime, except that 1 cwt. was used at a time. The milk of
lime is pumped into the water-supply pipe, and the
mixture is delivered into (b) two mixing cylinders 4 fb. in
diameter, which are also agitated by engine power so as
0 /V/Of#IC TANI(
."\
Pis.1.
I
SODA
----
. . .L-- --'------
~i~
. ...
.. -
WATA MAIN
"
.,.
..
.. ..
...:q:
-WATEJl
r- - - - - -
.. ' l'
..-.. ...
SO~rN0
"
'-.~; ~
l-
:"
_.-
..
:::
TANK
Pah!.nt
FiUer
-- -
--
-;
. - ....
. ...--:_. i -.
.
-~ '
.'
..
.
):
I .. .'-
..
. .' ;
I
.....
'
:,
_;.
. : b
:.:
;;t;
- .
+ .. .
-
1-. -
, ~
- ~~
-.
0
=;
. . .~~11
. .o.:
....~
.
.,. . ,
,,~ ~:~.
. , .,
I
11(~
i~~
~":"),
~--
.-
j
.. ,....
...
~ ':.
.t
;~)
....
. ..:.:
.',:,r,,.}:.:
''~ ~ - ...:; .
... ' .' ...
:,'~-::
'\
:_,, ____
, , .; ' ..A
: .
M'Uti .
' , . '
. '
:_
;_
( 7081. 8 .)
&
/ .Mi.xer
"'7\
\
v
LI M:t:ER
:. m;.:;n--- --
MIXIN
WR
a .lit~..----- !k .11!
CLARIFICATION
-
~-
j,
- ...
,- I
.r
,\
I
I
....:...!
TOWER
""'
""
I!
.._,
- - -- - -
- ~
FIG.
1.
FIG.
1y ~ ou"hera are
water-softeners work contmuous
so a'rrn,nged that a tankful is prepared ~t a t1~e. ~hen,
of course, the measuring of the cheJ?IOals 1s a Sl~ple
matter; whereas if the process is cont1~uous, the dev10es
for obtaining a s teady suppl~ of ch.em10als are num~rous
and ingenious. 1,he lime IS e1t~ er m the form of mllk of
lime or lime water, the latter bem~ very bulky. . In eome
softeners the flow depends on the stze of nozzles, ~n others
on the differen ce of density, and in others, agatn, small
2.
Pi.fJ.3.
Cl~
FifJ.4.
Tank
------------\___
;'
To
Feed
(1081. C~
3.
Fio .
FIG.
4. , THE W OLLASTON
CoNTINUo us WATER
SoFTENER AND liEATER.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
Defore
After
Softening. Softening.
Composition of Wnter.
--------Oaloium carbonate
,.
silicate . .
,
su'pba.te
Magnesium carbonate
Ferric oxide, &~.
..
..
..
..
..
Scale-forming minE'rals
Sod ium ohloride ..
,
sulphate
Total soluble salts
0.83 ~
Ohange.
grains
10.478 l08S
1.67l gain
0. 668 11
1.046 loss
1.656
6.876
0.472
0.199
20.262
10.695
9.657 1038
6. 662
O. l4lloss
4.831
6 703
10.600
16.203
:i6.455
1.0lH
2.407
2.124
qratns
11.512
grains
8.440
H .002
6.98
0.66
0.66
2.201loss
----24.597
11.858 loss
--6.94
2.060 ,
- ().9
;6 10
o.o
597
"
Treatment required for 1000 gallons: Pure lime, 1.6 lb.; pure
soda. ash, 0.2 lb. The actual treatment oould not be determined.
C. - This in~talla.tion is oa~able of treating 13,000 gallons
per hour, a nd m oludes filtratton, which, of course, involves
Composition of Water.
Defore
Treatmen t .
After
Treat
ment.
Ohange.
gralOS
J!ra
lflS
wa.ber m the feed tank. The distributing tank has three
26.057 gain
) ~ 863
38.920
o~tlets, wh9seareas are ~11 carefully adjusted, so that rela- Calcium ca~bonn~e
14.3CO
0.0
14 300 "
~1vely the r1ghb proportions shall flow into the lime tower,
,
o~o.de (hme)
2.062
3.591
1.529 "
lDtO the PC?da tank, a.nd into the mixing p ot, the overflow
"
sUr:~~
2.121
1.625
0.496 "
from th;e h me tower and .the ~oda. ta nk j_oining. L ime is Mng~esi:u. ~ a ~.
0 266
o.o
0.266 "
0.987
placed lD the tower, and IS a1nta.ted, bub 1n snob a ma nne r I Ferric oxide &c
0.447
0.540 "
--1-----tha t the t op o~ this ta?k is undisturbe~, and only cl ear lim e
'
60.185
17.997
42.188 "
water, nob mtlk of hme, overflows m to the mi xing pob. Scale-forming minerals . .
The .a.mounb of soda. also depends on the amount of water Oaloium chloride
0.783 g a in
..
2.114
1.331
flowmg into the tank. From the mix ing- p ot the mixed M a~n esium ohloride ..
0.672 loss
0.672
00
wa~er pass~ into t~ e firs t eet~ling ta nk, where m ost of the Sodium obloride. .
0.476
..
0. 4i9
0.003 "
mto the feed tank.
20.479
62.776 42.297 gain
E.-The other installation was similar but larger and Total mineral matter
need nob b e described.
'
0.0
9. ?lloss
9.71
The Stanhope C ompany have also a combined feed Oarbonic acid gas
0.86
0.60
0.0
f
d
h
Oxygen
gas
so tener an
eater, bub no installation was visited. The
- --- com?ined action of chemicals and h eat ought to b e very - - _ ___;.__ _
effi01ent.
Treatment required: 1.8 lb.lime, 0. 2lb. soda. ash per 1000 gallons.
The Atkins Continuous Water-Softener is illustrated in
Apparently 6! lb. of lime were added, and no soda.
Fig. 5,
Ch emi calllznlt}.
a.n,d,Stirrer
lV"a.t::
~~~~~
Fig. 6 .
j....
Sei:U.iJrg Tower
Fi.l.te:r
-=-=
--
PeriOral:.ed P~
Io Food
.Setair
TanlclfJ
~
~
'
~~
"nl,J~
(7DIJ1. 0~
Fw. 5. TnE
FIG.
6. THE
W A'l'ER- ...
7.
3 fb. wide, and 5 ft. high, and then into the filter tank
'
Fig. 8.
T~lbr
Water
ToFel
'
Air S.tirru
0
FIG.
8.
FIG.
Fig. 2. It only removes te mporary hardness. Two insba.lla.tions (F and G ) were visited, but in neither case
were the patent filters in use, their tanks being filled with
wood shavings.
It would appear thab the baffles in the settling tank
effectively prevent a settlement, and also, bhab in case of
the water supply bein~ checked, the lime water would
still flow on ab its origmal rate, and the r esult would b e
very irregular and unsatisfactory.
F .-This installa t ion t reats 500 gallons ~r hour. The
lime bower is 2 ft. in diameter and 6 ft. htgh. Th~ clear
lime water, as well as the supply, flow into the mixer,
and thence into the settling tank, which is 7 fb. long,
E N G I N E E R I N G.
small stream of chemicals is pumped from a regulating
tank and to the bottom of the mixing and settling
t ower, 3 ft. in diameter. H ere t he grE:'ase from the
steam and the sediment h om the water accumulate, the
thoroughness of the settlement being doubtless due to
the heat and to the fact that the ne w sediment comes in
contact with the old. The overflow is led to the bottom
o~ a larger settling tank,_ 10ft. by 5 ft., and 12 ft. 6 in.
h1gh, from the top of whtch the feed water is drawn off.
This settling tank contains baffles, which are believed t o
accelerate the precipitation, but heat is doubtless the
more important factor, and it would appear advisable to
r educe the radiating surfaces of the tanks and to keep
them warm.
- - - - -- - - --:----.----:--- - - - -Before After
Composition of Water. Treat Treat
ment. ment.
Oaloium carbonate
,
silicate ..
"
sulphate ..
Magnesium carbonate
~~e rri o oxide, &c. . .
grams
4.275
2.076
4.081
5.836
1.088
..
Total mineral
m~tter
9.499
26.855
11.98 ..
0.56
grams
1.422
1.241 Two samples were
3.830 analysed, but these
5.851 cannot be corn
0.024 pared, as they were
t aken at different
12.368 times, and as the
- - -1 nature of the feed
-l. 731)
varies considerably.
t 16l
For this reason also
could
10 894 the
not treatment
be properly
adapted. Tbe 0011
23 262 dition of the boiler
using this water was
1.79 good.
0. 66
-- -
[OcT. 25,
grams
grams
f~U, ib_ tips over and a:llows the ot.her to fill; while tip.
grams
6.650
1.704
4.955 loss
p1Dg, 1b moves the stnrer and also momentarily opens Calcium carbonate
'
silicate ..
1.733
1.175
0.658
the water from the tip fa11s into the mixer, and from Ferric oxide, &c. .
0.330
0.148
0.182
Two installat ions (K and L) were visited. Their main fea Total mineral matter
ture is that the motive power to be gob out of the water Oarbonic acid gas
l.OOlt
7.161
6.161loss.
..
..
1901.
--have received
CATALOGUES.-We
from the JohnsonLundell Electric Traction Company, Limited, of 16.1,
Soho-square, L ondon, W., a pamphlet describing the
company's traction motors, which are compound wound
and supplied with armatures having two windings and
two sets of commutators. The speed of the motor is
varied by altering the groupin~ of the armature windin~s,
and by modifying the respeot1ve strengths of the sen es
and shunt field coils. A second pamphlet, issued by the
same firm, describes the J ohnson-Lundell surface contact system of electric traction. -Messrs. R oyles,
Limited, of the D albam Engineering Works, Irlam,
Manchester, have sent us a copy of their abridged catalogue, which was issued in connection with their display
at the Glasgow Exhibition. The specialities of this firm
include heating and evaporating apparatus of various
kinds in which the "Row " indented tube is used.Messre. A . Haacke and Co., of Homerbon, L ondon,
N.E., have sent us a copy of a report, made last July.
on a range of steam piping protected by their fossil
meal non-conducting composition. The test showed
that the heat lost from the surfaces after cover
ing was hub 12.1 per cent of its amount on the unprotected condition of the piping.-Desrumaux's Automatic Water-Softener and Pnrifier Company, Limited,
of 5, Queen Victoria-street, E. C., have sent us a copy of
a pamphlet illustrating and describing their appara.tus.M essrs. Tangyes Limited, of the Cornwall Works, Bir
mingham, have issued a new catalogue of their "Speoial "
pump.-Messrs. J. and H . Gwynne,Limited, of 81, Cannonstreet, E.C., have issued a pamphlet describing their
"Invincible " centrifugal pumps as applied to ship's use.
Amongst the interesting plants illust rated in the pamphlet
are those supplied in 1867 as circulating pumps for the
steamers Tyoho, Brahe, and Pascal. These were the first
centrifugal pumps employed in this way. They were
direct-connected to horizontal single-cylindered engines.
Improvements followed rapidly, the present pattern, in
which the disc and spindle can be removed without disturbing either suction or discharge pipes, being introduced
in 1880. Messrs. Brown, Lennox, and Co. , of the Newbridge Works, Pontypridd, have issued a new catalogue
of the ohainEJ, cables, and accessories, of which they make
a speoiality.- Messre. B. and S. Massey, of Opensbaw,
Manchester, have sent us a copy of their new catalogue
of Bretts patent drop stamps. The construction of
these stamps is described in great detail, and they
are built in all sizes from 3 cwt. t o 40 owb. The liftJ.
ing apparatus can be supplied separately for adap
tation to existing drop hammers.-Tbe Riohards Machine T ool Oompany, of 5, Laurenoe Pountney-hilJ,
E.C., have issued a catalogue devoted exclusively
to describing different patterns of the Openscale planing
machine, which they have done so muoh to introduce.
The details given of the machines are unusually full, and
many illustrative examples showing different applications
of the machines are appended.-Messrs. W ebster and
Bennett, of Coventry, have sent us a copy of their new
catalogue of machine-tools, such as single and multiple
drilling machines, boring a nd turning mills. lathes, and
milling and r r .;filing machines.
E N G I N E E R I N G.
w.
LLOYD WISE.
pegs are made tubular a t the bottom ende, aod have headed
metal pins inserted which when t he pega break, may be used to
pull the bot tom por tions from ou & of t he sockets. (.Accepted
A ugtut 7, 1901.)
- - - - - - - - - --i
...
.. ----
~1.
599
indicated by the revolution of ~he graduated drum caused by the
pinion moving up and down w1tb the gun, and ~eing tur~ed by
the fi xed curved bar. The top of the curved s1gbt-bar 18 pro
vided wit.h a table on which the rear-sight can be move~ lateralJy
t o give adjustment for deflection ; this cable le cur ved m plan .eo
that when the rear-sight le moved la.t.erally, it always preserves 1te
alignment with the foresigbt in eucb a way that a telescope
d ropped into a. support on the rear-sight has always the same
alignment o.e the ordinary eighte1 and consequently the same
graduations for deflec tion and inclination ~re com~on for both
telescope and ordinary eights. The fore&lgbt is d1rectly above
the trunnion of t he gun, and consists of a curved blade m~e
wi t h the axis of tbe t runnion as a centre, so that the elg hthne
ie always a tangent to the curved blade of the foreelght. (.Ac
cepted .Attgust 14, 1901.)
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.
12,509. Siemens Brothers and Co. Limited,
London. ~~mens and Hahlke Comf)any, Berlin. ) Dertv
1nJt UD!
eotlonal from Alternating Current.
1(1 Ji'ig ] June 19, 1901.- Thie invention relates to apparatus of
the kind described in Patent Speci6catione Nos. 12,466 and 12,508
of 1901, and according thereto when polyphase alternatiog
.current le a vailable the magnet le energtsed by current other
FtfJ2
to this invention, tbe trail is made in two lengths or pa.rts, of ore concentrator accordiog to this invention the magnets
wbiob the lower part can he folded back oo the top of the upper
by means of a bioge, and the two parte m~~oy be fixed rigidly
than and preferably of the pba~e previous to that of the phas e together to form a long trail by means of a pia engaging in holes
from which the discontinuous unidtreotional current is derived.
The phase relation between the actuating current and t he current
irom which the unidirectional current is derived is controlled by
an ad~ustable self-induction coil in t he magnet circuit. The
Ft[J.1.
invention is described as for use in obtaining current for charging
a storage battery from an alternating-current (polyphase) supply.
(Accepted .August 7, 1901.)
FYJ.3
Iig. 1.
'
'
PUMPS.
8408. M. Touptkof, St. Petersburg, and C. K.
Graham, London, Air Pumps. [1 Fig.] May 7, 1900.-
.,..
This invention relates to pump barrel ends, valves, valve g uides a.nd
auctions, and is directed to the exclusion of cc slip " therein. In ordi
nary air and other pumps there is usually a small apace left between
t he valves a.nd the piston at the end of t he stroke, making it
difficult for them to produce an approximately perfect vacuum.
In order to overcome this difficulty, eo that the pump may produce a nearly p erfect vacuum, the bottom end of the pump barrtl
is made cone-shaped, with a. valve at ita apex, and connee~ with the vessel to be exhausted, this valve being opened
and abut f\t t he proper time by the positive action of a rod paesing
thr ough the centre of the cone to the outside, and a.dequately
protected to prevent leakage. The piston is made in the shape
of a hollow cone at ita lower aide, and closes accurately on to the
cone-shaped bott om of the pump. At the apex of the piston
cone a. va.lve ie placed, communicating with the open air, and
E N G I N E E R I N G.
6oo
[OcT. 25,
1901.
&rranged in a bath of oil or other non-volatile liquid, so that at straight water-tubes whose ioter!ors are r eadily accessible from bar and knife, t he pushing or pulling catch being attached by a
~be extreme end of the stroke the valve is ra ised either by this junction vessels having- r emovable covers at the sides of the link to the jaok lever and t he cylinder turning an.:l sliding t he
boiler casing . (Accepted August 14, 1901.)
. I.
I
\
~") 0
liquid or by contact wi th t he bottom cone point, and the expulsion of all air is thus insured. (Accepted August 14, 1901.)
MISCEI.LANEOUS
15,980. B. A. Oldersbaw, Leicester. Boot and
Shoe Machines. [S F igs.] September 8, 1900.- In order to
.~ -
~---J
[3 F igs. 1
-.
I
I
'
.:<. .
'
''
Pifj. Z.
.....
...
'
'
"
'
If
'
/I
,,,,
"'
(.SS1>J
17,448.
J. A. Brod.ie, LiverpooL
Wood Paving.
therefrom first in a downward and t hen in an upward dir('otion. [5 F igs.] October 2, 1900.-According to this invention, for
Both the firebox and flues a re closely contained within the street paving especially in the vicinity of t ramway lines, wooden
boiler, their walls beiog formed with water tubes. ( A cctpted. blocks are laid with intervening " dogs" having reversely set
August 14, 1901.)
TEXTIIE MACHINERY.
19,314. J. L. and B. F. Byron and F. Winter
bottom, Delph, Yorks. Beadtng Motion. [2 F igs.]
Ftfj.1.
'
'.
"''
IJ
-.-. ~rq_~
1 ...~r1
.-..... -..
"""'t.
t .J
. .. .. ..
.. ..
.... ...
.. . . . . .
'
so that t hey can be cau sed to slide tbereon, say, a few inches
towards ooe side or the other by means of a sliding forked
bracket hereinafter mentioned. For this purpose a bracket is
fixed to the frame of the loom just immediately above, and extending across the endless chain near to the cc jack le,ers." To this
fixed bracket is connected no adjustable forked crossbar, which
is capable of being moved endwise to and fro t ransversely, or
retained in position, by means of a thumbscrew or cross-handle
passing through a slot in the upper bracket. The forked ends of
t he adjustable crossbar or bracket are provided with fixed arms
extending on each side of a nd embracing t he chain pulleys and
r unning parallel therewith. The front ends of t hese arms o.re
slightly bent or curved outwards, so as to act as guides for the
pulleys on either side, as t he case may be, to keep or draw them
10to position on the supportin~ rods in readiness to act upon the
tilting " jacks" as requir ed. (A ccepted A ugust 14, 1901.)
DO
/ .
.------ ---r-....
,.,
'
,.
- - " -..-.