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

Auc. 30, 1901.]

275

EIGHT-COUPLED LOCOMOTIVE FOR MINERAL TRAFFIC; CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.

CON TRUCTED FRO!YI THF. DE IGN

OF :MR.

J. F.

M'INTOSH,

LOCOMOTIVE

UPERINTENDENT .

(Fo1 D !SC?'iption , see P age 281. )

THE CLYDEBANK SHIPBUILDING

AND ENGINEERING WORKS.
( Conoluded from page

2~3.)

The E n gineering D ep artment.- W e may n ow turn

t o the engineering department of the works, which is
compactly arranged n ear t o the head of the fit tingout basin. Some idea of the capacity is provided
by the fact that for several years the a verage output has been over 60,000 indicated horse-power per
annum, the number of men engaged in this department alone being from 2700 t o 3000. A separate
entrance alike for workers and ma t erials is provided, and her e there is the same r egular method
of storing the mat erial in readiness for the various
sections. The main engine shop consists of a
building 410 ft. long by 360 ft. wide, divided into
four main bays, the height being about 60ft. The
respective bays are utilised as delivery departments,
large machine shop, erecting department, and small
machine shops; the erect ing bay being placed
between the two machine-shop bays so as to minimise the distance through which the various parts
require to be moved .
Fig. 9 on the two-page plate which we give this
week is a view in the large machine-shop, in which
there are many tools of noteworthy dimensions.
Traversing t his bay, one notices two vertical milling
machines, the cutters used varying up to 18 in. in
diameter; the cross-feed is 6 ft., the transverse
feed is 2ft. 1 in., the movable circular tables being
4 ft. There is another triple-gear miller, capable
of milling a surface 10 ft. by 4 ft. 7 in. by 18 in.
deep, the table being fitted with a. quick-return
power motion. Opposite this latter tool is a
triple-geared lathe 20 ft. between centres, with
an independent motion by screw; the hea.dstock
is 33 in., and is provided with rack motion for
quick hand traverse. The saddles are arranged
so that t hey will pass alongside of the shif~ing
head in ord er that an extra. large job may be
faced up. The face-plate is 5 ft. 10 in. in diameter,
and can swing 48 in. and 54: in. clear of the back
and front saddles respectively. There are two
other powerful treble-geared lathes m ounted on one
bed, so that a piece of shafting 33 ft. long can be
driven by both h eads. Close by is a large radial
drill having a. spindle 5 in. in diameter, and fitted
with screw and hand gear; the jib can be moved
vertically to a distance of 3 ft., the drilling spindle
traverses 8 ft., and the vertical feed is 2 ft. 6 in.
There are five slotting machines, the larger having
a 20-in. stroke, with compound and rotary table,
and another with a 16-in. stroke, with quick-return
motion, admitting articles up to 5 ft. 4 in. in
diamet er. Adjoining is a. large treble-geared faceplate lathe, the plate measuring 11 ft. in diameter.
There are together a set of three combined planing
and slotting machines, with quick-return motions.
One oa.n deal with an area of 21 ft. long by 17! ft.

high, and is arranged to take a. cut of cast iron 1 in.

deep at a. speed of about 15ft. per minute ; a second
can slot and plane over a surface 20 ft. 6 in. long
by 14ft. high; the third machine can take a job
15 ft. long by 12 ft. high. . At the north end of the
bay is a set of four horizontal universal boring,
drilling, and tapping machines, and t wo of these
can operate over a continuous vertical surface of
about 40ft. by 10! ft. These powerful machines
have bored cylinders up t o 48 in. in diameter,
tapping and studding their flanges at a single
setting. One of the 5-in. spindles of these machines is fitted with an int erchanging wheel
arrangement for corn bing or cutting internal screws
of large diameter by means of a. chasing tool held
in a small slide on the end of a spindle. Opposite
these machines are two powerful treble-geared
shafting la thes, whose beds are continuous, and
with feeds up to 50 in. per minute. . They are
21-in. centres, and each is fitted with two strong
duplex sliding saddles, each paving front and back
duplex rests. The front rests are arranged for
tapered work.

'Ihe small machine-shop, illustrated by Fig. 10

on the two-page plate, has a. splandid installation
of tools, but meption need only be made of three
12! -in. screw-cutting lathes, whose beds are about
16 ft. long ; a 7 -in. double-geared self-acting hollow
spindle, capstan rest, chasing lathe ; an 8-in. universal self-acting open-spindle double-gear chasing
lathe, fitted with a capstan rest ; two 5-in. self-acting lathes ; and seven lathes ranging from 6-in. to
12-in. centres. About the centre of the bay are
placed a number of drilling and tapping machines,
and further southward is a multiple drilling machine, arranged to drill holes 1! in. in diameter
by 1 in. deep, at the rate of ten per minute,
through steel plates 11! ft. wide by 15 ft. long,
or through drums 4 ft. in diameter by 10 ft. long.
Amongst other tools, r eference may be made to a
band-saw for sawing tubes and coupling pieces,
&c., admitt ing pieces 2 ft. 6 in. deep and 4ft.
between the saw and frame.
Fig. 11 ou the two-page plat e illustrates the
erecting shop, w hioh is served by two 40-ton
overhea.d travelling cranes, with a liberal supply of
hydraulic jib cranes. At the north end of this bay
is placed a very large surfacing lathe, the face plate
of which is 12ft. in diameter, the width across the
slide bed being 10 ft. 8 in. There are two t ool
boxes that traverse on the slide, and suitable gears
for longitudinal and transverse feeding are provided.
The machine is capable of dealing with very large
cylinder covers, parts of condensers, and also for
the important work of machining and buffing
cylinder liners for naval vessels. Adjacent to this
machine, but on the west side of the bay, is a large
vertical boring machine, having an 8-in. diameter
spindle and special large table having 10ft. travel;
also two la.r~e horizontal boring machines, all

capable of dealing efficiently with the heaviest

work of the shop, being provided with the most approved means of adjusting the" ork under operation.
Adjoining are two 8-in. spindle vertical boring
machines, having a 4-ft. travel. The spindles are
fitted with a special arrangement for boring conical
holes, such as are usually found in propeller bosses,
&c . This arrangement consists of a parallel boring
bar with a. groove running its entire length, in
which slides the tool-holder, traversed by a screw
fed automatically. The bar carries a crosshead, on
which is mounted a traversing top-centre, which
engages the socket of the boring spindle ; in the
lower end is formed a socket bearing of hard
steel, which runs on a. corresponding sphericalended centre bolted through the frame of the machine, below the level of the bedplates. The taper
of the hole to be machined is adjusted by traversing
the top-centre on the crosshead. Further down
the erecting shop are four sets of boring, tapping,
and studding machines, fitted with a milling arrange
ment. These have also level iron beds in front,
and can drill over an area of 40 ft. by 10! ft. high.
They have 3-in. spindles, having a travel of 3 ft.,
aridform a valuable part of the equipment of the
department.
The fourth bay, forming the receiving or delivery
shed, has a travelling jib crane which removes
materials from the rail way company's wagons, de
positing them in positions convenient for the
travelling cranes in the shops. There is a. separate
tool-fettling department, and the machines specially
set apart for preparing the tools include a universal
milling machine, a shaping machine, milling cutter
grinders, Morse drill grinders, emery grinders, and
a nun1ber of ordinary grindstones. The upper
portion of this west bay is occupied by the light
iron-finishing shop, well supplied with light travelling cranes, and the smaller machine tools necessary
for this class of work, as well as hydraulic cranes
and lifts for promoting despatch to and from the
ground floor.
.
B1ass F ounclry.-The brass foundry is situated
to the we8t of the main engine shop, the inter
vening space of 50 ft. being utilised for storing
scrap and pig iron~ coke, and other foundry
r equisites. The foundry is 150 ft. wide and
250 ft. long, and is considered one of the largest
and finest in the country, ha ving ample plant
and every facility for carrying out all classes of
work. This foundry is well illustrated by Fig. 12
on the two-page plate. The equipment includes
air furnaces ranging from 16 tons to 5 tons, drying stoves 20 ft. long by 20ft. wide, heavy over
head travelling cranes and hydraulic jib cranes,
small 2! -cwt. air furnaces and 32 crucible furnaces,
hydraulic and hand moulding machines, including
rumblers, also circular and band saws. In order
to make the foundry self-contained, there is a
3-ton cupola for making the required moulding~

E N G I N E E R I N G.
boxes and plates, core bars and core irons, and the
other cast iron necessary for the d epartment. Brass
castings up to 25 tons have been dealt with. Adjoining the foundry are the requisite stores for
metal, sand, furnace coal, &c., and near by is the
hydraulic house, in which is a 60 horse-power and
100 horse-power gas engine, driving separate threethrow pumps, and supplying two accumulators
15 in. and 21 in. in diameter respectively, with a
stroke of 14 ft.
BeUerille B oiler-Shop.-The Belleville boiler-shop
is situated on the ground floor of a two-storey building im1nediately to the west of the main engineshop, and is exclusively devoted to the manufacture
of the various parts of the Belleville boiler. The
machines number in all about 30 tools, and comprise a three-spindle horizontal boring, facing, and
tapping machine to finish the end boxes into which
the tubes are screwed ; surfacing lathes for couplings ; two milling machines ; a number of emery
grinders; and a double geared screwing machine.
'his latter consists of a large hollow spindle
mounted on two long bearings, and carrying
powerful universal self-centring chucks at either
end, which grip the tubes to be screwed. The
strong circular frame for holding the six dies
employed is mounted on a saddle, and is fitted
with micrometer cones for their adjustment. A
slide rest is also provided for facing, bevelling, and
grooving the ends of the tubes ; and a centrifugal
pump supplies the necessary lubricant to the dies
while screw-cutting. The lower part of the shop
is reserved for the building and testing of both
generator and economiser elements.
The B 'r ass-Finishi'ng Shop-This shop is illustrated
by Fig. 13 on the two-page plate. It forms the
upper floor of the two-storey building, the ground
floor of which is devoted to Belleville boiler work.
The shop is supplied with lathes, milling machines,
and screwing and grinding machines, a most
interesting feature being a number of small English and American machines of ingenious design
for the 1nachining of duplicate parts. In both
of these shops small longitudinal and transverse
overheaa travellers are arranged, as well as a
powerful hydraulic hoist for the transport of material to and from the brass-finishing shop.
Sheet-Iron Slwp.-The r emaining illustration on
the two-page plate is the sheet-iron shop, one of
the new buildings in the west yard. There is no
need to point to the light character of this building
in view of the illustration (Fig. 14). The two bays
make the shop 100ft. wide and the length is 220ft.
The plant in use includes hydraulic stamping presses,
mangles, and shearing and drilling machines capable of forming the holes simultaneously in a complete length of pipe; and as to the extent of work
carried out, perhaps the best indication is that there
are 200 employes in the department.
Boi le,. W <nks. - The boiler works are situated in
juxtaposition to the engine shops ; the building is
divided into three bays, being 410 ft . long, with a
total width of 140 ft. In the two largest bays the
cylindrical boilers are constructed, and there are
several very powerful tools, notably plate-edged
planers for dealing with plates 38 ft. long, and a
vertical tuachine for cutting ovals for manholes on
cylindrical boilers. In the main bay there is a plate
furnace 20 ft. long by 10 ft. wide, with a powerful
steam hammer, the whole set being commanded by
an hydraulic crane. It is hardly necess~ry to say
that there are several powerful flanging machines,
multiple boring and drillin~ machines, vertical
cold-plate rolls taking 12-ft. plates, and many
punching, shearing, and drilling and tapping
machines, besides several large riveting machines.
The third bay is largely utilised for the construction and erection of water-tube boilers, and of this
department an illustration is given on Fig. 15 on
page 290.
Galvanising Shup.-There is a galvanising shop
both for the shipbuilding yard and the engine
works. The building in which these are arranged
has three bays, and is about 150 ft. long Ly 100 ft.
wide ; there are three large hot baths and four
acid baths, with two large electro-deposition tanks
and a large sand blast, the power for this latter
being supplied by three air-compressors driven by
electric motors. An illustration of the galvanising
shop is given on Fig. 16 on page 290.
The Engine Works S1nithy.-Fig. 17, page 290,
illustrates the smithy attached to the engineering
department, the Luildin.g .runn.ing parallel to ~he
boiler shop. As shown, 1t 1s a hght structure, w1th
85 hearths arranged on either side, with 13 steam

hammers, and there are several air furnace8. A

large number of forgings of considerable size are
produced for the engines of ships and for the
boiler-shop requirements.
The Ooppe'rsmiths' Shop. -A new building, 250 ft.
long by 50ft. span, has been erected in the west
yard to accommodate the coppersmiths, and, as
shown by Fig. 18 on page 290, it is well equipped.
Alongside this building is the producer-gas plant,
with generators, coolers, and holders.
Powet Plant. - An interesting item in the
arrangement of such a large establishment is t he
system of generating and distributing power.
~lectricity is used ('n an extensive scale, not only
for the lighting of workshops, sheds, the interiors
of ships under construction, and of the yard generally, but also for the driving of the machine tools.
There are three separate generating stations: one
in the centre of the shipyard, another in the
engine and boiler works, and a third close to the
sawmill and wood departments. The shipyard
station is equipped with six boilers of the Babcock
and Wilcox type, which provide steam for the
shearleg engines close by, as well as for running
the electric generating sets. They also serve as
destructors, being used for disposing of the
sawdust, shavings, &c., fr01n the various woodworking shops, and the rubbish collected from
the interiord of ships under construction . The
station is equipped with a fair representation
of the host type of steam engines and dynamos,
comprising Willans and Robinson's central valve
engines, Bellies and Morcom's forced lubrication
engines, and Robey's high speed open engines. The
dynamos include such makes as Siemens Brothers,
Crompton, W. H. Alien, Sons, and Co., Brush
Engineering Company, and the British Schuckert
Company. The total engine power installed is 800
horse-power, while the electric output is 700 kilowatts . .A large set of Tudor accumulators is provided
for supplying current during periods when boilers or
generating sets are shut down, so that there is at
all times an uninterrupted supply of current.
The engine works generating station differs in
respect that the dynamos are run by gas engines,
with the intervention of rope. Four of the engines are by the Premier Gas Engine Company,
three of them each driving a generator of 80 kilowatts, the fourth driving a generator of 180 kilowatts, and the other two, by Crossley Brothers,
dri v~ generators of 44 kilowatts each ; the total is
thus about 500 kilowatts. The engines are supplied
with gas from Dowson producers.
The sawmill generating station consists of four
dynamos, two of 77 kilowatts and two of 44 kilowatts, driven by rope from the main sawmill

engtne.
There are in the works about 750 arc lamps of 1000
to 2000 candle-power, and about 5000 incandescent
lamps of 16 candle-power. The arc lamps are used
principally for outside illumination, and in the interior of the larger sheds and shops. The incandescent lamps are used in all the wood-working departments and offices, and for all bench work.
They are also adopted for the internal lighting of
ships during construction, replacing the old - time
naphtha lamps.
E lectricity is largely used for machine-tool driving, the power utilised in motors amounting in all
to about 1050 brake horse-power. There are over
150 motors in use varying in power from 30 brake
horse-power downwards. In the first place, there
are a number of high-speed electric overhead
travelling cranes in the wood departments, boiler
shops, and engine shops ; two large electric jib
cranes, one of which is capable of lifting 10 tons
at 42 ft. radius, and the other 5 tons at 60 fb. radius.
A number of the other motors, again, are applied to
general shipyard work, such as shop driving- the
new ironworkers' sheds being entirely electrically
driven by n1otors applied directly to each machine
-punches and shears, plate-bending rolls, platestraightening rolls, angle cutters, bevelling machines, countersinki11g drills, planing machines,
squeezers, circula.r saws, tool grinders, &c. Motors
are also applied to the lighter class of work, such
as driving portable drills, pumps, and ventilating
fans on board ships under construction.
Two
powerful electric winches are utilised for lifting
armour plate~ and other heavy work in connection
with the construction of warships.
Power is supplied to the majority of the machines
in the east yard by a horizontal compound R obey
engine, situated at the west end of the ironworkers'
shed. The engine has cylinders 18! in. and 30 in.

[ Auc. 30,

190 1.

in diameter, with a stroke of 40 in., and indicates

about ~00 horse-power. The engine transmits the
power to two main lines of shafting, extending
throughout the ironworkers' shed, n.nd also supplies power for the shipyard engineers' shop, which
is situated close to the engine. Steam is supplied
to the main engine by four large Lancashire boilers.
The boilers are :fitted with Proctor's patent mechanical stokers, the coal being raised by a steam
elevator and distributed by means of a screw worm.
These boilers also supply st~am to a Tangye engine
of about 80 horse-power used for driving machinery in the joiners' shop, to a small auxiliary
engine in the shipyard engineers' shop, and to
15 steam hammers in the forge and smithy.
An hydraulic pressure system is installed throughout the yard, and is used for actuating the powerful
fianging machine shown on the engraving, ~'ig. 2 on
the two-page plate given with our issue of August 23;
also two large manhole punches, several portable
riveters, and a number of hydraulic cranes and
capstans. The pressure for this system is 1000 lb.
per square inch, and for the portable hydraulic
riveters a separate system is used with a pressure
of 1400 lb. per square inch.
Administration.--The principal offices are centrally situated, and near the main entrance to
the works. Thev include, on the ground floor,
model-room, counting-house, engine works, drawing-office, with accommodation for fifty draughtsmen, and alongside the manager's office, which is
also close to the engine shops. The first floor has
the board-room, private offices of the managing
director, &c., shipyard drawing-offices, with accommodat ion for 100 draughtsmen, and tracer's office;
while on the second floor is a completely equipped
photographic department. There is a suite of
offices for Admiralty overseers, &c., while distributed
throughout the works are time offices. The shipyard manager has also an office close by the building berths for consultations with his foremen, &c.,
while a system of telephonic communications is in
use, so that it will be seen that vast as is the establishment, its organisation overcomes any of the disadvantages of distances, and t hus it comes that
work can be expeditiously and cheaply done, as the
records of t.he establishment show.

THE LAW OF SUPPORT.

IN the recent case of the Glamorganshire Canal
Navigation v. Nixon's Navigation Company, which
was heard in the Court of Appeal on July 2, an
important principle was laid down in relation to
the payment of compensation in respect of the
compulsory purchase of land by a canal company.
The facts of the case, compressed as far as po~siblP,
were shortly these. At the close of the eighteenth
century the canal company obtained P arliamentary powers to make a canal in Glamorganshire,
through property which belonged to the defendants'
predecessors in title. The Act which conferred
these powers was in the form usually adopted in
such cases. It made it neceseary for the plaintiffs
to give notice and pay compensation to all landowners whose property was affected by the canal.
Compensation was duly paid to the defendants'
predecessors in title. It having been recently discovered that coal, valued at 600,000l., lies either
beneath the canal or at such a distance therefrom
that any interference with the coal might involve
a risk of subsidence-the defendants having
announced their intention of working this coal,
the plaintiffs sought a declaration to the effect that
they are not entitled to do so, and that inasmuch
as compensation for the taking away of this right
had been originally paid to the defendants' predecessors, the plaintiffs were under no further
liability. In these circumstances, after a prolonged
inquiry, t he Court of Appeal have decided that the
owner of the coal subjacent and adjacent to the
canal was not entitled to get the coal without
leaving sufficient support for the canal, and that
the coalowner was not entitled to compensation
for the coal left unworked, as his predecessor in
title, at the time the land was purchased, could
have had the compensation included in the price of
the land, and that after the lapse of time it must be
assumed that the compensation for the necessary
support was so included. It is fortunate for the
canal company and unfortunate for the defendants
that the original landowners had no knowledge of
the coal store beneath the land of which they were
deprived. The principle that the compensation
originally paid in respect of the compulsory pur-

277

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

Auc. 30, 1901.]

two oints at about two-fifths of the ~eig~t of the

ring ~rom the horizontal, and further t1e-:p1eces from
these two points to the bottom: ThlB ~robl~m
could be solved either by two triangular stlfferung
systems laterally attached (Fig. 5.8), or by a system
of tie-rods located at the back (Fig. 69)..
Id
The arcs between these assumed p01nts w~u
have to be protected against too great deflection,
either, in the case of the late~ally located s.ystem,
by fitting in a reversed tnang~e, or, 1n the
case where the system is located In the back, by
using separate tying devices. .
.
.
In accordance with these cons1derat1ons, the rods
of the triangle pointing towards the to:p may have
smaller sections than the rods ?f th~ tr1~ngle resting on its apex. For the exterwr st1ffenmg system
various sections could be employed also on the
fastening of several points as pivots. All ~hese
construction weights are, however, so excee~mgly
small that none of them, for workshop considerations need be taken into account.
.
With reference to the principle illustrated ID
Fig. 1, page 17.3 nnt~, some doubts aro~e. . It
appeared imposE?Ible w1th the arran~ed stiffen1J?g
system to bring the rim to a true cucle ; and 1n

chase by a canal company is equally applica~le to the basis of stresses which the mounted armature
the acquisition of land for the purposes of a ra1lway. ring would suffer.
The greatest fore~ acting . on the rods had been
As old mines become exhausted and new shafts are
sunk, those portions of valuable seams lying be- ascertained on a. hed lammated syste~ of 45.00
neath railway lines will attract the attention of millimetres diameter at a triangular tenswn of twiC.e
colliery owners, who, being prevented from work- 4000 kilogrammes, and so with this force a horiina, will find but poor consolation in the thought zontally-supported laminated rim was acte~ upo.n
th~t their predecessors in title were compensated at the corresponding points and deflected ; 1n t~1s
in days gone by. The probability that serious loss position the rim was balanced out and the tenMle
may thus be caused becomes all the greater when strength of the rod acted solely as an ~uter for.ce,
we recollect that colliery districts are usually the moment of resistance of the lam1nated nng
covered with a network of railways; that in the being the interior forces.
The test of the laminated ring gave a decrease
days when many of the main lines were laid down
landowners, whose property was invaded, had no of diameter to the extent of 6 millimetres, whilst,
knowledge that there was coal beneath their land. according to the calculation, the diminution of a
Seeing that the judges have now declared that coal- solid wrought-iron rim would amount to almost
owners must stop working without being able to 4 millimetres.
For an horizontal rim the first problem is t o
claim compensation, the time seems to have arrived
for legislation on the subject. If no right to cl~im obtain the amount of stress which would be exerted
further compensation is conferred, the company by the action of the l~rgest pos.sib~e number of
should at the outset be put to the expense of equal radial forces un1formly d1stnbute~ along
boring, or of taking other effectual steps to ascer- the circumference. Thus only very shght detain the full value of the property over which the flections would be produced, uniform.ly distributed over the said circumference. Th1s was the
line is to run.
While dealing with this subject it may be useful principle embodied in the construction illustrated
to observe that where compensation in respect of

the liability t o leave support is payable to the

- - - '1
~
grantor of the land 01: his successor in title, it

I
should be claimed as soon as the company or

authority have constructed their works. It is then

/
I
r~
payable; and is payable in respect as well of prol_ll..l.l~........ ,
spective as of actual injury. If the mine-owner
postpones making his claim until the time when,
I
but for the Act, he would be in a position to' work,
I
he will be too late. In such a case he cannot rely
upon the usual words providing compensation for
lWrv ~ ~cmJ..aL p osi:.t:iurt/
I
future injury through the exercise of the statutory
sa:ffen.eiJJ by 0/ ReiL .
I
powers. Such words only apply to damage not contemplated, or not capable of being ascertained,
I
I
when the works are constructed. To obviate the

S1'1()()0Jog
I
difficulties raised by the case under discussion,
I
some modification of the law, as above stated, will
.IM~~1~,.J~
I

be found necessary.
N NorrrtAlf~ surf'ace 'hrvrrt- 301c.J I
I

.-

THE CONSTRUCTION AND SYSTEMATIC MANUFACTURE OF ALTERNATORS.

L ASOHE,

Berlin.

(Concluded f rom page 242.)

SEcTION 6 . - THEORY oF THE TIE WonK.

The first stiffened machines were built on the

basis of experiment, without proper calculation.
The object was primarily to make the armature
rigid. It was intended to put the outer framework in tension, as in the case of a shrinking
ring, or an iron hoop round a barrel. Thus the
first carrying out of the tension dynamo system
was with the tension parts on the baek, and it
will be clear that for this type an exact theory
is almost impossible It is, however, less difficult
to establish a theory for the rim tied by the triangular system. An exact theoretical consideration, or mathematical calculation, is hardly worth
while, as the stress upon the section of the armature ring, which is made of large cross-section on
account of the magnetic conditions, is so exceedingly small as to almost disappear; and, furthermore, the constructive material required for the
stiffening system beyond these limits is so trifling
that it makes no difference whether a rod has a
diameter of 1! in. or 2 in., just as it is also a
matter of indifference whether the fitter stretches
rods so as to impose a. strain of 400 or 800 kgcm. 2
(5689 lb. or 11,380 lb. per square inch).
The limits which are here given to the constructor, or the fitter, are exceedingly wide, before
the question of oost is touched or objections as regards the working become apparent.
An approximate examination of the deflections and
the forces seemed desirable in order to be able to
compare the deformations which take place in a
stiffened machine with those of a rigidly constructed
cast-iron casing. The question was, what weights
havo to be employed in order to make a given armature ring sufficiently rigid, firstly, by a system of tierods, and, secondly, by an equally-or, at least,
sufficiently-stiff cast-iron casing ? It was first
calculated how much a laminated ring composed of
many segments, and bolted together with many
screws, differed in its ela&tic properties from a
wrought-iron ring of full section. Here the elastic
deformations of the laminated ring were ascertained,
those of a solid ring were found by calculation on

I
I

By 0.

- - - - - - - - - - - ---- - - T ----- - - - ~ -------

Sca.U. of'Deltect.ion.6 17'fVTTl/00617tfJc:rr

..
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- 1

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in Fig. 1 on page 173 ante. When brought into a

vertical position, however, these conditions undergo
an alteration in consequence of the weight of the
rim itself coming into action, and this action itself
varies considerably, according to the choice of the
points upon which the rim is journalled.
Fig. 56 shows the momenta and normal force
surfaces for the horizontally located fre e rim, placed
under stress by one of the rods of the triangular
system. The deformation s are marked from the
assumed fixed point D. The iron rim is developed
into an egg-shaped body, the apex of which is opposite to the point D. Starting from this point, the
circumference at an angle of about 30 deg. is bulged
out, but at about 80 deg. is bent inwards, and subsequently becomes more and more bulged as the
point 0 is approached.
Fig. 67, page 278, shows the rim in a vertical position, firstly, under the assumption that it is pivoted
at two points in the horizontal centre line.
In consequence of the influence of the weight the
top bends sharply inwards, whilst the greatest outward bend takes place at an angle of 30 deg. towards
the horizontal line. The lower riln sinks considerably towards the bottom, causing the supports,
which are here assumed to be rollers, to again come
into play.
When the rim is mounted upon feet which are not
exactly on the level of the centre of gravity of the
rim, but, as usual, at some distance from it, the
proportions again change, more especially as regards
the extent of the deflections.
To constructively carry through this stiffening
system demands, therefore, firstly, a tie between

(sss

F)

~'

spite of the provision of several compressive stays,

it was felt doubtful if this arrangement would
maintain its true roundness, as well as the tl'iangu1ar stiffening. This uncertainty was removed
by the building and operation of the 1500 horsepower dynamo, the erecting of which was easily
accomplished with the aid of light cranes. The
endeavour to attain the true shape with the
stiffening system itself-i.e., the back t:Jtiffening
system, which in this respect was the same practically as the triangular stiffening- and yet to maintain a pleasing appearance, led to the constructional
alteration which, slightly exaggerated, is shown in
Fig. 63, page 278. In this the outer form of th~
octagon was retained, and, contrary to the sketch,
the rod system bears hard against the sheet-iron
back. The compressive stays were no longer mounted
radially to the outer rim, but at different angles,
so that the upper pair of compressive stays form
straight lines with the lower compressive stays on
each side, and there results almost no radial components. The deflections produced at these points
can thus be kept as small as desired. By the d etermination of a suitable point of the horizontal ~ods, ~
separate stiffening of the quarters of the rim could
be effected if desired.
These considerations further showed that it is not
necessary to stiffen the laminated rim entirely and
solely in itself,-but that it suffices if it is corrected
at the lowest points of the outward or inward deflections by the employment of tensile or compressive elements, the same as are, for instance, illustrated in Figs. 61 and 62.
The outward deflections, as shown in Fig. 63

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

a~e :prevented by a ~ystem of stay-rods suitably

An attempt was made to ascertain on a dynamo

of 1600 horse-power the extent of the action of this
force. In spite of the somewhat weak construction
of the cast-iron feet, this was not successful although the trial was continued from the tiro~ the
machine ran dead up to the exciting and up to full
load.
. After long and_ continued running, a slight dcflect~on ~f the spnng balance was perceptible, as the
rtm, 1n consequence of the continued alternate
~agnetisation, had become warmer, whereby ~the
d1stance of the two points connected together for
purposes of measurement had become greater.
. The fact that this UllBymmetrical acting force
dtd n ot produce a measurable deformation is a
fur~her proof o~ the stiffness and rigidity of the
entire constructton.

distrtbuted over the side plates, which compensate

the te~dency to deformation of the rim. This
~eans .m a ~ertain sense also a stiffening of the
nm-v~z., With forces, the ratios of which are
deter~med by the weight of the rim itself.
~e tie-bolts may _also be_ secured to flanges provtded on the laminated nm, the said elastic laminated rim will then, in a similar manner as a flat
. serve as a link.
.
'
spnng,
Fig. 62 s.hows tha~ the outward deflections may
also be obVIated by tie-rods engaging at the points
of the grea~est outward deflection, and attached to
the foundatton. The under halves of the rim could
also be supported against the foundation. This
latter ~ystem, however, ~ig~t scarcely perhaps, for
resthet1c reasons, be oarrted m to practical execution.

.---- --1

(AuG. 30,

1901.

the atmosphere of the machinery room become~

thrown by the rotating wheel, revolving at a
speed of 20 to 30 metres, against the winding
and s~ttles . there. With respect to main ten~
ance, mspec~10n_, and cleaning, the machine with
~ncovered w1ndmg always remains the most practiCal.
_There is yet another po~t in which this dynamo
will be f~und modern. It Is well known that iron
by cont1nual alternate magnetisation becomes
w~rm. The temperature may, without any injury
being feared for the machine, rise to 70 deg. or even
80 d.eg. Oent., measured inside the iron or directly
o~ Its ~ur~ace.. The non-electrician is easily decetved In J.udg1ng the temperature, as a machine
w:here th~ Iron can be directly touched appears to
him constderably hotter than a. machine with a

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M~Tlr'fb,u 1Jrvm,.3000cm..k!J
N Norrru:tJf~ SurlQu trrvm,.1~ kJ

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In the same manner as the ties, appliances may

be constructed by means of which the outward deflections can be forced in ; compression struts
may also be used, by which the inward aeflections
can be prevented.
The magnetic excitation of the machines- i.e.,
the magnetic attraction emanating from the polepieces-shows itself upon the armature rings as an
entirely central attracting force towards the interior,
provided that truly central erection is attained.
The action is therefore similar to that of a shrinking ring arranged around the laminated rim, and
the action of the cross-ties is thus in a certain sense
aided.
Another less favourable exertion of influence is
produced by the peripheral force- i.e., that turning momentum which becomes transferred by the
driving engine from the inductor to the casin_g ; t~e
peripheral force tends to deflect the castng, 1n
conformity to the arrangement of its feet, to a
slantingly inclined oval (Fig. 60) .

( 5954 H)

SEOTION 7. - THE EooNOMlOAL IMPORTANCE 0]' cast-iron back, the magnetic material of which is
THE STIFFENING SYSTE?!l.
perhaps really very much hotter.
Fig. 1 on page 173 a;nte shows a stiffened
In Fig. 64, page 279, a dynamo of the Westingdynamo of 1200 to 1600 horse-power, and an house Company is represented, the details of which
older dynamo of the same output and revoll!tions. were only recently published. This dynamo has
In the older machine, at the side of the inductor about 6000 kilowatts nominal capacity at 76 revoluis a flywheel on the shaft, and in the new construe- tions per minute. Fig. 65 shows in comparison
tion the whole rotating mass is the inductor itself. the sketch of a stiffened machine, where the workPeculiar to the new machine, and somewhat ing material has the same sectional area.
The construction of Westinghouse is charaounusual, is the fact that the high-tension winding
is entirely uncovered. The risks of the attendants teristic and free from objection. In this machine
coming in contact with any part of the machine is the endeavour has been made to obtain a very
entirely obviated by a railing extending all around rigid structure, and in this direction the effort has
it at sufficient distance. Against wilfully touching been crowned with great success. I t has been
the machine, no matter how well the winding be attempted to bring the unavoidable deformations by
covered, there can, of course, be no protection. Such the weight of the machine itself down to the lowest
kind of protection, however, as is employed with possible limit.
cast-iron casing machines can here also be made
The same results, viz., the lowest possible devia
use of; the advantage of it is, however, somewhat tions from the exact circular form can, however,
doubtful, for even in spite of the greatest care a be obtained also with the stiffening system. The
certain oil dust is produced, which oil vapour in fundamental difference is that the constructional

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J
~~U~G~~3~0~,~~~90~1~.~==========~~~==~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Rigid Oast- Stiffened
It will be seen
A

parts in the cast-iron casing machine undergo

bending strain, and thus are strained by the influence of the weight, whereas in the stiffening
system tying is effected by tensile stress acting
upon the r ods; and thus the compressive and tying

Weight of the ma~neticallY,'

strained matenal (laminated rim) ...
.. .
...

Iron Oasing.
bona

Casing.
tons
40

40

that in the first case the to~l

weight is approximately six times greater than IS
electrically necessary, whilst the ~tiffened sys~m
has only five-fourths _of that '!eight. In ot. er
words, the weight which accordmg to calculatiOn

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(.SSS4 H)

forces without the ring losing its exact circular

form, 'i.e., without an appreciable deformation, are
directly closed in themselves.
As far as the details and sketches could be ascertained, the comparison of the weights is as follows:

Additional
weight

construe tiona.l

...

...

...

Total weight of the stationnry part

.. . ...

195

10

235

50

plays an active part amounts to 80 per cent. when

stiffened, and to only 20 per cent. of the entire
weight when rigid cast-iron casing is used, so that
m?re _than four-fifths are merely employed for
s t1ffenmg purposes. .

'

E N G I N E E R I N G.
The sketches also show what facilities in the
erection are afforded by the stiffening system. The
mounting of the heavy castiron casings requires
very heavy cranes.
Furthermore, the fitting of t he connecting surfaces at angles of 90 deg. and 45 deg., and the
working up in the shops with the many grooves
and keys, is very difficult. The massive c~sing
requires, further, a very deep foundat ion pit, the
connection of the shaft bearings is, in consequence
of the dismembering of the foundat ion block, less
rigid, and both floor space required and foundation
costs will be ruled by the greatly different dimensions and weights of the casings.
The line in Fig. 64 shows the very considerable
difference in the chief measurements of the foundation. There, too, must also be added the saving
of freight and duty in shipment.
For the workshop, the advantages of manufacture on a large scale, which is now possible, play
the most important part. The laminated plates
for all machines, with the same number of revolutions, are the same, also the endplates and feet
and the tie-rods ; for all widths, furthermore, all
the separate parts are the same.
The times of delivery are, as known, fixed in
accordance with the time r equired for making the
casing bodies. The cast-iron body of the inductor
is easily procured, and the time of manufacture is
short ; the laminated rim, the pole-pieces, and the
coils are produced as separate parts and on a large
scale. These long times for delivery for the cast iron casings are done away with by the adoption
of the tie-rod system; the long time formerly consumed by the casting of these pieces will now be
entirely saved, and also the lengthy finishing of
the sections in the engineering shops can be dispensed with. *

[AuG. 30, r 901.

into the actual state of shipbuilding. The paper is, sized had n ot been experienced at Wilhelmshaven.
like all t he others, profusely illustrated by excel- Whether his scheme be practi~al or not, he has
lent views, diagrams, and plates of American, certainly attacked a problem of great importance.
British, and German yards and their machinery. In many a shipbuilding yard time and labour are
The author str ongly advocates the use of electric undoubtedly wasted owing to faulty disposition of
power, and he gives inter esting particulars. With slips and shops. Local conditions have to be
t he aid of seventeen electric motors the battleship studied, but it would be desirable to come to a
l{aiser Wilhelm II. could be got ready for launch - general understanding as to t he leading ideas.
ing within nine months. The electric hoisting
The second paper, "Electric Communication on
machines of As1nussen, employed by Blohm and Board," by Professor A. Raps, forms a very valuVoss, work without starting resistance, and the able supplement to t he infor mation which Mr.
motor always t urns in the same direction. The C. E. Grove placed, in April, 1900, before our
t ravelling cranes at Wilhelmshaven, where the Institution of Electrical Engineers in his paper on
Wilhelm II. was built, run first on a low level, "The Eleotrical Equipment of Ships of War."
then build up their own high level, and are them- Mr. Grove had a much wider subject and spoke
selves lifted on that level by floating shear-legs. chiefly on appliances in use in the British Navy.
The 25 horse-power compressor motors arid the Professor Raps confined himself, to translate litersmaller motors rendered good service in keeping ally, to the conveyance of orders on board of Gerthe riveters' fires bright and in drilling the armour man warships by means of electric apparatus, and
plates, drying the varnish ed and painted walls, &c. the apparatus ar e those of t he firm of Siemens and
The hydraulic rivet ing machines, carried by special Halske, of which the speaker is on e of the direccranes, which Harland and W olff, at B elfast, applied tors. The paper distinguishes between electroon the Oceanic, e.g., cannot generally be r ecom- opt ical and electro-acoustical instruments. The
mended for the cold winters of German ports and characteristic feature of the former, which is found
shipbuilding yards ; but the pneumatic tools, also in t he steering telegraphs, is the single-dial
six-coil motor. Six electro-magnets are arranged
American in origin, always prove useful.
Mr. Schwarz is decidedly in favour of making the vertically in a circle ; their pole-pieces t urn _radially
slip n ot only a place for building and erect ing, but inward, and embrace the short common armature.
also for fitting it up as a well-appointed machine One end of each of these t hree pairs of coils goes to
shop, roofed ~n and housed. H e illustrates the one of the three cont acts of a commutator ; the other
covered slips of Swan and Hunter, of Low Walker- ends are united to a common return, which comprises
on-Tyne, of the Union Works of San Francisco, of the battery and t he contact lever. The armature
the Stettin "Vulcan " ; and he dwells particularly on t urns in t he same direction as the manipulated
slip cranes. We find views of the cantilever cranes lever. The signal currents are strong, which is
of the Brown Hoisting Company, operating in t he desirable for reliable operation, but momentary, and
yards of William Cramp and Son at Philadelphia, therefore harmless to the compass needle. There
and of the similar electric cranes used at theN ew- is no balancing of current intensities, as in some
port News and Dry Dock Company, of Newport American instruments, which did not answer during
News, Virginia . .A very good description of the the Spanish-American war. These apparat us are
shipbuilding yards of t he latter company forms the provided with worm gearing and with automatic
subject of another paper in this volume. These reply devices. For inter-communication between
cranes run with t heir far-reaching horizon tal ships, and between ships and shore, Sellner's
J ahtrbuoh cler Soh~ffbauteohnischen Gesellsohaft. Seoond arms-95 ft . span in Philadelphia-on elevated uni versa! signal apparat us, with t hree flashing
volume. Berlin, 1901: J. SJ?ringer. 515 pages, large railroad structures between two slips. In this lanterns, are employed in t he German Navy. They
octavo, with many illustrations and plates. [Price country t hey are employed by Vickers, Sons, and are also illustrated and described by Professor Raps.
40 marks.]
The next paper, by Mr. Ed. Debes, of the HarMaxim, at Barrow, among others. In Germany,
THE second volume of the Annual of. the German the Duisburg Engine Works have taken up the burg Gummi-Kamm Company, "Rubber in ShipNaval Architects records the history of the second construction of slip-cranes, and the aut hor gives building," r efers particularly to the application of
year of this Society, and the proceedings of the detailed drawings of their types.
the pure hard rubber, known as No. 3, and the
annual meeting of November 19 and 20, 1900.
In order to avoid the dangers and trouble of t he so-called iron rubber, No. 68, of that company.
The number of members has risen from 614 to 730, launching operations, and to simplify the whole Exceptionally high insulating powers are claimed
but the Society has to mourn the loss of three process, the author goes further, and pleads for both qu alities, and the iron- r ubber is the chief
eminent members-H. Howaldt, A. K och, and for dry docks whenever realisable. Again, since material for high intensity current insulation. The
C. F. Laeisz. Director Hermann Howaldt estab- the styles of machinery wanted in the building, link s of chains, for instance, are made of bronze, and
lished the Howaldtwerke of Kiel by uniting his and in the subsequent fitting, of t he ship are united by being partly embedded in balls of t his
engine works with the shipbuilding yards of that substantially the same, since boiler-plates, for in- rubber. In iron chains a protective sleeve of bronze
town. August Koch's official connection with the stance, and shell-plates pass through similar opera- has to be applied, lest the rust should creep up
German Navy ceased in 1879, after t wenty-three tions, he would combine the workshops of the two and spread within the rubber shell, destroying
years of service. He had been trained. at the Ship- stages. This combination has hardly been prac- the latter. When possible, the metal is entirely
building School of Grabow, near Stett1n, then the tised so far, and sp ecial types of cranes, r evolving, enclosed in rubber; buckle insulators are prepared
only German institution of its kind, and will be portal, derrick, locomotive cranes, &c., are r e in this way. Rubber-coated. propeller-shafts were
remembered as the constructor of t he first ironclads sorted to in the second stage. The author describes first proposed by Willenius in 1894, and tried by
which left German yards. Carl Ferdinand Laei.sz, the new cran es of the Duisburg and of the B enrath the H arburg Company on behalf of the Imp~rial
whose portrait adorns the volume, succumbed, like Engine Works, which turn about a central ver tical Navy in 1895. The first experiments wer e n ot sucHowaldt and many a colleague, to the strain of pillar, more fully, adding many more plates ; and cessful, however, on account of the unequal expanoverwork in his best years, only forty-seven years concludes with a scheme of a yard in which housed- sions of the rubber and the steel. The Harburg
of age. A trader-shipowner- his Hansa Line was in dry docks and slips under roof are surrounded by Company has since improved both the material and,
afterwards amalgamated with the Hamburg-Ame- workshops of all descriptions, constituting an estab- what is not less essential, the mode of vulcanisarican Line-and a leading member of the Hamburg lishment which turns out ships complete in every tion, with satisfactory r esults. The rubber is
Ohamber of Commerce, endowed with a real talent sense. The cold-iron shop would be located between heated on a spreader in the usual manner, applied
for organisation, he has deser ved well of his native the two dry docks, the slips b eing outside th e latter, to the shaft, and then wrapped tightly with t intown of Hamburg and of his country. His wonder- and the axes of these basins parallel to one another, foil in order to retain t he coating in position and to
ful capacity for work, c~mbined, ~s is not rarely the and inclined to the wharf, whilst t he central power keep the condensed water off during the vulcanisa
case, with the most genial and kindly ways, made station and the buildings of the main shops would tion i?11 sib~.~. A wrought-iron tube, somewhat
him one of the most popular figures of the German form a rectangle surrounding t he slips.
longer than the piece of shafting, is pushed over
shipping world, which he has done so much t o
The scheme was not favourably received by t he the shaft, and its ends are closed by stuffing-boxes.
develop. The Deuts~he Seeberufsgenossenschaft gentlemen who took part in the disoussion-M~ssrs. Steam is admitted t hrough one or several pipes, and
is his men1orable creatwn.
J ager, Brinkmann, Zimmermann, and Hossfeld. the process so regulated that t he desired temperaSeven papers w~re read at the m~eting, which They all spoke against coveredin slips as da~k ~nd ture and p ressure of about 40 lb. are reache~ within
\Vas held in Berlm under t he presidency of the draugh ty, expensive, cumbrous, and necess1tabng an hour. That temperature is then maintained for
G rand Duke of Oldenburg, the Honorary Presi- very large cranes. The men, they said, complained about three hours, the condensed water being
dent of the Society. Professor Busley is the of t he draughts, and preferred to work in the open allowed to escape through several pipes. After the
President. In the first paper, on "Modern S hip- air even d uring the cold winter months. Th~ con- slow cooling the tinfoil is remove~, and .the s~aft
building Yards and their P r obable Development," centration of the various machine shops was obJected is finished. P ieces of s uch shaftmg, w1th farrly
Mr. Tjard Sohwar2 gave th e Society the ben~fi~ of to and Director Zimmermann, of the Stettin ''V ul- long bronze sleeves at both ends of th~ rub~er
what he had learned as member of a Com~ISSl~n, ca~ " in par ticular expr essed the opinion that Mr. coating have effectually stood two. years serVIce.
appointed in 1899 by th e German Navy, to 1nqmre Sch'warz had not allowed his ideal yard sufficient When the rubber coating is damaged by chains or
area. The crowding together of different classes corals however, corrosion will set in. But the firm
* ERRATUM.-In the first of this ~eries of articles on of ar tisans and men, paid at different rates, though has r~cently devised means which allow of repair"The Construction and Sys~mat10. Manufacbure of
ing such injury on board. A n ovelty of the last
apparently
doing
the
same
work,
under
different
Alternatora," which appeared 1n ~ur 188ue ,pf A~gust 9,
three
years
are
the
flanged
pipes
for
hot
and
cold,
foremen,
would
lead
to
tr
ouble,
and
it
would,
Fig 2 on page 176 bore the tlltle of
ContmuousCur~ent Generator." This was incorrect, a~d should furt her, be impossible to keep the accounts of the sweet or salt water, which are lined inside with
have been ~' Induotor Alternator, Type A.
U nder various departments separate. Mr. Schwarz made about !-in. coating of a different, leather-like rubber.
Fig. 1, page 173, the title "Three-Phase Dynamo for a good defence. He could point out t hat some of The nails and staples which the firm use for
500 vC'l 's" ~bould have read " Three-Phase Dynamo for
the troubles which Mr. Zimmermann had empha- rubber fittings on board are made of their acid-proof
2760 volts."

LITERATURE.

AuG. 30, 1 901.]

ferronit, another rubber specialit y, supposed to
possess the strength of ordinary nails. These nails
find applic~tion also in accumulator fittings in
chemical laboratories, dye works, &c.
The two remaining papers of the first day are of a
theoretical character. In t he first, '' Graphical
Methods for Determining t h e Static Equilibrium of
Ships in Smooth Water," Mr. H. Bauer, of the
Berlin Technical College, proposed certain modifications and eliminations in methods which Mr. L.
Glimbel explained before the Institution of Naval
Architects in 1898, under the t itle of '' Stability in
Naval Architecture." Mr. Giimbel, who is one of
the engineers of t he Hamburg-American Line, was
present, and questioned the value of the suggested
elimination. In spite of the advanced hour, Mr.
Giimbel then read his own 1nost instructive paper
on '' Transversal Vibrations in t he Plane of Free
Rods of Various Cross Sections under the Influence
of Periodical F orces, with special r egard to t he
Problems of Ship V ibrat ions. " The paper was
illust rated by very interesting experiments with
ship models, the particular arrangement of t he
instrument used being due to E. Kiihne. There
was no discussion, and we must content ourselves
with drawing attention to this important study.
Two papers were left for t he second day. Mr. R.
Rosenstiel, also of t he H amburg-American Line,
discoursed on t he '' Development of t he L oad-line
in the Mer chant Service. " The aut hor has investigated deep- draugh t diagrams of ships of
various dimensions riding on waves of three sizes.
The lively discussion, in which Messrs. Riess,
Middendorf, Rodenacker, and Hossfeld took part,
concerned especially t he free-board question. A
suggestion, made by Mr. Hossfeld, that the Society
should resolve not to encourage legislat ion in favour
of any maximum or minimum load-line, but
simply to r egulate t he stowing of the cargo, was,
however , ruled out of order by t he honor ary President .
The last paper, on "Forms of Ships' Sterns,"
brings up a very interesting subject. The author,
Mr. J. Schlitte, marine eng ineer, of Bremerhaven,
described tests with various models of t he Kaiser
W ilhelm der Grosse, which he had conducted at the
new experimental tank station of the North German
Lloyd for tonnage tests at Bremerhaven. The tank,
which covers an area of three-quarters of an acre,
was completed within eight months in February,
1900, the construction having been taken in hand
as soon as the most suggestive results of tests, conducted in t he arsenal at Spezia, Italy, with models
of several fast steamers of the N or th German
Lloyd, had been repor ted. These tests are based
on Froude's method of determining the total resistances which models of about 15 ft. in length
undergo when towed at certain rates of speed, and
they permit of calculating t he engine-power r equired to attain those speeds. Since a large percentage of t he power- more t han 60 p er cent.
sometimes- is wasted in friction in the engine
itself and in t he propeller, n o direct conclusions can
be dra wn as to t he power which the engine should
indicate. But the experience gained with ships of
similar type and trials, made wit h models of differ ent sizes of the same ship, help the designer
very materially. The close agreement resulting
from experiments with two models of .the Kaiser
Wilhelm der Grosse, t he one 41>, the other 4\,
otherwise identical, is indeed surprising. The final
resistance quotients gave in the one instance the
figure 1. 728, in the other 1. 722. Mr. Schlitte has,
therefore, a very high opinion of the value of such
tests. which can, of course, only be conducted in
suitably appointed stations. His experiments at
Bremerhaven were not confined to t he two mod els
just ment ioned. He made five styles of models,
differing slightly from on e anoth er in the shape
of t heir sterns, and also of their propeller framings. Some of the models were left mere hulks
without any framing ; in some experiments the
bossed-out spectacle frames, which originated in
Belfast in Messrs. Harland and W olff's shipbuilding yard, if we are not mistaken, wer e fitted
to the models; iii some, finally, two k inds of bracket
frames were applied. The results of t he tests can
hardly be stated without entering into details and
wit hout r eproducing the most interesting diagrams
and photographs of the wave-forms observed on
the models. It should be mentioned, however,
that the models provided with bossed-out spectacl e
frames gave resistances which were by 12 per cent.
less t han those obtained with bracket frames. This
r emarkable superiority of t he former construction,

E N G I N E E R I N G.
t hough not unexpected, since it confirms a pract ical rule, was first regarded with some distrust.
But t he 200 r epeated tests left no doubt whatever
about the matter.
This paper concludes the proceedings of the
meeting. The volume contains, besides some contributions, to which we will r efer in a moment, a
d escription amply illustrated, like everything else,
of t he Borsig Engine Works at Tegel, near Berlin,
to which the society paid a visit. The original
engine works and foundries of A. Borsig, established in 1837, were near the Oranienburg-gate in
Berlin. Branch works soon arose in other parts
of the town; the son, Albert B orsig, acquired iron
works in Upper Silesia, and under t he three grandsons, Arnold, Ernst, and Oonrad, the eldest of
whom, Arnold, died in 1897, the Berlin plant was
transferred to Tegel. The new buildings, whose
general plan and iron structur e in particular are
due to Chief Engineer Metzmacher, were completed in 1898. They are situated on t he T egel
Lake, and many of the materials arrive by
water. The works, t heir locomotives, engines,
pumps and hydraulic plants, r efrigerating machinery, &c., ar e well known; nickel steel has in r ecent years been added as a speciality.
The contributions to t he journal consist of
German t ranslations of papers r ead by members
of the society at t he Congr es Internat ional
d' Architecture et de Constructions Na.va.les, held at
Paris in 1900. The society was officially represented
at t his Congress, their acting president, Professor
Busley, being one of the vice-presidents. We state
t he titles of the papers: " Comparison of Ship
Vibrations of the German Cruisers Hansa and
Vineta," by G. Berling ; "New Researches on
Ships' Resistance," by R. Haack ; "The Laws of
Tonnage Measurements in Various Countries, " by
A. I sakson ; and "The Shipbuilding Yards of the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia, U .S.A.," by
T. Chace. Excellent plates are added to t he first
and the last of these papers, and the second volume
of the Journal of the Schiffbautechnische Gesellschaft fully maintains the high character of t heir
first annual.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
The T elephone System of the B ritish P ost O:f}ice. By T. E.

HERBERT, A.M.I.E.E. Second edition, revised. with

additions. London: Whittaker and Oo. [Price
3s. 6d.]
Rhodes's Ste(J.Ifn3hi(p Gwide, 1901-2. Edited by T HOMAS
RHODES. London : George Philip and Son.
Plane and Solid Geometry. By ARTHUR SoHULTZE,
P h. D., and F . L. SEVENOAK, A.M., M.D. New York:
The Maomillan Company ; London : Macmillan and
Co., Limited. [Price 6s.]
B erichte uber die W eltausslellwng in Paris, 1900. Herausgegeben von dem K. K. Osterreichischen GeneralCommissariate. Ftinfter Band. Vienna : Carl Gerold's
Sohn.
A nnuario de la M ineria, M etalurgia y Eleotricidad de
Espa1ia. Bajo la. direcci6n de DoN ADRIANO OoN-

TRERAS. Ano Octavo, 1901. Madrid: Enrique Teodoro.

The Univer sal Directory of Rail,way Official~. 1901. Compiled from official sources, under the direction of S.
RroHARDSON BLUNDSTONE. London : The Directory
Publishing Company, Limited. [Price 10s.]

E uolid's El(,rnents of Geometry : Books I . IV., V I., and

X I. Edited, for the use of schools, by CHARLES SMITH,

M. A., and SoPHIE BRYANT, D.Sc. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited; New York: The Macmillan
Company. [Price 4s. 6d.]

H ydraulic and other T ables f or P urposes of Sewerage and

Water Supply. By THOMAS lliNNELL, M. Inst. C.E.

Second Edition, revised. London: E. and F. N.

Spon, Limited; New York: Spon and Chamberlain,
LPrice 5s.]
E lementary Geometr y, Plain and Solid. By THOMAS F.
HoLGATE. New York : The Macmillan Company ;
London : Macmillan and Co., Limited. [Price 6s.]
An I nflrodwtion to the Practical Use of Loga'rithms, 'With
Examples in Mensuration. By F. GLANVILLE TAYLOR,

M.A., B.So. London, New York, and Bombay:

Longmans. Green, and Co. [Price 1s. 6d.]
The Rolle1 Mill and Silo Manual. By ,TAl\IES DONALD
soN. Second Edition. Liverpool: Donaldson and
Owens.
A T reatise on M etallife?ous M inerals and Mining. By
D . 0. DAVIES, M.E., F.G.S. Sixth Edition, thoroughly
revised and much enlarged, by his son, E. HENRY
DAVIES, M. E . F.G.S. London: Orosby Lockwood and
Son. [Price 12s. 6d. net.]
T he b11stitution of J wnior J!)ngifneers: .A Course of Six
Lectures (with Discussions) on the Management of Workshops. Delivered by ARTHUB H. BARKER, Wh. So.,

BA., B.So. London: Published by the Institution.

[Price 3s.]
Original Papers by the late JohAt Hopkinson, D.Sc, F.R.S.
Vol. I.-Technical Papers. VoJ. II.-Scientifio Paper.

Edited by B. HoPKINSON, B So. Cambridge : U niversity Pre~s. [Price 21~. net.]

Maps, their Uses and Consflruction. By G. JAMES

MonnrsoN, M. Inst. C.E., F.R.G.S. London: Edward

Stanford. [Price 5s. net.]

A Record of T 1vo Centuries. Being a Short H istory of the
House of M erry'weather and Sons, of Long A~re and
Greenwich, 1690 to 1901. London : Merr1 tb and

Ha.tcher, Limited.

Theoretical Elements of Electrical E ngineerilnf}. By

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ. New York: Electrical
World and Engilneer (Incorporated).
.
Se1enteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of A men.can
Ethinology to the Secr etO!rY of the Smithsonialn Instit'l~t
tion, 1895-1896. By J. W. PowELL, Director. Parts

I . and II. Washington : Government Printing Office.

Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American

Etlvnology to the Secretary of the Smithson'lan I?tstituUon, 1896-1897.

By J. W. PowELL, Director. Part I.

Washington: Government Printing Office.

Proceedilngs of the Sta.tfordshire I ron and Steel Institu te.

Session 1899-1900. Brierley-Hill: Ford and Addison.

A Handbook for Eleoflrical Laboratory and T esting-Room.

By J. A. FLEMING, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. Vol. I.

London: T he Electrician Printing and Publishing
Company, Limited. [Price 12s. 6d.].
The Steam Engilne Problem, By S. H. BARRAOLOUGH,
B. E. (Syd.), Assoc. M. Inst. C. E. Sydney: Kealy and
Philip.

Proceedings of the Forty-Fourth Annual Convention of

the Amerioan I nstitute of Architects. GLENN BROWN,

Edibor. Washington, D. C. : Gibson Brothers.

Schweize1'ische Bergbalvnen. Herausgeber, Druck, und
Verlag : Polygraphisches Institut A.G., Zurich.

Key to the Classification of the Patent Specifications of

Ger many, Ausflria, Denmark, and No?"loay, in the
Library of the Patent Ojfioe. London : The Patent

Office, W. C. [Price 6d.]

Subject List of Works on Chemistry arul T eclvnical T echnology in the Librar?J of the Patent Ojfioe. London :

The Patent Office, W.C. [Price 6d.]

MINERAL L OCOMOTIVE FOR THE

CALEDONL\.N RAILWAY.
THE Caledonian Railway Company have ever been
progressive, and for years their locomotives have
awakened admiration, the successive classes of
" Dunalastairs " being particularly notable ; and now
the locomoti ve superintendent, Mr. J. F . Mclntosh,
has introduced a mineral engine whose working
has attracted much attention. It is designed to
take very heavy loads over the steep gradients
of the Caledonian system, the total tractive force
being 28,665 lb. It should also be mentioned
that the directors have introduced lar ge wagons
of 30 and 50 tons carrying capacity on a t are which
is much less than that formerly in use, so that not
only is a leading engine dispensed with in heavy
mineral t rains, but t he paying load by t he one engine
greatly increased. The wagons are all fitted with the
quick-acting 'VVestinghouse brake, so that the loads
t hey are able to haul uphill can be safely controlled on
the down gradient.
The new type of engine just mentioned is illustrated
on page 275. The cylinders are 21 in. in diameter,
and the piston stroke 26 in., while the boiler,
which is of great length, has very extensive heating
surface. The wheels are 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and
all eight are coupled. The performance of this class
of engine will be watched with keen interest, as it is
a development in t he right direction, and is bound to
counteract in some measure the ever -increasing tenpency of traction expenses on our large lines.
WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY AT THE
GLASGOW EXHIBITION.
A fine exhibit of wood-working machinery is made
by ~Iessrs. John M 'Dowall and Sons, of Johnstone,
near Glasgow, who occupy a stand near the Dumbartonroad, entrance to the Machinery Hall. In all, eleven
tools are shown at t his stand, of which five of the
smaller classes are shown in motion, and several of the
more interest ing are illust rated on pages 282 and 283.
The largest machine shown at this stand is a special
roller-feed planing machine, which we illustrate on
page 282 (Fig. 1). This machine is intended for planing,
tongueing, grooviag, and plain joint ing timber. All four
sides of the timber can be dressed at once, or one only,
at the option of t he attendant. There are four pairs
of feed-rolls, each 16 in. in diameter. The top r9lla
can all be raised or lowered simultaneously by means
of a hand wheel, according to the thickness of the timber
dealt with ; and an indicator placed at the front of the
machine shows t he height of these rolls from the top
of the table. The underside of the timber is planed
by means of both revolving" chippers" and fixed plane
irons w hioh are arranged in movable boxes, so as to be
readily withdrawn for sharpening. T he filling-in plate
in front of the bottom chipper is adjustable, so that
any thickness of cut can be t aken off as desired. There
are eight pressure rollers above the plane box. Each
of these is provided with an independent weight, but
the whole of these weights can be lifted simultaneously
by means of a hand wheel when required. For dressing
the edges of the timber, four side chippers are p;ovi~ed
in place of the more usual two. The second patr fimsh
work roughed out by their fellows. This is partiou

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

[A UG. 30, I gor.

WOODWORKING MACHINERY AT THE G LAS GOW EXHIBITION.

CONSTRUCTED BY :MESSRS.

JOHN

~I'DOvV ALL

AND SONS, JOHNSTONE, N. B.

'

I~

...._ _.

'-

FIG.

1.

ROLLER FEED PLANING M ACHINE

FIG.

2.

SELF-CONTAINED D ouBLE DEAL F.aAMES.

FIG.

3.

VERTICAL BORING AND HYDRAULIC BOLT-DRIVING MACHINE .

at the delivery end of the machine for V jointing

larly useful in tongueing and grooving, as all splinter- beading or lining. The bearings for the spindles are
ing timber and "lifting " of knots is avoided. The all of the self-oiling pattern, and run smoothly at 5500
top chipper block is skew-form~d, so _that ~he cu~ters revolutions per minute. The top bearings for the
have a shearing action. A beadmg ch1pper 1s prov1ded

side chipper spinclles are, moreover, in three parts, thus

permitting very accurate adjustment for wear. All
the gear wheels used are machine out, and encased
for protection against dust and chips. The automatic

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

AuG. 30, 1901.]

enclosed report of the trials of the Hyacinth and Miner vu.

to Gibraltar and back.
I have refrained from expressing any opinions in this
report, as I have not yet been able to arrange for a
meeting of this Committee to discuss the results.
The figures quoted in this report are those recorded on
board the ships, and will be liable to slight alteration
when the results are worked out i.n the office.
I am, &c.,
CoMPTON DoMVILE, Vice-Admiral,
President of Boiler Committee.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

GLASGOW EXHIBITION ; PORTABLE SAW BENCH.

CON TRUCT:RD BY ME

R . J. l\II'DOvVALL AND , ONS, JOHN TONE, N.B.

STATEMENT DY PRESIDENT OF THE BOILER COMAUTT.EE.

FIC . 4.
feed . is variable by means of cone pulleys ; the rates
prov1ded range from 70 fr,. to 150 ft.. per minute.
When required, the machine is fitted with fixed plane
irons for finishing with a. smooth and glossy surface
the upper faces of the boards passed through. The
machine will take in t imber measuring 12 in. by 6 in.
in section. It weighs 275 cwt.
Another interesting tool at this stand is the selfcontained double deal frame illust rated in Fig. 2.
As shown, the crankshaft driving the saws is fixed at
the bottom of the main framing, and is driven by fast
and looee pulleys, controlled by a hand lever extending
above the floor line. The working frame has been
designed so as to combine in a high degree lightness
and strength. A combined horizontal and vertical
roller feed is provided, and this feed operates on the
up as well as on the down stroke, a feature which much
increases the output of the machine, especially when
operating on dea,ls of ordinary breadth. The fences
are mounted on a cross-slide, and ar~ adjustable by
screws in such a way that the thickness cut can be
altered without disturbing the saws or packings. The
holding-down motion provided permits of a broad
deal being sawn on one side of the fence whilst a narrow
one is being cut on t he other. This machine is also made
in four sizes. The smallest, capable of cut ting two
deals measuring 16 in. by 4 in., weighs 75 cwt., and
takes 4 horse-power to drive it. The largest standard
size ma.de will saw two 24-in. by 6-in. deals. Its
weight is 105 cwt.
A machine of rather a special character is illustrated
in Fig. 3 : it is intended for drilling and bolting hatchboards for ships. The boards being fixed as shown,
they are fi rst drilled by an auger. The bolts are then
driven by means of a small hydraulic press mounted
alongside the auger spindle. Two stops facilitate the
placing of the boards in position below the ram, after
th e bolt hole has been drilJ ed. The machine can also
be used for r ecessing hand holes, a removable table
being supplied in which the work can be mounted for
this purpose. It is clamped t o this table by means of
the press. As shown, the mach ine will bore holes
27 in. deep ; and a man and a. boy working together
can finish fifteen hatch boards, each with t hree bolts, in
one hour.

A p ortable circular paw is illustrated by Fig. 4

above. It is mounted on wheels, and is driven by an
electric motor beneath the table. It is thus possible
to oper&.te the machine in any place to which an electric
main can be led. The machine proves specially valuable to shipbuilders, as cross-cutting and ripping can be
done on board ship, instead of ashore as has hitherto
been the practice. Four sizes of the machine are made.
The smallest, which takes a. 24-in. saw, requires 2~
horse-power to drive it ; whilst with the largest, taking
a 30-in. saw, 6 horse-power are needed. As our illus

tration shows, the machine is very compact, and as the

upper portion is mounted on a turntable, the saw can
be turned at a..ny desired angle to the rails on which it
runs : a feature which in many cases much facilitates
tpe han dling of the stock being cut. The motors are
supplied to suit any voltage desired by the purchaser.

THE BOILER TRIALS OF H.M.S.

"HJ ACINTH" AND

"MINERV A."
THE following reporb on the trials of His IV!ajesty's
ships Hyacinth and Minerva bo Gibraltar and back,
July 6 to 20, 1901, has just been issued. We have dealt
~ith these trials in a.n article on another page of this
ISSUe.

R ETURN OF THE P ARTIOULARS OF THE RECENT S EA

T RIALS OF THE MINERVA AND HYAOINTH.

FrnsT LORD,-! forward herewith the observations of

the President of the Boiler Committee on the most recent
trial of the Hyacinth and Minerva. For convenience of
comparison in respect of cos,l and water consumption I
append the statistics of the previous trials, and I wish to
draw your attention to the following points in this trial :
1. The very serious loss of water in Hyacinth, as
pointed out by the President of the Boiler Committee.
This .was due to leaky joints. A certain number were
located a.t Gibraltar, and on examination ab Portsmouth
other)ea.ks were discovered and reported (see report of
Portsmouth Yard Officers).*
2. The state of the Minerva's tubes at the end of each
run.-On arrival at Gibraltar the cap ferrules were found
to be partially choked, due to "bird-nesting,"' and the ship
could not have gone any further a.b that power (7000 indicated horse-power). As it was, she was using up to 1.7 in.
of air pressure instead of ! in. to maintain the necessary
combuation for this power. On arrival at Portsmouth
practically the ea.me thing occurred, as wm be seen from
the reports.
3. 'rhe Hyacinth developed a.n average of 1000 more
indicated horse-power than the ~Iinerva on the run
home; this should have given the former a substantial
increase in speed, whereas there was a. slight decrease.
This exbra. indicated horse-power must have been absorbed
either in the engines, or on the main shaft bearings, or
in the hull. Ib is possible that the shape of bull may
have had something to say in the matter, but the former
trials do .not bear this out. For example, when the
Higbflyer (same class) was tried against the Minerva. last
year, the former maintained a higher power and speed,
except ab 10 knots, when she bad to exert more indicated
horse-power to obtain the speed (see Memorandum respecting Water-Tube Boilers, pages 22, 23, &c., presented to Parliament last year). The case requires investigation.
H. MAY,
Controller of the Navy.
J oly 31, 1901.

w.

26th July, 1901.

Sir,-Be pleased to submit to their L ordships the

* S ~e page 234.

Representatives of the .Hoiler Committee, consistJing of

the President, three members, and the joint secretaries,
embarked in H.M.S. Hyacinth and Minerva at Devonport, about 2 p. m. on July 6. The ships sailed at about
3 p. m. on tba.b day, and started worlcing up to 7000 horsepower. It was intended that the ships should maintain
7000 horse-power till a.U the coal, except that in the
reserve bunkers (82 tons). was exhausted. By 3.45 p. m.
the revolutjons in the Hyacinth were 152 per minute
and the horse-power 6994, and the trial was considered
to have started from tbab time. The Minerva's trial
commenced at 4 p. m. The Miperva soon showed that
she was the faster ship, and steadily drew away from the
Hyacinth. By midnight on the 7th the Minerva was
about 4~ miles ahead.
When passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, early
in the morning of the 9th inst., a fog was encountered;
tbe Minerva eased down for 55 minutes, while the
Hyacinth had to ease down for two houre. On running
outl of the fog both ships again worked ab 7000 horsepower.
At 4.30 p.m. on July 10, a boltl of the ahead eccentric
stnp of the starboard intermediate engine of the
Minerva broke, and the starboard engines had to be
stopped; the port engines continued running. The strap
was found to be damaged, and bad to be repla-ced by the
spare one. This work was carried out in about two
hours, and at 6.40 the starboard engines started working
again, and were worked up to the required power.
Ib had been arranged that the water in the reserve
tanks of both ships should be used as the only make up
feed-water until it was reduced to 20 tons, in order that
the amount of make-up feed used per day might be
accurately determined. When the reserve h!ld been
reduced to 20 tons, this water was to be kept int&.ct in
the tanks ready for use in case of emergency and
all make-up required was to be obtained fro~ the
en.porators.
Special reserve banks had been fitted in the Hyacinth
bo bold about 100 tons; this, added to the original reserve
tank sto wa.~e, gave a total reserve tank stowage of about
140 tons. The total reserve stowage of the Minerva was
about 170 tons.
When the amount was reduced to 35 tons in the
Hyacinth, the staff engineer asked to be allowed to stare
the evaporators on accountl of the difficulty of getting the
water out of the tanks by the special pump fitted for
these trials. T wo Weir's evaporators working with
exhaustl steam were started at 5.30 a.m. on the 9th, and
the two Normandy's daring tbe afternoon of the lOth.
At 1 15 a. m. on the 11th July, the staff engineer of the
Hyacinth reported the engines would have to be eased on
account of the large loss of water, and the trial was
abandoned from 1 a. m. All the evaporators were working ab this time, and in addition to the water from the
reser,Te tanks, 25 tons of drmking-water bad bPen ueed
for boiler make.up. The Hyacinth returned to Gibraltar
at stow speed, arriving there on the evening of the 11th.
The Minerva continuEd steaming at 7000 horsepower
till 11 p m. on the 12th, at which time there were still
39 tons of coal in the bunkers, nob including the reserve-,
and 20 tons of water remained in the reserve ta.nke-.
The average horse- power of the Hyacinth was 7047 for
103! hourtt, with a. coal consumption of 1.97 lb., and the
distance run was about 1810 miles, ab an average speed of
17.6 knots ; the ~1inerva's horse-power was 7007 for 147
hours, with a coal consumption of 2.06 lb., and the distance run was about 2640 miles, at an average speed of
17.96 knots.
On the nigh.t of the lOth July, flaming occurred at the
after funnel of the Hyacinth, but no flaming is reported
from the Minerva. On examination of the Minerva'a
boilers after arrival at Gibraltar, it was found that the
openings in the Admiralty ferrules were seriously choked,
the size of the openings, in some cases, being reduced to
about one. third the original.
The boilers and engmes in both ships worked well on
the way outJ, with the exception of the eccentric strap
bolt of the Minerva., and a. number of leaks which de
veloped in connection with the boilers of the Hyacinth
these latter appeared to become worse after the engin~
were suddenly eased on entering the fog on the 9th on
which occasion the pressure of the boilers became s~ffi.
ciently high as to lift the safety valves.
The loss of water in the Hyacinth was at first a.ttri
buted to leaky feed suction pipes, but during the stay atJ
Gibraltar these pipes, the feed and hot-well tanks, and
the boilers and boiler blow-outs, were water-pressure
tested, and no leaks beyond those already known to exist'
in the boilers were discovered.
As no serious leaks could be discovered durin~ the
stay at Gibraltar, the leaky joints in the Hyacmth's
boilers were re made by the ship's staff ; and on Tuesday
the 16th, the ship was taken out for a. run a.b about
7000 horse-power, to tesb the amount of feed-water being
lost. This was found to be at the rate of 55 tons a day
from the records of a six hours' run ; after being unde;
way three hours, the engines were eased by order frotn
the deck, and the boiler safety valves allowed to blow oft

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

[ Auc. 30, I 901.

''HYACINTH'' AND '' MINERVA.''

B o iLER CoMMITTEE TRIALS CARRI ED ouT P REVI OUSLY To GoiNG TO GIBRALTAR.

BOILE R PE RFOR.l\iANOE.
D URATION
Olt'

T RIAL lN
H OURS.

I NDlCA'I'FlO
H ORSE
POWER.

A CTUAL
Ev APOR A'l'lON

W A'l' El R

PER. P OU ND
OF 00AL.

24 ~

2049

26

2142

9 64

2000
MiLerva

ENGINE PERFORMANCE.

P ERFORMANCE.

---------- ------- ---------------- 01''

H ya cinth

----------------------------------COMBINED

8. 66

W ATER. U s&D PER

OOM
PA nlSON.

I.H.-P.

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

Main.

Aux.

PER H OUR.

00MPAR.lBON.

Jackets. 1\Iakeup.

Total.

0 0 AL PER.
I NDJCA'I'KJ)

HORS ~ P OWER. PER

HO li lt .

Hyaointh l et 18 hours with closed ex b . and L. P. jackets

Min erva
evaporated
18.456
222
. 513
19.191
used 5.97
12.62 per
per cent.
1
cent. more Last 6! hours with open exh. and with jaokets
less t ha n
t ha n
16.861
2.920
.831
.518
20.628
Hyacinth
Minerva. - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -1
15.903
2.016
.284
.200
18.403

2.03

I.

REMARKS.
0 0 MPARISON.

Minerva
burned 5.81
per cent.
more t han
Hyaointh

2.148

The records for Minerva g ave a total

amount of .484 lb. per hour per
I.H. -P. for "make-up" and jacket
use. The division shown is based
on subsequen t recorda of these
q uantities taken separately.
Hyacinth water lost per d ay per 1000
I.B.-P. = 5.5 tons.
l'l1iner va wat er lost per d ay per 1000
I.H.-P. = 2.14 tons.

Hyacinth

24

4995

H yacinth

I .

I .

9.37

H yacin th
Next 6 hours closed ex h . and no jackets.
evaporated
16.646
..
. 268
16. 903t
5.64 per oent .
more than
Last 6 hours open exh. and no j acke ts.
Minerva.
15.567
1.781
..
1
.258
17.59at

000

Minerva

1st 12 hours closed exh . and L. P. jackets.

16.777
227
268
J.:i. 262

24

12

6165

8,116

8 869

8.85

18.404

1.331

.4-17

.280

1.84
Minerva
used 10.66
per cent.
less than
Hyaointh.

15.432

1.74

t These r esults show a gain of 3.94

per cent. due to use of closed exha.ustinL.P . receivers, whioh would
Minerva
make Miner va u se only 8. 7 per cent .
burned
leas total water t han H yacin th.
5.43 per cent.
H ya cint h wat er lost per day per 1000
less tbnn
I .H.-P. = 2. 76 tons.
Hyacint h.
Minerva water lost per day per 1000
I.H.-P. = 3.00 tons.

Hya cinth 8 hours closed exh . in use ; jackets not in use.

t These r eEU\ts show no appr eciable
1.84
evapo rated
17.673
1
. .
.611
118.184! Miner va used
Minerva
difference by use of closed exhaust
23.74 per
- - b urned 81.08
at ~his power .
cent.. more ! hours wit h open exhaust; jackets not used. 5~ ~:\~!~t.
per cent. more Hyacmth water lost per day per 1000
~an
15.785
1.781 1 ..
1
.511
18.027t
Hy~ " CI.nth
th H
. th I .H. -P. = 6.57 tons.
Mmerva
1- -..
- - - - - an yacm l\Iinerva water lost per day per 1000
16.309
2.197
19.210
. 356 1 .348
2.412
I.TI.-P. = 3.73.

8000
Minerva

8,132

7.96

H yacinth

10,180

8.85

16.404

1.828

.432

18.684

2.11

10,0(0

Speoial t rial at 10,000 I.H .-P.

Water lost per d ay per 1000 I.H.-P.
= 4.84 tons.
I

Minerva
Minerva

8132
4771

7.96
8.84

16.309
11.05 per
cent. mor e
water
14.846
evaporated
by using retarders.

freely, so as t o reproduce the circumstances that occurred

in the fog on the 9th July. The rate of loss of water wa-s
calculated from a stead! three-hours' run before easing
and a steady three-hours run after easing, a fresh st art
being made after easing down, and the water lost during
the period the safety valves were allowed to blow being
neglected. On return, the H yacinth anchored in the bay
at 4.30 p.m., and all fires were dra wn except those in
two boilers. The Minerva steamed from the Mole with
three boilers alight, and anchored in the bay at about
the same time as the Hyacinth anchored ; fires were
drawn from two boilers.
Gibraltar D ockyard made a spare eccentric strap for
the Minerva, and supplied it to the ship on the morning
of the 17th.
At 3.30 p.m. on the 17th, the Committee embarked;
at this tim e the Hyacinth had two boilers alight for
auxiliary P.urposes, and the Minerva one.
The b01lers of both ships had been thoroughly cleaned
during the stay at Gibraltar.
Before the ships began the homeward run, a communication as follows was banded to the captain of each
ship:
" On the responsibility of the ship's officers, a large
quantity of fresh water for boiler make-up has been taken
as a. precautionary measure in the double bottoms of the
Hyacinth, and in the extra reserve tanke of both ships.
These latter tanks were fitted specially for the outward
trials, and do nob form a p art of the ship's ordinary
fittings. It is to be understood tha t, except the amount
originally allowed to each ship (about 40 tons in the ordi
nary reserve tanks), this is to be used in oases of emergency
only during the homeward run. The evaporators, if they
have not been in use before, are to be started as soon as
the 40 tons mentioned have been used up, and then the
make. up required is to be obtained from the evaporators.
If the evaporators are unable to supply the whole of the
make-up required, their use at maximum obtainable outpub is to be maintained, while the remaining water used
may be taken from the reserve t anks."
In the case of the Minerva, the expenditure of the
40 tons in question was not exceeded, but the Hyacinth
had used the 40 tons by 5.15 a. m. on the 20th, though all her
evaporators had been working practically all the time.
At the conclusion of the trial it was reported that
.98 tons of water had been used from the reserve tanks of
the Hyacinth as make-up feed, in addition to that made
by the evaporators.
The ships were informed that dn the signal being made
at an unknown time after 4.0 p.m. by the senior officer at
G ibraltar, fires were to be lighted in the boilera not a t
work, and the ships were to proceed to Portsmouth as
fast as possible. The signal was actually given at 4.27 p. m.
The engines of both ships had been warmed through
by steam from the boilers alight.
At 4.30 p.m. the Hyacinth's engines were worked
elowly in accordance with orders from the de.ok, steam

2.197

.366

1.726

.605

.348
.345

19.210
17.512

2.412
Ueed wi th
retarders
8.83 per cent.
less t han
without

being su pplied by the two boilers which was alight. At

4. 52 the after group of boilers were connected up. At
5.5 the forward group and at 5.9 the middle group were
connected up, the steam preesu re being 200 lb. At
5.20 p.m. the Hyacinth was proceeding at 150 revolu tions
per minute, the horse-p ower being nearly 7000.
At 4.30 p.m. the Minerva's engines were worked slowly
in accordance with orders from deck. The boilers were
connected at the following times :
2nd, 4.55; 3rd, 5.2; 4th, 5.7; 5th and 6th, 5.10; 7th,
5.12 ; 8th, 5.15.
The engines were working up to full power at 5.16 p. m.,
but had to be eased several bimes between 5.30 p.m. and
8 p.m., on account of eccentric straps warming up.
At 5.15 a.m. on the 18th the H yacinth was about
six miles ahead of the Minerva; but, both ships running
into a fog, the Minerva ran up t o the H yacinth, and at
9.30 a.m. on the 18th, on emerging from the fog, the
ships were nearly level, the Minerva being slightly ahead.
Both ships t.hen worked up to the maximum power, but
throughout the day the lVIinerva was stated t o have
gained one third of a knot an hour on the Hyacinth. At
7 p.m. another fog was encountered, and the ships went
slow through the night, keeping close to each other .
At 9 a.m. on the 19bh they were again level. The fog
having cleared, both ships wenb on again, andduring the
day the Minerva gradually drew ahead, and was stated
t o be going a quarter of a knot an hour faster than the
Hyacinth. At 7 p. m. the Hyacinth again ea.sed owing to
fo~, and went slow till 5 a.m. on the 20th, the Minerva
be10g out of sight ahead.
The Hyacinth then steamed at over 9000 horse-power
till 6.10 p. m. on the 20th, when the fires of N o. 10 boiler
were drawn on account of a bursb tube; one man was
slightly injured by the steam and r flt coal.
At 9.50 p.m. the trial in the Hyacinth finished, the
ship being then off St. Catherine's, and she arrived at
Spithead at 11.30 p.m. The Minerva had passed St.
Catherine's a t 8.20 p.m., and anchored ab Spithead at
9.45 p.m.
The coal used by the Hyacinth on the way home wa-s
stated to be 650 tons ; by the Minerva, 451 tons.
The Hyacinth's evaporators were all in use practically
the whole time, but the Minerva used hers but little.
The maximum power developed by the Minerva was
aboub 8700 horse-power, while that developed by the
Hyacinth was nearly 10,000 for at least two hours, durini!
which time the Hyacinth did not perceptibly gain on the
Miner va. The Hyacinth's average power when running
clear of fog was about 9400, and the Minerva's about
8400.horse-power.
From the results of the outward run it appears that the
radius of action of each of these vessels at 7000 horsepower, as far as the coal is concerned, should be, roughly,

Hyacinth, 2930 miles ; lVI inerva, 3000 miles.

No difficulty was experienced in either ship at any part

1.98

MJnerva's trials mad e with and with

out retarders. The special t rial a t
Burned with
h alf-power (4771 I.H.-P.), made
retarders
with ha lf number of boilers, showed
17.9 per cP.nt .
a gain in evaporation of 11.05 per
less than
oent. due to t he use of r etarders.
without
These wer e fitted t o all Minerva.'s
boilers b efore t rip to Gibra ltar.

of the outward or homeward runs in .keeping up a suffi.

cient supply of coal to the fires.
COMPTON DoMVILE, Vice-Admiral,
President of Boiler Commibtee.
July 26th, 1901.
REPORT OP P oRTSMOUTH D ocKYARD 01'FlOERs.
The boilers of Minerva and Hya~inth have been
examined, with the following resulbs :
" MINERV A .))
An external examination only of the boilers was made
(boilers not having been opened out).
The cap ferrules in all boilers were found par tially
closed with "bird-nesting," and several are much worn;
the ends of retarders wasted slightly at firebox end, and
the brickwork ha-s drawn off the plates in parts and
burnt hollow in places.
There are slight leaks in N os. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 boilers
as under:
No. 2 Boiler.-One rivet in doubling plate at bottom of
bn.ok end plate of shell.
No. 3 Boiler.- !n centre combustion chamber, about
6 in. of caulk ing, and stud for securing smokebox on port
side leaking.
No. 5 Boiler.-Bottom palm stay-nu t ab back of boiler.
No. 6 Boiler.-Nuts of palm stays, 2 N o. at back of
boiler.
No. 7 Boiler.-Palm stay-nu t at back of boiler.
No. 8 Boiler.-Centre furnace saddle seam, about 4 in.
of caulking and butt joint of shell at front starboard
WIDg.

There are no leaky tubes in any of the boilers, and the

above leaks ment ioned are very slight.
The ferrules and retarders are being cleaned by ship's
staff, defeobive ferrules renewed, retarders replaced, and
the brickwork and leaks are also being made good.
c' H y AOIN'l'H . ))
The whole of the eighteen boilers with economisers
have been examined externally, whilst the generating
elements, feed-distributing box, sediment boxes, and
steam collector of No. 10 boiler have been opened out
and examined internally as weU, and doors removed from
lower tubes of N os. 11, 16, and 17 boilere.
A tabulated sta tement showing the result of the exami
nation is enclosed.*
J. T. CORNER, Chief Engineer.

w.

WILSON,

F or Admiral S uperintendent,
27th July, 1901.

No. 10 BOILER.
The lower fusible plugs were oub of N os. 1, 2, and 8
elemen ts, and in No. 9 elemen t the plugs were out both
top and bottom .

- - - - - --- ----=-----*' See page 285.

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

AuG. 30, 1901.]

TABULATED STATEMENT Oil'

-... .

Nuunms OF ELKMBNTS IN WIIICU BOTTOM

a=
~ 0

(a.).

zj:Q

Ourved

S ggecf.

6, 7, and 8
9
3, 6, and 7
S, 4, 5, and 9
1
7
8
2 and 7
4 and 8

4, 5, and 7
3 and 6
1 and 6
5, 7, and 8
3
1 and 6
7
1, 6, nod 8
4

7
See opposite page-.

11

4 (second tube)

'S:!

_;a;:~ l

1'11 10.

:'1

Cl

Jl

l ol

11

11

lt

..
j
} ..
}

11

} ..
}

11

"

A "

"

..
..

.}
~

ll'usible plug in water space,

{ No. 9 element., leaking.
Fusible plug in Wl\ter space,
{ No. 7 element, leaking.
Spigot joint on No. 4 element
{ leaking slightly.

11

Hollow on fireside, l. in.

Checknut leaking , .top of star

{ board downcast p1pe.

Sight door of starboard elbow

leaking slightb1. Mudhole door
bottom of steam collector leaking slightly.

:1
I

l .,

:1
1 1\

Hollow on ftreeide, ! in.

t'~t

J
l

t
{>.,
i

}
}

..

.
.

,
,

"

}
I,

tub(
1 {Bottom
2od tube ..
4 and 6, 2nd tube

11

tube
6 {Bottom
2nd tube ..

..
..
..
.
..
..
..
lt

t ,

'IJ ..

lt

11

! ..

Sight door on starboard el bow

{ leaking slightly .
S~ght door on port elbow leak
{ m g.
Fusible plug in No. 9 element
leaking.
Sight door and spigot joint on
port elbow leaking.
~ Sight door on port elbow leak
in g.
Sight d oor on top of starboard
downcast pipe lenking.
Sight door on port elbow leak
ing slightly.
' Door on feed distributing lJox
leaking slightly.
;. Sight d oor on top of starboard
downcast pipe leaking s lightly.
Manhole door starboard end of
steam collector leaking slightly
"

16

BARROW DOCI{S AND APPROACHES BY

LAND AND SEA.*
By Mr. FRANK STILRMAN, of London and
Barrow-in-Furnesf'.
THESE dockst are owned by the Fu~n~ss Rail way Company, who are also the harbour auth?ntaes.
.
The railway system connects w1th the ~~td1a.nd ab
W ennington Junction (the line between W ennmgtonMa!Jdd
Carnforth being jointly owned _by the Furness and t land Railway Companies and w1th the L ondon and NorthWestern Railway at Carnforth), and Oxenholme to the
south, and ' Vhitehaven on the north. The FurJ?eSS
Railway Company also owns and works ~he branch hnes
to Lake Side (Windermere), and .to Comston Lake, and
on both lakes it has a regular serVlce of steam 1achts.
The following are the. da~es of the openmg o~ the
various lines now const1tutmg the Furness Railway
system :
DATES (jJJ' OPENING.
Main Line.
Ml~. Chs.
Year.
.. . 6 69
...
1846. D&lton to Kirkby
1847. Roose to Barrow Old Passenger Station
...
......
...
1 33
3 43
...
. ..
1848. Kirkby to Broughton ...
.. . 16 61
1849. Raven glass to Whiteha.ven .. .
...
.. . 17 45
1850. Foxfield to Ra.venglass...
. ..
.. .
.. . 1 53
1851. Lindal to Dalton
...
.. . 2 68
1854. 'Olverston to Lindal ...
...
.. . 19 35
1857. Carnforth to Ulverston ...
1867. Mill wood Junction to Dtl.l ton J unc0 33
tion
..
...
. ..
...
. ..
1873. Barrow. Old Station, to Ormsgill
Junction
...
...
...
... 1 70
1881. St. Luke's Junction to Barrow D ocka 1 42
1882. Barrow and Park Loop (Salthouse to
Park) ...
...
...
. ..
... 5 41

...

1 I

t>x
~
,:) 0 0

Hollow on 6resid(l,

.
..

R E:\1.1 n RS.

l~ A =

1' 11

10

1, 7, and 9
4 and 6
{Bottom tube }
3 and 6 and 2nd tube

"

1 and 9

18

Bottom } and 8 { Bottom } ~

1, 5
2nd

1..
,.

,.. .

-I

16

-------

cobl.

"H"ACINTn."
,.

ID

:1

6 and 8
3 and 6
9
2, 5, and 9

16

in.

Bottom tubf
1 2nd tube ..
Bottom tube
2 2nd tube . .
Bottom tu be
3 2nd tube . .
Bottom tubt
4 2nd
tube . .
tube
5 {Bottom
2nd tube ..

Feed Collectors.

10

E~XAM INATION,

IAmount.

1-

OF

1\.r.s.
H. '.ll'..L

T UBES ARE BE~T.

(b.)

Amounl

Upward~.

REs ur..T

-----.

--- --

Q)k
,I:JQ)

79 33
1846.
1859.
1863.
1865.
1867.
1869.
1869.
1873.
1876.
1882.
1883.

B ranch Lines .
Gold mire Junction to Pie!' Pier
.. .
Broughton to Coniston...
...
.. .
Hawcoab Branch
...
...
. ..
JYiillom to Hod barrow . . .
...
. ..
. ..
.. .
Crooklands to Stain ton
Levens Junction to Green odd J unc
tion
...
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
Ul verston to Lake Side
. ..
. ..
Salthouse Junction to Stank .. .
.. .
Arnside to Hinoaster (Kenda.l Branch)
Oak Lea and Goldmire Junction
...
Plumpton Junction to Bardsea (Priory
Station)
...
...
...
.. .

k ..
:1
1 ;!

11

Spigot joint on
{ leaking.

port elbow

J oint Lines.
1867. (F. and M. Joint) Ctl.rnforth to Wennington ...
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
.. .
1880. Carnforth (F. and M. Curve)...

- - -1 - -

1
1

3
7

9
10
11

3
4
2

14

3
9
7

12
13

16

17

5
ll

18

Extent of
Leak.

N umbere of
Elements.

Slight

8
6

..
.
..
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9
..
I .
..
1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
..
I ,
1, 3, 5
2, 3, 6, 9
3, 7. 9
1, 4, 9
1, 7
3, 4, 7

11

11

1, 8, 4, 6, 7 I 8, 9
3, 5, 6, 7, 8

3, 4, 5, 6, 1. 8, 9

No. 9 element; the tubes from No. 5 to No. 1-! wete

bulged in parts from 1l'! in. to 1\ in. No. 9 wing tube bad
burst, with an opening 8 in. by 3 in.; the four lower tubes
were apparently correct, and the four top tubes were
sagged from l in. to :f in. Very 1ittle deposit was in the
tubes of this element; in the upper tubes it ,vas in the
form of thin hn.rd scale,
Feed-disbributing box bad considerable amount of loose
scale in it, more especially towards centre of box; deposit
on the lower tubes was slight; the tubes at water-line
and above had a hard scale on them, in places of about
1
'3 in. in thiokne~.
- The Eediment boxes at the bottom were covered wi th
brown muddy deposit and scale, especially the starboard
one.
In bhe b ottom junction-box of .c o. 3 element bandhole
door was found with the bolt in door projecting through
the nipple in the feed-distributing box.
Ship's staff removed defeotive element and replaced it
wibh spare one, cleaned tubes and tested boiler, on completion, to 410 lb. per square inch, this water test being
satisfactory.
In accordance with the Controller of Navy's telegram
of the 23rd inst., the vertical tubes over and under the
burst tube and the burst tube itself have been cut up for
inspeotion, and they are found to have very little deposit
on them, and, apart from the bulging above referred to,
are in good condition. The bulging of the upper tubes
1\-Ud the sagging of the lower tubt's in this boiler, together

29
38
74
25
31

2 00

9 50
0 21
9 71

Total

Number of
Junction BoxDoors Leaking.

0
9
1
5
0

38 34

The doors ha,e been removed from the lower tubes in Nos. 11, 16, and 17 boilers, a nd the condition of the tubes found to
be clean and in good order.

Number of
Boiler .

6 13
8 67
0 52
1 49
1 56

...

...

... 127 58

with slight thinning in the burst tube, is considered to be

indications of overheating at some time, due either to
The approaches to the docks from sea are pa~t Hilps
imperfect circulation or shortness of water in this boiler, ford Buoy to the south-west of Walney I sland, through a
the soale found being insufficient to acoount for over- dredged cut some 300ft. wide, and of a depth of 14 h. a.tl
heating.
low water ordinary spring tides, thence round the south
end of Walney, past Piel and .Roa I sland {from which the
Belfast steamers used to depart years ago), up Walney
CATALOGUEs. - We have received from Messrs. Arnold Channel, and past what was once an island known as
Goodwin and Son, of Sumnersbreet, Southwark, S.E., Barrow Ra.msa.y, but now forming the southernmost end
a circular describing certain specialities of the firm . of the dock system.
Ramsden Dock.-The entrance to this d ock is situated
Amongst them is a J>eculiar-shaped piston-ring, whioh is
claimed to embody m metal the principle of the ordinary to the North of Barrow Ramsay, and has entrance ~ates
cup leather, so that it is self-adjusting for wear.-The 100 ft. wide, with a depth of 31 ft. 6 in. of water at high
Anglian Engineering Company, Limited, of Stowmarket, water ordinary spring tides.
To the north of this entrance a. quay wall has been
Somerset, have just issued a pamphlet describing the
"Hull'' electric motor, of which they make nine standard built, having a depth of water varying from 12 ft. 6 in
sizes, ranging from ! up to 15 brake horse-power.-The to 20ft. at low water ordinary spring tides, fitted with
British Thomson-Houston Company, of 83, Cannon- hydraulic cranes, sheds, &c., and behind which is
street, E.C., have just published a. new section of their the Ramsden Dock Railway station, from which pas
catalogue relating to slow and moderate-speed motors, sengers embark for Belfast and the Isle of Man, the
which is intended to supersede the section of the same former boats sailing nightly throughout the year, the
character published last January.-Mr. H orace See, of latter sailing daily from Whitsuntide to the end of
No. 1, Broadway, New York, has issued a catalogue September.
'l'he sta~ion is provided with two passenger subways;
illustrating boats to which the ::3ee hydropneumatic ash
ejector has been fitted.-In connection with their exhibit the larger one for the Isle of Man service, having an
ab the Glasgow Exhibition, Messrs. Andrew Ba.rolay, hydraulic lift with an approach which at high water is
Sons, and Co., Limited, of the Caledonian Works, level, at half tide assumes an incline, while at low water
Kilmarnock, have issued a small catalogue containing it is in the form of steps.
i1lustrations of a number of different types of tank
The dock entrance basin is 900 ft. long, and has four
locomotives built by them, and s.lso of locomotive cranes berths fitted with twelve hydraulic cranes. Where the
for use in steel works and elsewhere. Some of the latter foundations have been found good ab a. reasonable depth,
have a remarkable rake, one illustrated being capable of concrete walls have been constructed in situ; where there
lifting 1 ton at a radius of 35 ft.-Mes~rs. Hill, Clarke, are poor foundations, and at a. considerable depth open
and Co., of 253, Broadway, New York, have sent us a timber quays have been built, the piles of which, and the
ciroular describin~ the No. 5 "Westren " radial drill, under-water timbers, are of Karri wood. The gravel of
whiob can be furmshed arranged either for belt or motor which the concrete is made comes from the south end of
driving. The maobine will drill to the centre of a. Walney, and is of the very best description.
10-fb. 8.in. casting, and is fitted with a variable speed
The look, 100 ft. in width, is fitted with two pairs of
countersba.ft.-b{essrs. A . Ra.nsome and Co., Limtted, gates and a sliding cai~son-the caisson having taken the
of the Sta.nley vVorks, Newark-on-Trent, have sent us a place of one pair of gates, which were original1y erected
copy of their new catalogue of wood\vorking machinery, there previous to the sill, and a. portion of the invert of
of which they manufacture practically every variety. the lock at this point having been r ecently lowered 6ft.,
The catalogue forms, therefore, quite a large volume,
containing numerous illustrations.-The J ohnson-Lundell
* Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical
Eleotrio Traction Company, Limited, of 16A, Sohosquare, EngineerEJ.
W., have issued a finely got-up catalogue describing the
t See "Docks and Railwa.r. Approaohes at Ba.rrow-inJ
speoial features of the J ohnson-Lundell traction plant Furnees," by Mr. F. C. StJlema.n; Proceedings, 18801
page 324.
and accessorie~

286
so making it uniform with the s ills ab the entrance to
these docks, and at the western end of the lock. The
necessity for lowering this sill was due to the heavy
draught of the men-of-war, cruisers, and other large
vessels that have been and are being built ab the Naval
Construction Works of Messra. Vick er~, Sons, and Maxim.
The work of lowering the sill was completed in the present year. This lowering will permit of the railway
company, when trade demands it, constructing any new
quays that may be r equired to such a d epth that they
would be capable of accommodating vessels drawing
30 h. of water.
The caisson. shown in diagrammatic form by Figs. 1,
2, and 3 ann-exed, is tank-shaped, 103 fb. long by
12 ft. wide, a.nd 39 fb. 6 in. in depth. Ib is worked
by means of chains and hauling bow actuated by
small hydraulic engines, placed ab the head of the
caisson recess; to reduce the resistance when hauling
the caisson, the bottom and lower parts of the ends
have been left open, so en abling the water to flow
freely through longitudinally ; the water ballast can a.t the
same time be reduced by means of hydraulic ejectors, the
ejected water being readmitted when the caisson is at
rest. Four sluices, 6 fb. by 6 ft. each, go through the
caisson, and are opened and clm:;ed by double-acting hydraulic liftin~ cyhnders. The sluices have been made of
l arge dimens10ns in order to rapidly equalise the head of
water between the lock and the dock, so enabling vessels
to pa.ss either way without loss of time.
To the north of the look and basin is a steamer dock
with quay walls 3000 ft. in length, provided on tho south
side with grain ~beds, &o., the north side being used
almost entirely for the ebipmenb of pig iron, rails, or the
unloading of iron ore.
Petrolewtn Storage T anks ..-On the west side of the
Ramsden Dook are two petroleum storage installations
(see Fig. 4, page 287) : tbe smaller one consists of two
t anks with a c~pacity of 2500 tons, while the other consists
of six large tanks, two small on es, and a settling ta.nk,
h aving a total storage capacity of 16,360 tons. Large
barrelling sheds and cooperage have also been provided.
The author believes this storage t o have been bhe first
erected in England, apd it has been so laid oub that, when
the oil has been pumped from t he steamer into the tanks,
the remainder of the work, such as barrelling the oil or
l oading the oil into tank wagons, is done by gravitation.
The barrels, either loaded or empty, are, when required,
run on sligh tly elevated railways either to or from
the ship. These gangways are constructed of angleirons, and notwithstanding the speed at which these
barrels sometimes run, they never come off, this being
due to the bilge of the barrels.
The tanks (Figs. 5 to 12) are constructed of wrought
iron, the bottom plates being ~~ in. , fitted with an angleiron 4! in. by 4i in. by ~ in., and are varnished black underneath. The side plates are eight in number, their dimensions being 13ft. in length and 4ft. 1! in. in wid th, varying
in thickness from itS in. to i in. The dimensions of the
top angle-irons are 3 in. by a in. by Hin. The roof (Figs.
7 to 12) is conical in shape, stayed from the sides by T ironP, and its plates are ! -in. thick. Each tank is provided with a ventilator, manhole, and dipbole. 'fhe
bottom plates (Fig. 6) are double-riveted throughout,
the side plates having the vertical seams donble-ri veted,
and the hori zontal seams single-riveted, the pitch of the
rivets in all c~es being 2 in. All joints are caulked
inside. There is a. centre pillar in each tank composed of
four angle-irons, 4 in. by 4~ in. by ! in., to prevent any
risk of the roof settling by being over weighted by snow.
The valves and discharge pipes have been provided with
folding joints inside the tanks, and a light chain is fixed
to the pipes to whi ch a. small buoy is attached, for the
purpose of keepin~ the pipe above t he oil, to prevent any
llf the latter eecapmg in t he event of the valves being left
open. To lift the internal pipes, a small winch ia provided outside each tank.
The author has found some difficulty in lowering bankbottoms at other places when the dimensions ~ave considerably exceeded the above, and ha~ fou nd tt advantageous to erecb a sand cylinder ab the cen tre of t he tankEt,
below the bottom, in which was erected a pole with
attachments to several portions of th e tank bottom. On
the completion of the testing of the tank bottom, the sand
was gradually leb out till the bottom rested on it~ foundation~ when the sand cylinder was removed through
a. ma.nh~le in the bottom of the tank provided for that
purpose.
Buccleuch Dock.- The pa~sage-way between the Ramsden and Buccleuch Dock is 80 fb. wide, and ii spanned
by a railway and road bridge, which was d escribed and
illustrated 1n a paper by th~ author's late f~t~er, Mr.
]'. C. Stilema.n, on the occas10n of the last VlStt of the
Institu tion to Burow in 1880.
The north eide of the Buccleuch Dock is occupied by a
small timber yard, the remainder having been originally
u11ed for the loa'iing into ships of our local iron ore, a.nd
n )W used for general traffic. The south oide is occupied
by timber yards and saw mills belonging to Measre.
Crossfield and Co.
Devonshi,re Dock. - The passage-way b~tween . the
Buccleuch and Devonshire D ooks haa been wtdened smce
the last visit of the I nstitution f~om 40 ft. t~ 80 fb., ~nd
is spanned by the Miohaelson htgh-level ~r~dge, '!h1ch,
over tho opening, is constructed ~s two dtstmct br1dges,
each of 29ft. in width and 200 ftl. ID l~ngth.
These opening bridges are worked mdeJ?endently, each
being raised 3 ft. 6 in. in. height before bet_ng rolled ba~k,
by means of three cyhnders, the two s1de ones ~e1~g
1 ft. 5! in. in diameter, and th e centre one 2 ft. 1m. m
dia.met~r. These cylinders have orossbea~s on the t?P
with rollers attached to them, and when. rata~d the cybnders are locked automatically. The bndge IS hauled ~Y
means of a continuous chain worked by an bydrauhc

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

(AuG.

Walney I sland, which is about 10 miles in lengt~

shelters t he whole of the Barrow Harbour and Piel
an chorage, the latter being a harbour of refuge.
The railway company, as the harbour authority, is
entitled to levy dues from Sheep Island, about a mile
west! of Piel Island, to the north end of W alney I sland,
and has jurisdiction from the entrance into t he harbour at
Hilpsford ab the south end of ' Valney, up the channel
to aomewbat se~ ward of the north end of \VaJney I sland.

cylinder 1 ftl. 5! in. in diameter, and travels over rollers

fixed on the town aide of the structure.
To replace the bridge, a h orn is provided at the nose
end, which goes into a roller and lifts the bridge off the
back rollerE~, to allow the ballast-box end of the bridge to
go down first, and when this end is in position, the end
ab the island side is lowered down.
A considerable portion of the approach to the Michaelson Bridge consittts of a viaduct, with a roadway 60 fb.

PU!J. 7. .'ilz'dz'n ~ f:ai..rSOTVJj,.,

.IJr.Mu

I /.

-J

30, 190T.

:Jc.r, ek/,

..1n,

Ta:n]r; q.

l'a.rik; 6

."F.3

1-

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Jla.m;

Iank. 5
~

~
3

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11 "

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:Room

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it

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Fig .J,.

.P~

of No.I.JJeck

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

so

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.

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Plcuv of No. :J . JJec1cJ

@}
J,

TanJr,6

OR.

.E.

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I.Irdet Valve,

@{.
b
);:~

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~ M'Ejed.or
7004._.~ .Ej"ectnr S uctUJ111 Valve-

....
"

OR
.ll.a.lrl/ Rootn;

on

~4

R .llarrv S . ScupperYalvet

.2

I .I~

NOTES.
No. 2. Ejector suction valve draws from No. 3 tank (ram room)

No. 1. Ej ector suction ,alve draws from No. 5 tank.

No. 3.
,.
,.
,.
., 3 ,(ro.m roon1). No. 4.
,.
.,
,.
,
,. 2 ..
To flood No. 5 tl\nk, open inlet valves Nos. 1 and 2.
To flood No. 2 tank, open inlet valves Nos. 3 and 4.
3
,.
either ejector suction vo.lves No~. 1 and 2 and inlet valves Nos. 1 and 2.
11
11

or
..
Nos. 3 and 4
,.
Nos. 3 and 4.
11
11
11
Depth of wo.ter in No. 2 tank not to be less than 9 ft. nor more than 9 ft. 1 in.
,.
,
5
,
9 ft. 3 in.
9 ft. 4 in.
11
11
11
Tanks Nos. 1, 3 (ram room), nod 6 to be kept dry.
Scupper valves to tan k No. 4 on dook side of caisson will always be left open except at high spring tides. When water in
lock rises above level of water in dock, the valves on d ock side must be closed a.od those on lock side opened, reversing them
a~a in o.s soon as tides fall to dook level. All sluices open by moving levers over to south side. All valves open with a left
band motion and close with a. rig ht-hand motion. All valves except t be scuppers tCI be kept closed.

wide, erected on cast-iron columns. The whole of the

work from Barrow !~land, over the dock passage and
railways as far as the Strand, was constructed by the
Furness Railway Company, and th~ remai nder Ly the
Corporation.
The north side of this dock is occupied by transit sheds,
grain warehouses, cornmill, and j ute sheds, the south by
timber and contractors' yards, a depositing dock which is
capable of lifting vessels 300 ft. to 400 fb. in length in
30 minutes. Two gridirons have been provided in connection with the depositing dock on which vessels up to
the lifting capacity of the depositing dock can be placed,
so providing accommodation br three -vesselea, and by
Messrs. Vickers, SooP, and 1\( iXin/s wharf, where they
eng ine and fit out the numtruus vessels they build. The
dook is connected with th e W alney Channel by a tidal
b~in 500 ft. in length, with a 60-ft. entrance, whose si11
is 6 ft. high er than that of the Ramsden Dock. To the
north of this basin is a graving dock, wi th an entrance
direct from the channe1, GO ft. wide and also 000 ft. in
length.
1'be dock is situated rather more than a mile and a half
northwards of the Ramsden D ock entrance, and a large
portion of the channel fronta ge betwf~n these two entrances-on its eastern side-is occupied by the works and
launching ways of Messrs. VickerP, ~on s, and Maxim,
and by the dockyard belonging to the r ailway company,
where all their floating plant is repaired.
General.-The following statement shows the arena of
the docks:
Acres.
Ramsden Dock basin .. .
.
8

lock
2
,

...

..

The company has spent large sums of money in deepening

and improving the channel from the sea to the docks, and
in encting leading ligh ts on every reach of the channel,
and a t ali turning poinw, pubting down in some cases
Pintch's gas buoy~, and in others Wigham's oil buoys. A
mod el of t he latter i3 exhibited.
BABTA BLANOA.-Ground is now being prepared a6
Cuatreros for a new freezing establishment to be connected with the wharf by an eleotno t ramway n early
1~ miles long. A fter some dredging has been carried out,
there will be a fi ne port with 25 ft. of water ab low tide.
M ANCHESTER LINERS, L nll'l'ED.-The report of the
directors of this company, of which Sir C. Furness is
chairman, states that the steamer Manchester Port has
be~n sold, and that two vessels of about 6600 tons deadweight each ha.ve been contracted for. The profit for the
past year under all beads, including a plus value resulting
from the sale of a steamer, was 97, 537t.; and after various
charges had been met and last year's balance had been
added, the amount available for distribubion was 58,619l.
Out of this sum 10,000l. had been carried to the insurance
fund, 10,000l. to the reser ve fund, and 1i50l. to the debentures reserve fund ; and a dividend at the rate of
6 per cent. per annum is n ow proposed, leaving 19,3691.
to be carried forward.

, t

, '

t t

..

Timber Dock (timber pond)

...
Buccleuch D ock

Devonllhire D ock
...
..
Cavendish D Lck (used ns a
p resent)
...

...

...

...
...

...
...
...

...

res~rvou

GO

21
31
31

atl

...
.. .

146

Total .. .
299
A ll the dock gates, caissons, bridges, cran eP, &c., are
worked by hydraulic power, there being two insta..llations
- one at the Ramsden D ock entrance, and the other at
he Devonshire Dook entrance.

' VATER S UPPLY Ol!' CrnorNNATr.-Con tracts ha.ve been

leb for six auxiliary pumping engines for the Cincinnati
W ater Works. The con tracts were secured by the Holly
Com pany of Lockfort, New York. The first contract
was for three self-containe1 vertical t riple-expansion,
crank and fly-wheel pumping engines, ea.oh with 25,000,000
gallons capacity in 24 hours. These engines are to be
p1aced at the west end of a gravity tunnel for the purpose
of pumping water to the Eden Park reservoir. The price
ab whioh this contract W~'\ taken was 410,500 dole. The
other three engines were of similar description, except that
they are of 12,000,000 gallons capacit each. These are to
be placed ab the west end of the gravity tunnel and are to
be used for pumping water to bhe Eden Park tower and
to the Mount Auburn tanks. The con t ract price is
391. 90<'. dole.

AuG. 30, rgoi.J

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

PETROLEUM TANKS AT THE BARROW DOCKS.

( 1J'o1 Desc1-iption, see opposite Page.)

PETROLEUM STORAGE TANKS.

PLAN DF

Fig. 4-.

FURNESS RAILWAY, BARROW ut FURNESS.

PeJ:roteum. Tarik..s.
Half PLa,n; of IlcofFraJnin,g.

:Part.rum of.PlaJ:es
ilvFlQurof Tanlc
I

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SECTION
ON EE

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Fig.~8~~

PETROLt:,UM TANKS.
ELEVATION OF RIB OF ROQ.F
AND

Fi!J. 7.

0 0

----

DETAILS.

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Fig. to.

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0

DE.TAILATC.

288

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

(shipped ab Androssan), 66s. ; Shotts (shipped at

L eith), 70s.; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth), 67s. 6d.
PHILADELPHIA, August 22.
per ton. The trend of the market during the p ast
TnE month of August thus far has been characterised week has been downward, and the feeling seems to
by unusual a ctivity in all branch es of business and in be. grO\vin&' that prices m ay s hortly lose the advance
trat;lsportation channels, the railroads havi ng an extra- gamed durmg the preceding three or fonr weeks unless
. 1at10ns
.
. b rought' to bear
are agam
ordinary volume of freight to ha ndle. Prices are well f r es h '' warranu.. ,, mampu
m~intained, d espite the fact that p roduction is ma in- on the ~~rket. and of tha.tJ there are reasonable fears.
talned at su ch great volume in all c ha nnels . Ther e The p os1t10n of the home trade is everywhere still a satis~
are no evidences of accumula tion of goods. Crop faoto!y on e, an~ _inquiries ar~ fairly numerous, but the
Contmental p os1t10n grows da1ly worse, and in manufac~eports, with the one exception of mai ze, a re all flatter~ured s~eel and iro.n competition, especially from Germany,
Ing, a~d the harvesting will. fill all available storage 18 exertmg a comnderable influence on the situation here.
capaCity. The one exceptiOn to abundance is in From America reports are still conflicting, but the effect
v eget ables, of which the scar city is such that of the prolongation of their strike on tra.de here is not
household~rs c~mplain of a 50 per cent. advan ce. yet . accurately a.scerbaina.ble. Dealings in warrants have
The banktng Inter ests are con tented with condi- aga.m been mostly confined to Middlesbrough iron, the
t ions. About 20,000,000 d ols. will be sent west to highest price touched being 46s. 4~d. and lowest 45~. l~d.
move the crops, but it w ill r eturn in t wo m onthet. p er ton cash. A ll trouble with regard to Scotch miners
R ec~ipts of gold from K.londyke are h eavy and help seems to be avoided by mutual consent to appoint a neutral
to g1'~ confiden ce to a long continuance of existing cha:irma.n a.t the appro~ching conference, and makers' quotatt~ns, although n omma.lly unchan~ed, will be somewhat
condttlOns,. The steel strike is creeping along with- shaned.
The number of furnaces m blast is 77, against
out m a ter1al advantages showing on either side. The 76 last week (one having been blown in at Eglinton
pressure of cons umera for m a teria l will be the worst Wor~).. an~ 80 at this time last year. The stook
feature with which the steel m anager s will have to of p1g uon m M essrs. Connal and Co.'s public warrant
contend.
stores stood at 58,670 tons yesterday afternoon, as comThe Illinois Steel Company has closed its mills pare d with 59,110 tons yesterday week, thus showing a.
"indefinitely," owing to the r ef11sal of the men to d ecrease amounting for the past week to 440 t ons.
w ork according to contract.
The workers at two
Finished I ron and Steel. -lb must be admitted that the
large mills at Pittsburgh quit work this week. Up iron an.d stee.l indu~tries of this c.ountry are now giving
to present writing no serious inconvenien ce has re- conclustve eVIdence of a general Improvement, alike as
sulted from the strike, but there is now in progress a to the volume of orders coming forward, and as to
scramble for billets at a minimum price of 24.50 dols. the prices which are being quoted in the open
The improvement is m ore pronounced in
while basic s teel is 25 dols. and 26 dols. Steel rail; market.
are selling steadily in small lots. TheW ells City from some parts of the country than in others, and in
some sorts of produce, but speaking generally there is
Swansea has arrived with 20,000 boxes of Welsh plate no doubt that- a bett~l' tendency and a growing ext'> fill contracts. Pig iron of all kinds i s quiet, but a pansion of business ha ve made themselves manifest.
heavy demand will set in on the termination of the It is to be hoped, in the interest of all trades, that matters
s t rike. There is no present probability in sight of a sus- will not be unduly rushed. The more gradual the imp ension of blastfurnace work. ~fakers would welcome provement, the more lasting it is likely to be. Rean accumulation. Greater a ctivity exists at all loco- ports f rom the Continent show that the German,
motive works, owjng to increased pressure from ra il- Belg~an, and French markets are in a. very depressed
roads for engines, most of them of greater capacity. condition. Both Ea..st Coast and Scot ch hematite irons
Car builders are not b ooking new business this mont h are very scaTce and strong in tone, 593. and 63s. per
ton being the quotations for iron delivered to the steel
where business is avoidable, the works being already works in the respective countries or district. It is
overcrowded.
Tube a nd pipe requirem ents are reported that one of the shipbuilding firms on Tyneside
extremely urgent on account of oil d evelopme nts. has bought a considerable quantity of German st eel ship
L a rge fuel oil contracts h ave just been placed w ith plates at prices which are below those quoted by local
More are offered on
Hawaii~n sugar pla nters, a mounting to 6,000,000 producers, including delivery.
barrels 10 all, t o be supp lied from Southern California.. equ ally satisfactory t erms from the same quar ter, which
it was hardly thought possible that Germany would be
able to do.
Sulphate of Am.monia.- This commodity is in fairly
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.
active d emand, the ruling price being generally about
GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Glasgow Pig-Iron Market.-The wa rrant market was l Ol. 10s. per ton. Last week's shipments of sulphate of
m or a active on Thursday forenoon, fully 12,000 t ons being ammonia from the p ort of L eith amounted t o 731 t ons.
d ealt in. Business was again almost en tirely confined t o The importers of Sout h American nitrate of soda are
Cleveland iron, the price of wh ich declined 2~d. to making an effort to keep ma.tlerial before the notice of the
45s. 4~d. oa.sh per t on. One lot of Cumberland bematite farmers. Either to-night or to-morrow night they are
iron was d one at 61s. 6d. cash p er ton. Scotch warrants, t o have a lecture upon it at the Glasgow Exhibition by a
which were n ot dealt in, were quoted at 5~d. per ton skilled lecturer and chemical demonstrator, who was
down at 53s. 11d. cash p er t on sellers. In the aftlernoon formerly in the Young Chemical Technology Deonly 2500 tons changed hands, the business being entirely partment, but for the past five or six years has been
confined to Cleveland, which closed 4d. down on the day located in Aberdeen as a lecturer on agricultural
at 45s. 3d. per ton cash buyers. Scotch warrants were chemistry.
quoted 7d. per ton down on the day at 53s. 9~d . cash per
111ishap to the T alla A queduct of the Edilnbwrgh and
ton sellers, and Cumberland hematite iron was 6d. p er District Wate1 Wo1ks.-lfrom further information it
t on d own at 61s. 3d. cash per ton sellers. The settlement appears that the part of the aqueduct from T alla W ater
p rices were : Scotch, 53s. 9d. per t on ; Cleveland, W orks which is damaged is in the tunnel lying between
45s. 4id. ; Cleveland hematite iron, 61s. 6d. p er ton. Broomlee and Auohencorth, being one of the series under
On the following day the pig-iron warrant market Mr. B est's contract No. 2, and the one nearest P enicuik
s howed a little more business doing, and after a and Edinburgh. The damage at the different p a..rts of the
dull opening prices st>iffened and closed firm, the tunnel ext ends for about 400 f tr, and consists of cracks
prices being : 53s. 9~d., 453. 3id., and 61s. 3d. per running diagonally from near the bottom t o the arch. A t
ton; and ohe settlemeno prices were: 53s. 9d., 45s. 3d., some parts near the bottom for about 4 in. the walls appear
A small business was done to be bulged in. The part damaged is the side nearest the
and 6ls. 6d. per ton.
on M onday forenoon, and prices were easier in Pentland Hills, there being little or no damage on the other
sympathy with the unsatisfactor y ad vices from G ermany. side. The cause has been thought to be due to the delay
Scotch iron declined 3d. per ton, a nd Cleveland 2id. per in inserting the sole or invert when the other p ortions of
ton. Hematite iron, however, kept firm, and was quoted the tunnel were constructed two years ago, thereby
6d. per ton dearer. Cleveland was sold at 45s. 3d. per allowing the water to gather and run in the bottom of
ton for the end of t he year, and the sales amounted to about the tunnel. Mr. Best, the contractor, it is understood,
4000 tons. Some 2000 or 3000 t ons changed bn.nds in the had suggested two years ago putting in t he" invert," but
afternoon, and the tone was dull, Scotoh iron closing 3~d. his advice apparently was not taken. It is now doubtful
per ton down on the day ; Cleveland, 3id.; and hematite whether the damaged portion of the tunnel ca.n be r euon 7~d . per ton. The settlemen t prices were: 53s. 9d., J?aired, or whether it will require t o be reconstruct ed.
45s. ~d., and 61s. 6d. p er ton. Business was compara- Pending the result of the investigation by Mr. Hill, C. E.,
tively active in the pig-iron warrant market on Tuesday M anchester, the tunnel hn.s b een shored up t o prevent
forenoon, but the dealing wa.a chiefly in Cleveland iron, any further disturbance. It is estimated th at to pub the
which was pretty freely sold for all dates, including busi- tunnel into a prop er state of repair wi11 cost at least
ness for the end of the year, at 45s. p er ton. The cash another sum of 15, OOOl.
price showed a drop of ~d . per ton. Scotch alae fell 2~d.
Shipbuildilng Cont1acts.-IYieesrs. George Brown and
per ton, and the sales amounted t o about 15,000 tons. In Co., Garvel P ark Shipyard, Greenock, have completed
the afternoon other5000 tons changed hands, and Cleveland negotiations w1th an Irish fi rm t o build for them a
was a shade firmer, but Scotch remained dull. Cleveland steamer of 150 ft. in length.- The Irvine Shipbuilding
was done at 45s. O~d. per ton for the end of the year. A Company have contracted with a French firm to build a
moderate business was done this forenoon in the pig-iron cargo steamer of 500 tons and 600 indicated horse-power,
market, and prices were again easier, sellers continuing and with L ondon owners to build a screw tug 100 ft. in
in the m ajority. S cobch gave way 1~d. p er ton, and length, 20 fb. in breadth, and 12ft. in depth.- Messrs.
Cleveland 2d. Cleveland was sold ab 45s. two months, Mackie and Thomson, Govan, have taken a contract to
and the sale3 amounted to 8000 tons. In the afternoon build for a. fi rm of French owners a. steel screw steamer
some 4000 tons were dealb in.
Scotch rallied 1d. of about 1000 tons.
J:>er ton, but Cleveland was without further change.
New Dock at Bu1ntisla!nd.-A n ew deep-water dock
The settlement prices were : 53s. 3d., 45s., and 61s.,
though held for 62s. per ton.
The following are was open ed ab Burntisland last week by the simple prothe q uotatione for N o. 1 m akers' iron : Clyde, 66s. cedure of admitting a steamer to load coal. I t haa been
p er ton; Gartsherrie, 66s. 6d.; L angloan, 67s.; Calder, about four years in course of construction, and will cost
67s. 6d.; Summerlee, 70s. 6d.; Coltness, 72s. 6d. p er ton nearly half a million of money. M essrs. P. W. Meik,
-all the foregoing shipped e.t Glasgow ; G lenga.rnock U rquhart, and R . H ender.3on were the engineers, and

NOTES FROM THE UNI'l'ED STATES.

[AuG. 30, Igor.

the contractors were Sir J obn J ackson, Limited, while the
local managers are JYiessrs. Edwards and vVhitley. Its
area is about 12 acres, which is twice the dimensions of
the old basin. The North British Railway Company
have financ~d t~e c~ncern, an~ after November they will
have a. d ommatmg mflu enoe m the management . It is
fitted with three hois~, each of which is expected to loa.d
about 400 tons of coal per hour. The dock gates, h oists,
an~ .hydraulic machinery ha ve been supplied by Sir
W Ilha.m Armstrong and Co.
The Glasgow Corporation T elephone Exohange.-Thia
institution was shown and described to the Glasgow Press
today. in view of the public opening t omorrow, by
Mr. Hanbury, M.P. It occupies the three upper
Boors of a large new building in Renfieldstreet, and
has been secured on lease for 28 years. There are
connected up to it somewhere about 1400 subscribers,
all the trunks being underground, and extending in
some directions quite 10 miles ; and between the test
room and switchboard there are already in posi t ion
310 miles of wire, while in the underground cables
there are 16,500 miles of wire in 77 miles of piping.
There are in th e exchange over 100,000 miles of wire.
Mr. Bennett is the manager, and Mr. Maofee is the
assistant engineer. He wa.s a long time with the National
Telephone Company.

NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

W ednesday.
Reported R ailway Amalgamation.- Consideral.Jle interest h as been aroused in South Yorkshire at the reported
negotiations, stated to be almost completed, for the purchase by the Midland Company of the Sheffield District
Ra,ilway. By this means the older company were stated
to contemplate a. connection with the L ancashire, Derbyshire, and East Coast R ailway, and a diversion of the
bulk of their East Coast traffic, enabling them to reach
Grimsby and other Ea-st Coast towns in considerably less
time than the Great Central Company. The report has
since been authoritatively denied.
An Engilneering Task.-It is somewhat remarkable
that in an engineering centre such as Sheffield a large
30-ton armature, intended for the electric light works,
which by accident fell into the canal when in process of removal some weeks ago, should, notwithstanding repeated
efforts, still remain submerged. The armature, which is encased, owin g to the instability of the lifting apparatus
was 9llowed to fall over the aide of a barge in which it bad
been brought from the coast. T ackle was rigged and an
~ff~rt made the following ~ay to r~move it; but again the
hftmg apparatus proved m suffi01ent for the strain, and
the case returned to the canal. Since that time several
attempts have been made to resouA it; but n otwithstanding the employment of divers, all have been unsuccessful,
and the huge piece of machinery has resisted all efforts
to bring it to bank.
South Yorkshire Coal.-The condition of the coal trade
of Sou tb Yorkshire remains to a great extent unchanged.
The demand for house coal, owing to the arrival of oolder
weather, is improving, and a. fair season's business is being
d one. Prices are firmer, but there has been no general
ad vance at the pits. A good t onnage has, during the
week, been sent to L ondon and the South of England.
The eastern counties have not taken so freely, but as
the season advances heavier business will resulb. ::5team
coal continues to steadily improve. An advance is noted
in the requirements of t he export tra.de, but this still
compares very unfavourably with recent years. There
is more doing with both Hull and G rimsby, but the loss
of trade owing to the strike at the last-mentioned port is
affecting many collieries. Gas coal is moving freely, and
engine fuel is in good request.
Iron and Steel.-Reports from n.U quarters show that
trade has t4ken a definite turn for the better. lVIanufacturers entertain a much better opinion of the markets than
was the case a. few months ago, and increa.aed business
is looked fot' in t he early future. The bar -iron works are
now fully employed, and satisfactory order.g continue to
be received. At the heavy steel works full time is the
gene ral rule, especially in those departments dealing with
railway material, castings, and forgings. B oth consumers
and merchants appear t o have abandoned their hand-tomouth method of buying, and are booking fair orders.
There has been an increasing call for high carbon billets,
and, with the growing scarcity in the supply of hemati tes,
there is every probability of a fur ther advance in

pnces.
SHEF}'IELD,

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.
MIDDLESBROUGH, W ednesday.
The Cleveland I ron T rade.- Y esterdtl.y there was a
large attendance on ' Change, but the market was dull and
vety li ttle business was done. Buyer3 of Cle veland pigiron were vuy backward and quotations were wen.k. On
t he ot her hand, however, producers re ported that they
we1e woll supplied with order3 and they were un willing
to reduce their rates. A t t he same time it was a fn,c t that
t here was more Cleveland iron offered for eale than for
sometime past. D emand on foreign account was very
poor, and this is indeed disappointing, seeing t hat we are
now at a eeMon of t he year when Continental order3
generally come to band. No. 3 g.m.b. Cle veland pig was
put at 45s. 6d. for prompt f.o.b. delivery, but buyel'S, as
a rule, hesitated t o pay t hat figu re. No. 4 foundry was
44s. ; grey forge, 43s. ; mottled, 423. 9d. ; and whi te,
42d. 6d. It was Rratif~ng to notice the brisk dem and for
E ast Coast hematite p1g, t he supply of which was barely
suffi cient to meet requirements, and suggestions that t he

'

AuG. 30, I901.]

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

production sbould be furth er incrensed wera n ot fe w.

There is little doubt that mora furnaces would b e blown
in if coke was more easily obtained. No~. 1, 2, and 3
were fully 59s. for early delivery, whilst No. 1 wns 60~ .,
and No. 4 about 548. Spanish ore was st eady and rm
Rubio being 15~. 9d . c' x-ship T ees. T o-day t here wn;
pract ically no chnnge in quotation~.

JJfanttfacttJ..rcd I ron and Steel.-Very little news can be

reported of the manfactured iron and steel industries
l\t!akers in all branches have well-filled order books and
quotations a~e firm. Ther~ are, however, not very many
n ew orders m the markeb JUSt now. Common iron bars
are 6l . 5s.; besb bars, 6l . 15~.; iron ship-plates, 6l . 17~. 6d. ;
steel ship -plates, 6l. 53.; and steel boiler-plates, 7l. 15s.a11 less the customary 2! p er cenb. discount for cash.
Heavy sections of steel rails are 5l. 10s. ; and oast-iron
ohaira 3l. 12s. 6d.-both net ab works.

Messrs. Ri?ha1d Hill and Oo., Li?nited. -Yesterday the

annual meetang of shareholders of Messrs. Richard Hill
an? Co., of the Newport Wire Works and R olling 1\tiills,
Mtddl~sbroug~, was ~el~, 1\ti r. Richard Hill presiding.
The dtr.ectors report mttmated that they bad pleasure in
presentmg the balance-sheet as d uly certified by the
a.udito~, and the mai ~ fa.ots were fully set forth.
Inclu~:h~~ the amount brought forward from last year,
the. <l:tvtstble profib was 19,590l. 11s. 2d. After paying
a. dtvtdend of 10 per cent. per annum for six months
end~ng June 30, making 8! p er cent. for the year, and
placmg (as before)1500l. against depreciation, 3289l.1s.11d.
was carried forward to current accounb, and 10 OOOl.
remained in the special reserve account. The r~porb
was adopted, and the dividend confirmed at the rate
of 10 per cent. for the last si x months, making 8~ per cent.
for the year.

Ooa_l and Ooke.-Bunker coal. i~ in rather good demand,

especu~ll~ for the better qu n.htles, and prices are stiff.
Coke 1s m excellent requesb for local consumption, and
there are complaints that the supply is inadequate.
Medium bla~b-furnace qualities are fully 15s. 6d. delivered
here.

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

OardijJ:-The steam coal trade has been quiet eo far as
new business is concerned; quotations have, however,
been well maintained, the best descriptions having made
18s. 6d. to 19s. per ton~ while secondary qualities have
brought 17s. to 183. p er ton. Household coal has shown
li ttle change; No. 3 Rhondda. large has made 16s. to
163. 3d. per ton. Pa.tenb fuel has supported former t erme.
Foundry coke has been quoted at 18s. 6d. t o 19s. per
ton, and furnace ditto ab 16s. to 17s. per ton. As regards
iron ore, the best Rubio has made 14s. to 14s. 6d. per ton,
while 'l'afna has made 15s. t o 153. 3d. per ton.

The Tinplate Trade. -The Llangennech Works are to be

re-started ab an early date. The Cwmfelin Tinpla.te Company has joined Messrs. A. Thomas, M.P., J. Glasbrook,
and E. Daniel iu the restarting of bhe Foxhole Tinplate
Works, of which Mr. F. Thomas is to have the control.
The starting of the A bercan Tin plate Works is expected
in a. few weeks. Arrangements for a. re-start ab Aberbillery are in a forward state. The Nantyglo Works, which
bad been idle for some months, have been lately brought
again into full operation.
Oatrdiff Tram.ways.-Exbensions of the Cardiff tramways, which are being carried out under the powers of an
Acb of 1898, will be completed before the close of this
year. The new route from Berbhwin-street, through
Cathedral and Lower Cathedral-roads, Olare-r oad, and
Corporation-road, to the docks, has been practically
finished; a. junction between Tudorroad and Clare-street
is now being laid down ; and lines along Tudor-road and
Wood-street to St. Mary-streeb are to be commenced at
once. The Castle-road route, throu~h Albany-road and
Wellfield-road to the Corner of Vtvia.n-road, h as been
completed. Mr. Symonds, the contractor, has made good
progress with a. power station at Roath.

M ilford Docks .-The report of the directors of the

Milford Docks Company states tba.b the net profits for the
half-year ending June 30 were 3290l., an increase of 493l.
as compared with the corresponding p eriod of 1900. A
new ice factory is on the point of completion. Prep arat ory work ab the Freystone Collieries, near J ohnstone, is
being continued. The aggregate burtben of the vessels
entering the docks d uring the past half-year amounted t o
244,467 tons, as compared with 215,604 tons in the corresponding period of 1900.
Devonport Dockyard.-Lieub.-Colonel Kenyon, RE.,
who was appointed superintending engineer at D evonp orb Dockyard in November, 1896, is about to relinquish
tbab posb. He will be succeeded by Mr. W. J. Clarke,
superintending civil engineer ab Chatham; Mr. C.
Milla.rd, ci vil engineer at Devonporb, will succeed Mr.
Cla.rke ab Cha.tbam.
Gttest, Ke~n, anu1. Oo., L imited.-Tbe directors of this
company have issued their first annual report. The
directors recommend a. dividend at the rate of 12! per
cent. per annum for the past year, absorbing 40,625l.
The directors further propose that J50,000l. should be
carried to a reserve fund, and that 110,844l. should be
carried forward to the oredib of 19012. The company's
freehold and leasehold land, buildings, collieries, blastfurnaces, machinery, plant, &c., stand in the balancesheet for 1, 407, 720l.
J!)ngine-Room .Artijicer.s.-A large number of mechanics
have entered the Navy us engine-room artifice~. For the
first time for several years more candidates presented
themselves lasb quarter th9.n could be accepted.

points in the management of septic tanks and bac.

MISCELLANEA.
terial conbacb beds. Mr. Fowler states that the object
THE bra.ffio receipts for the week ending Au~usb 18 on of septic tanks is, in the first place, to dissolve or gasify
thirty-three of the principal lines of the U mted King- as much sludge as possib le ; and , secondly, to obtain
dom amoun ted to 2,114,219l., which was earned on 20,153t a tank effi uenb easily nit rified, and containing little
miles. For the corresponding week in 1900, the receip ts suspended matter. As bacteria. do not act on mineof the same lines amounted bo 2,110,247t., with 19, 885~ ra.ls, road detritus should be separated from the
miles open. There was thus an increase of 3972l. in the sewage in catch pits before ib is passed into the tanks,
receipts, and an increase of 2679 in the mileage.
a nd Mr. Fowler prefers that bits of wood, rags, &c.,
T he new electric locomotive which has been introduced should be screened oub a.s cellulose is dissolved, but slowly,
on the Central L ondon Railway, with a vie w t o diminish- in septic tanks. Such screenmgs, together with the con
ing vibration, differs from its predecessors in having ten ts of the catch pits, a re best passed through a dertghter armatures, w h'tch run ab t liree t1mes
.
b
structor, so ib is a good plan to have the town's
t e speed of garbage destructor set up ab the sewage works.
those used in the old engines. Gearing is used to reduce Time is needed to get a septic tank into proper
the speed to that necessary at the drivers. The mplti ple- working conditions. Oa.re must be taken thab fresh
unib system is also about to be tried on this line. The sewage is nob admitted to beds accustomed to re
brain
and four ceive septic tank effluent or vice versd, or bad results
t 1 is to
h be made
1 u~ off two
h' .motor
h 11 coaches
b
ral ers, t e tots. wetg b o w 10 Wl
e 96 t on s, or 30 will be obtained : but an increased flow of sewage diluted
t ons less than that of one of the present trains with equal by rain may safely be passed through, as the proportion
seating capacity.
of organic matter per gallon is less. It is p ossible, Mr.
A correspondent informs the T imes that an important Fowler thinks, to work a. septic tank so slowly that a.
"combine, in the steel, iron, and coal trade is now im- putrid effluent, poisonous to t he nitrifying organisms, is
minent-namely, the amalgama.uion of the extensive steel produced. Coming to the contacb beds, Mr. Fowler
works and collieries of Messrs . Crawsha.y Brothers, states that thorough drainage is essential to successful
Limited, ab ~Ierbhyr, with the steel works and co1lieries, working. A decrease in the nitrates contained in the
ab D owlais and Cardiff, of Meesra. Guest, Keen, and Co., effi.uenb is a. certain sign thab the bed needs resb. DeLimited. Ab the steel works of the latter, the B essemer crease of the capacity of a. bed is occasioned not only by
and Siemens processes are employed. Ab the Cyfartbfa the settling together of its con~tituents, bub by the tooestablishments, which are proposed to be absorbed, the vigorous g rowth of the nitrifying bacteria.. A piece of
B essemer proc~s is in operation, and, as ab Dowlais, rails coke or clinker, removed from a. contact bed in active conare the predominating factor in the oubpub. Although con- dition, is covered with a. slimy growth or stiff jelly, and
verted into a. limited company sometimeago, bhe Cyfarthfa the amount produced under favourable conditions may
concern has, nevertheless, remained practically in the largely decrease the capacity of the bed. In such case, a
bands of M essrs. Crawshay, who, to all intents a nd pur- rest of a. couple of weeks or less is necessary. One of the
poses, have been non-resident in the district for some experimenta l beds at Manchester for this reason decreased
years. Ab Cyfa.rbhfa, several labour-saving appliances in capacity from 4200 down to 1480 gallons; but by
have been lately introduced in the steel manufacture. judicious resting its capacity has been raised again to
The amalgamation will, it is believed, effect considerable 2000 gallons, and is still increasing. To avoia loss from
economy in the use of ooa.l from oonti~ous co1lieries; and the breaking down of the material of the bed, only hard
it is suggested that there is a p ossibiltty of cer tain of the refractory stuff should be used; shale and ashes in
neighbouring collieries at Merthyr being brought into the particular musb be summarily rejected.
"combine.''
The contract for the electrical equipment of the G reat
PERSONAL. -W e are asked to state bhab Messrs. Brown
Northern and City Railway has been secured by the
British Thomson-Houston Company, Limited, of 83, and Co., of Cobden-cbambers, Pelbam-streeb, Notting.
Cannon-street, E . C. lb is intended to provide sufficient ham, a re no longer agents for Messrs. Johnson and
rolling-stock for the operation of a 3-minute service Phillips, of Old Cbarlton, Kent.
between Finsbury Park R.nd Moorga te-street. Each train
THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SociETY. -We have received
is to consist of seven cars, the two end cars and the centre
one being- provided with motors. The schedule time for the a copy of the Transactions containing the papers and
run is 13! minutes, inclusive of three intermediate stops of di~cussions of the third annual meeting of the American
20 seconds each. This stopping time seems unnecessarily Ceramic Society. Although a comparatively new socie ty,
long, a.g 10 seconds should be quite enough with a smart this body appeara to be flourishing. There were thirteen
train crew. The plant at the generating station will papers read at the meeting, in addition to five topical
comprise four vertical cross-compound condensing en- discussions, and many of the p apers were of a high order
~ines, constructed by Messrs. Musgra.ve and Co., develop- of merit. In view of the growing success of the pottery
mg 1250 indicated horse-power a.s a. normal load, and 1875 industries of America, ib is wortli consideration whether
indicated horse-power as a maximum, when running ab 100 a like society might not be advantageous in this country.
reYolutions per minute. Each engine is to be coupled There is a. grea.b deal of "rule of thumb " in our manu
direob to a 800-kilowatb generator mounted between the factories which ought to give place to more scientific
cranks. These generators will have 14 poles, and are methods, and the best way to insure this is by discussion
designed to give 525 volts ab no load and 575 ab full load. and the ventilation of theories before audiences capable of
Current will be collected from a third rail weighing 80 lb. criticism. The volume before us demonstrates bhab there
per yard, and supported on porcelain insulators. There is ample matter to occupy the attention of suoh a. society,
are to be 36 motor oars, eaoh mounted on 2-4 wheeled and that there are (lozens of questions in ceramics awaittrucks. The three motor cars on each train will be ing systematic investigation.
operated as a. single unit, by means of a. suitable connection
THE RAILWAY CoaL BILL.-The oost of locomotive
and controlling gear.
coal, and the distance run by trains on the twenty prin.
Some very smarb work was accomplished recently on cipal English, Irish, and Welsh railways in the first half
the Fitohburg Rai1road, in bhe matter of reJ:>la.cing a of this vear and in the corresponding period of 1900,
number of old bridges with masonry arches. '!'he work were as follows :
is described in a. paper by Mr. A. S. Cheever, and pub
lished in the J ou'r nal of the A ssociation of Engilnee'ring
First Half of 1901.
First Half of 1900.
Societies. The largesb of bhe new bridges was that at
System.
Bellows Falls, Vermont, where a. double-track timber
Train
Coal
Ooal
Train
bridge of two spans, each 140 ft. wide, was replaced by
Cost.
Mileage.
Oost .
Mileage.
a couple of stone arches of simila r span. The work was
commenced on September 12, 189!), and finished on Belfast and N.
,
,
D ecember 7 following. The movement of the trains
Counties
..
16,993
767,126
11,717
771,308
was n ot interfered with, the tracks being k epb open Great Central .. 178,564
8,954,609
150,106
9,197,888
during the whole of the operations. The work was Great Eastern . . 185,601 10,761,766
142,651 11,012,753
195,232 11,762,667
facilitated by bhe fact that Nature had already sup- Great Northern . . 231,187 11,098,216
plied abutments, and it was only necessary to bed the Great North. , Ire
1,728,856
land
..
..
37,293
87,625
1,733,883
skewbacks on Portland cement, enough to fill up the Great
Southern
holes in the rock and give a. smooth and even bearing.
and Western ..
2,766,475
60,402
29,640
2,098,738
The method of constructing the arch was peculiar. There Great Western . . 460,189 22,324,976
295,810 22,760,162
were seventy-two couraes in each span. The voussoirs Lane. and York
8,887,802
shire
..
. . 176,574
129,983
9,166,498
were cub to a. i-in. joinb ab the inbrados, but gaped 2 in.
ab the extrados. Strips of wood were then inserted at Lond., Brighton,
&c.
..
. . 143,618
5,122,876
106,679
6,194,809
the intrados, and the joint filled with Portland cement Lond.,
16,133
Tilbury, &o.
i26,813
12,592
734,134
mortar, thoroughly tamped in so as to fill every crevice. Lond. N. West(>rn 487,723 23,032,184
331,574 23,870,685
The S:J?an, as stated, was 140ft., and the rise was 20 fb., Lond. S. -Western
190,081
144,655
8,657,360
8,629,488
the rmgs of stone being 4 ft.
In another case, a. Metropolitan
..
28,877
1,562,753
25,748
1,593,823
16,637
958,136
12,689
883,717
skew masonry bridge of 38 f t. span and 45 deg. obli- Metro. District ..
. . 399,830 2 3,002,~60
361,526 23,487,647
quity, was constructed by the railway company in Midland . .
G. Western,
Fitchburg. To avoid the cost of cutting skew vous- Mid.
23,640
I reland . .
..
1,262.598
16,021
1,224,668
soira, this arch was, in spite of its great obliquity, North-Eastern . . 252,191 15,260,341
247,8~0
15,841,620
constructed with square joints ; the engineers being Nor th
Stafford
confident that by using granite and Portland cement
sbi re
..
..
1,429,927
17,072
24,656
1,462,828
there would be no risk of failure, and this opinion has S. -East. and Oba.t
bnm
..
. . 187,176
6,876,090
146,540
7,088,762
proved wen founded. In a. third bridge built by the com80,797
..
1,913,742
31,188
1,861,866
pany, the a rob was constructed of large rubble stones, used Taff Vale . .
jusb in the condition in which they were received from
Total
. . 3,056,950 1167,010,095 2,436,687 161,372,534
the quarry. The only oub stones used were those on the
faces, all the rest being rough rubble, a~ stated. The It will be seen that ettorts bave been generally ma.ae by
joints were filled with P ortland cement mortar, thoroughly the companies to economise their train mileage. The
ta mped into place, and on removing bhe centring there Gr~b N ortbern o~ Ireland and the Ta.ff V ale figure exwa.s not the slightest sign of cracking or settlement.
cepbtonally well m the generally gloomy comparison.
ln a paper read before the Royal Institute of Public The current half-year will probably exhibit better results
Health, Mr. G . F . Fowler, superintendent of the Man- as coal contracts have been let upon more fa.vourabl~
chester Corporation sewage works, dealt with some term81 while economy will continue to be enforced.

--

-~- . , ---~-~

vv ,

~V41

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

TH E CLYDEBAN K: S HI PBUI LDI NG AND

ENG INEERI NG n,roRK S OF lVIESSRS. J O H N BRO\iVN AND CO., L I MIT ED.

(Fol" De~ription, see Puge 276.)

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LAROE

MACHlNE~ SBOP

(ENOINE

WORKS).

F 10. 11. EltEcTuw SHla op

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F w . 10. SuALL 1\LA.CJu ,.., E-SBoP (l!:NuiNJ:: WoRKS).

F IG. 12.

BRASS

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B RASS-FINlSB I NO SHoP.

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F w. 14. SuEET IRoN SHOI' .

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

AuG. 30, 1901.]

AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."
AUSTRIA, Vienna: Lehmann and Wen bzel, Karnbner strasse.
0APE T OWN : Ootdon and Gotch .
EDINBURGD: J ohn Menzies an d Oo., 12, Hanover-sbreet.
FRANCE, Paris : BoyYeau and Oh evillet, Librairie Etrangere, 22,
Rue de la Banque ; M. Em. T erqu em, 31 bls, Boulevard Haussman.
Also for Adver tisements, Agence Ha.vas, 8, Place de la Bourse.
GERMANY, Berlin: Messrs. A. Ash er and Oo., 5, Unter den Liuden.
Frankfurt-n.m-Main : Messrs. G. L. Daube and Oo. (for
Advertisements).
Leipzig: F . A . .Brockbaus.
Mulhouse : H. Stuckel berger.
GLASGOW : William Love.
INDIA, Calcutta : Tbnck er, Spink, and Co.
Bombay: Thncker an d Oo., Limited.
ITALY : U. Hoepli, Milan, and a ny post office.
LIVERPOOL: Mrs. T aylor, Landing Stage.
MANODESTKR. : J ohn Hey wood, 143, Dean sga.te.
NORWAY, Ohristiania: Oo.mmermeyers, Boghandel, Oarl Jobans
Gade, 41 and 43.
NEW SOUTH WALE~ , Sydney : Turner and Henderson, 16 and 18,
Hunter-street. Gordon a n d Gotcb, Geor~e-street.
QUEENSLAND (SOUTH), Bris ban e : Gordon ana Gotcb.
(NORTU), Townsville : T. Wilhnett and Co.
ROTTERDAM: H . A. Kramer and Son.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide: W. 0. Rigby.
UNITED STA'fBS, New York: W. H. Wiley, 43, E n.st 19th -street.
Chicago: H. V. Holmes, 12671258, Monndnock
Block.
VH71'0RIA Melbourne : Melville, Mullen , and Slade, 261/264 Colliesstreet. Gordon and Gotch, Limi ted, Queen-street.
We beg to announce t h at American Subscriptions to ENGINEERING
may now be addressed either direct to the P ublisher, Mr . 0. R.
J olJNSON, at t h e offices of this Journal, Nos. 35 and 3tl, Bedfordstreet, Strand, London, W.O., or to our accredited Agen ts for the
Un ited States : Mr. W. H. WILlllr, 43, East 19th-street, New York,
and M~ H . V. Ho~?.u~s, 1267-1268,, Monadnock Block, Chicago.
The pnces of s u bscr1pt10n (payable tn advance) for on e year are:
For thin (foreign) paper edttion, 1l. 16s. Od. ; for thick (ordinary)
p aper edition, 2l. Os. 6d.; or, if rem itted to Agen ts, 9 dollars for
thin and 10 dollars for t h ick.
NOT ICE T O AMERICAN ADVF.RTISERS.
American firms desirous of adver tising in ENGINEERING are
r equested to apply to Mr. H. V. H oLMEs, 1257-1258, Monadnock
Block, Ohicac:ro, or Mr. WILLARD C. Tn.ER, 160, Nassau-street,
R oom 1910, New York Oity, floru wh om all particulars and prices
can be obtained.
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Offices for Publication and Advertisements. Nos. 35

and 36, Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C.
TRLRGRAPHIO ADDRBBS- ENGINEERING, LONDON.
TELEPHONE NlJMBER-3663 Ge!'l'al'd.

CONTENTS,
PAGE
'J:he Clydebank Shipbuild
ing
and
Engineering
Works (IUustrated) .. .. 2'75
The Law of Support . . . . . 276
The Const ruction a nd Syste
matic Manufacture of
Alternators (lllust1ated) 277
Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Books Received . . . . . . . . . 281
Powerful Mineral Locomo
tive for t he Caledonian
Railway (Illustrated ) .... 281
Wood-Working Machinery
a t t h e Glasgow Exhibition
( I llmtrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
The Boiler Trials of M.H.S.
" Mioe rva " a nd " Hya
ci n t b , . . . . . ... . . . . . . . 283
Bur ow Docks and A P .
proacbes by Land and
Sea. (lllmtmted) . . . . . . . . 285
Notes from the United

States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Notes from the North ... .
N otes from South Yorkshire
Notes from Cleveland and
the Nort hern Counties . .
Notes from t he South-West
Miscellanea.. . .. .. .. .. .. . . . .

288
288
288
289
289

PAGE
The "Minerva." and " Hya
. h " T rta
' I s ....... ... .. 291
cmt
The China Rail way Blue
Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Government
Reg ulat ions
Affectin g Electrical Power
Distribution . . . . . . . . . . 294
Notes . . .... : . . . . .. 296
Launches and Trial Trips .. 295
The Glasgow Corporation
Tramways . . .. .... . . .... 296
The DUrr Boiler .......... 296
What is the Matter with
Our Navy ? .. .. ........ . . 296
Ta).y-Oafn Bridge . ... .. .. 296
Guns a nd Projectiles . . . . . . 296
" Ammonia Com pressor s " g96
Hoe's Printing Maobine at
the Glasgow Exhibition .. 296
"On the Limits of Econo
mica.l Speed of Ships" . . 296
HighPressure v. LowPressure Steam in the Sugar
R efinery . . .. . . . . . . .. . . 296
Indust rial Notes ........ .. 297
Review of Marine Engineering Durlog the last Ten
Years (l llmtr ated) ._ .. . 298

With a Two-Page. Engraving oj TBE CLYDEBANK SHIP

BUILDING AND ENGI NEERING WORKS OF MESSRS.
JOHN BROWN AND 00 ., LrMITED.

of ''Engine P~rformance," where we find. th~t the

TRACTION and TRANSMISSION. Hyacinth r equired 0.513 lb. of water per md1cated
(P'Ublt'-8hed on the first Tue8da!IJ in each month.)
horse-power per hour to make up for los~ ; ~hilst
PART VI. READY SEPTEMBER 3.
the Minerva needed but 0.200 lb. per IndiCated
P RIOE 28., Net ; POST FRBB 2s. 4d.
horse-power per hour for the same purpose. The
Published ab t he Offices of ENGINEERING, 86 and 86, Bedford Street, excess of feed water over the normal water may
St rand, London, W. 0.
have escaped in the shape of steam or as water :
CONTENTS OF No. 6.
in the former case, the boiler would have evapoPAGE
PAOB rated the water, and should be credited with the
The Law of Electrolysis. l3y W.
The l3urgdorf-Thun Electric Rnil
Vo.lentl.ne :Bo.ll . .... . ............ 1
wn.y (Plates V. nud V 1. n.nd Dlus 3' duty ; in the latter instance, comparatively little
The Educat ion of the E lectrical
tru.tlona in Text) . . ............ 2
heat would have been taken up, and the boiler
Engin eer. l3y Dr. J. A. Flomlng,
H lgl1 Speed El.ectrl.c Tro.ot.ion In
F.R.S. (Plates I. to IV. o.nd Ill usGormnny. By 0 . Lru!cho (Plt\teK
would have been supposed t o be giving a higher
tmtions ill Text ). . ... ... .. .. . . . . 7
VII. to XVI. nnd llluat mtioua
Eleotro woblles ill Public Servl.ce. . 10
In Text) ... .. .. ...... .... .. .. . . 42 duty than it actually did.
We think it may
Munlcl ll!~l 'l'radiug :
Pueum ntlo Tyres for llea.vy
(d) By t he H on. Rol>ert P.
Vehicles. By 'l' h. Dunu ...... oo fairly be assumed, as nothing is said to the conPorter... ... ....... .. .. .. 20 Elect r icity nt the TangormUllde
(o) By Borough Engineer.. .. 25 , S ugar Works ..... . ......... . . . o:J trary in the report, that the engines and connections
(f) By George R. Dun ell . . . . 28
of both ships were in good work ing order, and

that there was no undue leakage from glands or

NOTICE TO CONTINENTAL ADVERTISERS.
joints of pipes. On th e r un to Gibraltar made
Advertisements from Germany should now be sent subsequently to the trials with which we a re n ow
through Messrs. G. L. Daube and Co., Frankfurt-am dealing, the loss of water . in the Hyacinth, that
Main, who have been appointed our Sole Agents for there occurred, was at first attributed to leaky feed
that country for Trade displayed Advertisements.
Advertisements from France, Belgium, and Hol suction pipes ; but during the stay at Gibraltar
land should be sent through the Agence Havas, these pipes were tested and no leaks were disOn tho other hand, a gr eat deal of
8, Place de la Bourse, Paris, our Sole Agents for cover ed.
leakage occurred in the boilers, as appears by th e
those countries for similar Advertisements.
report. This, it must be remembered, r efers to
READING OASES. - Reading cases for containing twen ty-six
n umbers Of ENGINEERING may be bad of the Publisher or of any the Gibraltar trials made after those with which
we are at present dealing ; but if the same condin ewsagen t. Pl'ice 6s. each.
tions were present on both occasions, the additional
feed-water required was due to leakage from the
boilers ; and, indeed, the testimony throughout goes

to support this view. W hether th e water escaped

from t he boilers as steam or as water no doubt
FRID.A. Y, AUGUST 30, 1901.
would modify the result, but in any case a boiler
ought not to be credited with the evaporation of
THE "MINERV A '' AND "HYACINTH" water it cannot hold. The loss of water, however,
TRIALS.
does not wholly account f<;>r t he additional amount
THE official r eport of the Minerva _Hyacinth of feed supplied to the Hyacinth 's boilers, as will
trials has been issued during the past week, and be seen by an examination of the Table. So far as
though it is far from exhaustive, it serves to throw can be judged from the figures given, the Hyacinth
a little light on the results of the experiments. evaporated 708 lb. of water per hour more than the
We print it in full on an other page.
Minerva, and received 623 lb. more make-up water.
The preliminary trials carried out by the Boiler
It may further be remarked that the Minerva's
Committee are more instructive than the . run to engines appeared in the figures to be n early 6 per
Gibraltar and back. I t will be seen from the cent. more economical than the Hyacinth's on
figures quoted that the Belleville boilers of the this first trial. This, in combination with the
Hyacinth appear actually to ha ve evaporated more evaporation records, would lead one to expect primwat er per pound of coal than the cylindrical boilers iug, as that would help the boiler at the expense
of the Minerva, and this to a very considerable of t~ e engine. I_t '!ould not affect the make-up
extent as the boilers were originally tried. We r equued-unless Ind1reotly, as unevaporated water
have already referred to these trials in a former carried over to the cylinders would find its way to
issue,* when our information was taken from an the condenser. On the combined figures, however
unofficial source. A closer examinat ion of the r e- th~ advantage lies with the Hyacinth, for th~
corded results has led to a slight modificaliion Minerva burnt 5.81 per cent . more coal per indiof some of the data presented, but the main issue cated horse - power per hour than the Belleville
remains unaltered by the publication of the cor- boilered cruiser. The figure for the latter was
rected figures, although added details may throw 2.03 ~b. of coal per indicated. horse-power per hour;
some further light on the subject. . It will be certainly a good r esult, considering she was losing
noticed that the fitting of retarders to the Minerva's 5! tons. of water per 10~0 horse-power per day.
boilers led to 11.05 per cent. more water being
Tur:nmgtothenext t~Ial, w6:find the make-up water
evaporated. They were, however, " slightly wasted supplied to the Hyamnth much less per indicated
at t~e firebox end," according to. the official report. horse-power than f?rmerly, _so that the quantity i.s
Taking the figures as presented In the official table even smaller than with the Minerva. In spite of this
it _will also be seen that, though the Bellevill~ t~e act':lal and comparative efficiency of the Belle~
boilers a:re awarde~ a higher eva~orative efficiency, villa boilers has al~o fallen off in' the Table, being no
the engines to whiCh they supphed steam are said more than 5.64 per cent . better than the Minerva.
on two out of three trials to have needed more water The c.o mbined figur'es for this trial are the reverse
to be evaporated to. develop a given horse-power of the previous ones, for the Minerva burns 5.43 lb.
than those of the Mmerva. Before proceeding to of ~o~l per indicated hor~e-power hour less than the
examine these figures more closely, it may be well Hy am~th. If we take actu.al m place of comparative
to remark t~at the question of _fuel economy is not results, we find the J;Iya.~mth , although wasting so
the one engineers are most anxious to be informed much less water per Indicated horse-power on this
upon. Water-tube boilers are n ot generally sup- second trial, evapor~~ing less water per pound of coal
posed to be economical in fuel; but if, in other than on the first trial; the figures being as 9.37 and
respects, they work satisfactor~ly, the amount of 9.64: . The second trial_was at higher power, which
coal bur_nt may be fairly well adjusted by' propor- wa.s m favour of the engmes, but might be considered
tioning the heating surface to coal consumed.
s?mewhat against 'the boilers; . still, boilers deWe will now turn to the Table giving the pre- sig~ed for 10,000 horse-power should be able to
viou~ trials of the t wo ships (reproduced from the work up to half that amount without falling. off.
official report on page 284 of our present issue) Moreover, we find on further investigation that on
and we find that the engine and boiler perform: the next t rial of 8000 indicated horse-power the
ances are, very properly., t~eated separately. On actual "evaporation" per ~ound of coal went up
the first trials of 2000 Indicated horse-power the to. nearly 10 lb. (9.85), which gave the Hyacinth
Belleville boilers ~re credited with a 12.62 per boilers an advantage in th~ table of no less than
cent. more economiCal p erformance than that of l 23. 74 per cent. over the Mmerva ! It is true that
the return-tube boilers; t hat is to say, they are ~he ~a~e-up water _aga~ ros~ to rat her more than
suppos~d to have evaporated that proportion of Its origmal proportiOn, It bemg 5. 57 tons per day
water In excess for a given quantity of coal con- per .1~00. horse.-power as compared to 2. 76 tons on
sumed. Those who have had experience with the the previous trial. On a final trial of 10 000 horsetwo ~ypes of boiler will be, perhaps, not a little power, fu~l economy again goes down, as' is natural,
surprise~ at this marked superiority of the water- but t~e make-up went down too.
tube vanety, and will be inclined to ask for further
It IS unnecessary to go further into t hese figures
information. This is to be gleaned under the head as we now publish them elsewhere, and our readers
can draw their own co~clusions. We have always
* See page 125 cvnte.
advocated the separatiOn of th e respective per\

t\

ENGINEERING.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
formances of boilers and engines; but not quite on
these lines. To debit the engine with leakage from
the boiler is a little unfair to the engine, whilst to
tabulate leakage as '' evaporation " is hardly the
way to encourage that perfection of workmanship
which should distinguish the machinery of the
Royal Navy.
Before leaving these preliminary trials, we will
draw attention to one very unsatisfactory feature.
It would be thought that both vessels, so far as
the machinery was concerned, would have been
run in their most efficient condition, so as to
give each type of boiler an opportunity to appear
at its best. It will be seen, however, that the
engines of the Hyacinth were worked under varying
conditions. What these conditions were it is difficult
to judge, owing to the vague wording of the report.
Again, on the Minerva some of the trials were
made without retarders in the tubes, and some when
they were present.
These changed conditions-varied in the case of
the Hyacinth in the middle of the runs-introduced an element of uncertainty which is disturbing. The circumstance shows how much the
Adntiralty has yet to learn respecting the efficient
handling of its vessel~ ; it is not yet known how to
work the machinery to the greatest advantage.
Thus by altering the exhaust, and the working of
the jackets, the amount of steam used by the
main and auxiliary engines was considerably
On occasions such as these it is
affected.
rnost undesirable to mix trials, or to carry on
more than one experiment at once. So long, however, as commanders of vessels and the Admiralty
discourage engine trials of an experimental nature
with commissioned ships, so long shall we be in the
dark as to what should be done and how to get the
best results. All this is extremely unfair to .. the
engineering department at Whitehall, but is hardly
likely to be remedied until we get the engineering
interest-which does not mean the interests of
engineers-represented on the Board of Admiralty.
We will now turn to the Gibraltar run, some of
the incidents of which have aheady been dealt
with in our article of July 26. There are two main
incidents : the burst t ube of No. 10 boiler in the
Hyacinth, and the " bird-nesting " of the t ube
ends of the Minerva's boilers. We will follow the
incidents in the order they are set forth in the
''Statement by the President of the Boiler Committee," reproduced on page 282.
That the
Minerva was the faster ship is a matter upon
which no comment is needed in connection with
boiler trials, neither is it necessary to take notice of
the fogs and other marine incidents outside the
machinery department. No doubt t he easing down
for fog might affect results, but the other features
were so pronounced that such matters may be left
out of account. The failure of the Minerva's
eccentric also requires no special n otice.
The vessels star ted from Devonport about 3 P .M.
on July 6, and at 1.15 A . M. on July 11 the Hyacinth's
engines had to be eased from the 7000 horse-power,
at which the run was to have been made, on account
of the large loss of water. All the evaporators
were working at the time. In addition to 105
tons of water in the reserve tanks, 25 tons of
drinking water had been exhausted. The trial ws.s
therefore abandoned, and the ship steamed to Gibraltar at slow speed, arriving on the evening of
July 11. The Minerva continued steaming at the
7000 horse-power till 11 P.:ar. on the evening of
July 12, having still 20 tons of water left in the
reserve tanks out of a total of 170 tons. She had
therefore used 150 tons of make-up water in
6 days 7 hours, or, say, roughly, 3! tons per 1000
horse- power per day. How much water the
Hyacint h used in all does ~ot appear, as . the
capacity of the evaporators ~ h10h were called Into
r equisition is not stated. It IS to be gathered, however that these were nob started until 5.30 A.M . on
July' 9. According to this, the boilers received 130
tons of make-up water in 2 days 14t hours (supposing water was taken from the tanks from the
first) or approximately 40 tons a day. At the
standard 7000 horse-power tllis would be about
6. 7 tons per 1000 horse-power per ~a.~, or
more than the worst results on the prelirrunary
trials. What was the average horse-power .developed up to the time the reserve gave out 1s not
stated, but no doubt it was above the 7000 standard, so that the figures should be som~what m~re
favourable to the boilers than those gtven. The
same may be said of the Minerva. It w0uld thus
appear thllt the Hyacinth consumed, roughly, about

60 per cent. more make-up feed than the Minerva up

to the time the evaporators were called into requisit ion. What happened after that is not known,
beyond the general statement that the number of
leaks in the boilers of the Hyacinth appeared to
become worse after the engines were suddenly
eased on entering the fog on the 9th, when the
safety valves lifted. The figures given in the
statement do not permit of exact calculations; but
the above are, we think, sufficiently near accuracy
to convey a fair general idea of the situation in
regard to water consumed.
The average coal consumption of the Hyacinth,
it will be seen, was 1. 97 lb. per indicated horsepower per hour; that of the Minerva, 2.06 lb.
So far the chronicle is in favour of the Minerva;
but there is next recorded in the report an incident
which carries our recollection back to a past era of
tribulation for naval engineers and boiler designers
which the severe critics of water-tube boilers conveniently forget. It is said that when the Minerva.
arrived at Gibraltar it was found that her tube
ends, or the ferrules fitted in them, '' were seriously
choked, the size of the openings in some cases
being reduced to about one-third the original. "
The Controller of the Navy, in his letter to the
First Lord accompanying the report, draws attention to this, and says that on arrival a.t Gibraltar
the ship could not have gone further at the power
the engines were developing. As it was, the air
pressure was 1. 7 in. instead of ! in. On arrival at
Portsmouth, practically the Rame thing occurred.
\Ve all remember the introduction of the Admiralty ferrule. It was designed to prevent the leaking
of tu be ends in cylindrical boilers, a defect that a
few years ago-before the water-tube boiler was
introduced-appeared likely to drive naval engineers out of their wits; far more so than the present troubles with ;Belleville boilers. Although the
ferrule appeared to supply the desired remedy, it
was soon found it was not free from the defect
known as '' bird-nesting." This was caused by
small particles of coal-dust being carried to the
mouth of the ferrule, and there hanging until they
became carbonised, so that a hard ring of cinder
was formed a.t t he n1outh of the tu be. This necessitated harder blowing to get the requisite amount
of air for combustion into the furnace, but the
more the fans were worked the worse the '' birdnesting '' became, until the boilers would hardly
steam at all.
That is a defect for which no remedy has yet
been found, and it would doubtless be preferable,
in the case of two ships having to engage, to have
leaky Belleville boilers on one rather than return
tube boilers, with their tubes stopped by "birdnests," on the other.
Following the official chronicle, which is a little
desultory, we find the ship's staff making good the
leaky joints in the Hyacinth's boilers, after which
the loss of water on an experimental run was found
to be at the rate of 56 tons a day at 7000 indicated
horse-power. The average was calculated for three
hours before and three hours after the safety-valves
had purposely been allowed to blow.
The return voyage was commenced on July 17.
The Hyacinth had steam up in two boilers out of
her 18, and the Minerva in one out of her eight.
At 4.27 P.M. the signal was given to light fires in
boilers not in use, and by 5.20 the Hyacinth was
proceeding a.t nearly 7000 horse-power. This was
what might have been expected, but that the
Minerva should have been working a.t full power
four minutes earlier is a little surprising, and,
doubtless, the incident is capable of explanation.
On July 20, at 6.10 P.M., when steaming at over
9000 indicated horse-power, a tube in No. 10 boiler
of the Hyacinth burst, and one man was slightly
injured. The Minerva worked up to 8, 700 indicated horse-power, and the Hyacinth to nearly
10 000 indicn.ted horse-power. The Minerva did
not exceed 40 tons of make-up water ; the Hyacinth
used 98 tons from the reserve tanks in addition to
that made by the evaporators.
Both ships were overhauled on arriving at Portsmouth. There were some slight leaks in the cylindrical boilers of the Minerva, but nothing of moment, the '' bird-nesting " being the most serious
defect. A good many ferrules were much worn,
and the ends of retarders wasted. On examination the Belleville boilers of the Hyacinth were
found to have had a number of curved tubes, most
of them very slightly. Feed collectors were hollowed mostly to some small extent ; fusible plugs,
doors 1 and joints, &c., to the extent of sixteen

[Aua. 30, 1gor.

were leaking, most of them slightly. In the
economisers there were also a number of slight
leaks.
No. 10 boiler, which contained the burst tube,
was examined separately, and is not included in
the above statentent. Here there were also leaks
from fusible plugs, &c. In No. 9 element, which
contained the burst tube, there were a. number of
tubes bulged in parts from :flJ in. to fi in. The
burst tu be had an opening 8 in. by 3 in. The four
lower tubes are reported as "correct." An examination of the burst tu be, and those in its neighoourhood led to the conclusion that the accident
was due to overheating, owing to imperfect circulation or shortness of water, the scale found being
insufficient to account for such overheating.
There was one other thing found in examining
this boiler which is of considerable significance.
"In the bottom junction box of No. 3 element a
hand-hole door was found with the bolt proj ecting
through the nipple in the feed-distributing box."
How this came there is not explained, but it is
evident that good circulation cannot be expected in
a. Belleville boiler when a bolt is projecting through
the nipple of the feed orifice. This, it is true,
was not the element containing the burst tube.
Still, the incident may well lead to doubt whether
the mishap was not due to some carelessness or
defect which had nothing to do with t he design of
the boilers.
Even if no part of the mishaps that occurred to
the boiler of the Hyacinth can be traced to t his exceptional occurrence, it does not follow that they
are without remedy. French engineers who have
had experience of the Belleville boilers say that
British workmanship is not up to the standard of
that of France in regard to the careful finish
and attention to detail needed for the construction of a successful Belleville boiler. We
patriotically hope that this statement is without foundation ; but even if t rue, we must take
things as they exist. If Englishmen cannot make
good Belleville boilers and Frenchmen can, we
must leave the Belleville boiler to the French.
This supposition, however, need not be seriously
entertained. British engineers can execute work
second to none, if they try. It may be we
have not quite grasped the need for the extreme care demanded in fitting together the
many joints of a. Belleville boiler, but when we
realise it is necessary, it can be done. 'Vhether
it pays is another matter. It may be that as good,
if not better, water-tube boilers can be devised,
if they do not already exist, which will not need
such delicate and expensive work ; in short, boilers
which are cheaper and more effective.
Much the same thing may be said regarding the
working of this boiler. It needs different treatment from that required for cylindrical boilera,
though that does not necessarily imply a higher
class of stokers must be employed. A locomotive
boiler also needs different treatment from that
given to a Lancashire boiler ; so that a man who
had been accustomed only to the latter would not
be able to manage the former. But, on the other
hand, a railway fireman might beequallyunsuccessful
if he had to keep steam in a Lancashire boiler,
and would be quite lost at the furnace door of any
of the stationary water-tube boilers that are often
managed well enough by men of the ordinary
labourer class, when once they have learnt how.
In any case we can only repeat the opinion we
have often expressed, that there is no going back
to the return-tu be boiler for war vessels ; although
we believe the Belleville boiler is not destined
to retain its present possession of the field in the
Royal Navy.

THE CHINA RAILWAY BLUE BOOK.

THE railway is becoming more and more an
object of diplomacy and a cause of strife and
international intrigue. It is being recognised as
the great engine of territorial expansion and of the
subsequent consolidation and free intercourse
without which acquisition of territory is of little
value. F or territorial and political expansion must
now mainly go on dry land; the coast line of the
world is, to a. great extent, absorbed and fully
settled, and railways alone make possible the
appropriation of inland territory or the development of trade. More especially is the railway
thrust into prominence when it already exists in a
country which suddenly becomes the scene of war.
This was sufficiently evident in South Africa, but

Aua. 30, I901.]

I

E N G I N E E RI N G.

293

now is again brough t before us by the "corre- the use of the machinery and stores at its chief land. If half the coat of struct ural steel-work goes
spondence respecting the I mperial Railway of construction and maintenance workshops was im- in wages, and if wages remain in Ch1na one-quarter
Nor th China,, j usL iesued.
possible.
of what they are here, the outlook is scarcely cheerThis line, t he proper ty of the Imperin.l Chinese
One further quotation from one of his staff to ing, t aken in connection wit.h the state of our
Governn1ent, and the result of twenty years of Mr. IGnder will serve to show how complete was prestige there.
British work, borrowed e. year or two aao t he spoliation of these important works. No. 139,
The Shan Ha.i Kuan Bridge \Vorks have, in the
2,300,000l. of British capital to carry out ita exte~ December 29, 1900 : " Since my last communica- above, been specia1ly selected in instance of Russian
sion from a. point 40 miles outside the Great Wall tion under date the 16th inst., the Russians have aggression on British and Chinese rail way property;
to N iuchwang, the northernmost treaty part. I t continued to remove the contents of the bridge but this is shown clearly in every line of the official
was proposed to mortgage this new line as security works, and are now busy loading up and sending correspondence.
fo~ the loan, but we allowed Russia to say that a way the material out of the new Godown at the
I t has been already stated that owing to Russian
tlus should not be done for that part of the line west end of the bridge works yard, such as steel interference the British bondholders were not
which was outside the Vvall and in Manchuria.. In bard, round and aq uare, gal va.nised sheet, steam allowed to arrange for a mortgage on the railway
fact, we allowed Russia. to refuse us the right of pipe and fi ttings, &c.
which was to be built with their money. It is
making a pFivate cont ract with a foreign Govern"They have also taken t he steam crane, and interesting and instructive to compare t he views
ment. The line from P eking to Shan H a.i Kuan this morning they are dismounting the punching taken by the Russians on our b~in g mortgagees
inside the Wall, had therefore to be accepted a~ and shearing machines in the girder shop, the and on their being mortgagees of this line. The
mortgage, but the bondholders' dividends, natur- cupola. out of the moulding shop, and the machinery twelfth article of the Ruaso-German convention
ally, were expected to be derived from the whole and shafting out of tho fitt~::; department.
relating to the transfer of th ~ rail way (P ekingsystem, inside and outside the Wall, so that a dis"Some of this material is being shipped by Shan Hai ICua.n) from the Russif.'n to the German
tinct and large British interest exists in the whole steamer from Shan Hai I{uan to Port Arthur, but military authorities is as follows : ''Before signature
line, and not alone in any one part of it . This is the greater part is sent outside the Wall. They of the convention the Russian representative prevery clearly put in No. 9G, British and Chinese have also taken large steam winch, hand winches, sent declared that the Russian army administraCorporation to F oreign Office, January 2, 1901. grindstones, carpenters' lathes, glycerine, &c.- in t ion looks upon the line itself as the immediate
' ' We learn with surprise and alarm that by the fact, everything they can lay hands on.
guarantee for the costs they have incurred in the
draft of a convention between Count \Valdersee and
" I have reported this to General Reid, who is restoration of the line. Upon t he declaration by
the R ussians, it is proposed by the latter that they forwarding a despatch to Peking upon the matter the representatives of army headquarters that this
should retain possession of the Shan Hai Kuan- to. morrow morning per Major Gould Adams."
point was beyond the limits of military negotiaNiuch wang port ion of the P eking-Niuchwang RailCertainly the least that could be said of such tions, and that army headquarters was quite unway -and also such p or tions of the station yard at direct spoliation was said in Lord Lansdowne's able to take up any position with regard to it, the
Shan Hai K uan as are required to work the extension telegram of J anuary 6, 1901 : " . . . conduct of Russian representative said he would not add a
to Niuchwang, together with workshops, &c., and the Russian authorities in regard to the removal of condition to the convention in the sense of the
that t he Russians desire also an equal division of materials, &c. , from the Northern Railway, which, above-mentioned declaration."
the rolling stock on the en tire line- Peking to as repor ted to us, seems to involve a wholly un
Throughout this series of letters and repor ts runs
Niuchwang.
j ustified interference with the permanent and one clear line of evidence showing that t he Russian
'' I t is stated that the conven tion is purely a necessary equipment of the railway line. H er spirit and endeavour was in every case the throwmilitary one, and in nowise prejudices political or Majesty's Government cannot admit that considera- ing aside of British vested interests, the ignoring
financial claims.
tions of military convenience warrant such a of any British proprietary rights, and the determination to get all possible hold on our property, and
' 'This Corporation cannot but regard, however, measure of confiscation."
with grave concern the proposal of Russia to retain
F rom t he list of materials, tools, &c., '' bor- to do all possible damage to our prestige- the one
possession of the line beyond Shan H ai K uan, and rowed, " and from the Russian explanat ion of the essential asset of a nation in the East- which could
can see no just.ification whatever for their proposal objects of this "borrowing," one would expect be done.
to retain also one-half of the rolling stock of the that very great activity was shown by Russia in
In recent Government statements this attitude
en tire line. The entire material of the whole line, the repair and speedy putting in working order of appears to have been actually upheld and taken as
Peking to Niuch wang, is included in t he security the extramural por tion of the railway. How little a fair one, for it was claimed a.s a signal di ploof the British bondholders, and the retention of a this appears to have been the case, or how alight matic triumph that we had regained control of the
portion of t he line and the claim to half the rolling was the ability shown, however, is clear from the rail way, Shan IIai Kuan to Peking, and that there
stock, proposed by R ussia, it is not possible to view letter of Mr. Kinder'a engineer, and t he agent of seemed every hope of our regaining also the extraother wise than as an act that would seriously }:>re- the British Chinese Corporation in Niuchwang, mural portion up to Niuchwang. We can only
compare such attempts to gain kudos with an
judice the righ ts of t he British bondholders. The (Inclosure in No. 147, January 2, 1901.)
" My mes~enger to Chin-Chow returned . . . ignorant or careless homestaying public to a
Corporation therefore desire to respectfully protest
against any recognition of acts so calculated to Trains are running as far as Ta-ling-Ho. The policeman, who seeing the theft of a purse and
seriously,affect the value of the security upon which temporary bridge there is in a very bad state, and loose cash in a public street, claims credit of the
nothing is being done towards its repair. In fact, crowd for having persuaded t he culprit to give up
the railway loan was negociated."
Not only, however, were some 200 miles of rail~ east of Ta-ling-Ho no repairs are being made to the purse, and expresses a complaisant hope that.
way outsid e the Wall retained, with the station the line. The only things to be done are the in time the cash also may be restored. Such a
accommodation, rolling stock, and workshops inside repairs to Ta-ling-Ho and Shuang-tai-tzu tempo- scene t he British public would understand and
the Wall (and therefore par t of the actual pro- rary bridges, relaying of track between Shuang- would deal with in its own manner; but it is a.
perty mor tgaged) which were said to be needed to ta.i-tzu and Tu-chia-tai (about eigh t miles), and far cry t o China, and no one apparently sees far
work the line, but t he workshops were depleted of repairs to earthwork. The material for repairing enough ahead to realise its immense importance to
all tools, machines, and materials, and practically track is stored in adjoining villages. All heavy us. There was once a certain ''uncommercial
plant is reported as being all right, but small stores, traveller " who did so, and who had the power
gutted.
Sir Ernest Satow telegraphs to L ord Lansdowne &c., are all stolen or burnt. . . . 'rh ere are also of making himself heard, and who commenced a
on December 30, 1900 : ' ' '!,he Russians are syste- t wo locomotives at Ka.o Pan Tzu ; both in repair, crusade, and who lectured at an engineering institution before engineers as one of his first steps ;
matically removing stores, including machines not but not being uaed. "
I t is worthy of note that the Shan Hai Kuan Bridge but the only outcome was immediate promotion to
yet installed, parts of machines, iron, timber, tools,
&c., from t he rail way works at Tang Shan. On Works, about which there has been so much diplo- a post which would effectually keep him away from
December 14 General Reid lodged a protest against matic correspondence, owe t heir origin to a desire both England and China.
To engineers this country presents the most
t he removal of stores. At Shan H ai Kuan the bridge to remove engineering as far as possible from diploworks stores, which were filled with 60,000l. worth macy and politics. So much intrigue, and '' wholly magnificent fi eld that has ever been opened to
of material required for working and repairing the unjustified interference, " was .expe:ience~ fro~ them. Yet in the first engineering need of China
foreign Government representatives 1n China, 1n - railways- where are we and what have we to
railway, are now completely empty."
And again on January 4, 19~1 : " Tho removal the matter of the placing of large contracts, that show 1 Besides the Imperial railways of North
of materials, &c., from the brtdge works at Shan the Sha.n H ai Kuan Bridge Works were started with China- a splendid record of British work (though
Hai Kuan by Russians continues, according to the object of letting China build her own bridges, a Chinese under taking)-which we are apparently
rep orts by British rail way officials. The steam in which case it was scarcely anticipated that there allowing ourselves to be bullied out of inch by inch
and mile by mile-we can show nothing.
crane has been r emoved, and on December 29 could be any protest or question from without.
The P eking-Hankow Railway, the only open
The result has been excellent bridgework built to
machinery and shafting out of t he fitting depar t ment, &c. , were being dismounted. The. larger the designs of the highest expert on the subject in 1nileage of which was also built by British engineers, is in the hands of a Franco-Belgian syndipor tion of material has been removed to outstde the this country, and at a great saving in cost.
The greatly desired "civilising" of China need cate with a distinct Russian backing. The conWall b ut some is shipped from Shan Hai Kuan to
only be pushed a little further, viz., to the length cession for the Anglo-American extension of this
P ort 'Arthur. ,
Thus both t he materials and tools necessary for of a properly controlled steel works being estab- from the Yangtze to Canton was sold to the same
the repair and running of t he railway, as well as lished there ; and we may hope (1) to see not only Franco-Belgian syndicate.
The right of building railways in Shantung is
t he property constituting security for a ~oan by washermen but steel girders coming to this country
in the hands of the Germans by our own unsolicited
British investors, was removed from the cluef con- in competition with our own product .
At present, and for want ?f education and trai~ gift. The short Chinese Imperial line in Shangstruction shops of the rail way, and the.se were left
almost if not quite, useless. And th1s was done ing, the transfer of product IS the other way, but 1t hai was built by Germane. The projected Anglowhen ~s clearly stated by t he various Governments, is scarcely likely to remain so, as things seem now German line- Tientsin to Chinkiang-is forgotten.
there' was no state of war with China, but also at a to be moving. It is more likely t hat ten years The provision of rail ways to the Upper Yangtze
time when t he handing over of the line to the hence we, in this country, shall buy bridges built provinces is in the hands of the French. The
British was imminent, and when in any case it was in China by Chinese under the supervision of Burma.-China line is persistently squashed. The
of the first impor tance to all th~ civilised powers enaineers of German, Russian, or other nationality, various Yangtze Valley proj ects are apparently as
that t he railway up to S~an H a.I Kua~ shol;lld be th:n that we shall continue to send t hem there, and far from realisation as ever.
Nor is this wholly due to the present chaos in
n1aintained in good workmg order, whtch without so help to feed ~nd ((lothe our own people in Eng-

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

294
China, for the Russians, French, and Belgians are
at work and k eeping their lines going.
The interests of all these enterprises are firmly
b acked and furthered in every way by Continental
governments, who realise that such enterprises,
though carried on in distant countries and by
private companies, are of immense value to the
countries whose subjects undertake thetn.
The English neither wish nor care, as a rule, to
rely on official help in their enterprises, yet so
strong is the desire to oust us from the coming
h arvest in China, that by official help alone can we
hope to maintain our rights there.
This strong backing is needed if we are to
acquire concessions, but it is also needed if we are
to raise capital in t his country for railways. If,
for instance, we give up the Shan Hai KuanNiuchwang Railway, or the siding ground at
Tientsin, on any reasoning of Russia whatever,
who in England will feel safe in investing a penny
in any similar undertaking 1
But given such protection in preserving common
rights of property, there is n o fear of the commercial results.
Given a fully settled and peopled
country, keen trading customs and interests well
established, ample mineral and agricult ural wealth,
and the cheapest material and cheapest and most
intelligent labour in the world, and there is little
fear of dividends failing, and every certainty of
their a1nple increase.

nearly all the great power schemes of America and

Switzerland have them.
Underground cables
must not transmit more than 1000 kilowatts, and
thus are restricted to small sizes, which are rerelatively exceedingly expensive. At~ the central
station of t he Manchester tramways this r egulation
has involved the use of quite an unnecessary
number of cables, and, if it is n ot rescinded, will
cause endless expense to the power companies.
The thickness of the dielectric r equired by the
B oard is needlessly great. Our ideas on this subject have greatly changed during the past few
months, and we are probably on the eve of great
changes in the construction of cables ; that is, if
science is not hampered by absurd restrictions.
In other countries pressures of 20,000 and 40,000
volts are used, but these are not at present p ossible here ; it is only by the use of high pressures
that the benefits of cheap power can be brought
to the gates of works and shipyards.
In view of this state of affairs, the electrical
trade section of the London Cham her of Commerce
appointed a power mains regulations committee to
consider what modification s are desirable in the
existing B oard of Trade rules and regulations
affecting electric power supply and transmission.
The committee consisted of nine members, Mr.
R. Percy Sellon being in the chair, and they
took pains to learn what were the regulations adopted in Switzerland, France, and
the United States. In a report just issued the
regulations in force in the several countries are
at length, and form very instructive r eading.
GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AFFECT- given
Generally speaking, they differ from those in this
ING ELECTRIC POWER DISTRIBU- country in dealing rather with directions as to
TION.
principles than with d etails. The rules in S witzerVERY early in the history of electric distribution land are very lengthy, and have been drawn with a
the industry was put under the control of the keen eye to the safety of the public. But, at the
Board of Trade, which was empowered to draw up same time, they evidently recognise that the elecand enforce rules regulating the mechanical and trical distribution of power is a matter of great imelectrical features of the apparatus employed. It portance t o the country, and is not to be unduly
may be said generally that these rules were reason - hampered.
Every reasonable precaution is deable, and in the main have operated for the safety manded ; the OYerhead wires are to be of such a
of the public, and to the advantage of under- tensile strength, fixed at a certain h eight, with spans
takers. A t times they have caused dissatisfaction not exceeding a maximum amount, and so on.
to some ardent souls ; but with a public so In populous places n otices are to be affixed to the
suspicious of novelties as the British, and so poles, stating that it is fatc.l to touch tho wires.
prone to panic without cause, it has been an It is assumed that the passer-by will understand
advantage that almost every cha nce of accident has these, and will refrain from meddling with what
been guarded against, and t}lat an excess of pre- does not concern him. If h e does not, then he pays
caution has been enforced. Electric lighting and the penalty. The Swiss evidently recognise that it
electric tramway plants are situated always in is quite as much the function of the Government to
populous centres, and any accident happening in assist enterprise as to protect folly from itself.
In France and Germany the rules are shorter
relation to their conductors is likely to endanger
passers by, who, as a rule, are devoid of even the than in Switzerland, and generally less stringent;
most elementary knowledge of how to act, and while in America there are practically none at all.
often run into danger in seeking to avoid it. It There is, therefore, ample precedent for requiring
was therefore quite justifiable to demand from the that the severe regulations in this country should be
promoters of such undertakings a very consider - relaxed, now that they have served t heir purpose.
able outlay to ensure the public from all causes of It is asked that a deputation may wait on Mr. A. P.
alarm, and even fron1 the possibility of creating Trotter, electrical adviser to the Board of Trade,
dangers for themselves. But with the ad vent of the to. lay before him the conclusions of the Committee,
new power companies, several of which obtained which are printed below; and we h ope that all who
Acts b oth in the sessions of 1900 and 1901, a new set are interested in the success of the power comof conditions has arisen, and some of the existing panies-which means everyone who has the manurules will need to bo greatly modified if the new facturing interests of this country at h earli-will
development of t he electric industry is not to be exert themselves to bring pressure on this departstrangled. The public has now had a seven years' ment to aid the Committee. The recommendations
apprenticeship in relation to electricity, and may are quite moderate, and in the main are a plea
be supposed to have acquired some little ~now against hard-and-fast regulations. It is desired
ledge of the subject, so that they do not reqwre to that t he swaddling clothes, with which the infant
be protected in the same way. They have passed industry has been swathed, shall be relaxed, and that
out of the nursery-in which the fire is provided room shall be allowed for growth. Each scheme,
with a guard 3ft. high, to preven~ heedless fingers according to the Committee, should be referred to
b eing thrust between the bars- Into the parlour, the Board of Trade for criticism and approval; and if
where the fender is little more than an ornament. it bears evidence of careful design, and of solicitude
It remains to be seen whether the Board of Trade for the safety of the public, it should not be rejected
will recognise t he change, and will r elax t ? some because it does not afford theoretical and absolute
extent the conditions which have served their pur- protection under all co~ceivable circumst~nces. If
other departments of Industry were subJect to the
p ose, and are now becoming obsol~te.
.
The power distribution compa:ues, one of whiCh same rest rictions as electricity, the country would
is in operation, and others of whiCh are. full of P.re- come to a standstill. We should have neither
parat ions, can only s~cceed by workmg at h1g.h railways, steamships, nor machine tools_. The man
pressure, and by k~epmg do.wn the cost of the_rr in the street must take some care of htmself. H e
mains as far as posstble. It lS the money sunk m is credited with knowledge of statesmanship, ecoconductors that threatens their financial position. nomic science, and other abstruse subjects, and if
A great deal of t hat must ~e laid dowx;t at once, and he cannot learn to refrain from touching electric
years in advance of the tune when 1t can earn a wires when mischance brings them within his
substantial revenue. They canno_t be always brea~ r each, he must be a gr~atly overrated individual.
ing the roads t o lay fresh wtres ; for even if A hundred people are killed by paraffin lamps for
the expense were not proh~bitiv?, t he J?U blic would every on e who m eets. his deat~ by electricity,, and
scarcely bear the proceedmg wtth pattence. Now yet the Legislature will not rai.se the flash J?Olnt of
it is just on the question of ~~bles that the oil dreading the outcry the act10n would ra1se. It
Board of Trade rules are most strmgent. Over- oniy needs persistent pressure to bring the Board
head wires are practically prohibited, although of Trade to a more reasonable frame of mind, and it

[AuG. 30, 19or.

the business of our r eaders t o add their sha.re to
this pressure.
ELEoTmoAL PowER ~IAIN R EGULATIONS CoM~II'ITRE.
Merrwram.cium f or Enclosure to Mr. A. P. T rotter,
Electrical Adviser to the Board of T rade.
1. Voltage of Supply.-Spea.king generally, the Com-

mittee submit that the Board of Trade should be prepared to sanction distributing systems at voltages at least
up to 20,000 volts between any two conductors, on the
undertakers describing and adopting an approved method
of working; and on the understanding that precautions
are adopted similar to those which have been found successful m other countries. The Committee do nob think
that an arbitrary limit should be fixed even ab 20,000
volts, as oases may arise where higher volta.ges are desirable; but, in such cases, admit that undertakers might
reasonably be asked to specify in datail, for the approval
of the Board, the character of the extra precautions they
propose to adopt.
2. Power Conveyed by Matins.-The Committee consider
that limitation of the size of mains, or the output which
they may carry, is unnecessary and incompatible with
natural development; though they think that the Board
might reasonably require that undertakers should as far
as possible arrange their system of mains to include an
alternabi ve route in c~e of accident. Where, however,
more than 2000 kilowatts is habitually to be transmitted
by one main, the undertakers might be required to notify
the same to the Doard of Trade for the purpose of record;
and the Committee would regard as reasonable a regulation to the effect that, after exceeding a capacity of 8000
kilowatts, a central station should nob transmit more than
one-fourth of its total energy by one set of mains without notification to the Board of Trade; bob that not more
than two sets of mains should be required up to 4000
kilowatts.
3. Laying and Protecting of Cables.-The Committee
strongly urge on the Board of Trade that the regulations
under this head should be open and elastic. Most of the
power transmission work which has been done abroad has
been carried out by means of overhead wires, and there
do nob exist ab present snob large and complicated horsepower distributions as are contemplated in the power
distributions in this country. There can be no doubt
that the use of underground mains on a large soale
will ultimately lead to great improvem&nts, diminishing their cost and increasing their efficiency; and it
would be highly undesirable that rigid regulations
should be laid down before ex perience has been
acquired, and thus stand in the way of legitimate experiment, development, or invention, and place undertakers in this country ab a disadvantage compared with
undertakers abroad. Where the conductors are inter.
woven into a single cable, and where the neutral point of
the system is earthed, the Committee submib that the use
of a metal sheath in a{)dition to the lead covering should
be optional, provided suitable mechanical protection is
afforded.
4. Thickness of Dielectric in Oables.- The Committee
would point out that they can find no rule in any country
abroad, or in America, making a particular thickness of
dielectric compulsory. They Aubmit that the present
Board of Trade rule is nob founded on any scientific
basis, and since it was made, further advances have shown
that great thickness of dielectric is sometimes ftctoally a
disadvantage. Abroad, makers after careful experiment
have successfully adopted much thinner layers with advantage, while there is a. great saving in cost. The Committee suggest that undertakers and cablema.kers should
be left to settle this matter between themselves.
5. P ermission to Use Ba're Otterhead Conductors.-Tbe
Committee would particularly point out the fact that the
Board of Trade regulations have hitherto practically entirely prohibited overhead work in the U mted Kinsdom,
except under such onerous regulations as to make 1t impracticable. There are large area-s in this country, and in
the districts over which power supply Bills have been
granted, the character of which is similar to districts where
bare overhead wires have been successfully and safely used
on the Continent and in America, at very high voltages,
for the past ten years. The great development of
power transmission on the Continent and in America
has been largely by bare overhead wires, in a form which
has been entirely prohibited in this country ; and great
industries have arisen, based on their use, which have no
counterpart here ab all. The Committee are strongly of
opinion that permission to use overhead wires outside
crowded city areas is vital to the commercial success of
power schemes over large districts, and suggest that on
this point the regulations should be brought into line
with those current in other countries.
6. S1,bstations and T ransformers on Oons1tmers' Premises.-The Committee consider that undertakers should

be permitted to place transformers u~ to the voltages

contemplated above on consumers' prem1ses, in substations
above or below ground, provided they are properly designed, drained, and ventilated ; and that the amount
of power to be installed in substations should be left to
the undertakers' discretion.
CoAL IN GERMANY.- The production of coal in Germany
in the first half of this year was 53,005,142 tons. To this
total January contributed 9,54t,080 tons; February,
8,490,582 tons; March, 9,206,673 tons; April, 8,455,737
tons ; May, 8, 900,34.5 tons ; and June, 8, 410,725 tons.
Lignites were raised in Germany in the first half of this
year to the extent of 21,237,238 tons. To this total January contributed 3,865,163 tons; February, 3,462,003 tons;
March, 3,700,078 tons; April, 3,366,205 tons; May,
3,405,528 tons; and June, 3,438,266 tons.

- AuG. 30, Igot.]

NOTES.

295

E N G I N E E R I N G.
sldered and the private Acts passed in the year
1899. The abstracts of the Acts are arranged in
alphabetical order, and in t he more important
cases, where there was a strenuous opposition
before the Parliamentary Committees, an epitome
of the evidence and arguments is given in the
reports. Proof that t he volume is up-to-date is
furnished by the fact that several underground
electric railway schemes are dealt with in its pages.
The index, which was compiled by Mr. W. V.
Ball, contains, amongst other things, references to all
the persons whose interests have been protected in
any of the Bills which are reported in the volume.
It also embodies references to every clause of an
unusual nature, so that any promoters of a private
Bill n eed only refer to Mr. N ewbon's work for
precedents of clauses. The names of members of
the Committee who heard the evidence, of the
counsel engaged, and of the agents employed on
either side, are also given. Last, but not least,
the book contains a number of plans illustrative
of the schemes for which Parliamentary powers
have been sought. These plans are actual reproductions, on a small scale, of the diagrams and
cartoons used when the various Bills were under
discussion before the Committees. A magnifying
glass makes them as useful, for purposes of
reference, as the originals. To render them still
plainer, all the n ew works proposed by the Bills
are marked in distinctive colours, so that the
direction of a new railway is seen at a glance.
The Ordnance Survey maps are r eproduced by
special permission of His Majesty's Stationery
Office. The volume deals with all the private
(railway) Bills of 1899, taking them in alphabeti9al
order, from the 1\berdeen Joi_nt Passenger Station
Act (62 and 63 Vte.t, c., ccxvi.) down to the Great
w t Ra.l
A t (62 d 63 y1 t
1
)
Thes ern
;:hay ~ . h an.
~ ?c. c xxxvi~.
1
th ~~~me~ t e pu dl:hera IS a sr Clen t'guarafnthee
a k e pnn ~~~ ant be dgel!er; execu Ion
e
wor 1eave no mg 0 e eslre

T wo CENTURIES OF FIRE E NGINES.

WHEEL FLANGES FOR RAILWAY WAGONS.

CusTOM alone has dictated t he position of t he
flange of railway wagon wheels, and, so far as we
are aware, n one of t he early engineers went at all
thoroughly into the question as to whether this
flan ge should be on t he outside or inside of the
rails. For good or bad, the inside arrangement
has been adopted, and it is now impossible to alter
it. Yet the mat ter possesses, at any r ate, a theoretical interest. Some experiments made by Mr.
Coath, a railway contractor engaged on important
work in Burmah, have been r ecently brought under
our n otice, and go to show that there are certain
advantages in using wheels with the flanges on the
outside of the rails, and t hat the pioneers of our
railway system adopted the normal arrangement
after insufficient consideration. Thus Mr. Coath
finds that a pair of wheels having outside flanges
will pass round curves of 20 ft. radius without
derailment or locking, whilst quite similar wheels
with th e flanges inside will jam, or if t he speed is too
greatat t he moment of entering the curve, will leave
the track. Sin1ilarly a car having both axles pivoted
at t he centre will pass r ound these curves easily when
the flanges are outside the wheels, whilst it leaves
the track when t he flanges are inside. I t would thus
appear that were our flanges outside t he rails twowheeled bogies could be used for rolling stock
without the necessity of limiting the play of the
b ogie by springs, or of placing t he cent re well forward
or aft of the axle, as in the ordinary Bissell
truck.
THE T.a.ANS-AFRICAN TELEGRAPH
The report r ecent! issued b t he Briti~h South
., C
Y.
Y .
.
Auca ompany contains much of Interest to eng1neers. The work being done on the Transcontin entalline appeals in a special degree to the imagination. The adventurous servants of the company
had, at t he date of the report, carried the line up to
the sout hern sh ore of Lake Tanganyka, and thence
into German territory; t he total length erected
during the year being 325 miles. At t he end
Very few firms can trace their history back to
of the previous season the line had reached the seventeent h century ; and the brochure just
K aronga, near the northern extremity of Lake published with the r ecords of the house of MerryNyassa. From this point to Lake Tanganika is weather, of fire engine fame, from 1690-1901, is of
a distance of nearly 200 miles, in t he course special interest, especially as it narrates also the
of which a "divide " has to be cr ossed. F or t he development of the fire engine from early times.
first forty miles the r oad is quite impracticable for The original founders wer e Hadley, Simpkin, and
wheeled traffic, and a.ll transport had to b e effected L ott, each a noted engineer. When Mr . N athaniel
. by carriers. Small-pox broke out amongst these Hadley commenced business the manual engine was
an d t hey deserted in t housands. Further on the drawn to fires on trolleys, and was worked usually
road proved easier, but r equired to be almost by about 16 men. The fir&t great advance was
entirely r e-made, and many drifts had to be con- made by Simpkin, who in 1'792 took out a paten t
structed across t he rocky beds of streams. Some for a fire engine pump with a separate valve, metal
trouble has been exp erienced in maintaining certain being used for leather, and this proved a gr eat imsectionsof the line previously completed. The67 -mile provement on the early Hadley engine. Gradually
section from Ohiromo to Chikwawa passes through better transit facilities were int roduced, a locking
a large marsh in which the vegetation grows to fore carriage being fitted to the manual engine,
such a height during the wet season as to top the with driver's and hose box, upon which the men
wire, thus causing great loss by leakage. The could ride. Mr. Moses Merryweather entered the
natives cannot be persuaded to cut down the grass works in 180'7, married L ott's niece in 1836, and
A.nd trees, as the place swarms with crocodiles. In ere he died in 1872 brought international fame to
the next section the line passes through a thick the firm, which subsequently became Merryweather
_forest, and as no proper clearance was made at t he and Sons ; and the reputation has been well susoutset, constant watchfulness on the part of t he tained by the present chief, Mr. J. Oompton Merrypatrols has been necessary to prevent serious weather, and his two brothers, now deceased
interruption from falling trees. In the section Richard and H enry. It was Mr. Moses Merry~
from Zomba to Fort Johnson the elephants caused weather who brought out the London Brigade
an interruption by breaking off poles. In the manual as we know it to-day, the first being made
sections, immediately following, the line passes for the 1851 Exhibition, the only important change,
t hrough marshes and forests. Some of the trees perhaps, being a new valve. The steam fire
n1et with were enormous, on e specimen measur- engine had been des:gned long before this- in
ing over 100 ft . in circun1ference. This district 1829- by Braithwaite and Ericcson, and although it
is stated to be most unhealthy in t he rainy season was a mechanical success thus early, thirty years
and it is difficult t hen to repair faults, as most of el~psed before its extensive adoption. Mr. Edward
t he track is under water. In the r ough country Field, whose "Field" boiler is still well known
following these belts of marsh and forest the invented it while consulting engineer for th~
Hoe has had to be carried over numer ous gorges Merryweathers, and the early engines of t he firm
-and ra,1ines, in spans of from 200 ft. to 300ft. had valve gear actuated by a twist-motion bar; but
T hese r avines are impassable to linesmen in t he later great improvements have been effected laraely
rainy season, but plant is n ow being provided to to r educe weight for a given duty. The firm l~a.ve
teope with this difficulty.
al~o done o~iginal work in portable .fire engines for
shtps and 1n other departments of engineering.
T HE PRIVATE BILLS REPORTS.
The late Mr. Henry Merryweather, too, in his brief
A new volume of what are called t he "Private life of thirty-five years, was cloRely associated with
Bills R eports" has just been issued by Messrs. the introduction of steam tramways. I t would
Eyre and Spottiswoode. They are compiled by have been interesting to have had some record of the
Mr. Herbert Newbon, barrister-at-law, assisted by number of engines turned out by the firm at their
Mr. Ormsby, and to judge from the care which several works now concentrated at Greenwich but
:seems to have been devoted to their preparation, in any case even the imagination may not grasp
they bid fair to serve a very useful purpose. The the great saving in life and property effected by the
,v olume just issued, which treats of rail ways, is the use of the fire engines manufact ured in the t wo
first of a series which deals with the Bills con- centuries of work.

L AUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

Hrs Majesty's shallow-draught twin-screw gunboat
Moorhen, which was launched on Tuesday, the 13oh inst.,
from the yard of Messrs. Yarrow and Co., Limited,
Poplar, went through her official trials on Wednesday,
the 21st inst. The Admiralty were represented by Mr.
Harding, Mr. Pine, and Mr. f\.dams. The guarante_ed
speed of 13 knots was maintained for three hours w1th
open stokehold and without the necessity of forced
draught, and during one hour wood fuel alone was used.
The speed trial was made en route to Sheerness, and for
more than two-thirds of the trial she steamed against a
25-knot wind. On arrival at Sheerness the guns were
placed on board, and she then proceeded to sea again
to carry out the gun trials. The draught of the vessel
was 2 ft. 3 in., with a load of 40 tons on board. This
vessel is built in fioatable sections, and she will now be
immediately disconnected for shipment abroad.
The steam ferry Strib, builb by the Elsinore Iron Shipbuilding and E ngineering Company, Elsinore, Denmark,
to the order of the Danish State Railways, went on her
trials on Thursday, the 15th inst., with satisfactory
results. Her dimensions are 165 ft. by 26 ft. 6 in. by 12ft.
depth of hold. The engines are diagonal, high and low
pre~sure, with surface condenser.
Messrs. Harland and W olff, Belfast, launched on
Saturday, the 17th inst., the first of three large twin-screw
steamers which are being built to the order of Messrs .
Ismay, Imrie, and Co., for the White Star Line, for the
service between London and New Zealand, which has
for so many years been run in connection with Messrs.
Shaw, Savill, and Albion Uom~;>any, Limited. The
steamer has been named the Athemc, and will be followed
by the Corinthic and Ionic, sister ships in all respects.
She is 500 ft. in length, with a breadth of 63ft., and a
depth of 41 fb., with a register tonnage of 12,500 tons.
All t hree vessels will have exceptionally comfortable
accommodation for 94 saloon, 84 second, and 186 thirdclass passengers, in addition to a large cargo capacity, and
should prove themselves great favourites with the travelling public.
On Saturday, the 17th inst., the new steamer Westonby,
343 ft. 2 in. by 46 fb. 6 in. by 27 ft., built by Messrs.
Ropner and Son, Stockton-on-Tees, to the order of
Messrs. R. Ropner and Oo., West Hartlepool, made her
official trial trip in the Tees Bay, and made an average
speed of 11 knets. The vessel will carry 5800 tons on
Lloyd'~ sum~er freeboard, and. is fitted with tripleexpansiOn engines by Messrs. Blau and Co., Limited, of
Stockton-op-Tees, with a working pressure of 180 lb.
The la~ge st~el s~rew steamer Soestdy k proceeded on
her offiCial trxal tnp on Tuesday, the 20th inst., in
Har~lepool Bay, and a speed of 12! knots wa.s
obtamed. The vessel has been built to the order
of the ~olland-Ameriea line, Rotterdam. She is over
413 ft. ID length, and has a measurement capacity of
abou~ 13,000 tons, and takes Lloyd's highest class. The
machmery, . which has been supplied and fitted by
Messrs. R1chardsons, W estgarth, and Co. Limited
Hartl~pool, ran very satisfactorily throughout the trial~
t~e sxze of cyli~ders are 28 in., 46 in., and 77 in. i~
diameter by 48 m. stroke, with four single-ended boilers
14ft. 6 in. by 10ft. 6 in. long, and 180 lb. pressure.
On Tuesday, the 20th inst., the first-class steel screw
car~o steamer Marienfels, built by the Flensburger
Sohtffsbau Gesellschaftl for the Deutsch Dampfscbiff.
fahr~s G~ells~hafb Hansa in Bremen, proceeded on her
offiCial trial tr1p. The vessel is classed to British Lloyd's
A 1, an,d her principal dimensions are : L ength, 436 ft.:
br~adtn, 55 fb.; and depth, 32 ft. 5 in.; her dead weight
bemg about 8~00 tons. During the trial a speed of 13
knots was attamed.
The spar-deck ca.rgo steamer Ca.lliope, built by Messrs.
R. Craggs and Sons, of Tees Dockyard, Middlesbrough,
for _Messrs. Gl~dstone and Co., vVest Hartlepool, and
havmg a capaCity of about 6350 tons deadwetght on a
moderate draught, proceeded for her official trials on
Wednesday, the 21st inst. An 18-knot course was
selected and was run in one hour and twenty minutes
on a slack tide. The machinery has been supplied
by Messr~. Blai~ and Co.,_ Limited, of Stockton-on
T.ees, bavmg CJ:lmders 26 m., 42i in., and 69! in. in
dtamet~r by 45 ID. st~oke, steam being supplied by two
large smgl~-ended hollers working at a pressure of 180 lb.
per square tnoh.
~he Har.elda, which has been completed by Messrs.

W1gham Rtehardson and Co., Limited, Neptune Works

Newcastle-on-~yne, for the Continental service of th~
C?rk S_teamsh1p Company, Limited, Cork. went for her
tr1al tnl? on Saturdttty, the 24th inst. The steamer is
25~ fb. 1n length by 33i fb. beam. The engines and
boilers h~ve b~en c_onstructed by the builders, and worked
on the tnal tnp wtthout the slightest bitch, driving the
vessel at a speed of 12i knots per hour.
. PET~OLEUM PRO?UOTION -The production of petroleum
m var1o~s countries last year amounted to 150,000,000
barrels ID round figures. The out-turn of Russia was
77,230,560 barrels; thap ?f the United States, 63,362,700
barrels;. that of GalhCla, 2,346,500 barrels; that of
Roumama, 2, 000,000 barrels ; that! of Sumatra 1 520 000
barrels ; that of Japan, 1, 116,700 barrels a.~d 'that of
Ca~ada, 625,6.50 bar~els. . The Russian Go~ernment has
deClded to bntld a p1 pe hne from te oil fields of B!\ku t 0
Ba.toum on the Black Sea, a distan~e of 550 miles.

E N G. I N E E R I N G.
THE GLASGOW CORPORATION
TRAMWAYS.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-In the admirable description of the Gla-sgow
Corporation Tramways published in your monthly supplement, TRACTION AND TRANSMISSION, detailed reference
1s made to the main engines-two by the E . P. Allis
Company, of Milwaukee, and two by Messrs. Musgrave
and Co. ; and of the Dunoan Stewarb en~nes ereobed for
driving the auxiliary machinery at the Pmksbon station.
You state that 332 cars are being driven over the new
system of tramways, and that so far as the E. P. Allis
engines are concerned, the consumption of current at the
main switchboard per oar-mile run is less than one B oard
of Trade unit. I understand that each of the four
engines is intended, if necessary, to be capable of running
the whole car service, there being always one Allis and
one Musgrave engine in reserve. The oars have been
runnins- since Niay 31 last, but I find it impossible to
a.soertam definitely how the work is being done. Possibly some of your readers may be able to give me the
information I desire by answering the following questions :
1. At what dates were the Allis, ~Iusgrave, and
Stewarb engines running in regular daily work ?
2. What are the relative eflioienoies of the All is and
Musgrave engines, as shown by the test of daily
working ?
3. Is it a fact that for some time past all the auxiliary
machinery in the Pinkston station 18 worked by current
generated by the Allis engines, transmitted five miles to
Da.lhousie sub-station, converted there, and transmitted
back to Pinkston ? If so, wh-y ?
4. Is it nob a fact that since May 31 the whole of the
332 (or more) cars on the system, and more recently the
whole of the auxiliary machinery at Pinkston, have been
operated by the Allis engines ? Is not their present
average load much greater than it was originally intended
that they should undertake ?
5. Have not these engines, thus overloaded, been
worked so continuously that there has been no opportunity for their final adjustment and regulation by the
contractors?
6. If this be the case, is not the Corporation of Glasgow
in<;urring the gravest risk of breakdown ; for the finest
machinery in the world cannot work constantly at a
maximum, and frequently at a high overload, with impunity ?
Answers to the foregoing questions will not only be of
interest to myself personally, but they may avert a gross
injustice to the builders of the Allis engines, against
which much unreasoning prejudice would seem to have
existed at one time.
Yours truly,
CITIZEN.
Glasgow, August 26, 1901.

THE DURR BOILER.

The same case appears in the engine-room; in faob,

generally speaking, no stress is necessary anywhere until
approaching a speed of 21 knots, and then everyone wants
all their buttons on. It is proverbial that "the last half
knot is the squeeze."
Again, this ship can do 16 knots with only one section
of boilers on, i .e., ha.lf her main boilers; though, of course,
they then require to be worked full power.
What I ask is :
1. Why the serious drop from trial-trip speeds to service speeds in the Navy ?
2. Why so many cases of " defects ? "
3. Is it "conditions," " materials," or " personnel?"
Regarding No. 1, after making all allowances for trialtrip conditions, light ship, picked coal, &o., I am still a
long way from a drop of 5 knots for service speed, which
is about the average.
It is pitiful to r ead in the Committee's report of the
trials of the Minerva and Hyacinth . . . "On arrival at
Gibraltar the cap ferrules of the Minerva.'s tubes were
found to be partially choked, due to "bird-nesting," and
the ship could not have gone any further at that power7000 indicated horse-power." Where does this bring us ?
Face to face with the fa-ob that this fine ship, capable of
developin~ about 8700 indicated bor~e-power (see report
further on) can only steam at 7000 indicated horse-power
some 2600 miles !
I pass over the inevitable "defects "-this time an
eccentric strap bolt and the lamentable failure of the
Hyacinth's boilers to hold water-the best we can say of
either ship's performance is, "that one lame duck beat
another. "
I do not write in captious criticism-my great wish is
to see our navy all it should be to defend our Empire.
Faithfully y ours,
August 27, 1901.
AL:I!'. E . AsH.

TAL-Y-CAFN BRIDGE .
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Srn,-In reply to Mr. D. Evans' letter on the above
subject, which appeared in your issue of the 23rd inst.,
we beg to state t hat one of the principal reasons which induced us to adopt the cantilever system for the main
girders of this bridge was that under the conditions it
was the most economical.
Yours faithfully,
DAWSON AND FYSON.
1, Victoria-street, vVesbminster, S. W., Aug. 27, 1901.

GUNS AND PROJECTILES.

T o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-Your correspondent " L." gives a rough analysis
of the cost of manufacturing castings and forgings, and
makes two statements, viz., t>hat cast sbeel must take a
secondary place, and that the arbillerist demands forged
projectiles.
In looking back, I find that steel castings were discarded
on &Ncounb of being unsoun~, and, if sound, the metal .was
perished through over-heatmg. The steel man has smce
been to work, and as soon as he can geb rid of his waste
castings, castings must win; f~r what appl~es to f~r~ings
applies to castings, less two-thirds expense m machimng ;
there is also the fact that forgings have to be pub under
the hammer, or they might crack in the hardening.
Naturally the artillerist '.'at present " wants. fo!ging.s,
seeks good forgings, and Lieutenant Da.wson IS rtght m
driving home the point-best forgings.
A PROJEOTILE GAUGER.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

Srn -In ENGINEERING of August 23, page 263, we
notic~ a letter referring to us, signed by Mr. R. A. Ziese,
of St. Petersburg, to which we wish to send a reply.
When we became a ware of Sohichau's construction of
the boiler for H.M.S. Bayern, we protested against the
use of our patent, and subsequently came to an amicable
arrangement, by which Mr. Sohiohau paid a royalty for
the patent he had bAen using.
The boilers of H .:M.S. Bayern are known, not only
officially, ~ub also in the German technical publ.ioations,
as Diirr boilers. The firm of Waiter and Co., m Kalk,

near Cologne, to whom reference is ma~e, have never

designed nor constructed water-tube boilers for naval
''AMMONIA COMPRESSORS."
in your article, and
P urposes' and the boiler illustrated
. d " W a Iter B 01'1er, " repreTo THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
under which you have pnnte
SIR -Observing a query in your issue of the 17th inst.,
sents what we ourselves executed for H.M.S. Baden.
Y ours obediently,
page '227 're "Compound and Triple Ammonia ComDURR.
pressors," I would beg to inform your correspondent that
there are a goodly number of compound compressors at
work but so far, I have never heard of a triple-compres''WHAT IS THE MATrER WITH OUR
sion ~achine. Tbe Linde British Refrigeration Company
make a compound machine which they specially recomNAVY 1"
mend for use in tropical waters. The g~, having been
To THE EnrroR Ol!' ENGINEERING.
Sin,-An Atlantic liner runs on trial (i .e., when light drawn into a low-pressure compressor, 18 partly comand boilers new, with all fires clean) 23! knots per hour. pressed then is discharged into a high-pressure comThat vessel goes on regular weekly service on the pressor' from whence it is delivered in the usual way to
stormiest ocean in the world, maintains on some voyages the co~denser. In the St. Clair compound ma-chine the
an average speed of 22.1 knots per hour for just under gas on leaving the low-pressure 9ompressor pMse~ through
3000 knots (Queenstown to Sandy Hook), and the average an intermediate condenser on 1ts way to the htgh-presyearly spee~ of all voyages pans out close on 21.5 ~n~ts. sure compressor.
H owever, I think your oorresponden~ will see tb~~~ COJ?-
This 1B no Isolated case. Its parallel can be mult1phed
by hundreds, except that such high speeds are a little sidering the temperature of condensmg water lJ?- .t~ts
exceptional. yessels go into s~rvic~, maintain_<?onstant country it would hardly pay to go to the extra mittal
and regular aailmgs ab near tru~l tnp speed~, w1th only expense' of one or two more compressors, besides the
brief sojourn in port, and perhaps one week m each year extra friction and consequent wear and tear.
He refers to the compound and triple-expansion steam
devoted to graving-dock work, &c.
The particular <:&se citeq above .is the Cuna:rders Cam- engine, but I hardly think t.h~ oases are analogous, bepania and Lucama, and 1s api?hcable to . e1the~. The cause in one case you aro stnvmg to geb as much work
writer had twelve years' se~VIce as engmeer m ~h~t as possible out of a substanc~, in the otb.er case y~:m are
splendid company-fivo years m those two vessels; tb IS striving to get a substance mto a cortam cond1b1on at
certain that even better running would pave been d~ne on tbe expense of as little work as possible. I ~ave no
the Atlantic if it had not been necessary to mod1fy the doubt however but that any maker of ammoma comoriginal pitch of propellers after the trialE', on account of pressi~n macbi~ery ~onl~ willingly supply a machine,
either compound or tr1ple, tf they we!e asked for ~>ne.
the vibration question.
I bad hoped Sir, to see a reply m your last lBSue by
Take now the case of the Navy. On trial a vessel runs,
say, 231 knots (Powerful an~ Terrible); in ac.tua.lservi~e some of our w~ll-known refrigerating experts, such as
they are considered as satisfactory an? domg well .1f Mr. Lightfoot of the Linde Company, or ~Ir. McOustra,
18 knots is maintained. All down the 118t you find th1s. of L. Sterna an'd Co. giving their reasons why oo_mpound
In the Campa.nia, with all boilers, on in fine weather a. and triple ammonia compr~sors are not more um versally
.
speed of 18 knots is '' play work. '
n t~e stokehol~s adopted.
I am, Sir, yours obed1ently,
dampers are nearly half shut- the men le1~urely fire m
D. LINDSAY.
pairs, a.a their turn comes round, between whtles they con27, Brinton's-terrace, St. Maryroad, Southampton.
gregate in groups, spin yarns, and smoke.

[AuG. 30,

1901.

HOE'S PRINTING MACHINE AT THE

GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

To THE EDITOR 011~ ENGINEERING.

Sm,-Referring to the description of the Herald printing machine ab tlie Glasgow Exhibition, in your lasb issu~,
we write to correct a mistake in the title on page 265. The
complete electric driving equipment has been designed and
supplied by us, but the machines were actually built by the
International Electric Company, of Liege, to our detailed
specifications. The controllet also was constructed by
the same firm to our detailed working drawings.
Yours truly,

The BRITISH E LROTRIO PLANT CoMPANY, LTD ,

, V, L. SPENOE, ~Ianaging Director.
W aterloo Chambers, Gla-sgow, August 26, 1901.

''ON THE LIMITS OF ECONOMICAl SPEED

OF SHIPS. "
To T HE E DITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Srn,- In your issue of June 28 I read with interest the
valuable paper of Mr. T ennyson-d'Eyncourb, read ab the
summer meeting of the Institution of Naval A rchitects.
One of the conclusions :h'Ir. Tennyson arrives ab is as
follows: "If a speed be aimed ab slightly above the
limiting speed I have defined (corresponding ab v = VL)
with the indicated horse-power increasing as more than
the fourth power of the speed, it will be found possible
to drive at that speed with the same horse-power a vessel
increased in one dimension-viz., in length, and proportionally in displacement."
This conclusion is quite correct, and agrees perfectly
well with the experiments I made myself at the Experimental Tank at Spezia, the results of which I embodied
in a paper I read ab the International Congress of Naval
Architects, held ab Paris last year. D eduction No. 5
of this la-sb paper runs as follows : ".Every hull derived
from another one by changing the longitudinal dimension
has a special speed, at whioh speed the increasing or the
reduction of the displacement between ordinary limits
does nob require any notable increasing or reduction of
horse-power. The length of the hull and this speed are
related to each other, approximately, by: v = .Y L
(where v is the speed in knots and L the length in feet)."
From the above deduction we may pass to a more general
one, and say : Every form of vessel or ship has, for any
size we choose to give her, a. special speed, and any
increase or reduction in her length, though it bears a.
corresponding change in her displacement, does not
req uire, to drive her ab that speed, any increasing or
reduction of horse-power.
I remain, yours very truly,
M AJOR G. ROTA.
Naval Arohiteot, M. I . N . A.
R ome, August 22, 1901.

HIGH-PRESSURE v. LOW-PRESSURE
STEAM IN THE SUGAR REFINERY.
To

i 'HE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.

SIR,-Havin~ bad ten years' experience

with the
working of b1gh versus low-pressure steam in sugar
factories in the West Indies, and having converted six
of those factories from steam of 50 lb. to 100 lb. pressure,
I venture to give my practical testimony on the ~reab
economy that resulted from the adoption of the htgher
pressure, and consequently, with Mr. J. W .. Chambers, ~m
quite at a loss to understand Mr. N. W. Gtll's conclusiOn
that for this special work" low-pressure abeam is the more
economioaJ."
Now with regard to Mr. Chambers' remark: "If the
high-pressure steam is exJ?anded," &c. (page 227, ENGI
NEERING, August 16, 1901); "if Mr. Gill ~e~ies this,
will be be good enough to show where the m1ssmg heat
goes?"
The following, taken from my rather extensive data,
proves beyond question the benefit of steam superheated
by being wire drawn through a reducing valve.
A vat containing 2000 gallons of wash was stilled with
baol{pressure steam ab 51b. per square inch, with the result
that after the still there remained in the vat 3000 gallons.
Under the same conditions, but wibb live steam ab
100 lb. per square inch, pr_essure brought down to 5 ~b.
per square inch by a reduclDg valve, left the vat mbh
only 2000 gallons remaining after the still was run.
Furthermore and this is beside the question-the highpressure steam gave praobioally double the quantity of
proof spirit from ~he same amounb of wash that the
low-pressure steam did, through the abeam not being
saturated.
. .
I had often beard the fallacious argument that th1s wuedrawing causes waste of heat; but this practical experiment speaks more than volumes of figure~.
W. PRIOE ADELL, Wh. So., M. Inst., C.E.
A CaNADIAN F ERRY STEAMER.- Messrs. S ir W. G.
Armstrong '\'Vhitworth, and Co., Limited, have builb a
large ferry' steamer nn,med tb~ cotia. for the carriage of
railway trains across the Stra.tts of Canso, to and from
P ort 1\IIusgra.vo, Nova cotia. The. stea~e~, which h~s
been built t>o the order of the Canad1an Mm1ster of R:ulways and Canals, is also arranged a~ an ice break~r, as
during a considerable parb of the wmter the Str&lts of
Canso become congested. with large ma-sses <?f ice. The
steamer is capable of takmg over a load of nme Pullman
oars each 84 ft. 6 in. long, or a correspondingly larger
nur~ber of box goods oars. She is also specially strengthened to tn.ke over an express locomotive and tender
weighing nob less than 116 tons. The vessel has been
fitted with two sets of triple-expansion engines of 1200
horse-power each.

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

Aua. 30, tgor.J

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

pressure be brought to bear for passing it. Group VII.

is miscellaneous, and contains a variety of resolutions
upon a number of subjects, the most important being
one to amend the Conspiracy and P rotection of Property Act, 1875. Group VIII. relates to the Compensation Act, fifteen resolutions and amendments
being devoted to that measure. There is a general
demand that the Act shall be extended to all trades
and occupations. Seven resolutions and amendments
relate, in Group I X., to wages, :t minimum wage and
the universal applicat ion of the "Fair Wages Resolution" being insisted upon. Mining ren-s and royalties are dealt wit h in Group X., also the Mines Eight
Hours .Bill, and various other matters relating to
working miners. Group XI. relates to postal employ6s, seven resolutions being submitted. Group XII.
deals wit h Parliamentary reform. A general eight
hours' day is urged, in Group XIII., by gas workers ;
a forty-eight hours per week by bakers; and early
closing of shops by shop assistants. Death certificates and housing of the working classes are the subjects of the other two groups. There is nothing sensational in any of the proposals before Congress t his
year.

297
Burnley employment in the engineering trades con
tinues fair, but machine workers are less busy. In
the Liverpool and Birkenhead district engineers and
boilermakers are fairly well employed. So far the
position is at least favourable, and the outlook is not
discouraging.

TnE first
ession of t he first Parliament of
Edward VII. has ended. Except for the Factory and
Workshops Act, it was almost barren as regards
labour legislation. But, then, that piece of legislation in itself was no mean performance. Consolidation Acts, pure and simple, are often allowed to
The "holiday week" in Lancashire is always repass without any destructive criticism ; but t here is
garded as a. kind of rough test of prosperity in the
always a. danger lest, upon any clause, eome attempt
cotton industries. It was thought that this yea.r would
may be made to change the law-by omission, limishow a falling-off, but it appears that enormous sums
t ation, or otherwise. But to carry through in one
were wit hdrawn from the sharing clubs, the savings
Session a. large Consolidation Bill, and with it an
banks, &c., where the funds were deposited. The
amending Bill, and then to incorporate and carry sucmarried folk wi th t heir families, the unmarried male
cessfully the entire measure, is a. work of labour, of
and female, hied away to the familiar seaside places
patience, and often of concession. The latter had to
in Lancashire ; to the I sle of Man . always attractive
be resorted to in the case of the Factory and Workshops
to the cotton operatives ; to the MetrG'polis ; some to
Act, or the work of t he Session in this respect would
Wales, some to Scotland, all to enjoy, in their own
have been wasted. T he new proposals as to laundries
way, t he rest from t heir labours. 'l'hey spend freely
had to be deleted, but the old provisions were restored.
while the money lasts. ]'ormerly the hoardings were
The chief subject which occupied t he Labour memspent nearer at home in drinking and sports ; now it
bers, more especially the miners' representatives,
is a. trip by rail or boat to a distant place-a. healthier
was the coal duty; but all t heir efforts were in vain
plan and more likely to be enjoyed by the family than
in so far as rejection was concerned. There were,
in the olden times.
however, some concessions as to existing contracts,
&c. There was no time at the fag end of the Session
There appears to have been a substantial improveAccording
to the latest available in formation, the
to call attention to the recent decisions in the House ment in the iron and steel trades in the "\Volver- American " steel strike" shows but little sign of settleof Lords as regards the lia bility of trade unions.
hampton district. There has been increased activity ment. Both parties are, it is said, satisfied with t he
and prices have been firm all round. Raw iron has situation, which, if t rue, affords small hope of amicable
The r eport of the Boilermakers and Iron Ship been in limited supply, t he output from the furnaces terms being agreed upon. The Trust, it appears, is
builders for the current month is, as regards the st ate being unequal to the demand. Quotations are there- endea.vouring t o centralise its operations on non-union
of trade, very encouraging. It says : " Although here fore fully maintained and higher rates are asked lines. :M r. Morgan has decided not to treat with t he
and there trade may be called moderate, principally for early deliveries. Makers of finished bars, both Amalgamated Association until it become incorporated,
in repa.il'ing centres, yet in the shipbuilding and also in best and common qualities, have booked some good or becomes liable to payment of damages for breach
the inland districts there is a continuat ion of very orders; for renewals of old contracts advances of (from of contract. I t is to be hoped t hat no rioting will be
good trade." I t further says that the fears of depres- 2s. 6d. to 5s. per ton are required. Gas strip has been resorted t o in thi9 dispute. It is said that t he men
sion have passed away, and there is now eYery indica- dearer, but galvanised corrugated sheets have declined are being liberally supported by wealthy men, as well
tion of good trade for some months to come. The somewhat. Generally employment is said to have im- as by the labour unions, as a protest against the
members who neglect t heir opportunit ies by absenting proved in all the iron and steel branches. In the " great combine. "
themselves from work, and by thriftlessness, are severely engineering and allied trades employment is reported
The Scotch miners appear to be determined to
censured, not only on the ground of their own losses, by to be good, including ironfounders, boiler and ta.nk
the " evil habits of losing time and dislocating work," makers, bridge and girder constructors, smiths and resist the proposed reduction of 6d. per day in their
but by reason of the injury they inflict upon other strikers, and in all sections of railway work. Employ- wa.ges, said to affect some 70,000 men. The various
members of the same society, who would work, and ment in t he cycle industry is also good; on motor work meetings held have passed resolutions in support of
also upon the employer, bringing the society into dis fa.ir. At Colebrookda.le and ~Ia.deley trade is said to the view taken by the delegates, and t he representarepute. The total number of mem hers on the funds be quiet. The malleable ironworkers at ' Valsall are tives on the conciliation board have been instruct ed to
was 3376; last month 3413. Of t he total, 41 were on not quite so busy.
oppose any reduction. The attitude of the men may
travel ; 279 signing the vacant book ; 913 on home
have the etfect of inducing the coalowners to reconsider
In the Birmingham district there was a kind of t heir proposal, and it may be that negotiations will
donation; 1435 on sick benefit; and 708 on superannuation. The decrease in the number out of work holiday air on 'Change, and business was, perhaps, a follow to consider terms.
was altogether 64, but there was an increase of 15 on little languid ; athough there was a good attendance,
There is some dissatisfaction among the miners in
the sick list, and of 12 on superannuation benefit. the transactions were not on a large scale. The one South W ales and Monmouth as to the sliding scale,
There was a net increase of 186 members in the mont h. thing that gave a. tone to the market was the and as to the action of t he mineowners as regards the
I t is announced that one large firm has again opened general firmness in prices, with an upward ten- auditors' report. ~1r. Brace, vice-president of the
its works to the members ; the latter are urged so to dency. Tube strip is in better demand, and South Wales Miners' Federation, hints that it might
work and act that they will bring credit to the roofing sheets also for oversea. purposes. The steel lead to an abrupt termination of the agreement. Hut
society. The expenditure was 1388l. 9s. per week in trade is handicapped by foreign competition, but a special meeting of all t he delegat es would be necesthe four weeks ; t he total funds at the end of the there is an improved demand. I n general the state sary before any such action could take place.
quarter amounted to 367 ,939l. Ss. 6d ., a large propor- of employment seems not to be so good as reported a
The strike of slaters at Hull is alleged to be because
tion of which was invested in eleven successful con- month ago, as there is a slight increase of unemployed.
In branches of trade unions with 21,605 members, 670, the employers seek to put labourers to do the work.
cerns, including four great railway companies.
or 3.1 per cent., were returned as unemployed, as This the employers deny. The latter have opened
On Monday next t he Thirty-fourt h Annual Trades compared with 2. 9 per cent. in the previous month. their yards for a week to enable t he old hands to reUnion Congress will assemble in the Albert Hall, The local secretarie9 of the engineers' branches report sume work : if t hey refuse, then t he employers say
Swansea. For many years Congress bad before it employment as moderate; toolmakers and ironfounders that they will fill up vacancies as they can.
At the two days' conference of dockyard labourers,
annually a series of subjects arranged as a. programme, as moderate; pa.tternmakers, smiths, and strikers as
selected by the Parlia.mentary Committee, mostly per- good. Electrical workers of all sections report trade held at Sheerness last week, attended by delegates
taining to legislation- to measures for the next ensuing as good ; cyclema.kers as moderate ; in the motor from all the dockyard towns, it was resolved to petisession. Now t here is an agenda of considerable industry fair. On the whole, covering all industries tion the Government for a minimum wage of 24s. per
length, containing the resolutions of the various unions using iron, steel, and other metals, the posit ion as week, and other advances.
The strike of Jewish bakers at the East End of
sending delegates, together with proposed amendments regards employment is favourable, and the outlook is
thereto. This year the subjects are arranged in fifteen decidedly encouraging for at least some time to come. London is mainly on the ground of work on the J ewish
Sabbath. The men protest against this, and have
groups, all resolutions and amendments relating to
In t he La.ncashire districts the iron t rade has been often tried to abolish it. The English bakers support
each group following each other in due order.
In the fi rst group t he resolut ions are devoted t o the characterised by a strong tone, with prices hardening them, as they have some protection as regards Sunday
amendment of the Factories and Workshop Acts, but continuously. In the engineering trades there is work, secured by legislation.
The strikes of t ramway men in various parts of
these are already more or less out of date by the carry- little change, but in some of t he most important
ing of the Act to consolidate and amend those Acts, branches there is full employment, which is likely to Italy, report ed last week, have mostly terminated by
now repealed. The dockers and others want the Par- continue for a considerable time. Even in branches various concessions on the part of the companies, and
t iculars clause applied to ship cargoes, and the weavers where orders have not come forward freely ~of late, the men have resumed work.
there is as yet no serious falling off in employment.
the cessation of work at noon on Saturday.
Compulsory arbitration is insisted upon by t wo Labour correspondents to the Board of Trade report
ANOTHER ST. L AWRENOE BmDGE.-The erection of a
groups of t rades-dockers and railway workers. The trade to be moderate in the Manchester and Sa.lford
growth of trusts and combines is urged as a reason. district, with engineers, ironfounders, machine workers, bridge across the St. Lawrence connecting St. Helen's
The suggestion is that a " Supreme Court of Arbi~ra brassworkers, braziers, smiths, and strikers. Boiler- Island with Montreal is under consideration. The estition " be est~blished, presided over by a Lord Just1ce, makers slack in Manchester, but fairly good at mated cost of the bridge with terminals is 1,800,000l.
the court to consist of an equal number of representa- Northwich ; brassfounders quiet in :Manchester, but
filesmiths are
THE PorJT..AK-VIRAGTET.EORAPH.-Our correspondent ao
tives of employers and employed. Legal experts are ood at Stockport. In Warrington
Buda-Pest writes us as follows about the Polla.k-Vira.g
k I
1b
h
1
b
8
to be d ebarred from acting as representatives. District usy; wire weavers rat er ac n genera.' ranc es tele~raph: "The experiments which were to have been
courts are to be established ; t he supreme court to be of trade unions in Manchester and Salford, with oa.rned out with this system between Pa.ris and Lyons
the final court of appeal. Whether the Congress will 24,785 members, reported 879 to be unemployed, or were abandoned on account of the expense, but the Hun3.5 per cent. , as compared wi th 3.1 per cent. in the ga.rian Telegraph Administration has mstalled it on aline
endorEe this sweeping change remains to be seen.
About a dozen resolutions a nd amendments in previous month. In the Oldham district, boiler- from Buda.Pest to Fiume, a distances of 600 kilometres.
G roup III. relates to the stand in~ orders, and. ne~d not makers and pa.tternma.kers report trade as good ; Excellent results are being obtained ab a. working speed
be specified. Group IV. deals w1th the appltca.t10n of engineers as moderate; gasmeter-makers, iron grinders. of 40,000 words per hour. Negotiations are in progress
the Compensation Act ~o foreign shiJ?owners; both ironfounders, and brassfounders as moderate: tin- with the F rench Government with a view t o setting up
resolutions are from umons representing trades con- plate workers report employment as slack. In the a working instalJation, and the German State has undertaken to give the system a practical working trial between
nected with shipping. Group V . pertains to educa- Bolton district machine fitters and allied trades are Berlin
and Cologne. Many improvements have been
tion, some nine or ten resolutions and amendments better employed ; engineers and steam -engine makers made in the apparatus, and more especially in the Toster
being submitted; these need not be commented upon report trade as moderate ; blacksmiths, roller makers, typewriter perforator, which is used in the preparation of
further than to say that the unions insist upon facilities moulderP, and metal workers, ra.ther slack. Employ- the sending slips. The inventors express themselves confor higher education. Three resolutions are devoted ment is bett u with ironworkers at Bury, Chorley, fidently on the results of the~e trials, and rely npon them
to the Steam Engines and Boilers Bill, urging that Hindley, Norwich, and Wigan. At Blackburn and. to prove the practical utility of their system."

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

E N G I N E E R I N G.
REVIEW OF MARINE ENGI NEERING
DURING THE LAST TEN YEARS.*

By JYir. J A~!RS JYioK.ECHNIE, of B arrow-in-Furners

(Concluded from page 272.)
. P iston Speed. - Reference has already been made to the
lD~rease in piston speeds; in the case of fast ocean gomg stea:mera, as well as in n~val ships, there has been
a marked lJ?Crease. The followmg Table gives the speeds
for the vanous types :
Piston Speed
per Minute.
ft.
Ocean-going passenger steamers of
high speed
..
..
..
..
950
Intermediate ocean-going steamers. .
760
CarJ;(o steamers . .
..
..
..
530
High-speed orosschannel steamers . .
880

Stroke.
ft . in.

5 6
4 6
4 0
2 9

. High piston SJ?eed.s necessitate more attention being

g 1ven to the lubr1cat1on of all working parts especially
of the crankpin and main bearing brass~. 'Advantage
has been found to accrue from the grooving of the
~otboms, as well as the tops, of all crankpin main bearlOg and crosshead brasse~, as it insures free circulation of
the lubricating oil. ltJ can scarcely be sa.id that a large
proportion of recent accidents or breakdowns have been
due to high speed of rotation, care in selection of the
materials of construction and in the design of working
parts having reduced to the minimum the chances of
failure, while ab the same time inspiring those in charge
of machinery with increasing confidence.
T he D iarnttcr atnd Strength of Shajting.- There have
been frequentJ failures of tail-end shafts, which have led
the various registries t o modify their rules in the direction of~ greater margin of safety, while sp ecial recommendatlOnS have been made to prevent corrosion in the
ster~ tube ; ~ut i.t may suffice to g~ ve a Table showing
the mcrease 10 stze of shafts requrred by the various
registries. The sizes are worked out for a three-crank
vertical triple-expansion engine having cylinders 23 in.
38 in., and 63 in. in diameter with a stroke of 45 in., th~
working steam pressure being 180 lb. p er square inch.
Compwrative Diarneters of Shajting for an Engiln.e of the
same P ower in 1890 and 1900 by va;rious .Authorities.
Crankshaft.

Thrust .

Tunnel.

[Auc. 30, I9oi.

t he risks run in a naval fight will not be associated only

with the machinery.
.T ypical Eflgines Rlustrative of General Practice.- In
F tgs. 26 to 38 there are reproduced drawings of varioua
types of engines to illustrate the general practice so far
as the arrangement of cylinders, valves, working parts,
and framing are concerned. Two steamers successively
built for the service of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and
L ondon and North-Western R ailway Companies between
F leetwood and Belfast serve to show in what direction
chan~es have been made in channel steamer practice.
The Duke of Lancaster was built in 1894, and the Duke
of Cornwall in 1898. They are practically identical ships,
and the engines of the former are illustrated in Figs. 26 to
28, and the engines of the latter in Figs. 29 and 30, page 299.
It was stipulated that there should be a large reserve of
power, in order that a voyage ordinarily completed in
6! hours might be accelerated to 5i" hours to "catch the

The Sokoto's engines are

23 in. - 38 in. - 63 in
X 180 lb.,
45 in.
single screw, the power being 1800 indicated horse-power
a.b 85 ~volutions, the piston speed thus equalling 650ft
per mmute. The only other notable changes are the
addition of a feed heater to the later boab, and the substitution of a propeller having oast-steel boss and bronze
blades for the cast-iron P.ropeller used in the earlier ship.
The t. -s.s. Ortona, built m 1898 for the Pacific Steam
Navigation Company, may be considered as an example
of presf:\nt-day shipbuilding and marine engineering as
she is intended to maintain an all-round fairly high oc~n
speed on one of tne longest voyages in the world, carrying a good paying cargo {pro~ortiona.lly much greater
than that carried by fast A tlant1c liners), in addition to a.
large number of passengers of all classes. Such conaidera-

Two Engiu es of approximately 3,000 H .P. compared.

Torpedo B oat Destroy er Engines , 3,000 I .H .P.

'

M erchant V e:sel Engines , 3,000

/.I/.1'.
I

1
fi

Pr opeller.

fl

\ \

111

1890. 1900. 1890 1900. 1890 1900. 1890 1900.

lD.

1n. 1n.
dia. dia.
12t 11!
11
lli

dia.
Lloyd's . .
..
Board of Trade
British Oorpora
t ion

Bureau Ver itas

lli

11i

11~

llH

12t
12

12i

12t

12~

121

llr

m. 10.
dia.
dia. dia. dia.
12& Ill n t 1H 13
11! 11! lli 12!
10.

m.
dia.

lD.

ua

12i

12~

11!

ua

11~

12

12i

14i'

The percentages of increase in the strength of the above

shafts, made to existing rules, as compared with the
rules dated 1890, are as follow :

Crank
Shafli.
I

Thrust
Shaft .

Tunnel
Shaft.

per cent. per cent. per oent.

14
Llo) d's ..
..
17
17

0
Board of T rade
0
0

British Corporation ..
17.5
17.6
14

----

Propeller
Shaft.
per cent.
36
16.5
9

--

Stresses wpon Materials in Cargo Steanners v. T orpedoBoat Destroyers' Engines. -While dealing with the subject of the strength of materials, it may not be without
mterest to indicate the extremes met with in modern
marine engineering practice, as exemplified by the case of
modern cargo steamers' engines and the propelling machinery of a 30-knot torpedo-boat destroyer. In Fig. 24
there is given a contrast diagram (drawn to the same scale)
of engines for each vessel, and t he T able below shows the
stress in pounds per ~quare inch on various parts of the
Stress in Pownds per Squa;re I nch on va;rious Parts of Main
Engilnes for Cargo Vessel and T orpedo-Boat Destroyer.

'

f=

!~

Torpedo-Boat
( 11<1,) .
Cargo Steamer.
(Both c!r:1wings a:-c to s a~e sc:1le.)
Destroyer.
3760 Indicated 3000 Indicated

Uorae Power.
Horae- Power.

89 RevolutionP. 390Revolutiona.
7500 Indicated 6000 Indicated tide." Both have t win-screws. The earlier boat was tions as these pub a. limit on the speed a.t which voyages
may be economically made. The cylinders of the Ortona's
Horse Power
fitted with three-crank triple-expansion engines
Horse-Power
Combined.
engines (Figs. 33 a.nd 34, page 300) are 30 in., 50 in., and
Combined.
24 in. - 36 in. - 55 in. x 160 lb.,
83 in. in diameter by 54 in. stroke, and on trial t he mean
lb. per sq. in.
lb. p er sq. in.
33 in.
iudicated horse-power was 8550 indicated horse-power ab
6700
Crankshaft . .
..
..
..
3200
developing 5400 indicated horse-power at 160 revolutions. 81.9 revolutions.
5276
Pistonr od body (Lensile) .
..
2370
8876
Connecti ng-rod bolts, bottom end
5200
The later boat has four-crank triple-expansion engines,
The engines of the King Alfred are illustrated a.s
9160
Pisloo-rod screw . .
..
..
4160
bypica.l of naval practice to.da.y (F ig. 35, page 301, and
22!
in.
34
in.
3~
in.
38!
in.
x
lb.,
8
H igh-pressur e cylinder barrel at
1 0
Figs. 36 to 38, pa-ge 302), and the dimensions are given
4400
4176
test pressure
..
..
..
33 in.
fully with those of other ships on Tables VIII. and I X .
Intermediate pressure cylinder
indi cating about 5700 indicated horse-power at 160 revo- (page 272 ante). A reference to Plates 66 and 67 of JYir.
3230
4700
barrel at test pre88ur e . .
..
lutionP. The rise in boiler pressure will be noticed, and Blecbynden's paper of ten years ago will show the great
Low-pr essure cylinder barrel at
2580
2230
the increase in revolutions and consequently of piston changes made in naval engin&~.
test pre88ure
..
..
..
Factor of safety conn ectiog-rod
speed. The later engine is arranged on the Yarrow,
Enclosed Engines.- 'I'he high speod of rotation of the
12
7.676
bolts
..
..
..
..
destroyers' engines, which run up to 420 revolutions per
Schli ok, and T weedy balancing system.
26.4
12.76
F a.clor of safety, piston-rod body
A similar comparison between two cargo steamers may minute, may make ib almost a necessity to adopt the
13.2
7.36
,
,
,
screw
be suggested by reference to the s.s. Volta, completed in closed-in system in combination with forced lubrication .
28 tone
30 tons
Minimum tensile streng t h, steel
1892, and s.s. Sokoto, constructed quite recently; both The advantage of this will be appreciated when it is
castare for the same owner3, and work in the same trade, stated that the space between the twin sets of engines in
ir~~ . .
..
':.
..
..
a ,
9 ,

most of the destroyers does not exoeed 3~ ft., the starting

platforms being as a rule at the forward end. On Fig. 39
(pa~e 301) there is a drawing of one of Yarrow's closed-in
engmes, and by way of contrast there is reproduced in
F igs. 40 and 41 (page 301) the front and end elevations of
an engine of corresponding type bub open, also illus P~per read at the .Ba.rrnw. ~n- Furness m<:?etirg of the th :\ power bein~ 1400 indicated horse-power at 70 revolu- trating a. system of forced lubrication for destroyers'
tiont~, 1he sp ecifitjd pi:! ton spet.d bting 600ft. per minute. enginee. Any d')ubt entertained a3 to the practicability
I nstitution of Mechamcal Eogmeers.

two engines. F rom this it may be seen that the stress in and the engines of the Sokoto are illustrated in Figs. 31
the case of the destroyer is almost double, so fa r as the and 32 on page 300. The Volta has singlescrew triplecrankshaft and piston-rod are concerned. A .desb~oyer is expansion engines,
a n instrument of warfare, where everythmg 18 sub23 in. - 38 in. - 61 io. x 160 lb.,
servient to the one dominant desideratum-high speed; and
42 in.

299

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

AuG. 30, 1901.]

~~~==========~~~====================~====~==

CORNWALL.''
OF
LANCASTER
>,
"DUKE
AND
OF
THE
ENGINES
"DUKE OF

Tw-irt Screw Chef/nnel Steame?j ''.Du.ke of Lancaster ' J ( 1894-)

T w i1t S crew Cluum el Stea111er,

" Duke of Lancaster'' ( 1894) .

F'UJ.'ll6

'

Fi9.28.

,.

'

f ort Engine,

L ooking

Forward.~

,...

. -''

.
;

Fig.21.

-.

[1t$, -nw~~~ ~~ Is I

Modern Twin Screw Channet Steamer, "Duke of Cornwall."

- I

Fig.28. Starboard Engine.

Modern

Tw it~

S crew Cha11nel Steamer, "Duke of Cornwall.''

'

Fig. .JO.
Starboard Engine.
L ooking aft.
'0

.
I

: I

H.P.

II :I

L .P.

'

II 'I

I ;

I.P.

o I
I

'' '

'

'

''
'
I'

'
'I'
I
I

''I
I
I

'I
''

II

'

'
'
I

H.P.

(AuG. 30, I 901.

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

300
of c&rrying ~>U~ the system in destroyers of 30 knobs SJ?eed
b a.s been dtsstpa.ted by the success of one of t he Brttish
boa.ts, which is working sa.tisfa.cborily wi bh closed engines
a.nd forced lubrica.tion. The new arrangement, however,
ca.lls for a. grea.ter faith on the p a.rb of the engineer in
charge, who is not able to see a.t a.ll times the condition
of nuts a.nd pins. But as the whole subjeob ha.s already

in st_ea.m l?ressures h~s. involved . several problems _in conneobton mbh the auxthary ma.chmery on board shtp. In
some of the early high-pressure naval machinery there
was considerable leakage in the auxiliary a.s well a.s main
engines through pisbon and slide-rod gla.nds ha.ving
asbestos packing. In one ca.se a packing was substit uted
consisting of powdered white meta.J, blS~'Jk lead, and

the lower gland of bhe high-pressure cylinder of an engine

when working ab all powers from 2000 to 12,000 horsepower. In the case of a.n engine for running a dynamo the
tightness was of corresponding duration. A development
in the opposite direction has recently taken place, it
having been found that under usual circumstances metallic
packing is unnecessary for the piston and slide-rods of the

1sl Class Cargo S tea1ner.

"Borntt a1~t d S okoto '' (Modern).

Pi9.81.

o.Fig.az

.~

10

IS

20Fut

T win S crew Stea1ner, "D_-rtona " (Pa cific L iner). Fig.33. Port Engine .

. . -- -- "-\...

Twin Serew Steamer,

"Ortona " ( Pacific L iner) .
.Port Engine .

------

.. -..

..

I
I
I

0
I

'f

t ;

been discussed a.b t he Institution of Mechanical E ngineers in a. paper read in July, 1897, * by M r. Alfred
Morc~m. on "High Speed Self-Lubricating Steam
Engines," it is not necessary here to do further t han
ndicate progress.
.
..At'v.ciliary Machiner y: Piston Packings.- The mcrease

P coceedings, 1897, page 316.

I'

mineral grease mixed together, and held in position in

the glands or stuffing-box by vulca.nibe rings mserted ab
top a.nd bottom. Itl proved efficient, and even in the
case of some of the main engine glands this same packing
wa.s substituted for asbestos, the ordinary metallic packing
being reta.ined in the upper gland; but here the retaining
rings were of metal instead of vulcanite, a.nd there was no
leakage during the two years this packing was in Uie in

low-pressure cylinder. Soft packing in these positions

behaves satisfactorily, a.nd does nob require the skill in
attention and overhaul that ma.ny metallic systems involve. In t he Navy most low-pressure glands a.re now
being fitted with soft non-metalhc packings.
The question of the coal consumption of auxiliary
machinery ha.s occupied muoh attention, and valuable
data are to be found in the ~dmirable p a.pers read by

301

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

AuG. 30, 1901.]

Sir John Durston, K .O.B. Eogineer-in-Obief of the
Navy, and Mr. H. J. Oram, Obief Inspector of Ma"?hinery,
ab the Institution of Oivil Eogineera, and by Str J ohn
Durston at the Institution of Naval Architects. There
can be no doubt that a saving could be effected by compounding many of the engines; but in naval ships, at least,
the necessary increase in weight is an objection. Flat
slide-val vas with relief rings at the back where necessary,
should repl~ce piston slide-valves. Nearly all the _piston
slide-valves in the auxiliary mach inery of naval shtps, at
all events, have, until recently, been solid; and although
they may be tight when new, they soon wear, with the
result that constant leakage to the condenser goes on.

'
lb., whereas

being 67.8lb., as against a mean ~f about 48

with compoundin~ ~be di~eren~e 1s equally marked, a.n d
the mechanical effiCiency 1s qUite 10 per cent. better wtth
the direct-acting pumps.
.
The Propeller.-The length of thts paper precludes an.Y
detailed reference to the subject of pr<?pellera. There 18
a growing tendency in favour of twm s~rews, largely
because of the security they afford aga.tnst complete
breakdown and something like 5~ per cent. of all steamers
now const~ucted are of this type. Treble screws have
been adopted for one or two mer?hanb vessels f~r shallow
river service, three-cylinder engmes on th.e tr~ple compound system being fitted athwart the sh1p w1th cranks

range as is desirable and steadies their running. The

eat advantage of th'e system is that it allows th~ latent
reat of the exhaust steam t o be usefully employed, mstead
of pa.ssing to the condenser.
..
.
lb has been suggested that much of .t~e auxihary machinery should be operated by electriCity, and tt seems
probable that where extensive use is made of th~ current,
admittin~ of an eoonomioa.l system of genera.t1on, good
results might accrue, especially in the d~i ving of f~ns and
other gea.r situated at preaent a.t constder~ble dtstance
from the main stea.m leads. But the experience of S?me
of the superintending engineers n.nd a:lso of the U m.ted
States naval authoritie~, who ha.ve tr1ed the electrical

Fif3.39.

L ~/~

'

~'"'"""'u

~~ ~
,....

'< ~
'

Total Collective l .H .P. - 15,000 each Eugiire

. o' Cy ls. an d St ro k e 43Jt"x
D ,a.
71"x81~"x8 1~"
1
48

'Pressure at Engines - - - - 250

I
RevolutiotiS - - - - - 120
Rev. Engine, 2 Cyls. 6~" dia., 7" stroke.
Revs. fr. Ahtad to A stu. - - 33
Turning Eng., 2 Cyls. - 6~" dia., 6" stroke
R~vs. to 1 Rev. of Main Etsgs. . 2240
Air Pump - 34" d ia., 1 5~" stroke,

Fig. 35.

I I U

6i

6i

{GIDLS.)

E.LiiVATION OF ENCLOSED TORPEDO

(YARROW, POPL R.)

Eii

....

..._

BOAT E.NGINES.

Tns.

/'

S ectiou:through l.P. Casing.

~L ooking aft. .. -

oF~w ~ fra.n1<.4 a:ru:L

for Twirl/ Screw Torpedo .Boa:ll 1Jestroyer8, 61000 LH.P.

.Arrangemtm~ of' Force.fL LulJricatio~, a.ruiJ

Fig.40.

Fi!J.41.

I
I

-.

!11

Zllunp~ l'lorkt off

I.

Av Pump Levers

.I
I.

.I

II

Drc.uJv Ictff}(;
f'orOiV
700/.T.

Where such piston-valves require to be fitted, they are

now supplied with" restricted expansion , rings simila.r
to those fitted to the main pistons.
The closed exha.ust system of dealing with the exhaust
steam from auxiliary machinery, introduced by Sir John
Durston, consists in connecting the auxilia.ry exhaust mains
to the evaporator steam coils, and to the low-jpreasure cylinder chests of the main engines through suitable stop valves.
The direct connections to the auxiliary condensers are
kept closed by spring-loaded valves set to lift when the
pressure in exhaust pipes rises above a desired amount.
Sentinel valves are finted and set to blow off at 30 lb.
(above atmosphere). The result of this arra.ngement is
that the condensers only receive such steam as the evaporators cannot condense in their beating coils. The connections to the low-pressure chests when opened allow
the exhaust of the auxiliaries to be used in the low-pressure cylinders. The auxiliaries have to work against a
higher back pressure, but as they are at most two-stage
compound engines, thie leaves them perhaps as la.rge a

In.s1Z 6

llllllh1111l,

{j
I

system, "has not been altogenher favourable.>' One

difficulty tGbe guarded against is the application to such
mecha.niam as requires a great initial impulse-as in the
case of anchor gear, for instance, where the steam stored
up overcomes a sudden and heavy load. There are
reasons a.lso for nob adopting electric drive for any of the
auxiliaries upon which tlie main engines are directly dependent. In the case of some of the auxiliaries, too, the
efficiency must be the first coru.ideration apart from
economy.
Direct-A cting v. Crfllnk P'1111nps. -In this connection, some
results of trials made with crankshafts and direct-acting
pumps are recorded on Table X I. (page 304). The
direct-acting pumps were all of the Weir sta.ndard
pattern. The foot notes on Table X L give the dimensions of cylinders and pumps in each case. It will be
seen from the Table that the steam consumption of the
crankshaft pump, both when working high pressure and
oompound, is much higher than with the direct.acting
pump, the steam consumption for the simple working

10Ft~.
I

running fore and aft, each driving a separate screw and

connected by a coupling rod at the forward end of' each
crank.. This arrangement secured the advantage of tripleexpansiOn, and enabled the screws to be of less diameter
than would hav~ been the case with single or twin propellers. T~ese tnstances, however, are. exceptional. In
naval practice there are several applications of treble
screw propulsion, each screw having an independent
engine.. T_his system, however, ,was adopted not so much
be?a~se 1b mcreased t~e propu_Is1ve efficiency at full power
- 1t 18 very doubtfultf such 1s the case-but because it
enabled the centre engine and screw to be alone used for
c9mp~rati vely low speed, with the two side screws runmng 1dle so. ~ to r~duce the CC?nsumption at cruising
speed ; but tt 18 posstble that thiS may be achieved by
other means, especially if the three propellers are found
to re~uce the propulsive ~fficiency. It may be inoidentally
mentiOned tb.at, to achteve the same result an engine
~as b~flt B?me years. ago in which a. fourth or "additiOnal cy hnder was mtroduced to act as a first stage

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

Auc. 30, I901.]

cyl~nder or to be idle, as the conditions suggested.

hold system, and 31 in the Belleville boiler system. T~e

comparison may be completed by a statement that m
the case of the New York a.nd Paris, whiob were the
fastest .Atlantic liners ten years ago, the power per bon of
ma.obinery was 6.76 indicated hor~e-P.ower-about the
same as in the present-day Atlantic liners; the s~pe~
ficial area of machinery space, 0.64 square foot per mdioated horse-power, rather more than in the modern liner,
and the ratio with the closed stokehold system of forced
draught 38 sq~are ~eet of heating sur!e.oe per square foot
of grate. Ahke m the moderate-sized cargo ste~mer
Indra.ni, a.nd in the Celtic, the po~er ~r ton of ma.ohinet:Y
is about 50 per cent. less than m high-speed .A.tlant1c
liner practice, while the space occupied per unit of power

20.7 knots by the Paris and New York; to-day the

highest speed on a.n ocean run has been achieved by the
German liner Deutscbla.nd, which has maintained an
average of 23.61 knots, while the best speed gob with
Oha.nnel steamers is that attained by the Oity of Dublin
Steam Packet Company's steamers on the oross-oha.nnel
ran-23.62 knots with steam of 171 lb. pressure. the
power being 8600. These vesse1s. of 3096 tons builder's
measurement, have engines of the four-cylinder tripleexpansion type, with four double-ended boilers worked
on the closed sbokehold system.
A 0011tpcvrison of Hi(Jh-Speed Stea;m:ilng: Weights a-rtd
SJX"OC Ocoupied.-On Table VIII.. page 272 a;nte, there is
g1ven a list of dimensions of typical ships of to-da.y, in-

The
cyltnder bad all the necessary connecting pipes, passages,
hnks, and valves, but when the engine was working at
full .~w~r, the piston of the added cylinder was retained in
equilibr1um, the steam passing to thesecond-stageoylinder
where. it worked ab its initial or full pressure. Whe~
steamt~g ab low power the extra cylinder came into
op~ratton, and thus there were four stages of expansion.
Thts system wa.s fitted to a Russian volunteer ship, the
Queen Olga, but the vessel has been continuously worked
a.t full power, so that there are no data. a-s to the actual
economy u.nder the varying speeds of naval ma.nreuvring.
Stea;msh1JP Speeds.-In the ten years considerable progress has been made in the direction of speed. In 1891

Fifj. 42.
Arrangemettt of Turbine Machinery
for proposed Steamer
of 7,000 /.H .P.

Sri- frw 4-8.

~ ftJnJIU'(/,.

(Shown on larger scale Figs. 43 and )

lh;:==t-------------~~

. ... .......

~
JXJ_ r

rc:;;;J

ft

tJ;L

....

r..

""""
.&

uP.
.....

'-- ....,

,I,.

_I

~(582

85

....

I'!'}roz.

'

..., rt

g '-"-

f'-J

_OU.J: ......
;;,..,
......

( 7 Dot. u)

x,.,'-.

f:A,IIUMU

...

,~

IY

.~

:X

Cl. ~

tt,

"'~

atA

r
I

I
I

Ff.e.44.

~~

====~==:==~-

~ -----t

...
I
I
I

_:_-----

,1

.'-;-

...
.

::=I

(Fig. 42)

COMPARISON BE.TWEEN THE. PARSONS TURBINE

R Cl PROCATING ENGINES OF 7000

there were only eight vessels whose speed exceeded

20 knots, now there are fifty-eighb, as shown in Table X.
(p!lge 304), which records the number of fast ships
owned by the various nations at the end of last year and
in 1891. The vessels between 19 and 19i knots speed
ba.ve doubled. numbering now thirty-four i a.nd <!~eat
Britain, it is interesting to note, holds a. h1gh pos1t10n,
due in po.rb to the number of high-speed channel steamers
in the Irish Sea, North Sea., a.nd English Channel. The
French, Belgian, a.nd Dutch high-speed steamers a.re
principally Channel boats, but the five German vessels
and the four of the U nibed States are ocean liners. The
highest speed attained ten years ago was 25 knots,
recorded for a. British-builb Brazilian torpedo-boat, the
faste-st British Navy torpedo-boat being 22! knot.q; now
the record is held by the steam turbine-propelled destroyer
Viper, of His Majesty's Navy, which has attained a
maximum of 37.113 knots, a.nd a. mean for one hour of
36.581 knots. The highest ocean speed ten years ago was

H. P.

AND

..

, 7otJt. v.)

eluding the two faatest Atlantic merchant vessels-the

Deutschla.nd and Kaiser Wilhelm der Groase ; the fastest
armoured cruiser-H.M.S. King Alfred; the largest
ship ever built-the Oelbio; a typical Channel steamer
with a. cruiser of correspondmg size ; and finally, a. representative moderate-sized merchantman. There a.re several
points of interest in the comparisons, but attention need
only be called to one or two. It will be seen that the
Deutschland is fibbed with Howden's system of draught,
the Kaiser Wilbelm der Grosse has an open stokeliold
with natural draught, and the King Alfred is fitted with
the Belleville boilers: and here also we have a comparison between merchant and naval practice. The naval
engineer baa not only less space, but less weight, given him,
the power per ton of machinery being almost double that
in the correspondingly faat liners, while the superficial
area occupied by the engine and boiler space per unit of
power is about 25 per cent. less. The ratio of beating to
grate area is 39 in Howden's system, 32 in the open stoke-

is about double. The comparison of the Channel steamer

Duke of Cornwall, a.nd His Majeaty's second-class cruiser
J uno or Doris, is the more interesting, as both vessels
have cylindrical boilers, a.nd work with e. closed stoke
hold. Here the naval ship, although working with a.
l~wer steam pressure. has the a.dvanta~e of a. higher
p1ston speed, with lighter engine a.nd boiler scantlings,
and t~erefore gets 10.88 in~ioat~ ~orse-power per ton ~f
machinery, as compared w1tb 9 mdtcated horse-power m
the case of the Obannel steamer.
It ma.y be interesting here to compare the weights of
machinery with those of ten a.nd twenty years a.go. In
1881 the average fol' merchant ships was recorded aa 4.66
indicated horse-power per ton, while in 1891 the average
for cargo boats was 4.8, and is now about the same. For
the fastest liner the weight ten years ago wa-s also about the
same as it is now-6.7 indicated horse-power per ton~ but
generally there is now more boiler power and additional
weight in the ma.ohinery. In Ohannel:tteamer work there

[Auc. 30, 19or.

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

TABLE

X . -SHOWING THE

NUMBER

OF FAST SHIPS OWNED BY THE PRINCIPAL MARIT IME NATIONS

IN 1890 AND 1901.

(Prepared from Lloyd's Registry Returns.)

Gng.Ar
BRIT .\I N.

ALL
COUtiTRIES.

GER~IANY.

FRANCE.

U~ITED

BELGIUM.

STATES.

RUSSI!.

VESSELS.

17
6
13
24
18
24
9
43
41

68
34
8
S9
26
64

23
70
3l
121

8
8
6
12
11
13

17
6
38

82
21
5
33
13
42
16
41
13
78

6
1

3
4

I
I

6
2
3
2
1
1
1
7
8
4

10
1

1
1
3

Reciprocating Turbine
Engines.
-Machinery.

Weight in eo~inerooms and

..
..
tu onel comp1e e ..

- -

7
3

12
5
6
3
1
8

6
1
10
9
16

6
3

1891.

1901.

3
1

8
1
9
3

..

Floor space in eogi.Jeroom

Oubio capacity required
engines . .
..
:

--

1901. 18)1. 1901.

U~9 1.

1891. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901.
20 knotsa.nd o,er
19 and 19! knots
18! knots

,
18

17! ,,

17

16! "

"
16
11

16!

"
16

HOLLAND, AUSTRIA
H u~oARV , ITALY,
JAI'AN, ROUMANIA,
OIIILJ, SPAIN,
SWSDBN, A~D

from the same platform, and the arrangem~nt is such tbab

either of the side propellers may be dnven ahead or
astern seP-arately. As to the relative space occu~ied, the
sections {Figs. 43 and 44, p age 303) show the. difference
at a. glance, and the weisht an~ space . occupied for. tu~
bine m~chinery and rec1procatmg engmes of 7000 mdtca.ted horse-power are as follow :

DBN~IARIL

3
3
1

270 tons
911 sq. ft.

190 tons
911 eq. ft.

..
by
. . 14,430 cu. f t. 10,EOO cu. ft.

The success of the Parsons turbine has brought several

others into the field, and although experiments have
been made at Barrow-in-Furness wit h several of tbP.se,
they are not sufficiently advanced or conclusive to enable
results to be given here. The season:s work of the
turbine-driven steamer King Edward, built on the Clyde
will also yield most important data.

RESULTS.
2
H
1
1

In conclusion, the author desires to gratefully acknow

"
ledge nhe services of ma ny friends who have con t ributed da.ta for tbie paper, and to briefly summarise the
TABLE X L -~TEAM CoNSUMPTION TRIALS OF CnANKSHAI<'T AND Drnx<rr-ACTINO P uMPS.
results attained during the ten years. Steam pressures
have been increased in the merchant marine from 158 lb.
to 197lb. per square inch, the maximum attained being
WORKING NON-CONDENSING.
WORKING NONCONDE~SI NG.
267 lb. p er square inch, and 300 lb. in the naval service.
The piston speed of mercantile machinery has gone up
DIREOTAOTI NO P UMPS. from 629 n. to 664 ft. per minute, t he maximum in merDIRBOTAOTUiO P UMPS.
T YPE 01'' PUMP .
CRANI{SUAI:-'1' P li MPS.

chant
p
ractice
being
about
900
fb.,
and
in
n
aval
practice

--960 ft. for large engines, and 1300 ft. in torpedo-boat

Twin
OomOom
destroyera. Boilers also yield a greater power for a
Simple.
Simple.
Simple.
Simple or Compoun l
Simple.

0Jmpouod.
pound.
pound.
given surface, and thus the average power per ton
of ma{}hinery has gone up from an average of. 6 to
F
H
G
D
E
Trial number ..
B
0
A

about 1 indicated horse-power per ton of machmery .

30
30
120
30
30
30
30
Duration of t rlal
30

mm.
140
106
98
108
167
Steam pressure a.t pump
99
147
The net results in respect of speed are that while ten
lb. per Eq. in
127
308
868
189
28Z
1499
Revolutions . .
..
619
733
383
years ago the highest sustained ocean speed was 20.7

total

6.3
12.45
10.26
11.93
Revolutions
20.63
9.4
24.43
per mm .
12.76

knots, it is no w 23.51 knots; the highest speed for .large
22,300
43,471
72,600
42,200
Displacement of bucket
34,045
16,610
1E3,343
21,050
total
lb
.


warships was 22 knots, and is now 23 knots on a tr1al ~f
23j
118
29
209.2
118
, ,
65
65
..
per rev.!
65

180
180 to 195 double the duration of those of ten years ago ; the maxi166
75
190
Water pressure on gauga
50
35
lb. per sq. in.
180
182.2
186.2
160.45
187.8
mum sp~ed attained by any craft. was 26 knots, as co.m61.88
84.62
78.3
~ean water pressure on bucket
,
179.76
,
284
64
498
532
635
48S
Steam used, condensed and weighed . .
lb.
123
36!
pared wtth 36.581 knots now; wbtle the number of ships
0.8307 0.7265
1.363
1.502
0.1915
1.738
Steam used . .
0.1988
..
..
per revolution
0.95
of over 20 knots was eight in 1891, and is fifty- eight now.
87. 7
86.5
76.4
2i7
287. 5
288
135.76
Water per aound of steam . .
..
..
lb.
67.9
But {>robably the result of most importance, because
Foot -poun s work on steam oylinder per pound
affecting: every type of sb.ip from the t ramp to. the grey37,260 61,830
40,000
36,610
41,490
27,250
63,710
of steam
..
..
..
..
..
. . 29,200
hound, 1s the reduction 1n the coal consumptton. T en
23,000
32,600 48,720
68,970
36,300
33,660
33,200
Foot-Pounds work on pump per pound of steam 24,040
63.2
38.2
49.5
64.1
47.8
72.7
3l.1
years ago the rate for ocean voyages was 1.75 lb. .Per
Steam per indloated h orse-power..
..
lb.
67.8
68.9
86.2
61
40.6
83.6
54 6
,
69.7
,
workinJt
,
82.5
horse-p ower per hou r; today, in t he most modem sh1ps,

0.873
0.908
0. 9l9
0.802
0.8:14
0.941
0.926
Mechanical efficiency
.. 0.82!

it is about 1.5 lb. Ten years ago 1 ton of cargo was

carried 100 miles for 10 lb. of fuel; whereas now, with
the great increase in the size of ships and other mechaniTrial A wa.'3 made with a. simple crankshaft. feed-pump (Weir make), having two ste!l.m cylinders 8~ in. in diameter, two
cal improvements, the same work is done for about 4lb.
pum~s 6! in. in diameter by 12 in. stroke.
.

.
.
.
Tr1als Band 0 were made with a. compound crankshaft feed -pump (Wetr make), ha.vmg two steam oyltnd ers 6 10. and 8! m.
of coal-a result which means a. very grea.t saving when
in diameter, two pumps 6~ in. in diameter by 12 in. stroke.
.
.
.
.
. .
applied to the immense fleet of over-sea carriers throughTrial D was made with a. Weir direot-a.cting pump (feedin~ a boiler), havmg steam oyhnder 8 in. in diameter, pump 6 tn. m
ont the world.
diameter by 16 in. stroke.
.
.
.

SUMMARY 01<'

11

Trial E wMmade with a Weir ballast pump, having steam cylinder 10 In. In dtameter, pump 12! in. tn dtameter by 24 tn.
stroke.

.
. .
Trial F was made with a twin compound Weir pump, having stelm oylindera 14 m. and 26 10. in diameter, pumps 9~ m. to
.
.
.
.
.
diameter by 24 in. stroke.
Trials G and H were made with t he high-pressure half of the twtn pump, havmg steam cy linder 14 in. 1n diameter, pump
9! in. by 24 in. stroke.

When it is noted t hat this particular ship makes from

twelve to fifteen round voyages in the year, it will be reco~
nised that every square foot which the engine designer
saves on the four decks indicated insures a. possible yearly
addition to the passenger earnings of 20t., without any
appreciable increase to expenses.
The Ste011n Turbine.- Any review of marine engineer ing progress would be incomplete without a reference to
the possibilities of propulsion by steam turbines; but at
the end of a paper already too lon_g, only a. casual reference to the subject is possible. In electric-light work
the steam turbine has become a most efficient motor, and
exhaustive trials have demonstrated its economy in steam
consumption, tlhe actual rate of a 1000-kilowatt set
having been 9.19 kilogrammes per kilowatt-hour, whirh
may be accepted as equalling about 12i lb. per horse-power
hour. In the case of a long-distance sea voyage at a.
uniform speed-and this is the condition prevailing in 99
per cen t. of merchant steamers-there can be no doubt of
the economy of t he turbine. In such case it can be design ed
for the maximum load, which would be bhe average working load. For naval work, where the speed is variable, the
same advantages may not accrue, because the steam
losses are practically constant irrespective of the power
being developed. Where weight is a primary factor,
even this need not militate against its adoption, a.nd thus
it would seem as if the future would see a. great development in this direction. Fig. 42 on page 303 illustrates the
design for a Parsons turbine. driven steamer of 7000 horsepower with three shafts, two of which are driven by lowpressure turbines, while the centre shaft motor is of the
high-pressure type. The turbines for driving the ship
astern a.re incorporated with the low-pressure system, being
fitted in the exhaust casings with a valve to pass the
steam direct from the boiler to bhe astern turbines, m which
case the low-pressure ahead turbines on the same sha.ft
rotate in a vacuum. At the eame time, the steam is cub
off from bhe hi~h-pressure turbine, which also runs idle in
a. vacuum. It will thus be seen that for driving
ahea.d the steam passes throu~h the high-pressure
Passenger RetJenut possible on each T rip per SqWJ,re Foot turbine, thence through selfclostng valves to the two
low-pressure turbines, a.nd finally to the condenser; but
of Deck in Modern Atlantic Liner.
should . the or?e~ be giv~n to reverse the engineP,
Summer.
Winter.
the mam admtsston valve IS closed, and the steam is
Per Sq. Jn.
Per Sq. Ft.
then paased through other v9.1 ves to the bwo astern
B. d.
8. d.
turbines, which, being of large area, develop considerable
7 6
Promenad e
4 11

power and speed sternwards. The eelf-closing valves
Upper
6 10
4
2

2
4
2 4
Main
I>revent the steam passing to the high-pressure motor.

Lower
4 3
2 4

The change is easily ma.de, as all the va.l ves are actuated
has been an increase in the power per ton of mach inery.
In naval practice there has been a marked diminution m
weight, the rate in 1881 being 6! indicated horse-power
per ton of machinerr, in 1891 10 indicated horse-power
per ton, and now 12 mdicated horse-power, all for natural
draught.
As a complement to this Table there is given on
Table I X . (page 272 lllnte) a. comparison of the space
occupied by machinery in the latest built naval ships
with cylindrical boilers, and with modern wa.ter-tube
boilers, and in various types of merchantmen, including
thti high-speed Atlantic liners Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,
D eutschland, and Campa.nia, the immense cargo carrier
Celtic, the Channel steamer Duke of Cornwall, and
the general trader Indrani. From this it will be seen
that the Atlantic liners with cylindrical boilers require
fractionally more stokehold floor space per unit of p ower
than the Belleville boiler ships, the average being about
0.28 square foot, as compared with 0.26, while the cylinlindrica.l boiler warship required 0.35, as indicated by
the figures for the M ajestic and the Crescent. In the
case of the Pelorue, which is fitted with a small tube express water-tube boiler, the space occupied is greatest,
being- 0.384. Turning to engine-room space, there is
cons1derable variation, and it is to be noted that in the
two latest classes of cruiser there hMi been a material reduction (0.11 square feet), although the Campania, with
her five cylinders and three cranks (Fig. 10, page 272
ante), comes out a.t a very low rate. B ut it should be remembered tha.t whereas in the merchant ship there is no
limit to the height of the engine, in warships the necessity for protection makes tandem cylinders iml>ossible.
The space occupied per unit of p ower in Atlanttc liners
is certainly satisfactory. Here there must be a. great
pressure put upon the designer to economise space,
b ecause of the great value of the area. of the various
decks; the average revenue t>er square foot of deck, excluding only engines and boiler spa{}es a.nd uptakes, in
one of the latest liners on the various decks is as follows:

SouTH A.b'RICAN GoLD-MINING. -The production of

~old in Rhodesia and the Transvaal is gradually regainmg a. certain importance. The output of the two regions
in May, June, and July compared as follows with the
corresponding months of 1900 and 1899 :
1901.
1\lonth.

-cu

($

as
>
Cl)

Cl)

'0

Cl

c:S

Cl)

Cll

'0
0
..Q

...E-1

rt

oz.
14,486
14,863
16,661

oz.
7,478
19,979
26,959

oz.
6564
6185
5738

as

..Q

l!rfa.y ..
J une
uly
J

1900.

1899.

..s
as
>
Cl)

~
>
Cl)

-cu

Cl

...
E-1

,g
~

as
...
E-1

oz.

oz.
4939
6104
6031

c:S

Cl)

'0

c:S

Cl

444,933
445,761
466,474

The combined outpu b was accordingly :

I

Month.

_I
I

May

June
J
uly

1901.

1900.

1899.

oz.
2t,96!1
34,842
41.620

oz.
66S4
6185
6738

oz.
4~9.87~

451,867
462.505

The gold output of the T ransvaal attained its maximum

in August, 1899. In September the dark shadow of the
impending war fell over Johannesburg and its surrounding~, and it is only now beginning to clear a. way; although
durmg October, November, and D ecember, 1899, and
January, February, and March, 1900, theBoer leaders made
an n.ttempt to work gold in a. fitful predatory fashion. The
whol~ quantity ~f gold mined in the Transvaal, regularly
and uregularl,v, 10 1809 was 4,069,166 oz. ; and, in 1900,
25~,677 oz. S mce the resumption of operationg in 1\IIay,
th18 year, bhe output has been 63,216 oz., and it appears
likely to be carried to 200,000 oz. or 250,000 oz. when
1901 has fully run its courae. It wi ll be observed that the
combined R hodesian and Transvaal output in J ul~ was
41,620 oz., or at the rate of 498,2-!0 oz. per annum. South
African gold is accordingly being now once more produced to the value of from 1,800,000l. to 2,000,000t.
annually. In other words, South Africa has once more
taken its place among the great gold-producing regions
of the world. The recovery which has taken place would
no doubt, have been more rapid and decided than ib
actually has been bad there been a. more abundant available supply of native labour, and also, of course had
peace been completely restored in the South Afric~u
colonies.