Nov. I 5 r90 1.

E N G I N ~ E R I N C. .

DIE FORGING.
Bv JosEPH

No. X .*

HORNER.

IN this article we shall conclude the examples

of die forging selected from the work of the Swindon .shop, taking mostly those which present difficultles due to depth or awkwardness of form.
. The top .cove~ for an 18-in. vacuum cylinder
(tllu~trated 1n F1gs. 270 and 271) affords an interestmg example of a large stamping which at first

shown in plan and end view- being fixed on the

bed of the press; the other, B, being carried on
the horizontal ram. The collar lies in the space a,
and is welded by the horizontal nwvement of the
ram. The blocks are of cast iron, faced with steel
plates, in which the recesses a, a are bored. In the
second operation the collar B is welded to the
small flange C in the same dies by the downward
pressure of the top ram. In the third operation
the plate A is welded to the other end of the

form and the beading is given to the cover between

these dies in one squeeze. The bottom die A is
bolted to the table of the press by four lugs
( Figs. 275 to 277). It is lightened out underneath,
but is nevertheless a massive casting. As the
rather narrow beading of the die would soon crack
and wear out if made of iron with the body of the
casting - though the solid body is practically permanent- the bead is formed by a ring of steel let
into a turned groove, and which is easily renewable.

Fig. ~1G.

Pig. 79.

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sight seems to present great difficulties in consequence of the presence of the ftanged neck. I t is
made in three parts, as indicated in Fig. 272- a
plat.e A, ring B, and flange C, united with butt
welds, and the cover is completed in four
operations.
In the first operation the collar B is welded
between the blocks in Figs. 273 and 274, one, A-

* EnRATA..-On page 470 ante, centre column, lines 26

and 27, for "are heated by the waste beatof mohitu bular
boilers, which are placed over them, , read "are fitted
wi.th multitubular boilers, which a.re placed over them, and
heated by the waste beat., Also on page 570, middle
column, line 9, for "30 ton " read " 30 cwt."

collar, the latter being turned r ound to lie in the This is seen in section in Fig. 276. The top die :9
recesses b, b, and the r esistance to the downward (Figs. 278 and 279) is attached to the top ra.m by
pressure is taken on the face of the block c cast 1 two bolts passing through the holes cast for the
on A, and for which a recef s is oast in B. A drift purpose on each side of the central hole.
An 18-in. piston (Fig. 280) for the same vacuum
is then driven through the hole. In the fourth
operation the diehed form is given to the plate in cylinder is interesting from the inward curving of
the dies (Figs. 275 to 279). These compri~e a the flange or rim, which might seem to make it
bottom concave die A, and a top convex <Jn e B. difficult of extraction from dies. The mod'ns op erarndi
The cover is first centred by a pin which fits into in this case is as follows :
the hole a in the cent re of the bottom die (seen
For this size piston a piece of plate is cut to
in Fig~. 275 and 276), and which also fits the 1ft. 11 in. in diameter and a 2-in. hole is punched
hole in the cover. The top die has a large through t he centre. In the second operation the
hole b which a ffords sufficient E-pace for the flange plate is dished into shape at one heat, the rim
of the cover to come up into. The final dished turned up, and the central boss formed. The dies

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

[Nov.

Is, I 90I.

employed for this work are dhown in Figs. 281 to precisely in the manner adopted by boilermakers ing through a flange cast on the back of the die.
283. They comprise three portions- the outside f1Jr correcting angle-iron rings subsequently to The dies are heavy, and are lightened a little,
bottom die A, the bottom middle die B, and the welding up. But in this case an inner blo~k is not I which is the object of cutting off the keen angles
top die C-the various relations of which to the necessary at all. The piston is rotated through a por- on A and B.
finished piston are at once apparent. The outer tion of a circle in the dies by tongs in the intervals
Fig. 288 illustrates an iron buffer guide, which
die A is bolted to the bed of th-e press, the inner of the squeezing action of the horizontal dies. To is shaped in dies. It is made in three pieces, A, B,
or middle one B is attached to the bottom ram, the permit of this manipulation is the object of leaving C (Figs. 239 a'1d 290). The plate A is shorn to eize,

Ff.g,281.

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p''ig.
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Fig 288.

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top one C to t~e to~ ram. In F~g. 281 th~ three

dies are shown In their exact relat~ons previous ~o
the act of pressing, but the plate IS ~ot shown, In
order to leave the details of the d1es clear. In
Fig. 282 the top die . is removed to show t he l?wer
ones; Fig. 283 1s an 1nverted ~lan of the top d1e C.
A loose pin fits into a hole 1n the t?P block, and
by it the flat piece of plate for . the p1ston, already
punched with a ~entra~ hole-, 1s centred, and the
boss (compare w1th F1g. 280, page .669), subsequently pressed down into the. hol~ 1n. the lower
block B. Simultaneously the nm IS bemg turned
up by the outer edge of the lower block B actuated
by the bottom ram, into t he inside of the top
block C, and the plate is thus dished between the
top and the bottom blocks.
.
.
At this stage we have now a pl_a1n .Ptston
(Fig. 284) that only requir~s to have _It~ r~m set
out to the sh \pe shown in FJ.g. 280.. Th1~ Is done at
another heat, in another pa.tr of d1es (FJ~s . 285 to
287), one of which A is fixed, th~ other B 1s attache_d
to the horizontal ram. The p01nt t~ note here IS
that there is no middle block, whiCh would,. of
course, interfere with the with_drawal of the forgm g
after the rim had been se! Inwards. The ou~r
dies are formative and the Inner edges of the nm
must bend to the ~ontour imparted by ~he squez. 0 f the enCI rcling. dies' . In another Instancet' of
Ing
1
undercutting, in whiCh an Inner block was essen 1a ,
this was formed in three segments, opened out
simultaneou~ly by a central pin, and capable. of
being drawn inwards by the remo'a' of the pm,

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the open spaces at a, a.,. The squeezing a_nd. rotation j and the ho_le punched ; the ring B is r?l~ed conic~lly
thus alternate until the undercut form IS Imparted and the rmg C parallel. B ~as a JOJnt rl;lnnmg
evenly all round the ring. The bl_ock A is fastened 1 paral~a~, 0 o~e dtagonally; C Is welded, B 1s, n.ot,
to the table of the press by bolts In the flange seen the JOI_nt. being merely closed up. The we.dmg
in Figs. 285 and287, which explains the cutting of the and finishing are perform?d as f?llow~:
hlock B to pass clear over the flange and its bolts. . T!1e flange A and the ~mg C In which the beadB is fastened to the hot izontal ram by bolts pass- , mg 1s formed arc welded In two Eepnate hea~, and

N 0 V.

90 1. J

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

in ~wo separate d~es to the b ody B. 'l'he dies in a central plug of conical shape, driven by the steam
which these operattOns are done are seen in Figs. 291 ~am mer. through a flat plate laid upon a bottom die,
to 294, A A .an~ BB. These fit in~o cast-ir0n blocks 1nto whteh the plate is bent by t he plug. This is a
C, C. The .dtes Interchange in the massive b odies 0 commol?- device in boiler shops for forming the
and C, ?ttmg the~ein wit h a slight amount of clear- angle rmgs for t he uptakes of vertical boilers a.
nnce, With tnpers In t he manner sh own in F igs 299. ~e.thod which is neither so accurate nor so exp' e~nd 293 .. A cer tain number of flanges are w~lded d t
th
f
d
ID the pau of blocks A, A, after which t he latter li~~o~~o:es illu:~rft~~ ~rme by the press and dies
are chanced and t he headings welded in the blocks
An interestin(! example of very deep stamping is
~, B. In e~ch case the form is completed at the given in Fig. 303, a partially completed buffer
ti~~ of wel~n g, namely, the external and internal so?ket or guide, which is made from a piece of
ra 11 next t e flal!ge and the beading at t he front i-ln: steel plate, without any reduction in thickness
end. The flan ge IS pressed down by a plain block durmg t he process. I t is produced in five heats,
attaoh.ed to t he top ram, and the upper half of the the first two sufficing for pressing it through three
b~~dh ~ ~fter:a~d~ .for;n ed by another top block, successive pairs of dies, the third for swaaing
the
0
w 10.d 1 1 u.s ha e In igs. 295 and ~96. ThiA is body to finished diameter$, the fom th for partly
~r~vh e t hWl~ a. cetnh trafl ~~ud th~t JUSt fills and turning over the flange, and the fifth for finishing it.
nl8 es e o1e m e orgmg (F1g. 288) down to 1 A dis~ 2 ft. 2 in. in diameter is taken and

the blocks by. The buffer guide is seen in place, and

also the mandrel C in which the handle D is cast,
manipulated by t he lever E in t he fashion common
in t he smithy. In this way by squeezing t he guide
in t he intervals of rotation through arcs of circles,
the conical form i~ converted into the combined
conical and p.uallel form required, seen in section
in Figs. 303 and 308, and any inequalities left from
the punch are corrected. Afterwards the convex
end is out off and the work is put vertically in a
bolster, and t he fhnge partly turned over under t he
press, after which it is finished flat in anoth er operation . The block in which this is effected is very similar
to that shown in Fig. 310, which r epresents one
for an open-ended socket. The block is allowed a
ver tical movement of 2 in. in the manner shown.
It is connected with the pre~:s head by t wo bolts a a,
upon which sliding occurs while the downward

Fig.S03.

Fig.310.

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t he shoulder, at the same time t hat the bead is

being finished between the bottom dies B ( Figs. 293
and 294), and the ccn cavity of the top die (Figs. 295
and 296).
Fig. 297 i1lustrates a ring of angle-iron section
stamped from :ttrin. steel. A circular sheet of steel
has a 13-in. hole cut in it., after which it is laid
upon a bottom ex ternal die, and a top die is
b rought down upon it to hold it firmly, while a
bottom ram brings up a die which turns the plate
up against the int erior edge of the top die.
Fig. 298 shows the dies in their due relation to
t he ring at the moment of finishing t he latter - A
being the bottom external die, B t he top one, and
C t he internal flanging die. Fig. 299 is an external
vie w of A, Fig. 300 a plan view of the same, and
Fig~ . 301 and 302 are section and plan r espectively
of the flanging die 0 . The holes in A are cast for
the insertion of iron bars for the purpose of lifting
th e block about by.
In this work the hydraulic press is seen to advantage. In its absence, rings of t his kind are turned by

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laid upon the bottom die A in Figs. 304

and 305, which is carried by three stools on
the table of the press. Fig. 305 is an inverted
plan of this die to show its stools or feet. It has a
hole l 7 in. in diameter at the lower end, and a pin,
B, 9 in . in diameter forms the top block by which
the plate is pressed in to the die, at which stage t he
forging is lik e Fig. 306. At the same heat the
plate is still furth er reduced in a 12-in. die by a
7~-in. pin. It is then reheated, and the final pr~ssing
done by a 6-in. pin, half-way through an 8-in. die.
As the forms of these are similar to those shown in
Figs. 304 and 305, it is not necessary to r epeat them
all. When the forging leaves the last die, it goes
into a pair of swages, and a mandrel is inserted in
the middle and turned about by a long handle and
lever, while a few sque zes are given between t he
swages. These details are illustrated in Figs. 307
to 309. A and B a.re top and bottom swages, carried
on the top ram and table of the press r espectively,
the slot holes for insert ion of the n ecessary bolts
being seen, and round holes are also cast for handling

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pressure is being exercised on t he flange. But

when t his is done, two blocks b b, 2 in. thick, are
inserted, which k eep the space open, and then
a bottom plunger comes up and forces out the
forging upwards.
The ease with which welding is done with the
presses is well exemplified in many pieces of work
at Swindon, of which an illustration or two may
be given.
The Mansell rings for wood centred carriage
wheels are of the Eection shown in Fig. 311. The
length of rod required for a ring is heated and
placed in horizontal power rolls, which quickly turn
it into a circle. A.bout 3 in. overlap is left at t he
end for a lap weld a ( Fig. 311, page 672). This is
t hen r eh eated and welded at one squeeze in the die
block (Figs. 312 to 314). The bottom block A has a
groove in which the ring is hid, the beading lowl)rmost; and t he top one, which is bolted to t he top
ram, comes down and closes the weld by a single
squeeze on tt.e fht face.
Another job of welding is the axle guards which

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

DIE

FORGING

--

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5, I 901.

AT SWINDON.

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are used in immense numbers for the wagons. To

produce these (Figs. 315 and 316) some preliminary
bending and setting are necessary, which is
effected in dies (Figs. 317 to 319). In manufacture
the middle part of the guard A (Fig. 315) is prepared separately, and B B are bent, set, and
welded to it with lap joints. It is the bending and
setting of B that is effected in the dies in Figs. 317
to 319. A is the block against which the bars are
set to their angles (compare with Fig. 315) against
the face a (Figs. 317 and 319) by a single squeeze of
the die B which is attached to the horizontal rclm of
the preEs. Then the faces b, b of the die A are
those upon which the setting seen in Fig. 316 is
done-two faces being necessary, one for t.he right,
the other for the left-handed horns B, B. After a
large number of pieces have been prepared, the
welding is done elsewhere in a recessed block
(Fig. 320), which insures that all the pi~ces_A and
B shall be welded at a uniform angle.
A device adopted at Swindon is that of giving
clearance on the die faces for the fins. Many dies
are recessed rather deeply on the face at a little
distance away from the edges of the forging recess,
and this is done with the object of providing a
large space to rece~ve a redund~ncy of fin, and
which would otherwise, by extending over the face,
keep the dies far asunder. The advantage lies in
t hose jobs which are stamped from a rough misshapen mass drawn down under the hammer,
assisted by the unaided eye. Thus the block
(.Fig. 321) for a scroll iron is grooved all round t~e
margins of the figure. The r oughly-made blank 1s

seen in Fig. 322. It is just drawn down with little

regard to shape or dimensions, and bent round
before stamping. Another is the railway-carriage
key finished in the die (Fig. 323), having a deep
grooving, from a rough blank, seen in Figs. 324
and 325.
These dies, and all those for the lighter class of
work, are cut from lumps of mild steel in the shop
located on the plan view in a previous article.
But for most of the dies used at Swindon oast
iron vastly predominates, and scarcely any are
banded. As the work is chiefly done under the
hydraulic presses, the jar which is so destructive to
cast-iron dies under hammers is eliminated. Apparently, cracked dies are nearly unknown. The
metal is very massive, ranging between 3 in. and
5 in. in thickness. Handles are seldom cast in,
but plenty of holes are cast in the die bodies for
the insertion of rods by which the dies can be lifted
and turned. Very strong lugs are cast for the
attachment of dies to the presses, and the holes
invarij}bly come clear out to the outsides of the
lugs, which renders the insertion of bolts easier
than it would be if ordinary holes were cast in.

THE NEW VICTORIA STATION AT

NOTTINGHAM.
IN the sixty-seventh volume of ENGINEERING we
described and illustrated many of the important
works on the Great Central Rail way extension to
London ; but pressure on our space prevented us
from following up this most interesting topic, and

we now return to the subject, principally to deal

with tl~e splendid _joint station at Nottingham, the
?onven1ence of w~ICh has now been established by.
Its use for some time by the two owning companies
-the Great Central and the Great Northern.
. This station is certainly the most important
p1ece of work on the northern section of the
line of which Mr. Edward Parry, M:. Inst. C.E.,
is e.ngineer. In this and other work he has been
assisted by Mr. Frederick W. Bidder, M. Inst. C. E.,
who has had charge of the details of the constructional work, while Mr. A. E. Lambert has
been responsible for the architectural details. Mr.
A. A. Barker has been r esident engineer on the
Nottingham works. The . station, as we h\ve
stated, is the joint property of the Great Central and Great Northern Railway Companies the
latter using t he permanent way of the forme~ for
some distance south, as well as north of the
station, and in this way obviating a loi{g detour
on the route from Grantham to Derby and the
Midlands.
. The ~ite of the station ~s very centr.al, and the plan
IS admirably arranged alike for dealmg with a larae
volume of traffic and for the convenience of pa~
sengers. A plan is given on page 678 (Fig. 1) from
which it will be seen that the station lies b~tween
two tunnels, known as the Victoria-street and Mansfield-road tunnels. The length between the tunnel
faces is 650 yards. At the north end the rail level
is 58 ft. below the original surface, at the south end
29ft. ; but in the centre there was a depression in
the original contour, the depth there being only

t\ 0 V .

5, t 90 L]

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

23 ft. The total amount of material excavated for metal will n ot affect the building. The blocks at
the station was 580,000 cubic yards. At the the south end of the station marked B and D on
northern end, as in t he Mansfield-road tunnel it plan comprise refreshment and dining-rooms, telewas good sandstone, which had to he blast~d graph office, lavatories, and station master's offices,
and was subsequently removed by a steam navvy: wit h kitchen and larders, telegraph operatives' room,
Towards t he south end, however as in the and other offices, on the first floor, and commodious
Victoria-street tunnel (Fig. 3), it w~s soft, being wine and beer cellars in the basement.
partly made ground, and 1t was easily removed.
The walls of the dining and refreshment rooms
At t he south end very hea.vy walls were built are lined with faience tiles, the floors are of ceramic
as shown in section in Fig. 2. The thicknes~ ~osaic, and the internal fittings and finishings are
at the base is 9 ft. 6 in., and the heiaht about m walnut. The decorative effects, notwithstanding
40 ft. Ne~r this end, by the wny, the '='old town the limited size, are very pleasing, suggesting the
wall was dLScovered during excavation at a depth best of London restaurants. The buildings on the
of 20 ft. below the surface. I t was built of sand- platforms and the internal elevations of the east
stone in clay instead of cement, the width being and west boundary walls are faced with various
about 7 ft.
colours of best glazed bricks and with glazed vitreous
As shown on the plan, there are two island plat- terra-cotta dressings supplied by the B urmantofts
forms, each of a maximum width of 68ft., the length Brick Company, Leeds.
be~g 127~ ft., and the. total length of platforms at
The buildings are surrounded immediately below
wh10h tra1ns can stand 1s about 1!- miles. There is a the platform level by subways for the accommodabay at each end of each platform"" 400 ft. long with tion of water, gas, and drain pipes, and electtic
t wo lines of rails in each. The platform' walls conductors. These are 5 ft. 6 in. wide and 6 ft.
are built of brickwork faced with Staffordshire high, affor.:ling sufficient room for workmen to make
brindle .brick, the height being 3 ft. The cope- inspection and repairs without interfering with the
stone, ltke the paving, is of granolithic stone. traffic on the platforms. Blocks marked B and
There are nine lines of rails through the station Don plan, which, as already mentioned, accommoexcluding the double-lin e bays at each end: date the refreshment and dining rooms, &c., are
so t hat the platforms will accommodate fourteen connected by an underground passage for the contrains a t the same time, the total rn.il mileaae venience of the culinary defartmen\ only, and from
within the station being about 5i miles. The pl~n Block B there is a similar subway, for the same purclearly indicates the distribution of up and down and pose, communicating with the main luggage subway
of fast and slow traffic for passengers and goods. across the station. By this means supplies can be
In addition to the fourteen passenger trains, two brought from stores or from public thoro ughfares.
goods trains can be accommodated on the outer- These subways are 14ft. wide and 11 ft. high, with
most roads through the station, and two t rains of brick arch roof, and are served by hoists at each
empty carriages on the middle siding. There are platform and booking-office. The two lifts in the
also docks at either end for dealing with fish and booking-office are 9 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft. 10 in., of
market goods traffic, 50-ft. locomotive turntables, 30 cwt. capacity, the travel being 40ft. 4! in., and
60-ft. engine pits, &c. The Mansfield-road tunnel, luggage may be delivered at the basement floor,
at the n o1th end of the station, is through sand- intermediate between the booking-hall and subway.
stone, the length being 1188! yards ; the Victoria- The hoists at the platforms, of a similar capacity,
street t unnel, 392i yards long, at the south end have a lift of 18 ft. 6 in. There are three other
of the station is also through sandstone, but diffi- hoist-s, 8 ft. by 4 ft. 6 in., of 20 cwt. c&pacity,
cul ties were experienced here owing to the crown making seven in all. Two of these are in the
of the arch being so close up to the foundations of parcels department to the north of the booking-hall,
the buildings above- in some cases cellars were communicating from the street level to the basement . The seventh is in the left-luggage office,
passed through.
Admirable arrangements have been made for with a lift of 20 ft. 10 in. to the stores in the basethe convenience of the public. As we have said, ment. The power-house, it may be said, is at the
the station is in the heart of the town. Along the north end of the station, the machinery being
western side of the cutting near Mansfield-road- provided by Mr. R. Middleton, Leeds. A noteone of the principal thoroughfares in the city- worthy point is that the pumps are driven by gas
the station buildings, hotel, booking-office, parcel- engines ; the working hydraulic pressure is 700 lb.
office, &c., have been Luilt. A new road has to the square inch.
The roof of the station proper is in two parts ;
been laid out along the eastern boundary. In
place of several streets demolished, a fine new the central part, defined by the length between the
g irder bridge- York-street- of 40 ft. width has outer ends of the platform buildings, being roofed in
been built across the stat ion towards its northern by principals which rest partly on the top of the walls
end. A foot bridge of 15 ft . width also extends of these buildings, partly on columns in line with
across the station at about the centre of its length, these walls, and on screen walls built on the side
entirely for the use of the public ; a second foot- boundary retaining walls of the station (Fig. 2).
bridge gives access from the booking-hall to each The idea in carrying the roof at such a high level
,)f the platform s, with exit to the public footbridge was to secure t he maximum of light and ventilation
and t o the new street on the eastern boundary of within the station, n otwithstanding that it is in a
the station; and here special commendation must deep cutting. The remainder of the platforms
be given for the arrangement whereby luggage is north and south of this main roof are covered with
dealt with in entirely separate passages from those awnings. The photograph reproduced on page 679
used by passengers. Two hoists from the booking- gives a. good idea of the central span of the main
office communicat e with an underground passage roof, and on our two-page plate this week there will
under the rails and platform8, with lifts to each be found details of this span, including the main
platform and to the refreshment departments. At standards and girders (Figs. 4 to 19), roof truss,
the south end of the station- Parliament-street- with details (Figs. 20 to 34), and the purlins, with
one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city is details (Figs. 35 to 47) ; while on page 679 are
Cl\rried across the station near to the face of the de.tails of the gutters and down pipes for surface
Victoria-street tunnel. From this bridge, also, drainage, with the gangway provided for inspection
there is access to the platforms. The various (Figs. 48 to 54). We defer our illustrations of
buildings and bridges we shall refer to in detail awning, roof, &c.
The 1nain roof extends for. a distance of 425 ft.,
later.
Meanw bile it may be said that on each of the and the full width of tho station, or 245 ft. As
t wo long platforms there are two blocks of buildings, shown on plan and section (Figs. 1 and 2), it
as shown on plan. They are 135 ft. long, 20 ft. is divided into three main spans, with two small
wide and 40 ft. high. The two blocks at the north spans coincident with the width of the platform
end marked respectively A and C on plan comprise buildings. This arrangement was adopted so as to
porters' and guards' r ooms in the. ~asement, utilise as far as possible the walls of these buildings
ladies' and aentlemen's and general Walting-rooms for carrying the roof principals and to minimise
on the platf~rm level, with lavatories, &c: On ~he the number of columns obstructing the platform ;
first floors suites of offices have been prov1ded, w1th but as it was not desirable to build the walls of
lavatory accommodation for the staff. Provision has greater strength than the building itself demanded,
been made for additional floors to be added to each columns were built into the walls for supporting
block at some future time, as we shall presently the main principals, t he thickness of the wall being
explain. Through these two ~orth bloc~s the public increased at these points by octagonal pilasters.
footbridge passes, and cons1derable d1fficulty. was The west span, from the west, or booking-office,
experienced and successfully overcome. The brtdges side of the station to over the down platform, is
are carried entirely independent of the walls, so 63 ft ., the main central span is 84 ft. 3 in., and t he
that vibration or expansion and contraction of the main eastern span 63 ft. The two spans which

take the place of the platform buildings, a8 shown

on Fig. 2, are each 18 ft. 6 in.
The space intervening between the platform
buildings is 150 ft., and in line with the buildings
rows of columns have been built at 30-ft. centrei,
connected by lattice girders to continue the line
of support for the roof principals. These main
columns have a height of 41 ft. 6 in. from the baseplate to the top. They are built up of angles,
channels, and plates, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, and
are 18 in. square over all. The baseplate is 3 fli. 6 in.,
and * in. thick, with ! -in. gusset-plates and angles
to secure the t runk. They are carried on a bed
stone 4ft. 6 in. square by 2 ft . thick, founded on
solid rock, the baseplate being held down by 1~-in.
le wis bolts let 9! in. into the stone (Figs. 10
and 11). The base of the columns is protected by
a cast.iron ornamental plinth 8ft. 1 in. high from
the base, and 6 ft. 6 in. from the platform level
(Figs. 4 to 7).
The girders which run longitudinally between the
columns are of the lattice type, the bottom boom
being curved, so that \V hile the depth of the ends is
5 ft. 8! in ., it is only 2 ft. 8! in. in the centre.
They are built in pairs, 11 in. apart, and at the
ends are at tached to the main angles at the back
and front of the columns, as shown (Figs. 14 to 18).
The pairs are connected on the bottom flange by a
diaphragm plate 2 ft. 6 in. long, but on the top,
which is horizontal, there is a plate 18 in. wide
by! in. thick for the whole length.
The two lines of columns along the platform are
only 17ft. 6 in. apart, to suit the width of the platform buildings, and they-are braced in thi~:J transverse dire"ction by somewhat similar lattice girders
riveted also to the angles forming the column
(Fig. 19). The bottoms of all these semi-elliptical
girders are finished by a small ornamental cast-iron
console. The system of drainage in connection with
these columns is interesting. The water is brought
down from the main gutters on each side of the
columns in cast-iron pipes 5 in. by 3 in. internal
dimensions and of i -in. metal. These lie closely
in to the channel irons forming the two sides of
the columns, and are held in position there by castiron straps secured to the main angles. At the
foot they discharge into the main drainage system
under the platform (Figs. 48 to 54).
The columns built into the walls of the platform buildings are of less dimensions. They only
reinforce the support given by the wall. These
columns are 12 in. by 12! in., built up of two
channels at the side 12 in. by 3! in. by ! in. thick,
with two channels at front and back 5k in. by 3 in.
by ! in. The longitudinal and cross-girders in
this case are rolled steel joists 10 in. by 4f in.,
bracing the whole structure together. 'l'hese
columns are also based on Derbyshire gritstones,
l::S in. deep, with lewis bolts to secure them.
The principals are placed at 15-ft. centres, so
that they rest alternately on the top of the
columns and on the longitudinal girders. We illustrate in detail the principals in the central span of
84ft. 3 in. (Figs. 20 to 34). The rafters are composed
of two channels 6 in. by 3 in. by in., with a 4-in.
space between them. They are stiffened at intervals
by channels 4 in. by 2! in. by in . The lower
member is built up of two 5-in. bars of varying
thickness-from t in. at the springing to in. at the
centres. The principals are divided into nine bays,
the centre one being 13ft. and the others 8ft. 9 in.
The bracing consists of channels and flat bars.
The channels forming the struts are stiffened
at short intervals by cast-iron distance pieces. The
details are clearly shown in Figs. 21 to 34. The
main principals are surmounted by lanterns with
frames at 7 ft. 6 in. centres, the general design of
which is shown on the cross-section (Fig. 21). The
ridge is of corrugated iron, 16 B. W.G., bent over
pitch-pine blocks, spaced 2 ft. 6 in. apart and
bolted to the two angle-irons carrying the glazing
bars. The intervening space between the blocks,
of course, allows for the escape of steam, &c.
Louvres are provided at the sides of the lanterns,
and still further to insure effective ventilation
spaces have been left over each bay between the
purlins, with weather boards fixed to the upper T,
so that snow or rain is not likely to find entrance.
The purlins carrying the lantern frame (Figs. 35 to
40) are double, and are composed of four angles,
with lattice bracing ba.rs connected at intervals by
4 in. by Hin. plates at top and bottom. The intermediate purlins are single, the tQp and bottom flanges
being of T 's with lattice bars (Figs. 41 and 42). All
the purlins are secured to the backs of the principals

t
t

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

with i-in. bolts. The glazina is on Mellowes's

system, the thickness being i~., secured to 2!-in.
bars. These bars are of special depth, owing
to the long span they carry.
The main roof covers n.n area of 94 968
square feet; the weight of steelwork which 'was
pr?vided by the Horseley Company: of Tip ton,
being about 587 tons, excluding columns, wind
screens, &c., or 13.8 lb. per square foot of
area covered. The structure is handsome in
app~arance, and it may be added that 92 per cent
of it is glazed.

\Valking gangways are provided along each sido

of the lantern~ and also over the main gutters, and
these also are illustrated on page 679 (Figs. 48 and
49); on both standards are provided carrying 1!-in.
steam tube, which has been preferred to the usual
iron gas-piping for durability. It carries a cleansing
water supply to all parts of the roof. The water is
ta~en from the city mains, the pressure available
being 75 lb. to the square inch. At convenient
intervals provision has been made for the attachm~nt of hose-pipes, &c. The main gutters are 18 in.
w~de and 9 In. deep, constructed of ~-in. metal,
with outlets at convenient points into the pipes
down the columns. These gutters are carried over
the longitudinal girders by cast-iron shoes 3ft. 9 in.
apart, and on the platform building walls they rest
partly on. the brickwork and partly on stools bolted
to the brtckwork. The quantity of cast iron in the
gutters, bases, and columns, ornamental work, &c.,
is about 183 tons.
(To be continued.)
. -

THE NEW YORK SUBWAY.

ljfP' /

/d)

-
Fig. 43.

'!,

EXISTING
MCTROPDLITAIY TRACTI ON C

TUNNL

.(

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~~
'

~I

.. ::.r

v- --- ------ ... -,,1 ..

------4~ 0 ----

_ - - - - - - - - - - VT
"JA

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or

"' _/

---17 0 - --- -

--- --- - - - -- -~
#

"

0----J1 -------,

~ ------12 0:-- --+ ~

'

PARK AV TUNNEL

33'!P

FnDitf

ro 41

~T ST

( Oontilnued from page 637.)

THE NEW SUBWAY IN NEW YORK

CITY.
By CHARLES PRELtNI, C.E., New York .

(NOV. I 5, I 901.

.
THE fourth section of thesubwayextends from33rdIT
L
II
11
street to 41st-street. Though one of the shortest,

-- e5 -- tO'-- . - a . - fJ' --it is of special interest to engineers. The whole

distance from 33rd-street to 41st-street is already
tunnelled for the trolley service, the foundations
IY
of the side walls being 10 ft. higher than the roof
2
I
2
3
of the new subway. As it was impossible to
drive a four-tracked flat tunnel at so small a
depth below the surface, Mr. Parsons decided
upon two parallel tunnels with two tracks each,
Diqgram showing t-he . '$e~encc
Dia9r<1m showing t~ sequenu (1(
one on each side of the Av_enue, and 17 ft.
oF the e!JICcavation in the West.
apart, as shown in Fig. 43. The tunnel on the
c:x.co.votion in the East tunm:sl
tunnel- Top heaJin1 method.
left will be known as the West
Drift method.
. tunnel and will
be for ~outh-bound trains, express and loca1, while
the one on the right- the East tunnel- will be for

the north-bound service.*

As the tw.in t unnels run through a bed of comp~~~:F=================~S,P~M

~
u~a
pact mica schist, one is at first surprised to find that
I
the section which has been adopted is the polyI
I I
centric arch with the flattest curve at the crown, a
I
I

form wen known to be the most unreliable and unI

I
safe for tunnels driven through rock. The circumI
I
I
stances of the locality, however, seem to have imI
I
''
posed this sectional form, for the depth from the
I
I
I
-:>a'
foundation of the side walls of the existing tunnel
... _.J_.!I___ ___ _
... ---------1- IV..J

to the floor of the subway is small, the rock is of

.
', .......
good quality throughout, and the downward presTrav~ling platform for the excavation of the upper portion of the
sures are unimportant.
The tunnels have been excavated by means of
tunnel w.iendriven by the drift method.

shafts sunk from the street at points corresponding

to the stations located at 33rd and at 41st streets.
The shafts were first carried down the whole way
12, 1Z
to the floor of the subway, and then the work of
Fifj.47.
excavating was begun.
Fig.
. .
1I
I.
II
Tunnelling through rock may be carried on by
one of two methods, either by a heading or by a
~ -- 10 ........ . . 4 .
drift. For a long time engineers were in doubt as
IV
to which was the better method; but the construc
y
~
tion of the St. Gothard Tunnel showed it to be
I
easier and more convenient to use the drift
when the rock is compact and homogeneous,
while the heading gives better results in the
-~
YI
case of non-homogeneous materials. The experience of European engineers has not been accepted in America, where the top - heading
method has prevailed to the exclusion of the
.,,
' '
other. In the section of the subway with which
D ia9ram of the sequence of excavation
Strutting at the North end ofthe
we are dealing, the contractor, Mr. Ira A. Shaler,

o.t the North:end of the West tunnel

West tunnel.
h:a d a good opportunity-of which he fortunately
Top heading method.
availed himself-to make a comparative test of
both methods. Accordingly, he directed the West
tunnel to be begun by the top-heading method and the East tunnel by the drift. After proceeding teresting fact , and a very practical testimony in
in this way for a few months, he came to the con- favour of European methods. We should like to sup* Some small sections (Figs. 24 to 29), shown on our elusion that t he drift was the more convenient of plement this statement by giving the reasons which
two-page plate of October 11, were reproduced from tbe
Ne1w York Enpineering Record, and, by an oversight, were the two for his purpose, so that it was forthwith led Mr. Shaler to depart in such a signal manner
adopted for the West tunnel also. This is an in- from the common practice of the country ; but,
not acknowledged.
'

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

OV. I

5, I 90 I.]

E N G I N E E R 1 N C.
1ILLING

ON. TRUC'I' c.
~"D BY !'l\.1]~.
l
- ' 'R
' '.

HI

E.

'IITH AND COV J~ TRY, LIMITED, E GINEER '

~IANCHE

!l

TER.

(For Des ;1iption, see P age 676. )

'

'

..

, /./

J.

uu fortunately for the profession, Mr. Shaler is

reticent and apparently unduly impressed with the
old sn.ying that silence is golden.
But to proceed : The sequence of the excavation
in both tunnels is shown in Figs. 44 and 45. On
the \Vest tunnel, a heading 10 ft . high and 10 ft .
wide is excavated on one side of the axis of the
t unnel, after which the parts marked II. in Fig. 44,
e1ch being 6 ft . wide and 7 ft. long, are removed.
About 50 ft . in the r ear, part III. is next removed,
while at a distance of another 50 ft., bench IV. is
excav~ted, thus throwing the whole width of the
t unnel open.
n the east side, t he excavation
begins with drift 1, which is 8 ft . wide, 10 n. high,
and 7 ft. deop. On each side of the drift the parts
marked 2 are removed. About 50 ft. in tho rear,
pu t 3 is also r emoved, so that the lower part of
the t unnel can be freely excavated. On going back
50 ft. more, the upper part 4 is n ext removed,
thereby clearing the whole section of the tunnel.
'l'he heading and the drift are both excavated according to the " centre cut " method usually employed in America, consisting in removing at first
a central wedge of the same heigh t as the heading
or drift.
To remove part 4 of the East tunnel, a travelling platform is used, 10! ft. long and 25 ft. wide.
The platform consists (Fig. 46) of two longit udinal
beams on four double-flange wheels r unning on
tracks 23 ft. apart. Corresponding with t he four
wheels and r esting on the top of the beams are
four vertical posts, 12 in. square, braced in each

direction to the framework of the platform. This

fram ework is formed of beams, some of which are
12 in. by 12 in. and others 12 in. by 14 in. , the
platform itself being built up of planks 3 in. thick.
'he platform is 9 ft. above the floor of the t unnel,
and carries the columna that support the drills used
in excavating the upper portion of the tunnel. In
mounting the columna, the platform is strengthened
by other vertical props, as indicated by the dotted
lines in the illustration. They are so arranged as
to leave sufficient spaco for t he three tracks needed
for the transportation of the material excavated at
the front.
All the holes necessary for the excavation of the
more difficult parts of the work are made by drills
mounted in pairs on columns and working hori
zontally. Those r eq uired for the bench marked
IV . in Fig. 43 are perforated by drills mounted on
tripods and working vertically. As heavy blast
inga give rise to severe shocks that might
interfer e with the stability of neighbouring buildings, the holes are but lightly charged, and
the explosive used does n ot contain more than
40 per cent. of dy namite. The blast is effected
in many r ounds, not more than four holes being
fired at a time.
More loose soil was encountered at the north
end of the West tunnel, which necessitated supports
for the roof of the excavation, and this new difficulty led to a modification of the heading method
generally employed. A central heading, 10 ft . wide
and 10 ft. high, marked I. in Fig. 47, was first

excavated ; then the parts II., 4ft. wide, wet e

romoved so as to permit the excavation of parts Ill.
When parts IV. were removed, the roof of the
excavation was ready for the strutting. Part V .,
which was excavated 50ft. from the front, was only
2 ft. high, but extended nearly across t he whole
section of the t unnel ; when removed, the upper
portion of the t unnel was open. The bench
marked VI. was excavated in precisely the same
manner at a distance of nearly 100 ft . from t he
front, or 50 ft. behind part V .
As soon as parts 4 were removed, the timbers'
intended for the suppor t of the roof of the excavation were set up. The kind of strutting used is
that kno wn as the polygonal, in which the members
that support the poling boards are placed transverselyto the axis of the tunnel in the form commonly
called the three-segment arch. On the bottom of
the excavation, four beams, 12 in. by 12 in., were
placed lonp;itudinally in order to serve as tem
plates. Upon these the inclined segments rested,
which, together with a horizontal one, formed
the three-segment o.rch. The crown of the arch
was reinforced underneath, so as to be able to stand
the vertical pr essures from above, the method
of support consisting of a short beam carried on
two struts abutting agAinst the template. With the
exception of this short beam, which was 12 in. by
6 in., all the others were 12 in. by 12 in. The
poling boards were made of planks 3 in. thick.
'hey were laid longitudinally and formed the roof
of the tunnel. The three-segment arches and the

E N G I N E E R I N G.
poling boards are kep t in position even a[ter the
tunnel is lined with concrete.
With the exception of l. small part of the north
end of the west tunnel, no other strutting was
required, the tunnel being excavated throuoh firm
solid rock.
.:)
'
As soon as the excavation is completed and the
tunnel. open, it is lined with concrete, having
concrete floors, concrete side walls, with sheltering
niches at intervals, and concrete arches as
indicated in Fig. 43. page 674.
'
The removal of the excavated material is well
eff~cted ; and though in general the n1ethod employed is nearly the same for the east as for the
west tunnel, ret th~re are variations according to
the nl'\nner 1n whtch the excavat.ion has been
carried out. 'l'he floor of each tunnel carries three
trackEl, which reach to the front. The cars are flat
their pl~tforms carrying large boxe3 5 ft. squar~
and 15 .1n. deep, provide~ with three lifting rings
and chatns. When filled w1th material, those boxes
or " SCl l es " are run to t h e b otton1 of the shaft
where they are hoisted by a stiff-legged derrick and
dumped into the storage bins. Bins of nearly 300
cubic yards capacity are built at 34th-street and 41ststreet, about 8 ft. above the street surface, where
they are supported by well-braced timbers and
with sufficient clearance to allow wagons easily to
pass under them. They are provided with chutes
and trap-doors, so that when the wagon is in position, it is l oaded by s imply pulling a chain, without
any handling of the material.
The tracks laid on the floor of the tunnel reach
the front when the excavation is done by the drift;
but only reach the b e nch, 100 ft. behind the heading, when the tunnel is driven by the heading
method. In such a case all the material excavated
from the upper portion of the section must be
wheeled nearly 100 ft. and brought to the floor of
the. tu~ne.l by means of an inclined plane, after
w h10h 1t Is lo~ded on the " scales " and carried
away. This double handling of the material, and
its transportation by wheelbarrows for over 100 ft.
on the top of the bench and along the inclined
plane, runs up the expense and renders the top
heading method of driving tunnels more costly
than the drift.
Work is carried on continuously by three shifts
of eight hours each. The rate of progress is, on
the avera.ge, 90 ft. per month, the delay being
caused by difficulties encountered in blasting.
Compresse~ air has been employed throughout.
The plant 1s set up at a distance of 4000 ft. from
the work, to which it is conveyed by pipes buried
in the ground. It is located at 42nd-street, near
the East River, and supplies power to Section Four
as well as to Section Five A.
The plant comprises two horizontal boilers
generating steam at 135lb. pressure and a R~nd
cross-compound steam and air-compressor with
steam cylinders 22 in. and 40 in. by 48 in. and air
cy tinders 24 in. and 39 in. by 48 in. The capacity
of the compressor is 4320 cubic feet of free air per
minute at a speed of 65 revolutions. The air from
the compressor is discharged into a 20-ft. by 5~-ft.
cylindrical steel receiver located outside the engineroom. The air is conveyed from the receiver to
the tunnel through a 10-in. wrought-iron pipe
buried in the ground and running under 42nd-street.
At P ark-avenue, a 6 -in. pipe branches off from the
main t o supply the fourth section, while the main
continues along 42nd-street and up Broad way to
47th-street, distributing p ower at various point:3 of
the first part of the fifth s ection.
The ventilation in the tunnel excavations has
given no trouble whatever. There is sufficient
draught at all times to enable the men to work
comforta bly. The natural draught is increased by
the air which escapes from the drills. During the
summer months artificial ventilation has been found
necessary in certain sections of the subway. In
such cases it is supplied by means of a 4 -ft exhaust fan, which sucks out the foul air through a
12-in. pipe reaching each front of the excavation.
When needed, the tunnels are lighted by electric
lamps, except while blasting is going on, when the
lamps and electric wires are removed, and gasolene
torches are used.
(To be CO'fltilnued.)

MILLING MACHINE.
A MACIJ INE of interest at the late Glasgow E xhibition is a. vertical spindle milling machine by Messrs.
Smith and Coventry, Limited, Manchestel'. It has
been design ed to do straight and circular milling, and

[Nov. Is;

also t :> tool the outline of objects having an irregular form. Compared with a slotting machine,
this tool will be seen to have a somewhat similar
kind of frame, and perha ps this comes about from
the fact that it tools similar work. The table has
pra~tically identical motions, operated both automatiCally and by hand; but, as the cutting action is
continuous, there is a difference in the method of
feeding. Judging from the arrangements to be found
in various makes of milling machines, it is evidently
felt that the feed motion should exert a steady continuous pressure of the work to the tool, and yet be
of such a na ture that in the event of excessive registance being encountered there may be a possibility of
slipping to avoid breaking the tool. At the same
time there should be reasonable provision for changing the speeds of feed. In the present case each of
these provisions is met by introducing friction
wheels into the mechanism. The first and last
wheels of the friction train are in permanent positions;
but a plir of intermedia te discs are carried upon a
swingin~ arm to enable the variations to be made.
This device will be seen in the illnstratiou on page 675
to be attached to the side of the main standard.
To accommodate different pieces of work varying in
height, the lower bearing carrying the spindle is provided with a vertical adjustment, so enabling the
tool to be rigidly held in all positions.
Irregular shapes may be milled, and for this purpose a former is necessarily placed below the work, so
that a projecting arm with a friction roller may engage
it. Ths table is released from the longitudinal screw,
and it is then acted upon by a balance weight at the
back of the machine through a system of levers, so as
to press the "former" to the friction-roller on the
arm. This arm can be detached when the copying
arrangement is not required to be in use.
20-TON TRAVELLING ELECTRIC CRANE.
THE 20-ton travelling electric crane illustrated on
page 682 has been de~igned, built, and erected
by Messrs. George Russell and Co. , Motherwell, on
the wharf at the works of the N orthE~J.stern Marine
Engineering Company, Limit ed, for placing on board
vessels the lighter portions of machinery, &c. The
working load is 20 tons lifted at a radius of 42 ft. 6 in.,
and 15 t ons at 50 ft. radius. The derricking gear
varie3 the radius from 25 f li. to 60 ft. When at
42 ft. 6 in. the height of the jib pulley is 62ft. above
the wharf; and the under side of the jib is 37 ft. above
the edge of the wharf. The lifting hook has a vertical
range of 84 ft..
The carriage has eight wheels (two at each corner),
with compensation balance levers to equally distribute
the weight. The wheels have central flanges and rolled
steel tyres. The gauge is 23 ft. centre to centre.
The test load was 25 tons at 40 ft. radius. The 20ton load is lifted at 25 ft. p er minute, and slewed at
150ft. per minute. The crane travels along the wharf
at 60 ft. per minute.
There are three motors by the British ThomsonHouston Company: One 48 horse-power at 300 revolutions for hoisting and derrickiog, one 12 horse-power
at 550 revolutions for slewing, and one, also 12 horsepower, for propelling the crane along the wharf; all the
movements and gearing are independent of each other.
The crane is supplied with power by means of a
flexible cable, fed from junction bexes placed a.t intervals along the wharf. The cables pass through the
centre of the post, and are connected to two slip rings
at the t op of the post, from which the current is taken
to the rotating part. Four slip rings arc also provided
for transmitting the current to the travelling motor,
which, with the others, is controlled from the craneman's house.
P ERSONAL.-lYir. J. A. Bedbrook, who was f0r many
years associated with the design and construction of the
machinery of our naval ships, as a member of S ir John
Dur.ston's staff, has commenced business as a consulting
engineer and marine surveyor at 211, lVIansion House
Chambers, 11, Queen Victoria-street, L-:>ndon, E .C.,
He undertakes the preparation of specifications and
estimates for new machinery; the supervision of the
construction of, and repairs to, machinery ; the survev of hulls and machinery; and trials of marine
engines and boilera.- Having retired from the Government Geological Survey, after 32 years' service, Mr.
C. E. Hawkins, of 23, DalebQry-road, :Upper T~ob
iog, S. W .. propo~e3 to practise as con~ul~mg geologts~.
- Schmidt/a Superheating Company, L1m1ted, of Broad
Sanctuary Cbambera, Westminster, S.W., have ap
pointed Messrs. Willcox Brothers, of 15, NorfolkstreetJ, Sunderland, as their representatives for Northumberland Durham, and Yorkshire, and all inquiries
with regard to the application of the Schmidb system as
regards marine, locomotive, and portable engines should
be addressed to them. They have also appointed the
Providence Enginee.r ing Works, of ~bode Island, U . S. A,
as their repre3enta.t1ves for the Umted States of Amer1ca.
- Dr. A. B. W. Kennedy has recommended the L ondon
County Council to accepn Messrs. Dick, Kerr, and Co.'s
tender for continuous.currenb and t~ree:pha~e plant for
their tramways. Nearly all the leadmg Contmenta.l and
American firm s C')mpeted.

1901.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, Wednesday.
Glasgow Pig-Iron Market.-A moderate amount of business was done in the market las t Thursday forenoon, when
the bone was steady, and at the lasb Scotch iron showed a
rise of 2~d. per ton. 0 nly some 5000 tons were dealt in.
Dealing was confined to Cleveland, which lefb off lid.
per ton down ab 433. 1l! d. per ton ca~h buyera. Otber
descriptions were quoted unaltered. There was comparatively little alterat10n in the afternoon. At the close the
settlement prices were: Scotch, 54s. 9d. per ton; Cleve
land, 44~.; Cum berland hema.tite iron, 39s. 4~d. per ton.
At the forenoon meeting of the market on Friday the warrant
market was very quiet, only about 5000 tons changing
hands. Cleveland was the turn harder ab 44s. O~d. ca.sb,
with buyers over, while Cumberland hematite iron was
the burn easier at 59J. 3~d. per ton cash buyers. Scotch
warrant8, which were nob dealb in, were quoted 1~d. per
ton down at 5!s. 9d. cash buyers. In the afternoon only
one lot of 500 tons of Cleveland iron chan~ed hands at
44s. 2d. per ton one month, the close bemg 44s. 1!d.
per ton buyers- the same as on the preceding day. 'l'he
settlement prices were: 54~. 10~d., 44s., and 59s. 4~d.
per ton. Only some 3000 tons changed hands on
Monday forenoon, when Scotch warrants were just
a shade firmer than on Friday- ab 55.s. 1~d. per
ton sellers. At the afternoon s~sion about 5000
tons were sold, and priors were easier. Scotch was
3 ~d. down from the forenoon close, and Cleveland 1d.,
while bematite iron showed a loss of 3d. per ton on the
day. Cleveland was dealo in ab 43.s. 10~d. per ton three
months. The settlement prices were: 54s. 10~d., 44s.,
and 59.3. 3d. per ton. The iron market showed some
change on Tuesday, as in the forenoon some 7000 tons
were dealt in. Scotch was ra.tber bid for, and rose in
price 4~d. per ton, while Cleveland was offered and lost
~d. ptr ton. Hemati te iron, however, fell 2d. per ton.
ln the afternoon some 3000 or 4000 tons changd
bands, and the close was flat, price~: being 1d. down
from the forenoon all round. The following were
the settlement prices: 55~., 433. 10~d., and 58s. lO!d.
per too. Glasgow pigiron market was very idle tbis
forenoon, and only 1000 tons-all Cleveland-were dealt
in. Scotch was quoted 3d. lower down at 543. 7~d. cash
buyere, and hematiite iron was quoted at 58.!'. 10d. per ton
cash sellers. On some selling in the afternoon the
market went flat. Business was confined to about
5000 tons of Cleveland, which closed 6d. per ton down
on the day. Scotch warrants were 6~d . per ton down
on the day, and hematite iron was quoted 10d. per ton
down. The sAttlementJ prices were: 54s. 7!d., 43s. 6d.,
and 58s. 9d. per ton. Tne pa.st week's market report is
very much a repetition of its predecessor. Scotch warrants
were nob much more than mentioned, hub their prices
have been bid up to 553. per ton cash, while forward dates
remain unnegotia.ble except at heavy discoun~. West
Coast hema.titie iron warrants are a shade easier, but they
have been up ab 59.3. 4d.. per ton. Cleveland warrants
again claim the bulk of the busines~, the q uota.tions
varying between 44s. 4d. and 44s. O~d . per ton. Round
about 443. a. disposition to invest in these securities seems to exist, especially as makers' stocks are
known to be very low. From America ad vices still
call prices strong, but fresh orders are nob coming
forward so freely, and it seems conceded that any
further advance in prices thera is impossible. Germany
continues her destructive competition, and pours her
surplus production into this country at a heavy loss to
herself. Makers here find but little difficulty in disposing of their makes. The number of furnaces in bla~t
is 83, against 7J at this time last year. The stock of pig
iron in Mess~. Connal and Co.'s public warrant store.i
stood ab 56,726 tons yesterday afternoon, compared with
56,891 tons yesterday wek, thus showing for the past
week a reduction amounting to 165 tons.
Carwdian Pig Iron.-The total quantity of Dominion
pig iron landed at Clyde ports since the importation
commenced now amounts to aboub 30,000 tons. Other
two steamers have just been chartered to load ab Sydney,
Cape Breton. One of them, the Inca, 1931 tons net
register, ab 93. 6d. per ton freight, November shipments.
Sulphate of Am1noni a.-'fhia commodity is in demand
up to lll. per ton for early delivery. The shipments reported for lasb week amounted to 2519 tons, making a
total to date this year of 119,782 tons, being 2070 tons in
excess of those for the corresponding portion of la~t year.
Prompt business is quiet, but a. considerable amount is
being done for spring delivery. The shipments ab Leith
last week amounted tJo 299 tons, and ab the same port
there were shipped during October 3386 tons, against
3683 tons in the corresponding month of last year.
Mr. A lexander Findlay, Br-idgebwilder, Provost o
Motherwell.-This gentleman, who is a native of Irvioe,
in Ayrshire, settled in Motherwell somewhere abouo
twenty years ago. H e has been a member of the Par
liamentary Cvmmission for about fifteen years, and during
the past eight years he was one of the magistrates of the
burgh. For some time prior to his settlement ab Motherwell he resided beyond the Atlantic, and learned the
ways of the Americans. He does a large amount of work
in bridgebuilding ; he constructed all the steel bridges
- about a hundred- on the West Highland Railway ;
He represents the burgh of Motherwell on the _L anarkshire County Council, and he is a. Justice of the Peace.
A N e'lv Lighthousc.-The Northern Lighthouse Commissioners have decided to erect a lighthouse off the
Island of Canna. The benefits of the lighthouse in this
parb of the Minch, where vessels in large numbers run
for shelter, will be very considerable.
Roya~ Scottish Society of Ar ts.-The following is the
report of the Committee appointed by the R oyal Scobtiah

Nov. 15, I901.]

Society of Arts to award prir.es for communications read
or reported on during the session 19001: Your Committee having met and carefully considered the communications l aid before and definitely disposed of by the
Society during the seesion 19001, beg to report that it
has awarded the fo!lowing pri zes : To Francis G. Ba.ily,
M. A., for his paper on "An Apparatus for :Measuring
the Magnetic Prop erties of Iron and other Materials,'' a
Keith prize, value 21l. ; to Colonel A. B. M 'Hardy, C.B.
-for his paper on "Sold iers' R ooms in Barracks," a
Hepburn priz~, value 10l. ; toR. G. Alla.nson Wino-for
his p~par on ".Foreshore Protection,, the Society's
comphmentary Silver medal; to A. Melville B ell- for
hitt paper on "Visible Speech,, the 8ociety'd complimenhry silver medal; to John Whitela.w-for his paper on
" Some Peculia.ri ties of the Lothian CJalfields,, the
ociety's com{>limen ta.ry silver medal; a.nd to E. Shra.pnell
Smith- for hts paper ou "Motor Cara: Past, Preeent,
and Future,, the Society's complimentary silver medal.

NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

SHEFFIELD, Wednesday.
T he Pnture of Ear le's Sh~pyan~.- Mr. W ellesley Wilson,
ROD of Mr. Charles H. Wilson, M P. ( che purchaser of
Narle's shipbuilding yard on the Humber), speaking at
Hull on Saturday afternoon, said that his father bad
taken up the businEss of Ea.rle's shipyard with the intention of maintaining one of th e leading industries of the
port. He did not think the building of warships would
be continued, as it had nob in the past been successful
from a financial point of view, hub he hoped that the
working men of Ea.rle'd would meet the n ew owners, and
enable nhem to work on the same principle as the other
shipyards on the Clyde and the North -East Coast. They
hoped t o be able to put the yard on a. modern basis in
order to compete with any other shipyard in G reab
Britain. Mr. W ellesley \Vilson warmly urges the need
of a. passenger-landing stage-similar to that on the
Mersey-so that ships may be brouRht alongside the
quays ab any state of the tide. Such facilities for the
ld.nding of passengers would, ib is conPidered, bring to
Hull a great deal of the Continental tra ffic whiob at present goes through other ports less favourably situated.
Suggested L ight Railway from Selby to Goole.- On
Monday a. meeting was held ab Selby to consider a
sohe me for the construction of a light rail way between
thab town and Goole. It wa..q stated that Lord Londesborough approved of the proposed line. Although no
de finite action was taken, it is reported that it is practically resolved to make suoh a. railway.

T he Electric Car OontroUer.-- At a. meeting held on

Thursday, of the Sheffield U niversity College Engineering and Metallurgical Society, Mr. Unwin read a. paper
entitled "The Electric Car Controller. " He gave a.
lucid description of the construction and action of the
type of controller in use on the Sheffield Corporation oar~,
and showed how the angular movements of the spindle
controls the speed and direction of the oar. Mr. U nwin
also dealt with the braking arrangement.
The H ull Coal Trade.- The October return isJued by
the Hull Chamber of Commerce is a. little more Ea.ti~
faotory than was that for the previous month; but in
comparison with Octobar, 1900, there is a. reduction of
95,744 tons in the weight of coal dealb with at the port.
La~t month the t onna ge was 289,776. In the expired ten
months of the pressnb year there were forwarded 2,673,056
tons as compared with 3,479,360 tons in the corresponding
period !Jf a. year ago, a falling off of 806,304 tons. The
coastwiee exports last month were about an average.
Trade with foreign countries showed a. comparative improvement, the total export3 of the month amounting to
166,231 tons, as against 190,570 tons in October of last
year, a. fall of 24,339 tons, whilst for the ten months
ending October the total exports amounted to 1,2l7,515
tonP, a~compued with 1,756.822 tons. The South Yorkshire collieries have sent very little les.q coal to the port
than they did a year ago, and the burden of t he loss of
trade has fa.lleu most largely on the West Yorkshire and
Nobts and Derbyshire collieries.
I ron and Stcel.- The slowi ng.down process still continues in the heavy branches of trade. Contracts are being
steadily cl~ared off, and new ones are not forthcoming in
the same proportion to take their place. It has been rep orted that the Government will shortly invite tenders
for more armour, but ib is feared the quantities will nob
be sufficient to keep the immense plant provided by
the Sheffield firms in operation for long. Indeed,
Government representatives who visit the city make
no secret of the fact that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer needs all the money for the army, and
that for the present even projected increases in the
Navy musb remain to some extent in abeyance. A
few firms who are exceptionally well placed for securing
contracts for railway material are doing fairly well, but
the demand, on the whole, is muoh below the means of
supply. The improvement noticed in the crucible steel
trade at the opening of the quarter has not been maintained. Ib is roughly estimated that the output so far
this year has only been about one-half what it wa~ during
the same p eriod of last year. The houses who are suffering most from the depression are, perhaps, those who
have done chiefly with the Continent, and particularly
with Germany, where the slump in trade is extremely
severe.
South Yorkshire Coal T rade.-Tbe pits are atlill working full time, a.nd a strong demand exists for all the better
classes of fuel, bobh for manufacturing and domestic purp oses. The demand for house coal has, during the past
week, become muoh stronger, and prices have been advanced ls. per ton. L ondon merchants are again ordering

ENGINEERING
more freely, and an increase of business with the eastern
counties is n.lso to be recorded. L ocal sales are also
good. Good silksbone coal is quoted at 13~. 6d. to
14s. 6d. p er bon, and best Ba.rnaley softs 12s. Gd. to 133.
per ton. There is n. stea..Qy foreign trade in bards doing
v id Hull and the other Humber port~, and the inhmd
demand continues to be brisk. The railway companies
are also taking full supplies under contract. Rates vary
from 9J. to 9J. 3d. for contracts to 10s. to 103. 6d. for
inland orders. Good coking slack is in fair request ab
4s. 3d. to 4s. 6d. per ton, but ordinary pit slack for firing
purposes is in poor demand, and sells a.t very low figures.

NOTES FROM CLEVEL-lliD AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.

677
are to be leng r.hened 80 ft., i~ order to acc<?mmoda.te
new ships of CiOO ft. length, whaoh are to be bmlb for the
Navy.
!Ifore W elsh Coal.- There is a large a. rea. of undevel? J?ed
minerals from Abercarn to Llanbradach, and mmmg
engineers are generally agreed in ~be opini~n ~ha.t the
Sirhowy Valley is the best loca.hty for wmnmg and
working this area.. It i~ understood that> the Aber~ a,ttl
Colliery Company will sink two pits ab Argold. Str J.
Llewelyn's coal property in the ne~ghbou rhood <?f Swanee:..
is a lso about to be developed. Str J. J. Jenkm~ furb~el'
abates tba.b the Cefngyfela.oh CoJliery Company- m wh10h
he is one of the principal shareholders-contemplates an
expendi ture of 30,000&. to 40,000l. in the development of
the Cefngyfelacb coal district, near Swansea..
Newport.-Tbe Town Cou ncil of Newport will apply to
Parliament nexb session for powers to borrow an additional 150, OOOl. for water works extension, making the
full c:>sb of the Wentwood scheme a.boub 400,000l.
Powers are also to be sou~hb to construct additional
tramways a.nd to double existmg lines, the extensions being
along the Caerleon-road to the Alcxandra. Dock pier heA-d,
from the end of Commeroia.lroad and up to Stow hill, nob
only to the Handposb Hotel, but also to the end of the
borough boundary in Risca-road.
Devonport.-A new building slip in course of construction on the seaward side of the old mast pond a.t Devonport dockyard will be larger than at first proposed. The
original plans provided for a. slip ca.pa.ble of building a.
ship 450 ft. long; but after the work bad been taken._ in
hand, the plans were altered so as t o provide fot: a t:lip
590 ft. long and 90 ft. wide. This, howe ver, does non
really indicate the magnitude of the work, as the foundations are in for extending the slip anothEr 160 ft. , thus
bringing it up to 750 ft., which is considerably hmger than
any building slip in the country. The new slip is builD
entirely of concrete and granite, and is on a site to the
soubh of that on which the Queen is now building '
Development of Dowlais. - A recent visit of the chairman of the Dowlais Iron Company (Mr. A. K een) and
his co.direotor (Mr. E. Windsor Richard ~ ) to the U nited
States is likely to bear early fruit. They propo~e t o make
i01provements at the works as far a.s possible on American
lines. Guesb, Keen, and Co., Limited, recently acquired
one of the American steel-producing mills, known as the
Mor~a.n Continuous Mill, and named after the firm whose
spemality it is- the Morgan Construction <Jompany, of
Worcester, Massachusetts. The component -parts, since
their unsbipmenb1 have been lying idle at <Ja.rdiff. lb
has now been dectded to erect the mill in the Ivor Works
ab Dowlais. The directors have also under consideration
the laying down of a complete tube-making plant in the
Ivor W orke.
.
The Su:ansea Valley.-Orders for tinplate of all kinds
and sizes are being worked out. The production of steel
ingots last week was larger than in a.ny prevrous week of
the quarter. The bar mills, which had been working
rather irregularly, have ~gain been doing full time.
Some German steel bars have be&n imported by one of
the tinpla.te works in the Morriston district.
Barry Graving Dock, c.f:c., Oompany.-'fhe direptors of
the Barry Graving Dock and Engineering . Company,
Limited, recommend a. dividend on the ordinary ~hares
for the year ending S eptember 30 a.t the rate of 10 per
cent. per annum. The reserve is ab the same time increased to 40, OOOl., and 11, 452l. is carried forward. '
New Industry at Cardijf.-A Newcastle firm of steel
wire ropemakers has obtained a site for works at C<Lrd.ff.
The firm inquired also for a. site a.t Newport., but finally
concluded to go to Cardiff.

MIDDLESBROUGH, Wednesday.
The Cleveland Iron Trade.-Yesterda.y there was a.
fairly large a."ttenda.nce, but the market was quiet in
tone, and very little business was recorded. Buyers
were backward, and would only purchase what was
absolutely necessary to them to meet immediate
require ments. Quotations for Cleveland iron showed
a. marked downward tendency, but some of the
~roducers were very reluc~a.nt to reduce their rates.
Though there were makers who end eavoured to fix the
price of No. 3 g.m. b. Cleveland pig iron a.t 44s. 3d.
for prompt f.o.b. delivery, there were others prepared to
a.ccepb 44s. M erchants were rAady enough to sAil at the
latter figure, which was the genera.l market quotation,
and the supply of No. 3 was abundant. No. 1 Cleveland
pig was 45s. 9d.; No. 4 foundry, 433. l ()id.; grey forge,
433. fij, ; mottled, 433. 3d. ; and white! 423. 9d. There
was as much difficulty as ever in obtaming East Co8.8b
hematite pig iron, the output being altogether inadequate
to the demand, and stooks being pra.otically nil. For
delivery next month mixed numbera were 60s.; and No. 1
603. 6d. Spanish ore was steady, rubio being 153. 9d.
ex-ship T ees. Today tbe market was dull and prices
for Cleveland iron showed a. further tendency to decline,
but they were not quotably altered.
N e1u Furnace at Skinning'r ove.-The new furnace erected
a.t the Skinningrove Iron Works has j nst been opened. Ib
will be remembered that some twelve months ago one of
the furnaces at the works was closed so as to permit> of
the erection of a new furnac~, and consequently a number
of men ab the furnaces, and a. large number at the company's Skinningrove mines, were thrown out of employment. The shifts ab the mines were reduced to one, and
it> will now come as welcome news that the work will once
more be in full swing. The furnace was tapped in the
presence of a. number of the works officials by Mrs. T. C.
Hutchinson, wife of the managing director.
Manujactu1ed I ron and Steel.-In these two branches
of the staple industry there is nob muoh new business
d oing, but producers of most descriptions a.re not badly
off for ordera, and quotations are maintained. Common
iron bars are 6l. 53.; iron ship-plates, 6l. 17s. 6d.; steel
ship-plates, 6l. ; iron ship-angles, 6l. 53.; steelship angles,
ol. 17s. 6d ; and heavy steel rails, 5l. 101).-allless 2~ per
cent. discount>, except rails, which are net oash at works.
German Iron for T ees-side.- German basic iron has
been expected to arrive on Tees-side for some little time,
and the first two ca.rgoes have now landed, they being for
the Aoklam Iron Company. This particular material is
only made by two or three firms in Cleveland, and ib has
been brought from Germany owing to the shortness of the
supply at home, which is, at present, not sufficient for the
demand. It is understood that in Germany there are cheap
overland railway rates which enable the foreign ma.nufac
turer to carry the material across country and export it
to great Britain at a. very low rat~. This f~t has caused
a good deal of discussion of late. The iron is being
shipped at Terneuzen, a.nd we under~tand ib has been

procured cheap. The bad state of trade in Germany, it

LONDON ANn BRIGHTON RAILWAY CoMPANY.-The
is said, accounts for the low prices quoted by the agents Londvn, Brighton, and South CoR.Sb Ra.tlway Com}.;a.ny
of that country. They have found a. market for theiriron have retained the services of Maj vr Cardew and ~lr.
in Wales and Scotland, as well as on Tees-side.
Philip Da.wson ns con~ulbing electrical en~ineers, to
ad viae generally on the subject of electric traction, and
in connection with electric works on tht:ir own ltnes,

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

Card~tf.-The

steamcoal trade ha.9 sho wn firmne~s.

but to nna~e has not come forward so freely as was expected. The best steam coal has made 17s. to 17a. 3d.
per ton, while secondary qualities have brought 15s. 6j.
to 16s. per ton. House coal has been in good demand ;
No. 3 Rhondda large has been quoted at 15s. 9d. to 16s.
per ton. There has also been a fair inquiry for coke.
Foundry coke has been quoted at 20d. to 2ls., an~ furnace
dibto at 17e. 6d. to 18s. 6d. per ton. As regards uon ore,
the besb rubio has broughtJ 14lJ. 6d. to 14s. 9d. per ton,
while Tafna has made 15-il. 6d. per ton.
Water Supply of Newpo1't.-Th.ere is ~ome prospect
that water will be available from the new reservoir ab
W entwood by the close of next year.
New Cruiser for Pernbroke.-A new cruiser of the
improved Monmouth class, to be built ab Pembroke, wa.s
originally intended to have been. built by c~ntrac~. She
will be laid down at Pembroke m No. 5 shp, wh10h the
E esex ha9 v:1cated.
Eccetc1 Electric Tramways.-The town o!erk of E~eter
has received a letter from Messrs. Ta.bourdlUs and Httobcook of Westminster, stating that they are instructed by
the 'Electric Tramways Construction and Maintena~ce
Company, Limited, to apply to Pa.rlia~e~t n ext s~s10n
for powers to construct tramways wtthm the 01ty of
Exeter, and also to cerbain places beyond the oity
boundary.
Po1tsmouth Dooks.-Nos. 12 and 13 docks, a.t Portsmouth, which a.re now 455 ft. and 457ft. long respectiv~ly,

INSTITUTION 01~ MECHANICAL ENOINRERS.- Oa ~Ion

day evening, the 11th inst., the opening meeting of the
~radua.tes of the Institution was held ab th e Institution
House, Westminster. The chair was taken by :Mr. John
I. Thornyoroft, LLD., F.R.S., and Mr. T. J. B.
Dray ton, graduate, read a. paper on '' Light Stea.m CarP."
The author in his paper described some of the leading
features of common types of steam oard, used on common
roads for industrial and other purposes. The first car
described was the "Locomobile." This is a. light car
made to oa.rry two or four passengers. The engine is
placed under the seat, and the condenser at the front of
the car. Driving is effected by chain gearing from the
engine. The latter ha~ oylinders of 2~ in. diameter and
3 in. stroke. The boiler is cy lindrioal, and has a copper
shell, bound with steel piano wire. Sbeam at 180 lb. per
square inoh is generated in the boiler, which is fired with
petrol. The author then described the Gardner-Serpolleb
steam car. Steam is generated in a. flash boiler. The
engine is single.aoting, having four oylindera, and running
at a speed of 650 revolutions per minute. The more
common forms of industrial oars, known as steam lorries.
were then dea.lb with. These lorries were designed
commonly to carry a. load of 5 tons, at an average ~peed
of ?ve miles per hour. The IJ.lOtor C<?nsisted of . a. twooyhnder compound en~me, havmg cyhnders of 4 m. a.nd
7 in. diameter and 11m. stroke. A good discussion followed the paper, in which many graduates and visitors
took part. A vote of thanks to the author of the paper
and to the chairman, concluded the meeting.

THE \riCTORIA STATION AT NOTTINGHAM; GREAT CENTRAL AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAYS.

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Nov. 15, I901. ]

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

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68o

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

[NOV. I 5, I 901.

When Prince Bismarck was asked what his opinion

was ot the.. Schleswig-Holstein question, he re plied that
the only man who ever understood that question was L ord
Palmeraton, and he was dead. And it would appear that
"K. Y." looks upon the gyro3cope as a kind of scientific
S ohleswigHolstein. I quote the followin~ from his letter:
"We want to know how strongly th1s curious instrument, which seems to resemble a sentient being, resents
being changed in direction. I know the direction of
change, and am nob likely to forget it. It was given me
by a man who understood the subject, but I do not know
where he is now. He also gave me the formula. for the
rate of movement. I am nob sure that I understood it,
and I have lost it. I was so glad to get a reason for the
extraordinary behaviour of the instrument-as Sir H.
Maxim says, 'like a pig with a will of its own '-that I
did nob trouble about the measure of the rate of motiou."
H ow unfortunate I '' K. Y." admits that he does nob
understand the ~yroscope himself, but he once kne w a
man who did, though this man has now disappeared!
What a misfortune to thA scientific world ! May I suggest, however, that ' ' IC. Y ." can console himself by going
to a t ':>yshop and purchasing two cheap gyroscopes, cost ing one shilling each, and that he should take these to the
local tinman, and have them both mounted in the same
wire frame. To ~pin them in opposite directions at the
same speed is an easy matter. This little instrument
will probably cost 3~., and will do infinitely more to put
"K. Y." on the right track than all the scientific reasoning of Sir Hiram Maxim and the intricate math~matical
formulre of Profeesor Macfarlane Gray, and may com
pensate him in no small degree for having lost touch
with the onl.v "man who understood the subject, referred to in his letter.
Yours faithfully
London, November 13, 1901.
ExPERIENTIA DooET.

That much remains to be desired in this direction must

GYROSCOPIC ACTION AND THE LOSS OF
be obvious to any member who regularly attends these
THE "COB RA."
meetings, and a question that I respectfully suggest
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
might well be considered by the Council is, whether a
SIR,-! have read the sneering and belittling rema rks
reform cannot be introd uced in the manner of obtaining
regarding myself which appear on page 647 of your last
speakers and regulating the discussions.
week's issue, over the let ten '' K. Y. ,,
The present system appears to be that of adding to the
,, K. Y/' S!I.YS:
notice convening the meeting a. short re quest that those
"In the controversy in your columns to which he
desirous of speaking may send in their n ames before the
rPfers, on the subjeob of the drift of projectiles, Sir
date. The results are not always happy ones. Some
Hiram, in the letter in which he imagines he 'set forth
members waste the very limited time at dispo.qa.l by inquirplainly what the fa.ots were,' gave the wrong direction
ing for information already given in full in the paper, but
of motion for ~iven conditions. He eaid that a rightwhich they confess to not having read. Others captiously
handed projectile, when acted on by a couple tending to
oritioise some detail foreign t o the real issue, or describ3
tilt up the nose, would turn t o the left; a.s a matter of
at quite unnece~sary leng th some apparatus employed by
fact, it would turn to the right. At the time I had
themselves at some remote date on an occasion differing
the charity to t ake it for granted that this waq a mere
in every essential from the one under discuesion. During,
slip of the p en; bub I b ()gin to think otherwise."
at least, two speeches at the last meeting, a member enMy article on ' The Drift of P rojectile3/' to which
tering, and being unacquainted with the title of the paper,
"K. Y ." refers, appears on page 3!3 of ENGINEERING for
might reasonably have concluded that matters appertainSeptember 14, 1:900. A s your readers will see, what I
ing to steam engine::s, and not gas engine@, were engagreally say is as follows:
ing the attention of the meeting. Dnring all this, most
of the engineera whose energ ies ha ve made the gas engine
"When a spinning projectile is in the air, should any
force be applied, atmospheric or otherwise, to move the
what it is to-day remained silent, or absent.
Now, Sir, I suggest that were the Council t o instruct
p oint up or down, the projectile would itself move to the
right or left, depending on the direction in which the
the secretary t o invite certain members, whose experience best qualifies them for the purpose, to participate
force was applied, and also on the direobion in which
the projeobile was turning; and it is this sidewise motion
in the discussion, this request would in a. brief time be
r egard ed as an honour, and the resul b would be to enhance
that gives the projectile all the apparent stiffne.'\S, and
prevents ib from burning in the air. Suppose that a. prothe value and interest of the Institution's proceedings.
The time limit might also be introduced to advantage;
jectile is fired from a gun with a right-hand twist, and
for apart from the discourtesy of subdued tapping of feet
with an elevation of about 15 deg.; as the projectile
at the rear of the hall, which, I understand, implies that
travels over the traj ectory, its axis is neither parallel to
a spe&ker has been on his legs sufficiently long, it is quite
its original line of flight nor to the trajectory itself, but ib
impoesible for an author to a.deq uately reply t o long
assumes a p osition between the two. The movement
controversial speech~, extending over two Avening1, when,
from its original position turns the poinb of the projectile
as happened last Friday, less than a quarter of an hour
t o the left, whilE>, as the atmospheric density is greater
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
remains for the purpose.
on the underneath side than on the top side, on account
It is to be regretted th at the replies do n ot always
Srn,- In reference to my lebter which you publish toof the compression of air, it has a. rolling motion to the
r ight, so tha.b one influence in a certain measure neutral- day, the diagrams accompanying it are incorrectly drawn. follow the correct lines of debate, and Professor Burstall
ises the other. A s the greatest amount of atmospheric fric- The "new axis of M 1" should be parallel to R11 and the must have disappointed many presen~, insomuch that be,
t ion is on the underneath side of the projectiles, and as the " new axis of M 2, should be parallel to ~. not as shown. in his oonoludmg speech, chose to make many fresh
centre of gravity is considerably above thil~, the point of In Fi~. 2 the arrowhead of ~should be in the opposite statements, which in themselves demanded further notice,
the projectile is being constantly brought t owards the path direob10n to that shown. The context of my letter, of rather than confine his attention to the arguments of
course, points out these errors. The diag rams should be pas t speakers.
in which it is travelling, but which it never reaches."
It would be interesting t o learn the correct interpretaThe direction of lateral gyroscopic divergence as de pend- thus :
tion of the following sentences : " I am an engineer,
R1 = C +A.
ing upon tiltin g in the vertical plan~ is here set forth
. . . I am not a gas-engine maker, if I were, I should nob
R -~ = C +B.
with all the accuracy of definition to be found in Euclid'~
be reading papers here." Are the "makers " incompeR;- R2 = 0.
enunoiations. Withou b the condition of direction of
tent t hen to write p apers for the Institution, or are they
(C + A) - (0 + B) = 0.
twist. the first statement is indefinite, but as nearly
boo selfish t o impart to others the results of their experiall rifling is right-hand, a righb-handed twist is always or
ence ? A glance at past proceedings of the Institution
C + A-C-B = 0.
underatood when left-hand is nob stated. In the rightdisproves either contention.
hand sense therefore I wrote the sentences, and was carelb greatly surpri s~d, at leas~, one of the audience to
F0.1.
ful to write the " up or down " tlo fit the "right or left "
G
learn that ''makers " nob infrequently consult Professor
-up, right, and down, left. I then go on : ., Su ppose
Buratall for the purpose of oboaining greater efficiency
that a projectile is fired from a gun with a. right-hand
from the engines they have designed and built, than they
twist, as was in my mind, "as the projectile travels
themselves are able to do.
over the trajectory, its axis is neither parallel to the
I may, perhaps, be pardoned if, after a. long acquaintoriginal line of flight nor to the trajectory itself, bub it
F
assumes a p osition between the two ;" that is, the projecance with many leading "makers," I express doubo as to
b
the absolute accuracy of this statement in its general intile is always turning, nose down, base up, buo more
ference. Made, as the statement was, after some critiflowly than the inclination of the trajectory varies. The
cism by a practical engineer, it cannot be conaidered to
primary tilting of the projectile is therefore nose down,
apply to some small inconsequential firm, a nd I do
and the divergence thereby produced is stated by me to

G
doubt if any "maker " of repute has ever applied to Probe "The movement from its ori~inal position turns the
fessor Burstall, or any other professor, with t his avowed
point of the projectile to the left." I have nowhere said
object. Indeed, the question might well be asked, "Why
that a "right-handed projectile, when acted on by a
should they ?" The improved Otto gas engine was evolved
couple tending to trilb up the nose would turn to the left,"

R,
in the workshops of the " makers, " and not in the laboraas asserted by "K. Y."
tories of the professors.
It will therefore be seen that "K. Y." from his ambush
Although I have several times been associated in the
has completely reveraed the facts, and his mis-statements
lending of gas engines to universities and college~, and in
and depreciatory inference will be read by many who will
certain tests on an oil engine conducted by the author of
never see the subsequent rafutation.
A
a well-known t xb-book, I have never myself received a.
I am justified, therefore, in demanding an apology from
B
suggestion of any practical value whatever, and, so far as
"K. Y." over his real signature.
I recollect, have never heard of any improvement having
Yours faithfully,
been adopted as a result of suggestions from such
HIRAM s. MAXIM.
quarters.
18, Queen'~ Gate- plact-, S.W., N ovember 12, 1901.
An eminent consulting engineer, whose great know(7110)
ledge and experience of internal combustion engines deT O THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
I think this result shows that the stresses caused in the manded respect for his opiniont:a, recei vd an open rebuke
Sm - I have read wioh a great deal of interest the
from the reporting professor for having suggested that
frame
F
by
r
otation
abou
b
G
G
are
only
such
as
are
vario~s communications that h~ve appeared i.n ENGINEERbetter results might have been obtained by one coming
caused
by
its
resistance
to
the
t
endency
of
the
axes
a
a
ING from ignoramuses who know they a:re Ignoramuses,
from the class, professorially styled "makers ; ,, but if the
and
b
b
to
take
up
the
positions
shown
in
Fig.
1.
This
and admit it and from others who are Ignoramuses and
statement be correct that the" makers" were all applied to,
dispels
the
idea
that
the
Cobra,
when
pi
tohing,
had
her
do not know' it, as well as the letters from several scienand one and all refused to trust an engine for the purpose,
stern
"held
in
a
vice
"
by
the
gyroscopic
resi&
tanoe
of
ti6 c men of reputation, who app~ar to ~e to have so simit certainly does appear that the conclusion arrived at by
plified the matter as to make 1~ readily understoo~ by the turbines, and so broke in half.
this consulting engineer was not altogether an unnatural
Y ours faithfully,
ev~ry honest ignoramus.
But It seems that all Jgnoone. I do not, how9ver, wish t o aEsociat e myself with this
H.
J.
BINGHAM
PowELL.
ramuses are not honest.
view, but must express doubt as t o the absol ute aocuraoy
L
ondon,
N.
W.,
N
ovember
8,
1901.
Suppose that an ignoramus should have asked what
[We are not responsible for the errors in the diagrams of the statement.
would be the t-ffecb of p assing a. current of electr~c.ity
I have nob yet the shorthand notes to refer to, but
which
appeared
wtth
Mr.
Powell'slett
er
last
week.
Our
through the coils of an electro-magnet. Any eleotnman
undoubtedly Professor Burstall g1n e the meeting t o
engravings
agree
with
the
sketches
sent
by
Mr.
Powell.would be able t o tell him the result, but how few would
understand that E nglish makers, one and al1, remain unabtempt to tell him what electri city was. So in the c&'3e ED. E.]
interested spectators to the advancement of scientific
of the gyroscope. Sir Hiram Maxim, who was not called
knowledge, ~nd that not until ~n .American _Phil~n
upon to ex plaiD the gyroscope, tells us that ' ' there was no
thropist p;ov1ded fu~ds wa.s the Bumm~ham U m vers1ty
GAS- ENGINE RESEARCH.
gyroscopic action ab all ; that this force cannot be dE:'
in a position to obtam a modern ~as engm~. .
.
To
THE
EDITOR
oF
ENGINEERING.
veloped unless the shafts a re free to move to the ri ~ht or t~e
The first parb of the statement I3 well.ntgh m credtblE>,
SIR
-The
discussion
on
the
Second
Report
to
the
Gasleft " and that thP.refore, as there is no gyroscop1c action,
and I know positively of one firm (" makers " ) who would
Engi~e
R
esearch
C~m~ittee
was
oo~oluded
~ast
Friday
the 'mathematical formu1m demanded is extremely simple,
have taken pleasure in helping the Committee bad the
evening
at
the
Inst1t
ut1on
of
M
echamcal
Engmeers.
and the answer -0.
matter been brought to the1r notice. That the experiAs
often
happens,
many
of
t~e
engineers
mo~t
cm;npeM acfarlane Gray, who is admitted t o be one of the
ments were, confessedly, made on an oldfaahioned and
t
ent
to
assist
in
the
debate
failed
to
find
suffi.ment
mtecleverest mathematicians living to.day, says th at ." Sir
unsuitable typA of engine is deplorable, albeit the best
rest
in
the
Institution's
proceedings
to
prompt
them
to
Hiram hit the right nail right on the head the first time."
that could be obbaind, according to the reporter, and it
speak
and
even
of
the
few
who
had
previousJy
written
Bub ib appears that a considerable number of you r readers
is to be hoped that the experiments will be speedily reto
the'
secretary
signifying
their
intention
of
S'l
doing.
n.re not eabisfied. I refer mo1.e p artic ularly to a remarksumed on anot her engine, having a piston speed of someseveral
absent
e:i
themselves
wibhout
deeming
a
note
of
able letter signed '' K. Y." in your lasb issue. It seems that
thing over 400 ft. per minute.
. .
excuse
necessary.
The
fact
that
the
provincial
member K. Y." has been extremely economical wit~ the trut~.
A n anti.climax was reached a.t the pomb m the reply
ship
of
the
Inst.itution
is
so
large,
and
that
~any
travel
He pretends to quota from a. certain letter wn tten by ~1r
when Profel!sor Burstall, taking chalk in ban~, pl.aced. a
long
distanceJ
m
order
to
abten~
these
m!3etm~s,
should
Hiram Maxim in ENGINEERING, September 14, 1900.
diagram on the black board, and boldly prophes1ed, m smt
stimulate
efforts
to
encourage
e~gn~eera
actively
m
tereste?
U pon re~erence to that l.et~er, however,, I find" that Si,~
ably impressive term s, that "the da.y would come when
in
a
su
bject
to
give
the
InstitutlOn
the
val
ue
of
thetr
Hiram d1d nob sa.y what IS Imputed to h1m by K. Y. ,
the valves on gas engines would be placed as indicated
obser
v
a.tions.
bub exs.otly the reveree.
.

..

N 0 V. I 5' I 90 I.]
in the diagram, in order to avoid the -presence of pockets.
He did not know whether 'makers' d1ffered from him."
'Veil, Sir, through the convenience of your columns
t~ia point m~y be settled, for not only do "maker.s, not
dtffer from htm here. but they have fully recognised for
years that pockets in the valve passages harbour detri~ental b~unt p~oducts; and th~ principle involved in the
dtagram IS s tud10usly observed m every rat-class engine
of recent design, although the exact arrangement of
valves recommended has not been adopted owing to
r~a.sons which possibly only a " maker" would stop to con Sider.
I am, 8ir, your obedient servant,
H. B. GRAHAM.
Automobile Club, London, S . W.,
November 6, 1901.
[With regard to the remarks made in the above letter
r~specting t~e issuing of invita~ions to take part in discus
stons, we think 1\t!r. G rabam will nd that the course he
suggests ha.s been followed by both the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers for the past twenty years or more. - E o . E .]
To THE EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.
Srn,-I have not the good fortune to be a. member of
the ~nsbitu~io!l of 1~echanica.l Engineers, but, like most
~ngmeers s~mda.rly ctrcumstanced, I take great interest in
1ts proceedmgs. From the restvme of the discussion on
the G as-Engine R esearch Committee's report in your last
issue it would appear that the proceedings are nob at all
times conducted with due regard for the dignity of the
profession. I notice one member a.ctue.lly inferred that
the professor responsible for the report did not know how
to run a gas engine, and that the professor says gas-engine
makers often a.sk him bow to run their engines !
Of course, there are gas-engine makers and gas-engine
makers, jus t the same a-s there are professors and professors, but for my part I have not yet come across a gasengine maker who required to be shown how to run the
engines he builds. In fact, in any of the gas-engine
establishmen~ I know there is more than one working
tter who, while quite unable to calculate either the brake
horse-power or the relative gas consumption, will run the
engines in such a. manner as to produce the greatest possible horse-power for the least consumption of gas in less
time than any expert inside or outside the establishment.
He may be quite at a loss to explain his results, hub he is
quite sure of them.
There is no mystery about the running of gas engines.
Sheer practice is all that is required, and of that the
fitters have more than enough at times, more especially on
types of engines intended to produce a brake horse-power
for 9 cubio feet of llas per hour, and actually consuming 90.
Mr. Macfarlane Gray's contri bution to the discussion
will be of more use to the professor's gas-engine makers
than the whole of the Committee's reporb.
Yours truly,
J JUfES DuNLOP.
206, Gorton-lane, Gorton, Manchester, Nov. 8, 1901.

PATENTS IN CYPRUS.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SrR,-It may be intere.<\bing to some of your read ers to
learn "that Mr. Chamberlain has now sugge~'ted the introduction of a Bill in the Legislative Council to provide for
granting protection in Cyprus, on payment of the proper
fees, to inventions previously patented in this country."
We have received this information direct from the
Colonial Office in a letter dated 5th insb.
We are, Sir, your obedient servants,
HARRIS ANB MILLS.
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
November 7, 1901.

T E S T I N G D 0 W S 0 N G A. S.
To TIIE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SrR,-With rfference to "Stoker's " inquiry concerning
the simple method of tlesbing boiler flue gases, the
writer, when speaking of this, had in mind Orsa.tt'd apparatus. A description of this has quite recently appeared
in the Electrical Review (October 18).
Yours faithfully,
November 8, 1901.
ANTHRACITE.

THE ENGINES AT THE GLASGOW TRAMWAYS POWER STATION.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Sm, - We see in your issue of the 8th inst. a note
relative to tlbe engines a.b the Pinkston Power Station of
the Glasgow Corporation Tramwaye. You will see from
the enclosed cubtings from the evening paper referred to
by you that Bailie Ferguson's statements were made
without the authority of the Convener of the Tramways
Committee; and in order to represent the matter accurately, we would a.sk you to be good enough to publish
this further correspondence.
Yours faithfuJly,
D. STEW.ART .AND Co., LnrrTED.
W. D. BELt, General Manager.
November 9, 1901.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
No public explanation has been made, and we would therefore
ask you to be good enough to publish this and our letter to Bailie
Pa.ton.
Yours faithfully,
D. STEWAR.T AND Oo. , LnnT&D.
W. D. BELL, General Manager.
(Copy.)
Waiter Paton, E:~q ., Glasgow.
October 31, 1901.
Dear Sir,- We see in last night's Evening News that Mr. Jobn
Ferguson has made certain statements regarding Piokston Power
Station and our engines there, which are contrary to the faot.
We could not let tbie pass coming from a member of your committee, even if your authority were not claimed, much lees wben
Mr. Fergueon says that the statements are made with your
authority.
Mr. Fergueon says :
"Had we not bad two [engines) from America, tbe electric cars
would not bave run in Glasgow during May, June, July, and
August. There has been a. loss of 70,000l., it now appears.
Messrs. Duncan Stewart and Co. made two small or auxiliary
engines, by means of wbiob, aided by current from the Electric
Lighting Department, some 40 care were run o.t times, which
enabled the bea.riogs of the main engines to be adjusted occasionally at tbe beginning, wben heated."
Tbe actual facts are that the Stewart auxiliary engines alone
were available to run oars from Pinkston Station during the whole
month of May, and the number ot care run by tbem reaobed 80.
So it is untrue to say that the American engines were tbe first to
come to the help of t.he tramways and save tbe situation, and we
would ask you to call upon Mr. Ferguson to correct bie statement
in the same public manner in which be bas misstated tbe case, and
to sbow tba.t it was the Glasgow engines alone which enabled the
car service to run during tbe month of .May.
We are at a. lose to understand why this matter should be frequently discussed in public by members of the Corporation. We
have hitherto avoided taking any notice of such statements, but
when they are put forward in a perverted form, and claiming your
authority, we think it time to protest, and have taken this oppor~
tunity to do eo privately. In tbe event, however, of Mr. Fer
gueon not makiog tbe desired public correction, we shall be com
p ~ lled to publish tbis letter in Monday's papers.
We are, &o. ,
D. S TEWA RT AND Co., LTD.
(Signed) W. D. BELL, General Manager.
S1n.,-Messrs. D. Stewart and Oo. challenge my statement.
My reply is brief. I read it over to Mr. Paton, and told bim I
was going to use it publicly. My statement is correct, and I've
confirmed it with Mr. Young. But for tbe American engines
70,000l. now in band would not have been made. But for them
tbe electric service could not have been given. I am free to say
Messrs. Stewart'e two auxiliary engines, with our own power
from Springburn combined, ran not 80 care, but 70, duriog May ;
whilst the Allis engines were be:ng adjusted. During June till
now the Allieemrines have run over 100 cars per day. The Eoglisb
engines did some work in October, but are only now in proper
form. If Messrs. D. S. and Co. find fault with my only giving
credit to their engines for 40 oars, I at once admit that. figure too
little; probabl'Y 60, Mr. Young thinks, would be correct during
May ; but my points are simply these :
Tbe American engines did tbe summer work, made us the
70,000l. extra profit, and without tbem no service of care could
have been even attempted. Tbe service in May wM really nothing
as a. service, but we were indebted to tbe engines of D. S. and
Oo. for the appearance we were able to make of 60, 70, or, if
D. S. and Co. like, even 80 care upon the street sandwiched
between horse carij.
By a misprint I am made to say the loss was JO,OOOl. instead of
gain. My argument was clear. I don't really know wbat our
good friends D. S. and Co. complain of. I don't know anyone
in tbe Corporation who would say or think ill of them.
I am, &o.,
Benburb, Lenzie, No,ember 6, I901.
JonN Fsn.ousoN.

SOME TESTS ON SMALL STEAM DYNAMOS.

To THB1 EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Srn,-Difficulty has been experienced in ascertaining
the results to be expected from small steam dynamo sets,
and the following results obtained by tests on 20 and 40kilowatb sets carried out under the supervision of the
writer at bhe maker's works, in connection with a contract for the Poplar Union, may be of interest:
1. A 50 kilowatt Thames Iron Works multipolar
dynamo, direcb-coupled to a Rea.vell engine.
Governing automatic expansion, with throttling ab
light loads.
Speed, 500 revolutions per minute.
Steam pressure, 120 lb. per square inch.
2. A 20-kilowatt De La.val steam turbine, direot-connecbed through helical gearing to a twin armature
dynamo.
Governing, throttling throughout.
Speed, 22,000 revolutions per minute, turbine.
,
2,200
,
,
dynamo.
Steam prees ure, 120 lb. per Equare inch.

.Results.-Condensilng ; TTaouum, 24.5 In. M ercnry.

Description.

Load.

Pounds of Steam per

Board of Trade Unit.

kilowaUs
Reavell engine . .
60

Ditto
87.5

Ditto
25
. I

2)
De Laval turbine

Ditto
15

Ditto
10

Results.- NO'It-Oonden sing.

50
Reavell engine . .

37.5
Ditto

25
Ditto

20
De Lavnl turbine

15
Ditto

10
Ditto

29.8
30
34.8
38.16
37.63
40.5
:37.3

3>3.6
45

6 1.1

69.52
84

681

the nominal full load, whereas ab three-quarter load one

nozde shut down a llowed the turbine to deal with the
load with little throttling. The steam-chest presRures
were at full load 95lb., and bbree-quartE!r load 119.lb., so
the greater throttling at full load {nommal) explams ~be
loss of economy. If full load had been taken as 25 kilowatts, the result would, of course, have been better at full
than three-quarter load.
I would sa.y tha.b with regard to the aetual resultt:a, those
above given are better than the guarantee, and the ~ua
ra.ntees were at! least as good as any offered by makers of
all the well-known high-speed engines and other makes of
turbines.
In neither case was superheating allowed, and the
boilers were working ab approximately the proper pressures, so there was no p ossibility of superheating by
throttling.
.
These figures may therefore be taken as represen tative
of what ma.y be exl?ected from small sets of plant by firstclass makers of hagh-eapeed engines, and of small steam
turbines.
I do not propose to go into figures per indicated horaepower, &c. They are not of much interest to electrical
engineers. The figures expressed in pounds per Hoard of
Trade unit appear formidable, but as the dynames are
in both oases as good as can reasonably be expected, I think
it is well to express steam consumption in pounds per unit,
as it is units of electricity that are required.
J. J. WARDENSTEVENS.

PURIFICATION OF FEED- WATIUR.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR,-Referring to the notice under the above beading
appearing in your issne of the 25th ult., in which reference
was made to the Bruun-Lowener water softener as
follows: "The arrangement would be an ideal one if
the quantity of chemicals discharged through the valve
each time the tip moves could be made independent of
the depth of the milky fluid, '' we should feel much obliged
to you if you would kindly bring to the notice of your
readers that this difficulty has been fully overcome in the
following way :
The softeners are s upplied with a special mixing tank
for chemicals, and provided with an agitator and a pump,
which latter is connected up to the chemical reservoir of
the softener, and d elivers a continuous supply of the
chemical reagent to same. An overflow pipe brings the
surplus of chemicals back to the tank, and thus a. constant
height of the chemical reagent above the valve in the
chemical reservoir is obtained.
Youra faithfully,
LASS~N AND HJORT.
52, Queen Victoria-street, L ondon, E .C., Nov. 8, 1901.

T nE RioHARDS OPEN SIDE PLANING MACHINE: ERRATUM.

-We regret that through an undetected printer's error
the catalogue of the Riobards Machine Tool Company, of
Suffolk House, Laurence Pountney- hill, E . C., noticed
on page 598 of our issue of Ootober 25, was described as
r elating to openscale planing machines in place of openside planing machines.
CATALOGUES.-We have received from the Pratt and
Wbitney Company, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A., a
copy of a new catalogue of s mall tools. These consist of
taps and dies of different types and of guaranteed
accuracy, gauges true to the ~ in., milling cutters, and
rea.mers.-The La.ngdon-Davies Electric Motor Company,
Limited, of 101, Southwark-street, S.E, have issued a
new catalogue of their single-phase alternate-current
motors.
These motors are self-starting, and having
no commutator or brushes, are claimed to cost little
for maintenance.- Messrs. Rice and Co., Limited,
of L eeds, have sent us a copy of their new catalogue of hydraulic machinery, which is printed in
English, French, and German. Dimensions are given
both on the English and metric systems, thus greatly
increasing the value of the catalogue to foreigners. The
plant d escribed includes pumps, accumulators, riveters,
cranes, and hydraulic presses of various types.-A new
catalogue of clay-working machinery, grinding mills,
a.nd brick prooses a.nd acceesories has been issued by
Messrs. C. Wbittaker and Co , Limited, o Accrington,
Lancashire.

60 000

OuR L ocoMOTIVE ExPORTS.-Notwithstanding complaints of dull times, and dismal s tories of American
competition, this will clearly be a good year in the history
of our locomotive export trade. The value of the locomotives exported from the United Kingdom in October
was 206,311l., a-s compared with 124,671l. in October,
1900, and 118,7291. in October, 1899. The improvement indicated by these gores was principally attributable to the revival in the demand for locomotives
upon South African and Indian account. The value of
the aggregate exports to October 31 this year was
1,565,509l., as compared wibh 1,178,076l. in the corresponding ten months of 1900, and 1,156,946l. in the corresponding ten months of 1889. In these totals the exports
to South America, British South Africa., British India,
a.nd Australasia gured for the following amounts :

PrNI\STON P OWER. STATION.

The Queation of tlte En9ines.

(To the Editor of the Glasgow Evening New~. )

November 4, 1901.
Sm,-Enclosed we send you a copy of a letter addressed by us
to Bailie Walter Paton, Convener of the Tramways Committee.
Tbie letter was banded by one of our officie.ls to Mr. Paton, who
said tba.t Mr. Fer~ueon bad no authority to use his name in the
mat ter, and that he would pass tbe lettet to Mr. Ferguson.

In each case the weight of water condensed with, or

without vacuum, in a surface condenser was ca.refullx
measured.
With the De La.val turbine it is t o be noticed that, both
condensing a.nd non-condensing, the results are better at
three-quarter than ab full load. This is explained by the
fact that the steam nozzles are arranged for a higher than

Country.
Sout h America
Britit:lb South Africl
Brit.isb India.

Australasia ..

1901.

1900.

18{)0.

2W,612
2ll,'i85
461,252
310,325

200,422
i 2 35 l
343,861
137,949

--

168,779
3'.1 ,722
569,197
e7,726

..
[Nov.

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

1901.

20-TON TRAVELLING ELECTRIC CRANE.

CONSTRUCTED

BY

MESSRS.

GEORGE

RUSSELL

eo.,

AND

ENGINEERS,

MOTHERWELL.

(For Desc'ription, see Page 676 .)

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ENGINEE-RiNG,

15, 1901.

NOVEMBER

NOTT INGH AM OF THE GREA1' CENTR AL AN D GREAT

TI-lE \ TICTORIA STATI ON A T

N ORTHERN RAILWAY COJVI PAN I ES; DETAILS O F lVIA IN ROO F SPAN.

MR. EDWARD PARRY, M. IN. T. C.E ., LONDON .\ND NOTTINGHAM, ENGINEER.

(For Desc1-iption, see Page 672.)

Fig.Bj'

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D OUBLE PIIRLINS

Fig .36.
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BEARINGS IN SIDEWALLS

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

Nov. rs, r9or.]

AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."
AUSTRIA, VienM~ : Lehmann and Wentzel, Kirntnerstra88e.
0APB T OWN : Qordon and Qotoh.
EDINBURGH: .J ohn Menzies and Co., 12, Hanover-street.
FB.ANoB, Par1s : Boyveau and Cbevillet, Librairie Etrang~re 22
Rue de la Ba.nque ; M. Em. Terquem, 31 bla, Boulevard Hauman:
Also for Adv~rtisements, Agence Havas, 8, Place de la Bourse.
GBlUUNY, Berlm: Messrs. A_. Asher and Co., 5, Unter den Liuden.
Fm.nkfur~ am-Mam : Messrs. G. L. Daube and Co. (for
Adver tisements).
Leipzig : F. A. Brockhaus.
Mulhouse : H. Stuckelberger.
GLASGOW : Willitun Love.
INDIA, Calcu t ta: Thac ker, Spink, and Oo.
Bomb ay : Thaoker and Co., Limited.
ITALY : U . Hoepli, Milan, and any post office.
LIVRRPOOL : Mrs. Tay lor, Landing St&fre.
M.ANCB&STKR: J ohn He~-wood, 143, Deansgate.
N ORWAY, C hristiania: Cammermeyers, Bogbandel, Carl J ohan s
Gade, 41 and 43.
New SOUTH WALES, Sydney: Turner and Henderson, 16 and 18,
Hunter-street. Gordon and Gotoh, George-street.
Q UBB.NSLAXD (SoOTn~, Brisbane : Gordon and Gotob.
(NORTll , Townsville : T. Willmett and Oo.
R<>TrRRDAM : H. A. {ramer and Son.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide: W. C. Rigby.
UNITRD STATES, New York: W. H. Wiley, i3, East 19th-street.
Chicago : H. V. Holmes, 1257-1258, Monadnock
Block.
VtoroRLA, Melbourne: Melville, Mullen, and Slade, 261/264 Collinsstreet . Gordon and Gotch, Limited, Queen-street.

TRACTION and TRANSMISSION.

(Publuhed on th.e first T-tu.8M.y in eaoh month.)

PART VIU. NOW READY.

PRIOB 28., Net; P OBT FRBB 28. 4d..
Published ab the Offices of ENGINBBRING, 86 and 86, Bedford Street-,
Strand, London, W.O.
CONr ENTS OF PART VIII.
:P~IUt

P401.

Berlin T mmwl\ys. By J . Z'\oharlas

Tile Kr16ger Eleot.ro m obile. By
~n ad W. Cooke, M.I. B. E.,
(Plate XLI. , XLU., and 11luat.rn
t.lona In Text.) .................
New Looomot.lva for t h e Con tn.ll
I n T~'t) . .. .. .. . . .. . . . . N O
London Rnllwny (P lates X Lili..
XLlV., and XLV.) ..............
liicth Spl'e<l E lootrlc 'l'n\otlon In
GurmiUly (Plnt.el! X XX I X . X L. ,
l'he Nu' Electric Power P ll\nt. for
IUld Illus trnt.lons ill Text.) ...... U 2
the llrooklyn Rlpld Trun slt. Cow
M unl oi)X\1 Trndlng :
PlWY (P II\te XL VI.) .... ......
(I) B) W. Vnleut.iue Ball .... . . 160 The <7oldsobmld t Process of
U) By Allotber Borougb Eu gl
&lect.rlo Rnll 'Voiding (P late
11eer . . l&l
XLVII.) ..... . ....... . ...... . . .
Tlle Croydon Electric Trm nwl\ys
(k) The Now<:Mtle-on -Ty n o lm
b rogllo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
and Llgllt.lng System (Pll~to
The Mauoh o:~tor and Ll"urpool
XL VTI1., and Dhatmt.loll.l in
Text) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
E lectric B xt>r 03S Railway ... 168

Tho Inner Circle ... . . . . . ... . .. . 129

T he Hcon om ica of Street. Rnilwaytl.
B y t h e R ou. R<!bert P . P orter :
ll.-lU\J)Id 'l'nmtllt of N ew
York (Pll\te'l XXXIV. to
XX X VJlL , nnd Ul ullt.rnt.loo

171

171

180
19'2

186

l SS

NOTICE TO CONTINENTAl ADVERTISERS.

Advertisements from Germany should now be sent
through Messrs. G. L. Daube and Co., Frankfurt..am
MaiD. who have been appointed our Sole Agents for
that country for Trade displayed Advertisements.
Advertisements from France, Belgtum, and Hol
land should be sent through the Agence Havas,
8, Place de la Bourse, Paris, our Sole Agents for
those countries for similar Advertisements.

We beg to announce that American Subscriptions to ENGINBBRI.NG

may now be addressed either direct to the Publisher, Mr. c. R.
J OHNSON, at the offices of this Journal, Nos. 85 and St\ Bedfordstr~et, Strand, London, W.O., or to our accredited Age~ts for the
Umted States : Mr. W. H. WILBV, 48, East 19th-st.reet, New York,
and Mr. H. V. HOLMBS, 1257-1258, Monadnock Block Chicago.
The p~ces of ~ubscription (p~yable in advance) for on.; year a re:
For thm .<~oretgn) paper edttt.on, ll.. 16s. Od. ; for thick (ordinary)
RJJ.ADING OABBS.- Reading cases for containing twenty-six
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NOTICE TO AMERICAN ADVF..RTISERS.
American firms desirous of advertising in ENGINEERING ar e
NOTICES OF MEETINGS.
r equested to apply to Mr. H. V. HOLMKS, 1257-1258, Monadnock
T u& I NSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINBERS.-Frida.y , Novem
Block, Chicaa o, or Mr. WJLLARD C. TvLBR, 160, Nasaau-street
Room 1910, New York City, from w h om all particulars and prices ber 16, at 8 p.m. Tbe following paper will be read and discussed : " The Balancing of Locomotive Engines," by Professor
can be obtained.
W. E Dalb\' (Momber), of London.
TUB I NSTITUTION OF 01\~IL E NGISBER8.-Tueeday, November 19,
ADVERTISEMENTS.
at 8 p.m. Paper to be further discussect : 11 Tbe Disobar~e of
The charge for advertisements is three shilllnp for the first Sewage into a T id al Estuary," by Mr. W. Kaye Parry, M.A.,
four lines or under, and eightpence for each addittonalllne. The B.A.I., M. lnet. C.E., and Mr. W. E. Adeney, D.Sc . And, time
line averages seven words. Payment must acoom~,>any all orders permitting, paper to be presented for discussion : "The Treat
for sing le advertisements, otherwise their inser tton ca.nnot be ment of Trades' Waste Bao~erially," by Mr. W11liam Naylor,
guaranteed. Terms for dis played advertisements on the wrapper Asaoo. M. ln~.ot. C. E.
SOOJET\' OF ARTS.-Wednesday, November 20, at 8 p.m. Openand on the ins ide pages may be obtained on application. Serial
advertisements will be inser ted with all practicable regularity, out ing a.ddr~ of the 148th session, by S1r William Henry Preece,
K C. B., F.R.S., C hairman of t h e Council.
a bsolut e regularity ca.nnot be 'tUaranteed.
I NSTITUTE Ol' MARINE ENGINEERS -Monday, November 18, at
Advertisements intended for insertion in the cur- 8 pTliR
m., at 58, Romford-road , Strat ford, E. Experiments : Orsatt's
rent week's issue must be delivered not later than Gas Analysis P lant and Glass-Blowing.
ROYAL ME'l'BOROLOGICAL SOCIETY - Wednesday , the 20th inst., at
5 p.m. on Thursday. In consequence of the necessity
lntltitution of Civil Engineers, Gr eat Georg e-street, Westfor going to press early with a portion of the edition the
S. W., a t 7.30 p.m., the following papers will be read:
alterations for standing Advertisements should be minsteT,
"The E"vloratioa of t he Atmosphere at Sl'a by Means of Kites,"
received not later than 1 p.m. on Wednesday after- by A. Lawrence Rotoh, M.A., F.R. Met. Soc. " Meteorological
Phen omena in Relation to the Ch anges in t h e Vertical," by
noon in each week.
P rofessor John Milne, F R.S.
THE INSTITUTION OP .1\fiNING AND METALLURGY. - Thursday,

Novembt>r 21, at 6 o'clock p.m., at the roomd of the Geologioa.l

SUBSCRIPTIONS, HOME AND FOREIGN.
Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , W., the following
ENGINEERING ca.n be supplied, direct from the Publisher, papers will be read and discussed : 1. " The Mining and Occur post fre6 for twelve m onths at the following rates, payable in rence of Gold in the Dutch East l ndies," by Mr. S. J . Truscott
(Member). 2. "Notes on Woodla rk l tlland (British New Guinea.),"
advance:by Mr . 0 . R. Pioder (Associate). 3. 11 Notes on an Ore FormaFor the United Kingdom. . . . 1 9 2
tion on Prince of Wa les l~l and (South -Ea.s t Alaska)," by Mr.
, all places abroad : W. F. A. Thomae ( Member). 4 "The Hydraulic Installation a t
Thin paper copies . .. .. .. 1 16 0
t h e Mines of the Compania Minera de Panuco (Mexico)," by Mr.
Thick
,
. .. .. .. .. 2 o 6
H oro.ce L. Short, con sulting P.ugineer to the company.
All accounts a re payable to "ENGINEERING " Limited.
Oheques should be crossed u Union Bank, Charing Cross Branch."
P ost Office Orders payable a.t Bedford-street, Strand, W.C.
When F oreig n S Qb scriptions a re sent by Post Office Orders,
advice should b e sen t to the Publisher.
Forei~n and Colonial Subscribers receiving incomplete copies
15, 1901.
through n ewsagen ts are requested to communicate the fact to
the Publisher, toget her with the agent's name and address.

ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER

Oftlces for Publication and Advertisements, Nos. 35

and 36, Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C.
OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN NAVY.
TRLBGR.APBIO ADDR&SB-ENGINEBRING, LONDON.
OUR r eaders will rem em her t hat on previous occaTRLRPHONB NOMBBR-3668 Gel"raPd.
sions we have referred to the JJersm nel of t he
U nited States Navy, more especial1y in regard to
the status of the engineering branch. The posiCONTENTS,
PAGE tion of American naval engineers, as of any rank or
PAQS
Puriftoa.tion of FeedWater 681 grade in the United States Navy, must always be
Die For~in g. -No. X. (ll
lustr ated) . . .. . .. . . . . .. . 669 Officers of the American
interesting to E nglishmen as affording object-lessons
Navy
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.......
688
T he New Vic toria Station
at r ottingham ( lllu~.) .. 672 Tin ::>upplies . . . . . . . ..... 684 for our own g u\dance in a way that t he navy of no
South Australian Railways
Tbe New SubWA.Y in New
other country can do. There have never been two
and Colonial Trade ... .. . 686
t' or k City (l llus. ) . ... . . 674
separate and independent States so a1ike as Great
Milling Machine (J llttS. ) .... 676 Trade Libels .............. 686
Not188 . . . 686 Britain and t he great American Republic. In many
20-Ton Tra,elling Electric
Orane (/Uvstrated) ... . . 676 MiAcellanea . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 687 tespects the citizens of the United States more nea1ly
Notes trom tJJe Nor th .. . . b76 Notes from the Unit.ed
States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 resemble Englishtnen than do the inhabitants of our
Notes from South Yorkshir e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Launches aod Trial Tripe . . 688 own colonies; a. fact largely due to t he older deveNotes from Cleveland and
Tbe Electrifioat.lon of the
lopment of America which renders the conditions
the NoTtheTn Counties . . f\77
Metropolitan and Met r o
Notes from thP South-West 677
poHt.an District Railways 689 of life in the great cities more nearly akin to our
Gyroscopic Ac t.ir>n and the
16 Owt. Steam Hammer
own. In any cBse, however, t he navies of Great
LoAA of t.he " Oobra. ' (l l
(lllu.8trated,) .. . . 691
lw.t'l'ated) .. . . .. . .. .. . .. 6~0 Indust rial Notes ........ .. 691 Britain and t he U nited States are so similar in their
Gas-E gine ResParoh . . .... 6811 Test of Ptoduoer -Gas En
organisation and executive that anything occurring
P~t.ents in 0y prus ..... ... 681
gines .. . . . .... .. . ... .. 692
to one must necessarily be of interest to the other.
Testin~r Dowson GM . . . . . . 681 The Correct Treatment of
It is for reasons of this nature that we have freT he Eognes at the G'as
Steel . ....... .. .... . ..... 693
~row
Tramways Poy, e r
Tbe Institution of Junior
quently given much space to recording the
S tation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Eoilneers ..... . . . . ... . 695
progress of the American Navy. Amongst other
Some T esta on Small $team
" Engineerimr " Patent ReD.fnamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
cord (l llmtrated) . . . .... . 697 contributions on t hiR matter, in F ebruary, 1899,
With. a Two-Pagt Engtavnl(l of THE VI CTORIA STATI ON we printed an article on t he subject, and again
.A T .NOTTIN GB.AAJ OF 'l'BE GRE.dT OHNTRAL AND reverted to the subject a few weeks later.* . In

GRB.AT .NORl'BBRN RAILWAY OOMP.ANIES;

TAi LS O.F M.Al tl RO()Ji' SP.AN:

DB-

* See ENGINEERING, vol. lxv1i., pages 149 and 553.

order to make t he present position clear we must

repeat something of what we said on a previous
occasion. In the former of the two articles we
quoted from the Annual Report of the Engineerin-Chief to the United States Navy as follows:
For the past ten years it has been my duty, and a sad
one, to call attention to the urgent need of a. reorganisation of the persorvnel of the Engineer Corps. In this
respeob, for the first time, I oa.n sa.y with grea.t pleasure
tba.t a. measure is pending in Congress, approved by
the depa.rtmenn, which, if passed a.nd administered with a
desire to ma.ke it a success, will not only j uatify the recommendations I have made to the department each
year1 hub will go much further a.s affecting the whole
serv10e, whose homogeneity and efficiency will be immensely increased.
I t is fortunate that Admiral Melville-who was
t hen, as he is now, Engineer-in-Chief to t he United
States Navy-qualified his prediction of improvement. The Bill '' to reorganise and increase the
efficiency of the p~1sonnel of the Navy and t he
Marine Corps of t he United States" was duly
passed on March 3, 1899, and has been in operat ion
ever since. It is t his measure to which Admiral
Melville referred in his words we have just quoted;
but so far from improving t he pe1sorw~el of the
American Navy, it has had a directly opposite
effect. This, however, is from no inherent defect
of the measure, but because its actual provisions
have been t hwarted and its spirit evaded.
As stated in our former ar ticle, the change
effected by this piece of legislation was of a radical
nature. The officers of the Engineer Corps were
transfened to the line (execut ive branch), and were
commissioned accordingly ; in other words, t he
engineer and deck officers were formed into one
body, having similar t itles, and engineer officer~
holding t he r elative rank of captain, commander,
and lieutenant commander took rank in t he line.
The experiment, as we have said, after being
tried for more than two years, has proved a failure,
a fact we have intimated on a previous occasion,
but which is now confirmed by Admiral Mel ville' s
last report to the Secretary of t he United States
Navy. Speaking on the subject of engineering
pe1sonnel, he says : " Engineering efficiency in t he
Navy is rapidly decreasing. . . The outlook for
securing a trained engineering force for future
needs can hardly be regarded as satisfactory. . . .
There has been retrogr ession, rather than advance,
along engineering lines during the past two years.
. . . the number of trained and expert engineers
in t he Navy is being steadily reduced. The practical working of the amalgamation scheme thus far
has been, in great part, to take the junior half of
the old Engineer Corps and r,ransfer them to line
duties."
The miscarriage has been rendered possible by the
failure of t he .Bill to lay down po~itively that the
duties of officers under the new rule should al ternate
between the engineroom and t he deck. We fear
that t he engineering dut ies are not popular with
even the American naval officer, and the Navy
Department appears to have failed in its manifest
duty of insisting that all officers should take their
share of engine-room duty and instruction. For
t he present t here are the men of the old Engineer
Corps who have been properly trained; and, we
are told, "individual offcers of the old line have
conscientiously striven to perfect themselves in
engineering dut ies." For work so important, as
Admiral Melville says, one cannot depend on individual effort to secure a sufficiently numerous body
of trained engineers ; as, indeed, events have
proved.

vVe are told that it was anticipated by some,

at the time the pe1sonnel Bill was introduced,
that there would be a failuro in the supply
of efficient engineers, and it was urged that
t he Bill should be so worded as to give positive
assurance that there should be alternation of duty
between t he deck and t he engine-room ; in other
words, that naval officers should be compelled by
Act of Congress to acquire engineering experience.
Those who .had t he Bill in charge considered,
wrongly as 1t now appears, that such provision
was unnecessary. The regulations needed could,
it was argued, be better framed by departmental
orders, which would be more likely to meet
the somewhat complex conditions than any hardand-fast rules laid down by an Act of Congress.
The fact t hat engineering experience and instruct ion were to be acquired by naval officers was
so clearly the object of the Executive- having
bee~ endorsed by t he Secretary, and even commanded bf the Presidont-that "it was," as Ad-

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

' [Nov. 15,

1901.

.
. ~iral Meliville. says, '' presumed that the _whole ~ble ~ranch of the naval force, although the way every reason to believe the mineral will be found
Influence of , the Navy :Qepartment would be 1n whwh they have been treated by the Admiralty in payable quantities. This only applies to alluvial
: exerted in improving the status of engine~ring. I~ has k ept out a large number of good men that deposits. No one can guess what are the reserves
. was certainly expected by the naval committees of would otherwise have joined the service. But of ore in underground r ock formations at Kuantan,
the House and Senate that the Department by good as they may be for the duties which they are in Pahang ; Slim, in Perak ; and J elebu, in the
, regulation would provide for the engineering needs intended to carry out, they are not capable of Negri Sembilan. " The alluvials have to become
of the future."
taking charge of the machinery department. It thinned out before any great strides will be made
The presumption was certainly justified, and it may be said, and has been said, that the executive with the ore ; and while it is not possible to
: is difficult to think that the naval authorities of officers, with their theoretical attainments, will speak of the actual reserves of either alluvial or
the United States have not neglected a plain duty. t~ke charge an~ direct ?perations. The expecta- lode tin, because of the inadequacy of explora'Vhat has been the motive it is difficult to judge, tiOn that they w1ll do so Js, we repeat, idle.
tion, Sir Frank Swettenham's views coincide
and on this point Admiral Mel ville naturally can
Engineering is not t o be learnt without practical with those of all who know the country. The
give no guidance in a public report. We can only object-lessons carried out by the student himself. speculator who operates for a rise may talk
. c.onclude th.a t American naval officers of the line, No man can become a mechanical engineer without mysteriously about the fields '' petering out,,, but
hke too many of our own executive officers, have dirtying his hands, and also without devoting to as he knows nothing about them, and is only
an imperfeet notion of the value of engineering in the subject several years of hard study accom- anxious, like t he parasite he is, to snatch a profit,
a navy that is wholly engineering in regard to the panied by practical work. It is a matter of long his opinion counts for nothing, the more especially
ships of the fleet ; whilst probably, as in our case, and special training both in theory and practice. as next week he may be working on ex~ctly the
the political element shares .with t he executive No country that cannot command a body of men opposite tack.
branch these dangerous views.
willing to undergo the disagreeable features inciNobody pretends that tin is scattered over the
Whatever may be the reason, the result is the dental to engineering training will be able to main- various parts of the Malay Peninsula as thickly
same. '' For every three commissioned officers tain its position as a first-class naval Power under as snow on a mountain top, but there seems
taken from the engine-room and transferred to the stress of war, however many ships and guns it quite sufficient g round for assuming that it will
deck only one commissioned officer from deck has may possess. Neither Great Britain nor the be a long time before there is real occasion for
been sent below. This does not completely describe United States lack such men, and it will be only the fear concerning our supplies of tin from t he Straits;
the extent of the depletion in engine-room super- ruling powers of either country that will prevent and it is incontestible, adequate exploration or
vision. The officers sent from the engine-rooms their employment.
not, that some of the localities are still enormously
were transferred to the deck for permanent duty,
Whether, through recent events, the British Navy wealthy in this respect, these including P erak,
wbile in most cases the junior officers transferred or the American Navy has the bet ter hope of im- which produced 21,166 tons out of last year's aggrefrom th~ deck have only done engine-room duty for provement in regard to the qualification of naval gate of 42,442 tons, and Selangor, which produced
short p eriods. " Whether a practical people like officers for the stress of battle is a difficult question. 16,041 tons. Negri Sembilan is probably good for
the Americans will submit to see the strength of We have done nothing yet to advance the engineer- an increase upon its present total of 4300 tons with
t heir navy whittled away, and vast sums of money ing element, and have therefore given no example the introduction of more labour, though Pahang
spent on the fleet practically wasted because engi- of failure in commission; our non-progres!:lives have gives less promise. I t turned out 935 tons in 1900,
neering duties are unpopular, remains to be seen. no "awful example, to fall back on. The Americans which the Commissioner describes as " not very enUnfortunately, political conditions are such in the have progressed further, but are in a worse con- couraging,,, adding, '' it has long been anticipated by
United States that it is very difficult for popular dition. Their engineering p ersonnel is in a less those who know Pahang best, and are qualified to
opinion to make itself felt, and abuses sometimes efficient state. Of the two, perhaps, the Americf\ns judge, that as a tin-producing country this State will
grow very rank before they are suppressed.
have the best prospect. They are in a worse never be able to rival its neighbours on t he West
Naturally, the opponents to giving any executive llJess, and that is the greater reason why something Coast ; and the added knowledge of P ahang's
power to naval engineers in this country will be should be done. They can hardly go back to t heir resources tencis to confirm this belief. The output
jubilant at the failure of the American legislative former state of separate branches, with the engineer of tin from Ulu P ahang, including Bentong, during
attempt t o advance; and we are reluctantly com- officers in an inferior position; and probably, now 1900 has exceeded all previous records, but the
pelled to recognise t hat m11ch-needed reform has that public attention has been been drawn to t he nature of the stanniferous deposits, which are
probably r aceived an unfortunat e check. It is so matter by Admiral Melville's outspoken report, the found almost exclusively in the beds of streams at
easy to point to the American fiasco, as it must Navy Office will be unable to withstand the demand heights varying from 500 ft. to 5000 f t. above sea
undoubtedly be described. There will be the of the people that naval officers should make them- level, give no promise Qf permanency, and they
inevitable reply to all common-sense arguments selves competent for the work they undertake to do. will probably all be worked out in a comparatively
that may be brought forward as to the need of
The chief danger is that the warrant machinists short period of yeara. It is not to tin, therefore,
having engineering directors for an engineering will be accepted as efficient stop-gaps, although we that Pahaog can reasonably look for its future
navy- '' Look at America ! ,,
think there is too much engineering knowledge prosperity.,
If those who framed the pe1sonnel Bill of the abroad in the United States for the foolishness of
Professor H enry Louis points out that t inUnited States Navy would have looked to England, that c ~urse not to be seen. If, however, such a plan mining hitherto has been almost confined to the
they might, perhaps, have learned a useful lesson, is accepted, the American Navy will be thrown back western side of the mountain range, which is
and have avoided the disaster t hat has overtaken at least a quarter of a century in its pe1so'Y1nel. The the more accessible, and which affords t he easiest
their efforts towards improvement. It will be old round will be t rodden once more ; the old fight and cheapest means of transport to the seaboard,
remembered that a few years ago there arose a fought again. The warrant machinists- who are but such productive areas as Jelebu, Iras, Bendemand for greater practical efficiency on the part of the same stamp as the original engineers of our tong, Liang Sempan, and others, show that
of our own naval officers. As in America, it was con- Navy--will claim higher pay and more exalted there is plenty of tin-bearing alluvial on the
sidered by a few that those who had the control positions as time goes on and they feel the im- eastern side. Indeed, his researches have brought
of operations depending wholly on engineering portance of their position. Later they will insist him to the conclusion that, " having regard to
f eatures should know something of engineering. on commissions, and finally another pe1sonnel Bill the flatter grades of t he eastern as compared
The agitation, if such it can be called, ultimately will be inevitable. In t he meantime the efficiency with the western declivities . . . larger areas will
proved not to b e of a widespread nature? ~nd of the American Navy will suffer; and if it should be found to be tin-bearing on t he eastern side,
it never took much hold on popular op1n10n. be put to the ultimate use for which all navies are though they will probably never be as rich as on
It was not of a picturesque nature, such as would supposed to be built, a very unpleasant awakening the west, which is characterised by its precipitous
gorges and deep-river valleys., The professor is
be likely to tickle the public fancy; the newspapers may result.
not sure that lode t in will be found in the quantisaw no great journalistic possibilities in it, and
ties anticipated. The presence of alluvial proves
probably very few people outside circles interested
TIN SUPPLIES.
that the rock must have existed and have been
ever heard of it. The naval authorities were, as it
TI;IE annual report of the Acting High Com- destr oyed on an enormous scale, but it is possible
turned out, prematurely disturbed; but the arguments put forward were so logical that they felt mission er for the Federated Malay States contains (though admittedly improbable) t hat very little of
that something must be done. They saw that the some information concerning the possibilities of the rock may have escaped the destructive agencies
executive b~anch were likely to lose prestige, t hat part of Asia which will go a long way to allay of air and water to which the existence of the
and that engineers would be more nearly advanced anxiety on the score of our future requirements of gravels is due. Still, as deposits of lode tin have
to the position and authority warranted by the tin. We have been told from time to t ime that been found at Rin, in J elebu, Lahat, in Kinta,
importance of their work. It was therefore pro- the alluvial fields were rapidly becoming exhausted, Salak, in Padang, Batu, and elsewhere, there is
p osed t hat exe?utive officers should receive .a and as the St raits furnish considerably more than promise of satisfactory developments to be going on
smattering-a different word was used-of engi- half the world's annual supply, the depletion of its with.
The islands of Banka and Billiton, in the Malay
neering instruction, sufficient, as it was put, to resources would obviously be a serious thing to
.enable t hem to direct operations, whilst the contemplate. For though other producers are Peninsula, are other important sources of tin
en()'ine-room artificers were to carry out the work. making headway, they are doing so very slowly, supply, but those in control have not been willing
It is needless to point out to the readers of and, in the nat ure of things, progress could scarcely to put on the market all they are good for, because
ENGINEERING t he futility of such a scheme, but it is be rapid enough to offset the cessation of . the of the certainty that prices would collapse. The
exactly what has been attempted in America. The shipments from the Straits. To be sure, 500,000 deposits on these islands have been systematically
lack of t he engineering ele~ent amon~ the officers tons, of the value of 40,000, OOOl. sterling, have been tested by borings, and as the places themselves are
of t he United States Navy Is not to be tgnored, and exported during the last fifteen yeara. But does this limited in area, it has been found possible to ascerwe learn from Admiral Melville's report that 100 represent any material proportion of the whole tain with tolerable closeness their possibilities of
warrant machinists- the American equivalent to quantity of alluvial t in on the fields 1 Sir Frank alluvial tin. On both islands the pay gravel
our en<>'ine-room artificers- have been appointed Swettenham is of opinion that it does not. '' No averages 3 ft. in depth, with an overlay of somedoubt,, he says, "the industry has grown of recent thing like 30ft. Sumatra has several known tinand det~iled for engine-room duty.
From what we have seen of the p e1sonnel of the years to very large proportions; but it would take producing districts, but unsa~isfacto!y result.s. at
United States Navy, we have no doubt that the a long t ime to work out the alluvial deposits in the Siak have prevented any great Influx Into localities
warrant machinists are, as a class, equal to our lands already alienated, and t hese comprise but a where better things might be expected. Evidences
own engine-room artificers. The latter ~re a valu- fraction of the unexplored lands, where there is of increased tin-mining activity come from Australia,

'

'

Nov. 15, 1901.]

Shipments thence do not go up at any rapid rat e,
but that may be accounted for by the great volume
of preparat~ry work ~ecessary on new ground before
the productive stage 1s reached. An important tin
lode was recently discovered in the Wyalong district of New South Wales, and we learn that
this is opening up welJ, and that miners consider
that another rich tin field will be developed in the
vicinity. A large area of land has been pegged out,
and some assays made by the Mines Department
show that the stone from the chief lode which is a
con.tact depo~it lying between porphyr~y and slate
schtsts, carries 73.5 per cent. of metallic tin.
P ortions of the concentrates obtained by panning
assa~ed 76.15 per cent. me~llic tin, which is equal
t o 96.8 per cent. of black t1n. Herberton which
c~me. int? p~omine.nce at th~ time of the iast big
r1se 1n ttn, 1s ta.ktng to tlus metal aaain. Tinmining i~ Tasm~nia ma.ke.s good progre:s, but that
progress 1s due m the matn to the Mount Bischoff
prope~ty. It wou~d be interesting to learn what
IS be10g done wtth regard to the alluvial deposits, described by the Agent-General as " of
great richness and depth, " not long aao discovered in the pastoral country lying towards
the east coast of the island. Meantime it is
to be observed that the London market for tin
has recently inclined to weakness in sympathy
with copper. But the situation is controlled by
very few houses, who support and attack just as it
suits their purpose, and the only thing t o bring
about a big fall wiJI be a material and sharp accession to market supplies. The available quant ity
is in advance of consumpt ion, as we have pointed
out before, and the discrepancy between the two is
enough to cause uneasiness among speculators, but
not marked enough to cause a slump. The demand
for consumption in Europe is fairly good, but
America has not yet absorbed the large quantities
bought prior to the steel strike settlement.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS

AND COLONIAL TRADE.

..

THE railway balance-sheet of a country such as

the South Australian colony is a fair reflex of its
commercial condition, and of its state of development ; and it is gratifying to note that the report
of the Railway Commissioner (Mr. Alan G. Pendleton) indicates a steady advancement in the revenue, although there has been no great increase
in the mileage of rail way open. Thus, six years
aao the system extended in all to 1772! miles, and
o~rned 986,500l.; and now, for the year ending
with June last, the gross revenue is 1, 236, 616l,
while the line has in the interval been lengthened
by only 14: miles. In other words, the traffic over
the railways represented in 1896 freight earnings
of about 570l. per mile open ; now the amount is
712l. It is true the former was not quite a satisfactory sum, in view of the capital in vested,
because then all the colonies were still under
the shadow of financial embarrassment ; but there
are evidences of a permanent recovery, and the
past year's working of the South Australian railways shows a profit, after paying interest on the
capital borrowed, of 53,4:35l. odd, " to,eo to t~e
credit of the general revenue of the State, and tlus,
t oo, notwithstanding that some 20, OOOl. has been
spent out of the revenue for replacements in connection with permanent way and rolling stock.
Various factors tended to greatly increase the expenses. The coal bilJ, as with almost all railways
throughout the world, was greater- by 15, OOOl.,
largely owing to a rise in price, and partly, of
course, to increased business. Other materialsrails, &c., were considerably clearer. More unremunerative work, too, had to be done because of
the drought, and " in connection with th~ declaration of the Commonwealth and the openmg of the
Federal Parliament, a much increased train-mileage
was run, conveying guests of New South 'Yales and
Victoria, respect ively, for which the ratlway department received no return." The net result of
the improved condition should be to encourage
not altogether uncalled-for reduction in freightrates, the further improvement of the alig.nment,
reducing grades, &c., i~ not ~I so of exte~d1ng the
mileage. !VIuch that IS desuable r~ma1ns to be
done in making " the crooked straight and the
rough places plain." We note, for inst.ance, that
the locomotive mileage bears a proportiOn to the
train-mileage of 1.37 to 1.
There seems to be continued competition between
the rail way departments of the se,eral col?nies

E N G I N E E R I N G.
for the traffic in the borderland, and South Australia suffers perhaps more than her neighbourVictoria- and has attempted to obtain the adoption
of an uniform goods classification and rates, so as
to end '' hostile quotations," but without success.
An inter-State Uommission is to be appointed by
the Government of the Commonwealth t o deal with
such matters, and much may be expected from
it. It would be advantageous, especially for the
future, if the subject of gauges could also be
brought within the sphere of the discussion. Unfortunately, the principal railways running out from
Adelaide, south as well as north, are on a 5 ft. 3 in.
gauge, one trunk line extending for 104-f miles to
the north-east and the other to the Victoria
boundary at Serviceton, 196! miles from Adelaide.
Much traffic has thus to be transferred, the railways in the extreme south and north of the
colony being on the narrow gauge. Thus 507
miles are on the wider, and 1374: miles on the
3 ft. 6 in. gauge ; and inconvenience and cost must
result by the breaking of bulk in the case of such
through traffic; and sooner rather than later the
trunk lines will require to be made of a uniform
gauge ; and it might be well to create a fund for
such purpose out of the profits, rather than pass them
to the credit of the general revenue of the State.
They are thereby lost sight of, whereas if utilised
or ear-marked for such fut ure improvements and
developments on the railway, they would ultimately
react on the general prosperity of the colony.
Under almost all departments of traffic an increase is reported upon comparison with the figures
of the preceding year, excepting only in connection
with wool and live stock, lower rates having had
to be quoted for the latter, owing to the continued
drought. The decrease in the wool trade is much
to be regretted, although under normal conditions
it does not bulk so large as in other colonies, providing in South Australia barely 5 per cent. of the
revenue from all goods, as compared, for instance,
with 17 per cent. in New South Wales. On passenger service the increase in revenue is equal to
6! per cent., on goods traffic 5i per cent., and
together about 6 per cent. ; but the work done
showed an addition of quite 12 per cent., and the
expenditure has gone up lOt per cent. The
tvtal receipts were 1, 166, 987l., an increase of
69,629l. ; but the expenses were greater to the
extent of 71, 198l. The ratio of expenses to the
total revenue has increased to 58.95 per cent., as
against 56.37 per cent. in the previous year ; but
much of the addition is due to replacements. It is
intE-resting to note that this is still lower than the
well-managed system of New South Wales , and
compares with 62 per cent. in the United Kingdom.
In view of this, it is interesting, although of little
significance, t o compare the results per train-mile
in such a sparsely populated colony as South
Australia with the United Kingdom. The maintenance of way is about double what it is in this
country, i .e., 10.12d. per train-mile; tractive charges
absorb 16d., as compared with lOd.; rolling stock
about 3. 75d., as against 3d.; traffic expenses about
8. 99d., as aaainst 1ld.; the total per train-mile
being, for S7>uth Australia, 39.83d., and for the
United Kingdom, 34:.62d.; but 3id. of the former
is due to replacement and extraordinary maintenance, and it is not possible to indicate how much
of the British expendit ure is attributable to such
improvements. The total quantity of goods dealt
with was 1,628.444: tons, of which 349,573 tons were
minerals ; 51,094 tons grain ; 22,563 tons wool. The
average haul was 124: miles, and the receipts worked
out to the somewhat high average of ld. per ton
per mile, which, as we have said, must admit .of
reduction, greatly to the advantage of colomal
development; which, after all, should be the main
aim of railway administration, rather than the
creation of a surplus. The average distance travelled
per passenger is under 12 mil~s, and. the_ mean !are
two-thirds of a penny per mile, which IS certa10ly

68 .)

who are engaged in the multifarious industries of

the country. High praise of one's own sometimes
merges into disparagement of another's manufactures. It is at this point that the law steps in,
and, subj ect to certain conditions, decrees that
advertisements of this undesirable character must
be suppressed.
Yet the judges are chary of interfering with the
right of a man to use every means to exaggerate
the value of his own goods. Certain cases, to which
we shall presently refer, clearly establish that where
a plaintiff seeks to recover damages for, or to
restrain the publication of a trade libel, he must
prove malice (i .e., legal malice) on the part of the
defendant, and he must also establish the fact that
he has suffered actual pecuniary loss traceable to
the defendants' wrongful action.
The term "trade libel" is defined by Dr. Blake
Odgers to include: "All statements, whether
written or verbal, which do not attack a man's
moral character, or q uestion his solvency, or
in any way affect his private or p rofessional
reputation, but which do, in fact, injure his
business and cause him pecuniary loss-whether
by disparaging the quality of the goods which the
plaintiff sells, or by asserting that they are not
the goods whioh he represents them to be, or that
they are an infringement of somebody's patent or
copyright, or for any other alleged reason urging
or warning people not to deal with the plaintiff or
not to pay him, or to bring actions against himany words, in short, which, though not personally
defamatory, are yet clearly calculated to injureand have, in fact, injured- the plaintiff in his
trade."
The nature of the words which will constitute a
libel upon persons in the way of their trade is well
illustrated by the following case. An action was
brought in respect of the following passage which
appeared in a paper. "The most wideawake and
spirited of American trade journals has recently
contained several references to the Empire composing machines, which were recently installed in
the office (of an American newspaper) with such a
flourish of trumpets. From these paragraphs, we
gather that five machines altogether have been
employed in this office, the first being introduced
some time in February last, the other four commencing operations in March. So short lived,
however, does this installation appear to have been,
that we learn the machines were discontinued on
Wednesday, April 29. This will be a very
serious blow for this machine." It was decided
by the Court of Appeal that these words, besides being a disparagement of the plt\intifts'
machines, which would not be actionable without
proof of special damage, were also, when taken in
their natural and ordinary meaning, capable of
being understood by men of ordinary intelligence
as conveying an imputation upon the plaintiffs in
the way of their trade, and the question of libel or
no libel was therefore rightly left to the jury (Empire
Typesetting Machine Company of New York v.
Linotype Company, 79 L. T. 8). This judgment
was affirmed in the H ouse of Lords, when it was
stated that '' if the only meaning which can be
reasonably attached to a writing is that it is a
criticism upon the goods or manufacture of a trader,
it cannot be the subject of an action for libel, but
an imputation upon a man in the way of his trade
is properly the subject of an action without proof
of special damage."
It has been held in a comparatively recent case
(Hermann Loog v. B ean, 26 Ch. D., 306) that the
principles upon which the publi~ation of a libel
injuriously affecting the property or trade of the
plaintiff may be restrained apply also in the case
of slander; and that an injunction may be granted
to restrain oral defamation, where it affects parties
in their property, trade, or business. The jurisdiction, however, will in such oases be exercised only
with the greatest caution. Thus, in the case referred to, the defendant, who had been dismissed by
s~tisfactory.
the plaintiff company, in whose employment he
had been as agent, after his dismissal made slanderous statements to the company's customers as
TRADE LIBELS.
E NGINEERS and manufacturers have but little to the solvency of the company, and otherwise reconcern with the law of libel as commonly spoken flecting on their trade and business; it was held
of. Ordinary libels and slanders, if uttered, have that such statements, though merely oral, might be
only a remote bearing upon the character of a man restrained by injunction.
Thus, whenever A accuses B of knowingly and
as an engineer or a m~nufacturer,_ and. do not
therefore constitute a topic of professwnal1nterest. intentionally infringing A's patent or copyright, or
There is, however, a certain kind of 1ibel which, imitating A's trade mark or brand, or using A's
in days when advertising is carried to extremes, is firm name, or passing off his goods as A's, this is
well calculated at times to do serious injury to those a pe~onal libel on B. But merely to state that

686

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

[Nov. 15,

1901.

B 's p~tent .is inv~lid, ~r t hat a picture which he

One very interesting form of a '' trade libel , the piston, which pus~es up the cartridges, can
sells IS ~ puacy, .Is n o hbel on B personally, and is r emains t o be considered. It sometimes happens be thrown out of actiOn by a lever which reonly act10nable If the words be published falsely that a firm issues an advertisement t o the effect leases a spring in the lock. The effedt of this is
and maliciously, and special da.maae
has resulted th~t some particular article has received the ''first t~at the cart ridges can be dropped into the maaa0
from the publication.
prize medal " at a. particular exhibition whereas in ztne, and do not require careful individual ins:rThe same principle applies to cases for what is fact the ~ward in question has been be~towed upon ~ion as in the ~ee-Metford. They may be carried
called slander of t itle.
Thus, in the case of a tra.de rival. Th~ question th~n arises: Can pro- 1n any way ; In bandoliers or pouches, but it is
Cra!Dpton v. Sout~ and. Main (58 L . T., 516) it was cess tssue to restratn the publication of such a mis- preferred t o carry them in a bandolier fi tted with
decided that an act1on ltes against a defendant who leading statement 7 So far as we are aware, there metallic clips which hold five each. These clips
issues a circular stating t hat the plaintiff's inven- has been no case on the point. In our view, if it are held over the rr:agazine, and the contents
tion '~ had been proved to be an infringement,, of could be shown that such a statement was issued pr~ssed out most ~eadily. It is not possible to dehis o wn, when n o proceeding had ever been taken ma.liciowdy, and with the intention to injure the scrt~e the. mecha~Ism of the lock without drawings,
t o test its validity. For there was n o ground p erson who was the true holder of the a ward the bu~ 1ts chtef ments ~re ~hat it has no projecting
whatever for the posit ive statement made, and statement would be libellous, and could be mad~ the striker, t hat the cockmg Is d one on the unlockinu
therefore clearly no reasonable or probable cause subject-matter of successful proceedings.
of the bolt, and that the bolt cannot fall out whe~
for making it.
~he r.ifle is carried on a galloping horse. The rifle
In Hubbuck v. 'Vilson ((1899) 1 Q. B. 86), the
Is bemg made by Messrs. Bland and Sons, King
Court of Appeal laid it. down tl~at a statement by a
\Villiam-stree~, Strand, W. C.
Last Monday a
NOTES.
trader that goods of hts manufacture are superior
n.umber of trial~ were made of the speed of firing
CoMPENSATION FOR CoMPULSORY P uRCH ASE .
to those manufactured by another rival trader,
A
CURI OUS point under the law relating to com- atmed shots against a Lee-Metford rifle, with the
alt~o ugh untrue and made maliciously, is not
genera~ r esult that t~e new rifle only required about
pensatioJ?for.
compu~s?ry
purchase
has
r
ecently
act10na ble as a defamatory libel, nor d oes such a
two-~huds of the t1m~ of the reg ulation weapon.
b
een
dec1ded
1n
the
Dtvtsional
Court
by
Ridley
and
statement afford ground for an action for disparaae0
~hillimore, JJ. It appears that the Bwlfa Col- P osstbly part of the gain should be credited to t he
!Dent of goods, ev.en if the plaintiff is damnified by
marksman.
h
ery
Company
own
certain
seams
of
coal
which
lie
It, and avers. speCial damage. The most satisfactory
eneath
a
r
eservoir.
B
efore
proceeding
to
work
b
remedy provtded for those who are subject to trade
THE G LASGow ExHIBITION RESULTS.
the coal, they gave due notice to the water company.
li~els is an injunction granted by a Judge of the
. The d~y is past when great expectations are
The
water
compllny
immediately
gave
notice
to
the
Htgh Court. The Court will, in its discretion, in a
colliery
ow~ers to treat for the compulsory s~1l e of tndulged 1n by the promoters of exhibitions but
proper case g rant an injunct ion either"on interlocuthe~e are, nevertheless, direct advantages to be
the
coal
lymg
under
the
reservoir.
This
n
otice
t ory application, or at the hearina of the action r erealised from such shows, and it is satisfactory
was
.
served
on
October
15,
1898,
and
as
t
he
straining t he defendant from sla;dering the titie of
parttes were unable t o agree as to the amount to record that, within such reasonable limitathe plai~tiff's to, a~d publishing a libel upon, a
of
compensation,
a~ arbitrator was appointed t o tions, the Glasgow Exhibition, which was closed
commodtty of thetr manufacture or invention determtne the questwn. The hearincr was for some on Saturday last, can be pronounced an unquali(Thorley's Cattle Food Company v. Massam, 6 Ch. reason delayed until April, 1901. A 0question then ~ed success. The enormous attendance proves,
D. 582). But in the case of fah;e trade circulars ar ?se as to the b~sis upon which the purchase In the first place, that such a tempor ary addition
when application is mad e to retrain t he publicatiOI; P.riCe should be es timated, as the price of coal had t~ ~~e gaiety of a nation is acceptable. The Exof circulars impugning the plaintiff's labels on cer- risen enormously, and had again fallen since lubitwn was opened on May 2, and continued
t ain manufactured articles, and threatening legal t he date of the notice t o treat. In these circum- until November 9, and during that period
proceedings, t he plaintiff must satisfy the Court to stances, the water company contended t hat the 11,497,220 persons attended, a total never before
whom application is made that the statem ents in price should be est imated as at t he date of t he reached by any exhibition in this country, and
question are untrue.
notice, while the colliery owners submitted that fullY: . ~ouble t he att~nda.nce at the previous
Moreover, an in junction to restrain t he publica- the arbitrator should take into consideration the Exhtbitwn at Glasgow In 1888. The highest attion of a trade libel is only gran ted in the clearest immense profit which would have been realised on tendance was on the closing day, when 173,266
cases, s uch as those in which a j ury would un- coal excavated and sold subsequent to that date. passed through the t urnstiles, while t he hiahest
d oubtedly find t hat the matter complained of was The arbitrator having estimated t he proper amounts n umber achieved by any exhibition in t his co~ntry
libellou .;, and where, if they found otherwise, their based upon each fi gure, stated a case for the was at the 1888 Exhibition at Glasgow, when t he
verdict would be set aside as unreasonable . ( Liver- opit;1ion of the High. Court. Their lordships hav-e total, again on the closing day, r eached 117 901.
pool Household Stor es Association v. Smith, deCided that t he arbttrator was not only entitled, At the Exhibition in London in 1851 the hi~hest
37 Ch.D. 170.)
but bound, t o have regard to the enhanced price of number of admissions was 109,760. There ;.ere
The wrongful use of a trade mark is not infre- coal. The reasons for their judgment were in t wenty-four days when the attendance at Glasgow
quently made the subj ect of comment on the part of effect : '' The water company do not purchase the exceeded 100,000, and on t hree days only did it fall
the true owner of the mark. Where t here is any coal or the land which contains it; they merely below 40,000. The total money taken at the t urnd oubt as to the validity of the mark, great care buy the right to prevent the coalowners from stiles, ex~luding, of course, season ticket receipts as
must be taken before any accusations relating thereto working it. A large quantity of coal cannot be well as railway coupons, was 167 ,887l., and it is probare made through the medium of advertisements.
excavated all at once, and therefore compensation for able that the net result of the Exhibition from a
In t he Royal Baking Powder Company v. Wright, prevent ing such excavation must be assessed upon financi~l p~int of view, will be a surplu~ closely
Crossley, and Co. ( t 8 R. P. C., 95), the facts were the basis of the price which the coal will fetch at approXImatmg to 100,000l. This sum , it is exshortly these. In 1897 two trade marks registered t he t ime when it is excavated." The coalowners pected, will be spen t in pu rchasing pictures for the
by the "R" Company, of New York, were ex- therefore had judgment for the larger amount. magnificent art gallery built pnrtly from the surplus
punged from t he Register of Trade Marks by t he This j udgment, which is of great importance to the of the last Exhibition and partly from public suborder of t he Court, at the instance of the d efen - owners of collieries, is consistent with a well-known scription. As to the educational value, t here can
d ants. Both trade mS\rks were labels containing principle of the law of compensation - namely, that be no doubt that many have profited by a study of
prominen tly the words "Royal Baking Powder ." contingent or probable profits shall be taken into t he machine tools alone, than which few finer
~hortly afterwards the defendants issued a circular consideration. Any evidence, apparently, which collections of mechanical appliances have ever been
r eferring to the order, which circular and the can be put forward to enhance the value of property gathered together. Many employers wisely sent
statemen ts made by travellers and agen ts of the taken compulsorily should be fort hcoming at the nu.mbers of their workmen specially to s tudy
this ~~partment ; and it was gratify~ng during
d efendan ts were alleged by the plaintiffs to be an hearincr.
0
our VISits to find Scotch workmen makwg minute
intimation that the plaintiffs were n ot en t itled t o
examinations into the details of such tools.
THE H YLARD AND BINGRAM RIFLE.
sell baking powder as "Royal Baking Powder,"
A n ew rifle, the invention of Mr. John Hylard, As to the amount of business done by the exhibitors,
and that the d efendants intended t o proceed against
person s using t he labels, to stop the use of those of Melbourne, Australia, was shown last Monday it is n ot possible to get any defini te estimnte ; some
words. The plain t iff company then commenced an at the Staines R ange. In this rifle there are make no secret of the fact that they have been
action to r estrain the d efendants from represent- several features which are both new and valuable. able to do a very satisfactory trade in the sale
ing t hat t he plaintiffs were not entitled to sell The striker is almost entirely contained within the of the tools, &c., on show, while others state t hat
their "Royal Baking Powder " in the United bolt, the only projecting part being the fine point business has been very unsat isfactory ; probably
]{ingdom, and from maliciously t hreatening t he which hits t he cap in the cartridge, and its projec- something between the two extremes is t he ricrht
customers of t he plain tiff~ with leg~l proceedings tion is less than i in. There is t hus no d anger of estimate, and certainly several firms are satisfi~d.
in respect of their sales of t he plaintiffs baking t he striker being bent and rendered useless if the The relations between the foreign exhibitors and
powder. It was decided at the trial t hat the cir- rifle should be dropped on r ocky ground. There t he Executive Oouncil have been most amicable,
cular represented what was not t rue with regard to is no coiled spring around t he striker ; it re- and it is not by any means the lea~t satisfactory
the plain t iff's baking powd er and trade, and was ceives i ts energy from a hammer, operated by indication of results that a number of the French
issued n ot in good faith in support of a claim or a flat spring, both hammer and spring being exhibitors' representatives spontaneously collected
within t he lock. This spring is bent to its acting oOl. and handed it over to the Lord Provost of
riaht
really
m
ade,
or
intended
to
be
exercised
by
0
th e d efendants, but maliciously, and t hat it had position when the bolt is rotated previous to with- Glasgow for distribution amongst the infirmaries
caused special and substantial damage to t he drawal, and is locked in that position until the bolt and hospitalR of the city. All connected with the
plaintiffs. An inj unction was g ran ted in the first is returned to close the breech. U ntil t hat action Exhibit.ion are to be congratulated on a success to
place, but on appeal (which was affirmed in t he is accomplished, t he rifle ..:annot be fired. Thus which unusually fine weather, and the loyalty and
House of Lords) it was decided that t here being no t he effort required to cock the gun is made during business enterprise of the citizens, contributed
circumstances to suggest that t he circular had the unlocking of the bolt, and not during the time almost in equal proportions.
a secondary meaning, evidence to explain its mean- it is being returned to the breech, as in the LeeG.ERMAN ELECTRI CITY wORK
rifle.
It
is
stated
that
this
renders
it
Metford
ing was inadmissible, and t hat the circular did not
The statistics of German electricity works,
mean that the defendan ts intended to proceed possible to load and fire continuously out of the
against persons selling the plaintiff's baking powder, magazine without r emoving t he weapon from the published in the Elect)ot echnische Zeitschl'ijf, bring
under the name of "Royal Baking Powder, " and shoulder. The magazine takes five cartridges. the data up to the end of ~larch, 1901, because
The bottom can be r emoyed for cleaning, while m~ny Germ~n establishments cl<,se t heir yearly
that the ci1,cul~1' was n at; in ~ny respect untrue.

Nov. Is, Igox.J

accounts with t h e last of March. The statistics
cover 2? !?ages. of t he journal. Although s uch
~ compllatwn IS undoubtedly of high general
Interes t , 150 works- almost a quarter of the number of works which were in exis tence in 1900 h ad not r eturned t h e inquir y sheets. The columns
state n~me, place, and proprietor of t h e works,
population ? f the place, supply system, primary
power, ~~g1ne and battery powers, lamps and
m otors .Joined, number of electricity meters, date
of open10g , r emarks, and capital invested. This
latter column is n ew, and, so far, rat her uncertatn.
Only 318 of 786 works, t h e total number of central stations, have an s wered this inquiry. These
318 works, of 137,508 kilowatts power have cost
223,766,481 marks (shillings). On a~ avera<>'
e,
0
therefore, the kilowatt requires an investment of
1628 marks ; and a ssu ming t his a verage for the
total of power available, 290,000 kilowatts we
come to a total capital investment in eleot;icity
works of 472 million marks.
Another basis of
~stim~te gives 640 million marks ; neither figure
1s r elia ble, but we get an idea of t he capital
sunk in .these plants. The thirty-three German
to wns wlth more than 100,000 inhabitants all
possess at least one public electricity station
(Kiel alone not s upplying y et) ; most medium size
towns are also p r ovided, but there is enough scope
l eft for enterprise. The 768 electricity stations of
1901 represent au increase of 122, or considering that
26 works h ave been removed from last year 's list, of
148 works over 1900 ; 90 works are under construct ion. The fig ures q uoted in the following lines all
refer to 1901 unless otherwise stated, and t h ose of
1900 are added in brackets. Altogether 1200 places
are supplied with electric ligh t or p ewer; one plant
furnishes 66 places wit hin a radius of 12 miles ;
8 1.3 (80.4) per cent. of all central stations, r epresenting in their en gines 43.8, and in their engines
and batteries 49 per cent. of the total p ower,
s upply ex clusively continuous current. The p ower
perceutages of last y ear were higher, 47.4 and 63.8
resp ectively. The reason is t hat the numerous
small plants are generally on the p ure continuouscurrent system, but not the recent large additions.
There a re 43 (38) mixed triphase and continuouscurrent plants aggregating 86,986 ( 41, 757) kilowatts in engine and 102,511 (46,608) kilowatts in
engine and battery power. Of combined alternating
and continuous-current systems we count 10 (6),
together of 6874 (1599) kilowatts; their battery
power amounts to 105 (100) kilowatts. Triphase
plants p ure number 45 (39), wit h 41,634 (35,677)
kilowatts p ower ; the mono or biphase p lants count
44 (42), with 17,548 (21, 572) kilowatts. Mon ocyclic
generators a re employed in two p lants t ogether of
950 kilowatts. Only 3. 8 (6. 9) per cent. of the pure
continous-current plants dispense with accumulators. The accumulators represent 36.2 (37. 9)
of the engine power, and 26.6 (27.5) per cent.
of the total p ower of these direct-curren t plants,
and t he accumulators of lighting stations in general
make up 21.6 (20. 0) of their en gine power, and
17.7 (16.7) of their combined power. As regards
prim~ry power, we find t hat 60.3 p er cent. (58.6)
of all central stations, r epresenting 80.7 per cent.
(76.5) of the total p ower availa ble, r ely entirely
on steam. Water-power is not of general importance in Germany ; apart from Rheinfelden, with
its 12,360 kilowatts, we ha ve 72 small water-power
p lants, aggregating only 3354 kilowatts.
Both
steam and water power- one, as a rule, as reserve
-are em ployed in 170 (144) works of 35,969
(26,674) kilowatbs. Gas power (includ ing furn ace
and producer gas) is now solely relied upon in
39 central station s of 3106 kilowatts. Gas engines
are, further, to be found in ma ny wor ks ; but t heir
total powe1 does n ot make up more than 1.1 per
cent. of the total engine power of all the central
stations . The 38 s ta tions of the large towus and
of th e Silesian mining districts of Ohor zow and
Zab orze, r anging from 22,075 kilowatts (Oberspree,
n ear Berlin) down t o 2072 kilowatts (Hanover) are
with their 192,055 kilowatts more powerful than t he
other 730 works altogether wit h their 160,515 k ilowatts. There were connected to t h e 768 (652)
works, 3,403,205 (2,623,893) incandescen ce la mps,
averaged at 50 watts, 64,278 (50,070) 10-ampere arc
lamps, a nd 141,414 (106,368) motors, not reck oning c urren t for electrolysis, heat ing, &c. The
respective increases over last year represent 17.8,
29. 7, 28.4, and 33 p er cent . The central stations
use 126,695 electricity meters. The 768 electric
stations mention ed are located in 749 different
places.
.

h N G I N E E R I N G.
there was, in most cases, some small corner unfilled which
MISCELLANEA
would not have been the case with hydraulic riveting.
A HIGHLY remarkable work is described in a recent Another member stated that in riveting toget>her six B-in.
issue of the Scientific Ame1ioan. Ib consists of four cables plates with g-in. rivets driven by the largeso size Q. and C.
spanning the straits of Carquinez, between the Solano pneumatic hammer, the holes on cutting through the
and Contra Costa. Counties of California. The hori zontal rivets proved to be about as well filled ac3 is usual by
span between the towers supporting the cables is 4427 ft. , other methods of riveting. Experiments made on behalf
and the height ab the centre abo'\'e the water is 206 ft. of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quinoey Railway, on the
The oa.blE's, of which there are four, are used for convey obher hand, showed that long holes were far from being
ing electricity across the straits. The voltage on the line completely filled either by hand riveting or by steam or
i3 40,000, and the insulators weigh 50 lb. each. The c9.bles air pressureri veting. I n these experiments holes were
are built up of 19 plough steel wires, and measure exter drilled through iron pins, and these holes were then filled
nally about g in. in diameter. The tension on each cable by rivet3. P utting the work into a lathe, washers were
at the towera is about 10 tons.
out from these pins right down to the shank of the rivet,
The pottery trade arbitration ab Hanley, having refer- and these washers invariably proved loose, with the
ence to a proposed series of rules regulating the character exception of those immediately under the heads of
of the lead glazes used, was brought to an unexpected the rivets. Hydraulic-driven rivets were nob tested in
termination on Tuesday. Lord James of H ereford. the this way. Where reamed holes are specified, it was
umpire, proposed that the application of the new Home stated that the railway companies now demand that the
Office rules as to " fri tting " and the solubility of lead boles shall be punched i in. small, and the reaming is
shonld be postnoned for eighteen months, with a further then effected by a twist drill, which costs less than using
4. "f
4.h 4.
f
d
d' 4. H h d a taper reamer when so large an amount of metal has to
t
1
e a be removed from the ed~es of the hole. It was mentioned
pos ponemenu
u a u were oun expe Ienu.
been induced to recommend this course, because it had
!:>een shown that under tbe existing rules lead p~ison incidentally that with t e multi.ple pun~hes now .largely
mg had greatly decreased, and he hoped that wtth a emplored there was often a. dtfficu~ty m matohmg the
further observance of the general rules it would die out holes 1~ th.e web and th~ angles, smce the amount of
altogether.
stretchmg IS not the same m the two cases.
.
.
.
The Vengeance, babtlesbip carried out her gun.mount
Le Yacht sta~es t h ab 1mmedtately after the launch of ing briaJs at Portsmouth on Saturday, sfber several postthe F rench crutser Leon Gambetta, on Q~tober 26,.work ponements in consequence of the fog. The Vengeance is
was begun B:t Brest o~ the firdb of the stx battle~htps of the first battleship built by Messrs. Vickerl, Som~, and
14,865 tons mcluded m the programme fo~ tbe mcrea~e 1\IIaxim, and she is also the onJy ship in the British Navy
of the ~avy voted last ~ear b~ the Pd.rha~ent. ~his which has been built, engined, armoured, and supplied
vtessel Wl~l be called t~e ~epubl~que, and a .ststersbtp- with her heavy gun mountings by one firm. She waa
he Pa.tr!e-to be b~llt m a J>r1vate yard, 1s also to .be ordered t welve months later t han her five sister veeseJP,
!:>egun ~his y~ar. It IS DO\~ evt~en~ that th~ four ~e!DaiD the Canopus, Goliatb, Ocean, Albion, and Glory; and Sir
!ng shtps wlll not be ~Uilb Wlthm the time ortgmally William W hite, profiting by his experience in the inter.
~ntended, for the ~OJ?1 mtttee of ~he Budget for 1902 has val was enabled to effect some important improvementl3,
JUSt refused. the Mtmster of Martne the crfdtts necessary such as better speed, greater proteoti vo strength, and a
for ~he laymg down of three of .t~em nexb year . . The higher offensive power. The chief difference, however,
Parha!D~nt may overrule the dec1~1on of the comm1ttee, between the V engeance and her predecef!sors of the Canobut thlS .Is not ab all pr?b~ble, and 1b ma:r be l<;>oked upon pus class is the new type of heavy gun mounting, by means
as cer tam that the butl~mg of th&e shtps will be post of which the 12-in. guns can be loaded at all firing posiponed at least one year, lf nob more.
tions, whether of training or elevation. The Vengeance is
According to a telegram received by the Novoe Vremya also the la.sb ship to be supplied with the Mark VIII. Woolfrom Vladivostok, the task of laying the rails of the wich gun of 46 bona and 36 calibres in length, which, though
Northern Manchurian Railway was completed on the 3rd not so powerful as the Vickers Mark IX. of 40 calibre:., is
inst., the anniversary of the Tsar's coron ation. This line still a formidable weapon, as it fires a projectile of 850 lb.
conneot.s Vladivostok with the great Siberian railway. in weight with a muzzle velocity of 2367 foot-seconds aud a.
It js ex pected to be open for traffic in a few monthP, and muzzle energy of 33,000 foot-tons. A complete broadside
will very much shorten the journ ey to the Far East. from the Vengeance would brin ~ into action four 12-in.,
Hitherto, travellers have had to take a steamer on the she 6-in., six 12-pounder, and s1x Maxim guns. These
Amur from the terminus of the Siberian Railway to 22 guns would fire at one time 11,000 lb. of metal wi th a
Khabarovsk, which is conn ~cted by rail to Vladivostok. collective energy at the muzzle of over 600,000 foob-tons.
When the new line is in working order the only break An important advantage afforded by the new mounting
in the railway connection between Moscow and Vladi is, that while the gun can bs kepb sighted on the object
vostok will be ab Lake Baikal. The work of constructing aimed at, the gear is simplified rather than compli.
a line round the southern end of the lake will be begun cated1 as bhere are no locking bolts nor apparatus for
immediately, but cannot be finished for several years. The workmg them. All the leading- operations are carried
line which connects Port Arthur with Harbin on the out by hydraulic power, but Simple fittings have been
Northern Manchurian] Railway is already in working provided for the use of handpower as an alternative. In
order.
the forward turret three rounds were fired from each gun
with practice and service charges from 10 deg. before to
Professor F~rnow states that there are now some 25,000 10 deg. abaft the beam. The last two rounds were fi red
miles of logging rail roads in the U nited States alone. simultaneously, one gun being at the maximum depreeSome of these are laid with wooden poles, 6 in. to 8 in. sion and the other at the maximum elevation, but no
or 12 in. in diameter, to ser ve as rails. They are laid damage was done beyond the breaking of a few glaes
without cross-sleepers, but are pinned together at a 60-in. fittings. In the after-turret four rounds were fired from
gauge. The cost is but 100 dols. to 200 dols. per mile; each gun, to ascertain the maximum rate of fire obtainable
but only light loads can be hauled on them, and the with the type of loading gear. The results were regarded
rolling stook must also be light, so that they are suitable as highly satisfactory, as it was shown that wit>h a brained
only for level districts. In other oases sawed wooden rails crew and the machinery operated under ordinary wotking
are used, the cost being then from 300 dols. to 800 dols. conditionE~, a rate of two rounds a minute could be main
per mile. In genera], however, repairs on these tained for a prolonged period.
roads are eo heavy that steel track is preferred in
spite of the heavier initial cost. On narrowgauge
lines steel rails weighing 20 lb. to 30 lb. per yard fi ll alJ
COKE IN BELGIUl!I.-The quantity of coke made in
the requirements of the situation. With the standard Belgium last year was 2,434,678 tons. The correspondgauge. rails weighing 30 lb. to 40 lb. per yard are needed, ing oubpub in 1899 was 2,304,607 tons; in 1898, 2,161,162
though in special oases 75lb. rails have been used. In tons ; and in 1897, 2,207, 840 tono.
the Cornell forests 40-lb. rails are used on the spura and
46-lb. rails on the main road, with an eng-ine weight of
WHAT IS A SHOP ?-:J\Ifuch t rouble has been occasioned
27 tons. In constructing these road:!, whiCh ser ve tem- in connection with the interpretation of recent Acts of
porary requirements only, earthworks are reduced to a Parliament by the omission of suitable definitions of the
minimum, and are often replaced by cribs built of unmar- terms used therein. If the etymologies.! meaning were
ketable loge, whilst marshes are crossed by mattings always attached, but little difficulty would arise; io is the
of brushwood. Steam loaders are employed, which gartial definition of a. term which vexes t he lawyer's mind.
are capable of picking up 600 to 800 logs per day, This was illustrated in a recent case before the Divisional
provided these are within 100ft. of the track, Loe-s at Court. By the Shop Hours Act, 1892, s. 4, it is provided
greater distances from the track are usually hauled w1t>hin that in every shop where a young person is employed a
range of the loader by animal power; but wire rope notice shall be exhibited stating the number of hours a
steam-driven skidding systems are coming into use and week during which a young person may lawfully be
promise, Professor Fernow states, to entirely supersede employed in that shop. "Shop," as defined in the Acfl,
animal power wherever large enough masses of hardwood means retail and wholesale shops, markets, stalls and
are to be lumbered. The logs are hauled by wire ropes, warehouses in which assistants are employed for hire,
which are taken out to the log from the hauling engine and includes licensed public-houses and refreshment!
by a horse or mule. A steel nose is provided which steers houses of any kind. In the case under notice, a boy
the log over stumps, stones, or other impediments. The in the employment of Messrs. W. H . Smith and Son, at
greatest length of haul is usually not more than 1500 ft., Redhill, was sent over to Mersbham Station to sell papers
and each machine will haul on an average 140 to 160 logs from a stall, which consisted of a board and trestles, for 3!
per day.
hours a day. No notice was posted at that stall speOI
In a discussion on " Modern Practice in B ridge Shop- fying the number of hours during which the b_Qy was
work " at a recent meeting of the W astern Society of eml>loyed, in consequence of which lVIessrs. W. H.
E ngineers, some interesting notes on the relative ad van- Smtth and Son were summoned and fined. On appeaJ,
tages of hand, hydraulic, and pneumatic hammer rivet t he Divisiona,l Court decided that it was not necessary to
ing were contributed by different members. It was have a notice at this place, as the boy was in reality
conceded that when pressures of 70 to 80 ton~ were used " employed " at Red hill, where a. proper notice was posted.
on f -in. to gin. rivets, the best work was gtven by the The Chief Justice, however, said that it would be ridihydraulic machine, and that in these condit>ions holes as culous to hold that the structure in question was a " stall
much as 2 in. deep could be thoroughly filled. With the or shop " within the meaning of tbe Act. What, then, is
pneumatic hammer f in. rivets in 1-in. and 1~-in. plates a stall within the meaning of the Act ? It is subtle
showed some slight cavities when cub bhrougn, bhou&"h, distinctions of this kind which render all grandmotherly
speaking generally, the boles were really well filled. St1ll, Acts of Parliament so difficult to interpret.

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

[NOV. 15, I 901.

of 200,000 acres of roal lands in West Virginia, but is o~ two tbickne..qge~, the tbioknees varying from 2 in.
only secured 40,~00 acre~. The deal will eventually outside. of the range of armour to f in. inside of that
PHILADELPHIA, November 1.
THE situation in the A meric9.n steel market has go th~ough a t a higher priCe per acre t ban was origi- protect10n. T~e main deck, forming a crown to the
changed for the better, in consequence of the ruah of nally Intended. P rices for basic steel have advanced armol_lred port10n of the veesel, is of two thicknesses
a.nd IS genertlly 1! in. thick. The internal arrange:
75
.cents
per
t~n
a~
Pittsburgh
in
the
open
market,
but
large orders for d elivery next year in most iron and
m~nts f?ll,ow ~be usual Admiralty methods, the vessel
fimshed
material
IS
unchanged.
The
most
in
teresting
~teel prod~cts. The volume of business is perceptbemg d1 Vl9ed m to nu merous watertight compartments
feature
of
the
market
is
the
rush
for
cars.
The
PennIb ly larger 1n both crude and finished materi~l the
the magazmes and shell-rooms b3ing provided for at
sylvania
Railroad
Company
is
in
the
marke
t
for
a
strongest feature of the entire market is steel ;ails
the ends of the vessel well under the water-line, while
the demand for which, for next year's d elhrery h a~ lar~e num?er. The pressure for cars is beyond all record. the coal bu~kera are carried along each E-ide of the
exceed ~d the cal.cula~ions of three months ago. 'The Bndge builders are once more in the market for ma- veeseJ, f~rmmg a.n additional protection in way of
produmng capamty Is about 4 million t ons per year ~eria~ for winter d elivery, and the qu estion of an ad vance the ma~hmery space. The normal coal capacity of the
the orders, including inquiries now on hand amount m priCes for beams is now und er consideration. The vessel IS a~out 800. tons; but by utilising the reserve
to 2 million tons. There is a rumour t oday that in general i~dustrialsituation is strong, and manufacturers bunkers thiS. capa01ty can .be increased to 1600 tons.
The vessel will be fib~ed Wlth steam. and hand-steering
consequence prices are to be adYanced from 28 dols. are seekmg to protect themselves by contracts for gear
by Messrs. Napter Brothers, L1mited. Steam is
raw
material
of
all
kinds.
The
movement
of
cotton
produced to 30 dols. per ton. Mr. Carnegie is due
adopted for the forward a.nohor gear by Measrs Harfield
has
again
become
very
heavy.
Last
week's
exports
h~re in a day or so, and, despite the fact t hat he has
whi~e electricity is the motive power aft. F~ur sets of
reached
423,393
bales,
of
which
210,264
bales
were
withdrawn from all business, his advice will doubtless
engm~ a!ld dynamos by essrs. W. H. Alien, Son, and
be. sought concerning the advisability of advancing shipp~d t o . Engla~d: The volume of general mer- Co., L1m1ted, Bedford, wtll be fitted of snit9.ble power
pr10es to 30 dola. Mr. Cnnegie stated some months chandtse shtpments IS enormous, and some lines are t? produce th~ c0;rre~t necessary for a complete insta.Ua.
ago that Rteel rails could be made at a profit of 15 dols. blocked. For i~stance, at this wri ting 30,000 tone of t~on of elec~nc hghtmg throughout the vessel, including
flour now await transportation at t he head of the stx search hghts, the boat and coal hoists, the after
and the present prices afford a liberal margin.
vast amount of new r ailroad construction work is Lakes, for Buffalo. T his requires 1500 cars. There ca~st~n gear,. an.d the necessary electric fans for the
artificial ventllat10n of the ship below lower deck. The
coming u~, and th? rai~road builders ar e b eg inning are other large stocks besides.
ar~ament consists of two twin 6-in. guns forward and
Oeorge
S.
Gibbs,
general
manager,
Philip
Burt,
:Mr.
to appremate the situatiOn, and to recognise that if
aft m ba.rbe~tes,, f?ur 6-in. ~una in casemates on upper
ge~eral
~raffic
manager,
and
Charles
A.
Harnson,
t hey want to begin trac~-laying in the spring, i t will
d~ck, and stx s1mllar guns m casemates on main deck,
ch1ef
engmeer
of
t
he
North-Eastern
R9.ilway
of
Engbe necessary to p lace their orders soon. It is this fact
eight 12-pounder 12-cwt. guns, two 12-~ounder 8 cwt.
that is t he basis of t he rum oured advance. In steel land, are here as guests of t he Pennsylvania, a.nd have boat ~nd field ~uns, three 3pounder quick-firing guns,
billets t here is a great scarcity ; productive capacity is been shown aro~nd .. Among other rides they were ~nd eight .Maxim guns ; in addition to which the vessel
far oversold, and it will be some time before new taken. to Atlantic Cty from Camden, 54 miles in 1S fitted wtth two submerged tubes, one on either side
capacity will b~ a~ailable. ~here ~re large inquiries, 46 mmute~. They have been looking at American for the discharge of 18-in. Whitehead torpedoes. Th~
or. rather negotiatiOns, pendmg this week for billets locomotives, and examining numerous features of hea;vy s-uns ~re so arranged that a heavy fire may be
mamtamed m any desued direction. The b~rbettes
a'3 well as for Bessemer and basic iron. It is probable American ra ilway practice.
around the 6.in. twin guns are of 4-in. armour and are
therefore, t hat during the month of November larg~
well connected. to the structu~~ of the ship and efficiently
quantities of raw material will be contracted for. The
supported, whtle the ammumt10n to these guns is served
LAUNCHES
AND
TRIAL
TRIPS.
same satisfactory conditions prevail in all other
through heavy armoured trunks from magazines and
ON Wednesday, the 6th inst., the steel screw steamer shell-rooms below. The casemate fronts are of hard steel
bra.nch~s of the ~t~el industry, and it would appear
Melobesia, builtJ by lVIessrs. Craig, TA.ylor, and Co., 4 in. thick, with rear plates 2 in. thick; a.nd the conning
much hke a repet itiOn to stat e the facts and conditions Stockton-on-Tees,
proceeded to sea for her trial trip. tower, fitt~d above forecastle deck, is of 10-in. thick
a'3 they are to day. The bridgebuilders and other 'fhe principal dimension3 of the ve~sel are: 332 fb. by
users of structural material are very anxious this week 46 ft. by 23 ft. 9 in. depth moulded. The engines have armour, w1th a. communicating tube, 6 in. thick carried
to the protective deck, containing the con'nections
t o secure large supplies of material, and i t is said, on been constructed by Messrs. Blair and Co., L imited, down
to all the gear throughout the ship. The side bulkhead
what appears to be good authority, that there will be S~ockton, the cy~inders being 23~ in., 39 in., and 64 in. in c~emate, and conning. tower armour has 'been sup~
a.n advance in shapes within a short t ime. I t is such dtarueter by 42 m. There are two large steel boilers plied by Messrs. John Brown and Co., Limited, and
rumours as t hese, coupled with the knowledge that working a.t 160 lb. pressure. On the run from the Tees the barbettes by Messrs. William Beardmore and Co.
enormous requirements are ahead of us, t hat disturbs to Blyth a speed of 1l knots was maintained. The The .machinery, which .will be su~plied by the builders,
the market with rumours of an advance. Shipbuild ing ship has been built to the order of Messrs. Figli di L uigi consts~s of two sets of triple.expansiOn fourcrank engines.
Th~ ~1ameters of the cylinders, and the order of their
is also calling for much more material; quite a number Dufour, of Genoa.
postbions from .forw~rd are: .Low-pressure, 69 in. ; highof car works, in fact all t he larger establishments, are
Messrs. Ramage and Ferguson, Limited, L ei th, on pressure, 37. m. ; mtermed1ate pressure, 60 in.; lowworking at night in order to accommodate the rail roads. Friday,
the 8th inst. , launched a new steel steamer built p~essure, 69 m.; aJl having a stroke of 42 in. The comThe car shortage has reached such proportions as t o and engined by them to the order of the East Coast bmed pow~r 9f the two sets of main engines will amount
cause serious inconvenience to shippers and manufac- Salvage Company, Limited, of Leith. The vessel has to 22,0~0 md10at~d horse-power when running at 140
turers. In t he Pittsburg d istrict there is at present been constructed to the special design and under the revolutiOns per mmute. All the cylinders are fibted wibh
only a. half supply. In other districts the situation is supervision of Mr. T. N. Armit, manager of the East steal? jackets; the liners of the high-pressure and internot very much better. In plates, sheets, pipes, and Coast Salvage Compauy. Her principal dimensions are: medtate pressure are of forged steel; tho3e in the lowsklep iron there is quite a. demand for early d elivery. Length, 110 ft. ; beam, 25 ft. ; depth, 10 ft. She is of pressure cylinders are of cast iron. T here are four surThe situation all through is very strong, and the light draught. Her engines are compound, with cylinders face condensers for the main engines, a.nd two smaller
a ctivity is extending to coal and coke, which some 18 in. by 36 in. in diameter and 24 in. stroke, with boiler con.densers for the auxiliary engines. Each of the four
concerns are endeavouring to accumulate. The steel- power to give her an average speed of 10 knots. Her mam condensers is provided with sluice shut-off valves
includes towing gear, steam winch, horn at so tha~ any part of one may be overhauled while th~
makers are planning further enlargements ; the largest equipment
bow, long a.nd powerful derrick8, steam digger, and other othe~ 1s at work. The total condensing surface in the
independent producers at Pittsburg a re putting in appliances for salving cargo. The vessel was named four 1s 23,000 square feet ; all of the condenser casings are
facilities to manufacture steel rails. One of the Belrorie.
of gun-metal. The main engine's air-pumps are worked
features of the rail demand is the call for light
by levers off the high-pressure engines; there is one pump
sections ; another feature is t he call for very heavy
On Friday, the 8th inst., the new twin-screw steamer for each set of engines. The six main and aux iliary feed
sections- from 80 lb. to 100 lb.
The monetary Alnwick Castle, built by Messrs. William Beardmore and pumps, two hotwell pumps, four fire and bilge pumps
situation is favourable, and the banks a.re able to meet Co. (late R . N apier and Sons, Limited), for the U nion- one latrine, a.nd. one drain tank pump, are all of M~srs:
all requirements; no failures of importance are Castle Mail Steamship Company, Limited, completed her G. and J. W en 's. special type.. The main circulating
announced, and from the financial standpoint there official trials on the Firth of Clyde, and fully implemented pump~. t0geth~r w1th fire and bilge pumps, give a total
capa01ty of 5200 tons of water per hour from the
is nothing to apprehend of a disturbing nature. all the conditions of the contract. The Alnwick Castle is pumpmg
bilges. The crank, intermediate, and p ropeller shahing
the
first
of
two
similar
steamers
Messrs.
Beardmore
have
There may be some elements of weakness at work, but,
is all of the usual Admiralty type, made by Mes3rs. John
on
hand
for
the
U
nion-Castle
line,
specially
designed
for
if so, they are beyond the range of vision. . The great
Brown and Co., L imited. The propellers are of Parson's
the
company's
extra
cargo
service
to
South
Africa,
with
a
coal combination, which has occupied a good deal of
manganese bronze. In addition to the main engines and
carrying
capacity
of
7000
tons
on
a
moderate
draught
of
attention, and which controls a quarter million acres water, and a good sea speed. The general dimensions are : auxiliary pumps in the engine-rooms, there are two sets of
in West Virginia is nearing completion. T here is L ength between perpendiculars, 400 ft. ; breadth, 50 fb.; Me~srs. Caird and Rayner's evaporator3; each set consists af
also g reat enterprise in boring for new deposits of ore depth to main deck, 29 ft. 8 in. moulded ; and a. {{ross two evaP.ora.tors and one distiller. the combined output of
in t he outskirts of the lake region , and by the opening tonnage of 4800 ton~. Very comfortable accommodation which will amount to 200 tons p~r ~4 hours from evaporators
of uext spring the ore area will have been g reatly has been provided for first-class passenger3 in a com- and 70 ton.s per 24 hours from dtstt1lers; these a.re designed
work wttb the exhaust stt3am of the auxiliary system at
modious deckhouse amidships, the saloon being finished in atopressnre
extended, d espite the interval of cold weather.
of 25 lb. per square inch, or with boiler steam
polished
oak.
A
large
number
of
third-class
p~sengers
November 6.
the same pressure. The air compressors, of which
and emigrants can be carried in the 'tween decks. 'fhe at
The general drift is t owards stronger prices, but refrigerating space is on the lower deck a.ftJ, with suitable the~e are two set;$, a;re placed forward in the capstan
t here is a shadow on the hori zon of possible over- machinery for maintaining the various chambers at a low engme-room. The bmlera are of the ordinary Belleville
production, when the capacity for iron and steel making temperature. The macliinery consists of two sets of ~ype, with ~conomisers; there are 31 in number, arranged
m
three
bmler-room~. The forward set in each boilertriple-expansion
engines,
having
cylinders
21~
in.,
35
in.,
is r eady for work. The immediate outlook is for
room is of the single-ended, and the after seb of the
higher prices, because of t he inability of consumers to a.nd 58 in. in diameter by 4 ft. stroke, with four single- double.ended type. As they have to work under a.ssist:d
get the material they want at once. R equirements ended boilers for a. working pressure of 200 lb. per square draught, there are four fans and two furnace air pumps in
for the in-coming year are pretty well covered by all inch, fitted with Howden's forced draught. The results each boiler room. For ventilating purposes there are two
the larger consumers. Just now the bulk of new of the trials were very satisfactory, a speed of 14 knots fans ~n each engineroom. The fans and engi nes were
supphed by Messrs. Matthew Paul and Co. L imited,
business comes from found ry and bar-mill manufac- having been easily attained.
Dumbarton,
and
the
air-blowing
engines
by
M
es3rs.
W.
turers, covering malleable, charcoal, forge, basic, and
The London and Glasgow E ngineering and Shipbuild- H. Alien, Son, and Oo., Bedford.
Bessemer iron. Foundry work is very urgent . The ing Company, Limited, Govan, launched on Wednesday,
American Car and Foundry Company, for instance, is the 13th inst., H.M.S. Monmouth, the first of the two
The fir3t-class torpedo-boat No. 108, built by Messrs.
earning on its 30,000,000 d ols. capital 3,250,000 a first class cruisers of the ' County " class they have ab
year. All mills are cr owded with work, and the news- present on hand for the British Admiralty, the prin- J . I. T hornycrofb and Co., Lil!lited, for the Admiralty, has
papers contain announcements of new mills. The cipal dimensions being as follows: Length between per- successfully passed her offi01al full-power coal trial of
two founders of the Pressed Steel Car 'Vorks pendiculara, 440ft.; moulded breadth, 66ft.; load draught, three hours' duration. The engines developed a mean
2876 indicated horse-power, which gave a speed of
at Pittsburgh have resigned, selling out a ll t heir 24 ft. 6 m. ; displacement at load draught, 9800 tons. of
2?.359 knots with ~5.5 revolu~ions of the engines. The
The
lVIonmouth
is
oue
of
the
vessels
ordered
in
18U9,
a.nd
stook and have undertaken the erection of a her armour consists of a belt between main and lower or atr pressure was 2 m. to 2~ m. The coal consumption
5,ooo:ooO-dol. steel car-wheel plant sout h-east of Pitts- protective deck, extending from the bow to the aft end was 2.009 lb. per indicated borse-power per hour. This
burgh. The Pocahontas Coal and Coke Company has of the machinery space. where it terminates against an is said to be one of the best results obtained with either
completed its purchase of 300,000 acres of coal land armoured bulkhead. The main citadel armour is carried destroyers or torpedo-boats. The boilers are of the latest
in West V irginia, by adding 70,000 acres to former the whole length of engine and boiler space and is 4k in. Thornycroft-Schulz type, in which the ga.se5 enter the
purchaseR. The proposition to advance Southern pig thick, forward of the boiler space the armour is reduced tubes attached to the lower central barrel, and then proanother 50 cents has been defeated. An English to 3 in. thick, and about the bow to 2 in., while the bulk- ceed over the firebox down towards the wing barrels, and
syndicate has been endeavouring to close a. pu1chase head armour is 3 in. thick. The lower or protective deck thence up the funnel.

NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.

Nov. 15, 1901.]

'l'HE ELECTRIFICATION Oli, THE METROPOLITAN AND METROPOLITAN DISTRICT
RAILWAYS.
( Oontintud jrO?n page 660. )
THE proceedings with regard to the arbitration were
?~ntinued on Tuesday and W ednesd_l.l,y, the 5th and 6th
m sb., and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the 11th
12th, and 13th inst.
'
'
In opening the ce.se on behalf of the Metropolitan Railway Co~pa.ny, Mr. C. A. yripp~, K.C., ~l.P., stated be
though tit was already suffi.otentlyobvious tha.t on some nice
points, both of eleotrioa.l science and of electrical working
t~ere mus~ be, an? it was expected there would be, a. con~
fhob of eVldence m a case of this kind. He said Mr.
Moulton's t~sts were safety, efficiency, and cost, and that
he, Mr. Or1pps, proposed to deal with specific points
where the matters of safety,_ efficiency, and cost arose, in
order to show what was the v1ew of the Metropolitan Company under each of tho~e heads. Just wha.t Mr. Moulton
claimed on behalf. of the continu~us-currenb system,
backed up by contmuous-current engmeers-if he might
use that express10n-Mr. Cripps was going to claim on
beh~lf of the polyphase systeru, backed up by polyphase
engmeers, and there would be, no doubt, some nice technical points to be decided upon by the umpire. Before
coming, however, to those electrical data, he wished to
give one or two points as to the history of the matter and
the position of the two parties in the case. It' was
hardly necessary to ~a.~ that. the Metropolitan Company
took up no antagomst1c a.tt1tude towards the District;
this was a friendly difference, which might have been
settled by agreement. In a. certain sense, the Metropolitan claimed they were the predom:nant partner;
they had a greater interesb both in the Inner Circle
traffic and in what had been called the interpolated, or
outside, traffic. The Metropolitan portion of the Inner
Circle wa.s 7.1 miles long; they were joint ow,n ers of the
city lines and extensions (1. 92 miles), and the Metropolitan
bad a. system of extensions and branches which amounted
to more than 50 miles, without counting the line to
Quainton Road, pe.sb Aylesbury.
A joint committee was appointed some time back; the
ad vi sera of the joint committee were Sir William Preece
for the District and Mr. Thomas Parker for the Metropolitan. According to Mr. Cripps, the joint committee
came to an agreement, and a tender on the polyphase
system wa.s specifically asked for. He agreed that the two
Boards were nob technically bound, in a legal sense, but
they bad nevertheless delegated their power to a very strong
joint committee. Thab joint committee came to a conclusion that would have been carried oub bnt for the intervention of Mr. Perks and his friends. What gave thew
an opportunity of intervening was the financial difficul ties
of the District. The Metropolitan, on the other hand,
hn.d no economical or financial difficulty. The joint committee was appointed on May 4, 1900; the two engineers
of the joint committee were united in thinking that the
best solution wa<3 the polyphase system. Their first report
was made on the tenders; a.fte.r the tenders, they went
abroad aud inspected the polyQ_ha.ae method. According
to Mr. Cripps. the system the District proposed to adopt
ought nob to be called a. continuous-current system, but a.
mixed system. They proposed what the other system
did-namely, to bring a.n alternatJing current at 10,000 or
11,000 volts to the sub-stations; and, subjeot to the
question of the power factor, up to that point, given
the same electncal equipment, but little difference
would be found between one system and the other ;
it was when distribution was reacbe:i that additional
cosb was found on the direct-current side.
With regard to the question of heating surface of the
hoilers, Mr. Cripps quoted figures he had received from
Profeswr Ewing; according to these, and allowing for the
superheaters in the Ganz boilers, there would be 73,000
equare feet in the latter, as against 80,000 in those of the
British Thomscn-Houston Company. Besides this, less
bteam was wanted with the system ad vcoa.ted by Gan~ than
in the continuous-current system, the proportion bemg 11
to 14. The two engineerE-Sir W. H. Preece aud .Mr.
Parker- had stated that tho system advocated by Ganz
was the besb, owing to its apparent adaptability to
the present aud future requirements of the companies;
they a/tded that ib wag much lower in pricE', seeing
that Glnz could dispense with the costly sub
station~.
Mr. Cripps believed the saving with regard
to the rotary converters was something like 75,000l:;
nob only were the rotary converters necessary ID
the continuous-current system, but they had to be
supervised ; while in the alberna.ting- current system
thGre were in the sub-stations only transformers ~)ure a.ud
simple, which required no sup~rvision, except ~nst that
ca~ual supervision of a mau gomg round occastonally to
Eee that mattera were all right. In the a.lternatmgcurrent sys tem the weight of the line conductor was
reduced to a small figure. With this system one got rid
of the human element as far as possible, putting one's
self on the safer basis of true science. Another element
of sa.fety was the placing of the conductors overhe~.
Mr. Cripps further analysed the report mad~ by Str
'Villiam Preece and Mr. Thomas Parker on their return
from Budapest and from the Sondrio-Lecco line, and
stated that the two engineers bad w11itten down the
various reasons why the three-phase syatem was the besb,
the oheapesb, the most economical, most safe, and most
efficient. The engineers had .added that three-~hase
alternating currents had nob h1~berto been ~xtens1vely
used for traction because the1r use necess1tatd two
insulated conductors, which were objectionable in the
public streets; the frequency taken had not hitherto
given high efficiency, nor sufficient torque, but by
dEISigning motord for a. much lower frequency Messrs.
Ganz had obtained an efficiency equal to that of con-

E N G I N E E R I N G.
tlinuous-ourrent motors, and a torque q uite beyond what efficient, and likely to be carried out under the mora econopraotice demanded. Of course, condioions of inaocessi- mioal conditions, did not appear to admit of doubt. He
bility a.s regards the overhead conductors should be claimed that under each of those heads the alternating
secured. As to the question of efficiency, Mr. Swinburne current system had the advantage.
had practically withdrawn his criticism of the Ganz motor,
The firat witness called by Mr. Cripps wa.s Mr. 0. T.
and no longer relied on inefficiency as a criticism of the Blathy, manager of the elecbrioa.l works of Messrs. Ga.nz
alternating system. Mr. Cripps admitted that what is and Co., of Budapest. Mr. Blathy stated that the use of
called the series parallel control with continuous-current transformers in England was not new in 1885, but that
motors constituted a great economy in acceleration of their s uccessful use was for t.he first time demonstrated in
speed ; there was not the slightest doubt about that, but, 1885 by his firm. They began to study the application of
he added, the engineer3 bad met that point by stating
that the Ganz C.:>mpa.ny had completed an arrangement alternating currents to traction about six years ago, and
of two three-phase motors, known as the cascade arrange- in October, 1896, they had the first line w1th alternating
menb, which had brought the three-pha-se system up to or three-phase motors in Budapest; this worked a.t a.
the same level as the continuous motor with the series tension of about 300 volts. Since then, a great deal of
parallel control. The alternating-current motors needed their work had been devoted to the investigation of the
no attention, a.s there were no commutators, no brushes, problems connected with polyphase traction and to the
aud no sparking. Instead of five sub-stations first con- designing of apparatus, motors, controlling devices, and
templated with the alternating-current system, there details which would come in operation on the system.
would probably be 27, one a.t each railway station, for Their short. experir:nental line at Budapest had always
more economical working. Mr. Oripps had no doubt worked eattsf!l'ctortl~ ; the motors had never been
the Board of Trade would consider wha.t the bet5t system opened for mspecbl~n before th~ exper~ of the
was and would not be regulated by the absurd doctrine two L ondon compames went to mspecb 1t. These
of the untried
motors had worked for twelve months in all kinds
.
.
.
.
. .
of weather ; the liquid rheostat had only occasionally
. At th1s pomt Mr. qrtpps ente~ed m detail mt'? a ques- been filled with soda. solution. Mr. Blathy then gave
t10n of dates, and l!lto the htstory_ of_ the .difference particulars of the problem on the U nderground, as
between bh~ Metropohban ~nd the Dtstncb w1th regard worked out b;r his firm. T?ey proposed to have trains
to the choJCe of an electrlO ~s~em to be used ~n ~he made up of stx oars, of whtch the first and last would
Underground. He gave also.hts v1ews o_f the fin~n01al. s1de b~ motor cars; the four trailers would weigh 15i tons
of the matter, ~f t~e finan01al connect10ns whtc? ex1sted eaoh, and the motor cars 34 tons each ; total weight of
between the D1str10t Company and. the Tract10n Con;t train empty, 130 tons; . with its. full complement of paspany, as to p~yment of, and. secur1ty fo~, the elec~r1c sen~ers, 150 tons; sea.t10g ce.pa.ctty of each car, 60 and 64.
pla.nti, t~e eqmpment and workmg of the ra.Ihvay, addmg Of the 130 tons, 30 tons would be the weight of the
that owmg t_o th~ nature of the agr~ements between th~se electric outfib. The motor cars would be each fitted with
two compames, lb ~as absu.rd to thmk that the Tra.otic;m two groups of motors-four motors in all, or eight on each
C'?mpany were takmg the nsk of t_he f_uture of the Dt~- train. Of these, two in the baok and two in the front
tr10t Compa~y lVIr. Perks a!ld h18 fnenda were pr~ct~- w~re main or primary mot'?rs ; these ?!llY were supplied
ca.lly commttted. to the contt?uous-currenb syste~ lb with a 3000-volt current, while the auxlltary or Eecondary
we.~ not, a.ccordmg to Mr. Cr~pps, that they qn~stlloned motors had a lower tension current supplied. ~o them by
whu~h. system was th~ best one. th~y were commttted by the rotors of the two first motors. The auxthary motors
trad1t1on and by pohcy ~o. the oontmuous-current ~ystem, came into operation only during the caacade working, in
a.~d ~hen they were sufli01ently powerful. they obhged the starting up from reib to half speed, and ijley operated also
Dtstncb Comvany to adopt tb_e stt.me att1 tude, ~nd then, as electric brakes from full speed to half speed. The motors
for th_e first ~tme, the antagomsm arose . . Refernng to the, would be geared motors, and the frequency would be 25.
techmcal pomts of the problem, r yrt pps stated there There would be sub-stations in all the railway stations round
must always b~ an elem.ent of n sk 1f the contact con- the Inner Circle, to reduce the pressure of 10,000 or 11,000
duct?ra are easily access~ble to the workmen or . to the volts down to about 3000. No attendance would be republic, as they wou~d be .m the case of ~he contmuous- quired. Mr. Blathy gave detailed explanations of the
current system, whtle w1th the alternatmg th~y would working of alternating motors ; he added that if a.
be pl~ced O?b of r~a~b_. As regards safety, 1b was a polyphase motor was driven by an outside force at
qu~t10n of IDacoesstbthty_; as regards breakdo~ns, Mr. a speed a.~ove its synchronous speed, it would act as
grti?PS _quoted Mr. Swmburne, w~o had satd th?-t a brake; 1t would cease to be a motor, and become
SOlentlfic~Uy you were as sound ID one oa.s.e a.s 10 a ~enerator, sending back an adequate amount of electhe. other.
As regards speed and acceleratiOn, Mr. tnoa.l energy to the line. Two motors in cascade would
Swmbu_rne had _also stated that the speed between act as an electric brake ab any speed above half the syntwo g1 ven statllons. would be the same whateYer chronous speed of the single motor, or above half the
wou~d b~ th~ electncal system resorted to. In the speed of the train. This gave a means of utilising part
spe01_fica.t10ns fo~ tenders, the . firm~ were . asked. ~o of t~e kinetic energy, or work, stored up in the train, in
prov1de for runmng_ round the Cn:~le ID 50 mmutes , ID slowmg down from full speed, or any speed over one-half
order to do that w1th ~he alteroabmg-currenb system, a full speed to half speed. After half speed had been
~otor _w~s wanted whtch at sy?chronous speed would reached, they relied upon the air-brake for slowing down.
g1ve 2? m1les an hour. The 25 mtles an hour and the rate 'fhe advantage of cascade coupling came out only when
ab wh10h the mot~r could be acce~era.ted . and stopped the motors had a very high power factor. The powe:woulq all? w runnmg ro.und the Ctrole w1th. the Ga.nz factor of commercial motors was between 85 and 90 per
machmes ID under 50 mmut~. The a.lternatmg-c~urent cent.; the main motors for the Inner Circle would have
motors oa!l be gea:red for a htgher speed ~ban 25 m1~es an a. power factor of 92~ per cent., and the secondary ones a
hour_, the ~n?ren.se m synchr~nous _speed bemg a. quest10~ of power factor of 94 per cent., the latter power factor being
geanng; 1f tb. was thoug~b m thts. ca~e that the 25 mtles the more important of the two. Messrs. Ganz now expewould not gtve a S?ffiClent margm, the motor could be rience no difficulty in ?onstr.ucting t~ese motors, as they
geared to _27 or 30 miles. .
.
have fou~d: the exact dtmens10ns to gtve the various parts.
!vir. Cr1pps further pomted out that the alternatmg- The quaht1es of a polyphase motor could be judged by the
current installations would be much cheaper than the proportion of current which it will ta.keon short circuit and
continuous - current ones, owing to the absence of for magnetisation. The first was the current the motor
rotary converters in the former; besides this, there would take with the rotor short-circuited, the magnetising
would be a leakage of 13 per cent. more in the con- current being the current ib would take were the rotor
tinuous-current system than in the alternating, between not closed by any resistance. The recuperation depended
the motor and the generating station; and the coat of upon the speed a.t which the oe.scade coupling was put in
coal, and so on, incidental to the addition~!. 13 per cent. operation ; on the Underground it would amount to a.bout
power generated would always be !lin add1t1onal expense 9 per cent. of the electric energy supplied in starting.
thrown on the continuous-current system. '!'he power The capacity of the motors acting as generators would not
factor put both systems on the same f0oting, but the con- be of much 1mportance on the Circle, but it would have a
tinuous-current system wou!d have to send a. c~r~ent of certain importance on outgoing lines, where longer inclines
113 to the 100 of the alternatmg system. The pos1t10n was occur. All the motors would be four-poled for 25 periods;
neutralised so far as equipment was concerned, but as the synchronous S\leed would be about 750 revolutions a
regards the continuous current; there would always be the minute, with drivmg wheels of 36 in. diameter, a.nd the
additional coal to produce 13 per cent. more to get the same gearing ratio, of 20 to 64 teeth, would sive a running
effective power as the alternating-current system in the speed of nearly 25 miles an hour. The mam motor would
motor. He suggested an annual saving of six or seven thou- have a rated capacity of 300 horse-power; its efficiency,
Eand pounds snarling of coal with the alternating system; '8xcluding friction, would be 94~ per cent. at full load ;
the less attendance with the latter system would mean including bearing and gearing friction, it would be 89!
a further saving of 2500l. a year; he did nob count per cent. Its power faobor would be 921 per cent. When
the less wear and tear. Summing up the consideration put in cascade, the efficiency would be 80 per cent., incluof cost, Mr. Uripps stated that with the alternating- sive of gears and bearings, and the power factor 77~ per
current system there would be an annual saving of cent. The motors would be completely enclosed; there
15,000l., and an initial expenditure which could be would be no opening for air, dust, or g rit to get in. In
taken as 115,000l. less than with the continuous-current the continuous-current motor, the commutator would be
syEtem. As to the difficulty ab Aldgate and other points, inside the casing of the motor, and the carbon dusb would
the continuous-current system had to deal with it as get deposited on the motor; there would nob be, however,
well as the alternating, and the latter proposed deal- a. very serious danger from this in the most modern types
ing with it by having a break in the overhead conductor of continuous-current motors. For a given speed and a
of the length of a carriage-of about 50 ft., and there given outpu~, the polyphase motor would be lighter than
would be no diffioulty in working the trains under this the continuous-current one. The 300 horse-power motor in
break. Wibh regard to the beighb available under the g,uestionwouldweigh2.7tons,and with thegearing2.9tons.
tunnel ab cerbain points, the level of bhe rails a.t those points 'I he total motor capacity in the train proposed by Ganz,
would have to be lowered by about 4 in., and this could be with 30 tons total weight of electric outfit, would be
done without any difficulty. The overhead wires, far from 1200 horae-power. The total ontfit on the continuouscausing any difficulty in the sidings, shunting lines, or current principle would be aboub 30 tons also~ but for a
yards, were the best solution. In short,. the 1VIetropolita.n total of only !JOO hors~- power. ~~ the alterna.tmg-current
Company had been actuated by one destre only, and that system, when the ma.m and auxiltary motors were put in
was to get the best ,PO~ible. syste~ for t~e Inner <;Jirole, cascade, the power would be somewhat ?nde~ 1200 horsethey, of course, hav1!lg ~u v1ew their outs1d~ traffic 1~ the power-s~y, about 1080 horse-P.ower; this, wtbh the speed
same way that the D1str10t Company had bhe1rs. Wh1oh of of 25 mtles an hour for a s10gle run, would give a.n
the two sysbems was likely to be the more certain, the more acceleration of 1.44 fb. in the second ha.lf o~ the accelera-

6go

tion : in the first half it would be 2.6 fb. According to

th~ Ganz proposal, they would use 71 watt-hours per t onm~le, ~ken fro.m the t rolley, to get round the Inner
Ctrcle m 50 .mmubes and for 27 stops ab 27 stations.
After comparmg the figures put forward by the British
Tbomson.Houston Company, Weatinghouse and Ganz
Mr: Bla.thy abated that the average run o~ the M etro:
pohtan 'Yas about 35 yards less than half a mile, and that
would g tve the 68 or 69 watt-hours per ton-mile-about
the ~gure Messra. Ganz claimed. Mr. Blathy handed the
umptre ~ table he had worked out for the train equipmen t w~10h he contemplate~ for the Metropolitan, with
the. max1mum speed of 25 mtles p er hour, with a trn.cti ve
res1s~ance of 17 lb., including friction in the motor
b ea.nngs.
;Ab this point it was found convenient to examine Mr.
GLSberb K~pp, who. had t o leave ~hortly ~or Germany.
~r. Ka.pp IS an engmeer, lecturer m eleotn oal engineerlOg at the Technical High S chool of Berlin, editor
of the E lektroteohnische Zeitschrijt, &o. He abated
that for heavy railway work the tendency was towards
mulbiphase working. H e added that as regards the
power and energy required there was very li ttle difference between the alternating and continuous current
systems. w~~t little di.fferenc~ there might be, was due
to local cond1t10ns; but 1b certamly should nob influence
&!IY engineer on the score of economy or energy to select
e1ther the one or the other. The number of watt-hours
per ton-mile, given the same lengt h of run between
stations and the same time-table, would be the same
whether it were continuous or alternating. The amount
of energy to be produced in the central station would be
more in the conbinuouE~, simply because the conversion
fro~ alternating to continuous was more costly or less
effi01ent by, p erhaps, 7 or 8 per cent., or it might be
10 per cen t. He thought the contact rail on the ground
was dangerous, especially to platelayers and other workmen, who have t o go about in a confined place like a
tunn ~l. In the open country he did nob think the danger
so appreciable. Snow and ice may i nterrupt traffic
when a third rail on the ground is used. Mr. Kapp
fur ther gave a. few data. concerning experimental lines
in Germany, and concerning his vi8itl to the ondrioL ecco Railway; on the latter, t he driver put the
speed a.b whatever Mr. Kapp told him ; t he cascade
braking was also under perfect cont rol. Mr. Kapp
banded in several diagrams made from his experiments
on the Sondr ioLecco R ailway, and stated that the altern ating system would be a. thoroughly efficient cne
for the Metropolitan Rg.ilway. The position of the
exciters in a central station was merely a question of
fashion; exciters nowadays did nob go wrong. L iquid
rheostats bad been used of late la rgely for cranes ; JY!r.
Kapp thought a. liquid rheostat the best type. Crossexamined by Mr. Parsball as to fig ures of loss wi th the
continuous-current system, and of O')pper for the Ga.n z
system, Mr. Ka.pp sgreed first witlh Mr. Parsball's
fi~ures, and stated Jater on that he was ri ght, owing to
the lesser energy that Ganz would have t o givo on the
cable. Mr. PtJ.rsha.ll fur ther refuted Mr. Kapp'ti calculations. The latter stated also that the eventual breakdown of a. transformer would nob a.ffecb t he wo king of
the line ; this could work for a. few hour.:~ with two
transformers until a. man oa.me and switched on the spare
transformer ; there would nob be a breakdown, properly
so called, of a. transformer; it would only gab interrupted.
He ad vocated oil cooling for the t u nsformers in preference to fan cooling ; the transformer st ations would not
be with switch-boards, but with switch pillar~, which required no a ttendance.
The examination of Mr. Bla.thy was then proceeded
with. He stated that on the L ecco line there were not
quite 6 horse- power per ton, while on the Metropolitan
they would have 8 horsepower p~r boo. On the L ecco
line no effort was made to get t he highest possible mean
acceleration, and the controlling gear there had nob been
designed to go q uickly from cascade coupling t o single
running; the drivers on that line would bake eight to
ten seconds to do it. For the Inner Circle he would use
motor oars geared for 25 miles an hour; for brains that
would have to run on the extension lines, with stations
f urther apart, he would pub in a. di.fferent rabi? of gearing, either for 30, 35, or even 40 miles, accordmg to the
distance the train would have to run. The only dra wback
would be that the latter trains while running on the
Inner Circle would necessitate a somewhat higher consumption of power for eve~y tonmile done on the Inn~r
Circle. The control of switches, rheostats, and electriC
controllers was done entirely by compressed air; he con sidered this perfectly safe; ib would be entirely separate
from the W estinghouse brake device a~d operated by the
driver through a crank. A leak of a1r would have no
effect th ere being a.n air pump which wa.s autom atically
conbr~lled by the switch of the generators.
Liquid
rbeosta.ts were the best for traction work with polyphase
currents; with continuous current an electrolytic action
would be set up. In the 50fb. gap at Aldgate and other
parts a signal would be placed to indicate to the driver
that from that point onwards the phases were rt?veraed and all be would have to do would be to switch off
his mo'tors, switching on the motors again when he had
got on the reverse phases. Mr. Blathy stated, in reply
tJo the umpire, that ~e had ~ever ha? that difficulty to
deal with in pracb~ce. or m expenme~ts ; there was
nothing much to try m It, because reversmg the motors
was a.n operation which was done for other purposes.
There w&'3, however, no new elemen t in the combin'ltion. :Mr. B lathy would use a trolley wheel of about
2i in. in diameter for collecting the current, the trolley
wheel would run on ball bearings ; the b~arings would be
insulated, and the current would b~ earned to t~e trolley
roller by a carbon ring, _pressed agamsb a brass rmg fixed
on the troJley tube. The surface would be very ample ;

E N G I N E E R I N G.
no current would r~n through the ball bearings, and they
would last a long time. Adequate means, explained by
Mr. B lathy, would be taken for preventing the drivers
and . passengers from coming in contact with the high
~ension o~ the cars. He also produced a model of the
mterl~ckm~ system. which his firm would supply, and
expla.1~ed Its workmg.
H e said a few words in expl.anatiO~ of the saf~ty device for carryin~ the overhead
w1re, wh1c~ was revtewed by the former witnesses. The
ov~rhead Wire wol;Jld be of a special quality. The supports
bemg a.t t~e oubstde only 40 fb. apart, a B-in. wire would
act more like a rod ; there would nob be any perceptible
wave. In the Inne r Circle the drop in the rails would
nob reach 3 volts, and the total loss on the overhead conductors and the rails would be much under 1 per cent.
The force exerted on the springs of the safety devices
would be !.>00 l b. to 1300 lb., according to the temperature,
and as t?ey would be always on the move, they would
never st10k or get clogged. At some places- two or
three only-:-such a~ a.b Sl~ane.squa.re, they would have t o
lower the lme by about 6 m., and there would be no difficulty in doing this. Should the overhead wires be obj~ctEd. to, there woul~ be no difficulby in usin~ instead
hght u on or steel rails or double T -bars; t heir weight
would have to be about 8 lb. per yard. With these tlbe
loss wonld be less than 1 per cent. of the t otal energy
S?pplied, and no safety devices would b e necessary hub
stmply hangers with double insulation. The lighti~g of
the brains would be through a small transformer. Mr.
Blatby repeated there would be a transformer sub-station
a.b each of the 27 railway sta.bions, a nd there would be four
200-kilowabb single phase transformers in every one
baking a 2~ minutes' service on the whole of the lone;
Circle. Tnree of the tra nsformers would be connected
up on the delta method; the fourth would be a. safety
one. No attendance whatever would be necessary an
occasional inspection would be quite sufficient.
'
Mr. Blathy further stated that the safety devices put
forward by him would work perfectly under all conditions. T he key arrangement, also as per sample be had
produced, would give absolute security aga.msb a passenger or a member of the staff coming in contact with
any livo part of bhe high-tension circuit. Mr. Blatby also
said that as his calculations were entirely corroborated by
the results of the tests ab Sondrio, he drew t he conclusion th at the amount of energy he bad calculated
for the t rain service on the Inner Circle would be
c~rroborabed by practice.
Compared wit h the contm uous-currenb system, there would b9 a.n economy
of 10 per cent., in t he case of the altsrnating system,
in b'le power to be supplied. Mr. Blatby also entered
into details as to wha.b would be, in his opinion, the extra.
cost of plant with the continuous-current system; the
total sum for seven sub-stations and for the contlact c.m ductors would come up to 220,000l. In the alternatingcurrent system the total cost of sub-stations and copper
conductors would be 75.000l., equal t o a saving of
145,000l. With steel rails a.s conductors, instead of
copper wire, the saving would be 140,000l., leaving out
the cost of buildings for the 27 small substa.tion rooms, in
the alternating, and the cosb of buildings for the seven
sub-stations in the continuous- current! ~ystem . Mr.
B labhy guarantefd that for 1 unning a brain in 50
minutes round the Inner Circle, with 27 stops of
20 seconds each, the necessary supply of energy from
the switchboard of the generating station would nob
be more than 95 watt - hours per ton -mile. The
Thomson - Houston figu re worked oub ab 109, equal
to an actual difference of 15 per cen t. between the
two fig ures. He further dealt witlh the saving in coal
a.nd saving in attendance ex penses secured, according to
him, with the alternating system. In his opinion the
polyphase system would give an improved security of
service because there were less elements to gab out of
order: no rotary converters ab the substations and no
commutators on the motors. A short circuit on the continuous-current system was a very serious matter owing
to the large amount of current ; on the alternatingcurrent system the amount of current that would go
through a short circuit was limited to a. certain extent
by the effects of t he self-induction phenomena; the destructive effect of the short- circuit on an a.ltern atin~
ourrenb system was less than i n the continuou<3. He did
nob say that this was a point which would make a. very
large difference between the two, seeing that the rotary
converter sys tem could be worked to t he perfect satisfaction of the public, and he did not claim to do more
than that.
At this stage Mr. Bla.thy was cross examined by Mr.
Moulton. 1\:I:r. B lathy stated that Messrs. Ganr. were
paying part of the . costs of this arbitration, under an
agreement with the M etropolitan Company. On the
question of producin g the agreement or not, Mr. Moulton
stated be was oblised to prove that the District Company
bad no pecuniary mteresb in the matter apart from the
application of the best system, and he wanted to p oint out
that on the other side was an industrial firm with a very
direct pecuniary intereE~b in case of the adoption of their
system. Mr. B labhy further stated the following in his
cross.examination : A dra wing of the trolley they proposed to me had not been made, and the trolley they
proposed to use bad nob yet been tried. Mr. l.Vloulton
pointed out the changes which lVIessrs. Ganz had made,
10 the various parts, since they had pub in their tender;
the frequency bad been changed, the motors were different,
the acceleratlion had been a ltered, &c. With regard to
the higher acceleration now put forward by Ganz-2.6 ft.
and 1.44 ft. per second per second-Mr. B lathy said that
with the W estinghouse brake retardation was done at
3ft. and even 4 fb. per second per second, and there was no
reason why accelera.tions should a ot be done at the same
rate. The reason why it had nob been done had been that
it was very difficult to pub in motors powerful enough.

[Nov. 15, 1901 .

In answer to Mr. M oulton, Mr. Blathy weno into the
weights of the various motors proposed by Messrs. Ganz.
The motors they proposed for tlhe I nner Circle bad never
been made, ~ut their weigh~ could be calculated exactly
from the destgn. The tra.ot10n motors with gear made by
Messrs.. Gan~ for tra.o~ion, for the small mining lines and
the E v1a.n hne, mentioned previously by Mr. Blatby.
were 15 and 20 horse-power each ; he added that he could
perfectly draw conclusions from these for the construction
of a 300 horae-power motor. The liquid rheostat he
proposed using on the U nder~ound had not yet been
manufactured to exactly the mtended dimensions on
the S ondrio line, the admission of air to the rheostat ' was
governed entirely by hand, and was nob automatic
automatic control had so fn.r only been tried on stat ionary
moto~s, not for ~ra.9tion. Mr. Blabhy explained the
wo~kmg of the hql;JLd . rheosta~ he proposed using, the
actaon of the solenoid Ib contaiDed, and the working of
the levers for starting or stopping a. train. The amount
of current being limited by the action of the solenoid
!vir. Blat?~ did nob see tha t there. would be any slipping
of ~he dra vmg wheels. The questton of controlling the
tram~, of motors, &c , was gone into ab great length in
Mr. lVIou lbon's cross-examination, the r esult of which
~as to the effect t.hat all the devices proposed were experimental and not m actual working. ' V1tb regard to the
eventual increl.Be in the machinery itself tendered for by
Messrs. Ga.n z, it would bear eventually, according to
1\Ir. Blathy! on the number of auxiliary apparatus at the
central station.
In farther reexamina.tion by Mr. Cripps, Mr. Blathy
confirmed the statement that with the alternating. cu rrent system they wanted 1200 horsepower on the brain,
a.nd with the continuous current 900 horae-power were
wanted to get about the same economy in working.
Messrs. Ganz could ~upply the 1200 horse-power ab the
same fi~sbcosb 8:8 the 900 horse-power were su pplied by the
other s1de, wbtcb placed them on the same basis ; hub
Messra. Ga.nz, he said, would get a better acceleration2.6 and 1.44 a.s against 1.5. Twelve hundred horse-power
would not be sufficient with continuous current to get the
high acceleration figures obtained wi th alternati ng current; the power of the motors would have to be somewhat
incre~e d. The action of ~he d.river in the controlli ng of
the tram was further gone m to m detail.
Mr. Koloman de Kando, engineer, and vice manager of
the electric ~! works of M essra. Gan z a nd Co., of Buda~b, was n ~xt called. His evidence con firmed in every
pomt that gtven by JY!r. Bla tby. Mr. de Kando stated
1b was about four years ago since be made the first t rials
of the cascade coupling motor3 ; these firsb t rials were
nob satisfactory at all. He bad found thab the usual
byt;>e of motora were nob good for coupling in cascade.
Wtth regard to the liq uid rheostat, vibration could increase slightly the starting currents, but could noo affect
the regultJ..oion of .the rheostat, because the power of the
soleno1d Ib contamed was roughly proportional t o the
sq u~re of the current going through the coilfJ, and as the
pulhng power of the mot ors was roughly proportional
to tlbe current, a certain variation in the pullin ~ p :>wereay 10 per cent. - su pposed 20 per cen t. variation in the
power of the solenoid. S:> that if there was a variation
because of the vibrations in the pn1ling power of the
solenoid, there was far less variation in the p ulling
power of the mot or itself. On the qnestion of the
difficulties met with by Mr. Rice, CJf the General E lectric
Company-one of the forwer witnesses-in working alternating motors in concatenation, Mr. de Kando stated
that 1\llessra. Ga.n z had found that matter an e~y one
after they had improved their motors ; he knew also that
Messrs. Brown, Boveri, and Co. had given much attention to this question of concatenation, th at they had
found it unsabiBfa ctory, and had abandoned t heir experiments. Mr. de Kando further said tha t every fi rm could
make such concabenating motors, but they had to take a.
lower periodicity and run ab a sufficient speed. Thes9
motors in conca.tenation had been tried by 1\llessrs. Ganz
on their experimental line ab Budapest, and on the
Sondrio-Lecco line only, the latter nob being yet opened
for traffic.
After 1\llr. de Kando. the following witnesses were
called: Prof~ssor J. A . Ewing, Major Philip Carew, Mr.
Ta.lbot, and Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson. Their
examination and cross-examination la-sted until W ednesday mid-day (the 13th), and the Arbitrat ion Court was
posbP.oned until Friday. In our next issue we shall deal in
detail with their evidence, and with the concluding ad
dresses.
(To be continued.)
NEw ZEALAND RAILWAYs.- The Paeroa and Waibi
Railway is making good progress, the rails being now
laid past M ackaytown. Itl is expected that they will be
down to Karangahake within a month.
BELGIAN CoAL CoNSUMl''riON.-Tbo consum ption of coal
in Belgium last year is estimated ab 19,899,427 tons.
The corresponding consumption in 1899 was 19,001,676
bona; in 1898, 18,451,907 tons ; in 1897, 17,637,670 tons:
in 1896, 17,063,353 tons; in 1895, 16,224,511 t ons ; in
1894, 16,107,249 t ons ; in 1893, 14,524,025 tons ; in 1892,
15,128,189 tons ; and in 1891, 15,073,084 tons.
T HE IRON AND STEEL l NS'riTUTE.-The Council of the
Iron and Steel Institute, a.t its meeting on the 6th inst.,
decided that the annual general meeting of the Institute
should be held at the Institution of Civil E ngineers,
L ondon, on W ednesday and Thursday, M ay 7 and 8. The
annual dinner will take place on May 7, a.t the Hotel Ceoil.
F or the autumn meeting an invitation from the !vlayor and
Corporation of DuSBeldorf, for the Institute to meet in
that city, on September 2 and 5, has been accepted.

N 0\'. I 5. I 90 I. J

6gr

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

15-CWT.

STEAM HAMMER.

ClONRTRUClTF.D RY 1\fR. .TORN f10C'HRA NR J

ENGTN~F.R,

13ARRH11~An,

N.B.

appoint umpires in cases of deadlock. All this indicates a growing tendency to use the Aot of 1896 in
oases of labour disputes.
The Board of Trade, under the Conciliation Act, in
addition to t he registration of voluntary conciliation
boards, are authorised to take action in certain cases
where a dispute exists or is pending, either as between
employer and workmen, or between difft!rent bodies
of workmen. They may, of their own initiative, inquire
in to t he circumstances, or take steps to promote a
conference; and, on the application of eithe r party,
t hey may appoint a conciliator, and, on application from
both sides, an arbi trator to deal with the dispute.
No special form is prescribed , so that there is no difficulty in approaching t he Board on the ground of informality. Of oourae the application must be in
writing, a nd the applicant must state clearly and
concisely the points at issue, and the section under
which it is suggested t hat the Board shall t ake action.
As to fees a.nd expenses, the Board pays those whom it
appoints; local expenses have to be paid locally.
The total number of cases under t he Act has been
113 ; of these 35 occurred in the first t en months, 32 in
the next two years, and 46 in the la~J t two years to
July 1, 1901 :
I

Two
Two
Ten
Yea1'8. Totals
Months.! Years.
18967. 197-99. 1899-1901.

Source of Inltiativt'.
Applications from both eides ..
Ditto from employers only
Ditto from workmen only
Action without applioation ..
Totals of cases

Fig.2 .

35

32

14

24
8
16
3

42
16
46
9

46

I 113

I
I
I

I
I

I
I

A .B.

WE illu3trate on this page a. very conveniently vided, which, however, ca.n be thrown ou t of use in a

steam hammer exhibited at the late Glasgow

Exhibition by Mr. John Cochrane, of Banhead, near
Olasgow. The piston head a nd rod are forged in one
piece, and weigh 15 cwt. As shown, the rod has fiats
planed along its whole length, and the buehes
and glands of t he stuffing-box being ~ha.ped to fit,
no further guidance of the rod is necessary, as
it is impo3sible for the hammer t o twist round.
The hammer head is of cast steel, and is Ee<;ured to
t he rod by a. dovetail and key as shown. The anvil
block has a. cast-steel face, secured iu a Eomewha.t
similar manner. T he cylinder is 16 io. in diameter
by 36 in. stroke.
As shown, the stam porta
are grouped near the top of t he cylinder. The
steam is distributed by means of a. piston valve
working in a valve chest bolted to the cylinder.
This chest is bushed with gun-metal. The atop-valve
is fi xed near the upper portion of the steam chest,
but the handle operating is carried down within easy
reach of the hammerma n. A se1 f-acting gear is pro-

Building t rades . .
..
..
Mining and quarrying . .
..
Engineering, shipbuilding, &o.
Clot hing . .
..
..
..
Transport. .
..
..
..
Other trades
..
..
..

7
4
12
4
4
4

9
9
6
..
8
5

Totals of oases

35

32

24
3
7
2
6
4

I 40

46

113

16
26
6
13
13

The~e

arra.ng~d

12

Growps of Trades.- Those involved and affected:

SCTION

6
9
16

few minutes when desired . The tot'll weight of the

tool is 10! tonEJ, and it occupies a floor sp1ce of 11 ft.
by 4 ft. 10 in.

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

two Tables afford a. bird's-eye view of the

operat10n of t he Act-the eource of initiative in the
several cases, and the t rades, or groups of industries
a~ected: The record is not a great one, and may hav~
d1sa~po1nted some who put implicit faith in Acts of
Parhame~t. But the result is neither disappointing
n?r unsa.t tsfactory to t hose well acquainted with labour
dtsp?tes and wh~ k_now the almost insuperable difficul~Ies of negot1at1on between the parties. It is
ola1med that, at least, seventy disputes ha.ve been
settled under the Act, while in other instances the
eettleme~t was an outcome of the action taken, though
the fin9:'l 1ssue was effected by negotiation otherwise.
There 1s some reference to cases where conciliation
failed.
The November number of the I'r onworke?s' Jo1wna
reports the usual meetings of t he Board of Conciliation
a.nd Ar bitration for the Manufactured Iron and teel
Trade of t he North of England, and of the Midland
Wages Board . The first-named Board had some cases
?f dispute before it- one relating to extras paid to men
m the S tockton Malleable Iron Works for piles of
1700 lb. and over, which the firm claimed should cease.
The men opp~sed, as the alterations made in the furnaces and the blooming mill rolls had increased their
~ork. A special committee was appointed to inquire
mto t~e m1tter and to report thereon t o the Standing
Committee. Another case had reference t o 20-in. bar
a.nd angle mill at Jarrow, t he operatives claiming 3~d .
p~r ton m~re t han the firm .Paid. The Standing Committee demded for the cont muance of the rates paid
with a guarantee of 10s. per shift to the end of Ma.roh
nex t, when, at the request of ei t her side, a. revision
might be made. In another case a.t Jarrow, an
agreement was t ffected by the manager of the firm
and an operative representative for the men. T he
agreement was confirmed Eubject to t he omission
of the last clause- t he non-application of the eliding
scale-the matter being referred back. A dispute at
Monk wea.rmouth had also been mut ually arranged, the
agreement being signed by the managing director and
the works manager and two representatives of the men.
The operative members of the Board are as much on
the alert to prevent any infraction of the sliding scale
arrangement as the employers, showing that whatever
theoretical faults may be found with the scale, it works
out fairly on the whole to all parties concerned. There
are casE's in which, instead of a decision by the Standing Committee being insisted on, the complainants
sometimes withdraw t heir claims; there was one su<:h
case at Jarrow reported. ihe firm in this instance
wit hdre w their claim.

TnE third report of proceedings under the Conciliat ion (Trade D:sputes) Act, 1896, has been hE~ued. It
i~ noted that the first report only coven :d a period of
ten months ; the s oond, of two years; a nd now t he
third, two years-from July 1, 1899, to the end of
June of this year. Why the usual form of annual
r ep'lrts should be departed from in this case is not
clear. The subject becomes stale if the facts are of
old date- t hey lose t hEir int erest. It is noted that
The November report of the Ironfounders of England,
there has been an increase in the number <f joint
applications to the Boau.l of Trade to intervene, as Ir eland, and W ales statE's that the general position of
compared with ex palrte applications previously. It is trade shows but little change. Employment may be
also shown that voluntary boards embody in t heir d~scribed as moderate rather than good . "The shiprules a provision to appeal to the Bond of Trade to building industry continues t o l.e well employed;

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

[Nov.

1 5 , 1901.

of 3498 members were unemployed. The trade mark inflate the price of coal t o the disadYa.ntage of the
of t he Amal~amated Woodworkers of America is public.
At the end of last week a further reduction of 5 per
given in fac St/mile, so that joinery so marked will be
cent. in the wages of the Durham miners was decided
fixed without demur by the English unionists.
upon, to take effect as from last Tuesday. This is the
The report of the Cotton Spinners shows a decline of t hird r eduction in the yea r; in May, llf per cent.; in
16 in the full membership class, but the number is August, 7! per cent.; now 5 per cent.; total reduction
slightly above that of a year ago. The number of in the present year, 24! per cent.
unemployed in receipt of benefit was 387 on t he
There is a kind of triangular duel going on between
average, or 6.16 per cent., as compared with 9.35 per Mr. Benjamin Pickard, M.P., President of the Miners'
cent. last month, and 17.14 per cent. a yea r ago. This N ational Federation, and Mr. J ohn Wilson, Ivi.P.,
shows some improvement in this branch. It is hinted Secretary of the Durham Miners' Association, and Mr.
that the high scale of pay helps to increase the list- a. Thomas Burt, M.P., President of the Northumberland
question to be considered. The united membership is Miners' Association, t he President of the Federation
13,568, or 87 less than a month ago, and 588 fewer having declared that the Federation would absorb the
than a year ago. This decrease is in the piecers' sec other two organisations in batohes, having failed to do
tion. The number of disputes attended to in the so en bloc. The dispute may lead t o a n open rupmonth was 35, most of which were settled. The ture, disastrous to all.
strike a t King Spinning Company ha.s b een arranged
The French Ministry have proposed measures to
agreeably to the operatives. Thirty-two accidents are
reported; in one case 100l. was voted. There were pacify the discontented miners as regards pensions,
also 21 claims under the Compensation Act; where the but it seems doubtful whether the proposed general
insurance companies dispute the claim, the tociety strike will be averted. Already it seems that a large
section of the men are out, and efforts are being made
figh ts it out in court.
to extend the strike. On the other hand, efforts a.re
The position of the iron trade in t he Wolverhampton being made to avert it, and to effect a settlement of
district may be described as steady generally. It is the questions at issue.
quiet as regards negot iations for fresh contracts, and
The State of California. has decreed in favour of an
buying is limited to immediate wants ; but makers are
mostly well booked forward, and do not care to push eight hours' day for all employed on public, State,
business at reduced rates. Moreover, consumers are and municipal work. It has also passed a law forpressing for deliveries on quarter-day contracts, mills bidding employers to work t heir employes more than
and forges being in full operation. R!i.w iron is in six days in any one week.
demand, and extras from 6d. to ls. p er t on are de
The N ovem her report of the Ironmoulders of Scot manded on current sales for early delivery. There has
TEST OF PRODUCER-GAS E NGINES.
l&nd says that the past month "has been of a very been a fair demand for marked bars at full rates, but
WE have received from Mel?srP. J. E. H . Andrew and
fa.vourable character, trade being still well maintained, unmarked iron has been in slow eale. Black-eheet Co., Limited, Stockporb, the following translation of a.
and wi th every pros pect of holding on." Oa t he makers report regular bookings, but galvanised cor reporb, by ~f. R. Ma.thot, of B russels, on one of their
question of low freights, and t he complaints of rugated sheets have been in limited r equest. Gas- Stockport ga.s engines working in conjunction with a fuel
" bad trade setting in, " the r eport refers to shipbuild strip is in demand at advanced r ates. S teelmakera are ga.s plant. lb will be seen that the total consumption of
ing on the Clyde, t o the Patternmakers' report and to well supplied with orders, but complain of foreign anthracite was exa.cbly lib. per brake horae-power per
the BlackEmiths' report, all of which show that in competition in the matter of rates. The engineering hour, and the cosb of fuel .145d.
Scotland, at least, t hose sections and the engineering and allied industries continue fairly busy in most
B ussel~ July 13, 190 I.
a nd boilermaking branches are all well employed. branches, especially boilermakers, t ankmakers, bridge
On June 27, 1901, a.t the requesb of J.\IIessra. "The
The same is still r ep orted with the ironmoulders. and girder constructors, and those engaged on railway Material et Installations Electriquea G. Boty," Brussels,
The fact that there was a gain in fund s of 1025l. 2s. work. The hardware industries also are fairly off we have, in view of final acceptance, tested a. power
in the month is an evidence of good employment for work . Slackness is exceptional, but some branches plant installed by Messrs. Ktderlen and Co., of Amstergenerally. The idle benefit paid in t he month was the are better supplied with work than others. Oa the dam, in the works of the mentioned company at Cureglowest in the year. The negotiations as to an ad- whole the position is not unfavourable, and the pros hem, near Brussels, and comprising a "Dowson " gasvance in wages have been hl!\.ngiog fire. In the last pacts are not discouraging. There a.re no serious producing plant and ''Stockp)rt " (producer gas type)
ga.s engine, in conformity wioh an agreement made be.
reply of the fed erated employers they say that "they labour disputes on.
tween the two fore-named pa.rtie3.
regret that the position and future prospects of t rade
The Dowson gas-l?roducing plant is composed of:
do not warrant an incr ease in wages." This was
In the Birmingha m district the iron t rade has been
A. A small vert10al boiler with inner fu rnace and
followed by a conference between the two moulders' dull ; business confined to immediate r equirements. cross tubes of 2.5 square metres (27 sq. H .) surfllce a.nd
unions, when, as no further reply was to hand, it was Complaints are still heard of high prices of fuel ; a nd stamped at 7 atmospheres (102.n lb.).
B. A generator worked by a steam injector fed fcom
agreed to meet again in this month. It is only in the cost of production is such as to leave no margin
tended to take a ction, if at all, against those em for profits. But the mills and forges are kept fully the boiler.
C. A cooler provided with an overflow tank.
players who reduced wages in F ebruary last, to regain employed with orders on hand. Pig iron is scar ce
D. A coke scrubber.
the r eduction. Members are urged to remember that and prices firm. Best bars are in request, common
E. An hydraulic box.
the proposed action, if any, will not affect the em iron not so active. There is fairly good inquiry for
F. A sawdust scrubber.
players where wages were not reduced. The Scottish steel for structural purposes. The engineering and
G. A bell-incup gasholder of a capacity of 22 cubic
Workers' Parliamentary Elections Committee have allied trades a re moderately employed, as a.re for the metres (777 cubic feet).
convened their second a.nn ual conference, to be held in most part the other iron, steel, and metalusing in
Parts A, D, E, F, G, being of such a. si~e as required
Glasgow, on January 4, 1902. I t is not merely a. trade dustries. The position is quiet, but not depressing.
for the feeding in the futu re of an installabion capable of
union conference, as Socialist bodies and the Indepenthree times the power at present required-i.e., 165 horseinstead of 55 horse-power, a.s specified in the
dent Labour Par~y a.re entitled to send delegates- t wo
The position of the engineering trades throughout power
each Trade Councils four each. Another conference Lancashire has undergone litt le change. General present agreement.
'
. on
The engine is of horizontal type, with single cylinder,
precedes
it-namely, of labour r epresentatives
activity is well maintained in the locomotive built by Messrs. Andrew a.nd Co., L imited, of R eddish,
pt1blic bodies ; these will meet on the day before, and railwaycarriage and wagon-building branches,
England, under the name of " Stockporb," and fitted with
J anua.ry 3, so as to be able t o take part, if so de and also in electrical engineering in all sections. distribution
valves a.nd with a. tube burner heated by
sired, in the larger conference on t he 4th, the day Establishments eng-tged in hydraulic and constructive town gas. She is of the special electric lifrht ing highfollowing.
pattern, with extra heavy flywheel and outer bear
engineering work are well employ?d: Boilermakers speed

mg.
are busy with orders on hand; but It 1s r eported that
The principal dimensions are as follow:
The report of the Amalgamated Society of. Car new work is not coming forward freely. Toolmakers
p enters and J oiners shows a total membersh1p of also complain of scar city of orders, and some that
Diameter of piston . . .
... D 39! mm. (15.47 in.)
Stroke .. .
. ..
...
. . . C 559 11 (22 , )
67,511; of those, 1794 were on unemployed bene?t, orders on hand are being completed without adequate
... D 2.44 m. (96 in. )
Diameter of flywheel
1246 on sick benefit, and 1060 on superannuatiOn prospects for t he fu~ure. I~ some o~he~ branches, a.nd
Width of flywheel . ..
... L 0.33 11 (13 11 )
allowance. A gradual slackening down. is observab~e especially in the texttle machme-makmg mdustry, slack
A starting gear is fitted to the engine. It is composed
in t he building trades generally, but 1ts advance 1s ness is sadly apparent; and it is expected that a numb~r
slow. The dispute3 in various p9.rts of the country of men will b" discharged from several large firms m of a. pump, by the work of which the mixture is delivered
indicate that work is not so plent iful as it was, or consequence. The iron trade continues quiet, with no to the cylinder without compression, and previous to the
those contests would not be prolonged. Members material change either as to demand or prices. There first explosion that will start the erlgioe.
A small rotary pump actuated by a belt from the crank
a re r equested to keep away from 14 towns; in 15 has been a moderate demand for bars, and local makers shafb
provides the necessary water for the cooling of the
others they have to consult the local officers before are well engaged up to the end of t.h e year.. The cylinder.
accepting work ; in t hree others the branch secretary steel trade is ftA.irly steady; but not qmte so bnsk as
The engine drove, by means of belhs, two dynamos of
has to be seen in reference to some p!i.rticular firm or of late. Generally, t he outlook is regarded as un- continuous current, one being manufactured by the U nion
job. In Ivfanchester 400 men are on strike at the favourable in all lihe abovo branches, except those men Electricitiits Gesellschaft, Berlin, driven direct from the
flywheel; the other made by Breguet, Parif:l, driven by a
works of one company, because of disputes as to tioned as being still busy with orders on hand.
pulley fi xed on the opposite end of the crankshah.
meal times and the time of leaving work at nightThe (Swinburne) efficiency of both these dynamos had
conditionR observed by other fir ms in t he district.
There was anot her stop-day in t he South Wales previously been established and ascertained under respec.
Reports ar e given of special audits of the accounts of
708 branches. These audits entailed an expense of and Monmouthsbire ccal districts last week; but t hese tive loads of 70 amperes by 110 volts, and l GO amperes by
volts.
3041l. 161. 2d., or an average of 4l . 6s. 2d. p er audit; interruptions have now been suspended. I t look s as 110After
having firsb settled, during bwo hours of previous
though
the
miner3
had
been
play
ing
a
double
game;
but the net loss was only 309l. 19s. 4d. It would
running under load, the normal working state of the gas
but
altogether
into
the
hands
of
the
coalowners.
It
appear that illeg~l p ayment of benefits i.s the chief
plant a.nd engine. we mounted on the flywheel a. band
is
rumoured
that
t
he
proposed
summonses
have
not
faul t in the branches. In one case alonA It was 25l .;
brake made of a leather belt, the tight end of which was
reduced arrears placed to credit 37l. 1s. 1d.; cash been applied for, but. that action may be t aken agai~st connected with an accurately tested " Salter , balancf, on
dehcit only ll. 12s. 10d. In that instance the surplus t he Federation. This cannot well be. The F ederat10n which was shown the total tension, while weights were
to the good t hrough t he audi t was 53l. 14s. 2d. In d id not order the strike ; it was the operative section hanging from the opposite, or loose, end in order to obfive towns employers are endea~o~ring to reduce of the sliding-scale committee. Could t hat committee tain sufficient adherence to the rim.
means of this brake we have regulated the load so
wages, which the members are res1stmg. ~ome other be prosecuted or would an action lie against it as a. asBy
to maintain during 45 minutes 55 brake horse power,
corporate
body
?
Now
coalownors
and
miners
are
employers in the same t owns are not reducmg wages.
with the following figures :
asked
to
confer.
About
what
?
To
see
how
best
to
Employment in America is so good that only 25 out

several new contracts have been recently placed ; t his

appears to be one chief mainstay at present., The
textile machinemaking industry is bad- getting worse
-so that moulders in this branch of engineering are
largely idle. Out of sixty branches of the society
which have discussed the dispute with the Liverpool
Brassmoulders, and the consequent suspension of the
union from the Trades Congress, fifty-eight approve of
the action of the executive ; one regretted that the
resolut ion of Congress was not provisionally a ccepted ;
and one asks for a full report. The Council refuses to
publish the arbitrator's statement of the case. The
total number on the funds was 2689.; increase over
last month, 31. Of those, 1130 were on donation
benefit- increase, 41; on sick benefit, 448-decrea~e,
15; on superannuation benefit, 966- increase, 8 ; on
other trade benefits, 143- decrease, 3; in dispute,
2 only-Eame as last month. The cost of benefits was
8731. 16s. 10d. per week, or 11id. per member p er
week. The balance in hand was 105,562l. 163. 9d.,
increase in the month of 428l. 2s. 6d. The returns as
to the state of trade and of employment show that in
90 places, with a.n aggregate of 12,056 members, em
ployment was from very good to dull; t he same de
scription applied to 95 places, with a total of 13,033
members last month. In 37 places, with 6211 members,
employment was from short time to bad and very bad;
last month this description applied to 32 places, with
5272 members. The position therefore is not so good
a<J it was a month ago, although the actual increase of
members on the funds was small-namely, only 31. A
twopenny levy in support of the Halifax dispute is
declared to be due, and must be charged to all members.

Nov. 15, I901.]

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

Average diameter of flywheel D. ...

...
... 2.472 metres (97.32 in.)
Thickness of brake belt ... 6 millimetres (.24 , )
Ra.dius of brake to r eckon ... 1. 24 metres (48.9 , )
Revolutions per minute .. .
210
We subsequently lo~ded th.e engine with a ma.ximum,
the number of r eyolut1ons bemg 212 per minute, and the
to~al load 170 k1logramm es (375 lb.), with 5 per cent.
miSS~.

The corresponding work wa-s as follows

Efficien b work :

2
x 1. 24 x 212 x 170 = G3 brake hor.:e-power.
4500
In consequence of this excess on the power contracted
for~ we d ecided to reduce the speed from 210 to 200 revolutiOJ?S, and now load~d the engine with the two dynamos
work1ng on water resiStanc~s. These resistances were so
re.gulated as to le~ the engine run at 200 revolutions
wtth only 85 per cent. o! the total explosions-i.e., under
exactly the same condttions as under the above brake
test, under 55 brake horse-power.
T~ese data have been . asoe~tained by the use of our
spe01al r ecorder for graph1c regtstrabion of explosions.
The work of the dynamos was respectively equal to
U nion Elec. Gesell. Breguet.
Amperes
...
...
70
IGO
Volts ...
...
...
210
110
Watts .. .
...
... 14,700
17,600
Effi ciency
.. .
.. .
89 p.c.
85 p.c.
Power in brake horsepower...
...
...
22 5
28
By adding to the work produced under the aforesaid
conditions, or 50.5 brake horse-p~ wer, the work absorbed
by the belts, which we reckon at 5 per cent., the total
power on the shaft of the engine would sensibly be the
same as that noted under the brake test of 55 brake horsepower.
During the last four hours of this latter experiment we have, ab equal intervals, taken indicator and
recorder cards, a sample of which is herewith enclosed.
We have also noted at several moments of the test~
the average heating power of the D owson gas by eight
analyses made wlth "Junkers " apparatus, the outcome of
which has been an average superior heating power of
1170 calories under a pressure of 30 millimetres and temperature of 19 deg. Cent.
Hereafter is given a list of the various data of our test :
Nature and origin of fuel : anthracite from the neighbourhood of Oharleroi :
1. Heating power of mentioned fuel
. ..
.. .
7520 cal.
2. Cost of fuel per ton at
p itmonbh
...
. ..
27. 50 fre. ( 22~ )
3. Cost of fuel per ton at
producer .. .
.. .
. ..
31.93 " (25s. Gj,)
4. Consumption of fuel per
hour in producer
...
21 kgs. (46.3 lb.)
5. Consumption of fuel per
hour in boiler . . .
. ..
3. 18 k~3. (7 lb )
G. Amount of ashes in
6 per cent.
anthracite
.. .
.. .
7. Amount of steam produced ab 4.5 atmospheres
19 kgs. (42 lb. )
per hour...
.. .
. ..
8. Average effec~ive work
on shaft .. .
. ..
.. .
53 H.-P.
9. Consumption of fuel for
gas producing per brake
horse-power hour
...
0.396 kgP. ( 87 lb )
10. Consumption of fuel for
steam producing per
brake horse-power hour
0 060 " (.13 11 )
11. Total consumption of
anthracite
...
. ..
0.466 " (1 11 )
12. Corresponding steam consumption at 4.4 atmo0 366 ,, ( 8
s pheres . ..
.. .
. ..
30mm ( L.2 in .)
13. Pressure of gas a.t engine
14. Amount of water for cooling of cylinder, flowing
in at 20 deg. C. and running out at 45.5 deg. C.
par brake horse-power
per hour...
...
. ..
23 25 kgs. (52 lb. )
15. Amount of hea.t ab3orbed
692.8 oal.
by cooling
.. .
.. .
16. Average of initial explosive pressures on piston 22 kga. p. sq. cm (3131\:-.)
17. Mean average of average
pressures on piston .. . 4 9 kgs. per sq . cru.
(69. 7 1\:-.)
18. Avera~e indicated work
wibb 86 per cent. of ex63 I.H.-P.
plosions ...
.. .
. ..
19. Corresponding mechanical efficiency . . .
. ..
84 per cent.
2). Corresponding effective
electric work .. .
.. .
31.950 kw.
21. C .>St of horse-power for
anthracite
...
...
0.0146 fr. ( 145d. )
22 C.>Sb of kilowatt-hour in
anthracite
.. .
.. .
0. 024 fr. (. 24d.)
23. Effective electric work
developed per each
brake horse-power
...
602.8 watts.
2 t Thermical efficiency with
53 brake horse-power
under 85 per cent. of
explosions
...
...
18.5 per cent.
l)

the engine reckoned on '' unperiodical '' voltmeters has

been sufficient to maintain the variations in the t ension
within the limits of 1~ volts as an average.
Several months of work of this plant and engine,
under our personal supervision and previous to ou r tests,
have shown:
1. The ignition valve, inlet and exhaust valves do not
require cleaning and grinding more than once a week,
whil~ the gas valve, the hydraulic box and overflow tank
requue clea.nin~ out twice a week. This relates especially
to the hydrauhc box, in which the dust drawn from the
cooler lies in the bottom mixed with water, thus forming
a thick mud.
2. The fires in the boiler and generator can be bankd
every night, and the latter requires drawing twice a week
only. After thist some 20 lb. of wood and a little oil will
suffice to revive tnem both.
One man will suffice for looking after the whole
plant. His work is hardly m ore than feeding ooal to the
fires two or three times l'er hour.
\ood fibre is ueed mstead of sawdnst in the first
scrubber, and this requires replacing every fortnight,
while the coke in the second scrubber will be good for two
months without renewing. Both fibrJ and coke can be
used again after drying out.
It should be borne in miQd that thes9 three latter ap~a
ra.tus are of a si ~a designed for producing a quantaty
of gas treble of that ab present required.
The plant has besides been working well during three
months, and, previous to our t ests, we had nob allowed
any cleaning of the scrubbers nor the engine to be taken
to pieces and retouched. The outcome of our tests can
accordingly be considered as industrial results.
. The compression diagrams showed a fall of 300 grammes
m the pressure to the square centimetre (4.3lb. per square
inch), owing to certain leaks in the valves, undoubtedly
due to the long time-six months -during which the
engine had been running without retouching as well.
Notwithstanding this, the guarantees given in the
agreement with respect! to gas consumption and good
working were fully obtained. Even when adding to the
net cost in a nthracite of the brake horae-power that of
town gas for the burner, and of lubricating oil, it can be
safely stated that the cost of the brake horse-power is
obtained in current industrial work at the rate of 1l
centimes (!/of a farthing} when the engine runs under a
load from 45 to GO brake horae-power.
(Signed) R. MATHOT.

THE OORRECT TREATMENT OF STEEL.*

By Mr. C. H. RIDSDALE, F.I.C. (Middlesbrough).
(Concluded from page 634.)
Sheets, B lacJ.:plates, amd T inplates.-Much the same
applies to these as to thin plates ; being thinner, they
t~nd to be fiJ?ished cold er, which, though often done intentiOnally to gtve them a better surface, results in greater
rolling hardness. Hence for ma.ny purposes they are
"annealed," the treatment generally consisting in packing
them in large piles into boxe3 which are intended to exclude the air from them whilst they are heated (but which
are generally cracked and let in quite enough air to burn
out a. good deal of the carbon from parts ab least of the
sheets}. A strip of varying width r ound the edges shows
airing by its colour. These boxes are heated up slowly,
which may take from a few hours to a day, according to
size, and then maintained from eight to twenty-four hours
or more at full red heat and allowed to cool down very
slowly, heating and cooling taking altogether from one to
three days. This gradual heating and cooling, if carried
at all to excess as to temperature or length of time, will
undo the good of rehea.ting by promoting the growth CJf
grain, 1 and if too much air gets in, by burning out the
carbon, so that in either case the sheets may be more
brittle than before.
The more rapidly it is possible to heat the sheets up, and
the less the time they are kept hot once they have reached
cherry-red, the emaller the grain and the tou gher they
will be.
All s heets that are paired or folded two or more times
a.re liable to get foreign matter, such as scale, coal-dnst,
or asb, &c., between them, which may stick to and become imbedded into the plates, and form streaks of
various ~hapes, si zes, and colour, or, if they afterwards
come away, leave the corresponding roughness and ind entations on the surfaces. These streaks, if only small
and thin, may be r emoved by the pickling which usually
follows, and the roughness obliterated by sub~equent
operations, such as cold ro1ling, tinning, or galvanising.
The foreign matter is always present to a. greater or less
degree, and it is rarely that slighb streaks may not be observed on such sheets; but when they are rolled a little
hotter than usual, so that the surfaces are eofter, the dirt
sticks and is rolled in more easily, the result being wasters.
No streaks of this description are ever the fault of the
steel maker.
The writer was Rome years ago afforded the opportunity
of inves tigating this matter thoroughly ab several works,
and was able to re~roduoe at will all kind s of typical
streaks a.nd indentatiOns, and thus to d emonstrate clearly
to the complete satiefllobion of the principals how they
were brought about, and obtain their full admission that
thi s was so.
The matter is also referred to later. (See "Faults,,
Section V I.)
The chief treatment which sheets may have to undergo
are for:

* Ptlper read before the International

Engineerin~

CongresP, Glasgow, 1901. Section V. : Iron and SteeL

t Stead, " Brittleness in Sc,fo Stet:l produced by Annealing," Jo1trnal of the b on and Steel I nstitute, 1898,
During the whole of this test the cyclical reg ulatiby of No. II.

Tinniug.

Galvaois'ng.

Rolled.
Annealed (not always for com
moo sheets).
Annealed in boxes as de. Black pickled and swilled.
scribed.
Oold rolled.
Annealed again, but more Galvanised in molten zino at a
temperature of 412 to 600 deg.
lightly.
Oent.
White pickled and swilled.
Tinned.
AfLerwards stamped, pressed, &c.

1. Rolled.
2. Black pickled and swilled.

3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

Blisttr.s are described under the head of "Pickling,"

Strips being simply narrow thin plates, much the same
applies to these as to the latter.
For stamping, shearing, punching, or similar purposes
they should be very soft. They are used either in the
sta te as rolled or as cold-rolled bright s trip. This latter,
though materially hardened and sometimes rendered
brittle by the pickling and subsequent cold rolling it has
undergone, cannot be annealed after cold rolling, because this would spoil the smooth bright surface. In
either case, that they may be as soft as possible ab the
outset-if rapid re-heating to cherry-redness for a minute
or two and allowing to cool naturally in air1 or an ordinaqr annealing as for sheets is nob practicable-finish
rolhng ab a good cherry-red and allow to cool slowly in
large heaps.
S,trips for "fVcldi'Yig iT~ to Tu9es, 01' for any purpose in
whwh there 1s further re-heattDg, should receive as little
heating and be rolled at as low a temperature as praotica.ble, since they have in all to stand a lot of fire, and
rolhng hardness in them d oes not matter, as it is ab once
removed by the nexb heating.
H oops, being simply smaller strips, come under the
same category. There is sometimes a tendency, as they
are so thin and cool rapidly whilst rolling, to heat them to
a ve~y high initial temperat~re, and perhaps ~urn them,
causmg redshortness. Agam, a good deal of 1mportance
may attach to the degree of stiffness they possess and to
their colour, on the one hand (as in baling hoops) ; whilst
on the other, if they are of 0.2 per cent. to 0 4 per cenf!.
carbon, they may be brittle if r olled a.t too low a. temperature.
A good deal may be done to avoid all the troubles
named by rolling at not too high an initial tem perature,
so as t? avoid red-shortness, but cooling slowly in heaps
to avmd too great hardne~s.
Wi re Rods and Wire.-Though the area of theee is
relatively small, wire rods are generally r olled ~o fastJ,
especially in continuous mills, that they finish ab a good
red heat ; and being wound in compact coils, which are
often stacked in large heaps, they cool slowly, and are nob
so hard as might have been expected.
At the same time the rolling hardness is considerable,
as can be seen from a comparison of the twisting test on
wire as it leaves the rolls, and the same after rapidly reheating to cherry-redness and allowing to cool. The
hardness id no doubt increased locally wherever the rod
touches a cold objrct, such as a part of the reel, a floorplate, or cold coil, or if put outside in wet weather, and
may sometimes amount to brittleness.
H igh carbon steel is, of course, more affected by all
hardening influences than low carbon steel.
It is not often that wire rods are finished hot enough to
render them, even with slow cooling, brittle or "rotten ,
from this cause, but cccasionally in the thicker grades,
such as guide rods, ~ in. in diameter and upwards, instances have been met with (vide sample 4a exhibited by
the writer in May, 1898, wh en reading his paper on
"Brittleness in S ofb Steel"), though it is more than
probable there has also been "soaking" of the billets
before rolling when this occurs.
Wire Rods jo1 D1a/wing are nsually first pickled,
swilJed, lime-washed, and annealed, and then, after every
two or more drawings (according to the reduction, the
carbon contained, &c.), re-annealed lightly. There it~, no
doubt, a. tendency to draw through as large a number of
boles as possible, and minimising annealing.
Cold drawing has, of course, a very marked hardening
effectl and, if carried a little too far, may easily make the
steel orittle.
Wire rods and wire for galvanising, after pickling, are
usually passed through a. long red-hob furnace at such a
rate that they are nob scaled, but just dried and heated
up to about the melting-point of zinc before entering the
ba.th. Zinc melts at 412 deg. Cent. (which is just above
blue heat), and to avoid loss of zinc it must not get too
hot, so that the wire, with its pickling hardness perhaps
not completely removed, is far a short timll, both before,
during, and a fter galvanising, kept ab or near blue heat
whilst under tension and vibration.
It is not surprising. therefore, that hardness or brittlene ss is more frequently met with, especially in guide-rodd
and large sizes, in galvanised than in ungalvanised goods.
Piokling.-Ib is pretty well recognised, and there is a
good deal of published evidence, that pickling causes
hardness and brittleness, sometimes to a very marked
extent, which is generally attributed to an alloying of
hydrogen with iron, and this is no doubt substantially
correct.
The writer has several times heated pieces of pickled
wire rod of various ages that were bard in an atmosphere
of carbonic acid contained in a glass tube sealed o.t one
end, and obtained particularly between barely visible red
(say 500 deg. Cent. ) and low cherry- red heat, to which
the heating was continued, an evolution of gas which
(besides the carbonic acid gas used ), on testing, proved to
be hydrogen.
As soon as this gas was liberated the sample became
quite sofb. The writer has never seen conclusively explained why or under just what! conditions the hydrogen
is absorbed ; whether it is a. question of strength of acid,

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

[NOV. I 5, I 901.

~~~Ji~;td~~'s ~r0~8~1g~~yo: ~~~!' t~~ts~~~ ~~!~tcertain

that 1 !:~eh htd bndom. ~lodm. a numb~r of packs (~11 of

Observations could probably be best made .
I
lCbl' at
een ptc. e m the ordmary course Without
wo k
h
kl'

.
~n some a~y
IS ers appeariDg), and bung over the side of a
be ~e~;'i:::r~~~in~ni~ ~~!:~~~~o~idrt~t~Dthl~~plb would PblCktlint~ vatth, so that bthey dipped half-way in, and afber a
Ib is 1
t t . 11

. .

s or 1rue e 1ower a.1ves of the plates were all covered

blisters&~~ fh'in :b:e~s reT:e~~~c~t't Pbfl~ng may ca~se "'bith pickling .b1isterfl, the line of d emarcation being quite
distinct from ordinary. blowhole bl' Itng 1S dera are qulllte s arp. In tbts case the extra pickling was the immediate
.
. .
1s ers, an are usua y c 1 use
1
~h~o:lie
~1;~~i~~~advte; t~~~ ~l~te, an~rha.nge from a.beut It ~eems pro?able that the gra.i~s. which in thin sheets
until after pickling and often
pea. d er ne;hr appeir are flattened mto _fhkes or lammoo, become separa.tej,
ing which follows ' it Such cbr~ upd urhmgt e a.nnela . phe! ha.p~. by the actiOn of .the .acid, and, when sufficiently
brittle

lS ere
s ee s are a ~o t. m, the film of metal 1s dtstended by the hydrogen
Th 't h
b
.
.
etther at once or by the heat whilst annealing.
'
From expP.riments conductGd by the writer (though be
d e wr~ er ads irreddsuchb bl~stered sheets m t? shrds
u.n er wa. er, ~n eo ecte t e Itberated ~as, wb10h con- cannot consider th em final ), it seems stron 1 robable
BlStei est:entlally of hydrogeu, as obtamed fro m the that blistering is promo~ed by a higher teJJefature of

large sn~es, as the work penetrates the mass still lees

the compression and distortion of the surface sets up
a sta~e of. strain and sometimes minute transverse cracks,
predt~po~1og to fracture.. The effects of cold ba.mmerIDg, as se.en ~y th e microscope, have been described
by the. ":11ter m a former parer, * and cold-drawn rods
show stmtlar effect?.
As .both the pickling which preceded it and the cold
dra.wmg have such bard~ning effects, ibis most desirable
that the stee.l should be m a very soft condition prior to
these operab1ons. Therefore, where possible it should be
a~nea.led by .rapid re-heatin g to cherry-red~ees, as pre.
vt~usly ~escnbed. c;>r by the ordinary methods ; or, failing
tbts, fim ~hed suffi c1~nbly h?t~ or cooled suffi ciently dowly.
after rolhng to (whtlst avotdmg large ~rain, and want of
toughness on that score) also avoid rolhng h!l.rdness.

SECTION VI.-MANIFESTATIONS.
Classified 11nde1 H eads of J!a ults of cl1ffennt T11pes, appearin g aft e, T reatment by th e User, f oJ' Traci11 g their Probable Sou1ce.
By .whom Ori ~inated (probably),
proVlded Materull ns sent away of
Composition within Limits Specified
and Free from Visible Detect~. *

Ty pe of Fault and
Manifestation.

T~STS l'OR IOB NTIYYING 0 AUS E.

PROBABLE 0AU!! R.
-------~

Unsoundness :
Hollowness

Work a t too low tempErature, not penetrating mass evenly

Occasionally (if clean) . .
User { and ca.~sing " creel;>." of ~atel'ial, t particularly in forgings. t ' } Microscope show a abnormally d istorted g rain, &c.!
..
..
. . Presence of sla.ggy matter hig h in manga nest-.
Generally (always if encloeed slag Segrega.t10n and (or) m suffi01ent cropping . .
or dirt found ) . .
..
Maker
Rolled from cold.sheared bare some of ends of which have } Examine ends of unrolled bars lEfli carefully.
split and not been noticed '
If clean, roller, whether maker or
user . .
..
.. .
..
. . Pipe in ingot imperfectly c ropped, or crack not worked out Eye or microscope can generally discriminate .
If dirty, or other signs of un
soundness . .
..
. . Maker

L~mination

..
..
Seaminess (when machined)
Split ends

..

..

.. {

Laps

Surface defects :
Oraoks

Scabs

Spilliness (wire)
B listers (sheets)
Ditto

Ditto
Streaks . .

Won't weld well

..
R ough ("saw ") edges
Won't forge well

Eye or microscope shows lapping, and gene rally sc~l e or dirt .

Generally (always if enclosed dirt) }Ora.cks, &c., im p erfectly r olled up bu t closed up enough to
Maker
escape notice
'
(If. bright insi!le, but large and }

Indentations . .
..
Rou g hness or pitting
Dry ness
..
..
0 pening at ends
..
R ed shortness ..

1solated, or 10 g roups .. Mak er

If bright insid e, but small and
t.hickly distributed, probably
user . .
..
..
..
..
Occasionally, maker . .
..
..
(Unless accompanied by lamination
at edges of str eaks)
User

G t>nerally

Occasion~lly

..

If only part, say one corner.

op

f Improper piCkling
.

..

..
..
..
..
..
..
..
,
,
preceded by over h eating or soaking . .
..
Spong iness ; insufficient cropping
..

..
..
..
Foreig n substances. a~ coal, coat as h, S:}ale, &c., rolled into
su!face throug h gettmg between ro lls and piece, or between
patrs or folded eheets. F requently st icks me re if heets
hotter, a nd hence softer than usual.
} l..eft when for eign substances become detached . .
..
..

OYe r

User

Overheated or" soaked " too long

\ Wan t of a 6ux
..
..
..

t Unsuitable quality specified . .

} Q1Jality has not sufficient margin of " body "

Burnt ..

Con hin CO and N if formed before annealing.

{Red hortness
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
'
Segregated parts in centre (leML cohesion) not a ll c ropped c ff .
..
..
..
..
.:
. . U.ier O'erhea.ting , s ticking in rolls, &c.

D:tto
Ditto
Occasionally. Maker if all
piec e, or user

ow o es mg o

} Insufficient cropping

~[).ke r

. . F requent ly (to some ex tent). User

..

~~~re:~tio~ ingtott top

..

Microscope shows normalsized grains, a nd sou ndness before

{ pickling , or in parts other t han actual bliste rs.
Microscopic examination shows large g ra in or bands.
Microscope shows unsoundness before pickling, or in p1nts
{ other than actual blisters.
If scraped ofi', sheet underneath sound. Colour and simple
tes t shows what it is. Goal (black) burns brown or white
coal ash b! own (oxidised) ; coal ash white (not oxidised):
Scale contams 60 to 70 p er cent. iron.
Microscope shows larg er g rain if heated hotter. t
Analysis shows S and .Mo. and hence if t hese a re at faul t.
Excess ot impurities oo insides.
Colour and scale shows this, and if composition quite suitable
tor purpose, overheating probable cause.
Gene~ally a.ocompan i~d by thick scale. Microscope shows large
g ram or bands outstde, g ood norn11l g rain inside if piece thic k
enoug h.
Make welding test with ftu x.
Analysis in conjunction with purpose shows this.
Ditto
Ditto
JGenerally accompanied by thick scale. Mioroscopet shows
\. large gra.io or bands outside, good normal g rain inside if piece
t-hick enoug h.

J~iLber one or more of t he following ia g r eater or leAs degree:

Brittleness :
(unleEs
..
. . Generally
B reaks short off
C racks in punching, stamp } seriously at fa ult)
ing , or shearing
..

Furnace too bot . .

..
C0 0 1 d
Finished too Rolled hot to spare machi
e
Fracture g enerally shows c oarse grain . Microscope sh ows
bot or
n ery
..
..
..
ve ry
larger g rain than normal for t hat sec tion , or structureless
Rolled very quickly
slowly in
If oon.rs e
. . blarge
.
bands, especially at outside of piece. t
~uge
sect1ons
.
.
r
grain
"soaked" J Delay in mill- steel left in
ea.ps,
~ too long l furnace or overnight . .
&~.

Over annealed
Finished First piece
.
..
..
..
too cold or "Stalling " of piece, or other delay
chilled
Thin section s . .
..
..
. . Cooled } Microscope shows abnomu.lly diator ted g raio, &c. t
If
fine
whilst at Cold floor, &c...
..
..
. . rapidly
Io samples render ed br ittle by a ny of causes named, heating for
g ra in
blue heat Spr ead too much
..
..
..
a. minute o r two to cherry-r ed and chilling in water if 0 not
Rain or intentional watering
..
over 0.10 per cent., or c .:>oliog in air if abo,e t his, restores
Omitting a.nnea.lin~ where required.
toughness, unless sample has been t horoughly spoiled. Micro
E xceptionally severe pickling; cold drawing, r olling, or hammer
scopic examination also shows g rains restor ed normal. !
iog ; or galvanisir,g.
Tools too blunt or cut l3efore asking for harder :steel, make
t 'lo heavy
sure it \vill not d o h arm in other Comparative tests, using same tool or drill with pieces con
sidered righ t, will show whether steel is soft or tools blunt.
Unsuitable
quality
way.
Try
sh
arper
t
ools
or
lighte
r
UJer
specified
out first .
Finished rather hotter or cooled slower than usual, sufficientJy Microscope may show larger g r~in. t
to make steel softer.
{

oompo3ition
..
User

I
l

H a rdness :
..
Won't bend enough . .
,
twist ,
. . (wir e)
Punche s and sh ears too h a~d
Tensile test too ha rd
.

0\"er -softnees :
' ' Lugging "

Won't c ul
c risp and
turn smooth

Tests too soft.

Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Ditto
D itto
Ditto
Ditto

Generally

D it~o

Ditto

co~position, w!on~,

t~ere

bet~e~n on~

a.notbe~

out~ide

seg~egation,

Excepting m ost fonns of unsoundnes3, i t is probable that faults which affect only a. small propor tion of the steel, and not a. whole oast, are not d ue to the maker, but to the user for t he
if.
is so in a whole blow, as
is no material variation
part and
of t h e same blow, except that occurring from t he
.inwards, due to
wh1lst any va.rtat10n 10 the heat and treatment gtven by maker does not coun t, a s tt 1s obhterated on reheattng by user. 1\'la.ny faults a re, however, due to a comb10a.t10n of causes for which both
maker and u ser are in varying d eg rees r esponsible. If (1) the steel is normally taxed almost to the limit of its eodurance by the processes it ia made to g o t hroug h ; (2) The maker ha~ not been
clearly informed as to t he purpose for whicn it is intended or treatment it will r eceive, particularly as to soundnees when worked 1nto machined a rticles, the sli~htest speck or seaminess in which
w ill cond emn them; (3) the characteristics of each make of steel a re not studied by t he user, but all worked indiscriminately ; the maker's r esp:msibility for t rouble should be less.
t. Except in t he oa.se of ingots o r large bloomE~, slight surface cracks if chipped d eeply.
t Dixon Brunton, ''Wire and Wire-Dra wiug," J ou.rnal of the Tl"est of Scotlan d J.nstttute, No. 4, Januar y, 1900, pnge 119. Also "M1nne~mann" proceE~; is an example.
t Ridsdale, 11 Practical Mic roscopic Analysis," J our nal of the I ron an ti Steel Institute, 1899, No. 11.
Maker for his own sake will keepS and other impurities low, as, if seriously at fault, heavy draughts on ingots at once reveal red-short ness, and will not roll down clean, so gets t hrown out
ns de fective, and d oes not lt:ave works.

piokled wire rod ; whereas blowhole blistere, euch M are

occlsionally met wit h in the sheets when firsb rolled, are
generally larger (eometi mes quite large), r ecur isolated or
10 small groups, and consist chiefly of carbonic oxide and
nitrogen, no hydrogen.
Pickling bli~tera, if they only con; e up after an nealing,
have lost their hydrogen, it having been expelled by beat
and replaced by air. F reqnE"n tly a small hole is visible
in the bead of each blister where ib has burst and the air
entHed. As with pickling hardne~s so wi th pickling
blisters; the wri ter cannot exactly say what are the conditions under which they are produced. At some works
they are recognised !l's being solely the p~oduct of pickling,
whilst at othera, w1th exemplary consiStency, the steel
maker is blamed for them.
Some years ago, at one 0f several works where the
wt iter wlls assured that pickling was solely responsible f)r them, to prove it about a doz<3n plates were

R ods predispoeed to brittlenes 3, either by finishing

the Eoheets when rolled, or by so~kio g them longer than
critical temperature, and thus leaving the grain too
usual, such treatment tending to burn out the carbon and above
coarse, or by finishing at or near blue beat, are, when subpermit separation of the fibre.
Ualvanising.-Muoh the same applies to other nrhicles jecbed to the further hardening and straining t-ffects of
as has been described under th e head of galvanising pickling and cold drawing, almost certain to become Vt!ry
wire rods. Ill is pretty generally rEC)gnised that it brittle.
Tbe3e fe w examples should suffice to illustrate some of
tends to produce bribtleness, mainly, no doubb, from
the directions in which to look for oc~ouses for unusual
the causes mentioned, and possibly also from the brittle behaviour;
of course, the number of possible causes
nature of the zinc-iron alloy which forms at th e j unction which mightbub,
bring aboub a result is very la.rgP, though a
of the two metals when t hey are properly unitd.
All that can be done is to keep the steel as soft as pos oareful c .msideration of each particular case bhould fllcilisible up to the stage of pickling ns described for wire, and ta.te a correct solution.
beat the goods ns hob as possible ufter pie:klin~ (~borb of
oxidising t he surface and preventing the adbes10n of the
Rr.;crroN VI.-Tests- Sta;nda'ra Rcqu.'i1ed.
zi nc) so as to expel hyd rogen and restore softness, and
'Vith reference t ) steels being tann ed ' 'brittle," un-a void all ohilliog, and cool as slowly as possible. after j
leaving the zi~c bath.
.
* J ou:nal of. the Ir<Yf!' a;nd Ste~l [nstitute, 18!>9, No. I I.
Cold Dratu~ng or Rolhng has been referred to. In "Pcact10~l M10ro~cop10 AnalyH~. '

N 0 V. I 5' [ 90 I. J

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

weldable, or faulty in any o~her r&~pect, in view of all

that we htwe seen as to the treatment steel gets, and how
it is affected thereby. ib seems only reasona.ble that there
should for all types of manu factured articles be some tests
which. when ma':le und~r clearly defined conditions
should be publicly r ecognised and a ccepted as legibim'\.t~
(as there are for certq,in requirements. such as boiler-pl 'tes,
ship {>lates, uils, &1 ), and to which any S\mple under
questtOn c m be referred M to a standud. Ab present, if
a. piece of steel fails in any procelS, or will not stand any
test that the ueer im pos t)S upon i b irreflpecbi ve of an y
treatment ib has received up to bhen 1 i t is condemned
and the maker blam1d (an d told that it is n o good
unle3s ill will stand su ch trea~menb-ignoring t he enor mous differanclS in effeilts tha.t a slight diffdren ce in
treatment, such as migh t easily occur withoub being
known, m ay h ave).
For instance, it does n ot se3m r easonaLle to deqignate
as "brittle " a n arro w piece of strip or plate with the
rolling hardness sttll in 1t, and, s:1.y, 1~ in. to 2 in. wide,
both edges b eing cold sheared and n ob trimmed off in
any way, because ib will n ob stand bending close double
along the line of rolling.
A goo:l d eal of s~eel will stand such a test, hub when ib
doe1, it is. n ob necess~u-ily that the quality of th e steel i tself
is excep~10na.ll y good, or when 1b does n ob that it is
inferior, b11t m ay be simply tha.t the sum of the treatment
it has received has n ot baen too severe. Even two cuts
with the S9tme shears d o nob necessarily set up an eq 1.1al
strain; from the same piece of plate sh eared into cotters
some may crack whilst most stand. Therefore, when
pieces d o n ob stand, as the strains or hardness seb up by
treabmenb are an unknown qua ntitr, they sh ould be removed before testin~, and thus the pieces put on a known
basis by heating raptdly t o cherry -redness for a minute or
two, and accordin g to composition, purpose, &c. :
A llowed to c:>ol slowly in lime, ashes, & '!. ;
Allowed to cool n aturally in air ;
Uhilled in water.
Agd>in, any steel which will conform t o the bend test3
spectfied by L loyd'd for b Jiler plate or sh ip -plate should
surely n ot be cons:dered brittle.
Also a standard system for allocating any trouble that
arises is d esirable, and for defining the lines on which it
shall b9 argued. * In the T 11.ble of faults of various types
are briefly indicated a few tesbs, m echanical, mlOrosoopioa.l, thermal, a nd chemic1.l, which mighb serve to
trace them to their probable source, and thus ena.ble the
trouble t o be stopped i n future. They ar e, of course,
only qui~ general, as each particular ca.se will probably
suggest 1ts own tes~.
_h ma.y be asked, '\Yha.bstep 1 should any one take \\!hO is
w1shful t) al w11.ys glVe the best trea.bmen b, in order to
train the m en who do the work ?
This is nob a. question of a. pyrometer or of drawing up
lists of prop er temperatures either in d egrees centig rade
or in terms of colour. Even if they can measure these,
and know when th ey have got them, this is n ob en ough.
Ib a.ll comes b!l.ck to thi3, that since n o outsider knows
a.ny one's exaob conditions or chief troubles, th e only thing
is for each one to study these, and thus decide in what
direction t o m 1.k e a.l ter a.tions-po'ISibly what hA.S been
S9.id may be s ome h elp- then try pieces under d ifferent
condition~, finishing hotb r and C)lder, cooling m ore or
less rapidly, &c.
N o d oubb m any m g,tber3 w]l h ava been n oted on which
further information is desirable, and a mongst these the
following oJcur to the writer:
1. Condition of a.bsorp~ion of hydrogen, and pr.:lduction of pickling briotleness and bliste rs at will ;
whether due to strength of acid, lengbh of time, galvanic
notion. &c.
2. H ow far {>iokled arbicles ca.n be h eated (to soften
them) without 10terfering with the zinc taking.
3. Whether galvanising hardness is due t o anything
other than the blue heat treatmen t .
4. Means of annealing cold-rolled goods, plain and
bright, without d estroying their bloom, colour, or brigh t
ness.
G. (a) Au th en bic1ted ins~ance3 of (soft) steel whioh
was known in the fir3t place to have neither h ad lar~e
grain n or bsen in a. state of sbra.in, and known to ba
quite tough, which had beco:ne bri tltle a.nd crystalline by
vibration or fatigue only.
(b) Means of rendering tough fine- grained steel free
from state of strain, coude g rain ~ d and brittle ab will by
vibration or fa.ti~ue under known conditions.
6. Relative effect of blue heat working on sbeel of different carbon conten ts. (Ib ia di ffi:}ul t on a small exp erimental scale to insure a uniform degree of blue heat
wo rk. )
T HE P.ENRHYN Q u ARRY.- Wa

are informed that sin ce

work was re3umed ab t.he quarry on June 11, the num ber
of men employed has steaddy in creased , esp ecially during
the la.sb month, whi cb sho wed an increase of 40, the increase during S3pbem bar having been 27. These included
29 slate ma.k.srs and 38 laboure rs and daymen. The pro?uction of slates has similarly increac;ed very satisfactorily;
10 fact, the outpub la'3b mo:1th was ab the rate of 3!,000
tons p er annum.
* A line of ar6umen t somebim3s met wilh when trouble
has occurred -and yet chemicd and m "chanical t83ts all
seem to bh'l w conclusively that i o has a risen through
s:>mething excepti Jn al in the w )tking-u p process-is,
. , S etting aside all t echnical ques~i ons, the fact rem~inq, "
~/J. But technical questions ought n ob to be set aside;
tf they are, the mabter is not b::>ttomed and no progr ess is
made.

for c:>mpler.h.m and oth~rwi:!e, ~hu.t no fau lt may b3 found.

THJ.G I NST fTUTION OF J UN IOR
H e must a.leo be a man with a thorough g rasp of figur~Q'
so that as a. sur veyor he may b~ alwa.~s able to h old ~Id
ENGINEER'.
Ox Friday, the l at ins ... , Si r Join ,Jacksun, F . R S E., own to j tdge correctly and th10k qutckly of the relat1ve
d elivered his presidential address before the Institubion va.lu'es of fi~ures that may c >me bef~Jre h~~ and tha.t be
of ,T unior Engineers. He commenced by briefly reviewing may be a.u\e readily t o form a correob op1mon of what I
t~e chief d epartments of engineering, such as shipbuilding, would for want of a better t erm call ' the value of an
tunnelliog, bridgebuilding, the consbrucbion of ra.ilwa.yd, error. ' I have known men , I think I may say, who would
d ocks and harbours, and electrical engineering. l le then waste time arguing whether a figure should be 99.99 or
turned to con sid ~r the educa.tion an d training r equired to 100 OL, and who would yet, where the d ifference ~ould be
render men ca.pable of undertaking such works, and h is of n o practical importance, n ever agree t o oa.ll 1b 100, a
words wer e so full of wisdom and experienc9 th~b we give much better plan for their r esp ective employ ers.
"A sucJessfu' C)nbractora' engineer mu 3t also b e & m a.n
them ve1bati m.
with a wid e knowledge of men - particularly of workmen
"Hl\ving now referred to t he kind of work which it may - with whom while he s hould always be firm, he should
fairly be expected will occupy much of the attention of n ever forget 'to b e just and kind. A litole symp1thy
the civil eng ineer during your own lives, there arises the bet ween staff and workmen and a little generous apprever y common question as to whab is the best form of ciation for work d one under difficulties, go a lon g way
training for a young man who con templates taking up in getting all to pull together ab th9 same end of the r ope
a. high position in the profession uf en~ineering. A sub- - in helping forward anything in hand.
11
Fortunately, we contractors for public works have not
ject which I see has been dealb with by several of your
pa.sb president'i, gen tlemen who from their experien c ~ been so much troubled by differences between employers
as engineers ha.ve d oubtless been m uch better able to and employed as our friends who are inter ested in the
advise t han I, who m ay probably posses~ n o puticular building of ships, ma nufacture of machinery, mining,
fitne~s f0r such a task; yeb I crave your indulgence if building, and otherwise. W e n ow li ve in the times of
I venture to expr~s tl you shortly some of my views g reat factories, where so many men a re employed that the
on the subject, 10 the hope that I may perchance drop employer or his chief r epresentative comes little in per
a. hinb whioh may assist and betber prepare some of you, sona.l con tact with the workpeople, individually, hence
p articularly those who are. or m a.y become, contractors' we cannot expect the same good feeling to prevail as
engineers, for the work which tho immediate future ma.y if we were in the old d ays when factories wer e small,
bring to you. A lthough some o f the ablest of the earlier when men did n ob change their locations so often,
en gineers of the past century were men of n o, or compara- and when master and man saw more of one another. In
ti vt> ly little, what we may t erm sch ool education, i b is of some trades one certainly sees with much r egret on both
course all-importan b that a young man in these d a.ys sides a great lack of that mutua.l confidence and sympathy
proposing t o enter the profession should in t he firs t in- which should prevail between employer and employed.
sbanoe have had a liberal education ab some good public The m sn, through thetr nnion s, taking every advantage
school, be of good ph ysique and constitution, and be they can, and the employers, on the ooh er hand, combina. m an reasonably fond of s porbs so conducive to healoh ing and d oing likewise. I can fi nd n o fault with trades
an d, as a cons~quence, good work. Although some of the u nions so long as they are conducted as they once werebest of our engineers have h ad n o workshop experien ce, only as ben efit! societies and as legitimate combinations of
it ia now, I bhink, universally admitted tbab two or th ree workmen for enablin~ them to sell their labour a.t the besb
years sp en t in mechanical sho~s immediately after leav- price ; hub when, as 18 the case now, onions not only try to
ing school is most desirable . The young ma n thus nob dictate to the employers as to the managemen t of their busionly learns practically the use of tools and machines with ness, but also in tlerfere with the liberty of n on -unionists,
a. knowle.dge of di fferent materials, b u t he also gains thab and intimidatewibh a view of bringing every workman under
which, in my opinion, he will in h.ter life find uf vast im- thecontrolof their so-called leaders, and of preventing a man
portance, vi z , a knowledge of t he f~elings and modes of d ealing with his labour-hi~ own properby- as he thinks
thou~ht of workmen-a knowled ge which can n ever be best; then I h ave to say everything against them.
1
acquued in a.ny other way. H e may see their shortoom- was very pleased to read of the very eatis fa.ctory meet
inga, and if he be an intelligen t good man he will be able ing o f the Free L abour Association, which held its ninth
to sympat.Jhise with them in their t roubles and anxiebies, annual congress in L ondon the week before last, as a.
and if he is n ob on e of those who think they know m uch m ovement against the absurd -pretension s of the presentof things while they know hub libtlA, he will find tb e go"d d ay trades unionism. The N a.ttOnal Free L abour Associa.
sta.mp of British workmen usually willing to assist hi:n tion ha-s now register ed many thousa.nds of men, who have
wit h practical information on many poin~ , which oan b een sent into almost every department of industry-a.
only be properly acquired in the workshop tlin d under serious m enace to the d omination of the trade unions,
conditions wher e a young m an is working alongside bona whose claim, as on e of the d aily papers has very well pu bit:,
fiie working men.
is to allow n o working man to get his living except upon
''I r ead in the adJ r ass of one of your pa.; t prEsidenta, a t heir terms, a nd wi th their high permission-one of the
gentleman for whom I have the hig hest re~ard, th ab he con- m ost monstrous d espotisms which was ever erected.
siders that during su .h a. period of pract1cal training ibis The judgment of the H ouse of L ords in the Tf'ff Vale
most d esirable thab scholastic kn'>wledge should be main- Railway case was very well d escribed by one of the
tained, and that in ma."ly oases arrangements can be s peakers at the m eeting I refer to as a 'Charter of Freem ade by which boyg n eed n o~ b e subjeo~ t o such extreme d om to British Industry. ' In the n ame of freedom, Mr.
physical exertion as would preven t evening study. I Chandler, the President, said, 'Working m en were bound
fe~r such arrangements in many oases, howe ver, might hand and foot,' and it is the fault of the leaders of the
probably r esulb in the young apprentic~ n 0t turning out union~, as I have already referrEd to, that in some trades
regularly a t his work before breakfast; this, I think, - for bunately n ob in mine- employers have been for ced to
would have a. bad m oral effecb. If he can with advan - form a fighting organisation of their o wn. As I read, I
tage, leb him atbend evening cl a~ses or work ab home, think in the J?aiJlY T elegraph, the other day, too many of
but this, of course, only subj ect to such work n ob inter- the trade umons have m ad e t hemselves instruments of
fering- with his timely dut ie3 in the workshop.
pressure and p ersecubion. The funds intended for the
" While in the shops he s hould realise that be is ben efi b t'f the s ick and infirm h ave been squandered in
occupying his time with a view of learning a mechanic's furious labour wara, which ab times have threatened to
brade in the way a. workman should learn i ll, a nd tha.b he paralyse the entire t rade of the country .
can only do this properly by r .agularly keeping workmen 's
"If the lea.d ers of these unions had their way, the non
hours and coming under workmen 's rules.
un_lon m en wo~ld b~ d oomed to O'lmpulsor y idleness, and
" After lea.vinl(' school, and before taking my engineer- th1s, forsooth, m thu grand old country of ours, in the name
ing course ab a Sootch university, I h ad had the advan- of liberty. It1 h as b een said that in consequence of the
tage of three yeara spenb in mechanical work~hops, during T_aff Vale deci~ion some of th~ unions have proposed to
which period (wi th the exception of the fe w weeks in t.he d LSsolve; b!lt. 1f prop erly earn ed on, there can be n o jusb
summer when I had a complete holidc~.y) I r arely losb a r aason for thts, but they must be made to realise that in
mornin g. I tried evening classes for increasing my free Eo~land every man s hall have the right to live and
knowledge of ma.thematic3 and mechanics, but inva.ria.bly to sell h1s labour as he thinks best. W orking m en of in
fouod that in a. warm class. r oom towards the end of the lec- d_ependent. feeli.ngs should s urely b~ getting somewhat
ture I fell asleep, and as I n ever theless came out well up in tned of be10g d10tated to by profess10nal agitators, a nd,
the ex~mination~, I came to the con clusion that other pupils as the n ewsp a p er . I ha_ve referred to very well put it,
must aloo have slept. I should rather advise that while many of them are mtelhgenb enough t o see that our inthe boy is ab school, without interfering with his ~eneral dustrial_ p osition in the face of foreign competiti'ln will
eduoa.tion, more p articular atten tion should be g1 ven to nob be Improved. I fo:u, too, the spirit of the modem
those subjec~s the most important for the young eng ineer, trade unionist is n ob the spirit of the E oglish workmen of
such as mathematics, geometry, m echanics, and physics, as 50 to 100 yea.rs ago, who, I venture t o think, were made
would insure that ab the end of his worksh op experience of ~he metal that! pub E ogland in the fron t r ank of the
h e would ha well prep3.t e :l for proceerHng to tbe mora ad- n at1ons o f the world. The ambition of t:he youog workvanced technical ooll~ge, where he would probably take ma.n of the old d~ys-even w_ithin my own memor y-was
up special subj ects, gaming the advantage of theoret:oal to excel n ot only m t he qua.hty of h1s work but in the
training in con jun ction with laboratory work before quantity. Th_e ~mbition of th~ di~ciple of 'the present
baking up his position as a. pupil in the office of an en gi- day trades um~msm under whtch 1b is a rgued all m en,
neer. A knowledge of m od ern languages is of great im- competent and m competent, should be paid alike is to
portance, and the young engineer who is a lin g11isb may think a nd contrive h ow he can get the moat m or:ey for
find he is sent abroad, with opportuni ties of gaining in- the leas_b work poss~bla. If this spirit is to continue, I fear
forma tion of foreign work and men which he would other - our nat10n as n. nat1on of workmen will soon go t o the rear.
wicle never have t he chance of acquiring.
Wby, I heard only the other day of an American iron11
Those of you who may b !oome contractors' engineers master who explained as the reason why his people could
will h ave to realise that to be su ccessful, the all-imp~rta.nt ou t us out, although they paid higher wages was that th e
q uali6ca.tion for a man in suoh a. position is n ob only to unions in E ngland so reitricted a.nd held ba~k the energy
be able to design his planb and temporary work s (the of the best of our workmen th~t these _men emigrated to
re~ponsibility of which m large con t racts is n ow almost the.States. ~h~re men were pa.~d m or e m accordance with
a.l ways put upon the contractor ) satisfactorily, and in th e1r ca pab1ht1es, the r esult bemg that the American ironevery sense right from an engineering p oin t! of view, but mas~ra wer e getting into their works the very pick of the
of the most economical ma.terials with the least practic- Enghsh and Scotch workers.
able expe:1diture of labour, and yet so ample for the re" Spea~ing of Americ~ns,_ we have reoen bly b eard much
q,Jirements of the job in h and, h avin g regard to risks, time of trade rmgs and oom bm at10ns amongst prod u cer3 in the

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

6g6

[Nov. 15,

I90I.

States with a view of controlling certain raw m'iterials neer, however, one of the most distinguished past presi- say pub character above everything; be sure in your
and industries. This policy I cannot agree with. For dent3of the Institution of Civil Engineers, died an honest work, whatever ib is, that it shall bs work for God and
my part I have no sympathy with, hub am albogether man.
not for the devil; then you will find in the end, when
against, what I may term any cut-throat competition
"Should you be called upon to give evidence, while you y{)ur time comes to leave this world and the true value
amongst producers or manufa.cturers, which I am sorry to would be quite jusbified in avoiding reference to the weak of your work comes ou~, that there will not be a prince
see so much of amongat contractors; hub, on the other points of your client's case, do not damage your character or a mjllionaire in the land who would be justified in
hand, I would look upon such combines as we have m the eyes of men of integrity by saying anybhing in the looking down upon you.
recently seen set up in the United States, and suggested interests of your side which is not true.
"You may imagine, as most young men at some time
in England, a~ combinations against the 'public weal,'
"While not for one moment suggesting my remarks imagine, that the world is hostile to you, hub you will
which should be prevented so far as possible by alllegiti- would applv to the ma.joriby, for whom we must have a I rarely if ever find anyone designedly doing you harm.
mate means. Our American friends may talk of economy high regard, I fear, with my, perhaps limited, experience, If, however, you should find some miserable wretch of
of working through such combinations, and pub before I have nob the highest opinion of some of what we may humanity designedly hard upon you, leading you to think
the public such-like blinds, but I venture to think that term the expert witne~ses of the present day. In point of the world cruel and cold-hearted, you will also find, as
before long the intelligence of the American people will fact, there are many men, even well up in their profes- I have found, those sympathetic noble souls who in a
cause them to realise, if they have nob already begun to sions, to whose evidence, if I were sitting, say, on a Par- sincere and wanly way will look kindly on you, and you
realise. who has to pay the piper. In the pas~, legislation liamentary Committee, I should nob pay the slightest will learn to value their good opinions and their assistance
in the United States appears to me to have been mostly in regard.
in anything you may have to do beyond all price.
the interest of the milhonaire, or I may say the billionaire,
"It mn.y not be, and, in fact, is not, always desirable to
" yve shoul~ try in our relations, bu~ine:s <;> r otherwise,
but a change may come. The spirit of a healthy, but not speak all the truth that a man may know but whatever partiCularly wtbh those who are wvr~mg wt~h us, to be
undue, competition, in my humble opinion, is a spirit you do speak, let it be truth, even if ib be ab the risk sy~p9.thetic and open as far ~s practicable wt~h a~l men.
far preferable for the benefit of the nation to the one now sometimes of shaking somewhat fiercely fair authority SoCiety would ~e better for 1b. My great WlSh IS that
in vogue across the Atlantic.
by the beard.
when my work JS done, whatever else peC?ple ~ay s~y of
"Speaking more particularly to those of you who may be
"I was interested in an arbitration, before another of the me, ~hey may speak of. me as one. who m his bu3mess
at some time engaged on the staff of a contractor, or even past presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers to relatiOns at any rat~ tr1ed to do hts duty,. and aJso,. to
be contractors yourselves, I would remind you of the
ttl
tt

t'
th 'th quote from a memor1al card of a. dear old fnend of mme
10
0 f d'ff
great loss of life, which, sad as it has always been, is fe e ;ome ma era
I erence
coMec hn Wl Sh e who recently died in the North of England that they
c~~ttt;:::.nt :E~c'h~id:t~a~~rau~ th~~;h:s::~hou~~ might , write me aa one who loved his fellow ~en.' ,
unavoidable on public work(3, in the hope that we may
realise how all important it is, in whatever position we have done better, but I a.m sure neither aide would ever
may be placed, to use our very utmost endeavours to have suggested that in every detail the award had not
Oun RAILS ABROAD.- Our export rail trade appears
reduce this loss of life to a minimum. I think I am ris-ht been given in strict accord with the arbiter's conscientious likely to exhibit moderately good results this year, the
in stating thab, according to the insurance compames' judgment; but, further, ab the end of the inquiry, before shipments in October having been 41,261 ton~. as comreturns, the lives of no less than three men are lost by the award wa~ given, the lawyer on the company's side pared with 36,896 tons in October, 1900, and 47,181 ton3
accident for every lOO,OOOl. value of work carried out; told my lawyer that he could pay us the compliment of m October, 1899. The principal exports last month comand yet I am told the mortality from accidents in coal and saying that, without exception, the witnesses on our side pared as follows with the corresponding exports in the
other mines where explosives are used is even higher had every one of them given their evidence truthfully in corresponding months of 1900 and 1899:
than that on public works. The sbrange thing in regard a way that his side could find no fault with, and we, in
to our accidents is that they do nob so often happen to our turn, had the satisfaction of being able to reciprocate
Country.
Oct., 1901. O~t., 1900. Oct., 1899.
men engaged in work that is known to be dangerous as these feelings to the full. I fear that it is in few such
with work of a more ordinary nature. For instance, inquiries that expressions of the kind can be made, and it
tons
tons
tons
during the twenty-five years I have been a contractor I should nob be so.
2,377
3721
6033
Sweden and Norway

3855
have employed many men as divers, and yet I cannot
"Again, if, as an engineer, in carrying out a work you Egypt
358
5,929
..
..

9782
6411
4,948
..
recall to mind one sins-le fatal accident t!hat we have had should make a mistake-and the best of men make mis- Argentina . .
1667
3183
663

to a. diver. The calhng is prinn.d f acie a dangerous one, takes-do nob try to pub the responsibility on others; British South Africa
9728
10,651
5107
British India
..

and consequently those engaged in it are cautious, and say, for instance, on the contractor. If you are ever so Australasia
6,669
9297
8724
..
..

take every care; while with other work, such as weak, you will a.b once put yourself a.b the mercy of that Canada
I
3579
9,119
7476
..
..

excavating in timbered trenches, traffic work on rail- contractor, who will-and I think excusably-make capital
ways, quarry work, and so forth, where the dangers are out of you some day. In my experience I have found it
nob so apparent, men get careless, and often, with no has been the able man who has been the most ready to The aggregate exports in the ten months ending.Ocoober 31
doubt commendable anxiety in their work, run ri sks which own up to a mistake, and in 99 ca~es out of 100 his clients, this year were 386,866 tons, as compared wtlih 314,705
are unnecessary, and end in the loss of life. We do nob where they have been men of intelligence, have thought tons in the corresponding period of 1900, and 401,918
wa.nb the na.mby-pamby man, who is always afraid of him-j all the better of him for it. I have noticed that it is tons in the correeponding period of 1899. This
self, but we do require that, while to the best of our usually the empty-headed fellows who are so afraid of year's figures would not have been so favourable
abilities we take care that every arrangement of our work admitting a mistake or of changing their plans when a but for the larger demand for our rails in British
India, Argentina, and Canada. The value of the railc1
is a reasonably safe one, we induce our men uot to incur better plan has come to their knowledge.
from the U nited Kingdom in the first ten
"I well remember an occurrence in connection with the exported
risks which are unnecessary in the proper carrying out of
mon the of this year showed a lar~e increase; they amounted
their avocations.
extension of a dock for which another past president of to
2,309,108l. , as compared with 1.951,624l. in the corre"Now, although I fear I am trespassing too much upon the Institution of Civil Engineers was the engineer-in- sponding period of 1900. and 1,947,572l. in the correspondyour time, before concluding I should like to ask you all, chief. It had cccurred to my engineer-in-charge that ing period of 1899. The dearness of coal has, however,
each one, in whatever line of business he may be engaged, there might be some risk to the new work owing to our of course increased the cost of production.
to do his best to uphold the old-fashioned high character uncertain knowledge of an old wall, part of the old work,
of the Nnglish engineer. To use, I think, the words which an extra. cofferdam might prevent. The providing
OuR COAL A.BROAD.-The export duty of 1s. per ton
of St. Paul, ' Quib ye like men ; ' this means honest of such a dam in this case would have been a matter for imposfd by Parliament upon coal Exported from the
manly men. Leo your word be your bond; respect every the company. I made the proposal to the engineer-in- U nited Kingdom appears to l:e telling, to some extent:,
verbal promise as if it were. contai~ed in the most formal ~hief, who, however, chose to run the ri.sk rather than upon our coal exports, which amounted for October to
legal document. To my mmd the Idea of a. man suggest- mcur the ex~ra expen~e. The old wall fatled, the ~ater 3.985,234 tons, as compared with 4,110,668 tons in October,
ing an obligation is not binding, because it is not in came through and flooded the whole of the new workmgs. 1900, and 3,610,090 tons in October, 1899. The contracwriting, is beyond contempt.. I sometimes think in. these This grand ~Id man, however, did not s~ek to burden the tion observable in the demand i~, however, by no means
days, with some of us, there IS t oo much of the feehng of contractor wtth the blame, but at a. meetmg on the ground universal, the ehipments made last month to Swden and
anything for peace sake-anythi~g, althou.gh a bib against with the directors at once said to me' W~ll,,Mr. Jackson, Norway, Denmark! Spain, Italy, Brazil, and British
conscience, for the sake of pleasmg those m power, or for whatever the consequences may be, th1s IS no fault of India showing an mcrease, a.s compared with October,
saving our professional reputations.
yours-if anyone is to blame, I am to blame:' That was 1900. Tbis will be apparent from the annexed com"I think, with one of the ancient writers, that 'A lie is an expres~ion of honest feeling I sha.ll never for~et.
parison, illustrating the principal shipments of the
a thing naturally hateful both to ~ods and men.' Young
"Conceit, whiCh, on n.ccounb of the1rless experience, may months in question:
men at school or college are, I thmk1 naturally truthful ; be more natural to younger men, is cer.tain to get pruned
but sometimes in later life our anx1ety for professional down; but I am sure if a young man will bones~ly confess
repute the prospect of monetary gains, or a feeliug of his ignorance, be will in the long ru~. find .hi!Dse)f the
vanity' may sometimes check this noble instinct.
gainer ; other~ise, the very a?t of vei.hng h1s. 1gnorance
"If any one of you comes to sit as an arbitrator, as you from obh~rs wtll bec<;>me ~ hab1b .bY w~JOh he wtll ?Onceal
would value your life never allow the thought as to how It from h1mst>lf, leadmg h1m to hve a life of shams mstead
your d ecision will in the future affect your personal of realities.

.
interest ever enter your head.
. .
"Now, I fear some of. YC?U may thmk I am to<;> down on
"I would point out how unjust 1t IS on the part of an the younger men~ Tb1s IS nob the eau~. If 1t werE\, I
engineer in drawing up conditions of contr~ct to a.ppo~nt should be down ~pon l!lyself, for although I have had
himself sole arbiter for th e settlement of disputes whH~h twenty-five years expertenc~ as a contractor, and more The aggre~ate exports for the first ten months of this
may arise between his principals and the contractor. In than twenty years ago carrted out som.e contracts then year were 36,865,214 tonE', a.s compared with 38,443,491
most cases, any such disputes originate through differ spoken ?f as grea~ works, I am yeb only. fifty years of age, tons in the corresponding period of 1900, and 36,107,649
ences arising between the engineer and the contractor an age m these times of old men makmg me a compara- tons in the corresponding period of 1899. The principal
shipments made this year compared as follows with those
. .
.
very often through ambiguity in the specification; hence ti vel v young man.
such an engineer puts himself in the po~ition of judge
"With reference to the older men, I thmk 1t a great pity effected in the corresponding periods of 1900 and 1899 :
upon a case where he is practically one of the disputants, that some of those now ov~r seventy yea~s of age, who ~or
I
the fitness of whioh course can bear no enquiry whatever years have been leaders m the professiOn, do.not retue
1900.
1899.
1901.
untry.
Co
~
from a fair and moral point of view. It has been argued nnd make room for the greater en~rgy and qmte enougp
that in such cases contractors should decline to come experience of the compet~nb men tbuty years or more then
tons
tons
tons
2,976,965
3,187,379
2,339,732
under such conditions, nnd if contractors would, junior, many of whom m c,onsequen ce of the greed of Russia

3,675,306
8,851,658
3,622,285

in standing out against such conditions, only stick their elders obtain ~u.t very hbtle work. I should be very Sweden and Norway
6,039,646
4,268,736
4,946,449

together and .decline to sign ~uch docull?e.nts, ther would glad if by some leg~t1mat.e means these elderly gentlemen Germany
7,013,400
5,616,470
6,504,735
France

.
.
form a combme of a very fau and legitimate kmd. It could be compulsorily rettred.
1,844,361
2,241,593
2,127,910

Spain
.
may be said, and in this I entirely agree, that with ~en
:'Now to you, who may ~oon be m the full swmg of great Italy .
4,4(6,396
4,644,363
4,711,487

of high character and position, contractors are fauly thing~, to you .men of gemus, I say, do not rely boo much
I
- ---safe under such conditiOns, and I myself have ofte? upo? y~ur gen.ms; .for I have known ml\ny me~ of great
accepted such conditions for the very good reason bbat If gemus m en~neermg. wh_o, on acco~mb of theu want of Although thE re b~ b.een .a Ret:sible reduction i~ the price
I bad not, some eager competitor would have put me out steady, practiCal. apphcat10n to the1r work~ have made of coal this year, It IS st1ll much dearer than It was two
but the prinoipl.e is a ~rong one, a~d in England should but~ poor show m .the world. ~eal success IS more. often years since. This is shown by the facts that the
be done away w1th as It has practically been done away obtamed by contmuous ploddmg, steady work, and 36,865,214 tons of coal exported to OotobPr 31 this
year were valued ab 25,8~5.420l.. the 38,4t3.491 tons
with already in Sc~tland. In the views J have expreesed therefore I say to those. ?f. you who may not have suo.h shipped
in the firab ten months of 1900 at 32,019,626l., and
on this custom I know I have with me some of the best of exceptional natural abiht~es, but w~o yet possess f~tr
Eoglish engineers.
power8, take hearb, and with self-rehance work steadtly the 36,107,6-19 tons shipped in the first ten months ~f
ab 18 886 407l. In the first tn months of thtR
' 'Some years ago, I wa.s on~ of the parties in an arbi tra- and . honestly, and you are almost sure to succeed, and 1899
coal ~as ~lso shipped for the u~e 0f ~teamers en
tion where the consulting engmee~ to the Board f.or whom pose~bly .make a. fortune.. People tc:ll us tb&:b mo~ey year
~aged in forei~n tra~e to th~ extEnt of 11,282!557 to~s.
I was working sat as judge. His aw~rd w~ given con- makmg 1s . not an ennobhn g occupatiOn, but m this I The
correE~ponding shipments m the corresponding penod
scientiously entirely in my favour, but Immediately afte~- ~annotl qmte s.gree. It depends t?POn how the money of 1900 were 9,757,233 tons; and in the correPponding
wards, some say by coinciden~e, but ma?y say not, h1.s IS madP.. A nch man has certamly .gr.eat. power f?r
services to that Board werP dispensed w1th. That engt- gcod whiCh a poor man can never ha' e, sttlJ, I wou cl peri' d of 1899, 10,003,440 tons.

a!:.i

:.I

Nov. 15, 1901.]

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

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.
COMPIT.EO BY

w.

the kind in which t he cartridges lie aide by side, a nd in order to may be simply swung free from the breech. ~eana a re provi~ed
prevent ' ' piling" of t he car t ridges during the operation of load- for turning and withdrawing t he block, or 'Vtcc verstt, the w1t~
tug, the two aides of the magazine are made of different conflgura dt a wing movement beginning before tbe turning movement ts
completed. (.A ccepted September 4, 1901.)

LLOYD WISE.

Fig.1.

SBLEa.rED AB.STRAUJ'S OF REOENT PUBtlBHED 8PEOIFIOATION8

UNDER THE AOTS OF 1883-1888.
TM number oj vie'WS given in the Specification D1a~s is stated

..

in each case ; where none are mentioned, the Specification is

not illustrated.
Where inventions are communicated from abroad, tM Na.m.es,
d:o., oj the Contmw~icators are given in italics.
Copies of SpecijicatiO'M may be obtained at tM Patent Ot/lce Sale
F ig.8.
Bramch, S6, Southampton BuiMings, Chamcery-lane, W. C., at
th~ ttni/orm price of8d.
The date of the culvertisente?'l.t of the acceptance of a Complete
Specification is, in each C(l,8e, given after the abstract, unless the
Patent has been sealed, when the date of sealing is given.
.Any person mav, at any tim.e within two months fron~> the date of
the a.dve1tisement of the acceptance of a. Complete Specification,
give notice at the Pa.ten t 0{/lce of owosition to the grant of a. tion, the several shapes illustrated having been determined ex
Pate11.t on any of the grounds m entioned in tM .Acts.
perimentally. The mven tion is applicable to magazines of t he
kind described in Patent Specifloat10n No. 16,284 of 1900. (A c
cepted Septembet 4, 190\.)
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.

8365. 0. lmray London. ( G. L. N orris_, Washino.ton, D .C.)

Explosive. April 23, 1901.--A nitro~lycerme. expl?stve whl~h,
it ia stated cannot be fired excep t by d etonatton, 1s accord m~
to this inv~ntion compounded from nitrogly cerine with app~oxt
mately 30 pPr cent. by weight of a mi xture of equal parts of hg ht
oil of wood tar and oil of mirbane. The compound may be usert
absorbed by gr~nular or gelatinous substances if desired. . It is
stated that t he compound does not decompose or d e~e norat e,
a nd that it ia nc:-t subject either to precipitation or "oozing."
(A ccepted September 18, 1901.)
14,5'16. 0. B. J. Krag. Chrtstiania, Norway. MaJazlne
for Small Arms [8 Fiqs.] August 14, 1900. (Oonvent10n date
August 4 1900 ) Tbe' magazme according to this invention is shaped
as a St'g~ent of a parallel or conical-sided ~ollow cyli.nder. and the
car t ridge feed is effected by means of a spnog conto.tned 10 a !le
tachable oase held cent rally io the cylinder, the said spring ser vrng

Fi..g .1.

Limited,
8016. J. F. Choles, Pietermarltzburg. Natal.
Loudon. (Siemens a11Ct Halske Company, Berlin. ) Elec- Rifle-Sights. [2 Fiqs.] April18, 1901. - ln this back-sig ht for a
tric Meters. [4 Figs.) July 20, 1901.- ln volt or ampere r ifle according to the m vention lateral movement is obtained by
16,3'10.

Siemens Brothers and Co.,

meters of t t.e kind in which t he scale divisions are approximately

proportioned as in the lower of t he three scales illustrated; a small
ad j ustable weight is added to an extension from the horizontal
axle of the indicating needle, and in such a position t hat t he
wei~ht tends to aid t he current in producing deflection on the

..

Pig. I.
FifJ ..2.

IS, Jl fl}
IN

first half of the scule and to oppose deflection on t he second, io order

that the scale divisions may be P.roportioned mor e nearly as shown
in t he uppermost of the t hree tllustrated. Instruments to which
the invention is applied a re more useful for measuring widely
differing potentials or current strengths than for indicating small
differences in a value normally r equiring nearly t he whole scale
for ita indication, in which case the lowest scale of t he three
shown is t he most convenient. (A ccepted Septenwe111,1901.)
15,8'10. T. J. Rlcaldoni, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hertz-Wave Radiator. [ 1 F ig. ) September 6, 1900.- In
t he Hertz wave radiator, according to this inven t ion, and which, the
inventor states, is with like discharge energy, from ten to twenty

{ls,4TO.) ~-----_....._~

timS as effeothe as t hat of Rig hi, the spark djscbarge path through
viscid or other liquid dielect ric is interrupted by one or more
metallic halls. The various balls serving as discharge electr odes
within the liquid dielectric, are made adjustable as to t heir distances apart. (Accepted Septem1.Je1 4, 1901.)

to rotate a " wing " which presses against t he cart ridges. One
p ortion of the outs ide wall of the. magazine is hinged to f~rm t~e
lid, and has a cog attachment whtch engages cogs on the wmg ax1s
io order t hat wh en it is opened for int roduction of ammunition,
the wing may be drawn m to its fully r etracted position . (Accepted September 18, 1901,)

MINING, METALLURGY, AND METAL

means of a wormwheel t urnable in bearings upon t he barrel and

WORKING.
engaging co~a at the rear end of t he eight-bed, which is pivoted at
ita fore end. A set screw is provided to fix the sight-bed when
13,3'19. G. Taddei, Turin, Italy. Aluminium Be
adjusted. (.Accepted Septembe,. 4, 1901.)
duotion. July 1, 1901.- Accordlng to t his invention a process
by means of wbich, it is stated, metals whose chlorides a re less
13 33'1. A. T. Dawson and G. T. Buckham, London. exothermic than chloride of sodium can be obtained from their
Gwi-Breech Mechanism. [7 Figs. ) J uly 24, 1900.- oxides is as follows : Fused chloride of sodium i.a electrolysed
According to t his invention breech-blocks or plu~a which engage at a temperature of 1000 deg. Oent. by current, at a potential
with the breech interior by means of stepped series, of t hreaded of 4! volts, and the chlorine evolved is passed into a second receptacle containing oxide of the metal to be obtained which has been
mixed with tar or some other form of carbon in combining proFig. 1.
por tion, and is maintained at a temperature of about 1400 deg.
Oent. The chlorine, it is stated, t hen unites with t he m etal,
carbonio oxide being liberated and the chloride vaporising-. The
vaporised metallic chloride is t hen led into an unheated vessel,
into whic h is also conducted vaporised sodium from the electro
lysing bath, the sodium and chlorine combining to form common
salt, with which the metal to be obtained is mixed, and from
which it can afterwards be separated, t he salt being returned to
the electrolysing bath . The process is described in r eference to
obtaining aluminium from alumina. (Accepted September 18,
1901.)

RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS.

15,369. Siemens Brothers aud eo., Limited,
London. (Siemens and Halske Company, Berlin.) Electro
Pneumatic Brakes. [2 Figs.] July 29, 1901.- In elect ricalJy.

Crompton and Co., Limited, and S. L.

Brunton, Chelmsford, Essex. Motor Switches.
19,4'10.

operated Weatinghouse brake apparatus of the klod described in

Patent Specification No. 20,186 of 1900, nccording: to t his invention a combined band operate t electric switch and pneumatic
valve device is pr ovided wherein t he switch lever for the electric
circuit is pivotally mounted on the handle of the dr iver 's brake

(2 Figs.) October 3l, 1900.-In liquid immersion switob apparatus

for motor circuits, and in order to prevent use of t he switob sh<?uld
the liquid have been allowed to evaporate to an extent suffiCient

.Fig. f .

to permit a dangerously mpid increase of current strength in the

motor should t be switch be used in t his condition, an electrc
magnetically withdrawn catch is provided, which ser ves to preven t
t.he mo,able electrode from bein~ lowered beyond a cer tam poinL
if current is then not o.lready flowing through t he switch and
mot.or cirr ui t. (.Accepted September 18, 1901.)

..

valve, and ia so arranged t hat wbeu the driver's brake valve la

in the position closing t he t rain pipe, the Ewitch lever can be
operated by band for actuating the brakes hy means of the electric
01rouit, while when t he driver's brake valve is t urned so as to
discharge t he air under pressure from the t rain pipe for operating
or like engaging portions, are with the breech inter ior so form ed the bra.kee, t h e switch lever is at t h e same time automatically
GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES.
that they may be t urned throug h a g reater distance t han h as made to close t he t rain circuit by means of a cam surface, so as
17,83'1. B. Barris, Congleton, Chester. Rifle heretofore been usual, apparently in order that the block and to operate the brakes also by the electrically-actuated vahea.
Magaaine. [J F igs.] October 8, 10~0.-ln magB~ine r ifl es of lhe br eech t hreads may so far clear one another t hat the bloclc (A ccepted Septrmbe> 1~, 19(.'11.)

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

LNov. 15.

1901.

J. Brown, Dunmurry, Belfast. Working and the other similarly parallel with the other upper one, two on guides in the wheels an~ ~earing tilting cog-pieces, and co.ne
~I Railways. [2 Figs.] November 19, 1900.-A method of C')n- rows of straight tubes connectin~ each upper header with a shaped sheaves of rods shdm(r on the shafts, the rods p&88tng
20,887.

tinuo.usly w~rking trains, and which is specially applicable to the corresponding lower header which is parallel with it, the tubes through the blocks and serving to move them in t he guides. The
cones a re moved in reverse direction by means of levers, so that
mulL1ple ~mt system of electric traction, according to this invent on provtdes that one car shall be picked up at the front and
another dropped from the rear of the train for each station
pas.sed. The car to be picked up is started in advance of the
tra10, and that dropped is brought to a standstill by its guard.
Passengers change from the car picked up to that which is to be
slipped at the station at which they wish to alight. (Accepted
September 11, 1901.)

SHIPS AND NAUTICAL APPLIANCES

19,134. J. S. Berrtott, Atgburth Vale, Lancs.

Propeller-Shaft Packing. [2 F'igs.] Ootober 26, 1900.-

A stuffing-box for propeller shafts according to this invention has,

in 11 combination with t he main J;tland which surrounds the shaft,
an outer gland within the stuffing-box and containing ordinary
packing, against which the in nu gland presses, and a ring of

0 0

- -------- -

Pin '>
- J. ' "'

the diameter of one wheel becomes proportionately less as the

diameter of the other becomes greater. The t ilting cottpieces
are smooth on the outer side, so that only the piece or p1eces on
which the chain preBBes unevenly are tilted in such a manner as
to give positive engagement. (.Accepted September 4, 1901.)

r ubber or othEr resilimt material abutting again~t the bottom

of the stuffing-box, and so arranged as to lie just clear of the
shaft except when prseure is applied by the outer gland to compress the same." The ohject of the invention is to provide means
for t he prevention of leakage alonir tb_e shaft when repaoking t he
main gland. (.Accepted, S eptember 18, 1901.)

18,810.

G. Watson, Leeds.

RefUse Destructors.

[6 l'igs.] 0 Jtober 22, 1900.-A portable refuse destructor according to this invention has a firebrick lining within a metal sheJJ,
there being an air space between t he firebrick and the metal.

. .

STEAM ENGINES, BOILERS, EVAPORATORS, &o.

1541. T. White and C. Rainbow, Luton. Steam
Boiler. [5 Figs.] January 23: 1901.-ln this boiler for steam
lorries and the like, and in order that such boilers may be readily
taken arartand put together again, the walls of the water space
are formed of separable parts connected with one another by

in ca.cb row bein~ ranged ver tically one above the other. Hori
zontal cylinders s1tuated below are connected to the lower ends
of the lower headers. (.Accepted September 18, 1901.)

TEXTILE MACHINERY.
18 701. A. G. Bloxam, London. (J. P. Be>nbe>il,
Oehde, Germany.) Chain tor Stretching ~nd Drying
Machines. [5 !Jigs]. Octo?er 19, 19~0.-The cha1_0s usu~lly provided for stretcbmg and drymg ma.ohmes for textile fabn cs, and
having hooks or pins for holding the fabric, are, it is stated, so constructed that they are ca~able of moving only in a !tori zont~l or
a vertical course a.ccordtng as the means by wh1ch the hnks
are united (such: for exa~ple, as bin~e~ turning. o.n pins). are
arranged vertically or horizontally. .Tbts inventt~n provtdes
such a obain capable of movement horizontally, vertically, or at
an angle. For this purj>Ost>, instead of being hinged together, the

Prrr ()

~J* v.

'\

- There is a small fire tube boiler on the flue in front of t he furnace

in order to supply steam tor a forced-draught injector furnishing
air under pre11sure to t he furnact>. There is a dust eeparator and
settling chamber in connection with the emoke-box. (.Accepted
.Attgt.Ut 14, 1901.)

16.603. F. Wlndhausen, Berlin. Obtaining Motive

Power. t2 Figs.] September 18, 1900.-In order to obtain
motive power from waste beat by means of the evaporation
of very volatile liquids, the inventor employs a combination of
a t urbine motor, an evaporator, and a condenser. It is stated
that : " The advantages afforded by utiliaing the difference in the
pressure of the cold vapoura as between evaporator and condenser
in a steam turbine, as compared with the utilisation in a piston
engine, consist in the great simplicity and cheapness of the tur
bine motor and in t he presence of only one stuffing-box (that of
the shaft) to be rendered tight. A further very important ad van
tage is the omission or any internal lubrication . As in piston
engines internal lubrication is indispensably necessary, and the
lubrioatin~ material <.irculates with the oold va.pouJB, such
material wtll g radually collect in the evaporator and the condenser

~.4.

- -- -

f'ls 5.
'

cou ling rings of variable ~lameter, and formed wit~ we~ge-like

or~ons adapted to act 8.Jla1Dst othe~ wedge-like porttoos m such
~anner as to bring together OJ?postng fl.anges on the separa~le
arts to be connected. By altermg the d :a.meter of tb~ couphng
rings when in position the separable parts .c an he QUICkly COD
nected or disconnected. (Accepted S eptembe1 4, 1901).

12 701. J. M. Burd, Wolstanton, Staffs. Wa~er

Tube Boners. (7 Figs.] July 1~, 1900.-Water-tub~ botlers

.. -

,... _

and form a solid layer on the walJs of the pipes, and hence the
beat-conducting power would be considerably reduced. Thus
,..
...
1 great difierences of temperature between the spaces. inside and
outside t he pipes would be necessary, whereby the dtfferences of
.
.
.
temperature and pressure between the evaporator and the conlinks of t he chain are united by books of mroular se9t10n wbtob denser would be reduced. A further advantage lies in the greater
behave as ball and-~ocket joints, allowing movement 1D all di.rec- useful effect n.nd t he P!oportionately sma~l number of revolutions
tions. The slit openmgs of t he books are so arra~ged t hat the l~nk.e of cold. vapour turbmes. The effect ts the greater and the
can only be put together by means of these shts when the links number of revolutions the smaller as the density of the vapoura
are at right angles to each other. It follows~ of c~urse~ ~bat the used is the greater ; sulphurous acid, on account of the denstty of
links can only be separated when they ar~ I? .tbts po.stbon, and its vapours, appearing to be specially suitable for cold-vapour
that an accidental dismemberment of the cbam tstmpoastble so long turbines " In order to seal the shaft gland , what is called a cenas the latter is in tension. With a chain of this kind it is p~S t rifugal stuffin~box is used, in which, when the apparatus is in
sible in putting the fabric on or off, to m<?ve the two cbams motion a liqmd for example, oil, la maintained by centrifuglll
near~r together or farther apart, as may be. destred i !lnd wbe~ the force an annuiar channel in the casing casting and around the
fabric has been removed, to turn the obatns back etther bor1zon- periphery of a disc on the shaft. (Accepted September 26, 1901.)
tally or vertically. (A ccepted September 4, 1901.)

u;

of the subdivided kind, an.d in whtob the several port10ns are

laced under valve control tn order that d.efectlve t~b~ ~ay. be
MISCELLANEOUS.
UNITED STATES PATENTS AND PATENT PBAOTIOE.
~eadily replaced, are in one form .accordtng to thts tm ent1on
rovided with a number of descendmg narrow paral}el ~eadera
,
V
I Feeny London. (Californ ia Expansion
Descriptions with ill~stratioos of inventions patenttedt. in th!
5
13
7
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us t E u 'ted States of America from 1847 to the presen 1me, anw
~anR'ed side by side and .connected to the two ,oppost~e .stdes o~
the steam drum, the sertes of headers on one stde in~lmmg out S ockeJu':nd [b'~~ ~JieC:i~: P[~azp;.~~~j J~ly' 6, ' 19oi.- va':i: rer::crts of trial~ of patent law cases in the ynit~d States, may id_~
ds away from the series of headers on the other &tde. There ~:~ spee~ gear according to this Invention comprises shafts f consulted, gra.tts, at the offices of ENoiNBRlUNO, So and 36, Bedfo
:r~rtwo other series of headers below the first, one of ~hes~ on having frame wheels fixed upon them, blocks sliding radin11y in or street, Strand.
one side being puallel with the upper one on th e oppoette stde,