Engineering Vol 69 1900-05-18

E N G I N E E R I N G.
MAY I8, 1900.]

S01\1E STATISTIC RELATING TO
ELECTRIC POWER PRODUCTION.
By
TABLE IV.-MILEAGE
MILEAGE.
PBILIP DAWSON.
(Con cluded from page 640.)
AccoRDING to Mr. Ga.rcke, the total capital invested in electric lighting installations in Britain
is approximately 15,000,000l. The total capital
already invested in tramways is nearly 25,000,000l.
Table IlL (page 539 a?tte) gives us some material
from which conclusions may be drawn regarding
the probable increase of electric traction in Great
Britain. Comparing the rate of progress of this
country and Germany we have the following results :
1807.
;...
..
Q>
1899.
>.
aS
1898.
d
c:S
..
~s
~h:
~
0
...
>.
~s
Q>
.. j:Q
--
aS .-
Ql ..
1896.
1897.
1898.
1899.
miles
6,302
69!
642
miles
6,939
4,460
646
620
miles
7,466
3,497
657
566
miles
9,008
2,243
662
614
miles
12,683
1,232
599
619
miles
12,600
1,230
miles
14,300
9e0
miles
20,000
600
400
500
12,186
12,527
Oats.
18,233
16,845
4,805
616
Total miles ..
9,037
10,609
11,005
0 1rs.
CIUS.
Oars.
5,592
21,9i 0
8,795
751
8,892
21 ,798
4,372
815
13,415
19,315
3,971
698
Electric
Horse
Rope
Steam
Total eat'S
..
4,001
32,108
85,87i
37,399
60{)
MO
620
470
14,933
14,950
16,270
17,970
21,400
Cars.
Oars.
Cars.
Cars.
Cars.
Cars.
24,849
11,507
4,673
639
36,121
5,420
4,871
2,957
26,121
5,420
, ,871
2,957
45,785
3,123
4,i01
2,451
51,000
3,000
4,200
2,000
56,060
60,200
41,668
40,499
miles
16,30V
760
460
MO
United
England. States of
Germ:mv.
America.
427
166
2,200
1,050
376
3,000
100,COO
7400
1895.
49,369
39,748
5,177
5,199
2,653
'
36,859
52,777
... j:Q
If we go back to 1894 and take the averaae

rate of increase during five years, 1894 to 1899, ;e
have :
10,600
1894.
Q> ..
Miles annually newly COD
structed
Number of new motor cars put
in service
annually
Power 1D kilowatts newly ID
stalled annually ..
1893.
TABLE V.-APPROXTMATE GROWTH OF ELKCTRIO PowER Pr.ANTS IN GERMANY.
Miles of track equipped 1,000

440 1,SOO
500 2,300
900
Number of motor co.rs.. 2,000
800 3,100 1,600 6,400 2,000
Total capacity of power
stAtions in kilowatts .. 19,000 20,000 26,000 28,000 54,000 40,000
1892.
1891.
AMERICA, AND NuMBER Olt' CARS, DuRING TKN YEAKS, 1390-9
1890. I
aS .-
Q>
IN
NUMBER OF OARS.
.P13
TnAMWA rs
miles
2,523
6,400
510
604
Electric
Horse
Rope
team
d
c:S
0}'
Total number of stations of a ll kiods
Total power in kilowatts installed for all purposes
Total electrical horsepower used for stl\tionary motot"S

Power in kilowatts installed used for traction only

Powe1 in kilo .vn tts of storage batteries used for power and lighting
Power in kilowatts of storage batteries used for traction work
Total number of continuouscurrent plants
Total number of alternat ing-current plants
Total number of polyphas e plants

Total number of combined continuous and polyphase plants ..

Total of monocyclic plants

Total continuouscurrent plant in kilowatts
Total altematingcurrent plant in kilowatts

Total polyphase plant in kilowatts . .

Total mixed plant in kilowatts

Total monocyclic plant in kilowatts ..
1894.
1895.
169
42,000
6,000
206
57,000
10,000
1897.
1898.
1899.
452
138,000
36,000
20,000
13,200
578
224,000
69,000
53,000
14,000
483
33
33
27
2
147,400
18,000
31,000
27,000
6CO
5,400
322
97,200
22,000
19,000
9,800
162
16
12
6
266
26
16
14
73,200
11,000
8,000
6,000
96,000
15,000
14,000
13,000
141
15
8
5
4,400
4,500
1,900
4,200
3,000
800
380
29
23
20
To get a better idea of the average increase in

electric traction in America we have to go back to
...
1889 and take the average increase dwing the last

ten years, in which case we find : The average
annual mileage constructed for electric traction
TABLE VI.-ArPROXIMATE GROWTH OF ELKOTRIO LIGHTING PLANTS IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1895 TO 1899.
dW'ina the last ten years in the United States has
1899.
1898.
1897.
1896.
1895.
been :bout 2000 miles. The number of motor cars
put into operation have been 3600, and the power umber of stations belonging to private companies
76
90
67
67
63
in kilowatts installed to run the cars has been N

120
77
73
60
60
orporation electricity works

70,000 kilowatts.
o otal power in kilowatts of private company stations . .
95,000
60,000
45,000
42,000
42,000
Takin~ the increase between the end of 1898 and T

145,000
56,000
69,000
42,000
40,000
corporat ion stations
1899 in uermany and England, we find :
11
11
Germany.
500
Miles of t rack equipped
Number of motor cars put in
2,300

sen 1 ce ..
Total co.pacity in kilowatts of

power installed
..
. . 28,000
Increase.
p.c.
28
Great Britain.
TABLE VII.- APPROXIMATE NuMBER, CAPACITY, AND GROWTH OF ELECTRIC PowER AND LIGHTING STATIONS
IN GERMANY, FRANCE, SwiTZERLAND, AND ENGLAND {TRACTIONExcEPTED}.
Increase.
p .c.
840
SWITZERLAND.
FRAXCE.
GER~JAXr.
60
YEAR.
74
500
83
107
12,000
43
BRITAfX.
Avail~ Total Number! Total A\rail:

ml of St ations I able.
Power m
K1lowatts.
-
Total A\'a il- Total Number Total Avail Total Numbe) Total
Power
Total Nl;ltnber able Power in of Stations. able Power in of Stations able.
K1lowa
tts.
Imowatts.
of Stat1ons.
Kilowatts.
I
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
389
97,000
138,000
224,000
322
452
578
65,000
987
29,000
123
127
140
68,000
631
42,000
819
42,000
57,000
169
206
189~
At the present moment there are under construction in Great Britain some 400 miles of electric
tram and railways, and Bills f?r about 500 m?re
miles have passed through Parliament. Assuming
that at least four cars go to every mile of track, and
20 kilowatts station capacity is installed. per car
equipped, which has so. far been th.e case 1n Great
Britain, we see, assuming that this rate of construction will continue for the next five years,
which from experience in other countries ~s a f~ir
supposition to make, before 1905, ~500 mtles ~ill
be equipped, 10,000 motor car~ will .be put Into
service, and 200,000 kilowatts w1ll be mstalled for
tramway traction alone.
Considering that lines such as .the. Manhat~an
Elevated Rail way in New t:ork, which .Is now ~eing
converted iuto an electnc road, w1ll require a
ehtion capacity of 60,000 kilowatts ; and comp~ring our metropolitan an~ suburban roads, whiCh
will have to be run electncally sooner or later, we
m1y safely assume that for trac~ion purposes of all
kinds a capacity of 400,000 k1lowat.ts of cen.tral
station plant will have to be installed In the U~u~ed
Kinadom within the next five years. Examinmg
the 0 probable requirements for lighting and for
other purposes, we can secure a~ approximate id~a
of what will be the total capactty of the electric
s tpply stations for all purposes which must be
installed during the same period.
Table IY., compiled from. official ~ata, sh?ws the
increase of electric traction m AmeriCa durmg the
last 10 years, and the figures there given are probably too small.
Table V. shows what the progress in Germany
GREAT
250
82,000
84,000
101,000
240,000
TABLE VII1.-APPROXIMATE CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND EXPENDITURE ON ELECTI'RIO POWER STATIONS,

ELK<rriuc TRACTlON AND MANUFACTURERS AND CoNTRACTORS.
,
Great Britain ..
ermany
switzerla nd
Fronce .
{ I nstallatious . .
..
Manufacturers and contractors
{ Installat ions . .
..
Ma nufacturet"S and contractors

Insta llations
Installations . .
..
.
Ma nufacturers o.ud contractors
Installat ions
elgium
B
A~roximnte total for all of
urope
..
.
Instnllo.t ions
Electric Traction in
Pounds.
Electric Light and

Power in Pounds.
Total in Pounds.
10,500,000
r
2,000,000
7,000,000
1,000,000
42,500,000
has been during the last five years. The ~umber

and capacity of ~tations ref.erred to does not Inclu~e
private installatwns, of which there must necessarily
be a great num her. On the average, nearly 82 new
plants have been put in every ye~r for the last ~ve
years, having an aggregate capac1ty .of 36,400 .kilowatts. The increase last year considered by Itself
'
12,500,000
29,000,000
18,500,000
2,500,000
6,000,000
4,500,000
12,000,000
18,500,000
r
I.
16,500,000
25,000,000
8,000,000
8,000,000
14,500,000
).
'
28,500,000
71,000,000
was 126 new power stations, containing a total

generator power of 86,000 kilowatts.
Table VI. gives the approximate growth of electric light ing plants during the past five years in
the United Kingdom.
Table VII. is interesting, aJld gives the growth
of electric power plants in England, Germany,
(MAY 18, 1900.
France, and Switzerland for the last few years;

and Table VIII. shows the large sums involved in
TABLE X I. -PER CENT. OF CAPITAL SPKNT ON VARIOUS P ARTS OF LIGHTI~G PLAXT IX GREAT BRITAI~.
(E. GARCKE.)
these installations.
It is interesting to note that of the total 240 000
1
Number
of
P
er
Gent.
of
P
er
Cent
of
I
kilowatts for all purpo?es install~d in t his cour:try,
Plants from Capital Spent on Capitnl Spent on P~r Cent . of
P e r Cen t . of
Per Cent. of
P~r Cent. or
YEAR.
which Average Buildings a nd
r oughly 100,000 are Installed In London and its
Pla nt a nd
Capttal ~pent on Capi tal Spent on Capital Spent on'Ca~t ~al,Spent. on
0
1
ined .
Land.
Mac hinery.
~lams.
Motors.
1 Instruments.
suburbs. Of the total 40.000 kilowatts available - -- - - -:- -0-b ta_
01~~;: &~
for traction, nearly 13,000 kilowatts are to be
52
22.30
36. 70
32.16
-1.39
- - 3.11
--1895
3.17
found in L ondon. This is due to the main line
1896
35.16
35.15
3. 35
64
21.12
1.18
3.28
railways which have been equipped so far with
1897
81
19.98
34. 24
34. 24
4.38
1.27
2.48
the exception of t:he Liverpool Overhead, all' being
1898
92
18.99
35.72
35. 72
4. 50
1.35
2.06
there.
From careful investigation it is probable that
eventually at least half the total power installed
shows how the initial cost is subdivided in the second class "766," of which 15 were constructed
will be utilised for traction purposes.
case
of
British
electric
lighting
plants
.
in 1898.
From the large expenditure involved, it is evident
Of the three classes just nan1ed, we a0 i ve, on the
h ow great the importance is t o most carefully
~xamine all the conditions that a new plant may CALEDONIAN RAILWAY PAS~ENGER opposite page, diagrammatic sketches which will
further
explain
t
heir
differences.
Of
the
latest
lu.ve to fulfil as well as the local conditions which
LOC01\10TIVES.
type, we. this week publish a longit udinal section
obtain.
GREAT interest has been manifested in the sucand sectional plans on our two-page enaraving
cessive improvements made within the past three while we also give views of the tender on p~ge 652:
TABLE I X .-Ap proxim'tte Cost of some British Plan ts
or four years on the locomotives built from the . The centre line of the boiler of the latest type
per K ilo watt I nstaUed i n 1898.
designs of Mr. J. F. Mcintosh, for ' the Cale- IS 8 ft. above the rail level, being thus 3 in. higher
Total Cost, in Totnl Out put donian Company's service between Carlisle and than that of the engines built in Glasgow for the
Glasgow and Carlisle and Aberdeen. Lately there Belgian State R~il way and the Caledonian engines,
Ca8acity in eluding Land
in 1898
N .Ut E OF Tow:s.
K' owatts.
per Kilowat t.
in Board of
has been an almost universal mo,ement on our class 766. The firebox has been lengthened 6 in.,
Trade Units.
railw.ays to~ards greater tractive power to meet and is 6 in. deeper. The heating s urface has
Aberdeen
630
76
412,400
the 1ncreasmg demands of traffic superintendents been increased by 40 square feet and the grate area
and to obviate the makeshift of a pilot over heavy by 2.37 square feet. The boiler pressure has been
390
Alt rincham ..
78
212,200
Ayr
banks, if not all the way between termini ; and raised from 175 lb. to 180 lb. per square inch,
625
56

161,100
we regret to admit that in this long-delayed and thereby increasing the tractive force to 17,350 lb.
Bedford
320

145
328,400
now welcome movement, the graceful proportions The '' 902 " class of engines, from their laraer fireBelfast
500
70
356,500
which have nearly always distinguished the British boxes and increased boiler steam pressure, ~s comBlack burn
55()

63
368,000
locomotive from those of other countries, have not pared with the former Dunalastair engines, run
Blackpool
1050

78
870,000
in all cases been maintained. The handsome ap- with a freer exhaust; the diameter of the exhaust
Bolton
1050

5S
430,000
pearance of the latest "Dunalastair, " however, nozzles is 5i in. at present , but it is anticipated that
Bradford
2080

66
1,419,300
quite recently put upon the Aberdeen run, leaves after the engines are in thorough working order,
Brighton
2090

101
2,648,700

nothing to be desired. The perspective view they will be widened out to 6ft in.
20i6
Bristol
50
1,362,800

which we publish on the opposite pag~ will give

These engines work the 2 P.:u. up corridor
Cambridge
525
260,300
83
a good idea of t he handsome appearance of these
train
from
Glasgow
to
Carlisle
daily,
which
is
equal
0 baring Cross and
engtnes.
to 21-- vehicles, representing a weight of over 360
St ra nd
..
2575
140
3,246,200
This latest type, known as Dunalastair's No. III.,
tons,
not
including
weight
of
tender,
passengers,
900
62
D ublin
or, according to the number of the prototype, 902

luggage,
&c.,
and
they
are
unassisted
even
from
CarD undee
560
54
462,000
Class, has, we believe, the greatest tractive power

3270
79
4,175,000
E din burgh

of any British locomotive in service, with one excep- stairs to Carlisle. The load of the down corridor
train from Carlisle is equal to 16! vehicles, which
93
90
59,200
F .ne ham
tion. The steady progress towards t his latest success

represents
a
tonnage,
exclusive
of
the
weight
of
the
l
Oll
83
1,001,900
H ampst ead . .
is indicated by the Table of dimensions of all three
'
tender, passengers, luggage, &c., of over 300 tons,
classes
given
below.
The
original
Dunalastairs,
131
912,000
Islingt on
1100
and this train has been worked from Carlisle to

'' 721 Class," came out in 1896, and there were
92
4,773,000
Ma nchester ..
3360
Beattock
without
assistance,
a
distance
of
39!
15 of t hem. In connection with t hem a great
N ot t ing Hill . .
233
455,900
480
miles, in 42! minutes, which, in view of the gracompliment

was
paid
to
Mr.
Mclntosh
by
the
p or tsm outh ..
137
1,225,000
810

dients, and of the fact that from Carlisle to Beattock
Belgium State Railway authorities, who, when in- the line rises to a height of 350ft., must be prop res ton
448,000
636
110
124
1,081,300
705
s horeditch
TABLE I.-CO?nparative D imensions of Dumalastair
nounced exceptionally good work.
Engin es.
5,055,200
~ est ruinster
123
4533
Having given in the annexed Table the general

dimensions of t he engines under notice, we may
721 ClMs. 766 Class. 902 ClMs.
now indicate one or two details of the latest type
T ABLE X .-Total Approximate Cost of Some Ger man
Cylinders.
before referring more fully to some of the performPlants p er K ilowa,tt I nstalled.
1 7
1 7
Diameter
..
.
.. ft. in.
1 6t
ances
of
all
three classes. The centre of the
2
2
2
2
,
2
2
Str oke
..
..

,
2 3
Between centres ..
2 4!
2 ~ boiler is, as already stated, 8 ft. above the level of
Station
Tot al Ou t.pu t
the rails.
The shell is made throughout of
Wltetls.
Capacity in
Total Cost
in 18989 in
3 6
Diameter of bogie on tread . ,
3 6
3 6
Siemens steel. The barrel is 4 ft. 9! in. mean
Kilowatts
In
per
Kilowatt.
NA ~tE OF T ow:s.
Board of
Diameter of driving and trailing
stalled in
diameter, and plates

in. t hick. ~f.1he length of
T rad e Units.
6
6
6
6
6
tread
..
.
.
..
ft.
in.
1898.
the firebox outside is 6ft. 11 in., and the shell
Boile'
r
.
1,512,0(10
120
1,130
plates are ft in. thick. The firebox itself is of
Al tona

Height of centre from rail ft. in.

7 9
7 9
8 0
Leng th of barrel . .
.. ,
10 3~
11 1
1l 1
14,230,000
!.8,008
68
copper plates 1\ in. thick, top and sides, and
Berlin . .
.Mean outside diameter of bar

42
603,000
2,400
Brcm en
r ei
...
. . ft. in.
9}
4 91
91 ~ in. thick at back and front, and 1 in. thick at
1
tubeplate. The t ubes are of special red metal
1,200
72
882,000
Bresla u

Firebox.
1f in. in diameter, about 11 ft . 7 in. long, and
Length outside
..
. . ft. in.
6 5
6 5
6 11
450
118
158,000
Cnssel . .

.Sreadtb outside at bottom

4 (J~
4
0!
4
0! cambered. The firebox crown is stayed by eight
730
67
257,000
Dar mstadt
Depth from centre of boiler,

girder
stays
and
sling
stays,
the
sides,
back,
and
front
.
.
.
.
.
.
ft.
in
.
5
6
5
6
6
9
1,600
80
568,000
DUsseldorf
Depth from centre of boiler,

front by bronze stays 1 in. in diameter.
900
73
403,000
Elberfeld

back
..
. . ft. in.
6 0
5 0
5 8
The boiler is fitted with patent combination
Frankfor t on t he
Tubes.
injectors
in the cab, thus practically doing away
6,000
54
2,696,000
Maine
~65
269
Number
265

with all external pipes. The engines are also
Distance between tu beplates
5,000
96
10,500,000
Hambu rg

tt. in. 10 7
lt 4! fitted with patent gauge glasses, steam heating
11 4!
3,000
74
1,087,000
Ha.nnover

0 li
0 1f
Diameter outside ..
0 1t
apparatus, steam sanding, and steam reversing

2,000
57
1,187,000
Cologne
Heating Sttrjace.
gear. This reversing gea.r is a combined hand lever
1284.45
1381.22
1402
Tubes
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
sq.
ft.
800
69
332,000
Ko:tigsberg
and steam r eversing gear. In reversing the engine

118.78
118.78
188
Firebox
..
,
2,000
67
816,000
LE'ipzig

-the
hand
lever
catch
is
put
out
of
the
notches,
and
1408.23
1500.0
1540
Total
..
1,700
790,000
Stettin
9'
the steam turned on, when the lever moves either
23
20.63
20.68
Firegra.te a rea
.
Wor king pressure in pounds per
backward or forward, as required. If desired, on
160
176
180
square m ch
..
..
..
releasing the catch, the lever may be pushed forThe cost per kilowatt installed, taking into con- Tractive force
16,840
17,350
.
..
lb. 14,400
ward or pulled backward without the steam, as with
U26
8570
4125
ga.ls.
sideration t he expenses connected with securing Capacity of tender tank
the ordinary reversing lever handle. This is a
the concession and the cost of land buildings, as
well as all the rights of way, cables, and machi- vestigating the successes of locomotives throughout great ad vantage, as with most steam reversing
nery, do not differ materially in different coun- Europe and America, fixed upon the Dunalastair gears, the engine can only be reversed when steam
tries. The only exception to this may be found as t he desiderated standard. Five were built at is available. The cab, cab windows, r eversing
in some plants installed in the wilder portions Glasgow from Mr. Mclntosh'a design, and ex- lever, and regulator handle are slightly altered.
The tender, which was illustrated on page 652,
of America and the colonies, these plants, for perience with them resulted in 65 more being
t he most part, being merely temporary. Tables ordered from Belgian firms. These locomotives runs on t wo bogies with wheels 3 ft. 6 in. in diaIX. and X. give some costs of plants of various we illustrated and described in our issue of meter, and 6 ft. 6 in. centres. It carries 4125
sizes in this country, and in Germany. Table February 3, 1899 (vol. lxvii., page 144). They em- gallons of water and 4! tons of coal, without
XI., taken from Mr. Garcke's "Manual of Elec- bodied improvements on th e original Dunalastairs, heaping.
In our next article we intend to give some
trical Undertakings," is very interesting ; it which were also incorporated in the design of the
'
1k
11
11
11
MAY I8, 1900.]
PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE; CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.
(For Description, see opposite Page.)
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..
..
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..
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TOTAl W/DHT OF NO/If 4.9
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TOTAL WEIGHT OF TENDER 45 0 0
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T OTAL W1CH T OF TENDER 45 . 0 . 0
results of the workjng of these Caledonian locomo- May 10, the President, Sir .villiam RobertsAusten, again occupied the chair.
tivea.
(To be contVn.ued.)
WATER GAS.
The .first paper taken wae a. contribution by Mr.
THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. Carl D ellwik, and was on " The Manufacture and
IN our last issue we gave an account of the pro- Application of Water Gas." This paper we shall
ceedings at the first day's sitting of the recent print in full shortly, together with the illustrations.
meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, and we Our readers will remember that we recently published an account of the Dellwik-Fleischer system
now continue our report.
On the second day of the meeting, Thursday, of producing water gas, together with the illustra.-
Ill.
CLASS.
tions of the apparatus, in our issue of January 26

(see page 118 ante). The radical difference between
the old process of making water gas, intrClduced
some years ago, and the present one, which Mr.
Dell wik has orjginated, is that, while in the former
the gas leaving the generator during the blow cont ains principally carbon monoxide in addition to
the inevitable nitrogen, in the latter it consists
principally of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. .As
water gas of theoretical composition contains 167
bhermal units per cubic foot, there are obtained
from 1 lb. of carbon the following results : With
the older methods 3627 thermal units equals 44:.8
per cent. of the heating value of the carbon; on the
other hand, \vith the Dellwik method 7564 thermal units are obtained, equal to 92.5 per cent. of
the heating value of the carbon. With the old
methods there are obtained from lib. of carbon
21.7 cubic feet of water gas ; with the Dell wik
method there would be 44.7 cubic feet. The
method of working is described in the paper, and
results are given of its application for practical
purposes.
In the discussion which followed, Sir Lowthian
Bell pointed out that this was the second time
water gas had been brought before the notice of
the Institute. The former occasion w&s when the
last Paris meeting was held, and it was said then
that the production of water gas resulted in a. loss
of heat. The consumption of heat to produce a.
change in the substances when gasified was equal
to t~e heat needed to effect a. change from a solid
fO l\ g~~~ous matter, the result was, therefore,
!hat it .~ppeared they were attempting to produce
energy without the expenditure of fuel ; that of
course, was an impossibility. Some of those pre
sent would rem~mber the calamity which overtook a
water gas sy~tem some few years ago. He was glad
to see ~hero was no preten~e in the paper at getting
heat without the consumptiOn of fuel. The application ?f heat, ho~vever, was sca.1cely less important
than Its productiOn, and ther e was no question in
the speaker's mind that water gas was a very remarkable and valuable substance, and he thought that
the author of the paper was justified in anticipating it would play a. prominent part in the manufacture of steel and iron.
Mr. Bauerma.n had seen in Stockholm, at the
works conducted by Mr. Hammer, this fuel largely
in use, and was struck by its convenience. He
would have been glad to have had a little more
detail as to the process.
Mr. Alexander Tucker asked for details as to the
application of gas for tube welding. As was well
known, for such purposes gas and air were admitted under pressure. It was stated by the author
t~at the flame of w!l'ter gas was such that a. platinum
wrre would melt 1n the flame from an ordinary
gas-burner, its heating power per unit of volume
E N G l N E E R I N C.
being 2! times t hat of producer gas. It woald,
t herefore, lend itself to economical work in this
field.
Me. "\Villiam D eigh ton, of L eeds, had had considerable experience with water ga~, and his firm
were now putting down a plan t for t he Dell wik process. At present they used th e ordinary process for
making water gas, t he resulting producer and water
gases being stored in separate gas-holders. The producer gas was passed t hrough scrubbers on its way
to t he gasholder, and as s. result they got a gas which
burnt with an int ense blue flame. He had made
inquiries as to t he probability of success if t hey
adopted the scrubbing process, and he was obliged
to say the replies were somewhat discouraging. He
had, however, determined to proceed . He did
not know whether he would be able to do better
wit h the Dellwik p rocess. He used the water gas
t hey manufactured on the premises for welding
t ubes of 1! in. in diameter; and t hey had also
welded a cylinder It in. thick. He added that
when water gas could be successfully made from
fiaming coal, then t her e would be a wider application of that description of gas.
Dr. Lud wig Mond asked whether in calculating
the efficiency named in the paper t he fuel used for
raising steam was, or was n ot, included.
Mr. Dell wik, in r eplying to the d iscussion, said
that t h ey had produced water gas from coal in
America, but the methods were not applicable to
t he present process. They were, however, making
experiments and hoped to meet with success. The
res ults appeared, indeed, satisfactory, but the mechanical details had not been cornpleted. He would
point out that corn bustion did not depend wholly
on t he materials, but on the proportion in which
t hey were mixed, and also the time they were in
contact with each other ; in fact, he might say that
t ime was t he foundation of the invention. For
t ube welding, water gas had been introduced in
Diisseldorf for t ubes of 7 in. diameter. The temperature of the combustion of his water gas was
identical with t hat of gas made by t he older p rocess.
With a. thin flame com1ustion was perfect owing to
t he surface exposed. That was with ordinary pressure, with, howeyer, a t hick flame it was necessary to
have an air blast, and in that case t he temperature
would be higher than with an open flame. In
using a generator for water gas it was desirable to
make as much water gas as possible, and not what
was a bye product of the apparatuR producer gas.
Dr. Mond asked if the coal used for producing steam
was included. In Professor Lewis's experiments,
that was !O ; but t he r esult at K onigsberg did not
include steam coal. He had had many inquiries as to
advisability of firing boilerd with t his gas, but did
n ot consider it desirable to do so.
UTILISATION OF SLAC.
A paper by the R itter Cecil von Schwar z on

"The Utilisation of B last-Furnace Slag, was n ext
read by the author, who accompanied th e reading
by certain practical tests showing the tensile
strength of briquets made by the method described
in the paper. This paper we print in full in our
present issue, and. may therefore at once proceed
to the discussion.
Sir Lowthian Bell was the only speaker. He said
t hat within a short distance from where he lived
in Yorkshire there were blast.furnaces close to the
sea, butno port. They had, however, created a harbour by using Portland cement made from t he slag
of the furnaces. The ordinary way of making Portland cement, as everyone knew, was by burning
clay, mixing it wi th limestone. He t hought that
the cement produced at the furnaces referred to was
much cheaper than t hat mentioned in the paper.
Ther e being no other speaker on this paper, Mr.
Sch warz replied, saying the cement mentioned in
his paper was burnt cement, really Portland
cement., and not what was generally known as
ala g cement.
HoT BLAST.
A paper by Messrs. Lawrence F. Gj ers and
Joseph H. Harrison, entitled "On t he Equalisation
of the Varying Temperatures of Hot Blast, " was
next read. This paper we print in full in our
present issue.
The dis ~ussion was opened by Mr. W. Hawdon,
of Middlesbrough, who Eaid that the matter was
one of considerable importance. In America t hey
had already recognised the ad vantage of keeping
t he heat of blast uniform ; but in order to do t his
t hey had reduced t he temperature. There did not
EQU AL-TEMPERATURE
[MAv 18,
rgoa.
appear to him great merit in this procedure, for analysis, suitable furnaces, skill and watchfulness on
the higher t he temperature, the more econ omical the part of the workmen, and also t he use of forgwas t he working. If they could get high tempera- ing tools which cause the metal to flow in a circumt ure and regularity at the same time, t he result fer ential direction.* The forgings were all forged
would be a great improvement on t he present solid from round ingots or billets. Mr. Hadcliffe
methods. Irregular blast produced scaffolding in said, in r eference to the use of steel for propeller
t he furnaces, and t hat was why the Americans had shafts, that the metal was reliable when all the
brought down the temperature, so as to get various operations essential for its manufacture
r egularity.
Under t he circumstancE's, he con- are combined wit h skill and judgment. The
s idered the step taken by the authors was one in piston-rod for the 40-ton steam hammer at
t he right direction.
W oolwich was originally of wrought iron, and
Sir Lowthian Bell thought it well to point out after seven years at work was r eplaced by one
t he danger of drawing general conclusions from of steel made in the g un factory. This latter
particular instances. The working of the blast- had been in almost constant working for upf urnace was subj ect to so many variations from wards of 14 years. They had to replace a broken
numerous causes that it was needful to proceed foundation block, and patch up the cast-iron
very carefully ; he was not disposed to attach so hammer legs, yet the piston-rod remained intact.
much importance to the temperature of the blast. The breaking strength was 33 tons when oilThe true test was the temperature of the escaping hardened, the . elongat ion being about 30 per cen t.
gases, for that gave the economy of the furnacee. Approximately, the carbon was about 0. 26 per cent. ,
The blast- furnace, from the tuyeres upwards, manganese about 0.600 per cent., and silicon about
was an appar atus for extracting t he heat gene- 0.25 per cent. H~ thought this was a s uitable kind
rated at the tuyeres ; and it was for t hat reason of steel for piston-rods of steam hammers, and for
t hat he attached importance to the temperature of pistons of marine steam engines and propeller
the escaping gases. The authors, however, were shafts.
accurate obsorvers, and what he had heard would
THE ORES OF B.RAZIL.
lead him to t ake an early opportunity of observing
A paper by Mr. H. K. Scott on "The Manganese
the temperature of the escaping gases, which were Ores of Brazil" was taken as read, the author not
the only true indication.
being present. Mr. Scott, brother to the author,
Sir William Roberts-Austen was glad to see the made, however, a short statement. H e said n early
r ecording pyrometer doing such excellent work. all the ore produced was taken by Messrs. Carnegie
The diagrams attached t o the authors' paper were and Co., and Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan, and Co.
t he best he had ever seen.
It had been said that t he methods used in t he
In r eplying to the discussion, Mr. Harrison said mines were old-fashioned and out of date. That
they had attempted to get regular temperature of was a misconception which arose from the fact that
blast so as to get equal results, a thing that was someone visited t he mines and wrote an account,
distinctive of modern practice. That was shown by which, however, was not published for a considerwhat Sir Lowthia.n Bell had r ecen tly said that old able time afterwards. As a matter of fact, the approcesses were being discarded for new ones to pliances were modern, and the mines were up to
get more regularity.
With the old pipe stoves date.
the temperature was lower, but it was mor e reCONCLUDING PROCEEDINGS.
gular, and although the production was not so
The usual vote of thanks to t he Instit ution of
gr eat, in other respects better results were obtained. Civil Engineers for the use of the theatre was
Their effort had been to get high temperature and proposed by Sir John Alleyne; after which Mr.
r egular working, so as to combine the benefits of Andrew Carnegie proposed a vote of t hanks to the
both systems.
.
President. In acknowledging t he vote, Sir William
.Roberts-Austen said th~t ~t was particularly gratifyGuN T UBES AND PROPELLER SHAFTS.
ing to him that he should have received t he good
A paper by Mr. F. J. R. Carulla entitled "In- wishes of the members of t he Institute t hrough
gots for Gun Tubes and Propeller Shafts,, was the
the personality of so distinguished a r epresentative
last read. This we print in full in our pre~?ent
of the metallurgists of t he other hemisphere as Mr .
l SSUe.
Carnegie. This, he continued, would be the last
The only speaker on Mr. Carulla's paper was London meeting over which he would preside, for
Mr. F. Radcli1i'e, who referred to the author's early in July the Council would meet to select his
statement that an octagonal mould had been used successor.
at Woolwich; and that he, t he author, considered
This brought t he meeting to a close. The attendit must be sounder than a round one, as the ingot ance, we believe, was the largest on record, t he full
would be better, t hough t he squar e form was still
more so. The speaker said that at Wool wich a few audience t hroughout being in pleas~nt contrast to
ingots wer e cast in an octagonal mould which made some of the gatherings of former years, when we
have seen no more t han half-a-dozen persons
the sides concave, but the results obtained did not present. This better attendance is doubtless chiefly
warrant the officials' proceeding furt her with this
form of mould. The ingot cast from it weighed about due to the varied nature and practical character of
t
he
papers
presented,
and
the
Council
are
to
be
88 cwt. The speaker thought that for gun tubes t he
square form of ingot was the most risky one to adopt, congratulated on the result of their labours.
The
autumn
meeting
will,
as
stated
in
our
last
it being suitable only for forged t runnion and
issue,
be
held
in
Paris
on
September
18
and
not
on
breech rings. This was owing to t he fact that,
the
11t
h
of
that month as originally proposed.
when holes are punched and drifted, the metal is
made to flow in a circumfer ential direction. At
Woolwich t hey got over the difficulties of cracks
in the ingots and flows in the forging by either
lining t he moulds with firebricks or composition,
buttons being cast inside to make the mould
adhere. Three or four casts could be made from
a ().ton or a 10-ton mould without re-lining.
No difficulty was experienced in making gun
forgings to stand a soft teRt with a breaking
strength of 30 tons per square inch and 30 per
cent. elongation, when the test is taken longit udinally. When the test is taken transversely,
means have to be t aken t o cause the metal to flow
in a circumferent ial direction during t he operation
of forging, otherwise the average elongation of a
t ransverse test would be about half that taken
longitudinally. A-tubes, liner s, 8 -tubes, j ackets
and trunnions, are mostly tested in a transverse
direction. The middle part of the inner side of
each test-piece must be~ tangent to t he bore. To
successfully forge t hese tubes by means of the ordinary tools at the sten.m hammer is almost impracticable. During the last three years, the speaker
continued, upwards of 3000 gun forgings have been
made in the gun factory at Wool wich, t he number
of failures being under 3 per cent. This success
Mr. Radcliffe attributed to t rustworthy chemicnl
PARIS EXHIBITION RAILWAYS.

( Continued from page 581. )
T HE PARlS M ETROPOLITAN.
IT ma.y appear incorrect to include t he costly

Paris Metropolitan among the railways constructed
for the Exhibition, but on account of the ser vice
it will r ender .to visitors, and from the fact that,
in a measure, it links together t he main sections in
the Champ de Mars and t he far-removed annexe of
Vincennes, it may be claimed for this important
and extensive work t hat it is essentially an Exhibition rail way. R unning from one extremity of
Paris to the other, a.ud with numerous stations on
its r oute at short inter.vals on some of the most
crowded thoroughfares, it cannot fail to be of great
permanent benefit to the city, always badly provided
with surface means of communication, which become
almost paralysed during such exceptional periods as
t he present. One of its extremit ies touches the
fortifications at the P orte de Vincennes, while at
t he Place de la Bastille the already existing Vincennes Railway will help to conduct t he traveller
further on his way to the Vincennes annexe of the
* A description of these tools will be found in P~tenb
No 8709, year 1897.
MAY 18, 1900.]
Exhibition ; he also will find at this same Place de

la Bastille a line of electric tramway, to which we
have referred in a previous article (see E NGINEER
I NO , page 358 ante), that forms an alternative link
in the drawn-out chain of communication. At the
other end of the Metropolitan (which is the realisation of one small part of a vast plan of railways
for the city, that may some day be carried out) is
the chief station of the Place de l'Etoile. From
the Place de l'Etoile there are some extensions,
one of which runs to the P lace d u Trocadero, close
beside the entrance to the colonial section of the
Exhibition. The Paris Metropolitan is thus essentially a Exhibition railway, although its main pur-
FIG.
1.
Flachat ~vas follow.ed later b~ different engineers and workmen. There was another reason why the
a~d syndtcates seekmg c~ncess10ns, and each succes- city Government was opposed to the metropolitan
stve scheme ~resented a dtfferent route, new methods system being in the hands of the great railway
of constru~t10n, and ~ odes of working. No less companies. One of the evident results of such a
than 40 ddferent proJects were- during the 20 combination would have been direct connections
years following ~he origin~l . sche~e-submitted to with. existing lines and frequent. and easy t rain
the F rench Soctety of Ctvil E ngmeers. In 1877 serVIces between the centre of Paris and the suburthe prolonged effor ts were nearly crowned with ban districts. But such facilities would interfere
success. The '!ork was to . be entrusted to the seriously with t he largest source of municipal
g!eat ~rench ra1lway compan1es - an exc~llent idea, revenue- the octroi. All provisions and most const.nce 1t pre.sen~ed a means of ~on~1ectmg all the structive materials, pay a duty for the privilege of
dtfferent matn lme~, and. of estabhshmg one o~ more being consumed, or employed, in Pl:Lris. The
great central statiOns m the heart of Pans. I t enormous sums thus raised of courRe enable the
appears a matter for regret t hat this project could 1 Municipal Government to continually improve and
P LAN OF TJ:IE PARIS M ETROPOLITAN RAILWAY COl\lPLE'IED, AND OF A UTHORISED PROJECTS.
pose is for permanent, and, therefore, for a higher

order of usefulness. In any case, it is to the Exhibition that the Metropolitan Railway owes its
existence at the present time, for the projectalthough an old one- has been delayed for many
years, and would cer tainly have been postponed
still longer, but for the special necessities of the
pr~sent season.
It ~ould occupy too long to de~cribe in detail
the htstory of the many efforts that have been made
to e~tablish a metropolit-an railway in Paris; stilJ,
a br1ef sketch of its history may be given. The
first scheme that was seriously proposed was that
of. MM. Brame and FJachat, as long ago as 1856;
thts was, in fact, a. scheme contemporary with the
London Metropolitan and before that costly exp~riment had been proved to be successfuL The
ptoneere did not easily allow their scheme to be
abandoned ; it passed through many vicissitudes,
an~ often came before the public with various modificat10ns. The example first given by MM. Brame and
not bo carried out ; for, if it had been, P aris ' embellish the capital, but the octroi constitutes a
would to-day possess the most commodious cent ral very formidable tax on the inhabitants, who would,
railway system of any great city, instead of such to a large extent, avoid it, if facilities existed for
a system being non-existent . When the International them to live outside the boundary. The policy
Exhibition of 1889 was decided upon, the question has, therefore, become established not to factlitate
of a metropolitan rail way again became prominent, such emigration of the population, and although
and an elabora.te scheme was prepared. The Govern- such a policy may be open to criticism, it is
ment was cordially in favour of the undertaking, one expressed and adhered to by the Municipal
but the ~Iunici~al Council of Paris was consi~t- Govern!lle~t. The French .Governmen~ approved
ent]y hostile. L,ke the London Oounty Counctl, the pnnc1ple that the Pans Metropoh tan, when
the. ~aris ~funicipal Government is. soci~listic ~nd oo~structed , should be so laid out as . to lead
pohttea~; 1t holds an unco~cealed antmo~1ty agall?st tratns from .all parts of .the country mto the
t he pohcy of t he great ra.1l way compantes, and 1n- heart of Par1s, and thllt 1t ~ hould be the consiste~ th~tanymetropolitan line should be municip~l. nec~ing lin~. between ~he. d~fferent rese~1t,X ; the
If th1s v1ew had been accepted, n o doubt the ra1l- Pans Muntc~pal Coune1l mslSted tha~ It .should
way would have been completed before now, and be a wholly Independent and urban hne, Involvwor~e~ with the w~nt of success so often a.ttendin.g ing ~he nece~sity of changing t~ains for any j?urney
~untc1pal enterprtses. I~ the end, however, tlus ou~~nde Parts, even for. t~avelling. on t~e Cemture.
at m has b~en ach1eved, .p~rt1ally, at all events, for th e I t 1s t rue that the cond1.t10ns of ~olahon were not
l\~etropohtan now pract~cally comp.l~ted, has. been brought so far ~s a ~1fference 1n gauge, but at
duected, and mostly built by mum.CJpal engmeers all events, the d1menstona of tunnels are reducd,
'
THE
P~~RIS
METROPOLITAN
RAILWAY.
0\
(For Description, see Page 638.)
- -
Fw. 2.
'
tr1
"
GJ
R E MOVIN G SPOIL FROM F ACE o F T uNNEL.
Fro .
5.
t'%1
t'%1
RECONSTRUCTION OF STREET S u RFACE AB OVE T oxN.EL.
'
GJ
....
.. r
si
:>
~
-...
00
\0
FIG.
3.
SPOIL WHa.RF ON THE SEINE.
Fro.
4.
Hors TING CRANE FOR REMOvAL o F SPOIL.
T H E
RAILWA Y .
M ETR OPO LIT A N
P ARIS
>
~
(For Description, see P age 638.)
"'"'"4
...00
\0
t:r1
C)
~
F xo .
6.
METHOD oF E RRCl'JN G G x anERS
FvR
CovERED
F1o .
\VAY.
7.
G I RDER CovERE D WAY, R uE DE RIVOLI STATIO~.
ti1
ti1
:=o
~
z
C)
0\
....
Fro. 8.
T C'JSNEL M ooTH AT END OF STATION.
FIG.
9.
CoNSTRUCTI ON OF MAsoNR Y C o v ERE D
WAY,
P LAcE DE LA B ASTILLE.
..
E N G I N E E RI N C.
so that the rolling stock of any of the main lines
cannot pass along the rails of the Metropolitan.
It is difficult to unders tand how such a decision
could have been authorised. So far as its own
traffic is concerned, the Paris underground rail way
will be of constantly increasing importance, but it
can never serve as a connection with existina
lines, as our own Metropolitan has been made ~
do, and in that r~spect its future usefulness will be
limited.
It was under such general conditions that the
Paris Metropolitan Rail way system was decided on,
~nd conces~ions granted. The privilege of worklog the rall ways was accorded to a corporation
called the '' Compagnie Generale de Traction,"
but the works themselves-at leas t, so far as the
underground portions were concerned- were to be
carried out by the Paris Municipal body, which,
like our own London County Council, had high
ambitions in the building way. It therefore undertook -having recourse largely to contractors- to
execute all the tunnels, covered way, open
cutting, the viaducts, and the restoration of all
roads under which the lines would pass; it also
undertook the construction of station work below
the ground level, including the platforms. On the
other hand, the concessionaires were responsible
for station buildings on the street level, for the
electric power stations and plant for the production of current for lighting and traction, and, of
course, for the general equipment and working of
the line.
The cost of the municipal part of the undertaking has been estimated in a very general fashion
at a sum of 165 mill ions of francs for a system of
not less than 80 kilometres; this is equivalent
to 6, 600, OOOl. for 60 miles, or 132, OOOl. a mile.
When . it is remembered that the lines are constructed at a very slight depth beneath the surface
for the most part, involving the deviation and reconstruction of sewers, and, in fact, of the magnificent
underground system of Paris, so far as it is interfered with by the line of railway, this sum appears
too moderate. We are informed, indeed, that it
will be largely exceeded, and if the Paris J;UUnicipal
methods resemble those of our own County Council,
there is no doubt that this will be the case, for the
former, so far, have worked in the same manner,
employing contractors partly, and for the rest
their own engineers and workmen. With the
natural municipal desire to remain in favour with
the latter, they have established rates of wages
higher than those ruling in the open market,
and not only are these paid to their own workmen,
but the workmen of the contractors employed also
participate in the same advantages of reduced hours
of labour, and increased pay. Municipal socialism
appears to have a stronger hold in Paris than in
London. But even if the estimates werd not to be
exceeded, the liability incurred by the Ville de
Paris for the construction of the Metropolitan
system will be enormous. There is no cause for
surprise at the constantly increasing taxes with
which Parisians are burdened, or that the Ville de
Paris should be opposed to any measure tending to
reduce the octroi receipts. On the other hand, the
concessionaires- the Compagnie General de Traction- has assumed enormous liabilities. Besides
its immediate outlay, which will be very large, the
t ~rm of the concession is for 35 years, a short
period in which to provide for a.mortisation of
capital; moreover, th~ gross re.cetpts are to be
divided between the Vtlle de Paris and the concessionaire company in a manner we will briefly describe.
In order to ascertain how brge these receipts
might be, it was necessary in the first place to ~e
cide upon the rates of charges to be made, wluch
are to be as follows : The trains will be made up
of two classes of carriages, and the price of tickets,
independent of distanc~, will be 26 centimes for
first-class and 15 centimes for the second. F or the
benefit or' workmen, tickets at special rates will be
issued before nine in the morning at a uniform rate
of 20 centimes ; these will be ''round trip , ticke~,
givina the holder the right to return by any train
during the day. ~order to gai~ a ~e~urn on the first
estimated expenditure-the 16o m1~hon of fra!lcs, ?f
which we spoke just now- the V1lle de P11r1s w1ll
receive from the c>ncessionaire company, the sum
of 6 centimes for each return ticket sold ; the same
sum for each second-class ticket, and 10 centimes
for each first-class ticket. If the number of p~s
sengers carried during the year excee~s 140 mi!lions, the proportion coming to the V llle de Pan
(MAY 18,
1900.
will be increased by 1 millime per passenger, from ~oned; a line (H) is proje~ted to penetrate
140 to 160 millions, by 2 millimes for each passenger; Into the catacomb quarter, whwh is one of tho
from 150 to 160 millions, and so on, by 3, 4, and 6 most ~iserable in Paris, and which is practimillimes ; no increase will come to the municipality cally w1thout any means of communiec1.tion. It is
on any passsenger excess above 180 millions. The at present intended that this rail way shall be conarrangement appears somewhat complicated, and str~cted! it will certainly be inte~esting as an
the chances are small that the number of passengers engmeermg work on account of the d1fficulties that
will exceed 140 millions for a long time to come, would be encountered.
taking into consideration the way in which the
The scheme as elaborated is in tunnel for seventrains are made up, and the conditions of travel. tenths of its whole length ; less than one-fifth is
We have explained this curious arrangement in in cutting, and the remainder is on viaduct. The
some detail, because it forms an interesting example latter type of construction has been avoided as
of municipal enterprise, and one which would no much as possible, in spite of the fact that Parisian
doubt be gladly followed by our own County passengers do not like underground travelline1.
Council were it permitted the opportunity. When Tho Ville de Paris has undertaken to deliver to
it is remembered that the great railway companies the concessionaire company, within a period of
of France undertook to carry out this same work eight years, a total length of 42 kilometres of
with the additional advantages of creating a central railway, a contract which will almost certainly not
station in Paris and establishing a means of rail way be adhered to. But however this may be, the fact
communication between the different systems, the of actual interest is that the fi.r.it line of the system
suburbs, and the provinces, which, as we have and some branches are practically completed, and
seen, the Paris Metropolitan is not designed to do, that these are essentially adapted to serve as
it will, we think, be realised that a striking Exhibition rail ways.
The engineers who preexample is afforded, of the undesirability of plac- pared the general scheme, specified that it would
ing t oo much power in the hands of the munici- be desirable to use a shield in driving the tunnels.
pality.
This recommendation, however, did not meet with
The plan of the complete Metropolitan R!lilway great success, because of the slight depth of the
scheme of Paris, which we publish in Fig. 1, shows tunnel below the streets, which, moreoYer, for the
the undertaking to be one of enormous proportions, most part, are more or less filled with sewers, and
the entire completion of which is more than doubt- mains for water, gas, compressed air, &c. Largely
ful, especially in view of the fact that some of the in consequence of these existing works, all of
great railway companies have already completed, or which had to be deviated and reconstructed, not
are carrying out, extensions which will penetrate only has the cost been very largely increased, but
more or less into the heart of the city. The pro- the traffic in many places has been interrupted for
posed Metropolitan system comprises a number of a long time. Although, as we have already said,
principal lines with junctions between each of them the sections of the tunnels are not large enough to
and three supplementary lines. The first of the admit the standard rolling stock of the main lines,
former, marked A on the plan, and the only one the amount of material excavated has been very
with which we arc concerned since it is that now great, as the line is, of course, double throughalmost completed, commences at the Porte de Vin- out. The minimum radius adopted for the
cennes, and running in a westerly direction, extends curves is 246 ft., and all curves in opposite
as far as the Porte Dauphine at the entrance of the directions have to be connected by a tangent of at
Bois de Boulogne; it is a low-levelline for the whole least 165 ft.; only one exception to this rule exists,
of its length, which is a little more than 11 kilo- a.t the exit of Place de la Bastille station, where two
metres ; over this are distributed 18 stations, the curves of minimum radius are connected by a tanchief of which are Vincennes, Bastille, Lyon, Hotel gent 115ft. long. The maximum gradient is 1 in
de Ville, Louvre, Palais R oyal, Tuilleries, Champs- 25, and two inclines in opposite directions are
Elysees, Place de l'Etoile, Trocadero. It is claimed always separated by a level gradient of at least
by certain French critics that the line has been 165 ft. long. No level crossings are permitted at
badly laid out, in this sense, that its principal branches or junctions, which has necessitated a very
obj ect is t o connect the centre of Paris with its costly construction of special tunnels, generally in
two great promenades, the Bois de Boulogne and single line, and similar to those which we recently
the Bois de Vincennes, while the only actual reason described as having been built on the Champ de
for constructing so costly a wotk as a metropolitan Mars Rail way in passing above or below the princirail way should be to assist traffic in the crowded pal tracks. The stations are on level gradients,
commercial quarters. The second line (B), which, and when an incline immediately succeeds, the level
with the others, of course, is only projected, will is extended as far as possible in order to facilitate
commence near the end of the first at the top of the the starting of trains.
Champs Elysees by the Arc de Triomphe, and will
We shall, on another occasion, publish a series
be at first in tunnel or in open cutting, then on of type sections of the Paris underground railviaduct ; it will to a certain extent be a circular way, as carried out; meanwhile, we may say
railway, duplicating the Ceinture at a short distance that the tunnels are built with curved sides, the
from it. It will cut the first line when passing in internal width being 21 ft. 8 in. at the rail level,
front of the Lyons and Orleans rail way stations, and 23 ft. 3. 5 in. at the springing of the arch,
without making any junctions with the lines of which is 8 ft. above rail level. The height of the
these latter companies, and will terminate at the elliptical arch is 6ft. 9.5 in., and that of the two
Place de l'Etoile. The length of this line will be side walls is 9 fti. 6. 6 in. ; these are connected by
over 23 kilometres, and it, together with the one an invert, the lowest part of which is 27. 5 in.
which has been executed, are the only two of the below the rails. The total clear height in the
system, the route of which will be clearly under- centre of the arch is 17 ft.; the invert is built with
stood by those who ~re not thoroughly familiar n. rc1dius of 67 ft. 6 in., and the thickness of the
with Paris ; the directions of the others are more masonry is 19.69 in. in the centre; the thickness
or less obscure. Thus, for example, one of the of the elliptical arch is 21.6 in., and that of the
projected lines (C) leaves the Port Maillot, that is to side walls about 29 in.; these walls are curved with
say one end of the Bois de Boulogne, and passing a radius of 39 ft. 4 in. ; recesses are made in the
the circular line, is extended near the Ceinture Rail- side wa1ls on each side of the tunnel, 82 ft.
way, into a district which at the present time is apart. The inner faces of the walls are clothed
only badly served with omnibus and tramway throughout with a coating 2 centimetres thick, of
lines. This rail way would have a length of 9 V assy cement for the arch, and of P ortland cement
kilometres, the same mileage as that of a fourth for the side walls and the invert. The whole of
line (D) laid out to run across Paris from north to the masonry is built of the stone employed usually
south. It would be unnecessary to attempt any in Paris and the neighbourhood, for the foundations
explanation of the various branches and connec- of buildings ; it is a stone well suited for the pmtions projected to supplement these railways ; pose, as it possesdes a high power of resistance to
they are marked on the plan, but it may be crushing. The single -line tunnels, which are
mentioned, however, that none of them con- chiefly used for connecting lines, have a width of
template direct relations with the exterior of 12ft. 9.5 in. at rail level, and 14ft. 1 in. at the
Paris. As for the remainder of the scheme, it springing, which is 6 ft. 2 in. above rails; the conmay be mentioned briefly that the fifth line (E) has struction closely resembles that we have described
a length of 4 kilometres, and another (F) of 6 kilo- for the double-line tunnel. The circular arch has
metres ; this last named, practically follows for the a radius of 7 ft. 0. 6 in., with a thickness of 19.7 in.
wholo of its length, the circular railway to which at the centre, and 23.6 in. at the springings ;
we first referred. Another line (G) was laid out the side walls are 8 ft. 3 in. high, and 23.6 in.
on the same course as the actual ' extension of thick, with curved inner faces forming arcs of
the Orleans Railway, but this has been aban- circles of aboqt 39 ft. radiu~. The io vert has "
'
MAY 18, 1900.]

"
curved inner face of about 70 ft. radius, and a

thickness in the centre of 19 in.; the underside has a fiat bearing on the ground 16 ft . 3 in.
wide.
The stations are of several types ; a few are in
open cutting, some oth ers are in masonry tunnel ;
othera are in girder-covered way with side walls and
inverts of masonry, and finally there are the terminal stations of which we shall publish plans on another occasion. These latter are arranged practically
as two stations, of the looped type, one for arriving,
and the other for outgoing, trains; they are connected
by a circular single-track tunnel, but in no case is
any provision mado, although this would have
been quite easy of accomplishment, to connect
with any of the main lines, or even with the
Ceinture. The arched type of station has b een
adopted wherever the water-bearing strata. has
not prevented a sufficien tly low rail level; the
subsoil of P aris is for the most part freely charged
with water at comparatively sligh t depths, and t his
was one of the difficulties that had to be overcome
by means of the shield which has been so successfully employed on many underground works in t his
country. These arched stations have a clear width
inside of 46 ft. 4 in. at the springing level which is
4 ft. 11 in. above the rails ; they are covered by
nn elliptical arch with a rise of 11 ft. 6 in. in the
centre, and are made with an elliptical invert, the
lowest point of which is 27 in. below the rail;
the total height is 18 ft. 8 in. The invert and
the side walls up to t he platform level are
covered with a coating of Portland cement ; the
rest of the arch is lined with glazed bricks or tiles
which will largely assist t he electric lighting of the
stations. The standard length of the platforms is
246 H., which will accommodate trains of six
carriages, the length of each carriage being 39 ft.
The level of the platform approximates with that
of the footboards of the carriages ; at first it was
decided to make these platforms 33 in. above the
rail level, but this was afterwards increased to 37 in. ;
they are 13 ft. 1 in. wide, with a transverse slope
of about 1 in., and they are carried on counter-arches
and brick piers built at right angles to the access of
the tunnel.
The stations built with girder-covered way have
tl. clear width of 44 ft. 3 in.; this structure is carried
on side walls connected by an invert of similar form
to that used in the tunnels. The structure consists of
a series of airders with small arches turned between,
as is illust~ated in the engravings which we publish
on page 641. The ends of the girders rest on hard
bedstones and between these the face of the walls
is chamfe;ed to an angle of 45 deg., the work being
finished with st~ne-facing ; the main girders are
connected by a series of longitudinal beams, which
are shown clearly in the illustration. The u!lderside of the arches turned between the ma1n
girders will not be concealed, an?, inde~d, ~ill
be used as a decorative feature ID the 1nter10r
of the Rtation.
For the terminal stations a combination of the
arched type has been adopted, together with singletrack tunnel. We shall see, however, that Rome
special constructions have been foun~ desirabl~ to
meet particular requirements, partly 1n connectiOn
with the Exhibition service. As we have already
said, the station buildings had to be constructed. by
the concessionaire company, and not by. the Vllle
de Paris although, of course, the designs were
approved' by the latt.er body. ~h~ principal conditionij to be filled ID t hese buildmgs were-easy
access for the public, ample communication between
the street and platform levels, and that they
should not be so conspicuous as to interfere
with the harmonious perspectives. of the stree~s.
For the following data. on this subJect, we are Indebted to Mr. Hervieu, Conducteur des Ponts et
Ohausses, and chief of the technical service of the
Metropolitan Railway. Speakinggener~lly, theme~ns
of access to the station consists of a starrway starting
at the street level and leading to an u.ndergro.und
gallery containing the ticket offices, and Withopenu~gs
to other staircases and footbridges connected With
the departure and arrival platforms ; in ~any ~ases
special staircases are also pro\"ided leadmg direct
from the arrival platforms to the stre~t. . It seems
as if a single entrance, such as IS In r:nany
cases provided for stations where. the tr~ffic ":1ll be
extremely heavy, will be found Insuffi?Ient 1f the
Metropolitan is to be as crowded as 1s generally
supposed. It is to be r egretted that no su b:way
communications are provided betwe<:n those s~twns
which adjoiq the s~ti9ns o! the Qe1nture Ra1l way,
E N G I N E E RI N G.
and which .also are at a low l~vel ; passengers going
from one hne to the other will therefore be obliged
to make use of an unnecessary and fatiguing number
of stairs.
In the construction of the line now n early finished
many serious difficulties have been encountered and
successfully overcome, t hanks to the skill of the engineers in charge of the works, Messrs. Bien venue,
engineer -in-chief, Legou ez, assistant engineer, and
Biette, L ocherer, and Briotet, resident engineers.
On t he line of railway six main sewers of large
dimension s were met with; the principal of these,
called the Rue de Rivoli collector, which runs along
the whole length of the street of that name, had to
be removed and replaced by three n ew sewers ;
these importan t works were preliminary to the construction of the railway, and it was found impossible to execute them, ex.cept by open cutting,
although it was t he original intention that the whole
of the work should be completed without interfering with the street traffic. On other parts of the
route t he levels have been such that the railway
could be constructed above or below the collectors.
The tunnel was made either by driving with the
help of a shield or by ordinary headings; wherever
it was possible, the cut-and-cover system was
adopted, as shown in Fig. 6 ; but, unfortunately,
the conditions were such as not always to permit
the excavation of the ground and building of
the tunnel in this manner. It was now here
necessary to drive underneath existing buildings, which diminished the risk of settlements.
These, however, unfort unately, have not been
very rare, and on the Place de la Concorde, as
well as in other places, it was necessary to stop
all traffic t emporarily in order to r eadj ust the
surface levels of the streets, which had become
seriously affected by the tunnelling operations beneath. S everal types of shields were adopted;
some of these were of the full section of the
tunnel, and were made of a series of rings. In
other instances, the shield only protected the
arched portion of the tunnel which was constructed
under this shelter, the side walls and invert being
built by the aid of headings. In every case, as soon
as the arch was constructed, thew hole of the earth was
removed by means of wagons hauled by an electric
locomotive and brought beneath an electric hoist,
of which we give an illustration, Fig. 4; by this the
earth was raised into wagons and carried to some
convenient dumping ground. When it was not found
expedient to use the shield, mor e ordinary methods
of tunnelling were adopted. In certain places an
advance heading, about 6ft. 6 in. high, at the inver t
level, was driven ; this was followed by a second
heading driven above the first one and separated
from it by a thickness of 18 in.; the arch was then
built, utilising the upper ~urface of the ground to
retain the centring. At Intervals of 33ft., openings were made in the floor of t~e upper heading to
discharge the excavated earth Into wagons placed
below. As soon as the arch was completed, the
ground separating the two headings was broken
down and lateral excavations were made in short
lenCYths to construct the side walls, care being
alw~ys taken that sufficient solid ground was left
between the lengths of side wall to support the
arch in safety.
(To be continued.)
MODERN FIELD ARTILLERY.

(Oontilnuecl fr(Yfll page 609. )
THE ScHN EIDER-CA.NET S YSTEM.
75-Millimetre (2.952-In.) (}ll!n, Long T,vpe, o~t
Ocvrriage with Trail Spade and .R.yd?'a'lU1c. Rec01l

Otjlinde?s ( Figs. 125 to 136).- The followmg are
particulars :
Weight of gun
.. .
,
oar1 iage ...
,
projectile
Muzzle velocity
. ..
Energy of projectile
.. .
...
33:l kilogs. (734 lb.)

670 ,
{1476 , )
. ..
6.5 ,
(14a , )
.. .
560 m . ( 1837 ft.)
... 104 t .-m. (346 foot-tons).
This type contains the following chief ~odifica

tions : The breech is opened in one actio~ ; . the
carriage embodies a device f?r lateral tramm~ ;
the trail is fitted with an elast10 spade and a trailshoe ; the fitting of the g un in the cradle is .not ~he
same as in the preceding model : the 1ecoil c~l.m
ders form part of the. cradle, inste!'d of r ecoihng
with the gun. Recoil Is r~duc~d owing to ~he combined action of an hydraulic cylinder, a spring recuperator, and an elastic trail-spade. U,nder ~he
maximum angle of 20 deg. the range 1s 8 ktlo..
metres (5 miles). The distance between the wheels

on the ground is 1. 200 metres (47! in.). The gun
goes through the axle, so as to r educe the rising up
of the system and give it the required stability,
notwithstanding the slight distance between the
wheels. When it is required to transport th~
material from one place to another, the gun is given
the maximum positive angle, so as to prevent the
muzzle from coming in contact with the ground
on passing through ditches.
The gun is of forged and hardened steel manufactured to the req uirem~nts of t he French ordnance r egulations. I t is 2.470 metres (97.240 in.)
in length, and is built up of t hree parts, the tube
in which the breech-block is screwed, a jacket over
about half the length of the tube, and a chase coil
fitted in with tongue and groor e. The force of
r ecoil is transmitted to the recoil cylinders from the
jacket, there being, therefore, no un breeching effort
to counteract. The jacket carries a certain number
of parts forged in one piece with it, namely, t he
lugs which hold the r ecoil piston-rods and the recuperator-rods, the flanges that act as guides in the
cradle, t he T -shaped guide for lateral training, and
the hinge which carries the breech- block. The
breech-block seating is made with t wo threaded
parts and two interruptions.
The breech-closing device contains but a limited
number of pieoes, and these are strong and of
simple shape ; they are easily put in place and
removed by hand, no tool being required. It projects but little over the rear end of the gun. Firing
takes place by percussion, the striker being cocked
automatically; the gun can also be fired by electricity. The carriage has an hydraulic recoil and independent spring recuperator. It is fitted with a
spade placed half-way between the carriage axle
and the trail end. The spade is made with an
elastic joint. According to the hardness of the
ground, it penetrates more or less by varying the
length of the traction-rod with a key. During
t ransport, it is raised and hooked on to the trail.
The r ecoil of the gun on the carriage has been
limited to .300 metre (11.811 in.) ; t his was the
maximum that it seemed possible to obtain with
a direct-acting spring r ecuperator made independent of the recoil cylinders, the liquid in these
being under no pressure when the gun is not in
action. This length of recoil did not prevent the
recoil of the carriage owing to the power of the
gun compared t o its weight, but this model, as it
stands, contains improvements which allow the
lateral training t o be rapidly r ectified, and the firin g
of eight to ten aimed r.ounds per minute. The r~coil
pistons are n ot made tight ; the recuperator sprmgs
require no regulating, and the system of connecting
the gun to the carriage is very simple.
The axle is made with a wide opening in its centre,
in which the cradle is placed (Fig. 130) ; the latter
is made with two trunnions, round which it pivots,
c~rrying the gun with it. The axle journals ar.e
conical, and in a straight line; the wheels are lubncated through the centre, so that they need not be
removed. The gun-metal cradle is fitted with the
recoil cylinders, the seatings for the vertical trunnions and the lugs for fixing the recuperat~r
casings, and the sight and sca~e . T~~ tw? recOil
cylinders are placed latera1ly m a lme w1th the
centre of the gun, so as not to create diagonal friction of the latter in the cradle. The recuperator
springs work in compression; they are contained
in steel casings joined to the cradle '?Y .collars.
The trail is built up of steel plates ; 1t IS made
with two brackets and t wo stay-plates, the latter
hollowed out to a1low a free recoil for the gun.
It carries in front the jointed supports on the axle,
and in the r ear the trail-plate which rests on the
ground ; it is, moreover, ~tted with all the r equisite accessories. When In battery, the gun and
cradle are balanced on the axle. To obtain the
required elevation, the cradle is made to turn by
means of a crank which operates a curved rack
fixed to the cradle through an endless scr~w. and a
pinion. The crank~ endless scr~w, and p1n1on are
held in a support bolted on the l'Jght-hand bracket.
A handwheel serves to r egulate the pressure on
the endless-screw wheel, the latter being dr~ ven by
friction thus the junction of the gun w1th the
carriaCYe' is not too rigid, yet sufficiently so to P.revent :ny deviation that might be ~aused by acti~g
on the firing line. F or transportmg the matertal
from one place to the other, the ~un is buckled on
the carriage, the breech-end bemg lowered, and
thus the mechanism s uffers no shocks:
The gun is trained laterally, as 18 customary,
..
[MAY 18,
1900.
SCHNEIDER-CANET 75-MILLIMETRE GUN-CARRIAGE AND LIMBER.

F'fl .
1Z6 .
'
I ;
..
Fig.
tz'l .
j.Wt. o.\
Fig.
l:ltB .
Rg .
190.
I
I
--
.,
__
- ~t
I
I
,.
. 131. Brake
Fitf. 7:l9 .
I
Cs93fCJ
..
I-O-
. -- .
&-
Fifj. l88. B ack View.
..
...
--++-
Fi1J .134 .
~~~ ~;:("-~~
I
0
0
with the help of the trail lever ; in this model,

however, two small sights have been added on the
axle, which give a central sighting line, and enable
the man at the trail to replace the gun in the required direction when a round has been fired. The
gunner has then only to give the gun a sHght lateral
displacement on the carriage, by means of a handwheel and an endless screw, which engages a horizontal sector ; with this device the gun can be made
to pivot through about 2 deg. on each side.
The hand wheel is fitted on an arm fixed to the axle,
and the sector is made movable over a dovetailed
arc. The gun slides, during recoil, in aT-shaped
groove, which joins it to the system, while it does
not prevent its displacement. The wheel-brake
consists of a cross-piece fitted with shoes ; two suspensions under the trail ; two bars and two cranknuts carried in the axle supports. The brake is
only used occaC3ionally during firing. The gun is
F-0 -125.
-
-
- -
+---
..
. .,
I
I
sighted by means of a scale and sight placed on the taneously. A small oscillating level is provided to
right side of the cradle, at a sufficient height, so rectify elevation in quick firing.
To maintain the carriage in perfect working order
that the gunner has not to stoop when he sights
the gun ; sighting and loading take place simul- it is only necessary to keep it clean and well lubri-
MAY I 8, 1900.]
SOHNEIDER-OANET 75-MI~LIMETRE GUN AND CARRIAGE .

, .
Fro. 135. 75
MlLLDIETRE
GeK AND CARRI AGE WITH HYDRAULIC BR AKE AND TttAIL-Si>ADE.
. ....,... .;
- . -
- ..
...
..
- -
.
~
- ..
Fro. 141.
FIG.
136.
75-MlLLIMETRE GUN WITH
DEr.uL
cated. Leakage of liquid from t he recoil cylinders

is not to be feared; it could only take p lace through
the glands t hat surround the rods, and t hese are
easily kept quite tight. The recuperator springs
being regulated in advance to run out t he gun completely under t he greatest firing angle, they are
submitted t o only moderate action, and require
no _attention during firing. The surfaces against
whiCh there is a. sliding action, remain uncovered
only during t he time recoil lasts. The limber is
practically similar to that of the preceding type.
..
The guide contains the recoil cylinder and the

recuperator ; it pivots horizontally on the axle,
t hus allowing a lateral deviation of more than
- 3 deg. on each side. For elevating the whole
system, formed by the gun, the guide, and the axle,
pivots to t he carriage brackets, wit h the help of a
hand crank, an endless screw, a friction wheel, a
square pinion, and a toothed sector. The recoil
oylinder allo ws a longer recoil t han in the preceding models, so as to reduce t he rising of the carriage when the gun is fired. The recuperator
consists of a multiplying piston, loaded wit h Bellevilla springs ; the opening of the ports in the recoil
cylinder is r egulated by a central r od with varying
section.
At first the carriage was fitted wit h a wide spade
under th~ axle, but t his was later on replaced by a
wide trail-spade which worked better. In order to
endeavour to still further reduce lateral deviation,
this type has been tried with two small ploughshares placed under the axle, and which acted in
conjunction wit h the trail-spade ; t his gave the
carriage three bearing points in the ground and the
arrangement worked well.
Two seats have been added for t he gunners, and
the experiments demonstrated that the muzzle
velocity for this particular type could reach 480
metres (1575 ft.) wit hout inconvenience to the
gunners.
In short, this was the first model which embodied
a long recoil for the gun, the carriage being nonrecoiling, rising but slight ly, and in which seats
were provided for tw0 gunners.
75-Millimet;re (2.952-In .) G1,t,n, L ong T ype, on
Ocvrriage, uvith 1Iydtaulic R ecoil and T1ail-Spade
Long T ype, on (Figs. 139, 140, and 141) :
75-Millimeke (2. 952-In.) G-wn,

Oct,r?iage 1tJith H yd!rattlic R ecoil, and Spade ~t,ndcr
A xle or at E nd of T1ail (Figs. 137 and 138) :
::
..
'
HYDRAULIC BRAKE ANn TRAIL-SPADE.
OF T&A!L-SPAD.t:.
Weight of gun
.. .
~~~j~~~rl~..
Muzzle velocity
.. .
Energy of projectile...
...
330 kilogs. ( 727 lb.)
::: ~~~ :: ~15i~g :: ~
Weigh b of gun
...
,
carriage .. .
,
projectile
Muzzle velocity
...
Energy of projectile
. . . 396 kilogs. (873 lb.)

. .. 642 ,, (1415 , )
. .. 6.5 ,
(14~ , )
...
550 m. (1804 ft.}
... 100 t. -m. (333 foot-tons).
In this t.ype the special objects were to design a

...
550 m. (1804 fo. )
.. .102.5 t. -m. (341 foot-tons). carriage adapted for quick and precise firing. In
In this specimen t he gun is fitted at its lower order to prevent rising of the wheels and lateral
part with a bearing solepl$\te which slides, during deviation of the gun produced by the percussion
recoil, in a gun-metal guide fitted to the carriage. when firing, the gun is connected to the carriage by
,E N G I N E E R I N G.
(MAY 18,
1900.
CARRIAGE FOR 75-MILLIMETRE GUN WITH HYDRAULIC BRAKE.

/
Fig -137.
/
I
-I.
.-
,- ----.""-.
"\'
--
_,.,.
\ _,'
--
'
'---..
./
~
\
--
'
Fifj. 738 .
FU] . 139.
,,o.
.-
--
--'"-...
-- r...
_,
-- :t- .
,/
---- ..
,... ---"----~
.
, ..r
.I
_,.
.,....~""
'
Cl:)
-. .
./
,...- - -c:+,
! r- -
.I
---~~~=~-:,=-- -j-
recoil of the gun. When the recoil is spent, the

compressed air exerts a pressure on the liquid and
forces it to return through small ports in the liquid
cylinder, which causes the return of the gun in two
or three seconds, and with equal smoothness, whatever be the firing angle. During the time taken by
the gun to return, it is loaded and set, so that no
time is lost in serving it. Besides the cylinder
covers which limit the air space, diaphragms are
provided, which separate the air from the liquid upon
which it bears, and which is under an equal pressure. Escape of air cannot, therefore, take place.
In exceptional cases, however, if there was such an
escape, the joints are easily repaired or replaced,
and two men can recharge the air cylinder in a few
minutes, with the help of a small pump, which
forms part of the accessories of a battery. The
device for checking recoil requires no attention and
runs no risk, unless-as would be the case for the
gun itself-it happened to be destroyed by the fire
from the enemy. Repairing of the joints is quite
an exceptional operation, but it is easily carried out
from the stores supplied wit h each gun, and does
not require any special skill on the part of gunners.
The smaller part of the carriage is of gun-metal,
and it cg,rries t he cradle trunnions. It is held
on the larger part by circular clamps, and a
pivot on which it is movable to correct deviat ions in trd.ining, but which holds it firm during
firing; it can easily be taken to pieces. The
larger part of the mounting consists of two brackets
with the edges brought down, joined together by
top and bottom trail-plates and stay-bars; in the
rear is fixed a strong spade, the top part of which is
bent horizontal, to prevent the trail from ploughing
up the ground. Owing to this arrangement the
trail is always displaced easily. This part of t he
mounting is, moreover, fitted with the setting
mechanism, various other devices, and with the
wheel drag. The axle is of t empered gun steel;
it is held on t op of the brackets, and the journals
are lubricated t hrough the centre, this rendering it
unnecessary to remove the wheels. It is fitted
with two seats suspended on springs. The righthand seat is provided with a small auxiliary sight,
which enables the gunner at the trail to . set the
carriage in a line with the target.
The gun-training sector is in the plane of t he
carriage and turns on an axle at the r ear of the
axle; it is driven by means of a crank, an endless
screw, a helicoidal whee1, and a pinion . The
endless screw and the helicoidal wheel are placed
in a casing which protects t hem from dust and
accidental shocks. The helicoidal wheel is not
keyed on the training shaft, but drives it through
a spiral spring ; this gives a certain elasticity
to the system and protects t he mechanism against
shocks caused by the firing and the joltmg during
transport. When it is r equired to shift the mate1iel,
the gun is strapped to the carriage at the breech
end, to insure the safety of the training mechanism.
The top part of the sector is fitted with a d ovetailed slide, made to travel laterally through an
li H
a hydro-pneumatic recoil cylinder. Owing to the

lengt h of recoil and to the weight of the gun, the
effort on the carriage when the gun is fired,
is too slight to cause the wheels to rise. Consequently, unde r the usual conditions of field service
and on any nature of ground, each round produces
a recoil of only a few centimetres without increased
penetration of the spade, or rising of the carriage.
This type contains besides all the secondary
appliances deemed most advantageous for quickfiring artillery ; t he cartridge-case is metallic ; the
breech opens in one action; the empty cartridgecase is withdrawn and the striker is cocked automatically ; the gun can be displaced on the carriage for
lateral training; the sigh ts are placed laterally on
the cradle, which facilitates laying the gun during
return and loadiag; sights enable the gunner at
the trail lever to place the gun in p osition, &c.
These advantages, joined to the stability of the
carriage, allow the gun to be so quickly served that
it can fire 16 aimed rounds per minut e.
The gun is of steel of the standard quality. It
consists of a tu be, strengthened in the rear by a
jacket, and in front, up to the muzzle, by coils.
This construct ion has been chosen in order to
strengthen the system followed for guiding the
gun, and t o render the latter heavier, so as to
reduce the effort on the carriage caused by firing ;
it has, morever, the ad vantage of increasing to a
marked degre3 the coefficient of security in case
projectiles charged with high explosives should
burst in the bore. Besides this, the coiling of the
chase reduces the heating of this part of the gun
during rapid fire. The tube is made to butt against
the r ear end of the j acket to which the recoil piston
is jointed. The jacket does not have to withstand
any longitudinal effort; bot h it and t he chase coils
are made with guiding flanges which project on
each side of the gun, and are not liable to sustain
any damage. 1'hese guides extend over a length
of 2 metres (7S. 74 in.), and during recoil they
remain constantly engaged in the cradle; this
reduces frict ion, and insures a regular ret urn of the
gun, whatever be the firing angle.
The carriage is in two parts ; the larger, which
is held on the axle, is fitted at the rear with a rigid
trail-spade; the smaller part carries the cradle on
horizontal trunnions, and is made to pivot laterally
on the larger part of the carriage. The cradle in
which the gun slides is in one piece, and is made to
contain t he liquid and air cylinders of t he hydropneumatic recoil system. The cradle is of tempered
gun-steel; the groov.es in ~vh.ich t~e flanges slide that
auide the gun, are lined 1ns1de with brass. On the
left-hand side of the cradle are placed the scales
and sights. The rear en~ of the guid? is. conn?cted
with the training mecharusm. The h q md cyhnder
is placed near t he gun, and immediately below it.
The recoil piston is joined to the rear of the g un by
an elastic joint, the bushes being made absolutely
tight. When ~he gun recoi~s the liq~i~ is forced
into the air cyhndera at the sides, by ra1s1ng loaded
valves. It compresses the air, and this limits the
,;
endless screw worked by a crank. The slide is

joined to the cradle by means of a spherical head
that moves in a groove ; it causes the lateral displacement of the cradle as well as its elevation.
The cradle and gun being balanced when the gun
is run out, the training is rapidly and smoothly
effected.
(To be continued.)
HAND AND MACHINE LABOUR.

(Continued from page 428.)
WoonwoRK.- DooRs, WINDow FRAMEs, &c.

SoME time ago a trade union strike was ordered
because an attempt was made to introduce America.n-made door and window frames into this country,
the British workmen refusing to erect the imported
goods in their position. We do not propose to
enter into the question as to whet her such workers'
action was justifiable ; but the fact proves that
something is t o be learned from a study of American conditions, for goods are only imported when
they cannot be produced at home in sufficient
quantities or at the same low price. The facts
brought out in the report before us are, t herefore, specially interesting. We take first a cherry
five-panel door, 3 ft. by 6 ft. 6 in., having solid
panels, veneered rails and stiles, and the general
results are given in Table LXXXVII. In the
old method the corn plete door was the work of one
carpenter earning Ss. 4d. per day of 10 hours, while
33 are engaged under the machine system, many
of them earning 50 per cent. more wages, the labourer
even getting Ss. 4d. per day. Not only were t he
saws driven by steam power, but planing, morticing, boring, sand-papering, &c., were done by
machine power, and thus tho time taken per door
is reduced from 27! hours to 10! hours. The
TAB LE
LXXXVI I .- Production of 50 Oher1-y Doors

3 Ft. by 6 Ft. 6 In.
Mode of Production.
Hand.
Machine.
Date...
...
...
...
1857
1895
Number of different operations involv~d .. .
. ..
18
21
Number of workmen employed ...
...
...
1
33
Number of hours worked 1385 b. 0 m. 510 h. 0 m.
Cost of labour . ..
. . . 277 dols. 19l.G2 dols.
Average rate of wages per
hour
.. .
. ..
. ..
20 oen ts
37 oen ts
men, too, have profited, as t heir average wage has
increased from 10d. per hour to 1s. 6d. per hour,
and yet the cost of the door is still much less- under
4 dols.
In the case of 50 white pine doora the result is
still more remarkable. Here, again, instead of one
man, ten were needed for the 1S operations, and
instead of 500 hours, t he 50 doors were completed
in 56 houra, while the labour cost for the 50 doors
was 11.30 dols. again st 112.50 dols. Each door
thus cost only 1l!d., against nearly 9s. 4d. Here,
the rate of wages was about t he same, the handmade doors being manufactured in 1S94 and the
machine doors in 1S95, so that the <iifference
MAY 18, 1900.]
in t ime and cost is p urely d ue to t he adoption of for making t h e match es- a bout l a. per 100,000mechan ical methods.
In dressing lumber - plan ing, grooving, a nd
tongueing-all operation s n ow don e by machine in stead of hand , we have a r eduction in t ime fro m
142~ hours t o 2 hours 20 minutes for 1000 ft ., and
the cost has been r educed from 21.37 dols. to 0.54
dol., or from 88s. to 2s. 3d., al though the wage
formerly was only 6s. 3d. per da y, against from
103 to 12s. for sawyers, and 6s. 3d . for labourers
now.
In making mah ogany moulding with a specially
designed machine, the coRt is r educed to one-twen t yfifth what it formerly was, while wages h ave b een
nearly doubled. Thus, in 5 h ours, work is d on e
for 4s. 10d., which, in 1858, occupied 170 h ou1s,
~nd cost over 5l. The wor ker to-day gets 9s. 8d.
for his day's work, against 6s. 3d. under t h e old
system.
In yellow pine moulding t h e r esult is still
more marked. Wit h hand labour it required
187! hours to mak e 1000 f t . of cornice moulding-of the ordinary 0 . ~ pattern~ w~ile n ow it
is done wit h a steam-d r 1ven ma chme In 2 h ours
18 minutes. The wage is a b ou t t h e same, consequently t he cost is r educed from 28.12 dols . to
27 cents, or l s. 1!d. for t he 1000 ft.- a very r emarkable result .
TABLK L XXXVHI. - P roduotion of 50 P ai'rs Yellow
Pine Window Sashes.
Mode of Pro:luotion.
H and.
Ma.ohine.
Date...
. ..
. ..
. ..
1891
1894
Number of different opera11
8
tions involved . ..
.. .
Number of workmen em14
ployed ...
...
...
1
Number of houra worked 312 h. 30 m. 30 h. 30 m.
3.70 dol.
Cost of labour
...
.. . 46.87 dols.
Average rate of wages per
hour
.. .
...
.. . 15 cents
12 cents
In Table LXXXVIII. we g ive the gen eral r esults
for 60 pairs of yellow p ine window sash es with s ix
10 in. by 15-in.ligh ts in ea?h sash. The car pen ter i!l
1876 with saw, plan e, chisel, h ammer , and a bit
of s~nd -paper, worked steadily, p erhaps wearily,
on for 31 days a t 6s. 3d . per day, and p r oduced his
60 sashes on e a fter t he other. In 1894, .14 sawyers,
planers, machinem~n? sash mak er, '~it~ sa~~ing, p~an
ing tenoning, mor t1emg, and '' r eh shing machines
did' the same work in the fraction o f a day, for t h e
combined time of t he 14 men is only 30! h ours. The
labourers got 3s., and t h e others from 4s. 2d. to
6s. 3d. and 7s. p er day . The average wage is lower
because a greater propor t ion of les3 skilled la bour
is utilised but t h e n et r esult is th a t t he sash es
are now ~ade for about 4d. instead of 4s. each .
'l'he putting togeth er cost only 1s . 3d. f or t h e 50
sashes.
We take now window fra mes 2 ft. 10 in. by 6 f t .
10 in. for brick houses. H er e also th e old t ime
carpenter worked with t h e us ual hand tools, b~ing
paid 1.60 dols. p er day of 10 h ours, a nd t~e t tme
taken for 50 of t he fra mes was 383 h ours 20 m mutes,
U n der t h e
the labour cost being 57.50 d ols.
modern machine syst em ther e are 13 m achine op~
rations giving employment t o 14 men. There ar e
saws, planers, dado machines, boring machines, a nd
the like. The most of th e workers get 2. 50 d ols.,
the labour ers 0. 75 dols., but as t h e t ime tak en is
less than a fourt h, or 92! h ours, t h e work, n otwith standing the high er wages, is done for less t han
half the cost-25.10 dols. , or for a bout 2s. p er
window. Wit h windows of the s~me size for fram e
housos, the differ ence is still gr eater and the cost
much less-1'3 . 6d. per win dow.
9d. goes for packin g and only 3d. for t h e a ct ual

work of man ufacture. The cost of making t h e
match es by h and was in 1844, ab out 7s. 6d. per
100,000, or nearly eigh t t imes more. The wages,
too, ar e m uch h igher now; eyen the female packers
get 4s. 2d. instead of 3s. 4d. per day of 10 hours in
1844.
T nmER.
Timber en ters so largely into structural operat ion s that it is importan t to n ot e t hat at t he presen t
t ime p oplar b oards can be produced by machine
meth ods, at on e-eigh th of t he cost involved, also at
t he p resent time , by han d meth ods exclusively,
t h e rate of wage in both cases b eing t he samo.
W it h white pine boards th e d iffer en ce is more
r emar kable, for in 1854 100,000 ft. took 16,000
h ours to pr od uce, as compar ed with 272 hours
in 1896, t h e relative labour cost being 533l., as
compar ed with a little over 10l. I t is not p ossible t o mak e comparison of t h e various p rocesses
involved - th er e wer e nine by h and and 38 by
n1achine, but circular and band saws have made
an en ormous d ifferen ce, as compar ed wi th the
primitive jacksaw, and it is ob vious t hat if the
tim her of a colony is to be ch eaply h arvested the
only successful meth od is by large m ech anical
plan ts.
P LUMBERS' W ORK.
The d ecrease in cost is almost in t h e same p rop or

tion.
The int rod ucton of the printing machine instead
of t h e old han d press, has h ad a n equally marked
effect. W e find in th e case of magazines, for instance, t hat work which formerly took 3170 hours
is n ow don e in 14 hours 56 minutes, while t h e lab our
cost is reduced f rom 61l. t o 19s. 3d. In print ing n ews papers t he differen ce is equally ma rked,
the time having been reduced in one case from 3660
to 18~ h otu s, and th e labour cost from 90l. t o
26s. It is therefore the m or e s ur pl'ising t o n ote
t hat in some cases in A m erica t he old meth ods are
still adopted , costing 40l. where ll. would do th e
work wit h modern pla nt. These r esults, alik e in
typesetting, and print ing, sh ow h ow ch eap books ,
magazines, and newspaper s have been made p os ..
sible, wit hout affecting th e wages of t h e operatives.
{To be continued. )
AU T O MATIC ELECTRIC SI GNAL S AT THE
P A RIS EXHIBITION.
ON page 508 a.nte we gave a plan of t he Paris E xhibit ion ground. Circulation within the area will be
facilitated by t he electric railway shown in t he accompany ing plan {Fig. 1). This railway will be signalled
automatically , and , of course, electr ically , on the wellknown system in use on t he Liverpool Overhead
Railway (see ENcn~EERT a of F ebr uary 10, 1893, page
163), which has boen in successful operation for seven
years.
This system, it will be remembered, was
worked out by Mr. I. A. Timmis, M. I nst. C.E ., of 2,
Great George-street, \Vestmin~ter, S. W. , who is now
assisted by his eldest son a nd partner, M r. E . W.
Timmis, Assoc. M. I nst. C. E . The F rench pa t ents
are taken out in the joint names of Mr. Timmis and
.Monsieur A. Lavezarri, member of t he Society of Civil
Engineers of F rance, of 42, R ue Blanche, P aris, a
well known engineer, who has carried out t he arrange-
In p lumbing work it wo uld b e easy to find instan ces wher e the t ime tak en a n d t h e labour cost
n ow is only a twen t ieth or a t wenty- fi fth part of
what it formerly was : for instance, in the matter
of tapping an d t hreading a cast iron pipe, a very
f requen t operation , the time taken for 100 f t . of
1-in. pipe is n o w 1 h our 5 minutes, instead of 26
hours 40 minutes, when t he stock and die only was
u sed; wages ar e a bout t h e same, an d t hus t h e la bour
cost is r educed from 4 dols. to 16 cents or from
16s. 8d. to 8d. T o tak e anoth er and very differen t
product-30-gallon copper ra nge boilers-we find
t hat in 1855 two coppersmit hs earning 7s. 6d. per
d ay took 1800 h ours wit h primit ive tools-ha mmer
a nd stake-t o mak e 100; wher eas to-day 12 work ers,
four of them with only 6s. 3d . p er day, wit h t h e /
assistan ce of hydraulic press, p ower saws, &c., mak e {
the 100 b oilers in 54 h ours . S olde rin g and brazing
is n ow d on e with t h e h elp of st eam blowers, &c. , in
16 h ours, against 800 hours. The t ime in 1855 was
n early 33 times t h at n ow required, while t he labour
cost was abou t 27 times great er, h a ving been
285 d ols. against 10.70 dols.
.
, .,,----,
'
,,
;
,
A v.d.e UJ, .Mouc

\
I
I
I
I
THE R ESULT OF THE LINOTYPE.
In r egard t o p rint ing, it is interesting t o n ot e

th e r esult of t he intr oduction of the linotyp e upon
t h e cost of typesetting . As is p erhaps well k n own,
the p r inter's measuremen t is in ems-th ere ar e, for
instance, 25 ems in t his line of E NGINEERI NG, and
2385 ems in a column of t his type. N ow, in one
case, t h e comp ositor, according t o t h e Government
rep ort before us, was, when working by hand, paid
l s . 8d. per 1000 ems, and 100,000 ems were set by
10 workers in 127 hours ; so t hat to earn l s. 8d. t h e
men worked 1. 27 h ours, roughly l i h ours, and t hus
th e wage was 1s. 4d . p er h our. .Now th e linoty pe does
t h e same work in 38 hours 16 min utes, or in a little
more t han one-fourt h of t he t ime, a nd t h e wage is
a t t h e rate of 10s. 6d. p er d ay of 10 h ours. In
add it ion, th e linotype d oes th e work of st er eotyping . The comparative cost is 9. 76 dols, against
41 d ols. , s h owing a reduction t o q uite on e-fourt h,
ra th er more than was the case with the time occ upied.
This example is on e of t h e most unfa vourabl e comM ATCHES.
parisons to t h e linotype. In T able LXXXI X . we
The story is told against the Scotchman t ha.t h e g ive t he r esults of a noth er case :
only uses his own mat ch es when h e has a scer tained
that all his fellow t ravellers h ave n on e ; but when T ABLE LXXXIX. -Typesettir~g by Hand against Lino
type Machine.
it is noted that 100 gr oss of boxes of match es ca n b e
Mode of Production.
Hand.
Machine.
made for a labour cost of 13s. 6d., it seems r emarkDt1.te...
. ..
.. .
. ..
1896
1896
ablA that even t he E nglish fello w traveller sh ould
N umber of different opera2
4
tions involved .. .
.. .
not have a box ! H ere t he int roduction of machine
N umber of workmen emmethods has decr eased t h e cost of manufacture t o
ployed ...
...
...
2t
4
one-eighth the amount of 1844. In t h e mach ine proN umber of hours worked 177 h. 0 m. 22 h. 28 m.
cess there are ten op erations against f o.ur by h~nd,
Cost of labour
...
...
46.00 dols. 5. 68 dols.
machines b eing used to cut t he wood Into sphnts,
The a verage wage is abo ut t h e same, I s. ld. p er
to place them in the dipp ing f ram e, to dip the1n in
the sulphur and composition and to remove then1 hour ; and it will be seen t hat with only four men
from the frame and even t o put them into b ox es-a the work h as been done in a b out one-eight h of the
marvellous series of operation s.
All t hese opera- time a nd one. eighth of t h e cost. This is a t b ook
tions are don e for 1, 440,000 match es in less than work. Wit h n ewspaper t ypeset t ing the t ime t ak en
eioht hours, and t hen t h e packing, don e by six is only f rom a seven t h to a fift h of what it is by h and
fe~1ales, takes 21 h ours 49 mi nutes. Obviously a -a s p ecial a dvan t age in n ews product ion, where
'packing machine is ueedcd, for of t h e labour cost the fi rst paper " out" has immeu Ee ad vantages.
MAHI N G GON TA CT B8
8 RA KIN (,
c::J
SIGN A LS
I
e
A B. C.D. E $T.It TION$.
ments for the erection of the installation at t ho

Exhibit ion, which is now in successful operation.
The orrler wa'3 placed by La Compagnie des Transports
E lectr iques.
The installation was shown on February 7 and 8,
in complet e wor king order, at t he works of W . R .
ykes' Interlooking Signal Co., Limited, Clapham, S. " ' ,
when everything passed off satisfactorily . R epresentati'"es from the L ondon and South-\IVestern; Great
N ort hern; Great Eastern ; London, Brighton, and
Sou th Coast; a nd V\iaterloo and City railways were
present.
The W estet n Railway of F rance have already int roduced the "Timmis-LaYez9.rri " syst~m on t heir line
for non-automatic working, and have purchased t he
r ight of using t he patents on t heir lines.
'
The E xhi b1tion Railway, which is circular and sin
gleline, of a bout two miles in length, has four places
or p oints which require signalling (Fig. 1). There are
five stations. Each poin t is p rovided wit h a signal
(Fig. 2, page 648), which is of t he disc type, fitted in
an iron fra mework, closed in front wit h clear glass
and behind wi th opal glass. A p owerful light with
reflector illuminates t he opa.l glass at night, so that t he
signal is fqually visible by day and by nigh t . T he arm
consists of fin e red calico mounted on a light fram e,
and is operated by a small long-pull electromagnet
(Figs. 3 and 4), supplied wit h curren t either by twelve
Leolanche cells; or, if a.ooumulat ors, five c:ells. This
magnet will give, if necessary, a pull of about l5lb.
wit h a !-in. range.
Each signal has two electx:ical contacts fitted near
t he rails on the outer side; one close to it , which is a.
breaki ngcontact (F ig. 9, page 649), and the other
(MAY 18,
1900.
TIMMIS'S AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SIGNALS AT THE PARIS EXHIBITION.
Fr!J. q. .
Firf.3 .
------ - - ~- -- -~ -
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e 1---
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( 5t'JS.C)
(Fig. 10), somewhat in advance, which is a makingcontact.

Each train is fitted with a long striking-bar (Figs. 5
and 6, above) parallel to and projecting from it.
Each contact is provided with an arm or hanger (Figs.
15 to 18) projecting vertically downwards. As the
train passes a. contact the bar strikes the hanger; and
if a breaking-contact, the electric circuit, which goes
to the electromagnet at the signal, is broken and the
signal-arm goes to "danger" automatically; if a making-contact the electric circuit is closed and the signal
goes to " line olen.r. "
The Liverpool installation is worked on the absoluteblock system, or on the principle of ' absolute automatic working" ; but the Paris one will, at all events
for the present, be worked on the permissive-block or
' permissive automatic-working" principle, except the
section in which station A is situated, which will be
worked absolutely. In so far, however, ac:; an absolute
system can easily be converted into a permissive one,
and a permissive cannot, obviously. be converted into
an absolute, the absolute system will be first described
in detail.
Referring to Fig. 11, suppose a train at C ready to
go to B, the. line free and . the signals at '' ~ine clear. "
On passing s1gnal1 the tram operates breakmg-contact
2 the local circuit is broken, and the signal goes to
,:danger " by _g~avity. At the ea~e tii~e (~ee J!i~. 12)
the local circUit IS out out and the bne-wue CircUit 1s out
in by means of switch 4 at the signal. A switch 5,
worked by the signal arm, also closes the line-wire
circuit ready for lowering the rear signal. It must be
noted that 5 is only closed when the arm is at
" danger."
The train then passes makiug-conta.ot 3, and operates
it, completing the line-wire circuit and lowering (5

being closed) the rear signal to " line clear."
On leaving B the train puts signal6 to" danger " by
operating breaking-contact 7. O.o passing makingcontact 8 the current passes through a switch closed
by 6 at "danger " (as above described), and lowers
signal 1. On l being lowered the line-wire circuit is
again out out and the local circuit cut in, so holding l
at " line olear " until breaking-contact 2 is again operated by the p~ssage of the train. Included in the
local circuit is a resistance (placed in the signal-case)
for reducing the current which holds the signal at
" line clear.)) This is called the " holding current."
It is well known that a magnet requires less current
to hold it than it does to operate it. This principle is
made use of here, so that the ., lowering current "
is reduced by the resistance to the " holding current ,,
immediately the signal is lowered to ' line clear, ,
which holds it there.
This is a most essential feature of the system, viz.,
economy of electric current. If the full (lowering)
current were used to bold t he signal at ''line clear," the
cost would be ex~essive; but with this simple expedient the cost of current is reduced to an almost negliglible amount.
The mag net of the making contact (see Figs.
15 and 16) is used a.s follows. On t he makingcontact being operated the circuit is completed
and t he current passes t hrough t he magnet before
passing to the line wire. The magnet is energised
and holds up t he armature. The circuit is t hus k ept
closed unt il it is broken by t he signal going to " line
clear , at t he ot her end of t he line wire. It is obvious,
therefore, that the t ime the lowering current is on does
not depend on t he time the train takes to pass the
making contact only, but remains on until t he signal

is lowered .
The above description applies to absolute automatic
working. A signal and its contacts wired for permissive automatic working are shown in Figs. 7 to 10. The
signal is used in t his oa.se to protect a particular place
or point, not a section, and will protect a. cwve so that
unt il t he train has passed beyond the curve and is out
of t he way the signal remains at "danger. , The
signals will be so worked at t he Exhibition, with the
exception named above. I t is obvious t hat by a. slight
re-arrangement of t he wires absolute working can at
once be resorted to.
BLASTFURNAOKS IN THE UNITED STATES.- The number
of blast-furnaces in a.otivity in the U nited Slia.tes at the
commencement of April was 291, as compared with 266 at
the commencement of October, 1899; 206 at the commencement of April, 1899 ; 192 at the commencement of
October, 1898 ; 194 a.t the commencement of April, 1898;
and 171 at the commencement of April, 1897. The weekly
productive capacity of the furnaces in operation a.t the
dates named was : April, 1900, 289,482 tons ; October,
1899, 278,650 tons; Aeril, 1899, 245,746 tons; October,
1898, 215,635 tons ; Apr1l, 1898, 233,339 tons ; and October,
1897, 200,128 tons. The weekly productive capacity of
the active furnaces has moved on as follows month hy
month this year: January, 294,186 tons; February, 298,014
tons; March, 292,643 tons ; and April, 289,482 tons. lb
will oe seen that the output, although still very la.rge, has
deoHned to a moderate extent since the commencement of
the current year. The stooks of pig sold and unsold in
the U nited States at the commencement of April were
estimated at 197,532 tons. a.s compared with 185,152 tons
at the commencement of March; 148,336 tons at the commencement of February; 127,347 tons at the commencement of January; 113,693 tons at the commencement of
December ; and 111 543 tons at the commencement of
November. Stooks have thus appreciably increased du
ring the last three months.
TIMMIS's AUTOMATIC
ELECTRIC
SIGNALS AT THE
PARIS
EXHIBITION.
s;:
(For D escription, see Page 647.)
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(MAY 18. r900.'
923.; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth). 963. per ton. ~ta~tliug or even novel. The bead of one important firm
Here are the shipments of pig iron for Scotch ports for mdtcated that the real state of affairs was that exJ,>ressed
'
PHILADELPHIA, May 8.
the week ending lasb Saturday : To Canada, 450 tons; to by. the later oable~ram from W aahiogton, in which the
THE l?ast week ha~ been the dullest in the history Australia, 223 tons; to France, 110 tons; to Germany,
of the 1ron trade for three yea.r3. The dullness is 1017 tons; to Holland, 175 tons; smaller quantities to ch1ef of the Amer1ca.n Naval Ordnance Bureau pointed
out that the belief that armour-plate is invulnerable is
abnormal, and is mainly due to the determination of other countries, and 3:~57 tons coastwise. The previous altogether erroneous. With the manufacture of armourconsumers to hold off until the reactionary influences week's returns show 6214 tons, against 5682 tons for last plate ib is a question of the degree of vulnerability. At
at work h a ve exhausted themselves. There are those week. The stook of pig iron in Messrs. Connal and Co.'s present armour-plate processes produce an enormous
'!h? .take the ext~eme view that this is a remote pos- public warrant stores stood at 14t,933 tons yesterday power ef resistance, but to this there is a limit.
The afterno:m, as compa.red with 149,921 tons yesterday week,
s1b1hty. Very httle buying is being done.
Iron a;nd Steel T rades.-Notwithstanding the high
Federal Steel Mills at Joliet bave been closed, and this thus showing for the past week a reduction amounting
shocks ths stook market. :M:r. Carnegie said, before to 4988 tons. Prices with short-lived fluctuations have prices of fuel and material, work in all the large armourrapidly declined, and realisations on the part of old plate. steel, and engineering establishments proceeds
his departure on Saturday, that we have at l east one holders have been prominent features in the situation. steadily, trade being characterised all round by a healthy
good year ahead of us in iron and steel. He is in a American ad vices are very contradictory; but the heavy- tone. Firms engaged in the manufacture of war stores
position that will enable him to run if every other price reductions recorded show that the trend is decidedly have heavy orders on hand, and notwithstanding their
steel works in America was forced to shut down. For downwards. Continental reports are growing weaker, large output are being pressed for deliveries. Inquiries
t~e next w~e~ or two- p erhaps for several- there &.nd an over-bought condition is being disclosed. Makers are, perh&ps, hardly so numerous as early in the year,
Wlll be a mtmmum of business done.
Consumption, refuse in the meantime to follow the fall in markets; but shipbuilders, railway companies, and others, who have
however, keeps up, a nd production is steadily expand- their acquiescence therein sooner or later is inevitable. large contracts to place giving out only the work that is
ing. Just where this may lead u s no one can tell. The furnaces going at present stand at 85, of which 40 absolutely necessary. The rolling mills are going night
The Ame-ricg,n iron trade is now suffering from the are ordinary, 39 are making hematite iron, and six are and da.y, and will not accept work where a guarantee of
prompt delivery is required. Manllfacturera are combasic.
At
the
corresponding
period
of
last
year,
the
effects of last year, when prices doubled in some lines, total was 82.
plainmg of the difficulty of obtaining work of this
and advanced from 50 to 75 per cent. in othe rs. At
character, one large steel firm sta.ting that no less than
Sulphate
of
Ammonia.-This
commodity
is
in
fairly
the consuming end of the line there is no trouble. In
three months was taken to complete a. comparatively
s~x months productive capacity will have been suffi- good demand. The price in Gl~gow to day runs at about small quantity of stuff. Makers of finished iron are
Ciently enlarged to crowd out of a ction a ll mills of lll. 7s. 6d. to lll. 10-:~. per ton.
endeavouring to obtain from their customers higher
Finished Iron and Steel.-The adverse influence of dear prices for their ~Kooda, owing to the increased cost of coal
nferior equipment. The heads of the big combinations are repeating their assurae ces that all is well, fuel has been most prominent in the iron and steel and material. Wagon builders and axle makers are fully
and a bright future awaits the steel indust.r y, but the branches, for although there is abundance of work on employed.
stock markets refuse to believe. The actual industrial order, fresh booking has been of late practically at a
standstill ; yet makers have been forced to hold by full
condition is sound. The locomotive builders, car prices. Possible exports from the States of manufacNOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE
builders, and bridge builders-in fact, all who have to tured iron and steel are in the minds of consumers; and,
NORTHERN COlJNTIES.
do with railroad equipment- have the brightest pros- indeed, some orders have already been closed on behalf of
MIDDLESBROUGH, Wednesday.
pects. The electrical equipment interests a re similarly Glasgow houses at rates under those ruling here, but it is
The Cleveland Jtton Trade. -Yesterday there was a
crowded on home and foreign business. The smaller not thought that these can be shipped till September, pretty large attendance on 'Change, and a more satisfac
industries are oversold, and new work is coming to the when the cotton crop begins to be moved and when iron tory account was given of the market than has been
fore. A great demand for bituminous coal keeps up, ballast will be called for. Business has been somewhat recorded for some weeks past. Quotations all round were
and the coal roads, among which are the P dnnsylvania easier in the steel trade. The d emand is fairly well main- firmer, and a good deal of disposition wa.s shown to do
and Bal timore and Ohio, are making more money than tained for bars and angles, but plates are not so much in busines~. Inquiries were on a rather extensive scale,
request, the high prices having the effect of restricting
ever. Politinal affairs are quiet, though the situation demand. As makers, however, are all booked forward and a good few ordera were placed. At the same time consumers of pig iron would only purcha.se what iron they
is not without its anxieties r emotely. The people for a long time, there is n ow no anxiety to secure new needed to meet theix early requirements, and would not,
sometimes tak~ erratic notions. There is a deeply- busines~, and prices remain unaltered. In c10me cases as a rule, commit themselves at all on forward account.
seated hostility to trusts, and this fact is frequently it is said that the makers have reduced th9ir rn.tes by 5s. Sellers of pig were not pressing any iron on the market,
a ccentuated. The railroad earnings continue large to 7s. 6d. per ton, the quotation being now dl. 7t~. 6d. per and producers were very firm in their quotations, point-~
and satisfactory. There are no influences at work to ton, less 5 per cent. A sale of steel angles has been made ing out that the output continues to be taken up as it is
disturb the equipoise of the controlling p~wers, politi- by American producers at 8l. 18s. c.i. f. Melbourne, made, and that stocks are practically exhausted. Rumours
whereas the S cotch price is 8l. 7s. 6d. f.o.b. G lasgow. were still afloat that American iron is to be shipped
cally and industrially.
The freight by steam is 30.s. per ton, and by sailing vessel for consumption in Europe this summer, but little atten20s. per ton.
tion was paid to the threatened competition from the
NOTES FROM THE NORTH.
Glctsgow Copper Market.-Copper has been quite idle States. The general market quotation for No. 3 g.m. b.
during the week. G enerally the forenoon pnces have Uleve]and pig iron was 75s. for prompt f.o.b. delivery.
GLASGOW, Wednesday.
were willing to pay that price, and there were
Gla3gow Pig-Iron Mwrket.-A fair amount of business been nominal. On Thursday the settlement price was Buyers
was done in the warrant market Jast Thursday forenoon, 74l. 5~. per ton, and on the following day it was 74l. 15-:~. merchants selling at it. Named brands realised a.
higher figure, and makers were not disposed to
and prices were irregular, but the close was fla t for Scotch per ton. On Monday holders would have gladly accepted entertain
offers at less than 76s. for No. 3 - a
and hematite iron on the fall of 1 dol. p er ton reported 73l. per ton, and the same yesterday. The metal was price, however, that buyers would not _go to. No. 1
in American iron. About 20,000 tons changed hands, offered on Monday ab 72l. lOa. three months.
Cleveland pig was put at 77s. 6d.; No. 4 foundry,
and Scotch finished 6d. per ton down, and hematite iron
74s. ; grey forge, 73~. to 73s. 6d. ; and mottled and
4~d. per ton. The re was no dealing in Cleveland iron,
white, each 73s.; but the quantity of these qualities
but the price was quotably 9d. per ton highE'r. In the
NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.
available for sale wa.s only small, and sellers were
afternoon the market was very weak, and on thA sale
SHEFFIELD, Wednesday.
firm. There was practically no east- cor.st hematite
of other 20,000 tons Scotch closed 1s. 2~d. per ton down
Import(Jint Trwmway Projects in the West R'iding.-The pig iron obtainable, and quotations for N os. 1, 2,
on the day, and hematite iron 7 ~d., Cleveland finished Light Railway Oomml.ssioners, who are to sit at Leeds on and 3 were anything between 86s. and 87s. 6d. Midat a net gain of l i d. per ton on the day. The settlement June 7, have arranged to hear the applications to be made dlesbrough warrants opened at 74~. 1d. and closed steady
prices were: Scotch, 69d. 6d. ; Cleveland, 74s. ; Cumberland by the Electric Traction Company, Limited, for powers at 74s. cash buyers. Middlesbrough hematite warrants,
and Middlesbrough hematite iron respectively, 8ls. l i d. to construct tramways in certain districts of the West of which there are now only some 2000 in circulation,
and 86.3. per ton. Only a small business was done a Fri- Riding. One of the most important concerns the borough were not quoted. Spanish ore was in steady demand,
day forenoon, and it was chiefly of a jobbing character, of Morley, &nd no opposition is expected, though the and showed no change in price. Rabio was 2ls. exship
and prices showed further weakness. About 10,000 tons Corporation will, of couree, be represen ted at the inquiry. T ees. To-day the market again collapsed. There was
changed hands, and Scotch fell 6d. and hematite iron lOd. Another inquiry will have reference to the Spen Valley, absolutely nothing doing, and quotations were purelY.
per ton. Cleveland was merely nominal. In the afternoon Dewsbury, and Ravensthorpe tramways, in favour of nominal. Middlesbrough warrants fell by the close to
about 2000 tons changed band~, and the bulk of the deal- which the Commissioners pronounced several months 72s. 7~d. cash buyers.
ing was done in the first quarter of an hour. About 13,000 ago. Power will be sought to construcb a branch line
Manufactured Iron (Jind Steet.-In all branches of the
tons were sold at 69s. 4i d. one month. Scotch and hem a- from near Cleckbeaton to High town, and t o extend the
tite iron both rallied 2d. per ton, and Cleveland closed projected line in Dewsbury through Savile Town, Thorn- manufactured iron and steel trade a lot of work is being
7d. per ton down on the day. At the close the settlement hill Lees, and Thornhill.
turned out, and though few new contracts have recently
prices were: 69a. 3d., 73a. 4!d., 80a. 6d . and 86s. per ton.
Electric Lighti'Yin at H ull.-At a Local Government been entered into, most firms are supplied with orders
At least 25,000 tons were dealt in on lVIonday forenoon.
" 'V
that will keep them busily employed for some time
A s respects Scotch and hematite iron from the opening Board inquiry, held in Hull last week, some interesting to come. Quotations all round are firm, and, in fact,
the t one was flat, and the former was finally down 8d. particulars reRarding the electric lighting of the town have rather an upward tendency. A few inquiries have
d
0 h
h h d were given. 'Ihe application by the Corporation was for been reported th1s week, but makers are in no hurry tQ
p er ton, and the latter 11~ per ton.
n t e ot er an ' power to borrow 42,000l. for the purpose of electric lightCleveland iron drose hlOd~ bper ~~n. llJ?ealingd was !l'lml r mg, repayment to be spread over 25 years. Hull was sell. Common iron bars are 9l. 10s. ; best bars, lOl. ;
entirely con ne tot e' ears -se mg an occasiOna Y granted its electric lightmg order in 1890 and obtained its iron shiP.plates, 8l. 10s. ; steel ship-plates, 8l. 7s. 6d. ;
steel bmlerplates, 9l. 12s. 6d.; iron ship angles, 8l. 7s. 6d .;
2
covering. In the afternoon the market was firmer, war
h' h
'd
ra.nts being reported scarce, and Sc:>tch recovered 5d. first loan for 25,000l. m 189 , w 10 went to provi e an and steel ship-angles, 8l. 5s.- all less the customary 2!
and hematite iron ! d. per ton ; Cleveland, however, installation for the old town, or the town within the docks. per cent. discount for oa..qh, Heavy sections of steE'l
gave way 7id. per ton, and the sales amounted These works were opened in January, 1893, with a total rails, n. 153. ; and cast-iron chairs, 4l. 17s. 6d. net at
t o 15,000 tons. The settlement ~rices were: 69s., 73s. 6d., of 33 consumert~, and since then the consumers in the old works. To-day, at a meeting of the directors of Me...qgrs,
79a. 7~d., and 86s. per ton. The market was a little town alone have increased from 33 to 488. In 1897 a loan D orman, Long, and Co., Limited, ib was decided that
exci tecf on Tuesday forenoon. "Bears" were in evi- for 40, 690l. was obtained for the erection of additional an interim dividend of 5s. per share be paid on June 8
ll works, which involved the building of a new station, and to the shareholders registered on the company's books on
b
dence and bought freely of all sorts, ut espeCia Y further loans were obtained in 1899, making the total since
S cotch, which from the bottoxp of Monday made 2:1. 6d borrowed 128,490l. The additional 42,000l. is required the 23rd inst.
per ton and from the close on M onday ls. 9~d. Cleved'
.
Coal and Coke.-Fuel on the whole is very strong.
land advanced 9d., and hematite iron 2s. per ton. The for the purpose of exten m~ the generating stat10n plant
sales amounted to about 25,000 tons. In the afternoon and of providing a sub-statiOn, the number of consumers Bunker coal ig somewhat quieter, the supply being more
about lO,OOO tons changed hands, and prices were easier, or separate consumers having increased to 1326. There abundant. Unscreened bunker coal is about 16s. 6d. to
Scotch reacting 4d. from the best of the afternoon, Cleve- was a balance of 1924l. on last year's worl~ing, which it is 17s. Gas coal is steady, and the output is well taken up;
prices unaltered. Manufa~turing coal in good demand.
and
l~d.,
"'nd
hematite
iron
2d.
p
er
ton.
The
settlement
proposed
to
carry
to
the
reserve
fund,
which
in
March
l ""
Coke very stiff. Average blast-furnace qualities are fully
2
""
last
amounted
t
o
10,092t.
It
is
estimated
that
next
prices were: 703. 4~d., 74s., 8ls. 4~d., and 86 3 p er ton. winter there will be about 60,000 lamps of 8 candle-power 29.a. delivered here, and several sellers have advanced their
Only a small business was d one this forenoon, not more burning at one time out of 90,000 attached. At the rate to 29s. 6d.
than 15,000 tons changins- hands. The tone was flat, present the engineer has in hand over 2500 new applicathe re being no local deahng. Scotch fell ls. 4d. p er .
f
h 1. h
ton. In the afternoon other 15,000 t ons changed ha~ds. tiOns or t e Ig t.
TnEBATH ANn \VEsT AND SouTHERN CouNTIES SooiETY.
Scotch rallied 7d. p er t on. The settlement pnces
Ar'11uYur-Plates anf], Pr:oject<iles.-T~e inf?rwation re -The annual show will t ake place a.t Bath from May 30
were: 69d. 7id., 72~. 9d., 80s. ~d., and 86s. pe~ cen~ly cabled from Amer~oa as to the myent10n of a pro- to June 4. The Somer3et County Agricultural A~ooiation
ton. The following are the nominal prices of makers jectlle of such extraordmary penetratmg power as. to is joining in the exhibition. The implements will occupy
No. 1 iron: Clyde and Gartsherrie, 89a. per ton; Sum- !flake armour-~lates ~seless as a means ?f defence agamst 5766 ft. run of shedding, while 19,475 square feet of open
merlee, and Calder, 90s.; Coltness out of the market. 1t, has not g1ven n se to much uneasm ess an;t~ngst the space will bo devoted to conservatorie$, poultry ap-the foregoing all shipped ab Glasgow; Glengarnook Sheffield armour-plate manufacturers. Inqmr1es show pliances, wind motors, &c. There will also be a p1oture
(shipped at Ardrossan), 86s.; Shotts (shipped at L eith), . that the news cabled from America is ':lot regarded as gallery, a.nd a collection of art manufactures.
NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
MAY 18, 1900.]

NOTES FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.
Oa.rdi:ff. - The tone of the steam coal trade has continued
exceedingly strong; indeed, if anything, prices are ~bow.
ing a. further upward tendency. The best steam coal has
m&de 22s. 6d. to 24s. per ton, while secondary qualities
have broug?t 20s. to 21s. 6d. per ton. There has also
been an aohYe demand for house and manufacturing coal
No. 3 Rhondda large ha~ m~de 22s. 6d. to 23s. 6d. per ton~
Foundr~ coke has been qUiet at 32s. 6d. to 33s. 6d. per
ton, while furnace ditto ha.s made 30s. to 31s. 6d. per ton.
Al3 regards iron ore, the best rubio ha~ brought 20s. to
203. 6d. per ton.
Briton Ferry.-The iron, steel, and tinplate trades
continue generally prosperous. Some large cargoes of
iron ore have come to hand from Spain.
The Dart.-At a meeting of the Dart Navigation Com.
rnissioners at Totnes, on Monday evening, Mr. G.
Mitohel~ who presided, said the Commissioners should
urge on the Board of Trade that a. proposed bridge across
the Dart, in connection with the Devon South H ams
Light Rail way, should nob be less than 100 ft. high.
Plymoutk.-Mr. Sa.ndeman, water engineer to the
Plymouth Town Council, has been appointed engineer of
the important Derwent Valley water undertaking. Mr.
Sandeman has acted as water engineer at Plymouth for
about nine years. During that time, he has witnessed a
great growth of the town and a remarkable development
of the Corporation water works.
South Wales Ooal 01nd I ron.- Tbe shipments of coal
from the five principal Welsh ports in April were:
Foreign, 1,424,809 tons; coastwise, 275,741 tons. The
shipments of iron and steel from the five ports in April
were, 4644 tons ; of coke, 14,013 tons ; and of patent fuel,
79,555 tons. The shipments of coal from Cardiff in the
first four months of this year were 5,316,287 tons ; of iron
and steel, 8545 tons ; of coke, 25,485 tons ; and of patent
fuel, 134,069 tons. 'fhe shipments from Newport were:
Coal, 1,185,510 tons; iron and steel, 9124 tons; coke,
10,019 tons; and patent fuel, 34,899 tons. From Swansea:
Coal, 752,885 tons ; iron and steel, 299 tons; coke, 6022
tons ; and patent fuel, 154,001 tons. From Llanelly:
Coal, 84,881 tons. From Port Talbot : Coal, 147,824 tons;
coke, 2289 tons.
The Admiralty and W elsh Coal. -Owing to the recent
heavy demand for Welsh coal and the high prices obtained for it, there ha.s been some d iscussion as to
whether it would not be a wise course for the Admiralty
to purchase some of the leading South Welsh collieries or
in some other way to &<'quire for their own us6 supplies of
the best smokeless steam coal. Fresh interest was excited in the subject at the annual meeting last week of the
South Wales Institute of E ngineers at Cardiff. The new
President (Mr. T. Evens, M. Inst. C.E.) devoted the
~ter part of his address to the question. After dealing
with the world's output of coal for last yea.r, and stating
that the Welsh coalfield produced upwards of 43,000,000
tons out of the total, be said it was a question requiring
serious consideration bow long the steam coal, which the
Admiralty now considered suitable for the Navy, was
likely to last. He thought most of those interested in
the matter would admit that, at the present rate of work
ing, the Admiralty would, before the expiration of along
period, be obliged to have recourse to other Welsh coal
than that now permitted in th e list. If it was a matter
of the utmost consequence that the higher qnality of
smokeless steam coal should at all times be available for
our warships, then it seemed to him that the Ad01iralty
authorities should carefully look into the qutstion of re
atricting the exportation of such coal, and in some way
assure to themselves an adequate supply for snob a period
as might be thought advisable.
Review at Spitkead.- Itis stated that, in addition to the
naval manoouvres, there will be a naval review at S_pithead
during July, in connection with a visit of the Shah of
Persia. The manreuvres are to take place at the end of
June, and they will be on an extensive scale.
Electr-ic Cars for L lanelly.-The Llanelly Borough
Council decided, on Monday, upon an important step in
connection with a scheme for providing electric cars in the
town. The council has entered into an agreement with
the British Insulation Company, by which the Corporation
carries out a scheme at a. cost of about 80,000t. It was
reP.orted on Monday, ho~ever, that the compan~ ~ad
failed to come to terms wttb the owners of the existmg
tramway at Llanelly. The coun cil thereupon decided to
a~uire the property (as it has power to do) for subsequent
transference to the company; and it was unanimously resolved that the necessary application should be made to
the Board of Trade.
The ".Albatross."-Tbe Lords of the Admiralty have
agreed to accept the Alba.tro~s, torpedo-boat destroyer,
from the contractors. Her anticipated speed was 32 knots
per boor, but on her trials the speed obtained was only
31 ~ knots per hour.
The "BadcnPowcll."-The G reat Western .Railway
Company has turned out a new engine named the
"Baden-Powell."
be brought the 1.15 p. m. Bath to
Bristol down on W dnesday. The Great Western has
a.Jso turned out a handsome corridor train which, it is
expected, will be sh ortly running between London and
Plymouth.
averag-e len~tb of line worked
U{>On this system last year was 4304 miles, as compared
wtth 4290 milE's in 1898. The revenue acquired last year
increased to the extent of 387,562l., while the working
expenses increa~:e d 166, 682l., lra ving an additional net
profit of 230,880l.
ORLEANS RAILWAY.-Tbe
MISCELLANEA.
TriE Union Pacific Railroad is increasing the capacity
of it~ ooa_l truoks from 80,~00 lb. to 110,000 lb., or 49 tons,
and _1a sttll further reducmg the ratio of non-paying to
paymg load.
A bl~st ft1;rnace of a cap~city of 1, 000,000 pood per
~nnum 1s bemg- constructed m order to utilise the large
~ron ore depos1ts in the Dagbestan district ; besides the
u on ore there are also deposits of sulphur ore and coal.
The exploitation of the napbta. deposita at Bibi-Ebat
has ~een pushed with considerable energy ; a score of
der~wks have been erected by the owners of the
vanous lots, and the installations comprise six boiler
houses, with 11 boilers, &c.
L arge extensions are about to be made to the power
pl~nt ab Niagara, the Niagara Falls Power Company
bemg about to lay down 11 more turbines, each of 5000
effective horse-power. The new wheel-pit will be 463ft.
long and about 180 ft. deep.
~he ~orth-Easb Coas~ Institution of E ngineers and
Shtpbutlders baYe appomted a. committee to bring pres
sure o~ the Governmen~ ~o improve the status of engineers 10 the Navy. It 1s mtended to ask other Institutiot;ts interested in marine engineering to take similar
aot10n.
In seeking powers to enlarge their Eusto~ terminus, the
L ondon and North-Western Railway Company draw the
attention of Parliament to the fact that the number of
persons using the station in a twel vemontb, which was
1,500,000 in 1868, is now over 5, 000,000, whilst in the
same period the number of parcels has risen from 1,800,000
to 8, 000,000.
Messrs. Crosses and Winkwortb, Limited, of Bolton,
have recE'ntly received a very large double leather driving
belt from !\1essrs. Balderston and Co., of 201, S t. Vinoentstreet, Glasgow. The belt is 147 fb. long by 45~ in. broad,
weighing 1209 lb., and is intPnded for the transmission
of 528 horse-power. The centres of 70 butts were used in
its manufacture.
Ib is stated that the management of the railways of
New South Wales find that they can now build locomotive boilers more cheaply in the colony than they can
a.t present prices import them from England. This is no
doubt partly due to the fact that a boiler is a rather
bulky article, and the freight is therefore high. It is
nevertheless the case that the new rail way shops belong
ing to the lines are excellently equipped with modern
machinery, extensive use being made of pneumatic tools.
The boilerma.king plant is being extended, and will soon
be capable of turning out one new boiler per week.
The Trade and N a.vigation Returns for April show im
ports amounting to 42,621,876l., an increase of 3,264,854l.,
or 8 2 per cent., on the corresponding month of 1899,
the exports amounting to 22,645,147l., an increase of
3,187,601l., or 16 3 per cent. The value of the iron and steel
exports was 2,899, 745l., against 2,045,951l., an inoren~e of
41.7 per cent.; and of the coal and coke exports 2, 703,256l.,
against 1, 786,282l., an increase of 51.3 per cent. For four
months ended April30 imports amounted to169,694,767l.,
an increase of 12,143,324l., or 7.7 per cent.; exports
to 94,765, 499l., an increase of 13,253, 912l. or 16.2 per cent.;
and re-exports to 22, 584, 675l., an increase of 375, 370l., or
1.6 per cen t.
Some particulars of the failure of the Austin dam,
Texas, are given in the American technical journals just
received. This dam was constructed across the Colorado
river, with a view to providing power and light to the
City of Austin, and was completed some seven years ago.
It was built of rubble masonry in cement, and was 1275 ft.
long and 68 ft. high. The overflow water was passed
over the crest of the structure. Great trouble was experienced with the foundations, and, in fact, a large cave
underlying part of the work was discovered just after the
completion of the dam, necessitating a considerable ex
penditure in re~onstruotion . . Ib is to the faulty obar~cter
of this foundat10n that the failure appears to be attnbutable. The dam was not overthrown, but a portion of
it was pushed bodily down st~eam. Heavy fi_oods were
passing over the crest at the t1me of th e ac01dent, one
witness estimating the depth of flow at not leas than 10ft.
essential in a boiler was that it should be economical of

fnel, its weight being a. matter of quite secondary
importance. In the oase of a warship, ? owever, the
conditions often called for the production of enor
mous powers on small dit:~plaoement, economy of f~el
being then a minor consideration. An ordinary manne
boiler, with its wa ter and appurtenances, will w~Igh ab~ut
lll lb. per indicated horse-power, a BeJievllle holler
about 99 lb., and a Yarrow boiler about 28 lb. As to
durability, an ordinary tube boiler will, with e&re, last
twenty years ; but Sir J ames Durston had estimat~d
that Belleville boilers would only lasb two commissions, or abou t six years. L eakage in a Belleville boiler
gave much trouble; there were ~hree or four _joints,_ ~ach a
possible source of leakage, at every tf:Ibe, m add1~1on to
cone joints a.t every element. In fact, m the ~0. botlers of
the Diadem there were no leas than 21,220 JOmts, most
of which were hidden from sight. Other t ypes of water
tube boilers were better arranged in this regard.
A very interesting test of the fireresisting qualities of
a floor, which was constructed in accordance with the
regulations of the London County Counoil, was recently
made by the British Fire Prevention Committee. The
regulations in question permit unprotected joists of either
hard or soft wood to be used in a so-called fire-resisting
floor. The Boor tested bad an area of 100 square feet,
was constructed of 7 in. by 2 in. fir joists spac~d at 12! ~
centres. These joists bad wood fillets of 1m. by ~ m.
section nailed along them at a distance of 2 in. from the
lower edge. These fillets served as keys to support a layer
of coke-breeze concrete, filled in between the joists to a
depth of 5 in. Below the concrete was a ceiling of ft in.
match-boarding, whilst a floor of ~ in. straight joint
planks was nailed to the t_op of ~be joist~. Finally
this Boor was loaded w1th brwks eqmvalent to
100 lb. per square foot. On test the whole o~ the
match-boarding below the joists was consumed m 15
minutes and in 54 minutes fta.me came through the floor
betwee~ the last joist and the wall. Six minutes later
the floor cracked and deflected extensively, and at 74
minutes, from the moment of lighting up, the concrete
between the two east joists fell, and 8 minutes later, the
whole Boor collapsed. The highest temperature obseryed
inside the test chamber was 2100 de~. Fa.hr. E xamma.
tion after the test showed that the joists had been burnt
and charred for about 2 or 2! in. up from the bottom, bub
the remainder was fairly sound. The concrete was but
slightly disintegrated, but was broken by the fall of the
floor.
BRITISH INSTITUTION OI<' DRAUGHTSMEN.-At the half
j'early meeting of the council of this Institution, held in
London on the 14th ult., it was decided to accept the
resignation of Mr. J. Pillaird, of L ondon, as boo. seore
tary and treasurer. Mr. C. L. Proundwater, of Manchester, and Mr. J. F. Wakeham, of NewoaatJe, were
unanimously 6lected hon. secretary and bon. treasurer
respectively in. his place. The tban.k s _of the members
of the InstitutJon are due to Mr. Pillaud for the very
able and courteous manner in which be has discharged
his duties. At the same meeting it w~ decided to
alter the title of the Society from ., British As'3ooiation
of Draughtsmen " to that of "British Institution of
Dra.ugh tsmen."
PERSONAL.-The Goubert Company, who manufacture

the Goubert feed water, and other specialities, have
recently installed an entirely new p lant at Bayonne, New
Jersey. The New York _offices .of t~e firm are . a~ 85,
Liberty-street.- The ;Klem Engmeerm~ Co., . L1m1ted,
Manchester, is suppl~mg t~e new eleotno. stat1on of the
W arrington CorJ?orat10n, w1th a barometric jet condens
ing plant for engmes of 1250 borse-~ower.-Messrs. W. A.
Colley Limited, of the Titanic ::)teel Works, Sheffield,
have opened a L ondon office at 19 and 21, Queen Victoria
street, E.C., of which Mr. C. F. Wainwright has been
placed in charge. The same gentleman has also been
appointed to act ab the same address as Lon~oD: representative of Messrs. Gaskell and Chambers, L1m1ted,
of the Dale End Works, Birmingbam.-Mr. R. Booth
informs us that he has taken over the practice and patents
of the late Mr. Berna.rd Dawson. His address is 110,
Cannon-street, E .C. - Messrs. Fra.ser and Cba.lmers,
Limited of 43, Threadneedle-street, E.C., have apJ>Ointed 'the Airdrie Iron Company as sole makers of the
Competitive designs were recently called for by the Riedler pumps and air compressors for Scotland and the
American Government for a memonal bridge at Wa.sh- north of England.
ington over the Potomac. The gentlemen asked to compete
were all distinguished a~d experie~ced engin~era, yet the
T HE I NTERNATIONAL CoNGREss OF H Yo t&NE ANn DEMO
estimated costs of the different designs submitted ranged GRAPHY.-Tbe tenth International Congress of Hygiene
from 2,084,500 dol~:~. up to 16,434,23q dols. T.his enormous and D emography will be held in Paris this year from
discrepa.noy arose mainly from the d1ffer~nt v1ews taken ~y August 10 to 17, under the presidency of Dr. BrouardeJ,
the designers as to the features essenttal to a memortal Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris. The ~ubjects
bridge. The most expensive design was monumental in which will be di~oussed at the Congr~s are classified as
character, and the masonry proposed was 9f gra~ite. The follow: I. Hygie~e.-1. Micr?biolog_ie et ~arasit?logie
accepted design, due to Professor Burr, IS est1mated to appliquees a l'hyg1ene. 2. Hygiene abmen~atre. S01ences
cost 3 680 672 dols., and will be built of concrete, reinforced ohimique et veterinaire apphquees a l'hyg1ene. 3. Salu
with ~teei on the MeJan system, and faced with granite. brite. Sciences de l'ingeni~ur.e~ de l'arohiteote app~q~~
The bridge proper will consist of six arches, each of 192ft. <\ l' hy~i ene. 4. H ygjene _mdtndu~lle et des collect1.v1tJes
span and a. steel draw span 159 ft. long, whilst the ap (premJore enfance, exer~Ises pby siqu~, cc~les, b6pttaux,
proa~b es will consist of 12 Melan arches of 60 fb. s~an on prisons, &c.). CrematiOn. 5. . Hygtene mdustr1ell~ et
the Washington side and 15 similar ones on the Arhngton professionnelle. Logeme~ts msa.lubr~. 6. , Hygiene
side of the bridge.
militaire nava.le et colomale. 7. H yg1ene generale et
At a meeting of the East of L ondon A ssociation of internadonale (prophylax~e des ~&:ladies tra.nsm~~sibles,
Foremen and Marine E ngineers, held at Poplar Town administration et legtslat10n eamtaues).. 8. Hyg1ene. des
Hall on vVednesday, May .16, an interesting leotu~ on transports (transports en com~un, chemm de fer, nav~res,
water-tube boilers was dehvered by Mr. J. T. Mi~ton, omnibus, tramways, aut~mobil~s). II. D emographte. the chief engineer-suneyor to ;Lloyd's. ~r. Milton The price of a m~m her's ticket 1s ~Os. Progra~mes and
pointed out tnat the choice of a holler for manne purposes forms of applicatiOn for m.e~bershtp ~n be obtamed from
was governed by the special n ature of the work to be the secretary of the Br1t1sh Commtttee.z. Dr. Paul !
done by any particular steamship. Thus in the case of Moline., 42 W aJton-street, Cheleea, ~. W. Spemal
a large cargo boat trading to New Zealand, the first arrangements for travelling will, it is hoped, be made.
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AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."
NOTICE TO CONTINENTAL ADVBRTISRRS.
AuB'l'JUA, Vienna: Lehmann and Wentzel, Kru-tueretraaae.

OAPE ToWN: Gordon and Gotch.
EJ>Th'BURGB: John Menzies o.nd Oo., 12, Banover-street.
FRANOB, Paris: Boyveau o.nd Ohevillet, Librairie Etrang~re, 22,
Rue de la Banqu~; M. Em. Terquem, 31 bl.a, Boulevard Haussmann.
Also for Advertisements, .Agence Havaa, 8, Place de la Bourse.
(See next column.)
GBR.MANV, Berlin: Messre. A. Asher and Oo., 6, Unter den Linden.
Frankturt-am-Main : Me&tn. G. L. Daube and Oo. (for
Advertisements).
Leipzig: F. A. Brookhau.s.
Mulhouse : H. Stuckelberger.
GLABEJOW : William Love.
INDLA, Calcutta: Tbacker, Spink, and Co.
Bombay: Thacker and Oo., Limited.
ITALY : U. Hoepli, Milan, and any post otllce.
LIVBRPOOL : Mrs. Taylor, Landing Stage.
MANORBSTER: John Heywood, 143, Deansga.te.
NoRWAY, Ohristiania: Oammermeyere Boghandel, Oarl Johans
Gade, 41 and 43.
N:sw SoUTII WALK11 Sydney : Turner and Henderson, 16 and 18,
Hunter-street. vordon and Gotch, George-street.
QUUNSLAND WoUTn), Brisbane : Gordon and Gotoh.
ORTB), Townsville : T. Willmett and Oo.
RorrBRDAM : . A. Kramer and Son.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Adelaide: W. 0 . Rigby.
UNift.D STJ.TBB, New York: W. H. Wiley, 43, East 19th-st reet.
Chicago : H. V. Holmes, 44, Lakeside Building.
VI<7l'ORIA, Melbourne : .Melville, .Mullen, and Slade, 261/264, Oollinsstreet. Gordon and Gotch, Limited, Queen-street.
Advertfaements from Germany should now be sent

through Messrs. G. L. Daube and Co., Frankfurtam
Main, who have been appointed our Sole Agents for
that country for Trade displayed Advertisements.
Advertisements from France, Belgium, and Bol
land should be sent through the Agence Bavaa,
8, Place de la Bourse, Paris, our Sole Agents for
those countries for stmnar Advertisements.
We beg to announce that American Subscriptions to ENGINEERING

may now be addre~ed either direct to the Publisher, Mr. 0. R.
JoBNBON1 at the offices of this Journal, Nos. S5 and 36, Bedfordstreet, S~rand, London, W.O., or to our accredited Agents for the
United States, Mr. W. H. WILBY, .S, East 19th-street, New York,
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ADDJLBB8-BNGINBERING, LONDON.
TBLBPaon NUKBBR-3663 Gel'rard.
TmntJLUBJa
CONTENTS.
PAOB
Some Statistics Relatin~ to

Electrical Power Pro uo-
PAGB
Armoured Traction Trains
for South Alrica . . . . . . . . 657
tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
The q1~~ow International

Exhtb1t10n of 1901 ...... 658
lustraUd) .... . ........ 636 Workmen's Oompensa\ion
Tbe Iron and Steel Institute 637
Oases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
Tbe Paris Emibition RailNaval Engineers .. .. ... .. . 659
ways (fllmtraUd) ... 638 The Marvels of Electricity 659
Modern Field Artillery (R
The War in South Africa . . 659
lmtrated) . . . . .......... 643 Sight-Feed Lubricators . . . . 660
Hand and Machine Labour 646 Oh'm as
' R ail ways . .. .... .. . 660
Automatic Electrio Si~als
A Question of Overtime
the Paris Exrubttion
Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
Umtmted) . . . . . . . . . . . . 647 Royal Meteorological Society 660
Notes from the United States 650 Indust rial Notes ........ .. 661
otes from the Yorth .... .. 650 The Physical Society . . . . . . 662
Notes from South Yorkshire 650 Road Locomotion (lUm .) .. 663
Notes from Olevelnnd a.n d
On the Utilisation of Blastthe Northern Oountiee .. 650
i''urnace Slag( Illustrated) 666
Notes from the South-West 661 Hot Blast (Illustrated) .. .. 666
Miscellanea.... .. . . . . . . . . . 651 Ingots for Gun Tubes and
Refuse Destruction. . . . . . . 663
Propeller Shaft.s (IUm.) . . 668
The Thames Docks . . . . . . . 65~ Launches and Trial Trips . 668
Tbe Belleville Boiler . . . . . . 655 " Engineerin!(' Patent Re
Registration of Firms. . . . . . 656
cord (IUustrated). . . . . . . 669
With (J 'l'woPat.J6 BntjratJing of a PASSENGER L OCO
A!OTIVB FOR THE CALEDONIAN RAILWAY
DUNALAST.d.. IR N o. Ill. OLASS.
Caledonian Railway Pas
seoger Locomotives (ll-
a;(
RBADING 0ABBB. - Reading cases for containing twenty-six

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NOTICES OF MEETINGS.
TilE INSTITUTION OP EL'IWI'lUOAL ENGINEBRS.-Tbursday, May 24
at 8 p.m., nt the Society of Arts, J ohn-street, W.O. Annuai
general meeting for members, associate members, and associatE's
only. To receive the annual report of t he council and statement
of accounts and balance-sheet for the year ending December 31,
1899.
TnB SURVEYORS' lNSTITUTJON.-Monday, May 21, when a paper
will be read by Mr. E. H. Blnke (Fellow), entitled "Extras and
Omissions in Building Contracts." The chair will be tn.ken at
8 o'clock.
NORTll-EAST COAST INSTlTUTLON OF ENG1NBER8 AND SlliPBUJLDBRS.
-Ol?sing m~eting in t he lecture ball of the Literary and Philosophtoa.l Somety, Westgate-road, Newcastleupon-Tyne, on Fri
d~y, M'!-Y 18, a~ 7.30 p.m. .Mr. W. ~- Atherton will reply to phe
dtscusston on hts paper on "The Fouhng of Ships." The discussion on Mr. D. B . .Morison's paper on " The British Naval Engineer " will be resumed and closed.
c SOOIETY OF AR.TS.-?tlonday I May n, at 8 p. m. Cantor Lectures.
'The Incandescent Gas Mantle and its Use," by Professor Vivian
B. Lewes. rr:hree Lectur~s. Lecture III. - Tuesday, May 22, at
8 p.m. Applied Art Sectton. "The Prac tice of Lettermg," by
Mr. _Ed~ard F. Strnnge. - Wednesday, May 23, at 8 p.m. "Salmon
LegtslatlOn," by Mr. J. Willis-Bund. Mr. William Senior will
p,resid ~. -Th~rs?ay, May 24, at 4.30 P ~
Indian Section.
Enghsh Onmm"\l Procedure and the Ind1an Code of Criminal
Procedure: a Comparison," by Sir John Scott, K.O.M.G. , D.O.L.
The . Right Hon. Sir Francie Henry J eune, K.G.B., D.O.L., will
prestde.
. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITATN.- The F riday evening
dtscourse nex t week (May 25), at 9 o'clock, at Albemarle-street
Piccadilly, W., will be delivered b}' Mr. Francis Fox, J. P.:
M. Inst. C. E., M.R.I. Subject : "The Great Alpine Tunnels."
Afternoon lectu res next week at 8 o'clock.- On Tuesday, May 22.
Mr. Alex. Hill, M.A. , M.D., on "Brain Tissue considered as t he
Apparatus of Thought." Lecture II.-On Thursday, May 24.
The Rev. Canon Ainger, M.A., LL. 0 ., on "Ohaucer. Lecture I.
- On Saturday, May 26. Sir Frederick Bridge, Mus. Doe., on
" The Growth of Chamber Music" (with musical illustrations).
Lecture I.
ENGINEERING.
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1900.
REFUSE DESTRUCTION.
the destruction of city refuse is not
making that headway which could be wished in the
interests of public health, yet substantial progress
is being made in the design and construction of the
apparatus by which objectionable matter is cremated, and the otherwise waste heat is utilised for
steam-raising purposes. The latter end is more
likely to be attained, as the extravagant claims of
some early theorists and speculators are no longer
put forward, or, at any rate, do not receive credence.
We have from time to time chronicled the progress
made in this field, and illustrated various plants
erected by those more enlightened municipal authorities who have encouraged progress. The number
of destructors has been no n1ore than doubled
during the last seven years, not a very promising
result, and we are told that up to the present
furnaces for the burning of town's refuse have only
been adopted in 88 places.
The chief business of~ destructor is t-o destroy, a
postulate which appears likely to be forgotten in the
desire to obtain economical results, a view rather
too apt to take possession of the ambitious servant
of a corporation or municipal body. To save coal
and raise steam cheaply is in itself a laudable end
to have in view, but if it is pursued irrespective to
the proper function of the destructor, it becomes an
evil. A satisfactory destructor gives off neither evilsmelling gases, black smoke, nor dust, the latter
being more difficult to deal with than the former.
In some comparisons of the value of destructors, the
economy of working, of which steam-raising forms
a leading feature, is almost the only point taken
into consideration, nothing being said as to what
should be the chief aim of the apparatus.
Complete combustion and well-arranged chambers or flues are the prime necessities of a good
destructor. The former is not always easy to
obtain in dealing with wet refuse often containing
a very small percentage of combustible matter.
Some of the early destructors were so deficient in
this respect that fume cremators, kept going by the
consumption of large quantities of good coke, had
to be fitted, otherwise the destructor would have
ALTHOUGH
become a standing nuisance to the neighbourhood. ,

But, although the complete burning of all noxious
gases entails careful design and good arrangement,
it is to be secured by a proper arrangement and proportioning of the furnace. One cardinal principle to
be observed is to insure that the green r efuse
be fed in gradually from the opposite end to that at
whic~ the products of combustion finally escape.
In th1s way the fumes are made to pass over the
burning mass on the grate bars, and if sufficient air
be present, they will be consumed by the radiant
heat from the fire. In case, however, some gases .
s~ould escape unburnt, large brick flues are provided, _the refractory lining of which is brought to
a glow1ng heat, and thus completes the combustion
of any fumes that might have escaped.
. ~uch p~ecautions having been taken, and proVlSlOn be1ng made for the arrestation of dust,
there is no reason why the heat generated should
not be used for raising steam or any other useful
purpose; . neither is there needed any tall and
costly ch1mneystack to distribute evilsmelling
fumes and dust over a wider area.
<?ne of the most important destructor plants
'~h10h we have formerly described, is that which
d1sposes of the refuse of the district of Shoreditch.
This was opened in June, 1897, and after about
~! year~' work~g, Mr: C. N. Russell gives some
mterest1ng part10ulars 1n a paper read before the
Institution of Civil Engineers. The average
amount of r efuse received pir day is 84 tons,
although occasionally as much as 140 tons have
been delivered in one day. By means of a test of
5 hours' duration with 10 cells in use, 0. 96 lb. of
water was evaporated, from and at i212 deg., per
pound of refuse burnt. The steam is chiefly used
for the generation of electricity. Our readers will
remember+ that at this station a certain amount of
coal is burnt when the demand for current is at
the highest, but taking this into consideration, 1\ir.
Russell has arrived at the conclusion that the calorific value of the refuse is three farthings per Board
of Trade unit . In the trial referred to only r efuse
was burnt. Much better evaporative results are,
however, recorded for refuse, for instance, Mr.
R . B . Hodgson has stated that at Hereford there
is no difficulty in obtaining l~ lb. of steam per
pound of refuse burnt; whilst at Darwen the water
evaporated was 1.55 lb. per p ound of refuse, the
av~rage steam pressure during a 48 hours' trial
be1ng ~83 lb. per square _inch. Here a regenerator 1s used for supply1ng h eated air to th~
ash pit.~.
Mr. B. D. Healey, in a paper read before the
Society of Engineers, tells us that the heat developed by refuse varies through wide hmits. A ton in
Birmingham will give 200 indicated horse-power, as
against 11 indicated horse power for Bury, though
we are not told for how long a period. The value
assigned to Rochda.le is 182, to Cam bridge 174, Hereford 149, Leeds 113, Bradford 82, Oldham 60, Hastings 40, Leyton 33, Southampton 16, and Bath 12.
It is evident that the price of coal in a district
must have a.n effect on the value of dustbin
refuse, for where coal is cheap, cinders are not
likely to be sifted. One would think, too, that a
fairly rich neighbourhood, where servants are kept,
would be likely to have a. good percentage of unconsumed carbon in the dust-bin, for the modern
housemaid is not much given to sifting oinders.
Mr. E . J. Lovegrove has stated, however, that
the calorific value of house r efuse in high-class
residential districts is of a much lower value than
that obtained from the poorer-class districts.
This, he says, is largely due to the practice which
prevails in the larger houses of sifting and re burning
the cinders. Mr. Lovegrove is an authority on
these matters ; but we should like to know whether
he bases his statement on accurately observed
data. British town's refuse appears to be richer
in carbon than that of Continental cities. Mr.
Russell says in his paper that in Hamburg and
Brussels not only is it impossible to raise steam of
any value, but the furnace residue is nearly double
that which it is in England, the proportions being
about 28 per cent. and 50 per cent. respectively of
the material burnt.
Mr. Healey speaks of the evil of having too much
boiler power, and says that it is better to have two
furnaces to a boiler, and this proportion has been
adopted by the leading makers of destructor
plant s.
The cost for the year ending March 25, 1899, of
* See ENGINEERING, vol. lxiv., page 19.

t Ibid., vol. lxv., page 212.
destroying 26,601 tons of refuse at Shoreditch, in- from it. Complete plants are laid down for making
eluding burning, supervision, cleaners, and yard pavement flags, ballast for concrete, paving gravel
men, repairs, stores, and sundries, was at the rate and mortg,r. Artificial paving stone manufactured
of 2s. 6. 90d. per ton, according to Mr. Russell. from Shoreditch clinker, consists of two and half
This does not include interest and redemption, an parts of ground clinker to one of PorMand cement.
item that would add 11!d. per ton if the term were A sa'!lple slab when supported at its ends sustained
extended over 30 years. The total energy metered a we1ght ?f 2221 lb. before breaking. The slabs
to consumers during the year ending March 25, are made 1n a press, and are subjected to 1! ton
1899, was 1,031,348 units. Of this 131, 140 units ~ the square inch. Mr. Healey states that
were supplied to t he destructors themselves for if the residuun1 of existing furnaces were fully
working fans, lifts, &c. The 26,201 tons of refuse utili~ed, 90,000l. per annum could be saved by
consumed, were reinforced by 1344 tona of coal. makmg pavement flags, or 40,000l. if the clinker were
The price charged for electricity for motive-power only used for concrete and gravel. Whether these
purposes is 2d. per unit at all hours, or for figures mean net profit or not it would be interestcu~tomers taking not less than 100,000 unit~ per ing to know. What has now become another
annum, l id. per unit . The low price thus charged valuable bye-product was at one time a source
has had a great effect in equalising the load, there of intolerable nuisance, and, indeed, still conbeing a large number of users of power in this tinues to be in some districts. This is the flue
neighbourhood, which is a great centre of the dust to which reference has already been made.
furniture-making industry. Mr. Russell states When mixed with 10 per cent. of carbolic acid
that the results of experience at Shoreditch show it . constitutes an excellent disinfectant powder ~
that refuse can be destroyed for 2s. 5d. per ton, th~s dust has also been used for making silicate
which is less than it would cost to remove by patnt.
barges. Mr. W . N. Blair, who is in charge of
A leading feature in the operAting of destructors
the St. Pancras destructors, considers the figure that has come into use within recent times is the
higher than a good many installations could show, application of forced draught. The gases are more
but is still of opinion that simple removal by rail effectively burnt, and the tall chimney-stack is not
would be cheaper if the cost of removing residuals needed. Mr. H ealey prefers rotary blowers, and
were taken into account. The question of cost advises that the exhaust steam of the engines should
is, however, a little obscure at present. For in- be mixed with the blast by means of annular nozzles,
stance, in the discussion on Mr. Russell's paper, in order to preserve the grates by chemical action
Mr. W. G. Laws stated that with an old.fashioned which takes place in the incandescent part of fires.
destructor, without forced draught, all the cost, ex- Water-tube boilers are said to be the most suitcepting collection of refuse, had been reduced to able type for steam generation by destructor fur8!-d. per ton, no attempt being made in any way naces, supposing they are properly set. No doubt
to utilise the heat. Mr. C. J ones, well known for the water-tube boiler has many advantages, but it
his connection with the Ealing destructors, said he also has special disadvantages for generating steam
was " staggered " at the 3s. 6d. per ton (including by means of burning refuse for electric lighting
capital charge) at Shoreditch, and compared it to purposes. The great virtue of the water-tube
the ls. 7d. per ton as the heaviest charge mentioned boiler- its lightness- does not count for very much
in his book '' Refuse Destructors." ' At Ealing," in this case, as it does in marine practice. The
he said, " the reduction in the value of the total demand for steam is intermittent and uncertain in
cost, arising from the steam used, together with the electric light installations ; but the refuse comes in
various items that went to form the assets, reduced at all times of the day, and must be burnt conthe charge to about 4!d." Mr. A. H. Preece, in tinuously. In order to meet these conditions, the
the course of the sam~ discussion, came to the con thermal storage system has been introduced at
elusion, upon figures taken from another source, Shoreditch, where watex-tube boilers are in use.
that the total cost of destruction at Shoreditch, As the water-tube boiler contains very little water,
including interest, came to 4s. lld.; but on the there is very little storage of heat, or, as has been
author's figures, the cost to the sanitary de- expressively said, it is like an engine without a flypartment would be 2s. or 2s. 6d. per ton. Later wheel. It is to overcome this that the big cylinon, Mr. E. Manville, on whose advice the Vestry drical vessel, containing a store of hot water, which
of Shoreditch established the st.a tion, said that a constitutes the main feature of the thermal storage
saving of 30 per cent. was effected in the cost of system, has been introduced. A Lancashire boiler
barging the refuse, whilst the electricity was may be compared to a water-tube boiler and a
supplied at the lowest price in London. These are thermal storage tank in one ; and though it may
certainly gratifying results, but even better can be not offer all the advantages of the Shoreditch
done. For instance, Mr. Reginald Brown pointed arrangement, it has not some of its disadvantages.
out in the discussion at the Institution of Civil En- In any case, as between the two kinds of boiler,
gineers that the cost for burning at S horeditch was putting other adjuncts out of the question, there is
too high, it being given by Mr. Russell as l s. lOd., a great deal to be said in favour of the Lancashire
as against lOd. for the Horsfall cells at Oldham, * type.
and that the capital cost per cell at Shoreditch
Mr. Healey does not speak very favourably of
amounted to 1300l. as against 500l. per cell at the thermal storage system in use at Shoreditch,
Oldham. There are reasons that explain these which was designed to work in connection with
great differences, into which we have not space water-tube boilers with a maximum pressure of
to enter here ; but the fact remains that even 400 lb. per square inch. He refers to the heavy
better results may be hoped for with conditions initial outlay as being altogether out of proportion
more favourable, as they frequently will be.
to any possible advantages, as all the pipes, valves,
The total number of destructor furnaces at the and fittings had to be strong enough for full prespresent time, according to Mr. Healey, is 695, sure, moreover t here is the extra covering neceswhilst the total number of steam generators is 126. sary in all steam-charged vessels to provide against
Assuming that the furnaces are all well constructed, radiation due to higher temperatures. The same
they are capable of supplying 222 additional steam romark applies to hot feed pipes. Another point
generators, so that n early twothirds of the power made by the author is that, owing to the very
is not utilised. Carrying the figures further, Mr. high temperature of steam at 400 lb. pressure,
Healey says that "this waste amounts to 9000 in- there is more difficulty in absorbing the heat
diclted horse-power, taking 20 indicated horse- from the gases and products of combustion. The
power as the duty of each furnace, or at .0635d. obvious remedy for this would be to use an ecoper indicated horse-power, 17,328l., which is the nomiser.
equivalent of coal at 4s. 2d. per ton when 1 lb.
The conclusions Mr. Healey comes to are that,
of the latter evaporates 7 lb. of water; but, as a taking an average of several systems, 1.26 lb.
matter of fact, 40 indicated horse-power per fur- of water can be vaporised by 1 lb. of average
nace is now regularly obtained." Mr. Russell unscreened refuse when burnt in well-constructed
states that the total amount of power to be obtained furnaces, assisted by a forced draught, at a pressure
per annum from t~e whole of the refu~e.of Lon~on, of 1.25 in. on the water gauge. This, it will be
if it were burned 1n destructors of effiCient destgn, seen, is a considerable advance on the llb . of water
would amount to about 133 million brake horse- to llb. of refuse, which was formerly looked upon
as the standard, and was indeed not allowed to be
power hour.
Besides steam raising there are other bye-pro- true by a. good many persons, but it is not so good
ducts of the destructor furnace, the clinker made as the li lb. stated by Mr. Hodgson. Mr. Healey
may all be used and a good profit can be obtained further tells us that by the use of screened refuse
1.89 lb. of water can be vaporised per pound, but it
* For a. description of the Oldham destructors, see EN- requires at least 3 tons of unscreened to produce
GINEERING, vol. lxiii., page 122.
2 tons of screened refuse. I t will be gathered from
[MAY 18,
1900.
this that there is no great advantage to bo obtained

from screening.
There is no need for us here to dwell further
on the desirability of local authorities erecting
r~fuse. destructors.
The present methods of
dtsposing ~f garbage are repulsive and unwholesome. Too many of the approaches to London
take passengers past disgusting heaps of refuse,
whilst the carting of it through the streets
is often m~de more objectionable than need be,
owing to improperly designed vehicles. When
mechanical traction is firmly established on the
highways of towns and cities, at any rate, for passenger traffic, and when refuse destructors are
universal, two great steps in advance will be made
in the field of sanitary science.
THE THAMES DOCKS.

THE docks of the Port of London have been for
years in an unsatisfactory condition. They have
to contend with the competition of other towns,
both here and on the Continent, provided with
better facilities for dealing with shipping and for
handling cargoes ; and if they are to keep a fair
proportion of the trade of the country, great additions must be made to them in all departments.
When the original Act was passed for the construction of these docks, a clause was inserted
that no charge should be made for goods loaded in
or out of ship from or to barges and lighters. This
clause was adopted at the instance of the wharfingers, who up to that time had been accustomed
to receive goods from ships lying in the river, and
who, of course, had not been liable to dues. They
had built large warehouses for dealing with goods,
and would ha. ve been prejudiced if they could not
deal as cheaply with a cargo lyin~ in a dock as
with one lying in the river. The result of the
arrangement is that the tonnage of the barges using
t he docks is n ow nearly twice that of the ships
brought into the docks at the present time, and
three-quarters of the goods leaving or arriving in
the port of London escape all charge, because they
are conveyed by lighters.
Naturally this is not a state of things favourable
to good financial returns on the money invested in
the d~cks. I t occurs nowhere else in the country,
except at Hull, and the dock companies are anxious
to effect a change. The time has come when they
must raise much additional capital, but without a
change in the matter of dues, there seems no possibility of their doing so, as their existing stock is
sadly depreciated. They have, therefore, brought a
Bill before Parliament to enable them to make a
maximum charge of 4d. a ton on lighters using the
docks, and l s. and ls. 6d. a ton on goods, according to their description. It is estimated that the
revenue from these sources, in addition to that
already received from the shipping and from
goods dealt with over-quay, would put matters
on a satisfactory basis. The Bill came on for
second reading last Tuesday, and met with considerable opposition. Naturally no one wants to
see the transit of goods saddled with additional bt1rdens, while at the same time, the prosperity of the Port and City of London largely
depends on its affording proper facilities for trade.
Eventually the Bill was withdrawn, on Mr. Ritchie,
the President of the Board of Trade, promising, on
behalf of the Government, that a R oyal Commission should be appointed to make a full inquiry
into the whole question of what accommodation
was requiled, what expenditure should be incurred, and how it should be met ; and, further,
whether to the present companies or t.o a public
trust the docks of London should, in the future,
be confided.
The future of the Port of London, therefore, lies
in suspenEe until the Commission can collect its
evidence and can come to a conclusion. This need
not be a very long affair, for a great deal has been
written on the subject during the past few
years. For instance, the London County Council
has recently issued an Orange Book which deals,
in somewhat desultory form, with the "Port of
London Dock Accommodation.,,
The return
is t he outcome of a. resolution of the Council,
passed March 24, 1896, to the effect : '' That it
being in the best interest of London to imptoye
its shipping Ly improved and cheaper dock accommodation it be referred to the Rivers Committee to
reportupon the whole subject." The Rivers Committee, in their turn, \ery wisely, it seems to us,
appear to have referred the whole suhject to Mr. G.
MAY r8, 1900.]

L. Gomme, statistical officer to the Council, who has
brought together a good deal of information on the
subject of London docks. The list given in Mr.
Gomme's return is much fuller than it would have
been in the days of masts and sails. The first
dock mentioned is the East India Dock, presun1ably
on accounb of it'3 seniority. It may b e worth
stating, as an addition to the interesting but too
brief historical details Mr. Gom me gives, that the
origin of the East India Docks was a basin of
8 acres, which was commenced by John Perry at his
own expense, on March 2, 1789, and which took two
years to complete. That was the first of the Thames
docks, and was generally cllled Perry's Dock,
though the formal name was Brunswick Basin.
J ohn Perry was the owner of Blackwall Yard,
known to a later generation as Green's Yard, from
the slips of which so many good ships have slid into
the Thames, to go forth for the winds and the
waves, or the shot of our enemies to prove. When
Perry's Dock was constructed there was open
country all round, as one learns from a picture
made at the time, and which shows a double row
of trees, well grown and symmetrical, flanking the
road in front of the dock. The picture also gives
an unobstructed view across the water meadows,
down each side of Bugsby's Reach, right away to
the village of Charlton, on the Kentish side ; and
across Bow Creek, to where the Victoria Docks
have since been dug out of the Essex marshes.
There is also to be seen the old mast-house, 120 ft.
high, which served as a landmark across the level
country for ships coming up the river on the tide,
as many doubtless can remember, for it was only
taken down in 1862.
At the present day, the East India Docks have a
water area of 31.48 acres. The maximum depth
at the lower entrance is 31 ft. at spring and 27 ft.
at neap tides. The West India Docks are much
larger, having a water area of 97.14 acres, and
about the same depth of water.
St. Katherine's Docks are the smallest of the
Thames docks, having but 10.35 acres of water area.
The total area is about 14 acres, and probably it
could be more profitably employed were the docks
filled in and the land used for building purposes, it
being so close to the busy part of London. The
docks are only suitable for comparatively small craft,
which could be well accommodated elsewhere. The
London Docks have an area of 38.72 acres, and an
entrance that will not accommodate large modern
steamers. The Albert Docks have 87.97 acres
area, and a depth of water at entrance of 36 ft.
spring and 32 ft. neap tides.
The Victoria
Docks have an area of 84.45 acres. The Tilbury
Docks are 69.08 acres, and have 44 ft. of water at
the entrance ; the Mill wall Docks have an area of
36.41 acres, and the railway and canal companies'
docks 20.88 acres. This gives a total of 476.48 acres
as dock area on the north side of the river. If to this
we add 167.61 for the comparatively unimportant
docks on the south side, we get a grand jotal for both
sides of the river of 634.09 acres for the Port of
London.
Mr. Gomme also quotes from "an important
series of articles " which appeared in the Times,
and which "very ably summarises the position."
According to these articles, "circumstances have
conspired to t hrust the question of the ports
upon public attention in such a manner that
even the partisan politician must be roused
into wakefulness." The first circumstances, or
group of circumstances, are "schemes for the complete or partial municipalisation of ports. " These,
we learn, are being thrust forward in very persistent fashion.
Next, "a number of docks have
fallen, or seem likely to fall, into the hands of railway companies, some of which are shipowners,
into the bargain. " '' In the third place, the doctrine that the agencies which provide facilities for
the transport of goods must not, if they have obtained protection or assistance from the State in
securing their position, be able to show anything
approaching to undue preference, has been recognised with so much emphasis in recent statutes
relating to railways and canals, that the application of a similar doctrine to the ports, which are
the nostrils of the breath of the country--that is
to say, of its trade-has become a mere matter of
time." Transh.ted into common-man's speech, this
appears to mean fair play all r ound. The last of the
circumstances that have conspired is, we are told,
" perhaps not the least important point." " There
is such a bewildering variety of systems and
allowances at various ports that it is utterly im-
possible t? compare a tabular statement showing the
c~mpa.~at~ve expense of sending similar vessels
w.tth similar cargoes to the various ports of the
kmgdom, and having their cargoes dealt with in
similar fashion." It is here the unhappy Port of
London, "which ought for obvious reasons to be the
most prosperous and best-governed port in the
world, " is described as being under " chaotic control."
In regard to the first
the above-mentioned
conspiring circumstances, the municipalisation of
po~ts,. th~ return is well adapted to stimulate
ag1tatwn 1n favour of the London County Council
obtaining control of our chief river and of the
government of t.he port. Now we would be
~ar from saying that the Thames Conservancy
IS a model corporation, for it is too apt to
go to sleep and let things take their chance,
generally a very poor one. We believe also,
as a general rule, in centralisation in matters of
loc~l government, c.hiefiy from the fact that a body
whiCh has extensiVe powers thereby acquires
dignity, and is the more likely to attract responsible and educated members. For these reasons
we should like to see the Thames Conservancy incorporated with the London County Council, could a
satisfactory schen1e for effecting this end be devised.
Unfortunately, h owever, the past history of the
~ondon County Council negatives any hope that
tt would use an extended field of activity of this
nature in a satiAfactory manner.
Nevertheless, the County Council system is well
? evised for supplying local parliaments for carryIng out such duties as those under consideration,
and, indeed, some County Councils are doing excellent work. As with all corporations, congresses,
and parliaments, however, good men are needed
that good work may be carried out. Perhaps some
day the London Counfjy Council may change for
the better in the character of its membership, and
when that is a well-established fact, we shall be
prepared to advocate its control of our Metropolitan river.
The second circumstance mentioned, i.e., the
docks "falling into the hands of railway companies,
some of which are shipowners into the bargain,"
is one which we by no means look on with distrust
or apprehension. In fact the best thing that can
happen to a good many docks would be to fall
into the hands of powerful railway companies
having lines serving them.
"Undue preference," which forms the third
circumstance in the list from which we quote,
does not need much discussion. Fair play iB a.
duty we all owe to our neighbours, whether it can
be enforced by law or not. When special "protection or assistance" is asked by promoters from
the State, Parliament should take care to make the
granting of such assistance or protection conditional
upon an equitable treatment of all persons. Such
was the intention of the Legislature in regard to
rail way rates; but the Legislature often intends
better than it sees its way to perform. The doctrine, however, must not be stretched too far, or
it may lead to injustice and abuse.
The '' bewildering system of allowances at
yarious ports , is often a cause of just complaint,
and much improvement might be effected-indeed
ought to be effected-to this respect. Here,
again, though uniformity, or even an approach to
uniformity, is impossible ; for the rates that some
ports, with great natural advantages, could easily
work at, would mean ruin to others. Of course,
the merchant and shipowner must calculate the
relative advantages of different ports, and balance
them against varying cost. Vve fear the shipper
can never be relieved of this duty, although we are
quite sure the business might be very much simplified, as we have already intimated.
It would have been helpful if Mr. Gomme, in his
return, had given us some idea how he proposed to
solve the problems set forth in the opening paragraphs of the memorandum, but he is content to
state the case without suggesting a solution to t he
difficulties. I t should be stated, however, that t he
present Orange Book is marked ~'Part I.,, so that
we tnay perhaps hope for light and leading in a
subsequent publication of the series. In the meantinle Mr. Gomm e supplies in the return a good
deal of informat ion in a convenient form on "the
nostrils of the breath of the country," to again use
the poetical expression the report quotes to indicate
the docks of London. The Royal Commission will
thus find a great deal of information ready prepa~ed
to his hands, and can address itself to elaboratmg
of
6ss
its scheme for the regeneration of the docks. It
is certain that additional capital must be found,
but at present it is not clear how it is to be obtained without injustice to some class.
THE BELLEVILLE BOILER.

the past week the question of the
suitability of the Belleville boiler for warships
has been discussed in the daily press with that
delightful freedom of opinion which usually characterises the ill-informed and inexperienced ''naval
critic," and the statements made have been
remarkable principally for the drastic nature of
the changes portended, according to the view of
the writers. Thus we are told that the Belleville
boiler is to be discarded, '' except for torpedoboat destroyers," that the Admiralty intend to
appoint a Committee of Investigation, and that
the chief engineering officials at the Admiralty
are about to resign to make it easy for the Board
to abolish the boiler and to investigate afterwards
its suitability.
In considering briefly these remarkable and
reckless statements we shall reverse the order.
The resignation of the chief engineering officials
at the Admiralty, we do not hesitate to say,
would be a matter for sincere regret from the
national point of view. Under the present staft
splendid progress has been made in the improvement of the matb-iel of the Navy. But for
the courage and unceasing vigilance of these
officials our warships in point of speed and other
qualities could never have kept pace with the
needs of the service from the strategical point of
view, and any check, in view of the continual progress in foreign navies, would be a serious
matter.
But we are certain that the same
courage will operate in determining that a carefully considered, if not an inevitable, policy
should not be deserted, even when most vigorously attacked. Credence, therefore, need not be
given to statements of resignations, which should
perhaps be classified in the category of thoughts
prompted by desires.
As to the appointment of a committee, no one
would for a moment oppose such a course if it were
to result in any satisfactory issue not realisable
under present conditions. None of our readers
will blame us for any lack of desire to have the
fullest investigation into any question of technical
importance or interest: we have ever been on the
side of research by collective bodies on scientific
questions; but the point of importance now to
be decided is as to whether the time is not long
since past for investigating the general question of
policy on the water-tube boiler question. Even
if such an investigation is to be held, it must be
on different lines than those suggested. The fact
~ust not be lost sight of that all Powers have
decided in favour of the water- tube boiler
for warships, because of its immense strategic
value. Naval authorities, the value of whose
opinion cannot be doubted for a moment, have
pronounced in favour of the change-have stated
that it iB inevitable, and this must be borne in
mind in investigating the question ; so that the
principle of the water-tube boiler must be accepted.
'fhat being so, the point narrows itself down to
one of carrying the principle of the water-tube
boiler into practice ; and it must not be lost sight
of in this connection that every design prepared
at the Admiralty is submitted to a consultative
committee, consisting at present of the chief
inspectors of machinery at Portsmouth and
Chatham, and the chief engineer of Portsmouth
Dockyard, the officials who are in daily contact
with the machinery in operation in our warships,
and thus know from experience the practical
results of the working of each ship's engines and
boilers. This committee reports upon each design
to the First Lord of the Admiralty.
We have frequently expressed our views as to
the Belleville boiler, and need only say here, in
view of present criticism, that when it was first
adopted it was, and is still, by far the most largely
accepted in the navies of the world. The Admiralty
had a long series of experiments carried out before
this type was adopted, and in accepting the boiler
their decision coincided with that of other Navy
authorities. At the same time it was decided to
conduct similar tests with all types, and thus,
following upon the experimental application of the
Belleville boiler in the Sharpshooter, the Du
Temple was fitted in the Spanker; the Niclausse in
WITHIN
'
the Seagull ; the Mumford in the Salamander ;
and t he Babcock and Wilcox in t he Sheldrakeall ships of the same t ype. These vessels, like the
Sharpshooter, were run for thousands of miles, and
careful tests made. We have no intention of detailing the resul ts, but they were generally confirmatory
of the original decision, as objectionable features
discovered t h emselves in the various types. In t he
case of the Babcock and Wilcox boiler, changes have
since been made which have res ulted most favourably. The tests of these various types of boilers
wer~ made because .the responsible engineering
offie1als at the Admiralty were anxious to take
ad vantage of the best design which would most conveniently realise in practice t he inevitable principle
of water -tube boilers for warships, and if any system
shows an all-round superiorit y at any t ime we are
confident that it will be adopted.
'
As it is, h owever, t h e Belleville boiler has continued to hold t he field, and n ot alone in this
country. Time and experience bring changes,
and it will n ot b e at all surprising to us if t he
Babock and Wilcox type should secure in future
a larger share of attention and Empport as a r esult
of t h e r esearch work carried out in the Sheldrake.
Already it has been adopted for a new sloop b eing
built.at Sheerness, of 1400 indicated horse-power,
and 1t may be fitted to some of the large ships
of this year's programme; but t he BeJleville boiler
will not be r eplaced, as, when well constructed,
and with experien ced management on board ship,
it has given satisfactory results. It has been
said, for instance, t hat t he tubes of the Powerful
are to be renewed ; t hat is not so. Only five of her
original welded tubes have been replaced by soliddrawn tubes from first to last of h er commission,
extending over two years and eight months.
Again, the statement has b een made that, while
we are adopting French boilers, other P owers having ships built in t his country are fitting British
b oilers. This is equally inaccurate, for the British
boilers in q uestion are only being adopted in small
torpedo-boat destroyers, as is t he case wit h our
craft of the same class. The large warships being
built in this country for foreign p owers are all
fitted with the Belleville boiler . Again, it is said
that t he Belleville boiler will in future be confined
to torpedo boat destroyers. As a matter of fact, it
has not been fitted to a single one of our hundred
odd destroyers, and is not suitable for such craft.
We might continue our inq uiry into the inaccur acies of t he statements made- in some cases
in papers which ough t to k now better; but it is
really unprofitable ; although it serves to show how
much reliance can be placed on the general statement as to the supercession of the boiler, and the
resignation of officials- the latter a statement which
is as reprehensible as it is inaccurate.
Much that we have said is old news: an apology
is almost called for in dealing with the subject,
except for possible misapprehension and uncertainty as to t he n ature of the Admiralty administration involved; b ut we have r eally been led
to a consideration of t he subject generally by
an inter esting r eturn just issued by order of the
H ouse of Commons to show the cost of repair s
to t he boilers of H. M. SS. Diadem, Niobe, Arrogant, Furious, P owerful, and T errible since they
were commissioned. The r eturn is most suggestive,
for these ships have been commissioned for various
periods varying from one year and three months
to two years and eight months ; and t he figures
give a very good idea of t he cost of upkeep of the
Belleville boiler. Four of the ships are those fitted
immediately after the Sharpshooter experiments
establish ed the suitability of the type-the Powerful, Terrible, Arrogant, and Furious ; and these
have not economisers, t he other two have this addi~
tion. With t he exception of t he cost in the case of
the Terrible, the amounts ar e not by any means
exorbitant, but it would have been well to have
had along with the figures a statement as to t he
p ercentage for upkeep on the total cost of the
boilers, because outlays of 4000l. or 2000l. m~y
at first sight seem, as one paper has put 1t,
"remarkably expensive " for repairs.
The Belleville boilers cost on an average about
3l. 7s. per indicated horse-power at their full powe~,
which of course, is got with natural draught. This
includes uptakes and funnels. It is thus eas~ t o
a.rri ve at t he total price. The first cost of the bo1ler
installations in th e Powerful and Terrible averaged
about 84 OOOl., and yet the cost of maintainii1g t hem
in a satisfactory state of repair in t he case of the
Powerful for 2 years 8 mon ths is only 1978l., or
[MAY 18, 1900.
little under 1 per cent. per annum. In the case of tion of the names of all members of a firm is
the Terrible, the cost is five t imes greater-due to likely to prove. When we weigh the pros and cons,
an unfortunate accident, and not necessarily in- it is not difficult to see t hat the advantage of knowherent to the system. Again, the Diadem's boilers ing the exact number and names of the partners
cost about 55,600l., and her repairs for 19 months in a firm largely outweighs the disadvantage which
cost 4218l. ; but those of the sister -ship, the N iobe, t he comparatively secret disclosure of such informafor 14 months, only cost 374l. It may be that the tion through t he medium of a public register is
latter ship has not done the same amount of steam- likely to impose upon those who wish for some
ing as the Diadem, although both wer e in the r eason to conceal the true nature of their business.
Channel Squadron, and both went to South Africa, As was p ointed out by Sir Albert R ollit, an honest
partly to convoy the troopships and do other patrol trader has n othing to fear even if the Bill becomes
duty. The difference, however, is marked. In the a statute in its present form, while the dishonest
worst case the percentage per annum in the Diadem trader who is possessed of many aliases may find
is about 4f per cent. ; in the other it is much less his opportunities for deception largely curtailed if
t han 1 per cent. The same difference obtains with not completely destroyed by t he proposed measure.
More cogent reasons for t he introduction of this
t he Arrogant and Furious-sister. ships of 10,000
~orae-power.
The rate of upkeep in the one case new register force t hemselves into notice. The
IS 6.4 per cent. p er annum, and in the other 2.9 present means of ascertaining the financial stability
per cent. We presume, of course, that in all cases of a firm, as gauged by the revelation of its cornall the repairs necessary within the time are in- p onent members, are cumbersome and known only
eluded as suggested by the ret urn.
to the few. The word "Co. " is appended to the
These percentages speak for t hemselves; but it name of a particular firm to impart dignity and
is obvious that where t here is such disparity in importance- but how few of those who deal with
vessels built from the same specification and worked t he firms are able to ascertain the name of t he
under the same conditions-often in the same ser- party who shelters himself behind t his appellation.
vices, if not in t he same seas-there are influences True, it may be, that a business has long been
apart altogether from the principle of the boiler or carried on under a particular title, and that the
the design. The Admiralty have probably within firm name is a valuable asset in the business, but
t heir knowledge such extraneous causes which the new measure falls far short of enforcing the
operate to influence results. They are not indi- disclosure of all the partners' names on the brass
cated in t he return, which we give below in full, as plate. I t merely gives to t hose who have some
published;* and we have n o means of ascertaining special reason for making further investigations, an
such official knowledge. Undoubtedly, experience opport unity of doing so without having to consult
in the running of water-tube boilers is an an inquiry agency for the purpose.
important factor ill economy and efficiency.
It was also pointed out in the House of Commons
L ong hours in t he stokehold during official t hat our t wo g reat foreign competitors-America
steaming trials have made it clear to us that the and Germany- are ahead of us in t his matter. In
old haphazard style of stoking and of allowing the former country a system of r egistration exists
affairs to run easily will not do with the high- which has been founded upon universal custom.
pressure system; and it is for this r eason that we In the latter, stringent r egulations have been made
have urged that the engine complements of our for the purpose by statute. Even if the proposed
ships should be overhauled. High-pressure steam scheme has the effect of saving time (one of t he
means greater-almost ceaseless-vigilance, even least of its benefits as foreshadowed in t he H ouse),
when running at low powers, and on t his m ust, in it may serve to assist us to keep our "end up " with
part, depend the bill for r epairs. A slight flaw, of foreign rivals.
As an instance of t he extent to which the names
which no notice is taken, may so develop as to
ultimately involve heavy outlay, and unless t he of parties connected with business is concealedstaff is adequate sttch simple slips may be over- whether intentionally or not-it was stated by
looked and bring trouble.
Again, it is an Mr. Monk, in t he course of his speech in t he H ouse
open question whether contractors should be of Commons, that he had had a letter from a firm in
allowed to construct boilers on t he piecework the north of England, who stated that t hey did
system. It must n ot be supposed t hat in raising business with 4000 firms, but t hat they did not
this point we are for a moment assuming that the know the names of t he persons who constituted
question of workmanship enters into the reason those firms in more t han 10 per cent. of the whole
for the r epairs bill being large or small- we have number .
absolutely no information on the subject-but
R egistration is provided for in the new Moneygeneral experience supports the view that with Lending Bill. Thus by Clause 5 (i. ) of that
piecework there is a great temptation on t he measure it is enacted t hat the Commissioners of
part of workmen to "sins of omission and corn- Inland Revenue, subject to t he approval of the
mission. " The Admiralty some time ago tried to Treasury, may make regulat ions r especting the
induce cont ractors to agr ee to a clause prohibiting r egistration of money-lenders and t he fees to be
piecework on water-tube boilers; but t he attitude paid on registration and renewal of registration,
of the men was not favourable, and considerat ion n ot exceeding ll. for each r egistration or reof the matter had to be d eferred. The q uestion is newal, and r especting t he insp~ction of t he register
undoubtedly one of extr eme difficulty from the and t he fees payable therefor.
Where a company
point of view of labour economics, but this general carries on the business of money-lenders t he
reference must suffice for the presen t.
register is to include (a) the name of every trustee,
director, manager, and agent of t he company; and
(b) the name and address of every person who has
advanced money for the purpose of carrying on t he
REGISTRATION OF FIRMS.
THE Registration of Firms Bill, which was read business of money-lending by the company.
Among the clauses in the Bill the most impora second time and referred to a Select Committee
in the House of Commons on May 2, appears to tant is that which prescribes the nature of t he
have received practically unanimous support, not registration to be enforced. Another clause proonly in t he Lower Chamber, but thr oughout the vides for registration before commencing business,
commercial world. Brought forward upon no less th e r eason for its insertion being that in commencthan fifteen previous occasions, it has at length ing business men genera.lly require considerab~e
been taken up seriously by our legislators, t o credit, and it is therefore important that therr
appear, as we ventur e to hope, on t he statute book businesses and the names of the partners interested
therein should be registered. Other clauses probefore the close of the presen t Session.
A study of the speeches delivered in t he House vide for the registration of changes and impose
on May 2 serves to show how useful t he regist ra- penalt ies for non-registration. I t appears that the
promoters of the Bill do not seek to emphasise the
* Cost of repairs to the boilers of the undermentioned infliction of penalties, it being suggested t hat to make
ships since they were first commissioned up to Feb- non-recristration a bar to the right to bring legal
ruary 24, 1900 :
proceedings will be sufficient to secure obedience
to t he princi~les of the meas~re. -~nother cla?se
Da.te of First
Labour. Ma.teril\l'3. Total. imposes a ser10us penal~y for In.ten twnally makmg
Commissioning.
a false r eturn. Power l S also given to t he Board
of Trade to make and alter fees, provided that the
4218 fee shall n ot exceed 5s. for each registration. It is

318!
103 l
n:a.dem
..
July 191 1898
136
238
. . December 6, 1898
Niobe ..
374
d
4,511 important to notice that t h e proposed measure ~ea

302 1
1490
. . January 271 1898
Ar rogant
..
July 1, 1898
396
1208
Furious
1,604 n ot in any way affect the present law of partnership,
'ilO
1 9778
1268
..
June 8, 1897
Powerful
,456 "but if " said Mr. Emmott, who moved the second
6652
3804
1
0
.
.
June
15,
1897
Terrible
reading ' in t he House of commons, "t

1 h as th e
MAY 18, 1900.]

efl'ect of making people think a little more as to
whether they are partners or n ot, it will be of
enormous benefit to them, as well as to the r est of
the commercial world."
It is suggested that in order to enforce the due
reaistrat ion of firms, such firms as are not registered
sh~ll not be entitled to sue upon contracts entered
into by them. As the law at .P~esent stands a_do:mant partner never need be JOined as a co-pla.Intdf
in an action on a contract entered into with t he
firm or with one of its members (Levick v. Shafts,
2 Es., page 468). To prevent a. firrn from seeking
the aid of the Courts will be a very effectual method
of providing for the due performance of the new
measure.
ARMOURED TRACTION TRAINS FOR

SOUTH AFRICA.
in the present war has certainly
been none too favoutable to the armoured trains,
several of which were extern pori sed in the r !l.ilway
shops of Cape Colony and Natal. Being confined
to the metals the enemy has always known precisely where to expect them, and has taken measures accordingly, which have unfortunately proved
only too successful from hi_s standpoint. ~y destroying the permanent way m front of the t run, the
latter has been brought t o a stand at a point on
which our wily brother B oar has already had his guns
trained, and though there has b een no special difficulty in protecting the engine and cars from rifle
fire, it has, owing to considerations of weight, been
quite impracticable to render them impervious to
t he fire of even small artillery. N ever theless, a rifleproof train may, under certain conditions, prove of
considerable service, though so long as it is confined
to the rail way lines its field of usefulness is decidedly limited. Towards the end of last year, however, Messrs. John Fowler and Co., Limited, the
well - known traction engine and steam plough
makers, of Leeds, suggested to t he War Office that
an armoured traction train might prove serviceable
in South Africa. The firm have already supplied a
number of traction engines for transport purposes,
which have thoroughly proved their value. Indeed,
this campaign is not the first in which Messrs.
F owler have shown that steam may successfully replace horse traction in field operations, since t wo or
three of their engines were made use of by the Germans in handling their siege guns round Metz in
1870. These trains, however, if used on an exposed
line of communication, are n ot proof against capture
and destruction by a mere raiding party of riflemen,
and, accordingly, must be protected by covering
troops. If armoured, it is obvious that the gun detachments would be quite capable of protecting
themselves against the ('florts of even a large
raiding party, since artillery would then be
needed to effectually injure them. The suggestion of the Leeds firm was accordingly favourably entertained by the War Office, and work
on six trains, each consisting of an armoured engine and four bullet-proof wagons, was commenced
early last March. 'l'wo of these have now beeu
completed, and a successful trial run was made
from L eeds through Methley and back on Wednesday last, at which we had the good fortune
tp be present. The leading train was made up of
of an engine followed by three trucks, at t he back
of which were hooked on a couple of 6-in.
howitzers. The trucks were loaded with pig iron
to represent the ammunition which would be carried on service, and consequently the load behind
the engine aggregated about 33 tons. This load
was easily taken up J ohn o' Gaunt's hill, a
cont inuous rise of about 1! miles, part of which is
ns steep as 1 i 1 13. Indeed, the engine is intended
to be capable of taking its load up a gradient of
abm.!t 1 in 9, but, for t unately for t he manufacturers
of t he district, slopes as steep as this are not as
common in the West Riding as in the spruit crossings and drifts of South Africa. The engine and
train were very cleverly handled by the driver,
in spite of the fact that the armour- plate by
which the whole of the engine is boxed in
restricted his view to peeps through two n arrow
slots, one on each side of the firebox. Even
so, the steersman could only see through one
of these direct, and had t o view the other by reflection in a mirror. Nevertheless, the driver succeeded in turning out of the highway into a field,
dragging behind him a t ruck and a howitzer coupled
thereon, and taking t his train through a gate but
9ft. 10 in. wide, or but 10 in. more t han the width of
ExPERIENCE
the engine. The field in question had been r ecently
ploughed, and was accordingly very soft in places,
thus affording an opportunity for testing the efficiency of t he means provided for cornpassing bad spots
in the veldt. On average ground, the engine will be
quite capable of hauling its load without recourse to
these special appliances, since the wheels have
riveted to them stri-ps of heavy tees, about 5 in.
across and 2 in. high. These are set helically, and
form regular teeth, giving an excellent bite on the
ground. The use of such teeth is, of course,
illegal on the public highway, in this country; but
the county authorities, as was t o be expected,
raised no obstacle to their use on these trials, and
the roads, being in excellent condition, showed
scarcely a sign of the passage of the engine, though
the latter weighed, in working order, about 22 tons.
This r esult was no doubt due in part to the large
dimensions of their wheels, their diameter being
7 ft., and the rims 2 ft., wide.
In soft ground the grip of the wheels is increased
by bolting on ''spuds." There are sect ions of T -iron
about 6 in. deep, Banged at one end to hook over
the edge of the wheel rim, and secured in place by
bolts. The latter are provided with cotters in place
of nuts, and the spuds can t.herefore be very quickly
put in place or temoved. Should the ground be
too loose for even these " spuds" to give s ufficient hold, recourse is had to the winding rope,
which has been fitted to this engine just as to a
traction engine intended for mere civilian needs.
By running out t he line and securing it to a suitable
anchorage, which can at need be improvised by
burying a balk of t imber 2 ft. or 3 ft. in the ground,
the engine will be q uite capable of traversing the
most difficult drifts it is likely to meet in active
service.
The engine is of 10 nominal horse-p ower, a term
still retained by makers of portable and traction
engines, though abandoned nearly everywhere else.
I ts misleading character is well shown by the
present instance, since the engines are really capable
of exerting 50 to 60 indicated horse-power. The
cylinders are 6ft in. and 11! in. in diameter, by 12 in.
stroke. The boiler is designed for a working pressure of 180 lb. per square inch. The water tank
will hold about 400 gallons, and bunker capacity is
provided for about 15 cwt. of coal. The driving
wheels, as mentioned above, are 7 ft. in diameter
by 2 ft. broad, and support the engine body by
springs, the use of which is especially necessary in
the present instance, in view of the high speed
at which it is intended to run the engine on favourable ground. The steeling wheels have comparatively narrow treads, since there is little weight
taken on the front axle, and the use of narrow
treads facilitates the steering. Three changes
of speed are provided, which may be taken
under ordinary conditions as two, five, and eight
miles per hour respectively.
The whole of the
boiler, engine, and gears are enclosed inside a
casing of armour plate, the only moving parts outside this protection being the wheels. All bearings
can be got at from the footplate without necessitating
the attendant leaving t he armour protection. The
plates are tin. thick, and are of nickel steel, containing, we believe, also a little chromium, and hardened by a secret process due to Major Boynton,
a director of Messrs . Cam m ell and Co., and who is
himself now engaged at the front.
The plates, we learn, can be punched and
sheared wibhout much difficulty, though hard on
the tools, but are difficult t o drill or plane. All
work of this charact er was, however, done by
Messrs. Cammell, the parts being afterwards
assembled by Messrs . Fowler. These plates are
quite bullet-proof to a Mauser, even at a range of
20 ft., and are also quite competent to stop shrapnell or shell fragments. Indeed, -ft-in. plate will,
it is stated, stop the Mauser bullets, but if the latter
strike normally they will bulge plates of this thickn ess. These 13a-in. plates are nevertheless used for
r oofing t he engine armour, and for some inclined
armour used on t he trucks to be presently r eferred
to. The total weight of armour on the engine is
about 4 tons.
The tow wagons weigh about 5 tons each empty,
and are designed to take a 6-in. breech-loading
howitzer and its limber inside, or a 4. 7-in. gun;
or if the gunR are towed in place of being carried,
as will be the usual practice in the case of the
howitzers, the wagons will serve each to convey
100 rounds of howitzer ammunition, or 125 rounds
of ammunition for a 4. 7-in. gun. The howitzer
shell weighs 118 lb., and the cordite charge
about 2 lb. Howitzers are, of course, low

velocity g uns, since they are intended to give
a curved fire, and thus search out entrenchments.
They are rifled, and in favourable conditions are
pretty accurate, but with such large shells moving
at low velocities, it will be obvious that the drift
in the case of a strong wind may be considerable.
The guns t hemselves weigh 30 cwt., or 68 cwt. com
plete with their mounts. They can be fired in the
field, but for siege purposes are secured to platforms, the recoil being taken by hydraulic brakes,
stout steel spring~ returning t he g un to the firing
position.
The wagons are 15 f t. 6 in. long and 7 ft. 8! in.
in extreme width. The length is insufficient to
accommodate the full length of the 4. 7-in. gun,
but a port on the front armour-plating will
allow the muzzle of th ese to project when on
transport; a suitable shutter is provided to cover
this port at other times. As in the case of the
engine the vertical armour-plates ar e i in. thick,
but the side armour, being inclined, is but 'i:ltf in.
The width of t he cars at the floor level is about
6ft. 4! in., but at about 2 ft. up from the floor
the width is increased to 7 ft . 8t in., in order to
provide clearance for t he axle-caps of the howi tzer
carriages. Above this level the sides tumble
home at an angle of about 80 deg. with the floor
line. These sides consist of hinged flaps of ftr- plate,
stiffened by funnel .fl's, riveted on, and abutting,
when up, against arched frames of 4-in. by 2-in.
steel channels, to which t hey can be clamped in
the usual way. These wagons have no roofs, but
t he flaps can be turned down to meet in the
centre. In this case they entirely cover the car,
and, making then an angle of about 30 deg. with
the horizon, cannot be hit normally by a bullet.
In fact, in this position they may be likened to the
t urtle deck of a cruiser, and effectually protect any
ammunition carried both from rain and rifle bullets.
The latter, indeed, are incapable of doing much
injury, even if they hit the ammunition, since cordite
cannot be fired by such an impact, and as the shells
are only fused immediately before use, they are
also impervious to fire.
Considerable trouble was experienced in getting
rivets capable of withstanding the jar of bullets
striking in their immediate neighbourhood, since
it was found t hat ordinary steel or iron rivets
would fail under these conditions. Nickel steel
has, however, proved more satisfactory, as it is then
necessary for a bullet to actually hit the rivet in
order to injure it.
P orts are pierced in the armour of the wagons,
but these are intended primarily for peepholes
and not for loopholes, since it is not intended to
use the train as a perambulating fort, its 1ole like
that of our Volunteers, being "Defence, not Defiance."
The fore wheels of the wagons '' lock " under the
fore body, just as those of an ordinary "growler/'
and consequently the train has, considering its
length, a remarkably sharp '' turning circle." The
drawbars each consi~t of a V, the fork of which is
secured to the fore carriage of the wagon, whilst the
stem is connected to the fork by a stiff spring,
and is coupled by an ordinary pin to the vehicle
in front. At the back each wagon, in addition
to a shackle for this coupling-pin, has a hook
of the service pattern for taking the trail of a
howitzer. The latter, as already stated, can be
placed inside the wagons, when for any reason it is
desirable to shorten the length of the train. To
this end, each wagon is provided with a couple of
inclined ramps in the shape of heavy steel channels,
which can be hooked behind, and the doors at the
back of the wagon being opened, the howitzer can
quickly be hauled on boa.rd by chocking the wagon
wheels, and connecting the howitzer trail to the
winding rope of the engine.
SUNDERLAND HARBOUR WORKS.-The launching a. few
days since, of the first portion of a. steel caisson which is
to form the end of the Roker pier at Sunderland, indicates the approaching completion of an important coast
work. The first portion of the caisson measures 101ft.
by 69ft., and when placed in position at the end of the
p1er, it will be loaded with 6000 tons of concrete, which,
with 7000 tons to be placed in it prior to its being towed
out of the harbour, will make a. total load of 13,000 tons.
The expenditure on the Roker and South piers, up to the
present time, has been about 350,000l., the work having
been commenced in 1883. The length of the Roker pier
is now 2653 ft., and there islet to be added 136 ft. The
South pier was commence seven years later than the
Roker pier, and the len~th laid down is 1844 ft. The
distance which still remams to be completed is 1000 ft.
NOTES.
FoREIGNERs
AND MINING ENTERPRISE I N JAPAN.
THE difficulties in the way of foreigners wishina

t.o engage in mining enterprise in J apan hav~
~i~herto b een so great that the development of the
mineral resources of the country has not received
much direct assistance from foreign capital a nd
skill. . A. special Committee of the House of R epresentatives recommended that the 3rd article of the
amended mining regulati0ns should be changed so
as to read that mining enterprise shall be lawful
for Japanese subjects, and for companies organised
is accordance with Japanese Ja w, and the House
passed the proposal without discussion. The effect
of this will be that although individual forei a n ers
may n ot enga~e in ~ining operations, comp~nies
formed by foreigners In due accord with the laws of
J apa~ m~y do so.
~his ~ill bring the mining
question Into conformity with the land question
for, whereas an individual foreigner ca~not becom~
a. l~ndowner; a judicial person, namely, an assoClati.on of ~wo o~ more individuals, organised by
~ore1gn~rs Is entitled to ~njoy that privilege. It
IS c?nstdered ext remely Improbable that any one
fo~eigner would desire to engage in mining enterpnses ; such work would naturally be undertaken
by a company. The Jiji Shirmpo, one of the most
i~fluential new~papers in J a pan, however, h as pubh shed a most hberal and opportune article, urging
that t h e House should proceed a step further, and
extend the privilege to individuals as well as to
judicial persons.
The Jiji attacks the whole
questi~n. of land-owning and mining privileges, and
casts ridiCule upon the apprehensions which deter
a g~eat nati? n like the J a:panese from granting to
fore igners n ghts, the enJoyment of which must
benefit the grantor a great deal more than the
grantee. The writer of the article t raverses t h e
whole ground in a .most able and thorough manner,
an~ ~here can ~e h~tle doubt t h at such uneq uivocal
wntmg appearing 111 the columns of so influential
a journal, must produce a large effect.
PoLAR LIGHTS.
We are accustomed to consider the weird coruscations which light up the long dreary nights of
the Arctic regions as a phenomenon connected in
some way with t he electrical condition of our globe.
We are led to this consideration by the action
which the :flickering streamers of this curtain of
light exert on t he magnetic instruments of our
observatories and the lines of our telegraph sy stems.
The auroral display of November 17, 1882, has,
for instance, not yet been forgotten. In the
United States its influence was felt throughout
the day, from California to the Atlantic seab oard.
The night of February 13, 1892, is
h ardly less memorable, the aurora which occurred
being extensively observed in the U nited States
and in some parts of Europe.
T elegraphic
communication between New Y ork and Albany
was maintained at times without batteries : the
current, h o wever, often became intermittent and
even unmanageable, so that for n early two h ours
it was extremely difficult to transact business wit h
any t hing like satisfaction. The telegra ph system
of Sweden was also paralysed, and Russia felt the
effects of the great magnetical disturban ce. At
Kew t h e declination n eedle swung 2 deg. away
from its n ormal position ; t h e horizontal force
changed from .1760 deg. to .1830 deg., and t h e
vertical force from .435 to .442. I t is inter esting
to n otice t h at t he brilliant a urora of 1882 took place
just when a tremendous storm broke out on t h e
s un, as evidenced by the appearance of a spot which
covered no less than .00247 of the sun's visible surface. In like ma nner, t hat of 1892 corresponded with
the appearance of anoth er stupendous spot. The
connection b etween the solar activity and auroral
displays is very marked, both having a. regular
cycle of 11 years 2 months. It is also significant
t hat the changes in magnetic declination have the
same period of 11 y ears. We have h ere a. physical
problem of surpassing inter est, and therefore also
of exceeding difficul ty. It has b een studied by
many, from D e la Rive down to Nordenskiold; and
it still proves so attractive to the veteran auroral
studen t , Dr. Paulsen, of Copenhagen, that he h as
gon e to a little village in Iceland, where, with
t h e help of a number of physicists, h e h opes to
make a n exhaustive study of the aurora in its
native h ome, and to test some of the t h eories t hat
have been put forward to expla in t his mystery of
the sky. Two stations have be~n selected-one
at the village of Akureyri on t he n or thern coast

afi:d the second on th~ top of a neighbouring moun~
t ain. The two stat10ns are connected telephonica.lly. The party are equipped with the most
recent electrical and photographic instruments and
have b een well drilled in operating t hem.
'
[MAY 18,
1900.
steam boilers, which will give a t otal indicated horse

powe~ of about 570~. A deputation of the City Cor
por~t10n, accompa.med by the experienced and ener
getiC ~en~ra.l manager, Mr. H. A. Hedley, has visited
the Prl!lClPal to wns t hroughout the kingdom to urge
t~e clatms, and has met with a most gratifying recap
t10n everywhere. A distinctive feature will be the
exhibition of works of art, representative of the cen
COHERERS.
As the real n ature of the action of coherers is tury 's progress. I t promises to be unequalled.
still disputed, a brief account of some experiments,
condu~ted by J. Harden, of Ratibor, Silesia, may
WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION CASES.
be of Interest. Harden cut a. square frame out of
T urnbull v. Lannbton Collie'ries, Lim.ited.-This was an
sh eet copper . The fourth side of the frame was ~peal from an award of the Durham County Courb
formed by two platinum wires, one of which could Judge under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897.
be moved by means of a micrometer screw. The The respondent, Frances Turnbull, was the widow of
wires origin~lly ended in fine points; by brealting J~h~ Thoma.s Turnb~ll, who wa"l killed by an accidenb
the current In a n;ercury cup, however, the point artsmg out of, and m the course of, his employment.
The Lambton Collieries, Limited (the present appellants),
had been changed mto a tiny sphere. The spheres owned a number of collieries, among them being one
were b!ought under a microscope, and the frame ca.~led the Burnmoor Colliery. They also owned a private
placed In a bath, heated by a resistance coil. The railway called the Lambton R ailway, about 12 miles in
sph eres were first in contact and then removed from length, which connected their collieries with the North.
on e another by heating the bat h. The distance E astern Railway Company. The deceased, who was an
engine-driver in the employment of the appellanUa, was
~as ~djusted., until the galvanometer of a. shunt engag:e~ upon the day of the accident in dnving a train
cucu1t In whiCh a cell was inserted, indicated that conta.mmg coal from the Burnmoor Colliery to the coal
no current would flow. Electric waves from an de~6t belonging to the appeJlants near the North-Eastern
induction apparatus were t hen allowed to fall on Rail way, where the coal from the collieries was stored.
t~e gap, which had a width of 0.15 millimetre. -w:hen the train .arrived at a point three-Quarters of a
mile from the p1t's mouth of the Burmoor Colliery, near
LIvely sparks passed, but the galvanometer did not the j.unction of a siding belonging to the appellants and
mark any current unt il the gap had been reduced to ~eadmg to the coal dep6t, the deceased, who was stand0 . 005 millimetre. The apparatus proved too sensi- mg on the footboard of the engine, leaned too far out from
tive, however, for very exact measurements and a the engine, in consequence of which his head struck against
closed ~rame of bras~ with a bridge formed by two a wagon standing on the siding, and he was killed. The
railway at the place where the accident happened ran
steel wires was substituted for the former combina- parallel with the N or th-Ea.stern Rail way ; but the acci
t ion. The induction coil was connected with a dent a-ctually occurred on the through-running line of
Wehnelt interruptor. In this case sparks appeared the Lambton R &.ilway. The Lambton Railway was held
when the steel points were 0. 3 millimetre a part. and maintained by the appellants, under wayleave leases
When the distance h ad b een reduced to 0.006 granted to them by the owners of the land upon which
the rail way stood, and wa~ not constructed or carried on
milli.metre all s~arking 3nd glowing ceased suddenly, under the powers of any Act of Pllrliament, or uEed for
a nd It was n otiCed that a. dark bridge had formed the purposes of public traffic. It was under the sole
between the electrodes, and that a current of 150 control of the appellants, and was used only for the conmilliamperes was passing. This current inten sity veyance to its place of de1i very of mineral traffic belong
remained fairly constant during the series of ex- ing to them and arising at their various collieries, and not
for the purposes of any one colliery only. It was the
periments. When the steel electrodes were shaken sole means by which coals were conveyed away from the
the bridge collapsed, and the galvanometer wen~ collieries. The dep6b, to which the train which the
bae;k to zero ; new electric waves at once r e-esta- deceased was driving was conveying coal~ was used for
blished sparking and the formation of the dark selling coals produced at the appellants' collieries to the
bridge. The sparks, therefore, appear to establish public in the neighbourhood, and also for supplying such
coals to workmen employed at the various collieries
a conducting bridge conQection between the parts of belonging to the appeUants. The learned County Courb
the coherer, and the current only flowR as long as this Judge decided in favour of the respondent, on the ground
bridge, consisting of electrode material, remains that, in his opinion, the accident occurred "on" the
intact. The dista nce between the parts of the eo- appellants' works and adjacent to their Burnmoor mine.
He referred to Section 7, sub-section 1 of the Act, and
b arer should be very small.
also to subsection 2, according to which "rail way"
means the railway of any railway company to which the
Regulation of Railways Act, 1873, applies, and " mine "
THE GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL
means a miue to which the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887,
. .. applies. Attention was also drawn to Section 75 of
EXHIBITION OF 1901.
I N 1888 the people of Glasgow opened their Exhibi- the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, which provides
tion complete on the inaugural day, setting an example that unless the context otherwise requires, ''mine"
rarely followed : next year they mean to do t he same, includes every shaft in the course of being sunk, and
level and inclined plane in the courRe of being
and thus it comes that thus early they are closing their every
driven, and all shafts, le vel~, plane~, works, tramways,
list of applications for space. After the end of this and sidings, both below ground and above ground, in and
month no exhibit will be entertained, and t his fact adjacent to and belonging to the mine."
.
should be borne in mind. It is scarcely necessary to
Mr. Scott Fox, Q.C. , and Mr. H. Maniaty, who
commend the claims of the Exhibition t o the atten- appeared for the appellants, argued that there was no
tion of manufacturers. Glasgow is a great ind ustrial evidence upon which Lhe County Court Judge could find
centre, her citizens are imbued with strong commer- that the accident occurred "on" the mine as defined by
cial instincts, and the dominant n ote of this Exhibi- Section 75 of the CoallVIines Regulation Act. 1887.
Mr. Robson, Q.C., and Mr. Danckwerts, Q.C., for the
tion is business- the extension of markets for British
manufactures. It follows tha.t every inducement will respondent, argued that the siding where the accidenb
happened was by Section 75 of the Act of 1887 made parb
be offered to prospective clients to visit the E xhibi- of
the mine, and therefore the accident happened '' on
tion, and we are quite certain that t he result from or in or about" the mine.
t he industrial point of view will be immensely greater
The Court allowed the appeal.
than is usually the case with exhibitions. We have
In the course of his judgment, Lord Justice A. L. Smith
already dealt at length with t he main p':>ints, and said : The place where the accident happened was nob a
need only here ment ion that amongst the classes "railway " within the definition in Section 7, sub section 2
are - Ag riculture and mining ; industrial design of the Act of 1897. It was said that the accident happened
and ma nufactures; machinery, motive power, elec- "on or in or about" a mine. To find the definition of
tricity, and labour - saving appliances in motion ; "mine, " Section 75 of the Act of 1887 must be looked at.
locomotion and transport, marine engineering and Apart from the definition in Section 75 of the Actof 1887,
the accident clearly did not happen "on or in or about" the
shipbuilding, lighting and heating, science and mine, because it happened threequarters of a mile away
scientific instruments, educa.ti6'n and music, and other from the mine. There remains the question whether the
sections devoted to the Arts. There remains no meaning of the word ''mine " was enlarged by Section 75
longer the slightest reason for doubt as to the success, of the Act of 1887, so as to include this spot three.qua.rtera
from a reprasentative p oiiJt of view, and the expe- of a mile away. The words in that section, "adjacent to
rienced gentlemen on the respective committees will and belonging to the mine," mean physically adjacent to
have difficulty in allotting space to all t he applicants. and belongin~ to tha mine itself, and not merely belong.
The foreign sections, too, will be of great importance. in_s to the mmeowner. In my opinion there is no eviAs t o the buildings, it may be said t hat the architect dence upon which the County Conrt Judge could find
(.Mr. James Miller) and the engineer (Mr. Thomas that the spot where the accident happened was adjacent
and belongingto the mine.
Young) report that the progress of t he works is en- toL'Jrd
Justice Vaughan Williams delivered judgment to
tireJy satisfactory. Despite a temporary scarcity of the same effect.
steel, which caused some alterations in the plans, two
L ord Justice Romer agreed.
of the principal buildings- the Industrial and Machinery Halls- are well advanced, and one half of the
main avenue is nearly finished. Material is being
FRRNOH CoAL MnnNG.-The production of coal and
arranged for t he bridges and Grand AvE-nue, a nd a anthracite in France last year is now definitely returned
considerable quantity of steel for t he Concert Hall has at 32,331,053 tons. The corresponding output in 1898
been delivered to the builders. A special building is was 31,826,127 tons, so that production increased last
to be en cted alongside of the Machinery Hall for the year to the extent of 504,926 tons.
MAY 18, 1900.]

NAVAL ENGINEERS.
E ~ G I N E E R I N G.
-
>
the engineer officer should have some ~ower to deal wit h public se~vice in calling attention to the deficiencies in
T o T1lR EOITOR OF ENGINRKRINo.
the punisb~e~t of minor offences in bts department. At nava:l engmeer complements in Her Majesty's ships. In
SIR,-If you are nob ~lrea~y tired of inserting letters present he .1s m.an absurd ,p osition in this respect, and no
under ~he a.boye ~eadmg .n your journal, I s hall bs one recog~tses lb more qutckly t han the members of his lookmg through t he official Navy List, I find the engipleased Jf you WJll gtve me a httle space in which to make staff. He JS perfo.rce p~1t in the position of the weak-minded neer complf'm~nts of battl~hips to be as he states, viz.,
some rema~ks on t~e letter signed " L ieutenant,, wh ich mother one can 1mng1oe saying to her erring offspring one fleet engm~lj one engmeer, a.nd usually four a.esisappeared m your 1ssue of' March 30 dealing with the "I'll tell your father about you !" instead of d~aling wi th tant engineers. l~o w it is evident that a good deal of the
watohkeeping and superintendence of the department
question of th.e status of n~va.l enginee~s.
the case promptly herself.
m~st be done by tbese assistant engineers. If the AdL eb me ~gm by remar~mg.how refreshing it is t o fi nd
Your corresp<?ndent is rather in a fog about your argu- mirahy can say they are efficient and fib to be trusted
a. let\er ta.kmg the oppostte stde to the engineers written men t ns to r~latt v~ rank, ~nd says it has never struck him
in such a. fair a.nd moderAte spirit; at the same time that an eng meer 1s constd ered as a. civilian. He must with charge of a watch, surely they ought to be promoted
"Lieutenant, has eviden tly a good deal t o learn on the su_r~ly know that the Queen's Regulations recogni3es a to the rank of engineer. If, on the other band, they are
subject be has written about, and I hope to be able to mtl.ttary branc~ of the Navy, a nd various civil branches of not fi.t, they should be borne as addi tiona.l for instruction.
I. nottce that all these ships carry a full oomplement of
90?,vi~ce h.im t~at he is in ~rror on at least a few points. ~h10b the engm eers form one. The engineer is con- heutenants.
L teutenant concludes h1s second paragraph by saying stdere.d a non.combata.nt like the chaplain, surgeons, &c.
Ib may, perhaJ?S, be considered disloyal to point oub
that it seems to him to " follow logically that the man Cert~mly for matters of convenience the engineer has a
wh? hns charge of the offensive power of the ship must relat1v~ rank, but fro!D the time o~ his joining the Navy as thes~ ~eak spots m our a~mour; but I hold that it is true
patnotlsm to call atten t10n to any shortcomings in t he
be m absolute command of all the components which go an engm~er stu?ent ttl.l be ~eaves tt, possibly after forty- fle.et
.while there is time to remedy tbe.m. It would be
to make that power effective."
fi v~ years serv10~ he JS st1ll addressed as plain "Mr.," cr1mmal for those who know of weaknesses to ignore
~ow, Sir,. m~y I ask why he sets up this bogey of tbo ~hlle the chaplam and surgeon have always their recog- them,. and so allow the public to go on sleeping in a fool's
engmeers w1shmg t? "b?ss the sho~,'' ~s he puts it, msed prof63Sional titles.
paradiSe.
only to have the sat1Bfact10n of k nockmg 1t down a~ain ?
I cannot agree with your correspondent in considering
In conclusion, Sir, I trust that the statemen ts in Mr
I am certain there is no class of officers m ore convmced t~at the responsibility due to tnodern guns and torpedoes ~orison's pa~r, tog~ther with your own efforts, will b~
of the necessity for the captain t o be in absolute com- gtven t o the avera~~ watch.keeping lie uten ant at all mstrumental m leadmg to a Parliamentary inquiry as to
mand of the ship, and no class of otfic.er3 more loyal to balances the re~ponsib1ty he had 20 years ago in manage- the naval engineer personnel ; I consider the recenb bole
their c.apta.ms th.an the engineers ; they wish t o us urp no ment of masts and yards, keep station under sail, &c., an~- corner inqu~ry on this subject at the Admiralty, of
a.uthonty, but stm ply t o have gtven them the pos1tion pl1~s the knowledge of ~uns, &c., then required T o be wb10h the qu~t10ns and answers were not published, to
they consider their importance entitles them to. There a good "sailor man" 10 the old days required a large ha ve been as m adequate as the few paltry concessions
is no more reason to suppose that the proposed com- amount of st~dy and experience. I grant t hat gunnery to the engineers have been.
mander or lieutena~t of n aval engine~r~ should be put in and torpedo lteutenants may have greater responsibilities
I am, yours truly,
com~and of the sbtp than the ca.ptam or lieu ten ant of than before, but t hey form only a small percentage of
HOPEFUL,
the whole body.
marmes.
Your correspondent says be considers the title a man
"Lieutena:n.t " appears to have very optimistic vie ws
holds is a very small matter indeed : yet I notice he uses as to .the abthty of the Nsl.Val Reserve engineers to fill
THE MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY.
his own as a stand point from which to criticise the gaps m the fleet ; but as probably not 1 per cent. of these
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
engineers. He also sa.ys that "it is a man's indi vidualit ~ office~~ has had charge of a water-tube boiler, or of bySm.-I have read in your columns with great interest
which gives him command over his fellow.creature3., I dranl~c or torpedo. machinery, or who even knows the Sir \V. H. Preece's lecture on the relations between elecdo not kno'v where he gets this last idea, certainly not m~anm~ of the var1ous bugle calls used in the Navy : I t ricity and engineeri ng-. It is full of matters which exfrom the Queen'~ Regulations ; and supposing a. naval thmk bts confidence is misplaced. On th e other hand a cite t.be imagination, and contains, i t seems to me an
e~gineer bad the individuality of a Napoleon, be would great ~a.ny ~a:val Reserve lieutenan ts have actually bad e~itome not only of elect.ric sci.ence, but of many other
st1ll have to spend a. good dea.l of his time in explaining a years trammg on board Her Majesty's ships and sctences. From a ma.ter1al pomt of view the portion
'
to people outside the naval service that he was really a would probably form a.n E:fficient reser ve.
dealing with the generation of electricity by water power
."Lieutenant " also challenges your statement that elec- appealed to me most strongly, as there is a. project on
ne.vi!J officer; whereas if be had a. combatant title he
could use his effort3 in other directions.
'
~rlCnJ gear ha.s m~dean increase in the engineer's wor k; say - foot to build an electric tramway in this town in
. "Lieutenant " has probably never felt th e shoe pinch mg that ~verythmg, excep t th~ generators, is in the bands which I live. S ir W. H . P reece said "The waste forces
him in t~is directio~; h~ h~, for example, never as a of executtve officers. He posstbly forgets that during the of Nature are thus within our reach. The waterfleet engmeer (rankmg w1th h eutenant-colonel) bub still !a.st twenty yea.rs there have been a good many changes falls of the .Highlands may work the tramways
a plain "Mr , " been assigned a subordinate place at a m the types of generators, so that even in keeping up to of Glasgow; N 1agara already works those of Balbimore."
public function to a. Volun teer captain. He has never ~ate on the subject of dynamos the engineer has bad an On looking at the map I find that the distance be~ween
known his wife to be subjected to slights on the same Jncrease of work. The num ber of dynamos has also in- N iagara and Baltimore is some 300 t o 400 miles, and thereaccounb. T his may appear a. small mattEr; but as the creased from one per ship to three or four. The day has fore it is evideLt th at not only might the tramways of
engineers musb of necessity at times hold appointments gone by when engineer officera were sen t abroad to supetin- G lasgow, but also of all the towns in the north of Engaway from naval centres, 1 know that this sort of t hing tend the fitting up of electric light installations on board land, be worked from the waterfalls of the Highlands. I,
Her Majesty'd ~ht ps ; but the rf'g ulation is still in force ~nd doubtless many. others of yo~r reader~, would be glad
is of frequent occurrence and very annoying.
I can safelv say, too, tba.t whatever the opinion of (and acted on), tha.b in ships where there is no available 1f you would publish full partiCulars of the Niagara" LiEutenant " on the virtues of a. man's iodi vidua.lity may executive officer, the engineer has charge of all electric B.ll r.imore installation, giving the details of the current
le, and whatever his opinion on the title a man bold~, 1 light fittings, including secondary batterie~, &c., so that and the cond uctor~, and the cosb. In the CllSe of my town
have cever yet known a lieutenant promoted to the ran k of be still has to keep in touch with lighting alterations and the council were .ad vised by a ~onsulting engineer that ib
improvements. I may point out that this work may be was useless to tbmk of conveymg the current 25 miles a.s
commander who was con tent to be addressed as ' Mr. "
I do not unde~tand ''Lieutenant " having met many g iven to any eng ineer officer a t any time as a matter of steam engines would be cheaper; but possibly he did ~ob
n wal engineera who considered a title of no importance. courae, whe n there is no available executive officer. care to face the problems involved in dtsta.nt trans mission.
I have reason to kno w tba.t the wish of the great majority " Lieu tenant " may not know that every engineer student If the Americans find it to their advantage t o obtain their
of tbesa officE:ra is to be recognided as comb:ltants, and t o at K ey h am has t o spend a considerable pa.rt of his time in power f~m a waterfall 400 miles away, why should it nob
be given combatant t itles. This is not a matter of modern the study of electricity and magnetism, with their prac- be pract10able to do the same here? A s Sir William said
growth: it was recognised and advocated by Admiral tical usf'shin the stud y and labor11.tory, besides practical "The problem before the engineer is ho w to select th~
Key's cc.mmittee, specially appointed to advise the Admi work wit dynamos, &c., in the workshops where they best form of energy for his purpose, and bow to utilise
these waste energies of N a.ture, E.O as t o secure the best
talty 24 years ago. I can quite believe that he has met are repaired.
many engineers who have repudiat ed any idea of taking
Now as to the question of 9.ay, "Lieutenant " agree.s economical result."
Y ours truly,
command in connection with a. combatant t itle, which that the eng ineers are underpatd, but considers the execuP. H. W.
tive officers still worse paid. This is not so. It admits
appears to some minds to be incomp reLansible.
The Financial Secretary to the Admiralty appears t o of easy proof that, age for age, the only fair way of comhe.ve fallen into error on this latter point, j udging from parison, executive 0tficers a re better paid than the
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.
some of his remarks during the recent discussion of the engineers. It would be obviously unfair to compare the
To THE E orroR OF ENGINEERING.
Navy Estimates.
pay of a hoary -headed fleet engineer (the same age as an
Sm,-The war at last appears to be approaching its
"Lieutenant " a~ks what engineers are to be ca.lle:l, admiral, perhaps), with that of a youn&' commander, with final phase.
and harps on the same old army doctor string as your whom be ranks. But we are not makmg comparisons as
The first was fought on British soil, and may be said
correspondent "Far East." L et me ask him why he to relative rates of pay; what is required is tha t the to have terminated with the relief of Kimberley and of
re~ers to the army doctors for an example; why not to the e moluments offered to eng ineer officers should be sufficien t Ladysmith.
$rmy engineers? No one in the a rmy mistakes a Lieute- to attract good men to H er Majesty's Navy, and this is
The second may be regarded as our attack on and connant Royal Engineers for an artillery or cavalry officer ; certainly not the case at present.
qllest of the Orange Free State, and was V('~ctica.lly
We ought to be in the position t o know that a com- accomplished when Lord Roberts marched into oonstad
why should the prop osed L ieu tenant Royal Naval Engineers be mist aken for a Lieutenant RoyAl N a vy; or a miesion as an engineer officer iu Her Majesty's Navy on the 12th inst.
would be considered a prize to be k eenly contested for by
Lieutenant of Marine3 or Marine Artillery?
We now commence the third and, we must hope, the
He also asks, if we have a n engineer lieutenant, wba.t the students at our engineering colleges ; instead of final stage of the wa r, viz., the subjugation of Mr.
about the doctors and paymasters? My reply is that I have which, we know they are d espised, and have t o be given Kruger's forces in the Transvaal.
never beard that these officers had advanced any claims to to anyone who will be good enough to come along a.nd
Quite p ossibly these last efforts of the Boars may pro
be considered as combatan td. When they do, p erhaps it accep t them.
duce some sanguinary fighting-a final and heroic effort
will be time to consider them. May I re mind your
In your leading article in issue of March 9, on " The for independence. Quite probably, however, the Transcorrespondent that at the comparatively recent naval Status of Naval Engineers," you say, ''We have an vaalers may become dishearteneci by the defection of
engagement off Santi ago de Cuba, the doctors, pay- engineering Navy, and we need e-et pJenty of good their comrades of the Free State, and may realise that
ma.stera, chaplains, and naval instructors (bad there been engineers for it." The question ar1ses, Have we plenty nothing can ba gained by prolonging the war. Every.
any) in the A merican squadron might a lmost as well of ~ood engineers? a.nd the answer is emphatically" No." thing which has happened since the commencement of
have been on shore ; while the whole engagement was an Sufficient proof of this is shown in the difficulty we have the month should teach them that the British forces are
object.lesson pointing to the value of ~ood engineering, had of late years in getting engineer students, which led so overwhelming, that Lord Roberts was enabled to ad
as displayed by the Americans, espe01ally in the over- to the age of entry being raised (now lowered again); vance on Kroonstad, although a strong Boer force was
hauling of the Cristobal d e Colon by the Oregon, a nd the and in the entry of (socalled) "temporary service" active on his flank and rear. So far from this Boer
assistant engineers, because young gentleman from the forc.e being a. danger to our advance, it has become
disastrous results of bad en~ineering on the other side.
An individual signing htmself "Viucet Veritas" h as engineering colleges would not come forward in anything evident that our advance has placed t he Boer forces in
the LadyRmith district in a parlous posit ion, and their
recently written a. pamphlet, in which he opposes, ac- like sufficient numbers to fill appointments offered.
By a strange coincidence a strong light is thrown on retreat to the Vaal may soon become impossible. At any
cording to his lights, the views put forward by the enginee~. In this pamphlet he defines a "combatant " as the quality of naval assistant engineers by a letter in the rate, a safe retreat out of the Free State must be their
'' one who, being trained to the use of armll, takes active same issue from an assistant engineer of H.l\'I.S. Royal chief aim ab this moment.
In short, L ord R oberts may be said t o have completed
measures t o d estroy life." If this does not d escribe th e Oak, on "Marine Engine Working." This young officer
position of our naval engineers in action, I have yet to is, I find by il)quiry a "direct entry " man, not trained the conquest of the Free State when be entered Kroonlearn the meaning of the words. As I have before ad- at K eyham. He has observed the (to him) wonderful stad last Saturday, Ex-President Stein's proclamation
vanced in your columns, it would be considered absurd phenomenon of water dropping in the gauge glass of a shifting the State's Government to Lindley or Heilbron
'
to class the drivers of a battery of field artillery as non- boiler when the engines are suddenly eased, &c. After notwithstanding.
The employment of the new division of mounted in
combatants in distinction from the actna.l g unners, consulting with other engineers(?) who cannot (or will not)
whereas the engine-room staff of a torpedo-boat d estroyer, ex plain the reason, he flies to the pages of n. professional fan try has been a great success of late, and the equipment
and organisation of this large body of mounted men is
for instance, are so considered, and t he engi nee r officer paper to expose his ignorance.
I shall be pleased, if I may add a few remarks on the very creditable to those who have been engaged upon the
at their head is. by a survival of an cient custom, still
very able p aper by Mr. ~!orison you have recently work. No wonder thab the Army remained for a time
counted a civil officer.
I am pleased to think " Lieutenant" recognises that printed. I think this gentleman has performed a great at Bloemfontein when developments of such magnitude
66o
were being perfected. vVitbout doubt this is the best

way to use mounted infantry, viz., to organise them into
a large coh erent body, to place them under a n able commander, and to use them both tactically and strategically
as a new arm with manamvres sp ecially adapted for their
powers.
Lord Roberts, ab Kroonstad, occupies a very important
strategic position for attacking the Tra nsvaal.
It is connected by r ail with Johannesburg 115 miles,
the Vaal being crossed ab about 80 miles from Kroonstad.
It is 70 miles from K lerksdorp, which is 10 miles beyond
the Yaal to the north-west, a railway 60 miles long conneetmg Kroonstad vid Jordan's Junction with the V aal
at Verf:!laaS Drift. . It is 45 miles from Lindley, to the
east of 1t, and 70 rmles from Bethlehem, whence a. railway leads due east to Van Reenan's Pass, on the Drakensb er.g (140 miles from ~roonstad), an~ then ce vid Ladysmtth to Durban. It lB only 150 mtles from Pretoria,
and 165 m iles from Mafeking. The possibilities of Lord
Roberts' advance from Kroonstad are therefore numerous,
and will, no doubt, be determined to a great extent by
local knowledge concerning the Boer forces and their
apparent intentions.
A n excellent map has recently been published by the
Royal Engineers' Instioute at Chatha.m, comprising25 deg.
to 28 deg. latitude, and 26, deg. to 30 de~. longitude, on
a scale of 8 miles to the 1nch. From thts map it would
app~r that no rough country especially adapted for Boer
tactics exists between Kroonstad and Viljoen's Drift,
near Vereeniging; a nd the further fighting, if fighting
there be, will scarcely be in the Free State.
It appears that the Natal army, under General Bullel',
is mannmg .the .capstan and weighing anchor, preparatory
to some act10n m the near future.
The relief of M afeking may be confidently anticipated
to occur this week, and the employment of large forces in
this direction for an advance into the Transvaal is quite
on the cards, especially if it be remarked that the exact
positions of some of our divisions are very doub tful.
The Prime Minister has been stating his panacea for
our military shortcomings-to wit, rifle clubs and
patriotism-with which be couples the Swiss system of
military training and organisation. But thousands of
rifle clubs would not bring the S wiss system, not with
patriotism, unless it be properly directed.
There must be a thorough overhaul, rotten parts cut out
and replaced by new, the entire military machine cleaned
a nd polished and put into good working order; so that,
when required in a hurry, we can get up steam quickly,
turn a handle, and go ahead with a proper force and
velocity in any desired direction. Rifle clubs will not do
that.
Yours faithfully,
FIELD OFFIOER I N '84.
May 14, 1900.
SIGHT-FEED LUBRICATORS.

RrR,-For our own works and to drive our material
transmitting machinery we buy five or six engines every
three months, and it is very surprising that the sightfeed lubricators sent out with same are to such an abominable design on no matter what type of engine and irrespective of mak e.
A W estinghouse pattern pump was purchased lately
and carried a nickel plated perfectly automatic, sightfeed-unbreakable oiler; a nd in going round the works I
noticed that the engine attendant had shifted this on to
oul' high-speed electric light engine, where it is now
working daily, and induced me to order seven others,
for our own prime movers from America, the makers
being the. Nathan Manufacturing Company, of New
York. It is a pity the Americans put on 30-ft.-a-minute
p umps what we consider too good for 400-revolutions-aminute engines.
F or New Conveyor Company, Limited,
AROHIBALD LITTLE, Secretary.
Smethwick, Birmingham, M ay 14, 1900.
.
..j
CHINA'S RAILWAYS .

SIR, - U nder t his heading there appeared in the Daily
Mail of Apri120 an article contributed by their Special
Commissioner dated Tientsin, M arch 19. How a letter
written in Tientsin on March 19 managed to reach the
offices of the Daily M ail within a month is n ot explained,
but it is certainly a record. W e are also in ignorance as
to the D aily M ail's object in sending a Special Commissioner all the way to T ientsin ; but if it wns to gather facts
in regard to the railways of China we fear that he sadly
failed in his mission. Perhaps, though, be never got ns
far as Tientsin, but wrote his report from Shanghai based
on information obtained locally. This mig-ht account for
the d ate of his letter, and for the extraordinary com bination of fact and fiction he succeeded in producmg.
As London agents of the Imperial Raihvays of North
China we beg you will permit us to point out and correct
some of the many inaccuracies and misstatements contained in the report.
The article, amon~st other things, stated that much of
the credit> for the mitiation and success of t he China
Railways was due to Mr. Detring; that Mr. Kinder had
only gained his rail way ex~rience in China having- started
as an assistant in the Katping coal mines; that, m consequence, everything turned out by him was not up to
date, parts of his work showing want of experience and
that the management and traffic were in a state of chaos,
wh ich was intensified in the accounts department .
As regards Mr. Detring, we think he would be the first
to repudiate t he greatness thus thrust upon him by the
l)aA:Zy Mail Commissioner. Mr. Detring has n ever had
any. official oonnec~ion with. the Imperial railways, nor is

then success attnbutable m any way to his influence or
"strenuous backing." The sole credit for the gradual
dev.elopment and .succ~s of. the China railways is due
ent1rely to the engineer-m-chief, Mr. C. W. Kinder, who,
fa~ from ha'1ng picked up ~is knowledge in China, was a
rail way engmeer of cons1derable experience before he
~ent to Ohina 0ve~ 18 years ago, to superintend the buildmg of the short rallway and canal whwh were required to
afford the K~iping coal mines t~e necessary oulet. to the
sea. Mr. Kmder commenced hts career as a pup1l with
one of the best known civil engineers in Westminster
~here be served the usual period; afterwards holding a~
1m~rtant post on ~he Russian rail ways, and subsequently
takmg up an appomtment on the Imperial Japanese railways. From the small line first built by him in China
has sprung the important system of railways that now
extends from Pekin through Tientsin and S hanhaikwan
onwards to Newchwang, a total distance of over 500
miles. The permanent way and rolling stook have been
made under the _-personal supervision of Mr. Kinder and
his able staff of British engineers, on the most approved
modern methods, and on litles specially adapted to suit
local e~genoies and req uire~ents. The rails, .bridges,
locomotives, and wagon ma.tertal have been supphed from
time to time by the best British makers, under the
inspection of eminent consulting engineers in this
c~untry. Surely, these facts alone are sufficient to amply
disprove the statements of the Daily Mail Commissioner
as to Mr. Kinder's lack of experience, and the antiquated
character of s0me of the work turned out by him. We
might further add that Mr. Kinder was never an assistant
in the Ka.iping coal mines. The confusion in the Special
Commissioner's mind on this point doubtless arises from
the fact that Mr. Kinder was ab one time engineer-inchief to the Chinese Engineering and Mining- Company,
who owned the coal mines at Kaiping.
There are other erroneous statements about Mr. Kinder

in the report; but we will not trouble you with further
comment upon them. Everyone connected with China
is already aware of the eminent services rendered by
Mr. Kinder, both in developing railway enterprise in
North China, and in protecting and safeguarding British
interests at a most critical period. It is only those
unacqua.inted with Chinese affairs who are likely to be
misled by the inaccurate information supplied by the
Daily Mail Commmsioner, and who need to have the real
facts placed before them. In regard to matters connected with the traffic, management, and accounts, the
Commissioner's strictures are unjust, incorrect, and misleading. Being a Chinese Government undertaking, the
Imperial railways have a Chinese managing director; but
the actual working of the line is in the hands of an
experienced traffic mana~er, with a staff of traffic
inspectors sent out from thlB country; whilst the accounts
and finance are now ably managed and controlled by the
chief accountant>, Mr. A. M. Bruce, who was appomted
to that important position on the successful issue of the
Chinese Railway Loan last year.
We are, Sir, your obedient servants,
J. WHITTALL and Co., Limited.
(R. S. Corbetb, Managing Director.)
9, F enohurchavenue, L ondon, E .C., May 10, 1900.
A QUESTION OF OVERTIME RATES.

Sm,- In your issue of April 21, 1900, a correspondent

who signed himself "Engineer," raised an interesting
guestion under the above heading. He asked, " Is Good
Friday an authorised holiday in England for men who are
paid by the hour ?" He went on to state that if it is,
fittera and turners can demand extra pay for working on
that day; if it is not, then a master would be entitled to
lawfully dismiss any men who refused to work on Good
Friday because no extra pay was offered. He concluded
by asking, "Are men legally entitled to extra pay,
such as they would have for Sunday or Christmas day ?
Has there been any decision in the Courts on this point?"
His letter contained a request that one of your reader-3
should answer these questions "with authority. " Although my "authority " is open to doubt, may I venture
to make the following remarks in answer to his query ?
With regard to Good Friday, it may be stated that the
provisions relating to it in the Statute Book, and the
Rules of the Supreme Court, are similar to those for
Christmas Day. Turning to t he Factory Acts, 18781895, 38 and 39 Vie., c. 13, s. 22, and 58 and 59 Vie., c . 37,
s. 17, I find that the provisions there laid down with
regard to these days being kept as holidays, only have
relation to women, young persons, and children. As far
as I have been able to ascertain, there is no statutory provision making Good Friday, which is a Bank Holiday,
a holiday for any purpose which would have any bearing
upon the lel{al relationship of master and servant. It is
laid down m Austin's "Law of Apprentices" [(1890)
Qftge 73] that an apprentice is liable to work on Bank
Holidays, unless there is an express provision to the contrary in the apprenticeship deed.
In the light of this opinion, I think a. master would be
entitled to dismiss a workman for absenting himself on
Good Friday, assuming there was no term in the contract
which made it lawful for the workman to absent himself
on that day-and assuming, moreover, the absence of
any custom of the trade which gives him such liberty.
The one case which I have been a ble to find upon this
point is that of Rag. v. Stoke-upon-Tren t [5 Q.B., 303],
m which it was laid down that where a workman is hired
for a year to work at a particular trade, under a written
agreement, which says nothing as to any periods of absence
allowed to the workman, parol evidence may be given
that it is the custom of the particular trade for the workmen employed in it to take certain holidays, and to
[MAY J 8,
1900.
absen t themselves on such occasions for their work without the permission of their masters.
My own view is that it would require strong evidence
of such a custom before the workman could cla.im extra
wages for working on Good Friday.
Yours, &o.,
3, Brick-court, T emple, E. C.
LEX.
ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE first afternoon meeting of the present session was
held ~n W:ednesday, the 16~h inst., at the Society's rooms,
70, V1otorta.street, Westmmster, Dr. C. Theodore Williams, President, in the chair.
A most interesting p aper was read on cc The WiltsJWre
Whirlwind of Ootober 1, 1899," which had been prepared
by the late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., a few days before
he was stricken down with paralysis. The whirlwind
occurred between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., commencing near
Middle Winterslow, and travelling in a nor th-northeasterly direction. The length of the damage was nearly
20 miles, but the average breadth was only about 100
yards; in this narrow track, however, buildings were
blown down, trees were uprooted, and objects were lifted
and carried by the wind a considerable distance before
they were deposited on the ground. Fortunately the
greater p art of the district over which the whirlwind
passed was OJ?Sn down, otherwise the damage, and perhaps loss of life, would have been considerable. At Old
L odge, Salisbury, the lifting power of the whirlwind was
strikingly shown by several wooden buildings being lifted
up and droJ>ped down several feet north-west of their
original position. Ab a place 18 miles from its origin
the whirlwind came upon a rick of oats, a considerabl~
portion of which it carried right over the village of Hfl.m,
and deposited in a field more than a mile-and-a-half away .
A paper by Dr. Nils E kholm, of Stockholm, was also
read, on ''The Variations of the Climate of the Geological
and Historical Past, a;nd thei1 Causes." In this the
author attempts to apply the results of physical, astronomical, and meteorological research, in order to explain
t~e secular changes of climate unveiled by geology and
hlSbry.
THE LATE MR. E DWARD PRITOHARD, BIRMINGHAM. w e regret to learn of the death of Mr. Edward Pritchard,
Birmingham, which took place at his residence, Park
Mount, Selly Oak, on the 11th inst., as a result of an
apoplectic seizure earlier in the week. Mr. P ritobard,
who was associated wi th many municipal undertakings in
the Midlands, was born at W rexham m September, 1838,
and was thus in his sixty-second year. H e was appointed
burgh surveyor successively a b Clitheroe, Bedford, and
Warwick, going to the latter place in 1870, when the
question of sewag~ disposal was up for deciaion. Mr.
P ritchard succeeded in inducing the board to adopt his
sewage farm scheme in preference to a filtration project,
and ab the same time a joint drainage committee for
all the districts draining into the R iver Tame was formed.
He also const ructed water works for Warwick, the source
of supply b eing Haselay Brook. As at Clitheroe and
Bedford, be organised a volunteer fire brigade, of which
he was captain, and in this capacity was at the buruing of
Warwick Castle in 1871. E ighteen yeara ago Mr. Pritcbard
gave up his appointment at Warwick, and commen ced business in Birmmgbam and L ondon as a. consulting engineer.
Over a hundred towns in Great Britain have been provided by him with water works, sewerage, or tramways.
The W olverhampton Corporation was one of the many
public bodies which sought his assistance in the matter
of sewage disposal. Mr. Pritchard was also sent for to
Constantinople to report on sewerage works. In August,
1888, he went to South Africa, having been retained by
the municipality of Cape Town to report upon t he sewage
q uestion. This led to his also being retained by the
municipalities of Woodstock, Claremont, and Wynberg,
im:portant districts closely adjoining Cape Town. While
watting for surveys to be completed a t Cape Townt he paid
a visit to the diamond fields of Kimberley and tne goldfields of the Transvaal. Ab Kimberley he was able to
give some important advice to the authorities on the
question of sewage disposal, and ab J obannesburg, a city
then just rising into impor tance, he received instructions
to prepare a scheme which should supply water for gold
washing at the mines, as well as for domestic purposes in
the town. The authorities at Pretoria also retained his
services, and the water works which now supply the town
were designed by him, and the fittings were sent from
this country under his supervision. A water company
ab K lerksdorp also carried out under his advice a scheme
for supplying the town from a point in the Vaal River
8 miles distant. One of the earliest of his tramway
undertakings was that at M a.gdeburg. For several years
he acted as engineer to the Birmingham tramwayscahle, accumulator, electric, and overhead systems.
Amongst the other tramway schemes which have been
carried out by Mr. P ritchard's firm were Leamington and
Warwick, Barrow, Dudley, and Stourbl'idge, &c.; his
firm, in which Mr. R. Green is a partner, have now in
course of construction a tramway in Carlisle ; and
his schemes also on the overhead system for W alsall,
Aston Manor, and Rawmarsh are now before Parliament. As a mining engineer Mr. P ritcbard also bad a
large practice. I n 1896 he was retained by a syndicateof wh10h the Earl of Warwick was chairman-for exploitation of the then n ewly-opened goldfields of Bntish
Columbia. He spent some time out! there prospecting.
!vir. Pritchard, in 1884, was elected a member of the Institu tion of Civil Engineers, and he was also a member
of the Incorporated Association of Municipal and County
Engineers, and was president! in 187980; he was a. Fellow
of the Geological Society, and a member of various other
societies.
..
MAY 18, 1900.]
INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
sixth "Annual Abstract of Labour Stat istics of
the United Kingdom, 1898-9," is not so belat ed as
some of the previous ones. To be able to obtain such
a. volume early in the fifth month of the next yeal',
is most creditable to the department issuing it, a department which for several years was undermanned
and overworked. Publications of this kind lose their
f eshness if they fall behind in date. The statistics
and information generally become stale, and we live
too fast and work too hard to be able, as a rule, to go
far back in our inquiries. Besides which the necessities of newspaper and journalistic life require t he
latest facts, the newest scrap of information a s to what
is going on. The present volume shows bow alive to
the needs of the community the depo.rtment is. The
facts and figures marshalled together cover a wide
field, so wide as to render the report, or abstract as
it is called, a valuable annual for reference, especially
as regards industrial questions.
The tables relating to fluctuations in employment are
very full and complete, the percentages of unemployed
union members being given, first Qf all for union~
making returns, and then in groups of industries for
each month in the year, and then the mean for each
year. The tables cover twelve years. The highest
proportions of unemployed were in the four years
1 92 5, ranging from lowest, 5.8 per cent. in 1895 to
7.6 per cent. in 1893. The lowest proportions were in
1889 ancll890, when there were 2. 1 per cent., and in
1899, when there were 2.4 per cent. as the mean
average of unemployed. The building trades, or such
of the unions as make returns, bad the lowest average
of unemployed in the twelve years, the printing and
bookbinding trades stand next ; the former rose to 5. 5
in one yea.r, 1888, in the last four years the proportion
was well under 2 per cent. The highest in the latter
group was in 1894, when 5. 7 per cent. were unemployed; in 1888-9 and 90 the highest was 2.5 per cent.;
in the last three years the proportion has verged on 4
per cent. The highest mean average is found in the
enginering, metal, and shipbuilding group of industries
which stood ~t 11.4 per cent. in 1893; at 11.2 per
cent. in 1894; but fell to 8.2 per cent. in 1895. In
1890, the proportion was 2.2 per cent. ; in 1889, it
was 2. 3 per cent. ; and, in 1899, again 2.4 per cent. ;
these being the lowest percentages in the 12 years.
These fluctuations in employment are dealt with
very minutely in some groups of industries, especially by the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, whose
"vacant-books " furnish every detail; also in relation
to labour at t he London Docks, about which only of
late years has statistical information been possible, and
in the textile trades, especially as to the employment
of femq,les, the figure3 being Yaluable for the purposes
of comparison.
On page 82 is given the number of coal miners employed, and on page 83 the number of " days worked
per week in coal mines." Attention has been twice
called by correspondents to the fact that the colliers
do not necessarily work the periods set forth, as we
have assumed. To show that the figures quoted, and
the remarks made thereon, were bontt fide, we quote
the heading as it appears in this ''Abstract," page 83 :
"Tablo LXIII.-Average number of days per week
on which coal was hewn and worked in all mines in
the United Kingdom from which returns have been
received for each month of the years 1896 to 189~;
and also for such mines in the more important districts for each month of 1899." In the monthly reports
the words are "the pits worked on an average 5.67
days per week in the four weeks ended on March 24."
The error has arisen from the supposition that the
number of people employed (which is given) were
intended to represent the average number of persons
employed in the work. What appears to be the fact
is that though the pits were worked, the full complement of men were not always at their post. '.fhe
mistake is regrettable on all grounds, more especially
is it so on the ground that the miners do not put in
all the time which they might, when there is a demand
for their labour.
The general summary as regards trade unions shows
that 1208 unions were notified in 1892, in 1898 there
were 1267. The total number of members in 1892 was
1,501,083, in 1898 the number had increased to
1,644,591. Selecting lOO of the principal unions from
the total, the number of members had grown from
909,648 in 1892, to 1,043,476 in 1898 ; the income had
increased in t he same period from 1,459,214l. to
1,915,455l.; the expenditure from 1,421,169l. to
1,489,67ll.; the funds in hand from 1,616,800l. to
2,694,799l. The proportions per member were: Income, ll. 16s. 8~d.; expenditure, 1l. Ss. 6f d.; funda at
end of year, 2l. Us. 7! d. So long as the balance in
hand exceeds a year's income, the soundness of the
union is regarded as complete.
As regards t he growth of trade unions, it appears
that by far the larger proportion have increased
largely in membership since 1892, some have increa-sed
enormously, as follows: Groups- building trades
from 160,388 to 235,86.2; mining, &c., from 315,098
THE
t o 352,826; engineering, &o., from 278,159 to 307 902

t extile workers from 204,039 t o 213,776. The clothing
trades decreas~d from 83, 114 to 70,344; t he general
t ransport serv10e, exclusive of railwaymen, from
107,484 to 79,354. Then comes a big drop from
36,986 t o 2353 in the agricult ural and fishermen group.
General labourers decreased from 100 909 to 97 080
the chemical glass and pottery group ~nd worke~s i~
fibre also decreased.
Such information as was available is given in a condensed form of the federat ions of trade unions and of
tra?e councils; it is, however, too early as' yet to
est1mate the latest development in this respect namely
the National Federat ion start ed at t he M~noheste;
Congress. There were five federations of tro.de councils
counties or groups of counties; the Midlands had
130,000 ; Yorkshire, 50,000; West of England and
South Wales, 30,000; North-Eastern Counties 24 000
.
' '
'
eheshn:e,
15,000. There are some large sectional
federa tiOns, but whet her these will be merged in
the General Federation, or continue to exist as at
present, ce:nnot yet be known. In looking down the
list of sect10nal federations, we can see where it is a
ch~in of weak unions, and where it is one of strong
uniOns. The weakest links yield in the one case with
a ?eorease o.f membership, whereas in the stronger
un10ns there 1s a growt h, greater or less according to
the class of workers in the various unions.
The monthly report of the Ironfounders states that
though "the unemployed figures in t he aggregate are
much about the same as last month, we are compelled
r eluctantly to admit that trade does not appear to be
so reassuring as we could wish ; there are general
complaints that orders are not coming forward quite
so freely as they are running out." There may be
te1:nporary reasons for t~is, c~nnecte~ with the high
prtces of fuel and mater1al ana the d1ffioulty of fixing
an early date for deliveries. Speedy delivery is often
of more importance than price, especially is this the
case when there is a flush of trade, and customers
have to await their turn. The membership shows a
decline of 84, but this is explained by the exclusions
for being in arrear at the close of the quarter, that is
to say some are out of benefit. The total number on
the funds was 1823, only an increase of one over the
previous mouth. The total on donation benefit was
377, increase of 40 ; on sick benefit 494, decrease of
50; on superannuation benefit 878, increase of nine;
unemployed, but out of benefit, 69, decrease of one;
on dispute benefit five, increase of three. The total
cost was 576l. 2s. 4d., or 75jd. per member per week.
The total number of members was 18,024. The aggregate funds 97 ,050l. ls. 5d ., increase in the month
62ll. 8s. 2d. The returns as to employment mark a
change, though not a serious one, as the following
condensed view of the figures shows :
This Month.
Last Month.
State of Trade.
Places.
Members.
Places.
----------1
------1
-----..
88
12,Q95
85
Very good
..
Good
..
..
..
Not so good or mode
rate . .
..
..
Declining, one ; shor t
time, one ; very bad,
one . .
..
..
Totals
Members.
23
3,68~
SO
11,686
6,080
1.206
1,246
489
14~
126
18,024
126
18108
------------------~---
The difference is not very great, but last month no

branch returned the state of trade as ver y bad. The
one so named is Dublin, where 17 members were unemployed at the date of the r eport. The Lancaster
branch reports that the largest firm there has given
an advance of ls. per week unsolicited by t he members
of the union. There being only five members on dispute benefit shows that very little friction exists in
this department of the iron and s teel industries.
The report of the Amalgamated Carpenters and
Joiners for the current month states that the period has
been an anxious one for the council, their time and
thought being taken up almost wholly in considering
and dealing with trade movements. The reports from
the larger districts in England are favourable and
encouraging as r egards concessions by the employers,
but in Scotland, it is stated, there was an organised
attempt to reduce wages, which the council decid~d
to resist. The result has been so far that strikes have
taken place in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayr,
Arbroath, and several other places.
The report
attributes the disputes that have arisen to the fact
that two societies of joiners exist in Scotland and
are sadly divided as to policy and to the action to be
taken. But there are some gleans of sunshine- the
Glasgow employers have agreed to allow existing
agreements to continue for another year, and at Aberdeen the proposed reduction of .id. was red.uoed. to
;id., all other questions to be dealt with by arb1trat10n.
In the London district the employers have advanced
wages to 10id. per hour; in Bolton and Oldham, to
66I
9id. per hour; Bradford and Harrogate, to 9d. per
hour. Corresponding advances in wages are reported
from 14 other towns. In 11 towns disputes are pending, and in three others the members are requested to
see the bra nch secretary before accepting work. The
total number of members is 62,452, of whom 1222 were
on unemployed benefit, 1301 on sick benefit, and 864
on superannuation allowance. Strikes are reported
in six districts in Australia, and in one or two others
matters are in an unskilled state. In eight districts
in the United States there are strikes and look-outs,
and in some others there is unrest. All through . outh
Afrioa the members of the union are affected by t be
war. The report contains I} list, opposite to each
branch, of the hours of labour and rate of wages
ruling in each place where the branch exists ; the present list relates to the summer months only. Corrections are to be sent whenever a change takes place,
either in hours or wages. The majority of recent disputes have arisen in the ill-paid districts where the
union has branches.
The May report of the Associated Ironmoulders of
Scotland stat6s that "the working membership "th~t ~s, tho~e in employm~nt-is slightly reduced ; but
thts 1s attrtbuted to a dtspute between the " irondressers " and the employers, and falls under the bead
of "management in shops." It seems that employers
have become very restive on this question of "management " ; but the report upholds the view that the men
have a right to a voice "as to the conditions under
which they should work. " B ut it goes on to say that
the society r ecognises that the works are the employers',
and it simply urges reciprocity in the matters for the
mutual welfare of all concerned. This question of
" internal management " is the rock upon which the
good ship Conciliation may go to pieces, if the workpeople seek to impose conditions of an arbitrary character; and it is here that the council of a union might
exercise a wise control. The financial position of the
society continues to improve, t he balance in hand reaching 64, 160l. 3s. 2d. The report contains an account of
the society's first case under the Compensation Act.
The employers had paid compensation for three months,
and then ceased on the ground that the man injured
could do some work, if not that of a moulder. The case
was tr ied, the decision being in favour of the workman,
as the injury was of the nature of permanent dieablement as regards the e;lass of work which he was
a ccustomed to do. There is a tabulated list of
members in receipt of superannuation benefit down to
the end of March last, with dates when first granted.
The total payments have amounted to 50,543l., the
cost now reaching 4d. per member per week. There
is some talk on the Clyde as to a return to fortnightly pays, the employers insisting that there is
an increased loss of t ime under the weekly system
in operation for a. year's trial. It is not denied that
t here is a sad loss of time, which, it is admitted, is
deplorable ; but a plea is put in for the more thrifty
and provident not to be punished because of the
"ne'er-do-well." The matter was still under discussion by the employers and employed at t he date of
the report.
The posit ion of the engineering trade throughout
Lancashire is not much changed as regards employ
ment. Generally the establishments are well supplied with work, which will last for some time to come.
Locomotive builders, boiler makers, and all sections
of t rade connect ed with electrical developments continue to be exceptionally pressed with orders. In some
branches of the engineering trades, however, a slackening off is r eported, which points to a lessening of the
volume of trade in the future, unless meanwhile orders,
which are now held in abeyance, are placed. I t is
probable t hat some of these are withheld because no
early date for execution and delivery can be guaranteed,
and also that the high prices of fuel and of material
cause customers to hesitat e in the hope of easier terms.
For the present the workers are not much affect ed by
the comparative scarcity of orders, nor will t hey be to
any large extent until the contracts in hand have been
completed, or nearly complet ed. It is gratifying to
know that labour d1sputes in this group of trades in
the Lancashire trades a re fe\v, and none of them are
serious. The absence of such disputes helps to steady
employment, and probably enables employers to engage
in contracts when ot herwise they would hesita te. The
iron market has been unsettled of lat e by r eason of the
downward t endency in warrants. It is r epor t ed t hat
it is difficult t o quote d efinite prices for pig-iron, some
makers of outside brands having given way to some
extent . Very little business is put through beyond
the barest quantities t o cover immediate r equirements.
Local quotations remain unchanged. In the finished
iron branches t rade continues steady a t full list rat es,
but the new business done is small at the present time.
The st eel trade also is somewha t unsettled, and appearan~es ~oi~t to lower. rates.. ~ slackening off in the
slupbmldmg trades IS begmrung . to affect t~e. ste~l
trade, and the r epor ted Amer1can compet.1t10n. 1s
anothe1' factor. So far> however, the qmetemng
662
down is more by r eason of anticipation than any r eal
falling off in trade.
The position of the iron trade in theW olverhampton
district still remains good. Trade in finished iron is
described as buoyant. Mills and forges are in steady
swing, clearing off specifications on old contr9:cts,
whilst a good volume of orders has been taken sm ce
quarter-day. Stocks are very low throughout the
district, and both consumers and merchants are preEsing for speedy deliveries. Supplies of pig iron are
said to be very inadequate. Complaints are heard as
to manufacturers' difficulties in getting the workmen
to turn out the full number of shifts p er week at the
mills and furnace~ , as the high wages now being
earned satisfy some of the workera if they only put
in four days per week. It is very sad t o hear these
constant complaints. Trade is not always at full
tide, and those who do not take advantage of it
will be stranded when the preseure subsides.
It
cS~nnot be wondered if employers mark the men
who now idle away part of their time, and gi\e the
preference in slack times to those who were steady and
regular at their work. The former may complain then
that they are "victims," but they will get scant
sympathy. The engineers, ironfounders, boilermakers,
tankmakers, bridge and girder constr.uotors, continue
fairly busy, and so also are most of the hardwa.re
industries. There is a general absence of labour disputes of any consequence in the district.
In the Birmingham district there has been some
quietude in the iron market, with little change either
as to demand or prices. Orders are said to be held
back in the hope of easier terms, but it is thought t hat
such hopes will not be r ealised ; indeed, t here have
been rumours of a further advance of lOs. per ton for
marked bars, but no circulars had been issued to that
effect. It is expected that there w i ll be another advance in the ironworkers' wages on the basis of the
settling prices since the last a~certainment.. G.ood
business is reported at full rates m most descnpt10ns
of iron. The steel trade is active, with complaints as
to the ecarcity of ra w material. Most of the iron,
steel, and other metal trades are fairly busy, inclusive
of the engineering and allied tr~des. Some brB;-nches
are busier than others, but ser10us slackness IS not
r eported to any extent in any branch of industry.
The Government Factory Bill is not recei dng much
support. It is attacked on all sides by sections of
workmen and now the London School Board have
petit ioned against it., on the ground that it will greatly
interfere with th e education of young persons by preventing them from getting evening instruction in the
"continuation schools." Clauses 17 and 18 are those
objected to by the London School Board, but other
clauses are condemned by trade unions, trade councils,
and other bodies of workmen.
A dispute has arisen in ~he i~on ~orks .i n So~tth
Wales, the ironworkers havmg gtven In theu not10es
for 5 per cent. advance. The employers have offered
2! per cent. to avert a strike, but this the men have
refused. If the employers maintain their refusal, it
is expected that fully 5000 men will be thrown idle.
A strike of platelayers has taken place on the
North-:b;astern Railway on the new branch line near .
Stockton-on-Tees. The men are paid 20d. per week;
they demand an advance of 3s., ~hich the company
refuse to give. The latter are seekmg to replace those
on strike with oth~r hand e.
Another of those complicated disputes has arisen
between members of diffdrent unions. This one is between the bricklayers and plasterers on the one ha~d,
and t ile fixers on the other. The t wo former bodtes
want to keep tile fixing in their own hands. But this
branch has gradually become a spe~ial one; to such a:n
extent is this the case that the tile-fixers have thetr
own union. S uch disputes as t hese ought never to
arise-what will the trades' federation do in the
matter? It ought to act, and promptly.
The dockers report that t hey have recently obtained
an advance of ld~ per hour and 2d. for overtime at
th e London Victoria, Albert, and W est India Docks,
and finally 'the same terms were conceded at the Tilbury D ock s. T he dockers a re again beginning to
ma ke a show in labour questions.
It is reported that the chaiumaker~ working in four
factories at Jumet and one at Gossehes have resolved
t o strik e for an advance in wages, which are eaid to
be very low.
L ocoMOTIVES FOR l TALY.- The South Italian Railway
Company has concluded a contract with the engine factorr
of the Hungarian State system at Budapest f?r the d~h
very of 18 locomotives and tenders. The engtnEs, wh10h
are to be of the eight-wheeled coupled type, will cost
altogether 67, 165,
(MAY 18,
1900.
Different observers disagree as to the amount ~f ~eat

THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY.
produced by any reaction, but the excess ~f calories m a
AT the meeting of the Physical Society, held May 11, zinc reaction over those in a copper reactiOn appear3 to
1900, Professor 0. J. L odge, F.R.S., president, in the be fairly constant. Starting with 6~0 ~lories, t~e v~lu~,
chair a discussion of Professor Lodge's paper, ' On the according to Gait, when copper IS dissolved m mt~Ic
'
rr
-er
" was comControversy
conoc'l-ni'flU Volta ' s vontact
.L'Orce,
acid of spe~ific _gravity 1. 360,. we should ha v~ 1357 c~lori~s
menced by Professor Armstrong. Pr<?fessor Armstr<?ng when zinc IS dissolved, prov1ded the chem1cal act10n 1s
expressed his indebtedness to the president for putting the same in each case. All the calorimetrical results from
forth clearly what we are trying to understand, and said the different specimens of alloys would theoretically li.e
that it was hardly time for chemists to enter the discussion upon the straight line drawn between 604 and 1357. 'fhts
when physicists themselves differed. There has appa is practically so from pure copper to the copper 70 per
rently been a change in front since the effect was sup- cent. alloy, but beyond that there id less beat pro~uced
eosed to be due to (1) chemical a.~tio~ be~w~en metal~, or than that indicated by the straight line law, the ma.xtmu~
(2) oxidation. Professor Lodges vtew 1s mtermediate, deviation lying at about copper 37 per cent.. r:r:he speCIbut approximate to th~ secon~i. Profess_or A rmstrong men containing 38.38 per cent. copper, wh10h IS not far
said that from a pract10al pomt, the existence of the from the alloy C u Zu shows a loss of 32 calories.. The only
2
effect wa~ unknown, because sufficient precautions had way in which this ?eficit
~n be accou~te? fo~ IS by supnever been taken to pre~ent che~c.al action. He ur~ed posing that the actJOn of th1s alloy on rutnc aCid produces
the continuance of experiments stmllar to those carrted a larger quantity of nitric oxide than in the case of pure
out by Mr. Spiers, and stated th~t mo~ern ideas of copper. But allowing full force to this argument, it cannot
chemistry were favourable to the VIew wh10h Professor account for as much as 10 calories of the deficit. There
L odge had taken up with regard to the Volta effect. .
is therefore a residual deficit as yet unaccounted for on
Mr. Glazebrook made some remarks upon the meanmg chemical grounds. The author states thab it is desirable
of the term E, which occurs in the expression for the that experiments shoul~ be ?onduc~d on the z~c-copper
Peltier effect at the junction of two metals. If we con- alloys with solvents wh10h ~tve a simpler chem10al act10n
fine our attention to an infinitesimal cycle at the junction than that .Produced by nitnc acid.
of two metals at slightly different temperatures, we get
The oha.1rman pointed out that the results obtained by
the equation for the Peltier effect, in which E is the Gait for an a.Jloy which appeared to be a chemical compotential differe?~e. at the point considere~. I!, t~en, pound were in close agreement with what would be exassuming reversibiltty, we sum up all the mfimtesimal pected from the existence of the V olta. contact force.
cycles round a circuit and get a finite cycle, the electro Professor Armstrong said that the ac~ion of nitric acid .on
motive force of the circuit is a function of the two brass or zinc and copper was a functiOn of the quantity
temperatures between which it is working. Differ~ntiating of acid present, its strength, the temperature, and the
with res.Pect to temperature the.total e~ectromo~Ive force pressure, and that thf'refore it was unsatisfactory to conof the cucuit, we get an equat10n which apphes to the duct experiments using nitric acid as a solvent. He sugcircuit as a whole, and in which E is the total electro- gested the use of a. solution of bromine i.n which fine~y
motive force round the circuit.
powdered zinc, copper, and brass are easily soluble w1th
Mr. Price asked if any critical experiment could be a simple chemical reaction.
suggested to settle the question.
Mr. Tomlinson pointed out that it was impossible to
Dr. L ehfeldt called attention to some experime~ts use the ordinary formula. for the calculation of the Volta
which had been performed to measure the potential effect from the heat of formation of alloys, unless we
difference between an electrolyte and a gas. Th~ electro- know exactly the chemical composition of the alloy which
lytes considered were chiefly aq~eous solutions, and the is produced.
potential differe~ce~ observed varied largely: The surface
Mr. W. R. Cooper, referring to ~r. Tayler's paper,
tensions of the hqmds were measured, and It was shown said it was difficult to see that anythmg could be ,;>roved
that the variations in the potential difference were very by the application of the Kelvin theory to a. metallic consimilar to those in surface tension. This suggests, in the tact, unless there is ground fo.r b~lieving that some parca.se of electrolytes, truo physical surface effects, and not ticular alloy of fixed compositiOn IS always formed. Th~re
chemical action.
is also a further difficulty in converting heat of format10n
The chairman remarked that Dr. Lehfeldt evidently into electromotive force in cases where the metals have
looked upon the met~l-ether bo~ndary. as being tb~ effec- different valencies, for there is no reason why one valency
tive one. The expenmental evidence IS not Sl;lffiCJenb to should be selected rather than the other. Referring to
say exactly which is the effective con tact, but It seems to Mr. Gladstone'~ paper, r. Cooper ~id that it was P~;>B
show that the metal-ether effect is of the same order of sible that the difference m the reducmg powers of mixmagnitude as the oxygen layer effect. According to tures and alloys might be due to local action, which
Helmholtz they ought to be related, and they apparently would be more pronounced in the case of alloys ; more
a.re.
hydrogen would be cooled and the reduction would be
The chairman then read a paper by Mr. J. B. Tayler on more complete.
"The Heat of For'11Ution of A lloys"." Experiments have
Professor S. P. Thompson then sl:.owed an "Electrobeen made upon alloys of lead with tin, bismuth, and zino, magnetic Experiment.>' A circul~r c_oil capable .of carrrand of zinc with tin and mercury. The method employed ing a. strong current was placed w1th 1ts ax1s horizontal m
consisted in dissolving (1) the alloy, and (2) the corre- a tank of water. Into the tank were also placed some
sponding mixture of metals in mercury and measuring small magnets in sealed glass tubes, so adjusted as to have
the heat of solution in each case. On the assumption a density approximately equal to that of water. The
that the solutions obtained are identical, the difference magnets just floated or just sank. On running a. current
between the heat of solution of the mixture and that through the coil it was possible to "fish " for the magnets,
of the alloy is the heat of formation of the latter. which acted upon by the magnetic field immediately made
The calorimeter was a thin glass tube, silvered on their way to the coil. When the current was carefully
the outside, and supported by a stouter tube silvered reversed upon the approach of a magnet, repulsion instead
on the inside. Suitable arrangements were adopted of attraction took place and the magnet retreated. In
for the introduction of the metals or alloys which general, however, reversal of the current produced rewere used in the form of filings. Solution was versed polarity in the magnet and attraction still persisted.
often complete in less than a minute, and rarely took
The Societv then adiourned until May 25.
more than two months and a half. The alloys first exp~rimented upon contained their constituents in equiva.
lent proportions, and the heats of formation were found
D EATH o~o MR. R . R ussELL.-Mr. R. Russel1, C. E.,
to be small in comparison with those found for brass by F .G.S., who has died suddenly ab Sb. Beee, was an authoGait and Baker. It was thought that only a sruall per- rity on the bematite ores of the C umberland and Furness
centa~e of the atoms present had entered into definite district. A t one time he was connected with the Geological
chemical combination, and that more reliable results would Survey, and he had worked in Cyprus, the Isle of Man,
be obtained by dissolving a small quantity of one metal and in W est Oumberland. He was a. past-president of the
in an excess of the other, and calculating from the ex- Whitehaven Scientific Association, and for several years
perimental results the heat of formation of the gramme- he was hon. secretary.
molecular weight of compound upon the supposition that
the whole of the small quantity of metal had entered
OuR LocoMOTIVE E XPORTs.-The demand for British
into chemical combination by the exercise of its normal locomotives continues good, notwithstanding the increasvalency. Usi ng these numbers so obtained to find by ing competition of Bald win and other foreign engines.
Kelvin's theory the potential difference which should The value of the locomotives exported in April was
exist between the metals concerned when put in conta{)t, 145,612l., o.s comJ?ared with 108,613l. in April, 1899, and
res ults were arrived at which agreed neither with the 80,604l. in April, 1898. F or the four months ending
V olta effect nor the P eltier effect, but which were consider- April30 this year a value of 605,851l. was attained, as
ably nearer the former than the latter.
compared with 449,974l. in the correspondin~ period of
A paper on "The W ant of Unijor ntity in the Action of 1899, and 283, 461l. in the correspondmg penod of 1898.
Copper -Zinc Alloys on N i tr ic Acid" was read by Dr. J. South America took Britieh locomotives in the first four
H. Gladstone. Experiments have been made by dissolv- months of this year to the value of 106.028l., as compared
ing copper -zinc alloys in nitric acid, following the method wi th 65,300l. and 32,453l. respectively; British ~outh
of Dr. GaltJ and adopting the precautions mentioned by Africa, to the value of 56,114l., as compared with 23,517l.
him. The reaction between nitric acid and these metals and 7755l. respectively; British India, to the value of
or alloys is very complicated, and there is a difference 214,770l., as compared with 218,972Z. and 82,728l. re
between the products in the case of an alloy and in the spectively ; and Australasia, to the value of 75,27ll.,
ca.se of the eg.uivalent mixed metals. The gases evolved as compared with 33,288l. and 75,069l. respectively. This
being small m the experiments performed, attention was year's exports have been increased by the general activity
directed to the determination of the substances remaining of railway enterprise throughout the world, as well as by
in eolution, i .e.t the nitrous acid and ammonia. The the fact that two years ago British mechanical industry
alloys gave mucn more nitrous acid and less ammonia, in was checked and troubled by labour difficulties, which
fact, two of the alloys employed produced no ammonia. have now happily largely subsided. The competition of
Discrepancies in results may be due to the fact that the American locomotive firms would probably have been felb
zinc and copper in ~ontacb form a zinc-copper couple, more sharply than it has been, but for the great activity
which, in the presence of acid, sets up a vigorous action now prevailing in connection with railway development
and l?roduces a different evolution of heat. D ifficulties in China. The great Russian Tra.ns-Siberian Railway
arise m the investigation, because the alloys used may not has also absorbed a large number of American locomo
be definite chemical com~ounds, but mixtures of two or tives, while there has further been a. good demand for
more alloys with uncombmed zinc and copper. The alloy American railway engines upon home account -thnt is,
witb 38,38 per cent, of copper, appears ~o be f~irly uniform, in ~he U nited States ~hemselves,
MAY 18, 1900.]

ROAD LOCOMOTION.*
By Professor H. S. H ELESHAW, LL.D., F.R S .,
Member, of Liverpool.
(Continued from page 632.)
E XTERNAL COMBUSTION (STEAM).
TaE external-combustion m otors for vehicles are up to
the present entirely ~team engit;tes, and ~o muc~ has been
done in recenb years m developmg and Improvmg s teamengines upon a. small scale, that it is scarcely possible to
he.ve any absolutely new features in the engmes themselves. Thus, although there are various special d etails
which are of interest, in is not worth while to take up
time in describing the varieties of the engines themselves
the.t are employed. On the other hand, oil burners and
boilers, a.s well as condensers, hav~ in many ca-ses been
invented entirely with the objeob of their application in
this direction, and must be, however briefly, touched
upon. As before mentioned, the use of steam engines in
this country has been to a. great extent limited t o heavy
motor vehicles, and it is a p oint of great interest to compare how the more im~orta.nt makers h~ve arranged the
aistribution of the bo1ler, motor, gearmg, tanks, COD
densers, &c.
The principal systems of steam -motor vehicles have
been arranged for convenience of comparison upon one
diagram, page 664, and further, for convenience~ a uniform
system of lettering (explained on that page} has been
adopted throughout. A glanc~ at the diagrams will show
the very varied methods in which makers have d istributed
the essential features of the heavy motor vehicle. It will
be noticed at once that all the boilers except one are
placed in the front and above the ca.r. The exception is
the Musker system, Fig. 36, and this, owing to its having
a horizonta.l boiler and a special fan or draught for the
burner, by which it is enabled to do without a funnel, is
placed transversely under the middle of the oar. The
Musker system really differs from the others in the essent ial feature of employing a separate auxiliary engine, which
supplies air and oil for th.e burner in proper p~oportions,
and also water to the bo1ler. The fan, as will be seen
the gearing, tends to increase the tractive effort of the

main driving-wheels when the wagon is running light.
By using separate engines, the necessity for a jack -in-thebox or differential gearing is avoided. Interchangeable
spurwheels are used to transmit the motion from the
engine t o a. counter -shafb, by means of which change of
speed gear can be effected m a few minutes, and from
them the power is transmitted to the main driving wheels
by a powerful chai n. The engines of Simpson-Bodma.n
are very well balanced, and run so smoothly at several
hundred revolutions a minute that a coin will stand upon
its dge on the top of the cylinders. A full d escription
?f the Sirupson-Bodman system ha-s been r ecently given
m tb e A utonwtor Jourrvil.
Another important feature of di fference between the
various systems is t o be found in the fact that the
Musker, L eyland, Coulthard, and Clarkson and Capel,
all use condensers, the loca tion of which can be seE!n by
an inspection of the various diagrams, whereas in the
others the effect of superheating the steam is relied on
in order to avoid the emiasion of visible vapour.
A full d escription, giving all the important d etails of
the Thornycroft, Lifu, Coulthard, L eyland, Bayley, and
Capel systems will be found in the two volumes of the
R eport by the Self-ProJ?elled Traffic Association on the
heavy motor trials in Liverpool, copies of which the
author has presented to the library.
Bu r ners for Liq_uid Fuel.- The number of burners for
liquid fuel which bave been invented in r ecent years is
very great, and Figs. 40 to 44 represent the t~pes of those
in successful operation. An important distmction must
be made between burners for light and heavy oil. For the
latter, which are the burners chiefly illustrated, s pecial
means must be taken to hea t in each case the petroleum
in order to vaporise it, whereas with a light spirit,
vaporisation, although necessarily effected on the same
prmciple, is a far less difficult matter, and may be said
not to involve the risk of carbonising the products. n is
well worth the application of considerable efforb and
ingenuity in devising means for the use of heavy oiJ, as ib
is relatively much cheaper and safer to use. F or internalcombustion engines, with one or two exceptions, lighb oils
For the burner of M essrs. Musker, which is shown iD

Fi~. 52, page 664, the air is supplied by a fan which is
dnven by the same auxiliary engine which supplies both
the water for the boiler and oil for the burner, the right
proportion being thus automatically regulated. The air
passes inwards as shown, through the passage J J, which
IS kept at a high temperature Ly means of cylindrical
projecting _ribs which form part of the solid ignition
chamber K. T he oil, which 18 admitted by drops at the
point L, fallin~ upon the heated iron surface, is thus
vaporised and Immediately mixed with the heated air.
The mixing is further insured by passing through a num
ber of holes in a perforated block M, and ignition t akes
place in the chamber K. The actual working of this
burner is very striking, since the air, being regulated in
relation to the oil, the flame, instead of, as in many cases,
varying in quality according to the oil supply, and sometimes shooting forward in a. long flame with a perceptible s mell, is always, und er the various conditions m
which the author has examined it, of the same character
and intensity. The conditions of ignition are always the
same, although the actual size of the flame varies with
the supply from the auxiliary engine.
The L ey land burner is sho wn in section and plan,
Fig. 41.
The burner, Fjg. 43, page 665. is given merely as an
example of one for the use of light petroleum spirit or
benzine, being that employed in what is known as the
Sta.nley motor car. In this oa.se the diaphragm at S has one
side exposed to the pressure of steam from the boiler by
means of a steam pipe T . The spring V is thereby <:aused
to regulate the needle valve at X, by which the spirit
enters by the pipe Y, and p asses to the furn ace under the
boiler; thus the supply of spirit is regulated according to
the pressure of 'Steam in the boiler.
STEAM GENERATORS.
The two moat important considerations in connection

with the design of a steam boiler for motor vehicles are,
first to have a boiler as light as possible consistent with
high pressure, an q, secondly, to have a type of boiler
which is capable of being forced s o as to meet a sudden
TABLE I.-LIVERPOOL TRIALS OF MOTOR VEHICLES FOR REA VY TRAFFIC.

RESULTS OF THE YEARS 1898 AND 1899 COMPARED.
Ratio of Proportion
ENOINB.
BOIL BR.
Ratios of Gear
Mean
Mean
of Mean
iog between
Tare. Freight. Total
Dead Total MovEn~i ne Shaft
Moving Weig ht ing Weight
an Driving
W\ight.
to
on Driving A,era~eof Heating Compound Revnlutions
Wheels .
Freight.
p er ?I:Iinute
Wheels.
Obsened
Cylindera. at F ull Speed.
P ressure a. Surface.
VBUICLR.
..
cS
Ql
1898 Tbornycroft (four-wheeler)

1899
"
"
(six wheeler)
1898
"
(eigPtwheeler)
1899
"
t ons
tons
t ons
2 83
3.00
3.85
3.90
2.63
3.73
4.73
6.65
5.91
7.24
9.25
1L28
l b. p . s. in. sq. ft..

1. 29
0. 96
0 93
0.71
0.77
0.68
0. 46
O.f4
152
147
125
176
65
83
66
83
10.
4 and 7
4 and 7
4 and 7
4 and 7
x 5
x 5
x 6
X5
600
770
500
770
8 to 1
10.1 and 17.7
9 and 12
10. 1 and 17.7
Consumption per Net

T on-Mile of F reig ht.
Speed
Miles per Hour.
Prime
Cost .
Fuel.
Water .
Aotu a l
CornRunning. mercial.
lb. We1eh coal
gals.
3.6!
2.38
4.03
1 .87
*146
1.88
*1.93
1.33
6.98
6. 9-l
3.4 1
6.48
6.22
6 31
2.79
5.67
630
590
750
6-10
*0. 84
i(o 91
2.( 6
t0.64
6 25
6. 17
4.46
5.02
7.02
4.04
375
460
625
450
168
1. 27
6.33
5 47
4.93
760
600
gals. kerosene
1898 Ley lan:i

1899
"
1898 Lifu
..
1899 Olarkson
2.86
2.86
2.39
3.00
4.06
4.44
2.20
3.86
7.29
7.64
4.94
6.68
0.78
r.71
0.62
1. 21
1.00
0.77
0. 51
178
167
207
193
110
11 0
80
80
Sand 5 x 6
2t and 5 x ts
a and 6 x 5
2! and 6 X 4
600
400
600
600
8, 13. 6, and 28
8. 6, 15. 25, and 35
8 to 1
12 and 36
0.130
0.121
0. 298
0.216
8.~9
6.59
lb. gas coke.

1898 De Dion (French trials) . .
1899 Bayley
4.72
2.97
8.25
3.67
8.60
7.13
0.60
0.67
1.65
0 95
*
from the diagram, take3 the air through the condenser, in
which it is partially warmed. It is obviously imp0rtant
to have the boiler and engine as near as possible to the
main driving wheels, which are in every case the rear
wheels, because, although when loaded the weight of the
load is in most vehicles to a great extent distributed over
the driving wheels, yet when running lighb, if the boiler
and a fair proportion of the engine are carried upon the
steering wheels, there ma.y not be sufficient weight upon
the driving wheels to provide tractive effort. A large
platform area. is provided by the Musker system; but at
the same time it must be p ointed out that when one of
these vehicles is carrying 1ts full load, the weight is not
so much concentrated over the driving wheels as in the
other systems, which is a point decidedly in their favour.
This system has recently been fully d escribed in a paper
before the Liverpool Engineering Society.
The next important feature of difference between the
systems is in the position of the engines. In the Thornycroft and Lifu systems, Fig. 34, the engines are placed
horizontally in the middle of the wagon, and the main
driving wheel is driven by means of t oothed gearing.
This is also the case in the Musker SJStem. The Coulthard,
Leyland, Fig. 37, and Clarkson and Capel systems, Fig. 39,
all have vertical engines which, by means of chain gearing operating throu~h a. counter-shaft, transmit the
motion to the main driving wheel. In the Bayley system,
Fig. 38, the engine is a.lso vertical, but transmits the
motion by means of a horizontal shafb placed longitudinally with the wagon, and driving a counter-shaft by
means of bevelled ~earing, which counter-shaft in turn
drives the main dr1ving wheel by a. pinion and spurwheel. In the Simpson-Bodman system, Fig. 35, the
distribution of parts for som e reasons is the best of all,
and the whole arrs.ngement is extremely neat and
ingenious. In this case there are a pair of sruall threecylinder engines which work separately and independently
the bwo main dri vin~ wheels. These engines are placed
at the rear of the vehicle in a convenient and accessible
position, and their weight, together with the weighb of
?
174
66
70
4 and 7f x 6
4 and 7 + 5
600
600
7.4 and 12.5

8. 4 and 18.7
1.81
184
5. 64
Surface condenser.
t Wired tube condenser and fan.
are invariably used on account of their cleanliness and

ease of vaporisation1 while, on the other hand, for external combm;tion, m which petroleum is employed to
heat th e boiler, ther e are only one or two examples in
which light spirit is employed. The Longuemare burner,
which is shown in plan and elevation in Fig. 40, page 665,
iE~ la.rgoly used in France, and consists of a row of coils
through which the spirit is brought, from which it afterwards :passes down by a. pipe B through a needle-valve
which IS r egulated by a wheel C, which can be op erated
by the driver. The Lifu burner, Fig. 42, of the Liquid
Fuel Company, late of East Cowe1, has worked very successfully, and consists of a casting D, in the tortuous
passages of which the petroleum is made to circulate; it
thus becomes thoroughly vaporised, since the casting is
placed in the body of the flame which issues at E. F is
an air cone which allows the proper proportion of a.ir to
mix with the vapour issuing from the needle valve, which
is shown in section, and is self-re~ulating. A peculiar
feature of the contrivance is an Igniter G, filled with
firebrick, which is also maintained in a red-hot condition
by the flame, so that in the event of the flame being extinguished suddenly, it is immediately re-lighted from
the white-hot fireclay, which acts as a. temporary reser voir of heat.
In neither of the foregoing is any attempt made t o
regulate the air supply. This is an Important matter in
order t o insure perfect r.ombustion, and arrangements
are made for doing so in both the Cla.rkson and Cape!
and Musker burners. In the former, which is s hown in
Fig. 44, this is in a sense done automatically. The air
can be regulated in quantity by altering the amount of
opening of the diaphragm at L L. It mixes there
thoroughly with the vapour which has been generated
in the coil H, round which the flame circulates. This
vapour enters the mixing chamber J, through a small
needle valve M, ab the orifice .K. The needle valve is
opened and closed by a. lever P, which at the same time
raises and lowers the larger valve N, so a.s to r egulate the
outflow of combined mixture of oil and air underneat h at
Q Q, the flame being baffled on the inside of a hollow
* Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical nickel cone. The whole arrangement worked very satlsfaotori1y in the Liverpool hea.vr motor trials.
Engineere.
d ema,n d for an increased guantity of steam at a. higher

pressure. The latter pomt really constitutes as has
already been pointed out1 one of the great adva~tages of
s team for a motor vehicle, ~nd in man:y designs has
e~able.d cha~ge of spe~d gearmg to be dt~pensed with,
sm ce m engmes workmg under t?e compound system,
arrangeiJ?-ents a_re made to use high-pressure steam in
both cylmders m order to surmount a hill or to tra-nsport
a heavy load over a piece of bad road. H ence it is that
~ater-tube ~oil ers of .various types have been found partlCularly su1ta.ble, while as far as the author is aware one
type of fire- tu be boiler is used for motor wagons.
'
W ater-tube Boilers.- One of the most successful watert ube boilers ~s ~hat of ~he :rho~nycroft Steam Wagon
Company, C h1sW1ck. This boiler IS represented in ection
in Fig. 45, p~ge 665, and really consists of two separate
annular port10ns A and B, almost r ectangular in section
connected by a. number of cylindrical straight water:
tubes, which form the walls of a elightly tapered hollow
cone CC. The furnace D is contained in the hollow of
the lower annulus B, being fed through the opening in
the upper annulus A, through the cover E , which can be
removed for the purpose. The flame has to find its way
on all sides through the narrow spaces left between th e
water-tubes, the prod~cts of . combustion escaping by
mean8 of the funn el ll. Partlculars of evaporation of
this and other boilers are given in Table I. The boiler
next illustrated, a.s shown in half sectional elevation
F~g. 46, is in some r espects similar. to the Thornycroft:
Fig. 45. The p~oducts of combust10n, however, in this
case. escape entuely round the upl'er portion, thereby
addmg a feature of economy to this type of boiler for
pe~fectly dr.y ste~m is increa-sed by the steam dom~ H
bemg con tamed m the sm oke box. The heating is effected
by means of a petroleum burner J, the supply of which
can be r egulated by means of the screw valve at K.
M essrs. 1Ierrywea.ther and Co. ha ve a boiler special1y
suitable for J?Oto~ ve~icles represented in Fig. 47. The
feature of th1s boiler ts the large size of firebox L which
is entirely surrounded by the water space. The' flames
p&SS upwards, encountering a double set of water-tubes
one being straight and slightly inclined from th~
horizontal, and the other being curved and vertical,
'
ENGINEERING.
664
and from their position insuring a very complete circulation of the water above the furnace. The De Dion boiler
shown in Fig. 48, is better known in France than in this
country; but at the Liverpool trials on the Bayley wagon
it proved itself a very efficient steam generator. It
consists, like the Thornycroft, of a. double annulus of
rectangular section, connected by water tubes, the essential difference between these two boilers being that one
annulus M is much smaller than the other, being partly
contained in it, the water tubes connected with them,
instead of being vertical, as in the Thornycroft, are
slightly inclined from the horizontal. The furnace N,
favourable opinion of its future possibilities; but it

cannot be said that this type of boiler ha~ really come
much to the front until it was revived by Serpollet a few
years ago in connection with motor vehicles. The boiler
of M. Serpollet has undergone a considerable modifies.tion during the past year. It originally consisted of a
battery of thick steel tubes, jointed together by bends
outside the furnace, the thick steel tubes which were
originally circular being squeezed together, and finally
indented so as to give a kidney-shape section, the concave
side being towards the flame, and a very narrow space
left for the water to pass through. M. Serpollet has now
TYPES
OF
"'
(& Llf4)
MOTOR
11
.,
,....
...............
\.
- .J
. , ... .
w ?:...~- -,
.
~- ""
\ ', __ )'/
v-
:".=Jrn;F
..... _____ ..,.

r-.-----~
'
A. AIR FAN. B. BOILER . C. 'CONDENSER. D . DIFFERENTIAL GEAR. E . ENGINE . G. GEARING.
..
c
r
'tt
Fig.37.
COULTHARD
(&LEYLAND)
,J
' <......
...
--
-~ ---~,o(
'< I
..'
~~H
.... ... ~..... ....
-~~\1
......
.
.)
~--
"
(0)
\
/ 1 )
CLARKSON
(C. CAPEL).
.,...
E,
" I
""
. ~
"-.....,
/
p .8!}.
-----------~~ :A t!J
C,
BAYLEY.
,w
I
I
,.
~-....
~~()o
)V
,.\.
Fig.38.
-r-
r-
lE
:!
H. HOT-WATER TANK . 0 . OIL ENGINE . S . STEERING. W. WATER TANK X . AUX. ENGINE.

r-
1~
;;;. , /
-r: ~
11
....
t\
'
'~
'
I--~
E
II
(lE L -) v
./
....
........
'
r-----------.
MUSK~R.
Fig.86
s...
SIMPSON-BODMAN.
S,
Row condenser pattern, and connected outside the furna.ce by a Haythorn joint E E, which is shown in section.
'fhe Row indentations alternate about 168 times in the
generator,.and any fluid passing round them must encounter an amount of baffiing that would expose it in the most
effective way to the action of the heating surface. The
steam is made to pass through a drum D, which is found
necessary to prevent the superheated steam having too
high a temperature. The boiler is heated by a coal furnace F F, and in about 40 minutes from lighting the fire,
steam is generated. There are many boilers, of course, in
which steam can be generated more quickly, hut it must
VEHICLES .
Fi.g.35.
._
THORNYCROFT
HEAVY
r-
_ _ rtr
Fig.84-.
[MAY 18, 1900.
.-,
.~ ',.,,. ~\
.
'~ -
' '
' ) t,g :__-__- , :['r--( 7
\ ...._ . . . .: /.
-~.>t,
G .... J
~ ~
I
0
I
'
I
'~, ..,
./
/jf{o)
,
-/
..,,E
.,.
L\
c
....
l
s::(J
/ I .._
BO
r--~
1--
lr
\...
"
D
G
,.....-
Fig. 49.
)
!. )
I'~
ft
~......
'-' \
........
JI
0 r- ~- - 1
t-
~
I
11
'.!
[\:.. ,....,. 'i
j>
"'1 11"
Ill
0 0
E
J
Fig51.
TANG"f'E.
H~dtorn.,
JoiRL
:2) ~:;:!
et,~
11 ({;
'J)
\\\\ Ill//
\\\1 Ill I
. \\\\ I' !I
11//
11,
0
'l
r.. :tf
0 '\
i\..
'""G
.l I.
vo~
.. ,
ry <C
)/) <t
,. 11
I' I
...J
:"-"'T--.#I
()
'W
0
0
1-'
Wr
STEAM GENERATORS,FLASH TYPES .

Fig.50. SIMPSON-BODMAH .
SERPOLLET.
' I
(sm. tJ
I I
'-':
1-.
V.
I
I I
1\
B ~
'xr1
MUSKER .
S'" rm
Air
as in the case of the Thorny croft, is fed ~hro~gh a cover P.

It is obvious that the heating surfac~ IS disposed to . the
best advantage, and the results obtamed are what mtght
be expected.
.
h. h
11
Flash Boile1s. -This type of boiler, m w 1c a sm.a.
quantity of water is injected at each strok~ of the engme
into a heated coil of metal, to be flashed mto steam and
superheated, is by no means new. More ~ban t~enty
years ago, a small engine of this type, ~he I.nvent10n ~f
Mr. Henry Davey, of Lee4e, w.a.s workmg m the engineering laboratories of U m vers1 ty College. London, and
gave about ! horse-power. Professo~ Kennedy, who
Bhowed it to the author, ab that tune expressed a
modified his boiler so that it consis.ts of .two porti~ns,

the lower being thick steel tubes twisted mto a. hehca.l
form, and placed so as to intercept the fla.m~ as much
as possible, as shown in pla? and ~levat10n ~ A,
Fig. 49, above. The upper portto~ conststs of a .c01l B,
of cylindrical tube of lighter sect10n, and not t.Wlsted as
in the lower portion, which . is expose? .more d1reetly to
the flame. The heating, wh10h was or1gmally effected by
coke or coal furnace, is now done by means of a petroleum
burner. Messrs. Simpson and Bodman have a.very s~rong
and effective flash boile~, w:hich. is shown. m s.eot10nal
elevation and side elevat10n m F1g. 50.. Thts botler consists of a series of heavy steel tubes C, mdented after the
be remembered that the succe38 of this type of boiler

depends upon a reasonahle mass of metal in which hea.~
can be stored. Tangye's boiler, Fig. 51, is convenient and
compact in form, and consists of a single ~oil of steel tube
in conical form the burners are shown m plan. One of
the newest form~ of combined boiler and b~rner is thn.t ~f
Messra. C. and A. Musker, of Liverpool, F1g. 52. Th.1s IS
placed in a horizontal position underneath the vehtele,
requiring no chimney for the escape of ~he ~aste P.roduots
of combustion. It consists of three cyhndr1Cal.cOJls H ~
of strong steel tubes, and the flame is mad~ to ctrcu~ate m
the annular space between them. Th& pomb at whtch the
water entera lS shown on the drawing, and likewise the.~
665
MAY 18, Igoo.]
==========~/.======================================================================
at which the steam is supplied to the engine. In a test
made by the .author on o~e of these boilers it was found
that in a per1cd of 40! mmutes, 37~ gallons of water were
evaporated, the steam gauge remaining during this period
&}most absolutely steady ab 300 lb. per square inch. To
evaporate this quantity of water, 3~ gallons of commercial
petroleum was used. As the weight of this boiler and
contents, independently of the burner, was only 4 cwt.,
this represents roughl.Y 15 lb. p~r horse-.power, and i~dic~tes the great steammg capa01ty of thlS type of bmler
and it.s suitability for motor vehicles.
ELECTRICITY.
'l.'he whole problem of the use of electricity is determined
by the life and capacity of t he battery, and the merits of
any accumulator should really be judged to a great extent
by the condition of its batteries after ~ix months' daily use
in a motor vehicle. The fact is th at the sudd en heavy
TYPES OF BURNERS USED
is, at least, on a. par with steam, or oil even, for hea.vy

traffic. Where these limits are exceeded, electricity is
inadmissible. Distances greatertho.n 40miles and speeds
greater than 10 miles an hour, involve prohibitive deadweight and excessive discharge rates.
It is a pity that no electrical motor vehicles for heavy
traffic have yet been broughb to the practical stage, as
this is to be regretted for several reasons. The ease with
which each of the four wheels of a lorry can be driven
is of particular importance in respect of available propulsive effort, whilst the motors and batteries can readily
be disposed so as to leave the entire platform free for
merchandise. The weight of accumulators is not included
in t he legal tare of 3 tons, and the slower rates of
speed demanded in this class of traffic should permit of
a low ratio of battery weight to total moving wei~hb.
Experience has shown that, with a total moving wetgbt
of 1 ton, one- third each being batteries, vehicle and load,
same course of 2 kilometres (1! miles) i~ 1 minu~

27i seconds, the first kilometre with a standtng start m
48i seconds, or a.t the rate of 75 ki~ometres (4.61 miles) e:n
hour and the second kilometre wtth a runwng start m
38~ ;econds. or at the rate of 92.783 kilometres (5?~.mile.s)
an hour. Finally, on A pril 29, 1899. J enatzy, ndmg .1n
a carriage specially built to break all records, and whtch
has the shape of a large cigar mounted on four small
wheeli3, made the 2 kilometres (1i; mile) in 1 minute
21~ seconds, the first kilometre with a standing start in
47~ seconds, a,nd the second kilometre with a runnin~
start in 34 eeconds, or 105.852 kilometres (65i miles)
an hour. The ex traordinary nature of these results lies
not so much in the fact of a high speed of 65 miles a.n
hour by a. motor vehicle, but in the fact that starting from
rest, the average speed for the first kilometre was 461
miles an hour. It is safe to say th&t no locomotive ha!!
ever achieved this result; that lit, a distance of a mile
FOR MOTOR VEHlCLE.S.

STEAM GENERATORS,
WATER
'
Fi(J.IW.
TUBE
TYPES
Fig.41 .
LONGUE.NARE .
Fig.46.
LEYLANO .
,,
,
I
I
I
I
I
------1
Door
Fig.42.
Fig.47.
Seciion AA .
LIFU .
MERRYWEATHER ~
CLARKSON&. CAPEL
Igniter
Feeillnlet
LOCOMOBILE OR STANLEY.
PifJ.48.
,...,
Fig.48.
.E
DE DION .
-------
Fifj.44.
CLARKSON & CAPEL
JI
Jl
- .- - ---------------------L
Air
~---+-----
(smt)
nischarg(S1 SO often taking place with a motor vehicl~,

expand the grids and release paste, whioh ie washed out
by the movement of the surrounding acid, and these detached particles cause internal short - circuiting by remaining in suspension between the plates. If a shell is
short of "acid room," excessive heating expands the grids
to such an extent that they never contract sufficiently to
make good their connection with the remaining paste.
Moreover, splashes of acid are the cause of much more
loss than is usually susr ected. Again, the practice of
grouJ?ing cells in paralle is open to the serious objection
that 1f a cell on one side becomes dead or is reversed, those
C\n the other expend energy in reestablishing equilibrium.
English, French, and A merican tests prove that after six
mC\nths' running, even under the most careful supervision,
pra~tioally all secondary cells must have the positive
plates re-pasted or renewed, at a cost m~t below one-fifth
of the original outlay ; while in many oases, as commonly
used they are practically worthless at the end of this
period, or even sooner. So long as a ran~e of 40 miles
per charge, ab speeds not exceeding 10 miles per hour,
meets the requirements of an automobilistJ, electricity, ab
a cost of not more than 2j, per Board of Trade unit,
the effective distance is about 48 miles at a speed of

8 miles per hour, and only about 24 miles at a speed of
15 miles per hour on average roads.
It must be borne in mind that the cells deteriorate
sadly when used for high speeds; nevertheless, results
have been attained on a motor vehicle by electricity which
surpass anything by any other kind of motive power. A n
account of these results has been given by the Marquis
de Chasseloup-Lauba.tl in the No1th American R eview for
September, 1899, which it is interesting to quote: "On
January 27, 1899, Jenatzy, mounting a carriage not specially constructed for great SJ?eed, left the startins: point (a.
straight, level road near Par1s) a.nd covered 2 kilometres
(l i miles) in 1 minute and 41! seconds ; the first kilometre
(i- mile), with a standing s tart in 57 secondE~, that if!, at the
rate of 63.166 kilometres an hour (39.2 miles), and the
second kilometre with a. running start in 44~ seconds,
that is, at the rate of 80.357 kilometres (50 miles) a.n
hour. On March 4, 1899, Counb de Chasseloup-Laubat,
on a J antard carrias-e, not specially built for th1s style of
test, but with certam most important modifications, such
as running the front and rear of the carriage into sharp
points, so as to offer least resistance to air, covered the
covered from rest in less than 80 seconds; and those who

witnessed the trials say that the start of the electrical
carriages under these conditions left the same kind of
impression on the observers as the start of a rocket.
There is little doubt that these results could be beaten
if the consequent expense were to be faced; but, according to report, the batteries were themselves practically
destroyed in the run ; and, at any rate, the contesting
vehicles were not only towed out to the scene of the
trial, but towed home again afterwards; and the trial,
though interesting as showing the possibilities and use of
electricity, must not at all be taken as giving results
which could be of use for practical purposes.
GEARING OR T RANSAIISSION.
The ordinary modes of transmitting power, viz., by

friction gearing, toothed wheels, bdlts and chains, have
been specially adapted and employed for transmitting the
power from the motor to the driving wheels of a motor
vehicle. The requirements for this particular purpose
are, in many respects, of a. special character, and the
author bad collected material for a special section of the
paper devoted to this suLject. It has become evident,
E N G I N E 1! R I N G.
666
~oweve~, that it would be it:nP?Ssible
t? t.rea.t the question
1n a sat1sfac~ory manner Withm the limits of this paper,

and ~he .subJect well deseryes a special paper before the
Inst1tut10n. ~ake, f?r msta~c~, the transmission of
power f~r ~ham gearmg. Th1s mode of transmiesion,
fro~ bemg 1n a very cru?e state a few yeara ago has
rece~ ved ~o much a.ttent10n that chain gearing i~ as
e~CI.ent, If not more so, than any other mode of transmtt~ng P?Wer ; .whereas the wearing of the links of the
cha.m, whiCh as 1t occurs gives so much trouble and annoya:nce, has been m~t by the special provision of large
bea.n.ng surfaces, w~tch are hardened; so that the mecha.msm of t!te cham gear may .be said now to compare
favourably vn.tb the. other wor~mg parts of the engine,
such, as ~rossbead pms and mam bearings. The efficient
lubncat10n of ~be chain is a matter of the greatest im~or~a.nce a.~q difficulty. The grease chiefly requires to be
tnside the JOin~, and. Major R. E. Crompton showed the
author a. most mgemous way of effecting this which he
has mo~t succ~fuJly employed with bicycle chains. He
places. t~e c~am m a. b9:th ~f melted grease, in which
gra.pbtte lS.mlXed. The a1r bemgexpelled from the joints
of the cha.tn by th~ heat, the mixture naturally finds its
y;a.y betwe~n the .P1DS and rollers, and ~orms a complete
mterna.lsohd lubr1cant, when the whole IS allowed to cool
together.
The ~nold cbai.n, w~iob is largely used in heavy motor
~raffia,, IS a beauttful mvention which meets in a most
mgemous manner the ~bange of alteration of pitch due to
wea;r; and the l.a.test Improvements in this chain are also
d~1gned ta obviate as far as p ossible the wear upon the
pm Itself, and reduce it t o a. minimum.
. Again, one special feature of the oil engine is the necessity for change of speed gearing of some form or other
and this ~as led. to a large number of arrangements of
spee? gear.mg wb1oh .of themseh'es are worthy of detailed
oons1derat10n. . Bes1des the arrangements for changing
the speed r~tio by means of combination of toothed
whee~s, are mventJOns such as the expanding and contra-ctmg pulley of Mr. Lu~as, the a.rrange?lent for altering
the throw of an eccentnc througlil whtoh the power is
transmitted such as in the invention of Mr. Newton, and
last, but not least, the most ingenious hydraulic variable
speed gear of Mr. Hall. These inventions are all in actual ~peration with apparent success; but unless actually
examined they could not really be understood, except by
means of drawings with detailed descriptions. It is obvious therefore that this part of the subject must be left for
future treatment.
(To be continued.)
into pieces of about a fist in size. T o this mixture about

3~ per cent. of powdered slacked lime is added and the
wnole converted in to powder of such fineness' that not
m~re than 2~ per cent. of residue remains on a sieve
with 5000 mesh~s per s.quare inch, and not more than 12~
p er .ce~t. on ~ steve with 30,000 meshes p er square inch.
As It IS very Important, for the cement to turn out a. success, t~a.t A. thorough mixture of the raw materials (namely,
slag, hm~to.ne, and slacked lime) takes place. the fineness
of the .g ram IS controlled twice a. day and any discrepancies
remedted at once.
~he ~rinding i~to powder is effected by means of a
oyhndr10al ba.~l-n;nll fo~ the coarse gri b, followed by a soca.~led tube fi?-1shmg mill for the fine powder. One oylindnca.l ball-mill, together with a. tube finishing mill, produce about 60 tons of powdered raw material in about
24 hours, and consume about 45 horse-power both t ogether.
The following is an analysis of the blast furnace slag
sand aJld of the limestone :
1. Slag Sand :
P er Cent.
Silica. .. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. 1
30 to 35
Lime .. .
.. .
...
.. .
..
46 , 49
Alumina
.. .
...
. ..
.. .
10 ,, 14
Ferrous oxide...
...
. ..
...
0.2 , 1.2
Magnesia.
.. .
. ..
. ..
.. .
0. 5 , 3. 5
Sulphuric acid...
.. .
.. .
...
0.2 , 0 0
M anganese oxide
.. .
.. .
.. .
S , 4
This slag sand was produced from a blast-furnace turning out grey pig iron.
2. Limestone :
Per Cenb.
47
Calcium carbonate ...
... ...
0.
:rviagnesia
... ...
1.5
... ...
Silica. ...
...
...
1
Alumina.
...
...
...
...
0.06
Sulphuric acid
... ... .. .
...
A -__.,
...
Paper read before the lron and Steel Institute.
a.U four. furnaces toge ther. They are surrounded by a.

soa.~oldmg made of angles and teE*!, on which the
s~a~rca.se to mount the platform is fixed. At the same
ttme corrugated gal va.nised sheets are riveted on this
~ca.ffolding all round, in ordered to prevent unequal coolmg of th~ fU;rnaces outside in case of rain, wind, or snow.
. The prm.C1pa.l advanta.g~ of a. furnace of this description
1S th.a.t, owmg .to the ~ontmuous and regular cooling from
outs1de, the f~ttted. chnker cannot clog the interior of the
furnace, thus m surmg.a regular and cc;>ntinuous working
of the furnace. The r1 b~ at th~ same time give strength,
and prevent the cast-non rmgs from warping. Each
furnace produces about 25 tons of well-burnt clinker
'
equa.l.to as much ~nished cement, in 24hours.
A httle wat9r IS. poured over the clinker after being
?ra.wn from.b~low, 1~ order. to change a.~y 9.uioklime ha.vmg formed Itself, owmg to Imperfect grmdmg and mixing
of the raw materials, into hydrate of lime as well as to
cool the clinker. The clinker is now stored in a. covered
shed for about six weeks' time, and then ground into fine
powder by means of a. cylindrical-ball mill foJlowed by a
tube finishing mill,, viz., in the ea.me way 'and under the
same rules as described before with regard to the grinding
of the raw materials. .
The following is an analysis of the finished slag
cement:
Per Cent.
Loss on ignition
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
5.70
. ..
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. . 23.70
Silica. . ..
Lime ...
...
...
...
...
... 59.08
A lumina
.. .
.. .
.. .
. ..
.. .
6.14
Ferric oxide ...
.. .
...
.. .
...
1.80
Magnesia
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
1. 40
Sulphuric acid
...
...
...
...
1.30
. This slag cement is distinguished by its ~xoeptiona.l
h~gh strength of compression and tensile strength, espeCiallr after a longer p eriod of hardening. For instance
a mtxture of one p~rt of cement with three parts of sand
showed:
After 28 Days.
Tensile strength, per square inch 282 lb. to 370 lb.
Strength. of compression, per
square mob .. .
..
.. . 2560 lb. , 2920 lb.
After 360 Days.

Tensile strength, per square inch 538 lb. to 700 lb.
Strength . of compression, per
square mob
.. .
.. .
. .. 4260 lb. , 5760 lb.
As to the economical view of the question, the following figures may serve for information :
-B
Prices of the Ra'W Materials.
ON THE UTILISATION OF BLASTFURNACE SLAG.*

By the Ritter CECIL VON S cHWARZ.
Muoa has been written, suggested, and experimented
on the important subject of utilising blast-furnace slag.
The gradual enlargement of blast-furnaces has also considerably increased the quantity of their product, not
alone of pig iron, but also of their principal by-pcoduct,
namely, slag. To dispose of the large quantities of blastfurnace slag turned out in a. proper and economical way
has caused a. good deal of study, trouble, and, in some
casE*!, even embarrassment, to our bla-st-furnace managers.
The use of blast -furnace slag for sand bricks and cement,
even the utilisation of the heat stored up in the hot liquid
sl ag, has been suggest ed, and in several cases h as been
carried out. But the fact t hat large quantities of blastfurnace slag still remain unused servea to indicate the
wa nt of success of the methods hitherto employed for
utilising it.
A few isolated results were obtained som e time ago
with blast-furnace slag cement, giving rise to hopes that
now the important question of utilising blast-furnace slag
in a. proper and satisfactory way was solved; but it soon
turned out that the slag cement wa-s of a. somewhat
untrustworthy quality, and the consumers consequently
abandoned it in most cases.
Only quite recently a. method has been employed to
m anufacture cement out of blast-furnace slag which has
given everywhere the best results with reference to
stre ngth, volumina.l constancy, and ~eliability. This
method has recently been employed m Germany and
Belgium wi th great success. and is briefly as follows:
The slag is granulated by letting it run into a oast-iron
trough, inclined to one in ten, wliere a strong current of
cold water flows.
The g ranula.ting of the slag has a. considerable ad vantage wit h reference to its use for cement making, as it
turns it at once into small sand of a. very brittle nature,
thus .Preparing it in a. high degree for the n ecessary pulverismg process coming hereafter. Besides this, the slag
experiences by granulating chemical changes also favourable to the same purpose, the principal of these being
the decomposition of the sulphide of calcium contained
in the slag, as the latter is very injurious to cement. The
calcium combines with th e oxygen of the water t o form
lime (Ca.O), whilst the sulphur forms with the hydrogen
of the water sulphuretted hydrogen gas (H 2S) ; thus:
CaS + H 20 = Ca.O + H2S.
The slag sand is removed by a p erforated bucket lift
and tran sported ~y means of a sho.rt wirerope tram~ay
to the drying ~11ls.. These constat of. long ~he~t-1ron
drums slightly mohned, and angles rtvet ed m side all
along; the flame enters t~e drum on the lower p art a.n.d
leaves it on the other (btgber) end. One such drum lS
capable of thoroughly drying 30 t~ns of slag sand containing about 25 per cent. of water, 1n 24 hours .
The slag san d, thus dried, is now mixed about half
and half with limestone of a. good quality, broken up
[MAY I 8, 1900.
(a) B~ast-furnance slag sand, per ton
(b)
(c}
...,~~ Fig .2. SectwnA. B
(d)
,--
I.
I
fSJ9G)
The powdered raw material (slag sand, limestone, and

hydrate of lime) are now mixed with about 8 p er cent. of
water and made into bricks, each weighing about 7! lb.,
by means of a press, tho latter producing a bout 30,000
bricks in 24 hours, and consuming, including the mixing
apparatus, 16 horae. power.
These bricks are stacked in the open, a nd left there for
about three or four days, when -owing to the presence
of hydrate of lime-they get a. certain amount of resist
a.nce, after which they are cha.rged into a furnace to be
burnt into clinker. The burning is effected in furnaces
of a particular construction, and very well adapted to the
purpose.
Each furnace consists, in its essential part, of a. series of
rings, each 1 in. to 1! in. in thickness! Si ft. inner diameter, and 18 in. in height. The~e nngs are provided
outside with ribs (r, above}, and placed in such a way,
one above the other, that the vertical ribs cover one
another, thus forming little vertical channels {o, o, c) all
around, in which the air circulates from below to the top,
like in a chimney, thus continually cooling the castiron
rings from outside, and preventing them from getting
over-h eated. The materials to be burnt are in direct
contact with the cast-iron rings, no lining of any kind
being provided for. There are 18 such rings, put one above
the other, the upper rings-where the greatest heat
occurs-being hool?ed at the joints. The t op of each furn ace is provided wtth a cone and a chimney mad e of sheet
iron, 3 ft. in diameter a nd 30 ft. in height. The cone
has four charging d oors, which can be closed by sheet-iron
covera as soon as the charging is don~.
At a. d epth of 12 ft. from the top the inner dia.mat er of
the furnace is lessened to nea.rl half its inner horizontal
section, and on this place prov1ded with a. double row of
tuy~res to. admit compressed air, ~his a~ra.ngement having
for Its obJect to burn any carbomo oxtde or carburetted
hydrogen gas arising from below as completely as possible,
as well as to concentrate t he heat exactly where it is raquired, viz., on the place where the formation of the
clinker is to take place.
Compressed air is also introduced from below in two
J>laces. The compressed air is produced by a. ventiln.tor,
the I?ressure bein~ t in. to 1! in. of water. One charge
conststs of 100 brtcks and 65 lb. t o 70 lb. of coke as fuel ;
one-third of t he coke could be r eplaced, if neceseary, by
anthracite or ma.igre piece coal.
As a rule, four furnaces are arranged in one set, being
provided with a common lift and a. common platform for
(e)
a. d.
1 3
...
Ltmestone, per ten
..
...
. .. 2
Coke, per ton .. .
.. .
.. .
.. . 40
All delivered free at the works.
Cost of production per ton of cement
at the works (including general expenses, depreciation, &c.) .. .
.. . 18
Sale price per ton of cement .. .
.. . 32
0
0
0
0
A slag cement factory provided with a. set of four furnaces and other appliances to correspond produces from
25,000 tons to 30,000 tons of cement a year, and requires
from 250 to 303 horse-power to work it.
The above figures, analysis, &c., nre taken from a
cement factory which has successfully employed the
above-described method for the last three years. The
qua.lity of the cement is so much valued that the cement
produced by this factory has a higher price in the market
than ordinary Portland cement. They have also already
sold this year's and the haU of next year's production in
advance.
HOT BLAST.
On the Equalisation of the Varying Temperatures
of Hot Blast.*
By LAWRENCE F. GJERS and J osEPH H. HARRISON,
M. Inst. C. E ., Middlesbrough.
SINCE the introduction of the Cowper and other forms
of regenerative hot-blast stoves, it has been the custom to
leb th~ h,ot blast enter the furnace as it left the stove; and
as this m some cases means at a. temperature varying
from 1200 deg. Fa.hr. to 1500 deg. Fahr., it is quite
evident that the steady working of the furnace must be
interfered with.
Now, the apparatus here described consists of practically
another small stove with a central division wall. It is
filled with chequer-work, and the hot blast, entering at
one side of varying t emperature, is delivered out at the
other side at an even mean temperature.
This apparatus, a short time after it is first pub into
operation, arrives at the mean temperature of the hot
blast ; and it is intended to make it of sufficient si ~e that,
in the ordinary way of working, half of it always remains
at this temperature, and the other half gives and takes
according to the varying temperature of the hot blast
entering.
Assuming that the variations in temperature are, say,
200 deg. F a.hr., or a maximum of 1400 deg. Fa.hr. and a
minimum of 1200 deg. Fahr., and that the stove's run is
one hour, it is evident that during the first half-hour the
nppa.ratus will absorb heat from the hot blast, which is
bemg delivered to it at 1400 deg. down to 1300 deg.
At the end of the first half-hour the whole of the a.ppa
rat us will be at about the mean temperature, viz. 1300 deg.
During the next half-hour, as the temperature of the hot
Paper read before the Iron and Steel Institute.
E N G I N E E RI N G.
668
[MAY I 8,
meter, an~ shows the .~orking of two stoves on a fnrPercentage of Good Bars Rolled from Rowncllngots.
n~e, one m good condition and the other in a dirty conditiOn.
Percentage from Percentage from
Date.
Fi~. 5 is an enlargement 9f an autographic record of a
10ln. Ingots.
Si In. Ingots.
Uehhng_pyr<?moter (for wh10h the authors are indebted
,
100
en

to ~r.. U ~bhng}, fi.xed on an American furnace, from August 23
, 24
80
f\9

wbtch 1t will be not10ed that the variations of tempera
, 26
100
75
ture S:re very small, and also that the temperature is com, 27
87

89
paratt vely low.

, 29
97
64

Fig. 2 shows bow the equaliser can be a.rran~ed to take

31
85
60
"
1
86
the blast from four stoves to a furnace. ThlS arrange- Sl'ptember
67

, 2
65
40
men~ was go~ out for a furnace making a very large J?rO3
88
67

d~ctlOn, but m most oases three stoves and an equallSer
"
5
..
80
54
wlll be all that is required.

" 6
62
11

An equaliser is just as necesary for a furna ce worked
7
68
37

"11
by two stoves.
8
..
70
50

By Mr. F. J. R. CARULLA, Derby.

THE form of ingot that would seem to be the most
natur~l forth~ man~faoture of a. gun tube or a propeller
::;ba~b 1s one with a. 01rcula.r section. A round ingot, giving
as It does, the largest possible mass for the least amount
of su!face, has a.~tra<ltions whi!lb are apt to be misleading.
An ms:ot of th1s . form promlSes a cleanness of skin in
the finlShed forg.mg unobt~inable with another having
a larger surface In proport10n. Yet owing to the prop~rty that steel possessas of expanding as it cools from
the molten state, the cireular form is the very wors t that
coul~ be ~elected to secure soundness.
The outside of
t~e ~ng.ot 1s. chilled by.contacb with the mould, and the
hqmd mteno~ ~xpandi?g as the temperature falls, may
burst the. sohdtfied skm, and the ingot turn-out of the
mould qmte us~less for the purpose intended. t
Mr: ! Gautter seems to refer to this difficulty when
d &cnbmg the attempts of the .Swedish artillery at Bofors
to manufacture steel tube castmgs for cannon of 12 centimetres bore. He says: "The commencE;ment of this
manufacture was beset with difficulties, and success only
began when they gave to the iron mould or shell a thickn~ss of 150 millimetres atJ least. The first four tubes oast
With a shel~ of only 25 millimetres thick, showed nnm~rous
cracks, wh10h made them useless. To avoid this, it was
only necessary thab the mould in which the ca.stin~ was
ma~e should bea~ a red heat. It appears that rapidtty of
cooling plays an Important part in the physical structure
of the metal.":tSi.r W~liam Siemens used ab La.ndore round ingots to
rolli}lto tmplate bars, for which a very clean surface is
1-equued; he reasoning that, as the circle is the figure that
emb!aces the larger area. for the same perimeter, such a
section would produce the cleanest bars, a-s the in~ots
would necessarily have the smallest s urface for any given
m~ of me~l. . The mathematical reasoning was perfect,
but ~n p~a.cbice It was fm~nd thab many of the ingots had
longttudmal cracks, owmg to the conditions thab have
~aen already explained. These cracks were in many
mstances of no consequence for the purpose to which the
steel was put. The mgots could be humoured in the
cogging rolls, so as to get a very ugly crack to the edge of
the bar. There it could do no harm, as the ragged edge
of the sheet made from it would be cub off at the shears
As this metal, although of an ordinary character w~
of a soft nature, and therefore interesting in the pr~ent
connection, and as also no account has been published of
the expe-riments that w~re made with these round ingots,
the f?llowing details regarding them may be wo rbh recordlDg:
Typical Analyses of the Steel Ernployed.
A.
B.
c.
D.
per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

Carbon..
Silicon . .
Sulphur
..
..
Phosphorus
..
Manganese
..
0.15
0.026
0.06
0.036
0. 48
0. 21
0.18
0.056
0.035

0.063
0. 042
0.18
0.037
0.058
0.0~5
0.61
The diameter of the ingots was from 8~ in. to 9 in. at

the top and 7 in. at the bottom. The moulds were of the
flower-pot shape, closed ab the bottom and provided with
trunnions for emptying by turning the mould over. Each
ingot weighed aboub 7 cwt. The resulb with these small
ingots was so unsatisfactory thab larger ones were tried,
the diameter being increased to 10 in. This made so great a
difference tha.b the small ingots were abandoned, and, as
may be seen from the Table in the nexb columu, not
without good reason.
It will be seen that the period over which the experiments
were carried was sufficiently long to enable one to place
reliance on the averages here given. Althou~h obtained
nearly 19 years ago, usoful conclusions may st1ll be drawn
from these results.
The greater soundness of the larger ingots is probably
explained by the cooling of the skin or envelope taking
place less suddenly than in the case of the smaller ingot.
It may be remembered that A. Pourcel, in his "Notes on
the Manufacture of Solid Steel Castings," mentions that
Terre-Noire supplied to the Fr6nch Navy a considerable
number of hoops for guns of 10 centimetres, which were
cut out of a round ingot of 385 millimetres diameter, or,
* Paper read before the Iron an'd Steel Institute.
t The specific gravity of liquid ''steel " has been found
to be 8.05. "Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute,"
1882, p~tge 4n3.
t 'Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute," 1881, page
460.
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL 'l'RIPS.

On May 2, t.h~ larg.,e steel-screw steamer Denaby, built
by Messrs. Wilhatn Gray and Co., Limited, to the order
of the Denaby ~nti.C~deby Main Collieries. Limited, of
~uii, h~d her trial tnp m Hartlepool Bay. Her principal
d1mens1ons are : Le!lgth over all, 336 ft. ; breadth. 47 ft. :
and ~epth 2~ ft. 10 m. The engines are by the Central
Man ne EnglDe W ?rks of M~rs. William Gray and Co.,
an~ are of the tnple-~xp~ns1o!l type, having cylinders
24 m.1 38 m., and 64 ~n. m diameter! by 42 in. stroke,
and tnere a re three smgle-ended mam boilers adapted
to work at 160 lb. pressure per square inch. On trial
the vessel averaged 11 knots.
Qn Monday, the 7th inst., the steamship Cormorant,
which has been. c~nstructed by Messrs. Wigha.m Richard"11 12

..
so_n ~nd Co., L1m1ted, for the Cork Steamship Company,

69
1l
11

91
L1m1ted, of Cork, went for a trial trip off the coast.
16
62

11
16
96
50

!he C<?rmorant is 2~0 ft. in length by 35~ ft. beam, and

"11 17
100

64

JS .th~ sucth vessel built for the Cork Steamship Company,
L1mited, at the Ne~tune Works. The engines and boilers
8'3.
4
Average
65.9
have also ~e~n bUilt by Messrs. Wigham Riohardson

an4 Co.,. Ltmited, and on the trial trip gave the greatest
say, 15 in. There is no mention of cracks having given sattsfact10n.
any trouble.* Nevertheless the expanding interior must
produce an undesirable strain on the skin of a round
On Tuesday, May 8. a. steel.screw p assenger and cargo
mgot, whatever its size, whether the defect shows itself
as an open crack, or whether it remains hidden in some steamer, n~med Cap Verde, was launched by the Flansburger Schtffsbau Gesellsc~afb, . Flensburg, to the order
less obviou.s bu.b. possibly e().ually dangerous form.
The dest~abtl~ty of sta.rtmg .with a sound ingot when of the Hamburg- udamerikamsche DampfschifffahrtsII?a.nufacturmg Importan~ fo~gmgs ?f any kind, but ~pe Gese1lschaft, of Hamburg. Her principal dimensions
cia.lly those we are constdermg', w1ll be admitted. The are: L ength, 425 ft._; breadth extreme, 48ft. 2 in.; depth
octago~al ingot which Colonel Ivia.itland said was used at moulded, 32ft., ha.vmg a dead weight carrying capacity of
Wool w10ht must be sounder than a round one. A hexagon a.bou t 6500 tons. Amidships in the bridge and deck houses
on the top is fitted accommodation for 90 firstclass
passengers, also a. large dining saloon, capable of seating
Secti..<Ja of Sted Ingot
~he whole of t~e. first-class passengers. This saloon will
with con.cave.- sides to ensure so~.s
m part be divided by low partitions formin~ small
cabmets. The ladies' saloon and smoke-room are m deckhouses on the P.romenade deck. A complete refrigerating
installation w1ll be fitted by Messrs. Hall. In the poop
aft, arrangements have been made for the accommodation of 364 emigrants. Quadruple-expansion engines will
be fitted to develop an indicated horae-power of 2800.
9
INGOTS FOR GUN TUBES AND PROPELLER

SHAFTS.*
1900.
6l
2l
38
80
74
The trial trip of the steamship Hudson took place on

Tuesday, the 8th inst. She was recently launched from
t~e .yard of ~he Sunderland Shipbuilding Company,
L1m1ted, and 1s a. steel screw steamer 356 ft. between
~erpendicula.rs by 45 ft. 2 in. broad by 29 fb. 4 in. deep.
The vessel carries a dead weight of 6000 tons. The mam
p
engines are. b~ the North-Eastern Iv!arine Engineering
Co~pany, Lrn;ute.d, S~mderland, an~ have cyHnders 24 in.,
40 m., and 64m. m d1ameter by 42m. stroke steam being
supplied by two lar~e boilers, working ab ~ pressure of
p,
170 lb. per square mob. The vessel has been built to
lsass;
th.e or4er of Mr. V . T. Thompson, of Sunderland. The
tnal brip passed off successfully in every way, and a. mean
ingot would be better, and the square form still more speed of 11 knots was obtained on the measured mile.
so. Nevertheless, although affording more security from
the strains that have been considered, square ingots are
Messrs. Wood, Skinner, and Co., Limited, Bill Quay.
also subjected to a pressure from within tending to N ewca.sble-on-Tyne, launched on the 12th inst. a steel
tear their skin. Although cracks in such ingots are nob screw steamer named Paris, built by them to the order
the rule, they do occasionally occur, proving the exist- of Messrs. Frank C. 8trick and Co., Limited of London.
ence of these strain~, which the skin cannot always resist. T.he following are the principal dimensions ~f the ve~sel,
It may, therefore, be useful to refer to a method which, v1z. : Length, 238 fb.; breadth, 32 ft.; depth moulded
although already employed, has not been used to bhe ex- 18 fb. 6 in. Her engjnes have been constructed and wui
tent thab its merit deserves, possibly from the failure to be fitted by. t~e North-Eastern Marine Engineering
appreciate the harmful effect that has been described Company. Lrmited, at the Northumberland Engine
when the metal cools, and which is seen in its worst form ~orks, Wn.l!send-onTyn~, and. are of .the improved
in the case of the round ingot.
triJ?le. ~xpa~slOn type, ha.Vl~g cyhn.d ers 21m., 34 in., and
T~e method. that avoids this evil is to give such a. 56 m . . m d1ameter respectively, Wlth a stroke of 36 in.,
seot10n to the lD~ot that, when the pressure from within suppl.Ied by steam from a large steel multitubular boiler
occurs, the solidified surface will yield without danger of workmg at a pre-ssure of 160 lb. per square inch. They
cracking.
are capable of driving the vessel a speed of 11! knots fully
A polygonal ingob with concave sides evidently answers loaded.
the required conditions. When pressure comes on the
face of the ingot from the interior, it is evident that the
surface cannot crack. The internal perpendicular presCEMENT WoRKS IN R ussiA.-In all parts of Russia
sure on the skin of the ingot is largely resolved into a cement works keep springing up, in few parts more so
tangential pressure on the curved or a rched sides, and the t~an in Polahd; there sceptics are looking for over-producenvelope simply expands, when, if we regard the angles tiOn, when all the new works will get into full swing.
as abutments, we may see that it even undergoes a 4-mong the ~ew cement works of Poland may be mencertain ameunb of compression. At any rate, that ten- tiOned the Ktelce Works, capacity 150,000 barrels the
sion so damaging in the circular ingot IS evidently com- Lazy Works, capacity 100,000 barrels; the Wrzo;owa
pletely absent from one of the shape here indicated. (See Works, capacity 150,000 barrels: the O~oozno Works
section.}
capacity 60,000 barrels; the Ogrod zeniec Works, capacity
Such a form will have an obvious application for g un 300,000 barrels; and the Trawniki Works, with a capacity
tubes, from which the slightest crack should be absent, of 130,000 barrels.
but of still far greater value must it be for the manufacture of propeller shafts, on the soundness of which the
~~A~ ARA .FALLS.-An agreement between the Queen
safety of so many precious living cargoes daily depend.
It is quite unnecessary to dwell on a point the importance V Ictorta N 1agara Falls Park Commissioners and the
of which R. A. Hadfield emphasised some tlme ago Ontario Power Company of Niagara Falls, Ontario, has
before this Institute, and which is so constantly brought been formally completed in Toronto, and the com_pany
prominently before us by the accidents that happen to h~s re?ei ved its franchise to de velop power on the Canasteamers ab sea. So numerous are these becoming as to dian Side of the Falls. In accordance with the terms of
have led D. B. Morison to condemn ingot steel altogether the conbracb, 6000l. was deposited, that sum bein~ an
advance payment of two years of the fixed rental. This
for the purpose of propeller shafts.:j:
It is Impossible to believe, however, thab a material so 3000l. per annum pays for the leasehold granted by the
excellent for all other purposes should not also be pre Government, and pays as well for the right to produce
ferable for this particular one, if only the soundness of 10,000 horse-power of hydraulic energy, and, of course,
the s haft be assured. Although the chemical composi- the right to convert this into electricity. For producing
tion of the steel and its after treatment in the forge may power beyond this quantity, a graduated tariff of Governdo much to attain this result, it must never be forgotten ment charges is specified in the agreement. lb is as
that the co-operation of the f!asting pit is a condition fol!ows :. F9r the second 10,000 horse-power, or any. par~
of It wh1oh IS produ ced, 1 dol. per horse-power; for a third
Ssential to success.
10,000 horse-power, or so much of it as is produced, 75
----------------------------~----------- cents per horse-power; for all in excess of the third 10,000,
* " J ourna.l of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1882, p. 511.
50 cents per horse-power. Water is to be taken from the
1' i bid., 1881, page 431.
:t: ENGINEERING, September 1, 1899, and the ".Journa.l Welland, locally known as the Obippewa Oreek, whiob
of the Iron and Steel Institute, " 1894, No. II., page 4!6. joins the Niagara. above the Falls.
MAY I 8, 1900.]
mea.ns for pre\'enting the re-transmitted signals from affectinlt the mutator by which the motor current is cut off when the tiller has
s~tlOos ou th.e route back to t he station which originated the moved to t he d esired angle. The conductors are connected to
s1gnal, this bemg effected by means of eit her of \'arious alterna- glow lamps, one corresponding to each of a number of positions
tive ar~an.gem nts, according t{) one of which t he recei\'ing and
t ransmtttmg poles at the relay station are screened from each
COMPILED BY
LLOYD WISE.
other th.roughout their entire length by two semi-cylindrical
OLB<71'1ID ABSTRACTS OF RBOBNT PUBLIBHED BPBOIFIOATIONS metal sh1elds placed with their convex sides together, and capped
ONDB.B. THE ACTS 1888-1888.
by metal hoods. (A ccepted ..dpril4, 1900.)
I'M numl>M of vieto8 given in the Specification DratlJings is stated
f-~
'7892. E. W. J~gner, Stoo~olm, Sweden. Storage
in each ca.se; where ?lO?le are mentiontd, th~ Specification i8
11ot illustrated.
Batt~rles. Apul 14 . 1 00.-The mventor calls attention to tbe
Where in~Jltions are communicated fro-m abroad the 11 a mea &:c necesstt.v for t he mater1al of both electrodes being Insoluble and
of tM Communicators are given in italics.
'
' ., pre fe ~ably a lso uoattacked by the electrolyte when not dis
Copia of Specift_cations may be obtain~ at the Patent 0 l1lu Sale chargmll, nn~ appears t? be unaware that these points are geneI:
I : Ii
Bran~, 16, So_utha.mpto-n Bttildings, Ohancery-lan1.e, fV. C., at rally r~c~gmsed as des~derata. A storage battery is proposed
Ill
wh~ch 1t ts sug~ested wtll fulfil the hereiobefore mentioned con
tM uniform pnce of Bd.
1J.'he date of the advertisement of the acceptance OJ a c~plete dit1oos, and wluch comp1ises a + pole electrode of silver peroxide
JNNfN,,,
Specification is, in each case, given cifter the abstract, unleas the and~ - pole electrode of spongy copper in a solution of caustic
~
~
,
alkah. The electromotive force of the combination is stated to be
Patent has been sealed, tohen the date of seali11g t"s given.
~
=
.
95
volt,
an~
it
is
said
that
in
it
local
action
is
negligible.
There
Any person may at any time within ttoo numthS from the date of
j#
the ad~ rtisement of the acupta.nce of a complete Speoi/icaticm ar~ two clatms as follows : 1. An t'lectrical element, for use as
~~
pnma~y or secondary element, the holders of t he active materials
g_i~ Mtice at tM Patent Office of oppoBition to the grant of
~I
of whtch are not attackable hv the alkaline solutions used as
Patent on anv of the ground$ mentioned in the .Act.
electrol~t~, t he active .material' ? f both electrodea consisting of
finely dtvt~ed metals '.nsoluble m the electl'olytt-, or oxides of
AGRICULTURAL APPLIANCES.
L.,
metals wh1ch d o !JOt gwe up free hydrogen when the battery is
i~
and of whtch t he hydroxyl combinations cannot exist in
l
64.25. G. C. Dymond, London. (G. Da.seking, Hanover active,
t he e~ect rolyte 1 th~s ~reveotir.g change a~ regards quantity and
l(termany.) Centrifugal Machinery. [6 Figs.) March 24' che~t~l
10 t he electrolyte, and t hereby in the con1899.-It is stated that the " ceotrifugalling " of milk is facili: duc:tvtty constttuttoo
of the latter. 2. A form of the ehmeot in Claim 1 in
-t.'\ted by the arrangement of suitable insertions in the interior

{)f the drum and that by means of the insertions hitherto employed whtch oxyhydrates of. metal, w~ich. are stable in the electrolyte,
a~ded to ~he act~ve mater1als m such proportions that the
flar row passages are formed in a vertical, oblique, or horizontal are
( ''"" ')
chargmg
or
dtscharg10g
current
causes
a
simple
t
ransfer
of
(Jirectioo so that clearly determined courses are t>rescribed for hydr~xyl and . the. electrolyte remains unchanged as refrards
<lle travel of the milk inside the drum. By this mvention it is chemtcal coost1tUt1oo and quantity. (Accepted April 11, 1900.)
of the ti!ler so that the lamp that is alhrht indicates the position
of t~e t1ller as long aa t hat position is maintained. (.Acupted
6064. A. C. Crehore, Hanover, N.B U.S.A., and .A.prtlll, 1900.)

Ff9. 7.
"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT

RECORD.
w.
..
;~
~fHi-
1-i Fttlm
G. 0. Squler, Elizabeth. Va., U.S.A. Relays.
[1 Fig.J
March 20, 1899.- The Llppmaun capillary device sometimes used

as an electrometre is adapted to act as an electrical relay. In t he
dra~ving illustrating one form of t he iov~n ~ion, 1 represen ts a
captllary mercury tube , 2 a vessel contatmng dilute sulphuric
acid and .mer.cury for m~kiog contact therewit h (preferably open
to the atr), tts cork bemg perforated at 3; 4 the mercury in the
capillary tube ; 6 the meniscus between the meroury and the
dilute acid ; and 6 and 7 wires for the circuit that actuates the
relay.. The tube 1 is sealed and the space above t he mercury
therem may be filled with some liquid of sligh t compressibility,
9
GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES.

15,689. A. T. Da.wson and L. SUverma~ London
Automatic Guns. [3 Jt'igs.J July 31, 1899.- Tbls ioveotio~
has reference to the londing and feed mechanism described in

applicaot'8 prior specification, No. 8046, of 1899, and is deJ:Jigned
to obviate t he lia.oility of the cartridge to rebound when the
carrier d rops, bringing it into alignment with t he charge chamber
and spriog piston which inserts the cnr tridge therein. For this
purpose the rear end of the carrier is curved or inclined on its
mner surfa~, so tbn.t o.s t he cart ridge falls from the magazine
or hopper 1ts flange meets this surface, whereby it is caused to
!I'd vance longitudinally in t he ~rn, er a sufficient distance to bring
1ts flan~ed end beneath long1tudmnl bendiogs or flanges on t he
-------------
.,,
. . .. ... ... . .. --)
-.
('--
such as oil, in which may be situated a receptacle 8, one or both

1---4-'
sides of which are metallic diaphragms wbioh are insulated from
1--....J.: '
each other and connected in the local circuit 9, and between

which is placed a. material, such as car bon granules, whose resist~
ance will vary with variations of pressure. In t he local circuit 9
there is placed a device which is responsive to these resistance
variations, nod whereby t hey can be utilised in t he manner de
sired. This device may, for example, and as indicated in the

diagram, be a Wheatstooe bridge, in one leg of which t he variable
resistance 8 is placed;the other legs each h aving a fixed resist- edges of the carrier, so that it cannot rebound or leave t he
ance, and t he bridging resistance being the operating coil 10 carrier except by a longit udinal motion, such as that imparted by
of an indicator or recorder. (.Acupted A 'tlrit 11, 1900.)
the piston. The invention also has reference to means for delayt he descent of the carrier, to enable the ejected cart ridge-case
1431. s. G. Brow~ Bournemouth. Relays. [17 Fig1.] ing
move entirely out of the path of the succeeding cartridge. For
Januar.r 21, 1899.-This invention aims at producing relays which to
this purpose the carrier is so arranged on the gun that its under
me.y be actuated by extremely minute currents, and in which the side
will be struck by the ejected cartridfe-case, the descent of
contact, \\ben produced, may be certain to t ransmit current. In the carrier
being t hereby prevented unt i the ejected case haa
moved clear of the same. The underside of t he carrier is prefer
ably formed with a longitudinal curve or incline of such shape
t h)t. the ejected case will slide against it, and be directed in "
downward direction, so as not to strike the gunner. (.Accepted
.April 4, 1900.)
\
~ndeavou red
to ropidly impart motion to the milk but to leave

-the liquid entire fr~edom of movement in all directions. An in
-aertion is provided for the drum, by means of which a. large
number of narrow interconnected passages are formed in ite
1nterior in order to afford to the liquid a fre e passage in all directions from every point inside the drum. Various devices are de
6Cribed and illustrated, some of which would appear to consist of
.(lOiJs of coarse wire gauze. (A ccepted Aprilll, 1900.)
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.
'7641. P. B. Cole and B. Cohen, London. Bertzlan
'Wave Telegraphy. [4 Figs.] April 11, 1899.- Tbe object of
this invention is to enable telegraphic signals to be t ransmitted
ftilrough space by Hertz waves to any distance by u tilising inter
,.
8S6. A. E. Jones Flume Austria. Steering Mechanism for Torpedoes. [4 Figs.) J anuary 13, 1900.-Tbis
invention relates to modifications in t he torpedo steerin$' appa
ratus described in specification No. 12,169, of 1897, havmg for
object to cause t he torpedo to move at a predetermined angle to
the axis of the discharging tube. The stud which operates the
arm of t he circular valve, instead of being ftxed ns described in
.:J
~
r-
IC'
,.. ~
iZ
,..
FUJ.7.
-0~
- .'l~ul'~,
... ...!.'
'
'''-~
\ Y...__,; ,
L-
-- ....,
~\
.,/'
.~
=- \
"(I
~M
" "'
lad 11
.....
,.
I
~~--~
,
.:
>-----r
,-'
! .6.
" t..
---
... ,
1\.AN
.,.,,
',,
I
;'
"'
'I}
'
-'1!\ediaoo relays, each of which forms part of a local circuit con

~
tainiog a coherer, which completes t he circuit of an induction

.(lOil, thus automatically t ra nsmi tting t he signal to t he next
station. Each of the transmitting stations is provided with
''....., .. _... ~< )
_,/
:111'1'1'11 ...
'lt"
one arrangement a relay ton~ue or contact wire is deflected by

current passing t hrough a co1l suspended by it, nnd situated in
a magnetic field, and makes contact with a rotating drum having
ses:tmented contact portions. Auxiliary and contributory appare.tus are described. (Accepted ..dpril ll, 1900.)
11,881. A. L. Cronea.u, Parts. Means for Effecting
Rotation at a Dlatance. [4 Pigs.) June 7, 1899.-The
invention relates to electrical apparatus by which rotary motion
(as, tor instance, of a turret or steering r udder) can be caused at
a dist.ance and controlled from a t ransmitting station. For this
purpose, in applying the invention for example to a rudder, a
commutator at t he transmitting station is set t o such nngle as
t he t iller may be required to take, and t hus relays are actuated
which start a motor in the one direction or t he other. As the
tiller moves in obedience to the motor it acts on a eliding com
the above prior epeciftcation, is mounted so that it may move

along a circulal' arc the centre of which is in the axU! of oscilla
tion of the "ertical gimbal ring therein described, while its plane
is at right angles to this axis ; the stud may be secured in any
desired p :>sition on this arc, the deflection of t he rudder or tail
of the tor pedo and its consequent path on en tering t he water
being t hus determined. The stud is preferably fixed on a plate
or disc adlpted to oscillate around the axis of the vertical ring,
and having division lines extending from a zero point diametrically opposite the stud a~d its ?entral position bein~ .indicated
by a fixed mark on the gtmhal rmg. The angular pos1t10n of the
disc is adjusted by means of a. pivot mounted in the gimbal ring,
and adapted to gear with a worm also mounted in the ring so
that it cannot move therein in a longitudinal direction. (Accepted
April t, 1900.)
8473. A. Retchwald, London. (Fried K r upp, Essen,
Germany.) Adjusting the Elevation of Ordnance.
[2 Pigs.] April 22, 1899.-This invention relates to a method of,
and means for, effecting t he elevation of that class of ordnance
in which the si'thting arrangement is not directly affixed to the
barrel of the gun itself. The method consists in first setting a
pointer to correspond to the desired amount of elevation whi ch
the gun shall receive, and then either eleYating or depressing the
gun, until a certain point UJ?On an elevation curve, affixed to the
gun itself, is in alignment w1th the point of an adjustable pointer
so connected to the sighting ap\>aratus that, on taking aim at an
object, the difference of level, t.e., the angle of elevation or depression, is struck automatically. The drawings show the invention as applied to two guns mounted parallel to each other and
--
-.~... .
.-
.. - - .. -==:.:;:;.;.:.-!--~
_ . ,-
(MAY 18, Igao.
line, and are preferably o1.used to move over the same slowly and
continuously by electric or other motive power. As soon as the
cutter has passed the line nearest the coal-faoe affords standing
room for the men who load the corves, so that the coal may be
expeditiously removed. Parallel roads or headings lead to each
end of the lines of rails, and are curved at their junctions therewith ; one heading serving as an up, and the other as a down
line. When props are necessary to support the roof, they are
made of iron, or of wood with iron ends, and furnished with a
vertical screw which screws into the top of the post. This screw
supports an iron girder 4 ft. or 6 ft. long, and holds it against the
underside of the roof, one end of the girder coming over each
line of rails. (A ccepted April 4, 1900 )
passes through a plug at the top of the cylindrical casing, and

extends nearly to the top of a water reservoir supported thereon;
the products of combustion passing up this tube, and escaping
through apertures in the cover of the reservoir, after first undergoing partial condensation in consequence of contact with the
STEAM ENGINES, BOILERS, EVAPORATORS, &c.

988. P. A. Newton, London.
(J. Jfiyabara, Tokio,

Japan.) Water-Tube Boiler. [2 F igs. ] January 16, 1900.
- The main object of this invention is to provide means whereby
the w~ter fed to a boiler such as that described in specification
No. 9131, of 1896, m~y be circulated between the top drums or
steam chambers of the boiler, so as to become heated to a material degree by the escaping gases before it entera the drums.
Flanged hollow casings are secured along the interiors of the top
drums; these casings being divided by partitions so as to form
junction pockets for the feed-water tubes which open into them.
'" ->.- '
..
I
surface of t he water. The reservoir and the cylindrical castingare in communication through an annular syphonic passage which
allows water to flow upward in t he course of its circulation,
and also to flow downward to supply loss due to evaporation.
(Accepted AP1il4, 1900.)
sighted by one and .t he same gear. Between the guns is a shaft

upon which are fixed two pointers. Parallel to the plane of the
swing of each of these pointers is a plate fixed to each gun itself,
or to its cradle, and upon which is drawn an eleYation curve so
described that if the pointers be set at a given angle from their
zero position the barrels of the guns must be turned through t he
same angle in order to bring the pointers within the curve again.
If, therefore, the pointers a re set for a given elevation corresponding to the distance of the object aimed at, and the barrels of the
guns are turned until the ends of the pointers coincide with points
on the curves, the elevation of the barrels of the guns corresponds
to the distance away of the object. The pointers are mounted to
swing in a rigid frame integral with the sighting bar, and are adjusted by means of a. worm en~aging a helically-toothed sector
keyed upon the pointer shaft. (A ccepted Aprilll, 1900.)
9336. W.
B. Dugard. Birmingham. Coupling

Flanged Pipes and the like. [6 Fig~.] May 3, 189~.
This invention relates to means for coupling or connectmg
together the flanged ends of metallic pipes or tubes, these means
being also applicable to the seourin~ of closing- oove!B or ends on
flanged pipes and other flanged articles. The meetmg flanges orflange and edge are tapered or wedge-shaped, and are coupled
together by a ring or collar of approximately circular oro88
~-
I
I
I
I
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MACHINE AND OTHER TOOLS, SBAFTING, &c.

11,880. A. L. Croneau, Paris France. Portable
Electric Drilling Machine. [3 :Figs.] June 7, 1899.-The

machine is more es\>ecially designed for. drilling holes in flat ~etal
sheets and compnses a platform carried at one end by a smgle
wheel ' and havin~ at its other end a pair of electromagnets
adapt~d to keep the surface to be drilled against the dril!ing tool,
which is carried on a bracket arranged between them. An eleotro-
F'1J. 1.
Sets of tubes located a t the extreme sides of the boiler cross between the front and back steam chambers, and serve to convey
the steam from the back to the front chamher; and the fe ed-water
hea.tin~ tubes oross between the two drums intermediate between
these stde tubes and open into the compartments in the casings as
already stated. The feed-water inlet pipe is connected with o_ne
of the ca.sin~s. while the outlet pipe lead~ from the oppostte
casing to the interior of the drum. The casmgs may be made of
cast or wrou~ht steel, ~n~ so construct~d that they may be taken
off for clea.nmg, exammmg, or replacmg the feed-water tubes.
(Accepted April 4, 1900.)
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section, and having an annula! groov~ the de~;>th of w~ich is

about half the thickness of the rmg. Th1s collar IS formed m ~o
or more segments, which may be secured tog:ether by screw-pms
or bolts passing through bosses on t_he meetmg ~nds of _the seg~
674:. B. Koch, Tarrytown. U.S.A. Motors. [2 Pigs.] menta, or by means of hinges and a smgle so~ew-pm. It 1B stated.
Januuy 11, 1900.-A motor especially applicable t? r_ock d~ills that by making the flanges and the groove tn th~ collar tapered
and other reciprocating tools is the subject of thts 10vent10n. or wedge-shaped, all liability to leakage of liqutd or gasl when
The piston is shown on the upstro~e in Fig. 1 and on the ~own under great pressure, is obviated. (Accepted April 4, 1900.J
stroke in Fig. 2. Live steam adm1tted to the steam chest 1s de4:91. D. B. Ratcltft', London. Strong Rooms.
livered to opposite ends of the cylinder through ports governed [6 10
Figs. ] May 18, 1899.-A plate of sufficient length to make the
by a slide valve which is operated by a pivoted tb ree-~ rmed ro~k front,
and two sides of the safe or strong room, and o! a
ing lever, one arm of which extends through ~ slot 10 the shde width baok,
correspond in~ to the height of the safe or strong room With
the addition of port10ns to form flanges to be turned over ~t top
and bottom is provided, and the part of the plate at. front ts. out
away to form the opening for the door, but leavmg por?ons
around the opening to support the door fram~. Angular _p1eces
are cut out at the sides of the plate correspondmg to the Wldtb of
the flanges which are to be bent over at top and botto?l The
'
plate is bent so as to form the front, back, and two s1des, the
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motor is fixed on the rear p~rt of the platform, a~d.connected by

an elastic coupling- to the driving shaft of th~ drilhng tool ; and
in the circuit which supplies th~ current ~re mserted a commutator and resistance for regulatt_ng t he ~ct10n o! the motor. The
rear end of the platform is furmshed \nth a patr ?f ~andles connected at their extremities by a cross:ba~ on wh10h _IS a sea~ _for
the operator, so that he faces the machme_m a convement postt ton
for controlling its action. (A ccepted Apnl4 , 1900.)
MINING METALLURGY, AND METAL

'
WORKING.
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s~rface
Two parallel lines of rails are m:1.mtamed 10 front of the face or arranged in the path of bevelled shoulders formed on the ptston.
This three-armed rocking lever works in an exh~ust chamb~r OP.en
to the atmosphere and adapted to be pl~ced 10 comm~moatton
with the upper and lower ends of the oyh_nder, ~s the ptston r~
ciprooates, throu~h ex~aust passages wh1ch, bemg short and m
free communicatiOn wtth the atmosphere through the exh~ust
chamber it is stated insures not only rapid and easy exhaustion,

but also free circulation of air. (A ccepted Aprilll, 1900.)
10,609. Lord Masbam, Swlnton~ . ~asbam. Yorks.

Apparatus for Coal Mln~g . [4 "':Us. ] May 19, 1899.- valve, the other two arms being each formed with a cam
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place at which t he two ends of the plate meet being preferably at

or about the centre of the back. Plates to form the top and
bottom a~e then put in place from the inside b~ abutting them
against the internal faces of the flanges. Thetr external faces
may be flush with the general line of the outside sur~ace of the
safe or strong room, or additional plates may be put m betwee.n
the flanges to make the top and bottom flush. The door frame 1s
put in place and secured against the interne.! faces o~ the parts
MISCELLANEOUS.
constituting the ~ange_s around ~he front wttht or ~1thout, the
784:7. E. A. Denyer, Child's BW Middlesex. Beat intervention of filling p1eces or strtps. (Acceptea Apnlll, 1900.)
Radiator. [1 Fig.] April 7, 1899. 7 The main. o~ject of t_his
invention is to construct hot-water ra_d1ators and s1m1lar he~tmg
apparatus in such manner that each rad1ator may be self-contamed, UNITED STATES PATENTS AND PATENT PBAOTIOB.
forming- a complete heating plant having its own water sopply
Descriptions with illustrations of inventions paten~ in the
and source of heat. The example of apparatus illustrated and described comprises a wate.r heater situat~d petween a~y c~nvenien t United States of America from 1847 to the present tlDle, and
number of radiator sect10ns, and oons1stmg of a ~ybndncal cast- reports of trials of patent law cases in the United States, may be
wall of coal that is being worked by a mechanical cutt~r ; the ing within which is situated a conical tube formmg the combus- consulted, gratis, at the offices of ENoiNEK.RINO, S6 and 36, Bedford
cutting machine _runni.ng ~D: that nearest the coal, wh1le the tion chamber and flue for a Bunsen or other burner. This tube street, Strand.
corves or trucks, m which 1t 18 conveyed away, run on the other

Engineering Vol 69 1900-05-18

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Engineering Vol 69 1900-05-18

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

MAY I8, 1900.]

(Con cluded from page 640.)

If we go back to 1894 and take the averaae

Miles annually newly COD

Power 1D kilowatts newly ID

TABLE V.-APPROXTMATE GROWTH OF ELKCTRIO PowER Pr.ANTS IN GERMANY.

Miles of track equipped 1,000

AMERICA, AND NuMBER Olt' CARS, DuRING TKN YEAKS, 1390-9

Total number of stations of a ll kiods

Total power in kilowatts installed for all purposes

Total electrical horsepower used for stl\tionary motot"S

Power in kilowatts installed used for traction only

Total number of continuouscurrent plants

Total number of alternat ing-current plants

Total number of polyphas e plants

Total number of combined continuous and polyphase plants ..

Total altematingcurrent plant in kilowatts

Total polyphase plant in kilowatts . .

Total mixed plant in kilowatts

Total monocyclic plant in kilowatts ..

To get a better idea of the average increase in

1889 and take the average increase dwing the last

in kilowatts installed to run the cars has been N

orporation electricity works

Takin~ the increase between the end of 1898 and T

corporat ion stations

1899 in uermany and England, we find :

Total co.pacity in kilowatts of

Avail~ Total Number! Total A\rail:

TABLE VII1.-APPROXIMATE CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND EXPENDITURE ON ELECTI'RIO POWER STATIONS,

Ma nufacturet"S and contractors

Electric Light and

has been during the last five years. The ~umber

was 126 new power stations, containing a total

(MAY 18, 1900.

France, and Switzerland for the last few years;

which we publish on the opposite pag~ will give

a good idea of t he handsome appearance of these

or, according to the number of the prototype, 902

Class, has, we believe, the greatest tractive power

tion. The steady progress towards t his latest success

and this train has been worked from Carlisle to

miles, in 42! minutes, which, in view of the gracompliment

Having given in the annexed Table the general

diameter, and plates

Height of centre from rail ft. in.

.Mean outside diameter of bar

.Sreadtb outside at bottom

Depth from centre of boiler,

Depth from centre of boiler,

apparatus, steam sanding, and steam reversing

and steam r eversing gear. In reversing the engine

MAY I8, 1900.]

CALEDONIAN RAILWAY PASSENGF.R Loc oMOTIVE; DuN..U.ASTAIR No.

I ~~: (-' 1 ..)

- - ' ' b .'--

- 6 '6 ;:. _'_

Fig.?. 1()6 CLASS.

6:./ s o\_.., , s:/~

o.z. -, -o~--- ~ ] Q 1 ,_ .- .. .,.

TOTAl W/DHT OF NO/If 4.9

TOTAL WEIGHT OF TENDER 45 0 0

(~ 6_) I' (~lz)

- _____ _y- ------ -